LIVING BY FAITH IN A SECULAR WORLD
THE 52 GREATEST STORIES OF THE BIBLE • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 334 viewsTHOSE WHO KNEEL BEFORE THE LORD WILL BE ENABLED TO STAND FOR THE LORD.
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom;
and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss.
Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.
Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!
All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
Daniel 6
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom;
and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss.
Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.
Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!
All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
Those who kneel before the Lord will be enable to stand for the Lord.
,
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Daniel 6:16–23
The first six chapters of Daniel teach us how to live by faith in a secular world. Daniel, like us, lived in a pluralistic culture. He lived in this culture not by choice but by consequence.
The first six chapters of Daniel teach us how to live by faith in a secular world. Daniel, like us, lived in a pluralistic culture. He lived in this culture not by choice but by consequence.
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
“For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.
You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,
saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’
Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,
behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Look at the opening verses of
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
“For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.
You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,
saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’
Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,
behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.
I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.
For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
Look at the opening verses of
1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Look at the opening verses of Daniel 1
4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
6 So the administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “O King Darius, live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.
8 Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing. 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
Later on in the chapter, we read …
Daniel is living in Babylon as a result of his people’s, the Israelite’s, sin. tells us that Daniel was taken into this culture at a very young age. We’ve been looking at Daniel for clues on how to live if you are a believer in only one true God in a society which is pluralistic, committed to the principle that there are many gods, religions, and moralities. Today we take a look at the most famous of all the narratives. As I’ll tell you near the end, it’s actually a problem for understanding this.
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.
18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. 19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
21 Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Daniel is living in Babylon as a result of his people’s, the Israelite’s, sin. tells us that Daniel was taken into this culture at a very young age.
This is God’s Word
youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
They wanted to indoctrinate the future leadership for the purpose of indoctrinating the lay people. Sometimes, if not most of the time, God’s allowances are mysterious. Could not the Lord have disciplined his people in a different way? Why captivity? Why 70 years of exile? He did this for their instruction and our illustration.
We’ve been looking at Daniel for clues on how to live if you are a believer in only one true God in a society which is pluralistic, committed to the principle that there are many gods, religions, and moralities. Today we take a look at the most famous of all the narratives. As I’ll tell you near the end, it’s actually a problem for understanding this.
Their captivity is not punishment but discipline. The Lord wants to deliver His people from their idolatry. His method of delivery is discipline. Discipline is a means of instruction.
If you were tasked with their deliverance what would be your means of deliverance? Our instinct tells us separation or isolation. However, our Lord’s method is to send them into a pluralistic cultural. He sends them into captivity with a mandate, infiltrate don’t assimilate.
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.
Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,
for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:4going to deliver someone from the sin of idolatry The Lord is wanting to instruct His people. They are constantly falling into idolatry. We’ve been looking at Daniel for clues on how to live if you are a believer in only one true God in a society which is pluralistic, committed to the principle that there are many gods, religions, and moralities. Today we take a look at the most famous of all the narratives. As I’ll tell you near the end, it’s actually a problem for understanding this.
We are not called to pull out but to permeate the culture. I believe that this segment of Israel’s history is here to illustrates for us Jesus teaching in
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:11going to deliver someone from the sin of idolatry The Lord is wanting to instruct His people. They are constantly falling into idolatry. We’ve been looking at Daniel for clues on how to live if you are a believer in only one true God in a society which is pluralistic, committed to the principle that there are many gods, religions, and moralities. Today we take a look at the most famous of all the narratives. As I’ll tell you near the end, it’s actually a problem for understanding this.
I believe both the book of Daniel and Jesus himself are instructing and illustrating for us what our faith should express and what we should expect.
Jesus sermon and Daniel’s story instruct and illustrate two expressions.
We are to be salt.
Most Christian’s want to separate from the world and Jesus say we are the salt of world. Salt is of no effective when it is separated.
What we see here is … It was impressed upon me as I studied this that we have a concrete illustration of what Jesus Christ himself says will characterize the lives of believers in the world. There are three things Jesus Christ talks about as being characteristic of our lives in the world. If you go to that very famous place in the Sermon on the Mount of , he says these three things.
He says, first of all, “Blessed are you when people … persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you …” Then he says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill …” Then he also says, “You are the salt of the earth.” There are three things Jesus says in the world you expect to be or experience, and those are salt, hurt, and light. That’s what we see here with Daniel. We see three very important principles of how we are supposed to be living in the world as believers in the only true God.
Where is Daniel at this point and time in his life?
