Daniel | Into the Lion's Den

Sermon – “Into the Lion’s Den”

HillsideLarkspur 3 October 2013

Bottom Line: You walk by the way you talk.

ME:

Opening Introduction:

1. I met my wife Stacy 5 Halloweens ago in Boston…

- Bubble bath vs. Black Cat

- Story of how we met at Finagle Bagel

- Cinderella Metaphor

- Smooth talked my way into a marriage and have been working it ever since.

2. My Senior year of high school, I sang in the high school choir, following a girl of course – no man sings in the choir for the fun of it do they?!

- Senior Superlatives

- Gift o Gab Award

3. My mom always accused me of being able to sweet talk my way out of anything.

- Locked keys in my card three times in one week and convinced the

insurance company to not only reimburse me in full but keep my rates the

same for the following year.

4. Pulled over 13 times for speeding – and only received 1 ticket, lucky 13.

Tension:

1. Yet, I’ve always had trouble talking about my faith.

- I attended a Billy Graham Crusade my Sophomore Year of high school.

- Emphasized the importance of sharing our faith story with others – even

taught us how to do it.

- Carried a tract in my pocket every day to school for the remaining 2 months,

but I could not gain the courage to actually share my story with anyone.

- Felt like a total failure and even questioned my faith and ability to be a

Christian for a long time after.

2. Faith is a difficult matter to discuss. I feared the possibilities of what could happen if I did engage in a conversation with someone about faith:

- What wouldpeople think of me?

- Would people judge me for believing in God?

- Would I know the right thing to say at the right time?

- What if someone asked me a question I could not answer?

- Would that person trust me and believe me?

- Would I actually say something that turned them off from God?

3. I lived in a tension between believing in God and adhering to a personal, transformational faith that changed my life on the one hand, but then feeling terrified to share my amazing experience with anyone else on the other.

4. In fact, I wrestled with this tension so often that I would often feel guilty and sometimes even a bit ashamed that I did not pursue or facilitate more opportunities to either approach friends or respond in truth to what I believe when questions arose about my faith.

4. Illustration:

- Lesbian basketball player from college who asked me point blank, locked

onto my eyes: Why are you so happy all the time? What do you believe that

brings you so much joy?

- I looked at her, recognizing the opportunity, and said, “I don’t know.”

- Of course I knew, but for some reason, lacked the confidence to express it.

5. And the reality of these missed opportunities over time caused me to question the validity of my faith. Why did I fear to share it with others. Was I really saved? Did I really believe?

WE:

1. Perhaps this tension resonates with you.

2. In fact, I would suggest that if I asked many of you, you would agree that “Faith is a tough topic to talk about.”

3. It’s fraught with a variety of connotations regarding social issues, personal biases and experiences, and let’s call it out: confusion. Faith in it’s simplest form without all of the connotations associated with it is still a confusing, elusive subject to discuss.

4. Think for a moment to yourself: “What would you say or do if a friend, co-worker, family member, or neighbor approached you and asked, “Tell me about your faith. What do you believe in?” How would you respond to a question like that?

- Would you stammer?

- Would you avoid it altogether?

- Would you offer a pithy response so not to create tension?

- Would you simply… tell the truth?

Transition: I want to look at a passage this evening told within a book and set within a context that you may not necessarily associate as an instructive tool with how we express our faith.

- Point of fact, however, Daniel teaches more about sharing and living out our

faith than you might think.

God:

Overview:

- We meet Daniel in chapter 6 already neck deep in another predicament.

- Daniel’s people – the Jews – were exiled from their land in Judah to the Babylonian empire ruled by a man named King Nebuchadnezzar.

- Through a variety of circumstances in which God spared Daniel, he rose through the ranks of the foreign kingdom by maintaining his humility and integrity.

- Many of you know Daniel from his miraculous rescue in the blazing furnace, as told in chapter 2. He and his three friends encountered the flames when they refused to bow down to their new king who had just displaced them from their land. Many scholars believe that he was only a teenager.

- Fast forward about 6 decades and Daniel faced another harsh trial of faith.

Chapter 5 – Preceding Context:

- After King Nebuchadnezzar - who later decided to follow God as a result of Daniel’s faithfulness - dies in office, another king named, King Belshazzar, succeeded his reign.

- This King, much like his predecessor, ruled with an iron fist and disgraced the heritage of Daniel and the Jewish people, thereby disgracing the people of God and ultimately God himself.

- God did not take kindly to Belshazzar, and promptly made it known.

- One evening, during one of the King’s glamorous parties, God penned with his own hand a message to Belshazzar.

o Show image by Rembrandt from 1635

- No one could read it, except for Daniel.

- It read that God was bringing the King’s reign to an end because his actions defied God and led the people of God astray.

