Courage in Babylon, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Yes, sometimes God will tell us no or tell us to wait. I'm simply saying that in this story, as you see multiple times throughout the Bible, God rewards those who take a dare on his goodness. He rewards those who expect that he will. Our God is able and he will deliver us. Welcome to Summit Life, the gospel-centered Bible teaching ministry of J.D. Greer, pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

And as always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. If I were to distill today's entire message into a simple statement, it would be this. God is bigger. We're going to talk about bold faith, faith both for when God delivers us and faith for when he chooses not to. Will we be bold enough to ask ourselves the question, is God enough? Will you follow him even when the answer is no?

That type of courage takes a deep level of trust in God, something I know I need more of and I'm sure you do as well. So grab your Bible. Let's walk through the courage in Babylon. It's a message we all need to be reminded of today. So let's rejoin Pastor J.D.

right now. You can't bifurcate Jesus. He's either Lord or he is not. You're either fully surrendered to him or you're living in rebellion. And y'all, you understand that if God is the only God, then for us to say anything different is cruel.

It's not just wrong, it's cruel because you are obscuring the one way of salvation. I feel here the sense to share with you what I call a classic story at the summit. It just means one I've shared about 18 times, about every 14 to 16 months. But you know what?

A bunch of y'all are new, so I feel like I need to do it for you, okay? This takes place all the way back when I was in seminary. So many, many years ago, I was my first year seminary.

I just graduated from Campbell University, and I was on my way from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Raleigh because I was serving as a youth pastor in Fort Lauderdale. And I took one of those red-eye flights where there, you know, hardly am I on the plane. And I go into the waiting area, and there are only two people in the entire gate area. There's a guy over here on my left who's like 194 years old. You know, I mean, he's just, whatever.

Yeah, one foot, never mind. But he, on the other side over here was this. Again, I wasn't married. This just drop-dead gorgeous Hispanic girl, and I was like, Lord, what do you want me?

Okay, you know, ice cream, spinach. And so I, you know, go over and I sit next to this girl. Turns out she was from somewhere in South America, and she was on her way returning as a student to Harvard University, okay? So immediately I felt like we had a connection because I just graduated from Campbell, and I felt like, okay, we got a lot in common. And I started to share with her, her name was Bertha, not Bertha, but Bertha. And so I started to share my testimony with Bertha, and I thought it was going really well. They called us to get on the plane.

We sat next to each other. I was telling her all about Jesus and how He changed my life, and I was going to go into law, but God had called me into the ministry and was just sharing with her, and she just sat there and just was soaking it up. She was nodding her head, and she said, you know, I said, you got to be honest with you.

She said, I'm up here at Harvard University, and the smartest, most driven men on the planet, they say, go to that university, but I don't hear anybody talk with the conviction that articulates what they believe and where they're going. I don't know if I've seen anybody there that talks as clearly as you, and she said, that's just very, very attractive. I was like, heck yeah. Like, you're going to get saved. We're going to get married.

This is going to be an awesome story one day. And so I'm just keep sharing my testimony with her. I guess somewhere probably, I don't know, you know, over Atlanta, I would suppose, I started to share with her, like, you know, just walking through Bible verses about how Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

I was like, you know, have you ever received Jesus? She's like, oh no, it's not me. She says, that's just not my thing.

She says, I'm really glad it works for you. I know it works for a lot of people, but it's just not really my thing. And I was like, I was like, but I don't think you understand. I don't feel like it's a my thing or your thing. I feel like it's a, you know, everybody thing because Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through me. And she said, no, I'm telling you, it just doesn't work for me.

I'm glad it works for you. And I was like, I don't think you understand. I was like, why don't you read this verse right here? And I had my Bible.

I was like, read John 14, six. And she looks at me and she says, are you trying to tell me? And all of a sudden, like her attitude just totally flipped. She looked at me and she said, you're trying to tell me that, that if I don't come to Jesus, the way that you're saying the Bible tells me that you're saying that there's no possibility that if there is a heaven that I will not go. And I said, I'm not telling you that. I think the Bible is telling you that. And, and she said, I think you might be the most close-minded, arrogant, bigoted person I've ever talked to.

