1 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:07,200 This is Daniel one verse 3 through 9. 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:13,200 Then the king ordered Ashronash, chief of his court officials, to 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,079 bring into the king service some of the Israelites from the royal 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,920 family and the nobility. Young men without any physical 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,640 defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,840 learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to 7 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,920 serve in the King's palace. He was to teach them the 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,520 language and literature of the Babylonians. 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,640 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,720 King's table. They were to be trained for 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,840 three years, and after that they were to enter the King's 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,880 service. Among those who were chosen were 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:54,560 some from Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,640 The chief official gave them new names. 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:03,280 To Daniel the name belted Shazar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to 16 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:07,400 Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abednego. 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,520 But Daniel resolve not to defile himself with the royal food and 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,200 wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to 19 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,000 defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official 20 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,560 to show favor and compassion to Daniel. 21 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,600 A couple years ago, on a Friday morning, police and firefighters 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:32,040 responded to a fire alarm at a University of Iowa fraternity 23 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,200 house. When they entered the basement, 24 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,000 they found several dozen young men standing shirtless and 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,920 blindfolded. The alarming footage revealed 26 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,640 that these weren't hostages, but they were fraternity pledges. 27 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,000 The university immediately suspended the fraternity and 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,720 investigated, and the chapter was later suspended. 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,080 Apparently, when the police interrupt your secret initiation 30 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,800 ceremony, the evening has officially gotten out of hand. 31 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,240 Not every fraternity hazes its members, but most fraternities 32 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,960 do have some form of initiation process. 33 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,360 A young person has left home, family, old friends and 34 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,520 everything familiar, and they arrive on campus looking for a 35 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,840 place to belong. And the group comes along and 36 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,680 says we want you. So first comes recruitment, then 37 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,320 the invitation or bid, and after that the student becomes a 38 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,680 pledge, not quite an outsider, but not yet fully accepted. 39 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,440 And during that period, the fraternity teaches him its 40 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,800 history and traditions and vocabulary, values, songs, 41 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,880 symbols. And there may be tests and 42 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,800 secret rituals, assigned mentors, matching shirts, Greek 43 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,560 letters, the whole 9 yards. And the goal of all of this is 44 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,680 clear. Learn our story, adopt our 45 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:49,760 values, prove your loyalty and become one of us. 46 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,280 The pledges at this Iowa fraternity learn the hard way 47 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,200 that not every tribe has their best interests in mind. 48 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,120 Have you ever? Been in an environment with 49 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:04,320 people trying to influence you to do something or become 50 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,480 someone for their purposes. You know, maybe that 51 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,000 uncomfortable meeting with the higher ups at work where you're, 52 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,040 you know, encouraged to maybe bend the truth just a smidge. 53 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,360 Or the moms hangout where the conversation topic was about 54 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,280 someone who wasn't in the room and it wasn't necessarily 55 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,720 positive. It's like a river with a swift 56 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,000 current. It is so easy to get swept up 57 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,680 and carried off when you're in an environment that's 58 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,560 influential and impressing upon you every day. 59 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:37,400 We live in a culture trying to initiate us to its customs and 60 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:42,840 its norms and values and ideas. We live increasingly in what? 61 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,440 Psychologists and sociologists. Call a post Christian world with 62 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,160 constantly shifting values. You know, the culture of the 63 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,880 1950s post war America where everyone goes to church on 64 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,760 Sundays. That's long gone and even the 65 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,480 influence of moral thought leaders like pastors is waning 66 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,920 as mistrust of religious figures is at an all time high. 67 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,480 And so we need to recognize our American culture is 68 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,240 predominantly secular, not religious. 69 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,160 It's rational. Rather than believing in the 70 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,600 supernatural, and whether we pay attention to it or not, we are 71 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,680 constantly being formed intellectually and spiritually 72 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,120 by the values and ideologies of our host culture today. 73 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:32,400 The question for us becomes then, how can we live faithfully 74 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,600 to Jesus while prospering in a culture that at best is 75 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:41,200 ambivalent towards God and at worst is hostile toward Him? 76 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,520 Do we, do we, you know, flex and fight back and resist? 77 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:50,560 Do we separate and isolate, or is there a different way to 78 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,720 operate? We're going to dive into that 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,600 question as we kick off our sermon series in the book of 80 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,600 Daniel. And so we always encourage you 81 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,160 to bring physical Bibles if you have them. 82 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,960 You can open up your phone. Just get this in front of you if 83 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:03,480 you could. Some way we have Bibles in the 84 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,040 back. It'll be on the screen as well. 85 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,600 And so as you turn there, the book of Daniel has two major 86 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,600 sections. So the last half of the book, 87 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,720 chapters 7 through 12, focus on visions and prophecy in the end 88 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,280 times. But our main focus for this 89 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,200 series is going to be on chapters one through 6, which 90 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,160 detail the life of Daniel and his three young friends from 91 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,160 Judah. OK, so Daniel chapter 1, it's 92 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,680 right after the book of Ezekiel. If you're newer to the word, 93 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,720 we're just glad you're here. Daniel one verse one. 94 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,600 It says this in the third year of the reign of Jehoakim king of 95 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:45,120 Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and 96 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,840 besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoakim 97 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:50,920 king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles 98 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,560 from the temple of God. These he carried off to the 99 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:59,640 temple of his God in Babylonia, and put the treasure and put to 100 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,360 the treasure House of his God. So Daniel opens up with the 101 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:10,080 events taking place in 605 BC. So this is before Jesus and 102 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,320 God's people are being overthrown by this foreign 103 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,960 power, and they're being carried off into what's called exile. 104 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,680 Now, the people of Judah here, they're not overthrown by just 105 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,120 any foreign power. They're overthrown by the big 106 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:29,800 bad Babylon. OK, now ancient neo Neo Babylon 107 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,320 of Mesopotamia was one of like the major superpowers at the 108 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,960 time. Their driving goal was to 109 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,280 overthrow Egypt and conquer all the other nations around them. 110 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,240 But Judah Daniels, Judah was geographically positioned in a 111 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,480 strategic location for them back of the sort of a buffer to the 112 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,360 other nations. When it comes to the culture of 113 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,960 Babylon, the Greek historian Herodotus claimed that Babylon 114 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:59,360 surpasses in wonder any city in the known world. 