Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray with me. Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, so that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will discover peace. Add your blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the preaching of your word, and grant us all the grace to trust and obey you and all God's people said. Amen. If you have not yet read R.C. Sproul's children's book, I highly recommend them. My favorite of his is probably The Lightlings. The Lightlings begins with a young boy named Charlie, who, like many children, is afraid of the dark. One day, his grandpa comes to visit, and Charlie asks him, Grandpa, why am I so afraid of the dark? And why do so many people I know seem to be afraid of the dark too? Grandpa looks at Charlie and says, well, that's a very good question. But you know, Charlie, not only are lots of people afraid of the dark, many people are afraid of the light. Afraid of the light, says Charlie, why would that be? To which the grandpa responds, to understand that, I have to start at the beginning. In fact, the very beginning. Sproul then goes on to write about how there was once a great king who was the king of light. The king of light made people to shine brightly just as he did. He put them in a garden that was full of bright sunshine and the king would visit them early in the morning bringing light with him. One day, however, the lightlings decided to do what they wanted to do instead of what the king of light had commanded them to do. And as soon as they disobeyed, they ran into the darkness because they were ashamed and afraid of the light. No more did the lightlings shine brightly in a world filled with light, but instead they lived and walked in the darkness. And it was so dark all the time that they couldn't even tell the difference between night and day anymore. They would stumble and bumble through the woods, pricking themselves on thorns and thistles. And because they couldn't see where they were going, they would often trip and fall, scuffing their knees and bruising themselves. That is, until one day they saw a bright light shining through the trees from miles and miles away. Some of the lightlings were frightened by the light because they thought the king was coming to punish them. And so like their first parents, they ran away from the light. But some of the other lightlings were so amazed by the light that they wanted to see where it was coming from. And so they trekked through the dangerous, dark woods to see where the light was. When they finally came to a clearing in the forest, they saw a father lightling, a mother lightling, and a baby who was shining like the sun. The father lightling said, the baby wasn't his son, but rather this was the son of the king of light. The little lightlings bowed down in reverence for the son, and when they stood up, they were shining too. So they ran back through the woods, and everywhere they went, the light spread such that now they were able to see where they were going, run without falling, and playing without bumping into trees. When they told their friends about the sun of light, and their friends believed, they too began to shine, and they too began to spread light everywhere they went. Finishing the story, Grandpa looks at Charlie and says, you see, Charlie, we're afraid of the dark because we were made to live in the light. And one day, all of us who love this son will live with him forever in the light. In our gospel lesson today, we heard a similar story, didn't we? Just a couple of minutes ago, we heard Luke tell a story about some shepherds, some lightlings, if you will, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And seemingly out of nowhere, one angel and then tens of thousands of angels appear shining and singing about God's glory, which in the Bible is associated with his shining so brightly that you can almost feel the weight of light. Like in Sproul's story, one of these lightlings saw the face of the son of light in the face of a baby, and then they too all went around and spread the good news to other lightlings that they didn't have to be afraid of the dark anymore. Just like in Sproul's story, Luke is telling this one so that Theophilus, a God-loving Gentile child of God, wouldn't be afraid of the dark. Remember Luke is writing to a new covenant lightening who feels like he's being evermore surrounded by darkness. Now we're used to thinking of darkness as being associated with evil inside of us and evil outside of us and that's true but in the New Testament darkness also represents the old covenant. If you remember, Theophilus and all the other Christians were being persecuted by the leaders of darkness, the leaders of the old covenant. And so really in struggling with sin and being oppressed by the Roman government and being persecuted by the Jews, the lightlings really were being attacked with darkness on all fronts. And it's into that darkness Luke and Luke alone writes this story to remind Theophilus and all the other faithful lightlings that they do not have to be afraid of the dark for in Christ their light has come. The glory of the Lord has arisen upon them and the nations can trust that in coming to Christ they really are coming to the brightness of his rising. And so like Sproul and like Luke, my heart's desire for you lightlings this morning, especially those of you whose lives are gripped by merciless fear and anxiety, is that by the end of our time today, you will come a little more into the light and be a little less afraid of the dark. So if you look at verse one, Luke begins his don't be afraid of the dark story by framing the events as taking place during the days when a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world had to be registered. Now if you're at all familiar with the story, that didn't work at all. The drinking of water, that wasn't a beer yet. If you're at all familiar with this story, you've probably heard that Caesar was requiring people to register so that he knew the exact amount of taxes he was going to be able to extract from the people. And that's right, but it's also important to remember that a king or an emperor also required registrations like this so that he knew how many fighting men he needed and where to put them so that he could quell rebellions and stave off invaders. We see God