Transcript
Speaker: The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. I'm your host, Jill Devine, and thanks for listening to Normal Goes a Long Way.
Speaker: Let's get into this week's episode with Chapter 18, Daniel in Exile. Hey, dear friends in Christ, today is a great day. at ah The sun is out, the birds are singing, the MHL season is off and running, and I'm very happy about that.
Speaker: We're only one week in, and I already, not bragging, just saying, already have a dozen dogs under my belt in one week's time. That's right. Thank you. 20% done. For those of you in the know, you know all about the newly formed Messiah Hot Dog League. And for those who don't know, it's not too late for you to jump in.
Speaker: All you have to do is eat your age in hot dogs with one between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend. Fun for the whole family. We have nifty membership cards available for any who want to take the challenge. And if you succeed, yes, you will be the envy of all your friends. And you will bear own your very own sticker, which will let everyone know in your life that you are a hot dog eating champion. You are winner. That is good stuff.
Speaker: Got some more good stuff for you. Here's some more. ah Meet James. This is my grandson. How about that? What a good looking kid. Thank you. I can't take any credit, but I'll pass along those applause.
Speaker: Fresh out of the oven, and Mary and I are prouder than a hand-set on a white football. Beautiful act of creation, fearfully and wonderfully made. God is good.
Speaker: Which brings me to some more good news to share, which you've heard a couple times already. But after three years of blood, sweat, and tears, and hitting the books at Concordia Seminary, our very own Director of Student and Young Adult Ministry, the Wonderly Ryan Fendler, going to be installed as our vicar today.
Speaker: ah right, vicar. Vicarage, what's that all about? You know, well, here's what. A vicar is basically a pastor in training. Ryan's going to be spending a full 365 days of hands-on learning under the supervision and mentorship of an experienced pastor, or in his case, pastors.
Speaker: Exciting stuff, it really is. Very thankful that God has placed Ryan on our team, and we are truly blessed. It is gift.
Speaker: An important moment for us at Messiah. A lot of good news to share. That's all the positive stuff. Okay. Now for the negative. I hate to break it to you, but you and I are living in a negative world.
Speaker: I know you know this, but I'll say it anyway. Times have changed. If you've been around for a while, then you know that those who follow Christ are facing a new social reality.
Speaker: I recently read an article in the Lutheran Witness by Aaron Wren, which states that once upon a time, roughly between the mid-60s and 90s, to be known as ah Christian in the United States was seen as a positive thing.
Speaker: A good church-going man or woman was seen as just an upstanding citizen of society. But time changed. Sometime between 1994 and 2014, Christians lived in a neutral world.
Speaker: The church was no longer seen positively, but it wasn't seen negatively either. It was just kind of there. But times have changed.
Speaker: So presently, you and i are living in a negative world. To quote the author, for the first time in the 400-year history of America, official elite culture now views Christianity negatively, or at least very skeptically.
Speaker: To be known as a Bible-believing Christian is a negative in the elite domains of society. Now, before we get to feeling too sorry for ourselves, for many Christians around the world,
Speaker: And the latest statistics report approximately 300 million Christians. For them daily life is a serious struggle as they face ah persecution, torture, even death for the sake of the gospel.
Speaker: Many Christians are surrounded by a culture that is openly, actively hostile to faith in Jesus Christ. And so you and I, okay, we live in a negative world in this part of the world, but we don't fear outright death or persecution for our faith.
Speaker: Well, that being said, let's face the fact that our team is losing. We're not seen as the good guys, We are living in a time and a place that is increasingly antagonistic toward the gospel, the Bible, ah the Christian church, which brings us to the big question of the day, and that is, how are we to live?
Speaker: Part of our answer is found in chapter 18 of the story, and here it is. Dare to be Daniel. Today we are looking at the amazing life of Daniel and there is plenty of crossover for us.
Speaker: Daniel is going to show us how to stand out, how to stand up, and how to stand firm, even while living in a negative world.
Speaker: And Daniel's world was certainly that, oh much more so. Here's the situation. I'll recap just a little bit from last week. ah God's nation had been split in two, 10 tribes of the north. They make up the nation of Israel.
Speaker: And after hundreds and hundreds of years of wickedness, God in his holy and righteous, ah tough love, used the Assyrians in 722 BC to capture them, to destroy their city and exile them to Nineveh.
Speaker: that God did the same thing with the two remaining tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah. In 586 BC, the Babylonians have captured Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and exiled them in a series of three waves to the east.