I can't believe somebody in the 21st century would actually say this. I don't want to have this conversation anymore. And she sat back. And I was like, all right, wedding's off.

Okay, let me see if I can salvage that situation. And I sat there sort of in stunned silence for, you know, like a minute or two. And then the pilot comes on, the old PA system, and he's like, hey, we're, you know, initial approach to rally Durham. And I said, I remember something, I think, I can't remember who said it, but I remember hearing somebody say, I leaned over to her and I was like, hey, just right, I know, I know this conversation is done. I don't want you to, you don't want to talk to me anymore, but I just want to tell you that I'm really glad the pilot of this airplane doesn't look at the runway the same way that you do heaven. She said, what do you mean?

I was like, let's just say that he comes on and says, you know what? I am sick and tired of that arrogant little control tower telling me where and how I got to land this plane. I'm a free-thinking, open-minded pilot. And I prefer to land, you know, upside down in the Walmart parking lot.

I want to try to get a nose tip on the top of the PNC building in downtown Raleigh. I was like, no, he's just going to go on that little narrow runway because that's what the control tower says he's got to do in order to bring this plane and you and me to safety. And I'm glad that he looked at the runway different than you do truth. She said, that's not fair. I said, yes, it is.

That's Campbell one, Harvard zero, by the way, if you're keeping score. The point is you maintain the confession is the only way, because if God is the only God, it would be cruel to not do it otherwise. You understand, listen, that this generation depends on us telling the truth about it. Just like the generation of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they needed these three guys to stand, not just to worship God in private, but to do it in public and say, I can't bow. Because of their courage, an entire generation right there, including Nebuchadnezzar got to see that there is only one savior. And by the way, scholars say that the faith of the wise men who came to see Jesus can ultimately be traced back to this encounter.

It is because they stood in that moment and said, we can't bow. He's not just my savior. He's everybody's savior. I'm not talking about not letting people be free.

Of course not. We live in a free country. We value that. I'm just saying that our confession is there is one Lord and one savior, and there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And if I don't tell you the truth about that, if I bow along to the statue of pluralism like everybody else does, then my generation perishes because I didn't have the courage. The substance of Christian courage, the confession is that Jesus is the only Lord, the only savior, and I can only bow to him.

Here is the second thing. Courage is conviction. I believe that God can. I expect that he will, but I trust him if he doesn't. Courage is conviction.

Now, that's a lot. We'll go through it one at a time, but courage is conviction says this. I believe that God can.

I expect that he will, but I trust him if he doesn't. Let's unpack those phrases one at a time, okay? Christian courage believes that God can. You know, the first thing I notice from the three Hebrew teenagers' answer is that they were in no doubt about who the biggest daddy was in this little drama. Verse 17, our God whom we serve is bigger than you. He's bigger than your fiery furnace and so you can jab around all you want.

Ultimately, he's in charge, not you. Everybody else, all other million people out there on the plane are thinking, look how small and pathetic those three teenagers look next to Nebuchadnezzar and all his mighty soldiers, but they're standing there thinking, look how puny little old Neb looks next to God. That's where Christian courage begins, and it's so simple that a child can get it right. God is bigger. God is bigger. He's bigger than your problems. I learned this as a kid, and so did you.

I'm one of my favorite hymns when I grew up as a kid. Help me sleep safely at night and not be afraid. God is bigger than the boogeyman. He's bigger than the monsters and the, or Godzilla and the monsters on TV.

Oh, come on, nobody else. God is bigger than the boogeyman, and he's watching out for you, and it's like you learn it as a kid. And essentially, I've got some version of that in every situation I go into.

It's the most basic principle of faith. God's bigger than your problem, all of them. He's bigger than cancer. He's bigger than a lost job. He's bigger than a broken marriage. He's bigger than your friends. He's bigger than your sin. He's bigger than your shame. He is bigger than the grave, and if you are his child, there's nothing that happens to you without his permission. Not even a hair falls from your head, he said, without his knowledge and express permission. So why, the hymn writer says, why should I be discouraged?

