1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,280 Well, hey, if we haven't met, haven't had the chance to meet, 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:07,920 my name is Josh. I, I have the the great joy of 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:11,920 serving as pastor here at the Garden Church. 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,080 And I'm glad to be with you today. 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,800 It's good to see you. What a what a fun weekend in 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,520 Boston. Christina, Phil, excited for you 7 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,720 guys tomorrow as you guys take over the Boston Marathon. 8 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:26,440 Best of luck. We'll be rooting for you. 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,160 It's Celtic's got a playoff game going on, man. 10 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,119 There's a lot of fun things happening this weekend, right? 11 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,840 And, and and you're here with us and I hope that that this, this 12 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,720 moment and this space this morning will be a gift to you as 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,440 well. If if you're just checking out 14 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,480 the garden or newer here, come grab me or anybody with a 15 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:49,000 lanyard afterwards, love to meet you, get to know you, answer any 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,720 questions you have. Just help get you connected to 17 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,560 to this, this beautiful community that is really bound 18 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,320 together across all of our differences by a a a shared 19 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,960 commitment to be shaped by and share the love of Jesus with 20 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,120 others. So well, I, I am I'm stoked to 21 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,200 be diving into our sermon this morning. 22 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,720 Our sermon we're, we're picking up where Mandy left off last 23 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,520 week with Part 2 of the series Faithful in Babylon. 24 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,440 And this, this series, as we know most of us are, you know, 25 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,920 we're familiar with Daniel in the Lion's Dead. 26 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,120 Maybe you heard about that story. 27 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,440 But as we discovered last week, Daniel isn't just a story with 28 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,680 safari animals and miracles. OK? 29 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,560 Daniel is a story about how God's people live faithfully in 30 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,560 exile. Now, exile probably is not 31 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,160 something that you think about deeply. 32 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,800 Maybe you do, I don't know. It's not a an idea or a concept 33 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,080 that for me is been something that I've I've considered or 34 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,800 wrestled or sat with, but but it is a huge theme throughout 35 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,600 Scripture. Exile was a defining feature of 36 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,600 the experience of the people of God. 37 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,680 This experience that we talked about last week of being 38 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,479 displaced, of being carried into captivity and the 39 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:12,080 disorientation, the disillusionment, even even the 40 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,800 deconstruction that comes with that as you see your your home 41 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,200 and your culture and, and so many of these things that have 42 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,880 shaped your identity recede into the distance, waking up in a 43 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,720 foreign place. I hope you haven't had that 44 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:28,120 specific experience. If you have, I'm sorry. 45 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:29,800 That's terrible. That shouldn't happen to anyone. 46 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,440 But there is another piece to exile, which I think is easier 47 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,400 to miss because it's a little bit more subtle. 48 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,120 And I think many of us may relate to and benefit from a bit 49 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,960 more deeply. And that is this. 50 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,120 It's, it's that there's not only a, an experience of, of 51 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,680 displacement that's part of exile, but there's also this 52 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,800 experience of living in a cultural system with values that 53 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,800 are at best foreign and at worst actively hostile to your faith, 54 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,000 to your identity, to your way of life. 55 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:11,400 And, and, and this is precisely where Daniel found himself here 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,720 in Daniel chapter one in verse four of our text this morning, 57 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,680 we meet this guy with a difficult to pronounce name, 58 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,920 Ashpinaz. He's described here as the chief 59 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:25,040 of the court officials and the king gives him a, a task 60 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,960 essentially of indoctrination and assimilation. 61 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,960 Aspinaz's job is to take these new captives, these these people 62 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,960 that Babylon has decided are good raw material, right? 63 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,320 They're young, they're they're they're of high status or 64 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,240 they're highly educated. They seem smart, they seem 65 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,520 valuable, but they're, they're still maybe not too set in their 66 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:47,880 way. So we can take them, we can mold 67 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,560 them, we can refashion them according to our purposes. 68 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:57,080 And that's exactly what Ashkenaz sets out to do in, in Babylon. 