I'm going to be reading out of Luke chapter 2. Okay, Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 15. I'm reading out of the ESV translation. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was 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 those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." I want you to notice the invitations in this passage. In fact, I've titled this The Invitations of Christmas. And surprisingly enough, the hardest words in the Bible sometimes force are the words to you, because they're to use of repentance, they're to use of discipleship, of obedience and commands. But then there's also the to use of grace and mercy and love. You know, it's funny, I'm of a German background, Even as an unbeliever, I was very duty-bound, and I didn't come to Christ till I was 20, so I would be going to church because that was your duty. When the gospel preaching church, I didn't hear the gospel there. I didn't know any better or any different. I just went because one hour a week won't kill you. But sometimes the to use of grace and mercy and love are a little hard for me to grasp because of that duty-bound mentality. You know, working and performing for God, that's no problem, but sometimes letting God love me, that's a little difficult, uncomfortable. I like to be busy for God. I like to be working in His kingdom, but we have to watch that can become a cover-up for pride or a work's righteousness. God does want us busy in his kingdom after we have been with him and enjoying his presence and his grace to us. You know, God wants a soulmate. He didn't just save us for utilitarian reasons. Well, I saved you so I can use you. Certainly God wants us usable. But God saved us because he loved us. He sent Jesus into the world because he loved us. And just working for God is a one-way street. letting him love me as I serve him. Now we got a two-way street going here. And I think the older I get as a Christian, the more I see the scandal of grace, that my life is never going to be sufficiently squared away to stand before God and any righteousness of my own. You know, I take my conversion date as December 1st, 1967. That is approximate because I never wrote it down. And I don't know if it was the first Sunday in December or the second Sunday in December I got saved. But it's either the first or the eighth of December. But after almost 50 years in grace, I see my sin more clearly. And I think I should be so much further ahead in the learning curve after 50 years as a Christian, but I'm not. I need God's grace as much as the day I first got saved. And you know, grace by its nature is a scandal. Held discerning, sinners go scot-free, embraced in the arms of Heavenly Father, because Jesus has paid the debt of our sin, and we've asked him to be our savior. In fact, if the gospel you believe isn't too good to be true, I question whether you believe the true gospel. You know, we don't deserve salvation. We don't merit it or earn it. We don't maintain it on our own steam or energy. We receive it freely, without cost to us from God's hand. in much the same way as the shepherds got to see Christ that night. God gave them an unsolicited and unasked invitation. We don't read anything in the scriptures that, gee, it was a boring night and the shepherds prayed to God, could you do something to break the monotony tonight? And no, it was totally unsolicited and unasked. And the sweetest and most gracious words in the Bible are to you. You know, God's invitation to the shepherds, in verse 10, I bring you good news of great joy. Verse 11, a savior has been born to you. Verse 11, this will be a sign to you. God gives countless to you's invitations in the scripture. There's invitations to salvation, invitations to following, Invitations to rest in Him and be loved by Him. Invitations to draw on His strength. Invitations to co-labor with Him. And every promise of God in Scripture is an invitation to something His grace and love will give you the power to do. And God personalizes His invitations. They are to you. They're not to the other guy. Sometimes people read the scriptures and they think, well, that applies to so-and-so across the pew from me, but I don't think that applies to me. Yes, it does apply to you. You know, what good is it if the other guy got the job or the job promotion and it didn't go to you? What good is it to you if the other guy got the winning lottery ticket and you didn't? What good is it if By unbelief, we peel God's promises like the layers of an onion, and we peel layer after layer off till nothing is left. God's promises are not for the other person. They are for you. And his invitation had nothing to do with the performance of the shepherds. They weren't priests. They weren't rabbis. They had no theological training. They weren't even Levites who were the essentially the custodians or janitors of the temple, they were nobodies that were stuck in a dead-end job. And they would have just watched that night or slept that night away as any other night had not God given them that invitation. And if you get nothing else from what I say this morning, I want you to get this. God's invitation, be it salvation, be it to some area of growth, some service in your Christian life is always to you. And it has nothing to do with how well you perform. His invitation is focused and it is free. And we start out in Roman numeral one, the