He Came for Everyone: Finding God in the Ordinary
There's something profoundly beautiful about where God chose to announce the most extraordinary news in human history. Not in palaces or temples. Not to religious leaders or political elites. But to shepherds—ordinary workers in the middle of their night shift, doing what they did every night, watching over their flocks in the fields outside Bethlehem.
The Divine Interruption
The shepherds in Luke 2:8-20 weren't expecting anything miraculous. They were simply doing their job—the mundane, repetitive work of keeping watch. Perhaps they were tired, maybe even bored. Yet it was precisely in this ordinary moment that heaven broke through.
When the angel appeared with the glory of the Lord shining around them, their first reaction was fear. Of course it was. Divine interruptions are unnerving. They shake us out of our comfortable routines and force us to reckon with something far greater than ourselves.
But the angel's message was one of profound hope: "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."
Three Titles, One Truth
Consider the weight of those three titles given to the newborn baby: Savior, Christ, and Lord.
Savior reminds us that we need saving. In a culture that constantly affirms how wonderful and capable we are, this is a countercultural message. We're generally good people, right? We're not committing terrible crimes. We're kind to others. Why do we need a Savior?
Yet the longer we walk with God, the more we realize how much we need Him. The path narrows. What once seemed like acceptable behavior becomes something God wants to refine. Our motives, our thoughts, our hidden heart issues—all need His saving work. We are, as Jesus told one church in Revelation, blind and pitiable without Him, even when we think we have everything we need.
Christ declares that this baby is the long-awaited Messiah. The prophets spoke of Him. Micah foretold that from Bethlehem Ephrathah would come a ruler whose "origins are from old, from ancient times." This wasn't just any baby—this was the fulfillment of centuries of promises, the answer to generations of longing.
Lord proclaims His divinity. This baby lying in a feeding trough was God Himself, wrapped in human flesh. Yahweh had come to dwell among His people.
The Sign of the Upside-Down Kingdom
The angels gave the shepherds a sign: "You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." This wasn't a common occurrence. Parents didn't typically lay their newborns in feeding troughs. But this unusual sign revealed the nature of the kingdom Jesus would establish—an upside-down kingdom where the last are first, where the humble are exalted, where a king is born not in a palace but in a stable.
This sign also foreshadowed Jesus' future. The baby wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger would one day be wrapped in burial cloths and laid in a tomb. From the very beginning, the shadow of the cross was present. The rejection that left no room for Him in the inn would culminate in His execution on a Roman cross.
Yet this is precisely what makes the gospel so powerful. The King came not with power and privilege, but with humility and sacrifice.
The Response: Go and See
When the angels departed, the shepherds didn't hesitate. They didn't say, "That was interesting. Maybe we'll check it out next week." They said, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And the text tells us they went "with haste."
They moved with urgency because they believed. When God speaks, when the Creator of the universe reveals something to us, our response matters. Wisdom and discernment are important, but sometimes what we call "wisdom" becomes a cloak for disobedience. We delay. We make excuses. We wait for a more convenient time.
But some opportunities don't come twice. If the shepherds had waited, they would have missed the sign. Jesus was only born once. Timing matters in the kingdom of God.
Becoming Evangelists
The shepherds didn't just go to see Jesus for themselves. After they found Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger, they became the first evangelists of the newborn King. They "made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child."
Think about that. God chose shepherds—people without credentials, without status, without theological training—to be the first to proclaim the good news. He didn't wait for the priests or the scholars. He chose ordinary people who had experienced something extraordinary.
This is the beauty of the gospel. You don't need a theology degree to share what God has done in your life. You don't need to be a religious professional to tell others about the Savior who came for everyone. You simply need to tell your story.
The shepherds' testimony brought wonder to all who heard it. And Mary, in her wisdom, "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." Even for Mary and Joseph, who had received their own divine revelations, the shepherds' witness must have been a confirmation at a moment when they might have been questioning everything.
God Still Speaks in the Ordinary
The message of the shepherds is that God still breaks into our ordinary moments. He speaks not just in church services or during intense worship experiences, but in the mundane rhythms of daily life. When we're brewing our morning coffee. During our lunch break. In the quiet moments before sleep.
God is interested in everyday people living everyday lives. He wants to speak to us, guide us, reveal His love to us. But we must cultivate the stillness and attentiveness to hear Him. In our distracted, overstimulated world, we need to create space for boredom, for silence, for simply being present with God.
This Advent season, may we remember that He came for everyone—including you. The Savior, Christ the Lord, didn't come just for the religious elite or the spiritually mature. He came for shepherds and sinners, for the ordinary and the overlooked, for anyone who would receive Him.
