A Faith To Stand

Introduction

Walking In My Uniform

pic of me in my uniform

I was raised to faith in the Salvation Army. When I became a member, I used to walk to church, through the CBD, in my uniform to witness to my faith. These were rather ordinary moments but I expected that at any time I would face derision for my attire.

Willing To Go To Jail

pic of NSW UMC

Following the brawl between rival biker gangs at Sydney Airport in 2009, which resulted in the death of one man, the state government introduced anti-association and anti-consorting laws. Intended to break up the biker gangs, the laws had significant consequences for normal Australian citizens.

For instance, my club regularly and intentionally interacts with members of outlaw biker gangs. Conceivably, we could have been prosecuted under these laws and jailed for fulfilling our Christian mission.

My club members and I willingly chose to stand with bikers against these unfair and unjust laws.

A Price To Pay

pic of a Roman centurion

At no time did I have to ‘pay the price’ for these decisions and actions on my part. One person who did ‘pay the price’ for his faith was the Roman centurion Marcellus —as a centurion, Marcellus was an officer over a hundred men.

The Romans accused Christians of being “atheists” because of they refused to recognise the Roman state gods. They also refused military service both because of Jesus’ commands to love enemies and because of the pagan worship required of those who rose among the Roman ranks.

As he stood before the authorities who demanded to know the reason for his insubordination in refusing to bear arms, it is reported that the Roman centurion Marcellus, a Christian convert, replied, “I am a soldier of Jesus Christ, the eternal king. From now on I cease to serve your emperors and I despise the worship of your gods of wood and stone … it is not fitting that a Christian, who fights for Christ his Lord, should be a soldier according to the brutalities of this world.” [Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, “The Book of Daniel,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, ed. Leander E. Keck, vol. 7 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994–2004), pg 67.]

On 3 December 298, Marcellus was beheaded for his bold stand.

Why?

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The friends of Jesus must be willing to trust God and obey Him, rather than stay silent or please Man. And this is possible no matter the amount or strength or maturity of our faith.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego provides us an exemplary example. Do we, like them, have a faith to stand?

So What?

In Daniel 3, why did the king have a gold statue erected (Dan 3:1)?

Daniel 3:1 CSB

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue, ninety feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Given its dimensions, we must envision more of a pole, than a statue, called a stele or obelisk.

The statue was an expression of the king’s growing pride:

Daniel 1:1 CSB

In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

The king was victorious over the people of Israel after laying seige to their capital city of Jerusalem (Dan 1:1).

Daniel 1:3 CSB

The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family and from the nobility—

The king selected men from among the Israelite elite to serve him at court (Dan 1:3).

Daniel 2:1 CSB

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him, and sleep deserted him.

The king had a dream (Dan 2:1) that Daniel interpreted as the Israelite god viewing the king as a head of gold on a person-shaped statue (Dan 2:36-38).

Daniel 2:44–45 CSB

“In the days of those kings, the God of the heavens will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be left to another people. It will crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever. You saw a stone break off from the mountain without a hand touching it, and it crushed the iron, bronze, fired clay, silver, and gold. The great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation reliable.”

Even though the dream does not end well for the king —the whole statue is crushed by the Kingdom of God (Dan 2:44-45)— his growing pride led him to have a statue of gold erected in his own honour —it may have had engravings depicting his glory, but this is only speculation, but the intention for the statue is clear since he did not treat it as an idol (I’ll come back to this).

Daniel 3:15 CSB

Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”

His pride and arrogance reached a climax when the king declared, “who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” (Dan 3:15)

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The king’s advisors manipulated him into punishing the Jews:

Daniel 3:12 CSB

There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

The term translated as “serve” (your gods [פלח‎ pĕlaḥ], which really means “worship”) in Dan 3:12 is different from that used for “worship” (of the statue [sĕgid]) beginning in Dan 3:5.