to you, the shepherds, God's invitation to the lowly and humble. It says in verse eight, there were shepherds living out in their fields nearby. Now, I don't know if they set up tents, if they had little lean-tos, what exactly they lived in. But, you know, shepherding was a low-man-on-the-totem-pole job. In fact, it was the lowest decent job that you could do. After that, there was only thievery or being a pickpocket. You know, a thousand years ago, the 23rd Psalm that David wrote, being a shepherd was a noble job. You know, David says at one point, you know, a bear came after the flock and I killed the bear and a lion came after the flock and I killed the lion. Well, now we're 10 centuries later. This is urban Jerusalem and shepherding has fallen on hard times. There has been no lions or bears in the Holy Land for centuries. They all went extinct as the population of the Jews expanded and became more urbanized. wild animals, the very dangerous ones, were gone and extinct. So there wasn't much to attack a bunch of sheep unless somebody wanted to rustle some. So the only danger you might have had was from people, but not from any wild animals. And in that first century society, it was not very upwardly mobile. Shepherding was going nowhere fast, or better yet, it was going nowhere slowly. And the last thing you would have ever wanted as a father in Israel in those days was for your daughter to come up and say, I'm going to marry a shepherd. Oh, no, don't do that. You're going to starve to death. Get somebody with a decent trade out there. Don't marry a shepherd. And you know, these were probably temple sheep that were destined for the morning and evening sacrifices that they did at the temple every day. And I think how fitting that these shepherds should be the first to see the Lamb of God, who's going to take away the sin of the world. And yet, because of God's invitation, because of those two little words to you, they saw more than the angels did that lit up that sky. Because we read that the angels went back into heaven now, whether they can open the binoculars or something from heaven and see what's going on, I don't know, the text doesn't say. But we do know that the shepherds were the one that hurried to the manger and to see them. And I think some of the loneliness and isolation that Mary and Joseph were feeling had the comforting presence of shepherds. You know, angels aren't very comforting. Every time an angel appears, people freak out and get scared half to death. So it probably wouldn't have been too good for some angels to show up at the manger that night, but shepherds, they're safe and approachable. And you know, somebody wise who said the angels may have had a part in the first Christmas carols, but we read that the shepherds hurried off to Bethlehem, and the shepherds took part in the first Christmas rush. So they knew a little bit about Christmas rush. And then the closeness of the invitation. We sing, oh little town of Bethlehem. It was a little duckburg, a little hamlet, four or five hundred people at the most. You know, why not Imperial Rome? Yeah, that was the political, the power center. of the whole Roman world of which Israel was a kind of a captive state. Well, God is not impressed with rulers. He says he breaks the spirit of rulers. He is feared by the kings of the earth. And this little babe is going to be king of kings who would make Caesar's power look like child's play. Well, how about Athens? That's the cultural and philosophical hub of the empire. Well, sadly, Greek culture glorified sin to a degree that we don't even have in America today, as bad as things are in America. And philosophy? God mocks it. First Corinthians 121, since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. That God's folly that the world laughs at is wiser. the man's wisest wisdom. And no, God chose a place that was near and little, that was safe for the shepherds. You know, the shepherds had no money. They could have never booked passage on a ship to Rome or Athens for angels to say, go to Rome or Athens and you'll see the son of God being born. That would have been crazy. They had no way to do that. But a little town just only three miles away, a suburb of Jerusalem, yeah, that's doable. And the sheep would be safe for those few hours that they were gone. And I rather doubt that any bosses came out on a night shift to see if the shepherds are really out there in the fields with the flock. The bosses were probably sleeping. But when God invites you to things, he makes sure that you're able to do it, because he enables you, and he does not give invitations that are impossible to respond to. Yeah, and the simplicity of the invitation. We had a youth group and they used to love to do scavenger hunts and get weird and strange things and you'd have to use a GPS system to find out where you were going. Well, they don't need that. He says, this will be assigned to you. A baby wrapped in cloth lying in a manger. You say, well, that's it. We saw angels, we heard heavenly choruses, something razzle-dazzle, isn't there more to come? And why in a manger? Mangers are for, you know, colts and calves and lambs, not even infants. Well, God says it's a good sign. First of all, there aren't that many mangers in a town of only four or five hundred people. And secondly, there's probably even fewer mangers that have a baby in it. So this is going to be