Daniel 1

I only went off to summer camp once, like away, overnight.

It was a soccer camp.

I was in middle school.

I don't actually remember the details of it very much.

But I remember moving into the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, that's a mouthful, dormitories,

and finding myself sleeping on a bad mattress in a concrete shell of an empty dorm room for

that week.

I was there to learn soccer, and I'm sure I did learn a lot about it.

But one of my overwhelming memories of it was how disorienting and how unsettled I felt.

Because I had no idea who I was or what I was doing there in so many ways.

I was in a place where I had never been before.

And I remember I would go down and I would eat dinner at the cafeteria, and there were

other guys in the, you know, you'd eat with other guys and you'd sit around and like guys,

you just wouldn't talk and then you'd eat and then you'd be done.

And some of them would go off to do who knows what they would do during camp.

And I thought, I have no idea how to do this.

Or what am I supposed to do?

Or where do I go?

I was missing the familiar patterns of life, the familiar people around me, the familiar

activities that marked my life and my day.

And without these familiar identity markers, I didn't know who I was.

So usually I would retreat to some TV room where I couldn't really turn the lights on and

watch who knows what until I went to bed early and lonely.

The question of who we are is a large one.

And as we encounter the world that we live in, the question of how identity markers and

cultural patterns and forms shape us, how they affect how we understand ourselves is real.

It is not a bad thing, necessarily.

It is a neutral thing.

These identity markers can push us to either be good or can push us in good directions to

be more of who we truly are, or they can seek to conform us in different ways.

This is the beginning of the year.

Some of you have just moved to New Haven for school, for work.

You are particularly aware this morning of the disorientation that comes from change.

A new school, a new town, a new part of the country, new friends, new patterns, new responsibilities.

And with it come a whole mix of things, doesn't it?

On one hand, you're excited.

This is new.

There are new opportunities.

There are new people to meet.

There are new things to try.

There's freedom from the old patterns.

There are new things to try.

There are new things to try.

But probably there's also a bit of fear and bewilderment.

We want to grow in these opportunities, but we also want to feel like we belong and to feel

like we fit in.

And we don't quite know how to do that.

And we need to acknowledge that there's a darker side to these transitions as well.

There's a proverbial parable of the frog in the kettle.

If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out.

It knows that that context is not good and that he will end up as soup if he stays in.

And so he jumps back out.

But if you put a frog in lukewarm water and you turn up the heat slowly, the frog will happily

go to the dinner table.

The danger of being assimilated into a culture without thinking, the danger of being shaped

by forces that you're not aware of, the danger of losing who you are in a desire to fit into

the context around you is real.

We love the comfort of fitting in, but we need to recognize this danger.

What does the Bible have to say to us about these things?

What is it about knowing God that can help shape and transform how we navigate our lives

in light of this?

We are beginning this fall a series on the book of Daniel.

Daniel is in the Old Testament.

You can start turning there if you want in your pew Bibles.

We're going to read it in a minute.

Page 737 in your pew Bible is where it is.

We're going to be looking at the first chapter today.

But when you look at the whole series of the whole book, the whole book is given to give

us an answer to that question of who are we and how are we to live in this world in light of who God is.

I don't want to give you the punchline yet.

We'll get there at the end of our sermon.

But that's why we're studying the book of Daniel this morning.

As we come here, I want to give you some history.

If you want to pull out your bulletin, if you look near the back, there's a chart, a historical chart.

It will give you a date on the column to your left.

On the left-hand side, there's a…

Am I doing that right?

Yes.

Left-hand column is the dates.

And then there's the kings of Judah, the prophets that you read in the Bible,

and then the rulership of the area that I called Mesopotamia, which is basically Israel, Syria, Palestine,

what is now Iraq, Lebanon, northern Saudi Arabia.

This is Mesopotamia.

And this is the world in which Daniel lived.

And what I want you to see is that in the history of the Bible and of God's people,

God had called the people to himself way back at the beginning, right?

