Shepherds Staying Out In The Fields

So this morning, we're going to be studying Luke 2. It was part of our Advent liturgy. We were reading about the shepherds and what they did. And this morning what I want to pay particular attention to is not the message of the angels, but rather the shepherds, who they were and what we ought to learn from them. So we're going to look at the text, and first we're going to ask the question, so what do we know about the shepherds? What do we learn? or what do we know about them? And then we're going to ask, what are we supposed to learn from those same shepherds? Would you please stand for the reading of God's word from Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 14. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened.

But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So first I want to begin by pulling out of this text what we know about the shepherds. And the first thing I want to tell you, if you're familiar with the Christmas story, is that the shepherds and the magi are different people. They're very, very different people. The shepherds were Jews and the magi were not. They were Gentiles. The shepherds came from just outside Jerusalem.

I'm sorry, just outside Bethlehem, whereas the Magi came from the east. They came from far away. They followed a star and probably took them a fair number of months to get there, to come see the Lord. Whereas the shepherds, if you go beyond this text, after the angels leave, it says that they made haste. They went right away and they found Joseph and Mary and Jesus before they even left the manger. And so the shepherds and the Magi are different. And I don't want you to get them confused. So the first thing that we know about the shepherds, as I've already said, is that they were Jews and that they were at work. They were tending their sheep right outside of Bethlehem. And I want us to know first about this, that God sends his good news to his people first and that his way is to send the good news to his people and that they then become messengers. If you were to follow these Jews through the story, this account,

They receive the news as God's people first. They come and they witness it, and then they become messengers too. They go back to their work praising God and glorifying God, telling people about everything that they'd heard and they'd seen. And the first thing that we see is that God gives his news to his people first, and as he gives the good news of the gospel to his people, that news changes them and makes them into messengers of that good news. It's not something that they take and they keep for themselves. It's something that they take and they receive, they believe, and then they turn around and tell others about it. And so God comes to his people first. He visits them first. Remember at this point that there had been, with regard to the Jews, there had been 400 years of silence since God had last spoke to his people Israel. He hadn't raised up a prophet. He hadn't spoken with his people or communicated with them for 400 years.

At this point, they're under Roman occupation. The Romans are there, and their government is the ruling force. And so the Jews are occupied. They're not free. And it's been 400 years. And the Jews at this time, you know, when things get bad, what you hope for is for things to get better, right? When you find something difficult, you go, I hope that this storm doesn't last too long. And that could be with reference to the weather outside. You can say, I hope this storm doesn't last forever. I hope it's over quickly. or we could be talking about a storm, if you will, in your life, a difficulty in your life. Now, that's what the Jews would have been facing. There was an occupying power, and they would have been saying, How long, O Lord? How long? You've promised to send us a Savior, a Deliverer, a Redeemer, a Messiah. And so when the angels come to these shepherds, to these Jews, and he says, that the Lord is doing just this thing in this city right here, just as he had foretold through the prophet Isaiah, these Jews would have immediately, these shepherds would have immediately been excited, happy. As soon as the angels leave, you kind of get this impression that they all kind of look at each other and say, did you hear what I just heard? Let's go. And then they're down the hill to the city. And after having seen the baby Jesus,

these shepherds, these Jews, begin to tell everybody about what they've seen. It says that they communicated, that they told, they proclaimed this good news everywhere. So the first thing we know about the shepherds is that they were Jews and that they would have known about this promise. They weren't like the Magi who saw a star and said, huh, we need to go figure out what that's about. No, these men knew exactly what this was about. And so with great expectation, and hope they made haste into the city to find Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus. So what else do we know about the shepherds? Well, we know that shepherding is a meek and lowly job. Think of it like being, in our society, it'd be like being a landscaper or maybe a garbage man. It's just not the sort of thing that's prominent.

