Be a Leader

Daniel 1:8

Announcements

Summer Camp

Meeting tonight after services. Text ya parent

Youth night this Friday

6-9 come hang out and invite a friend!

Next Wednesday for spring break. Will be here, but will be a chill evening. Might do a movie night?

Introduction

Recap

This week, we’re going right back into Daniel 1, and if you’re thinking, “weren’t we just in Daniel 1 last week?” Yes. We were. But the Word of God is so profound and deep that we could talk about multiple different things all within the same passage. And that’s what we’re going to be doing this week. We’re going to be honing in on another aspect of Daniel chapter 1 because there’s something that we didn’t really talk a lot about last week. I didn’t want to just make a passing comment about it last time because I really wanted to take the time to elaborate on it and give us time to talk about it.

So, last week, we saw that the Babylonians have defeated the Israelites and taken some of their people into captivity, into exile. Among those people were Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They’ve been brought into the king’s court to be made what’s supposed to be the model men for that time. They’re going to become the best of the best by Babylonian standards.

But the problem is that everything they’re going to have to do – the diet, the education, and everything else – runs completely opposite to what they’ve been taught as Israelites. They’re going to be asked to do things that’ll require them to leave God behind, leave their faith behind, and conform to the Babylonian way of living.

So what we saw last week is this: DON’T LOSE YOUR IDENTITY IN BABYLON. MAINTAIN YOUR GOD-GIVEN IDENTITY.  Although we live in Babylon, we don’t have to live and die by the false promises it tries to sell us. Babylon’s way of life and the promises it tries to give us will not only leave us unfulfilled, but they will also take us away from God and regularly ask us to abandon our identity as God’s people, as followers of Jesus.

And by the end of the story last week, we see that Daniel and his three friends remain faithful to what God has called them to do. They don’t conform to Babylon’s ways, they maintain their God-given identity, and they end up being ten times better than all the other Babylonian men in every way.

But what we’re going to ask ourselves today is, “how did they get there?” What happened in the midst of the king’s court that gave Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego the strength and courage to remain faithful to the Lord?

Optional Illustration: Tell a story about a time you followed the crowd.

Ex: I tell a story about a time I followed some friends by trying to go off campus for lunch in high school even though we weren’t allowed to. Our coach caught us, and in his rage, he said I was “just a follower,” and he was right. And many of us are followers…but in Babylon, we will need leaders.

Tension

If we’re honest with ourselves, MOST OF US ARE FOLLOWERS.

Which is interesting because even though we’re often spending a lot of our time trying to gain followers, you and I are mostly just followers.

We’re shaping our life based on what’s happening on social media and what people look like. We’re deciding how we want to behave based on our social circles. We’re making our college decisions and even personal decisions based on what’s happening around us.

We desire to fit in; as we talked about last week, we have a longing to belong. And it’s all fueled by what’s happening around us, so our social circles create this place where you and I are followers. We’re waiting on someone else to decide for us. We don’t really want to go off and do something on our own.

It’s why we don’t make decisions unless all of our friends are on board. It’s why we skip church if a lot of our friends are skipping. It’s why your parents are so concerned with who your friend group is. And it’s even why a lot of you, as you’re trying to follow Jesus, wish that God would put some Godly friends in your life.

And that’s an honorable desire.

We do need Godly friends. We need friends that love Jesus. We need friends to talk about what God is doing in our lives, and we need friends to call us out when we’re not making a Godly decision or regularly living in sin. Those are all good things.

The problem is, a lot of the time, we blame our current walk with Jesus on those lack of relationships.

We would follow Jesus better, come to church more, read our Bible more, and make better decisions, only if other people would first.

But I think that the Bible calls us to do something different. I believe the Gospel requires us to do something different. If we’re going to be followers of Jesus and maintain our God-given identity in the midst of our modern-day Babylon, then we don’t get to be followers anymore. We now have to be different from what the world looks like, and being different means, we can’t be followers.

Instead, it might be time for us to look a little more like Daniel.

Scripture

Last week, we talked a lot about Daniel and his buddies in the overall story of the chapter, but tonight, we’re almost exclusively looking at the decisions Daniel is making. Let’s read back part of chapter 1 again.

Read DANIEL 1:8-12

The way verse 8 starts is that “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food.”

We asked ourselves last week, “what’s the king’s food and drink for us today?” and we decided that it’s the world’s way of living. It’s the world’s definition of success. It’s all the things that the world says you need to be happy and fulfilled. It’s all the things that are going to require you to leave behind your faith, to leave God behind.

