Waiting in Silence | Advent 2024: Waiting with Hope | Pastor Joe Coffey

Matthew 1

12-2 and after the deportation to

Babylon Janiah was the father of shiel

and shtil the father of zerubabel and

zerubabel the father of abud and abud

the father of elim and elim the father

of Azor and Azor the father of zadok and

zadok the father of Akim and aim the

father of elod and elod the father of

elad AR and elazar the father of Matten

and Matten the father of Jacob and Jacob

the father of Joseph the husband of Mary

of whom Jesus was born who is called

Christ so all the generations from

Abraham to David were 14 generations and

from David to the deportation to Babylon

14 generations and from the deportation

to Babylon to the Christ 14 Generations

now the birth of Jesus Christ took place

in this way when his mother Mary had

been betrothed to Joseph before they

came together she was found to be with

child from the Holy Spirit and her

husband Joseph being a just man and

unwilling to put her to shame resolved

to divorce her quietly but as he

considered these things behold an angel

of the Lord appeared to him in a dream

saying Joseph son of David do not fear

to take Mary as your wife for that which

is conceived in her is from the Holy

Spirit she will bear a son and you shall

call his name Jesus for he will save his

people from their

sins all this took place to fulfill what

the Lord had spoken by the

prophet behold the Virgin shall conceive

and bear a son and they shall call his

name

Emmanuel which means god with us when

Joseph woke from his sleep he did as the

angel of the Lord commanded him he took

his wife but knew her not until she had

given birth to a son and he called his

name

Jesus hey everybody good morning and

welcome to CCC uh really really glad

you're here so uh thanks for coming uh

before I get started I want to tell you

about a Ministry that my wife Karen and

I are really excited about it's actually

a Ministry that Jim College started

before he retired and we feel so

strongly about it that we decided to

take it over and this ministry has one

goal we only want to do one thing and

this is what we want to do we're going

to make grandparenting great again okay

that's it that's it all

right uh in all seriousness we uh have

what we call the grandparents huddle and

we meet uh once a month the first Sunday

of the month over in the gym at the

10:00 hour and we do it for a serious

reason one we want to make we want to be

intentional about grandparenting and the

reason I'm so passionate about it is

because it finally hit me that being a

grandfather is my last big role and I

want to do it well so if you're a

grandparent I want to invite you to the

grandparent huddle if you have a

grandparent that goes to this church or

that lives in this area invite them you

can get more information out at the next

steps area but uh let's do it together

let's make grandparenting great again

all right thanks for letting me have a

little fun with that all right we are in

the third week of our Advent series and

the word Advent implies

anticipation waiting and waiting can be

hard that's why we have this mock

waiting room set up here and if you've

ever been in a waiting room and and I

have one of things that makes it hard is

that you you don't know what's going on

on the other side of the door and when

I've been in a waiting room there have

been times where I've just been longing

for somebody to tell me something tell

me anything because silence can be the

toughest part about waiting the title of

this message is waiting in

silence waiting in silence we're looking

at Matthew chapter 1 if you want to turn

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

there if you have your Bibles you can

turn to Matthew chapter 1 if you want to

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

use one of our Bibles it's on page 757

or you can just wait for the verses that

come up on the screen in Matthew chapter

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

1 the passage that we had read to you uh

is really the story of the birth of

Jesus but before it gets to the story of

the birth of Jesus there's a

genealogy a list of names and we

actually spared you the first 11 verses

of the genealogy you know uh the Old

King James Bible which is the Bible I

grew up with uh doesn't say

that like Abraham was the father of

Isaac Isaac was the father of Jacob it

it uses the word begat like Abraham

begat Isaac Isaac begat Jacob there are

a lot of begats here there are 42 to be

exact 42 Generations

42 names and we we left out we left the

last 14 and read those 14 to you not

just to give you a taste of the

genealogy

uh but during that those 14 Generations

there were no prophets in Israel now if

you remember a prophet is somebody who

stands between God and people and the

prophet would give the message of God to

the people with no prophets that meant

God went silent and he was silent for

400 years through all 14

Generations now you have to be careful

with the Silence of God because it's

easy to think when God goes silent

whether it's in the Bible or in your

life that he is not paying attention

that he he doesn't really care but I

always think of the Book of Job you know

the Book of Job is uh known as a book

about suffering and it is but it's not

just a book about suffering it's also a

book about waiting and waiting in

silence because the Book of Job starts

with like a peak behind the curtain at a

