Intro:

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.'"

Colossians 3:23-24 “23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

Even though Daniel is an Old Testament Saint, I believe he fully understood this New Testament principle… He didn’t blame God for the destruction of his nation. He knew that God was working out His plan. He also knew that No matter how terrible the events seemed, everything would end up fulfilling God’s Sovereign purpose.

Daniel knew that throughout the process of God fulfilling His plan, he and every other one of the guys that were taken into captivity, were responsible for their own decisions and actions.

Last time, we looked at Daniel, Hananiah, Misheal, and Azariah’s choice to remain obedient to God and His Word. They made up their minds “Not Defile themselves” before God… despite the pressures around them.

They remained faithful and God blessed them for it… and it is those blessing of faithfulness that we are going to look at today.

Blessings of Faithfulness

Read Daniel 1:17-21…

Meat:

Before we dive into this passage today, I want to point something out… The blessings that we are going to look at today are the blessings that God gave to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah for their faithfulness and obedience… The blessings that they recieved were exactly what they needed in order to be used, in their current situation, to fulfill God’s Sovereign plan.

Can God bless us in the exact same way that He blessed these four young men??? … Absolutely!… If that type of blessing is required for us to fulfill His Sovereign plan. But chances are… as we are faithful and obedient to Him, He will probably bless us in different ways, because we are all used in different ways in oder to fulfill His Sovereign plan.

Many people think that God is unfair because it seems that He blesses certain people more than He does others… and the reality is that, God blesses in different capacities because He is a God who has a big plan.

And even though we may not fully understand that plan, we can trust in His sovereignty,… we can trust that He knows what is best for us… and we can trust that He will always do what is pleasing and perfect in His sight…

Just because someone receives a different blessing than you, does not mean that God is unfair… Here is a quick reality check for all of us… we don't deserve any of His blessings at all!… and yet He freely bestows them upon us day after day, hour after hour… breath after breath...

We may not all receive the same blessings, but we will all receive blessings when we are faithful and obedient to God’s Word.

Remember, The success and blessings that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah received, came after their acts of obedience…

God’s Blessings to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah:

With all that in mind… lets look at how God blessed these young men...

First of all they recieved…

1. Blessings of the Mind

Daniel 1:17 “17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”

By the time we get to v.17 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah are between 17-20 years old… Remember, when they arrived in Babylon, they were between 14-17 years old and King N’s plan was spelled out in vv.3-5…

Daniel 1:3-5 “3 Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, 4 young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. 5 And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.”

Somewhere in the midst of v.17 and v.18, that three years has now passed… and if Daniel and his buddies were about 17 when they were taken, they are now around 20 years old.

And God has blessed these 4 young men, first of all, with…

1.1 Knowledge

Think back to your days in school… it could be college, high school, elementary,… for some, maybe it was a one room school house… I am sure that there is at least one person that sticks out to you as “the smartest one in class”…

Ill: When I was in Bible college, there were a couple of guys that I knew were smarter than me… Dustin, Mike, Shane, John, Todd, Craig, Travis, Bart… ok, maybe there were more than a couple… but there was one that stood out among the rest… (Ed and Robin may recognize this name)… Robert Baribou.

Our Senior year, we had time set aside for us to work on our “Senior Project”. This was time for us as a class to write our personal doctrinal statements. Occasionally, during this class time, our professor would throw random theological questions at us to see if we could answer them…

This one particular day, he threw a question out (and before you ask, I do not remember what the question was)… but there was complete silence in the room, as no-one could think of answer to this question…

We were down in the school library and Robert had his nose in a book, I distinctly remember, he was sitting in an oversized chair, had his feet curled up underneath him and I figured he was so involved in whatever book he was reading, he may not have realized we were even there…

Our Professor says “hey Robert…” and then proceeds to ask him this deep theological question… Robert, doesn’t even put his book down, looks up over it and says “well, the only thing that I think the answer could be is...” and then he rattles off something that went over all our heads (again, I don’t remember the question and sure don’t remember the answer)… but the look on our professors face, was priceless, as he reviews his own notes and says “That is absolutely right” …

We gave Robert a round of applause for answering the question, which I am not sure he even noticed as he was right back into whatever book he was reading…

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were the smart kids in class… they were blessed with knowledge in whatever class they took… They excelled in knowledge of the language, how to speak it, how to write it… They excelled in knowledge of the literature of Babylon, its written history, its written laws, its written belief system… whatever they studied, God gave them knowledge.

He also gave them…

1.2 Skills

This could be writing skills, speaking skills… Along with the learning of literature, their educational program probably included a study of agriculture, architecture, astrology, astronomy, law, and mathematics… and God blessed them with skills in all of these areas…

And so, these four men couldn’t just tell you how to go out and plant a field… they had the skills to use the tools and get the job done…

Lets fast forward to modern day… Not very often will you find an engineer of a vehicle that has the skills to fix it when breaks down… They are engineers, not mechanics… and it is obvious that they are engineers, because I don’t know of any mechanic that thinks it is a good idea to put an oil filter next to or on top of, a catalytic converter, that reaches skin melting temperatures… one day on the quick lube rack at an oil change place and I think the engineers would find a better place for that oil filter…

But again, they are engineers and not mechanics… they have the knowledge to design a vehicle, but maybe not the necessary skills to work on them.

Daniel and his friends had knowledge and skill… if its architecture, they could design it and build it… if its agriculture, they could tell you the process of planting a field and if need be, they could run the equipment and show you exactly how to do it.

v.17 goes on to say that God also gave them…

1.3 Wisdom

Wisdom was an important commodity in this ancient culture. Every ruler had his council of “wise men” whom he consulted when making important decisions.

