As I’m sure you know by all the decorations you saw on the way in—RBC CAMP is about to begin! Our “Meet and Greet” is this afternoon at 3 and then for the next five days the classrooms and hallways of this campus will be filled with 181 children—and counting—being taught and led by 110 workers—workers who won’t have to board a plane to fly to some far away country to do missions. No—these Redlanders will do missions right here. I say this because forty-three of the children who are registered for this year’s camp represent 29 different families who are not members of a church. So this camp is not simply childcare—it is a real opportunity for us to share Jesus with a lot of people!
The theme of this year’s camp is, “Journey Off the Map.” It’s sort of an “Indiana Jones” adventure deal. Tomorrow we’ll begin by telling the kids about Jesus because of course our journey through life works best when we choose to follow Jesus as our Savior and Guide. By the way did you know that the number of decisions to accept Jesus as Savior at a Vacation Bible School—for us “RBC CAMP”—did you know that this number is usually about 25% of the TOTAL number of conversions Baptist Churches record every year? I’m saying—RBC Camp—is a lot more than Kool aide and crafts made with Popsicle sticks. It’s an opportunity for children to make life’s most important decision and every year many do exactly that.
But—back to our overview of this year’s Bible Study. After introducing children in RBC CAMP to Jesus on Monday we’ll take the rest of the week to look to the example of an Old Testament hero named Daniel—who shows us that life’s journey can be filled with tough times—but we can endure and be victorious over those tough times if we trust the Lord and commit to follow Him as Guide no matter what. Daniel’s life a perfect example of this principle because his life was filled with unexpected crises. And for this particular Old Testament hero of the faith, it all began when he was not much older than most of our RBC CAMP students. Daniel was only 13 or 14 when—along with the rest of the Southern Kingdom of Judah—he was taken from his homeland into captivity in far away Babylon.
Of course we don’t have time to look at ALL the Bible texts our children will study this week but I do want us to look at Tuesday’s text—that tells us about his first days in captivity. This will help us know how best to pray for the kids who will be studying the life of Daniel—and it will also help us to learn the same vitally important life lessons. So turn to Daniel chapter 1 and follow along as I read.
1 – In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 – And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These [Nebuchadnezzar] carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 – Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility,
4 – young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king=s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
5 – The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
6 – Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
7 – The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
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.
9 – Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel,
10 – but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11 – Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12 – “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 – Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 – So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 – At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 – So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
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.
18 – At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 – The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king=s service.
20 – In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 – And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
I hope you noticed that the words of verses 3 and 4 of our text paint a very thorough picture how remarkable a guy Daniel was. First, these verses say he was from a family of high social status, part of the royal family itself. He was also physically flawless, no doubt a consequence of the fact that his family was wealthy, so Daniel would have had good clothes and the best food, a nice home. I don’t know about you but when I read about him I picture a young Brad Pitt, but better because Daniel was not only good looking, he was intelligent, bright, quick to understand.
Here’s another thing. The Bible says he was “qualified to serve in the king’s palace” —which meant he also had a high level of what we would call “emotional intelligence” or “people smarts.” In other words, Daniel knew how to read people—how to communicate with people—people of all temperaments. Let me put it this way. He had that rare kind of gracious “give and take” personality that made him very good at dealing with fallen human beings like you and me. But, best of all, Daniel was a Godly young man, absolutely devoted to our Lord and His chosen people. Add all these characteristics together and it’s easy to conclude that Daniel was unique. He was a very special person a great role model for our campers—and us—to emulate. Gene Getz puts it this way, “Daniel is one of the few principal characters of the Old Testament concerning whom there is not one word of criticism.”
Now, like all young men his age, Daniel would have had DREAMS of how he thought his life journey would turn out and coming from nobility as he did, well, he would have assumed that his dreams were almost certain to come true. Daniel would get a great education under the best Hebrew teachers of his day—and then go on to glittering success in whatever field he chose. He’d meet the right girl, build a great marriage, live in an enviable home, raise a wonderful family, and occupy a prominent place in the temple. In short, Daniel would be an overachiever. He would do great things for God and God’s people. He would be a leader in his homeland—someone who was looked up to and admired.
But life did not turn out the way Daniel planned, did it? No, because as verse 1 says, “Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” Because of Nebuchadnezzar and his armies, everything changed for Daniel. His dreams remained just that, dreams, dreams that quickly faded away like the morning mist.
