Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Opening Illustration: St. Valentine’s Line in the Sand

Valentine was an italian doctor who eventually became a priest in the Church.

He lived in an interesting time in Roman history under Emperor Claudius II.

Claudius was attempting to grow his military and he believed that marriage would be an obstacle for recruiting new soldiers.

And so he passed a law that outlawed marriage.

He thought this would not only help recruit new soldiers, but would make his existing soldiers more focused on their work.

Valentine was a priest at the time and he saw the ungodliness of this political measure.

Valentine believed in the Word of God, that marriage is the fundamental building block of society.

And so Valentine began to conduct secret wedding ceremonies defying Emperor Claudius’s new law (hence why Valentine has been associated with “love” ever since).

As a result, Valentine was thrown in prison.

But in prison, Valentine continued to honor God.

The Jailer, Asterious, became impressed with Valentine’s wisdom and recruited him to educate his daughter Julia.

The three of them became close friends.

Eventually even Emperor Claudius became impressed with Valentine.

Claudius offered a full pardon to Valentine if he would just renounce his Christian faith and worship the Roman gods.

Not only did Valentine refuse, but he came back to Claudius and encouraged Claudius to place his faith in Jesus Christ.

Claudius became enraged and had Valentine killed immediately.

Personal

When Christians are living in largely pagan societies with largely pagan value systems, they must be keenly aware when and where they must draw their line in the sand.

Like Valentine, we are living in our own “Babylon”, our own “Pagan society.”

The pagan society around us, that constitutes the ideas that permeate our culture, are attempting to get each and every one of us to bow the knee to their gods.

To abandon full trust in Christ.

Where must we draw the line in the sand?

Contextual

Today we continue through our series on the book of Daniel.

Let’s remember a bit of context of this book.

We’re in the Old Testament, which means the events in this book were written and recorded hundreds of years before the life of Jesus.

This book would have been included in the Bible that Jesus and his Apostles read.

If you recall, Daniel was a descendent of King David in the Old Testament, which made him a cultural elite in ancient Israel.

Israel had been attacked by a new world empire known as Babylon.

Daniel, along with thousands of others from Israel, was taken by force from Jerusalem to Babylon to live as a refugee.

And so this young teenager named Daniel finds himself suddenly immersed in Babylonian pagan culture.

He’s given a new Baylonian name.

He’s taught the new Baylonian literature.

Daniel and his three close friends are placed in a cultural immersion program by King Nebuchadnezzar.

The idea was that if Nebuchudnezzar could inculcate the cultural elite, and make them Babylonians, the rest would follow.

Today’s passage, Daniel continues in his cultural immersion program in Babylon.

And we discover when and how Daniel drew a line in the sand of what he was and was not willing to do, while living in Babylon.

Every Christian must determine between them and God where they draw the line in the sand.

Move 1: Explain the Text

Let’s read the text

Daniel 1:8-21 “8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age?

So you would endanger my head with the king.”

11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of ten days…”

Daniel Resolved in His Heart

This passage begins with Daniel “resolving in his heart not to defile himself by eating the Kings’ food.”

The word here translated as “defile himself” carries the idea of “making oneself ceremonially unclean.”

Daniel, living before the days of Jesus was bound by all of the Old Testament law, including specific Kosher food laws of what he could and couldn’t eat.

It very well may have been the case that Daniel was concerned the food from the King’s table was not prepared according to these laws, and therefore it would have been sin for him to eat the food.

For all he knew the fried asparagus had been fried in pork grease.

It would be breaking God’s law to eat and enjoy such a food.

But we also notice that he “resolved” not to drink the wine, which was not included in these Kosher food laws.

Which means that there was some kind of a spiritual fast taking place here.

Certainly the law was at play, but Daniel’s aim is to go further than the law, and set himself apart as a follower of God.

This arguably was a sort of semi-fast, not from all food, but from enough that he would remember come every meal, that He belonged to God, not to the King of Babylon.

Daniel Gracious Request, #Tyranny

Notice Daniel’s first move once he has decided in his heart not to participate in sin.

He asks his boss if he can be permitted not to participate in the royal buffet every day.

This is an important component.

Daniel’s first move is not to flip tables.

His first move is not to stage a protest.

His first move is not to shoot off an angry tweet using #tyranny.

His first move is to humbly make a request.

We’ll come back to that point later.

God Gave Daniel Favor

Look at what verse 9 says, “God gave Daniel favor and compassion.”

This is critical.

We spend so much of our time worrying about how people are going to respond to any number of circumstances, as if our circumstance and we forget that we serve a mighty God.

God is able to open doors and soften hearts.

This is in all reality the great theme of all the book of Daniel and specifically the primary lesson from today’s text.

The lesson for us focuses not primarily on how we are to behave as we follow Daniel.

That is a fine lesson, and we will get there.

However, the first and primary lesson is that God is orchestrating history according to his will.

And that he has a way of making paths forward for faithful followers that we might never have imagined were possible.

The Chief’s Response

Daniel’s boss makes a good point.

He essentially says to Daniel, “Daniel I like you, but if you don’t eat the food and you get sick and waste away, I’ll get killed for it.”

Daniel 1:10 “...So you would endanger my head with the king.””

Daniel Proposes a Test

Again Daniel has a gracious and very wise response.

He says to the chief of the eunuchs, “Test us.

Let us eat our own food for ten days and see how we look.

If we look sick, then let’s talk about next steps then.

But if we look healthy, then there is no risk to you at all.”

The steward agrees to the plan.

Again please notice the winsome first step.

Daniel is doing all he can to honor God and honor the circumstances God has placed in him.

His aim is not to recklessly make enemies.

His aim is to demonstrate godliness in every situation.

And God honors this profoundly.

We’re told in verse 15:

Daniel 1:15 “15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.”

How we Often Handle These Situations

See how God honors Daniel’s desire?

Daniel has resolved in his heart to honor God and not sin.