And when He speaks, may we respond like the shepherds—with urgency, with faith, and with a willingness to share what we've experienced with everyone we meet.
The Divine Interruption
The shepherds in Luke 2:8-20 weren't expecting anything miraculous. They were simply doing their job—the mundane, repetitive work of keeping watch. Perhaps they were tired, maybe even bored. Yet it was precisely in this ordinary moment that heaven broke through.
When the angel appeared with the glory of the Lord shining around them, their first reaction was fear. Of course it was. Divine interruptions are unnerving. They shake us out of our comfortable routines and force us to reckon with something far greater than ourselves.
But the angel's message was one of profound hope: "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."
Three Titles, One Truth
Consider the weight of those three titles given to the newborn baby: Savior, Christ, and Lord.
Savior reminds us that we need saving. In a culture that constantly affirms how wonderful and capable we are, this is a countercultural message. We're generally good people, right? We're not committing terrible crimes. We're kind to others. Why do we need a Savior?
Yet the longer we walk with God, the more we realize how much we need Him. The path narrows. What once seemed like acceptable behavior becomes something God wants to refine. Our motives, our thoughts, our hidden heart issues—all need His saving work. We are, as Jesus told one church in Revelation, blind and pitiable without Him, even when we think we have everything we need.
Christ declares that this baby is the long-awaited Messiah. The prophets spoke of Him. Micah foretold that from Bethlehem Ephrathah would come a ruler whose "origins are from old, from ancient times." This wasn't just any baby—this was the fulfillment of centuries of promises, the answer to generations of longing.
Lord proclaims His divinity. This baby lying in a feeding trough was God Himself, wrapped in human flesh. Yahweh had come to dwell among His people.
The Sign of the Upside-Down Kingdom
The angels gave the shepherds a sign: "You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." This wasn't a common occurrence. Parents didn't typically lay their newborns in feeding troughs. But this unusual sign revealed the nature of the kingdom Jesus would establish—an upside-down kingdom where the last are first, where the humble are exalted, where a king is born not in a palace but in a stable.
This sign also foreshadowed Jesus' future. The baby wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger would one day be wrapped in burial cloths and laid in a tomb. From the very beginning, the shadow of the cross was present. The rejection that left no room for Him in the inn would culminate in His execution on a Roman cross.
Yet this is precisely what makes the gospel so powerful. The King came not with power and privilege, but with humility and sacrifice.
The Response: Go and See
When the angels departed, the shepherds didn't hesitate. They didn't say, "That was interesting. Maybe we'll check it out next week." They said, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And the text tells us they went "with haste."
They moved with urgency because they believed. When God speaks, when the Creator of the universe reveals something to us, our response matters. Wisdom and discernment are important, but sometimes what we call "wisdom" becomes a cloak for disobedience. We delay. We make excuses. We wait for a more convenient time.
But some opportunities don't come twice. If the shepherds had waited, they would have missed the sign. Jesus was only born once. Timing matters in the kingdom of God.
Becoming Evangelists
The shepherds didn't just go to see Jesus for themselves. After they found Mary, Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger, they became the first evangelists of the newborn King. They "made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child."
Think about that. God chose shepherds—people without credentials, without status, without theological training—to be the first to proclaim the good news. He didn't wait for the priests or the scholars. He chose ordinary people who had experienced something extraordinary.
This is the beauty of the gospel. You don't need a theology degree to share what God has done in your life. You don't need to be a religious professional to tell others about the Savior who came for everyone. You simply need to tell your story.
The shepherds' testimony brought wonder to all who heard it. And Mary, in her wisdom, "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." Even for Mary and Joseph, who had received their own divine revelations, the shepherds' witness must have been a confirmation at a moment when they might have been questioning everything.
God Still Speaks in the Ordinary
The message of the shepherds is that God still breaks into our ordinary moments. He speaks not just in church services or during intense worship experiences, but in the mundane rhythms of daily life. When we're brewing our morning coffee. During our lunch break. In the quiet moments before sleep.
God is interested in everyday people living everyday lives. He wants to speak to us, guide us, reveal His love to us. But we must cultivate the stillness and attentiveness to hear Him. In our distracted, overstimulated world, we need to create space for boredom, for silence, for simply being present with God.
This Advent season, may we remember that He came for everyone—including you. The Savior, Christ the Lord, didn't come just for the religious elite or the spiritually mature. He came for shepherds and sinners, for the ordinary and the overlooked, for anyone who would receive Him.
And when He speaks, may we respond like the shepherds—with urgency, with faith, and with a willingness to share what we've experienced with everyone we meet.
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