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,
Daniel has excelled in pagan Babylonian and in the government no less. He was working in a corrupt system and yet he remained incorruptible.
The very first principle of how to live in the world warns us against separation from the world, trying to stay away from the world, trying to pull ourselves out of the world. “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus says, and you see it with Daniel. What do you see?
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.
Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
Salt is an agent used to fight corruption. Daniel was living out the Lord’s commission from the prophet Jeremiah that we read earlier.
and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss.
Daniel is not working for his own advancement and for his own tribe’s advancement, but he’s working for the peace of the city. He’s working for the safety and the advancement of the culture in the city. What does that mean? It means he’s a perfect example of what Jeremiah says, and he’s an example of what salt is.
For example, first of all, in some ways it’s good th
at this narrative almost summarizes everything we’ve seen all month. As we have said before, Daniel has a job. He’s high up. He has excelled in the pagan Babylonian government structure, and he’s working with three kinds of qualities, you might say.
The first quality is he is incorruptible. See verse 4? “They could find no corruption in him …” He was working in a very corrupt system with lots of kickbacks. Secondly, he was diligent. Also in verse 4. He was not negligent. He was disciplined. He was conscientious. You can be a) honest, b) hardworking, and c) not very effective, but we see it says in verse 3 he distinguished himself for his exceptional qualities.
Actually, that’s a hard thing to translate, because literally what it says is Daniel had a spirit of excellence. It said he had an excellent spirit. Not only that, he was effective and exceptional. What you actually have, though, the main thing you see here is we have a perfect illustration, a perfect case illustration, of what Jeremiah told the Israelite exiles they should do in Babylon. Do you remember from four weeks ago?
We said when the Babylonian exiles, when the Israelites came to Babylon, the first thing they did was they stayed out of the city. They didn’t move into the city. They began to form their own little enclave. They said, “We mustn’t assimilate and lose our identity as the people of God. We must be separate.”
They said, “We’re going to stay out here. We’re going to form our own little world. We’re going to have our own art world. We’re going to have our own government, in a sense. We’re going to have our own scholarship. We’re going to have our own education. We’re going to have our own world.”
Jeremiah, in chapter 29, writes them and says a word from God, “You must neither assimilate nor separate.” Jeremiah tells them three things, and you see them all in Daniel right here. He says, “Move in and become deeply engaged with the cultural and economic and social life of the city, but secondly, keep your identity as my people. Don’t assimilate, but don’t separate. Thirdly, work for the peace of the whole city. Work for the prosperity and the peace of Babylon.”
You see it. Take a look. First of all, he is deeply engaged. Oh my goodness! Here’s a man who, first, has excelled to the top in a pagan government structure. Secondly, everybody knows what he stands for because the windows of where he prays open, and every day, three times a day, people know though he’s in Babylon, he’s looking toward the city of God.
Thirdly, verse 2, the king does not suffer loss. In other words, Daniel is not working for his own advancement and for his own tribe’s advancement, but he’s working for the peace of the city. He’s working for the safety and the advancement of the culture in the city. What does that mean? It means he’s a perfect example of what Jeremiah says, and he’s an example of what salt is.
When Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth,” that is very evocative. Salt was made to get out. It was meant to be dispersed. It is absolutely ineffective if it stays together. It gets deeply involved. Why do we see Jesus touching, embracing, engaging the marginal, outsider, the foreigner, the leper. Jesus is salt.
Salt was made to get in. The purpose of salt in the ancient times was preservative. Today we use salt to flavor our food but was not its normal use in these days. Salt was too valuable to be used in such a manner. You put salt in things that go bad. You put salt in things that fall apart so they wouldn’t fall apart.
What that means is Christians are to be salt. It means we go places that would fall apart or places that would decay or go to disorder without us. How do you do that? What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?
In the Tower of Babel, you have a bunch of people who get together, and they say, “We’re going to use technology, and we’re going to do this architectural project. We’re going to build a tower, the Tower of Babel, but what’s the purpose? Why are we doing it? Why are we working?” It says in verse 4 of chapter 11 of Genesis, “… let us make a name for ourselves …”
In other words, without God human beings are self-namers. To get a name means to get uniqueness, to get significance, to get an identity. We see what you do in the Tower of Babel is a perfect example of it. You go to the city to get a name. You go to the city in order to, through your accomplishments and through your work, get a name, get an idea of who you are, find yourself, know your uniqueness, know your worth.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
What happens to the Tower of Babel? It never finishes, and you know why. The results are not surprising. If the way you get a name for yourself, if the way you get an identity is by how high you go, that’s the Tower of Babel metaphor. “Let us make a name for ourselves because we’re going to reach the heavens.”