conversation that job is not privy to

it's a conversation between God and

Satan and now God says to Satan have you

seen my servant job it's obvious that

God loves job and Satan says to God does

job love you for nothing you have filled

his life with blessings you've made his

life easy if his life ever gets hard he

will curse you to your face and what

Satan is saying is God no one loves you

for you you're like a rich man who has

to buy his friends like as long as you

are piling on blessings to somebody they

feel like they love you but if you ever

remove those

blessings they will hate you and God

says job loves me for me and Satan

says want to bet and I'm paraphrasing

that all right and then what happens is

that God gives permission for Satan to

make job's life hard and if you know the

story you know that's a gross

understatement his life gets incredibly

hard The Book of Job is 42 chapters long

God does not speak until chapter

38 for all that time he is silent and

job thinks that God is not paying

attention that God doesn't care but he

couldn't have been more

wrong because when you're reading the

story you realize that all of Heaven is

like on the edge of their seats watching

everything job does wondering if job

will be the one who loves God just for

being

god listen waiting is hard and if you

are here right now and you feel like you

are waiting in

silence then I want you to know this

message is for you I told you last week

that God loves patterns and there's a

pattern In this passage we're looking at

all right here are my three points and

they're pretty simple so you know where

I'm going I want to talk about when why

and how when God goes silent why God

goes silent and then finally how God

breaks his silence first when God goes

silent when I was a kid and I would uh

read the gospel of Matthew when I

started Matthew chapter 1 I would just

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

blow through all those names I wouldn't

even really look at them because they

seem completely irrelevant at least to

me but the Bible's inspired by God so

that means everything's in here for a

reason and that means the genealogy is

there for a reason if for no other

reason to let you know that you aren't

the only one who has waited on God and

waited in

silence but Zach told us in the first

message that he gave in this series that

waiting on God is that gap between god

making a promise and God keeping that

promise however long that time is that's

waiting all right in in Genesis chapter

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

15 God makes a promise to a guy named

Abraham who is the first name on this

list and the promise to Abraham was that

someone was going to come from Abraham's

bloodline and through that one person

all the world would be blessed and that

promise was fulfilled with Jesus but in

between Abraham and Jesus is 2,000 years

42

Generations that were

waiting now there are times in my life

where I have been desperate for God to

to break his silence to let me know what

was going on to let me know what he

wanted me to do

but waiting on God particularly waiting

in silence is also

trusting because the gap between god

making a promise and God keeping a

promise isn't just

waiting it's

trusting one of the things that Zach has

mentioned uh that I don't know if I ever

heard anyone else mention before Zach

talks about God's

resume uh and The more I've thought

about it the The more I've loved that

idea because a resume is something you

put together that tells somebody what

you have done in the past so they know

what they can expect in the

future God has a resume and when I am

waiting for God particularly waiting in

silence I need to go someplace where I

can look at his resume and one of the

places I can go is this list of names

these 42 names of people who some of

them some of these names I can't even

pronounce some of them I know I

pronounce wrong and they all these 42

names until God fulfills his promise to

a man named

Joseph and that's my

name Joseph A man whose friends might

have called him Joe like my friends call

me Joe and I'm reminded that when I'm

waiting on God I'm waiting in between

when God makes a promise when he keeps a

promise

and I can trust him because of his

resume because the greatest promise he

ever made he fulfilled in the coming of

Jesus that brings me to my second point

is why why God goes silent I can think

of three reasons why God makes us wait

waiting does something inside of us

waiting does something inside of others

and waiting does something for the world

first waiting does something inside of

us I've been had the privilege of being

a father of three I have a son named

Jeremy and two daughters Rachel and

Becca and I got to watch them go through

all the stages from infant to toddler to

teen to young adult now to full-fledged

adults with their own families and I'm a

grandfather watching my grandchildren go

through the same stages and at every

stage there are crucial things for

someone to learn and there some of those

lessons have been I've been able to

apply to my spiritual life as well I I

think of when my son Jeremy when he was

about two or three he fell and needed to

go get

stitches he actually fell because he was

trying to fill his squirt gun and the

only water source he could reach was the

toilet which I applaud his Ingenuity but

that's about all I applaud there but

