Bold Faith pt. 1
Notes
Transcript
A Bold Resolution
A Bold Resolution
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bibles, you can take them and open them to Daniel chapter 1. This morning, we move forward in the book of Daniel, making it to the first major narrative of Judah living in captivity in Babylon. Over a two part breakdown of this passage, we are going to evaluate Daniel and his companions and how the navigate through their time in captivity with “Bold Faith”. This week, we are going to look at “A Bold Resolution”, and then next week, we will come back to this passage and look at “A Bold Test”. Through this passage, our understanding of faith and obedience is going to be challenged, as well as our understanding of God and his sufficient power and provisioning. Therefore, I want us to take our time working through this initial story of believers who trust and obey, and God who provides and delivers. So if you will stand with me as we read Daniel 1:8-21
Body
Body
(1) Mandated by the Word
a. The Command from God
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
- The Purpose of the Diet Laws: God is setting a nation aside for himself, that is, they are to be holy as God is holy (Lev. 11:44, 19:2, 20:7), and so God is removing any and every form of temptation from Israel that could lead to them falling into the sin of idolatry which led to the nations before Israel being kicked out of the land of Canaan and food (specifically fat and blood from animals) was a primary source for idol worship. That’s why these diet laws are so important for Israel.
- So, Daniel can make a bold resolution that is informed by the Word of God and remain holy even in a defiled city like Babylon.
b. The Context of Babylon
- The food at Babylon would have consisted of both blood and fat directly going against God’s Word. Not only that, but it is likely that part of the preparation would have included in Babylon’s idolatrous rituals.
- First, many of the foods eaten at the Babylonian court (e.g., pork and horseflesh) would have been unclean according to he law of Moses (cf. Lev 11 and Deut 14). …Second, the meat and wine would have been undesirable because a portion of it was (at least on occasions if not always) first offered sacrificially to the Babylonian gods before being sent to the king and was therefore associated with idolatrous worship. (Dr. Stephen Miller, NAC 66).
- Daniel is not confused, he knows that despite being in a different context, the command of God still stands, therefore, he refuses to defile himself and sin against God.
Application: Knowledge of God’s word is essential to bold faith. Do not be mistaken, obedience and faithfulness are both prevalent aspects of the christian life. Yet, without knowing the Word of God, neither one is achievable. The Word of God is both information and application. Information that brings revelation, evidence, and depth to our faith, and application that shapes our living and sends us out with truth to share. 2 Timothy 3:16- “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (ESV). So, if you want all the teaching, reproof, correction, and training that there is, you must get all the Bible, and I’m afraid that will take you more than a lifetime to achieve, so you should probably start today if you want to scratch the surface before you leave this earth. Daniel could make a bold resolution to not sin against God, because Daniel was familiar enough with the scripture and was serious enough about his faith to put into practice the mandates of God, even while surrounded by sin and temptation and brothers and sisters, this is required of us as well if we want to walk with bold faith in God.
(2) Motivated by Obedience
Bold Faith is…
a. Obedience Regardless…
- Regardless of circumstances
- Regardless of circles
- Regardless of customs
i. We often times neglect this story and are mesmerized by the other stories in Daniel, because they show “greater feats of faith” and we miss the bold faith displayed in this passage. Understand this, Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, could go on to display incredible faith when being threatened with death, because they resolved from the beginning that they would be obedient regardless of situation.
b. Reliant Obedience
- The Providence of God
i. Reliant obedience recognizes the fact that as believers we will go through trials and tribulation, and those trials and tribulations come with temptation.
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
ii. Per the sovereignty of God, we will go into trials and tribulations and face temptation, but it is through relying on God to give us the wisdom and faith to navigate through these times that we will come out on the other side of it strengthened and sanctified. Our faith will be tested for obedience.
iii. This brothers and sisters, is why I have to call into question and completely reject the false teaching of the prosperity gospel. It promotes this “type of faith” that neglects the hard truths of scriptures, as well as, encourage people to live foolish lifestyles. There are more instances in the scripture of God delivering his people through trials than there are God preventing his people from trials. It has nothing to do with how little or big our “faith” is, but rather the harsh reality that because we live in a fallen world, we are destined to face suffering, temptation, persecution, rejection, etc. If you hear someone say, “If you’re going through a tough time, its because you don’t have enough faith, therefore you need to give more and God will deliver you” run the other direction, turn off the radio, turn off the TV. This “name it and claim it” or “sow and reap” as taught by prosperity preachers, is garbage. I promise you Daniel and his companions were not praying “God send us into captivity in Babylon in Jesus name I pray”. But Michael, doesn’t the Bible say “...ask anything in my name and I will give it to you”. That’s half the verse. The first half says, “If you abide in me and my word abides in you, then you can ask anything in my name and I will give it to you”. So why were they in captivity? Because a tested faith will become a sanctified faith. A tested Christian will become a strong Christian. God was preparing his people to return to Israel with greater faith who would not fall into the same sin and temptation, but live in reliant obedience to God and His Word. What delivers us from the trials and temptations is navigating through them with Biblical wisdom and reliance on God to deliver us from them.
(3) Manifested by God
Favor to Fulfill a Divine Purpose
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Daniel being used in the same way)
When a man’s ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Application: What does this mean for us? Understand, God’s divine purpose is for the church to reach the ends of the world with the gospel and we, as the people of God, are the church. This means that we can boldly from street to street, state to state, nation to nation with the Gospel raising up generations to continue the mission once our time is done, because we know that God will grant us favor to do so. Maybe not in every instance, but here is what this looks like, it may look like a christian finding favor with Chinese locals in an underground church even when their leader seeks to kill them. It may mean a Christian finding favor with the next African tribe when the one before them rejected them. It may mean finding favor with your boss at work after being rejected by several co-workers. It may mean finding favor with the waitress at a restaurant after being brushed off in a Walmart. But be encouraged by this brothers and sisters, when you participate in the Great Commission, God is using you to bring about his divine purpose of delivering this world from sin and death, so God with urgency and confidence, walking in obedience and bold faith.
Conclusion
Conclusion