actually requiring this same kind of thing in some places like Exodus 30, Numbers 1 and Numbers 4. In Exodus 30 and Numbers 1, God tells Moses to take a census of all men 20 years of age and older, to require them to pay an offering so that the Levites and priests could serve in the tabernacle, and so that they would know how many men are of fighting age and able to go to war. The other census God requires is in Numbers 4, and that too is for warfare, albeit of a spiritual kind, when God requires Moses to take a census of all the Levites who are between the ages of 30 and 50 so that they'll know how many priests are able to wage war in the tent of meeting. As an aside for those of you that are new to us, those texts are where we get the principle of beginning to consider a young man as a head of his own household at the age of 20. The youngest age for ordaining a man to the ministry is being about 30, and I personally tend to think the most prudent age for eldership as being closer to 50 than not. But I share those God-ordained censuses to show that there is a direct correlation between the calling of a census and temple taxes to knowing how many men are on hand to go to war. And taking a census isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it's done in accordance with God's word. But there are times, like David in 2 Samuel 24, when a king takes a census to find out how many military men he has out of pride and fear. So when we read that Caesar Augustus was requiring people to register for a census, we have to keep in mind that would have had all the people wondering if there wasn't a war on the horizon. And when the empire is at war, the ordinary people are terrified because they were the ones who were called upon, upon the threat of death for refusing, to pledge allegiance to Caesar and fight. After all, Caesar was Lord. Augustus was known as Divi Filius, son of God, and Pater Patriae, father of the country. He was responsible for maintaining the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, and everyone knows that world peace is kept by shedding the blood of anyone who would dare threaten the status quo. And so even though no one would dream of saying it out loud, if Caesar is calling a census, well then even he must be worried that a war is coming. And when Caesar is worried, everyone should be worried. And so here in this one little verse, Luke is reminding Theophilus. that just like his days were fear-filled days, so too were the days leading up to the birth of Jesus. And yet as powerful as it might be for the great Caesar Augustus to be able to dictate the movement of millions of individuals under his rule, Luke makes sure to point out that he's only able to do so because his feigned sovereignty is under the truly sovereign hand of the Almighty God. After all, it was 750 years before Caesar's decree that God gave his decree of these events through the prophet Micah. But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth, and then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. It's almost as if Luke is whispering. You see, Theophilus. I know some men seem powerful and in control of the whole world, but always remember, nothing any king or any ruler does is outside of the control of the king of kings and lord of lords. Not even a hair can fall from your head apart from God's will. After giving Theophilus a proper perspective of where ungodly rulers fit in God's plan of redemption, Luke then shifts his attention to a different set of rulers, this time godly shepherds who are keeping watch over their flock by night. In the Bible, shepherds are shepherds. But all rulers are likened to shepherds because they're all responsible to care for those under them, like a shepherd cares for the sheep. Abraham, Moses, and David were all literal shepherds, but they were also archetypal shepherds. In Genesis 20, Abraham is called a prophet. Moses is of the priestly tribe of Levi, and of course, David is king. all actual shepherds initially, but after encountering the glory of the Lord and because of their faithfulness, they are promoted to under shepherds on behalf of God, who David rightly esteemed as the great shepherd in Psalm 23. So when Luke chooses to tell the story of faithful shepherds who are keeping watch over their flock by night, it's not an incidental detail of an incidental group of men. Rather, in typical Lukean fashion, when he esteems one group of humble, faithful servants, he is silently rebuking the others. It's no coincidence that Luke points out that the angel of the Lord didn't appear to the high priest in the Holy of Holies on the High Holy Day, but rather to a regular, ordinary priest, simply doing his duty, serving and praying. Similarly, when Luke records an angel appearing again six months later, not in the royal palace of the mighty King Herod and the second of his two Marys, but rather in a no-name town, Nazareth, to a virgin Mary who's betrothed to a simple, honorable man, Joseph, who is of the house of David. Luke is doing that on purpose. The high and mighty priests and kings are left in the dark, but the lowly, humble servants of the Lord, on them light shines. And so is the case here too, when rather than appearing to the esteemed prophets and teachers of Israel, Luke tells of an angel visiting humble shepherds who are keeping watch over their flocks in the night. as faithful and brave as these shepherds had to be to be good at their jobs, they're not so foolish as to respond any differently than Zechariah or Mary when they saw God's messengers in bright array. Continuing the theme of fear being in the air, Luke writes that when the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, like Zechariah was afraid and Mary greatly troubled, they too are sore afraid, as the King James puts it. The fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom. And as faithful messengers always exhort those who fear the Lord, the first words out of this angel's mouth are the same comforting commands offered to Zechariah and Mary. Fear not. Fear not, faithful priest. God remembers. He keeps his promises. He'll be merciful. Fear not, young lady. God favors you. And now fear not, faithful shepherds, a child is born. In the fear-filled days of Caesar Augustus, while it appears the whole empire could be on the brink of war, in the middle of the night, when the