That you look and you go, oh, that's what you do with your life. Oh, well, that's good. No, these men were shepherds. And it was sort of a first class, sort of like what we would think of as a sort of minimum wage job. And this necessity of the work of shepherding is by itself a meek and lowly position. Remember when Samuel went to Jesse's house and he was looking for the next king of Israel. And Jesse's bringing all of his sons by and saying, is this the one? And Samuel says, no. And he brings another one. Is this? No. Is this all of your sons? And Jesse says, well, no, the youngest one, he's out tending the sheep. And so tending sheep was the sort of thing that the youngest child got to do. Where all the more prominent, the more worthy brothers were brought in before Samuel, Jesse didn't even think to bring in his son because his youngest son was just out tending sheep.

It's the kind of work that you give your youngest children to do. And so being a shepherd is meek and lowly. It doesn't have a career path into management, if you will. What else do we know about these shepherds? As they were keeping watch over their flocks by night, we learn from that that they were diligent in their work. Have any of you guys ever worked a night job? I've worked a night job. Jamie and Kristen have. I know Taylor's at least worked nights because I've worked them with him. So how is it working nights? Well, you get, yeah, Kristen says, eh. One of the things you know about working nights is you get paid more for working nights because of the, eh, because it's miserable, because it messes with your whole life. And these men were diligent about their work. They were out keeping watch over their flocks by night. Night work is difficult, and these men were attentive to it. They were diligent. They were keeping watch. They weren't out there just waiting until the sun came up.

They were out there being diligent, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And you remember that they're here at work and there's all of this hullabaloo going on down in Bethlehem. And why is all this stuff going on down in Bethlehem? Well, because there's a census to be taken. And so all of these people, all the people from the house of David have come to Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary and everyone else. And so there's all of this commotion going on in this city. And these shepherds are out in the field watching their sheep. If there was ever a time for them to slack off, this would be it. Nobody's going to come check on them. Their masters were busy. If the wolves came and got the sheep, they can say, well, they were stolen because there's all these people in town. There would have been temptation to slack off in your night work. And yet these men were diligent. They were keeping watch over their flock by night. We also know that these shepherds, when the angels appeared to them, were sore afraid in the King James. Or in modern English,

Terribly frightened. Terribly frightened. Now, why would they be terribly frightened when the angel of the Lord and the glory of the Lord appears to them? It seems strange. I mean, some of you have thought about it, and so you know why. But the fear of the Lord is not something. If you were in Sunday school the last two weeks, this is what I've been talking a lot about is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not something that we understand in America. We don't understand or process the reality of the Lord being someone to fear. But these shepherds, they understood it. When the Lord showed up, they were terrified. They were scared stiff. And the reason they were scared stiff is because they knew who God was. And they knew who they were. And they thought these two things, they don't mix. When God comes and...

intermingles with us sinners, what happens is we die because we're sinners. And so they're terrified. These men are thinking, it's all over for us. Who can stand before the Lord? Certainly not these lowly shepherds. And so they're terrified. And so the first thing the angel says to them is don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. But they were right to be afraid. Their fear wasn't misplaced. The angel wasn't saying, you ought not to. There's nothing to fear in me. That's not what the angel was saying. The angel was saying, you don't have to be afraid because I'm not here to destroy you. That's what you expect, but that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to bring you good news of great joy. Another thing I want to dwell on in just a minute is that these shepherds, their response was normal. It's not the response that we would have or we would be inclined to have, but all through Scripture, when people see angels, when they enter into the presence of God, they're scared stiff. They're scared to death. And it's because of their sin that they are brought to fear. And so the angel says to these lowly shepherds, don't be afraid. I bring you glad tidings of great joy. Good news. For unto you in this day a Savior is born in the city of David. That city right down there, Bethlehem. Just as the prophecies foretold, there's going to be a Savior born there.

And here's how you're going to know who the Savior is. He's going to be out with the animals wrapped in a swaddling cloth. And you have to realize that that's not how you would expect the Savior to come into the world. They're out there because there's no room in the inn. There's no space for them. But we would expect a Savior to come and to be prominent and to be wealthy and to have... and stature and be given a position and a place. And yet he's out in the feed stall with his mother and his father. And the shepherds being meek and lowly themselves, they don't despise that sort of thing. They're not above that sort of thing. The fact that Jesus was out in a manger doesn't preclude them or keep them from going to him. There wasn't a conflict in their minds between his humiliation and coming as a baby.

and being born in a manger, and him being a savior. And the reason that they didn't have that conflict is because they were meek and lowly. In our assurance of pardon today, in just a couple of chapters later in Luke, Luke quotes from, is it Isaiah? This text, that's what I thought, it's from Isaiah. Where he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And here he is doing it. Here the poor are receiving the gospel. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. The shepherds were the right recipients of the good news of the gospel. Because they were meek and they were lowly. Now, it's nice for us to think about the meek and the lowly and to think, well, that's good for them.