And you read through Genesis, Exodus, and into the end of the Pentateuch, the first five,

you see God's people being freed from slavery and being brought to the brink of the promised land,

which was in Israel.

And then in Joshua and Judges and King Samuel and Kings and Chronicles,

you see the story of them taking the land and establishing,

God's people established themselves as a sociopolitical nation.

To worship God and to display his glory in the world.

And yet, what you then see is that they didn't do that very well.

In fact, they rebelled against God.

They did not trust him, nor obey him, nor honor him, nor worship him as he deserved.

And so, slowly, over time, the nation decayed.

In 722, the nation of Assyria came and invaded the northern part of Israel and conquered it.

And so, the great nation that God had established had then shrunk significantly.

And then as you look through, you see the southern kingdom hung on for another hundred plus years,

had some great kings like Hezekiah and Josiah that brought some needed reforms.

And yet, they were constantly threatened.

In the north, by the kingdom of Assyria.

In the south, by the kingdom of Egypt.

And in 612 BC, the Assyrians were defeated by the Babylonians.

A new power on the scene.

In 605, the Babylonians continued.

And they defeated the Egyptian army.

The Carchemish, which is actually a town north of where modern-day Israel is.

And so, Babylon came on the scene as the new power.

And during that time, as they pushed south after that victory, they came to Jerusalem.

And that leads us to our text this morning.

So, let's look together and read Daniel chapter 1.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

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,

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

endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace,

to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

The king assigned them a daily portion of 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.

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

nor with the wine that he drank.

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

And God gave to 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 are 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.

At the end of the 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 and gave them,

and they were to,

the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

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.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this word.

Lord, we thank you for the story of these,

the lives of these, your servants.

Lord, as they faced new circumstances and challenging things,

Lord, you showed up with them.

God, we pray this morning as we hear this word

that you would challenge us, teach us, encourage us, Lord.

To know you and to trust in you and to follow you.

Lord, I pray you would use me and my words this morning.

I pray that your Holy Spirit would make clear to each of us

what you have to say.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

How do we face life when we are in exile?

This is the story.

These boys were taken away into exile.

Where does God meet us in those places

where we feel like we are in exile?

Let's explore the story of Daniel together.

There are three parts we want to look at

as we explore this this morning

and what it has for us.

First is, what is the crisis of exile?

The second one is, what is the opportunity of exile?

And the third is, the God with us in exile.

So that's what we're going to look at this morning.

First is the crisis of exile.

If you look back with me in verses 1 or 2,

in a very terse way, the writer says,

And so, the king Nebuchadnezzar of this foreign nation

that worshipped foreign gods

and had already threatened the nation of God before,

if you go back and you look at the story with Hezekiah,

they'd already been there.

They'd already thrown their warning signs

across the bow, so to speak.

They showed up.

And they besieged the city.

And the king was given into their hand.

It doesn't mean that he was necessarily

taken away for prisoner.

It's a bit tricky to figure out the history

of exactly what happened.

But clearly, he capitulated to their rule.

And they went into the house of God.

And they took special, special things

out of the house of God

and returned with them to,

it says Shinar, I believe, in verse 2.

Is that right?

Yes.

Shinar, remembering that Shinar is

back in the whole, in the beginning of Genesis

and the story of the Tower of Babel.

It was the place where humanity rebelled against God.

And so, he's reminding them that what happened was,

from the Israelite point of view,

these pagan brigands had broken into their house,

had overrun their city,

had gone into the temple of their God,

and had stolen stuff and taken it back

to this place that had no care for God,

and in fact, was the symbol of rebellion against Him.

And friends, if you were a Jew in that moment,

all the promises of God would suddenly seem suspect.

Where is God?

How could this happen?

What about the promises that He gave to Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob

that He would make this place His place

for His people forever where He would rule?

There is no analogy in our culture

because even if Washington, D.C. fell,

it is not the religious center of our country.

It is merely the political one.

There is no way for us to imagine

the depth of crisis that this created

in the hearts of a Jew.

Jerusalem, the city of God,

was violated by these pagans

who worshipped other gods.

How could this be?

Who are we?

What do we do now?

Are the questions that are going to be

the hearts of every Jew.

And of course, what we see here

is just the precursor.

When you see the history,

they came back in 597,

and then they came back again in 587, 586.

And when they finally came back,

they razed the city and destroyed the temple,

took the king off into prison,

removed all of the best people from the land.

And Israel was no more.

What they feared,

what they saw happening,

actually did happen.

The worst of what they had thought would happen.

And they were left wondering,

where is God?

I wonder if you're here today

and you're facing a crisis like that.

Where is God?

Maybe you've been uprooted from a place

you thought you were going to be for a long time.

Maybe you've been brought here

to study, for school.

But maybe your marriage has fallen apart.

And you're left with the wreckage of it.

And wondering, where is God for me?

Maybe your job,

that looked like the dream job,

has turned out to be a nightmare.

Where is God in this?

I want you to note verse 2.

Eyes that have eyes to see

need to notice these little things.

When you're reading Old Testament narrative,

you need to look for the little God sightings

because it's the writer reminding you

that in fact he's behind the whole thing.

Look with me in verse 2 again.

And the Lord gave.

This did not happen with God

wringing his hands in heaven going,

Oh no!

How could this have happened?

God actually gave Jerusalem

and the king into the hands of these pagans.

God was not absent

and he was not far off.

He was confusing, yes.

He was bewildering, for sure.

But he was not far off.

And as we continue to see the story,

we'll see that this is true again and again.

But this crisis of these circumstances

is then compounded by what happens next in the story.

Don't forget that the Old Testament writers,

as they wrote narrative, wrote beautiful stories.

This is just the setting part.

Verses 3 through 7 is now the beginning of the action.

Right?

Having done this, Nebuchadnezzar went home.

He actually went home because his father had died

and he was ascending to the throne

in a particular, in the fullness of his power.

He had been the general as he did this

and he was going home to become the king.

So he left town pretty quickly.

And along the way,

he said to the chief eunuch,

oh, by the way,

I want you to bring some men.

Look with me, 3 through 7.

Right?

He said, bring some of the royal family,

particularly youths.

This would have been men.

Right?

And they were, by his command,

the cream of the crop.

Look at what they were.

They were from the right families,

royal or nobility.

They were the bold, the beautiful,

the best, and the brightest.

Right?

They were good looking.

They were smart.

They were competent.

They were able to learn and to teach.

They were able to receive the language of the Chaldeans.

The Chaldeans was the tribe of people

from which the Babylonian empire rose.

So it was kind of like the tribe of Chaldeans

became the Babylonian empire.

In case you're wondering how those words interact,

that's why it's there.

Basically, what the king is doing is saying,

we want to assimilate the best of them

into our kingdom.

We want them to be Babylonian,

just like we are.

We're going to take them in.

And we have a program of assimilation.

We're going to teach them.

We're going to train them.

The training in the writings of the Chaldeans

would have included the Chaldean emphasis on magic

and on divination and a number of their spiritual

as well as political and religious worldviews.

So they're getting trained completely

in an alien worldview as good Jewish people.

And not only that,

but they're being taken as the best specimens

and they're going to be given the...

I was thinking about this.

It's kind of like,

if you remember in the beginning

of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

when Eustace goes in

and do you remember who he meets?

He meets the white witch, right?

And what does she give him?

Do you remember?

Candy.

Toffee, right?

What was it?

What was the word?

Yes.

You guys remember.

It's this...

Gives them this special...

Right?

So this is what eating from the king's food

I think was like.

It's basically saying,

hey, you know what?

Not only do we bring you in

and give you all this training,

but man, you get some perks.

You get the apartment.

You get the car.

You get the, you know,

club med.

You get all of these perks

for being assimilated

into the greatness

of the Babylonian empire.

Come and be a part of us.