Why should the shadows come? Jesus is my portion. My constant friend is he. If his eyes on the sparrow, I know he watches me. Christian courage believes that he can.

That's all it is. I believe that he can. Our God is able, and he's bigger than you. Everybody turn to your neighbor right now and say, I believe that he can. I believe that he can, that's it. All right, now the other two-thirds of you, okay, turn to your neighbor and say, I believe that he can. All right, Christian courage believes that he can. Number two, Christian courage expects that he will.

Doesn't he believe that he can, expects that he will. Watch this. This is sort of subtle, but it's crazy important.

And he will deliver us out of your handle, King. How did they know that? How'd they know? Little secret, they didn't.

Let me prove it to you. Look at the next phrase, verse 18, but if not, they didn't know how this was going to turn out. They did not know. There had been no little huddle where God pulled him aside and was like, hey, this is how it's going to go down.

This won't you say it, then this is, none of that. They just had this suspicion in their heart that God would deliver them because they understood God's goodness. They understood God's willingness to showcase the glory of his name. Can I tell you a little Bible secret?

Many of the greatest feats of faith in your Bible were not done in response to a direct command of God or with any kind of promise guarantee of how it was all going to turn out. I'll give you just one example. One of my favorite ones.

I'll share this one because there are literally dozens I could share, but this is one that's less well known and it's one of the best ones. First Samuel 14, the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. They're oppressed in Israel and they've taken away all the swords in Israel. There's only two swords in the whole country. And Jonathan, who is King Saul's son, David's best friend, has one of those two swords. When he comes upon a garrison of 20 Philistines and it's just him and his armor bearer, two guys, one sword, 20 armed Philistine soldiers on the little cliff above them.

First Samuel 14, six. And Jonathan says to his young armor bearer, come, let us go over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Perhaps. If I'm that armor bearer without a sword, I'm like, bro, if you're trying to persuade me to attack 20 men and I even got a sword, you're gonna have to do better than perhaps.

Right? Jonathan just expected, he didn't know, but he just expected that God would show up and glorify his name. Doesn't Jonathan's words sound like what his best friend David said in Psalm 27, 13?

We quoted around here at the summit a lot. I'm convinced that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In other words, I know that one day when we get to heaven, everything's gonna be awesome.

And I know that there he'll wipe away every tear. And I know I don't have a lot of direct promises about how this or that situation is gonna work out, but I just expect that a good God will actually do something in this situation. And I'm gonna take a chance on boldly asking him to actually do it because yes, I'm willing to wait to heaven to see the goodness of God, but I wanna see it right now in the lives of my children. I wanna see it in my marriage.

I wanna see it in the life of my friends. I wanna see it in our community and I wanna see it in our church. And so perhaps the Lord will respond and I'm just gonna take a chance on it because I expect that he will. Or think about the miracles of Jesus. Have you ever thought about how many of the miracles of Jesus came about because somebody without a promise, without a guarantee, just took a dare on Jesus' goodness? Maybe the easiest one to think about is the woman with the blood disease who comes up behind Jesus thinking that if she could just touch his garment, then she'd be healed. Luke, the writer who records this story, makes it very clear that Jesus was not planning, he was not expecting this.

He was actually on his way somewhere else and this woman was the farthest thing from his earthly mind. And then unexpectedly, she just kind of reaches out audaciously taking a dare on his goodness. And Jesus stops and says, scarcely have I seen faith like this anywhere.

Daughter, your boldness in taking a dare on my goodness is rewarded and he healed her. Bold faith doesn't just believe that he can. Bold faith expects that he will because they understand the goodness of God. And of course, that is not to say, it's not to say that God's like some magical genie lamp that if you rub him just the right way, he's gonna give you what you want. Or a pinata that if you whack him hard enough with faith, he's gonna let all the candy come out.

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying sometimes God in his goodness, yes, sometimes God will tell us no or tell us to wait. I'm simply saying that in this story, as you see multiple times throughout the Bible, God rewards those who take a dare on his goodness. He rewards those who expect that he will. Our God is able and he will deliver us.

I don't know that for sure, but he will do it. So my question for you is where do you need to take a dare on God? Where is it right now that you need to take a dare on God? Maybe it's just reaching out to share your faith at work or at school, even though it's super awkward. And even though you're like, I don't know what everybody's gonna say about me, but the Holy Spirit is putting in my heart and I'm just gonna take a dare on him that maybe he'll show up and work in this person's heart. Maybe it's in you taking a courageous stand at work, even though it looks like it's gonna cost you big in the short run.

Or maybe if you serve in politics, maybe it's just standing for what's right, even though the media and sometimes your own party is gonna throw you in a fiery furnace every time you do. Maybe it's you persevering in a prayer request and not giving up, but continuing to come back to God's throne and say, God, I believe that you're good enough to do something here and I wanna see your goodness in the land of the living. And perhaps you're gonna do this and I'm not gonna go away until you do. Maybe it's submitting that application to be a foster parent, even though you were scared about how it's gonna change your life. You're like, I'm just, perhaps God's gonna show up and do something in somebody and in us.

Or how about boldly choosing to keep the kid, even though you're young and pregnant and you feel all alone. Or maybe choosing to keep pressing on in the marriage, even though it's difficult. Maybe it's you calling that estranged family member today, even though you aren't sure how they're gonna respond to your offer of forgiveness. Maybe it's just confessing that pornography habit to a trusted friend, even though you'd rather keep it concealed. You're like, I just wanna put it out there and I wanna put it out there so that God can work in this. Maybe it's starting a ministry. You've been sitting here and there's something God's put in your heart and you're like, I don't know if it's gonna work. You're not gonna get a guarantee. But maybe you just say, God, I believe you'll be good here.

I expect that you're gonna work. Finally, Christian courage, trust him if he doesn't. Christian courage, trust him if he doesn't. The greatest words in the story, verse 18. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, we will not worship the golden image that you have set up.

Like I said, these are some of my favorite words in the Old Testament. Even if he doesn't deliver us, and he might let us die in the furnace, we still want you to be clear, O Nebuchadnezzar, that we would rather die in the flames with just him than we would live in a palace with just you. They believe that God was not only big enough to protect them from Nebuchadnezzar, they believe that knowing God was better than anything they would have to give up without him.

You wanna write stuff down? Courage believes not only that God is bigger than the opposition, courage also believes that God is better than the alternatives. God is bigger than the opposition, but he's also better than the alternative. You see, listen, sometimes God is glorified when sick people get well and God shows that he's bigger than the cancer.

But sometimes God is glorified because sick people die well and they show that God is better than even life itself. Sometimes you take a stand and God delivers like Jonathan, like David. Sometimes you take a stand and he lets you suffer like Jesus. The question you gotta ask is, if he lets you go through the fire, is he enough for you? You see, the only way that you're gonna have the courage to suffer for what is right is if you know that Jesus is enough, if you know he's enough. Can I show you real quick from this story why he's enough? And not just for these three Hebrew teenagers, but for you. You see, this story is a promise that is directly for you.

It wasn't just about them, this was about me and you. Watch this, verse 19. The Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury. The expression of his face was changed.

He got shattered in Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times, more than it was usually heated. He threw him in. It was so hot, the next verse says, that the heat coming from the furnace's mouth actually killed the soldiers who were carrying the bound teenagers up to throw them in. So Nebuchadnezzar naturally expects to see them burst into flames. Verse 24, but King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. And he rose up in haste and he declared to his counselors, hey, didn't we cast in three men into the fire? And they answered and said, oh yeah, true, oh king. He replied, but I see four men unbound, not bound, unbound, and they're all walking in the midst of the fire and none of them are hurt. Another thing, in other words, the only thing that burned on them were the ropes that bound them. And the appearance, he says, the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Hey, from our perspective, after the New Testament, it's pretty safe to say that was the son of God. Verse 26, then Nebuchadnezzar came near the door of the burning fiery furnace and he declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out and come here.

