In the year 1934, on a family dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, in the USA an African-American who worked on the farm persuaded the farmer’s son to go to a revival meeting in Charlotte led by an evangelist called Mordecai Ham. The young man was reluctant but was eventually persuaded to go. That young man was captivated by the good news of Jesus Christ and accepted him as Lord and Saviour. For the rest of the twentieth century and the early years of this century he preached and it is estimated that about two and a half million people have acknowledged Jesus as their personal saviour as the result of his preaching. The name of that young man, converted in 1934, is Billy Graham. He came to Jesus because the African American who worked on his family farm was gracious enough to point him in the right direction. In a very real sense it can be said that those two and a half million people owe their salvation as much to that African American as they do to Billy Graham.
Two thousand years ago a bunch of shepherds were gathered in a field keeping watch over their flock of sheep. Shepherds were not popular people in first century Judea. They were regarded as unclean by the vast majority of people and were not allowed to worship in the synagogues. They also had a bit of a reputation; rightly or wrongly people accused them of having a lax attitude when it came to other people’s personal property. Shepherds mostly kept themselves to themselves, spending most of their time tending to their sheep and keeping them safe from wolves and other wild animals. They were not really the sort of people that would expect to be invited to be the first to visit the newly born Son of God.
Left to his own devices Billy Graham has admitted that he probably wouldn’t have gone to that revival meeting. Left to their own devices the shepherds probably wouldn’t have gone into Bethlehem at all that night. They had sheep to watch over and guard and in any case they would not have expected a warm welcome from the people of Bethlehem. Even had they heard of the birth of a baby they wouldn’t have stirred. Groups of men are generally not over interested in the birth of a baby, except when that baby is their own child, or the child of family or friends.
Billy Graham went to that revival meeting because he was encouraged to go by a worker on his parent’s farm. The shepherds went to see the baby Jesus because they were encouraged to go by an angel. It always amuses me to think of those shepherds sitting in that field, maybe warming themselves by a fire or having a good moan about the Romans and how things were much better before Herod took the throne, when all of a sudden this heavenly being appears to them. An honest to goodness angel! If an angel appeared in this church this morning I think its fair to say we’d be reasonably surprised and we have gathered here this morning to worship God. Imagine if you were in your place of work, in your office or in your kitchen at home or where ever; and an angel suddenly popped into view. How would you feel? The Bible tells us that the shepherds were terrified and I don’t blame them.
The angel tells them not to be afraid, though I do wonder how much that actually calmed their nerves. I think I would have been shaking like a leaf if I’d been with them. He then goes on to tell them that God’s Son has been born in nearby Bethlehem and gives them enough information so that they can find the baby if they want to. More angels appear, a whole choir of them singing the praises of God, the skies filled with their light and their voices. Then, suddenly, they are gone as quickly as they came and the shepherds decide to go and see this Son of God they’ve been told about.
Let’s look again for a moment at what the angel said to the shepherds. The angel told them that God’s Son had been born that day in Bethlehem. He said that the baby was “Christ, the Lord!” In effect the angel was revealing the true nature of Jesus since “Lord” was one of the names of God in the Old Testament. The angel was telling the shepherds that this baby was God born on earth. Then the angel told them how to find the baby….. And nothing else! There was no commanded to go and visit the baby. Perhaps a suggestion in the giving of his location, but certainly no direct order to go and visit the new born king.
I am sure that the farm worker who persuaded Billy Graham to go to the revival meeting didn’t tell him he had to go; as an employee of the family he was in no position to do so. All he could do was to try and persuade Billy Graham to go. The angel, on the other hand, could have ordered the shepherds to go and visit baby Jesus, he had the authority of God behind him; but the angel didn’t do that. He gave them enough information to get them interested and left the decision to them.
I think it is fair to say that no genuine, believing Christian has ever been forced into the Kingdom of God. In past centuries the church tried to use a mixture of threats and violence to force people to believe in Jesus. The Spanish Inquisition was particularly effective at this. The trouble is that forced belief is not genuine faith. True Christian conversions come about through persuasion and the realisation of the truth of the gospel; not through the imposition of authority.
As we know the shepherds did decide to go and visit the new born Son of God. “Lets go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” they said. Probably leaving one or two men behind to watch the sheep the shepherds set off for Bethlehem, their plans for the evening changed completely. They’d been settling in for a good evening’s grumpy old men session about King Herod and all the things he’d got so wrong, the next thing they knew they were off to meet the Son of God.
The shepherds’ lives were changed as a result of their encounter with the baby Jesus. Luke’s gospel tells us that they found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in a manger just as the angel had said. This encounter with the baby Jesus obviously made a huge impression on them because Luke tells us that they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. In some way their seeing the infant Jesus confirmed what the angel told them.
