God Gave

With that, we're going to jump right in. We are starting our series in the book of Daniel this morning.

And the book of Daniel tells the story of a man named Daniel who lived as an exile in Babylon.

So he's a faithful Israelite, but he's living in a foreign land.

And this book takes place near the very end of the 7th century BC and then during the majority of the 6th century BC.

And it's going to teach us many things, but there's going to be two primary themes that I want you guys to see.

As we come to this book, it is going to both remind us and it's going to instruct us.

It's going to remind us that no matter how bad circumstances may seem around us, God is in control.

God rules and reigns over the nations.

It's not just going to remind us, however, it's also going to instruct us.

It's going to give us Daniel as a model and instruct us how we live faithful lives in a foreign land.

In other words, how do we live faithfully as God's people surrounded by a culture and a world and a nation that does not honor God?

And so it's with that that we are going to begin with Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

I should also mention that Daniel provides its own summary of the book in chapter 11, verse 32.

And it tells us the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

And it's our hope and our prayer that as we go through the book of Daniel, we would grow in knowing our God and we would also be able to stand firm and take action.

We're also continuing what I've been working on since 2018, which is establishing for us a strong theology of suffering.

We started that in the book of Ruth in the summer of 2018 in July.

And then you'll remember in fall of 2019, we went through the book of 1 Peter, finishing that in the spring of 2020.

That also had a heavy focus on suffering.

And now we're in the book of Daniel.

It's going to complement those themes.

And so we're going to jump into Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

I invite you to open up your Bible with me.

Of course, you can also find it maybe on your phone or on the Internet.

And we're going to be asking this question.

Where is God in the midst of suffering?

Where is God when it feels like the world is pressing in on us from every side?

And there's a complementary question to that.

For many of you, it might be a little bit more exciting than that first one.

And it's this.

When do we disobey the government?

And if we disobey the government, how do we do it?

When do we disobey the government?

How do we do it?

And so it's with that, we're going to jump right in.

I invite you again to turn with me.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Which means that he has not left us to stumble alone in the dark.

But instead, he's given us his word to show us the way to go.

And so it's with that that we read now.

Starting in Daniel chapter 1, verse 1.

Daniel 1:1

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand

with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God,

and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God.

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch,

to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,

youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom,

endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning,

and competent to stand in the king's palace,

and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

Verse 5.

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate,

and of the wine that he drank.

They were to be educated for three years,

and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah,

Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names.

Daniel he called Belteshazzar,

Hananiah he called Shadrach,

Mishael he called Meshach,

and Azariah he called Abednego.

Verse 6.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food

or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel,

I fear my lord the king who assigned your food and your drink.

For why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who were of your own age?

So you would endanger my head with the king.

Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel,

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

Test your servants for ten days.

Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you

and deal with your servants according to what you see.

So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.

Verse 15.

At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh

than all the youths who ate the king's food.

So the steward took away their food and wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

Verse 17.

As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom,

and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

At the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in,

the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel,

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Therefore they stood before the king.

And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them,

he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.

And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you again for your word that can go forward,

whether there's snow or there's sun.

And we thank you that you've allowed us to gather together virtually this morning

to look at Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

We ask that you would help us.

You'd help us if we experienced technical glitches.

You'd give us patience.

Father, we ask that you would help our minds,

that we'd be able to pay attention with all the distractions around us.

And most of all, that you would speak clearly through your word to us,

that we would be able to see Jesus Christ.

And we ask these things,

knowing that we haven't earned them,

but instead we ask them in his name.

Amen.

For those of you who are kids,

or maybe those of you who have been kids at some point in time,

I want you to imagine with me for a second

that your parents have given you clear instructions

about what you should and should not do.

And not only have they given you these clear instructions,

they've also outlined for you

what's going to happen if you disobey.

They've told you in advance

what the punishments are going to be.

And so you have a lot of clarity.

You can choose one way or the other.

This is similar to the way God often works with his people,

especially in the Old Testament.

He gives them blessings and cursings

based on whether they obey or disobey.

And this is what we find ourselves in the middle of

in Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

The prophet Jeremiah has been prophesying

for some time to Israel,

warning them about their sins.

He's been telling them about the fact

that they've been worshiping other gods.

In fact, it's gotten so bad in Israel

that they're in some places practicing child sacrifice

in the same way that the pagans are.

They're breaking God's Ten Commandments,

not just one or two of them, but many of them.

And so Jeremiah predicts what's going to happen.

He predicts the fall of Jerusalem.

And so we see at the beginning of this book

the fulfillment of what God has been telling his people

through his prophets for years.