Speaker: Now, the first group of people to be removed from Judah are the elite young men who are going to be trained as leaders. We are told that they are young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well-informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve at a king's palace.
Speaker: Now, to give you an idea what these men may have looked like, i offer you this picture. um All right, all right. I know, I know. There is no way that Greg is that tall.
Speaker: Let's go back to Dana. He is carted off to Babylon, and he has given a new Babylonian name. He is named after one of their gods, Belteshazzar.
Speaker: And if you've ever been to Sunday school, you'll recall Daniel's three buddies who were also given new names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ah Sorry, Abednego. Anyway, Daniel and friends are assimilated and they are immersed into a brand new culture, philosophy, language.
Speaker: Daniel is taught a new lifestyle. He is taught that there is more than one God. He is suddenly plunged into this very different and very morally loose society.
Speaker: Daniel is given a new set of standards. He went through a crash course curriculum of brainwashing for three years. But imagine that.
Speaker: You think you got a tough. What a ripoff for Daniel. But destroy a city, they capture him. He's a teenager. And they take him off to a foreign land. And he is totally immersed in this new culture so that he and the others could graduate in the government of Babylon in order to be of some service to this King Nebuchadnezzar, the very guy responsible for ruining your whole life.
Speaker: You'd think that Daniel would have the right to be bitter or just depressed or both. but you don't see any of that from Daniel.
Speaker: No, Daniel's story, if you you look at a guy who has this great trust in God and who also possesses a very, very strong moral compass.
Speaker: Daniel is a young man with a very clear sense of right and wrong. He will do what is right, even if it costs him.
Speaker: Even if he has to defy the most powerful man in the world. And his first act of defiance comes at dinner time. Daniel refuses to eat anything offered from the king's table.
Speaker: but He was not about to pollute himself with unclean food that had been previously offered to idols. So no way, no compromise here. No royal food, no royal wine.
Speaker: He tells the king's official to let him have nothing but water and veggies for the next 10 days. So then let's compare who's the healthiest among us all. Who's the strongest?
Speaker: Well, hold up here. Hold on. Is this some kind of a proof text, you know, that says that, hey, we should all be vegetarians? Well, I hope not. Especially since I'm the commissioner of the Messiah Hot Dog League, and I still have 47 dogs to put down.
Speaker: Daniel, though, he takes a big risk here, and it pays off. Daniel took a stand. He wasn't going to defile himself. Daniel stood out among everybody else.
Speaker: Sometimes you got to do that. Got to stand out. Sometimes your loyalty gets tested. For Daniel, it came as a food test.
Speaker: ah For most of us, I'm guessing that our loyalty isn't going to be tested much with fancy food and wine that had been offered up to false gods. Probably not.
Speaker: Most likely, our tests come in the form of a calendar and a bank account. When push comes to shove, ah where you spend your time, how you spend your money says a lot.
Speaker: so Who is the king of your calendar? Is it your job? Is that the king? Is it your kids' sports schedule? Your Sunday morning me time?
Speaker: Who's the king of your finances? Our culture offers us plenty of opportunities to spend our time and our money on things other than God. Now, Daniel's food strike is really something, but it's kind of minor compared to his three buddies snub of the king.
Speaker: After they all complete, these four guys complete their three-year training period, the king selects all four of them to be his personal assistants, which is a very high honor. Great job.
Speaker: And in just about every single category, they serve the king well. Even though he's the enemy, they serve him well. But here is the one thing they refuse to do.
Speaker: That is to worship the pagan gods of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar, he decides to build this enormous golden idol. Get this, it's nine feet wide, 90 feet tall.
Speaker: And when it's completed, he invites all the officials of the kingdom to a special ceremony where everyone is instructed with the command, you better bow down to it or you get fired.
Speaker: Literally, you get thrown into a fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they refuse. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
Speaker: If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. And he will rescue us from you your hand, O king. Here it comes.
Speaker: But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.
Speaker: Whoa, that's gutsy. They couldn't. They wouldn't bow down. No way. they They stood up.
Speaker: They stood up for what they believed in. Sometimes you got to do that. Sometimes you got to stand up and say, uh-uh, I'm not going there.
Speaker: um not going to participate in that. This goes against everything that I stand for. Hey, standing up is tough stuff. It is. And most likely if you stand up, especially if you're like younger, you know, next generation types, that's risky stuff there, kid.
Speaker: You may get dropped, dissed, dumped, rejection, exclusion, or worst of all, laughed at. And I'm not being sarcastic here.
Speaker: It's very painful to be made fun of.
