Daniel 10: Warning Against Self-Exaltation
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Dan 4:1-27
N:
Welcome
Welcome
Again, good morning church family and those of you who are our guests this morning, whether you’re here in the room or online. I’m Bill Connors, senior pastor, and I just want to say thanks for being here this morning. To that end, I’d appreciate it if you’re a guest today and you’re here in the room, if you’d take just a minute during the service today and fill out a welcome card. You’ll find it in the back of the pew in front of you. We’d just like to send you a note of thanks for being here today, and to see if there’s prayer or ministry that we can serve you with. You can get those back to us by putting them in the boxes by the doors as you leave after service, or better yet, you can bring them down to me when service is over. I have a thank you gift to give to you, and would love the chance to meet you personally for just a moment following our service time today.
I’d also like to take a moment to thank our praise band, Worship 4:24, for their consistent use of their time and talent to bless this church by leading our musical time of worship every week.
Announcements
Announcements
Today is the final day of our Week of Prayer for North American Missions, and I want to thank our WMU ministry for planning and hosting the events related to our Week of Prayer this past week. Along with the Week of Prayer, we are currently taking up our annual offering for North American Missions, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Every year, we take this offering up during March and April to support Southern Baptist missions, church planting, and compassion ministries in the U.S. and Canada. One hundred percent of what you give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering goes to supply our missionaries with what they need to continue the important work that they do. Our Convention-wide goal is $75 million this year, and our church goal is $18,000. Last week, we started off strong with $5,510!
The theme for this year’s AAEO is “Make Jesus Known.” We spent some time reflecting on that phrase this past Wednesday at Prayer Meeting. I’d like to share a great video from the North American Mission Board about that theme. Please watch with me.
VIDEO: MAKE JESUS KNOWN (2 MIN)
Opening
Opening
The challenge from this Wednesday’s Prayer Meeting was for us: How are we making Jesus known? And while King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t understand about the coming Messiah, we’re going to see in our focal passage in the book of Daniel today that the king decided that he wanted to make God known because of how his life had been impacted. We saw last week that following the miraculous rescue of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar had issued a decree saying that anyone in the Babylonian empire who said anything offensive about their God would be violently killed and their family left destitute. But that didn’t mean that Yahweh was the king’s God. He was just one of many still. Perhaps the best of many (because no other god is able to deliver like He can), but still just one of the gang. But in this morning’s focal passage in Daniel 4, we find King Nebuchadnezzar beginning to tell the story that changed his perspective. This week, we’ll see God’s Warning Against Self-Exaltation, and next week, we’ll see the results of failing to heed that warning.
So let’s turn in our Bibles or Bible apps to Daniel 4, and we will read the first 27 verses of this chapter. As you are able, let’s stand in honor of God’s Word—I’ll warn you that it’s a longer read than we normally have, so if you need to remain seated, feel free.
1 King Nebuchadnezzar, To those of every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth: May your prosperity increase. 2 I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me. 3 How great are his miracles, and how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. 4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace. 5 I had a dream, and it frightened me; while in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me. 6 So I issued a decree to bring all the wise men of Babylon to me in order that they might make the dream’s interpretation known to me. 7 When the magicians, mediums, Chaldeans, and diviners came in, I told them the dream, but they could not make its interpretation known to me. 8 Finally Daniel, named Belteshazzar after the name of my god—and a spirit of the holy gods is in him—came before me. I told him the dream: 9 “Belteshazzar, head of the magicians, because I know that you have the spirit of the holy gods and that no mystery puzzles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I saw, and its interpretation. 10 In the visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this: There was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it was very tall. 11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached to the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and on it was food for all. Wild animals found shelter under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it. 13 “As I was lying in my bed, I also saw in the visions of my mind a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called out loudly: Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share the plants of the earth with the animals. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let him be given the mind of an animal for seven periods of time. 17 This word is by decree of the watchers, and the decision is by command from the holy ones. This is so that the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms. He gives them to anyone he wants and sets the lowliest of people over them. 18 This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because none of the wise men of my kingdom can make the interpretation known to me. But you can, because you have a spirit of the holy gods.” 19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was stunned for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies! 20 The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky and was visible to the whole earth, 21 and whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant—and on it was food for all, under it the wild animals lived, and in its branches the birds of the sky lived—22 that tree is you, Your Majesty. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth. 23 “The king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share food with the wild animals for seven periods of time.’ 24 This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High that has been issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants. 26 As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
PRAYER (North American Missions)
The late author C.S. Lewis, in his work Mere Christianity, has a chapter called “The Great Sin.” I know this will be a little long, but I wanted to share a bit of what he wrote in that chapter:
There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.