We're told, verse 1,

this is the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim.

Jehoiakim's one of the kings

that Jeremiah has been coming and prophesying to.

In fact, in Jeremiah chapter 25,

Jeremiah 25 · chapter mention

in Jeremiah chapter 29,

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

he tells them that there is going to be this exile,

that they're going to be taken by Babylon.

And so that's what we see here in this passage.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,

comes as God's agent in some ways

and does what God has promised for years.

We're seeing the very beginning of the exile

of God's people from Israel to Babylon.

And this is an exile that happens in multiple stages,

so it doesn't happen all at once.

If you're someone who does dates,

you probably remember the exile is beginning in 586.

What we're looking at here is actually 605 BC.

So a number of years before the exile is finalized,

we see the very first step.

And the very first step is this,

and it's devastating.

Nebuchadnezzar comes and he takes a variety of things.

We see verses 1 and 2,

he takes Jerusalem, the city.

Verse 2, he takes an affront to God himself

by taking away the vessels of the house of God.

This is a way of showing his God's dominance over Yahweh.

And then in verses 3 and 4,

we see, and this sets us up really for the rest of this book,

especially chapters 1 through 6,

that he takes Israel's best and their brightest.

He takes the royal family,

the end of verse 3,

and the nobility used without blemish.

So these are the cream of the crop here.

They look good, they're handsome,

and they're really smart.

There's skill in all wisdom,

endowed with knowledge, understanding,

learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace.

He does sort of a brain drain here on Jerusalem.

He steals their smartest and their best

to be trained, not as Israelites,

but to become good Babylonians.

And so kids, I want you to do another thought experiment with me.

Not that you have disobeyed your parents this time,

but in fact that you're a faithful son or a faithful daughter.

You've done the best you can,

but suddenly you're taken away.

You no longer live with your parents.

You've been put in a boarding school,

which is a place where you live and eat and sleep

at your school, not your home.

And in addition to that,

not only are you at a boarding school,

you're at a boarding school in a different country.

So you've been taken from the United States.

Maybe you're in a boarding school in France or Germany.

It's a place where they speak a language that you don't speak.

And so there's a variety of ways

in which you are a fish out of water here.

That's what's happening for Daniel and his friends.

And I mentioned you kids

because Daniel at this time is a youth.

We're told the very beginning of verse four,

these are youths without blemish.

Many people think that they were young teenagers at this point.

So we're talking maybe someone who's in eighth or ninth or 10th grade

being taken away,

separated from their support structures

and put into an entirely different education system.

And it's with that that the king of Babylon

begins his indoctrination plan for them.

He has a multifaceted plan here.

First of all, verse four, he's going to teach them

the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

Now, this would have not been innocent.

This would have included him teaching about the gods of Babylon.

He would have been teaching them potentially about divination and astrology.

And so they're going to be educated,

not in the way of the Israelites,

but the way of the Babylonians,

not in the way of their God,

but in the way of pagan gods.

He doesn't leave it just at education, though.

He's going to allure them with the good life.

Verse five, they're going to have wonderful food.

They're going to have this daily portion

of the meat and wine that the king eats.

They are going to eat well.

They are going to have the good things in life.

They are going to see how wonderful it's going to be

to be a part of Babylon.

This education program, verse five,

again, it's going to last for three years.

It's going to be long enough to change them

and indoctrinate them.

And then we see something equally insidious in verse seven.

He's going to change their names.

Now, of course, we know how important

and fundamental our names are to our identity,

how we think about ourselves as people.

And what's going on here is not just a name change,

but a fundamental identity change.

The names that these youths have when they show up,

their Hebrew names,

are all names that say something about God,

about Yahweh and their trust in him.

Now, we don't know the meanings of all the new names,

but the ones that we do point not to Yahweh,

but they point to the gods of the Babylonians.

And so they are being given here pagan names,

names that point not to trust in the God of Israel,

but trust in the God of Babylon.

And so the point is this,

their attempt by Nebuchadnezzar here to brainwash them.

He wants them to forget Israel.

He wants them to forget the land they've come from.

He wants to give them this new identity.

He wants to make them into wonderful, good Babylonians,

people who value what they value,

people who no longer love and value

what the God of Israel loves and values.

It is a full frontal assault here

on these youths from Israel.

And so it's at this that we see

part of the reason we're studying this book,

which is it's not that foreign from us today.

We also live in a culture

that looks to shape and educate and transform us.

We have a culture that looks to see our identity

as something other than people who love and worship God.

It wants to take us,

our hearts captive with a good life.

