Our Faithfulness to God as Citizens in Society

We're thinking about our faithfulness to God as citizens in society.

What does that mean?

What does it look like?

As followers of Jesus individually and collectively as the church,

we are called to shape society.

That's our prayer every time we pray,

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We're called not just to pray it, but to live it.

To shape the society in which we live.

And yet, the danger, perhaps the tragedy, is that it's the other way around.

That society shapes the church.

The evangelist Thomas Wow said,

Instead of the church evangelising the world,

the world has had considerable success in secularising the church.

It only takes a sweeping glance at history to see the tension between these two possibilities,

quite strikingly.

On the one hand, there have been times throughout the history of the church

where the church has been complicit with slavery,

where the church has been complicit with unjust systems of power and unethical investment of money,

such that it has played a part unwittingly, perhaps at times,

quite consciously at times, perhaps,

but of playing its part in simply making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

There have been times in the history of the church,

and right now seems to be one of them,

where the church fails to champion the integrity of biblical orthodoxy

when it comes to sexual ethics, marriage and relationships.

And instead of being a voice of challenge,

the church absorbs the values of the world in which we live.

On the other hand, there are those times

when the church has dared to challenge its surrounding culture.

I'm thinking of Wilberforce and the Clapham sect,

who dared to stand against slavery.

I'm thinking of Martin Luther King,

who dared to challenge all that went on around him.

to challenge inequality and oppression.

I'm thinking of those times when the church has played the leading role

in establishing hospitals,

education systems, schools, hospices,

and setting up food banks.

The list goes on and on and on.

But we must always, always be mindful of the importance of that challenge.

That our calling as Christians is not to be shaped by the culture around us,

but to shape it.

And today, we're going to think about what we can learn

from the person of Daniel

as we go back in time to 605 BC.

Jerusalem was besieged.

It was defeated by Babylon.

The temple was ransacked and articles of worship were taken off

and put in places of worship where idols were worshipped.

If we want to begin to get our minds and our hearts around what that must have felt like for God's people,

imagine that someone just to overhaul this place of worship now

and to take things such as the communion table,

perhaps the cross that is up there,

to take the Bible,

to take the instruments that we use to worship God,

to take the things that we associate with worship

and with God's mission

and with what we do here in this space

in the name of Jesus.

And imagine somebody was to scoop the whole lot up

and place it into a building

that was dedicated to worshipping an idol or idols.

Think that and we're beginning to get into the minds

of what it must have been like for Daniel and his contemporaries.

The brightest and the best, including Daniel and his friends,

were scooped up.

They were forced into exile.

They were forced into training

and then for three years, the other end of that training,

they were put into service.

of the king.

For Daniel and his friends,

it was as though everything that was sacred and holy

had been stripped away from them.

And it had gone.

And they suddenly found themselves living in exile,

surrounded by a society and a culture that worshipped idols.

Let's just highlight two such prominent idols

because I'm aware that in many ways

this can seem so removed from our own cultural experience.

Yet, when we take a deeper look,

we see that it's not quite so removed from our own experience.

There were two particular idols

that at the time within Babylon were worshipped.

Baal and Asherah.

Baal was the god of weather and the rain.

And you would be worshipping Baal because you would want to invoke him

as the god of rain because in an agricultural society

that was associated with wealth.

Baal was on your side.

Baal was on your side.

You could make money.

Then there was Asherah,

the fertility god,

who was worshipped in such a way that,

without going into detail,

actually involved a complete absence of boundaries

when it came to sexual expression.

The god of sex.

We're told that God actually allowed his people

to be defeated

and to be taken into exile.

The problem was not

simply a case that people were beginning to worship these idols,

but they wanted to worship Yahweh

and worship these idols.

They didn't want to kind of give up Yahweh.

After all, Yahweh, the Lord, the god,

had set them free from slavery.

God was faithful.

God was good.

It's just they also wanted these other gods.

Alongside Yahweh,

they also wanted the god that represented wealth and money.

And they also wanted the god

that gave the green light

to do whatever you want sexually.

the gods,

the idols

of wealth

and sex.

Not that much has changed

since 605 BC.

So,

with all of this going on,

Daniel and his friends,

who clearly are faithful to God,

as that story unfolds,

find themselves in exile,

how do they respond?

Well, let's consider how they might have responded.

Firstly,

they might have responded

by just deciding to forget

about the god

that they had served previously.

that's a danger facing us.

We could just decide to,

well, forget all about him.

They could have gone on a rant

about how bad things are now.

And that's a danger

that we must be aware of as well.

The danger as Christians

that we just go off on a rant

and go on about how bad everything is

without actually thinking about how good God is

and doing something about that.

They could have easily

gone into a slump,

a state of bitterness

and resentfulness.

God has just let us down.

After all,

they'd given their all for him.

They had been faithful to God

and yet they had been scooped up

and taken to a land

and put in exile

and forced to serve the king.

And they could have carried around

this resentment,

well, why in my faithfulness to God

has God let me down?

I don't claim to have the gift of prophecy.

I don't.

I can pretty well guarantee

that among us listening now,

somebody probably at some point

has had that feeling,

why God have you let me down?

Because that's part of life.

That we can get that feeling

that God has let us down.

And if that's you,

if that,

if that accords with your experience

and you feel that

God has in some way let you down,

I want to say to you,

firstly,

don't sweep that under the carpet,

don't suppress that,

don't pretend that that feeling isn't there.

But rather take that feeling,

own that feeling

and bring it before God.

Lay it before him.

He's big enough to absorb it.

And ask God to remind you

in his own time,

in his own way,

by the power of his Holy Spirit,

that he is there

because he is.

Sometimes it may feel like God

has let us down,

but in fact he hasn't.

The important thing is,

is that we bring those feelings

before God.

Another possibility

is that Daniel and his friends

could have gone into despair.

And we can face that same kind of danger

as Christians.

We can look around us

and we can think,

what's coming to the world?

You know,

nobody's interested in faith anymore.

And you know,

that old saying,

the church is just one generation

away from extinction.

You know,

the church is only one generation

away from extinction.

But I don't say that

from a place of despair.

It's always been the case.

The church is only ever

one generation away

from extinction

because it is in the hands

of every generation

to make the gospel known.

And we can see that

from a place of despair

or we can see that

from a place of opportunity

and hope.

Sometimes people will say,

well, we live in a,

in Britain today,

we live in a post-Christian society.

I'm not sure that we do.

I think we live in a pre-Christian society.

Because I find frequently now,

more and more and more,

having conversations with people

who have had no experience of church

or extremely limited experience of church.

And you get into a conversation

about Jesus

and about who Jesus is

and about how amazing Jesus is

and how he can transform your life.

and people want to know more.

So let's see it as an opportunity

and to get into the mindset

that we live in a pre-Christian society

where people are hungry

and thirsty to know about Jesus.

But despair

is not the response

that we see

in Daniel

and his friends.

So what did Daniel

and his friends do?

I want to just highlight two things.

There are many more things

that we could say.

But in this particular passage,

I want to highlight

just two things.

First is this.

They knew their identity

in God.

We're told

that Nebuchadnezzar

gave them new names.

Daniel,

which means in Hebrew,

God is my judge,

was renamed Balthazar,

which means

Bel's prince,

Bel being

the primary

Babylonian god.

Hananiah,

which means

the Lord is gracious,

was renamed Shadrach,

which means

under the command

of Aku,

the moon god.

Mishel,

which means

who is like the Lord,

was renamed Mishak,

which means

guest of the king.

And Azariah,

which means

God is my helper,

was renamed Abednego,

which means

servant of the god Nabu.

Now,

notice in the text,

they don't actively,

they don't seem

to actively resist

this renaming.

However,

as the story continues,

we find

that the narrative

retains

their Hebrew names.

The point is this,

they were secure

in their identity.

They didn't need

to resist it

because they knew

who they were

in God.

And I want to suggest

that to be

a Christian,

a follower of Jesus,

in any society,

knowing who you are

in Christ

is the most important thing.

To know that

your identity

is in him,

that your citizenship

ultimately is in him,

that's the most

important thing.

And when we know

that we are in Christ,

that there is nothing

that can take that away,

that's the most

important thing.

We live in a world,

we live in a society

in the West,

that has an obsession

with identity politics,

where we are told

that sexuality

is the most

important thing

about you.

We live in a world

of council culture,

where Christian speakers

are frequently

deplatformed

for daring

to speak out.

The church

has,

for some reason

which I cannot

begin to understand,

taken on a weaponised

version of inclusion

that has far more

to do with

virtue signalling

than with the

gospel of grace.

But in this world

gone mad,

we are called

to stick

to the gospel

which tells us

that your identity

lies in one thing

and one thing alone

and that is Christ.

That it is in him,

that it is by his cross

and by his resurrection

that we are saved

and held

for all eternity.

That defines

who you are

more than anything

else,

first and last.

Daniel and his friends

knew that their identity

was secure in God

because that is who

they were defined by.

And as a follower

of Jesus,

you are to be defined

by nothing

except Jesus

in whom you are saved.

the second thing

that this story

tells us

is that Daniel

and his friends

were unafraid

to take a stand.

They were unafraid

to stand out

from the crowd.

Now,

as part of being

placed into

exile

and placed into

the service

of the king

of Babylon,

they were told

that they would eat

of the king's

food.

They were given

a free ticket

to the king's

cafeteria.

Now,

you might be thinking,

well,

of everything else

that has gone wrong

for them,

here's perhaps

one thing

that might remotely

be described

as a silver

or rather golden

lining.

But they resist it.

We might think,

why on earth

would they not

eat

of the king's

food?

The text here

doesn't spell it

out in detail,

but it's

a reasonable,

reasonable

assumption

to draw

that it was

for spiritual

reasons

and that the

food itself

was almost

certainly not

kosher,

that the food

itself would

have been,

as part of

the Babylonian

culture,

sacrificed to

idols.

And therefore,

what they would

do is they

would sacrifice

it to idols,

but then the

meat had already

been sacrificed

and therefore

they may as

well eat it.

And so,

therefore,

to,

a bit of a

mixed image

here,

but to

effectively

kill two

birds with

one cow,

they would

eat the

food that

had been

sacrificed

to these

idols.

And Dalian

and his

contemporaries

knew that

were they

to do that,

they would

be forming

a bond

spiritually

with everything

that was

against Yahweh

and everything

that Yahweh

represents.

And so they

said,

no,

we're not

going to do

it.

But notice

the way they

do it.

They do it in a

way that is

respectful,

a way that is

polite,

but for all that

they're unwilling

to compromise.

compromise.

You know,

I fear

that we live

in a society

in which

the church

has lost

its nerve

and become

afraid to

take a stand

and to be

different

and to

challenge.

I fear

that as a

church we

can become

timid in

proclaiming the

message of

salvation.

The bold

and challenging

claim that

Jesus alone

can save you

has become

watered down

to a safe

and innocuous

God is love

and God

loves you.

Now that is

true.

It is very

true that God

is love

and that God

loves you.

And the New

Testament makes

it very clear

that that is

true.

But note

that the term

God's love

is not once

mentioned in

the book of

Acts.

When we see

that first

generation of

believers sharing

faith,

sharing the

gospel with

those who

they come

across,

not once

do they

mention God

loves you.

That much

is assumed.

The first

generation of

disciples had

a focus.

To a

culturally,

religiously,

and ethically

pluralistic

world,

they knew

that that

focus had

to be bold

and uncompromising.

Jesus is

Lord and

you need

him.

their

attention

was not

on trying

to apologise

for the

boldness

of that

claim.

Their

attention

was

focused

on solid

historic

and

eyewitness

evidence

that Jesus

had indeed

been raised

from the

dead.

So we

do not

find Paul

in Athens

surrounded

by a

religiously

plurality

of faiths

trying to

avoid

treading

on toes

or upsetting

anybody.

Neither

do we

find

Peter

or Stephen

or any

of the

apostles

standing

nervously

and probably

were nervous

probably

terrified

but nevertheless

we do not

find them

timid

before the

Sanhedrin

worried

that they

might upset.

