A Faith to Face the Lions

Any one here this morning a cat person?

I personally do not like cats and I am not ashamed to admit that.

I am allergic to them for one thing…but there is something about cats that just disturbs me…

they can stare you down for hours with this evil look (show picture of evil cat)...

I just don’t like them…I think they know that too…

because they come up to me and want to get in my face like “I know you are allergic to me”

I then have to go stand in a decontamination chamber, bathe with sanitizer, burn my clothes, take 5000 mg of benedril, and pray I survive until morning.

Cats are just mean to do that to me.

Even though I do not like Fluffy the House cat, I do marvel at the majesty and raw power of lions…

and I am so glad when we go to the zoo they are on the other side of the fence with a mote and a wall between us...

Facing a real lion, or worse, a den of hungry lions with nothing in between you and them to protect you from them would be terrifying…

In a very real sense, the effect of sin on us and our world creates moments in our lives where we come face to face with “lions”...

Our lions are those moments in our life that terrify us…circumstances and outcomes that can rip us apart emotionally, spiritually, or even psychically…

Or sometimes those lions are people in our life that are ready to rip us to shreds…waiting for that moment when we drop our guard and they pounce in for the kill.

Sometimes those lions are there by our own making...

God himself ascribes terms often associated with lions to sin and Satan...

Regarding sin He said to Cain, "Sin is crouching at your door ready to devour you."

Genesis 4:7 NASB95

“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Imagery here is that sin is a predator looking for prey and ready to pounce when the opportunity presents itself...

Sin is always crouching at our door...and God calls us to master it before it masters us...

Regarding Satan the Scripture says he is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Same imagery applied to Satan...Satan is always seeking to devour through tempting us with things we naturally desire

Perhaps you are here this morning and you feel like your life is a lion’s den right now...those lions are roaring, prowling, waiting to pounce... ready to devour you…there is hope!

With that in mind, open your Bible to Daniel 6

Our study so far has revealed to us that Daniel was a teenager when he was deported to the country of Babylon along with several other choice young people by King Nebuchadnezzar.

The Jewish people are enduring captivity as God’s judgment for their continual sin...

The title of this series is Staying Faithful in Chaotic Times because this was certainly a chaotic time for God’s people...and they needed some encouragement that God wasn’t finished with them, and they needed an example to follow...

So God raised up Daniel...God saw Daniel when he was a teenager as the person for the job...God knew Daniel’s heart...He knew Daniel would be faithful...regardless of his circumstances...

This morning we find Daniel is nearing the end of his life and his ministry.

Seventy years have passed since Daniel was first brought to Babylon.

He has served several different Babylonian kings and now he is employed in the service of the Persian kings.

He is now some eighty years old, by modern day evaluations, that’s retirement age,

Daniel can rest, he did his job…time to hang up the “prophet and diplomat sneakers” and exchange them for some “retirement slippers”…

No…what we will see in the most famous historical account in Daniel is God is going to use Daniel again, in the twilight of his life, to be a trophy of His glory and grace…

Main Point: Trust God Can and Does Deliver!

Daniel was not ashamed of his faith and did his best to serve God and the king faithfully…

When life once again took an unexpected turn for Daniel, he continued to trust God and allowed Him to work His plan...

This account is really not about Daniel and the Lions Den, its about the God of Daniel and the Lions den...

Daniel trusts God because God is trustworthy...

What we see here is the kind of faith that believes that...

When life turns into a lion’s den…trust that God sees and knows how to deliver.

Let’s look at 3 Insights to help us develop a faith that trusts God in Chaotic Times...

Honoring God Must Be Our Highest Priority (1-9)

Even though Daniel was in a foreign land, in the middle of a corrupted culture, he spent his lifetime seeking to honor God with his life and God gave him a faith that stood the test of time.

Honoring God Impacts Our Character

Remember what Daniel purposed in his heart in chapter 1?

Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.”

Daniel knew God was watching…he knew there was nothing he could hide from God…

so Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not allow himself to become tainted or corrupted...

Read Daniel 6:3 — “he distinguished himself” is written as a participle stressing the fact that Daniel kept distinguishing himself”…

this indicates Daniel didn’t just let go and let God...he came alongside all that God provided for him to be a man of character.

This is what the NT would call working out your salvation...not working for it, but applying a bit of discipline and diligence to grow.

Daniel made it a part of his nature to be a man of integrity…

He made a commitment as a teenager to keep his heart pure..

Here he is at the golden years of life and still maintaining his heart.

Daniel served every king with integrity regardless of how bad and evil that king may have been.

Even within a wicked government, Daniel still found reason and resolve to serve honorably…

Now Daniel is under a new kingdom...new king...

The new king was setting up a new government and so he appointed 120 officials to help him govern (satraps — means protector of the kingdom, used loosely to designate royally appointed officials),

the Persian Empire was the largest Empire the world had known at that time, and so it was divided into many smaller territories...

their job was to collect taxes and provide security in all the territories and to prevent loss of land and money…

he then appointed three commissioners over the satraps, one of whom was Daniel.

the satraps were to report their activities to the three administrators to ensure the Persian kingdom would not suffer loss — the indication here is that there was an element of distrust from the king towards the satraps

Darius somehow knew about Daniel’s track record with the other kings and his plan was to promote Daniel to “president” or “prime minister”… Daniel possessed the integrity that he could be trusted to keep the corrupted administrators accountable…

Daniel’s character was different because his priority was different…honoring God.