If how high you go with money, how high you go with recognition, how high you go with accomplishment, if that’s how you get a name, that’s going to lead to breakdown. That’s going to lead to exactly what happened at the Tower of Babel, which was nothing but conflict, contention, fighting.
1 Peter 2:
If you are a self-namer, if you move out into the world, if you move out into relationships, if you move out into work, if you move out into everything looking to make a name for yourself, it leads to breakdown. It leads to breakdown on the inside. There’s emptiness. There are ulcers, literal breakdown. There’s tension. There’s anxiety, because, “I have to prove myself.”
How do we live as salt? Remember whose you are(new name) and what you are (new nature). Isn’t that easy? No, of course, it’s not easy but we can be like that. We have the resources for that. We have the call to do that.
There’s breakdown on the outside. Races and classes and groups of people and individuals put one another down to assure themselves they’re all right, to assure themselves they have a name, to assure themselves of who they are. Therefore, there’s always breakdown, and what are Christians? Why do Christians go out? Why are Christians supposed to go out into every world? Why are we supposed to go out into the business world, out into the art world, out into the scholarship world? Why?
Here’s what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to be going already having our name, having a name from God. God always names people in the Bible. Why? What does that mean? It shows what God is saying is, “What I have done in you, what I have done for you, my grace is your defining factor.”
When you move out into the world, you don’t have to trample on people. You don’t have to put them down. You don’t have to be anxious. You don’t have to burn out on your job. You can live with poise. You can live with peace. You can live with love. You can deal with justice. Why? You already have a name. So you move out into these places very differently. You’re salt. That’s the vision.
How easy? Isn’t that easy? No, of course, it’s not easy. I know what you’re thinking. I know what I thought when I penned that. I said, “Hmm, is that how I move out into the world? Am I like that?” We can be like that. We have the resources for that. We have the call to do that. That’s the reason why we must be salt, like Daniel was salt, dispersing out into every world, living with justice, living with peace, living with love, living with compassion, being salt.
As a practical application, let me just suggest a couple of things.
First of all, the salt life has to do with what we do. One of the things the salt principle means is an incredible balance. This is going to cut both ways. First, it means a church must never hint, must never say directly or indirectly that if you’re really, really, really spiritual, you’ll be a missionary or you’ll be in ministry. If you’re really spiritual, if you’re really sold out for God, that’s what you’re going to do.
Daniel had all the gifts to be a full-time prophet, but he wasn’t. He had a secular job. He expressed his commitment to the kingdom of God, and he helped open the world to the kingdom of God by not being in ministry. Daniel is a way of telling us the church must never give people the impression that if you’re not in full-time ministry, you’re somehow second class in working for the kingdom.
He had a secular job. He expressed his commitment to the kingdom of God, and he helped open the world to the kingdom of God by not being in ministry. Daniel is a way of telling us the church must never give people the impression that if you’re not in full-time ministry, you’re somehow second class in working for the kingdom.
If you’re a Christian and you’re the kind of person who can get into the very, very top graduate schools, that means you can get into the very, very top kinds of jobs, and that means you know you could have a really top kind of status kind of life, and you know in this world ministry and missions is not that kind of life, you must be very, very, very careful that you’re not really giving it a consideration.
If you’re not a self-namer, if you’re a Christian who’s not trying to name yourself through your work, then you should do … All kinds of very, very, very, very sharp people should be thinking about ministry who are not. Why? Because it just doesn’t have the status. It doesn’t have the payoff.
In other words, Christians ought to be thinking more about ministry, and the church should be thinking less about saying to people, “Well, if you’re really sold out for Jesus, you’re going to be a teacher and a preacher and a small group leader and a missionary.” You have to be very, very careful about that.
Secondly, the salt life also has to do with where. Let me push this a little bit here. Salt was not used in ancient times in anything. You didn’t put salt in food that was not going to go bad. There was no reason to put salt in food that was just going to be fine. You didn’t put salt in potatoes, hoping they wouldn’t go bad. The potatoes were there. They sat there for a very long time. You put salt in meat. You put salt in things that would go bad.
Where should Christians decide to live? Where should Christians decide to work? What does it mean to be salt? United States Christians in particular look like everybody else in the world in that they want to choose places where nothing is falling apart. They want to live in places where the schools are fine. They want to live in places where the streets are safe. They want to live in places where everybody looks like them, and therefore, there are no conflicts.