69 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,720 There we find to learn a new language, they're to learn a new 70 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,480 literature. They're assigned this daily 71 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,520 amount of food, this specific diet of, of, of bread and wine 72 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,720 from the King's table. Most of the people in the land 73 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:15,240 have been discarded or killed. But these few, they're the, the 74 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,320 lucky ones who get to be repurposed, redeveloped into 75 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:24,000 something else in Babylon. They'll serve the king after 76 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,880 they complete their indoctrination process over the 77 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,480 course of this three years. And, and this process we find 78 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,680 begins with new names. In verse 7, we see that Ashpinaz 79 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,920 renames Daniel as Beltashazzar, Hananiah as Shadrach, Meshach as 80 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,280 Meshach, and Azariah as Abednego. 81 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,000 Now, here's the thing about exile that I want you to notice 82 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,560 this morning. See, exile is not just a problem 83 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,800 of of seizing bodies. It's also a process of deforming 84 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:02,680 souls. This is exile, an indoctrination 85 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,840 process to help you become like Babylon. 86 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,360 Now, let me be careful and clear here because I I think anytime 87 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,840 we talk, start talking about conversations around cultural 88 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:17,760 hostility, some people get really excited and other people 89 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:22,440 bristle like crazy, right? Because we live in the world of 90 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,640 culture wars. And so I want to be clear about 91 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,400 what I'm talking about. And in fact, I'll, I'll name 92 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,400 which side of the spectrum I'm on when I hear Christians 93 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:36,760 complaining about persecution often I'm like, but really like 94 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,440 the fact that the Coles lady said happy holidays to you 95 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,680 instead of Merry Christmas is not exactly a salt on your soul, 96 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,000 right? Like Starbucks doesn't have to 97 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:46,800 like have the right kind of cups. 98 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,080 It's, it's not all a plot to destroy us. 99 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:55,040 OK, but as much as we can see a name and, and, and resist these 100 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,560 kinds of things, we, we recognize at some level that 101 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,040 that this kind of, of cultural persecution narrative that is 102 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,600 out there can in fact, like minimize the very real threats 103 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,600 and challenges faced by many people globally. 104 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,840 I, I know people this morning who are on their way to church 105 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,600 and, and, and doing so at risk of imprisonment, right? 106 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,120 Because of the culture and the policies and the politics of the 107 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,160 place where they live. They're meeting in, in, in homes 108 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,280 secretly, privately. And meanwhile, we've got flags 109 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:29,400 and banners outside to help you navigate the parking lot, right? 110 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,800 This is not our experience and I, I hope that it never will be 111 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,480 our experience. In many ways, we live in a place 112 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,680 with incredible freedom. And yet, and this is the 113 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:45,040 important part, everything in our culture is not designed to 114 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,720 move you towards the Kingdom of God, right? 115 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,600 We are, we are swimming in a river with a swift current that 116 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:56,440 is pulling and and moving in a different direction. 117 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,880 And, and this is significant because at at times it's easy to 118 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,080 to notice that the, the ways in which we imagine. 119 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,080 Like if I, I remember growing up and thinking about, you know, if 120 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,800 I were to ever to, to experience that moment, like the marderers 121 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,520 and heroes, heroes of the faith who had to came to this point 122 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,960 where somebody said, will you deny your faith or will you, you 123 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:18,720 know, be at the stake or something horrible? 124 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,120 And they stood steadfast for their faith. 125 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,800 Like it's, it's easy to see when the, the cultural attention is 126 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,240 so extreme, so overt, so direct, right. 127 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,160 And I believe that many of us, if we were faced with that kind 128 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,080 of a confrontation, we would have the courage to say, no, I, 129 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:42,200 I stand on my faith. I believe I will not renounce 130 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,880 it. But the problem with Babylon is 131 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,920 that the temptation is often not quite so overt. 132 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,360 It's actually much more subtle, right? 133 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,040 It comes in sideways. It doesn't ask us for this one 134 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,840 moment of renunciation or courage. 135 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:03,120 Instead, it asks us in 1000 small ways to accommodate, to 136 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,920 assimilate, to just take a small step here, to take a small step 137 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,920 there, right to to to be a little bit more like the people 138 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,160 around us, for status, for significance. 139 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,680 Everybody else is doing it. It's not like defy, deny your 140 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,360 faith and abandoned Jesus. It's just go along to get along. 