Sermon Tone Analysis

main idea - A God worth living for is God worth dying for.

Daniel 3:17–18 (CSB)17 If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king.

18 But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Scripture Reading - Revelation 2:1-10

Intro

Do we have hope for faithfulness in a hostile world?

Can we continue to trust in Jesus in spite of all that is going on around us?

We have been learning that God can and will provide the hope to remain faithful in spit of persecution and hostility.

But there are still churches that say with enough faith God will take away the suffering and protect you.

But then what happens when he doesn't?

Randy Alcorn - Upon learning of my disease (Diabetes), well-meaning people sometimes ask whether I have trusted God enough to heal me.

I respond that when I was first diagnosed, I and others did ask God to heal me.

After a while, when God chose not to answer our prayers that way, I stopped asking.

When I say this, I sometimes get looks of alarm and quotes about persevering in prayer and having faith as a mustard seed.

I point out that Paul asked God to remove his disease three times, not a thousand times or a hundred or even a dozen.

Just three times he asked—but God made it clear the affliction had come from His gracious hand.

Paul had no desire to ask God to remove that which his Lord wanted to use to create in him greater Christlikeness and dependence upon God.

(Those who claim anyone with enough faith will be healed must believe they have greater faith than Paul and his fellow missionaries who suffered from ailments, including Trophimus, Epaphroditus, and Timothy.)

I have asked God to heal me more times than Paul asked God to heal him, and I’ve cooperated with people who say they feel led to pray over me that God would heal me.

But I don’t regularly ask Him to do so anymore.

Of course, I’d rejoice if God suddenly healed my pancreas and I no longer needed to take insulin or deal with low and high blood sugar and the toll they take.

I’d feel grateful if an ethical medical technology could heal my disease.

Yet if I could snap my fingers and remove my disease—apart from some direct revelation from God that I should do so—I would not use that power.

Why not?

Because God actually has the power to heal me, and He has chosen not to.

We should pray for ourselves and our suffering loved ones, not simply try to pray away suffering.

“God, please heal this cancer” is appropriate.

“God, please use for your glory this cancer, so long as I have it” is equally appropriate.

This same idea applies also to dying for our faith.

People pray to be released from the pain of suffering and dying for our faith, to be released from dying period.

But what if we are called rather to be faithful in spite of what is going on?

What if God is calling us to glorify him even unto death?

What if we are being called to ask God to use us through the sickness and the pain.

What if we are being called to realize that A God worth living for is a God worth dying for?

could we do that?

How do we come to that understanding and trust God to be glorified in all things in our life.

Story

In spite of all that God had shown King Nebuchadnezzar, he never seemed to learn.

God showed him through Daniel the dreams that He had and that God would be glorified and would win in the end.

Yet not to long later here is the king building a big statue to bow down to.

Talk about stubbornness.

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.

The statue was made of gold from head to toe, likely Gold leaf but there likely was not enough gold in the empire to make a statue this massive.

It kind of looks like after the dream he had after Nebuchadnezzar was told that the Babylonian empire was the gold head, the greatest of all, that he decided to make a statue to represent that.

We do not know what it looks like or what it was of, just that it was massive and likely very shiny and a bit of a waste of money I think.

everyone was told to attend the dedication of the statue that the king had built, this was not an option.

They where told that when they heard the sound of the royal orchestra fire up whatever song they where role to play with every instrument they had that they where to bow down to the statue.

Daniel 3:5–6 (CSB)

When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, you are to fall facedown and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”

beside the statue somewhere was a blazing fiery furnace.

The great reminder that you bow or you burn, there is no other option.

There was no vote called for as to whether this was a good idea or not, just the command to do as they where told to do.

we have two types of people we see here we have those that are willing to build their lives on false things, things they may not even agree with, concerned only with survival not caring what they bow down to to only escape hostility or death.

Beliefs are thrown out the window all that matters is survival.

and we have those that stand firm on their faith and know that faith means obeying God no matter the consequences even if that means death.

then we have the tattle tales who came to the king and said you remember that law you passed saying that all the people had to bow down at the sound of the royal orchestra?

Remember what you said the punishment was going to be? Well Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not do that.

They had the kings favor at one point but no more.

Something to note.

They where likely there at the statue with the rest of the people.

seeing the statue was not the issue.

They where there when the music started but when all the people bowed their heads to the floor the 3 men refused to bow down.

Daniel 3:13

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.

He was furious but at the same time was willing to give them one more chance.

Bow down he said again when the music starts up or you will die in the fire.

And they refused to disobey the Lord God.

It was their answer to the king that I love.

When faced with the decision to bow down or die what would we do?

Faith does not mean we will escape the fire, having faith means that in spite of the flames, even unto death we will glorify God who gave us life eternal.

Daniel 3:17–18

Daniel 3:17–18 (CSB)

If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king.

But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

This is the main idea of the message here.

Our God does have the power to work miracles but He doesn't always choose to do so.

He can save us from the fire, He could have take Jesus off the cross and killed all those who put Him there.

But what it comes down to is that no matter what hostility, persecution or even death comes to us, we will always stand firm on God.

well we know the rest of the story.

The smelting furnace was so hot that the people that took the 3 men to it soon succumb to the heat.

They lasted long enough to throw them in the fire.

But what happened next was a miracle that no one was really expecting.

Instead of three men in the fire there where four men one of which looked like a son of the gods the King said.

so the king got as close as he dared, after seeing what happened to the men that through the Jews in and called them out again.

Their bonds where gone and they did not even smell like smoke.

Then another miracle happened, The king praised God for what happened.

Daniel 3:28-29

Daniel 3:28–29 (CSB)

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.”

They where rewarded after this.

Application