Sermon Daniel 1 Who is in charge

Pray.

Who is Sovereign?

Who is in charge here then?

I fear many today think we ourselves are!

Consider this, are you anxious?

Not mere concern about something, not just planning for today or tomorrow but what keeps you awake at night?

What causes you to have sleepless nights? Or stomach ulcers?

Is it relationships? Arguments going on the family?

Loss of your job? Unrealistic expectations put upon you are work or in the home?

Sickness of the ones you love?

Or the car wasn’t fixed properly by the mechanic and now you wonder how you will pay for it?

Or you’re facing exams at school?

What is it?

If you are so anxious that it effects you that much it’s really only a step away from getting depressed!

Well if you come to grips with Daniel 1 then you are on your way to dealing with all that properly.

What do we make then of Daniel 1?

Some in the past have said it’s about faith and unbelief

– and drawn attention to the faith of Daniel and his friends and the unbelief of Nebuchadnezzar.

I know of a preacher who spoke to a youth group on Daniel 1 and said it’s about faith in Jesus. But that’s not listening to what God actually says in the chapter.

 

It’s just putting a spin on it that is far from the text itself and its context.

Since as you read through the book

you find it’s much more than that.

Jesus himself in Matthew 24:15 Told us that Daniel was a prophet and that steers us along the right path.
            Daniel wasn’t just an example of a good Jewish boy that we do well to imitate, he was a prophet.

Trouble is that we tend to think of Daniel in light of the Sunday school stories about Daniel and the lion’s den and the like.

So we need to cast our eyes to the text of God’s Word and observe carefully how it starts.

Clearly in verse 1 we are struck by the historical concreteness of the book.
            It happened in history that in the third year of Jehoiakim,  Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged Jerusalem

Now people tend to think the chapter is all about Daniel and his friends but then they haven’t pondered how in verse 2 it doesn’t say Daniel and his friends were carted off to exile to Babylon,
                        no ……  it says the Lord gave into the hand of Neb some of the temple items and these were carted off to Babylon and put in the temples of Nebuchadnezzar’s gods!

Now this is a big thing for the Jewish readers.

We lose sight of its significance because we aren’t thoughtful about what it means we haven’t learnt to ask “why this”

It’s not that God is materialist like us and thinks highly of material things.

Rather behind it lays before us the connotation of  Who is in charge here.

Is God Sovereign or the gods of the Babylonians ?

Is God in charge or is Neb as we read later who likes to think life is all about his power and glory?

You see in the ancient Near East Countries and Kings regard their god’s as the God when they were successful in battle.
            It proved the “reality” of their gods when they were successful in battle.

            And to take the temple items off to their temples declared that these were lesser gods compared to their god or gods.

But you know what, here God tells us He was behind the defeat of Judah!

He isn’t worried or think it’s the end of the world when his temple items are placed in pagan temples – because there’s something bigger at stake!,

His name had already been trampled in the dust because of Judah’s abhorrent sins

God had spoken to Moses back in Deut that if Israel broke her Covenant with him they’d be taken into exile.

Through Daniel’s contemporaries Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah he’d warned her to repent or face exile, but they continued.

Just 100 years before Neb besieged Judah, the Assyrians had carted off Israel into Exile.
            Perhaps they’d become complacent – well nothing’s happened to us – “we missed that broadside well”  -  as though they had engineered their safety!

But no – they were steeped in sin and hardened.

…. Ezekiel 8 just look at verses 16-17.. their sin was so blatant that even in the corridors of the Temple they were worshipping other gods of the North and women at the gates were worshipping Tamuz

 

Just to reinforce that this chapter is all about God who is Sovereign see how it’s not just in verse 2 “the Lord delivered”  but highlighted in verse 9, 17 in the midst of the story about Daniel and his friends.

God is in charge, things are coming to pass that he wants.

In this case it is the punishment of Judah for its sins against him.

