Sermon Tone Analysis

Perfectionist vs. a person with a spirit of excellence

Scripture

Daniel 6

Turn to your neighbor and ask them “Do you have an Excellent Spirit?”

Turn to your neighbor and ask them “Do you have an Excellent Spirit?”

Introduction

The have an excellent spirit is to be the outstanding and extraordinary person that God has created you to be.

One of the greatest enemies to excellence is to be complacent with mediocrity.

Last week, Pastor Taylor talked about complacency and getting out of our comfort zones, so I don’t need to dive too deep into explaining what complacency is, but before I go any further, I do want to quickly distinguish complacency with another word that people may get caught up on – that is, contentment.

Because sometimes we can mistakenly call our complacency contentment.

Contentment is a virtue and something the Bible teaches us to have.

Contentment is what Paul had in mind in when he said, I have learned to live on a little and I have he learned to live on a lot, I have learned to live hungry and I have learned to live with a full stomach.

I have learned the key to life that “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Contentment says no matter what situation I’m in, I will not allow my situation to dictate my joy because my joy is not found in things and quality of life, but it is found in the Lord.

Contentment is something God says we should have when it comes to situations we are not in control of.

Complacency on the other is a refusal to improve.

Complacency says I am satisfied with my situation not because I tried and it didn’t work, but simply because I’m not motivated to do anything more or be anything more.

In other words, I’ve given up or I’m just plain ole’ lazy.

And Complacency with mediocrity says I am okay with being average or doing just enough.

It is the C student that expects people to award them simply because they didn’t get a D.

It is the athlete that goes to the gym, but never pushes themselves to the next level.

It is the employee that shows up to do their job description, but never seek to improve their skills.

It is the Christian that does just enough to clear their conscience.

It is the church that thinks because it is ministry, it is okay to be mediocre.

But God has not called us to be mediocre, but God has called us to be excellent.

Like Daniel he has called us to have an excellent spirit.

But God has not called us to be mediocre, but God has called us to be excellent.

Like Daniel he has called us to have an excellent spirit.

And when you have an excellent spirit:

Every student strives for an A.

The athlete pushes themselves to the next level.

The employee seeks to improve their skills.

The Christian desires to grow in their relationship with God.

And the church strives to fulfill the GREAT commission, and does not settle just for a good one.

And the question that I have for you today is, “Do you have an excellent spirit?”

Why is this so important?

But why is having an excellent spirit so important?

It’s important because it impacts our witness.

To give you some background of our text, ever since God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt back in the book of Exodus, God has been trying to get the Israelites to be obedient and find their identity completely in Him.

He sends judges and prophets, but they still couldn’t get it together.

So as a way of disciplining them, God allows their home Jerusalem to be destroyed and to be taken captive by this King named Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon.

Now when they get to Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar asked one of his officials to bring him Israelite men that were wise, good-looking, had knowledge and could understand quickly so they could serve in his palace.

In other words, King Nebuchadnezzar who didn’t have a relationship with God was looking for excellence.

And Four out of the men that were chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Most of you know Daniel, but the other three you may know by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

So King Nebuchadnezzar interviews all the men and he finds that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are the best, even better than the people he already had working for him.

They had an excellent spirit, and because of their excellent spirit, Chapter 2 ends with this nonbelieving King Nebuchadnezzar praising God, Chapter 3 ends with King Nebuchadnezzar praising God, and chapter 4 ends with King Nebuchadnezzar praising God.

It is their excellent spirit that gave them access to the ear of a king that had no relationship with God.

And there are some people and places that God needs us to take the gospel to that won’t be attracted to the Bible in your hand, but to your excellent spirit.

· It’s the A student that may only be able to share Jesus with the atheists professor.

· It’s the star athlete that may only be able to reach the nonbelieving coach.

· It’s the excellent employee that may only be able to get to the nonbelieving boss.

· It’s the excellent music, excellent preaching and the excellent video quality that churches produce that may only be able reach the next generation.

Because one day, somebody is going to notice your excellent spirit and ask you what is it that causes you to do things the way you do and like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, you can say it is Jesus, the Lord Almighty.