Daniel would say Amen to Jesus’ words in

Matthew 5:16 ““Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Honoring God Impacts Our Attitude

“an extraordinary spirit...”

Daniel was made Prime Minister not just because he was honest, but because everything about him exuded godliness.

Think about how many kings Daniel has now served under, and not all of them were good and nice, and not once we do we get the impression Daniel ever had the attitude of “what’s the use”…

Not only did Daniel do his work with excellence, he had a good attitude in doing it, regardless of who was the king…

Remember he is now 80 years old and deserving of retirement…

He could have said “I’ve done my time, I’m tired. It’s time for others to do this”.

No that wasn’t Daniel.

It’s clear the Holy Spirit had been working in and through Daniel throughout the entire book…there were even people who did not know God who attested to this…

He lived in such a way that people around him said, he is different…he has an excellent spirit about him...why?

Because he made a point to honor God!

Honoring God Impacts How We Live.

We will strive to be holy.

Read Daniel 6:4-5

…the king’s plan to elevate Daniel really ticked off some of the satraps and the two other administrators…

so they began to examine his governmental activities to discover some flaw in his character or professional abilities…

they were looking to impeach him…

They found nothing yet it did not stop them…

He was neither politically corrupt nor negligent in the performance of his work because he was driven to be holy…to live righteously...

He was faithful…there was no negligence or corruption at all in him... They couldn't find a charge.

Righteousness characterized the very way Daniel carried himself and how he worked!

We will obey God rather than man.

Read Dan 6:6-9

They concluded , there was only one area in which they might find a conflict between Daniel and the government…His religion…

they looked for something in his religious beliefs that could disqualify him from serving.

They knew Daniel worshipped only one God…not the many gods of their culture…

Daniel’s choice would be to obey God or man (laws of Medes and Persians) and they knew which one he would choose.

It is clear from the text that Daniel did not hide his convictions…

He was not a secret disciple who was ashamed or afraid to speak of his God…

It didn’t matter what the people of his day said about him or pressured him to do...

What mattered to him was what God thought..what God said...

It is also clear from the text that he was not going to compromise even in the face of punishment or death.

His love for God, his desire to serve God, his allegiance to God, his passion for God was evident in all he did and he was not going to be swayed from doing what he knew God wanted him to do...

Regardless of the cultural pressure Daniel was under, he believed it was his priority to practice God's word…EVERYDAY.

Please don't miss the point...this is not really about Daniel.

This is really about the God of Daniel…

Daniel believed that God was trustworthy...

and Daniel places himself in His hands and keeps doing what was right and trusts God for the outcome...

Implications

Is honoring God our highest priority?

Daniel never wavered from the decision he made as a teenager...regardless of who was around him and in spite of the negative circumstances...

Daniel always came down on God’s side of the issues!

If we want to have the faith that empowers us to face our lions, we have to cultivate a relationship with Christ.

We have to start at the cross…GOSPEL.

We have to decide if we want the kind of trust in God that communicates to others very clearly that the “Spirit of God” is within us…

We have to decide if we’re going to come alongside everything that God has given us to grow and change and put forth some effort to be different…to distinguish ourselves...

1 Timothy 4:7 NASB95

But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;

Discipline or Exercise is the Greek word, gymnodzo…where we get gymnasium from…why do we go to the gym?

We want to get stronger, more fit, etc.

And what do we do? we work out.

We don't sit on the machine and say “okay machine make me fit and stronger” and then just sit there and do nothing…we sweat a little or a lot…we expend energy...

But sadly, that is how many people who call themselves Christians believe it ought to work when it comes to having the spiritual strength to face their lions…

they believe that God ought to somehow just zap them with a level of maturity that needs no work…

they can’t handle the lion’s den of their life right now because they aren’t particularly faithful…they’re not working at it...

They're not employing the weapons of warfare that God equipped them with and they are not putting the kind of effort into growing that God desires.

We’ve got to be willing to say in our heart “I need to spend more time in God’s gym instead of Gold’s gym.”

“I’ve got to be faithful to do my part to grow the way God intended for me to grow”.

“I’m going to spend time in His Word beyond Sunday morning.

"I'm going to be faithful to the worship services at our church.

I’m going to be faithful to surround myself with people who love God.

I’m going to be faithful to serve together with people who want to honor God with their lives.

I’m going to have a heart that is willing to be challenged and changed by the word of God."

Look at Daniel…he committed himself to God as a teenager and kept that commitment into his eighties...

Honoring God was Daniel’s priority because he knew God could be trusted...it made a difference in the way he faced the lions.

Here’s the second insight we gain from Daniel’s life...

How We Handle Trials Communicates Our Trust in God (10 - 23).

God can be trusted when life is stacked against us.

Notice the threat of punishment and death never changed his spiritual disciplines....it was Daniel’s custom to pray and give thanks to God three times a day…he was a man of prayer...