The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility.... According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
—C.S. Lewis (1889—1963), Mere Christianity
That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? There’s an old saying that “pride is the garden in which all other sins grow.” Pride, or self-exaltation, is a form of idolatry, where we turn our worship inward and thus away from God. It is, according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary: “Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank, or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.” Augustine felt that pride was the most basic of all sin, the very sin at the root of the Fall, and I don’t think he was too far off the mark.
Remember that in the first message in this series, I explained that the name Babylon means “confusion,” because it was the tower of Babel, also called Babylon, where God confused the language of mankind. But why did He do that? He did so because of their collective pride. Look at the record of that in Genesis chapter 11:
1 The whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. 2 As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) 4 And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
9 Therefore it is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth.
Just to give you a heads up, we’re going to take our next chapter of Daniel a little out of order. In our focal passages today and next week, we are reading what is basically a letter to the entire Babylonian empire from King Nebuchadnezzar. The first three verses of this chapter are a superscription after the fact, essentially an introduction to the letter, and verses 3-33 are likely the royal record of what actually occurred, followed by what the king learned through the experience and the reason for his edict.
And what we find here is a warning against self-exaltation. Next week, we will see the results. But before we get to our points this morning, I just want to quickly set up what we will be focusing on today. For the second time in the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that upset him. Unfortunately, he didn’t really learn anything from the first time this happened, and he sent for the same people to come and tell him what it meant (at least this time, he told them the dream). They were unable to provide a meaningful interpretation. So after they have failed, Daniel comes before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar says to him:
9 “Belteshazzar, head of the magicians, because I know that you have the spirit of the holy gods and that no mystery puzzles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I saw, and its interpretation.
Nebuchadnezzar had great confidence in Daniel (Belteshazzar was his Babylonian name), because Daniel had the “spirit of the gods” (this made sense for him, since he was a polytheistic pagan), and that he had never experienced a mystery that Daniel couldn’t suss out the answer to. The events of this chapter likely occurred near the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. He reigned over the Babylonian empire from 605 BC to 562 BC, so 43 years. Because of the length of time that the narrative in this chapter probably covers, the edict was likely given in about 564 BC, with the narrative section beginning in about 573 or 572 BC.
The chapter makes it clear that Nebuchadnezzar’s issue was one of pride. His superiority in talents, wealth, accomplishments, and rank had corrupted his view of himself, others, and God.
1: Self-exaltation corrupts our view of ourselves and others.
1: Self-exaltation corrupts our view of ourselves and others.
I’m putting these two things together, because they are expressed together in the narrative. We might not see them that way at first glance, but the interesting thing about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is that it includes both. His view of himself was corrupted, and thus so was his view of everyone else. Let’s look at the dream:
10 In the visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this: There was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it was very tall. 11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached to the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth. 12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and on it was food for all. Wild animals found shelter under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it.
By this point in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he had brought substantial peace to his empire. Assyria was gone. Israel had been conquered. Egypt, while still there, was subdued. And it was into the middle of this peace that God crashed with this concerning dream. But notice what the dream involves: a tree in the center of the world, growing to such heights as everyone on earth could see it. It was especially beautiful. It was so important that it provided food for everyone, as well as shelter and nesting places. It was quite a tree!