while he was trying to fill it he

slipped and he hit his head on the

porcelain and I had to take him to the

emergency room to get stitches and

because he was so young they put him in

what they called the papoose where they

just strapped him down like this and he

was scared and I remember looking at him

and trying to calm him down just saying

Jeremy it's going to be okay it's going

to be okay it's going to be okay but

when that doctor uh put the shot of

Xylocaine into his eye and it stung

Jeremy looked at me with eyes full of

betrayal and he said Daddy it's not okay

it's not okay right it broke my heart

because there's no way I could get him

to understand that what was happening

was for his

good it was for his

benefit I've watched uh my toddlers and

my grandchildren go through the the

painful process of learning to wait you

know toddlers are uh

they want everything like right now like

if they don't get their snack now they

lose their mind right no toddler is born

with

patience but if a toddler doesn't learn

to wait to develop patience they don't

become like well-rounded adults with

just a little bit of lack of patience

humans are are way too complex for that

patience is connected to all kinds of

stuff if they don't develop patience

they won't don't develop trust or

gratitude or unselfishness or the

ability to love or hope or perseverance

there are all kinds of things that are

connected to waiting learning to wait

and I I was thinking about myself and

that I think technology has not done me

any favors with my patience because

technology puts things immediate again

and when like what if I'm working on my

computer and that little spinning like

wheel comes up that's multicolored I

have to fight my toddler urge to lose my

mind while I'm waiting for my computer

to start working again if I'm driving

around town and I'm stuck behind

somebody who's driving below the speed

limit I always say something like I

don't roll down my window and say it I

just say it to myself you know like if

if you are someone who drives below the

speed limit and town and I've been stuck

behind you I've I've talked about

you but I wonder if when God makes me

wait even in silence I wonder if it's

not unlike Jeremy with

stitches that God just cannot make me

understand that what is happening is for

my good and for my

benefit and I just don't get

it waiting does something inside of us

waiting also does something inside of

others you know it's hard to have

perfect timing for anything uh the one

time I remember wanting to have per the

timing to be perfect was when I was

getting engaged uh to my wife Karen and

I had it all planned out in my head and

it was going to be a surprise to her and

we the idea was that we're going to

drive from the college we were going to

to her parents house I'd asked her dad's

permission and IID told them that I was

going to uh ask her to marry me that

night when we got there and so I had

that in my mind we're driving it took

about five hours to drive from our

College to Karen's parents home and uh I

made a couple of bad turns and so we

were running late at least for my

schedule and then uh Karen leaned over

cuz she saw our gas my gas gauge and she

said hey should we stop and get gas and

I said I know when I need gas right and

I could just see my perfect night

crumbling around the edges because I had

hurt her feelings I had to try to make

up to her because I was trying to make

this night perfect we ended up getting

we got engaged we made it I didn't need

gas right I will finish that story

though that uh the next morning my

future father-in-law decided to do

something nice for me and he uh took

took my car to go get gas he ran out of

gas a half mile from his from his I had

to walk back that's the way my

relationship started with my

father-in-law it's hard to have perfect

timing right all I had to do was I was

trying to have perfect timing for just

two people me and Karen there's a

passage in Galatians Galatians 4:4

Galatians 4:4

listen to this it says but when the

fullness of time had

come God sent forth his son born of

woman born under the

law but when the fullness of time had

come God sent his son at just the right

time with perfect time for Who and the

answer is for

everyone for

everyone I mean it's it's incredible all

the the complexities that God has to all

the variables God has to take into

consideration when he does anything I I

always think of a of a Rubik's Cube I

like this even though I I can't solve it

and I know some of you can solve it and

are itching to get up here and solve it

but uh one of the things I like about a

Rubik's Cube is because it reminds me

that things are more

complex than I think like I if I think

of one row and I move it it actually

impacts everything else I think that's

the way God has to he's not just

concerned about you he's and he's not

just concerned about the people that you

know but everybody around you and then

for multiple Generations right because

the only reason you even exist is

because you're great great great

grandfather ran into your great great

great grandmother in some weird way and

they made a connection and they decided

to get married and have kids and then it

happened again and again and again and

then you're here right because even the

smallest things in the past have

impacted the present and the Very

smallest things that are happening right

now are impacting the future you realize

