Symbiosis - Daniel

Big Idea:

Good evening on the internet!

My name is Charlie Kae and I’m the lead pastor at Grace Empire in Wesley Chapel, Florida and I would like to welcome everyone to week 45 of Grace Empire online.

Our vision is to restore, revitalize, and refresh the community of Tampa Bay through an intimate relationship with Jesus X.

Everyone is welcome at Grace Empire, but if you were to ask us what our focus is, we started Grace Empire to reach the non-affiliated, gnostics, and non-believers. If you or someone you know has been hurt by religion or has been burned out by doing church, Grace Empire fits a unique role for those that are looking to reengage their faith or find an accepting community.

As a church, we try to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do, so we are praying that you encounter and experience our living God tonight.

We love interaction. So feel free to comment, ask questions, and ask for prayer while you’re watching and the admins will address them ASAP.

But before we continue, our online disclaimer.

Grace Empire Online focus on giving you sermons - so without a doubt - this is an incomplete version of church.

As we move forward with this online church thing, I wanted to urge you and remind you that online church should never replace the community you get from your local church.

We love and are so very honored that you tuned in with us today and by no means am I saying this to guilt trip you, hurt you or make you feel inadequate in anyway. We know everyone is on a different journey with God and the fact that some of you are watching is a huge step and I applaud you for that.

At Grace Empire, our goal is to keep Jesus at the center of everything we do and a big part of that is understanding our place within the church. It’s not just that you need people (which you do); but it’s that people need you.

But as I said, the online church is an incomplete version of what God intended the church to be. The local church also gives you a place to

Worship / Praise / Sing

Met with other believers in Fellowship and discipleship

To serve our community through social action

Fulfill the Sacraments of the church - Which for us is baptism and communion.

This is the first week of the month so we will do communion at the end of the service.

And lastly, gives our tithes and offering

At GXE we teach that we give to give, not give to get. We give our tithes and offerings because we are thankful to God for providing for our needs. It is also to acknowledge that we live, work, and are sustained because He allows us to be. And because of the advancements in technology giving is an easy one.

You can give online through our website www.graceempire.com, or via text by texting the words GraceEmpire to the number 77977 and then follow the link texted to you.

You can either do that now, or at the end of the message.

Alright with all that out the way…lets get to Jesus shall we?

Pray

We are in the final week of our Symbiosis series. In this series we have been exploring the connection we have with a living God and how that makes a difference between relationship and religion. Today we are going to be reading about Daniel and we will be reading from Daniel chapter 6. If you have your bibles you can turn there and we will be reading from that in a moment.

Let’s begin with our umbrella verse for today. This will be the overarching theme of today’s message and a great verse to memorize for those that want to strengthen their faith and bible knowledge. Romans 8:1-2 says,

Romans 8:1–2 NIV84

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

This revolutionary and foundational idea that through Jesus Christ - for those that believe in Jesus and have accepted him as Lord - have no more guilt and shame for sin. We are forgiven now, and for all time. We can live with our heads held high because through Jesus, our debts have been paid for. The analogy that I like to use to help understand this idea is the death row analogy.

It is as if we are on death row. We have commited crimes - sin - and are condemned to death. But through Jesus Christ we are freed, but it is so much more than just not getting what we deserved. We don’t just walk out of prison - prison which we deserved - we walk out with our status being changed. See, in this analogy, as a death row inmate, I am let off - not acquitted. No, I WAS 100% guilty. I did sin; I did commit those crimes. I was just granted mercy. I am free to walk around, get a job, live my life, but I have to do it while still having the status of “once a death row inmate.” But Christ does something different with us. Not only does he expunge our record, by becoming the inmate himself, he gives us HIS status as well. And what is Jesus’ status? The highest honor a person can receive I suppose. I walk out of prison - prison I am guilty of and rightly earned - and leave with the Medal of Honor pinned to my chest. Everywhere I go, people shake my hand and applaud me for my status. Wow, you were awarded the Medal of Honor…and honor I obviously, do not deserve. But Jesus says, no you wear this with pride. I have given it to you. This is mine and I give it to whomever I want to give, and I award it to you.

Ridiculous right? I mean, absolutely beautiful and amazing, but also ridiculous. Who am I that Jesus would take my place and trade my lowly status for his? Who am I that I would be given the highest honor, even though I have done nothing to receive it?

Whether or not you know it, whether or not you believe it, whether or not you deserve it, doesn’t make it any less true. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this is your status. This is your current state of being.

The problem is, the more I talk with Christians, the more I am convinced that though they may have this knowledge, they do not live it out. The more I speak with my Christian brothers and sisters, I find myself having to argue and convince them, that they are truly free and not condemned. It’s like they have a cursory understanding of Romans 8:1-2. They understand and can apply this principle to a general dispensation of their lives, but when it comes to the real stuff, the real nasty stuff in their lives, the blackness in their heart, the soul crushing voice in their heads that remind them of how insignificant their lives really are, they cannot apply this honor principle to their lives. And that’s unfortunate right? Cause it’s really there, where it really hurts, that this should matter.

