Thriving in Babylon Lester Zimmerman Daniel Fasting week comments Did you enjoy the devotional guide we put together for the fast? Kara Sensenig wrote the adult devotionals and Pastor Kim wrote the kids devotionals and Lisa Hurst put it all together. I want to assure you that God is honoring our fast. He has heard our prayers and seen our selfdenial as our expression of humbling ourselves before him. Hold on to your faith with thanksgiving. Wait to see what God will do. Thank you for your participation. Last week we talked about our theme for 2016 which is Be Strong and Courageous. These were the words spoken to the Children and Israel and Joshua as they were getting ready to face the giants and challenges in the promised land they were about to enter. This morning I want to look at another bible character who exemplifies what it means to live courageously in a difficult time and place. His name is Daniel. We usually think of the story of his courage when he was thrown into the lion s den. And that is a great story of courage. But there is so much more about Daniel that we can learn from. He teaches us how not only to survive in Babylon but how to thrive in a decadent culture. He teaches us how to live in a country that is becoming more and more oppressive and antagonistic against our faith and values. We feel that pressure increasing around us. How do we respond? How do we continue to thrive instead of going into the survival mode? I borrowed the title of my message Thriving in Babylon from a book by that title written by Larry Osborne. Read Daniel 1:1-7 God had repeatedly warned the people of Jerusalem to repent from their evil ways but they refused. So God brought judgment in order to turn their hearts back to him. Judgment came by handing them over to the wicked Babylonians. The Babylonians raided the temple and took some of the young men captive, including Daniel and three of his friends. Babylon was a very wicked country. In the bible, Babylon is the personification of evil. The Unites States is a picnic compared to what Daniel faced. The state sponsored religion was satanic. The curriculum that Daniel would have had to learn was steeped in the occult. The God of Israel was publically mocked. The king was an egomaniac who liked to cut off people s heads for the most unreasonable things.
Daniel was ripped from his home, his country and dumped into a terrible, evil and dangerous land that was extremely decadent. On top of all this in order to wipe our his spiritually heritage and faith his name was changed to a demonic name. Daniel means God is my Judge. His new name Belshazzar refers to a demonic god and means Bel s Prince. It would be like the government forcing you to change your name from Christian and now everyone must call you Satan s Prince. Yet in the midst of a land that was totally anti-god, and totally evil God would bring about amazing things and Daniel would thrive in his faith and national influence. Here is one example of how God promoted Daniel after he interpreted the Kings dream. Dan 2:46-49 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery. Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. How did Daniel manage to thrive under such a demonically controlled government? How did he do it? How can we survive in our Babylon? Are there lessons for us as our country increasingly turns away from God? Here are some things I see in Daniel and his friends.. 1. They recognized that God was in control. Vs. 2 Daniel states that The Lord delivered them into the hands of their enemy. Surely the devil was involved in trying to destroy the people but Daniel knew that ultimately God was in control. God controls those who think they are in control. Not like puppets but he will choose their rise and fall. Daniel kept his faith and hope in God when it seemed like evil was winning. He chose to view his circumstances through the sovereignty of God. God will take what the enemy means for evil in our lives or in America and he will use it for his redemptive purposes. At times, as a last resort, he releases judgment for the purpose of turning us back to himself. In America we can get depressed over the way our country is turning its back on God and the spread of evil or we can have a Daniel attitude of trusting God. Our hope is in God. God is not limited by evil laws, terrorists or oppressive rulers. Even when the wicked seem to prevail God is at work and his glory and purposes will prevail. We see this in the rapid growth of the underground churches in closed countries. No one can stop the purposes of God and advancement of his kingdom.
