Dare To Be Like Daniel

Introduction

I had something ready to go before I left for camp last week and then got home and all these things still rattling around my head, so I just had to had to go home this afternoon and change it up. It seems like somehow I always end up preaching the day after camp. Even when I’m not the full-time preacher. Not sure how that happens, but here I am. And it actually ends up being a good thing because you do have all these things running around in your head, and you want to talk about them, and they’re important to you. And so I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to talk about it for a little bit. And even though I am tired and I am hurting in more ways than one, there’s nothing like camp to remind you that you are not young anymore.

I suffered the same dislocated left shoulder that I suffered last year. Every year I get hurt. I don’t know how. I’m a counselor, I’m not supposed to be doing these things. I’m sore everywhere, my voice is tired, it hurts. It’s better than it was, actually. Camp Always sends a lower at about an octave. But I’m thankful to be able to share a few minutes with you in God’s word this evening in Daniel.

I just want to set the context a little bit. Daniel was in Babylonian captivity. Nebuchadnezzar came and he besieged Jerusalem and took it between the years about 605-609 BC. And around 605, 606 is when they took many of these people away into captivity to Babylon, including Daniel and many of his young friends. And it says there, in the beginning of Daniel, in verse 2, the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shannar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessel in the treasury of his God. And he commanded Ashpanaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance, and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competence to stand in the king’s palace and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of the time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishhael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the king and the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel, he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah, he called Shadrach, Meshael, he called Meshach, and Azariah, he called Abednego. So Daniel is in the service of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and he serves all seventy years the Israelites are in captivity. And he serves multiple kings. And the theme of this book, as we go throughout it, shows us many different things, but three main things I want us to understand.

I’m not going to be able to get to all of them. But one, that God’s sovereignty rules over all history and all empires. God is in control. Number two, kingdoms will pass away, but not the Lord’s. And number three, that through trials and difficulties, the faithful will be raised to glory, honor, and everlasting life. The book is separated in two different sections. The first of the first six chapters that tell six different narratives on how God’s people should live as exiles in the world that isn’t our home. And then the second section of chapter 7 through 12 have several apocalyptic visions designed to reassure God’s people that in spite of persecution, God is in control and will be victorious. That the Lord is aware of the suffering of his people and will bring their trials to an end.

When Daniel was taken captive, he is all of somewhere around 14 to 20 years old, probably closer to the earlier part of that, maybe 15. And so when I learned that we were going to be studying this at camp last week, I was very excited because if there’s any book, there’s any Old Testament story, especially that would resonate with the young people that I was going to be teasing, it’s Daniel. Especially since I had ninth graders. So I had 14 and 15-year-olds in my cabin. This is the kind, this is this relates to them. This was perfect. Because these were youths who were surrounded by pagan influences. They were surrounded by people who had no interests in Jehovah God. And not only that, but they were surrounded in a place that was a thousand miles away from their home.

They were far away from their parents and in any godly influences that they might have had. And of course, even if they had been in Israel, the faith that they would have had, that they showed would have been amazing even in Israel. This is a time when Israel was completely faithless. This is a time when they were being led away into captivity and God was giving them over because they had rejected him. And so the fact that these four young men had this kind of faith would have been amazing even had they been at home in Israel. And yet it’s even more amazing. Because they were far away from home. It would have been easy for them to say, you know what? What’s the point?

God’s forsaking us. He’s led us away into captivity. Why should I serve him anymore? No one’s watching me. I’m not at home. Why should I serve him anymore? And this resonates. This resonates with us today. Especially our young people. And when I got together in the very first, as I was introducing these lessons to the kids, I asked them, why do you think we’re studying this? Why do you think that we, as your counsel, feel that this is important for you to learn? It’s because here in this world, we are also surrounded by the ungodly. We are going to be persecuted. We are going to suffer. We need help learning how God’s people should live as exiles in the world that is not their home. We are going to have to stand and dare to be different from the world around us.

1. Be Different in What You Think Is Important

And that is not going to be easy. Like Daniel, we’re strangers in a foreign land. Surrounded by people not interested in serving God or following his word. We’re to Dan to stand out against a culture and fulfill our purpose of being salt in the earth and light in the world. And we stress to them that it is possible to live a faithful life in exile, surrounded by pagan influences, if one simply sets their mind to serving God wholeheartedly. So I want us to get in here into Daniel chapter 1. In verse 4 of chapter 1, it says there that Nebuchadnezzar ordered his officials to teach these Hebrew captives the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Why did he want him to do that? Well, he wanted them to be assimilated.

