Encountering God's Promotion, Part 1

You and I live in a culture that not only wants our work, they want our worship. And Dr. Tony Evans says if we refuse to compromise, things can get really hot, really fast. When God wants to give you a divine encounter, He will often allow you to be put in a situation where you're going to have to choose between gods. 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. Hostility toward Christians is becoming more and more common in our society that supposedly values tolerance. Well today, Dr. Evans will tell us a Bible story that has some uncomfortable similarities to our shifting culture.

Let's join him. Perhaps you're familiar with the story of the bird that was flying south. And as the bird was flying south to try to get away from the harsh winter weather, it started too late. And it found itself caught in a tremendous blizzard and snow and ice before it could get far enough south. Its wings began to freeze and weigh it down until finally the bird could fly no more due to the icing of the wings, and it crashed on the ground in a farm. It lay there frozen, unable to move because of the cold and the ice and the snow that had accumulated on it. It was in a hopeless situation. While it lay there shivering, along comes a cow.

The cow relieves itself on top of the bird. So now the bird has two problems. It's frozen and in a stinky situation because the manure of the cow was now covering it.

So things appear to be going from bad to worse. It was in the midst of that when an awesome thing began to happen. The warmth of the manure began to melt the ice on the bird.

So a stinky situation was reversing a frozen situation. The bird got so excited about the fact that the ice was melting due to the manure pile it was under that it began to sing sounds of joy. When along came a cat. The cat heard the singing of the bird that was under the manure pile until it got to the bird, and the cat ate the bird. Now there are a number of lessons in this story. Lesson number one is everything that puts manure in your life may not be your enemy. But another lesson is that everybody who tries to take the manure out of your life may not be your friend. Another lesson is when you find yourself in the manure pile, keep your mouth shut. There are some here that feel like you're in a manure pile, that you're in a frozen, dirty situation.

A situation that no matter what happens, things are getting worse. Today I want to look at encountering God's promotion. A promotion is when you are lifted from one level to another level. Many of you know what it is to be promoted in your job, or to be promoted in your experience, or to be promoted from the JV to the varsity team to go through things that lift you to a higher level. In our story today from Daniel chapter 3, a promotion is going to take place.

Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, they are going to experience a promotion, but it will not come without a trial. They're going to encounter God in a bad situation. Now, some of the things I am going to say from this passage will not feel right and will not be comfortable.

But that's okay because the more uncomfortable it is, the better possibility for a divine encounter. Let's start with the backdrop of the story. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego find themselves working in a secular culture. They're in Babylon. Babylon is an evil, pagan, and idolatrous country. Because of Israel's sin, God told Babylon to invade Israel, and they brought out many of the young people back into Babylon to live and to work.

Daniel, along with the three Hebrew boys, are part of the group that was brought from Israel to Babylon, and now they have to live their life and do their work in a non-Christian environment, where the people you work for and the people you work with do not share your Christian worldview. They do not believe what you believe. They do not act like you act. They do not walk like you walk.

They do not talk like you talk, but that's the world you live in because you have to provide for yourself, for your family, and you will find yourself in an unrighteous environment. That was the three Hebrew boys. They found themselves working for the federal government because they were administrators in the regime of Nebuchadnezzar, who was the governing head of Babylon, so they were government employees working for a pagan government.

So whether you work for the government or you work for Apple or whether you work for Amazon or whatever company you work for that does not share your Christian values, this passage is for you. Because that is the context that Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego find themselves. It's like a young person who grows up in a Christian home, went to Christian schools all their life, but now will find themselves in a pagan secular college that tries to undo everything Mama and Daddy and Christian school tried to teach them for all of their lives.

A lot of things happened to bring these boys to this point. They were sent to a Babylonian school, it says in chapter 1. It says that they were indoctrinated with Babylonian thinking.

It says they were even given a Babylonian name after the name of a Babylonian god. So the culture was trying to de-Israelize them and pro-Babylonize them, trying to take their mindset from the rearing of their faith to the raising of the culture. And so you and I, like the three Hebrew boys, are caught in a cultural tension, how we were raised and what we're taught to believe and where we have to live and earn our money, where we have to live and function and the people we have to be around, because that's the nature of the job in which we're situated. How do you be Christian when the environment you're in doesn't support your Christianity? When the environment that you're in is trying to woo you away from your faith, as colleges do with you and me and our children, and as the society does with people of God.

