Dare To Be A Daniel: Then and Now

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Daniel 2:44 (NKJV) – 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. In sum, the New Testament has much to say about following the example of those in the Old Testament, whether positively or negatively. Looking at these kinds of texts gives us an appreciation for the variety of ways the Bible urges believers to pursue holiness. Sometimes holiness is urged because of the blessings and true joy found in walking faithfully before the Lord (Psalm 1; Matt 5:3-10); sometimes through warnings of God's future judgment on the unrepentant (1 Cor 6:9; Gal 5:21; Heb 10:26-31); sometimes, as in texts such as Hebrews 11 and 1 Corinthians 10, holiness is commended to God's people through examples that set forth the positive or negative responses of people in the Old Testament to God. The latter of these motivations sometimes gets a bad rap because it is feared that pointing to examples will lead to moralism or a quest for self-salvation. Far from it: God alone saves, and He saves by faith alone. The only faith that saves is true faith, that is, a living and active faith (James 2:17), and this is precisely the kind of faith displayed in Hebrews 11 (and that is absent among the Israelites in the texts Paul recounts in 1 Corinthians 10). Then, the temptation seemed the road to honor. To consent to eat of the king’s meat and to drink of the king’s wine, seemed to be the way to get on in Babylon. They would say to Daniel, “Surely, if you begin by objecting to what the monarch sends you from his table, you will never get on at court. People with a conscience should not go to court.” I do not say that, today, but I do think that they ought not to be members of Parliament! It must be amazingly difficult for a man with a conscience to go in and out there! But for Daniel to begin with a conscience like this, so particularly tender that it was offended by a glass of the king’s wine, or a morsel of the king’s meat, why, any good old fatherly man would have said, “My boy, you will never get on–your religion will always stand in your way. I am sure you will never come to be much.” That would have been a great mistake, however, for Daniel became a great ruler and he prospered in the world through that very conscientiousness which it was thought would spoil all his prospects! In all of the examples in Hebrews 11 the central point is the same: faith in God is the only mode of living appropriate for those who, like Abraham (and like all believers down through the ages), have not yet "received the things promised" by God (11:13), and who must therefore patiently wait in faith for a "better country, that is, a heavenly one" (11:16). Indeed, "without faith it is impossible to please God" (11:6).

Seventh, to dare to be a Daniel means to share with others what God reveals to you – Daniel 2:29. Daniel did not shy away from sharing God’s message with someone who was in a powerful position.

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.

To be a Daniel is a privilege, an honor, a blessing. If we are to dare to be a Daniel, we should cultivate a heart of thanks toward God. He gave God credit and did not take credit for what God did through him. Daniel was humble and therefore useable to God. Daniel served Almighty God and therefore, when he shared God with others that Almighty nature of God came through. Tenth, to dare to be a Daniel means to consistently obey God no matter what – no compromise – We see this with Daniel’s three friends who when threatened with a fiery execution boldly told King Nebuchadnezzar:

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Daniel 2:28 (NKJV) – 28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: The fact that most of the captives compromised, and conformed to the ways of Babylon, shouldn’t be surprising. Some Christians do the same thing when they find themselves in non-Christian environments! Think about the Christian teen who leaves his home situation, where he was safe and secure among Christian friends and family, and arrives in the "big city" or on the secular college campus. There will be a strong tendency for that young Christian to hide his faith - or even drop it altogether. The temptation to compromise and conform is very great. Almost unconsciously he may start to make excuses for his attitudes and actions. Many of you may be facing a situation that’s similar to Daniel's situation. Maybe you've just started college, or moved to a new town, or started a new job. You're in a different environment - maybe a different culture. Everything has changed. No one talks about God. Christians are definitely in the minority. Home is far away. The pressure to conform to the new group is so great! It would be so easy to compromise - "Just a little."

Daniel 1:12–13 (NKJV) – 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” The reason we should dare to be a Daniel is because Daniel trusted that God was in control. This is the key point this morning.Third, to dare to be a Daniel means to be enabled by God and to trust in His enabling – Daniel 1:17. Daniel was not a superhero. He was not superhuman. Daniel was who he was and was able to do what he did because God enabled him. It states: Daniel was never intimidated by earthly position. He was not a respecter of people or their positions. Daniel was not disrespectful to people, but his highest respect was reserved for God. alone. When you dare to be a Daniel you are not swayed by peer pressure of pander to people, you serve the Living God; you serve the Lord Jesus (e.g. Galatians 1:10). And the first is that the heart must he set. “Daniel purposed in his heart.” He looked the matter up and down, and he settled it in his heart. Before he asked Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego anything about it, he had made up his own mind. Oh, for a made-up mind! Oh, for the man who knows how to look at his compass, and to steer his vessel whither he ought to go! God grant you grace, young man, to nail your colours to the mast, and to be determined that you will keep to the right course, come fair wind or come foul. Daniel had settled it in his heart. The grace of God is a great heart-settler. Where it comes, men become firm and positive, for the Lord teaches them to profit. How should we do this? Thankfully the New Testament shows us how, and it shows us that an exemplary approach to the Bible is gospel-centered too. Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favour 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 of your age? The king would then have my head because of you."

Fourth, to dare to be a Daniel means to respond to problems with prayer – Daniel 2:14-19a. Daniel was confronted with an impossible task. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that perplexed and frightened him. He needed an interpretation. But being the Trumpian leader of his day, he demanded the magicians and wisemen of his court that he had been paying so well, to earn their money. He demanded they tell him what the dream was rather than merely respond to the King’s description of the dream. If they couldn’t do so, they would be executed. Impossible? Seemed so. But when Daniel found out about it he responded to the problem with prayer. People were not happy with Daniel. I mean, when you do well someone is going to get jealous and in Daniel’s case there seemed to be quite a few someones.Life isn’t about having it together when everything is rosy – but how you deal with it when things aren’t working right -- when we’re in foreign territory. Jesus calls His disciples to infiltrate and influence. (John 15:19; cf. also 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:9-10; Romans 12:2; James 1:27). Daniel is a great biographical example of living a life of infiltration and influencing for the glory of God. Granted, his was a forced infiltration due to a captivity. Sometimes that’s the way God works. Sometimes God puts us in situations we don’t like. But regardless of our environment, our mindset should be to serve as God’s infiltrators to influence others for His glory. We are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10). God is working in us (Philippians 2:13). We are who we are by God’s grace (1 Cor. 15:10). We need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit if we are to act on behalf of God (Acts 1:4-5, 8; Luke 11:13; Acts 2 and onward). We can only dare to be a Daniel and follow that course if we are enabled by God. We need to seek God’s enabling. If we are to take advantage of God’s opportunities, we must experience His enabling. Daniel was one of four teen or college-age captives who decided to remain faithful to God in this foreign situation - no matter the cost. These four guys were a minority, for sure! The rest of the captives apparently couldn’t withstand the pressure, and submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s commands. Dan 6:10 when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.