141 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,920 And day after day we're we're confronted with these small ways 142 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:34,559 where the current is moving in a particular direction towards a 143 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,039 kind of formation. And and if we go along to get 144 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:42,159 along, 1 seemingly small choice so often can lead to another 145 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,960 patterns become habits which form character over time. 146 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:51,760 Our identity is reshaped by Babylon in the by Babylon in 147 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:56,360 these small and simple ways. And this is much of what Daniel 148 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,120 was actually up against. Yes, he had the radical 149 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,280 displacement, but he also had the food, the diet, the daily 150 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,880 routines, the exposure to a different kind of literature. 151 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,800 And and so Daniel is a case study for us in some ways about 152 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,200 what it means to resist, what it means to push back on the 153 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:21,720 deforming currents that seek to alter our souls and reshape our 154 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,520 identities. Philosopher James KA Smith, in 155 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,240 his book Desiring the Kingdom, makes an interesting claim. 156 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,120 He says that, that everything has a liturgy. 157 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,280 Now some of you know this word liturgy because we use it around 158 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,040 the garden quite a bit, but it's a it's a weird churchy term. 159 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,160 No, no, no shade if you are not familiar, but you were probably 160 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:42,760 given a document. You have a paper that says 161 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,160 liturgy at the top of it, at least I think it does, right. 162 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,560 And, and, and liturgy is this churchy word. 163 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:51,160 It, it technically means work of the people, but it, it might be 164 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,280 easy to think of it just kind of almost like an agenda, right? 165 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,160 It's kind of what happens. It's like you come in and 166 00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:59,080 somebody's up here and they do a call to worship, and then 167 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,880 there's some songs and we say hey to each other. 168 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,000 And then there's this guy up here talking, right? 169 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:05,960 We have this. We know what to expect, right? 170 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,480 There's this, there's this order and this liturgy. 171 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,240 We're familiar with this idea in the context at least of of a 172 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,920 Sunday worship gathering. But Smith makes an interesting 173 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,440 claim. He says liturgies don't just 174 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,200 happen on Sunday mornings. They're actually everywhere, 175 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,400 everywhere. He says that these counter 176 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,280 liturgies happen even in places where you wouldn't expect it. 177 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,720 One of the places that Smith goes on to explore is the 178 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,200 shopping mall. The shopping mall. 179 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,720 Now, you might not think of a shopping mall as a place of 180 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,360 worship, right? But he actually describes it as 181 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,880 a a cathedral of desire, a cathedral of desire. 182 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,200 And here's basically the argument that he makes. 183 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,000 He says liturgies are are rituals. 184 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,800 They're rites. They're things that we do to 185 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:57,160 move us from a diagnosis of a problem to a preferred future, 186 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:00,640 right? To from from from a problem like 187 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:04,520 a sin to a gospel of good news, a vision for the future. 188 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,360 We have these liturgies that move us from one to the other. 189 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,120 And, and he goes on to explain that that these rituals, these 190 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:15,760 practices happen all over the place. 191 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,160 Every time we buy a new shoe, a new pair of shoes or a car, 192 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,240 right? Marketing is is pummeling us 193 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,000 with these messages over and over again. 194 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,640 You're not good enough, you're not beautiful enough, you're not 195 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,480 stylish enough, you're not enough. 196 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,560 But there's a fix. Fear not, we have the solution 197 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:37,960 right here. Look at this beautiful poster, 198 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,320 this beautiful clip. Those people, they're so happy, 199 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:43,560 right? They're, they're so awesome. 200 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,840 They seem connected, They seem joyful and, and those people 201 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,440 like, look at the product that they have the car that they 202 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,560 drive, the jacket that they're wearing, you know, the, the, 203 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:58,600 the, the necklace or the shoes. You could be just like them. 204 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:00,680 All you have to do is swipe your card. 205 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:07,640 And so we we look, we behold it cultivates a longing in US and 206 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,920 we we know what the what the ritual is, right? 207 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:17,920 Browse, consider, maybe find a discount, swipe our card, take 208 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,760 the new thing home so that we can, we can be that person of 209 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:26,080 worth and value. And and these kind of liturgies 210 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,040 are, are present throughout our culture. 211 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,400 Most of us don't even who goes to the mall anymore, right? 212 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,360 I think this book is a little bit dated, but there are so many 213 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,160 expressions of this. There's the gospel of 214 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,880 achievement, right? You are not valuable unless you 215 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:45,480 have status. So you can bootstrap your worth. 