Idol - Culture, Part 2

You are called to responsibly, kindly, lovingly, but clearly represent the Christian faith and then watch God do His thing. But Dr. Tony Evans says that job's getting tougher in our post-Christian culture. Now that we're on a pagan territory, you are called to be salt and light.

You're not called to fake it to make it. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. You've probably heard it said that Christians are supposed to be in the world but not of the world.

Today, Dr. Evans will talk about why that balancing act is often so difficult and outline ways to keep our feet firmly planted in the kingdom. Let's join him in the book of Daniel as he begins our lesson. In our passage today, God's people had lost home field advantage. Because of their rebellion and sin against God, God allowed in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, to descend upon Jerusalem, ransack it, and slaughter all gods of people and then lift people out and bring them to the pagan culture of Babylon. Daniel finds himself now with his three friends, the three Hebrew boys. Nebuchadnezzar knows if he's going to get the most out of these boys, he's got to de-Israelize them and pro-Babylonize them. He's got to rip away from them their Christian background, and he's got to inculcate within them a secular Babylonian way of thinking.

So he relocates them, he re-identifies them, and then he does the biggie. He re-indoctrinates them. It says he sent them to a Babylonian school for three years to teach them the language and the thoughts and the meaning of Babylonian life.

So for three years, they were secularized in their thinking by education. Chapter three, verse one, Nebuchadnezzar made an image. Verse three at the end of it, the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Verse five, the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Verse 10, worship the golden image. Verse 12, the golden image which he had set up. Verse 14, the golden image which he had set up. Verse 15, fall down and worship the image I have made. Verse 18, the golden image that you have set up.

What's the word? Image. And boy, aren't we concerned with image today. Self-worship, we market stardom. We want image so bad that we'll piggyback off of other folks' image to give us the image we want. It's called reality TV, where I look at other folk which will help me define me better than the me that I am.

Because I want to feel good about me. It is the cult of celebrity worship. Praising those we emulate even though the ones we emulate aren't worth the praise. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego were asked to bow to image. Bow to image. Nebuchadnezzar said to them in verse 15, now if you're ready at any moment when you hear the sound of the music, you can worship the image. But then he gave them a warning because he was their boss.

He was the king. If you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. And what God is there who can deliver you out of my hand? Oh, no, you didn't. So look, boys, I'm going to give you all another chance because you give them a first chance.

So I'm going to give you another chance. Bow or you're going to get fired, and I do mean better. You must bow to the image of this company. You must bow, not just to the work, but to the image, to the worldview. You must make this image your image.

This is who you got to be if you're going to work here. And if you're not willing to be this, what God is there? I know y'all pray and all that, but this is the real world. What God is there who's going to deliver you out of my hand? Okay. Now, the three Hebrew boys, I love this answer. Verse 16 says, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king. Okay.

All three of them talking at the same time. Okay. That's why you need to have some folk in your life who are willing to take a stand with you. That's why you got to hang out with some spiritual people who are willing to stand with you. They say, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had just asked him a question.

Which God is there? If I fire you, who's going to get you out of this? Because I'm up in charge up in here.

He said, well, me and my boys have discussed this. We knew this day was coming when we didn't bow and those folk would tell them on us. We knew this day. So we don't need to go back and think about it. We already even prayed about it.

We already know where we stand. So let me give you respectfully, O king, the answer. If it be so, since you said, which God? Our God, verse 17, who we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire.

And he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. So you ask which God? Since you asked, our God.

But don't stop there. Our God who we serve, not our God who we talk about. Not our God who we go to church to worship with. Our God who we serve on the job is able to deliver us.

Oh, but that's not all they say. They go on to say, but even if he does not, because God is also sovereign. So even if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods, idol of image. We're not going to serve your God or worship the golden image that you have set up.

They drew a line in the sand. We will work for you, but we won't worship you. We'll be employed here, but don't ask us to bow to the deity of your image. I know you want a company man, and you can have a company man, but I can't have the company man be my God.

I'm not trying for an image. Now, it's nothing wrong with looking nice, taking care of yourself, having people appreciate you, respect you. The Bible says give honor to whom honor is due, but giving honor is not worship. Any spiritual leader who stops pointing you to God, stops pointing you to Jesus, and only points you to them is an illegitimate person seeking image worship. The moment they take you from God and say, it's me, it's me, it's me, it's me, and you don't hear Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, God, God, God, but only them, them, them. That's where cults come from. You listen to see whether they boomerang you to Jesus or whether they just say, it's only about me. That's cultism.

That's image. Dr. Evans will share what can happen when we put principles over people pleasing when he continues our message in just a moment. But first, many of us are concerned about the direction our culture seems to be taking these days and feel helpless to do anything about it. But Dr. Evans says it's not too late for our country to turn around, and he's written a book that explains exactly how Christians can work together to usher in a revival unlike anything we've ever seen. It's called America, Turning a Nation to God, a look at how godly principles give us the power to reclaim justice, morality, freedom, and strength for our nation. And it's yours for a limited time as our gift when you make a donation in support of this listener-supported ministry.

Along with the book, we'll send you Tony's current eight-part teaching series, American Idols, on both CD and instant digital downloads. This special double offer will only be available for a few more days, so be sure to get both of these powerful resources right away. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements. You can also call our resource request line at 1-800-800-3222. Our phone center never closes, so there's always somebody waiting to help you.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. We'll get back to today's message right after this. Racism is sin, but what can one person do to make a difference, to bring the connectedness and togetherness? In his book, Oneness Embraced, Dr. Tony Evans looks at his own life, straddling the worlds of white evangelical circles and black urban culture, and what the Bible says about race, racism, and reconciliation. If the church can come together as one, we might just become one nation under God. It's a call for unity we all need. Learn more at tonyevans.org. So they said, we're not going to bow to the company.

We'll work in it. We won't bow to it. Well, Nebuchadnezzar is ticked off. He's ticked off. He makes the fire seven times hotter. Verse 24, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood in haste. And he said to a high official, verse 24, Was it not three men we cast bound in the midst of the fire? I see four men loosed walking around in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the God. The Bible says that they tied them up and put them in the furnace.

So let me stop right there. When you take a stand for God, it doesn't always mean you won't get fired. When you take a stand for God, it does not mean you will not face suffering, persecution, and opposition.

They took a stand for God and still were thrown in the fire because they had enough Bible in them to know that Isaiah 43, verse 2 and 3 says, When you are in the fire, I will be with you. Nebuchadnezzar looked through the window. He called his assistants.

He said, Now wait a minute. We threw three in here, right? I'm counting, right? One, two, three, right?

Well, why am I seeing four folk? That's question number one. Question number two, we tied them up, didn't we? Well, why are they loose in the fire?

Number three, we made it seven times harder, didn't we? Well, yeah, you did. Well, help me out here, because why are they walking around in the fire? I wish I could promise you, you take your stand for God, you won't get fired. You don't bow to the idol of image and you won't be challenged. I am telling you, you won't be there by yourself. That the living God, if He doesn't bring you out of it, will join you in it.

Join you in it. We live in a day when Christianity is being attacked. We're not going to be mean. We're not going to be hating.

Some people are struggling. We're going to love them, work with them, walk with them with a line. Please note, God didn't show up into the fire until they drew the line. Until they said we won't bow, they didn't hear anything. But when they drew the line, God showed up in the fire. See, some of us are waiting on God when God's waiting on us to draw the line. Finally, finally, finally, chapter six, chapter six, last story.

Here's what I like about this story. Daniel is about 80, 85 years old now. He's an older man.

I know how he feels. He's getting older. In verse three, then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

Oh, wait a minute. He's working on a secular job because he's now in a post-Christian culture and he's advancing. And the reason he's advancing, even though he's working on a secular job, is even non-Christians recognize an extraordinary worker.

And so this man had an extraordinary spirit about him. He wasn't going to steal from the company. He wasn't going to abuse coworkers. He didn't cuss like the rest of them cussed. He wasn't living loose like some of the other folks were living. He wasn't doing any of that.

This man was extraordinary. Listen, most of you are going to work tomorrow and you're going to go to work in a non-Christian environment and you ought to be extraordinary. You ought to be a regular employee. Even if it's a pagan environment in which you live, you should be the best one working there.

Why? Because the Bible says you go to work for the Lord Christ, not just for your boss. You should be an extraordinary, not an ordinary employee. But like in any job he had some haters. It says that these men said we need to find, verse 5, a ground of accusation against him.

You've got to find something wrong with him. But they couldn't find anything wrong with his work. So they said this Daniel, unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God. In other words, we can't criticize his work. Oh, but he's that committed Christian guy. We're going to find something wrong and we're going to use his faith against him.

Can't criticize his work. So they came up with a law that says you can't pray to any other God for 30 days except to the king. And the king liked that law because it fed his ego.

So the king signed it. So now prayer has been kicked out of the public square. You can't pray. You can't pray to anybody else but to the king. You can't pray on the job. You can't pray. You can't pray at school. You can't pray. You can't pray to any other God.

It's now the law of the land. Verse 10. Now when Daniel knew the document was signed, he entered his house. Now in his roof chamber, he had windows open towards Jerusalem. And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously. The law says you cannot pray to any other God except the king for the next 30 days. Daniel Googled prayer. Up came Psalm 55 17 which says you pray morning, noon, and evening.