While we may not all be young people

who are transferring countries and schools,

we are people who live in a place

where we feel the pressure of the world around us

to conform us to its ways,

its ways of thinking,

its narratives,

what it loves and what it values.

We see this in a variety of ways.

We see this in the way the culture speaks to us

from shows and media.

Last week, I used the illustration of The Queen's Gambit,

which is a Netflix show.

So obviously, I think there are good things on Netflix.

There are also things on Netflix

that are an absolute abomination.

There are things that celebrate

and delight in what God hates and despises.

There are things that are meant to take our hearts

and cause them to value

and to love what God warns us about.

There's all sorts of stories being told

that tell us things that are different

than the story God wants to tell us.

There are all sorts of values

that we're supposed to adopt

that are different than the values

that God wants us to adopt.

And so while we may not be taught

the language and literature of the Chaldeans,

we are constantly being taught

the language and the literature

of Western secularism.

We, like Daniel and his friends,

are under pressure.

And we don't just see this in our movies,

in our media.

We also have it in our education system as well.

We have, on the one hand,

some schools that hold up

a high value of morality and ethics.

And yet that's all it is.

It ends up being this dead morality.

It's moralism where we're meant

to be good people for the sake of ourselves.

And then there's schools, on the other hand,

that teach something equally dangerous.

Maybe they teach us to value

scientism above everything else.

They want us to forget the fact

that even that has certain types

of faith commitments.

Even that involves

unexamined assumptions

and operating principles.

And so we feel the conflict

just as Daniel feels the conflict.

We also live in this kind of pressured world.

And so just like Daniel,

we're also going to come in

to places of conflict.

If we are living in a world

where there's tension,

there's ultimately going to be

conflict and opposition.

And so that's what we see next

in this story.

We've been set up in verses 1 through 7

for the problems of this world

that Daniel finds himself in.

And now he gets into direct conflict

with what he's being asked to do.

Verse 8,

Daniel resolved that he would not

defile himself with the king's food

or with the wine that he drank.

And so in the midst of this pagan world,

Daniel wants to retain

his distinctive faith,

his identity.

And we're not told in this passage

exactly why it is

that this meat and this wine

would defile him.

That's not spelled out for us.

And so it's actually become

a matter of great debate

what exactly is objectionable about this.

There are probably two general camps.

I won't drag us down

into a bunny trail here,

but I'll give you a broad overview.

Some people are convinced

that Daniel's being asked

to do something

that would break the law of God,

whether it's violating kosher laws,

whether this food

has been sacrificed to idols.

There's something about it

that would cause him to sin.

So that's one camp.

There's another camp that argues,

no, there's not anything sinful

about this meat and this wine,

but we see that it's associated

so closely with the king

that Daniel wants to make

a statement to himself

that he relies on God.

He doesn't rely on Nebuchadnezzar.

Between those two,

I'll just simply say,

I lean to believing that Daniel

here is being asked

to violate the law of God.

And I believe that for two reasons.

First, in verse eight,

we see the word defile twice.

Remember that repetition

is very important in the Bible

and defile here is a strong word.

It's hard for me to believe

that Daniel would believe

he's defiling himself

unless it was something

that was very sinful.

So that's one reason I believe

that's the way this passage is leaning.

The second reason I believe it is this,

Daniel's taking an incredible risk.

Many people believe

Daniel's risking his life

by doing this.

And so it would seem a strange thing

for him to pick this

of all the things

to risk his life over

unless he believed

he had to do this

to honor God.

And so it's with that

we're going to head into this tension.

Daniel's being asked

to do something

that would violate his conscience

and he puts together

a strategy.

First of all,

he goes to the chief of the eunuchs.

Remember we met this man

in verse three.

His name is Ashpenaz.

And he goes to him first

asking if he can avoid

this food.

Now we find out

verse nine

that God has given Daniel

favor in the eyes

of this man.

But even that

is not enough.

Verse 10,

the chief of the eunuchs

says to Daniel,

I fear the Lord my king.

I fear Nebuchadnezzar.

I don't want

anything bad

to happen to me.

And it could be dangerous,

right?

Verse 10,

why should he see

that you are in worse condition?

So you would endanger

my head with the king.

In other words,

I could get killed

if I do what you ask.

Which underscores also

the threat for Daniel.

Of course,

we think he could get killed

as well for asking this.

If the king finds out

that he's not willing

to eat his food.

So the stakes are very high.

Daniel doesn't have success

here though.

Although his favor

does help him.

Verse nine,

he has that favor.

And so this eunuch

does not go and tell

on Daniel.

He doesn't help him.

