Scripture: Daniel 1; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; John 17:16
Theme: Being IN the World but not OF the World
Title: The Genius Making God
Or: Smarter than the Average Bear
Grace and peace from God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
I want to talk to you today about how to successfully live in our present modern world which as we all are aware has been labeled as a Postmodern, Post-Christian world. Now, of course, those are just some nice labels to reveal to us that the world we currently live in here in the USA is far different than the one many of us grew up in and is vastly different than the one our parents and grandparents experienced years ago.
For example, we know that our present cultural norms are no longer based on the Judeo-Christian principles and ideas that championed America Culture from the 1930’s up to the 1980’s and 1990’s. Many of us here this morning were raised under those Judeo-Christian norms and we raised our families under those norms. They fashioned our philosophies of life, the ways we look at the world and the ways that we interacted with others.
Today, our culture norms are changing. Our culture is becoming more pluralistic and more and more people are being convinced that there are no absolutes, there are no overarching guidelines and that pretty much we are left up to ourselves to figure out what is right or wrong. Truth and morals are seen as relative. Each person doing what is right in their own eyes.
We live-in mixed-up age. An age in which millions of people are struggling with their self-identity, their gender identity and their gender expression. There are millions of people who struggle to identity with anything – family, gender, morality, religion, race etc…
We also live in an progressing immoral age. Day after day, Netflix, Amazon Prime and other media outlets are putting out more movies and shows that test the limits of what once was called common sense morality. It seems like the days of shows like Mayberry and Leave It to Beaver are gone forever and shows that are raunchy in nature are easily accessible for adults, teens and children.
We all know this because that is the world we face each day as we go to work, as we go shopping or just go milling around. It is the world that our children face and our grandchildren face. It is a world in where the “F” word is no longer takes anyone by surprise but is a part of common speech spoken around the school yard, the hospital and even the local grocery store.
+So, how are we who believe in Christ and in a lifestyle of holiness supposed to navigate such a world?
+Are we to create a subculture – some type of holiness subculture?
+Are we to find ways to check out and hide away?
+Are we to fade away into the background just waiting for Christ’s Return or our own flat line?
+How do we successfully live in a culture that is going in a completely different direction?
+How do we not only live an abundant life in the midst of our present culture but at the same time be a change agent for God’s Kingdom?
+How do become a powerful witness for God in this age?
Thankfully for us we have God’s Holy Spirit who empowers us, strengthens us and graciously bestows upon us the wisdom and grace to live in such a world. I believe that the Holy Spirit will assist us as individuals, as families and as a Body of Christ to not only be able to successfully navigate this age but be a key ingredient in bringing about a revival to our land and to our world as well.
And, thankfully for us the Holy Spirit impressed on the hearts of individuals thousands of years ago to write down their faith journeys that we can read, study and apply to our lives this morning.
One or those writings is the book of Daniel. If you want to understand how you can effectively live in today’s changing culture, I would invite you to read and study carefully the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends found themselves living in a world that was radically different than the one that they grew up in back in the land of Israel. They found themselves in a world in which the very fabric of society, faith and morality was vastly different. They grew up in world that believed in the Good God of Creation, the Only God that exists and one that had made them into very own image. They grew up believing that they should reflect God’s glory and honor him through loving one another and being good stewards of His earth.
This morning, let’s see what Daniel and his friends did in their world to live an abundant life.
I. They did not let other people’s labels define them
When Israel fell into the hands of the Babylonians everything changed for Daniel and his friends. They lost their land, their homes, their place of worship and their way of life. All they had was their belief in the True God of Creation, each other and hope.
It didn’t take long for Babylon to try to begin to mold these young men into their own image. It started with them being given new names – new labels so to speak.
Daniel = God is my Judge was given the name - Belshazzar meaning “BEL protect the King” – Bel was a Babylonian God
Hananiah = God is Gracious – to Shadaku meaning “command of Aku” – Babylonian god
Mishael = who is like God – to Meshaku – meaning the Babylonian mood god – AKU
Azariah = God helps – to Adenebo – meaning the Babylonian god of Wisdom NEBO
That is what the Babylonians wanted to name them but that is not exactly what Daniel wrote down. He changes some of the letters so that those reading them would understand that while the Babylonians called them the other names they would did not adopt those names among themselves retained their Hebrew names.
For example – Daniel name was supposed to be Belshazzar but Daniel writes it down as Belteshazzar which means Bel does not protect the king. This was Daniel’s way and the way the Jews had in making sure not to give honor to any pagan god.
