Willow Ridge Sermons

Saturday, December 24th & Sunday, December 25th • Beau Bradberry

"And the angel said to them, “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. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them." — Luke 2:10-11, 19-20

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Show Notes

Saturday, December 24th & Sunday, December 25th • Beau Bradberry

"And the angel said to them, “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. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them." — Luke 2:10-11, 19-20

–
Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch

Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

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the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, Merry Christmas.

So glad that all of you could join us and be with us this evening.

You know, as a pastor, you get a lot of questions.

Questions that you either draw from life experience, or questions that you draw from your seminary

or theological studies, or sometimes you have questions that you get asked where you get

to draw both from life experience and from study.

Well, earlier tonight, I was asked a question.

I won't tell you who asked me this question, but I'll tell you the question that was asked,

because I feel like there may be some of you in here tonight that are maybe kind of wrestling

with this.

And here's the question.

If you've got more than one sibling, and one sibling is nice, and one sibling is naughty,

what's going to happen on Christmas?

So I couldn't draw necessarily from theological experience, but I could draw from life experience.

As the naughty child, my dad's here.

He just said amen.

I've never heard him say amen at church before.

Tonight's the first time, right?

Bless his heart.

All right.

Here's what I would say.

Maybe you're that kid in here tonight, and you're wrestling with that.

Santa gets grace, all right?

He understands that, and it'll be good and special for all of us, right?

Even us naughty kids that sometimes have to depend on that.

But it is good to be here.

It's good to be here and be a part of this.

I always love Christmas Eve services.

I love the Christmas season.

I love every part of the decorations.

I love the food.

I love the presents.

I love the family.

I love the friends.

I love all of it.

I love the movies.

I love the songs.

I love every part of Christmas and what Christmas is about.

And one of my favorite aspects of Christmas, one of the favorite things that seems to happen

during Christmas season more times than any other time during the year

are the surprises of Christmas.

It seems that Christmas is filled with surprise after surprise after surprise.

And for so many of us, when we think of the surprises of Christmas, we think of the surprises

that come with Christmas morning, right?

Especially those of us with young kids.

There's nothing like waking up super early in the morning.

All right, kids, listen to me.

All right?

Christmas time is not made for sleeping in.

Christmas day is made for getting up as early as possible.

All right?

And your parents just need to be okay with that.

In fact, at my house, my kids laugh at me because I'm not kidding y'all.

I'll be up at 4 a.m. waking all of them up.

And my daughter will wake up with the grunt that she gives me every Monday morning.

I want to wake her up for school, right?

Right?

But here's where we're at.

All right?

I love the surprises.

But it's not just the surprises of Christmas morning.

It's not just the prizes of gifts.

It's the surprise of the neighbor who brings over fresh cookies that are hot out of the oven.

It's the surprise when you open the mailbox to find a Christmas card from a friend that you haven't seen or heard from in quite some time.

As we all know, all too real.

It's the surprise of finding out that even in Lexington, South Carolina, it can hit single-digit temperatures, right?

The news said this happened in the 80s.

I don't believe that.

I don't believe that anything has ever happened like this here.

It's the surprise of opening an Amazon package, thinking that what is inside the Amazon package is the gift that you ordered for your spouse,

only to find out it's the gift that your spouse ordered for you, right?

That happened this week at our house.

All right?

I love surprises.

And each week as we've been reading through together the account of the coming of Christ, the birth of Christ,

we've seen from the first week when the Bushes read to when the Fries read to the passage that we'll look at this evening

that it is filled with surprise after surprise after surprise.

But unlike us, they didn't have the benefit of knowing that this is the season of surprises.

They didn't have that feeling that when they walked to the mailbox, the wondering if there would be a Christmas card inside or not.

That the surprises that we read in the coming of Christ that bring us to the Christmas season were people who were living their everyday life,

doing what they were supposed to do, doing what they thought was for them that day.

And then all of a sudden, a surprise encountered them that would not only change their today,

but would change their eternity, and would change yours, and would change mine in the coming of Christ.

The surprise where Gabriel shared with Mary the news that she, though a virgin, would conceive a son,

and his name would be Jesus.

It was the surprise of Joseph, engaged to Mary, and torn about what to do.

Should he stay? Should he not?

Until an angel appeared to him in his dream to share with him the truth of her pregnancy,

the truth of who the baby was in her womb.

The surprise of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary's relative, who conceived a son,

and what the Bible tells us, their older age, who would be John the Baptist,

who would leap inside the womb of his mother when Mary would come into presence.

Life in the womb.

But the surprise that I want us to look at tonight in Luke chapter 2

is one of my favorite surprises.

It's the surprise of the shepherds.

Luke chapter 2 tells us that the shepherds were out in the fields doing what shepherds do.

They were watching over their flocks.

But very key, Scripture tells us, they were doing this at night.

