This week Pastor Jared continues the second week of the sermon series, "Daniel: Hope In A Hostile World".
Park Springs Sermons
Sept 8, 2024 - Hope in a Hostile World - Daniel 2:1-16
(upbeat music) - You're listening to a message from Park Springs Bible Church located in Arlington, Texas, where we discover life in the power of God's grace and share his life-changing grace with others. (upbeat music) Join us as we hear from the word. - Good morning. It's good to see you this morning. If you have a copy of God's word, I would invite you to go ahead and make your way to the book of Daniel where we will be for the foreseeable future. We kicked off our study last week as we began to unpack the word of God, specifically for the times we are living in. And that's how we are approaching this book and how we've entitled this series is Hope in a Hostile World. And I think that's something that probably resonates to some extent with all of us and that we have probably recognized over the course of our life. And if you have spent any amount of time trying to pursue Jesus, we recognize this tension we all live in is that sometimes the environments we are in are not conducive to following Jesus wholeheartedly. And by and large, Christians have always been in that place. And there have been some different historical moments and cultural trends, some ups and downs in that reality. But the people of God, since Jesus instituted the gospel and called the church to himself have always felt that tension. And that's why we have often looked back at this moment in the history of the people of God in the Old Testament in this period of exile. That they had that moment where they were both a called out people, but also a nation and they had a kingdom and they had a literal king and their society and structure was built around the law of God. But for the rest of the time, the people of God have always lived as strangers and exiles in this world. And so last week as we jumped into the book of Daniel, we got introduced to the four characters that many of us are familiar with and they're going to kind of be our guides through this series because we have this case study of these four young men who over the course of the book of Daniel become old men and they are living out their faith in a culture that is adverse and even actively hostile at times to honoring the one true God. And for us, a lot of times we use a metaphor and imagery and we try to relate to it because we might experience some level of hostility, but we are at this point in our context, not experiencing anything remotely close to the hostility they are experiencing. But we can learn from their example and dig into the scriptures and ask God to anchor us in the moment in time and history that he has placed us in. So we do have these four young men. We have Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego that they've been thrust into this reality and they are trying to walk that tightrope of what does it look like to say yes to things you can say yes to, but at the end of the day, honor God as God. What are the things that are permissible for them? But what are the things they have to abstain from and in those situations be okay with the consequences? So we learned that last week as they were brought into the king's palace and introduced to all of these new ideas and asked to participate in certain aspects of the new culture they find themselves in. And for some of those things they engaged in and excelled in and for some things they abstain from and trust the God with the outcome. So now we are making our way into chapter two and that's where we'll be this morning. And in chapter two we get this sense that there has been a passage of time. And a lot of ways that's how the narrative moves throughout the book. It is kind of from crisis to crisis. And so we get to see these young men in these different situations that they are thrust into and we can look at their lives and their example and ask ourselves what God might be calling us to in our day and age. So we know at this point that they are working within the palace because they were talented and gifted and they were the kingdom they were in wanted to utilize their abilities. And so they are in positions of prominence but also we can recognize those positions of prominence are also positions of the greatest pressure to conform. And that is continuing to take place in Daniel chapter two. So look with me at the beginning of this chapter and this will set up our discussion for this morning. Daniel chapter two says this. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king and the king said to them, I had a dream and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic. O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream and we will show you the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, the word for me is firm. If you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb and your houses shall be laid in ruins. But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive for me gifts and rewards in great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation. They answered a second time and said, let the king tell his servants the dream and we will show its interpretation. The king answered and said, I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time because you see that the word for me is firm. If you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation. The Chaldeans answered the king and said, there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. The thing that the king asked is difficult and no one can show it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh. Because of this, the king was angry and very furious and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed, we'll pause there for a little bit. So here is the crisis that we find ourselves in today. Daniel, having served in the palace, finds himself in this position. He is considered an advisor. And so they kind of have this lump of categories of all the people that give advice to the king. And so that's why you get this term saucer or enchanter or wise man. It is this reality that this kingdom in this particular time, they do have a high view of the supernatural. And so the king wants to know what is going on in a supernatural sense in his kingdom and in his life. And so he does rely on all these different religions, all these different types of people. He kind of runs the gamut when it comes to advisors. And if something happens that is considered a sign or an omen, he wants this group of advisors to tell him what it means. And Daniel is in this group. So once again, we can kind of see that there is some tensions and pressure on him as a follower of the one true God. He is thrust in the midst of a lot of people who don't honor the one true God. And not only that, considerable pressure is now being applied to his life because what's the situation we find himself in? The king has a bad dream. And it's not just any old dream. For some reason, he can tell that this dream is of supernatural origin and is going to have an impact on his life. And he doesn't know what it means. So it freaks him out. And he is desperate to know the implications of whatever the supernatural world has revealed to him. And so since he is the king and he is large and in charge, he's going to put the pressure on everybody else to provide him with an answer. And so that's the situation that if this group of advisors of which Daniel is a part of cannot give the king a sufficient answer, they are all going to die. They need to know this message. And one of the things I just find interesting as we begin to dig into this chapter is that as we go through the Book of Daniel and we were just objectively evaluating and maybe more of a worldly sense whose position we would want to be in, the reality is for most of us, we would probably choose the position of king. Because all of us by nature will begin to evaluate our lives in the success of what we are doing by worldly standards. And so if you're just seeing within this book, if who is the most successful or who has a position I would also like to have, we're probably choosing the king. So nobody can tell him what to do. He is in charge of the entire kingdom. He is not at the beck and call. If anybody else, he has every manner of worldly success, of business success. He has power. He has prestige. He has all of these things given to him. And then in the characters that we are following with Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they are slaves. They have been kidnapped. They have been drug away from their families. They are not in positions where they get to dictate outcomes or decide what is going to happen in their life. They are being told what they are to do. But although that is the case, when we evaluate it from a worldly standard, one of the other things we should recognize and think about is that which one of these two people seems more at peace in the world around them. You could recognize that with Nebuchadnezzar being the king of an ancient empire where it might makes right, that there is this aspect of heavy ways to crown. Because his life is built on his ability to control and maintain a position of power and prominence. As we talked about last week, that there is this reality that we do live in an eye for an eye world. And knowing which way the wind is blowing is sometimes a necessity if you are building your life on temporal things. And so we should ask ourselves, is this the success we want? Is our success measured by the resources we accumulate, by the levels we achieve and obtain, or as the people of God living as exiles and aliens, are we going to measure success differently? For me, it reminded me of Psalm chapter 73, and I would invite you to turn over to there. There's a couple of different passages we're going to look at this morning. But Psalm 73, ever since it first cemented itself in my heart, has always been this powerful reminder to me of how often I look at the world around me and find myself, at times, being envious of those who aren't trying to follow God. I don't know if you've ever had a similar experience, but I know for myself, living for God is important to me. So there's this level of effort I put into doing what is right. And I think everybody at some point will put effort into trying to do what is right, and they will not get the outcome that they think that they deserve. Maybe that's just me, but I've found myself there a lot as a Christian of, you know, I'm going to try to honor God, be honest in my relationships, be honest in my dealings, and then it feels like I never actually get anywhere that I want to go. Pardon me. And so I could see this being a reality as we think about where Daniel is in his position, and even for all of us living through the day and age, God has put us in, like, do you ever find yourself being envious of those who aren't actually trying to honor God in all their areas of life? Psalm 73 addresses that for us, this is what it says. That's truly God is good to Israel. To those who are pure in heart, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Lautily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore, as people turn back to them and find no fault in them, and they say, how can God know? Is there knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked. Always at ease. They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long, I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a worrisome task. Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I discerned their inn. Truly, you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one awakes. Oh, Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. And that's where the psalmist goes in his reflection. And I think we can learn from today. So I don't know if you have found yourself there before. There's typical questions that are asked of the Christian faith. And one of those oftentimes is, why do bad things happen to good people? But then on the other side of that coin, I think we have often struggled with, why do seemingly good things happen to bad people? And we can begin to project a worldly sense of success and wonder why people that are evil or do not honor God always seem to get ahead. And so the psalmist addresses that. It's like, hey, they don't suffer like the rest of us. They continue to grow under riches, even though they're not honest in their dealings. But for those of us who are trying to honor God, it seems like we never get ahead. And I feel like that situation is apparent right here, that we do have an evil king, but he is worldly, successful. They are the dominant empire of the time, and he can say whatever he wants, and it