115 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,680 That's kind of a big claim, surpasses any city in the known 116 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,080 world. It was known for its impressive 117 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,360 fortifications. Its walls were said to be so 118 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,360 grand that Chariots could race along the tops of them. 119 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,080 This is what's called a ziggurat. 120 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,200 It was like the skyscraper of of the day. 121 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,320 Some believe the Tower of Babel was actually not like a pyramid 122 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,000 or a or like a circular tower, but a ziggurat. 123 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,040 It's kind of interesting. But Babylon is more than just a 124 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,520 fancy city or more than just a superpower. 125 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,080 In the Bible, Babylon represented much more than that. 126 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:39,320 In fact, in Scripture, Babylon represents an archetype of 127 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,880 stubborn rebellion of human achievement, wickedness, 128 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,920 idolatry. Theologian Joyce Goldingay, she 129 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:53,080 highlights this as she writes, Babylon was synonymous with 130 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,600 opposition to God. It was a place where wickedness 131 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,360 was at home and uprightness could expect opposition. 132 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,800 So the very act of Nebuchadnezzar taking sacred 133 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:10,040 items from God's holy temple and placing it in the in the temple 134 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,720 of their gods was like a way of proclaiming their God's 135 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,280 superiority over the one true God, Yahweh. 136 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,480 So this is like insult to injury happening here. 137 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:25,560 Now, at first glance, an outsider might read this story 138 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,400 and see powerful Babylon overcoming Judah as just a part 139 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,039 of, you know, how things work, how nations are conquered all 140 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:34,159 the time, right? The big guy swallows up the 141 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:37,000 little guy with his impressive might and his military strategy, 142 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:38,840 etcetera. And, you know, we might be 143 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,520 tempted to look at Judah and being like, maybe you guys 144 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:43,440 should have increased your defense budget, you know, or 145 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,200 something like maybe have better allies. 146 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,280 I don't know. But the author of Daniel makes 147 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,960 it really, really clear here that that is not what's 148 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:56,560 happening here. Daniel 12 the Lord delivered 149 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:58,600 Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand. 150 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,640 So not just that, it's not just that Babylon's mighty and and 151 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,280 was able to overthrow. No, no, no, this was actually 152 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,800 God's doing. In other words, He's letting his 153 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,640 chosen people be carried away into exile at the hands of the 154 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:14,840 Babylonians. Why? 155 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,520 Despite God's abundant patience with His children, their hearts 156 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,800 were still just far from Him. They practiced all kind of 157 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,560 idolatry. They were practicing child 158 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:29,640 sacrifice and more. And all of this led to the 159 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,760 events leading up to Daniel verse 3. 160 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,960 Then the king, this is King Nebuchadnezzar. 161 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,600 Then the king ordered Ashpinaz, chief of his court officials, to 162 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:43,960 bring into the King's service some of the Israelites from the 163 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:48,000 royal family and the nobility. Young men without any physical 164 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,680 defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of 165 00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:55,440 learning, well informed, quick to understand and qualified to 166 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,160 serve in the King's palace. He was to teach them the 167 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,160 language and literature of the Babylonians. 168 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:04,600 So here we see that it's not just the sacred items of the 169 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,560 temple that are taken from where they belong and placed into a 170 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:12,560 corrupt area. No, it's also happening to the 171 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:15,400 people. So Daniel and his three friends 172 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:18,520 here are taken along with the others from the royal line of 173 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:20,920 Judah. And so Judah's nobility is 174 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,920 captured here. They're hauled away in chains. 175 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,800 They're on a long journey, and they're placed inside a new 176 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:31,880 culture, a Babylon. Now notice how Nebuchadnezzar is 177 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:36,320 intentionally choosing young men who already had understanding 178 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,280 and wisdom. So these would have been men who 179 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,800 have been trained in Hebrew proverbial wisdom, and these 180 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,320 would have been men of nobility. So they would have had like sort 181 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,160 of a predisposition towards royal customs and politics. 182 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,400 It'd be really useful as your empire's expanding to have young 183 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,320 men who could you could kind of tame and shape, and they could 184 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,360 be the ones sort of leading in the future. 185 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,960 But they're not just looking for guys with brains, they're 186 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,600 looking for some men with some brown, right? 187 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,440 It's they're looking for the guys without any physical 188 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,120 defect. These are the handsome fellas. 189 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:12,920 Ladies, where you at? Right like these are good 190 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:14,800 looking young. Guys here, OK. 191 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,600 Paul dark and handsome. That's what the Babylonians 192 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,080 wanted. So we we actually see that in 193 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,880 ancient Mesopotamia art, they actually valued beauty quite 194 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:27,280 highly. You can take a look. 195 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:31,480 I think there should be a picture, hopefully coming up. 196 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:32,240 Yeah. Take a look. 197 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,800 So whenever you see the Mesopotamians, they're like 198 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,440 fully bearded, great physical features, right. 199 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:40,640 And look at those outfits. I mean, come on. 200 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,720 Right. The black and the gold in the 201 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:44,720 middle with the with the loafers, Right. 202 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,440 Like, talk about drip. Like, that's sick. 203 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,720 OK. They valued appearances very, 204 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:56,080 very highly. And So what we see here is 205 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,680 they're being taken and they're being groomed here. 206 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,720 Verse 5, The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine 207 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:06,240 from the King's table, King's table. 208 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,320 They were to be trained for three years, and after that they 209 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:10,760 were to enter the King's service. 210 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,800 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah, Daniel, 211 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:19,640 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief official gave them new 212 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:24,480 names, It's important new names to Daniel, the name Beltigezar, 213 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:29,200 to Hananiah Shadrach to Meshach, and to Azariah Abednego. 214 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:34,560 So here what we see is that Daniel and his three friends are 215 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:38,120 being groomed into the evil King's service. 216 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,600 They're being taken away from the people in the land so they 217 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,640 can be fully assimilated into their Babylonian culture. 218 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,800 I don't know if you remember that scene from The Avengers 219 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,920 where like mighty Titan Thanos comes in and he wipes out the 220 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,640 whole population. And then there's this young girl 221 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,200 named Gamora, who like kind of watches her whole thing. 