shepherds needed to be on guard against wild beasts who might attack their sheep, the only fear on these guys' minds in that moment is the fear of the glory of the Lord shining all around them. And perhaps in that moment, like no other before or after, all their other fears are rightly ordered. It's into that rightly ordered fear God's messenger offers them true comfort. Fear not, faithful shepherds. I bring you the gospel. the good news of great joy that will be for all people unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. We've heard this said so many times I don't think we can even begin to grasp the magnitude of that statement. Do you know who the Savior is up to this point in Luke's gospel? Mary sang as much in her Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Eighteen times already in the first two chapters Luke has referenced the Lord and every single time up to now the Lord is God himself. And so when the glory cloud surrounds these shepherds and the angel says that the Savior who is Christ the Lord was born, he's proclaiming the good news that we heard in our epistle reading. Long ago and many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the whole world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Caesar is not the ultimate Lord. Herod is not the ultimate king, and Annas is not the ultimate high priest. In the birth of this little baby in Bethlehem, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, has taken on flesh and is lying in a manger. Christ, by highest heaven adored. Christ, the everlasting Lord. Mild he lay his glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Is it any wonder we sing it? While Caesar is measuring his army, God is revealing to these faithful shepherds that the ones that are for them are far more than those who are for Caesar. After this very political declaration of power from the heavenly herald, Luke goes on to describe the heavenly army as a multitude of heavenly hosts who are praising God at the revelation of this good news. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Like Zechariah and Mary before, these faithful shepherds need not fear because this little baby would one day become king of kings and lord of lords and the great and merciful high priest who would indeed save his people from their sins. When the glory of the Lord surrounds these guys and they find themselves surrounded by angelic armies, it's like they've been transported through the dark blue veil covered in cherubim and into the Holy of Holies. If God was with them, these guys knew what all of God's faithful have always known. When God is with his people, there is no reason to fear any army because victory follows God. From Egypt to Jericho to the Amorites and Assyrians, when the angel of the Lord and his glorious heavenly armies show up, victory is certain because God himself has come to be savior. And so even though Caesar Augustus and the governor of Syria are oppressing the people of God and gathering their armies, and even though the wicked Jewish shepherds are for sale, when these shepherds see the multitude of heavenly armies singing, it's like their eyes are opened to what's really going on and they're able to see the mountains all around them filled with horses and chariots of fire. Is it any wonder then that after going to Bethlehem and finding exactly who the angels said they would, after seeing the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus the Christ, that they went out from there like angelic flames of fire and spread the good news, glorifying God and praising him for all that they had heard and seen in seeing Jesus. If you ever had any doubt as to whether the gospel and politics have anything to do with each other, let this text be a reminder to you that the gospel message is fundamentally political. If Jesus is Lord and King and Savior, Caesar isn't. At least not ultimately. And when God's messengers preach that, Caesars and rulers and shepherds who are for sale rage and take counsel together, but they do so in vain. Because God has set his son on his holy hill where he lives and reigns, even now over the supposed mightiest of Caesars. This would be extremely important for Theophilus to remember. Not just because of the suffering and persecution that he and the other God lovers were experiencing at the time, but because in a few years after this gospel was written, another Caesar, Nero, would rise to power and the persecution of Christians would literally heat up as they'd been lit on fire for insisting that Jesus is Lord and Caesar isn't. In the writing of this gospel then, and as we'll see when we go through the book of Acts, and in highlighting these faithful shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night and who spread the good news that Jesus is Lord and Savior even at the risk of their own lives, Luke is comforting the God lovers. And I'm comforting you. You are beloved by God this morning. The good news, you too need not fear. Like God's faithful through the ages, the Lord is your shepherd. And he's given you under shepherds, messengers of the gospel to remind you over and over again that once you have beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, once you've got your fears rightly ordered, beloved, you needn't fear anything. If the Lord is on your side, what can a man do to you? Beloved, every Lord's Day we remind you that we are caught up into the heavenlies, into this scene that we shared with Luke, into the very presence of the glory of God and angels and archangels and all the company of heaven with one voice laud and magnify the glorious name of Jesus. For you to come in here into the heavenly armies and then go back out there and continue to be gripped by fear is to refuse to be comforted by one of God's greatest commands. Do not be afraid. Like Zechariah and Mary and these shepherds, you live in a time where fear is palpable. And there are shepherds for sale who will use that fear to keep you paralyzed and keep themselves in power. They want you to be afraid. They want you to fear racists and immigrants. They want you to fear the rich and the poor. They want you to be afraid of the educated and the ignorant. They want you to be afraid of the patriarchy and the feminists. You see? Their whole game plan for getting and retaining glory revolves around being able to keep you afraid. And