pretty easy for you guys. This is not looking for a needle in a haystack. This is looking for a babe in a manger, and there are not too many of them in Bethlehem this night. So you're going to get to the right one. You know, they were so filled with wonder and at the joy of the invitation, that they hurried off. Let's see this thing that the Lord has told us about. Not, well, I wonder if this is true. I wonder if it's going to happen. I wonder if this is real. No, let's see what God has told us about. And sometimes we have to be careful because God's invitation is so ordinary and simple, we might miss it. An invitation in a quiet moment in your heart to receive Christ. Invitation to Visit that shut-in or sick friend. Invitation to take some behind-the-scenes ministry in the church. Invitation to invite a neighbor over for coffee and share the gospel with them. We need to stop looking for spectacular signs and invitations. Now, the shepherds saw angels, and that was because they were illiterate. Even if you had handed them a Bible in their language, they couldn't have read it. and they had no access to God's word anyway. And you and I, we have the whole Bible in our language, many translations, good translations out there you can use. And the Bible is chock full of God's to use. But you have to access your Bible. When God tells you, you got mail, well, you got to open your Bible and find out what he has. for you. But God had no intention of having some private invitation, kind of an invitation only exhibition that night. He was much wider in scope. In Roman numeral two, the two you, the Jews, God's invitation to his covenant people. Verse 10, good news of great joy that will be for all the I want you to notice that little word, the. Now, certainly invitation is for all people, and that's understandable, but the the is there because in that verse, God is referring to the covenant people, the Jews. God's promised savior to the Jews. Matthew's genealogy, in his account of the birth, says they had already been waiting 42 generations since Abraham for the Messiah to appear. You sometimes think God makes you wait long for the answers and prayers. And nobody here's waited 42 generations for something. And countless generations from Adam, when the promise was first made that this Messiah will crush the serpent's head. This invitation, this night, is centuries in the making. You know when Hollywood has a blockbuster coming out, they usually advertise, been years in the making for this movie. extravaganza, you've got to see it. Well this invitation tonight was centuries in the making and God is going to honor that promise of his invitation for all the people and no one was going to stop him. You know it started very early on when Cain killed Abel and tried to stop the coming of the Messiah and God raised up Seth and Christ would come from Seth's line. Pharaoh tried to stop it by killing and enslaving the Jews and God raised up Moses. Caesar tried to stop it by conquering Egypt or conquering Israel and ordering them all around this musical chairs thing to go to your town, your hometown of birth and register. And God merely used that decree to fulfill prophecy. Caesar was God's errand boy, and he didn't even know it at the time. And in two years, Herod would try to stop this Messiah by killing Jesus as a young child. And God warned Joseph in a dream to depart and go to the land of Egypt. And finally, Rome and Pontius Pilate would try to stop it. by killing Jesus on a cross. And of course, God raised him from the dead. No one can hinder God's invitation to you except you. No other person can block what God wants for you. And then the Jews' response to this invitation, it is sad to say that what Pharaoh, Herod, Pilate couldn't do the Jews did to themselves. John 111, he came to the Jews, he came to his own, that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. You know, it's funny, there was no room for him at the inn. There was no room for him in Israel's religious structure. Plenty of room for him on a Roman cross. And it was sad to say that the few Jews who didn't believe turned the invitation into exclusive one of Jews only, the Messiah was their private property and Gentiles didn't need to apply for membership in this exclusive club. And the words to you got turned inward into a club mentality. And God wants us to know that his invitations not only come to us, they come through us. It says in verse 17, when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what they had seen about this child. You know, they told Mary and Joseph, obviously, when they went to the manger and probably told other people as well. I mean, it's not every day you're out in the fields and see a heavenly chorus up in the sky. Now, you might say, well, how come this didn't arouse attention, and Herod didn't notice Jesus when he was a baby, and it wasn't until two years later when the wise men came along that he realized the Messiah was born. It was because most people wouldn't believe what shepherds said anyway. They could not give testimony in a court. They were not considered credible witnesses. And so people considered the source. Well, they saw angels out in the field. That's nice. You know, they have their little stories. They get bored by the campfire at night and they have to make up stories. So maybe not too many people took them seriously. But that didn't stop the