Sunday, August 27, 2023
Sermon Series
Living in Babylon - A Study of Daniel 1-6
Introduction
- Turn to Daniel 1.
- Series introduction...
- In case you haven't noticed...
- The culture, our culture, has changed, and it is changing.
- Many things that were once held as true, right, honorable, and just are now dismissed as out-dated, antiquated, and wrong-headed...
- In our culture's attempt to get smarter, it can no longer even define words and concepts such as...
- Marriage...
- Parents...
- Girl, boy...
- Freedom...
- Free speech...
- Equal opportunity...
- Love, hate...
- Truth...
- Our culture has changed so much that we are driven to ask the question...
- Is it even possible to live in this world...
- To interact with neighbors and co-workers...
- To hold professional accreditations...
- Pharmacist
- Teacher
- Medical Doctor
- Tenured Professor
- Lawyer
- Social Worker
- Counselor
- Financial Advisor
- Find a spouse...
- To join...
- Rotary
- Kiwanis
- To raise your children according to your convictions...
- Is it even possible to live in this world...
- Is it even possible to function in this world and at same time honor God with one's convictions?
- And if it is possible, then how?
- The first six chapters of the book of Daniel answer those questions.
- And I want us to spend the next several Sundays studying these chapters and learning what God has to say to teach and encourage us in this.
- You are going to love the historical accounts we will focus on in these messages.
- In case you haven't noticed...
- Let's turn our attention to Daniel 1.
- Daniel 1:1–4
- When the book opens, it is about 600 years before the birth of Christ.
- I'm oversimplifying a little, but...
- The Jews lived in what we would call Israel today.
- The Jews knew God but they were not faithful to God even though he had warned them that there would be terrible consequences unless they repented.
- They did not repent...
- So, God allowed the Babylonians, think modern-day Iraq, to invade Israel (I'm simplifying) and conquer the nation.
- Then the Babylonians marched many of the Jews back to Iraq to serve as slaves.
- Many of them were young people...
- The social equivalents of our high school and college students...
- Many of them were young people...
- These Jews experienced a radical, forced culture shock...
- This is where we see the parallel with our situation today...
- We too are facing a radical, forced culture shock...
- Different because...
- But same in the sense...
- We too are facing a radical, forced culture shock...
- How did things work out with those God-fearing young people (students) in this new pagan culture?
- Well, there were some adventures!
- As we will see...
- Daniel 1:5 | The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank. They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to attend the king. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:6 | Among them, from the Judahites, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:7 | The chief eunuch gave them names; he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah. (CSB)
- Full cultural appropriation...
- They changed their diet...
- They changed their education...
- They changed their names...
- Daniel means “God is my judge,” but became Belteshazzar, or “Bel Protect the King.”
- Hananiah, “the Lord is Gracious,” was changed to Shadrach, “Command of Aku,” another Babylonian god.
- Mishael, meaning “Who is like the Lord?” was given the name Meshach, “Who is what Aku Is?”
- Azariah, “the Lord is my Helper,” became Abed-nego, “Servant of Nego,” also called Nebo, a god of vegetation.
- Full cultural appropriation...
- Daniel 1:8 | Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself. (CSB)
- Daniel determined...
- Made a determination...
- Word to students...
- The impossible situation of Daniel and his friends...
- There was no human way out of this situation...
- There was no reasonable hope...
- Either Daniel compromised or died!
- Daniel asked...
- How did Daniel express his determination?
- He didn't make a scene.
- He didn't stage a protest.
- Daniel was wise, measured, deliberate...
- Not this week, but we are going to spend some time learning from Daniel about how to use the wisdom of the Lord to accomplish important things...
- Leaders...
- Some of the most important lessons about leadership are found by reading between the lines in Daniel...
- Leaders...
- How did Daniel express his determination?
- Daniel determined...
- Daniel 1:9 | God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch, (CSB)
- This is an unexpected turn of events!
- Notice the verse doesn't say that the chief eunuch was kind...
- It says that God granted Daniel kindness through the chief eunuch.
- Daniel 1:10 | yet he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink. What if he sees your faces looking thinner than the other young men your age? You would endanger my life with the king.” (CSB)
- Daniel 1:11 | So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief eunuch had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, (CSB)
- Daniel 1:12 | “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:13 | Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.” (CSB)
- Daniel 1:14 | He agreed with them about this and tested them for ten days. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:15 | At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:16 | So the guard continued to remove their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. (CSB)
- This is the passage (and Daniel 10:3) that has inspired the popular fad "The Daniel Diet" or "The Daniel Fast" used primarily to help people lose weight.
- (It also has some minor role in church history.)
- This diet was popularized in 2019 by actor Chris Pratt.
- I have some bad news for you if you are getting dieting or Bible advice from Chris Pratt...
- The Daniel Diet made Daniel FATTER!