In verses 20-22, Daniel gives the meaning of the tree in the dream (we’ll just read verse 22):
22 that tree is you, Your Majesty. For you have become great and strong: your greatness has grown and even reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.
Daniel affirmed that the tree represented Nebuchadnezzar himself. He had become great and strong, and his dominion was vast. However, what we need to keep in mind is that this vision wasn’t God saying that this perspective that Nebuchadnezzar had of this tree was necessarily accurate. Instead, the vision was a reflection of how Nebuchadnezzar saw himself. The king exalted himself as this mighty, generous, beneficent ruler for the entire planet. But if this were the case, then why would punishment come? Why would Daniel encourage him later in verse 27:
Daniel 4:27b (CSB)
27b Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy.
If he was this beneficent, moral, and generous ruler, why would he need this correction? Plus, we’ve already seen in Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar’s military practices were barbaric, his assimilation policies manipulative, his worship demands tyrannical, and his disciplinary procedures draconian. Basically, he’s not the guy he thinks he is.
And his exalted view of himself determined his view of everyone else as well. Since Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as that important, he thought that everyone else saw him as that important as well: central to their existence and the provider of all of their needs, as the tree was in the middle of the earth and rose to the sky, and it provided food and shelter for all. In his view, everyone loved him, needed him, and belonged to him.
Nebuchadnezzar had made a name for himself, just as his ancestors in Genesis 11 had attempted to do. They wanted to build the tower as this central rally point for the entire planet. Nebuchadnezzar saw himself in that very way, and the dream affirmed not that he was actually that important, but that he thought he was.
The problem with sinful pride is that through it, we think things that just aren’t true. Like Nebuchadnezzar, when we think in self-exalting terms, we see ourselves as the heroes of our stories—maximizing our good qualities and minimizing or excusing away our bad ones. At the same time, we downplay the positive qualities of anyone who might be in competition with us, and we focus on their weaknesses or shortcomings. When we exalt ourselves, we see people as objects, things that we can use for our own purposes and glory… as if we are God. Now, we certainly wouldn’t SAY it this way, but that’s what self-exaltation does. It gives us God’s throne (at least in our own minds), and allows us to look down on others.
We might do this in a bunch of different ways: thinking that we are the smartest, or the most faithful, or the most talented or creative, the funniest or the kindest. The problem is that while we might be right, that doesn’t mean we’re worthy of adoration, worship, or veneration… even from ourselves. And if we often think in these terms, we must know that this is something that God simply cannot stand:
16 The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him: 17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil, 19 a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.
The first thing on the list was “arrogant eyes.” Proverbs 16 is perhaps even more clear about God’s view of sinful pride:
5 Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.
Now, if you struggle with self-exaltation, you already know what I’m talking about. You even know right now what areas of your life you exalt yourself in. I’m going to use one example from Scripture that illustrates this for us when it comes to our faith life, from Luke 18:
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisee could actually standing in the middle of the crowd and “pray” about how great he is, thanking God that he wasn’t like “other people.” He saw himself as the righteous one and everyone else as somehow beneath him, instead of seeing himself accurately. And this shows that, like Nebuchadnezzar, not only was his view of himself and others corrupted, but so was his view of God Himself.
2: Self-exaltation corrupts our view of God.
2: Self-exaltation corrupts our view of God.
Remember that Nebuchadnezzar’s vision had frightened him. And I’m not surprised that it did. If he had had any inkling at all of the fact that the tree represented him in the dream, the next part would have been extremely disconcerting:
13 “As I was lying in my bed, I also saw in the visions of my mind a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He called out loudly: Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. 15 But leave the stump with its roots in the ground and with a band of iron and bronze around it in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky and share the plants of the earth with the animals. 16 Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let him be given the mind of an animal for seven periods of time. 17 This word is by decree of the watchers, and the decision is by command from the holy ones. This is so that the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms. He gives them to anyone he wants and sets the lowliest of people over them.