He also doesn't hurt him.

Daniel, however,

continues to be persistent.

Also note,

by the way,

verse 10,

there's this emphasis

on the eunuch

fearing Nebuchadnezzar.

The implication is

the eunuch fears

the king of Babylon.

Daniel fears Yahweh.

Daniel fears his king.

Daniel fears God.

Daniel's not going

to give up though.

He keeps pushing.

Verse 11,

he moves down

the pole here

of authority.

He moves down

the chain of command.

The eunuchs told him no.

Okay,

we're going to go

ask the steward.

Verse 11,

he goes to the steward

and asks him

for this test.

Give us these vegetables

to eat

so we don't violate

our consciences.

And the steward here

agrees to the test.

He allows them

to be tested

for 10,

for 10 days.

And I wanted to stop here

and I want you to notice

for a second,

this is something

we're going to come back to

again in the book of Daniel,

that when it comes

to navigating

these difficult situations,

Daniel has a wide

repertoire of approaches.

He has different strategies

for different situations.

Not everything

has to be handled

in the same way.

And so there are

some Christians today

when they talk about

our conflict with the culture,

they make it sound like

there's only one way

to deal with conflict.

It's to be very loud

and aggressive about it.

We've got to stamp

our flag in the ground

and let everyone know

what we're doing

and why we're doing it.

We'll talk more about that

in a little bit,

but I just want to note

that here.

Daniel actually chooses

sort of an under-the-radar approach.

He chooses an approach

where not everyone knows

what he's up to.

He follows this principle

that I'm going to return to

again in the book of Daniel

from Matthew 10, verse 16

Matthew 10:16

that Jesus gives us.

He tells us,

I'm sending you out

in the world

and so I want you

to be wise as serpents

but innocent as doves.

And that's what Daniel does here.

He's innocent as a dove.

He doesn't break God's law.

He's wise as a servant

or as wise as a serpent.

He's smart about how he goes

about avoiding this meat

and this wine.

Daniel's faithful.

He doesn't compromise.

He's also wise and strategic.

And so that's the opposition

that Daniel finds himself in.

There's this tension

that leads to conflict.

We've named our tension.

We are also going to face conflict.

Sorry, I saw a connection problem there

with the Facebook.

So Daniel's in tension.

We're in tension.

Daniel faces conflict.

If we live in this world,

we expect we're going to face

conflict as well.

We're going to talk more about this

when we get to chapter 3 of Daniel.

But there's a category here

that we need to know as Christians

and that's the category

of civil disobedience.

That's part of what Daniel's

participating in here.

And we find this principle

well articulated in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Peter and the disciples

are preaching.

They're brought before the council here

to answer for what they're doing.

And the high priest tells them,

verse 28,

this is again Acts 5,

we strictly charge you

not to teach in this name.

That's Jesus' name.

Yet here you have filled up Jerusalem

with your teaching

and you intend to bring

this man's blood upon us.

And here's the money verse,

Acts chapter 5,

Acts 5:29

verse 29,

Peter and the apostles answered,

we must obey God

rather than men.

Daniel chooses to obey God

rather than men.

We also will be put in situations

where we have to choose

to obey God

rather than men.

We'll be put in situations

where we're in conflict

with our government.

And so I'll give you a few examples.

Disobeying the government

when it commands us

to participate in evil.

We have some legislation

going on right now

in our country.

We have a couple ones.

One's called the Equality Act.

One is called the Do Not Harm Act.

And these of course

sound like wonderful things, right?

Who's against equality?

Who wants to harm someone?

The Equality Act's

made its way through Congress.

It's now going towards the Senate.

And it can be used

for a variety of things.

Of people who've studied it,

some people believe

that it could be used

to compel doctors

who don't want to participate

in abortions

to participate in them anyway

if they want to continue

to be doctors.

And so it would do away

with a lot of the religious

freedom protections

that people have right now.

It could be used potentially

to compel Christian businesses

to participate in ceremonies

that they believe

celebrate things

that are evil.

That they would call good

what God calls evil.

It could narrow,

just in general,

our abilities

to have religious liberty exemptions.

And it could be used

to impose upon

some of our freedoms

as a church.

Now I tell you this

not to be alarmist.

We don't know exactly

what's going to happen

in the future.

Of course this could be defeated.

But it's an example

of the sorts of things

that we need to be prepared

for as Christians.

When it comes to suffering,

when it comes to persecution,

I want us to have thought

about it beforehand.

We want to have meditated

on God's word

so that we're prepared

when the challenge comes.

This we can assume

is what Daniel

has been doing, right?

How is he able

to stand so firm

as a 13 and 14 year old?

Well,

most likely he's been

meditating on God's word.

He's been taught God's ways

and God's law.

And so this pressure,

he's not going to cave under it.

Now we'll see later

in the book of Daniel,

we'll have plenty of opportunity

to also talk about

Daniel's prayer life

and the ways

that that fortifies him.

Regardless to say,

there are challenges for Daniel.

There are also challenges for us.

There are times and places

when we're going to have

to say no to our government

in the same way

that Daniel has

because of our allegiance

and our loyalty

and our faithfulness

to Jesus Christ.

And so that's one

of the major questions

of Daniel.

When do we do that

and how do we do that?

How do we survive

in the midst

of this culture

with pressure on us?

I'm going to pause here

for a second.

So we're asking

these heavy questions.

We've seen

the general challenge

and the specific challenge,

both for Daniel

and for us.

And I asked the question

at the very beginning,

where is God

in the midst of suffering?

And so before we talk

about what we need to do,

I want to talk about

what God is doing

and has done

in this passage.

In the midst

of all these problems,

the vessels of the temple,

remember verse 2,

have been taken to Babylon.

It looks like God

and his people

have been defeated.

It looks like

the gods of Babylon

are more powerful

than the God of Israel

and yet,

nothing could be farther

from the truth.

In the midst

of this passage,

throughout,

from beginning to end,

we see that God

is in control.

So I invite you

to look with me

in detail at these verses.

We see in verse 2,

verse 9,

and verse 17,

that it says either God

or the Lord

gave something.

Verse 2,

the Lord gave Jehoiakim,

king of Judah,

into his hand.

Why was Babylon

able to defeat Israel?

Because God

allowed them to.

Verse 9,

God gives something else.

God gave Daniel

favor and compassion

in the sight

of the chief of the eunuchs.

Why was Daniel

not killed

simply for his request

not to eat meat and wine?

Because God

was at work

protecting and preserving him.

God continues

to be active

in this passage.

And then verse 17,

we see God

gives something else.

As for these four youths,

God gave them

learning and skill

in all literature

and wisdom

and Daniel had understanding

in all visions

and dreams.

Why were they so smart?

Why were they so skilled?

Why were they the ones

taken from Israel?

Because God

blessed them.

God was at work

giving them

the skills

they needed

to survive

in this foreign land.

And so before

we talk about

anything else,

before we move forward

in knowing

how it is

that we respond

and stand firm.

Remember,

the people who know

their God

will stand firm

and take action.

The first part

is that we know

our God.

Our God

is at work

no matter

the circumstances.

No matter

what is going

on around us,

God still

rules and reigns

over the nations.

He rules

and reigns

over Babylon

in this passage

and he rules

and reigns

over every nation

today.

God is still

in control.

Now,

it's not just

those three verses.

It's not just

2, 9, and 17,

but we see God

at work in other ways

here.

You'll notice

verse 6,

Daniel is not

sent in alone.

God sends him

with friends.

Daniel doesn't

have to figure it

all out by himself.

He has

Hananiah,

Mishael,

Azariah

to help him

and be with him.

And so that's

God's help

in the general

situation, right?

He's giving favor.

He's giving Israel

over into the hands

of Babylon.

He's giving them

skill and wisdom

and understanding.

God also

is at work

and very powerful

in this specific

challenge

and specific

situation.

We're going to

look again

at this 10-day test

because what

they're asking

is, in a sense,

something reckless.

There is a reason

in verse 10,

the chief of the eunuch

says he believes

they're going to be

in worse condition

if they follow

this diet.

Okay?

There's a reason

Daniel sets the test

for only 12 days

and the reason

is this.

Vegetables

won't make you

strong.

Vegetables

are not going

to make you fat,

as controversial

as it may sound.

Now, there are

many Christians

who take this passage

and they say,

oh, we can see

from this passage

this is dictating

our diet to us.

If we can just

eat vegetables

like Daniel,

we will be honoring

God.

Now, that does

a couple things.

First of all,

it ignores Daniel

Daniel 10:2

chapter 10,

verse 2,

where we find out

later in Daniel's life,

he did have a diet

of meat and wine.

It also does

something else.

It forgets

some of the historical

background of this passage.

There are scholars

who've looked at art

from Mesopotamia

and they see men

depicted in two ways.

It's from this book here,

How to Read Daniel.

And he tells us

about the two different ways

that men are depicted

in art.

One of them,

the warrior class,

are bristling with muscles.

That's what he tells us.