We live in a world today that is doing its best to put wrong labels on those who truly believe in the Bible and who believe in holiness and truth. Labels such as self-righteous, fanatic, hypocrite, homophobe and hatemongers. Of course, there are other labels that we could mention but they should not even be said in public much less in God’s House.
None of this should take us by surprise. Jesus our Savior and LORD warned us that this would happen:
“You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end shall be saved.” (Mark 13:13)
Not – “maybe you will be hated” but “you will be hated”. The Bible is clear that the spirit of the World will hate us. Satan hates us and wants nothing more than for us to acquiesce to the world’s appetites and desires.
So, what should we do?
Well, I think we should do what these young men did. They didn’t let the labels that others wanted to put on them destroy either their own image, their self-identity or their faith. Just because someone puts a label on you doesn’t mean that you are that label.
Millions of people have been called stupid, dumb, lazy, no good and a million other things but that doesn’t really mean anything. Just because someone calls you a negative name or labels you as being something negative doesn’t mean that you are that negative name or that negative person.
What you have to do is take the labels that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has given you – words like masterpiece, anointed, approved, redeemed, saved and sanctified. Labels like beloved, child of the Most High, delivered, favored and accepted. Labels like holy, pure and qualified.
That is what Daniel and his friends did. They did not take the labels that the Babylonians put on them. Instead, they retained their God given names and they keep their faith and their belief in one another.
George Whitefield, a contemporary of John Wesley was asked one time about how he wanted to be remembered after he was gone – what label he wanted people to associate with his name. I really like his answer:
“Let the name of Whitefield perish, but Christ be glorified. Let my name die everywhere, let even my friends forget me, if by that means the cause of the blessed Jesus may be promoted. . . . I am content to wait till the judgement day for the clearing up of my reputation; and after I am dead I desire no other epitaph than this, “Here lies G. W. What sort of man he was the great day will discover.”
This morning let’s determine not to allow the world to label us. The only one who can truly label us is Jesus Christ – the One who loves us and calls us His Bride, His Chosen One and His Friend.
II. They decided to live by God’s rules, principles and values
Not only did the Babylonians want these young men to adopt new labels, new ways of thinking about themselves but they also wanted them to adopt a whole new way of living. The diet that is spoken of here is often only looked at as only having to deal with food. It was much, much more than just food.
The food aspect was only a fraction of what was going on at the time. The food aspect is to be seen as a latch key towards their whole way of life, their philosophy of life and how they would live out that life.
The Babylonians wanted these young men to develop not just a new food diet but a whole NEW LIFE DIET – how they thought, how they valued things, how they spoke and how they dealt with life in general. The Babylonians not only wanted to change their holiness diet but their holiness lifestyle.
For a Jewish person how they eat is how they live. Food is what provides them substance not just physically but spiritually, emotionally and socially. Food is a gift from the LORD GOD Almighty. Food is supernatural. Food is given to us not because we earn it from the sweat of our brow but because the Good God of Creation provides it for us to teach us sabbath, rest, dependence, sharing, worship, enjoyment and life.
Ancient scholars tell us that the meat that is mentioned here in this passage was meat that had been given over to one of the pagan gods of the Babylonians. Therefore, to Daniel and his friends if they partook of that meat they would be saying that that pagan god was responsible for their health and their wisdom.
That was something that Daniel and his friends were not willing to say even if it cost them their lives. They would not eat something that had been dedicated to a false god. They would not accept something that in accepting it they would have to say that they owed a false god their livelihood or their life.
These young were determined that while it was true that the Babylonians owned the clothes they wore, the buildings they would live in and even the food and water they would consume they would never own their souls. Their souls were given to the LORD. They knew the cost; they were willing to live out the commitment and if needed be they would give their life for God.
In fact, we see in a few chapters that both the Three and Daniel were put to the test – the Three in the Fiery Furnace and Daniel in the Lion’s Den. All four were tested on their loyalty and commitment. All four were given death sentences in which God not only stayed but brought about a miracle for them and for His People.
It important here to see that these four young men did not shy away or seclude themselves. They did not run away or refuse to be engaged with their world.
You see, they understood that it was possible to live in the world but not be of the world. They understood that for this time God had appointed them to live in Babylon and that God had appointed them to be right where they were – under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.
They did not mistakenly do what the Shaker community of South Central Kentucky did. The Shakers attempted to build an oasis, a hiding place in Kentucky. They did their best to keep the world out and make sure that their followers were never polluted by the world.
Sadly, today there are no Shakers. They died out. They didn’t believe in marriage or in human beings having children and eventually they died out. All they left behind are a few songs, some beautiful buildings and furniture.
We in the holiness movement have been tempted at times to create our own safe havens, our own Christian oasis where we come together on Sundays and Wednesday and do our best to never interact with the people of the world. Where we make sure that we are on holy ground as much as possible and make sure that we keep others that might somehow pollute us outside.