222 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,200 She loses her people. And what does Thanos do? 223 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:05,080 He he kidnaps Gamora and he trains her and raises her as his 224 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,960 own daughter in order that she could grow up to be one of his 225 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,680 assassins. She's she's grooming her into 226 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,840 the royal service of Thanos. That's kind of what's happening 227 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,920 here with these young men. Daniel and his friends are being 228 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,840 reprogrammed to now learn the ways of Acadian language in 229 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,360 cuneiform writing. They're learning the ways of 230 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,920 what's of these magicians called the Chaldeans. 231 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,960 So picture this. Daniel is being trained in arts 232 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,760 like divination, like he's looking to the stars and 233 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,800 celestial bodies, looking for phenomenon and astrology. 234 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,360 He's they would even have his practice where they'd cut open 235 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,720 sheep. They'd look at their livers and 236 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,240 by the shape and by the color of their livers, they'd be able to 237 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,680 determine the future. And you thought your health 238 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:54,240 class was weird growing up, right? 239 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,840 Like I grew up learning reading, writing and arithmetic. 240 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,560 Daniel's learning reading, writing and astrology. 241 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:04,320 OK, it's, it's a different kind of educational system here. 242 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:09,280 And verse 7 in verse 7, we see it wasn't enough just to change 243 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,520 their language or their location or their education. 244 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:19,880 Babylon changed their names. This matters because like Hebrew 245 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,000 names when they're given, when the the Hebrew names they had 246 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,400 were all related to Yahweh, they're one true God. 247 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:30,360 But now they're being renamed after Babylonian gods, after the 248 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,760 pantheon of gods that Babylon worship the false gods. 249 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,720 And Mishael here, he gets the biggest slap in the face here, 250 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,560 right? So Daniel, his name is Yahweh 251 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:45,160 was Yahweh is my judge, and he's renamed to something that means 252 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,160 treasure of Bell, which is another name for Marduk, the 253 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:52,240 king of the Babylonian pantheon. Again, Mishiel, his original 254 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:57,880 Hebrew name means who is like Yahweh, and then check this out. 255 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:04,040 He is renamed to Meshach, which means who is like Aloo, the moon 256 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,400 God. This is an intentional slap in 257 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,360 the face. This is an intentional reshaping 258 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,680 and reforming by giving them a new name. 259 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:13,480 It's more than just a name change. 260 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,200 It's an attempt to imprint an identity onto these young men. 261 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:20,840 You guys following so far, This is intentional. 262 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,520 What's happening here. Now in our culture, names don't 263 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,840 mean a whole lot. My name is Benjamin, which means 264 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,760 son of the right hand, which is pretty sick. 265 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:31,280 I mean, that's kind of cool. All right, OK. 266 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,600 But let's be honest. Like, it doesn't impact my life. 267 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,000 It doesn't tell my my story today in our culture, like we 268 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,040 name babies based off like, what's popular, what's trending 269 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,720 or your favorite Harry Potter character or whatever, right? 270 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,120 But in the ancient Near East, a name was so much more than that. 271 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:51,480 A name represented your origin. It represented your identity. 272 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,480 It represented your destiny, who you were going to become. 273 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,760 And so with names, with these names for Daniel and his 274 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,600 friends, Babylon was attempting to rewrite their identities away 275 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,440 from Yahweh into their gods. So it's kind of like the 276 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,440 University of Iowa fraternity situation all over again here, 277 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,600 right? Like they're reprogramming them. 278 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:16,360 OK, maybe a bit more extreme, but to recap real quick, the 279 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:20,480 Babylonians are taking young noblemen from their homes, 280 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,520 moving them all the way across the desert, attempting to 281 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:27,760 indoctrinate them with their customs, teaching them dark 282 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,240 arts, and erasing God from their names. 283 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,960 And what's remarkable about this story up until this point is 284 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:42,360 that the young men don't protest it Isn't that interesting? 285 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,520 They're they're not fighting back up until this point, right? 286 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,520 They've gone along with it. In fact, they've graduated Magna 287 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,280 cum laude in their class. They've moved through the 288 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,080 program, and they almost seem indifferent to the names. 289 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:03,000 They went along with the customs of their culture until they 290 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,240 couldn't go along any further. And it's in this next section 291 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,319 that we see one of the most important verses in the entire 292 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:11,839 book of Daniel. Here it is kind of our our theme 293 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:14,319 verse for the morning as well, says this. 294 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:21,920 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal 295 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:28,520 food and wine. Daniel resolved not to defile 296 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,360 himself. So this is a radical turning 297 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,480 point in the story. Up until this point, all of the 298 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:36,960 momentum was heading towards Babylon. 299 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,480 All of the momentum was heading towards their gods, their 300 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,280 values, culture, apart from the one true God, Yahweh. 301 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,840 And it's until this moment, this is the moment where Daniel 302 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,160 finally made a choice. And the choice was this, I'm not 303 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,680 going to defile myself. I can't do it. 304 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:01,560 I have to draw a line. Now, we don't exactly know 305 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,320 exactly what it was about this food and wine that would have 306 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,600 been defiling to Daniel. There's a lot of leading 307 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,440 theories, first theories that the Babylonians, they actually 308 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,040 believe that their statues of their gods were the actual 309 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:16,520 presence of their God here on Earth. 310 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,680 So check this. They would perform these, like, 311 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:23,360 really weird secret nighttime rituals where they would attempt 312 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:27,000 to, like, chant over their statue as an attempt to open 313 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,200 their eyes and open their ears. Creepy, creepy stuff, right? 314 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,120 And what they do is they would even place, like, sacred 315 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,760 ornaments on them. And they believe that they were 316 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:37,600 actually coming to life in this way. 317 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,480 And they were so dedicated to this idea that their gods were 318 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,480 alive that they would place meals in front of their gods, 319 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,000 and they'd give them privacy behind a curtain so they could 320 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,720 eat them. What's interesting is that the 321 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:54,640 leftovers of these meals, they would go to the King's table. 322 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,120 So the king would eat the same food as the gods and the same 323 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:01,720 drink. And in in doing so, by eating 324 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,800 the same food as the gods, what they were doing was they were 325 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,640 receiving the very blessing and divinity of the gods. 326 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,960 So it's almost like saying I eat at the same table as the divine 327 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,800 gods I'm worshiping. Does that make sense? 328 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,880 So that's maybe the first reason is that it was this meal was 329 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,200 literally being sacrificed to an idol. 330 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 Second, to receive the King's food was more than just 331 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,000 receiving like a free lunch. In the ancient Near Eastern 332 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,160 Time, royal food of the king signified a covenant 333 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,560 relationship of allegiance to the Kingdom. 