He wanted them to conform. He wanted them to look and act and talk and eat just like everyone else in his kingdom. Now, is there anything inherently wrong with being similar in some ways to those around us? Not necessarily. As long as those ways don’t conflict with God’s law and the kind of people that he would have. So we sure we’re going to have some similar things with the world around us. We’re going to have similar likes and similar dislikes. But it becomes wrong when it conflicts with the word and the will of God. And so in many things of what we do, we are going to be different. There’s no way around it. We are going to stick out.

What should be the most important thing to us in our life? Well, that answer is obvious. It should be God. It should be serving him. It should be spiritual things. Nebuchadnezzar called for these personal servants who would represent him, and he wanted them, and when he when they picked these youths of the nobility and of the royal family, they didn’t just grab anybody. They grabbed the good looking ones. They grabbed the smart ones. They grabbed those who were going to interact well socially. And so he was looking for these three different characteristics physical, social, and mental. And the world is going to tell us that those things are the most important things in your life. If you’ve got those things, you have got it made. They’re going to give you all kinds of things.

They’re going to give you opportunity to excel, to get better jobs, to get better pay.

He wanted those who were showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding. And those who had ability to serve in the king’s court. The world is going to tell us that our academics, our learning, our looks, our schooling, our jobs. Those are the most important things. Those are of prime importance.

I had her first in my Bible classes. She was in seventh grade and she graduated this year. And if anything makes you feel old, it’s that. I’ve had more than one entire generation of kids start at the camp and graduate. This was my tenth year as a counselor. And she had decided, I’m not going to name any schools, but you can probably figure it out. She decided to go to one school. And she had visited another school. It was of prime importance to me. And years I’ve been trying to get her to see the importance of going where I went. And her sister had gone to the other school, and her parents are very pro of this other school. And there’s again, nothing inherently wrong with going.

In fact, I encouraged her to go there afterwards. So that’d be great. You’ll excel wherever you go. But she just kept saying, Well, you know, my I’m just I’m very career driven, and I want to get my degree, and they just don’t have any classes for me there. I said, okay. I get that. But is your career the most important thing in your life? Because if you go there, sure you may get that degree that you want. Of course, you may change your mind after a year and not even want to do that anymore. But if you go there, you’re not going to have professors who are Christians. You’re not going to have daily Bible classes. You’re not going to have devotionals in your dorms. You’re not going to have the kind of experiences and people surrounding you to help transition you into adulthood.

And ask her, what is the most important thing in your life? Is it your degree? And where are you going to go after that? Or is it your spiritual life? And what I want us to think about this afternoon is that we need to be different in what we think is important. Because if we conclude that what is spiritual, what is godly, what is holy, is most important in our lives, then all those other things are going to take care of themselves. All of us know Christians who excel in many ways. Most of us are blessed beyond comprehension. And Daniel and his friends, they bore that out. Because they had put spiritual things first. It says in verse 15, their appearance seemed better than all the other youths in verse 17.

God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom. And in verse 19 and 20, the king talked with him and found them to be ten times better. Now, does that mean that because you’re a Christian, you’ll automatically be beautiful, intelligent, and popular? No, it doesn’t. I’m living proof of that. I’ve been trying to make myself more spiritual, but my hair ain’t coming back. It’s gone, it’s done. That’s not going to change. We’re given what we’re given. But the point is, when we make sure that our spiritual life is where it needs to be, this will help us put other things in their proper place. Matthew 6 and verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God. And all these things will be added to you.

2. Be Different in Whose Name You Wear

Be different in what you think is important. Number two, be different in whose name you wear. The chief of the eunuchs, he gave these four men different names when they were trying to assimilate them. And they all had names. The irony is that they all had names that had the name of God in them in Hebrew. And they changed them over to all have names of the Babylonian gods. Hanani, Meshael, Azariah, changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

But he couldn’t change who they were. Because they wore the name of Israelite. Much like we wear the name of Christian.

