Exiles: You Are What You Eat | Ps Ben Moir

We are in a series called Exiles. The

word says to live in the world but not

of the world.

What this means is that

we should not be conformed by what the

world is trying to teach us,

but it also means that we are not to

retreat

from the world.

So, how do we live in it?

How do we live in a world where we feel

like outsiders?

That's what this series is about and

last week Pastor Miles, he he opened up

the series answering the

answering the question, "Who is your

king?"

That we should not be surprised by the

fact that we feel like outsiders as

Christians living in a world that

doesn't share our values, doesn't share

our morals,

doesn't want to live the way that we're

living.

We shouldn't be surprised. So, if that

was the question that we're answering

last week, the question we're answering

this week is, "Who is feeding you?"

Who's feeding you?

Because whether you like it or not,

we're all eating. We're all consuming

something.

Whether it be through Facebook,

Instagram, TikTok,

YouTube,

the news, media,

ads,

podcasts, whatever it is, we are

consuming something that can change how

we think and how we act and all before

we even make it to breakfast.

Cuz here's the thing, every movie has a

message.

Every influencer has a worldview.

And every algorithm wants to keep you

addicted

to what it wants to keep you addicted

to.

So, we're going to look through this

idea

through the through the story of Daniel

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, where we find

uh four boys, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abednego.

Yes.

Abednego.

He ain't Australian. It's not Abednego.

Abednego.

Now that I've got that off my chest for

the second time today, we can move on.

But we find ourselves at the start of

Daniel in about 605 BC. It's like 2,600

years ago.

Right? And

the Babylonians had gone and captured

Israel. They'd gone and captured

Jerusalem, and then they have taken

um teenagers.

They'd taken their youth group, the

smartest and the brightest. So,

obviously, the ones that are sitting on

the front row.

>> [cheering]

>> Got to cheer me up and I'll get there.

But they'd taken the smartest and the

brightest out of

Israel, and they'd brought them into

Babylon, into the king's court to be

taught and to be made into a Babylonian.

And that's where we find ourselves in

Daniel chapter 1. So, if you have your

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

Bible,

turn to Daniel

first chapter, and we're going to start

from verse 8.

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 are

of your own age?

So, you would endanger my head with the

king."

Then Daniel said to the steward, whom

the of the eunuchs had assigned over

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

which is Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego,

"Test your servants for 10 days.

Let us be given vegetables to eat and

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

and tested them tested them for 10 days.

And at the end of 10 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 the wine they were

to drink and gave them

vegetables.

Yum.

The title of my message today is you are

what you eat.

Cuz we think of it

in the natural, but you are also what

you eat in the spiritual. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for this morning. We

thank you for this message. Lord, I pray

as we come together and hear from your

word.

Lord, that nothing falls upon deaf ears

this morning. Tell me what to preach.

Stop what needs to be stopped. I pray

that it is your words, not mine.

Translate that which needs to be

translated that people don't leave this

room the same as they entered, but they

leave transformed through the power of

your word and your Holy Spirit.

And in your mighty name,

amen.

So I am

a coffee snob.

I

I'm I'm dealing with it.

But I am. I'm a coffee snob.

Like

where where are my coffee drinkers at?

And not just the snobs, just who loves

coffee?

What about tea?

More British people over this side.

What about you know I you just like I

don't care just give me a glass of water

and I'm all good.

Like three people four people wow.

Yeah, just water. Yeah, yeah, great

great.

Thanks Nathan.

All right, but

I love coffee like love coffee.

But like

I I was raised by my mom who was born in

England.

Right? So all she drunk was tea.

Right? And then the first time that I

even like ordered my own coffee was to

impress a girl.

The first time. And in uni I was poor

didn't know what I was doing and I just

chose the cheapest thing on the list.

Espresso.

I hated every moment of it.

That was not Anna.

My wife.

But as I as I journey through uni the

the the group of friends that I hung

around with they loved coffee. Like one

of them was a coffee roaster. Right?

That's what that's just what they did.

That's what they talked about. So I

found myself always in cafes always

around people drinking coffee. So I was

just like all right. Just show me. Show

me how this thing works. So you know you

start off with mockers. You move to

cappuccinos then lattes flat whites. You

get rid of the milk. You start moving on

to black coffees. You have batch brews

and then somewhere along the way I now

have seven different methods and

machines to make coffee at home.

Don't know what happened but I'm a like

I have special coffee scales cuz I got

to make sure it's the right like 21

grams is not good 20 grams is perfect.