My Creator is excellent, and because I have an excellent creator, I have no choice but to be excellent.

Having an excellent spirit is important because it impacts our witness.

Transition

So in chapter 5 we find out that King Nebuchadnezzar has died, so his son becomes king, but he doesn’t acknowledge God the way his father did in Chapters 2, 3, and 4.

So by the end of chapter 5 he is killed off and third king rises to power named King Darius which is where we are in chapter 6 right now.

In chapter 5 King Nebuchadnezzar has died, his son becomes king, but he doesn’t acknowledge God the way his father did so he is killed and Chapter 6 we see another king who doesn’t believe in God

When King Darius rises to power, he has conquered all of this territory and because he is a smart guy and recognizes that he just one person with two eyes and all this territory, so he places 120 satraps (or government officials) to watch over his land.

But again, because he is a smart guy, he recognizes that with 120 satraps somebody is going to get power hungry and start doing some shady business under the table.

So he places three governors over the 120 satraps, in which Daniel was one of them.

(End with witness, the same way I started – Darius like King Nebuchadnezzar ends with praising God)

But in verse 3, the text tells us that Daniel had such an excellent spirit that he distinguished himself above all the satraps and governors, that King Darius wanted to promote him to be over the entire realm.

Satraps and Governors Jealous

And of course you know this makes the 120 satraps and the other two governors jealous.

And if you listen carefully between the verses, you can hear their spirit of entitlement speaking out saying...

How dare King Darius think about promoting Daniel over us, we’ve been working here longer.

Daniel wasn’t even born here, he’s a foreigner.

Daniel wasn’t even born here, he’s a foreigner.

Some of us are older than Daniel and has more experience than Daniel.

I’m more educated than Daniel

And though all of that may have been true none of them had an excellent spirit like Daniel.

Anybody ever had some people that were jealous of you because you were being elevated.

They didn’t quite understand how you got the promotion or became team captain when they were more qualified than you were.

But it was because there was this excellent spirit on the inside of you.

When you have an excellent spirit, sometimes it doesn’t matter what your resume is, sometimes you will find yourself sitting at tables and walking through doors that usually only people who are more qualified than you are able to do.

Because when you have an excellent spirit, then sometimes you will find yourself sitting at tables and walking through doors that usually only people who are more qualified than you are able to do.

Daniel Doesn’t Dial Down His Excellence

And what I like about Daniel is that Daniel is not the type of person that will dial down is excellence because other people can’t handle it.

You ever had that one class that everybody knew was hard because the teacher gave impossible test where everybody seem to fail?

But the good news was that the teacher graded on a curve, and so before the test you had a preliminary class meeting where everybody agreed that if we all got 50% on the test we all get A’s.

So you go in and take the test, but then their is this Daniel with an excellent spirit that decides to ruin the curve.

So like the satraps and the governors you wait for them on the outside of class to give him a peace of your mind.

Listen, I don’t know which student you are, but don’t ever allow average people to convince you to dial down your excellence.

How do I get and maintain an Excellent Spirit?

(End with witness, the same way I started – Darius like King Nebuchadnezzar ends with praising God)

How do I get and maintain an Excellent Spirit?

So now the question is how do I get and maintain an excellent spirit?

This is in no way an exhaustive list, but these are the things we can learn from Daniel.

Daniel doesn’t stop being excellent because of the people around him.

1. Have Excellent Faith(Vs.

4-10a).

The first point is not found in chapter 6, for you would have to read at least the first three chapters of Daniel in order to get this.

But don’t worry I did the work for you.

Remember, in Chapter 1, King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem, he brought the Israelites over to Babylon, and began looking for wise, quick learning or excellent people.

And when he interviewed everybody he didn’t only see that Daniel had an excellent spirit, but Daniel had three excellent friends named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

Remember, in Chapter 1, King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem, he brought the Israelites over to Babylon, and began looking for wise, quick learning or excellent people.

And when he interviewed everybody he didnt only see that Daniel had an excellent spirit, but Daniel had three excellent friends named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.