Oh, and by the way,

we're even going to give you new names

so that you fit in

and everyone can say your name

without stumbling over it.

We're going to give,

take away your names.

Each of your names that had,

if you look at Old Testament names,

always had,

Jewish names almost always had

either L or Yah

or A, you see it in E-L or A-H

at the end of names often

as because it's referring to God.

They were people who belonged to God

and so they had these names.

And the Babylonians said,

yeah, we're going to give you new names.

Ones that don't tie you to your old God.

Ones that don't,

that take away yet another culture marker

of who you were

and who your God was

and what your identity was.

They didn't get to choose.

This was not a foreign exchange program

that they signed up for.

They were slaves.

They were forced to do this.

They were forced to go

and they were forced to walk

into this program of assimilation.

And if you're reading the story,

you're asking the question,

how will they respond?

What is going to happen to these boys?

Are they going to be lost forever

to the Babylonians?

Are they going to become

unrecognizable to us

because they are going to become

so Babylonian?

Before we go on with the story,

I want to stop and pause

and think about us for a minute

because we need to place ourselves

in the broader biblical storyline

for a minute.

God created a world for us to live in

in Genesis 1 and 2.

And in Genesis 3,

in our rebellion,

we said,

no, thank you.

And God sent us into exile.

God sent us out into a world

that no longer lived

completely under his rule

in obedience to all of his commands

and reflecting the fullness of his glory

as it had been intended.

With the fall,

with the rebellion of man,

the world then was also

in rebellion against God.

And God sent his people out

of the Garden of Eden,

the place of fellowship with him

and the place of perfection

and sent them out

to live in exile.

Spiritual exile

from our true spiritual home.

And as you look through

the whole Old Testament,

you see these themes

again and again and again

about how do we get home?

How do we become God's people again?

How do we get there

without answer?

And it's only when we get

to the New Testament

where we read Paul

writing to the Philippians

reminding the believers in Christ

that their citizenship is in heaven.

Or Peter,

in the passage it was read earlier,

reminding the believers

as they're facing persecution

in a fierce Roman season

of oppression against the church.

Peter reminds them

that they're God's people

called by his grace and mercy

living as exiles and strangers

in this world.

Knowing that through faith in Christ,

now this world is not our home.

The home that we long for

is the home that is yet to come.

When God remakes this world

and renews it to be fully

for his glory.

When heaven and earth

will actually be brought together.

This is the big storyline

of the Bible.

And so we need to recognize

that we,

just like these young men,

live in exile.

And the question is,

how do we respond?

How do we respond to a world

that just like the Babylonians,

although maybe not so explicitly

or overtly,

we live in a world

that seeks to train

and to shape us

in particular ways.

If you were in school,

a school has a vision

for what kind of person

you will be

because you go there.

If you were in a particular department

or a particular discipline

in academia,

there are all of these unseen forces

and sometimes very seen forces

that seek to shape you

and how you think

and who you ought to be

in this world.

And when you go to the beach

and hang out with your neighbors,

when you play,

stand on the sidelines

of the soccer fields

on Saturdays,

you are also

in a training ground.

It's a social training ground

where your friends

and your neighbors

have visions

of life,

of how things ought to be

and how you ought to be

in this world.

How will you respond?

Give you some specifics

to think about.

How do you respond

when the moms

in the playground

are discussing

what school their kids

simply must go to

or cannot go to?

How do you respond

to your lab director

who sets an expectation

of you working

through dinner

six days a week

when you have a wife

and family

or a husband

and family at home?

What do you do

when you get

that invitation

as a young lady

to send a picture

to the boy,

an invitation

from a boy

to send you

a picture of him,

a picture you'd never

send to your mom

and dad?

What do you do

when your coach

tells you

that your child

has made the team

but it's a traveling team

and you'll be gone

a lot of weekends

and the games

are on Sunday mornings?

But that won't be

a problem,

will it?