You know I got to make sure that the the

water if we're having a filter coffee

like it can't be too hot cuz if it's 100

degrees it'll burn the it'll burn the

grounds and then that we don't want

that. Why even drink it, right? And then

on the other side, like if I'm having an

espresso coffee,

I you know, I've got these little

gadgets to make sure all the grounds

aren't clumped together because then the

extraction is got to be perfect. You've

got two like one side is faster than the

other and then it just gets out of hand

and why even bother drinking coffee?

I haven't had one this morning, I

promise.

I love coffee. I'm a coffee snob, but I

did not wake up this way.

It wasn't just one one night I was like,

"You know what I love? I love coffee and

now I know everything about it."

I don't know everything about it.

What happened was I put myself in the

right environments, around the right

people

and over time

I was formed into a coffee snob.

But this is what happens. Formation

doesn't happen overnight. Formation

happens over time.

When you're around the right or wrong

people,

in the right or wrong environments, it

can change and transform you into what

the environment wants for you. Cuz the

thing is the things that we consume,

they all eventually become the things

that we we think about. They the things

that we tolerate and the things that we

ultimately desire.

And when we read Daniel 1,

when we read it, we can we can be

mistaken to think it's just a really

nice chapter around fasting. You know,

have the Daniel fast once a year at the

start of the year and God's going to

bless me and it's going to be great.

Like yes,

if you fast, God will move, but that is

not the whole truth that you can find

here in Daniel 1.

Babylon was not concerned

with what they ate.

Babylon was concerned with who they

were.

Babylon was not trying to change their

diet.

They were trying to change them.

The food wasn't the thing. It was what

they wanted them to become. And now I'm

going to be really clear

from the get-go.

When I say the word Babylon today, cuz

I'm going to be talking about it a lot,

I also mean the world.

When I use the word Babylon today, I

also mean our culture. Cuz just like

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

there was a Babylon that was trying to

change them, transform them, form them

into something else. And like us today,

there is a world out there. There is a

culture that is trying to change you and

I into what it wants you to be.

And this is not just a Christian thing.

Like Christians, we need to be more

aware of this. We need to be more

discerning of this, more understanding

of this. But this is for everyone,

whether you're a Christian or not a

Christian.

The world is trying to form you. The

world is trying [snorts] to change you

every day.

Because the thing is,

when you were born, you look like your

parents.

But when you die, you look like your

decisions.

Say it again.

When you are born, you look like your

parents.

When you die, you look like your

decisions.

When you're born, you look like your

natural parents. When you're born, you

look like your spiritual father.

That's God.

We are made and born in his likeness.

It's called the imago Dei, the image of

God. We have it inside of us, but

because of sin, because of the world

that we live in, because of the choices

that we have made, that is now distorted

within us.

But,

there is a God in heaven who sent his

son.

His son, Jesus, down to earth to live

and to die upon that cross. And because

he died upon that cross,

he is now set us free. He has saved us.

He has redeemed us. And we can live set

free in new life.

Because the goal of a Christian is not

to become better. The goal of a

Christian is not to become good. The

goal of a Christian is to become like

Jesus.

That is our goal. That is what we are

trying to do. And our decisions will

determine whether that happens or not.

And maybe you're living here uh you're

you're here this morning and

you've never heard of Jesus. Or maybe

you have heard of Jesus, but you've

never decided to follow him or responded

to

to his salvation.

At the end of the message, we're going

to give you an opportunity to respond,

to say yes to Jesus, to yes to this

Jesus, cuz there is a God who loves you

so much, so so much that he sent his son

to die

for you.

Not just for you collectively, but you

personally.

There is someone in this room that I

believe that you're like, "Yeah, I get

the idea that God died for us. But did

he die for me?" Yes.

He died for you.

If you were the only person alive on

earth, he would have still sent his son

to die upon that cross for you.

So, today's your day.

So, we as Christians are meant to become

like Jesus. But there is a world, there

is a culture that does not want you to

succeed. In John 10:10, it says there is

John 10:10

an enemy and he has come to kill, steal,

and destroy. And they will do that by

whatever means.

So, today,

what we're going to be talking about,

Firstly, we're going to be talking about

Babylon's

blueprint for formation.

And then, we're going to talk about

God's blueprint for flourishing.

Sound good?

Get ready.

Put your seat belt on.

Put your big boy pants on. Going to be

good.

So, Babylon's blueprint for formation.

What

and how are the world

How is the world trying to form you,

change you?

And we see in Daniel 1 three things.

The first is they teach their truth.