- Later that day after the King promoted Daniel to a place of honor for rightly interpreting the handwriting – the king died, his kingdom became divided, and a new king was installed, King Darius.

Chapter 6 – Daniel in the Lion’s Den

- Thus, bringing us to our present story picked up in chapter 6. It reads,

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.

- Did you hear this last statement? King Darius, a Mede, recognizes the abilities of Daniel, a Jewish man, as more capable and than any other Mede within the kingdom, thus stimulating the presence of jealousy among others within the government.

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.”

- I believe the validity of this statement stands just as true today as it did then. ‘Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.’

- The Medes could not find fault with Daniel, so they attacked the only aspect of him that they could not understand or comprehend within their worldview and scope of culture.

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.

- Obviously a trap to kill Daniel – one in which the King could neither foresee nor revoke. Besides, what King would not sign a law mandating that for a period of time everyone in the kingdom must acknowledge your sovereign right and authority???

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.

- I read this, and I thought BOOM! Daniel stood up against the powers and principalities and survived the furnace as recorded in chapter 2. His action following this latest law bears witness to the confidence Daniel placed in God and the emphasis that he placed in remaining close and connected to God through prayer.

11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 12 So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law 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?”

“Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.”

13 Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.”

- This is when the officials of the law promptly (and internally) respond with an emphatic, “Booyah!”

14 Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.

15 In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.”

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.

- The king feels distraught.

- Daniel is a man of integrity, honor, and character.

- Not to mention, one of the king’s best men.

- Daniel’s lack of resistance communicates more to the king than one could imagine.

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?”

- Let’s pause here for a moment and understand the magnitude of this situation.

- Daniel faced a dark period:

o He faced the darkness of the cave – literally – an awful thought when you consider that he sat in pitch black darkness and considered that he could be struck down at anytime.

o He faced the darkness of the culture. Daniel lived within a context that violently and vehemently opposed his relationship to God. Yet, as we read in the previous passage, he did not let the terror of the culture inhibit or dissuade him from continuing to practice his faith in the same manner that he always did – publicly and without abandon.

o He faced the darkness of his personal situation. The only thing that stood between him and death was the hope of a miracle. And though God rescued him before – and I believe Daniel knew God could do it again – the reality of his personal situation weighed on him… not for a few minutes or an hour… but for an entire evening.

§ Betrayal

- Let’s continue on… Was Daniel rescued?

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.

- Daniel lives! God rescued Daniel once again, and provided an additional opportunity for Daniel to keep going, to keep sharing the story.

o Daniel emerges – who knows what his emotional state – how long he sat in the den by himself.

o Daniel emerges and immediately without hesitation pays respect to the one who placed him in the den and gratitude for God who shut the lions’ mouths.

o He spoke kindly to the king = “May the King live forever.”

o Furthermore, where before this statement did Daniel speak?

· Did he argue when the officials entrapped him and attempted to execute him?

· Did he argue before he entered into the den?

· Did he make any final statements or declarations?

· Did he make a rebuttal against the king?

- Daniel simply walked by the way he talked: with integrity, character, and faith in the God who made him, rescued him, and promised to always be with him.

YOU:

Typically, for most of us, it’s not everyday that a king throws us into a den of lions.

But it is everyday that we encounter an opportunity, a glimpse, even a long shot, to share our faith with another about a God who has made us, rescued us from the consequences of our sin and our own misdoings, and promised always to be with us.

In fact, God desired for us to know this so much that he entered into our den of lions – our chaotic and broken world – without being asked so that no one could mistake his love for us.

In fact, the statement God made in the den and on the cross proclaims a true statement before the whole world and you and I personally, saying, “I am for you, I am with you, I am your God, and I have taken on the burden of your pain and the consequence of your sin so that you wouldn’t have to bear it!”

That’s true love and the heart of the Gospel.

I value this story and the history of Daniel’s live because underlying the dramatic, historical accounts of surviving blazing furnaces and sitting trapped in a den full of hungry lions is a simple truth illustrated over and over again, and that is:

You walk by the way you talk; your actions define your character, your integrity, and your trust in God.

What you say means something, no doubt about that – but what you do accounts for all things spoken AND unspoken.

---Daniel’s trip the den highlights 3 core tenets of how to let our actions speak for our faith:

1. Earn the right to be heard, meaning do before you say.

2. Keep going, even when it is hard and especially when it is unpopular.

3. When the time is right, seize the opportunity.

a. You don’t have to know everything.

b. You don’t have to be the most compelling.

c. Approach with gentleness and respect.

d. Trust the Spirit for wisdom and to move in the heart of the other, you never know what the other person may be thinking.

- Story of Rob – My seat buddy.

WE:

Let’s pray together…