When sections of our group have done that they have died out. They have closed the doors. They have vanished.
Jesus does not tell us that we should hide out or go away. He does not tell us to go and bury our heads, our lives and our mission in the ground.
Instead, we are to learn from what He did on Mt. Hermon; on the Mount of Transfiguration where He comes down to bring healing and wholeness to those in the world (see Matthew 17).
If you remember that story it was Peter’s idea that they build places to worship and live and stay on the mountain. Peter wanted to stay away from those down below and to stay up in the clouds with God’s presence. Who could blame in him in some regards? Who wouldn’t want to live in the clouds with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
But Jesus reminded them that He came to save the world, to live among the world and to rescue the world. He couldn’t do that unless He purposely spent time with people like the Woman at the Well, Zacharias and with those whom the Pharisees and others labeled sinners.
One of the biggest problems with the modern-day Church is it doesn’t have enough sinners in it. It doesn’t make sure that along with all its saints that the doors are open wide for everyone else. It doesn’t do what is necessary to make room for those who do not know Jesus, who may not even like Jesus or look like, smell like or feel like Jesus to feel welcomed, accepted and needed.
If the Church of Jesus Christ is to continue to exist then we must open our hearts and doors to everyone so that we can share the message of redemption and sanctification. We have to be active in bringing people to Jesus – so that their hearts can be rescued, their lives transformed and so they can experience what it means to live an abundant life here on this earth.
We can never say – well, you know they are the kind of people we don’t want around here. They will corrupt our children and/or our grandchildren.
If we don’t have them here, I can guarantee you that somewhere they will influence our children – at school, on the playground, on the internet etc.… That is something you can bank on this morning. Therefore, isn’t it time we get them on our turf so we can influence them and share the message of Jesus Christ with them.
Our utmost prayers should be “BRING THEM IN”. Lord. Use us Lord in whatever way you need to help people come to You. Lord, help us transform the world for the better. Help us in these last days to be faithful both in living a holy life and in evangelizing others to be able to live a holy life.
III. They believed that God would make them the best
+These four young men were not going to accept the world’s labels.
+They were going to live by God’s principles and values.
+And they believed that God would make them the best.
These young men possessed an Abrahamic mindset. God had told Abraham that He would bless Abraham and his offspring beyond measure. He would take Abraham and create in him and through him a person, a family and a nation that would bring blessing and honor to the whole world. These four young men knew that they were a part of Abraham and therefore they were a part of being a people blessed by God.
The ancient Jews believed that the wisdom of the whole World belonged to God – the True God – Yahweh – The Good God of Creation. They believed those who therefore served God, worshipped God and live for God would be the best ones to understand that wisdom, receive that wisdom and live out a life in and through that wisdom.
These four young men could look back over their history and see that happening in the lives of men and women like Joseph, Moses, Deborah, Abagail and King Solomon.
Moses had received the best worldly education at that time. He had been schooled in the finest school of his day. No other culture possessed the wisdom, the knowledge and the advance classes in every area of life as did the Egyptians. Moses took all their classes. He did all his homework. He studied and did he best to be the best with what was given to him by the Egyptians.
But he did one more thing that took him up a whole new level. He allowed God, the True God of the Universe – the One we today know as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to give him greater wisdom, insight and knowledge. He allowed God to show Him how to bring water out of rock, how to defeat the most powerful nation on earth and how to lead a people for 40 years in the middle of a desert. He allowed God to make his name the name people have remembered throughout history and not the name of an Egyptian Pharaoh.
Before him of course this happened in the life of the man named Joseph. This slave boy repeatedly rose to prominence not because of his schooling or his position in Egypt. The Bible tells us he was not given any schooling or high position in Egypt. He was a slave. What knowledge he possessed he learned at the feet of Rachel his mother, Leah his aunt and Jacob his father. What wisdom, insight, discernment and knowledge he received came from the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY Himself through dreams and visions.
Genesis chapter 41 tells us that when Egypt needed a genius at the time of its greatest crisis it could not look to its own leaders, wise men or magicians. It instead was told to look to a slave, a prisoner, a foreigner, a young man who looked like he had no future or hope.
With God there is always hope. With God there is always a future. With God there is always promotion. With God there is always favor, blessings, anointings and redemption. That is what ancient Jews believed and that is what these young men believed with all their heart, soul and mind.