Before we get to the point, I want to answer the question you might have: What was a “watcher?” Well, a watcher was an angel, likely a cherub. No, not a mostly naked chubby baby with tiny wings and a bow and arrow who makes people fall in love. In Ezekiel 10, the cherubim actually sound quite terrifying. You should look at the first 14 verses of that chapter for a fuller description, but we’re just going to look at one—verse 12:
12 Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, wings, and the wheels that the four of them had, were full of eyes all around.
They had eyes all over them. It seems that these same creatures (or VERY similar ones) are referenced in Revelation 4 as well (verses 6-8). My guess is that this was what the “watcher” was, because Nebuchadnezzar might have referred to one of these eye-covered angels as a “watcher.”
So according to the dream, the tree would be taken down to a stump. But then we see that the references to the stump change from “it” to “him” in verse 15, and in verse 17, we hear the purpose of the punishment: so that the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and that He gives them to anyone He wants… even the lowliest of people.
The interpretation of this part of the dream shows what it would mean for Nebuchadnezzar himself:
24 This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree of the Most High that has been issued against my lord the king: 25 You will be driven away from people to live with the wild animals. You will feed on grass like cattle and be drenched with dew from the sky for seven periods of time, until you acknowledge that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants. 26 As for the command to leave the tree’s stump with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules.
What we have seen from Nebuchadnezzar is that while he was a pagan who worshiped several “gods,” he saw himself as holding all authority himself. He might have had “gods” to worship in theory, but from a practical perspective, he was a functional atheist, living out what David wrote in Psalm 10:
4 In all his scheming, the wicked person arrogantly thinks, “There’s no accountability, since there’s no God.”
We saw a glimpse of this in chapter 3, when he forced all of his leadership to worship what was probably a statue of himself, and also when he asked Daniel’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: “who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” (3:15) We’ll see it even more clearly next week.
So Nebuchadnezzar’s self-exaltation had corrupted his view of God, even though he had personally seen God do miraculous things. And had said great things about God. But still, he saw all of the Babylonian gods, and the Hebrew God, as things that served him, not the other way around. He didn’t really believe that anyone other than him had any control over his life and destiny.
The message of the dream was in direct conflict with that viewpoint. He would be brought low, but only for a time until he realized and acknowledged that God is sovereign over human kingdoms. Then he would receive his kingdom back.
C.S. Lewis, a couple of pages later in Mere Christianity than what we read earlier, wrote this about how our pride corrupts our view of God:
In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself… A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.
—C.S. Lewis (1889—1963), Mere Christianity
When we are self-exalting, we don’t even bother to think about the fact that there is Someone greater than we are, because we think we are the greatest. And the great pastor A.W. Tozer wrote:
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
—A.W. Tozer, (1897—1963), The Knowledge of the Holy
The truth is that when we are self-exalting, then we become god to ourselves, and then we can reframe God as we want to—in all sorts of ways that don’t match His reality. We see Him like the Genie from Aladdin: “Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do you need?” We see Him like a cosmic vending machine: we put in the right stuff and get what we want back. We see Him as something like a kindly divine grandfather who is always waiting for us to give Him our attention, but whom we can take or leave. We try to smash Him into our image, instead of living out the fact that we bear His image. Or we decide that God is useless, meaningless, weightless—His reality has no bearing on our day-to-day lives.
All of these are caricatures of God. None of them match the truth. Daniel had already declared God’s sovereignty over kings and kingdoms in his doxology in chapter 2:
21 He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
No, God is the absolute greatest being that we can imagine. Omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnificent, and eternal. We find just a part of the truth in Isaiah 40:
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. 29 He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. 30 Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, 31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.
He is worthy of worship. We are not. We must not attempt to usurp His place on the throne of our lives by self-exaltation, or even worse, on the throne of others’ lives by trying to get them to worship us, because we don’t deserve it.