So that's the situation, that's the circumstance that they find themselves in. Well, something happens in the beginning of the chapter, chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar, the head of Babylon, develops a theo-ego. Theo is God.

Ego is your mindset. He developed a God mentality. He deified himself. It goes on to say in the first nine verses, you'll see seven times, discussion about this image he built to himself. He builds a statue to honor him, ninety feet tall and nine feet wide.

He not only builds a statue, he comes up with a law. The law says that everybody is supposed to bow to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. He calls all of his leaders together and he says, I want you all to bow. And then he gives a warning in verse 6. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. Okay, watch this. If you don't worship, you're going to burn. If you don't worship, we're going to put you in the fire and I do mean you will be fired.

If you do not submit to the norms of this company, this culture, and this government, then you're going to have to pay the consequences for not compromising. The right answer for the characters in our story seems pretty obvious, but when Dr. Evans continues our message in just a moment, he'll talk about why we have so much trouble making the same kind of choice, even when our lives aren't on the line. But first, I want to tell you about a brand new book Tony's written that goes hand in hand with the lessons and practical principles we've been learning about this week. The book is called Kingdom Encounters, and in it, Dr. Evans explores how our lives can be changed forever when we experience a connection with God that goes beyond simply knowing about Him. Those connections often happen in the most unlikely times and places, and this book can help you realize that even when you feel like everything's going wrong, you might be right where you need to be for a kingdom encounter with God.

Dr. Evans says it happened in the lives of many we read about in the Bible, and it can happen for you as well. For a limited time, we're packaging this life-changing book, along with the entire Divine Encounters collection, on both CD and digital download. You can get them all as our gift when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching coming to this station and available around the world.

Just visit us today at tonyevans.org, or call us day or night at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements. I'll have our contact information for you again after Part 2 of today's lesson and this. The biblical roles of husbands and wives, the source of our authority as believers, understanding the concept of grace, winning spiritual battles, they're all important subjects but seem as different as night and day.

Would it surprise you to know there's a common thread running through all four? You can discover what it is by taking the course on Ephesians in the Tony Evans Training Center. One by one, you'll dig into the powerful themes of this book and make new discoveries about what Jesus' death accomplished, how to maintain unity at home and at church, what spiritual armor is all about. The course includes custom content from Tony not available anywhere else. Work through it at your own pace.

Collaborate with other students. Get your specific questions answered through our online forum. Connect with the Tony Evans Training Center at tonyevans.org. It's like having a seminary on your smartphone or other device.

Start today. TonyEvans.org. Now, the issue balls around one thing. Who you gonna worship? It says he built a statue and he says you are to worship before the statue. At the heart of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is this issue of idolatry. Let me, for those who may not remember the definition of an idol, an idol is any noun, person, place, thing, or thought that becomes your source.

Anything that competes with the God of the Bible as the thing you ultimately look to as your source is your God no matter whether you call it your God or not. So he says I want everybody in the company, everybody who works for me, all my administrators, all my managers, and all my supervisors to bow before the image or you will pay the consequences. The issue on the floor is not their work. The issue on the floor is not their excellence in their performance of their duties.

The issue on the floor is not how well they do what they do. The issue on the floor is if you gonna work here, you gonna have to be owned by us. And even when it comes to your belief system, you must address your belief system to the company rules. You must worship here, not just work here. You and I live in a culture that not only wants our work, they want our worship. Because they often ask us to compromise biblical values in order to be accepted or in order to be promoted. And so they find themselves in a culture that wants to compete with God, they want to limit God by becoming the final decision maker, they want to leverage God by controlling your space, and they want to localize God, they want to become God in your life.

Many of the conflicts we find in our families relate to our work. We're in battles because we have sold our souls to the career rather than to the Lord. We think because we have a BA or an MBA or a master's degree that somehow that should give us the right to marginalize God for the sake of our career. That sometimes it is the passion for money that causes us to compromise because if I can compromise, I can make more money. And so many of us today find ourselves often caught between a decision of our worship of God and our worship of our career, or the worship of our education for the sake of our career. And we are willing to compromise biblical values because we believe that that company or that degree is our source.

