Silent Nights
Pt. 1 – Silent Treatment
I. Introduction
Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round your virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep heavenly peace,
Sleep heavenly peace!
Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories streams from heaven above
Heavenly hosts sing Allelujah
Christ the savior is born,
Christ the savior is born
Silent Night although one of the most popular (top 100) Christmas Songs of all time I am not sure it is really very accurate. Silent Night wasn't silent. Don't stylize the moment with white Christmas or holly hanging over a trough. Think about it only in the natural . . . sheep, cows, stable, full city, and on top of all that labor with no meds, and a baby. It wasn't silent in the natural. It wasn't silent in the supernatural. In fact, because it was the night that the savior of all mankind was being birthed into skin and as John would declare was "moving into our neighborhood, it was in fact one of, if not the loudest nights in history. No, this night was not silent. What was silent was the silence that took place before that night.
Text: For our Scripture reading this morning I want you to turn with me to the page between the Old Testament and New Testament. I want you to read with me what it says. NOTHING!!! There is no text. In fact, what we are actually hearing when you read the account of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with their various levels of detail, is not about a silent night rather it is the account of God breaking of silence. You are stepping into the story after 400 years of constant, consistent and deafening silence. Think about that . . . 4 centuries . . . no Word . . . no divine interruption . . . no prophet . . . no "Thus sayeth the Lord" . . . nothing. God holds the record for any quiet game ever played. He is hands down undisputed, unchallenged King of the Silent Treatment!
Is it ironic to anyone else that the most powerful voice in the universe also seems to be the quietest and the hardest to hear?
God silence. We have glamorized and romanticized that night as a silent night. We love to sing about it and think about it in this manner! However, my problem is that when dealing with God it seems that one silent night often turns into silent nights (plural). And rather than entering an account of the interruption of silence for many of us we find ourselves not in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John with God visible and audible all over the place but instead we find ourselves the recipients of a silent treatment. We try to listen. We try to hear. We pray longer. We beg for an answer. We ask others to pray. And silence wraps around us until we fear that God is not only silent He is gone.
Anyone been seeking God for an answer and a response only to hear nothing for weeks now . . . months now . . . years now . . . even decades now? Silent nights!
So what must we know about this silent, hard to hear, God? What do we do when we can't hear?
1. Don't Confuse God's Silence with Absence.
For some reason it seems to me that we trust our ears more than we trust our eyes. So when we don't hear Him . . . regardless of what we see that should more than sufficiently reveal His presence . . . the silence drives us to assume that He is gone. And not only is He gone He doesn't care. The danger is that when He goes silent for any length of time our lack of hearing causes us to attempt to fill His role. So We try to silence the silence with a substitute. If we don't hear God, which means He is gone, we listen to Uncle So and So, we consult counselor negative pants, and anyone else that is loud. That is what Saul did remember? He couldn't hear God so instead of trusting God's presence in His silence Saul runs to a witch for a word. Some of you run into some witches with words too!
Go back before the 400 year silence and what you discover is that right before He falls silent God speaks clearly about His love for His people! Look in:
Malachi 1:1-5
A Message. God’s Word to Israel through Malachi: God said, “I love you.”You replied, “Really? How have you loved us?”“Look at history” this is God’s answer. “Look at how differently I’ve treated you, Jacob, from Esau: I loved Jacob and hated Esau. I reduced pretentious Esau to a molehill, turned his whole country into a ghost town.” When Edom Esau said, “We’ve been knocked down, but we’ll get up and start over, good as new,” God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, “Just try it and see how far you get. When I knock you down, you stay down. People will take one look at you and say, ‘Land of Evil!’ and ‘the God-cursed tribe!’ “Yes, take a good look. Then you’ll see how faithfully I’ve loved you and you’ll want even more, saying, ‘May God be even greater, beyond the borders of Israel!’
His message was clear but ignored. I love you. His silence doesn't reveal lack of love. Before His silent season He reiterates His love for Israel. How many of us struggle in silence because we forget the love messages He gave us before He went silent? The last thing He said should sustain us during His silence. And not only that during the silent nights reflect back, look at history let His past preach to you of His presence in the present!
2. Silence is a Setup!
The second thing you must know during a silent season is that during this season of silence the stage is being set.
It was during this silent 400 years that Greek is instituted as the common and universal language. That brought about the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language. That Greek translation is the Septuagint. This Greek translation of Jewish Scriptures acquainted the non-Jew with the principles of the Jewish faith, which played an important role in fulfilling God's plan of redemption. Roads and free travel were established by Alexander the Great. These are the roads Jesus walked to share the good news of the kingdom. Synagogues were built as central gathering places of worship.
It was during the silence that God was orchestrating and setting the stage for a savior! This is why John said, "In the fullness of time Jesus came!" When things shrouded in silence were structured perfectly for His arrival. After a season of silence God's greatest miracle is birthed
The truth about silent nights is that even though silent He is working on your behalf.
If things are quiet right now that should produce hope in you!
If you are enduring a silent season that must mean that you are on the brink of birthing something great! Your breakthrough is coming. Your healing is coming. Your provision is coming! I want to encourage you this morning . . . You are not enduring silence you are only being confronted with a pregnant pause! In other words, for us this morning we can rest assured that while God may not be wording He is still working.
That is why you can't be afraid of the silence.
“Non-Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will answer them. Christians don’t pray, because they are afraid God will not answer them.”
Oswald Chambers writes: “Has God trusted you with His silence, a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself."
Hold on with hope! Silence is a setup!
3. When He isn't using His mouth He still uses His ears!
Something broke when Luke shatters the silence and declares, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."
What caused God to break His silence? I believe it was the cry of the people for God. Response to need. Response to desperation. The pagan empires around had been deteriorating and disintegrating. Their religions had fallen upon evil days. The people were sick of the polytheism and emptiness of their pagan faiths. The Jews had gone through times of pressure and had failed in their efforts to re-establish themselves, and had given up all hope. There was a growing air of expectancy that the only hope they had left was the coming at last of the promised Messiah. In the East, the oriental empires had come to the place where the wisdom and knowledge of the past had disintegrated and they too were looking for something. When the moment came when the star arose over Bethlehem, the wise men of the East who were looking for an answer to their problems saw it immediately and came out to seek the One it pointed to. Somehow even though He wasn't saying anything God was listening!
Just because you can't hear Him doesn't mean that He isn't hearing you! I realize that your cries seem to hit the ceiling and bounce back but even though you may feel like God is silent, even though everything around you may be falling, failing, floundering, and fleeting, even though everything may appear to be deteriorating and disintegrating right before your eyes . . . don't trust your eyes and doesn't trust your ears. It is in the silent nights that you must trust His ears. You can rest assured that He is still listening to you! You can still stand on the promise that the Psalmist gave us:
Psalm 34:15 - The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry;
Although His mouth seems to be quiet His ears are tuned toward us! Cry out! Endure the silence but don't give the silent treatment to God even when He is giving the silent treatment to you! Trust the hearing God! Why? He is the answering God!