In verses 4 and 5, it says, "The 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,

to teach them the literature and the

language of the Chaldeans." 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 3 years, and at the end of that

time, they were to stand before the

king. When the king When the army

brought these boys, cuz they were

teenagers. They weren't in their 20s,

they weren't in their 30s, they were

teenagers.

When they When the king brought them

into the king's court, he said, "I'm

going to teach you our ways. You're

going to learn our language, you're

going to learn our literature, our

culture, our history, our ways of life,

our ways of doing things, and you are

going to live the way that we tell you

to live."

Is that not

what we see in the world today?

Is that not what we see in social media

today? In in in in in culture today, we

live in an upside down world right now.

Where up is down, left is right, black

is is white, boys are girls, 2 + 2 is 5

for some reason, and babies are only

human once they leave the womb.

There is a world that is trying to

change your understanding of what truth

is. There is a world that is trying to

teach you something that is not in line

with God's truth, the creator of the

universe. What he has defined as truth,

the world is trying to change that in

front of your very eyes.

It's objective. Your truth is your

truth.

You know, as long as it's not hurting

anyone, you're all good.

We need as Christians to be able to

discern and understand these things, to

know what is God and what is not.

And how do we follow it?

So, they teach their truth. The second

thing is they entice with pleasure.

In verse 5, it says the king assigned

them a daily portion of the food that

the king ate and of the wine that he

drank.

The king said, "If I give you this, you

have to give me something."

Cuz it's king's table it it it it it

wasn't just food.

It didn't just represent food. No, the

king's table eating from the king's

table represented loyalty, obedience,

and dependence on the kingdom.

That is what it meant. So, the king

said, "If I give you this food, you give

me your loyalty. If I give you my wine,

you give me your obedience and

dependence."

Tit for tat. I give you, you give me.

So, the issue was not the food.

Because there was probably, honestly,

pomegranates on the table.

Pomegranates aren't evil.

If you're eating pomegranates, you're

all good.

The food was not the The issue was how

it was being used and what it led to.

Just like with with good things that God

has designed, there are things in our

life that we that we do. Like Netflix,

not bad.

Netflix for 12 hours a day, bad.

Right? Sex, good. Sex outside of God's

bounds, bad.

Entertainment, good. Entertainment that

leads you to change who you are, the way

you talk, the way you think, the way you

act, bad.

Rest, good. There is literally a

commandment that says, you must have

rest.

But rest that's just laziness disguised,

not good.

Cuz you're not doing what God has called

you to do.

You're not using the the things that God

has created to to give us pleasure in

this world

the right way.

For his glory.

So the world, they they take the things

of God, they distort them, and they try

and sell them back to us.

Saying, this is actually how you use

them. You know, it's all good. Like,

it's good. Just Just do it. Come on,

everyone is doing it.

But they know that

once we opt in,

it's hard to opt out.

So they entice us with pleasures from

God, but distorted into the world's way.

And the third thing

that is on Babylonians blueprint,

Babylon's blueprint, is they want to

dictate our identity.

In verse 7, it says, 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.

The world wants to take your identity.

Wants to change your identity. You're a

son, you're a daughter of the most high,

but the but God but the the world wants

to take that from you.

You were called to something, but God

but the world does not want you to live

out the God calling on your life.

They might put names and labels upon

you. Oh, you're a Christian, you must be

a right-wing fanatic. No, I just love

people. Right? Oh, you are a Christian,

you go to you must

spend all your money doing this. It's

like, no, I just see want to see God's

kingdom come in the city of Sydney.

They put labels on us and try take our

identity

in order to control us.

That is what Babylon

does and it's been the same since the

beginning of time. This is not a Daniel

1 specific thing. We see it all the way

back to Genesis 3

with Adam and Eve in the garden. When

the serpent, the enemy, the devil was

trying to tempt Eve

with the fruit. The first thing he does

in Genesis 3:1, did God really say that?

Genesis 3:1

Starts bending truth, changing what the

truth is.

Eve knew the truth, but the enemy came

and said, oh,

is that really what happened?

The second thing that the enemy does, we

see in verse 4 and 5, he tries to entice

with pleasure.

But the serpent said to the woman,

"You will not surely die.

For God knows that when you eat of it,

your eyes will be

opened."

He's trying to entice with pleasure. If

you eat,

some good stuff might happen.

And then the last thing

that the enemy does in Genesis 3 with

Eve is he takes her identity. If you eat

this, you will be like God.

Not a son, not a daughter, you'll be

God.

It is the same thing. There is nothing

new under the sun.

The devil had actually has no new

schemes, no new techniques. It's the

same over and over and over again. And

we as Christians need to understand and

know and be able to identify

that.