So the people of God needed to hear through Daniel that things now had come to a head.
            Their just deserts as he warned about were coming upon them.

But in the midst of that ----  we then read of Daniel and his friends. Why is that here? What’s that all about?

You will notice that these three were taken as teenagers off to Babylon, to be slaves in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace.
            They were probably somewhere between 15 and 17 years of age.

They were thoroughly trained in the education and culture of the Babylonians, but did they object? No.

They had their names changed to represent the Babylonian Gods,

Daniel, whose name means “God is Judge“  was called Belteshazzar meaning “Bel (ie Marduk) protect his life”

Hananiah means “The Lord shows Grace” but Shadrach means Command of Aku ( the Sumerian moon god )

Mishael means “Who is what God is?” or phrased slightly differently for us so we can grasp it “he that is a strong God”  whereas Meshach probably means “Aku is strong” [[ “who or what Aku is” ]]

And Azariah means “The Lord helps”  whereas Abednego means “servant of Nego” another god of the Babylonians.

 

Did they object and say no way?
                                                            No

Only at one point did they object,
            only regarding one thing did Daniel lay it all on the line.

And this wasn’t insignificant or irrelevant to their situation. The consequences were severe.

We are far removed from the kind of absolute power and control over human life that Nebuchadnezzar had.

We glimpse it later in the book when he orders the men thrown into the fiery furnace.
            Was he concerned that the guards lost their lives by just getting too close to the furnace in throwing in the Israelites  --  no.
                        he could look at you on whim and say to the guards “kill him.”

So what Daniel was doing had great consequences.
            Even the man in charge of Daniel and the others, Ashpenaz  realized this.       

                    That if they stood out as not looking their best, Ashpenaz  could lose his life as well.

But Daniel stood his ground on the issue of food and wine.

It tells us this clearly in the text itself of Daniel 1

In verse  8……

Why does Daniel decide to challenge it ?

Back in the book of Leviticus God laid out Israel’s dietary laws
                                   and elsewhere forbade eating of such foods and wine.
But these are not the justification for Daniel's stance here. There seems no clear link to those laws in Leviticus, but Deut 32 is one chapter that stands out.

READ Deut 32 :36-40  this is a central text for us here.

Remarkably it begins ‘The Lord is Judge’ and Daniels name means ‘God is Judge’.

Whilst Judah and Jerusalem we sinning and sunning themselves and ignoring God, the warnings of Ezekiel rang out as in Ezek 4: where in verse 12 the food in exile they’d be given to eat would be as defiled as if it were baked in human excrement!

Behind it stood an ANE custom of kings dedicating their food to their gods.
In this case such food and wine coming from the kings plate as it were,  was defiled, because it had been offered and dedicated to Nebuchadnezzar’s god.

Anyway, we are clearly told in Daniel 1 that the sole reason was the defilement of the food and wine.

I don’t need to go into this any further this morning because what we need to hear is what the people of God had to hear.

Daniel and his friends mere teenagers, stood firm on the commands of God’s Word.

Where there was a clash between what God said and what man said, even a despot like Nebuchadnezzar, one is to follow God.

This is one of the things we are to learn from Daniel 1

But first we are to learn God is in Control of all things, Nothing takes place regardless of Him.

He is Sovereign.

Things may appear terrible,
            but they are not chaos.
                        Sometimes it due to sin and punishment is taking place,
                                                sometimes it’s even due to the sin of other people.

Hear that today! It can be due to the sin of others.

Daniel and his friends obviously had faithful godly parents who had taught them  God’s Word in their younger days before exile!

And it had stuck.

So some in the midst of terrible times, know God and His Word,

and secondly,
            that godly people can be caught up in calamities and disasters caused by others!

They were taken into exile or killed in the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar.

 

So, The people of God needed to hear God is in control,
                                                He is in charge, not Nebuchadnezzar.

And we need to understand that too in our place of History.

It doesn’t matter in real terms whether its liberals of labor in Government.