I'm glad they were meek and lowly, and I want to be meek and lowly too because I'm supposed to, and that's what you're going to tell me is that I'm supposed to be like the shepherds to be meek and lowly. And I say, that's right. You are supposed to be meek and lowly. So what does that look like? What does being meek and lowly look like? In America, what do you think being meek and lowly looks like? Anyone want to venture a guess? Becky doesn't. She's shaking her head no. Say again? Daycare employees. Okay, so what do you mean? So we need to do that kind of work. So you're saying we should get jobs and you weren't saying that? An example? Well, I mean for us. In our lives, what does meek and lowly look like for you and look like for me? Washing the dishes, says Allie. Yes. Here's what I want to get at. The gospel made sense to the shepherds because they understood meek and lowly. They lived meek and lowly. Jesus made sense to them.

The manger wasn't an offense to them because they were meek and lowly. And you have to see that if you're not meek and lowly, if you don't know what that means in your life, the gospel was not going to make sense to you. Because he came to proclaim, what was he going to proclaim to the poor? The gospel. I was going to say release. He came to preach the gospel to the poor, to the meek, to the lowly, to the night shift guys. I was listening to the radio this last week and Ray's Trash Service is hiring garbage men for all shifts. And I thought, who wants to go pick up dumpsters at 2 a.m.? I mean, who even wants to go pick up dumpsters and pick up trash?

I mean, it's a bad enough job, but then you have to go do it in the middle of the night where the kids don't even come to the window and say, look at the cool truck, Daddy. At least the garbage man has that joy. At my house, the whole house stops when the garbage man comes. But you want to be a night shift garbage man? Nobody even sees your cool truck, the meek and the lowly. What I want us to learn from the shepherds is that we... We need to be meek and lowly the way they are, particularly with our work. And so as soon as I say, well, you need to do meek and lowly work, I'm not telling you you have to change your job. I'm not telling you you have to go get a minimum wage job and be poor and meek. That's not what I'm saying. Because every one of you has meek and lowly work to do. The question is whether or not you do that work.

or not, whether you despise it, whether it's beneath you. Meek and lowly work is work that people don't see, that's not valuable. It's the sort of work that's only noticed when it's not done. That's meek and lowly work, or not done properly. Yeah, whenever there's a mistake, there's a problem. You know, the example in this room is the sound guys. That's the meek and lowly work that goes on right now. What I do, that's not meek and lowly work. And the Klugs do. That's not meek and lowly work. What's meek and lowly work is what they do. And none of us notice it until there's feedback or until the mic doesn't work or until there's something wrong. And then we go, why don't they fix that? You remember when the mic went off on Taylor last week? And Taylor can't figure out what's going on. And David's up here going, I don't know what's going on. And the sound guys are back there going, what's going on? Whose fault was it?

Of course, it was the sound guy's fault. It was Levi or James or whoever was back. It was their fault. Well, it actually wasn't, but we don't care to know that. We just care that the mic cut off. And it doesn't matter what actually happened for the purposes of my illustration. But the only time we notice meek and lowly work is when it's not being done. And then we're frustrated by it, and we don't care to know why it wasn't done. So if you want to be prepared for the gospel, to receive the gospel, you have to engage in the meek and lowly work. You have to engage in the work that's not seen that you have to do. And there's a conflict that is, if you think about this, there's a conflict that arises. If you give yourself to doing the humble work, the meek and lowly work, tending sheep, what you'll find is that quickly you'll be tempted to think, well, the important work is suffering. My important work is suffering. But by important work,

we associate importance with visible. The work that I do that's seen is suffering because of the work that I'm doing that's not seen. And so if I'm forced to choose, I'm going to choose the work that is visible, that's seen, that people go, oh, look at what they did. Isn't that nice? And we're going to neglect the meek and the lowly work. And what's underneath that sort of thinking in our minds is that the visible work is more holy work. That God is more glorified when we do the things that people see, that we get praise for. That that's what's really, really important. And what I want you to see is that God came to the shepherds while they were doing their meek and lowly work. That's where he met with them. And I don't want you to think that the only time that you...