But it's not all doom and gloom cuz

while Babylon has a blueprint, so does

God.

So what is God's blueprint for

flourishing?

And really quickly, the reason I use the

word flourishing here instead of

formation is because when the Israelites

came into Babylon, they were formed.

They understood God. They knew God. They

loved God. They were formed. Now, these

things, they will form you.

But that's not the That's not the

ultimate point of them.

God said, "When you go into Babylon,

he wants you to flourish."

God wanted Daniel to be the best

political advisor he could be. He wanted

him to flourish in Babylon. And he wants

you to flourish in the world as well. He

wants you to be the best political

political advisor. He wants you to be

the best shepherd. He wants you to be

the best teacher, the best doctor, the

best tradie. Wherever you're at, he

wants you to be formed into his

likeness, but also

when living in the world, he wants you

to flourish.

So this is God's blueprint for

flourishing. Number one, we need to

protect our table.

In number eight and verse eight, it

says, "But Daniel resolved that he would

not defile himself with the king's food

or with the wine that he drank."

Daniel knew what would draw him to God

and what would draw him away from God.

This was not a forced decision. There

was no pastor looking over his shoulder

going, "What's on your plate?

What are you doing?"

No, this was a personal decision. He

decided, he knew, "If I eat those

things,

it would draw me away from God. If I eat

those things,

it would change who I am. It would

violate who God has called me to be."

So, he decided, "It needs to come off of

my table."

And the question for us today is,

"What needs to come off our table?"

What needs to come off your table?

Because everything is going to preach at

you.

Social media will preach. Netflix will

preach. News will preach. Gossip will

preach.

It might just feel like scrolling, feel

like entertainment, feel like just

another episode. It might just feel like

I'm just trying to fit in.

But, ultimately, it is forming you and

discipling you.

I was talking to a young adult recently.

And he loves the gym, like loves the

gym. And on Instagram, he just follows

gym pages, he follows uh workout brands,

he follows uh gym magazines, you name

it. He just wants to know cuz he loves

the gym. And you can tell.

Big boy.

But, the thing is he was telling me that

he would swipe through Instagram. And

he's like, "Yeah, gym, working out,

awesome." Swipe, swipe, swipe,

half-naked woman.

That's not what he meant to be there.

But, that's what turned up. Because what

he decided to put on his plate.

What he allowed into

his world, allowed into his algorithm.

And because the algorithm it knows who

you are, knows how old you are, knows

what

you really like,

it will give

anything to change

who you are.

Because it wants to form you, not into

the ways of God, but into the ways of

the world. And they will The enemy will

use any scheme necessary

in order to form you. And it can come

that quick.

You can be just

scrolling, then all of a sudden you're

somewhere you're not meant to be.

We need to protect our table.

The second thing we need to do is we

need to feed on the things of God. In

verse 12,

Daniel says, "Test your servants

for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables

to eat and water to drink."

They did it. Daniel and the boys, they

didn't say no to food. They were saying

no to Babylon's food.

They didn't just reject everything off

the table and live like hermits.

No. They chose the right things to place

on the table that they would consume

that would ultimately form who they

were.

And there is three building blocks that

will so easily lead you to spiritual

formation.

Reading your Bible, prayer, and worship.

If you get those things right,

everything else will start coming in and

building up.

Read your Bible, pray, worship God cuz

it's not just about getting information.

Reading the Bible will renew your mind.

Spending time in his presence will shape

and change who you are from the inside

out.

It will shape your desires, and when you

feel like you can't go forward, his

presence will sustain you.

What if you could hear God's voice

so clearly that in the morning it was

the first thing you heard before your

phone.

We need to feed on the things of God.

And the last thing

the last part of God's blueprint for

flourishing is you need to know who's at

your table.

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

they weren't just three random boys that

got put into a group. No, they were

friends that had each other's backs.

They stirred each other on, they

encouraged one another, they lifted each

other up.

Like we see throughout the rest of the

book of Daniel that it was because well,

partly because of their friendship that

they were able to do the things that

they did.

They had each other's backs. Daniel

didn't say test me, it says test us.

Test your servants, come on.

We'll show you who our God is through

our actions.

So, who is at your table?

And I'm not saying you need to get rid

of all the non-Christians, please hear

me.

Definitely not saying that.

If we live in a bubble, Christianity

will become a bubble. We need to know

people outside

of our world. That's not what it's on,

that's not what I'm saying.

But your five closest friends

you will be the average of your five

closest friends.

Who is at your table, who you allow to

speak into your life and guide your

life, it will ultimately form you.

This is why life groups are so

important.