What do you do

when your coworkers

complain about your boss,

what a stickler he is

for safety regulations

and how it slows down

your production

and limits your bonus?

What do you do

when you walk

into a new job

and you realize

you're off the rack

attire,

which is really

all you can afford?

Seems pretty shabby

next to all

of your coworkers.

These are little tastes,

my friends.

But what I want you to see

is that this crisis

is real.

Every time you walk

out your door,

you walk into a world

that is seeking

to shape you

through its messages,

through its mediums,

through all

the various ways.

And the question

that it's asking is,

who will you be?

And friends,

there are not rules enough

to be able to give you

instruction

to navigate

all of these things.

Ultimately,

this is a heart issue.

Who will you be?

What will your identity be?

Who are you going to

make yourself

in this world?

Where will you

draw the line

and say,

I'm not going to be

to follow

what is expected of me

and enjoy the acceptance

that comes with it?

Where is it that you,

in your fear

of being overwhelmed,

are withdrawing

when you need

to engage

and love

the place

that you live?

How can you

engage in the culture

without losing yourself?

This is the crisis

that life

as an exile

is all about.

And this leads us

to my second point.

The possibilities.

The possibilities

of exile.

Look with me again.

Look with me again

at verse 8.

Because remember,

we've read the story

up to this point

and the story says,

what's going to happen

to these boys?

Are we going to lose

them forever?

But Daniel,

Daniel resolved

that he would not

defile himself

with the king's food

or with the wine

that he drank.

And therefore,

he asked the king's eunuch,

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.

How did Daniel respond?

Daniel saw the danger.

Daniel saw

the challenge

of not becoming

Babylonian

while he was being

forced to live

in a world

where he was

surrounded by it

every day.

And the narrative,

even in these

first two verses,

raises all sorts

of questions

because what it says is,

so Daniel said

that he wouldn't

defile himself.

Everyone goes,

yay, that's wonderful.

Right?

We think he's good.

He's standing up

against the man.

He's saying,

I'm going to be free

from that.

Right?

And then,

and so we ask for a person

and then it says

in verse 9

that God gave him favor.

All right,

this is all going

to work out.

This is wonderful.

But what happened?

He goes

and he asks

the chief eunuch,

can we do this differently?

Can we try

something else?

And the answer is,

no,

I don't think so.

The chief eunuch

basically says,

so you're saying

you want me

to put my neck

on the line

for your identity

being preserved.

You want me

to have the risk

of looking bad

and not managing

this program well

in the eyes

of a king

who's going to

down the road

throw people

who he doesn't like

into fiery furnaces?

I don't think so.

Some people think,

and I think

it's a good point,

that he does say no,

but he does explain himself,

and there might be

a hint of,

if you can solve

this problem,

if you can make sure

you don't make me

look bad,

go ahead and

give it a try.

But I'm not going

to risk myself for you.

This is all on you.

Right?

Because it's interesting,

because what does

Daniel then do?

He doesn't go back

to the,

he doesn't go back

to the eunuch

and say,

okay,

I've got a plan,

what do you think

about this?

He says,

no,

I've already tried you,

but there's this steward

who's responsible

for the working out.

Here's my analogy.

This is like asking

the head of the department

for permission

for something

and getting a,

no,

we really don't think

we could probably

flex our institutional

standards for that.

Then you go to the,

to the secretary

of the office,

and you know that

she's really the one

that gets anything

done anyways,

and you ask her,

hey,

could we do this?

And that's what he did.

Daniel said,

how about this?

We'll test it

for 10 days.

Just give us vegetables.

And let's see

how it works out.

And you know what?

Daniel even says,

and if it doesn't work out,

hey,

you do what you want.

But will you at least

give it a try?

Now,

a couple things

I want to say,

observations about

how Daniel responded.

Overall,

the pattern is this,

he neither was assimilated

fully into the Babylonian world

and became a Babylonian,

nor did he withdraw.

And this is in our culture today.

We have a strong impulse

in the conservative church

to say,

we just want to withdraw.

