05.17.2015 How to Remain Faithful in a Culture that is Increasingly Hostile to the Faith

5-17-2015 Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

05-17-2015 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Lord, Your Spirit is moving. You have drawn us together. This time is a time of joy for You – thank You for the freedom to do this – and we think of our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted – and we pray for them. Help them to remain faithful in the midst of the furnace and fire – as they stand in the lion’s den – keep them in You. We pray for Nepal – so many who are dying – I think of Mike Keator sharing the gospel – and all the Christians meeting needs there – we pray for a great movement of God. Help me to share what You would have me share – that we would be prepared and understanding in what You are doing in this world...
Daniel 1: 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his [a]god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his [b]god.

3 Then the king [c]ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his [d]officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the [e]royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for [f]serving in the king’s [g]court; and he ordered him to teach them the [h]literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to [j]enter the king’s personal service. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.
8 But Daniel [k]made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God granted Daniel [l]favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials,
I will focus on the narrative sections of Daniel – less on the prophecies. If that disappoints you – I understand.
Daniel is written during the Exile of Israel. Jerusalem has been destroyed; the temple has been destroyed, and Babylon has captured many of the Israelites. This takes place near the end of the life of the prophet Jeremiah. Israel is a defeated people – serving as slaves and servants in Babylon – they are living in a culture that is offensive and opposed to their faith and way of life. It appears to them that God has failed them and there is no hope. What we will look at – How to be faithful in a world or culture that is increasingly hostile to the faith. How to live as a witness in a changing environment. Our world is going through seismic shifts, isn’t it? We are experiencing a tsunami of change. We hear things on the news that 15 years ago were unheard of – 30 years ago, were unimaginable.
Pew Research – Changing US religious Landscape – from 2007 to 2014
Protestant Evangelicals –
Mainline Protestants - Methodist/Presbyterian/Baptist/etc.
Catholics
Unaffiliated or Non-Christian Faith – those are the only ones that are increasing.
We think this is not that significant – but in that short of time – it is extremely significant.
1) God is still God
2) Faith – how to live a life of faith under pressure
3) When and how to engage in culture and when NOT to
To the people of Israel, it appears that God has failed and left them – imagine being taken from Cuyahoga Falls to Iran…
Daniel 1: 1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem and laid it under siege. 2 Now the Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, along with some of the vessels of the temple of God. He brought them to the land of Babylonia to the temple of his god and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.
Seems extraneous… - but there is something here that is really important – what takes place in wars in the ancient world – they were battles of gods – not just armies and nations – but first battles of gods. When we think of the Exodus – the plagues – frogs/blood, etc – each was directed at a specific god of Egypt – to demonstrate that God was god and they were not!
The winner had the more powerful god. They would destroy the temple of the losing gods – and would take the artifacts of that temple and place them in service to their god. That is how war was understood. This is the life that Israel was living. That is what they were going through. There was a twist in verse 2 –
2 Now the Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, along with some of the vessels of the temple of God.
God is making it clear that He did not lose this battle. In fact – He will demonstrate that which looks like defeat will turn into a great victory for God.
In this country – surveys like the one just shown – have caused people to say that Christianity has lost its authority and power – and that it is coming to an end – and it is a narrative that many in our world today believe. But God wants to say – He is not losing – He has not lost anything! He doesn’t lose! It may just be that the decline in church status and attendance may actually be the work of God. This decline may actually be a good thing for us! We’ll look at that through these weeks – how it may be true and what it might mean.
Daniel 6:25 is the key verse in Daniel.
Darius king of Persia – takes over Babylon – and he writes to…
25 Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every [r]language who were living in all the land: “May your [s]peace abound! 26 I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel;