They don’t want to live in cities. They don’t want to live in places … They say, “Well, why would you want to live there?” Because you’re salt. Because that’s where salt goes. In a certain sense, you could say salt would be attracted to places where things are falling apart, if you could mix the metaphors here and personalize it.
What if Jesus had decided to live in the most wholesome neighborhood he could have? He would’ve never come. Therefore, we have to think about the salt. The salt metaphor affects what we do, how we do it, and where we do it.
2. The hurt principle
The balance of the Bible is really very irritating sometimes. In the command to be salt we are warned against separation but in our second point we are warned against assimilation. Daniel and all of Scripture teaches us that we will suffer.
We are warned against playing so nice, being so embracing, being so inoffensive and being so loving that nobody knows you’re different.
We will suffer for our faith because rejection of Christians by the world is to a great degree unavoidable and inevitable.
Do we really suffer for our faith? Are we having a Daniel experience? I would say no because most Christians aren’t anything like Daniel. Most Christians aren’t anywhere near that consistent.
Most Christians aren’t anything like Daniel. Most Christians aren’t anywhere near that consistent. Therefore, I don’t think you can quite attribute to how exceptional Christians are to all the tension and conflict there has been between people inside the church and people outside the church for so many years.
People outside the church give their own explanation, and it very often goes like, “Christians tend to be hypocrites. They tend to be narrow-minded. They’re always putting people down. They’re always oppressing people. That’s the reason why there’s so much tension between those inside the church and those outside the church.”
The vast majority of Christians are not Daniels, the vast majority of Christians are not Elmer Gantrys either. They’re not hypocrites. In fact, we have to be very careful. In New York, there is a myth that when you think of Christianity, when you think of the church, you think of dead white males who are putting down everybody else. We have to get rid of that myth.
The majority of people in the world today who are Christians are in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and in emerging economies. The fact is the majority of Christians have always tended to not be the people in power, to not be the people at the top. I don’t think we’re going to be able to attribute to all the incredible tension and conflict between those inside the church and those outside the church simply saying, “Well, Christians tend to be the narrow-minded people at the top, putting the rest of us down.” No.
What we see here is something pretty interesting and a little bit frightening. How does the hostility toward Daniel grow? There are two triggers to it. Look carefully.
Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.
The first trigger was Daniel’s promotion. We know this because of the word “then” which pushes back to verse 3. There response to Daniel’s promotion was jealousy.
The first trigger was Daniel’s promotion. We know this because of the word then. that happened was the king was going to promote Daniel. At this they decided, “We have to do something.” The reason for that is pretty simple. It’s not that hard to imagine just plain, old-fashioned professional jealousy. Here are three administrators, and they’re all equal. Suddenly, one is going to be put over the other two, which means two of the administrators are really going to get demoted and all the satraps under them are going to get demoted.
It’s perfectly natural, in a way, for them to do what they try to do, but look carefully. Their first step was to dig dirt on Daniel. It says, “… the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him..”
Here what this verse this telling us; Daniel was not like them. They wanted to dig up dirt because they thought he was as corrupt as they were but when they looked inside, they discovered he was not like them at all.
This discovery leads to greater resentment. His difference led to more hostility. You would think this type of behavior is irrational. Why would not want someone of this quality leading you? Here is where the separation occurs. The world sees such behavior as strange.
Do you understand this principle? The principle is there is something about Christians from the perspective of the world that is irreducibly strange. We’re irreducibly strange, we’re unavoidably strange, and we’re even understandably strange. That’s what I want to get across for a couple of minutes here.
The world cannot understand Christians and we should stop getting bent out of shape about that. It comes with the territory. Let me us a story from The Lord of the Rings to illustrate the ultimate reason for the conflict between the world and the church.
The main thing is Christians are inexplicable, unpredictable, and apparently arrogant, and the world is going to have to see us that way. Christians, we have to get used to it, and we have to not be so bent out of shape about it. What do I mean? Let me give you an illustration. One of the problems is when I get sick, if I really get sick …
Usually, once a year you come down with something. About a month and a half ago, I got sick, and I always read The Lord of the Rings when I’m sick because I like it so much and it doesn’t take any effort on my part. It just comes right on through, and then I’m filled with illustrations for at least two months, almost every March and April.
There are these four very pedestrian characters from a little, beautiful, quiet country called the Shire. They love their country. They love their people. It’s very sweet and beautiful and quiet and unobtrusive, and they love it.
