Text: Daniel 1:8-21, Title: Determined to be Faithful, Date/Place: NRBC, 3/8/09, PM
A. Opening illustration: conversation with a friend at the TCSO, new believer, about struggles in Christian life
B. Background to passage: God has given Jerusalem and Jehoiakim over to N, and now N has commanded his servant to take several of the Hebrew boys and set them up for training. This training would brainwash them to thinking like Babylonians rather than Israelites. Part of that training includes food from the king’s table. Daniel and friends have decided to be faithful to God’s word in this area, and thwart the king’s brainwashing. And as one writer said, this faithfulness is key to their struggles and blessing for the rest of the book.
C. Main thought: In the text, we will see why the brainwashing did not work.
A. Daniel’s Purpose (v. 8)
1. Daniel decided or purposed in his heart that he would refuse to make himself impure by partaking of food that was unlawful for him to eat. He determined beforehand where his ultimate loyalties lie. And he did this in his heart, his core being, his dead center. Knowing that this could be construed as an insult, that it could produce jealousy among the other boys in training, that it would not be pleasing to the palate, but that it would be right. His ultimate goal was neither to offend the king, get the servant’s in trouble, look pious, nor provoke jealousy—his motivation was to please God by keeping His commands.
2. Heb 12:14, Rev 21:8, 1 John 3:3, Eph 5:5, 1 Pet 1:16, 2 Cor 7:1,
3. Illustration: read some of Jonathon Edward’s resolutions written prior to his 20th birthday, tell about Erika and my conversation that began with “do you really love me?” and link it to the truth that marriage couples have predetermined in their vows that they will endure to the death,
4. Don’t ever tell me that teenagers can’t be trained to walk in a heroically godly fashion. We must also decide where our true loyalties lie. If we wait for the temptation or trial to be upon us before we decide what we are to do, then we are more likely to fail. Our mind will play tricks on us, justifying why we should go ahead and do what we know to do. Tell about the man that would have all these reasons as to why he should turn and get another gaze at the female jogger that just passed by in skimpy shorts. You may say, “that’s not really that bad.” But the question that I ask is what part of adultery do you not understand. One of the reasons that this truth doesn’t resonate with us is that our commitment to biblical holiness is not very deep. The world tells us things are OK, and we accept that without examining the full effects of things. Tell about Al Mohler’s blog on Barbara Millicent Roberts. We must return (or at least go there for the first time) to examining things biblically before adopting them as practice. Spanking in the public school system. What about the HOPE scholarship? Are we really committed to holiness? What about the things that we wear? I have seen more skin and cleavage in a Baptist church that at some beaches. Do the things that we watch defile our minds? Nobody practices church discipline anymore.
B. Daniel’s Confidence (v. 12-14)
1. Other than keeping commands and high standards of holiness, Daniel pleased God by having faith in Him. Even proposing this idea would have demonstrated a high confidence in God’s blessing. Daniel knew a great truth, it is not the food that blesses our bodies, but the God of the food who blesses our bodies to be able to grow. And when turned down by one official, he had enough confidence to keep asking, keep knocking, keep looking. And when turned down again, he proposes a test. He says that His God will make them just as good as those who do not abstain. He was willing to take the risk that God might not see fit to do it that way, but he would still be faithful.