216 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,160 Good news, you can bootstrap your worth. 217 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:52,160 If you'll commit to the grind, just hustle, go for it, work 218 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:57,200 overtime, push. And so we overwork, we optimize, 219 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:00,600 we compare, we repeat, we measure our life in outputs and 220 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:02,720 tell ourselves that rest is for the weak. 221 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:05,840 This is the liturgy of achievement. 222 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,520 We've got the gospel of self-care out there. 223 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,200 I'm going to step on some toes here, right? 224 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,960 The diagnosis says the world is a grind. 225 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,000 Oh my gosh, isn't it overwhelming out there? 226 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,840 It's exhausting people. And the good news is you deserve 227 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:24,080 to be pampered. Oh my gosh, you deserve it. 228 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,120 So, so withdraw from anything uncomfortable, cut off anyone 229 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:33,200 who challenges you. Indulge right Spa, we can go for 230 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,400 it. This is the solution that you've 231 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,360 been longing for in order to deal with the grind that you 232 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:40,960 experience. We've got the gospel of 233 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,040 self-expression. Like the problem out there is 234 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,600 all these other people trying to define you, trying to put labels 235 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,040 on you. Your true identity is inside. 236 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:54,600 You just have to practice some self-awareness, look at look at, 237 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,040 discover who you are and then express that out in the world, 238 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,360 right? As long as you're being true to 239 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:04,560 yourself and and expressing what's true to you, that's a 240 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:06,960 win. The ritual is self-awareness, 241 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,600 vulnerability, treating every commitment as negotiable if it 242 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,840 doesn't feel authentic, right? Naming our stuff without 243 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,840 actually filtering or recognizing whether it's good, 244 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:23,240 as though all parts of us are equal, right? 245 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,000 We have so many false gospels that live in our lives and our 246 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,200 world. And the problem is, is that so 247 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,040 often we miss them because they're running under the 248 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,320 surface. See, they don't come out and 249 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:36,240 straight up tell you, will you believe this lie? 250 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:38,320 They just say, hey, here's a ritual to practice. 251 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,160 Swipe your card, work a little harder, hustle a little more. 252 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,440 And it's so easy to get sucked in because we look around and we 253 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,600 see everybody else doing it. This is Daniel's situation. 254 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,200 He's standing here before Ashkenaz and everybody else is 255 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,320 eating the food, trying on the new fits. 256 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,560 See, it's not just a a stick. It's not just like, don't do 257 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,320 this and you'll be punished or thrown away in the dungeon. 258 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,280 Daniel's from this backwater province, right? 259 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,240 That this place that has just gotten destroyed and wrecked 260 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,240 and, and torn down. And here he is in the center of 261 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:20,000 the world, the home of Imperial Splendor Hanging Gardens. 262 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,840 It's like Instagrammable out here. 263 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,480 He's got the best food in all the Kingdom, like 5 stars. 264 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,480 This is this is fantastic. There's a carrot that invites 265 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:35,480 him to just go along, to reshape his identity to become this new 266 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:39,400 person. And This is why Daniel is so 267 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:44,880 compelling to me, because he stands out and presumably a lot 268 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,720 of people don't like, I think a lot of people in this story seem 269 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,760 like they go with the prescription that's handed to 270 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,960 them. Daniel and his small group of 271 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,920 friends are different. They are a minority because they 272 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,320 choose not to accommodate and assimilate. 273 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,920 Presumably the formation regime of Ashkenaz worked on a whole 274 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:09,520 bunch of people. But Daniel in verse 8 chooses a 275 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:13,600 different path. He resolves, the text tells us 276 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,200 he resolves. And I think this is is so 277 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,560 interesting. If you look at the text here, it 278 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,400 says Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal 279 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,640 food and wine. And this verse that we see here 280 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:30,720 in verse 8 happens immediately after the renaming, which we see 281 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,000 in verse six and seven. See, Daniel was just given a new 282 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,080 name. He was just said, you're not 283 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,640 Daniel anymore. You're Belteshazzar. 