If you think, well, I want to have time and fellowship with God, so I'm going to go and I'm going to have devotions and I'm going to pray and I'm going to meet with God and commune with God. I want you doing that. Don't hear what I'm about to say as opposed to that in any way. I want you doing that. But I don't want you doing that believing that once you close your Bible and get up and go on with your day, that you somehow have divided yourself from the Lord. That you're no longer in fellowship or communion with him. That he's not going to interact with you as you go on to do the work of your day. Whatever that might be. God met with the shepherds as they were doing their normal everyday work. And that's what prepared them to receive the good news. That they were busy about their meek and lowly work. The thing that I'm trying to, the divide that I want to break down in our minds is this.

is that we live a double life. And every one of us is guilty of it to some extent or another. You behave and you act and you speak differently here than you do at work or out tomorrow. We all maintain this division. This is how I act when I'm at church and people are watching when it's important. And here's how I act differently. You know, I haven't ever heard a mom yell at her children at church, to my memory. I'm not saying it's never happened, but I haven't heard it. Does that mean that none of the women yell at their children? I know better than that. And so you see, we live in this kind of, this game. We're always aware of who's around and whether they're watching. And we do what we're supposed to do when we have to do it. That's not what the shepherds were doing. They were out keeping watch over their flocks by night. And the Lord came and he met with them. This idea that we can...

That we can maintain this double life, this hypocrisy, is contrary to the word of God. It's contrary to what we see here. These men weren't any less spiritual, any less serving God when they were out in the fields than they were when they were praying with the Lord, communing with him, worshiping him. We don't have a spiritual life and a regular life. You think of the question, have you ever asked or been asked, well, how are you doing spiritually? I've asked that question. I've been asked that question. But the question, it assumes something that's wrong. And the thing that it assumes is that you're going to be doing well spiritually if you're not doing well in the rest of your life. If you're failing at work and you're struggling at home and you're mismanaging your money and you have all these things going on in your secular life, regular life, you can't be doing good spiritually. You're lying if you think you can. You don't have a spiritual life and a regular life. You have a life. The life that you live, you live unto God. You have just one life. These shepherds are at work and God meets with them and they weren't like, oh, we can't talk about that because we're at work. Maybe later. No, they...

They took counsel among themselves and made haste to go see the baby. And they didn't despise his lowly estate. They didn't despise that he was out in a manger. And so what I want you to see is that all of the work that you do is influenced and has implication for your soul. There's not this division where you can live this way when you're here and live that way when you're there and that those things don't mix with each other because they do. All of our work has spiritual implications. The way that the shepherds kept the sheep, the way that they cared for them, they tended them, they protected them, indicated their spirituality, their care for God, their desire to do their work. And yet it was really, really humble work. It was really meek and lowly. No one was paying attention to it. And yet they valued it. And so what meek and lowly work do we have to do?

Meek and lowly work often is less visible work. And the thing that came to the front of my mind, one is because there's just a baby born. Jesus was born. The meek and lowly work that we have all around us is the work primarily of motherhood. That's actually very meek and very lowly work. It's not seen. It's not something that you get promotions for. It's not the sort of thing that you put on Facebook. Oh. I fed the kids and changed the diapers and did the dishes. I mean, you put stuff up there when it doesn't go well, but this is not the sort of thing, if you put that on Facebook, you're just not going to get any likes. Good job, Mom. Way to go with the spaghetti. It's meek and lowly work. And so one of the temptations that's associated with that is to devalue it and to say, well, it's not valuable work because it's not visible work.