And that’s where the story of Daniel comes in.

So let me give you an overview of Daniel, before we get into the text. The story of Daniel is a fascinating one and you can learn about him in Ezekiel 14 and 28, and of course, his own book, the book of Daniel.

In 587 BC, the Babylonians lead by King Nebuchadnezzer he II, had overthrown Israel, destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem, he chose noble men from Israel’s royal household who were handsome and showed an aptitude for learning, to be trained in the ways of the Babylonians. After their three years’ training, they would be put into the king’s service (Daniel 1:1-6). Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge,” and his three countrymen from Judea were chosen and given new names. Daniel became “Belteshazzar,” while Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah became “Shadrach," "Meshach," and "Abednego.” The Babylonians most likely gave them new names that were completely disassociated with their Hebrew roots to hasten Daniel and his friends’ assimilation into the Babylonian culture.

Daniel and his compatriots proved to be the wisest of all the trainees, and, at the end of their training, they entered the service of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s first sign of faithfulness to God was when he and his three friends rejected the rich food and wine from the king’s table, because they deemed it a defilement, and became vegetarians. As their health improved, they were permitted to continue with their chosen diet. In their education, the four men from Judah became knowledgeable in all Babylonian matters, and Daniel was given by God the ability to understand dreams and visions of all kinds (Daniel 1:17).

In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar was troubled with a dream that he could not interpret. Beyond interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar commanded his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to also describe his dream. These men were willing to try to interpret the dream if Nebuchadnezzar first told them what it was, but they said that revealing the dream itself was an impossible task for humans. The king decreed that all the wise men, including Daniel and his companions, must be put to death. However, after Daniel sought God in prayer, the mystery of the king’s dream was revealed to Daniel, and he was taken to the king to interpret it. Daniel immediately attributed his ability to interpret dreams to the one true God (Daniel 2:28). The key feature of the dream was that one day there will be a kingdom set up by God that will last forever, and that God’s kingdom will destroy all previous, man-made kingdoms (Daniel 2:44-45). For his wisdom, Daniel was honored by King Nebuchadnezzar and placed in authority over all the wise men of Babylon. At Daniel’s request, his three countrymen were also placed in positions of authority as administrators of Babylon.

Fast forward, it is unclear what happens to Nebuchadnezzar, but Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, became the new king, and during a banquet he ordered the gold and silver goblets that had been stolen from the holy temple in Jerusalem to be brought out for use. In response to the defilement of such holy items, Belshazzar sees a ghost hand writing on the wall. His astrologers are unable to assist him in its translation, and so Daniel is called upon to interpret the writing (Daniel 5:13-16). As a reward for interpreting the writing, Daniel is promoted by King Belshazzar to the third highest position in the Babylonian kingdom (verse 29). That night, as Daniel had prophesied, the king was slain in battle, and his kingdom was taken over by the Persian Cyrus the Great, and Darius the Mede was made king.

So as we read Daniel 6, Daniel is in service to his third king at the start of our reading. This is the famous passage in which we will read about Daniel and the Lion’s den. Contrary to many modern art depictions, Daniel was probably well advanced in age at this point. Probably around 80 years old. Alright now that we have set the stage, here we go.

Daniel 6:1–3 NLT

1 Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.

So like the other 2 kings before him, King Darius saw that Daniel was the man. Oh by the way, your bible may say satrap - a satrap is like a governor or official, fyi. The King recognized that Daniel was a cut above the rest. He was a 100 watt bulb in the presence of all the other 40 watt bulbs.

Daniel 6:4–5 NLT

4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”

One of the unique qualities of Daniel is, Daniel stands as one of the only major figures in the Bible to produce a completely positive record of his actions. I admire Daniel, but do not relate in any way to this guy. If you do, then well…good for you. Must be nice to be awesome. LOL.

This made the other officials jealous, so they plotted to have him brought down. Politicians, am I right? But Daniel was faultless - his twitter account was clean. So they decided the only thing they could attack was his faithfulness to His God.

Daniel 6:6–9 NLT

6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.

As a side note, why did Darius have edict signed? Was it because of arrogance? Did he believe himself to be a God? And if he did, why only 30 days? It’s more likely, while im sure arrogance played a roll, the edict set Darius as the conduit to the gods, and it also is probably tied to a political strategy, with the kingdom being divided into 120 provinces, this edict helps keep the provinces unified and reminds the people who is ultimately in charge. Regardless of why, the edict stipulated no one should bow and pray to anyone but Darius. And once that law was signed, not even the King could reverse it.

Daniel 6:10–11 NLT

10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help.