Here’s this one that is kind of unavoidable. Whether you know anything about it or not, here’s how it goes. There are these four very pedestrian characters from a little, beautiful, quiet country called the Shire. They love their country. They love their people. It’s very sweet and beautiful and quiet and unobtrusive, and they love it.
At one point these four characters are taken out of the Shire, and they’re caught up into this adventure. If they don’t go through the adventure the Shire will be lost.T his adventure brings them into nightmarish conditions, and they see awful things, but they triumph, and the Shire is saved.
They believe they’re coming back to the land they always loved and they’re going to live there happily forever. They get back, and something has happened. They find situations that overwhelm the inhabitants of the Shire has little effect on them. Situations that confuses and scares people is no problem for them. They’ve found their adventures have actually made them better for the Shire, more effective in the Shire, the leaders of the Shire.
Because of their adventures, because of their experiences, they find stuff that just overwhelms the inhabitants of the Shire is a snap for them. Stuff that just knocks everybody else over and just confuses people and scares people is no problem. They’ve found their adventures have actually made them better for the Shire, more effective in the Shire, the leaders of the Shire.
Yet they’ve changed. They’re strange. There’s a bit of an alienation. The people who are there don’t quite understand them. “Why do they laugh so hard? They didn’t use to. Why do they weep so often? They didn’t used to. What are these weird songs? They sing songs all the time. Some of the songs we know, but most of them we don’t. They’re weird now. They’re strange now. Something has happened to them.”
Here’s the answer. The answer is on their adventures they’ve met some people who come from a far land over the Western Seas. It was their relationships with those people that transformed them. Their transformational experience has made them more effective for the Shire and yet more alienated from the Shire.
Here is the interpretation. There roots used to be in the Shire but now they’re over the ocean. The Shire is not their country anymore and this is why that are effective and strange. When Tolkien created his mythical world he drew a map. If you were to look at all the maps made in the shire they have nothing but white spaces on the outside. Meaning they don’t know of anything else than the Shire.
What has happened is it’s not their country anymore. That’s why they’re so effective in it, and that’s why they’re so weird in it. The reason why they’re so effective in it is everybody else in the Shire … If you look at a map, all maps made in the Shire have nothing but white spaces on the outside. They don’t know of anything else than the Shire. That’s why they get so overthrown.
Do you know what it’s like? It’s like a person who says, “The only wealth I have is my money. If my money is gone, I have no wealth. The only beauty I have is my looks. When my physical looks are gone, I have no more beauty. The only love I have is what my friends think about me. In other words, this is all I have.”
If anything goes wrong inside the Shire, everybody goes nuts because that’s all they have, but these are people who have come back to the Shire and the roots of their soul are no longer there. Their true country is somewhere else.
We see this in the life of Daniel in
Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
D … We can see it in verse 9. Daniel is so effective in the city of Babylon because three times a day his heart yearns toward the city of God. These people are so effective in the Shire because they no longer belong there.
… We can see it in verse 9. Daniel is so effective in the city of Babylon because three times a day his heart yearns toward the city of God. These people are so effective in the Shire because they no longer belong there.
Daniel is so effective in the city of Babylon because three times a day his heart yearns toward the city of God. These people are so effective in the Shire because they no longer belong there.
Listen to Jesus himself discuss this teaching with his disciples
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
That’s exactly what Jesus means when he says to his apostles … Maybe it was a little bit of a surprise. He says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you … That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ ”
Christian’s are strangers in this world than therefore should possess an element of strangeness about us. .
We’re irreducibly strange to the world. Let me give you one perfect example. I could give you a hundred. Actually, unfortunately, in my little notes here I have about seven or eight. Sorry, no time for them. Things bother Christians that people in the world think are fine. Then other things Christians can take in stride that people in the world get overwhelmed with.
There’s a guy named Alexander MacLaren, an old Baptist minister, who once put it this way. Our jewels are the world’s tinsel, and what the world considers tinsel are our jewels. It’s difficult. Let me just give you a perfect example of this. When the world thinks of religion, what does the world think of?
The world says, “Okay, I know what religion is. In religion, you meet God by trying your best to live a good life and be moral and do your religious duties, and then you know you’re right with God.” The world doesn’t understand the difference between religion and the gospel.
Here’s what will change you. This truth will pull the roots of your soul out of this world and puts them down into Jesus Christ. Religion says, “I do all these good works, and then eventually God will bless me.” The gospel says, “I believe in what Jesus Christ has done for me, and I’m accepted now.”