- Contrary to his hopes Daniel would come to adulthood and spend his life in a foreign land.
- Instead of BEING served, he would GIVE his best service to an alien, pagan king.
But, understand, he lost much more than his dreams!
- He lost his culture.
- He lost most of the relationships he had cherished.
- He probably lost his parents and siblings.
- He lost his native tongue and would have to learn to speak a foreign language.
In short, he would live and die in a place that he never wanted to be. He would never go home again. Daniel and his three friends, who our campers will study about on Wednesday, would even lose their NAMES and in his day your NAME was very significant. We see this in the fact that each of their OLD names, their Hebrew names, had a reference to God in it. The little syllable “el” in Dani-el and Misha-el, came from El-ohim and the syllable “yah” in Hanania-ah and Azaria-ah, it came from Yah-weh. So their names reminded them that they belonged to God, that they were His. Daniel’s name literally meant, “the Lord will judge” so through his whole life, every time Daniel had heard his name spoken, it was a reminder, a promise, that, “The Lord will judge. He will set things right. The Lord will see that justice is done.”
But now, He’s not “Daniel” anymore. Now he was given the name “Belteshazzar” which referred to a pagan Babylonian god and meant, “Bel protect his life.” Can you imagine how that felt to this Godly young man to hear a PAGAN PRAYER every time his name was called, a prayer that made it look like God wasn’t calling the shots anymore? And, the same was true for the re-naming of other three. The name of the true and living God was replaced by the names of the false gods of Babylon. These new names that Nebuchadnezzar gave them was his way of saying, “You have a new king now and a new religion. Give yourself to me. Allow Babylon to define your identity.”
Daniel’s dream for his EDUCATION changed as well because Nebucadnezzar said he and his fellow captives were to be educated in a “Babylonian school.” Now, the Babylonians were great builders, calculators, and military strategists, but their religion was steeped in superstition and myth—and Daniel along with his three friends were forced to study all this nonsense, they were forced to receive an education that was bathed in a pagan world view. I’m reminded of the way our Christian children often have to study material in secular schools that contradicts what we believe as Christ-followers.
Well, the question I want us to deal with this morning is this: “What do you and I do when our life’s journey is such that WE end up in ‘Babylon?’” This is an important question for us to answer because we all will. I mean, if you’re young and life has been fair to you thus far, trust me—that will change. Unfairness is coming. Some of your dreams will turn into nightmares. There will be “Babylon” times in your journey through life when things do not turn out the way you want or expect. Remember, this is a fallen world—a world where one thing we CAN expect is that the unexpected—the unfair—the unwanted will happen. So, you need to decide, what will you do when this happens? What do you do when you find yourself like Daniel, in “Babylon?”
You know, there’s a whole field in the social sciences that involves the study of people who experience suffering, major crises, or trauma. For example, researchers studied people like POW’s from the Korean War, POW’s from the war in Vietnam—and the 52 hostages that were held 14 months in Iran during the Carter administration. These studies show that a lot of people are just defeated by unexpected ordeals. When they find themselves in a “Babylon,” they just wither in their spirit. They die on the inside. Others get through the tough timesCbut just barely. And interestingly enough there are some—a minority, but some who don’t just survive these traumatic events. They actually enlarge their capacity to handle problems and strengthen their ability to persist even to endure and to be creative. They have actually grown on trauma. Well, Daniel was definitely one of this last group. With God’s help he not only survived in Babylon, he thrived there. In fact, Daniel’s response to all that happened to him shows us three characteristics or qualities that will help us to do the same in our own “Babylons.” This morning I want us to look at them.
(1) First, he RESOLVED to honor his God-given convictions.
Daniel refused to live as a passive victim of circumstances beyond his control. He refused to cross the boundaries that would lead him to betray his deepest beliefs. In short, Daniel RESOLVED to honor God—to obey Him no matter what. Look back at verse 8 and I want you to note that this is a very important verse. In fact, in many ways it is the HINGE POINT of this entire book of Daniel. Everything turns here. You see, up until this point the Babylonians seem to have DETERMINED everything. They’ve been in the driver’s seat. For example:
- Nebuchadnezzar DETERMINED to conquer Israel.
- He DETERMINED to cart off its most sacred objects and its best citizens—people like Daniel.
- He DETERMINED their new names, their new identities.
- He DETERMINED to enroll Daniel and his peers in that Babylonian version of Harvard.
- He picked their major. He selected the classes they would take and the books they would read.
- He even selected their college meal plan. They would be fed RICH FOOD and WINE that came straight from the king=s table.
Well, the easiest thing in the world would have been for Daniel to think he was just a passive VICTIM in all this—a victim of forces way too big for him. But he didn’t do that. And so, as verse 8 says, at this point the INITIATIVE in the story SHIFTS. We see this in the way one Hebrew word is used. It’s the word for “RESOLVED” or “DETERMINED.” As I said, the first two times it’s used to refer to the Babylonians. They are DETERMINING this and that. But in verse 8 it’s DANIEL the captive—Daniel the prisoner—it’s DANIEL who makes a decision—and at this point the verb is STRENGTHENED. It’s as if it is underlined as it says, “Daniel RESOLVED in his heart to honor God.”
I’m reminded of Popeye who would endure Brutus’ attacks and criticisms but eventually he would draw a line in the sand and say, “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!” Then he’d eat his spinach and things would go downhill for Brutus. Well, that what Daniel did. He DECIDED—he RESOLVED that enough was enough. He would not defile himself by participating in the meal plan that had been selected for him.
So, he went to the dean of the school and said he didn’t want the Adkins diet of all that meat. Nor did he want a college keg party with all the alcohol he could drink at every meal. And please note—he made this decision BEFORE the food was put on the table—before he would be tempted by the smells of that feast—which should remind us that we must do our own resolving—we must commit to follow our own Christian convictions BEFORE temptation sets in. By then it’s usually too late. Well, the REASON Daniel did this—the reason he refused this MENU is not because he was a vegetarian. He also wasn’t a teetotaler. He ate meat and drank wine like any good Hebrew.
No—it was because he knew that the meat and wine from the KING’S table would have first been offered to a pagan god and so sharing in that food would be the same as honoring that false god.
Plus, he knew that Nebuchanezzar believed that by first offering his food and drink to these gods, he would receive special blessings. And Daniel did not want the king or anyone to conclude that he and his friends had prospered physically intellectually, and spiritually—because the food they ate and the wine they drank had been offered to pagan gods. In short, he did not want these pagan deities to be honored in anyway whatsoever. And it appears as if these four men were the only ones of these “choice Hebrews” who drew this line in the sand. The rest gave in and pigged out—Jewish food pun intended.
In any case, I want you to understand that it took a great deal of COURAGE for Daniel to stand up like this. I mean Nebuchadnezzar was not the kind of leader who cut people a lot of slack. Here’s an example from his life to show you what I mean. In 2nd Kings 25 a puppet king named Zedekiah rebelled against him. Nebuchadnezzar captured Zedekiah and his family and had his sons killed right before Zedekiah’s eyes. Then he had Zedekiah’s eyes put out so that the last thing he saw was his sons being killed. I mean, the dean of the school, Ashpenaz, wasn’t kidding when he said that Nebuchadnezzar would have his head if this turned out poorly. That’s who Daniel is dealing with here. But that doesn’t bother Daniel. You see, he remembered his REAL name and the message it contained. He believed in his heart that GOD is the only true judge and he resolved to honor God no matter what.
Well, resilient people—people who survive and thrive when their life journey leads them into a “Babylon”—are like this. They cling to their Christian convictions. They don’t use circumstances that are beyond their control as an excuse to give in to temptation. They build their lives on God’s loving laws and refuse to break them and cross over into sin.
And note Daniel’s “people smarts” in the way he went about this. He said, “Let’s just try this for ten days, sir, and then you be the judge.” He exercises amazing initiative, courage, and TACT—not to mention FAITH that God would work and God did—MIRACULOUSLY—because no health food diet will make that kind of difference in 10 days. I can tell you by experience that DIETS take MUCH LONGER than that to work. If they always worked that fast, we’d all be skinny! But God worked here—and the guard was so impressed with what happened to Daniel and his friends that he took everybody’s steak and wine away—and put the whole school on the health food diet. By the way the word for vegetables here in VERSE 12 is “ZEROA” and, as Beth Moore points out, it literally meant “everything that grows from sown seed.” So it would have been not just veggies—but fruits, grains, and bread that was made from whole grain. I’m saying they didn’t go hungry. No—they ate well.
Okay—let me stop at this point and ask: Is there anywhere in your life where you find yourself ignoring God’s boundaries—crossing over them to live as the world says we should live?
