He Rewards His Faithful Ones

Introduction

I want to to imagine for a moment that you are in your early to mid teens. Imagine you were born in a Christian country, raised within a Christian community, to Christian parents, who both held to the truth of God’s Word faithfully and taught God’s Word to you.

Now, imagine a foreign power came a conquered your Christian country and took you and some of your friends, as some of the best and brightest your community, to their homeland and decided that they needed to indoctrinate you with their worldview.

Now, imagine that indoctrination included some of the key beliefs of this new culture: the Bible is not God’s Word; life is really about a quest for whatever makes you happy; that an unborn baby isn’t really a baby but a clump of cells and therefore can be killed if it threatens your quest for happiness; that homosexuality is not sinful, and anyone who doesn’t agree with that statement is a bigot who should be shunned; that gender is simply a social construct and therefore you can be whatever gender you feel like or no gender at all; that you are guilty of crimes, real or perceived, not because of your actions but simply because of the color of your skin and your ethnic background.

And that’s not it. In fact, many of the views that you are constantly exposed to are designed to draw you away from your core belief system into this new, “enlightened” way of thinking.

Would you be able to stand firm in your core beliefs? Would you compromise your core beliefs? What would you need in order stand firm under the weight of these mounting pressures?

Truth be told, this is the world that many of us live in today. Many of our young people face these exact pressures, and many, many more. And, as the church, we lose ground with young people and adults every single year; the voices of the world get much louder and more persuasive and the voice of the church grows more insignificant and ineffective. It feels, at times, like we are fighting a losing battle, losing more and more ground each day.

Faced with a challenge like this it is important for us to remember that we are not the only God followers to face great challenges throughout history. Yes, we face new and unique challenges, but being strangers in a strange land, who don’t want to be conformed to this world but want to trust our God and drawn nearer to His likeness despite the pressures of the world isn’t new at all. This is something that believers have faced throughout history.

One of the common threads of all those who came before us who remained faithful in the face of extreme pressures is this: they lived with a clear understanding that God is ultimately in control. That they might go through the worst challenges imaginable, but God is still in control of the days of their lives and can be completely trusted to bring about something good from something bad, whether that ‘good’ would directly benefit them or not.

The book of Daniel is a book that reminds us over and over again that God is in control, despite what might be going on around us. While a man named Daniel is the key protagonist throughout the book, really the hero of the book is God Himself. Daniel is simply a faithful man who trusted and obeyed and even more faithful God. And that’s important for us to remember, because in the end, Daniel was an ordinary man who served and extraordinary God!

This morning we begin our study that will take us through the book of Daniel. The title of this series is “God Is In Control” which is a vital starting place for us to stand firm during the times in which we live as followers of Christ.

Body

Read Daniel 1:1-8

Historical setting:

Sometime after 605 B.C.

Probably after the first of three invasions into Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Took captives…the best and the brightest…indoctrination into their culture...

Daniel and his companions were probably between the ages of twelve to seventeen...

What’s this business of the stealing of vessels?

Shows that the Babylonians were not righteous people...

Will show back up in chapter 5...

The Babylonian indoctrination system

Training them to serve the king...

Training them in their literature and language...

Fed them the king’s food...

Gave them Babylonian names...

“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food...”

How would the king’s food defile Daniel?

It was likely from unclean meat sources...

It could have been sacrificed to idols...

God is in control so don’t be conformed to the culture.

Don’t miss verse 2: “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand...”

God is ultimately in control of history!

While the food was an important issue, the food is just one part of a larger issue: the push by the Babylonians for Daniel and the others to let go of their Jewish faith and embrace all that Babylon had to offer.

Make no mistake about it, eating the king’s food was all about convincing them how much better life in Babylon was than the life they left.

This is exactly how the world attempts to conform us into it’s mold.

“Look at how much better your life will be if you just join us...”

“The worldview you were brought up on is antiquated and out of touch...”

In order to stand against these types of social pressures, we need to, like Daniel, recognize that being in right standing before God matters far more than being in right standing with the world around us.

This was a risky move on Daniel’s part...

With no risk there is no reward...

Read Daniel 1:8-16

Verse 9 is the key verse of this section...

It should be a constant reminder that the best pathway to God’s favor and compassion is obedience to Him...

The chief of the eunuchs was not crazy about the idea at first, fearing that Daniel and the other three youth would not appear as healthy at the others...

So Daniel poses a test: give us ten days to eat vegetables and drink water, and see how we look after that. If we look worse off, then we will do what you say...

This is not a balanced diet, so don’t think this is a call for vegetarianism...

Sure enough, after the ten days, Daniel and the three others are in better health than the others.

God is in control so chose His pathways and receive His provision.

Daniel and his companions chose God’s pathway (not eating food that would defile them) and they received God’s provision (they were healthier, were able to maintain a kosher diet from that point forward, and would be blessed in their education).

What about for us?

God’s Pathway:

Personal Discipleship

Personal Holiness

God’s Provision:

Spiritual Growth

Purpose in life

Read Daniel 1:17-21

Notice why these four young men grew: God gave them...

Interestingly, the issue wasn’t that they were learning through the Babylonian educational system. It also wasn’t trying to conform the Babylonian educational system to their Jewish worldview.

They needed the education they received to fulfill God’s purposes for them in Babylon.

But, they were personally responsible to hang on to their Jewish faith...

After their three years of Babylonian education, Nebuchadnezzar evaluates the four young men and determines that they are superior to even his own advisors.

This will be important later, as we shall see.

The four young men become part of the king’s court, which sets the foundation for the coming chapters.

Take notice of verse 21. Daniel not only would serve in the king’s court of Babylon, but he would later serve in the king’s court of Persia, something unheard of throughout history.

Typically a conquering king would kill those who served in the king’s court of the people they just conquered. But, Daniel was such an asset that he would serve both Babylon and Persia.

That’s over sixty-six years of service!

God is in control so live faithfully despite the fact that this isn’t our home.

Knowing God was ultimately in control, Daniel was able to remain faithful throughout his lifetime, most of which was spent as a stranger in a strange land.

This isn’t our true home either…our true home is coming someday in the future in Heaven where the Lord is!

Until then, live for Him in personal discipleship and holiness…faithfully, despite the pressures of the world around us.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.