2. Heb 11:5-6, 24-29, 33-34, Ex 3:7, Est 4:16, Dan 3:16-18,
3. Illustration: this is kinda like a tithing test—in tithing we demonstrate the truth that a believer will do better on 90% of his income, than he would on 100% of it, this kind of confidence “is the expectation that something outside of ourselves, something or someone external, is going to come to our rescue,” “the motive behind taking risks for the cause of God is not heroism, or the lust for adventure, or the courage of self-reliance, or the need to earn God’s good will, but rather faith in the all providing, all-ruling, all-satisfying Son of God…(and) if our single, all-embracing passion is to make much of Christ in life and death, and if the life that magnifies Him most is the life of costly love, then life is risk, and risk is right…the tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks for every day for ourselves, but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love” –Piper, NBC did a story on a church that was living outside the box to minister during these difficult times, the paper in Raleigh did a piece on Summit’s coat and food drive,
4. You ever live with the kind of faith that boasts on behalf of God and His glory. Do you ever propose to do things that if God doesn’t show up and do, they will never happen? God is pleased with that kind of faith. He is pleased when we put God on the spot to display His own glory and sufficiency. Sometimes our faith and realization of the power of God is as weak as our commitment to holiness. The church needs to do things that will make unbelievers ask, “How did they do that?” Individuals need to believe God for awesome things, so that when they come to pass, all will know that God is involved. Dream big dreams for the kingdom, and have the faith that is confident enough in God to go out on a limb with Him and demonstrate to the world that God can fatten young men on vegetables better than meat; that He can sustain a 76-year on her first international mission trip; that He can fill up a whole sanctuary with ladies hungry for the Word of God; that He could draw the masses out into the fields to hear the gospel from Wesley and Whitefield; that He could overturn the false religion of the RCC for Luther; that he can plant 1000 churches worldwide from Summit Church in Durham, NC in the next 40 years; that He could plant a half dozen in Tifton in the next 20! May the Holy Spirit inspire us to be as bold as Daniel in our belief about what God is going to do in our lives through us!
C. God’s Favor (v. 15-21)
1. The blessing and favor of God actually begins in v. 9, where God brought Daniel into favor in the eyes of the chief of the eunuchs. But the main point is that God reward’s faithfulness. When you by faith put His glory on the line, He will come through. In verse 15, God came through, making these Hebrews “fatter in the flesh” than the others in 10 days. In verse 17, God gave them wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill in learning. The text also notes that Daniel received a special gift—dream interpretation. Then the king’s testing revealed that not only were they at the top of the class, they were 10X better than all the rest. God truly blessed these young men for their faithfulness and commitment. And finally, it says that Daniel continued to the reign of Cyrus—so Daniel lived from 619-535 at least; that’s about 85 years. There are many scriptural promises about loving God, obeying Him, and having long life—Ps, Pro, Deut, Ex.
2. 1 Cor 4:17, James 1:17, Deut 30:9, Ps 147:10-11, 35:27, 2 Chron 16:9, Zeph 3:17, 19, Jer 32:19, 39-41, 1 Pet 3:12, Eph 3:20,
3. Illustration: in our triad we have been noticing the ministry of the Spirit in so many ways that we take for granted, Vance Havner says, “God is faithful, and He expects His people to be faithful. God’s Word speaks of faithful servants, faithful in a few things, faithful in the least, faithful in the Lord, faithful ministers. And all points up that day when He will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” “What terrible times we have in our churches trying to keep people faithful in attendance and loyalty! How we reward and picnic and coax and tantalize church members into doing things they don’t want to do but which they would do if they loved God! The only service that counts is faithful service.. “True faith shows up in faithfulness. Not everyone can sing or preach, but all can be faithful.”
4. Do we ask God to bless our food with sincerity or out of habit? Students, do you pray that God would allow you to learn, or do you operate as if your grades and achievement are products of your own prowess? We typically think of the things that we will have to give up if we commit to something. Much like a diet, we think about the food that we could have, and constantly buffet our body to submit to a predetermined plan rather than to desires from within—sometimes we approach commitment to God like this. I have been mulling over the challenge of leading my family on a TV fast for a month, but my mind keeps reminding me of the problems that would cause. But we don’t realize that God has the power and the willingness to bless those that make faith commitments to Him. Do we not think that He has the ability to fill the voids left by not eating meat from the king’s table? Our God is faithful! And He delights in blessing us when we walk by faith, pleasing Him. The blessings sometimes don’t come in the packages that we want, but they come. He always rewards faithfulness. Rest in the character of God and know that when you take a risk that puts His glory on the line, He will show up and use it to His exaltation. So that thing that you’ve been considering doing for the kingdom, do it! That commitment that you are thinking about; that sin that you have been too cautious about dealing with; that person at work that you have been wanting to witness to; that ministry that you have been wanting to start…know that God will bless your efforts.
A. Closing illustration: story of the Stan the missionary to the Yali tribe of the Snow Mtns of Indonesia
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
