1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:11,880 Well, good morning. 1st. I want to say that it is a joy 2 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,960 and an honor to worship with you this morning and to be back here 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,600 in Boston. Boston feels like home to me and 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,080 my family. We really kind of developed our 5 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:23,880 rhythms as a family here in Boston and grew to love the 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:25,040 city. We were here for an entire 7 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:30,240 decade from 2005 to 2015, and I just missed it a lot. 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,400 So I'm, I'm glad to be back. Also to give a big thanks to 9 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:37,280 Pastor Josh for the invitation and for trusting me with the 10 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:39,120 with the pulpit as a church planner. 11 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,360 I know that takes a little bit of a little bit of faith. 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,720 So thank you for that and thank you for all making me feel so 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,200 welcome. You guys are a really friendly 14 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,200 church. Can we do something? 15 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,960 Can we, can you do something for me? 16 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,560 I liked when in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul 17 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,480 was writing letters to churches, he would say, I've been praying 18 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,840 for you. Can we agree to pray for each 19 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,599 other's churches? My church back in St. 20 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:08,040 Paul, MN roots Moravian Church, we are just like you. 21 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:12,440 We are a community of misfits on a mission together, finding our 22 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,520 identity in Jesus. And I just feel this like 23 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,760 kindredship with you all. And so next time I see you, I 24 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,200 want to say I've been praying for you. 25 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,560 It's also a great joy to be joining this particular teaching 26 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,720 series in the book of Daniel. Again, I feel like our churches 27 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,640 are kind of In Sync, tapped into the same spirit 'cause we just 28 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,320 finished a, a series on the Book of Revelation. 29 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,480 And I think we're both kind of picking up on the Spirit and 30 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,360 what the Spirit is doing and making these passages, making 31 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,360 these books of the Scriptures relevant to us in these times. 32 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,160 So I had a chance to listen to both Pastor Mandy and Pastor 33 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,640 Josh's messages in this series. And you guys are blessed to have 34 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,520 some really good teachers. So, you know, be grateful. 35 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,760 This morning, I'm picking up where Pastor Josh left off last 36 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:02,920 week. And this is one of my favorite 37 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,320 stories in all of the Bible. It's the story of Daniel 38 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,000 interpreting the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of 39 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,920 Babylon, and I find this story to be incredibly timely right 40 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:18,520 now as we wrestle together with questions that are as old as the 41 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,120 exile itself. What happens when the faith that 42 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:28,480 we love gets recruited into the service of national identity and 43 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,440 political power? What happens then when it gets 44 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:40,480 distorted at the very level of our imaginations, where we begin 45 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:45,520 to dream the dreams of empire instead of the dreams of God? 46 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,160 Those are the questions that we have in this text this morning. 47 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,080 But before we dive in deeper, would you, would you pray with 48 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:57,000 me? Holy Spirit, we don't just need 49 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,320 more information this morning, we need divine illumination. 50 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,240 Would you do what only you can do, take these ancient words and 51 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,720 make them living and active in US? 52 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,880 Would you sideline whatever is competing for our attention this 53 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,720 morning? And would you forge us into a 54 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:22,280 new people with a new imagination so that we can 55 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,040 embody your Kingdom through our lives in Jesus name? 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:32,240 All God's people said Amen. OK, so have you ever woken up in 57 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,520 the middle of the night and you can't get back to sleep? 58 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,400 Not because of something that has already happened, but 59 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,440 because of something that could happen, something in the future. 60 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,160 Your mind is racing. You're running through every 61 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,080 possible scenario, every possible outcome, trying to get 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,200 ahead of whatever it is that you're afraid of. 63 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,920 And then it hits you. So much of your life is built on 64 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,080 things you actually can't control. 65 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,320 It's a it's a quite unnerving realization, and yet strangely, 66 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,720 at the same time, it contains a kind of clarity that gives you 67 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,200 an odd sense of freedom. Because so much of our lives, we 68 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,959 build them on assumptions of what life is supposed to be 69 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:23,880 about, the way our lives are supposed to go, assumptions on 70 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,160 the amount of control that we have in our lives, right? 71 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,240 For example, we build our educations, we build our 72 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,120 careers, we even build our families. 73 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,840 We build our own identities on things like success, stability, 74 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,800 on even being seen a certain kind of way by others. 