Luke 2 / 1 Samuel 16:11 - The Good Shepherd King (life of David 3) Chirstmas 3

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Luke chapter two, how about that? Well, we're doing kind of a twofer here. Uh, we are starting series there in the life of David, but also it's Christmas time, so it would just be criminal not to work Christmas into it. So let's start with the Christmassy part. That's where we ended last time. Luke chapter two. Um, starting in verse eight. You can picture it, get in the holiday season here. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, the angel of the Lord stood before him, and the glory of the Lord shone round them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign to you. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. So uh we consider these shepherds, right? There's very few things that are as Christmassy as shepherds in the field make for a great manger scene, a great Christmas carol, right? The first Noel, uh certain to poor shepherds in fields as they lay, hark the herald angels sing, shepherds. Why this jubilee? Why are joyous strains prolonged? Good solid Christmas songs uh include the shepherds. Um they're in Bethlehem, we know is where we're we're at. Uh, Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus are there in Bethlehem, and these shepherds are out in the fields watching over their flocks by night. They would have been on the eastern side of the city. That's the part that had fields. The western side was terraced and uh for growing wheat. But but there they were um in the shepherds in the shepherds, in the fields, watching their flocks. Um, why choose shepherds to talk about? I mean, the angels could have come to anyone. Maybe they were available, right? Everybody else was trying to get to sleep. Shepherds didn't sleep like that because the nighttime would have been the most vulnerable time for the sheep. Why did they come to shepherds? Maybe it was to bring us back to the time of David, Bethlehem. It's the same city, it's the same area, it's the town of David. And David, when we find him, he's a shepherd. He's a little shepherd boy watching his father's flocks. Uh, perhaps that's why to tie the two together. Now it's a thousand years earlier, and in that same locale, you would have seen David out in the field watching his sheep on those very hills. Um, it's where David would have probably come up with his Psalm 23. Picture it, just watching the sheep. And he says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you're with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David was a good shepherd, and he saw it as a metaphor, just naturally, of the way God took care of him, his relationship with God. So it works for us as well. We're all like sheep. Consider this the Bible says over 400 times that we're like sheep. That's pretty intense. 400 times. About 100 times, God is compared to a shepherd that takes care of us. So we're compared to sheep, he's the shepherd, and you know that's not a very glorious thing to be compared to. Sheep, sheep. You could do a full study just on sheep, but we know this about sheep. They're not very smart, and they're vulnerable. No real defense of their own. Very few ninja sheep out there that can hold their own. They need somebody to take care of them. A couple things about sheep to consider uh is that they tend to wander and stray without someone containing them or watching over them. They'll just wander off. Um, even in a familiar place, they'll get lost. Ezekiel 34, 6, God compares his people to sheep, and he says, My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth. Uh, Isaiah 53, verse 6 says about us, all we like sheep have gone astray. So when we think about sheep, not a whole lot of real defenses of their own, they tend to wander and they'll only thrive with care. Um, did you know that if you leave sheep to themselves, they'll eat the same plot of ground until it's dirt. Even if there's grass just a little bit away, they won't notice it. They're just kind of in a routine, they'll they'll just eat themselves out of grass. Um, and so David looked at his sheep and he said, You know what? Honest, I'm just like these sheep. Um, I wonder. I can't take care of myself, I can't defend myself, but God is like a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, and he takes care of me. So here's what we see. God says we're like sheep, very simply, and we need a shepherd. Now let's turn to 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16, considering the life of David here. 1 Samuel 16, and this is where God chooses his um shepherd over Israel. Um, you remember the story there. Saul has disobeyed, uh, he's rejected God's command in his life, and God says, I'm gonna anoint a new king. Uh, Samuel is sent to Bethlehem, and there in verse 11, we realize by this point that David is overlooked. He's overlooked by Jesse, who forgets he has a son out in the field pretty much. He's overlooked by Samuel, and and so in verse 11, Samuel says to Jesse, Are all the young men here? Then his father said, There remains yet the youngest. He's he's keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So David, when he's chosen, is chosen to shepherd