Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. As captives in Babylon, Daniel and his friends encounter a foreign world view that clashes with their own. In the face of intense pressure to conform, Daniel purposes in his heart to stand firm in his convictions. Daniel chapter one shows us how to hold fast to God with truth and grace.
A delight in God such as Daniel's will stand in noticeable contrast to the world. Let's listen to this message from Daniel one, eight through sixteen. We're studying the book of Daniel. It seemed In the year 605, and then in 586 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and ultimately destroyed it and burnt down the temple.
Okay. tore down the walls around Jerusalem. It looks like It seemed like to the casual observer, and maybe even for the residents of Jerusalem. It seemed like evil one. And Nebuchadnezzar takes the cream of the crop and he takes them with him to Babylon and he employs them in government service.
And now these guys are encountering change. It's a different environment for them. It's a new country. They have different work. They have a new education.
They're even given new identities.
So what is the challenge? Daniel and his three companions were subjected to intense pressure from peers and teachers to do what everyone else. was doing. Their context. was a foreign World View.
What are they going to do now? The title of today's message is Stay Focused. When evil seems to win, And we encounter colossal, irreversible change. We are called to stay. Focused.
Let's pause at this time to seek the Lord's help. To hear and heed. his word. Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your revelation to us, this history that we can know, Father, that you have self disclosed.
Your character, your purpose to us, Father. You've revealed yourself to us so that we can know you. And by that, Father, we can know ourselves and understand. what our purpose is and the meaning that we have. Father, help us to see from your word this morning how great you are and to understand, indeed, that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.
Guide us through your word by your spirit this morning, Father. I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. We have been encountering change in our context.
And some of us might feel, okay, well, we can be comfortable again because the guy that I wanted got elected. But the foundations have not changed. the foundations And the foundations have changed. Things are different at the foundation of our culture and our society. Mm.
I want to help read a poem today to help you. Gain an understanding of what is at the foundation of our conventions of thought. in our context. This represents how the overwhelming majority of people think, and this is what is Represented in our institutions of education. And one of the most powerful influences in our culture is the entertainment industry.
This is called Creed. by Steve Turner. Bear with me as I read it, but this is a reflection. of our American culture. We believe in Marx, Freud, and Darwin.
We believe everything is okay as long as you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt and to the best of your knowledge. We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy is okay.
We believe taboos are taboo. We believe that everything is getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence. We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons. Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammad, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher, though we think his good morals were bad. We believe that all religions are basically the same, at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation. We believe that after death comes The nothing, because when you ask the dead what happens, they say nothing.
If death is not the end, If the dead have lived, then it's compulsory heaven for all, excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn. We believe in Masters and Johnson. What's selected is average. What's average is normal. What's normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians should be sure to follow. We believe that man is essentially good. It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society. We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust.
History will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth, accepting the truth that there is no absolute truth. We believe in the rejection of creeds and the following of individual thought. And here's the postscript. If chance be, The Father of all flesh.
Disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear, state of emergency, sniper kills 10, troops on rampage, looting. It is but the sound of man worshiping his Maker. There you have a description of the foundations of thought. in our culture.
That's far different, far, far different from what existed at the foundations of our culture. 230 years ago. Os Guinness. says this in his book Renaissance. He says, to be sure, the West is still powerful and the United States is still the world's leading society, and it is Western ideas and forces such as capitalism, science and technology, which are now shaping the globalization of the entire world.
But 500 years, that's the years that the West has been dominant. is a mere blink of an eye and those powerful forces are now running on their own with no Western moral thinking to guide them. For at this juncture the West has cut itself off from its own Jewish and Christian roots, the faith, the ideas, the ethics and the way of life that made it the West. It now stands deeply divided, uncertain of its post-Christian identity and with its dominance waning in the global era. Post-Christian identity.
It's post-modernism, is what it is. Not only is the truth relative, you know, whatever you want to believe, that's perfectly okay as long as you're sincere about it, because there is really no truth after all. That's our context today, whether you understand that and realize that or not. And the effects of that is that law is going to fail. There is going to be no law.
Because how can there be law if there are no standard and there is no definition? It can't happen.
Now, that's what's going on in ours. And this, by the way, this book, Renaissance, if you are in Patrick Schouse's class, The Dawning. I highly recommend that class for one thing. And secondly, if you are in that class, I highly recommend you get this book by Aus Guinness. It's called Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel, However Dark the Times.