- Daniel 1:15 | At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. (ESV)
- And the whole point of the diet as it is presented in Daniel 1 is that the food was not sufficient to for their health, but it was by God's intervention that the four young men were healthier.
- The Daniel Diet made Daniel FATTER!
- Win-win presentation...
- Again, we will learn more about this kind of wisdom in coming weeks...
- This is the passage (and Daniel 10:3) that has inspired the popular fad "The Daniel Diet" or "The Daniel Fast" used primarily to help people lose weight.
- Daniel 1:17 | God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:18 | At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:19 | The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they began to attend the king. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:1–4
- To live for the Lord is very often a counter-cultural exercise...
- Summarize...
- We are just beginning to wade into the subject of how to live for the Lord in a godless culture, but let me show you some key principles this chapter shows us...
Lessons from Daniel's Diet
- You won't stand for the Lord in hard times unless you have first stood for the Lord in easy times.
- Daniel would have been in the minority even back in Israel.
- The long-time disobedience and unfaithfulness of the Israelites...
- The very reason for the exile...
- Let me describe this false spirituality and this false courage that we often embrace in the easy times...
- I know I'm not walking closely with the Lord...
- I know I'm not walking as faithfully and obediently as I should...
- But if and when things get critical, then I will stand!
- I will be a man/woman of courage.
- I will be a man of faithfulness.
- I will be obedient.
- I will be sacrificial.
- If I had to take a stand for Christ at work and risk losing my job...
- If I had to take a stand for Christ in my friend group and risk losing friends...
- If I had to take a stand for Christ with some great moral issue...
- THEN...
- I would stand strong!
- Well, no you wouldn't.
- I know I'm not walking closely with the Lord...
- Here is the truth of life...
- If you are not faithful in the easy times, there is no chance you will be faithful when it is hard.
- Here is how Jesus said it...
- Luke 9:23 | Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. (CSB)
- The key to being faithful in the critical times of life is to be faithful in the mundane times of life...
- Daniel would have been in the minority even back in Israel.
- Godly faith looks for reasons to honor God instead of reasons to stray.
- Maybe I'm revealing too much about my own sinful heart, but as I studied this account, I couldn't help but think of the reasons Daniel and his buddies could have chosen to be OK with compromise...
- The king's food was really good food.
- Follow your heart and desires...
- They were a long way from home. No one would ever know.
- It isn't about what you do but what you get caught doing...
- God had not come through for them and rescued them from the exile and the near death march to Iraq.
- So God owed them and they deserved something good...
- Everyone else seemed to be eating the good food.
- All of the really smart, powerful, wealthy people were eating the food.
- The culture had changed and the earlier prohibitions were associated with the out-dated culture.
- Their very lives were at risk.
- The king's food was really good food.
- Truth is...
- Sometimes life is hard...
- Sometimes our desires (enjoyments) are corrupted...
- Sometimes to stand with God is to stand opposed to culture...
- Sometimes we have to make a sacrifice...
- You may not get that promotion...
- You may not get that job...
- You may not be in that circle...
- You may not be accepted...
- Godly faith looks for reasons to honor God...
- He is worthy...
- He loves me...
- He is with me...
- Maybe I'm revealing too much about my own sinful heart, but as I studied this account, I couldn't help but think of the reasons Daniel and his buddies could have chosen to be OK with compromise...
- Trusting God means giving God an opportunity to work.
- Perhaps this is the most important thing to learn from this passage this morning...
- Let's go back in the story to the point at which there seemed to be no good options...
- They were faced with either...
- Compromise...
- Die...
- They were faced with either...
- That's a place many of you have been...
- And this is going to become more and more a common thing in our changing culture...
- You either sign this document agreeing to these moral definitions or you cannot be a public school teacher...
- You either sell this product or you can't work here...
- You either set aside your convictions or you are out...
- You either compromise or leave...
- I've heard people say...
- If I don't do this, I will lose my marriage...
- If I don't compromise with this issue, I will lose my kids...
- If I am faithful giving, I won't have enough money...
- If I commit to that, then I will pay too dear a price on something else...
- And this is going to become more and more a common thing in our changing culture...
- So, what does Daniel do?
- He gives God a chance to work...
- Daniel 1:8 | Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself. (CSB)
- Daniel 1:9 | God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch, (CSB)
- He gives God a chance to work...
- Give God a chance...
Conclusion
- Let me show you one more thing...
- The whole Bible is really a story about Jesus and Daniel 1 is no exception...
- Daniel and friends were thrust into a unfriendly, pagan culture...
- So was Jesus...
- Daniel was tempted to conform...
- So was Jesus...
- (Food)
- Daniel faced down Nebuchadnezzar...
- Jesus faced down Satan, the accuser of man.
- Daniel proved faithful when Israel did not...
- Jesus proved faithful and then paid the penalty for Israel's failure...