For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be [u]forever.
27 “He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has also delivered Daniel from the [v]power of the lions.”
28 So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
The most important part of the book of Daniel: God is still God.
As we watch the news and are terrified and frightened, remember this – God is still God. His reign will endure forever.
His ways and purposes cannot be thwarted. No matter your circumstances or those of the world – God will still reign – God is sovereign.
On a side note, there are two responses when we discuss the sovereignty of God:
1) Good. It creates a peace and settledness.
But I would be remiss to not discuss how God’s sovereignty in a terrible world can be troubling to many Christians – because that which is meant to be a source of great hope can become a source of great doubt – because we think if God is sovereign – why did this or that happen? -We need to address both.
The three in the fiery furnace – and there is a fourth there – great story – but they spent their LIVES as slaves to the oppression of Babylon. Think of all the others of Israel who were taken from their homes and just DIED in that foreign land. This is the number one reason people give for rejecting God – “If God is God, he would not let this happen to me or my loved one…”
There is a lot of theological discussion over what a sovereign God means – what does He control/cause/determine/allow?
And for people who have suffered abuse, or been victims of crime of evil people – or suffered great loss because of natural causes – these are difficult things to work through. It was nearly impossible to understand the sovereignty of God for those at Auschwitz. The great minds of Christianity have argued this for years. I am not one of them. But I have an opinion having read many of them – and I know there are aspects of this beyond our understanding. If we try to understand it all – we’ll go nuts.
In humility, we need to admit that His thoughts are not our thoughts – we only receive a shadow of what this might mean.
“God’s complete sovereign reign – His large and in chargeness – and Human freedom to reject that reign and sin against God and one another – somehow, beyond my understanding – exist harmoniously. Things that may be complete opposites exist harmoniously. God reigns, but people are free to reject it.
When Bad things happen, it is because Evil people have chosen to do harm – or because we live in a world that is marred by sin. However – God is fully present in all of this – and engaged and working through all evil – though not the author or cause of the evil – to bring about His ultimate purpose in the world and our ultimate good. This may seem like a copout – and it may not give the hope and certainty you want.
Sometimes we long for certainty – and God is mystery. We struggle with mystery – but God wants us to embrace mystery. We live in a world that science should help us figure it all out. God is not a problem to be solved. He is the answer, but He is not a problem.
For some reason – freedom is of critical importance to a sovereign God who is in control. For some reason – that people have freedom is of utmost importance to God.
Idolatry – anything that takes God’s place in our lives. This could be a good thing like a family – but it could be many bad things – but it could be anything that takes God’s place in our lives. Money/fame/all kinds of things.
A second definition – making God into something we can understand and control.
We see this in Exodus – they leave Egypt – Moses says – God will set you free! Who is this God? He was in the burning bush! What kind of God comes in a burning bush? Then Egypt makes things harder. Who is this God you gave us?! Then they escape with riches… and they get trapped at the Red Sea – and God delivers them – and Moses goes up on the mountain – who is this God with smoke and fire – and Aaron says – give me your gold – and they throw it in the furnace – and out pops a golden calf – and Aaron says – Israel – this is your God – Elohim – and what he is doing is idolatry – because this God of smoke and fire – they don’t want that God – so they make something they can understand and control. That is what we tend to do – we don’t want God to be manipulated – and God will not be manipulated – and He will reign.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
This verse is often quoted – and more often misquoted.
When we talk about God’s sovereignty – this is a key verse – it does not say all things are good. Some things are evil and not good. He works and causes all things – whether evil or good – to work together for good – and we often miss those words – work together – like the concept of joining all the pieces / parts to make anything.
We like watching food television – they travel to exotic places – and they say that the best food always comes from the poor. The food of the poor becomes the delicacies. The poor get the pieces parts - leftovers – soul food from the slaves – learning to take and assemble in such a way that it is what we long for. That is kind of what God does – taking the scrap leftover discarded parts of our lives and He places them together – the difficult, evil, and hard – and in the long run – He forms them into something that accomplishes His purposes and forms us into the image of Christ. That is God’s ultimate goal. God is shaping a people – destroyed through the exile because of idolatry. After the exile, there is never a recorded instance of Israel engaging in idolatry.
Daniel 1:8
8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself.
Next week we will look at faith under pressure
9 Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel.
Favor – sympathetic – grace – abundant mercy – we will see – the only way we can live in the heart of pressure in this world is when we learn to live by God’s grace – we are not going to make it though the difficult times through our own stamina, technique or skill we – must learn to rely wholly upon God. Our political power and education and determination will not change things. We must learn to rely wholly and fully on the grace of God – and to have a deep understanding of what Jesus did on the cross. It is only thought that cross…
Tim Keller took Psalm 91 – He who dwells in the shelter of the most high… - delivered from the snare of the fowler – such metaphors! Mother/Eagle – bringing eaglets under her wing for protection – shield and bulwark – do not be afraid of the arrow or anything – a thousand may fall at your side – it shall not approach you – you will only see the recompense of the wicked – no evil, no plague – and we think, WOW! We claim that promise! Until… Our experience does not match. And the problem – we haven’t read the rest of the psalm – hints come out – and change our understanding:
He will give His angels charge so that you will not strike your foot against a stone – you won’t even stub your toe! IT will be SOOO good!
This verse is quoted by one other in the Bible – who? Satan. He was trying to offer the power and the glory apart from the cross and Jesus responded essentially – that is not possible.
You will tread on the lion and serpent –
All of this happens as we go THROUGH the trouble – experiencing the difficulty – we will not be REMOVED from it.
We talk about how to live in a changing world – and how to be a witness in a changing world - how to understand ourselves that we are witnesses – everything about us is that we are a witness to the world of the cross and resurrection of Jesus – whether we are working, or cutting the grass, or taking our children to a soccer game. We are witnesses. Let’s pray…