334 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,360 So to eat with someone saying, like, I'm at your table, I'm 335 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:37,960 with you. And finally, another theory is 336 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,480 that being that Daniel, you know, still ate the vegetables, 337 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,520 maybe it was because the meat that he was being offered wasn't 338 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:48,040 kosher due to Jewish dietary laws, right? 339 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,280 So for instance, maybe they're trying to serve him pork and 340 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,240 pigs, or maybe they're even trying to serve him horse or 341 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:56,640 something like that. Which fun fact, I was watching 342 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,160 the like David animated movie and there's this scene where 343 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,760 Goliath comes up and he's intimidating the guys and he's 344 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,760 like, oh, I like eating horses or something like that. 345 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,120 And we're like, that's ridiculous. 346 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,640 But then I found out they used to actually eat horses. 347 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,520 So anyway, it's like true to the culture. 348 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,480 Whatever it was, though, whatever the exact reason was, 349 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:22,840 Daniel's decision to not eat likely functioned as a boundary 350 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:27,520 of allegiance to God. Over the Babylonian powers, a 351 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,720 boundary of allegiance to Yahweh. 352 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:35,920 It's as if Daniel is saying I'll serve in Babylon's court, I'll 353 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,240 learn Babylon's language, I'll even answer to a Babylonian 354 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,920 name. But Babylon's gods and powers 355 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,680 will not become the source of my flourishing, will not become the 356 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,160 source of my identity. It is not the nourishment of 357 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,080 gods or kings of Babylon that blesses me and causes me to 358 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,640 excel. It is only the nourishment of 359 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,160 God. It's as if he's saying if I'm 360 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,480 going to succeed here, if I have to live a life here in Babylon 361 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,760 and I'm going to excel, I'm going to make it clear it's 362 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,080 because I'm doing things God's way. 363 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:17,840 I'm doing things his way. You see, Babylon had taken God 364 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:22,120 out of Daniel's name, but they failed to take God out of 365 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:25,360 Daniel's heart. He was resolved. 366 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,800 He knew who his God was. His core identity was still a 367 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:36,040 royal member of the House of Yahweh, the one true God. 368 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,320 And it's this moment, right? This moment kind of causes us to 369 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:45,240 pause and it causes us to ask, like, is that our same resolve 370 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,600 that we have here today? Like is this our approach to 371 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,680 health and success and personal integrity? 372 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,840 Have I, have you, have we resolved to do things God's way 373 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:01,280 even when it's like completely counterintuitive, even if it's 374 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,480 like greatly inconvenient or costs us a lot or risks our 375 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,680 reputation? Like, is it our resolve that we 376 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,840 will honor God and not defile ourselves? 377 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,680 Daniel made a choice and the choice was not to defile 378 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,240 himself. But he also acknowledges 379 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,080 something. He acknowledges that he's at the 380 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,600 mercy of those who are in authority over him, right? 381 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,240 And so in his God-given wisdom, he follows up his choice with a 382 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,080 challenge. Daniel 18 says, and he asked the 383 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,120 chief official for permission not to defile himself in this 384 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:36,600 way. Notice this. 385 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:41,920 Daniel asks for permission from the official to go against the 386 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,560 customs. He's like, is it cool with you? 387 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:48,760 It's all right with you? Is that all right? 388 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,320 And of course, the official at first, like he's hesitant about 389 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,360 sticking his neck out for this young man and going against 390 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:55,920 protocol. But know what it says in verse 391 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,440 9. This is important. 392 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:02,680 Verse 9. Now God had caused the official 393 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,640 to show favor and compassion to Daniel. 394 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,480 Who caused it? God caused it. 395 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,120 God had caused the official to show favor. 396 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:16,280 In other words, God is still in the story. 397 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,720 Daniel and his friends are hundreds of miles from home. 398 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,520 They're surrounded by foreign gods, foreign kings, foreign 399 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,080 lifestyles. I mean, they've got magicians, 400 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,640 they've got cults, they've got omens, divination, food, wine, 401 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:31,720 power, women, clothes, vanity, all of it. 402 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,200 And he is literally, in this moment, experiencing God's 403 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,160 punishment and exile because of his people's idolatry. 404 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:45,680 And yet we see here in this verse, God has not abandoned 405 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,240 him. God has not abandoned him. 406 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,040 God's still in the story, He's still with Daniel and his 407 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,760 friends, even in the midst of exile. 408 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,480 So catch this, catch this, this is a central theme to Daniel. 409 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:09,320 And it's this, despite present circumstances, God is still in 410 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:13,160 control. Despite how it may look out 411 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,040 there, despite how it may feel, despite being in some of the 412 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:21,280 worst circumstances imaginable, God is still in control and he's 413 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:26,200 still writing the story. Daniel verse one or chapter one, 414 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,280 verse 11 here, next slide. There we go. 415 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,560 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had 416 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:33,880 point pointed over. Daniel, Hananiah, Michelle and 417 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,480 Azariah, please test your servants for 10 days. 418 00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:40,640 Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 419 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,800 Then compare our appearance without of a young men who eat 420 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,600 the royal food and treat your servants in accordance with what 421 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,080 you see. So he agreed to this and tested 422 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,960 them for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days they 423 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,520 looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young 424 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,960 men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their 425 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,160 choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them 426 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:07,040 vegetables instead. And all the vegans in the room 427 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,280 cheered and said, we told you so. 428 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:17,040 OK, In boldness, Daniel gives the challenge. 429 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,440 He takes a risk for God and it pays off. 430 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,280 Daniel proves something here. He proves that you can thrive in 431 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,800 Babylon not by the strength of men or false gods or the 432 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,520 nourishment of the King's table, but by the power of the one true 433 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,280 God. Again, in verse 17 we see God's 434 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,000 hand on them in the midst of hostile territory. 17 says to 435 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,160 these four men God gave knowledge and understanding of 436 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,080 all kinds of literature and learning, and Daniel could 437 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,160 understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 438 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,360 And at the end of the time set by the king to bring them into 439 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:51,440 his service, the chief official presented them to 440 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,280 Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and 441 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:59,200 he, quote, found none equal to Daniel Hannan. 