75 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,440 We build those lives and then we depend on them. 76 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,120 They're carefully constructed and they present a carefully 77 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,040 curated version of ourselves to the world. 78 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,160 They're the things that we can point to and say, that's who I 79 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,360 am. These monumental lives of ours, 80 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,040 they're like statues. Maybe they're not golden 81 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,360 statues, but they're statues all the same. 82 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,920 And statues have to be held together by something. 83 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,760 Their structural integrity has to be maintained. 84 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,520 Otherwise, they will eventually deteriorate, crumble, and fall. 85 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,320 So we lie awake in the middle of the night, dreading the 86 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,800 possibility that our statues might someday come down. 87 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:39,480 And this is precisely the feeling that opens Daniel 88 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,600 chapter 2. The most powerful man in the 89 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,280 world, the king of Babylon, is up in the middle of the night. 90 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,480 He can't sleep because he could feel it deep in his bones that 91 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,320 the things he's built his life on might not be as secure as he 92 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,000 believed. His Kingdom is fragile and it 93 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,160 could fall at any moment. And we see this theme throughout 94 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,480 the Scriptures that time and time again, human beings build 95 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,840 our kingdoms and then we think we run the world. 96 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,280 We could call this, we could call this empire thinking. 97 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,520 We lose sight of our role in God's story, our function, and 98 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,480 God's economy. We end up fighting each other, 99 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:28,320 or worse, trying to conquer each other and attempt to secure our 100 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,680 place, a place that we've already been given by God. 101 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:34,920 And in the end, we're even worse off than when we started. 102 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,520 Battered, broken, divided, dejected. 103 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,800 This theme works both on a personal level and a societal 104 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:48,440 level. King Nebuchadnezzar is is 105 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,400 possessed by this empire, thinking this way of life, this 106 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:57,080 way of life that is fueled by a diseased imagination. 107 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:01,640 It's a fixation on security and protection. 108 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,080 It's defensive and it's insecure. 109 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:09,080 And if left unchecked, it can grow callous and even violent 110 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,520 because it's it's obsessed with things like power and winning, 111 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,120 and it views every negotiation as a 0 sum game. 112 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,960 I must win, you must lose. That's why the story says that 113 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,880 King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled in his spirit and his sleep left 114 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:32,160 him because Babylon had conquered Judah and dragged away 115 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,480 all its people into exile. Pastor Mandy's series 116 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,520 introduction, She did a fantastic job describing the 117 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,520 horrors of exile, what it means to lose that sense of home. 118 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,280 The Judaites who were in exile in Babylon were traumatized and 119 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,520 oppressed, and King Nebuchadnezzar had his boot on 120 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,840 their necks, and he was afraid of what could happen if he let 121 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:01,760 it up. So he commands all of Babylon's 122 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:07,160 magicians and enchanters and sorcerers to tell him the the 123 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:10,600 dream that he has had, which is more like a nightmare. 124 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,000 He summons them, and he demands that not only they tell him the 125 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:18,000 interpretation of the dream, but they tell him the dream itself. 126 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,960 That's a tall task, but it's also a safeguard against 127 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:24,280 manipulation, if you think about it. 128 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,880 Because if you think about it, everybody could give you an 129 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,000 interpretation of the dream that just tickles your ears, right? 130 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,679 They could ingratiate themselves to the king by telling him what 131 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,080 he wants to hear, or they could tell him an interpretation that 132 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,240 would benefit them. So by telling them that he wants 133 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,960 not only the interpretation, but the dream itself, he's proof. 134 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,880 He's proofed, he's proofing. That dream was proofing that 135 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,080 interpretation against manipulation. 136 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,360 But the magicians, the enchanters, and the sorcerer's, 137 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,240 they got nothing. So they beg and they plead with 138 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,280 the king. Tell us the dream and then we'll 139 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,880 tell you the interpretation. But the King won't fall for it. 140 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:14,600 He wants a true revelation. He wants a word from elsewhere. 141 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,920 And this is honestly where a lot of us find ourselves today. 142 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,960 If you think about it, many of us have built our lives on 143 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:27,360 assumptions about how our lives were supposed to go or how our 144 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:31,560 faith was supposed to look, who we should be placing our trust 145 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:35,640 in, and even about America itself. 