We just want to run away.

And we'll see later,

there are times

to just stand your ground

no matter what.

But here in this story,

that's not the pattern.

The pattern here is

engage.

I want to honor you.

I want to be

a healthy specimen

who's going to make you

look good.

But I need to not

defile myself.

I need to draw a line here.

And some people

wrestle with,

was Daniel worried

about Jewish

eating laws?

I don't think so.

Because he drank the wine

and there's no problem

with that.

Was he worried

about idolatry

and that this food

might be food

offered to idols?

Again,

I don't think so.

His world was saturated

with idolatry.

There's no way

he could have escaped

that.

It seems to me

that Daniel chose this

as a place to say,

I am not going to buy

into the seduction,

the sort of,

the seductive power of,

you eat my rich food

and then you owe me.

There might be

a little bit of that

and there might be

just a fundamental,

Daniel knew he needed

to do something,

to put a stake

in the ground

to say,

I am a Hebrew first.

I believe in the one

true God of Israel

and I am not going to,

and I will not be

co-opted completely.

And he may have

just chosen this.

It's not clear why,

but he did.

He said,

I'm not going to

defile myself

in this way.

I'm not going to

lose myself

in this way.

So how do you respond?

A couple of observations.

First,

he looked for

a creative,

risky,

full of faith,

out there

kind of way.

Right?

Again,

withdrawal

or assimilation,

those are easy.

They're black and white.

Daniel tried something

that had never been

tried before.

And often,

that's what it's

going to call us

to do.

It's going to call us

to ask God for wisdom

and to try to be

creative in that way.

He also did it

with a desire

to do good.

He honored

the eunuch

and said,

I'm not going to

put you at risk.

He submitted himself

to the authorities

without giving them

ultimate control

over himself.

He wanted to honor them

and to do them good.

He was living out,

Greg referred to this

earlier in a prayer,

he was living out

what Jeremiah

in Jeremiah 29,

7 would tell

the exiles

as they were

taken away fully.

To seek the welfare

of the city

where I have sent you

into exile

and to pray to the Lord

on its behalf.

For in its welfare,

you will find

your welfare.

This was the worldview

and the mindset

that Daniel took.

Not merely a defensive,

how do I avoid this,

but how do I actually

engage well in this

without losing myself?

How do I love Babylon

without becoming Babylonian?

This is what Daniel

was trying to do.

And notice too,

he had a persistence

in trying things

and his approach

to authority.

He didn't just

overrun authority

and say,

well, I believe in God

and so I don't care about you

because you're not God.

He recognized

that the human authorities

that he had to navigate,

he sought to honor them.

And finally,

I want you to see

something else.

He did it together.

The focus on this section

is on Daniel,

but recognize

that it's not Daniel.

Every time at the end,

the summary statements,

it's Daniel

and his friends,

Hananiah,

Azariah,

and Mishael,

right?

If you are new

to a place,

if you are new

to New Haven

and you are just starting

out in your journey,

find others

to travel this journey with.

Look for others.

If you have come here

and you're in a job

and you don't know anyone else

who is even thinking

about these questions,

come talk to us.

Come talk to the church.

Help us try to network.

We may not know someone

in your office place,

but we might know someone

in your field.

If we don't know someone

in your field,

we could probably find someone

who could at least understand

the pressures you're facing

and the opportunities

that might be before you

and to partner together

with others

because we so easily

lose our identity

when we try to do it alone.

We don't know

that we're a frog alone

in the kettle.

But when we do it together,

it creates all sorts of dynamics

of encouragement

and support

and creativity

and accountability.

That's what Daniel did.

And so Daniel tried it.

And in fact, it worked.

So much so that

all the other guys

stopped getting to eat

the king's rich food

and got vegetables instead.

Come back to that

in a few minutes.

What does it look like

to work differently

rather than being

just like everyone else?

As I said,

it's hard to give you

lots of rules.

Let me give you two examples

of people that I know.

