When Your Feet Hit the Fire

Bible Passage: Daniel 3:1-30

We have been talking the last few weeks about how to have character in a culture that promotes compromise. My hope is that we desire to stay strong and hold to the faith even when times get tough, as we saw with Daniel last week in the den of lions. Today we will continue with that thought and ask -How do you respond when the culture begins to turn up the heat?

In Daniel 3:1 we read:

Daniel 3:1 ESV

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

What is Compromise?

We have been talking about the Babylonian culture and how it promoted compromise, not unlike our culture today. I want us to define what we mean by compromise. Cindy and I have discussions frequently when we go out and maybe you have had a similar experience, it goes something like this: “what do you want to eat?” - “ooo -I don’t know what do you want?” - “I don’t know, what sounds good?” and that can go back and forth for a while. See there are things I like, things that she likes, and there’s the food that we both like together. Factor in what we are in the mood for and we eventually come to a consensus on what to eat. That’s not the type of good compromise we have been talking about. The compromise these three Hebrew men faced was much more significant. There are a lot of areas in life where compromise can be good, but there is one area that we can never compromise. No matter how much heat the culture puts on us, we must never compromise in the area of faith. So for our purposes this morning, let’s define compromise as Making Decisions or Actions Based on Serving the Wrong God.

Daniel 3 conveniently comes right after Daniel 2. In Dan 2 , Nebuchadnezzar makes this statement:

Daniel 2:47 ESV

The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

We will talk in a few weeks about what led him to make such a bold statement. But isn’t interesting how he could make such a powerfully true statement about who the real God is and then just a few verses later, create an idol, a false god, and command everyone to bow down to it? What creates the shift from him declaring “your God is the God of gods” to forcing everyone to bow down to a image of gold?

I think a big reason for this is that Nebuchadnezzar was very comfortable with having many gods. He had no issue adding Daniel’s God to his life as long as it did not disrupt what he already had going on. As long as he could keep all of the other things he worshipped, he would be glad to add the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Ultimately, I believe that his biggest object of worship was himself. The text does not say what this image of gold is but many scholars believe he made an image of himself for everyone to bow to. He was the most important thing in his life

Sometimes we get comfortable with having many gods. Of course, we don’t call them gods, but we tend to give equal weight to things in our life. Things like jobs and relationships, life goals and even hobbies can be elevated to godlike status. Just like Nebuchadnezzar, I think it is easier for us to add God to our packed lives instead of surrendering our life to His will. We can easily worship many different things and have ourselves as the center of it all.

So when I say compromise is making decisions or actions based on the service of the wrong god what I mean is that when the pressure rises and we feel the heat of the furnace, are we going to choose to worship the true God or will we choose to bow down to ourselves and pick comfort, safety, advancement, and social acceptance?

The Problem of Pressure

It seems easier to choose to do what is right when everything is going well. The problem is that, choosing to serve God is not always easy. The real test begins when we have to make a choice that might cost us something. For the three young men in our text, their choice could cost them everything. In verse 6, Nebuchadnezzar gives his ultimatum:

Daniel 3:6 ESV

And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”

The heat is on. Their choice is now between life and death. For us, most of time, the stakes are not quite as high. But they can still be consequential. We can face extreme pressure to give in and go with the flow. There are a hundred different phrases we use to make it sound better than betrayal. This can come from internal sources like a desire to fit in or from a past trauma resurfacing. Or it can come from external sources where others try to impose compromise on you. Either way, when the heat is on, what will we choose? Will we choose to serve God even if it cost us something? How about if it cost us everything? If the true God is really the God of our lives and not some add on deity, then we must make our decisions based on His will and His plan.

One of the things I love about this passage is that, there are three of these young men and together they stand strong and together they choose to not bend their knee to the image of gold. I think this is an important idea:

Find Friends that Fuel Your Faith

How easy would it have been for one of the three say “hey guys, we love God; everyone knows we love God. Let’s bow our knee today and then get back to serving the real God tomorrow? I mean, its hard to serve God if we are dead, right?”

It would have been so easy to get talked into compromise by those closest to you. Instead they bolstered each other’s faith and faced the furnace together.

Daniel 3:13 ESV

Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king.

Now standing in front of the source of the enormous pressure they faced, they were given one more chance to compromise. I can not imagine the tension of this moment. The most powerful king in the world at this time ordering them to abandon their faith with death on the line.