146 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:41,240 And all of those things seem to be crumbling and falling to the 147 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,240 ground all at the same time. There's a lot of talk these days 148 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:50,400 about deconstruction as if it's always a neat process that you 149 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,800 intentionally enter into. That's not how it happened for 150 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:55,840 me. That's not how it happened for a 151 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,160 lot of us. For a lot of us, deconstruction 152 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,880 wasn't an intentional process that we entered into. 153 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:08,840 It was when our faith hit a wall and started to crumble, or you 154 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,640 feel like the floor beneath your feet suddenly opened up and 155 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,560 you're falling. This isn't just about religious 156 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:18,440 faith either. This also is happening to people 157 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,320 when it comes to their trust in what should be true about 158 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,880 America. People are rethinking their 159 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,720 beliefs in all kinds of areas, democratic institutions, our 160 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:34,200 military, our role in the world. I was listening to a radio show 161 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:35,960 on the on drive to work the other day. 162 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,760 It was a call in show about politics. 163 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,960 And a caller called in and said, I just trust that the government 164 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:47,520 knows more than I do and wouldn't be sending us to war 165 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:49,760 unless it was absolutely necessary. 166 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,440 And then the very next caller called in and said the opposite. 167 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:55,680 She said, I think we're being lied to. 168 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,600 I don't think we're fighting this war because of any imminent 169 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,840 threat at all. I think this is someone else's 170 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,120 fight that we've been dragged into, and I want out. 171 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,600 This is a common theme that I'm hearing everywhere I turn. 172 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,000 Just about everyone I meet and talk to, they're rethinking 173 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,080 something. They may not put it like this, 174 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,400 but they're thinking and asking what is my life really built on? 175 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,600 What is solid ground? That same nightmare of empire 176 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,120 that possessed King Nebuchadnezzar is all around us. 177 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:33,040 It feels fragile and insecure. It infuses our lives with 178 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,640 anxiety, and we end up running around looking for our own 179 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,560 versions of magicians and enchanters and sorcerers to tell 180 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:44,280 us what it's all about. But none of our modern, 181 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,360 technologically advanced interpreters, none of them know 182 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,720 the dream itself. They just want to give us the 183 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:55,520 interpretation, to tell us what we want to hear or to benefit 184 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,720 themselves. None of them have a revelation 185 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,560 from God. And here's where the story takes 186 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,720 a dark turn. When the wise men confess that 187 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,520 they got nothing, they don't know the dream, so they can't 188 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,840 give an interpretation. They have no word from 189 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:11,760 elsewhere. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't dismiss 190 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,200 them quietly and say, OK, you may go. 191 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,120 He orders them all, executed, every last one of them. 192 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:22,960 And because Daniel and his friends have been conscripted by 193 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,600 force into Babylon's wisdom class, they're on the list. 194 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,480 This is empire thinking, mask off. 195 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,280 Because what started as anxiety has devolved into rage. 196 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,920 What began as insecurity has now metastasized into violence. 197 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,800 And this is what the diseased imagination of empire thinking 198 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:48,840 does. When it reaches the end of its 199 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:54,160 resources, it gets violent. It doesn't humble itself and ask 200 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,440 for help. It tightens its grip and it 201 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,160 lashes out at a scapegoat. It imagines that destroying some 202 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,120 innocent person or some innocent group of people will alleviate 203 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,200 its pain, will satiate its wrath. 204 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,640 But it never does. And this is precisely what we 205 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,320 need to examine a little bit more closely today, because that 206 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,840 diseased imagination, it doesn't just live in Babylon thousands 207 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,120 of years ago. It has travelled, it has 208 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:28,560 adapted, it has found new hosts. And one of the places that it 209 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:32,840 has found a home in one of the places where theologian Willie 210 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,800 James Jennings has been courageous, courageous enough to 211 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,960 name, is inside the ideology of nationalism. 212 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,080 Here's what Doctor Jennings says. 213 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:50,480 Nationalism always engenders 0 sum calculations, where we win 214 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:55,120 by controlling our borders and by controlling our identities, 215 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:00,360 or we lose by being overrun with aliens who confuse our 216 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,640 identities and resist assimilation. 217 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,480 Nationalist vision is weakness and fear masquerading as 218 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:12,560 strength and courage because it beckons the world's peoples to 219 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:16,840 postures of protectionism and it leans towards xenophobia. 220 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,640 Nationalism remains a powerful way of imagining our life 221 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:26,240 together because it is actually a theological vision that mimics 222 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:30,360 the desire of God for our full communion with each other. 223 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:36,160 It is a communion without God or with God simply as a slogan. 