What matters for us is What God says and obeying that.

It doesn’t matter if we are destitute,
            loose our homes and comfortable way of life because of economic decisions of others.
            What matters is God.

I began this morning with thinking about what you are anxious about, what keeps you awake at night?

Perhaps you are depressed about something?

Well God knows and God cares.

Doesn’t matter what bad experience you might have had in life or are even experiencing now

God knows and God cares, God is in Control. So will you grab hold of that?

God is Sovereign indeed Acts 17 tells us that it is God who decided when you were born!
            Not your parents!
                        It was in this last 100 years and not back in Elizabethan times or the French revolution times when people were starving or Assyrian times.

He decided. So He knows what difficulties you have encountered or will encounter.

And not only did God decide when but where!   

Here in Australia – a place of great opportunities and wealth at present.

But those things aren’t to be what consumes us.

Nope we need to be grounded in His Word so whatever confronts us we know where to take our stand and with whom!

With the Sovereign Lord.

 

Let’s pray.

The Kingdom of God Pt1

The Kingdom of God has been a subject of great interest over the past 15-20 years or so, and a good thing too as it was a subject heard relatively infrequently in the pulpit of many and also lacking in thoughtful discussion amongst many Christians.
That it is so lacking in discussion by Christians is a very sad state of affairs given that the Gospels begin by stating that John the baptist came preaching the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven Matt 3, and Jesus likewise Matt 4:17.
If this Kingdom figures so strongly why is it that we fail so miserably to understand what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of Heaven / God ? Context must be considered in getting the correct perspective on this Kingdom for He was preaching to Jews whom he expected to understand what it was he was preaching about. One thing for sure, to start with we need to repent of our present day glib comments and preaching from the pulpit about preaching the gospel, or using phraseology such as "let's be on about the Gospel" or "let's be Gospel people" when we refuse to expound the passage of Scripture in front of us that clearly mentions the Kingdom of God.
I notice that one of my favorite preachers Alistair Begg has just done a series on the Kingdom of God, at Truth for Life, however although he says many wonderful things I am afraid his perspective on the Kingdom is definitionally warping the Bibles teaching at that point and neutering the breadth of the Kingdom the Bible puts forth and that Jesus preached. Strong words and I will be held to account for saying them and I will indeed need to justify them. I do so not to malign a great man but to hope that in seeking to understand God's Word iron might sharpen iron. So let me attempt that here.
Alistair is quite correct in saying that

God rules over all areas of life, both spatially and geographically

but when he adds that

He even rules over even the disobedience of rebellious men and women

he moves from speaking of the spatial and geographical to the spiritual and moral realms. In this sense I believe he has then evacuated his definition of the Kingdom of God as

representative of the sphere in which God's rule is gladly accepted.

Is that not the spiritual realm or the moral realm? Let's leave aside whether biblically man ever gladly accepts God's rule since although positionally he is in Christ and so he has true legal standing before God, but practically he is in need of sanctification, becoming more like Christ being transformed in his mind Romans 12 etc. What Alistair has done is speak correctly of God's Sovereign rule and yet somehow wanted to distinguish from this the realm of the Kingdom of God which is where his rule is gladly accepted. This is in my mind confusing the issue.
Again he repeats that

the Kingdom of God is expressive of the sphere in which men and women submit to His rule.

Alistair then goes on to ask whether

your heart is a sphere in which God's Kingly rule is gladly accepted.