And yet these shepherds, they didn't despise the birth of a Savior in a manger. They didn't despise how lowly and how pathetic it was. It made sense to them. They had a place in their minds for meek and lowly work because they did it themselves. And so if you want to be prepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you want to be filled with the joy that the angels had as they were proclaiming God's goodness, you have to... associate and appreciate the meek and lowly work. And in our society, I'm convinced that the most meek and lowly work that's despised is motherhood. Oh, well, that's just what you do. What are moms supposed to do after they have a baby? They're supposed to get their body back now. They're supposed to do all of the work that they used to do now, plus take care of a baby, which is a whole new job.

And the work of having a baby, it's not seen for one, right? It's only seen by a very precious few people who are close to the situation. It's not public. It's meek and lowly. The difficulties of it, if you've had children, you understand. When I say difficulties, we understand the difficulties of motherhood. And we all have different ones that our families have dealt with. But it's not the sort of thing you talk about. It's the sort of thing that's born quietly and silently, and everyone expects mom to just be back to normal, just like nothing happened. And yet that's meek and lowly work. And it has real implications, lasting implications. And so often we think, well, that's just the normal stuff that happens. Moms have babies, and then they just go back to normal life. No, they don't. They try.

Everything around us tells them that they're supposed to. They're supposed to think like they used to, act like they used to, prioritize like they used to, sleep like they used to. But all of that's different now because there's a baby. And all people want from your baby is they want your baby to smile at them when they come over and say, oh, look at the little baby. They expect you to make your baby smile. And so it's your job to make your baby smile. And what happens when your baby doesn't smile? Yeah, they hand it back. Oh, well, you just got one of those grumpy babies.

Have you considered that if they have one of those grumpy babies that mom might be having a hard time? Or you just go, oh, well, here, he needs you. Bye. And then we go back on. Dads, here, mom, he needs you. Do you value meek and lowly work or do you despise it? The shepherds did meek and lowly work. And it prepared them to receive the gospel. Can you think of, it's such a strange thing to think about Mary having this baby. She's young and she's poor and she's a virgin. And now she's pregnant and she's going to be accused of being a fornicator. And we know she's going to watch her son die. And she's told he's going to save his people from their sins. And she learns later what that means, more of what that means. And her work was meek and lowly. Mary wasn't anyone special.

And yet these shepherds, they went and they saw her. They went and they visited Jesus. They went and they weren't put off by the simplicity or the mundaneness of this. It wasn't just, oh, another baby's born. No, he's the Savior. And so they went and they saw him. And as the shepherds came in and they saw the baby Jesus, it says beyond in our text, it says that they proclaimed all of the stuff that they had heard. And what did Mary do? Do you know what it says she did? It says that she pondered all of these things in her heart. She's just overwhelmed by the goings-on, everything that was going on. She was told who this child would be, and she says, May it be done to your bond slave, as you have said. And then Jesus is born, and then these shepherds come, and they say, The angels, the multitude, this is what we just saw. This is who this baby is.

And she's overwhelmed and she ponders these things in her heart. And then she goes to raising him and caring for him. It's meek and it's lowly work. It really, really is. Parenting is. Taking care of little babies really is. You don't get any immediate recompense for your effort, for your sleepless nights from the messes you clean up, from those sorts of things. And you really don't have more important work to do if you're a mom. You really don't. You husbands, do you value that work? Do you like meek and lowly work? Your meek and lowly work is to love your wife as she does this work, as she cares for the children, especially when they're little. Or do you still get frustrated when she's not ready yet? The kids aren't ready yet. You look at Google and it says it should take you 43 minutes to get here, and you actually in your stupidity think that you're actually going to make it there in 43 minutes. It's easy to despise the meek and the lowly because the meek and the lowly don't have a recourse.

