Have you ever hoped in something that didn’t live up to its expectations?

Let’s talk about shepherds in ancient near eastern culture. Among the occupations, shepherding had a lowly place. Shepherds were considered untrustworthy and their work made them ceremonially unclean. Shepherds were among the lower class in Israel. They represented the poor and humble for whom the message of salvation is indeed good news (Luke 1:52; 4:18).

It has also been suggested that, considering their proximity to Jerusalem, these sheep may have been raised for temple sacrifices. Though speculative, if true this could point forward to Jesus’ role as the sacrificial lamb of God.

These shepherds had no hope. They were social outcasts, considered dirty by the religious elite, and were currently under the reign of the Romans. They needed a messiah, they needed hope. As they sat in their fields, Christ was announced to them of all people. As a result, hope was birthed in them and would soon be birthed into the whole world. 

Maybe this is you. You aren’t in the profession you thought you’d be in. Your social life isn’t exactly… thriving. You’re exhausted, frustrated, and wondering where hope will come from. You’ve dealt with broken promises from people, politicians, and family, and you are looking for hope. Look to Christ today…

The definition of hope: the confident and patient expectation in Jesus who works invisibly in, through, and in spite of losses and evil. Do you hope in Christ, or do you hope in something else? 

We have hope because we have heard

These men were afraid when the angels came. We would be tempted to be afraid as well! But we don’t need to be afraid because we believe the good news of Christ that we have heard. 

When we read scripture and give space for God to speak his word into our lives, we have hope. In the beginning of this passage we see the angels quoting Isaiah 9:6. This brings great joy and dispels fear. When we hear the truth of the gospel, we experience and have hope. 

“And this will be a sign to you.” God has used all kinds of signs in scripture and in the world to be a signpost, pointing to the good news. For some of us we have stories of God’s miraculous work as a testimony. What hope this brings!

For others, in our circumstances we have seen God show up in a big way and build that hope. And still, in others we see it in what we read in the word of God. Hope is found in scripture as well, just as it was declared by the angels. 

We have hope because we have seen

The shepherds saw the angels and the proclamation of this savior. When we see Christ the Savior, we have hope. Many other people and things have portrayed being a savior. They have tried to sell us hope. Trusting in them is folly (Jeremiah 17:5). But seeing Jesus in this story brings us hope.

Verse 15, “let us go and see” the shepherds say. Have you taken time to go and to see Christ? Are you allowing space in your life for him to be seen and to be the focus? Whatever holds our attention is what holds our hope.

We allow all sorts of things to hold our attention. We set our eyes on all kinds of things for hope. A lot of those things fall drastically short of our true one and only hope. Money, jobs, relationships, people, properties, businesses, politicians… pale in comparison to Jesus. All of those things have an expiration date, but we serve a God who reigns forever. 

We have hope because we have experienced

Have you ever had an experience where you felt the presence of God? When he touched you in a drastic and tangible way? But what happens often is time. Time goes on and begins to drain the power of those moments. We forget. 

These men experienced what they had seen and heard by physically going and experiencing Jesus. Are you taking the time and the space to go and see? To behold him, to allow him to work powerfully in your life? If you don’t, you might be experiencing a lack of hope. 

We give space for all kinds of experiences in our life, but nothing fulfills and sustains us like Christ and experiencing him. You don’t need a conference or special gathering for this (although those are great and powerful things). We can experience him every day when we create space for it.

God is a God of revelation, not confusion. He wants to reveal himself to you and become real and present in your life. We are the ones that get in the way of that. We often turn up the noise of the world and down the word of the Lord, and in so doing, experience hopelessness.

How did these men respond? They responded by lives that were changed, lifting praises, and sharing with others. Verse 18 tells us that all had wondered at what the shepherds had told them. They were overflowing with the hope that they had. They knew something significant had happened with Christ being born and it flowed out of them to everyone around them. Can the same be said of us?

Are our praises displaying lives full of hope? How many times do we not sing or praise God what he is due because we don’t like the song, it’s too early and we are too tired, or we don’t feel like it? Lives brimming with the hope of Christ and his coming are lives that are full of praise no matter what song is sung and no matter how we feel. We would rise above our feelings and give God what he justly deserves: our wholehearted praise and adoration. 

Conclusion

Christ is worthy of our hope this Christmas season. Nothing matches up to him when it comes to fulfilling the hope of our lives. When we hope in Christ, we are never hopeless. When we hope in the world, hopeless moments run in abundance. We might have seasons of fulfillment, but nothing that sustains and lasts the test of time. He is worthy of our hope. Jesus is the only place where true hope is found. 

We have hope because we have heard. What we are declaring this Christmas season is the hope of Christ coming. His birth represents our hope because he would go to the cross and die in our place and take away our sin. The Bible speaks to this, and when we hear it, we have hope. When our ears hear the good news, hope ensues. 

We also have hope because of what we have seen. We see that Christ has come and that lives have changed as a result. We see his active work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We have hope because of what we have seen.

And lastly, we have hope because of what we have experienced. God wants to meet with us, God wants to become real to us. He isn’t hiding away hoping to be found, he is anxiously waiting for us to come with hearts open and lives receptive to his love and his grace. Every single day he wants us to experience his work in our lives, but we need to make room.

Through the potency of the birth narrative, we experience hope. God cared enough to send Jesus to save us and bring us to himself. Will we hear it, see it, and experience it? He is worthy of all of those things.