So he had developed a pattern of three-a-day prayers. The law says you can't do this anymore. So it says he went home. Now I know what some of us would have done, some of us, because it says his windows were open. Some of us would have closed the window, pulled down the shade. Then on top of that it says he got on his knees. Some of us say, oh, you don't need to get on your knees to pray. You can stand up and pray, walk around and pray because then nobody will know that you're praying.

They just think you're walking. But he got on his knees and he left the window open. That's how they knew he was still praying because he left the window open. He said he kept the window open toward Jerusalem, the holy city of God where the temple was because he knew where his blessings came from. So he kept focusing on Jerusalem, focusing on God because now he's in a catch-22 because the laws of the Medes and Persians don't change. When anybody caught praying to another, God was going to be put in the lion's den.

They were going to be eaten alive. When you go to work tomorrow, if you are a full-time Christian and not a part-time saint, you're going to find some haters. You're going to find some haters, some people who don't like you, your extraordinary spirit, your work ethic, and your Christianity. I'm not talking about your belief in God. I'm talking about the fact that you are a representative of God on the job. And so they found out he was still praying and told the king, and he got thrown into the lion's den.

And let's see what happened. The next day the king came, verse 20, when he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a trembling voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, watch this, servant of the living God, whom you constantly serve, has he been able to deliver you from the lions?

Now this is the secular king, not a Christian king, secular king, but he says, the God who you serve. So everybody in the company knew Daniel served God. He wasn't a secret agent Christian. He wasn't a spiritual CIA representative. He wasn't a covert operative.

So my question is, if you were accused of being a Christian on your job, would there be enough evidence to convict you, or would you be found innocent of all charges? He said, Daniel, we know because you've been walking around the office talking about, he's my sword, my wheel, my shield, and he's a wheel in the middle of a wheel. He's so high you can't get over. He's so low you can't get under.

He's so wide you can't get around him. He's my Rose of Sharon. He's my balm in Gilead.

He's my bright and morning star. You be praying at lunch. You be talking all this Jesus stuff.

You be reading your Bible at lunchtime. You've been talking that Christian stuff, but now that you're in the lions den, now that you're with the haters, I want to know, was your God there when you were in a bad situation because you were talking all that stuff. See, it's easy to be a committed Christian in here. Everybody in here is going to say the same thing, but the question is, when you go out there with the lions, when you go out there with the haters, when you go out there with people who reject your faith, not because you're being bombastic or inappropriate, but because you're just being clear that you are a visible, verbal follower of Jesus Christ. When you go out there known as a Christian, has the God you've been talking about, praying about, preaching about, all that stuff, has he been with you in the den?

Not in the church, in the den. And Daniel answered and he said to the king, my God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth and they have not harmed me in as much as I've been found innocent. King, I'm all right down here. Lions are nice pillows, my pillow. The lions are nice.

I'm doing good down here. He brought Daniel out of the lion's den. Then he went and took the haters and cast the haters in the lion's den. And the Bible says, and then the lions got hungry.

They've been hungry all night, but now the lions got hungry. What I'm trying to tell you is, God didn't deliver Daniel until he drew a line in the sand. I'm going to pray because I know I need God more than I need y'all. And since I need God more than I need y'all, I'm going to talk to God because I'm going to need him when you throw me away to the lions. Dr. Tony Evans will come back in just a moment with an important closing remark about today's message. But first, I want to remind you that as our way of saying thanks for your contribution to help keep Tony's broadcast coming your way on this station, we'll send you all eight messages from his current teaching series, American Idols, as well as his timely and important book, America, Turning a Nation to God.

American Idols will help you identify and avoid the thoughts, people, places, or things that push God out of your life. And his book, America, will help you grasp spiritual strategies that reach beyond political and cultural issues and can spark a much-needed nationwide revival. This special bundle is only available for a few more days, so contact us right away at tonyevans.org to get all the details and make the arrangements. Or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222, where members of our resource team are ready to assist you with your request 24-7. Again, that's online at tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222.

If you're careful when you drive your car, how much more careful would you be driving your boss's car? In a nutshell, that's the difference between ownership and stewardship, and that's what we'll hear about tomorrow in a special message from Pastor Jonathan Evans. Right now, though, Tony's back with his closing thought.

Brothers and sisters, we have lost home field advantage. But now that we're on a pagan territory, you are called to be salt and light. You're not called to fake it to make it.

You are called to responsibly, kindly, lovingly, but clearly represent the Christian faith and then watch God do his thing. But you won't watch it until he sees you draw a line in the sand. That's a girlfriend telling a boyfriend or a boyfriend telling a girlfriend, we're not crossing that line. That's somebody on the job who's being enticed to try some drugs. We're not crossing that line.

It's somebody that's being drawn to something other. Listen, we're not crossing that line. I don't go there. Why? Because I don't just have to answer to you. I've got to answer to him. I've got to answer to him. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.