Read Daniel 6:10-11

Did you notice how the text says “He continued kneeling." ?

Do you see that? Not he started.

"Man things are getting hard, better pray."

No. "He continued kneeling on his knees, praying and giving thanks."

Yes life was getting harder, it’s going to go south quickly, but he's giving thanks as he had been doing previously.

Even though he had been part of their culture now for seventy years, the expression in Daniel 6:13 “one of the exiles of Judah” was a slam against Daniel…

for the mere reason of humiliation and giving the appearance of disloyalty…

they even persuaded the king that Daniel was disrespecting him…

The opposition was severely stacked against him, yet Daniel did not waver in his faith or practice because he believed in a much bigger God.

Daniel deliberately defied the law of the land because he recognized there was no higher authority in his life than God…see Acts 5:29 “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”

There may be times when those lions in your life threaten great loss or even death unless you compromise.

As the world becomes further separated from God and more sinful as a result of that separation, we find that we may have to take an unpopular stand or position, sometimes that stand may violate the law…don’t give in or give up just because the threat is real…

Remember God is bigger than all that, you can commit yourself to Him and because He is trustworthy...

How we respond to our trials communicates our level of trust.

Daniel is experiencing perhaps the greatest trial of his life, yet there is no questioning God here…

Daniel is not some stoic robot...

I’m sure there were some raw emotions going on in Daniel’s heart at that moment...

but instead of allowing those to rule him, he ruled them...

Regardless of how Daniel must have felt, he never stopped being that example God wanted him to be.

Read Daniel 6:14-18

The order is carried out and Darius proclaims a soft belief that God was going to rescue him…

Daniel 6:16…the way Daniel responded to life and this particular trial was noticed by Darius…

even though it was a weak faith statement from Darius, there was still a recognition of the reality of Daniel’s God and his power.

now look at Dan 6:20-22

Up to this point Darius did not possess a full faith in Yahweh…he was hopeful that God would rescue Him, but not sure.

Daniel must have had an impression on Darius because Darius characterized Daniel as one who served his God continually…

how Daniel responded to life in the Empire and all the things associated with it were noticed by Darius and the other Jews as well.

God can be trusted even if He chooses not to deliver in the way we want or expect.

Daniel explains that God sent his angel to protect him against the lions because he was innocent in God’s sight and that he had done nothing wrong against the king…

the lions were unable to bite or even claw him.

Who was the “angel” who spent the night with Daniel?

Although we don’t know for certain, the Greek Translation of the OT identifies God as the one who rescued Daniel...

it’s not beyond reason to conclude this the same individual that was in the furnace in Dan 3…pre-incarnate Jesus.

Here is something we don’t want to miss...

Trusting God means we believe that God can do what He wants, however He wants and that our job is to be faithful to proclaim His goodness no matter the outcome.

Daniel never proclaimed God would deliver him…

God makes a point to inform us that his deliverance of Daniel was because of Daniel’s trust.

Just because we trust God, that doesn’t mean He will always deliver us in miraculous ways…

Sometimes, it may be part of God’s plan that we have to suffer as martyrs…it is God’s choice.

Biblical faith is trusting God can deliver believing whatever He does is always for our good and His glory.

God does deliver...but it is up to Him how He delivers.

A faith that faces lions : 1) Honoring God is Our Highest Priority, 2) How we respond communicates our trust of Our God and 3)...

Trust that God Wants to Use Us to Make His Name Great (24-28).

We can trust that God will vindicate His people in His way in His time.

Read Daniel 6:24

God used the pagan king to vindicate Daniel’s integrity.

the king demands those who maliciously accused Daniel be thrown to the lions…

not just them, but their families also…this was a practice according to Persian custom to prohibit retaliation from family members.

Just so we don’t think the lions were tame, old, or just not hungry enough to devour Daniel, the text says the lions did not let them reach the bottom of the pit…

they overpowered them and crushed their bones…once again proving the miracle of God’s deliverance.

Keep proclaiming Him regardless of what others say or do...God will vindicate His people.

We can trust that God’s Kingdom is the Only Kingdom that will last.

Read Dan. 6:26-27

Darius issues a public decree for people in all the land to give proper recognition to the God of Daniel…He is the only living and eternal God whose sovereignty never ends.

God delivers and works in our lives, in various ways, so that we and the world around us, can see His power and His reality.

We need to make sure we are citizens of the right kingdom...and that we represent that kingdom well...don’t get caught up in what the worldly kingdoms offer...they have an expiration date!

We can trust that God Blesses Faithfulness

Read Dan 6:28

Daniel never stopped being faithful…God would continue to use Daniel by promoting him to 2nd in command in all of Persia…

Even in his old age, Daniel became an example of the power of God to use an uncompromising life.

Lesson For Life: Trust God Always Works For His Glory and Our Good

What does your lion’s den look like right now?

Remember that God is with us in that lion’s den...

God will always work, even when the lions are roaring their loudest and ready to pounce,

He will always work to make sure we have the opportunity to grow in our trust of Him…and to conform us to His Son

Wise is the person who knows and lives faithfully for him.