On the other hand,

wise men,

like Daniel and his colleagues,

are pictured as bald,

big-eyed,

a symbol of intelligence,

so they have these huge eyes,

and chubby.

That is the look

that Nebuchadnezzar

was going for.

In other words,

Daniel and his friends,

after eating vegetables

for 10 days

and water,

are fat.

God has performed

a miracle.

He has made people fat

from eating only vegetables

and drinking only water.

God is at work

in this situation

doing the impossible.

He is showing

his power

and protection

and control

even in the small element

of Daniel's diet.

And so,

all throughout this passage,

explicitly

in what we're told

God gives,

implicitly

in the miracle

we see him perform,

God is at work

protecting,

providing for his people,

even in the midst

of a challenging

and hostile world.

And so,

first and foremost,

what we want

to underscore

is God's work

on behalf

of his people

in Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

Remember I told you

at the beginning

we're going to be

reminded and instructed.

And first of all,

we're reminded

that God rules

and reigns.

Second then,

after we understand

that,

we can move on

to the instruction.

How we live

as foreigners,

how we live

faithfully

in a foreign land.

And so,

that's where we turn now.

Of course,

God preserves

his people here.

In this passage,

God is preserving you.

And with that knowledge,

then we ask,

how do we dare

to be a Daniel?

Remember I mentioned

near the end

of our series

in 2 Peter

we were going

to talk about this,

whether we can

follow Daniel

as an example.

This is also

a controversial subject

and I'm going

to tell you,

yes,

we follow Daniel

as an example

but we don't

just follow him.

We follow him

as he has

trust and faith

in God.

It's his faith

and his trust

that we're following

him in.

And so,

the highlight,

the emphasis,

the accent mark

is still on God

and what he is doing.

And so,

how do we live

faithfully like Daniel

trusting in God

and his care?

We've already talked

about one of our principles,

the principle

of civil disobedience.

I'll remind you again,

Acts 5 29

says this,

we must obey God

rather than men.

Just like Daniel,

we choose to obey

God rather than men.

So,

remember our question,

when do we disobey

the government?

When the government

tells us to do something

that God tells us

not to do.

When the government

tells us not to do

something that God

tells us to do.

And it's only

those two situations.

So,

we need to be careful.

If you're going to

claim civil disobedience,

you need to back it up

from the Bible.

There's plenty of people

who run around

claiming that they're

exercising civil disobedience

as Christians

and what they're doing

they can't support

from Scripture.

So,

there's a narrow list

of things.

There's a limited list

of things that we look to

when we're honoring God

rather than men.

Second,

we're going to draw

some principles

from this passage.

Daniel gives us

some practical strategies

here

for how to be wise.

I mentioned earlier

that he's very subtle.

He doesn't stamp

a flag in the ground.

Instead,

he works behind the scenes.

And in fact,

he shows us

the power here

of what we might call

the lesser magistrate

or local government.

Daniel,

in other words,

doesn't go to Nebuchadnezzar.

He goes to someone

lower down

the chain of command

and he handles it

at that level.

Now,

we know this,

especially after this

last year during COVID.

A lot of what mattered

when it came to restrictions,

now I'm not saying

those things

were a religious liberty issue.

I'm just giving you

an example

of how government operates

at different levels.

So,

don't hear what I'm not saying.

What we saw

was that local government

mattered a lot.

No matter what governors

might be saying,

no matter what presidents

might be saying,

what really mattered

was what,

I should say,

mayors were saying,

what governors of towns

were saying.

That's what really mattered.

What local police departments

were saying,

that's what really mattered.

And Daniel recognizes

that principle.

He picks,

now he goes high first,

but he goes down

to the lowest level

to negotiate.

The same is true for us.

There's times when we're

going to need to take a stand.

Sometimes wisdom means

taking the stand

at the lowest level possible

with the lowest person possible.

We don't always have to have

a big public display

of our stand.

Daniel makes that clear for us.

And so we're wise.

We're wise about understanding

who has power,

who has real authority

in a practical situation.

Daniel handles this

with a steward.

No one else really knows about it.

As far as we know,

Daniel,

the steward,

and his friends know about it.

No one else.

It never reaches up

the chain of command.

Daniel handles it

at a low level.

And so that's just

a wise principle

for us to think about

as we go into situations

where we might be called

to disobey the authorities

above us.

How can we be wise?

How can we keep it small

rather than making it big?

At one point,

by the way,

I'll mention,

during COVID,

when we had restrictions,

there was one point

when El Paso County

actually gave preferential

treatment to churches.

Most places across the nation

bundled churches

with movie theaters

and sporting events.