284 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,200 And then in verse 8, right at the beginning, it says, but 285 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:50,800 Daniel, not Beltashazzar. See, Daniel stays rooted because 286 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:57,280 Daniel knows who he is. He has an identity that precedes 287 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:00,680 empire. Even as a young man, even as the 288 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,880 whole world is pulling in a different direction, even as 289 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:08,680 he's offered this carrot, this vision of the good life, Daniel 290 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:13,240 is able to stay rooted and to resist because he knows, knows 291 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,200 whose he is and whom he belongs to. 292 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,680 I think this is beautiful that it starts with his name. 293 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,200 See, so much of the time we think about like, who, who we're 294 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,040 supposed to be in the world, Like following is something we 295 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,480 have to to create, to manufacture. 296 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,560 But your name is something you receive, right? 297 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,000 And Daniel's name is given to him as a marker of his identity, 298 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:44,160 a marker of his culture. And, and here he says, I'm going 299 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:48,960 to, I'm going to hold on to this identity which I have been 300 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,480 given. It would be so easy here for him 301 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,320 to abandon this, to go along, but he is able to resist. 302 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:03,440 And this is the gospel, friends, that that God names us before 303 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:08,640 empire can claim us, right? We don't manufacture resolve out 304 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,640 of nowhere. It comes from a rootedness, a 305 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:15,600 connection to our identity which we have received in Christ. 306 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,880 This is what Daniel is aware of. He holds onto not simply by 307 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,480 being stubborn or brave, but remembering A truer word. 308 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,800 See, culture is constantly trying to sell you identities to 309 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:34,520 latch onto, right? Senior product manager, tenured 310 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:40,040 professor, You're a mom or a veteran or an entrepreneur, 311 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,120 you're young or you're old. You're a licensed clinical 312 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:45,440 social worker. You fill in the blank. 313 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:50,160 There's a, a million of them. And, and look, I'm not saying 314 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,440 you're not those things. It, it's not bad to be those 315 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,720 things, although some of the scripts are more damaging, 316 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,400 aren't they? They're more painful. 317 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,000 Maybe the, the, the story that that you're being sold is that 318 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,400 you're a screw up or a failure, right? 319 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,040 That, that you're too much or not enough, that you're too 320 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:14,800 loud, too broken, too far gone, that you couldn't make it work 321 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:19,920 or keep it together, that you're unwanted or invisible. 322 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,240 We're constantly being told these stories and these 323 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:28,560 messages, and it's so easy, so tempting, particularly when much 324 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,480 of society around us is reinforcing them, to take them 325 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:36,320 on, to take them as our own. But Daniel understands that 326 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:41,920 before any other identities that he is a beloved child of God, 327 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,600 that who he is, is someone that he has received because of the 328 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,160 word that God has spoken over him. 329 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,720 Daniel's resolve is not the root. 330 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:57,400 It is a fruit that comes first from his belonging, A belonging 331 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,360 that had been practiced and cultivated even in his youth by 332 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:05,240 all of these traditions of his faith, including eating kosher 333 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:08,120 right. He knew that for him, this 334 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:12,000 wasn't just about gluten free or some kind of dietary preference. 335 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,680 It, it wasn't, it wasn't something that he was on some 336 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,000 kind of a diet fad or, or situation about. 337 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,160 It wasn't about an intolerance that he had. 338 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,800 This was a marker of his familial and ethnic identity, of 339 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,320 his spiritual identity as somebody who is part of this, 340 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:31,360 this family defined by the law of Moses, somebody who is a 341 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:33,960 follower of Jesus who had been called out and selected. 342 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,920 And so Daniel is aware of that. And and when the invitation 343 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:42,680 comes to to eat this plate of pork, right, the seafood diet 344 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,960 that's put in front of him, he says, hey, that is inconsistent 345 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,600 with my identity. I can't do it. 346 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,320 But I love how Daniel pushes back here because it's often 347 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,880 different than I think how we might imagine, right? 348 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,040 Because we talked a little bit about these two tracks earlier, 349 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,440 right? Culture warrior on the other 350 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:08,360 hand, or chameleon on the other, like we think to resist means to 351 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,200 to defy, to denounce, to flip over the table and say I'm not 352 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,320 eating this garbage. It smells bad. 353 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:19,120 That's not my thing. Daniel doesn't do that right. 354 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:22,840 He has a a a different way that he moves in this space. 