If we are going to see ourselves, others, and God rightly, we must walk in humility.
3: Humility sees ourselves, others, and God rightly.
3: Humility sees ourselves, others, and God rightly.
As we read in our opening illustration from C.S. Lewis, humility is the opposite of pride. We talked about choosing humility in the second message of this series. And what we see from Daniel in this passage, and ultimately from even Nebuchadnezzar, is the beauty of humility in action. First, we look at Daniel.
Daniel’s immediate response to being told the dream is interesting. He was stunned, and then alarmed. Look:
19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was stunned for a moment, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!
Daniel immediately understood the vision. And at this point, Daniel has been serving Nebuchadnezzar for probably 30 years. It seems from this verse that He genuinely cared for the king, because it’s as if Nebuchadnezzar had to talk him in to sharing the message, and even then, Daniel wishes it were for the king’s enemies instead of the king.
But even at the end of the interpretation, Daniel doesn’t shy away from being honest while at the same time speaking truth to power. But still he does so humbly and compassionately, not seeking his own blessing, but the blessing of the king and the kingdom:
27 Therefore, may my advice seem good to you my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right, and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
Daniel wasn’t telling Nebuchadnezzar how to be saved, because the judgment was coming. Instead, he was suggesting that if the king made different choices, then perhaps the judgment would be delayed. Of course, that didn’t happen as we will see next week, but still Daniel lived the example that would later be written to the church at Ephesus:
15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
Even Nebuchadnezzar, when he went back to put down all that had happened, showed that he had learned humility from his experience (which we’ll see more about next week):
1 King Nebuchadnezzar, To those of every people, nation, and language, who live on the whole earth: May your prosperity increase. 2 I am pleased to tell you about the miracles and wonders the Most High God has done for me. 3 How great are his miracles, and how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.
In this, we can see that even Nebuchadnezzar understood that God is the hero of the book of Daniel. Not the king, and not Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar would
Humility isn’t necessarily about thinking less of yourself (although, if you have a habit of self-exaltation, it might be that as well). Humility is really more about thinking about yourself less. And Nebuchadnezzar comes around to desiring, in fact, being pleased to tell about all that God had done for him! Humility gave him a right perspective on himself: He was not in control of his life and future. It gave him a right perspective on others: He wanted to tell them about God’s greatness instead of demanding that they worship him. And it gave him a right perspective on God: His kingdom, not Nebuchadnezzar’s, is eternal, and His dominion is from generation to generation.
But what about us? Are we willing to learn humility instead of self-exaltation? If so, then the ultimate example of humility is Jesus, the Son of God, as Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 2:
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Even though Jesus is God the Son, He came to earth and took on flesh so that He could rescue us from the wrath our sins deserve. And He didn’t come as some big powerful king like Nebuchadnezzar. He came as a servant of all, as He said in Mark 10:45
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He came to die a gruesome death on a Roman cross so that we could be forgiven, and He defeated death so that we can have eternal life with Him. We are saved when we give up, trusting only in what Jesus has done to save us, surrendering our lives to Him as Lord. This is humility—knowing that you can’t save yourself and bowing your heart before the true King.
Closing
Closing
This morning, who sits on the throne of your life? The exalted Lord, or yourself? For those of us who are followers of Christ, the call is to walk in submission, to lift up the name of Jesus, so that He gets all the glory. If you’ve supplanted Him, and you’ve taken His place in your life, the only right response to the truth of the Scriptures is repentance.
If you’ve never trusted Christ, then you are necessarily on the throne of your life. Christ desires that all people come to repentance. He calls you this morning to surrender, believing the Gospel, and be made new by His Holy Spirit.
Call people to baptism. Call people to membership. Call people to ministry.
Giving
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Lev 21-22, Ps 69)
Pastor’s Study tonight
Prayer Meeting Wednesday
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
2 My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.