shepherds. They still spread the message. And then three, Roman numeral three, to you, the Gentiles, God's invitation to those far from him. You know, verse 14, and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests." You know, God's promised Savior for us, the Gentiles. You know, we have messianic Jewish ministries, which are very good, Jews for Jesus, Chosen People ministries, and we find it rather I don't know if quaint's the word, or unique, or how wonderful to have a ministry to Jewish people. If you had been in a first century church, Gentiles, for Jesus, would have been a rather strange expression. For the first 10 years in the Book of Acts, the whole church is Jewish. They're in a nice holy huddle in the land of Israel. And then God decides to sentence the persecution from Paul and they get off their duff and they start fleeing the persecution and start taking the gospel to the Gentiles. And lo and behold, you have Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, the first Gentile convert. But God had always promised the Savior would be for the Gentiles as well. The Jews conveniently ignored or forgot all the passages in the Old Testament dealing with the Gentiles. But there was one Jew that didn't. That was the Apostle Paul. And in Romans 15, we won't look at it, but he gives a defense of his ministry to the Gentiles. And in verse 9 of Romans 15, he quotes David from Psalm 18. Verse 10, he quotes Moses from Deuteronomy 32. Verse 11, he quotes David in Psalm 117 again. Verse 12 in Romans 15, he quotes Isaiah 11. Paul finds all of these prophecies in the scripture concerning the Gentiles. This was never to be a club. It was to be the widest distribution possible. And we who are once far off from God have been reached by the invitation. And the Gentiles' response was very interesting. It was a while in coming. It would be 40 plus years after that night in Bethlehem. You know, Caesar wasn't interested. He had a census to run. He had taxes to collect. He was not interested in checking on mangers and nurseries. And he was a tyrant, a dictator, not an elected official, so he didn't go around kissing babies to get votes. And I'm sure a lot of the Gentiles thought the pagan gods have worked well enough for us for centuries and centuries. Why worship some Jewish carpenter god? Why change now? But eventually, as that invitation went out through those it came to, a fire ignited in the Gentiles' hearts as well. Acts 13, 48, and when the Gentiles heard this, the gospel message, they were glad and glorified the word of God and as many as were ordained to eternal life. And we sit here today, 20 centuries later, as a product of their sharing. You know, verses like these should fill us with joy and peace in believing that no people group is shut out by God from a gospel invitation. Psalm 145, 18, the Lord is near to all. who call upon him to all who call upon him in truth. But now I want to take this invitation, but taking it very broad and very wide. Now I want to focus it down to the two square feet of space that each one of us takes up. Roman numeral four to you, God's invitation to us in present time. And don't you get the idea that God just gives invitations 20 centuries ago Now he's quiet and silent and doesn't do any inviting anymore. That's not true at all. You know, there are some that would take these words of invitation to you and they would put them far away. They would say, salvation, God's invitation to trust in Jesus is something mysterious. And I will grant that conversion is wonderful and mysterious. But it's not this case of God is up in heaven, I guess he just zaps some people and I gotta wait till he zaps me. You know, God isn't in the business of zapping people. God is in the business of having people respond to the invitations that he gives. This can happen to you. And you know, salvation is not far away. God's calling to whatever ministry or labor he has for me in his field is not far away. See, it's like Bethlehem. It's in the backyard of your own heart. The Savior is only a prayer away as we respond to him. You know, some look for a sign. Well, God, if you gave me a razzle-dazzle invitation, if I had a dream, if I had a vision, oh, then I'd know it was really you. No, you might just think you ate too much pizza that night, and you shouldn't have had so much pizza before you went to bed. You'd write it out. You don't need an angel. You have God's clearest invitation in scripture. Romans 10, 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And you have a better sign than a baby in a manger. You have a savior who died on the cross for our sins, that he forgave and that we could yield his life, our life to his control. Now, some would take these words of invitation to you too narrow. and restrict it. They like Club Med, so they like Club Jesus. Let's have some exclusive membership. You know, just as the shepherds were unwelcome in religious circles, in fact, these shepherds, it's kind of ironic, that were probably taking care of the temple sheep, they were shut out from temple worship. They were considered ritually unclean, They couldn't go to temple to worship. You're good enough to take care of the sheep for the temple, but don't walk in the temple doors. We really don't want you. Dirty common shepherds don't need apply. And we have to watch as a body of believers that we don't just want sensible sinners, respectable