355 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:27,360 Daniel recognizes that that there are options as he 356 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,680 negotiates a space that is not his. 357 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,040 He's not over here as some of the Christian nationalists are 358 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,880 fighting for control of the culture, trying to insist that 359 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,320 his diet is the way that all of the Babylonians must eat. 360 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,080 But he does come in and he he asks for an accommodation. 361 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:48,480 He says, hey, like for, for me, this doesn't work. 362 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,120 This, this would be a defilement. 363 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:52,080 This would mess with my identity. 364 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:54,440 Would you be willing to try something out? 365 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,360 Can we negotiate this? Can we find a middle ground? 366 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:00,000 Right There is a place for resistance. 367 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,760 We're going to see that, OK, there is a place for for a a 368 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,880 strong and firm defiance of what we're told. 369 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,320 But there's also a place to tactfully say, hey, can we find 370 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,400 a way through this? See, Daniel is interesting here 371 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,680 in the the sense that we see in the the following chapters that 372 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,600 the Babylonians actually are calling him Belthashazzar, his 373 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,600 given name. He's rising through the ranks of 374 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,480 Babylonian society. He's practicing what Jeremiah 375 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,160 talks about when it's speaking to the Exiles about being 376 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:35,400 willing to, to settle in, to, to, to grow vines, to take care 377 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,840 of the place, to, to live in it and steward it. 378 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,120 Because this is where God has put you. 379 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,160 So Daniel doesn't see everything as an enemy to fight. 380 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,480 He's not throwing punches against shadows, right? 381 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:53,160 He's not set on an automatic of resistant culture war, but 382 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,000 neither is he a chameleon who falls into the trap where he 383 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,360 just goes along to get along, right? 384 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,680 He's able to discern which pieces of the prevailing mode of 385 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,320 functioning what, what scripts are at play, what pieces of what 386 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:11,720 is being handed to me by my family, by my culture, by my 387 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,800 job, right? Which pieces of this are are 388 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,400 holy and good or or maybe just fine, right? 389 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:20,240 I don't, I don't. And everything doesn't have to 390 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:24,040 have a Christian label for it to be OK for me to find value in 391 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,760 it, for me to understand and engage with it. 392 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:32,160 But I will have discernment. And so Daniel shows up here with 393 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,400 the discernment to to be attentive to, to be aware of the 394 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:40,880 ways in which the Babylonian regime would turn him into one 395 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,840 of them. And he walks in the opposite 396 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:45,920 direction. He's not a warrior. 397 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:50,200 He is not a chameleon. And friends, I think this is so 398 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:55,120 important for us. You know, I don't know where you 399 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:58,560 fall on this spectrum. I, I suspect that some of us 400 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:03,200 are, are more on the side of like reactivity and guardedness, 401 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,440 right? Some of us maybe are more on the 402 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,680 side of like, it's chill, what are you worried about? 403 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,000 But we need a great deal of discernment. 404 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,000 We need discernment to be able to understand where we engage 405 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:20,160 and where we need to chart a different course because these 406 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:22,040 scripts are in our culture, they're running. 407 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:27,280 If you are not experiencing tension right, then it's a 408 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,920 pretty good signal that you have slid too far this way, right? 409 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,240 If there's nothing in you that is like, I don't think I can go 410 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:36,080 along. I need to, I need to parent 411 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,360 different from my neighbors. I need to budget different from 412 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:40,120 my neighbors. I need to vacation different 413 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:42,600 from my neighbors. I need to to talk and to show up 414 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:43,680 to work different from my neighbors. 415 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,840 There should be distinction for a people that is set apart by 416 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,400 God and for others who are not followers of Jesus. 417 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,320 Not just for distinction's sake, but because the cultural 418 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,640 currents of our society will take us to a place that is very 419 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:02,640 different than the Kingdom of God. 420 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,960 If we want to be people who are shaped by Jesus love, who follow 421 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:12,320 faithfully in a regime that is attempting to form us, sometimes 422 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,280 intentionally, explicitly, sometimes implicitly, people 423 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,440 just don't care. They don't understand. 424 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,920 Like, why would you get up on Sunday morning and go to church? 