They kind of consider them

all in the same category.

El Paso County

actually considered churches

to be in a separate county,

in a separate category,

and they gave us

looser restrictions

than some of those other venues.

You might ask the question,

why?

There's probably a variety

of reasons.

I can't 100% prove it,

but I believe part of the reason

churches got preferential treatment

in El Paso County

is because for years now,

our local churches

have been working

to establish good relationships

with our local government.

Don't take that for granted.

That is a wise move.

That's a Daniel-like move

to have a strong relationship

with the lesser magistrate.

Low on the chain of command

where the decisions

are actually made.

Nebuchadnezzar's given his command

that these people have

the king's meat,

the king's wine,

but it's actually the steward

who controls what happens

on the ground.

Okay, so we keep that principle

in mind when we think

about civil disobedience.

I also want to give you

another principle,

which is this.

Negotiation is a legitimate technique.

I reminded you before,

Daniel has a wide repertoire

that he uses

when he approaches

these situations.

In fact, if you want to

dig into this more,

there's a wonderful book

called Free to Believe,

and I believe it's chapter 12.

It gives a wonderful overview

of all the different strategies

God's people have used

throughout the Bible

when it comes to

civil disobedience.

Negotiation is one

of those strategies,

and that's the label

he gives to what Daniel

does here in this passage.

So you notice

what Daniel doesn't do.

He doesn't go to the eunuch

and say,

you know what?

I worship Yahweh,

and God is not dead,

so I want to let you know

that I'm here to take a stand.

Daniel doesn't say

anything like that.

He just tells him,

you know,

well, he does say

allow him not to defile himself,

but he has some wisdom

about it, right?

He's not making a big stink.

He doesn't go to Nebuchadnezzar.

He's not posting

on social media

about what it is

that he's doing,

letting everyone know

where he stands.

He's going one-on-one

in a back room

behind closed doors,

and he's negotiating.

He does the same thing

with the steward.

Test your servant

for 10 days,

verse 12.

And he actually appeals

in some ways

to this man's self-interest,

right?

Why is it

that this man is so pleased?

Well,

it turns out

that they look better

than everyone else.

So the steward actually

ends up looking

really good.

Again,

we have our principle

of being wise as a serpent,

innocent as a dove.

We need to think of having

a variety of repertoire,

a repertoire

of a variety of approaches

when we're pursuing

civil disobedience.

So someone who's

innocent as a dove,

they don't violate

God's law.

Someone who's wise

as a serpent,

they figure out

the right approach

for the right situation.

They have a variety

of tools.

Remember that old cliche,

if all you have

is a hammer,

everything's a nail.

The wise person

has more than just a hammer.

They know how to navigate

a variety of situations.

Okay?

I had a mentor

who told me one time,

we pick our battles,

we also pick

our battlefields.

Daniel here,

he's picked his battle

and he chooses

his battlefield.

He decides his battlefield

is going to be

a backroom negotiation.

So he makes

sort of a backroom deal here.

The same may be true

for us, by the way.

If we end up

in a situation

where there are things

our government mandates

that we cannot do

without violating

our conscience,

maybe you're a doctor,

right,

and you're told

you have to do

certain things.

Well,

maybe you're able

to negotiate

a backroom deal.

Maybe you're able

to figure out

in your practice

or your hospital,

there's an understanding

among everyone

that you don't do

certain things

and no one forces

the point

because you're

such a good doctor.

They don't want

to lose you.

Maybe you're

in the military

and there comes down

a mandate

that you need

to do something

that violates

your conscience.

Maybe you negotiate

a deal

with the next person

up in the chain

of command

and maybe no one

else knows about it.

Be like Daniel.

Be wise

in picking your battles

and your battlefields.

I'm going to give you

one more application

here in terms of tactics

for being wise

in our civil disobedience

and it's this.

We see this principle

in verse 9.

Remember,

God's giving certain things.

He gives Daniel favor.

Now,

I'm not going to go

deep into this

but there's various echoes

in Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

of the Joseph story

from the end

of the book of Genesis.

Joseph is also given

the same word favor

by God

which helps him

in his situation.

And so,

part of the reason

that Daniel's successful

is that God

supernaturally intervenes,

works in the hearts

of the secular pagan people

around him

that they view him

in a good light.

Now,

there's some ways

that Daniel's done this

just by his skill

and his excellence.

I'm going to suggest

one thing for us

is that we can also

pray about this.

It is good

and right

and legitimate

to pray

that God

would give us favor

in our workplaces.

And so,

this is something

that you can do

as an individual.

It's something

you can do

as a family.

