Living Your Life in Control in an Out of Control World
Daniel 1:6-2:45
Introduction:
As I reflect back on my life a time in my life that was out of my control was when my parents separated. When I just happened to be playing at a neighbor’s house several blocks away from our home in Gypsum, KS. I happened to see my Dad drive his car up to a neighbor’s house, go inside and come out with a lady and they both got into his car.
Now Gypsum is a small town, only 500 people. Others in town probably knew my father was seeing another women but I had a rude awakening at the age of 14. When I told my mother she confronted my father and she decided to find a teaching job in another city and separate from my dad and move away. We moved to Sterling, Kansas a town west of Gypsum about 90 miles away.
When we moved I was 15 and starting my sophomore year in High school. We rented an apartment, we had no car, I was in a strange place and my life was in turmoil. What had happened was out of my control.
But my change of lifestyle was nothing compared to Daniel and his friends when they were taken as hostages from Jerusalem to Babylon. Daniel and his friends determined to live their lives in control in an out of control world.
Daniel is a good example of what you can do to live your life in control in an out of control world.
I. Daniel resolved not to compromise his beliefs. Daniel 1:6-21
Daniel stood tall for God in a godless culure. He confronted culture and planned his life to stay true to his convictions. Daniel and his friends faced false teachings and false good head on. The Babylonians did all they could to turn Daniel and his friends away from their Hebrew faith. They even changed their names:
(Daniel) means "God is my Judge" - - Belteshazzar
Bel’s Prince
Hananiah means "Yahweh is gracious" -
Shadrach - Command of Aku"
Mishael means "Who is like God?" - Meshach
Who is like Aku?)
Azariah means "Yahweh has helped" - Abednego - Servant of Nebo
Bel, Aku, and Nebo were Babylonian gods.
All during his life Daniel refused to accept the Babylonian identity. He never forgot that he was Daniel. He always referred to himself as Daniel and not as Belteshazzar.
He refused to live as a Babylonian and would not eat the meat ordered for them by the king. All the meat and wine in the king’s household was first offered sacrificially to the Babylonian gods. According to God’s law, for Daniel to partake of the meat would be to participate in idolatry. Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. Daniel 1:8
Daniel challenged the chief official to give them the test for ten days of eating nothing but vegetables and water to drink. After ten days they were healthier looking than those who ate the king’s royal food.
Daniel also had the test of truth. For three years he was indoctrinated in pagan Babylonian thinking and education. His professors told him over and over that the Hebrew God was dead. Only the Babylonian gods, Bel, Aku, and Nebo live. Daniel remained true to his faith in God.
#Carollyn had her faith tested in her last year of college. We were married after I graduated from Greenville College and Carollyn had one more year to finish college so she attended Transalvania College in Lexington, KY. She had one professor that used every opportunity he could to make fun of Christians and tried to convince his students that no one need God. He make it clear that he believed all the stories in the Bible were myths.
I was coming home from Seminary all inspired and she was coming home filled with doubts.
#A friend of our son, Tim, in L.A. had his faith tested recently. Tim’s friend was working for a company that goes into doctor’s offices and puts files and records on microfilm. Tim’s friend is a new Christian and is trying to have a Christian home.
A couple months ago when the Jessie Ventura Governor of Minnesota was quoted as saying that all Christians are weak and religion is a crutch for weal-minded people. The boss of Tim’s friend asked him what he thought of the statement by Jessie Ventura. He told him that he thought the Governor was ignorant of what Christianity is all about. Within a few weeks after he made that statement to his boss he was fired.
Friends, there is often a price to pay when we remain true to our convictions as a Christian. Like Daniel we can resolve not to compromise our beliefs.
II. Daniel exercised faith to trust God for help in times of crisis. Daniel 2:1-30
Daniel maintained inner peace and control in an out of control world. He didn’t whine or complain about his circumstance. He experienced a inner calm in the midst of chaotic circumstances.