442 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,200 I am Michelle and Azariah. So they entered the King's 443 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,880 service. Dana resolved not to defile 444 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,880 himself. And yet he was still crushing 445 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,200 it. He was excelling, right? 446 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,880 I mean, Daniel's on the cover of GQ at this point, you know what 447 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,000 I'm saying? Like, he's headed to the corner 448 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,800 office. He's giving main character 449 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,000 energy. I don't know what that actually 450 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:23,360 means, but I heard someone say it once. 451 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:26,840 OK. Like Daniel was able to thrive 452 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:31,880 in exile by remaining true to his identity and allegiance to 453 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,680 Yahweh alone. He was able to thrive because 454 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,240 God was with him, even at great risk to he and his friends 455 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,680 well-being, their reputation, and their future God. 456 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:44,840 Or Daniel decides not to defile himself. 457 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:52,360 And So what we see here is that Daniel offers us a different way 458 00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:58,280 to resist, a different way to thrive in the ungodly culture of 459 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,480 our influence and influence of our host culture. 460 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,080 No, like Daniel's not thriving through violent uprising. 461 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,600 He's not resisting through outrage or through revolt, 462 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,280 right? And it's not even just, you 463 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,920 know, through his clever subterfuge or mind games that 464 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,640 he's playing. That's not how he is succeeding 465 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,840 here. But, and, but what he's doing is 466 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:22,840 he's resisting through a quiet, resolute decision to do the 467 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:27,640 right thing, A quiet. There's all that he has in his 468 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,120 heart to say. I just can't do it. 469 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:37,640 Honouring the authority over you as far as you can until you 470 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,520 can't go any further. This was Daniel's way. 471 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:44,280 So Daniel learned the ways of Babylon. 472 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,160 He studied hard. He did what he was told. 473 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,240 And he still found a way to bloom where he was planted. 474 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,160 But he also knew when he couldn't go any further. 475 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,520 Theologian Tremper Longman puts it this way. 476 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,520 He he writes, Daniel endured much cultural assimilation, yet 477 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,520 he knew where it was appropriate for him to draw the line of 478 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,240 distinction. In other words, he knew when to 479 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,720 say, I can't do it. It's not who I am. 480 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,600 It's not what I'm meant to be doing. 481 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,600 Again, verse 8, Daniel resolved not to defile himself. 482 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,040 Daniel knew we had to make a choice and he knew where he had 483 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:30,680 to challenge his culture back. So the question for us then 484 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:35,800 today is how can we know when and how to draw our line of 485 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,480 distinction and our host culture, right? 486 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,760 Like when do we, when do we draw the line? 487 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:45,000 How do we know when too far is too far here in our world today? 488 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,200 And what can Daniel teach? Us about thriving in our sort of 489 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,720 Babylon that we live in. First, one of the most important 490 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,640 things that we need to understand is that each of us 491 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,280 are currently living in a form of exile here and now, today. 492 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,880 In fact, the idea of God's people being in exile is 493 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,080 highlighted all throughout the Bible from the very beginning 494 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:08,960 with Adam and Eve. What do we see? 495 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,760 We see that Adam and Eve were banished from their home and 496 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,240 they had to live in hostile territory because of their 497 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,080 breaking fellowship with God and their sin. 498 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,640 In a similar way, we as believers, we have to recognize 499 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,240 that you and I, we're not ultimately where we belong. 500 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,600 We're we're not where we're meant to be. 501 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:40,960 Ultimately, Hebrews 1314 reminds us that here we do not have an 502 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:45,760 enduring city, meaning like this city of Ankeny is going to be 503 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,560 long gone one day. The the state of Iowa or the 504 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,400 Kingdom of America or whatever, all of it is going to pass away 505 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,600 at some point in time. It's just a matter of hundreds 506 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,520 or thousands or 10s of thousands of years. 507 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,400 But it's all going to go away here. 508 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,120 We don't have an enduring city. But what does it say in verse 509 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,160 14? It says, but we are looking for 510 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,960 a city that's yet to come. We're looking towards heaven, 511 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:11,040 we're looking towards eternity, Philippians 320 reinforces as 512 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:16,680 Paul says, but our citizenship is where in heaven, say it with 513 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,440 me in heaven. That's where we ultimately 514 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,680 belong. In fact, the idea of believers 515 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,480 currently living in exile, Peter makes it really explicit. 516 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,400 Check out what he says first, Peter 1, he says Peter, an 517 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,760 apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect. 518 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,280 That's us. And he says exiles scattered 519 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,880 throughout the provinces. He literally calls the believers 520 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,880 exiles. And then he buttons up his his 521 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,800 letter in verse in chapter 5 by referring to the church as this 522 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:50,160 she who is in what Babylon? Isn't that interesting? 523 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:58,360 He's saying church, you are exiles, you are in Babylon. 524 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,480 You're the ones living far from home in a land that is not your 525 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:04,920 own, in a you are. You are not citizens ultimately 526 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:06,800 of this place. You belong to a higher Kingdom. 527 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,040 Why does he refer to the the church as being in Babylon? 528 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,160 Why? It's because like Daniel and his 529 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,240 friends, we too are far from home. 530 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,000 We're in a corrupted host culture and we are waiting our 531 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,400 return to our future Eden, the future garden where all things 532 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:28,200 are made right. Like Daniel in the Christians 533 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,680 living under the hostility and influence of Babylon and Rome, 534 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:36,040 we too now live under the hostility and influence of post 535 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:41,200 Christian Western culture, which by the way, raises all sorts of 536 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,160 questions about how we're meant to live here and now. 537 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,680 Practically, would you agree? It is not easy to to to navigate 538 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:53,320 through through this world and through our culture right now 539 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,200 for most of us, unlike Daniel, chances are, chances are that 540 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,480 like you and I aren't going to, you know, get thrown into a 541 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:04,560 Secret Service van and be like driven to Washington, DC, to the 542 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:08,280 White House and like offered a Big Mac that's been, you know, 543 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,200 sacrificed and offered to a God of consumerism or pride or 544 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:12,840 wealth or whatever, right? Like that probably isn't going 545 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:18,240 to happen to us, unlike Daniel. And yet each of us still has to 546 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,400 face choices and make choices every single day, right? 547 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,000 It's we have to make this difficult decisions to remain 548 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,640 faithful and distinct in our time. 549 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:29,440 We have to answer questions like, should I send my kids to 550 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,720 public school or to private Christian School or 551 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,480 homeschooling? I figured we we could just take 552 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:37,920 a vote right now on which one's best. 553 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:39,040 OK, just kidding. All right? 554 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,040 We're not going to do that. I don't want people rioting. 555 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,600 OK, can I, can I watch Game of Thrones and still pursue 556 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:48,800 holiness as a Christian? Do we attend the same sex 557 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,560 wedding of our beloved family member? 558 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,160 Do we use preferred pronouns with our transgender friends? 559 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,360 Do we attend the bachelor party with questionable entertainment? 560 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,080 These are all questions we have to answer in our culture and our 561 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,520 world today. Do I DoorDash McDonald's for the 562 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:04,760 second time this week? All right. 563 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:08,600 And if that's not OK, is Chick-fil-A more appropriate? 564 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:10,520 Right? Like we all have to figure it 565 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,720 out. Look, we're faced with choices 566 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,000 every single day about how we're going to respond to the world 567 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,160 around us. And when confronted with the 568 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,480 values that conflict with our own, we have to make a choice. 569 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,440 Are we going to retreat and separate ourselves? 570 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:32,320 Or maybe we're going to like fight back, right? 571 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,120 We're going to get on Facebook and we're just going to start 572 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,680 blasting the the people we don't agree with, right? 573 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,600 Owning the libs or whatever, whatever people do on on social 574 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,040 media, right? Like, or do we keep our heads 575 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,960 down and we blend in just kind of like looking like the culture 576 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,600 around us? How should we respond to our 577 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,560 culture in 1951? There's a man named Richard 578 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,040 Nieber in his influential book Christ and Culture, and he 579 00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:01,480 identifies 5 general ways we can view and relate and react to our 580 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,960 cultural moment here today. So I'm going to lay these out 581 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:06,120 real quick. Five, I'm not going to go 582 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,760 through them all, but there's five different kind of options 583 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,440 that he sees when it comes to Christians reacting to culture. 584 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:14,679 Number one is Christ against culture. 585 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,679 This is the idea that that Jesus and the surrounding culture are 586 00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:21,840 fundamentally and always in conflict and that faithfulness 587 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,360 requires separation. Are fighting back, right? 588 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,159 So this may include people like the Amish who are like, I'm not, 589 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:32,280 we're not going to be corrupted by all the like fancy bells and 590 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:36,040 whistles of society and all the allurements of modern world. 591 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,040 We're actually going to go off and do our own thing. 592 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,800 So it's Christ against culture. For many people, they react by 593 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,520 #2 which is the Christ of culture. 594 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,520 So this is the idea that Jesus is presented as the fulfillment 595 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,440 of culture's highest needs in that moment. 596 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,199 So as many, many of the people who subscribe to this, they say, 597 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:58,440 well, well, Christianity needs to mold and it needs to adapt. 598 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:01,400 Like it needs to be able to accommodate itself to the, you 599 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,760 know, the values that are considerable considered most 600 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:06,720 admirable in society today. So this is like puts a high 601 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:10,720 emphasis on like social reform and social values, but maybe at 602 00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:14,360 the expense of like personal holiness and the conversation 603 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,080 about sin. Next is Christ above culture. 604 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,920 4th is Christ in the culture paradox. 605 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:24,560 It's basically the idea that we live in the paradox of the fact 606 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,480 that we have two competing kingdoms happening 607 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,440 simultaneously. Yes, we ultimately belong to 608 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:30,880 God. We have to follow, follow his 609 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,560 ways, his values, but we also are called to live under the 610 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,120 Kingdom of our governments, our authorities over us. 611 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,080 So there's like a paradox that happens like an overlap of two 612 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,920 kingdoms, but the fifth one is the one I want to focus on. 613 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:48,520 And this is the idea of Christ, the transformer of culture. 614 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:54,320 It's the idea that culture is fallen, yes, but it's 615 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,000 redeemable. It's the idea that Christians 616 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,320 are to enter into society, enter into education and politics and 617 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,800 art and economics and other institutions, right? 618 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:09,760 Where we're to press in to seek to bring them under the lordship 619 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,120 of Jesus, not just run away from them, right? 620 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,200 So it's the idea that Christians, we carry with us 621 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,920 Jesus, we carry with us the power of the Holy Spirit to come 622 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:20,960 into any environment in which we come. 623 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:22,800 And we can be light in the darkness. 624 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,840 We can actually be agents of transformation wherever we may 625 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,600 go and whatever sphere we find ourselves in, right? 626 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:31,360 And so it's not that we run away. 627 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,680 It's not that we just shake our fist and blast people on social. 628 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,040 It's the idea that we are carriers of the mercy and grace 629 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,960 and love and holiness of God himself wherever we find 630 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:48,480 ourselves in Christ. The transformer of Christians of 631 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:55,080 culture, the transformer of it. The last view of this idea of #5 632 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,200 is what theologians would call a creative minority. 633 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,600 It's a community of followers of Jesus that seek to rediscover 634 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:06,680 the teachings of Jesus and the practices of the early church 635 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:11,120 and apply them to the very soil of our post Christian world. 636 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:14,880 It's the idea that we're not to just survive our times, but we 637 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,000 are called to thrive as we seek to bring the transformative 638 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:23,720 power of Jesus everywhere we go. Daniel didn't retreat. 639 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:30,840 Daniel didn't revolt, but he worked with the culture to bring 640 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:35,240 influence. But you and I have to ask. 641 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:36,840 It's a very fundamental question. 642 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:43,880 You and I have to ask this. Do I really believe that I can 643 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,080 flourish in this world without compromising? 644 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,440 Do I really believe that? Do I really believe I can 645 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:56,440 actually excel and live out my purposes without having any 646 00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,600 compromise right when when I'm gunning for the promotion at 647 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,280 work? Do I really believe I don't have 648 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,800 to compromise when when my grade depends on tomorrow's test and I 649 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,800 could use a little help? Do I really believe I can thrive 650 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,960 without compromising when my friends invite me out on that 651 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,120 Saturday night get together or whatever, right? 652 00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:18,040 We have to ask ourselves, do I really believe that God's way is 653 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,200 better, even when it's counterintuitive or it's harder 654 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:27,520 or it's scary? Look, like us, Daniel lived in a 655 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,440 culture that was counter to the ways of God. 656 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:35,360 Like Babylon, our culture sees the rise and fall of regimes as 657 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:36,920 being at the hands of men and their strength. 