So I'm going to give it everything I've got because this degree is going to provide for me, this company is going to provide for me, this career is going to provide for me, it is my source. So if I got to do something shady to satisfy my source, then I'm going to make the adjustment necessary and God will understand. Because after all, God, don't I have to live in the real world? I mean, I got to live with these sinners. I got to work for this company. And they're the ones who are going to promote me, God.

And I'm going to come to church on Sunday, but I got to go with these sinful people tomorrow. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego found themselves in a dilemma and their career was on the line. While all of this is taking place, racism reared its ugly head. A racial dilemma takes place because verse 8 says, For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forth and brought charges against the Jews. So some Babylonians brought charges against the Jews. They didn't like the Jews. They didn't want the Jews working at the company. And the reason they didn't like the Jews is one, they were Jewish, and two, they brought their faith to work. See, they knew they were followers of God. So let me ask you a question. 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? Because your faith is very vague. You know it, but nobody else does. They were clearly followers of God and they were Jewish. A bad combination in a secular work environment. But they couldn't be condemned by their poor work.

See, sometimes Christians will say they're Christians but do bad work and say, People are discriminating against me because of my faith or my race when it has to do with your poor work habits. You don't show up on time. You don't do good work. You don't finish the job.

You don't do it with excellence. And so we get confused. They could not condemn them because of their work, so they had to condemn them because of their faith. So these three Hebrew boys find themselves on a dilemma because now the Babylonians who work with them, their co-workers, come and say and play politics. You know how politics is in the office.

They come and play politics. They said, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, you got these Jewish guys here and they won't bow. Oh, then they come to work, they do their job, but you told them to bow to the company. And they're not bowing to the company.

They're not submitting to the authority of the company. So Nebuchadnezzar, when he finds out this minority group would not bow, he said, bring them here. Verse 13, bring Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego here. And in verses 14 and 15, he says, I'm going to give you all another chance. He said, maybe your co-workers are lying on you.

Maybe they don't like you. Now I like you boys and you all have done a good job for me, but I ask you all to bow. I'm going to give you another chance. If you don't bow, verse 15, if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. And what God is there who can deliver you out of my hands? Now that's the question. The question is, I'm so powerful.

This company is so strong. This government is so much in control that if I fire you, you will be fired. And you don't know anybody who can overrule my decision because I'm the man. You don't have any contacts who can overrule me. What God is there who can overrule me because I'm the big man on campus. I'm the chief man in charge. I run this show. You don't know anybody who can overrule me.

So you better bow because I'm your source. Now this is a difficult situation to be put in. After all, I got a car note. I got a house note. I got insurance to pay. I got to feed some kids.

You know, I got a plan for retirement. I can't lose this job. You didn't put me in a trick bag. You didn't put me in a catch-22 because my job is on the line and the only criticism has nothing to do with my work. It's got to do with my faith, meaning I refuse to treat you like your God. So let me make something inextricably clear before we go on. And that is, when God wants to give you a divine encounter, He will often allow you to be put in a situation where you gonna have to choose between gods, between the God of education or the God of career or the God of money. He will often put you in a situation where it's tricky because it's costly. You gonna put us in the fire. You don't have to play the company game.

Illegitimately. Because once you do that, you're saying this company is my source. This boss is my source. I got to play the game, meaning compromise the faith, not be strategic. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about compromising your faith. If God lets you go through the fire, you have to understand the only reason that happened is it had to pass through His fingers first.

Okay, watch this. Nothing negatively happens to you when you are standing for God that God doesn't have to approve first. Let me say that again because this is theology you need to know. If you are serving the Lord and He lets things go south on you, He had to okay it because He's sovereign. And if He okayed it, it means it's His will.

And if it is His will, it means it has a purpose. Dr. Tony Evans, reminding us God is ready to give us a divine encounter when we choose to turn to Him. You can dig deeper into this life-changing truth when you take advantage of the special double resource package I mentioned earlier, Tony's brand new book, Kingdom Encounters, and his complete eight-message series, Divine Encounters. As a reminder, both the book and audio package on both CD and digital download can be yours with our thanks when you make a contribution to help us keep this listener-supported program coming your way. You can get all the details and make your request at TonyEvans.org. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where a friendly team member is standing by ready to assist you with your resource request 24 hours a day.

Again, the number 1-800-800-3222. We know that tough times are inevitable, even if we're right in the center of God's will. On Monday, Dr. Evans will explain why they might be inevitable because we're in the center of God's will. I hope you'll join us for that. 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.