The Missionary Hudson Taylor demonstrated faith and inner calm in a challenging situation in 1853, when young Hudson Taylor was making his first voyage to China. His ship was delayed near New Guinea because the winds had stopped. A rapid current was carrying the ship toward some reefs and the situation was becoming dangerous. Even the sailors using a longboat could not row the vessel out of the current. “We have done everything that can be done,” said the captain to Taylor. But Taylor replied, “No, there is one thing we have not done yet.” There were three other believers on the ship, and Taylor suggested that each retire to his own cabin and pray for a breeze. They did, and while he was at prayer, Taylor received confidence from God that the desperately needed wind would be sent. He went up on deck and suggested to the first officer, an unbeliever, that he let down the mainsail because a breeze was on its way. The man refused, but then they saw the corner of the sail begin to stir. The breeze had come! They let down the sail and in a short time were on their way!
Daniel faced a crisis to his faith when King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that was like a nightmare. He called his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell him what he had dreamed. The King told them that he had a dream and he wanted them to tell him what it means. They said, tell us the dream and we will interpret it for you.
Daniel 2:4-5 "Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic. "O king, live forever? Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it." The king replied to the astrologers, "This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble."
Daniel 2:10 "The astrologers answered the king, "There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer."
Daniel 2:13 "So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death."
Daniel 2:16 "At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him."
Daniel 2:17-18 "Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon."
Daniel 2:19 "During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision."
Why did God answer Daniel’s prayer?
1. Daniel went to God in prayer.
The Bible says, "We have not because we ask not."
2. Daniel was obedient to the Lord. Daniel refused to compromise to the Babylonian culture.
3. Daniel put his life and future in God’s hand.
III.
III. Daniel knew that God is in control.
Daniel knew God. You may know a lot about God. You may know parts of the Bible. But, do you know God? Daniel knew God. Living and serving God meant more to the teenager Daniel than having the approval of his Babylonian peers. Knowing God meant more than living in comfort and having fame. Putting God first in your life means more than having a plaque on your desk that reads, "God first."
Daniel knew that God was with him. His God was not left behind in a temple in Jerusalem. His God was not some limited deity. Remember this, if you allow Satan to succeed in keeping your mind confused about God, he will control your life and succeed in corrupting your faith.
David knew God. He sang out in praise to God Daniel 2:20-23.
Daniel teaches us a couple of lessons:
1. Life is out of our control. A man who battled cancer for two years testified: "The things that matter the most to us in life are the things we control the very least."
Someone else said: "Life is meant to bring us a succession of experiences to show us our need of Christ." The object of Daniel’s faith was the omnipresent-always present, omnipotent-all powerful, omniscient-all knowing, and immutable-changeless God.
2. We can learn to trust God..
A reporter once asked Albert Einstein’s wife if she understood the theory of relativity. She replied, "No, but I know Albert, and he can be trusted." Can you say the same thing about God? "No, I don’t understand what God is doing in my life right now. But I know God, and He can be trusted."
The tendency of most Christians is to use God to solve their problems. God wants you to use your problems to find Him. Otherwise we tend to use God rather than worship Him.
Your infinite God cares for you. In the midst of time and eternity God comes to you. He tells you that you matter to him. In our vast universe God knows your name. He cares for you.
Scientists tell us there are many galaxies in the universe. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is an average size, 140 billion star system shaped like a spinning pin wheel. It is a mere 100,000 light years in diameter and 1,000 light years thick. Just think, if we could travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, we could travel from one side of our galaxy to the other in 100,000 years. Scientists predict there are billions of these stay systems in the universe with an average of ten million light years apart.
Daniel 2:31-45 Daniel interprets the king’s dream. Daniel tells the King that Kingdoms will come and go but there is a Kingdom coming that God will set up that will never end. Verse 44: "In the time of those king, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." As Christians we will all be part of that Kingdom.
God loves you so much he send His Son, Jesus to demonstrate his love just how much he loves you.
With the Psalmist we can sing out in Psalm 46:1-3:
"God is our refuge and strength, n ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, through the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."
To live your life in control in an out of control world:
• Like Daniel find 2-3 friends for encouragement and prayer
• Take time daily to pray and study the Bible to get to know God better.
• Realize that every crisis in life is an opportunity to trust God.
• Take hope in the reality that you matter to God.