The Bible tells us that with one touch, the LORD took Joseph from the depths of a prison floor to office of Prime Minister. It was said that Joseph had the mind of a god – the wisdom of a god – but not the wisdom of a false god but the wisdom, insight and knowledge given to him by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“Can we find anyone else like this – on in whom is the spirit of God?” – Genesis 41:38 b
From Joseph and Moses, you can go and read the stories of the lives of Deborah, Ruth, Abagail, King Solomon and others that the Bible testifies repeatedly of their supernatural discernment, insight, wisdom and knowledge. Each one believing that the God of all wisdom will graciously bestow upon them the same wisdom.
The historical records of the ages share this one simple truth – God’s people have always amazed people with their wisdom, knowledge and insight. Even today some of the greatest inventions and discoveries of medicine and science are coming from Abraham’s descendants.
Some in the world have tried to label them arrogant and proud. That is just not true. Deep down in their deepest part of their DNA they simply believe that God wants the best for them. That God wants to bestow upon them blessings in the areas of intelligence, wisdom and insight.
What God did for the ancient Jew, He has promised to do for all those who repent, are Born Again and allow the Holy Spirit to infill their hearts and lives. Jesus told his disciples to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).
Listen to what Luke wrote about Stephen in Acts 6:8 - 10
8 God gave Stephen the power to work great miracles and wonders among the people. 9 But some men from Cyrene and Alexandria were members of a group who called themselves “Free Men.” They started arguing with Stephen. Some others from Cilicia and Asia also argued with him. 10 But they were no match for Stephen, who spoke with the great wisdom that the Spirit gave him.
Let me read that verse 10 again – “But they were no match for Stephen, who spoke with the great wisdom that the Spirit gave him.”
Over and over again in 1 Corinthians (chapter 1 -3 especially) the Apostle Paul makes clear that the wisdom that God provides puts the wisdom that the world possesses to shame. Once you receive God then the floodgates are open to allow you to receive God’s wisdom, insight, knowledge and greatness.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to infill us with Himself we are in fact taking in all the wisdom, power, strength, love, mercy and grace of the ages. We are connecting ourselves with the One who is Our Creator, Savior and King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
One of the lies that the Devil has done his best to perpetuate in our world is that the Church is not as smart as the world. That Christians are not as smart as non-Christians. That if we follow God then become some kind of mindless automatons that have no will of our own.
That is the farthest from the truth. The reality is according to the whole Bible – from Adam down to the Second Coming is this – when we allow God to save us, redeem us, create in us His New Creation we are able to receive His Geniuses, His Wisdom, His Knowledge, Discernment and Insight.
I remember one of my professors sharing a story about this old man who came to one of his classes. He held no degrees. As far as anyone knew was just a simple-minded old farmer.
But when he opened his mouth and started talking people were amazed at his wisdom, his insight and his knowledge. They were amazed at how he kept them spell bound and was able to share the deep truths of nature, the world and life in general. Finally, one of students asked him where he received all his knowledge. They thought surely he had attended some great school. Surely he had gone and studied at the feet of the scholars of one of the great institutions.
The old man picked up his Bible and said that the only school he had ever attended was God’s school – The Bible, prayer and spending time with God. He believed that God would give him knowledge, insight, discernment, wisdom and understanding.
This morning, the best way we can learn how to live in this ever changing, seeming Hell bound world is to saturate ourselves in God’s Word, in Prayer and in Daily Fellowship with God. The best way we can live is how these young men lived:
+Don’t let people label you – allow God to remind you who you are – anointed, blessed, favored, gifted, holy, love, God’s masterpiece, redeemed, sanctified, triumphant and victorious. You are God’s ambassador, a citizen of Heaven and God’s most wonderful creation. You have been appointed, anointed and approved. You are filled with God’s very own Holy Spirit and your body is God’s Temple!
+Live by God’s principles and rules – Allow God to be LORD over the gateways of your heart, your mind and your soul.
+Believe in the impossible – believe that the God who made you, saved you and infilled you will each day give you insight, knowledge, wisdom, favor and blessing. Believe and live and trust that the God who loves you, died for you and now lives inside of you is going to help you live the best life possible here on earth and on the New Heaven and Earth to come.
You see in the midst of having their lives being turned upside down these four Hebrew young men engaged their world and transformed it. In the midst of having all the pressure of the world do its best to mold them and conform them to its image they resisted and became the best that God could make them – and when God got finished with them they were smarter, better looking, healthier and ready to do more for the world and for God – 10X over what others were able to do.
This morning – how goes it in our world?
+ Are we allowing God to label us instead of the world?
+ Are we doing our best to live by His principles than the principles of the world? +Do we believe in the impossible – that God will give us the power, the wisdom and the insight to live an amazing life and become a people of God who reflect His image, glory and honor?
Prayer – Open Altar - Closing Song