The world doesn’t understand the difference between religion and the gospel. It couldn’t. How could it? If it did, it wouldn’t be the world. Yet that means any time a Christian ever says, “I know God. I know he loves me. I have eternal life. I’m utterly accepted in him right now,” the world has to consider that arrogant. .
Not only that, when a Christian says no one is good. Goodness isn’t enough You have to believe in Jesus. As a Christian this is an absolute statement of humility but the world hears this as nothing but arrogance.
Therefore, no matter how nicely you say it, no matter how much you smile, no matter how salty you try to be, there’s going to be hurt. Our being misunderstood is inevitable.
If you never offend anybody you’re being too nice. You’re overdoing it. Jesus says the world will hate you. Somewhere it’s going to have to happen. You’re being a coward or something. For compassionate people, recognize the fact that no matter how hard we try, if you never suffer, if you’re never turned upon, if people never think you’re arrogant, it means you’re being a coward probably, or you’re playing too nice.
Persecution and suffering should be expected. Why should we ever get offended that the world doesn’t understand us? Jesus Christ says it comes with the territory. “Do you think you’re above me?” Why get so indignant about the world misunderstanding? Of course, they’re going to misunderstand. Understand their misunderstanding. They don’t. I would say the essence of Christian maturity is to understand their misunderstanding and not totally avoid it. If you avoid it, if you try so hard to be salt that you never get suffer, you’re not following your Lord.
“In our society we’re not able to speak out. We’re losing our freedom of religion.” There’s a lot of talk about that. That’s a big subject, but here’s what I want you to consider. I don’t want to get into questions of religious freedom, and I am saying if there’s injustice, speak out for injustice. Why should we ever get offended that the world doesn’t understand us?
Jesus Christ says it comes with the territory. “Do you think you’re above me?” Why get so indignant about the world misunderstanding? Of course, they’re going to misunderstand. Understand their misunderstanding. They don’t. I would say the essence of Christian maturity is to understand their misunderstanding and not totally avoid it. If you avoid it, if you try so hard to be salt that you never get hurt, you’re not following your Lord.
On the other hand, if you’re always getting bent out of shape about being persecuted. If you are being argumentative, speaking out, and protesting saying, “Look at this. Look how awful the world is!” it’s not being awful. It’s just being itself. It doesn’t understand the gospel. That’s why it’s the world. Until it understands the gospel, it’s not going to understand you, and that’s that.
Those of you who tend to be kind of militant and argumentative and kind of enjoy the conflict, and then you’re really bent out of shape when the world doesn’t understand you, come on. Be understanding. Be nonabrasive. Get out there as salt, which is to be engaged. Be like Daniel.
Truth without love is mean. Love without truth is meaningless. Love with truth is medicine.
We are to shine.
Why aren’t we like Daniel? Why aren’t we doing this? Why are we so loving that we never offend anybody or why are we so offensive because we’re not loving anybody? Why aren’t we like Daniel? Why can’t we keep truth and love together? I think it’s because we don’t understand what this whole story is really about.
One of the things that’s so bad about this story is it’s famous. I’m going to say something that sounds a little outrageous, but I thought about it at least a hundred times before I said it. There are a lot of people who are either weak Christians or not Christians at all because of this story, because of the way you heard it, because of the way it was taught to you in church or Sunday school.
Here’s how thousands and hundreds of thousands of little lessons and Bible studies over the years … What have people said? They have said, “Look at this story. Isn’t this exciting? God shut the mouths of the lions. Therefore, the moral of the story is if you are good and you trust God, God will take care of you too. So be courageous because God will take care of you. That’s the moral of the story.”
If that’s how you read it, no wonder a lot of people aren’t Christians today. The writer did not put this in the Bible to teach us that if you are good and trust God then not a scratch will come upon you. This is not the teaching of Christianity. It might be what you heard, but it’s not.
Thanot what Christianity teaches. That might be what you heard, but it’s not. Obviously, it doesn’t work. No wonder you’re so unhappy. No wonder you’ve been so dashed. No wonder you’ve been so disillusioned. It’s not Christianity. It is not the life and message of Jesus. In fact, if that’s how you read that, if the moral of the story is the way you read the event, if the moral of the story is, “If you really trust, God will never let anything bad happen to you,” I know somebody who was more innocent than Daniel.
If it is the predominate teaching of this text then no wonder so many people are unhappy. No wonder so many are so disillusioned. It’s not Christianity. It is not the life and message of Jesus. In fact, if that’s how you read that, if the moral of the story, “If you really trust, God will never let anything bad happen to you,” I know somebody who was more innocent than Daniel.
