Who is God? Who am I?

Last week:

Belief to behavior. Our belief determines how we live.

our belief about life, God, humanity, sin, grace, Jesus, eternity, history, truth....all leads somewhere. Our belief about those things lead somewhere. Ultimately, how we live.

We looked at Daniel.

605BC - Jerusalem attacked and fell.

Babylonians took over - King Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah taken to be servants

Temple Vessels taken to the Babylonians god’s temple in Babylon

When they first got there....learning, language, food (3 yrs)

Daniel resolved (truth is truth no matter what the outcome)

God gave us the Torah

Food restrictions are a part of that

Therefore....we will still follow God

Daniel asks respectfully, acts within reason, health is something both parties want. Trial period.

Daniel (Beltashazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego end up being the best of the best of all the servants.

Even when they were in a foreign land with a political system that did not honor God above all else, they knew they were there for a reason.

God is involved in this. God is involved in history and their history as individuals as well.

God is active in their association and service to King Nebuchadnezzar. A king who doesn’t follow God…God is still involved with him.

They believe these things therefore…the act as though those things are true.

God is in control. We will follow God. God cares for us.

And…we’re living within His promise.

Chapter 2 Read and summarize

Read Daniel 2:1-5

Daniel 2:1–5 CSB

1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him, and sleep deserted him. 2 So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, mediums, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, “I have had a dream and am anxious to understand it.” 4 The Chaldeans spoke to the king (Aramaic begins here): “May the king live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” 5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “My word is final: If you don’t tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be made a garbage dump.

Summarize the following.

SLIDE

Daniel 2:11 (CSB)

11 What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

The king was so angry that at this point he ordered the execution of all of the wise men and magi in Babylon. Men were sent to gather them all up. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah as well.

Daniel hears and asks to see the King. Request a bit of time.

And then does something…that is not unique or surprising for someone who believes

God is real

He’s involved in human activities

He’s involved in the history of individuals as well....he cares

If those things are true…then this is what we do.

So he gets an audience with the king. The king gives him some time. Daniel then doesn’t waste any more time.

What’s he do? Read Daniel 2:17-19

Daniel 2:17–19 CSB

17 Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter, 18 urging them to ask the God of the heavens for mercy concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men. 19 The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel praised the God of the heavens

Daniel then returns to guard, name is Arioch who king had ordered to execute the wise men... to let him know that he knows what the dream means.

Here’s how he begins....

SLIDE

Daniel 2:27–28 (CSB)

27 Daniel answered the king, “No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about.

28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days.

Short synopsis of the statue, the nearer days and last days. (hint…this is part of God’s movement through history concerning his promise…He’s giving hints about His next moves through history) And guess what, this matches with what Daniel and his friends believe about God right? God is involved in history…global history and their personal history.

SLIDE

Daniel 2:47 CSB

47 The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

God of gods and Lord of Kings. Two very specific things. Remember, this king worships other gods…and we have some pretty good indications that these were real spiritual created beings…what we might call fallen angels who are setting themselves up against God. And Nebuchadnezzar admits this…Daniel, your God is the God of all gods. And....not only that, but He is the Lord of all Kings.

Nebuchadnezzar is placing God in His rightful place. Above all. Involved…and above all. He places himself under him.

Story

NAIROBI, Kenya, January 11, 2023 (Morning Star News) – A 37-year-old father of four was killed on Jan. 2 after participating in a Christian-Muslim debate in eastern Uganda at which 13 Muslims put their faith in Christ, sources said.

Ahamada Mafabi was returning from the debate in Nakaloke, Sironko District outside Mbale when men on two motorcycles shouting the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar[God is greater],” knocked him off his motorcycle and sliced his neck with a knife, one of the Christians sent to escort him said.

....

“Muslims responded openly to receiving Christ,” the pastor said of the public debate that took place before the attack. “There were shouts from the Muslims demanding that Mafabi leave the grounds of the meeting, saying, ‘Mafabi, stop your blasphemous utterance of equating Issa [Jesus] to God, calling him the Son of God.’”

Seeing the hostility, the pastor assigned two Christians to escort Mafabi to his home in Butaleja District, he said.

...

Mafabi had left Islam to put his faith in Christ in December 2020 after several visits with the pastor in an undisclosed village in Butaleja District. Initially the pastor housed him to protect him from Islamists upset with his conversion, and later his church rented a house for him elsewhere.

Knowledgeable in both Islam and Christianity, Mafabi helped the pastor begin Christian-Muslim debates in mid-2021, and in one year more than 100 Muslims put their faith in Christ, he said. Mafabi faced severe Islamist hostility, escaping four assassination attempts, and the pastor also received threatening text messages.

One such message, he said, read, “Stop taking our members to your church. Let this be known to you that your church and your life is at risk.”

...

Here’s what the pastor ended the interview with...

“I have some fears, but this is part of the spiritual warfare that comes with Christian persecution, and I am ready to face it,” he said.

What did he believe to be true about God and himself?

The question we all need to answer for ourselves…even though we might be threatened like Daniel or this Christian from Uganda...

What did Daniel know to be true?

God is the creator, the heavens and the earth were made by his word.

God created humanity different than anything else…special…in His image.

Purpose? Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth with God’s glory. He also knew the earth wasn’t filled with God’s glory…because of sin....however...

God had made a promise. That the effects of sin would be reversed and that the enemy(s) of God would be defeated (there is a spiritual battle going on).

Promise given to Abraham…Daniels ancestor. The promise was that through Abraham’s family, Daniel’s family (nation of Israel), one would come who would make all things right for humanity and bless the world. The promise from the One who cannot break promises.

So here’s Daniel. In the middle of history. He’s looking at the history of humanity, the history of God’s promise and covenant. The history of how his nation, God’s children, have been blessed but also how they have walked away from God/disobeyed Him. But the promise is still true…that someday....

So if all of those things are true…God is still at work. This is a huge mystery…but in time…maybe not even Daniel’s time, but in time the mystery will be revealed.

We have Jesus....20/20 vision.

Going back to Daniel…Belief to behavior.

…so Daniel.

If God is real and wants me to be in relationship with Him…then I can pray. He knew the prayers of the ancients before Him…success and revelations…God granting things to his ancestors…so…if all of those are true…he can pray to God.

If God answered his ancestors before…the people of God…God’s children. Can he expect an answer? Sure… Remember he’s living what he believes to be true. He would also know that a non-answer isn’t God disregarding him. The mystery might be revealed…the answer to the prayer, might be given to the next generation. But Daniel would know that this is true about God as well.

A non-answer doesn’t negate everything that he believes true about God. It actually fits. So he’s content…living as a creature of God under God’s care. Doing the best he can with the life he has been given. Fully trusting that God is the God of all humanity and all history.

Do you see how powerful truth can be? How comforting truth can be? How belief in truth can bring peace.

I wonder can we get that sense of peace that Daniel seemed to have? That sense of security that Daniel had?

Worldview - A worldview helps us answer the questions...

Is there a God?

Who am I?

Where did I come from?

Where am I going?

Do I have purpose?

Is there a moral law?

What is true happiness?

Just for the sake of contrast…naturalism is a worldview held by and taught in our time of history.

Naturalism is the thought that there is no God…nothing outside of humanity. Everything can be explained by everything natural.

So …let’s answer those big questions with naturalism’s worldview.

Is there a God? God can’t exist because he is described as something that’s not material…and nothing other than material things exist.

Who am I? I am a product of chance … my existence is the cause of random conglomerations of chemicals and energy.

Where am I going? I am determined to do things because of natural reactions … neurons fire in my brain and then I do things or think things or say things. Free will is very hard to define within naturalism.

Do I have purpose? If we are not designed but random conglomerations of chemicals and energy, then there is no purpose that was designed or planned for me. My existence is purely random.

Is there moral law…morality? Morals cannot by chemicals and energy. Therefore it seems that there are no overarching morals. Everything is subjective.

True happiness? Naturalism just is. Happiness doesn’t add or take away…there is no failure or success…there are no foundational morals…we just are…and then we disappear. Nothing special.

So our worldview means something doesn’t it. Whether we believe there’s the possibility of a God…whether there’s design in humanity…whether we have meaning and purpose.

Worldview is a powerful thing. This next week…as you’re talking with people or listening to things, watching things, see if you can pick out the worldview of the person. What they believe to be true about the foundations of truth for life.

Remember what can probably assume was true about Daniel’s worldview.

God created.

Humans are designed for His purposes.

Sin is real and created a separation between God and His creation.

God’s involved in humanity

…for the specific purpose of bringing us back to Him.

And there’s a plan for that.

....therefore....Nebuchadnezzar is in God’s view of history. I am part of God’s history. God will bring His promise spoken long ago to bring people back to Him. I’m in the here and now…not separate at all from that promise and His plan. I have a purpose and part to play. Therefore, I’m important, loved, watched over by Him…no matter what happens around me.

We’re going to keep repeating a couple of passages because they are passages that helps us see reality.

Daniel had some history that he knew of…that was true…that he rested his whole worldview on. And that worldview helped him see reality…his part in reality…and what the right thing to do was.

John 10:10 CSB

10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

John 10:11 CSB

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The way back to God. The one who came to give us life. The way we get it is to believe in the one who laid his life down for us.

In Him we find the way (map), the truth (reality), and life…what we had in fullness before sin.

If that is our foundation for everything…where we begin to ask all of those questions…then it seems

God is real

Sin is real (there’s a spiritual battle going on around us and beyond us)

God wants us back and immediately after sin appeared, because of our choice, God made a plan to get us back.

He loves us.

Jesus is the final act of that plan…our way back.

Some others...

…if sin is real, then there is a foundation for morality that is best explained through God’s character, His design and His purpose. Meaning…there are things to do and not to do. Things that match with His design and things that don’t.

Scripture explains the foundation for these things.

There’s a best way of living in the time we’re in.

There are lies among us as well…about everything that is true.

Who is God? He created you and cares deeply for you.

Who am I? I’m someone created by God. Created for Him with His image stamped on me. I also have to say…that I’m in need of Him because of my personal sin. So I’m a sinner. That is true as well. But in my sin, someone died for me to satisfy God’s sense of justice. My sin was paid for. I need to believe that and follow as best I can.

And in all of that, I can have peace…that no matter what happens around me, knowing that this world is not my home, that I will be reborn recreated renewed into a life that is full…as it was suppose to be in the beginning.

And God does it all…for me.

Inside of this reality, God can help me make moral decisions based on His foundation of truth…His definition of right and good living…His definition of a full life.

And beyond that, God invites all of us to participate in this good news…that He’s for us and not against us. We are invited to help others become disciples, students, followers of Jesus.