I’ve noticed that Petaluma has recently been struck by, “Big Yellow Taxi Syndrome.” Some of you will remember that, “Big Yellow Taxi,” was an iconic folk anthem written and sung by Joni Mitchell in 1970. The song is built around this refrain, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

Exhibit A—Deaf Dog Coffee, the quintessential, quirky Petaluma coffee shop whose attitude was so eloquently expressed in their bumper stickers, “Friends don’t let friends drink Starbuck’s.” Just 6 weeks ago loyal customers were stunned to discover that Deaf Dog was no more, having been squeezed out of business by the evil Starbuck’s juggernaut. Let the mourning begin.

But, I must confess that while I was sorry for their loss I was not personally impacted by the closing of Deaf Dog because I never cared for the taste of their coffee. In fact, just between you and me, I love Starbuck’s.

But just 2 weeks after the closing of Deaf Dog things got personal when Togo’s closed. My favorite stop for a quick and tasty sandwich cruelly snatched from my out-stretched hands. When I drove past the darkened Togo’s building to pay my respects, I was reminded, once again, that Joni Mitchell got it exactly right. Oftentimes, we don’t recognize that value of the people, the experiences and the opportunities in our lives until they’re gone.

Which brings me to this season, which we call, Advent. A season that begins 4 Sundays before Christmas and offers us the gift of four weeks in which to prepare our hearts, our minds and our souls to fully embrace the reality of a God who so longs for us to know Him that He wrapped Himself in human flesh and was literally born among us, becoming one of us, in the form of a baby named, Jesus. How could we not celebrate His birth?

And, yet, experience has shown me…in fact, I’m guessing that experience has probably shown most of us…that all Christmases are not created equal.

I am pleased to say that I know what it’s like to wake up on Christmas morning with a heart that is just bursting to sing with the angels, “Glory to God in the highest.”

But, I am sad to admit that I also know what it’s like to wake up Christmas morning thinking, “Finally it’s over.”

And you’ve probably had both of those experiences as well. So, let me ask you: what is it that makes the difference? What is the secret ingredient that distinguishes the--“Soul Satisfying, Spirit Renewing, Fresh Encounter with God” kind of Christmas from the “I’m so Glad this One’s Over” kind of Christmas? I’m convinced that the difference does not lie in God’s readiness to meet us but rather in our readiness to meet God. Every year, the Christmas Season holds out to us the promise of a fresh encounter with God, but God never forces Himself on us. And that means that we are much more likely to have a fresh encounter with God this Christmas if we have prepared ourselves for a fresh encounter with God this Christmas.

And that’s why these next 4 weeks are so very important to us. So, how do we prepare ourselves…how do we get ready…for a fresh encounter with God this Christmas? This morning, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah is going to point the way. We meet him in Jeremiah 33:14-16 where he writes,

“ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah
“ ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’”

Here’s what’s happening. The people were longing for the coming of the Messiah and God’s plan for sending the Messiah was moving along right on schedule. But it was not yet time. So, God spoke a word of assurance through His prophet Jeremiah and the assurance was essentially this, “I haven’t forgotten you. Justice is coming. Righteousness is coming. Messiah is coming. The days are coming when I will fulfill every promise I’ve made to you. But for now, I want you to wait.”

And there’s our first insight into getting ready for a fresh encounter with God this Christmas. We need to learn the value of waiting on God. It was a hard word for the Hebrew people to hear some 2600 years ago and it’s a hard word for us to hear today…maybe even more so…because we want what we want and we want it now.

We want our food…fast.
We want to lose weight…today.
We want to fix a marriage that has taken 10 years to get broken in a single hour of counseling.

In short, we don’t do waiting very well.

Consequently, when we finally recognize the spiritual emptiness in our life…when we finally recognize within ourselves a longing to really know and experience God personally…when we finally decide that we’re ready to meet God in a fresh and powerful way, we want Him to show up now. We want Him to move according to our plans and our plans rarely include time for waiting.

The only problem is that God doesn’t move according to our plans, He moves according to His plans and His plans almost always include times of waiting. So let’s consider, for a few moments, this idea of waiting on God.

(1) And let’s begin by noting that, when God is involved, waiting time is not wasted time. Anytime that God makes us wait, it’s always for a purpose and that purpose is always for our good. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” So, if we’re seeking a fresh encounter with God and God tells us to wait we can be assured that the waiting is for our good.

(2) And that leads us to a second insight, namely, that waiting on God is a call to action, not an invitation to be idle.