Now, most of the time, I don't know about you,

but when we think about that, we've even seen pictures of that,

when we've heard stories told about that,

whether it's even been a Christmas play that we've sat to,

where it's acted out in front of us,

we almost get this picture of the shepherds kind of out there on a camping trip, man.

They're laid back.

They got a nice little fire.

They're just relaxing.

There's a few sheep just kind of wandering around with where they are.

But that's not at all what it would have been like.

You see, Scripture tells us that the shepherds were out keeping watch over their flock at night.

And that this was when the predators would attack.

So for them at night would have been the time when their senses would have been heightened.

At night would have been the time, not when they are preparing to relax,

but at night would have been the time when they're preparing for a fight.

And every noise, every sound, every bit of movement would have startled them,

would have gotten them prepared for what was next.

But what comes to them in Luke chapter 2 is a surprise like none they had experienced before.

It was not a wolf on a prowl.

It was not a sheep who had wandered away.

But instead what Scripture tells us is that the angel of the Lord appeared.

And Luke chapter 2 says the glory of the Lord shone around them.

Now in Scripture, when this has happened before,

when an angel has appeared or the glory of God has been shown,

when either one of those incidents happened, people were frightened.

But here, both happened.

And Scripture tells us in Luke chapter 2 that the shepherds were frightened.

And look with me at Luke 2, verse 10 and 11.

And the angel said to them,

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

So in that moment, in that moment where the shepherds would have absolutely been petrified

for what they are seeing and what they are experiencing.

An angel comes and speaks.

So in this moment, what we began to see was fear or joy.

Looking back at these other instances of what we've seen in the coming of Christ

is also filled with a lot of scenarios where the people in them could have been afraid.

In fact, they were afraid.

Think back to Mary, a young, 13 to 14-year-old, teenage, soon-to-be mom.

Petrified.

Scared of what the future might hold.

But yet the angel says to her,

Do not be afraid.

Joseph, not ready to become a dad, much less to a dad, a dad to a baby that isn't his.

But the angel said to him, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.

That's where his fear was.

The angel speaks straight to that.

Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Both of these instances, the angels speak into fear not because what's coming is joy.

Back to the shepherds.

The angel immediately speaks to their fear.

The first thing the angel says is fear not, for behold.

And what the angel is saying to them is, don't be afraid.

And here's why.

Don't be afraid because we've got something to tell you.

Don't be afraid because what we're about to share with you is the opposite of all that is fear.

Because we bring news and this news is of great joy.

That the object of the good news is joy.

That what they're going to find out is the baby that they're going to journey to see.

That Jesus is not just, you're joyful because you're around a newborn.

No, you're joyful because what you're before, what you're looking at, that is the essence.

That is the physical manifestation of joy found in Christ.

And that he, this joy, is for all people.

That this joy that they will behold, this joy that they will see,

is for shepherds and for kings and everyone in between.

And then after the angel tells them this,

scripture tells us in Luke 2 that an entire army of angels come before the shepherds.

And there's a worship choir of angels praising God.

And so the shepherds, when the angels leave, like, yeah, let's go.

And so they journey.

And the Bible tells us that they go and find the baby.

They found Jesus.

They found Mary.

And they found Joseph.

And that doesn't really tell us a whole lot of what happens in this.

But I'll be honest with you, I think there was another surprise that happened.

As Mary was surprised.

Childbirth, now shepherds that I don't know showing up, right?

And this is what happens.

But scripture does tell us in Luke chapter 2, verse 19, the response of Mary after these.

It says,

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them.

So all that could have happened, all that could have taken place, all that the next day would hold,

Mary, I assume Joseph, the shepherds, they all had their encounter, and they choose joy.

They choose Jesus, that here in this moment, in spite of not knowing what the next moment, what the next day, what the next week, what the next year would hold,

they chose and they responded in joy.

Now for us, in the next 24 hours, it's going to be really easy to be filled with joy.

The next 24 hours are going to be filled with presents, with family, with friends, with food,

and maybe, maybe with a nice, good mid-afternoon nap, right?

Joy will be easy, but it might be short-lived.

Because then the next day is going to come.

And then we're back at it.

The tree is going to go up.

We're going to go back to our schedules.

Kids go back to school.

That's either a positive or a negative, kind of depending on where you're at on that, right?

They're going to go back to school.

The cookies are going to stop showing up.

The cards are no longer going to be in the mailbox.

And maybe Amazon slows down the deliveries to your house, right?

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But if our joy is based in all of these external things, it's going to be short-lived if it isn't based in Jesus.

I thought a lot about what we would look at in this passage and celebrate on this Christmas Eve together.

And as I read through this passage of Scripture, it just stood out to me in verses 19 and 20.

What we can learn from Mary and the shepherds as they returned after this day to their everyday life.

Mary would return to being a young teenage mom, unsure and uncertain about what the next day would hold.

Mary would return to the gossip and the words and the things that were said about her.