We just finished singing about that. What glorious, glorious songs. But listen, folks, this is our context today. what we need. What Daniel needed, Daniel, Hanani, Mishael, and Azariah, what they needed and what they had.
We're a fixed reference point, and that is what we need today. is a fixed reference point. We don't have to try to discover it. We don't have to come up with it or reinvent it. He's been there all along.
Our Creator is our fixed reference point because all things were made by Him and for Him. This is why we read In verse 8. Think about all the context now, Daniel's new context and the circumstances of his context now that made worshiping Jehovah a real challenge. Look at verse 8. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.
He purposed in his heart, he set it up in his heart that he would not defile himself. How would he defile himself by eating the food that the king apportioned for them? Two ways. Number one, eating this food would violate the law to which Daniel was committed. And number two, Eating, partaking of this food would ascribe deity.
To the idols. What are idols? They're man-made things. They are non-gods. They themselves were created.
A created thing cannot be God. Let alone should not be worshipped.
So, what does it look like to stay focused? Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. I want us to consider, first of all, His attitude, their attitude, Daniel, Hanani, Michelle, and Azariah. And by the way, this speaks very clearly of the. the power that there is in The camaraderie between believers to walk with each other shoulder to shoulder.
to walk in the truth. These guys encountered Unspeakable risk. in taking this action. And so it is with us today as the church in our changed context. This is what it looks like to stay focused.
First of all, let's consider their attitude, and first of all, their attitude towards God. Jehovah, God, the Holy One of Israel, was his fixed reference point. He was the necessary being, the one who does not change, the truth, the reality that does not change, and that is God. God to Daniel was the greatest and most important reality. And I say, he is the greatest and most important reality.
He is the creator. We would not be here were it not for him. Daniel understood that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. And therefore, Daniel's disposition towards God was reverent submission. And a desire to please and to please him alone.
This was his attitude towards God, the greatest and most important reality. And secondly, his is the only opinion that counts. It's it. His opinion counts more than anybody else's.
So you have to listen, you have to arrive at this decision. Everyone in this room has to arise at this decision. With the people that you encounter, there will be those who disagree with you. There will be those whose foundation of life is according to the Creed. And when you encounter them and they recognize that you worship God, the Creator, the Redeemer of mankind.
You have to come to the point of deciding whose opinion counts more. And for Daniel, Jehovah. Jehovah's opinion was the only one that counts. You see, Daniel purposed in his heart, and what he purposed in his heart was the outflow of what he thought of God. Did you catch that?
What Daniel purposed in his heart was anchored in and directly related to what he thought of God. God was the focus of Daniel's attitude.
Now let's continue. Daniel's attitude towards God, but also Daniel's attitude toward others. I want you to look with me at verse 9.
Now, God had brought Daniel into favor and goodwill with the chief of the eunuchs. Favor and goodwill, that word favor. Is a very interesting word. If you look in other places in Scripture, places where it says loving kindness or tender mercies, that's this word, chesed. Daniel had brought, God had brought Daniel into Chesed.
with his supervisor. The one over him. Loving kindness and mercy. Hesed is translated as loving loyalty anchored in relationship. Loving loyalty anchored in relationship.
Listen, this describes Daniel's relationship with his pagan supervisor. Think about that. Think about our calling as salt and light, as Christians who are in the world but not of the world. This obliterates any us versus them mentality or holier-than-thou mentality. Not only that, But he brought Daniel into goodwill.
Not only loving kindness, loving loyalty anchored in a relationship, but goodwill. That's the word for compassion. It's the desire to do good. and to help. Does that characterize us even in our changed context, in the people that we work with and around, that we encounter on a daily basis?
Do I have a desire to do good to them and to help them? Am I willing to build relationships with those even who might Disagree with me in significant ways, or do I shun them? You see, Daniel didn't do that. His relationship Even with pagans, it was not adversarial. It could have been, these are my captors, and they're violating my rights.
And so he starts name-calling them and showing disdain in public. And that accomplishes a whole lot, doesn't it? No, there was no us versus them. Daniels Disposition toward his supervisor and his work context. His environment was relational.
They had a common identity and experience at the human level. You see, we are all humans. We are all, listen, we are all created in God's image. Regardless of how much somebody might disagree with you, it doesn't change the fact that they were created in God's image. And that should obliterate an adversarial disposition.