I had a friend in high school

who went off to college

at William & Mary.

It's a college

where the social life

is dominated

by being a part

of a fraternity or sorority.

He, in his desire

to engage with his friends,

wanted to do that.

But if you were

a fraternity brother

or if you know much

about fraternity culture,

you know that often

the initiation

of new members

into a fraternity

can often include

a lot of alcohol.

A lot of alcohol.

I know they're trying

to reform it.

I don't want to throw

fraternities under the bus.

Back then,

20 years ago,

I know for sure

that there was

a lot of alcohol involved.

And he had drawn a line

like Daniel

and said,

the one thing

I won't do in college

is drink

because I think

it's going to be

for me

a loss of my identity.

So he pledged

this fraternity

but along the way

he went to the leadership

and says,

just so you know,

I don't drink.

But here's what

I want you to do.

As much beer

as they drink,

I will drink

Orange Crush.

And you know what?

It made him

just as sick

as the beer did.

They all ended up

sick outside

in the bushes.

But that's what he did.

He was creative.

It was costly.

And yet he was able

to maintain

his identity.

I also know

of a friend of mine

who when

having started a job

and done well

initially

negotiated

that Sunday mornings

were an inviolable

commitment.

They just said,

I will work

80,

90,

100 hours

for you

if that's

what it takes.

But I need

to go to church

on Sundays.

So whenever

those hours come,

they can't come

on Sunday mornings.

And as long

as you're okay

with that,

I'm on,

I'm your man.

It was a line

in the sand.

And it was a good one

that's borne

great fruit.

sometimes

it takes a lot

of creativity

to see where

those third ways

are.

Sometimes

there aren't

third ways.

We will see

further on

these same guys,

Hananiah,

Mishael,

Azariah,

Mishael,

they come up

to a situation

where there's

no third way.

They just say,

no,

we can't bow

to the God.

And they get

thrown in the furnace.

They got to deal

with that.

When we get to there,

we'll get there.

A couple of chapters.

Sometimes there isn't.

But,

what I want to see

is that here

with Daniel,

there is a model

of how to live

in exile

and maintain

your identity

which has a strong

sense of,

you need to engage,

you need to think

about how to be good

and a blessing

in where you are

without losing yourself.

And it may not,

there are no rules

on how to do this,

but it may mean

a change in thinking.

It might mean

recognizing that

school choice

is not a matter

of right and wrong,

but a matter

of stewardship

of your family,

your ministry

to your community,

and your children.

And for each person

to make wise decisions

about how to do that,

not under the pressure

of those around them.

It may mean

having to think through

what is it

that your employer

really wants

and to propose

a different way

than what they've envisioned

to get the results

that they need

in a way that doesn't

destroy your family life.

It may mean

developing radically new

and probably odd

patterns of dating

in this world

to say,

I'm going to learn

how to develop

a healthy relationship

with someone else

that doesn't involve

Snapchat.

It may mean

praying for some friends

who will figure out

what good,

clean fun

and good,

crazy fun

can look like

on a Friday night

that doesn't have to be

a compromise

of your Christian identity.

So in the face

of living in exile,

the question

that you need to ask,

where have you

drawn the line

to maintain

your identity

in Christ?

Where do you

need to ask

for wisdom

and help

to develop

a creative

and new way

to engage

in your world

in the specifics

of your daily life?

to walk

through the pressures

you are facing

without giving in?

Where do you

see the danger

of wanting

to withdraw

completely

when God

has placed you

in a place

for its good?

This is what

Peter exhorts

the church to

in 1 Peter 2.

I urge you

as aliens

and strangers

as exiles

I urge you

as exiles

to live

such good lives

among the Gentiles

that though

they revile you

they will glorify

your father

in heaven

on the last day.

Recognize

that the third way

is not always

going to be popular.

Daniel

was not popular

as we go along

in the story.

His success

did not

endear him

to his fellow

compatriots.

But do we see

that ultimately

we have a different

audience?