I know somebody who trusted God a whole lot more than Daniel did. I know somebody also who was thrown into a den. I know somebody else who also had the stone rolled over him, and I also know he was filled with wounds. There were all kinds of scratches on him. There were all kinds of terrible things that happened to him.
The moral of the story approach to this account not only contradicts the life of Jesus, it contradicts the message of Jesus, because the message of Jesus is it’s not the good people. He even says, “I’m a physician. I have come, not for the righteous, but for sinners. I’m a physician.”
What’s a physician? A physician is somebody you go to when you don’t believe you can do self-maintenance anymore on your health and you know it’s over your head. Jesus Christ said, “I have not come for good people. I haven’t come for people who think they’re innocent and who trust in God. I only come for people who know they’re not.” It contradicts everything. You say, “Well then, what is this here for? Why was this put here?”
This narrative was put here for two reasons. First of all, to point to the salvation we have waiting for us in the future and to point to the salvation that has already been done for us in the past. First of all, the salvation of the future. The miracles in the Bible are never naked displays of power. When the hungry are fed, when the lepers are cleansed, when the blind see, are not ultimately, not primarily suspensions of the natural order. They are restorations of the natural order. In the miracles, God is showing us what he wants the world to be like, what he originally wanted the world to be like and what he’s going to make the world like again.
If you were just going to try to display naked power, there are certainly better ways of doing it than feeding the hungry and touching and healing lepers and healing blind people. Don’t you think so? After all, to make a mountain erupt is considerably more convincing, I think, than to touch a man and his eyes … The skeptic says, “Well, maybe that was just psychosomatic.” The miracles in the Bible are not very good as naked displays of power because they’re not. The miracles of the Bible are to show us the salvation. They’re supposed to show us the gospel.
In other words, the miracles of the Bible, when the hungry are fed, when the lepers are cleansed, when the blind see, are not ultimately, not primarily suspensions of the natural order. They are restorations of the natural order. In the miracles, God is showing us what he wants the world to be like, what he originally wanted the world to be like and what he’s going to make the world like again.
When you see Daniel, an 80-year-old man, by the way … You think of Daniel here as a strapping … Oh no, God works through the weak to shame the strong. God works through the foolish to shame the wise. You see 80-year-old Daniel walking with the lions, petting them, their mouths shut. What are we being told about?
We’re being told about a day that God is going to bring us
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
and 7. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.” In the book of Psalms, in and and , over and over and over again roaring lions is a symbol of the disharmony of nature, its sufferings and danger. “… Nature, red in tooth and claw …”
says someday, however, God is going to wipe this place clean, and the universe will be restored. There will be nothing but harmony, and there will be nothing but peace. Our bodies will work right, and nature will work right. There won’t be disease, and there won’t be death. Those of you whose bodies don’t work right, or maybe you’ve gotten some bad news from the doctor, the first thing Daniel is pointing to is the new heavens and new earth and the city of God. It’s a foretaste of the kingdom of God.
says someday, however, God is going to wipe this place clean, and the universe will be restored. There will be nothing but harmony, and there will be nothing but peace. Our bodies will work right, and nature will work right. There won’t be disease, and there won’t be death. Those of you whose bodies don’t work right, or maybe you’ve gotten some bad news from the doctor, the first thing Daniel is pointing to is the new heavens and new earth and the city of God. It’s a foretaste of the kingdom of God.
You say, “Well, that’s very nice, but why? How can we know this is going to come to us? How could that be of any help to us? How can that be of any benefit to us?” The answer is only because this miracle doesn’t just teach us about the salvation of the future but also the salvation that has happened for us in the past.
What does he say to the king?
Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
The weird thing about this angel is he doesn’t deliver outside of the den. He could. Why doesn’t he? If he’s going to to deliver Daniel, why not just strike the guards dead? Why not just create an avalanche and cover up the den?
Nebuchadnezzar saw him, and he said he looked like a son of the gods. The weird thing about this angel is he does not deliver outside of the furnace. He doesn’t deliver outside of the den. He could. Why doesn’t he? If he’s going to deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, if he’s going to deliver Daniel, why not just strike the guards dead? Why not just create an avalanche and cover up the den?
Why does he always go in? Who is this guy? I’ll tell you who I believe it literally is, but even if you don’t believe it literally is, and there are some commentators who don’t whom I trust a great deal, this guy points to somebody. Who does he point to? We already referred to him. There is somebody else, who was also thrown into a tomb and sealed over with a rock and also came out, but why?