It's easy to oppress them. It's easy to push them out of the way. Because what can they do? What can a young child do if you decide to ignore them? Cry a little while longer and then stop because nobody's paying attention to them. They can do that. They don't have a recourse. They're meek, they're lowly, they're little, they're weak. The shepherds were glad to go and see the Savior Jesus Christ. And they were glad to because they did this, because of the work that they did. And moms often don't, think that their work is seen or of value? Have you husbands heard your wife tell you, no, it's not important, it's not valuable, no one sees it, no one cares, no one notices? Or do I make that all up? No, moms feel that way. It's our work not to despise the meek and the lowly. It's our place to associate with them, to bear with them. When you see moms, whether it's your wife or whether it's...

or not, your work is to associate with the meek and the lowly. Your work is to help them. I saw on the way in, before Sunday school, Becky had a baby and a big box full of stuff. And so I saw, and I was going, and Abram was already beating me to it. And so Abram goes and quickly takes something from her and helps her. I don't know how you were carrying the stuff previously. Was one of the kids carrying the box? Were you carrying it all? David was in here working. And so Abram, he helps. And he helps because he goes, a woman, a mom who has a baby needs help. And I see a lot. I actually see quite a bit of that here, and it's encouraging to me to see people help the meek and the lowly and to associate with them. But we don't do it as we ought to. And the whole spirit of Christmas in our society is contrary to this. You're not supposed to associate. It's not about the meek and the lowly. It's not about.

the have-nots. If you were to listen to our society, that's what they would tell you. They'd say it's not about associating with those who are without. It's about having and getting the things that you want for yourself. My kids have this Advent calendar. This year we bought them, and these have little pieces of chocolate in them, and all the chocolate's gone already. But Advent's not over, but all the chocolate's gone. And we celebrated St. Nicholas' Day this Thursday, I think. Right? Old St. Nick. Well, we celebrated St. Nicholas' Day. And so the kids got oranges and they got candy and they got all this stuff. And it's all gone, too. And we had told our kids, well, we want this stuff to last. We want the candy to last. And then it didn't last. And so then I talked to them. The candy's gone. What am I going to do? Why did you eat all that candy? You're not supposed to eat all that candy.

I said, boys, you're not, we're not poor. We're not meek and lowly. Because you know what poor people, really poor people do when they get something good? They save it. They save it. And poor kids, when real, real poor kids get candy, they save it. They hang on to it. They treasure it. It's like a toy. They look at it and, you know, you think of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and what's his and the boy's name? Charlie. and his chocolate bar. He saved and saved and finally got it. He just couldn't even be brought to open the bar and to eat it. So as I'm talking to my kids, I say to them, St. Nicholas helped poor people. He was good to poor people. He cared for poor people. We're not poor. I haven't taught you. I haven't lived and shown you what it is to be meek and lowly. Because when I see how they eat candy, I go, that's just me.

They're just like me. And it was discouraging to me. Not that my kids did all of that. I mean, the candy's gone and that's what it is. But I was discouraged to say, Joseph's nine and he doesn't, the meek and the lowly behaving that way? No. And I'll tell you one last final thing about being meek and lowly. You can't fake it. You can't fake being poor, being meek, being lowly. You can't, it's not something you can, fool people with. You all know poor people and what they look like. And you know whether you are or not. You know whether you despise the work or not. With the meek and lowly work that you have, you know whether you want to do it or not. Or if you're only willing to do it when they're watching. Or when there's a consequence. Or when the payoffs right now are coming soon. And we're surrounded by it. Speaking about parenting and motherhood, I've only picked one example. But one of the primary reasons that being a parent is so...

is difficult in that way, or meek and lowly, is because you don't get the return on investment. You don't see the fruit for years. In my house, this is said five times a week, five days out of seven. Vanessa, honey, we're raising men. We're not raising boys. We have to keep the long haul in view. We're looking for the harvest later. We've got to do the meek and lowly work now. And it's simple in my heart and it's simple in your heart, whether you want to or not, or whether you despise it. It's possible that the shepherds could have said, we're not going to, our Savior's not going to be born in a manger. He's just not going to. He wouldn't enter, he wouldn't come and live that way. And they can despise his meanness, his humiliation, but they didn't. And what I want you to learn is that the reason they didn't is because of the way they live their lives.