Why

having Sunday as a priority is so

important. It's It's why serving what

what we're always on about, hey, we you

need to serve, you need to serve because

it forms you.

Community is discipleship.

The people that you are around will

change and form who you are to become.

If you want to be more like Jesus, get

around Jesus people.

If you want to be more like Christians,

be around more Christians.

I know for me when I went to uni, I went

to a music uni, which is

the opposite of Bible college, I think.

But, the amount of people that I saw go

in and just leave different

was sad.

The amount of people that walked in and

said that said they were Christians and

left

just

not knowing Jesus

was very like

it's hard

to see all these people just be

transformed by the environment that they

put themselves into.

For me, I was so lucky.

The first person I met at uni was

another Christian.

The second person I met was another

Christian. God placed these people in my

life in order that we together could do

life together. We held each other

accountable. One of them literally told

me to break up with a girl. I said, "All

right. That's the right idea."

Cuz I was trying to get around the right

people to be formed in of myself.

Now, I'm not saying that I was perfect

throughout uni, throughout uh working in

the music industry, which is an industry

that's

chaotic.

I was not perfect, but I every time I

chose God over the world,

I would see God's blessing on my life.

When me and my wife started dating, when

we got married, we knew that every time

we chose God over Babylon,

we would see God move.

Cuz the truth is this,

those

those who trust God over Babylon will

always flourish.

Will always flourish. Now, I'm not

saying you're going to get up tomorrow

morning and there's going to be a

Ferrari in your driveway.

Not saying that. That's not what I'm

talking about when we're talking about

flourishing.

What I'm talking about when we when we

say flourishing is

our God is our savior.

Our God is our provider. Our God is our

healer. Our God will be with us in our

battles. He will fight our battles for

us. And when we put God first, he will

come through time and time again.

When we put God first, he will pour out

our his blessing.

And sometimes life doesn't look like

that.

But it's not because he doesn't want to,

it's because we're not positioned

correctly to receive the blessing that

he has for us.

Cuz he is a good God, but more than

that, he is a good father.

And no father

no parent would deny their children

something

if it wasn't bad for them.

It says in the in the Bible that

a father doesn't give a rock when a

child asks for bread.

And our God is the same.

That he wants to bless you. He wants to

be there for you. He wants to have a

relationship with you. Are you willing

to get a little bit uncomfortable to see

that in your life?

And I know there are people in this room

that

you may never have

made a decision to follow Jesus.

Maybe you have made a decision, but

today you're just feeling, man, I just

haven't been living the right way, and I

need to dedicate my life again. I need

to make a decision today again that I'm

going to follow Jesus. I'm going to

respond to Jesus that he is king, he is

my Lord, he is my savior.

Because we are all sinners.

All sinners that have fallen short of

the glory of God.

But because of Jesus who came down to

earth

who died upon that cross, he paid the

debt that we could not pay. And now

we get a relationship with him and we

get to live with him in eternity forever

and ever and ever.

So if that's you this morning,

if you want to start this journey with

Jesus, if you want to respond, you might

not have all the answers, but you're

just like, I just

I need this, Jesus.

In a moment, I'm going to ask you on the

count of three to boldly raise your

hand.

So with eyes closed across the room, if

that's you,

in a moment, I'm going to ask you to

boldly raise your hand with just me and

some of the team looking around

because we want to do this in community.

We don't do the Christian walk by

ourselves, we do it with others.

And I believe there are people in this

room that need to say yes this morning.

[music]

That there is a stirring in your heart

right now that you're like, I need to

put my hand up.

So I'm going to count to three and if

that's you, I'm going to ask you to

boldly just wait raise your hand up in

the air so me and some of the team can

see and then you can pull it back down.

But on the count of three, if that's

you.

One, God loves you so much that he sent

his son to die upon that cross. Two,

because Jesus loved you so much, he

walked to the cross to die for you and

three, if that is you this morning, I'm

going to ask you to boldly raise your

hand right now. If that's you, if you

want to respond to Jesus, if you want to

say yes to Jesus this morning,

going to ask you to boldly raise your

hand.

So good.

Well, there is a saying we have at

Elevation.

It's not about a hand raised,

it's about a changed.

God's not interested in your hand if

your heart doesn't change.

So, maybe you were in the room and you

did want to say yes, but you didn't feel

bold enough to raise your hand.

God saw your heart.

So, we're going to say this prayer

together

cuz I do believe that there are people

in this room

that want to say yes.

So, church, repeat after me. Jesus,

I give you my life.

I give you my all.

Thank you

for dying for me.

You are my God.

And in your mighty and majestic name,

all the saints said