425 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:24,320 You could be sleeping in right now. 426 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,000 You could be a brunch, you could be catching up on Netflix, 427 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,240 right? It doesn't make any sense to a 428 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,560 lot of people, right? Why? 429 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,320 Why would you parent in this way, right? 430 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,960 Why would you? Why would you not have sex with 431 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,600 this person? Right? 432 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,480 We're in these cultural conversations where very often 433 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,120 what it means to be a follower of Jesus is disorienting to 434 00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:47,840 people. It doesn't make sense. 435 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,320 They may tell you you're an idiot, or they may just kind of 436 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:55,160 look at you like that's strange. But to be a follower of Jesus, 437 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,440 to be somebody who is formed in the current of Babylon, it means 438 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,120 intentionality and discernment to walk in a different way, a 439 00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:08,440 process of counter formation. And this is what Daniel clings 440 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,040 to. He says, Hey, I'm going to stick 441 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:14,240 to my diet. It might be, you know, and it's 442 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,520 it's beautiful to see what happens here in the text, right? 443 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,440 He asks, he says, Hey, can I basically just have veggies and 444 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,200 water? And the guy's like, no way. 445 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,160 You're going to end up scrawny. You're going to be pale. 446 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,880 I'm going to get killed because like you don't look as good as 447 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:30,960 the other guys. I'm supposed to be at training 448 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,640 over here. And Daniel's like, hey, can we 449 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,400 run a, can we run a pilot? And he does. 450 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,520 And what happens at the end of the day, Daniel and his friends 451 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:45,240 who go against the grain stand out not for their weakness, not 452 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,480 for how bad they perform, but for what is actually good, what 453 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,040 is actually holy, what is beautiful about them. 454 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,120 Even the people who don't share their value system can look at 455 00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:58,320 them and say, whoa, now, I don't know which part of that is like 456 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,280 the broccoli and the spinach. I don't know if this is like a 457 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,920 Popeye's diet and he's over here inventing keto or something like 458 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,320 that, or, or if this is more just like the favor and blessing 459 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,000 of God. But I want to say when, like 460 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,280 when we go against the grain, when we like practice a Sabbath, 461 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,720 even when things are crazy, when we get up and start our, our 462 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,960 mornings with a time of prayer instead of social media, right? 463 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,040 When we abstain from certain things or, or engage in certain 464 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,040 things, right? It it does form us in a way that 465 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,120 may be nonsensical to neighbors, But then they end up looking at 466 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:34,880 us and they're like, man, he doesn't seem as anxious. 467 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,520 She doesn't seem as overwhelmed. Like there's a joy, like their 468 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,680 life isn't necessarily easy, but there's a joy there. 469 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,720 What's going on, friends? This is the kind of anti 470 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:50,080 formation that Daniel practices and points us to rooted an 471 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:55,080 identity and then walking out a kind of liturgy that shapes his 472 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,560 soul towards the Kingdom. Friends, all of us need to do 473 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,360 this and and your liturgy probably should look different 474 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:09,240 from mine because different false gospels will hook you in 475 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,120 different ways than the ones hooked me. 476 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,680 I'll tell you one of mine. Let's have a little pastor 477 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:18,920 confession time up here this morning, man, I'm I'm tempted by 478 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,480 the gospel of achievementism, right? 479 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,360 The the Gospel that that promises that like the the way 480 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:31,080 to significant status worth is on the other ends of 481 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,160 accomplishment, of being impressive, of being 482 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,640 credentialed, of being a leader, of posturing and positioning in 483 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,560 certain ways. It'll get a hook in my soul so 484 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,080 easily. And then I start, I start 485 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,160 practicing the liturgy, I speed up, I overwork. 486 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,000 I'm like immediately into the workflow. 487 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,080 My I can't be present. I'm thinking about it. 488 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,680 I'm pushing, I'm grinding, I'm hustling, I'm telling people how 489 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,280 busy I am so they think I'm really important, right? 490 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,080 I'm, I'm name dropping a little bit here and there to, to show 491 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,440 off to people like that. I know people. 492 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:08,000 And then I'm cool like that. I'm telling you so you can call 493 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:08,800 me on it. OK? 494 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,520 This is, this is a false gospel that seeks to distort my soul 495 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,960 that is everywhere in Boston, right? 496 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,200 And if I'm to resist it, I need to practice a counter formation. 