In his book Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon, Michael P. Ghiglieri chronicles the nearly 700 deaths that have occurred in the Grand Canyon since the 1870’s. Of course most people aren’t shocked that fatal mishaps occur there. After all, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet). Plus the extreme temperatures (which often exceed 100 degrees) can quickly lead to heatstroke and dehydration. So how did most of those 700 deaths occur?
- Well, air crashes account for the largest number of deaths at the Grand Canyon.
- Floods have claimed the lives of some of the river rafters.
- Other despondent souls have taken their own lives.
But according to Ghiglieri, a large number of people have gone “over the edge” and fallen to their death through their own CARELESSNESS. Specifically, they ignored posted warnings and confidently walked out on to dangerous precipices. For example, in 1992, a 38-year-old father jokingly tried to frighten his teenage daughter by leaping on to a guard wall. He flailed his arms as he pretended to lose his balance. Then he comically “fell” on the canyon side onto a ledge he assumed was safe. But sadly, after ignoring all the warning signs, he lost his footing and fell 400 feet into the void below. Then in 2012, an 18-year-old woman who was hiking on the North Rim Trail decided to venture off the beaten path to have her picture taken at a spot known as Inspiration Point. As she sat down on the ledge of the 1,500-foot deep canyon, the rocks gave way, and she plummeted to her death. These deaths were not just tragic; they were also completely avoidable. I mean, does anyone truly want his or her last words before “AAAAHHHHHH” to be, “Look how close I can get to the rim without fall… ?”
And yet many of us approach sin by asking a similar question, “How close can I get without crossing the line?” We avoid God’s warning signs—and edge right up to disaster, confident that we—unlike other people—can avoid the crash. Like the child who listens to a parent’s warning and then does everything to push the boundaries, we rush past the edge of sin with a false sense of security. There’s the husband who never intended to lose his family but he decided it was okay to flirt around the boundaries of adultery—and he fell. He destroyed his marriage—alienated his kids. There is the business person who decides that cutting an ethical corner here and there will make a ride to the top quicker. Now she’s about to fall. Ignoring God’s loving laws is always a painful thing.
I mean, so many people never intend to sin but because they don’t resolve as Daniel did to stick with their convictions as a child of God—they get too close to the edge and fall. Listen, friends, the world is trying to tempt us to settle for less than God=s best. Why not resolve to say NO?! Why not plant your feet firmly and say, “NO—I’m going to be God’s person.” You’ll never SURVIVE in Babylon—much less THRIVE until you do.
(2) Here’s the second thing Daniel did. He committed to live in COMMUNITY with like-minded people.
He knew that as a stranger living in a strange land he needed all the support he could get so he formed one of the first believer small groups with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They would go to school together. They would study and pray together and face decisions together. Listen, you can’t handle the Babylons of life on your own. You will never survive and thrive outside of community. All people need community.
In his new book All the Places You Will Go, John Ortberg tells about a front-page article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a metro-transit operator named Linda Wilson-Allen. She loves the people who ride her bus, learns their names, and waits for them if they’re late and then make up the time later on her route. A woman in her eighties named Ivy had some heavy grocery bags and was struggling with them. So Linda got out of her bus driver’s seat to carry Ivy’s grocery bags onto the bus. Now Ivy lets other buses pass her stop so she can ride on Linda’s bus. Linda saw a woman named Tanya in a bus shelter. She could tell Tanya was new to the area and she was lost. It was almost Thanksgiving, so Linda said to Tanya, “You’re out here all by yourself. You don’t know anybody. Come on over for Thanksgiving and kick it with me and the kids.” Now they’re friends. Linda has built such a little community of blessing on that bus that passengers offer Linda the use of their vacation homes. They bring her potted plants and floral bouquets. When people found out she likes to wear scarves to accessorize her uniforms, they started giving them as presents to Linda.
Think about what a thankless task driving a bus can look like in our world: cranky passengers, engine breakdowns, traffic jams, gum on the seats. You ask yourself, “How does she have this attitude?” The San Francisco Chronicle article says, “Her mood is set at 2:30 A.M. when she gets down on her knees to pray for 30 minutes.” “‘There is a lot to talk about with the Lord,’ says Wilson-Allen, a member of Glad Tidings Church in Hayward.” When she gets to the end of her line, she always says, “That’s all. I love you. Take care.” Have you ever had a bus driver tell you, “I love you?” Linda has learned that people YEARN for community—and they’ve found it on the #45 bus riding through San Francisco. Linda’s experience proves that as our Creator says, it is NOT good for man to be alone. We need other like-minded people to survive the tough times of life! Let me ask—are you in community with a group of Christians? You need to be! You need the encouragement of others. You need them to hold you accountable. You need their prayers on your behalf. You need their strength to lighten your burdens and their smiles to magnify your joys.