They were meek and lowly, and they didn't despise it. And so you moms, don't despise the meek and lowly work that you have to do. It is meek and lowly. There's no way around it. But it is glorious, and it will produce a harvest. It will. This is what I tell Vanessa regularly. This is what I tell my boys regularly. We're raising you to be men. We're raising you to honor God. We're going to do the work now, and we're going to wait for the return. We expect a return. Because we trust God. And so if you want to be prepared to hear the gospel, you've got to associate with the meek and lowly, and you've got to do the work yourself. If you have a principle against it, then you're inoculated against the gospel. You won't want it. You won't desire it. You won't hunger and thirst for it. You'll just kind of go, well, I hope. It'd be nice if that happened. It'd be nice if my kids grew up to honor Jesus. That'd be nice. I hope that happens.

What godly parent speaks that way about their children? They don't treat their children that way. They want very much for their children to honor Jesus Christ. So set them an example of it, mom and dad, brother, sister, your older siblings. When you have work to do with your younger siblings, you get to associate with the meek and lowly. That's what you're doing, and it prepares you for the gospel. And if you refuse to do it, you're being hardened against the gospel. I don't want that for you. Your parents don't want that for you. That's not God's plan for you. So be humble like the shepherds and associate with the lowly. And not just with those lowly, but do your lowly work. Do your humble work. Do the work that people don't see, but God sees. And trust him to bring a harvest. He sent his son. He said he would. And there had been 400 years of silence. And he said he would send a savior. And here he did. And here we are living in the time between his first and his second coming.

And we live in expectation. We live in hope. And we live doing the work that he sent us to do. You do this work with your children. You do this work with the lost. Loving the lost is really pretty unnoticeable. Most of it is. You think that if you share the gospel with someone, they're supposed to have this like, ah, moment. And then they, ah, are a Christian. And they're so thankful to you. But that's not what it looks like. Most of the time, that's not what it looks like. 98% of the time, that's not what it looks like. most of the time loving the lost, is meek and humble and you don't see the fruit of it. I look back on my life and I can think of my fifth grade teacher who was a Christian and I was awful. But I'm convinced that that woman, Miss Wallace, prayed for me. And she was very sweet to my family, to my mom and I. I was in Big Brothers and Big Sisters when I was a kid. And we never even prayed before meals. I mean, I could say it was so bad.

All I knew is they heard about Big Brothers Big Sisters at their church. That's all I knew about them. But I'm convinced that that couple prayed for me and for my mom. Absolutely convinced. And I don't talk to them, my fifth grade teacher or that family from Big Brothers Big Sisters, unless I call them. But they worked and they loved me and they cared for me. They did meek and lowly work. If you could have met me then, you would have thought I wasn't the kind of person you'd want to spend your time with. And yet they did. blessed it and used it, and they didn't see the fruit of it. And I want you to do the same. I want you to sow in faith. I want you to do the meek and lowly work. I want you to do it in your home. I want you to do it with your kids and with your marriage. I want you to do it at work and with your neighbors in the lost. I want to take out of your mind the necessity that the only work that's important is the work that's seen. That's not the only work that's important. Your work, you know that, because you have to write music and prepare things and do all of this.

so that the kids can perform. John's got a really cushy job. He was telling me this last week. Well, I came home at 4 a.m. and thought I'd get a little bit of sleep and then go back. Who sees it? Do any of you know that John, Emily knows John didn't sleep that night. Do your students know that? Sometimes, because your eyes are all bloodshot. We all have meek and lowly work to do. And we do it because we love God. And we trust him to produce a harvest from it. in his time and so give yourself to the work the shepherds gave themselves to the work in the field and it prepared them to receive the news of the savior do your meek and lowly work and it'll prepare you to love jesus better let's pray father we are humbled by you coming to earth and bearing our and sending your son to take on our flesh to come in weakness and and humility and vulnerability to save us who are sinners who are ungrateful and and

dumb and unknowing father we thank you for for that mercy to us we also thank you for the shepherds and for their faithfulness uh to serve you in the place where you've set them as shepherds we're thankful to you that they were that they were faithful and and diligent in their work we thank you for the good news that they heard and for their response to it having heard the good news father we thank you that they became messengers of that same news we pray father that you would help us to follow in their train to love the meek and the lowly, and to not despise being the meek and the lowly. Father, help us to walk by faith and to be a blessing, especially during this Advent season. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.