Daniel 3:16 ESV

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

Unified in purpose, these three young men stood firm and would not submit to false worship. O king, we don’t even need to discuss this. We have already made up our minds to follow God at any cost. As stressful as that moment must have been, they stood firm in their faith. They understood the cost and still kept themselves from compromise.

Notice the difference in temperament. Nebuchadnezzar was in a furious rage. The three young men calmly made their choice. I believe there is peace and strength in the moments where you choose God under pressure. As you fully trust Him, you know the outcome is in His hands.

They make a declaration of their devotion to God and let the king know that they will not compromise their faith.

Declarations of Devotion

Daniel 3:17–18 ESV

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. 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.”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not undercover Christians. They used their moment to point to God. Where Nebuchadnezzar had added his small view of God to his own agenda, these young men boldly pointed to the real God who is able. He is able to change your circumstances.

Our God is an all powerful God. And I know when I say that, most here would wholeheartedly agree. God can do whatever He wants to do. Yet when the pressure begins to heat up, we tend to forget. As the furnace gets hotter our trust sometimes wavers. But God is able - He can change everything. These young men looked the king right in the eye and said, your furnace is still in His hand. You may seem to have all of the leverage, but God is still in control. In an instant, He can change everything.

He is able....say that with me this morning....He is able

and He is able, —pause — but what if He doesn’t?

What if He Doesn’t

Daniel 3:18 ESV

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.”

But if not. Those are incredible words of faith. O king, our God is able. He can save us. But if He chooses not to, we will still stand strong. This would be a much easier message to preach if it was a formula. If you do this, God will rescue you from the fire every time. But this is not that message. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made their choice fully understanding that they were heading to the fire. And they were willing to give it all up in pursuit of God.

I wonder how long it took them to realize what was going on? They are thrown into the furnace and the guys that threw them in were consumed by the flames. “Um Shadrach, this is supposed to hurt, right? we’re sitting in a fire.“ Then they see God walking with them. Wouldn’t you have loved to hear that conversation?

But if not - those words ring out today. For every party inside the furnace, there are hundreds who have come to that same decision point, they chose God, an He chose not to rescue.

In the early days of Christianity, there was a profound story of 40 soldiers who stood firm in their faith. For them, instead of a fiery furnace, it was a frozen lake. They were part of a Roman legion stationed in Armenia, and when commanded to renounce their faith in Christ, they refused. Their declaration of devotion, 'We are 40 soldiers for Christ. We will not deny Him.' They were stripped down and placed in the middle of the lake. As the night went on and the cold became worse one of the soldiers broke for the shoreline. All he had to do was renounce Christ and he could enjoy the hot baths prepared for them. Another soldier seeing this was moved in a supernatural way. Seeing the 39 hold to their faith even if it cost them everything, and the one who did not, he chose Christ. Stripping down and joining the others in the middle of the lake, 'We are 40 soldiers for Christ. We will not deny Him.' All 40 perished.

He is able, but what if He doesn’t. Does that change your response?

Does it change your view of God’s character? How can He answer some prayers yes, and others no? How can he save three in the fire, but not the 40 in the cold? How do we make sense of that?

Well, let me say, I do not have all the answers, but I do know three things to be true.

The first is that eternity is so much better than our current reality. God has handcrafted a place for us. We will enjoy His goodness forever and ever.

The second thing is that God does not want anyone to miss out on the eternity He has planned for us. The times He rescues, and the times He does not are all part of His plan to redeem as many as possible in these last days.

And the third thing is that God is pleased when we have faith. When we trust in Him -that He is good when He rescues and He is equally as good when He does not.

Daniel 3:18 “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.””

We will stand firm regardless of the outcome.

Because the purpose is not whether He does something miraculous or not, the purpose is His presence.

The Purpose is His Presence

Daniel 3:24–25 ESV

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.” 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.”

God is present. He is present when He saves us from the fire, He is present when He saves us through the fire, and He is present when the fire seems to win.

We need to strive to find the place in our faith journey where we are satisfied in the presence of God. In His presence, we can find joy, satisfaction and fulfillment. Outside of that, we will always be wanting more. If your goal is His presence, you will never be disappointed. He is always there.

So the question for us this morning is...

Will You Stand in the Face of the Fire?

When the pressure comes, will you stand? When it is easier to give in, will you still stand? When it cost you something, will you still stand?