God blessed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah with biblical wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 says “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...”

Warren Wiersbe said “Biblical wisdom begins with a right relationship with the Lord. The wise person believes that there is a God, that He is the Creator and Ruler of all things, and that He has put within His creation a divine order that, if obeyed, leads ultimately to success.”

Daniel and his friends had a right relationship with God, they were obedient to His word, even though they were far from home, and God blessed them for it.

Keep in mind that they had spent the last three years studying the beliefs and practices of this pagan culture, but God has given them biblical wisdom to help them discern truth from error.

The most valuable knowledge that you can gain, is that of God’s Word. This should be the first priority on our list of things to study… because, when we saturate ourselves with the truth, we will be able to recognize error as soon as it is spoken or read.

God blessed these young men with Knowledge, Skill and Wisdom… and He gave an extra blessing specifically to Daniel…

1.4 Daniel Receives Understanding

According to the last part of v.17 God gave Daniel the ability to understand visions and dreams. This was only given to Daniel… Why? because God in His sovereignty and omniscience (fancy way of saying God knows everything, past present and future)… knew that Daniel was going to need this ability in order to bring His Sovereign plan to fruition.

***God will bless you with whatever you need to carry out His plan***

God gave Daniel the supernatural ability to interpret all prophetic visions, revelations and dreams that God would use to carry out His plan.

This was not an ability that could be learned or taught, this was not an extra-curricular class that Daniel took… this was a supernatural ability that was given, specifically to Daniel, by God.

Because of their faithfulness, God gave these young men, Blessings of the mind…

Secondly, God gave them the…

2. Blessing of Recognition

Look at vv. 18-20… Daniel 1:18-20 “18 Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.”

The three years of schooling is done… now it is time for the final exam… This would have been an oral exam, most likely conducted in the Babylonian language.

Here is what I don’t want you to miss… Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were found to be…

2.1 10 Times Better than Everyone

Not just all the other guys that came over from Judah… but everyone… v. 20 “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.”

King N. gathered up all of his wise men, his national leaders, people that had been in the land and culture since they were born, speaking the language all of their lives…

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were 10 times better, or I will say 10 times smarter, than even these highly educated nationals.

They fluently spoke the Babylonian language better, they had a better (or higher) knowledge of the Babylonian culture and history, and they had better physical characteristics and mannerisms.

How could this be???… It was all part of God’s plan… There are 3 important words in v. 17… “God Gave Them”… This is all part of God blessing them for their faithfulness and obedience…

And He blessed them with recognition…

This last blessing that I am going to mention today, is again, one that is specifically given to Daniel… at least, he is the only one that we can prove that it was given to… and that is…

3. Blessing of a Long Life

Daniel 1:21 “21 Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.”

Again, this is God’s plan that we are talking about. Not every faithful believer is guaranteed a long life… Many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ have been called home to Heaven at a young age.

Many people look at v. 21 and don’t give it much thought… If you’re not careful, you’ll pass right over the significance of these 10 words.

When we opened up this study, we concluded that Daniel was taken into captivity around 605BC. Historians say that Cyrus, the Persian King, overthrew Babylon in the first year of his reign… which was 539 BC.

I’m not into math, but some simple subtraction tells me that 605 - 539 = 66… 66 Years, from the age of 17 to the age of 83, Daniel was in a foreign, heathenistic, pagan land…

And for the majority of those 66 years, there were many days with no lion’s den, no great images (written on the wall), no great dreams.... Just Daniel, faithfully obeying God… living out what he said he believed… through 3 different kingdoms (Babylon, Media, and Persia)…

Also, it is important to notice that “the first year of King Cyrus” was when Cyrus made his famous edict to allow Israel the freedom to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, that would’ve been destroyed, along with all of Jerusalem, by King N about 50 years prior to Cyrus’ reign.

This verse, these 10 words, tell us that Daniel survived all the captivities and he did it as a great leader for God and as a powerful man of God…

God, in His sovereignty, allowed Daniel to be taken into captivity in 605bc and because of Daniel’s faithfulness and obedience, God used him to help set the stage for bringing Israel out of captivity, almost 70 years later.

It was Daniel’s faithfulness and obedience that allowed him to receive God’s Blessings and it was his faithfulness and obedience that helped the Nation of Israel get back on a course to receive God’s Blessings as well.

Closing:

As we close out chapter 1 today, I want to leave you with a few thoughts.

Remember, these blessing came after Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself… Faithful Obedience is the key to unlock the door of blessings.

and with that… when you unlock the door of blessing, don’t be surprised or disappointed when your blessings look different than others… Remember, God is sovereign, He is in control and He has a plan… He will bless you in whatever way necessary to fulfil His sovereign plan.

Here is a something that Pastor Thompson emphasized in his notes and it has really stuck with me… “Even when heathens are controlling your world (repeat), it is still possible to have God’s favor and God’s blessing on your life, in ALL areas of life, IF… IF… IF… you purpose to remain faithful to God!”

You don’t have to live in a godly environment to have a wonderful relationship with God. You don’t have to work for a godly company to have God’s blessing on you. You don’t have to go to a Christian college to receive God’s blessings… You can work for a secular company, you can go to a secular school and still be richly blessed by God… IF… you stay true to His Word and live in a way that honors Him!

4. Throughout this first chapter and as we continue through the rest of the book… Daniel is a great example of the fact that… It is possible to shine bright for God, even when we are in a heathen environment!… But we must make the decision to be obedient to His Word.

It is our faithful obedience that unlocks the door of blessing…

Prayer: