Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 2 Study # 9
April 10, 2005
Lincolnton, N.C.
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• I. The "Hasty Discovery".
  • A. There are two deliberate indicators that Luke wanted Theophilus to "get into" the shepherds' response.
    • 1. The focus upon "haste".
      • a. The verb means "to jump a type of behavior up to dominate concern".
        • 1) The picture is of a person, in the context of his "love/faith" system, deciding that "because this has become enormously important, I am going to do this".
        • 2) It is the transcending value of the first "this", and the conviction of the work-ability of the second "this", that is suddenly in the driver's seat with a sense of urgency.
      • b. That Luke told about this sense of urgency, signals his conviction that if Theophilus wants to "live", he is going to have to share that urgency.
        • 1) "Life" isn't about "going with the flow"; it is about buying into the values and truths which God has made known.
          • a) The Message is of "Great Joy": is that valuable to you?
          • b) The record is of shepherds who "jumped on the pursuit of that Joy" by "getting hasty": is that method going to be yours?
    • 2. The focus upon "discovery".
      • a. There is a typical word in the New Testament for "to find".
      • b. The word Luke chose to use is an intensified form of that typical word that only he used in the New Testament and he only used it twice.
        • 1) The significance of this is this: Luke knew that when Theophilus linked "haste" with "intense searching", he would understand that a certain level of "joy-sustaining" conviction had developed in the shepherds' hearts and minds.
          • a) If Theophilus concluded that the shepherds' reaction was a pattern that exists in the experience of great joy, he would naturally be inclined to see if he could duplicate the pattern.
          • b) If Theophilus missed the signals built into the "hasty discovery", the result would be that "experience with diminished/nonexistent joy" would continue.
        • 2) The point is that the specific words of God addressed, in the shepherds, a longing and a conviction that would yield the Joy.
          • a) This is the pattern behind Jesus' teaching that man lives by every utterance of God.
          • b) Whenever the utterances do not find the necessary longing nor the necessary conviction, the experience of the person addressed remains joyless.
• II. The "Wondering" of Those Who Heard.
  • A. With the description of the response of those in the down-line chain of "responders" (the angels "heard" it from God; the shepherds "heard" it from the angels; those whom the shepherds told, obviously "heard" it from them -- a down-line chain) Luke continues to focus upon the issue of "how important is this?" and "do you believe what you are hearing?".
    • 1. Luke uses the concept of "wonder" multiple times in his record.
    • 2. His point is that "wonder" automatically signals both interest and non-understanding.
      • a. In this setting, the interest focuses upon the exuberant joy of the message and the fulfillment.
      • b. In this setting, the non-understanding focuses upon the "baby in the manger".
        • 1) This continues to this day: most folks simply do not understand Jesus as the Bread of Life.
        • 2) The bottom line also continues to this day: understanding comes from eating.
    • 3. Interest involves the presence of value; non-understanding involves the absence of conviction.
    • 4. Luke's point is a question: If great joy is important to you, are you willing to let your questions move you into the pursuit (the "hasty discovery")?
  • B. With the description of the response of those in that down-line chain, Luke automatically points to its cause.
    • 1. The cause is given as "the inevitable outflow of Fulfillment".
      • a. The shepherds had gone into "hyper-drive" because of their own longing and confidence.
      • b. When their eyes beheld the reality, their mouths had gone into "hyper-drive" because of Fulfillment.
        • 1) They felt no "necessity to witness".
        • 2) They simply exuded Fulfillment in the midst of their "contacts-setting".
    • 2. The cause is simple: what was desired was discovered by pursuit and everyone around was then exposed to Fulfillment and then they had to respond.
      • a. In this case, the response was positive.
      • b. That is not the standard norm: Jesus taught four different "norms" in His parable of the soils.
• III. The Issues We Face.
  • A. We are obviously in the down-line chain.
  • B. We are obviously heavily involved in enormous deceptions that have been put in place incrementally over 2,000 years.
  • C. We, however, are also obviously the same kind of humanity as those of the first century.
  • D. The questions remain the same: is Great Joy important to you? Do the words of God ring true to you?