Abiding in Exile
Notes
Transcript
Me
Me
Some of the loneliest places in life are the spaces in between.
Not fully here.
Not fully there.
Not rejected.
Not unwelcome.
Just, not at home.
You just feel off, or an outsider, but no idea why at times
Over the years, I’ve realized that’s where I often find myself.
As a pastor in a Chinese church with the English ministry,
I live between cultures.
It might surprise you to learn that I’m white lol
Yet, growing up in white church, and then coming here to a Chinese Heritage Church, it gives me perspective
Something you might have learned about is how missionary kids get labeled as ‘3rd culture kids’,
They are not culturally white enough for most Americans, and they are too white for their host cultures so they stand awkwardly in the middle
In fact, that idea of 3rd culture kids is not only missionary kids, it’s any of you here that are second or third generation immigrants
You know exactly what that feels like
Too asian for white culture, and too white for asian culture
And strangely, I also got to experience that difficulty and blessing of that by coming here, at least in a way
I grew up in white church, so I know it quite well
Yet it was not until coming here that I saw some of the big struggles that come from that church, and comes with the space given it
I also am not Chinese, so I am an outsider, but that also gives me some perspective as well
So I am a 3rd culture pastor, and I don’t fit fully into white or Chinese culture
And theologically, I don’t fit neatly into most camps.
In some rooms, I’m too conservative.
In others, I’m too liberal.
I’ve learned to live in that tension
Not particularly because I enjoy it, but Scripture doesn’t always fit into the nice neat boxes of theology we might like it to
It often refuses to flatten itself into our categories
And that space in between it’s not always crazy, nor is it usually hostile
But it can be quietly lonely.
And I’ve learned something in those spaces:
When you live between worlds, you have to decide who actually defines you.
Honestly, that is living in exile.
And Daniel knew that space far more deeply than I ever will.
Daniel didn’t volunteer for Babylon.
He was taken by a conquering army to Babylon
Where he would spend the rest of his life living in a place
That was never fully home
We
We
And some of you know exactly what that feels like.
Maybe you’re second/third generation and you don’t fully fit your parents’ culture.
but you’re not fully at home in mainstream American culture either
Maybe you’re raising kids and the moral landscape feels unfamiliar.
What used to be assumed now feels contested.
Maybe you love Jesus but you look at the direction of our culture
and simply think,
“This doesn’t feel like home.”
It’s probably it’s not outrage or panic
It’s not about being mad at the world.
But It’s about realizing you belong to a different kingdom.
That you and I are living in exile
Daniel 1 is not about vegetables, or schooling, or even Babylon
It is about how to live faithfully when you don’t belong.
It is about how to live in Babylon without becoming Babylon.
God
God
God is Still God (v.1-2)
God is Still God (v.1-2)
The first thing Daniel wants us to see is this important truth.
Babylon is not as powerful as it thinks it is.
Babylon is not in control.
The text says, “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.”
Babylon did not overpower Jerusalem.
God handed Judah over.
The MSG says it this way:
2 The Master handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with some of the furnishings from the Temple of God.
It is our Master, the Master of the universe, the Master of Israel who hands them over to Babylon
Not only did he hand over the people, he even allowed the Temple to be raided, which is very clear
God handed over the king
God handed over vessels from the Temple
These sacred tools were placed in a pagan treasury.
Babylon believed this proved the power of its gods.
But God was not displaying Babylon’s strength.
He was accomplishing His purpose.
God is not threatened by the power of Empire
Babylon is not ultimate, it is being used
It brings up a question, why did God hand them over to Babylon?
Why would God hand His own people over?
The answer is covenant.
For generations Judah had ignored God’s warnings.
And by generations, it mean over 400 years of warnings since David
They had pursued idols.
They had trusted political alliances more than the Lord.
They broke the covenant.
God had promised blessing for obedience.
He had also warned of discipline for rebellion.
Exile was not random.
It was promised discipline.
This is not God losing control.
This is God keeping His word.
It tells us something about exile, and about living in Babylon:
Exile is not chaos.
It is covenant discipline.
That does not mean every hardship in our lives is punishment.
Israel’s exile was specific covenant discipline under God’s promise to that nation.
But it does show us something about the heart of God.
God is committed to forming a faithful people.
He will not let His people drift forever without consequence.
He loves us too much for that.
Sometimes discipline is not rejection.
It is preservation.
God would rather disrupt comfort than lose His people to idolatry.
Empire seeks assimilation, compromise, the highest loyalty
Covenant Discipline protects distinction
And that connects directly to abiding.
Abiding means trusting God’s character even when being shaped by Him is uncomfortable
We may never leave Babylon.
But we do not have to become Babylon.
If you read the prophet Habakkuk, you see this tension before exile happens
Habakkuk cries out to God about corruption in Judah.