God's people while he was a literal shepherd tending sheep in those Bethlehem hillside area. Um, David wouldn't be perfect, but God saw him in 1 Samuel 13, verse 14, as a man after his own heart. There's a lot you could say about that. David's not perfect, but God says, this guy's got a heart like me. If anyone's gonna represent me as a shepherd, it'll be David. Um now, the alternative we have though is the people have more or less chosen Saul to be their king. And so we get the full picture here. Look at verse 14. Where's Saul at at this point? But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servant said to him, Surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek you a man who is a skillful player of the harp. And it shall be when he will play it with his hand, when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, you shall be well. And Saul said to his servants, Provide for me now a man who will play well and bring him to me. So here's the alternative king, right? We've seen him before. It's Saul. He's got an oppressing, a distressing spirit that comes upon him. He's giving him mood swings, right? When you consider where this guy goes in the future, um, from time to time he would just get fits of anger, and he would grab whatever was closest, a spear, and try to pin people like David, like his own son Jonathan, to the wall. So, what do we know about Saul? He's not a man after God's own heart. He's not a good shepherd of God's people. Um, so so this is where Israel is at, as they choose a new king, as God chooses a king. He chooses a man after his own heart. He's a shepherd, one who would shepherd his people. It's appropriate then that the angels came to shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. It makes good sense. Now, the application here: God, Jesus is our shepherd king. He's the good shepherd. He's also, as we've spoken about, the king. Let's finally turn to John chapter 10 as the study is moving rather quickly today. John chapter 10, verse 11. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not a shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. For the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and I am known by my own. Um, as the father knows me, even so I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. So here Jesus takes the metaphor and he says, I am the good shepherd, the shepherd that we need for sure. And he's a good shepherd. Now, good, come back. Good feels like a lazy word, doesn't it? Doesn't that feel like a little bit of a lazy word? I I I I picture it, and I don't think I'm alone in this. Guys, when you come home, how was your day? Good. I mean, we say it as old as we are, we still say it was good. Well, how was it? Well, just good, you know, and not bad, it's not wonderful, it's it's good. We need to understand this word good here as Jesus uh uses it. Uh, it could mean beautiful, it could mean noble, it could mean excellent. As far as shepherds go, Jesus says, I'm a fitting example for a shepherd, a noble, beautiful, excellent, fitting example of what a real shepherd is about. Um, and so Jesus here goes on to say, This is how I am as a shepherd. Now, the result should be that we learn to trust God, that we learn to submit to Him being a shepherd in our lives. Submit is one of those Bible words. Um, it's written into my uh when I whenever I do a wedding, uh, it's what the guy said when he did my wedding, right? I'm gonna say, wives submit to your husbands. Now don't get angry at me, right? Because we hear the word submit and we go, ooh, I don't know if we talk like that anymore. We don't say the word submit, right? That that sounds ugly. That sounds harsh, you you aggressive man, right? Um, but the idea of submit is beautiful, and I think it's something we ought to get down. The idea of submit is to put yourself under someone else's care. Um, a beautiful example, even of if it just started raining, it's Texas, it could happen, right? Let's just say this is a rainstorm, came out of nowhere, and there's a gazebo out there, you know, and it's just pouring. You're in the middle of the yard, you're like, where am I going? You know? And you find a gazebo like that and you put yourself under it. That's the idea of the word submission, is to put yourself under someone else for care and covering, uh, concern, all these different things. Now we look at that in marriage, and in an ideal situation, that can be beautiful, right? When a wife can put themselves under their husband's care and concern and protection and all these things. But when you're talking about God, it's more than beautiful. To submit to him as the good shepherd, we ought to do that. We need to do that, but we're so weak in that. Us as Americans, we don't like that idea of submitting to anyone by golly, right? We don't like the idea of putting ourselves under someone else's control or command. But if they're good, like the Good Shepherd is, it's the best thing we could do. Put ourselves under his covering for guidance. That's the first one I want to look at. Guidance. John 10, starting in verse 3. Uh, with back before what we read just a second ago, but um also talking talking about being a shepherd there, he