people, moral individuals to come visit the church. And it'd be nice if they had some money on top of it. God says, come as you are. You know, catching fish is not the work, the hard part. You just sit there with the line and wait for the fish to bite. The hard part of fishing is cleaning the fish. You know, the hard part is not when the unbeliever comes in, gets gloriously converted, or we witness to a friend, we invite him to church, they come here. No, the hard part is cleaning them, is staying with them as they take their baby steps in Christ and take their first movements. At the church I'm going to currently, at Duxbury Baptist, I'm starting a Sunday school class for new believers. And we're calling it New Startups, whatever, kind of Christianity 101. And it's a well-taught church, and they've had a history of fabulous you know, doctors in the pulpit for decades before I ever got there. And I thought, I might be barking up the wrong tree here. There are a lot of pretty deep believers here, and they're knee-deep in good teachers. And maybe I won't get too many people for the class, but I'll try it. I got 16 people signed up already. People that want to take the first basic steps. And that's what we want. We want sensible sinners. We want disgusting, gross sinners. We have a one size savior that fits them all. And we never want to forget that his invitation was not just to us. It is also through us to others. You know, you were invited so others could be invited too. And somebody probably invited you. I don't doubt in anyone's testimony here that there was some person that somehow came to you with the gospel or gave you a tract or gave you a little Gideon New Testament when you went in the service or something, but somehow some person had personal contact with you that touched you with the gospel and God says, pass it on. Pass it on. Don't keep it to yourself. Pass it on. You give the gospel the widest distribution possible, you let God screen the candidates. Don't ever presuppose, oh, I don't think my neighbor would be interested, or, oh, they're just Catholic, and they don't want to hang around any Protestant. You don't know. Just share. If they're not interested, they'll let you know soon enough. But don't screen the candidates. Don't prejudice them against the gospel. before you ever even talk to them. And then some would make these words of invitation to you kind of vague and nebulous. Well, this is good for so-and-so. Or you've probably had people say, well, how nice for you. I'm glad you found religion. I don't really need it, but I'm glad it works for you. You've heard those patronizing words. Well, don't do that. God's favor doesn't rest on someone else. God wants his favor to rest on you. You take the words to you at face value. It's a sincere offer. You don't want to read yourself out of it. I love Isaiah 45, 19. God says, I have not spoken in secret from somewhere in the land of darkness. I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak the truth. I declare what is right. God says, I don't dangle something out in front of you and then you come for it. I take it away and say, see, you can't have it. He says, I make a sincere, good offer. I don't speak in darkness. I don't speak in vain. When I make an invitation, I fully mean the invitation. And those words to you are some of the most fantastic words in the scripture. Now, some of us, in fact, probably all of us here, we're one on whom is favor rest. We've received Christ as our Savior and Lord. We're in the family already. Well, spread the wealth. Let others know about it. Because there are those that are still outside the family of God. And the Bible says, come, come right now. God has never refused anyone yet. In fact, if God refuses you, he's breaking precedent. You'll be the first person in history he's ever refused. And of course, God isn't going to do that because God doesn't go back on his word when he makes an invitation that stands. But you know, the invitation has stood for 20 centuries. And if Christ doesn't come back for another 20 centuries, but I sure hope it's not that far off, the words will still stand. Today, In the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. Let's pray. Father, we bless you. We bless you for the personalization of your promises, that they're not vague and nebulous, they're not just to general mankind, although you certainly make an offer to all mankind. But Father, that they're to come down to the two square feet of space we take up. And Father, many of us have received Christ as our Savior. We know what those words to you mean, and we've maybe known it for years or decades. Father, may we not hide it in our hearts, but may we take the invitation to us and let it go through us to other people. And Father, may we not screen the candidates. May we just give it the widest dispersion possible. And Father, be anybody who has yet to receive Christ as Savior that today would be their day of salvation. What a glorious thing, a Christmas day that falls on a Sunday. And then on Sunday, December 25th, 2016 was the day I found Christ as my Savior. Father, pray that might be a truth for someone as well. And Father, that we would rejoice in the goodness of your invitation, the fullness, the freeness, the graciousness of it. And Father, that as you have showered your love on us, that we would shower it on those around us. In Jesus' name, amen.