Maybe when you gather

as a family

and you pray

at a meal,

one of the things

that you can pray

is that God

would give mom

or dad favor

at their job.

That God

would give them favor

in the eyes

of their boss.

God would give them favor

in the eyes

of the company

they work for.

God would give them favor

in the eyes

of the people

who work for them.

And when that time

comes,

when you have to say no,

that favor

will be what makes

the difference.

And so,

we're people who understand

not just that we are

doing certain things

but we're trusting

and relying on God.

One of the ways

that we trust

and rely on God

as we'll see later

in this book

is in prayer.

Daniel,

we'll see,

has a diligent prayer life.

And one of the ways

we can pray specifically

is that as we walk

in this world

God would give us favor

in the eyes

of those around us.

Even those

who disagree

with our religious beliefs

and commitments.

Because as we see

for Daniel

that is actually

what makes here

the difference

for him

between life

and death.

Finally,

when we talk about

the Acts 5 29 principle

that we obey God

rather than men

we're reminded

that we do it

because of our

trust in God.

We obey God

because we trust

in God.

We see that dynamic

in this passage.

Daniel's learned

about the God

of Israel

and Daniel

exercises that knowledge

and we see

the God of Israel

delivering.

He shows up.

He's the one

giving favor.

He's the one

giving learning

and skill.

He's the one

performing a miracle

so that Daniel

can get fat

on vegetables.

The same,

brothers and sisters,

is true for us

and even more.

We also

see God's provision

and his intervention

in our lives.

We see it

even more

in Jesus.

We are told

in the New Testament

that it's not just

that God rules

and reigns

over the nations

but Jesus,

because of his

victory by his

resurrection,

also rules

and reigns

over the nations.

We're told this

in Ephesians chapter 1

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

that God,

by the working

of his great might,

this is Ephesians 1 19,

that he worked

in Christ

when he raised

him from the dead

and seated him

at his right hand

in the heavenly places,

far above

all rule

and authority

and power

and dominion

and above

every name

that is named,

not only in this age

but also in the age

to come,

and he put

all things

under his feet.

In other words,

Jesus

has all authority

and control

in heaven

and on earth.

He sits

over the nations

just like we see

God,

even as he

hands his people

into exile,

having all authority

and control

over the nations.

We're also told

in Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

God,

Jesus disarmed

the rulers

and authorities

and put them

to open shame

by triumphing

over them in him.

That's God then

disarming the rulers

and authorities.

And then Jesus

also shows us

God's presence

and his care.

John chapter 16,

John 16 · chapter mention

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.

If you've been

with us some time,

you know that I

emphasize bookends

and we have bookends

in this passage.

We're told

a date

on the first verse

and a date

in the last verse.

In the first verse,

we see this is

the third year

of the reign of Jehoiakim.

And we see

in the last verse,

Daniel was there

until the first year

of King Cyrus.

That is,

he was all the way

there until 539.

In other words,

God preserves Daniel

from beginning to end.

He sees him

all the way through.

He outlasts

Nebuchadnezzar.

He is able

to make it all the way.

Daniel serves God

faithfully.

God protects

and preserves Daniel.

So it is for us.

We serve God

faithfully.

God preserves

and protects us

no matter the culture

that we find ourselves in,

no matter the challenges

that present themselves.

in the very end

of the Gospel of Matthew,

Jesus' last words,

the last words

of the last verse

of the last chapter,

he says this,

and behold,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

Brothers and sisters,

because God is with us,

because he controls

everything,

we can serve

and follow him faithfully

no matter the circumstances.

because he tells us,

behold,

I am with you

even to the end

of the age.

I invite you

to pray with me.

Our Father in Heaven,

we thank you

for this encouragement

from your word.

We ask that you would

give us both the strength

to stand strong

and be faithful

no matter the circumstances

that face us,

and you'd also give us

this trust

and confidence

in you.

You'd remind us

that you're at work

and you are the one

who reigns

and rules over the nations.

We ask you these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks to all of you

for joining me

this morning.

I hope to see you all

very soon,

and as we end

our time together,

we will continue

our tradition

of ending our time

with a benediction.

And so I invite you,

even as we're separated,

to hold up your hand.

I will hold up my hand

to send out God's blessing

on you,

and you hold out your hands

to receive God's blessing.

And so hear now

God's good word

from 1 Thessalonians 5.

Now may the God of peace

himself sanctify you

completely,

and may your whole spirit

and soul and body

be kept blameless

at the coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He who calls you

is faithful.

He will surely do it.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us,

and I hope to see

all of you very soon.

Bye-bye.

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