will come to be, and he can give any order he wants, and it will come to be. But now we find himself that he is completely overthrown and terrified by a dream. It's almost as if the entire edifice he has built his life upon, he has no control over. And so we should ask ourself, at large, who has more peace in this world, the king or the Christian? Do you envy worldly success in positions of power? We want to walk through the book of Daniel, addressing the idea of having hope when we are in a world of hostility. And I would say that hope is built on the predicate that we recognize that we are not in control. Our hope is not in our ability to manage our outcomes. Our hope is entrusting that God is in control, because here is the thing we will all learn over and over and over again about trying to control the world we can't. And that's what this king is learning in this moment, because he knows something is afoot, and something is about to change in his life, and he is desperate to manage that outcome. And so if our hope is entrusting in God that is in control, within that framework, we act out godly character. And so this is how Daniel responds to this crisis he finds himself in, if we could look back in verse 13 of chapter two. So the decree went out. In the wise men were about to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them. Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariak, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He declared to Ariak the king's captain, why is the decree of the king so urgent? Then Ariak made the matter known to Daniel, and Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time that he might show the interpretation to the king. You know, it's a bit of inference into the text, but honestly, as I read it, I do not get the sense that Daniel is freaked out. You kind of get that from the king, he receives the dream, and immediately there is this urgency to everything he does. He calls for the advisor, he's like, y'all better tell me what this is. My word is firm. If you do not reveal what the dream was and it's interpretation, I'm going to kill all of you. And they're like, hey, could you kind of maybe tell us what it was? And he's like, no, you're trying to buy time, and I don't have time, you need to tell me what it is. But then Daniel hears like, hey, what's going on? And they're like, well, we're going to kill all of you. And he's like, if the king has time, could I meet with him? Like, to me, it just reads very differently. And maybe I'm just inferring and projecting a little bit into it. But it seems like he's not all that worked up, that he is reacting calmly. And I know for myself, I think there might be this reaction of like, is there any way to sneak out of town? Like, it sounds like there's a lot of advisors, a lot of wise men, because he's asking the captain of the guard, like, hey, what's going on? I think an escape plan might have been more prudent. But what it says about him is that he goes in and requests to the king a point at a time, and I'll show the interpretation to the king. It's two different reactions we have here, the king versus Daniel. And so for this morning, there's two things, I think, for all of us, if we are trying to ask ourselves, like, how do we act out godly character in a hostile world around us? There are two words I want you to kind of put in your back pocket to think about in the situations God has given you. One is the word shrewd, which is not when I use all that often in my everyday speech, but I think it's important. And you could define that for our purposes of having sharp powers of judgment, of being shrewd. I think we often think about that in business dealing, somebody who can discern what is going on and make good decisions. So being shrewd is having sharp powers of judgment. And then the second one we saw right there of the text is being prudent. And it uses that word to describe Daniel's reaction. And for our definitions this morning, we could say that that is acting with care for the future. And I would say that these are two things that the Bible actively advocates for us to behave in this manner. And I want to look in the New Testament, because once again, the people of God have always been living in this situation where we are not at home in the world around us. The our collective Christian family, we've often been living in adverse cultures and adverse times that aren't conducive to following God. And those are the instructions Jesus leaves for his disciples. Let's look in Matthew chapter 10. So about halfway through the chapter, these are some instructions Jesus leaves his disciples. This is what he says to them about the times they are living in. Verse 16, "Behold, I am sending you out "as sheep in the midst of wolves. "So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. "Be aware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts "and flog you in their synagogues, "and you will be dragged before governors and kings, "for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. "When they deliver you over, do not be anxious "how you are to speak or what you are to say, "for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour, "for it is not you who speak, "but the spirit of your father who speaks through you." So these are the words of Jesus several hundred years later, but it kind of mirrors this reality of what Daniel is living at the time. And so he even says it like, "Hey, you're gonna be drug before kings." And he's saying, "In that situation, don't worry." Like this is part of kind of God's plan for his people that at times we are going to be thrust in these situations. And one of the markers of our faith in God is that the response we have in those situations is not to freak out. But to know that this is part of God's plan for the revealing of his character and the redemption of all things that we are going to be living through difficult times. And there are times God is going to put us in a position to be a witness to his goodness and glory, although it might be threatening our very lives. And so what's his instruction? He recognizes the position we are in. He says, "I'm sending you out a sheep in the midst of wolves." Sheep are threatened by wolves. That is what Jesus is saying. It's going to be like living in this world that we all inhabit, that there will be risk involved. There