Waiting on God challenges us to actively nurture an abiding sense of expectation, realizing that since we are always in God’s presence every moment is filled with God-sized possibilities. God could literally break in to our routine at any moment but we could miss it entirely if our routine has dulled us to the possibility of God’s activity in our lives. To wait on God is to actively nurture an abiding sense of expectation.

Waiting on God also challenges us to live each day with an active awareness of the fact that God is always working out His purposes in our lives even if we can’t see it at the moment. What may look to us like a period of complete inactivity may very well be a time when God is actively working just outside of our view to create a whole new way for us to serve Him, a brand new way for us to encounter Him or the perfect opportunity for us to take the next step toward being like Him.

Jesus said it like this in John 5:17, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” Waiting on God calls us to live actively in the reality of God’s constantly unfolding work in our lives even if we can’t see it at the moment.'

So, if you want to get ready for a fresh encounter with God this Christmas start by learning the value of waiting on God. But don’t stop there because waiting, alone, is not enough. We also have to be willing to work.

Listen, again, to Jeremiah 33:15. It says, “In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.” “In those days…” that is, when Messiah comes, he’ll bring justice and righteousness to the land. Really. We’re 22 days away from celebrating Jesus’ birth because we believe He is the “righteous Branch” and that he “sprouted from David’s line” about 2,000 years ago. So, what happened to all of the justice and righteousness that he was bringing?

As I listen to the news each day I am reminded that injustice is still widespread and righteousness is still in short supply. So, how do we reconcile the promise with the reality? Did God mislead us? Did Jesus fail in His mission? No. He’s just not finished, yet. The work that Jesus began is still in process. As we read in John 5:17, God is at work, “to this very day.” So, Christmas not only reminds us that God is still at work in our world but Christmas also invites us to join Him in that work. To become active participants rather than mere spectators.

From time to time I run across someone who will say to me, “You know, all that talk about the work that God is doing in our world sounds real nice. But, quite honestly, I don’t see it. My life is a mess. The world’s pretty much a mess. I don’t see any evidence that God is working anywhere”

In fact, some of you may have had similar thoughts from time to time. So, how do we resolve this apparent discrepancy between God’s promise that He’s always at work and our inability to see it?

When I last lived in Southern California, one of my favorite leisure activities was scuba diving the Channel Islands just off the Southern California coast. I remember my first Channel Islands dive. Our dive boat dropped its’ anchor and as I surveyed the situation I immediately realized this was not going to be like my previous experiences in Mexico and the Caribbean where the water is warm and inviting and so clear that you could see the ocean floor from the safety of the dive boat. This water was cold and intimidating and dark. You couldn’t even begin to see beneath the surface. I had, literally, no idea what might be waiting for me in that water.

But I was there to dive. So, I made my way to the edge of the boat, took a couple of deep breaths to calm my nerves and took that fateful step. And the moment I dropped beneath the surface I discovered a whole world of activity that was completely hidden to those who stay on the surface.

The dive boat had positioned us over a giant, kelp forest. Huge stalks of kelp had grown up from the ocean floor 100’ below to within 10’ of the surface. Invisible currents made thousands of these awesome plants sway in perfect unison. It was absolutely breathtaking.

After a few moments, I descended into the kelp forest and I was quickly joined by a couple of playful sea lions. They would circle me so close that I could almost touch them. They would appear suddenly, racing straight at me then just as quickly turn to disappear. It was incredible. I was in the midst of a vibrant world of life and beauty and purpose and excitement and activity and all of it was completely hidden to those whose only view of the ocean was from the surface.

Folks, Christmas is God’s invitation to move beneath the surface, recognize that God, in fact, is working all around us, listen for His invitation and then and join Him in that work--healing hurts, restoring hope, comforting the broken-hearted and offering help, kindness, grace and mercy to those in need.

If we truly want a fresh encounter with God this Christmas we need to do more than just sit back and wait for Him to show up. We need to join Him in the work that He’s doing all around us,

Finally, there’s one more thing that we need to do if we’re hoping to have a fresh encounter with God this Christmas. In fact, it’s probably the most important thing of all. As we look for opportunities to join God in the work that He is doing in others let’s make sure that we also take the time to invite God to do His work in us.

Listen, again, to Jeremiah 33:16,

“In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”

Christmas reminds us that the salvation and the righteousness that we long to see in the world is available only in Jesus. Jesus is God’s gift of salvation to the world. Christmas reminds us that the world out there will be unsettled until it meets Jesus. Christmas also reminds us that the world in here will also be unsettled until we meet Jesus. Really meet Him in a life-changing, fresh encounter.

Do you want to meet God in that way?

Are you willing to do what it takes to get ready?

If so, I invite you to join me in this prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus, come and do your work in me.”

© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum

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