We cannot be ashamed to wear the name of Christ. There’s an interesting quote in here in our in our outlines that we were given to work off of that I found good. It’s by Gary Sandusky. And if you know him at all or have heard him preach, you’ll understand that this is just like him. So it’s when you take Christ out of the word Christian, all you have left is Ian. That stands for I ain’t nothing. It’s funny, but it’s true. Without Christ, we are nothing. Don’t be ashamed to wear his name. Disciples were first called Christians in Antioch in Acts chapter 19 and verse 26. And this word simply means someone who is like Christ, someone who follows Christ. The people in Antioch wanted to look like him, they wanted to talk like him, they wanted to act like him.

They wanted to bring others to him. They wanted to mold their lives after his character and who he was. They wanted to be identified as being like Christ. And sometimes, brother, we need to understand that being like Christ is going to bring suffering. It is going to bring persecution. Indeed, it ought to. And if it’s not, then we are probably not being the kind of Christians we ought to be. We are probably not living the lives we should. We are probably not sticking out the way that we ought to. If we’re not being persecuted, people probably don’t see Christ in us the way that they should. It’s probably not so obvious that we wear that name. I want to look at a couple of verses quickly.

1 Peter chapter 4. Keep your finger in Daniel, but 1 Peter chapter 4. Beginning in verse 12. Beloved, don’t be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. As though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice, insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. But let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly in the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. And also turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Beginning in verse 10, you, however, as Paul writes to Timothy, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you’ve been equated with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. Now I could probably off the cuff preach a 30 minute lesson just off of those verses right there. But I won’t do that for your sake tonight. But he says there are that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

They will be. It’s not an if. It’s a when. While evil people will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. In other words, the people around us, the world, they are not going to get any better. But they’re going to get worse, and they’re going to try and drag us down with them. But we can’t let them because we wear the name of Christ. And they’re going to deceive, they’re going to be deceived. By whom? By Satan. By the deceiver, the great liar. And they’re going to try and take you down with them. He says, but as for you, how are you going to how are you going to stand against that? He says, as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed.

Don’t be ashamed to wear the name of Christ.

We are going to suffer as Christians.

3. Be Different in How We Make Our Decisions

But Paul tells us that we ought to rejoice in that. Thirdly, we need to be different in how we make our decisions. Where do we get wisdom? Proverbs chapter 1 tells us that we ought to go to the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It’s one of those questions that is much easier answered than follow. You love it. Sometimes it’s hard, it can’t get kids to talk, to get them to answer. And so you start them off by asking these easy questions. Who should we have faith in? God, everybody says, ah, okay. How should we direct our life? Where should we go for wisdom? How should we make our decisions? No, God’s word. He’s the answer. But do we actually do it?

How do we make our decisions? All too often when we are faced with these trials, these sufferings, these persecutions that we will indeed endure, we look to ourselves, to our own wisdom. We look to the world’s wisdom. That we just read is really only there to try and deceive us. In James chapter 3. James writes about the world’s wisdom versus God’s wisdom. And that the world’s wisdom is earthly, it is sensual, it is demonic. But the wisdom that is from above. That is pure. That is right. How do we make our decisions? Are we going to God? Are we looking in his word for his wisdom? Are we going to him in prayer? Back in Daniel chapter 1, as we continue on there in verse 8.

Daniel chapter 1, it says, But Daniel, after, of course, the king had assigned him of his food and of his wine, it says, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the newings to allow him not to defile himself. I think the key word there is resolved. Some of your versions may say made up his mind, or maybe purposed in his heart. Any of those things are great descriptors of the action that must go on in our minds if we are going to follow God, if we’re going to be holy, if we’re going to live righteously on a day-to-day basis, how in the world am I supposed to do that?

How am I going to be different in the way I make decisions from the rest of the world? Is it just I’m just going to fly by the seat of my pants and whatever comes. When that decision comes up, well, okay, well, I guess I better figure this out now. Or am I going to purpose in my heart beforehand? That I know what I’m going to do. There’s not even a question. When I’m confronted by temptation, when I am confronted by the deceptions of the devil, I’m going to resist. I’m going to go to God’s word. I’m going to look to it for wisdom, much as Jesus did when he was tempted in the wilderness.

And I asked the kids, have you done this? Have you made up your mind? How can this help you? Well. Because it’s a whole lot easier to say no when you already know you’re going to say no. I’m reminded of Joseph when it came to Potiphar’s wife. How easy it would have been to say, well, hey, that’d be kind of nice. She’s beautiful. No one’s going to know.