Here’s why. The Bible tells us in what the Messiah is going to say from the cross.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
Roaring lions does not just represent in general suffering, but in the Old Testament the roaring lion represents the justice of God. In the book of Amos, in the very beginning, it says the Lord roars against violence and against oppression. The real Daniel, who went into the real lions’ den and who went before the real lions, the justice of God, who got the punishment that we all needed, was ruined. He was torn by the justice of God.
Roaring lions does not just represent in general suffering, but in the Old Testament the roaring lion represents the justice of God. In the book of Amos, in the very beginning, it says the Lord roars against violence and against oppression. This is what it means. The real Daniel, who went into the real lions’ den and who went before the real lions, the justice of God, who got the punishment that we all needed, was ruined. He was torn by the justice of God.
The real Daniel, who went into the real lions’ den, was Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate Daniel, who went before the ultimate lions, we now can go into the little lion dens of our lives with confidence. Why? Here’s the reason why. I’m just going to speak for myself. I can only deal with disease if I know the ultimate disease, sin and death, has been dealt with by him in the ultimate lions’ den.
I can only deal with my debts or financial problems, if I have any, because I know the ultimate debt has been paid. How am I going to deal with loneliness? I can only deal with loneliness if I know he went into the ultimate den. He was thrown away from God, and I will never be thrown away from God.
Because he was thrown away, because he was cut off, because he was thrown into that ultimate lions’ den, I’m never going to experience anything like that. Therefore, I can truly be Daniel. Do you know what Daniel means? The word Daniye’l means my judge is God. God is my judge. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what anybody thinks.
In other words, do you believe the ultimate Daniel went into the ultimate lions’ den for you? Do you believe Jesus Christ went and took your punishment so that now you really are innocent in God’s sight? If that’s true, you’re not going to be driven to the top, because you know who you are, and you’re not going to ever be down at the bottom thinking, “What a failure!”
Well may the accuser roar
Of sins that I have done;
I know them all, and thousands more;
Jehovah knoweth none.
In other words, do you believe the ultimate Daniel went into the ultimate lions’ den for you? Do you believe Jesus Christ went and took your punishment so that now you really are innocent in God’s sight? If that’s true, you’re not going to be driven to the top, because you know who you are, and you’re not going to ever be down at the bottom thinking, “What a failure!”
Roar all you want, lions. The only lions that can really kill me Jesus Christ took. You’ll never be able to get out into the lions’ dens of this world unless you realize what the ultimate Daniel did for you. Do you understand that? In the end, do you believe it? Can you live like that? If so, you will be light. You will be attractive.
Of sins that I have done;
I know them all, and thousands more;
Jehovah knoweth none.
Roar all you want, lions. The only lions that can really kill me Jesus Christ took. You’ll never be able to get out into the lions’ dens of this world unless you realize what the ultimate Daniel did for you. Do you understand that? In the end, do you believe it? Can you live like that? If so, you will be light. You will be attractive.
The thing that’s so interesting is the satraps and the administrators hated him, but Darius loved him. Why is Darius so upset? He says,
Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
Why did he care for Daniel? Because Daniel was light. He wasn’t just salt. He was light. He was attractive. He was beautiful in the way he lived. Here’s how you know you’re following in the footsteps of Daniel and in the footsteps of the greater Daniel. Some people will really be mad at you, and other people will be falling in love with you and your God. For most of us, nobody is mad at us for Jesus, and nobody is attracted either.
Why was he in love with Daniel? Because Daniel was light. He wasn’t just salt. He was light. He was attractive. He was beautiful in the way he lived. Here’s how you know you’re following in the footsteps of Daniel and in the footsteps of the greater Daniel. Some people will really be mad at you, and other people will be falling in love with you and your God. For most of us, nobody is mad at us for Jesus, and nobody is attracted either.
C.S. Lewis one place very happily says you will never tame the lions in your life, unless you let God be the untamed lion in your life. In other words, unless you fear God, unless you know what he has done, unless you are in awe about what he has done for you, you’re going to be afraid of a lot of other things.
If you’re in awe about what he has done for you, then you’ll walk into every other lions’ den, and you’ll say, “Daniye’l. God is my judge. This is a small thing because of what Jesus Christ has done for me.” Fear God, and fear nothing else. Let’s pray.
We ask that you would help us be salt, accept the hurt, and because we know what your Son Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, be attractive, beautiful light for the whole world. We ask that you would show us how we can realize that in our own lives. We ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.