I love this about Daniel. Notice the quiet faithfulness of Daniel. Daniel does not grandstand for the faith, but neither does he try to hide his love of the Lord. He did not go to the public square to flaunt his rejection of Darius’s decree; rather, he went as usual to his “upstairs room” (v. 10). Yet he did not close the windows to hide his prayers; Daniel was not taking any extraordinary measures to hide his lack of compliance to Darius’s decree. Daniel simply chooses to obey the Lord and does so openly but without any theatrics. I like that. Something simple and authentic in that. Of course, Daniel is being spied upon and Daniel is caught.

So being the jealous conspirators as they are, the trap that is set for Daniel is sprung and Darius - despite his unwillingness to kill Daniel - is given no choice but to carry out the edict he put into effect.

Daniel 6:16–23 NLT

16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. 19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.” 23 The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God.

Cool story right? Daniel is saved. The mouths of the lions were closed. The appetites of the hungry beasts would not be satiated that night. Daniel being lifted from the den did not even have a scratch on him. One night in the lions den, and he was lifted out, but this begs the question. Why was Daniel lifted out? I mean…wasn’t this supposed to be a death sentence? Wasn’t this to be an execution? Or was this something else entirely?

Some scholars believe that the lions’ den was a trial by ordeal rather than an execution per se. An execution after all would not have a time limit. So what is an ordeal? We use the term all the time. “Man, going to the DMV was such an ordeal.” “Christmas shopping on black Friday is such an ordeal.” “Canceling my gym membership was such an ordeal.” It’s like we use the term ordeal to mark something really difficult, but ordeal’s originally meaning is pretty interesting. An ordeal was when someone was subjected to a test or trial when they were suspected of a crime, but there was uncertainty of their guilt. Ordeals are broadly known in the ancient Near East. They take many forms, but perhaps the most well known is the water ordeal. An individual suspected of a crime is thrown into a river. If he or she dies, they are guilty. But if they survive, they are innocent and set free. The idea is that their guilt or innocence would be determined by a higher power. Trial by combat. Rest in Peace Game of Thrones.

So it is possible that the lions’ den was an ordeal that proved Daniel’s innocence.

So what are we to learn here? That if I am innocent, God will provide a way for me to pass my faith test? That we all have our “lions” in our lives and God will close the mouths of them? Unfortunately no. In Daniel’s case, the lions didn’t end his life, but there have been countless Christians martyred for their faith in the very same scenarios. But if that isn’t the lesson, what are we to learn? What is God teaching Grace Empire through this text?

I believe the answer lies in the theme of guilt and innocence. Daniel’s enemies lay a trap to condemn Daniel and indeed they succeed. But Daniel’s innocence is vindicated through his trust and relationship with God. Daniel seeks God diligently, three times a day it says, as per usual it says. Daniel is consistent with God and his relationship with God informs and reminds Daniel who he is. He is not Babylonian. He is not a Persian. He is not a Mede. He is an Israelite. He is a child of the true God, the Living God. And instead of bowing down to the gods of his contemporaries, even after scores of years, Daniel remembers the God of his ancestors and that informs him of his identity. Daniel knows who he is and who he serves.

Who are you and who do you serve? And more importantly, what does who you serve tell you about who you are?

For Daniel, Daniel’s innocence is determined by the laws of God, not by the laws of man. Even WHEN the laws of man made Daniel guilty, Daniel allows God’s truth to cover him.

Daniel 6:22 NLT

22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”

Was he guilty of what the other officials accused him of? Sure…he prayed to God when he was supposed to only pray to Darius, but look how Daniel responds here. I have been found innocent in God’s sight and I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.

Daniel’s truth is the identity he has in God and who God says he is. God says He is innocent and that is a truth higher than any other truth.

For those of you that have surrendered your heart to God, for those of you that have given your life to Jesus, did you know that God says, there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus? Did you know that you are free? Did you know that you are guiltless? Did you know that all shame has been removed from your life? Did you know that you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus? Sure you have been told this and maybe some of you even know the bible verses, but how many of you KNOW know it? How many of you feel it, and believe it deep down in your bones? How many of you know that you are innocent in the eyes of God (because of Christ) so much so that it informs your life…who you are.

Why does our symbiotic relationship with Jesus matter? Because without spending time with God…without intimacy with Jesus, the bible just becomes stories of dead guys and spiritual platitudes. But when you connect the Living word of God, with a Living God, your faith becomes alive. Your heart becomes alive. Jesus tells you who you are. The Holy Spirit reminds you of what you have gained and even if you have been guilty, even if your inner man tells you you are worthless. The more time you spend with our Living God, the more he informs you of who you are. The more His truth becomes your truth.

He wants you to live free my friends, and not just when you get to heaven. He wants to free you here, in his lifetime, in this moment. He wants his truth to reign in your life today.