Because this is

the third point

that this story

wants to remind us of.

God gave them

as you look

you can see

there's a refrain.

Look with me

in verse 2

and the Lord

gave.

And look with me

in verse 9

and God

gave.

And look with me

in verse 17

and God

gave

them

success.

God

delivered them

in this situation.

God

gave them

favor

in every

possible way.

as this story

plays itself

out

what you see

is

Nebuchadnezzar

evaluates

all these

men

after three

years

and what

happens?

They are

did you see

it?

Ten times

that's a

meta

it's like

we might

use a billion

times.

They were

so far

better

than everyone

else.

God

gave them

great favor

and great

ability

to do this.

God

was with

them

in exile.

God

loved

them

and God

would be

with them

and God

would be

for them.

And so

the crisis

that they

started with

God

how could

you let

this happen?

Where

are you?

Who

am I

in all

of this?

Is all

answered

by that

little

phrase

God

gave

because

it means

that God

was with

them.

He

had not

abandoned

them.

God

had taken

them

into

this

place

of

exile

and

he

had

a

purpose

for

them

in

that

place

of

exile

that

God

was

able

to

provide

for

them

all

that

they

need

to

continue

to

maintain

their

identity

and

not

become

assimilated

into

the

culture

that

they

lived

in

because

ultimately

they

were

God's

people

and

this

is

the

identity

that

they

clung

to

and

this

is

the

reality

that

they

were

on

and

God

would

help

them

to

do

that

and

God

would

intervene

in

special

and

supernatural

and

wonderful

ways

to

allow

that

to

happen

and

friends

I'll

admit

to

you

this

is

the

hardest

part

of

the

story

for

me

because

I

struggle

to

believe

God's

going

to

do

that

for

me

as

I

live

in

exile

I

struggle

to

think

is

God

going

to

make

my

life

work

out

okay

and

of

course

when

we

read

the

New

Testament

we

see

that

God

doesn't

always

make

our

lives

work

out

okay

in

the

way

that

we

want

them

to

Hebrews

11

is

full

of

all

the

great

saints

that

God

honored

their

faith

and

then

at

the

end

he

has

oh

and

God

honored

all

of

these

people's

faith

too

when

they

were

killed

and

when

they

were

persecuted

and

when

they

were

oppressed

and

when

they

were

taken

off

into

captivity

and

weren't

released

and

weren't

saved

friends

we need

to

recognize

that

in

this

story

we

see

these

dynamics

a

situation

is

difficult

the

trial

is

fierce

but

God's

sovereign

intervention

delivers

his

people

this

is

true

for

this

story

this

is

in

some

ways

the

message

of

the

whole

book

of

Daniel

and

it

is

large

more

larger

more

largely

the

story

of

the

whole

Bible

because

we

may

live

or

we

may

die

in

our

identity

in

Christ

but

God

has

delivered

his

people

in

Jesus

he

has

come

to

us

in

fact

think

about

this

the

incarnation

of

Jesus

is

Jesus

himself

entering

into

the

exile

of

life

in

a

fallen

world

and

identifying

with

exiles

like

us

who

had

rejected

God

and

who

are

living

in a

world

that

is

contrary

to

him

and

in

fact

his

identification

with

the

exile

is

so

great

that

he

goes

to

the

cross

and

in

his

death

and

his

resurrection

he

overcomes

that

exile

and

restores

a way

by which

we

might

now

be

brought

back

into

God's

people

and

we

are

called

to

live

in

this

world

as

exiles

as

long

as

God

keeps

us

here

but

our

home

is

not

here

our

home

is

in

heaven

and

that

is

where

we

will

know

that

he

will

vindicate

us

and

that

is

where

we

will

know

that

his

promises

are

true

and

good

forever

and

we

know

it

because

he

died

on

the

cross

and

rose

from

the

dead

and

we

can

see

it

in

the

future

and

if

we

cling

to

that

those

things

as

our

identity

then

we

can

live

as

exiles

and

strangers

in