The first

generation

of Christians

were

uncompromisingly

bold just

as Daniel

and his

friends

were

uncompromisingly

bold.

Now I

don't suggest

for one

moment that

you walk

up Hill

Road

tomorrow

morning

clutching

a megaphone

declaring to

everybody

that they're

going to

hell.

Please

don't do

that.

If you

do,

don't tell

them that

you're from

Christchurch.

But what

is more

likely is

that over

the next

few days

you might

get into

a conversation

with a

friend about

what did

you do

over the

weekend?

And you

might think

of the

things that

you could

tell them

one of

them being

that you

came to

church

to worship

God.

And you

might be

tempted to

think well

I don't

want to say

that because

they might

think I'm

a bit

strange.

Or I

don't want to

say that because

that might

lead to an

awkward or

uncomfortable

conversation.

I want to

encourage you

that if

those and

when those

opportunities

open up

to be

unafraid

to seize

those

opportunities

to share

your faith

in Jesus

Christ.

To be

unafraid to

stand out

and to be

different.

Remembering

that we do

not live in

a post

Christian

society.

We live in

a pre

Christian

society that

is hungry

and thirsty

ever so

for everything

that only

Jesus can

offer.

In

November

2004

you may

remember

this.

Viktor

Yushchenko

stood for

the presidency

of Ukraine.

He was

fiercely

opposed by

the then

ruling

party.

He almost

lost his

life in

his campaign.

They tried

to poison

him.

But he

went through

with it

and on

election

day

Yushchenko

was comfortably

in the

lead.

But the

ruling

party

tampered

with the

results.

State

controlled

TV

announced

that day

that Yushchenko

had actually

been defeated.

However

in the

corner of

the screen

somebody

was signing

to the

deaf

community.

Her name

was Natalia

Dimitruk.

And she

refused to

translate what

she knew

was a

false

message.

And from

the corner

of the

screen

as the

wider

screen

gave one

message

she signed

they are

lying to

you.

I am

ashamed to

translate

these lies.

Yushchenko

is our

president.

so what

became known

as the

Orange

Revolution

was

triggered.

There was

a new

election

and Yushchenko

eventually came

to victory.

I share

that with you

as an image

for us to

take away

as we

think about

what does

it mean

to be a

follower of

Jesus

in our

society.

I want

to suggest

to you

that each

and every

one of

us is

called

to occupy

the corner

of that

screen and

to call

out the

lies.

To say

don't

believe the

big screen.

Don't

believe the

lies of the

culture in

which we

live.

Jesus

and only

Jesus

can save

you.

Let's

pray.

Lord,

thank you

for the

story of

Daniel

and how

he was

unafraid

to dare

to be

different,

to challenge

that which

was going

on around

him.

Thank you

that he

did so

because he

knew his

identity was

in you.

And Lord,

we thank you

for the

way in

which that

story as

it unfolds

throughout the

Hebrew

scriptures and

throughout the

New Testament.

Not only for

that first

generation of

believers in

the book of

Acts who

knew who

they were in

you and

proclaimed you

with boldness

clarity.

But thank you

not only for

them but

throughout the

whole of

history as

we look

back and

for those

forebears of

faith who

have proclaimed

you with

faithfulness and

with truth.

Lord,

forgive us

for when

we have

been cowardly

in our

faith.

Forgive us

when we have

stepped back

rather than

stepped up.

forgive us

for when we

have winced

with embarrassment

or nervousness

or timidity.

But Lord,

thank you

that you

never give

up on us.

Thank you

that you

died for

each and

every person.

Thank you

that you

even died

for those

who would

deny you.

So Lord,

help us

like Daniel

to know

of our

identity

in you.

Help us

to have

that renewed

confidence

that we

are in

you and

that we

are saved

not just

for this

life but

for all

eternity.

And from

that place

of confidence

and reassurance

of knowing

you and

your love,

give us

that renewed

strength

to dare

to be

different,

to dare

to call

out the

lies of

our

culture

and our

society

and to

speak

and to

live

the message

of Jesus.

Help us

to do that

this day,

this week

and always

until you

call us

home.

In Jesus'

name.

Amen.