Mary would return to the relationship that she was building with Joseph as they formed their new family together

and what that would hold as they worked through that together.

The shepherds would return that night.

They would return back to their flocks, back to their fields, back to being the outcasts,

back to being the ones who didn't get the news,

back to being the ones that had the hard, difficult job to face.

And if their joy was going to be found in the circumstantial things that awaited them,

then their joy would be lacking.

But Luke chapter 2 verses 19 through 20 tells us two things Mary did

and two things that the shepherds did that I believe when we take root of those in our hearts

and they're based in and on who Christ is and who Christ is for us,

that we live with the joy of Christ, whether it's December 24th,

or April 24th.

We live whether it's the moment of the season or not.

Luke tells us these four things that they did that I pray will ring true in us

regardless if there's a tree in our home or not.

The first thing that says that Mary treasured these things,

Mary treasured Jesus, the value that Mary placed.

When it says that Mary treasured Christ,

that Mary treasured these things that were happening before us,

I think it's important for us to know and to remember

that Mary was not treasuring an event,

but Mary was treasuring a relationship.

That Mary within this, that when we treasure Christ,

it's not about an experience that we have at a service,

but it's a relationship that we have with him,

that Christ is valued in with who we are.

It says that Mary also that pondered these things,

that Christ in in these filled her mind,

that what filled her mind was not the what-ifs of tomorrow,

but what filled her mind was the Son of God,

that what filled her mind was not what next week,

next month might hold for her,

that what filled her mind was not the worry of the future,

but what filled her mind, what she pondered on,

what she thought on, what she meditated on was Christ,

that Mary treasured, Mary pondered.

And the shepherds, they left.

And Scripture tells us as they left, they did two things.

First, they glorified God, they glorified Christ.

Now that's a word that we use a lot.

We're going to glorify God.

And that word, when it's broken down in its original meaning,

means to make much of.

To live our life in a way that reflects and makes much of who he is.

It wasn't just simply what they did in a moment.

It wasn't just simply what they said in a moment.

But they left there in their being, making much of who he is.

And they praised Jesus.

They praised him.

That what they had seen, what they had experienced,

and who they had met,

had so deeply penetrated who they were,

that they left speaking about him.

They left telling about him.

They left praising him with their mouths.

This evening, I want to invite you to join me in experiencing the joy of Jesus.

If you're here with us tonight,

maybe you came as a relative who's in town.

Maybe you came as someone's invited a guest here to worship with us.

Maybe you came because you needed a church to find to be here on Christmas Eve,

because that's what you feel like you wanted to be a part of and you needed to do.

And you joined us.

First of all, I want to say, we're so glad that you're here.

We're so glad that you're worshiping with us.

We kind of bless that you were here with us this evening.

But you'd be missed.

You'd miss the point if you walk out of here hoping to just experience a service.

And what we want to invite you with is not a story about Christ,

but a relationship with Christ.

That the joy of Christ is found in a relationship with him.

That joy came, the good news of Christ is found in the Christmas story

as God took on flesh, born of a virgin, laid in a manger, lived a perfect life,

died the death that we deserve, and overcame the power of the grave

so that we too might walk in the newness of light in him.

And you're called and invited in to a relationship with him.

To admit that you're a sinner.

To believe in who Christ says he is, the one and only Son of God,

and to confess him as Lord and Savior.

And in that you can begin to experience the relationship and the joy of Christ.

But if you're here tonight, and you already have a relationship with Christ,

we're going to experience and partake of this joy in Christ together by taking part of the Lord's Supper.

In just a moment, the worship team is going to come back up on stage and lead us in a song.

And during that song, I'm going to ask that you respond, not to the team, not to the song, not to me,

but respond to Christ, to treasure him and who he is and the relationship that you have with him.

To ponder on him, to fill your mind with the things of the Lord and the faithfulness that he brings and the faithfulness that he is to you.

To glorify him, to make much of him and make much of what he's done as you give your life fully to him.

And to praise him with the words that you sing and the words that you speak.

Hopefully you're able to grab one of the Lord's Supper elements as you came in.

If you didn't, when the band begins to play, you can make your way back to the back.

We have some that are available back there.

We'd love to have you have these so that you can take them with us.

And then after the team gets done, I'll come back out onto stage as we take part in the Lord's Supper together.

Would you pray with me?

Lord, I come to you this evening thanking you for who you are, Lord, for what you've done.

Father, I thank you that you sent your son in a humble manner.

Father, I thank you that you've done.

Lord, I thank you that you've done.

Lord, and I pray for all of us as we prepare our hearts to partake in the Lord's Supper

together.

Lord, I pray that under the guidance of your Holy Spirit, Lord, you would reveal to us the

areas of our life that we need to repent of, the relationships that need to be restored

so that we can come to you and worship.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.

If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online

at www.willowridgechurch.com or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.

Thank you.

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