To Whom Do You Bow?
Unshakeable • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsHow do we, as Christians, handle the fiery trials of life? The more we see the world around us change the more it looks like Babylon of old. Daniel chapter 3 gives us a great example of how to stand when the world is demanding you bow.
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Introduction
God taught me a great lesson in my first pastorate. The way something is established is usually the way it runs. That's why I was meticulous in how I started Reliant because I knew it would set the heartbeat and rhythm for years to come. And now, seven years later, we are marching to the same drum:
Preaching the Uncompromised Word of God
Making Disciples of All Nations
Sharing the Love of Christ with our Community
And watching generational transformation in our families
Willow Jones is getting baptized today.
In last week's sermon, we saw Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue that outlined the world's kingdoms and the final kingdom of Christ. It started with Babylon as the head of gold and moved down from there. Therefore Babylon holds an important place in human history as the first world empire and influenced every other empire after it.
In Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, you will learn that you may have Jesus in your heart, but grandpa is in your bones.
Before we hit Daniel 3, I want to take you to Revelation 17 to see Babylon's significance.
3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
Babylon is not dead. She has just morphed over the years. Babylon is alive and well today and is still deceiving the nations which makes the book of Daniel even more applicable to us today.
The more we see the world change, the more it looks like the Babylon of old.
How do we remain “Unshakable” through the fiery trials of life?
As we come back to Daniel 3, 23 years had passed since the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
The image is 90 feet high and 9 feet wide and more than likely an obelisk like the Washington monument.
4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” 7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
This was a worldwide event. Can you imagine at a curtain time every soul on the planet bowing down to worship the Image.
6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.”
The King used fear to subdue the people and force his will over their lives. The Children of God are not to fear this world or the things in their world.
There are three postures that every believer will take at some point in Babylon:
Take a Bow
Take a Stand
Take a Hit
Body:
3 Postures for every Believer in Babylon:
1. Take a bow
1. Take a bow
If (When) you bow, bow only to God.
If (When) you bow, bow only to God.
1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
When you won’t bow to culture it tries to cancel you.
When you won’t bow to culture it tries to cancel you.
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
What a great question! Who is the God that can deliver you out of the hands of this world system.
You don’t have to bow to the gods of this world or the rulers they appoint.
2. Take a Stand
2. Take a Stand
When you stand, stand in the power of God
When you stand, stand in the power of God
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Stand in the strength of the Lord.
Stand in the strength of the Lord.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
God’s Armor:
God’s Armor:
The Belt of Truth: God’s Word
The Breastplate of Righteousness: Obedience to Christ
Shoes for your feet: The gospel of peace
The shield of faith
The helmet of salvation
The sword of the Spirit: The Word of God
Prayer
Stand no matter the consequence
Stand no matter the consequence
3. Take a Hit!
3. Take a Hit!
If you take a hit, Jesus is in the fight.
If you take a hit, Jesus is in the fight.
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
Jesus is aware of your fiery trials!
Jesus is aware of your fiery trials!
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus will meet you in the trial!
Jesus will meet you in the trial!
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
When it seems that all hope is lost, Jesus will meet you in the trial.
When the furnace has been heated more than you can stand it, Jesus will meet you in the trial.
When there is no way out don’t doubt, Jesus will meet you in trial.
The fiery trial draws people closer to God!
The fiery trial draws people closer to God!
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.
When Jesus meets you in the trial, you don’t want to come out.
Being with Jesus in the trial is better than being without Jesus with no trial.
Your fiery trial will bring glory to God!
Your fiery trial will bring glory to God!
28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.
God uses the fiery trials to promote his people!
God uses the fiery trials to promote his people!
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Conclusion:
Take a bow, but bow only to the Lord!
Take a bow, but bow only to the Lord!
Take a stand in the power of His Might!
Take a stand in the power of His Might!
Take a hit and meet Jesus in the fight!
Take a hit and meet Jesus in the fight!
Small Group Questions:
How is the world asking you to compromise your faith today?
Rate your confidence level to stand against culture on a scale from 1 to 10. (1 not confident; 10 fully confident)
What step can you take to gain confidence when the fiery trials come?