But here, Daniel resolves to do otherwise. He makes a personal and individual decision to remain faithful to the Lord and not cave to Babylon.

He didn’t call a team meeting.

He didn’t check and see what all his friends were doing first.

He didn’t say, “Well, if you don’t eat it, then I won’t eat it. I won’t drink it if you don’t drink it.”

No, he resolved all on his own to not eat the king’s food or drink the wine. He stepped out and made the decision. He led.

And here’s the truth. In the midst of Babylon, in the midst of a world that doesn’t look like you and doesn’t want you to grow closer to the Lord, we’re going to need leaders.

The church is going to need leaders. We need people who will resolve to hold tight to their commitment to God and their faith. People who will step out and do what the Lord has asked you to do. And you’re probably going to have to do this alone. Because here’s the deal. All of us are accountable for our own walk with Jesus. When you make a personal decision to follow Jesus, you’re then responsible for your personal walk with Jesus. So some of you are going to have to step up and lead. It doesn’t matter how old you are, just step up and lead with the Gospel on your side and start to look more like Jesus.

Don’t wait for someone else to do it first. Because IN BABYLON, WE’RE GOING TO NEED LEADERS. We don’t need people who sit in church but look exactly like Babylon the rest of the week. Being a leader means that you can’t gossip the same way as everyone else or party like everyone else does or live the exact same way that the rest of the world does. You can’t be a follower anymore. You can’t conform to Babylon’s way of life anymore.

Application

So you have to ask yourself, will you be a follower, or will you be a leader?

WILL YOU CHOOSE TO LOOK LIKE BABYLON?

Looking like Babylon would be the easy thing to do. It’s what everyone else is doing. Following the crowd doesn’t require anything of you except to do what they do.

But when you choose to look like Babylon, you’ll get frustrated that it feels like God is not coming through. You’re going to feel dissatisfied and lonely. All the things that Babylon promises you are going to fall short.

OR WILL YOU CHOOSE TO LOOK LIKE JESUS?

The best way to enjoy our God is to be faithful to Him. Make space for Him to show up in your life by simply being faithful to Him and not looking like the rest of the world and what they think is most important.

Being faithful to God, looking like Jesus, comes with no guarantees except this. That God is with you, and you will know Him more. Faithfulness can be challenging. Being a leader can be tricky. It can be lonely and feel like it lasts for a very long time without ever seeing any results, but God is with you. He is preparing a way for you to know Him more. He is moving in you, and He is moving in all the places you go and people you meet. So when you step out and lead through the strength you have in Jesus, you can trust that He is doing more than you can see or know.

Gospel

But don’t think you have to do this all on your own. You can lead because the same God who was with Daniel is with you. The same God Daniel had access to has also given you access through Jesus. And you have even more access to God than Daniel did.

Since Jesus has died and risen again, if you have placed your identity in Him and are following Him, then the Holy Spirit has come to live within you. Jesus said that it’s better that He doesn’t stay on Earth and walk around with us because He will send the Holy Spirit to take up residence within us if we decide to submit our lives to Jesus and ask for forgiveness of our sins.

So if you’ve done this, the Holy Spirit has strengthened you and built you up in Jesus. IN CHRIST, YOU CAN LEAD. By the grace of God, you can lead. Not by your own strength but by the work God is doing within you. It doesn’t matter how much influence the world says you have. If the Holy Spirit is within you, then you can lead. You are found and accepted by the Lord, and He says that you are qualified to lead. All it takes is the daily decision to not look like the rest of the world and to instead look just a little bit more like Jesus. Leading looks like taking just one more step every day to look more like Jesus.

Conclusion

Optional Illustration: Tell a story about a time you stepped out as a faithful leader even when no one else would.

Ex: I tell a story about being in college and being known as someone who didn’t drink and party. This left me not getting invited to a lot of stuff but also opened up opportunities to lead. I was always a friend that other friends could call when they were in trouble and needed a ride. It was always awkward and inconvenient, but people could trust me because they knew I was different, even if they didn’t know anyone else that was.

Our world doesn’t need more people that look the same as everyone else. It’s time for more people to make the personal decision to lead. It’s time for you to decide whether you’ll be a leader or a follower. Through Jesus, you’ve been given everything you need to lead. So the choice is yours to make. I know that every single one of you can. I’m just waiting to see if you will. Will you cave to Babylon, follow the crowd, and chase after what it says is best for you? Or will you cling to God, follow Jesus, and lead your generation to the good news that we have in Him?

Let’s pray.