Respectful Non-Conformist
Notes
Transcript
Through the month of October, we will be looking closely at the Old Testament book of Daniel. You may be familiar with the incredible accounts found in this book: such as Daniel’s friends being tossed into the fiery furnace only to walk out unscathed - or Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den and the big cats deciding they weren’t hungry after all. We will look closer at those stories as well as Daniel’s interpretation of dreams and the prophetic visions that God gave him. The book of Daniel is referred to over 130 times in the New Testament and in fact, it is impossible to correctly understand the book of Revelation without first understanding the book of Daniel.
Today, will serve as more of an introduction to this faithful man of God and it is my hope that we look closely at today’s passage, we will learn what it means to be “in the world but not of the world.”
You may of heard that phrase before, that notion that we are “to be in the world but not of the world.”
That idea is shaped by several passages of scripture.
Jesus says in John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
And in Jesus’ prayer to His Father as he is praying for his disciples we hear him say...
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
J. Warner Wallace, writing on this subject, said “It seems that Jesus understood the tension we would experience as Christians living in a hostile ideological environment. The authors of the New Testament also encouraged us to continue our relationships with the world around us, but to be careful to live in a way that pleases God, not the culture:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
In this context, we should understand “the world” as being the corrupt human value system that exist due to sin. Loving the world means giving your devotion to the world’s riches, the world’s way of thinking, the world’s priorities. A Christian has been called out of that life. We are set apart - the biblical word is “holy.” Yet we still live in this world, and we are to witness to this world. This creates that tension as Paul captures in...
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
In that passage, Paul is telling the church, avoid those who are immoral yet claim to be Christian - those who try to poison the church, but don’t stop interacting with everyone else in the world around you. They need to know you.
Another passage is Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
If we want to see what this looks like in the life of a faithful servant living in a culture that does not worship the one true God - Daniel is a great example.
So first some context. It is 605 BC and Daniel, along with many other Jewish young men who were the creme of the crop of Jewish nobility, was carted off to Babylon to serve in the court of the conquering king Nebuchadnezzar. In those days, when a nation conquered another nation, it was widely believed that the gods of the victor were stronger than the gods of the conquered. The Babylonian gods, like Marduk, the patron god of the city of Babylon, had defeated the God of the Jews.
We should also know that King Nebuchadnezzar had a practice of taking the best and the brightest of every nation and tribe he conquered and bringing them into Babylon where he would indoctrinate them into Babylonian culture and thinking, and then assimilate them into his government.
From the world’s perspective - the gods of Babylon, and the nation they looked over, were all powerful and in command.
Through the book of Daniel, God shows us the futility of their worldview. Israel wasn’t defeated because God wasn’t strong enough. God allowed Israel to be defeated because after many warnings, the people refused to repent and trust in the Lord.
Years before all this transpired, we read in...
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
King Nebuchadnezzar believes he is in command - he is not. God was still in
control and he is not limited to one land, one temple, one people. God is ruler over all and will work through every nation to accomplish his will.
It is with this context that we find Daniel, and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego), adapting to their new environment while being faithful to God.
How would they be in the world, but not of the world? How will they make themselves useful and flourish - without losing their identity and jeopardizing their beliefs? Would they give into peer pressure or societal pressure or would they stay true?
The challenges they faced exist today. We live in a secular society and increasingly the pressure to conform puts followers of Jesus in a similar bind. A young Christian goes off to college and finds the attitudes, behaviors, social rules of peers and faculty alike at odds quite often with what the Bible teaches. A sales professional finds that the business practices of their employer encourages the stretching of the truth to get the sale. To remain competitive, a business owner feels that is would be detrimental to overtly share their faith.
What does it take to be in the world, but not of the world?
I offer three things: COURAGE, HUMILITY AND TRUST.
Courage:
Daniel does not tell us how many Jewish young men were being trained in the royal academy - but it was definitely more than Daniel and his three friends. Yet the four of them had the courage to draw a line. To eat from the King’s table would be to eat meat from animals sacrificed to the patron gods of Babylon - they decided to observe the dietary laws of the Torah.
I’m sure the pressure was there. Everyone else was eating what was offered. The other young men were probably reasoning, “we are not in Jerusalem anymore, don’t cause any problems, everyone is doing it.”
How do you assimilate people into another culture? - remove the practices that shape their religious identity.
Daniel and his three friends said no. Verse 8 states that “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food.” To resolve is to settle the matter in your heart and then let your actions follow. That takes courage.
Have you resolved to live in the way of Jesus?
Next, Daniel and his friends acted in humility.
They said no, but they did so respectfully. We don’t see them making a big scene and calling attention to themselves.
They were not alone, God honored their obedience. God put it on the chief officials heart to show compassion and favor. He didn’t say no to the request,
but asked how could he take such a risk - it would endanger his own life.
Daniel offers a test - he already knew that if they were obedient, God would provide. But he respected the responsibility of the one in a position of authority and worked to find a solution to the problem.
Test us for 10 days - let us eat our veggie diet and see how we fair.
And in a true miracle, God allowed a vegetarian diet work. (sorry - I love my meat diet).
HUMILITY is freedom from pride or arrogance. The resolve to living obediently to God should never come across to others as prideful or arrogant. Boasting about it, posting your courageous stand on Facebook, calling out others who are not doing the same - rarely wins over others for Christ.
Last but not least, Daniel and his friends were in the world but not of the world because they TRUSTED God.
They possessed unshakable faith. You’re not going to challenge the status quo unless you are certain that God’s way is the right way.
You are not going to skip the BBQ for carrots and celery unless you trust that God will provide your every need.
This is really the starting point - isn’t it?
Trust determines obedience. Daniel and his friends had been uprooted from their homes, their country and find themselves in a foreign land surrounded by people who worshipped foreign gods. When external factors seem to suggest that God was not with them - they trusted that He was. They trusted that no matter what happened, they belonged to Yahweh and nothing could change that reality.
Do we trust that God is for us and not against us? Do we trust that God is right here and that he expects us to be obedient to Him? Do we trust that following Him, with resolve and humility, is the best way to go?
Let me close with a great reminder of God’s faithfulness as we manage this tension of being in the world but not of the world.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen