Main Idea: When God speaks there is always something surprising.

Christmas is about God speaking. The writer of Hebrews said, "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son" (Heb. 1:1-2). Christmas is about God speaking to us through his Son Jesus Christ, who came in human flesh as Mary’s child. Christmas is about God speaking. The question is: Are we listening?

This Advent season we’re going to talk about "When God Speaks." We are looking closely at the people to whom God spoke concerning their role in the coming of Jesus Christ. We’ll look at Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, at Joseph and Mary, at the shepherds and conclude by hearing especially what God has said in Jesus himself. We’ll see how each of these responded when God spoke to them and how he speaks to our hearts and our world today.

A couple of years ago there was a very intriguing television show called "Joan of Arcadia." The premise of the show was that God was speaking to a young 16-year-old high school girl named Joan Giradi, who lived in the fictional town of Arcadia. It wasn’t that Joan was looking or listening for God to speak but that God chose to speak to her in some unusual ways through some unusual people—a stranger on a bus, a child in a playground, the janitor at school, a construction worker on a job. Each story is based upon what God asked Joan to do and her response.

What creates interest in me is that I believe that God is still speaking to me and to you but that we just don’t listen. I believe he is speaking to a lost world through His Holy Spirit and His word, the Bible. I believe he is speaking through missionaries who are his voice in remote and distant places. I believe he is speaking through events of history—wars, disasters, crisis. I believe he is speaking to our lives as believers. There are times when I long and ache for God to speak to me as he speaks to a fictional high school girl on Joan of Arcadia. That his voice to me would be so clear and understandable that I would know exactly what he wants me to do. I believe God speaks and I need to listen but it isn’t easy. It isn’t easy because sometimes when he speaks it is a surprise!

When God spoke to Abraham and Sarah and told them they would have a son, it was such a surprise to them that they laughed. (Gen. 17:15-19, 18:10-15). When God spoke to Moses from a burning bush he was totally surprised. (Ex. 3:1-4) God surprised Samuel when he told him that the youngest of Jesse’s sons, David, would be the next king of Israel. (I Sam. 16:7). And when God spoke to Zechariah he was so surprised that he couldn’t believe it. When God speaks there is always something surprising.

Luke opens the story of his gospel by writing about a couple that experienced the joy of becoming parents at a very surprising time in their life. The story is of a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. The child born to them would be John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus and the one who would prepare the way spiritually for the ministry of Jesus. The events in our text take place perhaps a year before Jesus was born. They occur at the temple in Jerusalem as well as their home in a city in Judah some miles from Jerusalem.

Our story begins as Zechariah was fulfilling his responsibility as a priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. Zechariah’s name meant "God remembers." His wife’s name was Elizabeth, which means "God is my fortune and fullness." Zechariah and Elizabeth are identified as having a very spiritual character. Luke describes them in 1:6 as being "righteous in God’s eyes and careful to obey all the Lord’s commandments and regulations." What Luke is stressing is the true spiritual nature of these two people in contrast to the fact that to this point Elizabeth couldn’t have children. This is significant because the inability to have children was seen by the Jews as a sign of God’s displeasure with someone. In other words, everyone would think something was wrong in their relationship with God; yet this was not the case. They were a deeply devoted couple spiritually.

In spite of their genuine spirituality Zechariah and Elizabeth had one major disappointment: They couldn’t have children and now they were old (v. 7). As persons faithful to the Jewish faith, they had been taught that if you were faithful to God, God would bless you. One of the ways he would bless you would be by giving you children. They were faithful but they had no children. Yet God had a plan to give them hope in a surprising way even through their disappointment.

Luke 1:8-20 tells how God surprised Zechariah with the announcement of the birth of a son and that his name would be John. It happened when Zechariah had gone to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice on the altar at the Temple. The priests did this by a lottery system due to the fact that there were 18,000 priests. So if you got to do this once in your lifetime you were blessed beyond words. Zechariah is very likely nervous and excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity. He is in the process of offering the incense on the altar when he is interrupted by the appearance of the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel tells him that God has heard his prayer. Now what we don’t know is if Zechariah had been praying for a son or for the redemption of Israel. Regardless, God responded that he would give Zechariah a son who would bring about the beginning of the nation of Israel’s return to him.

Zechariah, however, fails in a crucial moment to believe what the angel says and wonders how this could happen because of his age and Elizabeth’s condition and age. As discipline for his lack of faith, Zechariah was made unable to speak until the child was born. His losing his speech amazed the people who waited for him outside and he made gestures for them to understand. After a few days, he goes home to Elizabeth and somehow communicates with her what had happened. After a short time Elizabeth becomes pregnant and goes into seclusion for five months.

Did their disappointment destroy them? No! It strengthened them! Zechariah and Elizabeth understood God answers prayer on his time. When the baby was born everyone wanted to know the child’s name and she told them emphatically, "His name is John!". Their response was that no one in her family was named John but when they went to Zechariah he wrote down that the boy’s name was John. It was at that point that Zechariah could speak again. The last nine months of adversity had been a test for Zechariah but now when given the chance to make his desires known, his first words would be praise to God for the purpose of God for his son and the coming birth of Jesus.

In a special moment of blessing Zechariah holds his son and says, "And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins."(v.75-76) Zechariah blessed John by pointing out to all who would hear the unique significance the child possessed: he would be a prophet of God (Israel had not had a true one since Malachi 450 years before), he would prepare the people for what all history was waiting—the coming of Jesus Christ and he would proclaim what every person needs to hear: that a way to find forgiveness is available.

One thing that is wonderful about Christmas is that it has an element of surprise. The thrill of a child on Christmas morning is all the more wonderful because of the surprises that await them. Sometimes even adults enjoy the magic of a surprise. Several years ago Kathy gave me something very simple but it was a joyful surprise.

When I was a young boy my parents gave me a Lionel Train set for Christmas. I had kept it through the years but had no way to operate it due to blowing the transformer as a child. (I tied plastic Civil War soldiers to the track.) Well, unknown to me Kathy had researched the train and bought a transformer. She was so excited and kept telling me how surprised I would be. Normally, I figure it out but that year I was truly surprised! Christmas is about surprise and when God speaks, especially in the stories of Christmas, there is always something surprising!

What does the story of Zechariah say to us about the surprising things God says to us when he speaks? One thing that I believe God said when he spoke to Zechariah was, "Surprise! I have a plan for you and for my people!" (Luke 1:13-14) One of the things that troubled the people of Israel is that for well over 450 years God had not spoken in a prophetic way to his people. Because he had not spoken and so many nations had ruled and controlled them, the people felt that somehow God had ceased to act and that he no longer had a plan for them. But when the Angel Gabriel surprised Zechariah it was God saying to his people, "I have a plan not only for you, Zechariah, but for my people!" The Angel’s message was that not only would his prayer for a son be answered but also that his son would be the renewing of God’s work in the world. For that reason "many will rejoice because of his birth" (v. 14).

When God speaks to us he says that he has a plan that is surprising. What I mean by that is that God is always guiding our lives and may do so in some surprising ways. God told the prophet Jeremiah, " For I know the plans I have for you, They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11) It may seem to us that things are chaotic and confused in our lives and that there is no direction or purpose. Yet, just like Zechariah, we discover that God is working and that our life is going somewhere because of Jesus entering our world as a baby.

Because of that baby, God not only has a surprising plan for your life, he has a surprising plan for our world. Christmas is not just that God’s plan is at work in you but God’s plan is at work in the world! Zechariah said that his son John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the Lord’s coming and that his coming would be like "the rising sun" that would "shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death" (Luke 1:78-79). God’s message at Christmas is that to a world "living in darkness and in the shadow of death" there is light and life in the person of Jesus Christ. Some are looking for that light, some are hiding from the light, and others deny that there is any light. But when God speaks he says to a world in darkness and shadows, "I have a plan and it starts in my Son, who is the light of the world!" God has plans that surprise us!

Another thing this story of God speaking to Zechariah says to us is that when God speaks he surprises us by saying, "I want to use you!" (Luke 1:15-17). The Angel Gabriel explains to Zechariah that this son would be no ordinary son. His son would be the one unique tool of God to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ. He tells him of his greatness and of his uniqueness in verse 15. In verse 16 he informs Zechariah of his successful mission that will redirect the destiny of a nation. Then at last he describes the full impact that Zechariah’s son will have on the hearts and lives of people in turning the hearts of people toward God, which results in people being prepared for the Lord’s coming (v. 17).

It is one thing to find out that you are going to have a son. It is another to find out that God wants to use both you and your son to change a heart. That was a surprise to Zechariah! Did you ever think that God would use you to change someone’s heart? Often as believers we go through our days and our routines never realizing that if we are listening, God may surprise us you saying, "I want to use you!"

A couple of weeks ago when Dana Kennedy and I were surveying on Huntington we were at the Home Sweet Home Apartments. We saw a man outside who greeted us by saying, "Hello, Mr. Tippit." I apologized and said I didn’t remember him. He told me, "Oh, I remember you. About two years ago you put me up in a room for a night and I just wanted to tell you thank you." Then I remembered. It was a Sunday night and Clay Kenward and I were the last to leave the church. A man approached us asking for a room. I remember wanting to just say, "No," and go home but that night I didn’t. Clay and I took him to the Regency Motel, paid for the room and I assumed I would never see him again. Seeing him two years later was a reminder that God can use us in surprising ways, if we will let him.

Can you imagine, though, that God wants to turn the hearts of people back to him by using you? John the Baptist did that to prepare for the first coming of the Lord. Now God wants to use you and me to prepare the way for the Second Coming of our Lord. How do we do that? We do that by insuring that the world has an opportunity to hear the wonderful story of God’s love through Jesus Christ. He wants to use your money through the World Missions Offering. He wants to use your prayers as you pray for missionaries. He wants to use you personally to perhaps be that person who leaves all that is familiar and with your life and voice call a people to turn their hearts back to God! When God speaks he surprises us by saying, "I want to use you!"

There’s one more thing that God says to us when he speaks and that is when God speaks he surprises us by saying, "I haven’t forgotten you!" (Luke 1:18-20) Zechariah’s immediate response to God’s speaking to him was one of fear and doubt. While Zechariah should have responded with joy and faith, he, instead, had allowed the decades of disillusion and disappointment to harden his heart. His only response was one of irrational skepticism. I mean it’s an angel who had come to him after all these years and he doesn’t listen! Yet through Zechariah’s fear, doubt and skepticism God is surprising him with the news, "I haven’t forgotten you!"

Does our disappointment with life and with God keep us from hearing God when he is speaking to us? Of course it does. Our hopes have been let down so many times that it seems that God has abandoned us and forgotten us. Yet we plod on through our spiritual life doing the only thing we know to do to connect with God, but still there is nothing but silence. But then God surprises us by speaking to us in a variety of ways and says, "I have not forgotten you!"

William Cowper was one of our great hymn writers of the 18^th century. He wrote the great hymn "There Is a Fountain" as well as many others. What you may not know is that Cowper battled severe depression all of his life. Depression so dark that it left him institutionalized for years at a time. One of Cowper’s hymns, though, is a statement of faith in that darkness. It is the hymn "Sometimes a Light Surprises." The first verse says this:

"Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;

It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings.

When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain" (William Cowper 1779)

In your darkness and disillusionment with life and God, God says to you, "I haven’t forgotten you."

He not only says that to you but in Christ’s coming he says that to our world. There are millions in the world who wonder, "Has God forgotten us?" You and I are that voice that says to them, "No, you are not forgotten and his proof is this story that is good news for you: " For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) To your broken heart and to a broken world God says, "Surprise! I haven’t forgotten you!"

Do you believe that God still speaks? Do you believe that God still speaks to you? The question really isn’t is God still speaking; the question is are we listening when he speaks. We may not be listening because we really aren’t ready for a surprise! He says to us this Advent season that in the coming of His Son that he has a plan for us, wants to use us and has never forgotten us! That news may surprise you! Don’t miss it!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org