Another in the Fire

Introduction

Greet and Endear

Church is growing, lots of new faces

Pray for us as we search for a building

Home of the Brave

How do the brave in Christ walk through trials and difficulty? Persecution or just even general hardship?

Pray

Your trial doesn’t diminish God’s power

Context:

Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego are 3 Jews living in Babylonian captivity

The King of Bablyon puts up a statue, makes decree that people worship at the sound of music

These 3 men refuse to bow down and worship the statue or Babylonian Gods and are reported

They are summoned by the King and questioned on their insubordination.

Daniel 3:14–28 (ESV)

14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Something interesting: 3 men are the archetype of a modern Christian in today’s culture

Had Babylonian names

Held jobs in Babylonian government

Had Babylonian education and training

They were in a sense “compromised” and living in a state of compromise between their belief system and the culture of the world around them.

However - this case was where they were making their stand

The moment they were asked to worship something/someone else

Good lesson for us today - there’s a certain level of compromise which allows us to be effective in reaching the world

But there are lines we cannot cross - when it comes to the commandments of God and worshipping (attributing ultimate value).

We are called to be IN the world and not OF it.

v16-18 is where the 3 men choose to make a stand

Daniel 3:16–18 (ESV)

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Here’s something powerful we can learn from their response: Your trial doesn’t diminish God’s power

When we go through any form of trial - it can be tempting to doubt God’s power

We start to believe He has lost power - whether it is to love us, to rescue us, to walk with us

Look at their response:

They had so much faith in God’s power to rescue them that they declared if He didn’t, then it must be God’s purpose for them to die.

In our lives, we must believe unwaveringly in God’s power to rescue us from any trial that we may go through.

Our faith in His power must be so absolute - that if we ever do go through trial, we immediately assume that there is purpose behind the trial.

We may not know God’s purpose for the trials in our life - but that does not mean that there isn’t one.

If we have complete faith in God’s power, then we must also trust in His purposes.

God’s complete sovereignty is the reason we can believe He has a purpose for every trial and difficult season we go through

Because He is not just God of your mountaintop, He is the God of your valley too

If you believe God is all-powerful at your best, then He remains all-powerful at your worst

He is God over your trial.

Trials serve God’s purpose when we trust in His power

ILLUSTRATION: God is powerful at the top, and at the bottom

My Spiritual Father, a man named pastor Benny once walked me through an exercise when I was a young pastor under him at Faith Community Church. At the time the church was growing fast, and many things were going so well for us. The youth group was growing at an exponential rate, and so he would meet me often to keep me in check. I remember he would always tell me, “always remember young man. We do not have power, only God does. He is always in control.” This continued, even when I became an executive in FCC overseeing the main congregation - and we kept seeing growth in the church until we were spilling out of the auditorium. Pastor would continue to meet me and remind me to stay humble, “always remember young man. We do not have power, only God does. He is always in control.” The next season in my life saw me step out of ministry, it was one of the hardest seasons I had to go through. I was battling an uncharacteristic depression, I had to step out of ministry completely just to recover; it was one of the worst seasons of my life. You know Pastor Benny met me in the middle of that season - and you know what he would tell me? Exactly the same thing. “Always remember young man. We do not have power, only God does. Lean on Him, draw near to Him, He is always in control.”

Our trials do not diminish God’s power.

Point 2 - God is revealed in the fire (v24-25)

In fact, can I propose that it might even be the opposite? God is revealed in the fire. He stands out in the fire.

Daniel 3:24–25 (ESV)

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

The king looked in expecting to see three men bound, instead what he saw was four men free

Fire is a symbol in the bible as a revealer.

1 Corinthians 3:13 (ESV)

13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

Isaiah 48:10 (ESV)

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Fire separates what lasts from what does not. Fire reveals what has eternal significance in our lives vs what is temporary.

In the case of Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego it revealed that they walk with a God who is very powerful, very eternal and very much alive.

Trials reveal what is foundational in our lives. They reveal what we rely on, what we come back to, they reveal what lasts when everything else disappears.

And it is in these “fires” that the extent of our walk with God is revealed

The trials in our life will reveal how intimately we walk with God, there is no middle ground. We will be seen as walking with Him, or not.