This then suggests that the Kingdom of God is a spiritual realm, and it automatically rules out any suggestion as to whether the bible teaches it could have broader application as well. It's to build our theology along the lines of the old children's song "I serve a risen Saviour He's in the world today ... He rules within my heart". The only question is whether the bible means a lot more than that when speaking of the Kingdom of God.
As I see it the bible first of all declares that God is Sovereign there is no area in which He does not rule. secondly that there is a clear teaching of Scripture concerning the Kingdom of God. How one holds these together is indeed the issue. I just don't see the bible advancing the concept that the Kingdom of God is the expression of the sphere of where His rule is gladly accepted.
The answer to understand the Kingdom must begin in Genesis. It is at Creation that man is made by God vice regent over the earth. He is to rule the earth as God's Vice Regent. This pronouncement is made despite God being Divine Personal Sovereign Creator. Man is Created in God's image and given rule over the earth and animals and fishes etc as God's ViceRegent. At the fall we see Adam handing over this realm to Satan, something that Satan still rules over post resurrection and Ascension of Jesus as Paul teaches in Ephesians 6. What is being taught is that Adam has rejected this Vice Regency and it awaits the Messiah to take it back fully.
Theologically this is why the old Protestant Theology used to teach the three offices of Christ, that of Prophet Priest and King. As Prophet he is the True Word of God. As Priest he is the full final Sacrifice for Sin that the Old Testament sacrifices were but a shadow of, and as King He will retake the ViceRegency over Creation that that the first Adam surrendered and the second Adam, Christ himself will restore.
Is this not what the Scriptures are teaching?

Yours in Christ
Gary

God's Sovereignty and our action

A While ago, before the Presidential election in the U.S.A Brannon Howse made the following comment about John MacArthur. "John MacArthur says he does not spend 5 seconds thinking about the fall 2008 election. John is not concerned at all about Obama winning. MacArthur has a view of the world that only involves the Church. I think John has forgotten that God created family government, civil government and church government and Christians are to care about all three and all three are to be in harmony."
Now I think that's not exactly true, listening to John's sermons and reading his books reveal John has a view of the world that does involve more than the Church. His view on end times and Israel show this as does his Biblical exposition on the end times.
While there are some in the world, and specifically in America who think this world will get better and better - namely post-millennialist's, that doesn't seem to be the clear teaching of the Bible, and John himself takes a firm stand against that teaching. Now we can be gracious a little and say that MacArthur may be saying his calling is to serve the Church, to teach and pastor and protect the church, and that is indeed true, yet Christians are to be salt on the earth whilst still able to be.
The issue that sprang to my mind is the balance between acknowledging the Sovereignty of God on the one hand, and our involvement in the world on the other. We are to trust the Lord God no matter what the circumstances around us, whether we have a good government or a bad one. We need to balance that - no matter what government we have. In a sense what government we do have is irrelevant in that we are to be faithful witnesses and salt in our culture, and if that means our persecution, or even death so be it. After all that's one of the beautiful lessons of the book of Daniel isn't it? Have we Christians forgotten that Christianity is truly radical, truly counter culture in that it is counter the world's culture? Our values and standards are God's standards, not those made up by rebellious mankind.
Yet balanced with that is to impact our society with the truth of the gospel, as Wilberforce did in England against slavery. Where we are with the influence we have we are to be God's faithful people, standing against injustice and caring for the abused and poor and so on.
That for some will mean being an "activist" against abortion, which may take the form of caring for those who have had an abortion, for others it may mean writing to government representatives against homosexuality, or supporting a group that ministers to those that have turned from homosexual behaviour and on it goes.
Does this mean I am proposing a social gospel? No way, doing "good works" in society does not convict people of sin or righteousness or judgment, rather it is our declaring the gospel message and the Holy Spirit taking that and His working that transforms people.

The Bible declares God as Sovereign, and we are to take heart in that, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, and it also calls us to pray, not to cop out and do nothing just because God is Sovereign. It's that balance we need in our world when declaring the Gospel and doing things that are clearly needing to be done in our tragically fallen world, all along being motivated by compassion for those who are made in the image of God.
In short the balance seems to me that Christians are so transformed by God and by His Love and Mercy that they reflect his character more and more in all that they do and say.
And this is what our team going to Kenya is doing, and we uphold them in prayer as they do that.
May God bless your endeavours.

In Christ,
Gary.