The only way you can escape a situation like that is knowing beforehand. It’s just not even in the realm of possibility. I’m not going there. Because I am different. I wear the name of Christ. This was a decision that was made early and made certain. It would influence every choice that Daniel made in his 70 years of captivity. Every time he had to stand before a different king who had the power over his life. He had purposed in his heart that he was going to serve God. Again, I go back to the thought that even this kind of faith that Daniel had, even would have been amazing in Israel. How easy would it have been, just like for Joseph, how easy would it have been for them to say, well, oh, you know, I’m just, I’m so far away from home.

Nobody else is serving God. All the Israelite, all these other guys. I mean, we’re only told of Daniel and his three companions. Were they the only ones? I don’t know. But how easy would it have been? To just say, well, you know, God’s forsaken us anyway. What’s the big deal? How easy it would have been to wait until that situation came up and then decide what he was going to do. We cannot wait until the moment of testing to make up our mind, to purpose in our hearts if we’re going to serve God or not. Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. And the last point that I really want to make here is one that I think is especially relevant in the world today.

4. Situational Ethics Is False

And that is this idea of situational ethics. They could have said, well, hey, you know, if I were back in Israel, certainly I’m not going to eat that unclean food, but here, what choice do I have? I’ve been told to do this by the king. And now, but now things have changed. And so it’s okay. Situational ethics. That just basically means that what’s right and wrong, it just depends on your situation. That’s what the world tells us today. It’s up to you. It’s up to your situation what’s right and what’s wrong.

It depends on the culture. It changes with culture.

Brother, I’m here to tell you today, but that situational ethics is false. That God’s word is inerrant. God’s word is still relevant. And God’s word does not change. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And it has the authority to guide our lives, to direct them. To tell us the difference between right and wrong, to tell us what it is God would have us to do to be like Him. To tell us the way to get to heaven.

Oh, well, you know, you see girls walking around in basically nothing on the beach, but they wouldn’t do that in the mall. What difference does it make? But they say, oh, it’s different because of where you are. It makes zero sense. Or, oh, it’s, you know, it’s my what about your wedding dress? Young ladies. See all kinds of immodest wedding dresses on women that normally dress completely in modesty. Well, oh, you know, it’s my wedding, and it’s my one time, and I it’s just it’s so pretty, and it’s just the one that I like, and you know, it’s my day. Sounds a lot like selfishness. Or what about the things that we say in our text messages or on our Facebook posts? Oh, well, you know, no one is gonna see it, or oh, you know, I just typed the acronym, so it’s okay because I didn’t say the whole thing.

It doesn’t make any difference how it’s being done. Or maybe it’s cursing, or maybe it’s lying, or maybe it’s cheating, or whatever. God’s word doesn’t change based on the situation. When we make up our mind about something, don’t let people or circumstances change it. All that is a justification for our own selfish desires to do whatever we want to do. We are called out of this world to be a peculiar people. A people for God’s own possession, Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. When we are surrounded by a world that says you don’t need to follow God. We are surrounded by a world that says it’s not okay to be different. We have to stand up to them. Say I’m going to be different anyway.

And you know, another thing that I stress to these kids this week is that there are a lot of people around you who consider themselves Christians. They would say, oh yes, I’m a Christian. I follow Christ. I love Jesus. They don’t act like it. We have to be the example of what a Christian truly is. We can talk all day long about how the world’s going to do this and the world is going to do that. But the fact of the matter is, most of the people that we’re saying is the world, they still think that they’re Christians. But they don’t have the respect for God’s word and its authority in our lives. We have to be different, not just from the world, but from the world who says that they are Christians.

Conclusion

We have to stick out. We have to be different. We have to have the courage, as we sang a moment ago, to stand against the wiles of the evil one. To put our confidence in God and His ability to lead us, to guide us, to make it through these sufferings and persecutions. We have to put our confidence and faith and trust in the fact that He is in control. Even over kings of empires. And much more so over our own small lives. Like Daniel. Dare to be different than the world around you. If you haven’t been doing that faithfully, I ask you, why not? We have water here. You can wash away the sins of your past and turn from those things. Become a Christian. Serve Him.

Wear His name. Be proud of that. And if you haven’t been doing that, we can pray for you. He needs to respond to the gospel. Won’t you do that? Now what we say in saying.