will be threats involved. And so he says this. And there are different translations that translate it differently. So where he says to be wise as serpents, many others of our English translations of the Bible interject that word shrewd. You know, the serpent, when they kind of personify the animal kingdom, it even says back in Genesis is a cunning animal. And so it's interesting because we know that that's also how Satan is personified as the serpent who deceived Eve, that is even brought into a more positive light that there is a shrewdness Jesus advocates for. Like as Christians, it's really not pushed upon us that we should have naivety in the world around us. Like we're not supposed to be dumb bumpkins that just don't ever know what's going on, but it's like, it's okay, it'll all work out. No, God advocates for us having awareness of the times we are living in, that we are supposed to be shrewd as serpents. We are supposed to be wise as serpents, that we are supposed to have sharp powers of judgments because God puts us in positions and situations for specific reasons to reveal his glory. And so we don't want to be inept in those situations. We don't want to be naive in those situations. We want to have wisdom to us. We want to have discretion to us. We want to have sharp powers of judgment. And so this is what Jesus says. He says to be shrewd as serpents. But there's this interesting contradiction you can see in this text here is that you could say that Nebuchadnezzar has a lot of shrewdness to him. Like I don't think you get to be king of Babylon if you're kind of a dummy. Like it is a might makes right world. And so you're not ascending to that throne unless you can make some quick judgment calls and be able to discern what's going on around you. But here's the difference in Nebuchadnezzar. He is shrewd but towards his own benefit into the subjecting of others. Like he does have sharp powers of judgment. That's a pretty good ploy he has there with all the wise men that by their own claim can discern the future and read omens. And so when it comes to his dream, what does he say? He's like, hey, I want an interpretation of my dream. And they're all like, okay, well, what was the dream? He's like, no, you should be able to tell me. If you can do what you say you can do, I don't even need to tell you my dream. That will be how I evaluate if you're actually honest about your own dealings. That's a pretty shrewd move. Like that's a pretty king move right there of like, hey, your whole thing is being an enchanter and saucer, a wise man, you should be able to tell me what I dreamed. If you can tell the future, if you can read the supernatural world, why can't you tell me the dream I had? So that's a pretty shrewd move. But whose benefit is it for? It's for selfish personal gain. And that would be the shrewdness or the wisdom of the world. See us Lewis, put it like this. Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. So we do need to recognize that. That there could be this inclination towards sharp judgment and it could be perceived as wisdom, but that's why Jesus provides both aspects of what we are supposed to be emulating in the world around us. We should be wise as serpents, but as innocent as doves. We do need to be shrewd. Daniel is both shrewd and prudent. Prudent being acting with care for the future. And so how did he respond when he heard the news that not only he was going to live to lose his life, but a whole group of men who he's been placed around that although they're not from his tribe, they're not all Hebrews and they are of different religions and they are all going to lose their lives. How does he respond to that? He acts with care for all. Verse 14, Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Ariak the captain of the Kingsguard who had gone out to kill but wise men. He took the threat of violence upon himself. So it's one thing to be in the group and to not be able to collectively answer the king, but if you're going to thrust yourself out in front and be like, he's going to take that weight of personal responsibility on himself on behalf of all the wise men and say, I'll be the one who goes in front of the king and says he does it with prudence. He does it with care for the future. Once again, I don't read him reacting strongly. It's not this massive objection of, hey, please don't kill me. Can you let me sneak out the other side? This is unfair. Nobody's been asked to do this before. You shouldn't kill us. You should object to the king. No, he takes it upon himself. And he does it very simply. He just acquiesces to the king's request. He wants somebody to come and tell him the dream of the interpretation. And he says, hey, tell the king to set up a time and I'll be there and I'll do that. So we can ask ourselves, what does godly shrewdness in being prudent look like in a hostile world around us? I would say it works itself out to the blessing and benefit of others. If you want to know about the wisdom God has given you and the discretion God has given you, if he has worked shrewdness into your being, is it working itself out to the blessing and benefit of the people around you? Or do you only utilize your intellectual gifts for yourself to get ahead? One of the other moments in the Old Testament we have of the exiled people of God in a similar culture is in the prophet Jeremiah. And one of my favorite passages is Jeremiah chapter 29, which many of us know because there's a famous verse in it, Jeremiah 29, 11, which is taken out of context often. 'Cause it says, "For I know the plans I have for you "declares the Lord in its plans to prosper you." But this is given to people who are in a position of hostility. And so I love this other aspect of Jeremiah, chapter 29, once again, I'd love for you to turn there so that we can all just collectively read it and reflect on it because it describes how to live well as a follower of God in a hostile culture and some of the things to emphasize and to focus on with your whole life. Jeremiah chapter 29, starting in verse four says this. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent in exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf or in its welfare, you will find your welfare. That's the instruction of the Lord to the exiles. He doesn't say undermine that godless culture and bring those pagans down. And he says seek the welfare of the people around you. And that's what Daniel is absolutely doing in this situation right there. Although it could cost him his life in either direction, he is seeking the welfare of all of the people who might lose their lives because of the madness of this king. We are supposed to be wise and innocent. We are supposed to act with good intentions for the world around us, whether the people around us are fellow believers in Jesus or not. And one of the things we see from Daniel is this confidence he has in his position and relationship with God. And that's one of the things I think that marks the whole book in all of these stories and these miracles we know about from the fiery furnace to the lions then, there is this confidence that all of these men exhibit in God's faithfulness towards them. One of the things we read last week in chapter one, when it says that these men have been brought into the palace and it talks about how they are talented and gifted, it literally says that God had gifted Daniel in the interpretation of dreams. So this is a gifting God has given Daniel. And so all of a sudden this situation arises where hey, we need someone to interpret a dream and Daniel already knows that's something God does on my behalf. And so he is trusting of that gift and he stands out in confidence knowing that God is faithful. And I wonder for all of us in the positions God has placed us in either in our place of work or in some type of social setting or maybe even in our families. If we have that same type of confidence and what God has placed in our life, that we can be a part of his redemptive work in these hostile times he's placed us in. When we know that God has gifted us in ways that we have seen God show up in our past in certain circumstances, when those crises arise again, do we step into those moments with confidence in God? We're supposed to live like these exiles lived knowing that this place will always feel a little bit foreign and that this is not our ultimate home but we're supposed to live and live well for the blessing of those around us. My children as they're starting to get to the age where they're really enjoying movies and one thing that has been fun is to begin to introduce them to movies that I watched as I was younger and we've been kind of working through some of the Pixar movies and some of the old Disney's and it wasn't super long ago that we watched Monsters Inc. This is a very, very good movie. If you haven't watched it in a while, go back to watch it. There's this little part in it that's always just kind of made me crack up. It's not a main feature of the film at all but if you know what's going on, it's this fictional world of monsters and they scare children and they are also definitely afraid of children because they think that children will kill them. So one child escapes into the monsters world and there's this really quick moment but to me it's very like revealing of human nature where it has a monsters news station and so they have heard that a child is loosed in the monsters area and it cuts to the news station and they're interviewing an expert, an expert on children and it's this very short clip and they're like asking the expert like what is your opinion and it's this little cartoon monster and he says in my professional opinion, now is the time to panic. (audience laughs) And it seems like that is our response all the time to anything going on in the world around us and that is a message that is promoted to us often that any turn of events, any change in history, any situation that arises, there is going to be someone beating the drum of now is the time to panic. Now just say believers, now is not the time to panic. Regardless of the election coming up, regardless of the wars and suing and our globe, regardless of whatever situation you are facing at work, now is not the time to panic. Now is the time to trust. I'm going heavy on the movies this morning but it's more of a book reference but there's a beautiful piece of literature in the Lord of the Rings. (audience laughs) That wasn't even a joke. Those works stand the test of time because they are insightful about the human condition. Frodo turns the gandoff and he says, I wish the ring had never come to me. He recognizes the significance of what it's going to cost him personally to bear that burden. In gandoff being the sage in the story, he says, so do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. We only decide what to do with the times that have been given to us. Which mirrors the message of God to the people of God in the Book of Esther. When she has a crisis thrust upon her that seems overwhelming and too big for her. By all accounts probably a very young woman but put in this position where the fate of the entire Jewish people is in her hands. And what is her uncle Mordecai say to her? He says, God will save his people but maybe you have been put in your position for such a time as this. I know a lot of us bemoan what is happening. The world at large in our own culture. God has placed us in this time. God was not unaware of the situations we were going to face of cultural decay, of the chaos of the world. He was not unaware. In his church has been placed in this moment for such a time as this. So I will say once again, brothers and sisters in Christ, now is not the time to panic. Now is the time to trust the Lord, be confident in the giftings he has given us, to be prudent and wise and to seek the welfare of the people God has placed around us. Christian, God has made you for such a time as this. Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, we turn to you. God, I know just personally how distracted I get by new cycles. It takes my eyes off Jesus. I start playing out worst case scenarios in my head. And I forget that you are in the future and you are sovereign overall things. God help us turn to you and have confidence that you're in control. That there will be some outcomes that we do not like. But at the end of the day, the glory of Jesus will be known. Our faith will be made side. And our eternity is secure with you. God help all of us to walk out godly character, even if it cost us. God said that it would be a testimony to your goodness and to what we've received in Jesus Christ. To him be the glory in all things. And it's in his name that I pray. Amen. Amen.