The term translated as “worship” in this chapter should be more correctly understood as “honour” —that is, that the statue was only to be honoured, since it was not a representation of a divine being, an idol in other words (e.g. When Nebuchadnezzar fell before Daniel in Dan 2:46, he honoured Daniel, but did not worship him, even though the word is translated into English as “worship”. [Ibid, pg 63.]

Daniel 3:8 CSB

Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews.

“The Chaldeans” in Dan 3:8 are among the king’s advisors, whom he had called to honour his statue.

Daniel 3:12 CSB

There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

When these advisors accused the king’s Israelite advisors —namely, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego— they added to their accusation, “they do not serve [meaning worship] your gods”, which was not part of the king’s command (Dan 3:12).

Daniel 3:13 CSB

Then in a furious rage Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king.

Not surprisingly, this launched the king into “a furious rage” (Dan 3:13); he lost control of himself and began acting irrationally because of the alleged affront to his pride.

One would have thought the king would have known of the Israelites singular focus on their own God due to his previous interactions with Daniel (Dan 2:46–49).

Daniel 3:24–30 CSB

Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king. He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God—come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.” Then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

The disobedience of these Jewish men benefitted the king by humbling his pride, benefitted the nation because a humble king is much better than a prideful king, and benefitted us by providing a glimpse at an exemplary faith.

The faith of these Israelites was exemplary because:

Matthew 17:20 CSB

“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

It was at least as big as a mustard seed, if not bigger (Mt 17:20), for the fire was kept from harming them.

Mark 10:15 CSB

Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Their faith was more mature than a child’s wonder and trust (Mk 10:15) since they accepted being thrown into the fire.

Hebrews 11:1 CSB

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

Their faith gave them reality/assurance in their hope, proof/conviction of the God they could not see (Hew 11:1), even in the midst of their doubt: “If the God we serve exists […] even if he does not rescue us” (Dan 3:17-18).

Matthew 18:20 CSB

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

In their unity, one “like a son of the gods”/an angel/God/Christ was with these men (Mt 18:20).

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The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego provides us an exemplary example of faith. Do we, like them, have a faith to stand?

Now What?

The friends of Jesus in Australia in 2021 will face demands on their faith both in ordinary moments and from extraordinary pressures. The friends of Jesus must be willing to trust God and obey Him, rather than stay silent or please Man. And this is possible no matter the amount or strength or maturity of our faith.

For example:

pic of Margaret Court

Margaret Court, the celebrated Australia tennis player, will be promoted this Australia Day to the highest level of the Order of Australia, a leaked decision which has come under fire from two state premiers as well as LGBT groups concerned about her past criticisms of same-sex marriage. Her views are based on her religious beliefs yet do not distract her from loving her neighbours and so should not disqualify her from having her service recognised. [Keane Bourke and Herlyn Kaur, “Margaret Court defends right to religious freedom of speech, slams media over 2021 Australia Day Honours leak”, ABC.net, 22-Jan-2021, https://ab.co/2Y5BUIH (accessed 23-Jan-2021).]

pic of billboard

Australia now has two state Acts, in Queensland and the ACT, banning so-called “gay conversion therapy”. Victoria will very soon follow.

Activists want the Victorian legislation to exclude even conversations with religious leaders on topics of sexuality. They argue penalties should be based on whether or not someone has delivered conversion practices and not whether the survivor demonstrates they were harmed in the process. So even if no-one has been harmed when they request advice and assistance in dealing with unwanted sexual attractions, penalties should still be applied against the religious leader. [Neil Foster, “Will laws banning ‘conversion therapy’ ban teaching the Bible’s views on sex?”, Law and Religion in Australia blog, 8-Nov-2020, https://bit.ly/3l73UWd (accessed 23-Jan-2021).]

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In our ordinary moments and extraordinary pressures, will we trust and obey God or not?

Faith is not a gift, it is a decision.

Decide in advance whether you have faith or not, whether it will mature or not.

Live a life of faith with the support of a healthy community known by integrity and Christ will be with you.

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That is a faith to stand and you need not stand alone!