Faithful in Uncertainty

Call to Confession

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) Yet we often seek other kingdoms first. Trusting in God’s mercy, let us come before Him in confession.

Words of Assurance

Hear the good news: Though we wander, God’s love never lets us go. Though we conform to this world, Christ transforms us by His grace. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, renewed, and called to shine as His people. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Passage: Daniel 1:8-21

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Sermon:

There’s an old adage that pastors only preach three sermons. The passages may change, but the message often stays the same. I think this might be one of mine. God plants certain truths deep in our hearts, and it’s hard to get away from them. If today’s message sounds familiar, it’s because God has given me a passion for it. It’s what He keeps showing me. So, with that said, let’s dive into Daniel chapter one.

It has been a while since I last read through Daniel, and I am struck again by how fascinating it is. What surprises me most is how close their world feels to ours. The book opens with four young men—likely still teenagers—taken captive into a foreign land. By the end of the book, Daniel is an old man in his eighties. But from start to finish, these four young men are living in a world they do not know.

Isn’t that where we find ourselves today? We are living in a world that feels strange and unfamiliar. There are three ways that this is a strange and unfamiliar world: We are no longer in a Christendom culture, we are still without a lead shepherd, and we are reminded that ultimately we are not citizens of this world at all. Each of these realities changes how we live, but through it all, Daniel shows us that we can be faithful in the uncertainty.

Let’s begin with what we all know: we are still without someone to guide us through this wilderness. And yet, through prayer, through showing up, through staying faithful, God has sustained us. I truly believe this church can and will see fruit greater than any time in its history, but only if we remain faithful to God, faithful to His Kingdom, and faithful to His King. We follow Him—we don’t drag Him along behind us. Which means we need to recognize the world around us has changed. And in the midst of that change, we need to be faithful in the uncertainty.

That leads us to Christendom, probably the greatest way we live in an uncertain world. Maybe that’s not a word you’ve heard often, but you’ve lived through it. Christendom was the time when Christianity shaped our communities and culture. Some of you remember when stores closed on Sundays by law, when people knew the Bible because it was quoted in public speeches, when pastors didn’t need to take attendance because if you weren’t at church, your boss would ask you about it Monday morning. Martin Luther King Jr. could quote Scripture, and everyone knew what he was talking about. Even major newspapers; LA TImes, NY Times, and The Washington Post, published Bible reading plans.

That world is gone. Today, when Scripture is quoted, people often don’t even recognize it. Christianity is no longer assumed; Christianity is one of many religions in America today. Christianity is questioned, resisted, or even mocked. People know more about what we are against than who it is we serve. My mom works at a preschool near Pittsburgh, and she told me that this past Christmas none of the children knew the true meaning of Christmas. None. And look around—our culture is so unsettled that we argue about things as basic as what it means to be a man or a woman. Who among us ever imagined that would become a national debate? Or that marriage itself would be redefined? The world has changed so drastically that at times we feel lost, even tempted to throw up our hands and say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Other times, we long for the comfort of the past, but the truth is what worked before will not necessarily work today. This is exactly when we must be faithful in the uncertainty.

That’s where Daniel and his friends give us a picture of faithfulness. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—though most of us know them by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were captives in a strange land. They refused the king’s food and wine, asking instead for only vegetables and water. The guard feared he would be killed if they grew sickly, but Daniel said, “Test us for ten days.” At the end of those ten days, they were healthier than everyone else. They weren’t faithful in order to earn God’s blessing—they were faithful because they loved God. And in return, God blessed them with wisdom and knowledge, which positioned them to bless others. They were put into Babylonian studies, and they excelled because of God’s blessing. Thus they knew they culture around them and they put God’s kingdom first, and God honored them. They were faithful in the uncertainty.

That is our calling too. To remain faithful in a world that doesn’t look like it used to, to study the culture around us, to learn the stories people are living in, and then to respond with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Daniel’s story reminds us that this kind of faithfulness can bring opposition. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. Following Jesus may cost us dearly—sometimes even our lives. And yet, they stayed faithful in the uncertainty.