224 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,720 This is why nationalism for us moderns is the first idolatry 225 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:44,920 because it places another God before God. 226 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,160 Nationalism is not what doesn't just want our respect, it wants 227 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:54,800 our desire and constantly presses respect towards desire 228 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,480 because secretly it wants our worship. 229 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,480 This hits at a theme that has been running throughout this 230 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:05,760 series so far. The theme is, how are we being 231 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,640 formed? In Pastor Mandy's sermon from 232 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,800 the introduction, she talked about how God's people were 233 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:17,440 malformed by the trauma and the alienation of exile and are 234 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,960 being formed towards our longing for another Kingdom, the Kingdom 235 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,440 of God, our true home. And then in Pastor Josh's sermon 236 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,320 last week, we saw how we are being formed by the practices in 237 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,080 which we participate, those secular liturgies, as James KA 238 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,200 Smith puts it, these, these liturgies, these rhythms, they 239 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,920 form us and they inculcate values within us. 240 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,080 Today, our passage in Chapter 2 in this story, we can see 241 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:47,720 another way that we are being formed. 242 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,840 We're being formed in our imaginations, especially our 243 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:57,720 social imaginations. If our social imagination is 244 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:02,440 held captive to a nationalistic vision, we will see immigrants 245 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,880 as invaders and threats to the social fabric of America. 246 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,280 If our social imagination is held captive to a nationalistic 247 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,920 vision, then we'll see our neighbors as enemies with an 248 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,120 agenda to take over our lives and force us to change. 249 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,960 If our social imaginations are held captive to a nationalistic 250 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:26,120 vision, then we will see war as not a necessary last resort, but 251 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:31,560 a divinely sanctioned crusade against ungodly foreigners like 252 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,680 King Nebuchadnezzar and his rage filled decree. 253 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,920 The nightmare of empire always gives birth to a social 254 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:44,800 imagination of death. But this is where the story 255 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:50,160 takes a cinematic turn. Like a movie, it moves from the 256 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,400 halls of the royal palace where the king has been crashing out 257 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,600 to a small group of exiles huddled together in their rooms. 258 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,560 When Daniel finds out that he's been marked for death because 259 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,800 the king is throwing a temper tantrum, he does what he's been 260 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,400 formed to do. He meets with his spiritual 261 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,240 siblings and they seek God together. 262 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,000 Notice how? Notice how his response is a 263 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,359 spiritual response. Notice how his response is a 264 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:24,480 communal response. Beloved, let's take a moment and 265 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,920 interrogate our own instincts for just a second. 266 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,880 When we're pressed, and I mean we're really pressed, is our 267 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,720 instinct to meet with our spiritual siblings and seek God 268 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,880 together? Or are we reaching for coping 269 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,640 strategies that are somewhere on the spectrum between moderately 270 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:48,600 unhealthy to very unhealthy? I'll be honest, I've been a 271 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,360 pastor for over 20 years, and when I feel particularly 272 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:55,280 pressed, my first instinct isn't always to gather with my 273 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,000 spiritual siblings and seek God together. 274 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,760 Sometimes I'm reaching for those coping strategies. 275 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,040 This is a growth edge that I think we should pay close 276 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:07,640 attention to because empire thinking is constantly trying to 277 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,400 isolate us. It's constantly trying to pit US 278 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,200 against each other and tell us that we're all alone. 279 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,080 It forms us to feel desperate and to grasp for power and to 280 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,720 try to save ourselves. But when Daniel and his friends 281 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,080 hold this impromptu prayer meeting, what do they pray for? 282 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,880 Do they pray for enough money and wealth to buy their way out 283 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,720 of the situation? Do they pray for enough power to 284 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,600 overthrow the king? No, the story says that they 285 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:39,960 prayed for God's mercy. This tells us everything about 286 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,960 the posture of Daniel and his friends, the way that they've 287 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,360 been formed. Their posture stands in direct 288 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:50,160 contrast to the magicians and the sorcerers and the 289 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,000 enchanters. Those men were trying to 290 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,000 leverage the situation, trying to manufacture an answer, to say 291 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,520 whatever they needed to say, to save themselves. 292 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,240 But Daniel and his friends, they didn't seek a strategy. 293 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,120 They sought the truth. They didn't try to produce a 294 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:10,160 revelation in their own wisdom. They asked God for one. 295 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,520 And the reason why is simple. God gives what empire cannot. 296 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,040 Listen to how Daniel responds when the revelation comes. 