says, To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. So, first off, here guidance, right? We already established uh sheep tend to wander, they need guidance. The good shepherd calls a sheep by name, they know their names, they know his voice, right? And they follow him and he leads them. Remember David in Psalm 23 again? He says, You lead me in green pastures and beside still waters. Picture that. When God's leading you, he leads you to good places. He may not always lead us to easy places, right? David also says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Picture sheep, right? And the shepherd's leading them through a valley, right? And there's wolves, there's predators all around. The shepherd might lead the sheep that way, but in the end, it's still the right way to go, right? So when God guides us, and that's what we need, when God guides us, he leads us to green pastures, still waters, and he prepares a table in front of us, in front of our enemies. But the sheep don't care. As long as the shepherd is with them, they're safe. God wants to lead us to good things. Some things might be hard things, difficult things, but I don't know about you, but the one thing I've noticed is there's never been a point, even when God's led me to difficult things, there's never a point where in the end I haven't said, but they were the best things. They were the right things. And so guidance is one of the things that our good shepherd uh leads us. He he does for us, he guides us. Um, now the second thing is protection. That's what the good shepherd does for his sheep. He protects them. Uh, look at verse 12. Uh, a little comparison to see how good the shepherd's protection is. A hirel, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. So, some comparison here, Jesus says, I'm not a hireling. Think about a hireling. This is kind of a funny way to put it, but somebody who just does a job for the money, right? Sometimes that's the way it's gotta be. You don't love your job, you just do it because you need the paycheck, you need to eat. Um, but when you're talking about a shepherd, having a hireling doesn't go very far. Someone who has no vested interest in the sheep, who doesn't care about the sheep. When risks come and risks uh outweigh the rewards, the hireling says, That's fine by me. I'm I'm out of here, right? David showed what a real shepherd was like. You'll remember there, he's he's a little later in 1 Samuel, he's talking about his credentials of fighting off predators, right? And 1 Samuel 17, he says, This your servant used to keep the father's my father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and I struck it and I delivered the lamb from its mouth. When it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear. Now, I got animals, I love animals, but if a lion came up and I didn't have like, you know, a shotgun or some rifle or something, I'm not taking it by the beard and wrestling it to the ground. It's like, see you, Smokey, sorry, it's been good, you know. But you know, David says, I take care of my sheep. I'll wrestle a lion, I'll kill a bear to protect that sheep. And God, even more so. God never leaves us, never forsakes us. He will lay down his life, and that's exactly where it takes us in verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, a sacrificial love. Now, this doesn't really play into like natural shepherding very much, does it? Right, because it's very rare that a shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep in that extreme sense. But obviously, Jesus, he came for this very reason. I've said it often that without Easter, Christmas is nothing. I mean, it's magical, it's wonderful that God would become flesh and dwell among us. But if Jesus didn't go to the cross and die for us and for our sins to bring us close to God, it wouldn't mean anything. I mean, I feel bad saying that, but it wouldn't mean anything without the cross. And yet Jesus has demonstrated his love for us, that while we were yet sinners, he died for us. And we're just sheep, right? We're just sheep that wander, sheep that can't take care of ourselves. Uh, we're sheep that need protection. And God says, I'm the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. I'm the best kind of shepherd. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I think it's appropriate that God ties it all together and gives this message to the shepherds out in the field that Christmas day, that day there to celebrate his birth. Um, because God loves us as a good shepherd, laying down his life for us. God, I pray that you remind us of these things. Uh, even today. God, it is so easy to get wrapped up in all the ritual of Christmas, and it's so much fun, and it's it's good, but God, to forget that you've loved us so much that you came to save us. And and God, really, we for all purposes were not worth it, but we are worth it to you. Uh that you proved the way you love us by saving us and coming for us. God, help us to remember that this Christmas, more than the baby, more than the gifts, more than the tree. God, we would remember what you've done for us. So work these things into our heart. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.