It wasn't adversarial, but it was relational. And Daniel did that through a strong work ethic. He did it through the understanding that at his work, even though it was in a pagan context with an entirely different worldview, he was serving God. He was serving God, Jehovah God, the Holy One of Israel. Because he was there by God's appointment.
What that was their attitude toward God and toward others.
Now let's consider their approach. Back to chapter eight. Daniel did not want to defile himself. Therefore, end of verse 8: Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. He requested.
He requested Verse 10, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink, for why should I see your faces looking worse than the young men who are of your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king. Verse 11: So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had said over Daniel, Hanani, Mishel, and Azariah. What's the first word of verse 12? Please.
test your servants for 10 days. The first words, the first phrase of verse 12 is not, I demand. It's please. There's a little difference there, isn't there? Please.
What Daniel's approach was an approach of respect. It was an approach of respect. There was a respectful recommendation. A respectful request. What Daniel did was, instead of saying, I will not do this, he said, Let me recommend an alternative.
Let me recommend an alternative. That's a good approach, isn't it? These are the conventions of our context. This is what people do and think. This is what they think is okay.
We, as God's people, can say, let's recommend an alternative. Let's do it respectfully, compassionately, but boldly recommend an alternative. And that alternative is pleasing God. and following the one who made us. And he did this as opposed to assembling a protest to make demands.
So his approach was one of respect. Here's the second point though. His approach was also one of risk. It was a risky approach. Verse 10, look what he says back at verse 10.
In the middle of verse 10, he says, I fear my Lord the King. Who has appointed your food? Look what he says at the very end of the verse. Then you would endanger my head before the king. Translation, Daniel, if this doesn't work, My head's on the line, okay?
And he could just envision his head rolling off the guillotine. Right? There was risk involved in this.
Now think about this. Think about Daniel's context. Think about where he was. and what he was asking. Listen to this.
Daniel was willing to risk. Expulsion from the Royal Academy. with the disgrace and danger that would follow. His commitment. to God His commitment to God's character and purpose.
was more important. than his job security. And even His survival. That becomes true of the person. Who stays focused?
On the reference point. that never changes. that stays focused on the necessary being. Hmm. How important it is.
Yeah. God for who he is. Could it be That the level of our demand for safety. reflects our view of God. I want you to think about that.
Could it be? That the level of our demand for safety reflects our view of God. Think about this. Jesus gave. A parable in Matthew chapter 25.
And Stewart Uh the the master. Was going to a far country and he delegates, he distributes and delegates. Talents, his money, his funds to three different service. Servants, one received ten, one five, and the other one. And those that received 10 and 5, they invested them.
And when the master came back, he brought them to account. Then they said, listen, we invested it, and here it is. Here's everything that was gained from that. And he came to the one who did not invest it. What did he do?
He buried it. Do you remember what the master called him? You wicked and lazy servant. You wicked and lazy servant. You can sit back and read as you're reading that and think, you know, wait a minute, he didn't do anything wrong.
He just kept the master's money, what the master had entrusted to him. He didn't do anything wrong. That's the whole point. He didn't do anything. When we think of displeasing God, we think in terms of all the things we can do to displease God, and what this does, it turns it on its head, and what displeases God is when we don't do what he has entrusted to us.
You wicked and lazy servant. What he did was he safeguarded his trust. He didn't want to risk the investment. And this action was based on his negative perception of the Master. What a thing to learn.
Morris West says, If a man is centered upon himself, the smallest risk is too great for him because both success and failure can destroy him. If he is centered upon God, then no risk is too great because success is already guaranteed, the successful union of Creator and creature, beside which everything else is meaningless. Obedience Takes risk. Are you listening to me this morning? Obedience takes risk.
Pleasing God is a risky thing. Risk your life. or waste it. Even if it's risking at the level of what other people might think of you. Risk your life.
or waste it. If there is change in our context, At the very least, it will mean that there is a greater contrast between. Those of us who keep our gaze fixed on the necessary being, the Creator-Redeemer. and those who do not. There will at least be a greater contrast.
And light exposes darkness, and oftentimes the darkness is totally unhappy with being exposed. Daniel and his friends.
Okay. respectfully presented an alternative. A contrast with the risk of not doing what everyone else. was doing. It showed whose opinion counts.
And Daniel didn't have special revelation or promise on this issue. Did you catch? Do you know that? Understand. God didn't come to Daniel and say, listen, Daniel, just present this alternative and I'm going to protect you, okay?
God didn't give Daniel special revelation on this. Daniel simply obeyed. It was a risky obedience. It was a risky loyalty to God. J.I.
Packer says this: It needs to be said loud and clear that in the kingdom of God, there ain't no comfort zone and never will be. Do we understand that? I think Christians, we've been comfortable for too long, and that's one reason why. creed is true about our context. Let's bring this to a close here.
Their appearance. What was their appearance after they? did took this test for 10 days. Their appearance was, well, they were attractive. They were attractive.
They said, wow, look at these guys. They look better than all the others. They were in better condition. Physically, they were in better condition. What does this mean?
God intervened to bless their faithfulness. Once again, they didn't have that specific promise from God, but they followed God and were faithful to Him nonetheless. And God sovereignly chose to intervene to bless their faithfulness. Else we wouldn't be reading about it today.
Okay. There was a noticeable contrast in these young men. And so I have a question for you. The people with whom you interact, the people with whom you work with and interact on a daily, weekly basis, do they know that no opinion means more to you than God's? Do they know it?
A people living in the peace and joy of God, because they delight in God, will not will be noticeable contrasts and influencers in their context. That's exactly What we are finding in the book of Daniel. Their appearance was attractive, but it was also effective. Let's talk about the things that they didn't do. Six things that they didn't do in their context.
They could have done these things, but they didn't. First of all, they didn't just fight for the good old days. Secondly, they didn't just survive. Oh, we got to make it through another day. They didn't wait for better times to be faithful.
They didn't isolate themselves from the pagans. They didn't quit. I'm seeing too many Christians quitting today. You find somebody you disagree with, even if it's another Christian, we just quit. I'm tired of watching Christians quit.
Let's not quit. If you commit to something, commit to it and be faithful. Serve God in that. They didn't just blend in for safety's sake either. There's a lot of Christians doing that today as well.
These are the things they didn't do. But their risky obedience to God brought change to their context. They embraced. God. Meaning they trusted and followed him in the midst of their changed circumstances.
A popular sport during the wintertime, particularly in the mountains, is tree skiing. They like it when the fresh snow has fallen. It's the best time to go tree skiing. What that is, it's not just a wide open downhill. You're skiing through the trees, and you can gain some pretty good speeds skiing downhill.
Here's the problem. If you're going at those speeds and you hit a tree, you pretty much know it. in a pretty significant way, right? And here's what they learn, here's what they understand. What you focus your eyes on becomes critical.
What you focus your eyes on becomes critical. And they say this: don't stare at what you don't want to hit. Don't stare at what you don't want to hit. Focus. On the objective, which is that open space between two trees.
Let me close with an example of this. You've probably heard, if you're watching the news, you've heard the name Nancy Wright Bull. She was one of the two original Americans that contracted Ebola. over in West Africa. In the Liberian capital of Monrovia, the public hospital was unfit to treat Ebola victims.
For months, the task of battling the Ebola epidemic in Liberia fell almost entirely to two Christian organizations, SIM and Samaritans Purse. Like many health crises and natural disasters of the past, Christians are on the front lines often because they were there all along. As the outbreak worsened in Liberia earlier this year, Reitbull remembers some people praying the disease wouldn't reach the group's hospital. Nancy says her prayer was different. And it goes like this, quote.
If it does come here, let us be the hands and feet of Jesus. Loved ones. Think on these things. Stay focused. your context is changing, it has changed.
Sometimes it seems like evil winds, and we encounter all kinds of change even at the foundations of our culture, but we need to stay focused. Would you stand with me, please? Father, thank you. For your truth. For revealing yourself to us, that you are God, that you never change, that you are good in everything that you do.
and that in the end it is before you whom we will stand. May that be a joyous occasion for us, recognizing your mercy, your grace, and your forgiveness, and your justification.
So Father, grant us an understanding of the big picture and may we stay focused on you. Our soul's reward. In Jesus' name. Amen. This message titled, Stay Focused, was first preached on November 9, 2014 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
What a portrait it is. of holding faithfully to truth. but winsomely. You can hear the next message in this series from Daniel here at www.delightingrace.com every Monday.