God’s power and presence are most evidently seen in the fire, in the trial

His power is made perfect in our WEAKNESS (Paul)

God was most tangible to these 3 men when they were walking in the fire right alongside Him

Make no mistake though - these men did not begin their walk with God in the fire! They were ALREADY walking with God before

The fire simply revealed what already was - these men had an intimate walk with God

It is true that we often find God in the trial - and in the fire

But I believe the mark of Christian maturity and growth is that our trials simply REVEAL the intimacy we have with God, they don’t instigate it.

Our walk with God should not be reliant on trials to draw us back to Him, the trials should expose deep intimacy we already share with Him.

Because when our trials reveal our intimacy with God - something else happens: The presence of God is revealed to others as well.

This is something that happens when the trial REVEALS our walk with God, and does not BEGIN our walk with God (people see God as a crutch)

Notice how the King also saw God in the fire alongside the 3 men?

To the King, God was more evident in the fire than He was out of the fire

Trials and fire are opportunities for God to be revealed - not just to us, but to all those who are watching us.

Something important to note is that even though Nebuchadnezzar did not know God (he had no personal relationship with Him) - yet he still RECOGNISED God when He stood next to the 3 men.

When we walk through the trials with God - it is evident to people who are watching.

They can come to a knowledge of God through our trials.

Every trial becomes an opportunity to reveal Christ to those who are watching.

And as soon as they walked out of the fire - it was the 3 men once again.

ILLUSTRATION: David Cheong

We had 2 friends in a previous church who went through one of the hardest things I have ever seen two people go through. Their son David, who was only 6 at the time was diagnosed with DIPG - an incurable cancer of the brainstem. DIPG has a 100% recorded mortality rate, with no known survivors of the cancer in all records. We watched as David painstakingly got worse week after week, losing bodily functions one at a time until he couldn’t walk and could barely move on his own. You know the miracle through all of this is their family didn’t stop coming to church - in fact I don’t think they ever missed a week. And can I tell you something - the worse David’s condition became, the more evident it was that there was another in the fire with them. The hotter that fire burned, the clearer we could see - there was another in the fire with them.

Point 3 - Who we walk with in the fire, determines how we walk out of it (v27)

But you know my favourite part of this passage? is in verse 27.

Daniel 3:27 (ESV)

27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

What impressed the king and leaders was not that they walked in the fire - but they walked out of it without being burned.

They did not even smell of fire!

People can walk through fire - and get completely burned

They come out cynical, faithless, unkind, impatient - but there’s no real testimony there is there?

we haven’t really walked through the fire - we’ve just kind of survived it.

But Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego didn’t even SMELL of the fire. They didn’t even SMELL burnt.

How is this possible?

It’s because of WHO they walked with. WHO we walk with in the fire - determines HOW we walk out of it.

Isaiah 43:2 (ESV)

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

If we walk with Christ in the fire then we will walk out of it smelling sweeter than when we first entered.

The trial turns from an experience of burning, into that of refinement - it sharpens our dependence on God, draws us nearer to Him.

That sweetness is an aroma that comes from walking intimately with God

The miracle is not that we avoid the trial - but that we come out of it smelling sweeter than when we entered

He is God over the fire in your life.

You know - you can’t find security in what God is doing, because we simply cannot know or fathom it.

But we can find security in who God IS - for that is constant and unchanging.

I find a key to making it through life unscathed is understanding that God is after faithfulness, not success.

The fire loses its threatening nature because it becomes an avenue that draws us nearer to God.

ILLUSTRATION: Dan/HFTC

Can I share with you that this is truly something that drew us to this church? I’ve known Dan for a while now - I haven’t walked with him as closely as some of you guys have. But I’ve been around and I’m certainly aware of the things that him and Tracey went through, especially during the early years of this church.

I would never aim to use the pulpit to glorify anyone other than Christ - but can I just encourage you to notice how sweet our Senior pastors smell? That’s a weird thing to say.

But Dan and Tracey are two people that have walked through real valleys in their lives, and I know things look good now but they only really turned this way quite recently. And yet even through all of the trials I’m 100% confident in saying that they both don’t smell of the fire at all, in fact they smell sweeter than they ever have before.

And this is a blessing that they have passed on to the church - to so many of you. We noticed it the moment we stepped foot in this church. This is a sweet smelling church, there are people here who have been through some real ordeals - and that hasn’t burned you, in fact it has given you a sweet aroma because you have walked closely with the Lord through the fire.

I think that is something so beautiful about our church. Something we should never let go of.

Altar Call

People who are stlil going through the fire

Submit the trial to God - choose to walk with Him, to trust Him.