And they came out. And the king's counselors gathered together and they saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed. Their cloaks were not harmed.

Not even the smell of smoke had come upon them. Stay with me. This whole scene prefigures Jesus going to the cross. Jesus, watch this, Jesus was thrown into the fires of judgment with us.

We're the three Hebrew teenagers. Jesus gets thrown in with us. And because Jesus got thrown in there with us, we came through judgment, totally unharmed.

There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. That means the hair on my head has not been singed by judgment. My clothes have not been burned. He took the flame so I could emerge from it in safety with not a trace or smell of judgment anywhere on my body, even on my clothes. It was only the chains of my bondage that were burned away.

You see? And what that means is that we're not saved. And what that means, friend, what that means is this, listen, what that means is this, is that the God who went through the fire for me is the God who can keep me in the fire. If he went into the ultimate fires of judgment for you, if he went to the cross and he kept you totally safe and free from harm there, don't you think he'll keep you in whatever lesser fire you're going to go into now? The God who died for you in the fire is the God who will keep you in the fire. Like a friend of mine says, don't search for a faith that'll keep you from the fire. No, no, no, search for a God that will keep you in the fire. So if you come to church looking for a God that'll keep you out of the fire, it's not going to happen. But there is a God who will keep you in the fire because he went into the fire of judgment for you.

The presence of Jesus was with these three Hebrew teenagers in their furnace. And that means his presence will be with you in any furnace into which he puts you also. The God who died for you in the fire is the God who can keep you now in the fire.

Let me show you how this whole thing ends. Verse 28, Nebuchadnezzar answered, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies, rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree, any people, nation, language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other God who is able to save, to rescue in this way. This story ends with Nebuchadnezzar commanding all peoples, nations, and languages to gather in unified worship of God's power to save.

It is a picture of the future, it is a picture of what happens at the end of time. And I looked, the apostle John said, and there, there before me was a great multitude that no man could account. People from every tribe and people and nation and language under heaven standing before the throne and before the lamb, they were wearing white robes which meant they were unsinged and unharmed by the fires of judgment and they were holding palm branches of peace in their hands and they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb. God who sits on the throne is worshiped, not Nebuchadnezzar. The world is going to be unified not by the greatness of some earthly sovereign, Babylon or Great Britain or America or the UN or otherwise, it's going to be unified by a savior who went into the flame of judgment for his people and kept them 100% safe from all harm in that flame. And you and I are going to help move the world to that worship by determining that we're going to bow only to Jesus' Lord and by getting up every single day believing that he can, expecting that he will, but trusting him if he doesn't. That's courage.

Pray for your moment of courage to be a reality, that you'll be able to represent your God who is always enough. You know, here at Summit Life we pray that these daily messages aren't just nice inspirational quotes or feel-good sound bites for you, but that true life change happens as a result of God's Word being preached. Pastor JD, we've spent about a week in the book of Daniel now and as we continue on with this teaching, what would you say is the overall theme of Daniel? Oh Molly, you're asking me a reflection question.

I would say in one sentence it is this. If you want to make a difference in Babylon, then you're going to have to be different. You've got to be distinct from Babylon in the right ways. Daniel and his friends, you're going to see them resolved to be guided by the Bible and to many ways swim against the stream there in Babylon.

And when that happens in our lives, when we are shaped by the Bible, then we start to become strange and offensive, not because we're just weirdos, but because we're living by an entirely different set of kingdom rules. If you'll walk through this book of the Bible with us, and then also if you can get one of these Bible studies we're providing as a companion study, it'll show you through nine sessions what studying the scripture looks like to press into these timeless and timely truths of Daniel to show you what it looks like to be different in a way that makes a difference. You can reserve your copy of this Bible study that'll help take you deeper at jdgrier.com. And be sure to listen tomorrow when Pastor JD discusses the problem of pride, something I'm sure we could all use a little refresher on. See you Friday right here on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.