The New Testament shows us that it is impossible to encounter Jesus without forming some kind of opinion about him. Early in his ministry we hear that people are amazed by his preaching because he speaks as one with authority, not like the teachers of the law. Simon Peter, when asked by Jesus who he thinks Jesus is, replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Some Pharisees, upon encountering Jesus, accuse him of being in league with the devil. His own family think that he might be mad. The Roman soldier, standing at the foot of his cross as he died said, “Surely he was the Son of God.”
I would say that it is impossible to know about Jesus without forming some kind of opinion today. Thousands and thousands of books have been written about Jesus, making all sorts of claims about who he was, how he lived his life, what his teaching really means, what his mission was, why he died on the cross and whether or not he rose from the dead. Many people like to think that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not the Son of God. Others like to claim that he was either mad for thinking he was the Son of God or simply mistaken.
Yet those of us who have met the living Jesus through his words in the Bible, through the preaching and teaching of ministers, evangelists and preachers and through his presence with us as we worship and live out our lives know the truth. The truth that Jesus was and is the Son of the one true God who died for our sins on that Calvary cross and was raised from the dead bringing us the assurance that if we repent of our sins and accept him as Lord and Saviour then we will receive eternal life. We know who Jesus was and still is, the Lord and Saviour of us all.
The shepherds met the baby Jesus and when they had seen him they “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child”. They went around Bethlehem telling people that the baby Jesus was Saviour and Lord.
The last thing that Jesus told us to do before he ascended into heaven was to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
There are many, many people in this country this week who have celebrated Xmas, Christmas without Christ. Surveys have shown that many people have only the vaguest idea of why they are giving presents to each other, eating too much turkey and Christmas pudding and drinking too much wine or beer. It seems incredible to us that people do not know that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Son of God, yet that is the case. There are millions of people out there, who do not know the Christmas story, the story of the events surrounding Jesus coming into the world as a baby: people who do not know that as an adult Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and then rose from the dead to bring assurance of eternal life.
It is up to us to tell them. The church does not exist just so that we can have somewhere comfortable to worship God every Sunday, so that we can enjoy fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ and so that we can grow in knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus; the church also exists to spread the Good News of Jesus to all those who desperately need to hear it. The primary purpose of the church is mission. Our Lord Jesus is in heaven, he doesn’t have a physical body on earth at this time. We the church are Christ’s body and we are his voice. The church is the means Jesus chose to spread his message to the world.
Bamber Bridge Methodist Church, where my cousin Mark is minister have organised a Christian Comedy Club that meets in the local Conservative Association building once a month. The aim is not direct evangelism, but a chance for Christians to meet with non-Christian members of the community is a relaxed social setting, with the hope that this might perhaps lead to an interest in the gospel.
We, as a church, should be doing mission, trying to reach people for Christ and spread the Good News of Jesus. It is also something that we, as individuals, should be doing. What are we doing in our own lives to make sure that people know that two thousand years ago the Son of God was born in Bethlehem and that when he was in his thirties he gave his life for us?
Personal evangelism isn’t easy, it can be difficult to talk to others about our faith and yet we can do it. Opportunities do present themselves and we must take advantage of them.
I used to work in a Library and a lady came in to ask if we had one of the Alpha Course books in stock, Nicky Gumbel’s “Questions of Life”. We didn’t have it in Blackpool but I ordered a copy from another Library chain. I could have just left it there, job done, but I didn’t. I asked why she wanted the book and it turned out she has a daughter who is interested in spiritual matters and the book is for her. I then found out where the local Alpha courses currently are and gave the lady the details to pass on, along with the book. I don’t know if her daughter read the book or went to the Alpha course but I do know there is more chance of it now because I gave her the information. I hope and pray that my customer’s daughter came to Christ. I tell this story not to blow my own trumpet but to show how the ordinary everyday events of life can give us relatively easy opportunities for mission.
We may never see the results of our efforts. Christian ministry can be a little like dropping a pebble in a lake. We see the initial ripples but we have no idea how far they will spread. An African American farm worker told Billy Graham about a revival meeting and as a result around two and a half million people have been saved through his preaching. The farm worker could never have foreseen that! If we make the effort to tell others about Jesus, or even to encourage them to go to an evangelistic service or attend an Alpha Course we may just be instrumental in leading one person to Christ, which should be enough motivation itself, or we may set in motion a whole chain of events that could lead to the salvation of many people.
Two thousand years ago the most important baby in the history of the world was born, a baby who was the Son of God and who would grow up to become the Saviour of the world. In a field outside of Bethlehem a few shepherds were told by an angel of the birth of Jesus. They went to see the baby and then told everybody they met about the wonderful things they had seen and heard. As Christian believers we should be following their example. As Christians we know the wonderful truth about that baby who grew up to become Saviour of the world; how can we not want to spread that wonderful truth to those who do not know?