that so when God is making you wait is

not just doing something inside of you

it's actually doing something for

everyone around you people you know and

people you don't and generations to come

who don't even exist

yet listen when when God makes you wait

one of the reasons he does it is it's

it's doing something inside of you but

it's also doing something inside of

others and finally God is doing

something for the world one of the

things that theologians and

historians who Ponder Galatians 4:4 that

Galatians 4:4

in the fullness of time at just the

right time God sent his son into the

world one of the things that historians

have noticed is that there are some

things that happened in the first

century that had never happened before

in the history of the world the first

was peace the Roman Empire had

established peace across the entire

Empire was one of the only times the

entire known world was at peace they

called it pox Romana right the Peace of

Rome second thing is that Rome decided

to build a network of roads to connect

the empire unlike anything that had ever

been done before that's where the phrase

comes all roads lead to Rome and finally

there was a universal language where

Greek had infiltrated the entire Empire

so that everyone knew Greek here's a

question how are people going to know

that

Emmanuel God With Us was born in the

Backwater Town of

Bethlehem I'll tell you

they'll travel roads that go to the

furthest reaches of the Empire they're

going to speak in a language that

everyone knows and they're going to do

it when the world is at peace for one of

the only times listen when God is making

you

wait do not

underestimate all that he is doing in

that time all right that BR brings me to

the last point which is uh

what happens when God how God breaks his

silence look at this this is the story

of jesus' birth let me read it this is

verses 18- 25 I love this passage it

says now the birth of Jesus Christ took

place in this way when his mother Mary

had been betrothed to Joseph before they

came together she was found to be a

child from the Holy Spirit and her

husband Joseph being a just man and

unwilling to put her to shame resolved

to divorce her quietly but as he

considered these things behold an angel

of the Lord appeared to him in a dream

saying Joseph son of David do not fear

to take Mary as your wife for that which

is conceived in her is from the Holy

Spirit she will bear a son you shall

call his name Jesus for he shall save

his people from their sins all this took

place to fulfill what the Lord had

spoken by the prophet behold the Virgin

shall conceive and bear a son and they

shall call his name Emmanuel which means

god with us when Joseph woke from sleep

he did as the angel of the Lord

commanded him he took his wife but knew

her not until she had given birth to a

son and he called his name

Jesus so when God breaks his silence he

does so

suddenly suddenly he he's not like you

know I I get notified by ups that a

package is coming sometime between 10

and 3 kind of to give me an idea of what

that's not the way God does does it 400

years of silence and all of a sudden a

young woman named Mary turns around and

there's an angel who has a message for

her from God 400 years of silence and a

man named Joseph goes to bed and dream

in his dream an angel appears to him

with a message from God this is the

thing if you are waiting for God in

silence one moment you will be waiting

and the next moment you won't be when

God breaks his silence he does it

suddenly the second thing is when God

breaks his silence it is unexpected this

this whole story is full of surprises I

if you noticed but it's crazy it's it's

full of of dreams and angels and a a

virgin and a baby and a star and wise

men and Shepherds I mean no one expected

any of those things it wasn't what

people were expecting it wasn't what

people were praying for and this is the

thing when God breaks his silence he may

not give you the answer that you were

expecting or even that you were praying

for and that's okay because when God

breaks his silence it is

absolutely

wonderful because it's beyond anything

you could

imagine look at verse 23 he says behold

the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son

and they shall call his name Emmanuel

which means god with us God didn't just

speak he came and Jesus came he said

call his name Jesus for he will save his

people from their sins listen if you are

waiting for God to do something in your

life and you feel like you've been

waiting in silence for a while don't

miss what God wants to do in you and

through you in the midst of this time

but also remember that in between god

making a promise and God keeping a

promise is when you are waiting and

sometimes that's in silence but when God

breaks his silence it will happen

suddenly it may be completely

unexpected but it will be more

wonderful than you can imagine because

when God breaks his silence it's always

always worth the wait would you pray

with me

Father in heaven we come to you and I'm

so grateful for this passage even for

these names that I can scarcely

pronounce because they remind me of

people that waited in silence but you

had not forgotten them just as you have

not forgotten us I pray for every person

here that you would remind them of Your

Love of your resume

that you are

faithful and I pray that you would speak

and break your silence soon for them

pray this in Jesus name amen