the more you listen to those voices out there, the more you obsess over whatever threat of darkness is your greatest fear, the less able you will be to shine with Christ's glory. Even if UCEDD and DEI and ICE and the FDA are a disaster, so what? If God is on your side, what can any of them do to you? Are you really going to let the fear mongers trick you into obsessing over chemtrails and red dye and a little dairy? Are you really gonna spend your entire life letting the obviously wicked, obviously greedy, obviously godless foe shepherds keep you from listening to your shepherds when we try to comfort you with the greatest comfort? Beloved, do not fear. God sees you. He remembers, He promises, He's merciful, He favors you, and you need not look for any further proof of His love and care for you than to look once again and behold the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus, the Christ, the Lord of glory. The king of glory and of light has visited you and has redeemed you, and he rules over the entire cosmos. And not a single thing can happen to you that is outside his good, sovereign will for you. To the degree you refuse to embrace that, you will continue to be enslaved to your fears. Continue to stumble around in the dark, tripping and falling, scuffing your knees and bruising yourselves and those you love. But to the degree that you come into the light and bask in the presence of the Lord of glory, you will be able to see where you're going. You'll be able to run without falling and play without bumping into trees. and to a dark world gripped by all manners of fear and anxieties, you will begin to shine brighter and spread Christ's light wherever you go. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we have heard wonderful things out of your word. We praise you for revealing Christ by promise and shadow in the Old Testament and for revealing him as the fulfillment of all these things in the new. Give us your spirit so that we might understand these words and the fullness of your truth as you have revealed it to us in the person and work of Jesus, who with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory now and forever. Amen. Our communion meditation is from Romans 8, verses 14 through 18, hear God's word. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." This is the word of the Lord. The world says you shouldn't fear God and then proceeds to try and frighten you with everything else. And if you don't fear God, it should work. But God's word says that we are to fear Him and nothing else. We get this even in our churches so utterly backwards and we are not less fearful because of it. Instead of having our fears rightly ordered and being freed from fear, we are enslaved by our fears such to the extent that we are willing to disobey the Lord of glory rather than face our fears. Some of you women are so afraid of being tired, of having a headache, or of giving your kids a little gas that you're willing to hold your entire household hostage with your feigned sense of control and your endless rules about food and drink. Taste not, touch not. Some of you men are so afraid of your wife's emotions that you're unwilling to step up and lead your household as God requires. Some of you parents are so afraid that your children will grow up and resent you that you withhold the God-ordained rod of reproof. Some of you single people are so afraid of rejection that you're willing to forsake the command to be fruitful and multiply. Some of you kids are so afraid of what people think of you that you're willing to gossip and slander your friends behind their backs. So afraid of getting sick, you skip worship. So afraid of going without, you rob God. So afraid someone might hurt you again that you refuse to forgive them. So afraid. As one of your shepherds, grieves me to no end to watch you live your lives in the grips of such needless fear and anxiety. And to have to watch you choose to stay enslaved to your fears instead of trusting God, all because you found an online shepherd for sale, or some political pundit, or doctor, or counselor, or naturopath who will indulge your fears, dull your senses, and delay your repentance, makes my heart ache for you and for all of the other people who might otherwise be freed from their fears, if you would but show them that when you behold the Lord of glory, they don't have to fear their fears either. Beloved, in a dark, fear-filled world, when God's people are fearless, will they shine brighter? When you work out your salvation with fear and trembling by obeying God because you know that it is God who is at work in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure, you don't have to fear anything. Our church has seen this very thing play out over the last few years. Not all of you, but many of you have joined us over the last few years because you get the strange sense that our church isn't afraid of the woke mob or the downfall of Western civilization or even the ire of other shepherds who are not keeping watch over their flocks by night. The little flame of our church and the other churches in our denomination is growing ever brighter in these crazy times. Because we believe that the Lord of glory lived, died, rose again, and is reigning even now. And we are not afraid of any man because we know Jesus is Lord and no one else is. We know that our king of glory has been and is making all things new for 2,000 years. And we also know that one of the ways he's seen fit to do that very thing is through the faithful endurance of his saints who worship him in spirit and truth, even though it might cost them their lives. So we're not afraid to be scared. Beloved, if you want to continue to spread this fearless hope to others out there who are in the grips of the fearful overlords who are under your Lord, you must continue to show them that you are certain that neither height, nor death, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, or to come, or powers, or death, or life, or anything else in all of creation will be able to separate you from the love of God if you're in Christ Jesus your Lord. And so as you receive from the Lord of glory, this bread and wine, receive it by faith so that you might take comfort in and obey God's gracious command by way of his messengers. Do not fear for his glory and for the life of the world. Amen.