Sermon Tone Analysis

I have enjoyed the series we have been working through this month: Survivors.

When we talk about being a survivor we are talking about more than just barely hanging on through a difficult situation.

"No in all of these things we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us."

These are difficult days in our world, but these are great days of opportunity for God to show up and to display His Goodness, Glory & Grace.

Today we will focus on survivors of Babylon, heroes of faith whose stories are told in the book of Daniel.

The scene is set, the Babylonians under King Neb.

conquered Judah and carried away the nobles into captivity.

Daniel and his friends were living in Babylon.

Babylon is synonymous with an oppressive, decadent, anti-God society.

The people of God were taken into captivity because they had rejected their God and turned to idolatry.

How would these people lie in such a difficult time?

There were great pressure to conform to the new culture.

Surely they had questions about God They surely were mourning and repentant, and I think they probably had to fight off bitterness and resentment.

In the first part of the book of Daniel we see four stories how to Survive in Babylon.

(BS:D): Jehoiakim, king of Judah (Eliakim) ascended to the throne in Judea (the southern kingdom) after the defeat and death of Josiah at Megiddo in 609 b.c.

(; ; ).

He ruled from 609–597 b.c.

His son, Jehoiachin, reigned for only three months before being taken captive to Babylon along with 10,000 other Judean citizens (including Ezekiel).

Zedekiah became the last king of Judah and ruled from 597–586 b.c.

He defied Babylonian authority, provoking Nebuchadnezzar’s seige of Jerusalem on January 15, 588 b.c.

Zedekiah was captured, forced to watch the execution of his sons, and then blinded.

The city was captured on July 18, 586 and the final destruction began on August 14, 586 b.c.

Episode 1

Daniel is faced with a delima, should he conform to the society or should he maintain his unique calling to live differently?

This is much more than a question of health and dietary concerns.

The "Daniel Diet" was not the kosher diet prescribed in the law of Moses.

Daniel's objection was he could not rely on the delacies of Babylon.

He must rely on the provision and favor of Yahweh.

Daniel and the other 3 refused to assimilate into the culture even though it offered “choice food.”

They wanted to continue to be a distinct people, set aspart, holy.

They trusted God to care for them in a way that is better than what Babylon’s finest offered.

“We should also take note of Daniel’s spirit and tone in declining the king’s food.

A person of principle and deep moral conviction who steadfastly refuses to compromise need not be rude, discourteous, or abandon common sense to make a point.

One can be holy without being obnoxious.”

(Storms)

Daniel 1:8–10 (BS:D): perhaps the best explanation is that “pagan food and drink simply epitomize the pagan uncleanness associated with exile (cf.

Isa.

52:11).

This reflects the fact that what we eat and drink, like what we wear and how we speak, generally constitutes an outward expression of our self-identity and commitments.…

Daniel’s abstinence thus symbolizes his avoiding assimilation” (Goldingay, 19).

In other words, eating the palace provisions, at least in Daniel’s way of thinking, entailed a compromise of faith that getting a new name, learning Babylonian culture, and serving in a Babylonian court did not.

We must remember that Israel’s own food laws and dietary restrictions were designed, in part, to highlight and preserve their distinctiveness as God’s people over against all other peoples.

Daniel 1:18–21 (BS:D): As Goldingay points out, “we are reassured that the Daniel who lives at court, stands by the side of the king, and serves the empire, is one who has taken his stand and kept himself pure; and we are challenged about our own willingness to accept an involvement in the world, but to recognize that there are points at which we have to draw a line.

We are called to be citizens of two worlds, neither surrendering one’s citizenship by assimilation nor surrendering the other by forming a ghetto” (25).

Daniel 1:17–21 (NIV84): 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.

Survivors are different / distinct holy.

Your destiny is found in your distinction

As the people of God we should not get distracted by inward arguments about meaningless issues.

We should live in a way that is different from the world.

Notice Daniel did learn the ways of Babylon.

He served in the King’s administration with humility, but he served uniquely.

Maybe the distinctions of the believer are:

Humility

Kindness

Faith ~Trust in God

So Daniel and the others trusted God and stood on their convictions as a result they stood as an example.

I believe in this day God is raising a generation like these four in Daniel.

I believe this prophetic- generation will stand out, speaking the will and word of the Lord as they live uniquely set apart to God!

The key was they lived their convictions.

The life style they lived was the message they spoke.

This is scene 2

Scene 2 Neb's Dreams.

In this scene Daniel and the other noble's are almost put to death because Neb.

had a dream that no one could interpret.

There were great challenges after all Neb.

didn't want to share the contents of the dream.

The king ordered that all of the noble 1 wise men should be put to death.

Avoid under order of the Neb.

shows up at Daniel's door to carry out the order.

Imagine Daniel’s surprise.

Daniel asks for thine to be able to interpret the dream and he and his friends pray for Revelation from God and God tells Daniel the dream and its interpretation.

Why was Neb.

so frustrated?

He was acting irrationally, but why?

He is sure God is trying to speak to him about things that are eternally important.

And there is no one who can help to hear from God.

I believe there is great frustration in our world today because people desperately need to hear clearly what God is saying.

And thy rage and lash out because the so called wise men / nobles spiritual advisers do not hear from God.

Instead they have become wise in their own eyes and are busy espousing their own truths and theories.

All the while God is breaking into the dreams of Neb.

because God wants to speak to people.

When God speaks we find our place and purpose in this world.

So Daniel prays and God reveals the dream to and Daniel brings the message to Neb.

Look at the heart, humility and integrity of Daniel as he comes to the king.

Daniel does not try to take credit for being able to hear from God.

He says

"There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries''

The prophetic generation that rises in Babylon is not focused on their wisdom / talent) giftedness, they are focused on the greatness and goodness of God.

The generation of prophets that rises is not focused on fame or notoriety.

The the focus is on declaring God's word!

--

Daniel tells the dream and it’s interpretation to Neb.

It would be significant for centuries to come.

Kings and kingdoms will rise and fall Bat. the Ward of the Lord will remain forever?

-

Neb would get focused on where he and Babylon was in the vision, and he probably would miss out on the most important part of the Dream.

The Rock Jesus Christ will bring about the destruction of all of the Kingdom of this world- The Kingdom of God would be established.

And this Kingdom will never end!

So many tines we get focussed on trying to interpret the little aspects of the vision and miss the point.

Scene 3.

In this well brown story we see that to survive in Babylon, and even more to thrive the people of God must refuse to bow to the idols of the world.

Perhaps this is the biggiest challenge of the generations-that is emerging.

We line in a culture that makes fame over