497 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,000 That means Sabbath. It means sitting in the presence 498 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,960 of Jesus in silence. It means just fasting from the 499 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,240 need to to name drop or to perform in order to impress 500 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,960 somebody else, right? Not, not trying to be smarter 501 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,080 than everybody in the room or more accomplished than ever, 502 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,600 just being present with what is. And that that kind of 503 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,440 intentional formation is necessary for every one of us 504 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,720 here. Like your thing may be different 505 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,840 than mine. Your your false gospel may be 506 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,160 different than mine. But the current is pulling you 507 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,760 in a direction that will not bring your soul towards the 508 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,920 Kingdom of God. If you want to be like Jesus, 509 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,040 then we have to learn from Daniel what it means to resist, 510 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,920 what it means to practice a different way. 511 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,160 So as we close this morning, I want to invite you to consider 512 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,640 what does this look like for you this morning? 513 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,160 Where do you notice that the tug or the pull or the drift of the 514 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,000 current? Where does it show up for you? 515 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,160 Like where you find yourself on autopilot, on automatic? 516 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,920 Maybe you're just being compulsively helpful for your 517 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,400 status and significance. Maybe your move is to not allow 518 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:46,280 yourself to be seen right? So you just keep yourself 519 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:52,240 invulnerable or perform like maybe for you it's a, it's a 520 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,400 distraction, right? You're just constantly numbing 521 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:00,480 yourself in one way or another. These are all liturgies. 522 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,160 They promise you goodness, they promise you a good life. 523 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,040 They promise you an end. But they are false. 524 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,680 And the end thereof is destruction, a hollowness, an 525 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:17,560 emptiness. We experience it, but very often 526 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,640 we just keep running without awareness because we don't have 527 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:25,120 the discernment of Daniel. Friends, this morning, I want to 528 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,640 invite you to use this next, this next segment of our 529 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,400 gathering. There's going to be some worship 530 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,560 music. There'll be these rugs up here 531 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,360 at the front if you want to journal or reflect or pray. 532 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:37,640 I'll be up here if you want to talk to somebody. 533 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,760 But I want to just invite you to use this time as yours. 534 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,480 Like where do you notice the tug for you? 535 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,840 What does that, what does that look like in your life? 536 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,440 Where is maybe things a little too familiar and something in 537 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,600 your conscience, something from the Spirit of God says, hey, 538 00:31:55,480 --> 00:32:02,280 that's not it, that's not it. How do you need to perhaps root 539 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,480 into your identity more deeply? Like this is what we do every 540 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,960 week at the garden. It's why I hope many of you are 541 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,600 here this morning, to be reminded of who you are, to be 542 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:17,240 reminded of whose you are to, to come back to that identity, to 543 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:22,800 reground in what Jesus has done and who we are because of him. 544 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,440 I need that. But I also want to tell you, the 545 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,200 90 minutes once a week isn't going to cut it. 546 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,800 The current is moving quickly, right? 547 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:41,240 We spend hours a day on our smartphones, 10s of hours every 548 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:45,520 week, consumed by culture and situations that are happening in 549 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,520 the office. The currents are everywhere and 550 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,360 you can be aware of it and still pulled by it. 551 00:32:54,760 --> 00:33:00,480 Unless we choose to discern and then choose a different liturgy 552 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:05,760 which roots us in who we are and whose we are. 553 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:13,240 Jesus, I pray that you would meet us this morning, that your 554 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,880 spirit would be active in these next moments of our gathering, 555 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,800 that you would speak to people, that you would highlight the 556 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,840 specific areas that that you want people to attend to. 557 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,960 And, and God, we just also want to pray against shame. 558 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,080 God, the the point here is not for people to notice something 559 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,200 that's off and then be consumed with how bad they are. 560 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,720 God, we want to be more faithful to your Kingdom. 561 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,200 We want to be formed by you. We want to be people who know 562 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,040 our identity and worth and can show up freely and powerfully 563 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:48,400 and courageously from your love and for the sake of love. 564 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,680 Because even in the midst of Babylon, we know who we are. 565 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,600 So God, I pray that you would speak, that you would highlight, 566 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,800 that you invite, that we would be responsive to, and that you 567 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,920 would make us a people who are faithful in every season we pray 568 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:07,480 in Jesus name.