658 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,520 Yet we learn that it's God who raises up kings and removes who 659 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:43,560 he pleases. Like Babylon, our culture looks 660 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,840 to outward appearances, but we know that God looks at the heart 661 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,680 of a man or a woman. Like Babylon, our culture trusts 662 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:55,160 in systems of human learning and education, But it's God who 663 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,880 gives true wisdom through his Word and understanding through 664 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,560 his Spirit. Like Babylon, our culture takes 665 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,600 what is sacred, marriage, children, sexuality, 666 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:07,240 Christianity, and attempts to defile and deform them into its 667 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:09,680 own image. But we have an opportunity as 668 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:13,760 Christians to elevate what is beautiful, what is sacred, and 669 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,320 what is good for the positive transformation of our world. 670 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,960 Amen. Like Babylon, our culture 671 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,800 imposes and imprints its own identity, its own plans for us 672 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:28,440 onto our lives. But God has already mapped out 673 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:31,560 His plans and His identity for your life. 674 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,600 And His plans are this, that you would be saved, that you would 675 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:39,440 be sanctified, and one day you would be glorified as an adopted 676 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:43,280 child of the Almighty God. That is your true identity, and 677 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,640 nothing the culture can do can take that away from you. 678 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:53,480 You are a beloved child of the one true God, the King of Kings, 679 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,200 the Prince of Peace, the one who is above all names. 680 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,440 You belong to him. That's who we are. 681 00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:07,880 Daniel thrived in his culture, and he did it God's way. 682 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:15,800 In other words, it is possible to resolve to resolve, not to 683 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,680 defile ourselves. It is possible, even in the 684 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,200 midst of a Dark World, to not defile ourselves. 685 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,640 Look, church, there's a lot of things you can't control in this 686 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,760 world. You can't always choose the job 687 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,040 that you want. You can't always choose who's in 688 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:30,920 charge of you. You can't choose where you're 689 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,000 born or the culture that you grew up in. 690 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,560 We're in control of far less than we would like to believe, 691 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,360 right? But sometimes the only thing you 692 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:43,000 can control is whether or not you're going to do the right 693 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,440 thing, whether or not you're going to resolve not to defile 694 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:48,840 yourself. Sometimes that's all you got. 695 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:55,400 So don't lose it. Is your identity in Christ 696 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,320 strong enough to resist culture's attempts to imprint on 697 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:01,840 you? Do you? 698 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:03,840 Do you know who you who you are and who's you? 699 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,920 Who's you are, right? Is your identity strong enough 700 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:10,360 to resist? Look, Daniel may have been in 701 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:12,840 the courts of Nebuchadnezzar, but he remembered that 702 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,280 ultimately he belonged to the courts of Judah, right? 703 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,760 Daniel knew his real name. He hadn't forgotten it. 704 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:21,440 Daniel knew his family line and where he came from. 705 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,520 He knew that he was royalty. He knew that he belonged to God. 706 00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,520 It was his identity that gave him strength. 707 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,240 Daniel's identity. And God was strong enough to 708 00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:31,480 withstand the forces and influence of those around him. 709 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:36,320 How about your identity? What about you? 710 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,800 Have you settled? Have you settled in your heart 711 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:45,600 and your mind that your your truest identity is in Christ, in 712 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,600 Christ alone? Have you resolved that no matter 713 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,000 where you're placed, no matter what names you're called, or no 714 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,120 matter what what kind of unholy things people put on your plate, 715 00:41:56,360 --> 00:42:00,440 have you resolved that you can live a holy life in an unholy 716 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:05,320 world just like for Daniel? Remember that that God isn't 717 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:10,040 somewhere far off back in Judah. God is right here in your actual 718 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:11,960 life. He's in every decision. 719 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,760 He's in every interaction. He is in every moment of our 720 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,200 lives. He is a very and very present 721 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:19,240 help in time of need. He is with us. 722 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:21,400 And so, let me put it this way, don't miss this. 723 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:25,920 Our ability to live for God is determined by the strength of 724 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:29,120 our identity in Jesus. Look, you are not going to be 725 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,000 able to live live for God in a world like we have out there 726 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:35,240 unless you are just rooted in your identity in Jesus. 727 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:40,480 First Peter 115 says, But just as he who who called you is 728 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,480 holy, that's Jesus, just as he has called you is holy. 729 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:48,520 So be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy 730 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,280 because I am holy. Since you call on a Father who 731 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:55,680 judges each person's work impartially, live out your time 732 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:59,320 as what foreigners here in reverend fear. 733 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,960 Peter's addressing the exile and he calls them like Daniel to 734 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,640 live holy. He says to all the aliens and 735 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,520 the foreigners in this strange world have a reverend fear for 736 00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:13,360 God above fear of man. In other words, you can live 737 00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:20,000 like Jesus, you can be like your Savior, you can live like Jesus 738 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,880 who left his perfect home. Live like Jesus, who is willing 739 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,880 to become an exile in the world that was hostile to him. 740 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:31,320 Like Jesus who overcame every influence and every temptation 741 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:35,000 known to man because he knew that this world didn't belong to 742 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,800 Nebuchadnezzar. Jesus knew that this world 743 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:42,120 didn't belong to Caesar. He knew that this was his 744 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:45,840 Father's world and that he reigned supreme and he was in 745 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,680 control. Jesus, who ushered in the 746 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,360 Kingdom how would last for all time. 747 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:56,120 Jesus himself resolved not to defile himself, and it was 748 00:43:56,120 --> 00:44:01,240 because of that, and he was willing to go to the cross to 749 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,120 pay for your sins and mine, that we could live eternally with 750 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,080 Him. If we put our faith in that, we 751 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:10,800 too can live a life of holiness, even in exile. 752 00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,920 It's not by our own wisdom, smarts, power, or good looks. 753 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:23,240 Not all of us have that, but by the power of the living God 754 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:27,560 living in US and through us, never forget what Jesus prayed 755 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,000 for his followers when he prayed. 756 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,240 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that 757 00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:36,720 you protect them from the evil one. 758 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,920 We may be in the world, but we are not of it. 759 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,680 And so as, as we begin to close, I just want to ask you, between 760 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,120 you and the Holy Spirit here tonight or this morning, are 761 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:58,240 there any areas of compromise in your life where God may be 762 00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:03,320 calling you to have courage? Are there any areas of 763 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:07,600 compromise where God is calling you to have courage? 764 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:14,120 Look, church, I personally have had many, many moments where I, 765 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:18,360 I partook in something or I did something where I knew it went 766 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,200 against my identity in Jesus and my calling to minister. 767 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:26,480 I've done many things. Well, it was, you know, caving 768 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,080 into peer pressure and drinking in college even though I was a 769 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,000 ministry major at a Christian School. 