God answers, “I am raising up the Babylonians.”
Habakkuk is stunned.
“How can You use a nation more wicked than we are?”
God’s answer is sobering.
I will use them for discipline.
And I will judge them too.
Babylon is not righteous.
It is being used.
And it will not escape accountability.
Empire thinks it is ultimate.
But it is temporary.
Babylon is not sovereign.
It is instrumental.
Daniel 1 is not just the story of Babylon rising.
It is the story of God ruling.
So yes, Babylon is being used.
But, no that does not make Babylon harmless.
Empire still has a strategy, it still exerts pressure
And that pressure is has a name:
Assimilation
It is a call to compromise.
A call to compromise identity.
A call to compromise loyalty.
A call to slowly redefine who you are.
Babylon does not just want their land, it wants their hearts, minds, and souls
It wants their identity, and their allegiance
It wants them to belong and believe in a different story
That is where the real battle begins for Daniel, and for us today
Assimilation is the Pressure (v.3-7)
Assimilation is the Pressure (v.3-7)
The way Babylon seeks to assimilate is by taking the best and brightest and giving them a proper state ‘re-education’
The king selects the best young men.
He brings them into the palace.
He educates them in Babylonian literature and language.
He even feeds them from the royal table.
He renames them after Babylonian gods
Renaming is not just a cultural thing either, it is spiritual
This is reformation of identity.
Daniel’s name means “God is my judge.”
Hananiah means “Yahweh is gracious.”
Mishael means “Who is like God?”
Azariah means “Yahweh has helped.”
Their names carried the name of the covenant God.
Babylon renames them Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Those names reference Babylonian gods.
Their Hebrew names anchored them to Yahweh.
Their Babylonian names tied them to idols.
Empire does not just change behavior
It tries to tell them who they are
To try and remove them from their story.
In order to immerse them in a new story.
The Empire seeks to reward compliance.
To Normalize compromise.
If you have ever seen Star Trek, you know the Borg.
Their message is simple.
Resistance is futile.
They do not defeat you and leave you intact.
They assimilate
You lose your name.
You lose your distinctiveness.
You are absorbed into the collective
Your former identity disappears.
That is Babylon.
Empire does not always persecute.
Sometimes it simply reshapes.
It offers opportunity.
It entices by comfort.
It promises advancement.
And slowly it asks for a ‘little’ loyalty in return.
But the pressure does not stop at education or names.
It becomes personal at the table.
The king assigns them a daily portion from the royal table.
This is not just about food.
In the ancient world, to eat at a king’s table is to belong to the king.
To receive his food is to accept his rule.
And now the question is no longer theoretical.
Will Daniel and his friends assimilate to the temptations of Babylon
Or remain faithful and trust the provision of their God in Babylon?
Resolve to Abide (v.8-16)
Resolve to Abide (v.8-16)
The answer comes in verse 8
Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.
Notice the order.
God does not intervene first.
Daniel resolves first.
Faith steps forward before favor appears.
And that resolve carries risk.
He asks permission
He proposes a test.
He draws a line.
Not loudly, but clearly.
He risks his position.
He risks his future.
He risks his life.
This moment carries real danger.
But it is not yet the lion’s den.
This is not the roar of lions.
It is the whisper of compromise and promises of ease of life
Faithfulness often begins in test with less at stake
Private conviction prepares you for public courage.
The line drawn at the King’s food prepares Daniel for the line he will draw before lions.
And this first test is not insignificant,
The chief official says his head is on the line
If Daniel appears weaker than the others, the official could die. (v.10)
And Daniel could die with him.
This was not preference.
It was potential execution.
Because allegiance is worth more than advancement.
And only after Daniel steps out do we read,
“God granted Daniel favor and compassion.”
God grants favor after faith steps forward
Resolve to be faithful comes before relief for the faithful
Abiding is not waiting for perfect conditions.
It is choosing faithfulness before you know the outcome.
So why draw the line here?
His education did not defile him.
Even though it likely included pagan wisdom and divination.
Administration did not defile him
Even though he was serving the government that conquered his people.
But the food was different
We do not know the exact reason, but there are several possibilities.
The food may have been sacrificed to idols before being served.
It may have included unclean animals forbidden in the Law of Moses.
It may have involved participation in royal feasts tied to pagan worship
But what we do know is this.
Daniel believed this food would defile him.
It was not about preference, but about holiness
It was about remaining distinct as one who belonged to Yahweh.
This was the line where covenant loyalty could not be blurred.
This is where allegiance is tested
This is what abiding looks like in Exile
Daniel learns the language.
He studies the literature.
He serves in the system.
He does not withdraw from Babylon
But Babylon will not define him
He lives in Babylon,
but Babylon does not live in him
It is also important to see what Daniel does not do.