And if you don’t have a community like that—if you’re not an ACTIVE member of a local church then you need to find one. You need other Christians to survive the Babylons of life. As someone once put it, there are two things you can’t do alone: be married and be a growing Christian. You need community. Join us here at Redland. We would LOVE to have you!
(3) There’s one other quality that Daniel had. He BELIEVED that because God is sovereign, his life—including his suffering—had meaning and purpose.
You know researchers say that the main factor that causes people to give up in hard times is NOT the INTENSITY of their suffering—but rather their belief that their suffering has NO MEANING. I mean, it’s not the pain they go through that makes them give up. It’s the meaninglessness of it.
People who study this kind of thing find that suicide notes rarely speak about failing health, rejection, finances, or even physical pain. No—they say things like, “There is no point in going on. There is no reason for me to keep living.” Well, Daniel was different—he trusted in God’s complete sovereignty. He knew that God always works for our good and His glory—even amidst the “Babylon’s” of life. He knew there was purpose in his pain. And he was right. Our text shows how much God was already at work. Listen as I show you all the ways God was busy fulfilling His purposes—even in Daniel’s captivity: Verse 2 says that “GOD delivered Jehoiakim” into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. Verse 9 says that “GOD caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel.” As I said a moment ago the good physical report we read of in verse 15 was the result of God’s miraculous intervention. He made the 10 day test succeed. Verse 17 says that “GOD gave these four young men knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. GOD gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams.” So, Daniel believed in God’s power and providence from the very beginning. He was convinced that even the defeat of Judah and the loss of the temple that looked so tragic was not just a random meaningless event. God was not asleep.
No—God was up to something in Babylon even in that place of great suffering. He knew that this time of suffering was the only thing that would turn some of His chosen people back to Him. Plus, as it turned out, hindsight shows that God loved the people of Babylon. He even loved Nebuchadnezzar and was reaching out to them in all of this.
Listen—to survive and thrive in the Babylons of life you have to know that God loves you—and that He is all-powerful and always at work. You’ve got to know that He’s got it all in control. You’ve got to trust God’s heart. You’ve got to believe He knows what He is doing and that there is purpose in your pain. Daniel and his three friends knew all this—and because they did, instead of BEING transformed they became TRANSFORMERS themselves. They JOINED God in His work and He used them to bring great glory to His name even in a pagan land.
As our campers will see in the coming week, their spiritual and political influence was enormous. The question we must ask ourselves in our own Babylon’s is not, “HOW can I get out of this?” but rather, “WHAT can I get out of this? How can God use me—even in this?” You know, Daniel outlived Nebuchadnezzar, his successors, and even the Babylonian empire. He lived until the days of Cyrus, ruler of the Medes and Persians—and the thing that kept him going all those decades is that he knew that His God was more supreme than any king.
As we come to our time of decision, I want us to do our best to emulate Daniel in his boldness. I’d like to ask you a couple questions and challenge you to respond publicly by raising your hand. First, are you willing to boldly–publicly–say this morning that you are committed to living by YOUR God-given convictions? Will you pledge to go against the flow if necessary? Will you say today that when the world tells you to do one thing and God tells you to do the opposite, that you will obey God? Will you do this? If so, raise your hand. BE A DANIEL! Thank you. Here’s my second question.
If you aren’t involved in Christian community—you don’t have a church home—you don’t have believers like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to help you keep this first commitment—if you don’t have a group of believers with whom you are committed—will you pledge today to find one—join a local church—get in a Sunday School class or other Christian small group? If you’ll make that pledge will you raise your hand? BE A DANIEL! Thank you—last question! Will you raise your hand this morning as a way of saying, I am going to trust God. No matter what comes—no matter how hard life gets—I am going to trust God. I’m going to look for Him at work even in the hardships that come my way and do all I can to join Him in that work. If you make that commitment, will you raise your hand and be a DANIEL? Thank you.
Now let’s stand and sing, and if God leads you to come forward and share these or other decisions with me or Bobby or Kevin, then come!