297 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,840 He doesn't immediately turn to the king. 298 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:27,880 He stops and he worships God. He says blessed be the name of 299 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,360 God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his. 300 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,000 God changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets us up 301 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,680 others. He gives wisdom to the wise and 302 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,320 knowledge to those who have understanding. 303 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:42,640 God reveals deep and hidden things. 304 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,480 He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with 305 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,560 him. That sequence is important. 306 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,320 The revelation comes, and before Daniel does anything with it, he 307 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,240 worships. That's not incidental, that's 308 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,200 his formation. That's what it looks like to be 309 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,600 formed by Kingdom imagination, not empire thinking. 310 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,240 When Daniel goes before the king, he does something that 311 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:11,280 requires extraordinary courage. He tells the king not only the 312 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,000 interpretation of the dream, but the dream itself. 313 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,400 The king has dreamt of a tower, a towering statue. 314 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:23,560 Head of gold, chest and arms of silver, midsection and and 315 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,560 thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with 316 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,480 clay. And then a stone cut by no human 317 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,520 hand crashes into the feet of the statue and reduces the whole 318 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:41,120 thing to dust, and that stone grows into a mountain that fills 319 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:44,960 the entire earth. Here's the interpretation. 320 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,720 Each part of the statue represents a Kingdom built by 321 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,480 human hands. Powerful, maybe even impressive, 322 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,720 but temporary. Until the day when the the God 323 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,360 of heaven establishes a Kingdom that will never be destroyed, 324 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,240 that will be, that will supersede every human empire and 325 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:09,240 will stand forever. Imagine the courage it takes to 326 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:14,680 say that to the king of Babylon. Not just not just that your 327 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,280 telling him the interpretation, the dream, but you're telling 328 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,160 him that his power has an expiration date. 329 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,120 But here's the thing for us, when we when we turn this 330 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,040 passage towards us, what was bad news for Nebuchadnezzar is the 331 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,080 best possible news for us. This is precisely what Jesus 332 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,360 called the gospel. Jesus went around proclaiming 333 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:41,200 that the Kingdom of God had arrived and then he embodied it 334 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,320 through his life. He fed the hungry, he healed the 335 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,200 sick, he gave sight to the blind, he set free those who are 336 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,640 in spiritual bondage, and he gathered around himself a 337 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:55,960 community of the unlikely and the overlooked, and he called 338 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:01,440 those misfits God's family. In in Jesus Kingdom, no one went 339 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,000 hungry, no one was alone. Everyone was cared for and 340 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,960 everyone belonged. That's a dream from elsewhere. 341 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,400 And that's what Daniel and his friends were oriented towards, 342 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:17,440 even in the middle of Babylon, even as exiles far from home, 343 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,840 even under a death decree. Daniel and his friends, they 344 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,080 show us what it looks like to be formed by a different dream than 345 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,920 empires, the dream of God's Shalom. 346 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,600 Just like the Scriptures are filled with stories about human 347 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,760 beings building their own kingdoms and thinking that they 348 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,560 run the world, the Scriptures are also filled with revelations 349 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,080 of God's dream for the world. A world that functions the way 350 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,680 God intended it to. A world where human beings care 351 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,600 for the earth and the earth provides everything that humans 352 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,000 need. A world where human beings live 353 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,280 in harmony with one another, both on an individual level and 354 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,360 on a societal level. A world characterized by mutual 355 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:00,800 interdependence and collective flourishing. 356 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,880 God's dream of Shalom for the world is a dream of abundance. 357 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,760 That's Kingdom thinking. But to see the vision of God's 358 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,520 Kingdom, we have to return to the stone cut by no human hands. 359 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:18,240 Not only does the stone destroy the statue, but it says that it 360 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,360 grew into a mountain that filled the entire earth. 361 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,280 This is an expansive, inclusive vision of life together. 362 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,960 It's a vision of God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, 363 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,360 God's glory filling the entire earth. 364 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,920 Willie's doctor, Willie James Dennings, is instructive for us 365 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,680 again on this part of the vision. 