You see we tend to go to 2 extremes when we realize we are in enemy territory
We assimilate into Babylon, until no one can tell we belong to God
We lose the uniqueness of being God’s people
We become Zealots, and wish to use the ways of Babylon to try and bring God’s rule
We think if we can assassinate the king, we can get back to the promised land,
That we can use political maneuvers and back door politics to bring about what we think, God wants
Yet Daniel shows us a third way
He does not revolt.
He does not run.
He remains faithful in exile.
He works for the government, yet he takes his stand on key issues, without violence
This is the way of God’s people in Babylon.
Learn the language.
Seek the good of the city.
Serve faithfully.
But refuse to surrender worship
The Uncomfortable Reality (v.17-21)
The Uncomfortable Reality (v.17-21)
The final verses are both hopeful and unsettling.
God richly rewards faithfulness,
But he does not remove exile
God gives these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom.
Daniel is given special insight into visions and dreams.
When they stand before the king,
They are found ten times better than all the magicians and mediums in his kingdom.
God honors their faithfulness.
God empowers them inside Babylon.
But notice what God does not do.
He does not remove them from Babylon.
He does not overthrow the empire.
He does not restore Jerusalem in this moment.
Daniel remains until the first year of Cyrus.
He lives long enough to see the decree for the Jews to return
Others go home.
But Daniel appears to remain.
He prays for restoration.
He helps secure the future.
But he likely dies in exile.
Faithfulness does not always mean you see the fulfillment.
Sometimes it means you prepare the way.
Faithfulness does not rescue him from enemy territory.
It sustains him there.
This is the uncomfortable reality.
Abiding does not guarantee escape.
It guarantees presence.
God may not remove Babylon.
But He will remain with you in it.
And sometimes, the very place meant to erase your identity
becomes the platform where God displays His wisdom.
Daniel serves pagan kings.
And through him, those kings confess the greatness of YHWH.
Babylon is not sovereign.
But It is instrumental.
Daniel lives in Babylon for decades
He never goes home, and yet Babylon never becomes his home
We may never leave Babylon.
But we do not have to become Babylon.
You
You
You might be asking, but Babylon is gone, it’s not even on the map today!
Babylon is not just a place on a map.
It is any system that resists the rule of God.
It is any culture that pressures you to redefine loyalty.
It is any environment that asks you to compromise worship for belonging.
Remember, we read Psalm 2 which says the nations rage.
Kings set themselves against the Lord and His Anointed.
Jesus says in John 15 that the world will hate you because it hated Him first.
That hatred is not always violent.
Sometimes it is subtle.
Sometimes it is exclusion.
Sometimes it is pressure to fit in.
Sometimes it is the cost of not bowing.
That is Babylon.
And we still live there.
We work in those systems.
We raise children in that culture.
We still go to school there
We breathe that air every day.
So where is Babylon pressing on you right now.
What might be akin to the king’s food being offered to you right now?
Where are you being asked to compromise so you can belong?
Where are you tempted to choose success over faithfulness?
Or on the other side.
Where are you tempted to win the argument but lose your witness?
Where are you tempted to use manipulation, power, or fear to get your way.
To respond with outrage instead of faithfulness.
Daniel shows us a different way.
Learn the language of your workplace.
Understand the culture around you.
Do your work with excellence.
Be the kind of person people trust.
But when you are asked to bow,
When you are asked to blur the line of what God made clear
When faithfulness would cost you something,
That is where you draw the line.
A seminary student’s wife worked as a quality control inspector at a pharmaceutical company.
A major order of syringes was contaminated and would not pass inspection.
Her boss calculated the financial loss and made a “cost-effective” decision to ship them anyway.
He ordered her to sign the inspection clearance despite the contamination.
She refused.
Because of regulations, she was the only one authorized to sign.
The company president told her she had the weekend to reconsider, or she would lose her job.
Her job was their only source of income,
So her husband’s seminary education and future ministry were also at risk.
Everything hinged on whether they would keep their integrity
She refused to sign.
She was fired.
Now, sometimes God restores what you lose.
When the shipment was delayed.
The purchasing company investigated.
They discovered she had protected them from contaminated syringes.
And they hired her.
Not because she played the system well.
But because she would not compromise.
But she did not know that on Friday,
All she knew was that faithfulness might cost everything.
Sometimes integrity is vindicated in this life.
Sometimes it is not.
Daniel was preserved.
But he remained in exile,
So we are in good company, with Daniel
Abiding is not dramatic.
It is daily.
It is choosing faithfulness before you know the outcome.
You may never leave Babylon.
But by God’s grace.
Babylon does not have to live in you.
Jesus knows what it is to live in a world that resists God.
He was pressured.
He was opposed.
He was rejected.
He stayed faithful.
And He is with you where you are.
So stay with Him.
