Sermon Tone Analysis

Culture Shock

Daniel 3:4-30

 

 

INTRO: One side says: Culture.

Other side says: Shock.

What is culture shock?

Defined in Webster’s dictionary as:

 

“A sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation.”

Have you ever experienced even a mild form of culture shock?

 

* Visit a place where “Jeopardy” comes on at 7 PM instead of 7:30.

Just can’t get used to it.

* Moving to New Orleans, where they didn’t have Cheerwine soda, Neese’s sausage, or Duke’s mayonnaise.

* Eating mangoes and jellyfish at a Chinese restaurant in Penang, Malaysia.

* Riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand, when our “elephant driver” suddenly turned around, picked up our then 6-year-old son and – without asking, placed him precariously on the elephant’s forehead.

Culture shock.

Many teenagers today say their parents would be shocked if they knew what was going on in youth culture.

Listen to the words of one teenager:

 

“It used to be that parents protected their kids from the hard truths of life.

Today, teens protect their parents.

It’s a harsh world out there, and I don’t think my mom or dad could handle the things that I deal with each and every day, so I don’t say anything.

… I simply let them pretend that things are the same as when they were kids.”

[T.

Suzanne Eller, /Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life /(Colorado Springs, Colorado: Life Journey, 2002), 13]

 

Research shows that …

 

* Among people born 1984 or later, only 4% are Bible-based believers.

* Currently, there are over 300,000 pornographic web sites for teens to explore on the internet, and the number is growing every day.

* The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old.

* The average age of first sex is15.8 years.

* 23.4% of first sexual relationships are “one-night stands.”

In his book, /Seven Laws of the Learner, /Bruce Wilkinson cites the following statistics:

 

* 65% of all H.S. Christian students are sexually active

* 3.3 million teens are alcoholics

* 1000 teens try to commit suicide daily

* 10% of H.S. students have experimented with or are involved in a homosexual lifestyle.

The days of Ozzie and Harriet, of Richie and Joanie Cunningham, and of Theo and Vanessa Huxtable are gone – if they really ever existed to begin with.

This is the culture and the climate teenagers are living with every day.

No wonder that teenager said, “I don’t think my mom or dad could handle the things that I deal with each and every day, so I don’t say anything.”

She knows the culture she has to deal would be radical and shocking to her parents.

But, I want to tell something that may be shocking to you in a /good /way.

God is doing great and wonderful things among young people today.

You don’t hear that said all that much.

That’s why it may be shocking.

But God is doing great things.

I believe that God is in the midst of bringing spiritual renewal and revival to churches and to families by moving in the hearts of teenagers.

Do you realize that teenagers attend church more than adults?

A 2003 survey says they do:

38 percent of adults say they attend church weekly.

43 percent of teenagers attend church weekly.

According to the 2001 Roper Youth Report, more kids and teenagers head to church in any given week than surf the Web, see a movie, hang out at parties, or visit the mall.

Daniel 3:4 \\ Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, \\ \\

Daniel 3:5 \\ that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; \\ \\

Daniel 3:6 \\ and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

* *

#. *The Pressure to Conform to Our Culture*

* *

Daniel 3:7 \\ So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. \\ \\

Daniel 3:8 \\ Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:12

“There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you.

They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.” \\ \\

Daniel 3:13 \\ Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

So they brought these men before the king.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:14 \\ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? \\ \\

Daniel 3:15a \\ Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good!

But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

Peer Pressure

Fear Pressure

* *

#. *The Power to Challenge Our Culture*

* *

Daniel 3:15b \\ And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

\\ Daniel 3:16 \\ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:17 \\ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:18 \\ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” \\ \\

Daniel 3:19 \\ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:20 \\ And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

* *

Daniel 3:24 \\ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” \\ \\

Daniel 3:25 \\ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” \\ \\

Daniel 3:26 \\ Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.”

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.

\\ \\

Daniel 3:27 \\ And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

They did not bow.

They did not bend.

They did not burn.

\\ \\

#. *The Potential to Change Our Culture*

* *

Daniel 3:28 \\ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! \\ \\

Daniel 3:29 \\ Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” \\ \\

Daniel 3:30 \\ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

\\ \\

He blessed their God.

He upheld their values.

He elevated their position.

The Morgan sea gypsies are a small tribe of 181 fishermen who spend much of the year on their boats fishing in the Andaman Sea from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand.

In December, though, they live in shelters on the beaches of Thailand.

In December 2004, in the hours before the killer Tsunami crashed ashore, the Morgan sea gypsies were living on those beaches.

They were in harm's way and would have likely all perished—had they not listened to their elders.

For generations, the elders of the tribe had passed along one piece of wisdom.

The tribe's 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay says, “The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared.”

And that is exactly what happened.

The sea drained quickly from the beach, leaving stranded fish flopping on the shore.

How easy it would have been for those who live off of the sea to run down where the water had been minutes ago and fill every basket available with fish.

Some people did just that in other areas of South Thailand.

Not the Morgan sea gypsies.

When the water receded from the beach, the tribal chief ordered every one of the 181 tribal members to run to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island.