The last unknown world is what we read in the Hebrews passage: “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.” We are not citizens of this world but of the Kingdom of God, for those who call Jesus Lord. This is not our country. By faith we know of the country we long for, and though most people long for it too, they don’t know how to get there.

That is why we need to be ambassadors of this country—God’s country. In C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, there is a little mouse, Reepicheep, who is a great swordsman. He talks often about getting to Aslan’s country and how wonderful it will be to finally arrive. But while he is still in Narnia, he gives everything he has to serve Aslan faithfully. In the end, he takes a small boat and sails into Aslan’s land, and from a distance he sees it as more beautiful than he ever could have imagined.

Lewis wrote those stories as a reflection of our walk with Christ. And like that mouse, we need to long for heaven—but while we are still here, we must faithfully serve Christ by telling others about the country we are longing for. This is especially important when we recognize that we are in a strange land, and that land keeps changing all around us. The constant is this: people still long for God and His world, but the way they find it has changed.

That’s where Lewis and Clark help us see what faithfulness looks like in the uncertainty. They set out to find a water passage connecting the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. All the experts of their time believed that everything west of the Mississippi would look just like the east. They expected to canoe their way across the continent. They followed the Missouri River as far as it would take them, up to its very spring. But when Meriwether Lewis climbed the final hill to see what lay ahead, he did not find another river. He saw the Rocky Mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. These were river men—but now they had to become mountain climbers.

The same is true in a post-Christendom world. The land before us is unrecognizable. As a church, we have been river guides—but now God is calling us to climb mountains. And yes, it’s scary. We cannot rely on what worked in the past because there are no rivers ahead of us—only rock and wilderness. What Lewis and Clark had was a guide who knew the land, and they relied on her, as well as on the simple fact that they had made it this far already.

In the same way, those four Hebrew young men—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—did not know what lay ahead, but they trusted the One who did. They trusted His leading. Later in the book, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were about to be thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow before the king’s image, they said: “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

They were faithful still—even in the uncertainty of whether they would live or die.

How many of us can say the same? How many of us, when faced with uncertainty, have chosen to go against God because we feared the outcome? The truth is, all of us have failed at one point or another. But here is the good news: even when we are unfaithful, Jesus is faithful. Think of Peter, who swore he would die with Jesus, yet denied Him three times. And still, Peter became a pillar of the church. So don’t beat yourself up if you have not always been faithful in the uncertainty. Instead, know this: Jesus was faithful in every uncertainty on your behalf. In His mighty name, you are forgiven—and now you can be faithful in the uncertainty.

And let me pause here to be transparent with you. I told you at the start of this year that I would be honest as I lead you through this season. The truth is, I don’t know exactly how we get over these “Rockies” before us. My training in seminary didn’t prepare me to lead in a post Christendom world, be an associate pastor suddenly leading after a senior pastor’s passing. None of us were trained for that. But I do know this: others have walked this path before us. They’ve seen the mountains, they’ve made the climb, and they are sharing their wisdom. I’m listening, I’m learning, and I’m leaning on Jesus to guide me. I know I’ve made mistakes on the river, maybe taken a wrong turn, but I’m trusting the Holy Spirit to correct my course and to give us all the wisdom we need. My promise to you is that I will keep being faithful in the uncertainty—and together, we will keep walking in trust.

This is the Gospel: Jesus gives us certainty in uncertain times. He calls us to put His kingdom first, to live faithfully even when the world around us feels strange, and to trust Him to guide us through the unknown. The Rockies before us may look intimidating, but beyond them lies a beauty greater than anything behind us. So let’s stop clinging to the riverbanks. Let’s shoulder our packs. Let’s become mountain climbers—faithful in the uncertainty, trusting Jesus every step of the way.

So let us, even in the uncertainty, remain faithful. Let us be able to say with Reepicheep: “I do not know what lies ahead, but I know this: Aslan’s Country is before us. More beautiful, more radiant, and more alive than anything we leave behind. And when the day comes, I will go gladly, for the land ahead is better than all the lands we have ever known.”

That is the hope that steadies us. That is the beauty that waits for us. And that is why, no matter what this world throws at us, we can be faithful in the uncertainty.