366 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,280 He says the Holy Spirit will break open whatever we want 367 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:49,360 closed and shatter our strategies of protectionism for 368 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:53,800 the sake of a saving God who will give back to us precisely 369 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:58,000 what we cannot hold on to with our own efforts and power, the 370 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,720 continuities of our stories, our legacies, our hopes and dreams 371 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,560 for a good future and a thriving life. 372 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,360 God, who will be All in all, desires to bring all into all, 373 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:16,200 the many into the many, just as the one is now in and with the 374 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,600 many. Nationalism gives us. 375 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,120 It gives energy to a false belief that only through its 376 00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:25,760 single effort can a people sustain its story, its hope, and 377 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,000 its life. But such belief is unbelief for 378 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,480 Christians because we know that God offers a new way, found in a 379 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:39,360 new life, a joining that brings stories and hopes and life into 380 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:42,200 a shared work. Work of knowing, remembering and 381 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,800 testifying. So Daniel and his friends, they 382 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,520 demonstrate something for us. They demonstrate exilic 383 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:54,320 formation under empire. Even though they were marked for 384 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,840 death, they didn't panic. They were a non anxious presence 385 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:04,280 and Daniel gathers with his spiritual siblings and he seeks 386 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,920 God to hear a word from elsewhere. 387 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,560 He's formed by this Kingdom imagination that empowers him to 388 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:16,320 speak truth to power and to form an alternative community that 389 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:19,240 worships the God of Heaven, not the King of Babylon. 390 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:26,080 Today, beloved, we, you and I are bombarded every day with the 391 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,840 siren song of empire thinking. We're told that if we place our 392 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,720 trust in a nationalistic vision of America, that we could be 393 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,120 assured of security, belonging, and flourishing. 394 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,800 But can you feel the falseness of that? 395 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,280 Those messages? They ring hollow. 396 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,160 We can feel deep within our bones that we belong to a 397 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,480 different Kingdom that we were made for. 398 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,360 A Kingdom that cannot be destroyed, that wasn't built by 399 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:59,640 human hands, and it can't be taken away by bombs or tanks and 400 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,080 can't be divided by political ads on TV. 401 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,000 We were made for an everlasting Kingdom by the God who unifies 402 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,400 us in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. 403 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,680 This is why I believe that the letter of First Peter says this. 404 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,880 It says you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy 405 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:23,120 nation, God's special possession. 406 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,680 First, Peter was talking to believers scattered throughout 407 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:31,080 the Roman Empire, and he says this live as exiles. 408 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,200 Don't let the empire's imagination become yours. 409 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,880 Don't assimilate to its zero sum logic, its borders, its fear. 410 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,760 Instead, it says, love one another deeply, show 411 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:48,560 hospitality, and use whatever gifts God has given you to serve 412 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,440 one another. Let the fruit of the Spirit 413 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,120 Lovejoy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 414 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:56,880 faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 415 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,320 Let that be the curriculum of our common life together. 416 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,920 And this is what Doctor Willie James Jennings calls a mutual 417 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:11,240 unfolding, the Spirit drawing us into one another, into our 418 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,920 stories, across every line that empire uses to divide us. 419 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,440 It's not a merger where all of our differences disappear. 420 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:23,480 It's not a nationalistic vision where we're all supposed to look 421 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,240 the same and sound the same. But it's a genuine communion 422 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,240 where your story is bound up in my story, and your flourishing 423 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,200 is inseparable from my flourishing. 424 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,120 This is what we see in Daniel and his friends who are 425 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:41,040 genuinely formed by this vision of the Kingdom and beloved. 426 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:42,720 That's what this community is for. 427 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,000 That's what my community is for. That's what this community is 428 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,720 for, not just for gathering weekly and singing songs and 429 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,840 then leaving, but to practice together this imagination of the 430 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:59,080 Kingdom and to to practice it until it becomes more real to us 431 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:04,040 than the empire's lies. Because the empire's statues 432 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,760 will fall. They always do. 433 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,600 Whether they're made of gold or silver or iron or clay, it 434 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,960 doesn't matter. They're not cut by they're, 435 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,200 they're cut by human hands. And that means that they're not 436 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:24,120 the Kingdom of God. So beloved, let me leave you 437 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:30,920 with this exhortation. Press into community here and 438 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:35,680 use whatever gift you have, whatever gift God is giving you 439 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,920 to serve one another and practice that Kingdom 440 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:45,000 imagination so that we become a microcosm of the Kingdom of God 441 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:50,240 and we become a little, a little seedling that grows like that 442 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,040 mountain filling the whole earth. 443 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:54,920 That is how the Kingdom of God grows. 444 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,520 It grows right here in the midst of our relationships. 445 00:28:58,400 --> 00:28:59,720 Amen. Amen.