770 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,600 Or whether it's not just like watching the movie, but like 771 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,360 buying it, even knowing like there's like really shady scenes 772 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:42,760 in it or even like listening to the podcast that, if I'm honest, 773 00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,520 makes me angry towards Christians or angry at the 774 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:47,600 broken church rather than loving them, right? 775 00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,400 Like whatever it is, for me, it wasn't just about what I was 776 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:52,000 letting into my mind and my body. 777 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,880 Like for me, it's, it's not what went in that defiled me. 778 00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,120 It's what it was producing in my heart. 779 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:03,040 You know, it was more about the fact that that I knew that I 780 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,160 knew God had clearly told me where he said something like, 781 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:09,240 you know, others may, but you may not. 782 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:13,840 And it was it was the violation of the defilement of that, like 783 00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:16,600 that calling and that identity in so many ways throughout 784 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:19,440 throughout the years, right? Like that's what is at stake 785 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:21,920 here. That's what it means to not 786 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,320 defile ourselves. And so are there any areas of 787 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,680 compromise in your life and just be honest about that. 788 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:30,720 Allow the Holy Spirit to search you in the what is it for you? 789 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:37,360 Maybe it's alcohol. And please hear me like I'm not 790 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:39,440 saying that having one drink, you know, with friends is 791 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:42,240 automatically the issue. But but maybe for some of you, 792 00:46:42,240 --> 00:46:45,680 like drinking has slowly become more than just the enjoyment. 793 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:49,960 Like maybe it's how you relax or how you cope or how you avoid 794 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:51,480 what's really going on inside of you. 795 00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:55,520 Maybe for others of you, it's it's your sexuality, right? 796 00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:59,160 Like maybe you keep crossing the boundaries and telling yourself, 797 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,840 that's OK, we love each other. It's not hurting anyone. 798 00:47:04,160 --> 00:47:07,200 Maybe it's pornography or a secret relationship or even just 799 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,640 like a private message you know you shouldn't have sent, but you 800 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:12,400 you wouldn't want your spouse to know about it. 801 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,920 For others, maybe it's your kids activity, right? 802 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:20,760 Like sports are good and the show choir concerts are good and 803 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,600 opportunities are good, right? But like, maybe your family has 804 00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:27,320 become so busy chasing all of these opportunities that things 805 00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:30,120 like worship and community and rest are like the first things 806 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:34,160 that are being sacrificed for, for some of you, maybe it's 807 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:36,720 money or consumerism, right? The bigger house, the newer 808 00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:39,680 vehicle, the next renovation, the next vacation, whatever it 809 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:43,160 is, keep spending the money so you can maintain a lifestyle 810 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:44,960 that you're not even sure you're enjoying anymore. 811 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:49,160 Maybe it's work, right? Like I'll just bend the truth a 812 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:51,400 little bit. I'll just kind of cut the corner 813 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,880 no one will know about. I'll just leave that one detail 814 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:56,000 out or I'll just choose to take the credit, right? 815 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:58,800 After all, I got to make the sale and I got to do whatever it 816 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,520 takes. Maybe it's politics, allowing 817 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,720 politics and news stations, allowing your party or a 818 00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:09,240 candidate or a network to disciple your emotions and 819 00:48:09,240 --> 00:48:13,080 attack other people. Maybe it's gambling, or maybe 820 00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:17,720 it's gossip or whatever it is. Are there any areas of your 821 00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:21,960 life? Or, if you're honest, you may be 822 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:26,960 compromising and the goal of sharing these things is not to 823 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:31,360 to like, shame you into legalistic behavior. 824 00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:34,240 It's not. It's not the goal, as a matter 825 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:36,520 of fact, it's to free you from the shame you're already 826 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:38,520 experiencing and you may not acknowledge. 827 00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:43,520 Does that make sense? If there's one thing the entire 828 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:48,520 Bible in the mission of Christ is all about, it's helping 829 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,480 people be free from their guilt and shame. 830 00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:55,000 It's helping people embrace and experience the love of Christ by 831 00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:59,080 finally having some means by which the sin and the darkness 832 00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:01,840 and the burden and the pain and the guilt can somehow be 833 00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,640 released and placed onto something else that is higher 834 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:06,880 than us. You and I were not designed to 835 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,760 carry the weight with the weight and the burden and the pain of 836 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:13,560 shame and guilt and sin. We were not called to bury the 837 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,280 bear, the weight of defilement. We are called to live in 838 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,160 freedom. It is for freedom that Christ 839 00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:23,840 has set you free. And so maybe there's a way. 840 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,200 You just need to consecrate yourself before the Lord. 841 00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,360 And it may mean praying something like this just in your 842 00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:29,760 heart. You can even pray it now, 843 00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:35,160 praying something like Holy Spirit, Come search my heart 844 00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:40,080 like only you can. God, I want to be fully open and 845 00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:42,520 honest with you. I want nothing in the way of 846 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:47,440 your deepest desires for me. Holy Spirit, would you bring to 847 00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,680 the surface everything you want to forgive and set me free? 848 00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:56,120 Maybe you want to practice consecration by just inviting 849 00:49:56,120 --> 00:50:00,640 the Spirit to convict you of sin, or show you burdens or 850 00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:02,480 fears or doubts, disappointments. 851 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:04,680 Whatever it is, there's there's a long list here. 852 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:12,120 Just invite the Holy Spirit to search your heart to test you 853 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:14,960 and to see if there's any unclean way within you. 854 00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:20,440 And look, if you if you carry shame, if you've done some 855 00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,000 things that defiled you, hey, you're, you're in good company. 856 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,800 We've all been there. But we are people to pursue 857 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:33,200 holiness. So as we close to the outside 858 00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:37,280 observer, the first chapter of Daniel, Daniel appears to be 859 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:42,160 about how the strong conquer the weak, how those who are 860 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:46,440 beautiful and powerful get the opportunity, how the clever 861 00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,560 young Daniel outwitted this rival by his own smarts. 862 00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:53,040 And it may even be tempting to treat Daniel and his friends as 863 00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:56,240 the heroes of this story and the ones we're going to talk about 864 00:50:56,240 --> 00:50:58,920 in the future. And you may be hearing the 865 00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:01,240 story, maybe thinking to yourself, look, I'm not wise. 866 00:51:01,240 --> 00:51:03,920 I'm not beautiful. I'm not resolute like Daniel. 867 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:05,720 I don't have that type of conviction in you. 868 00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:11,640 But one thing as we close, I want to make really clear as we 869 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:16,680 read this story about Daniel, it's that God is the hero of 870 00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:20,840 this story and Jesus is the hero of your story. 871 00:51:23,560 --> 00:51:28,600 It was God's presence in exile that enabled Daniel to thrive, 872 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:32,120 nothing more. So in the same way, church, 873 00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:35,800 because our God is present here and now, even in our hostile 874 00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:40,840 culture, we can remain faithful to our identity in Christ. 875 00:51:41,720 --> 00:51:45,760 We can refuse compromise, we can seek the well-being of our city, 876 00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:51,320 and we can flourish wherever God has placed us because God is in 877 00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:56,000 control forever. And because of that fact, we can 878 00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,320 honor him today. May we all learn from Daniel. 879 00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:07,480 May we all learn from Daniel that it's possible to not defile 880 00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,560 ourselves in our world today.