Without question, it was all breathtakingly spectacular. As the glory of God turned night into day, the shepherds were so terrified that the Angel of the Lord told them, “Fear not! For I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people!” followed by the greatest birth announcement in history: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Don’t skip so quickly through the familiar words that you miss the contrast: these were not A-lister celebrities, but lowly shepherds who were the first to hear the greatest news ever to go public, that Christ was born!

An event of this magnitude called for something far greater than words: it was a multi-media event, complete with a celestial light show and music as “the angel was suddenly joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises.” This same choir reaches its pinnacle in Revelation 5:11,12: “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the number of then was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” After 45 years of preaching I finally got past the poetic, melodic flow of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands rolling off the tongue long enough to do the math. The number is 100 million plus thousands and thousands (they just stop counting at 100 million).

What began at Creation, when we’re told “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy,” finds its fulfillment at the birth of Christ and this angelic choir exulting. It reaches its pinnacle in the Book of Revelation and they were still celebrating the wonderful, world-changing works of God. They sang with a “loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” It leaves me overwhelmed by the majesty of it all. People fall into the habit of saying “awesome” about things which in fact fall far short, but this is truly awesome!

Then, it tells us in Luke 2:15 what happened “when the angels had left them and gone to heaven.” There it is: no matter how amazing, how important, how climactic an event or experience or production might be, the angels always depart. There's the morning after, the day and the days after Christmas. What then?

It reminds me of the three disciples who were eyewitnesses to Christ’s majestic transfiguration. They saw Jesus transfigured with a light more brilliant than the sun, and with him were Moses and Elijah. God’s command to them was clear: “This is my Beloved Son, listen to him.” I love how the Scripture tells us this event ended: “And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” The angels were gone, now it is only Jesus. Now what?

The U.K. has declared the day after Christmas a national bank holiday: Boxing Day, full of a history and tradition all its own. It has been a day for those who constantly serve others to have their day to spend time with family and friends, to eat up all the leftovers from Christmas dinner, or to exchange gifts (boxes). It also became a day for sports activities, and one of the newer “sports” is shopping and looking for post-Christmas bargains. To use English terminology, it is brilliant. Yes, a brief kind of holiday after your holiday. It’s kind of like a vacation from your vacation.

I think it’s worth mentioning that statistically, the rise in anxiety, depression, and even suicides takes place after Christmas, not during the “Christmas blues” that we hear so much about that lead up to the holiday. The most unstable period, mentally and emotionally, is when the angels go away. Now that all the build-up of the Christmas season is over, after all the hectic preparation for the annual celebrations, now what? 

On the day after Christmas, and In the days that follow, there is something that continues to guide our lives; something we can all still build upon.

Yes, the Christmas story in Luke 2 is a masterpiece on so many levels. It tells us of the glorious birth of the Savior, and it also tells us what we should do or put in place now that the angels have left and returned to heaven, and we’re here upon the earth. I believe that from the response of these shepherds, and of Mary herself, we can glean much for our lives to become richer, fuller, and more emotionally stable. Just follow along with me: it’s a simple verse by verse.

1. The importance of follow through.  Whether it’s your golf swing or the unpacking of a great project, follow-through is everything. In verse 15, the shepherds say, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” It wasn’t enough that they had just had front row seats to this amazing spectacle of the angelic choir, there had to be follow-through: let’s go see for ourselves. A great deal of spiritual warfare is focused here: on hindering and making it difficult for us to follow through. Study out Matthew 13:3-9 (the Parable of the Sower and Seed), and you will see this.

2. Set priorities. The shepherds’ response showed they had pushed their follow through to the front of the line or the top of the list. Verse 16 tells us, “So they hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.” Jesus stressed the importance of priorities in any true life success, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). First points to our life priority. It’s a very awkward circumstance when people come and ask me to sign their Bible. I’d like to decline, but I think it would create more damage than good. So I agree, but I almost always add that verse (Matthew 6:33) to remind them to “seek first the kingdom of God” in all that we do.

3. Spread the word.  Whether it was these first witnesses to the birth of the Messiah, or the women who were first to arrive at Jesus’ temporary tomb to find the great stone rolled away, they were commanded to “come and see” and then “go and tell.” This is always sound and healthy advice: tell someone what God has done; help to spread the word.

4. Make room for God to blow your mind.  Verse 18 says, “And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” This is true amazement: to discover that Jesus is real and wants to work in your life in ways that you never thought possible. If you had told me when I was twenty years old, “You’re going to be in a wheelchair, and from there you’re going to plant a church, and travel the world and preach the gospel to incredible audiences large and small for nearly a half a century,” well, I would’ve thought you were crazy. But, I urge you, please, welcome the opportunity -- invite it! -- to set in motion God’s amazing plan and purposes in your own life. It is the trigger for life’s greatest adventure of following Jesus Christ.

5. Don’t be afraid of a deep work. I think that Mary’s surrender to God’s will is such an epic example to us all.  Here she was, around 15 years old, and an angel of the Lord visits her with the announcement that by a divine miracle, she would become impregnated, and that her child, Jesus, would save people from their sins. Yeah, right. Her response was as stunning as it is instructive: “Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.” So it shouldn’t be surprising that when Jesus was born, amid these swirling events and challenging circumstances, to now have the shepherds visit to see this great sight. Mary was not afraid to go deeper, to let God do a deep work. Verse 19 tells us that “Mary treasured up (guarded) all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Her desire was to grasp the full extent of what God had done and what He was calling her to.

6. Purpose to live this out in all its implications for your life. For me, Christmas is a yearly reminder of what God has done, of His unspeakable gift. It should serve as an incentive to return to the life and work that God has entrusted to you. Verse 20 says, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” They didn’t set up a Disney-like manger scene for all the world to come and see. They returned to their flocks, but now with a newfound purpose to glorify God, knowing that their lives would never be the same.

I have a lot of work to do right now, but I couldn’t get to it or move forward without talking about the day(s) after Christmas. Not just “Merry Christmas” and then forget about it until next year. No, because Christ is born and lives in my heart, I want to grow continually in grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So you see, Christmas speaks to my past (your sins are forgiven), it directs my present (living for the glory of God), and it assures my future, telling me that God will fulfill every one of His promises, and that this same Jesus is coming again.

Merry Day(s) After!

“’Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 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.”