Being Real in a Real World
Daniel chapter 1:1-21
Introduction- Good Morning Church
If you would turn with me to the Book of Daniel Chapter One we will find our text and message for this morning. Daniel is in the Old Testament between Ezekiel and Hosea. As your turning there let’s pray.
Prayer-
Father today would you open the Word to us to show us the life of Daniel as He lived out his faith. Would you show us that it is possible to live for God in a world that has turned its back on Him. It is possible to make a difference for you and that we will see fruit from our labor as you are actively involved in our lives. Holy Spirit we invite you once again to anoint your word and open our eyes to see truth that will change our lives and those around us.
You know what being two faced is?
By definition two faced is having two faces and not knowing which is the real you.
Artificial
Counterfeit
Fake
Phoney
Hypocritical
You know anyone like that?
This world today is looking for real- I am not talking about everyone doing their own thing and calling it being real.
I am not talking about people who say they are one thing and act different.
People who say they believe one thing but if they had to prove they were Christian they couldn’t. There are a lot of people doing that. That is not real!
Daniels training in Babylon is what prepared him for what was down the road and why he could be used by God. Let me say it again- it is what prepared him for what was down the road.
God does not waste an experience that he takes us through.
He gets no glory out of seeing us hurt but he will use those times to prepare us for what is ahead and use them to help others by what we have gone through.
Anyone want to take the rough things in our life and use them for the glory of God? To see what He will do with our hurts and hang ups!
Daniel 1:1-5 Read from Bible and then give background-
We see that God had allowed the Babylonians to invade Judah and King Jehoiakim had been overthrown by king Nebbuchadnezzar. God had allowed them to be seized upon. A study of Jehoiakim shows us that he was an evil king and the Israelites had walked away from God and God used the Babylonians to bring down the rebellious people of God. God allowed them to steal from the temple precious items and take them and put in the treasures of their God.
King Nebuchadnezzar appointed a chief to take the best of the best of the men of Judah and train them to be Babylonians.
They took them from who they were and made them to be who he wanted them to be.
It was taking them and stripping them of who they were and molding and making them who he wanted them to be.
They had no choice of being taken, they only had a choice if they wanted to die or be slaves like the others or because they were elite, go through the training and be working in the palace as God’s special servants who ate at the table of the king.
They had to learn the language, they had to learn the culture, they had to eat the food and they had to change their ways. It was a three year training program.
In enters Daniel and the three Amigos-
Daniel 1:6-21Read from Bible
(8) “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor…”
Daniel was a foreigner is a foreign land but He did not have to change who he was.
The food defilement was the first test of Daniels faithfulness in times of trouble. The first six chapters of Daniel lines up because Daniel was faithful to His God and was not going to be polluted by a strange God.
A perfect example of staying true to our God is when the social and moral struggles in our community would have us go a different way and away from God.
Chapter 1, 3, and 6 are Daniel maintaining his religious conviction in the midst of hostile environment. He is threatened with severe consequences for holding unto his beliefs.
Each test we go through is an opportunity for us to show our faith and the outcome of the test is the manifestation of God’s faithfulness.
Daniels faith was real
Daniel’s faith said that I cannot always change my circumstances but I can change how I act and what I do in those circumstances.
“Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Heb 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
The faith chapter tells us some of the people of the bible who lived there faith and it says “All these people were still living by faith when they died.”
We do not always know how things will turn out- we live by faith! Daniel chapter 3 Daniel in the lion’s den, chapter 6 He is in fury the furnace where it could of went either way but Daniel was not going to give up on his God and his faith in his God.
Fake faith has no power to save
Fake faith has no power to change your life
Fake faith cannot answer prayer
Fake faith cannot transform you
Saying now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take… praying that prayer does not make you a Christian…it is just words if the faith is not real!
Faith is a lifestyle- you do not need anything added to what Christ ahs done for us on the cross but a saved person that wants to serve God should have a faith that is real and it should be active and obedient to the teachings of Christ.
Daniels faith was active
People don’t usually push back by you saying or acknowledging that you are a believer. They don’t usually pushback that you love Jesus- they push back when you invite them to know your Jesus and you start stopping the things you used to do with them because you are a believer.
People today if you do things for Christ you are a super-Christian. Really there is no such thing as a super-Christian- there is just a Christian doing what God had called them do. It is those who have little or no relationship with Jesus and call themselves Christian that realize what they are doing is not following Jesus.
How do you know when you are careless with your faith?
Not being in church- other things come up.
Not allowing people to get around you and keep each other accountable to the things of God
Not doing what Jesus has told us.
Not reading the Word of God
Not allowing time for Jesus
Not praying
It is not about saved by works- hear me when I say that- there is nothing else we need to do to be saved but there is a lot to do when we are saved and we want to serve.
It shows up in our actions.
It shows up everyday in the way we treat others.
It shows up when the times are tough and we are not willing to let go of our faith because it would be easier for what we are going through.
Daniel could have easily said I have arrived. The rest of the Israelites were slaves and a lot of men lost their lives but because of God grace on these smart, good looking, young ambitious Israelites they were offered great blessings to adopt to the foreigners way of life.
Why would some believe that we need Jesus to save us but we don’t need Jesus to help us everyday in our lives to live a life that is pleasing to God?
Why would some obey that Jesus says that we all need to serve and be obedient to the word.
Daniel and these men could of said “all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose” …that’s us, we are blessed by God and he has put us here to live this life.
Illustration- Two of my boys loved logos as kids and built some pretty neat stuff. They would spend hours enjoying them. You know they have some terrific kits to build massive structures and fine building with lights and gadgets on them. Listen to me if you had the box with all the parts but you have no skill of your own to put it together and you didn’t read or didn’t have the instructions, they would end up just being a massive pile of logos and would not look like the package on the box. Amen! Ever do a project that didn’t turn out like the box because you didn’t read the directions or didn’t understand the directions.
Once you understand the relationship you have with the Lord it should want us to be active in our faith.
We should be the same person behind closed doors as we are in public.
The people that know us should see one face not two faces of how we live our lives.
They shouldn’t have to guess who showed up. We should be the same.
He didn’t eat the food from the king because I believe it would cause him to think that he was better than those under him.
He also knew that the meat that was being eaten was meat that was offered to the idols of Babylon and he was not going to eat tainted meat.
He asked permission- he tried to do what was right in the land but first right in the eyes of the Lord- he has been shown favor because I believe his faith was lived out and those around him knew that he was someone different than the world by his actions.
Daniel faith was secure
“For the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Psalm 9:10
“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
James 1:3
“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
Verse 15 Daniel is granted favor because he had been true to his faith and people could see it. Daniel stood out from the others and his faith was secure because he knew that it did not depend on circumstances but on Gods promises.
Close-
If someone was watching your faith and they are- would they say that your faith is real?
Being real must begin with being real with the Lord. We cannot live two lives- one who most people see and the one we are when nobody is looking. We cannot be different at church than who we are at home. We cannot be different at home than when we are work. We must stive to be the same wither someone is watching or not. Daniel was the same and God could use him. He had Christ-likeness. Oh you say that was before Jesus came to this earth- I believe he knew Jesus. I believe the angel of the Lord that closed the lions mouth and the one that walked with them in the fury furnace was none other than Jesus himself. He had an encounter with Jesus and we must too. It is the only way that we will determine to be the same no matter what. We all stumble and fall at times- it is attitude and gratitude that will keep us humble and wanting more of Jesus and the more of Jesus in us will be the more of Jesus others will see in us.
Let’s be real!
Deal or no deal!
Prayer-
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus may we be real with you- you know all about us. May we first turn over anything that hinders our walk with you so that you might work in us. May we be the same person weather someone is watching or not. Character is who we are when no one is watching! In a day and age where people are looking for real, may they see it in us. That we are different – we are sincere-
Daniel faith was real
Daniel faith was active
Daniel faith was secure… help us to walk the same way in Jesus Name! Amen!