Daniel believed that God was in control, even though evil was winning at the time and he was suffering. This is what gave him strength and courage. He chose not to act like a victim. This is election year in our country. I believe God calls and uses Christians in the political realm. But our hope is not in the next president or in politics to save our nation. Daniel was promoted into a high governmental role of influence in Babylon. But his trust was never in his position of power but in his position in God. A person can lose power overnight as Daniel experienced when his political enemies had him thrown into the lion s den. But we are always secure in God who promises to be with us always. So in order to thrive in Babylon we need to be settled in our hearts that God is in control. That way we are not driven by fear. Even if judgment comes on our nation. God is in control and has not given up on us. I personally believe revival will likely come in the midst of chaos, persecution and judgment. God will use these things to both purify his church and to prepare people s hearts for the good news of Jesus. As of now people act like they don t need God. But that will change. We are called to be strong and courageous like Daniel and his three friends in these times. The second thing we see that helped them thrive and be used of God was. 2. They refused to compromise their beliefs to fit in to the values of the culture around them. Daniel and his friends determined they were going to live for God and make a difference in the midst of the most difficult of places. Dan 1:8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Dan 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Dan 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
The reality is that sometimes standing for truth may cost us our lives as is happening in some countries today. For us it may cost us a promotion, a job, ridicule, our business, and maybe even a fine or jail. We need to be tolerant of others who don t hold our views without compromising our values. Tolerance is not embracing other people s values but it is giving them the right to hold other values. Daniel never forced his belief on others. He never treated his enemies like enemies. Like Jesus teaches he loved his enemies. 3. They distinguished themselves as trustworthy and hardworking which in turn gave them great influence. Instead of trying to fight his enemies Daniel decided to be the best administrator this cruel evil king every had. Reminds me of Joseph. The way he thrived in Egypt as a slave was to become the best slave his master ever had. And then when he was thrown into prison he became the best prisoner they ever had. In each case God gave him favor and promoted him. This is a kingdom key on how we can thrive in Babylon. Today we are in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christianity. This is a new day. We need to change our game plan. When they will no longer listen to our voice and the culture becomes decadent we rise up and begin to distinguish ourselves in wisdom and service like Daniel did, Joseph did and Jesus did. Dan 6:3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God. We should pay less attention on defeating our enemies and more attention to how we are living our lives as a witness before them. The way Daniel resisted evil was to overcome it with good. That is what we are taught in the New Testament as a follower of Jesus today. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is how Daniel and his friends thrived in Babylon. This seems counter intuitive to us today. In our American culture we place a lot of value on democracy and politics to change things. We focus on getting our people in power so we can make other people bow to our agenda and values. So today we have a polarized nation and a church that has basically lost its influence and prophetic voice. Now in a democratic society all these have their place and I am not against them. I think Christians should vote and be involved in passing godly laws.
What I am saying is our nation becomes more and more like Babylon we need to begin thinking more and more like Daniel and Joseph. There are other ways to be salt and light and advance God s kingdom purposes when a country has become decadent in its ways and has turned its back on God. 4. They learned to walk in the supernatural wisdom and power of God. Like Daniel, God will give us supernatural wisdom that will address issues people are trying to find answers to. In our workplaces, communities, nationally and internationally. God s plan is to so impress people with our hard work, and wisdom that they will begin to look to us for answers just as the king did with Daniel. That is how we gain influence and make a difference. Dan 1:17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. That is how God brought godly change to Babylon. I believe God still works that way today. We can expect an increase of signs and wonders that will speak to the hearts of people, winning them to Christ. Reaching the lost is still the number one mission of the church until Jesus comes. Walking in the power of God is connected to prayer. Daniel was a man of prayer. 5. Daniel in great humility treated his enemies with respect. Daniel chose to walk in humility and honor and God used that to promote him and his friends to places of influence where the whole kingdom eventually came to hear about the one true God. The evil king himself began to worship the true God. Did everyone end up liking them. No, not at all. When you live for God you make lots of enemies who hate truth. But remember God is in control and he will eventually deal with our enemies. Dan 1:8 he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. You sense a respectful tone in Daniel. I wonder if this is one of the reasons the world is tuning the church out. Because of our tone. We often exhibit an angry judgmental tone. In God s kingdom you don t win by shouting people down or forcing them to obey you through human power. You win through respect and honor. You win through godly persuasion & humility. In our culture that way is seen as weakness. But God s way is through serving. Jesus came not to be served but to serve. That is still the way to thrive in Babylon and influence a community and nation.
6. God caused people to be sympathetic toward them and show them favor. We thrive in Babylon through God given favor. Favor comes from God. He causes people who would normally hate us to begin to like us even though they might not like what we believe. But that favor is connected to the respect we show them. Dan 1:9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel. We are not limited to our own ability to persuade people. There is a supernatural favor that God gives to us that goes beyond what we have earned at times. Conclusion: I am deeply concerned with the way our country is turning its back on God but I am not fearful or discouraged. This is a time to be strong and courageous. Our God is in control. If revival could break out in Babylon through four young men. It can happen in America too no matter how decant this country becomes. God is not finished with America. We are still called to be salt and light and be available for God to use us. So let s rise up as the people of God and expect great things. Remember there is a fourth person in the fiery furnace with us and his name is Jesus!