Speaker: It takes great courage to stand up for what you believe in, especially when you're standing by yourself.
Speaker: But I'll tell you what, you could do it. There are millions of Christians all over the world who suffer far, far worse every single day. God is faithful and he will ultimately honor your devotion to him. And that is a promise.
Speaker: Now, in the case of ah Daniel, and chapter three, God literally steps in. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into this fiery furnace, but the fire does not burn their bodies. In fact, not a single hair was singed from their heads. What is more is that when King Nebuchadnezzar kind of took a peek in on them, he didn't see three men in the fiery furnace, but four.
Speaker: Four men. Whoa. Well, that's interesting. That's very interesting. A lot of theologians, and I happen to be one of them, I think, ah The fourth man in the fire is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ.
Speaker: Or in other words, that's Jesus. It's debatable. ah But remember, what did he say? Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.
Speaker: Fear not. I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. And when you walk through the fire... You will not be burned. Flames will not set you ablaze for I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Speaker: That's Isaiah 43. That's a good verse to hold on to. Stand out, stand up, and stand firm.
Speaker: Back to Daniel. Speaking of which, where was he when all this fiery furnace stuff was going on? I don't know, it beats The Bible doesn't tell us that.
Speaker: ah But it's not like Daniel was trying to avoid any such test because later on his life, he exhibits the same courageous devotion to God as his three friends did.
Speaker: ah But this time, Daniel, he's over 80 years old now. And he is serving a new king. King Darius. And in the process, some of the king's officials have become a little jealous of Daniel.
Speaker: Okay, a lot jealous. And when they notice that Daniel does not bow down to the king's gods, they kind of talk to the king about this. said they Of course, what comes out of it is an all-too-familiar sounding decree.
Speaker: Worship any other gods than the kings, and you will be thrown into, up this time, it's not a fiery furnace, but it's den of hungry lions. Hey, that's a twist.
Speaker: Death by lions. But what a lousy way to go. But here we go again. Like his three friends had done, Daniel refuses to worship these false gods. He refuses to obey that order.
Speaker: And so Daniel gets thrown to the lions. ah And even in the face of death, Daniel stands firm. ah Let me show you something. this is This is my Bible. I guess now it is.
Speaker: This Bible right here was given ah by my grandparents to my parents on their 10th wedding anniversary. And as a kid, I spent a little bit of time looking at the pictures in this Bible.
Speaker: ah You know why? Because this Bible sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. where one wants to take a time out every once in a while. I called it the peddling box, but nonetheless, I had a chance occasionally to look at the pictures in this Bible once or twice. My sister, though, practically has it memorized.
Speaker: Well, anyway, in this book, they have a picture of Daniel in the lion's den, and it made an impression on me. It's not a great copy, but there it is. ah like that picture a lot.
Speaker: Standing firm. no panic here, fear, no freaking out. You just looking up to heaven in prayer.
Speaker: Standing firm is a good posture to take. Not easy, but good. For Daniel, God shut the mouths of the lions.
Speaker: But here's the thing.
Speaker: It doesn't always happen that way, does it?
Speaker: Yes, God is the one who can protect his own, whether they face a fiery furnace or a lion's den or any other physical danger.
Speaker: it is a great thing to know that. God has the ability. And again, sometimes, not always, Sometimes God rescues us from physical danger.
Speaker: Way, way more importantly, though, is that God protects us from eternal danger. That's the one Jesus said we need to watch out for.
Speaker: Eternal danger.
Speaker: See, Jesus came into a land that was not his own. ah He was given the ultimate test of faith He was persecuted for his faith.
Speaker: Jesus was sent to the fiery furnace of the cross.
Speaker: And as he hung there, they laughed at him. The lions were set loose upon him and they did not let up, crucified, died and buried in a den of death.
Speaker: He took our place. That is the God we serve. The God who saves us. He's the only God like that.
Speaker: The story of Daniel has been seen as a picture, a type of the ah resurrection from the dead. After Daniel is placed in this den, stone is rolled over the entrance, over the mouth, and it's officially sealed, ah from which he emerges triumphantly, which is just foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus himself and all believers who die in the faith.
Speaker: In the end, Life will triumph over death.
Speaker: The kingdom of God cannot be overcome, not even by death. In the end, listen, everything is going to be all right.
Speaker: Nothing can harm you permanently.
Speaker: No loss is lasting. No rejection is more than temporary. Ridicule will not have the last word.
Speaker: Suffering, loneliness, persecution, ah discouragement, even death will be part of our world.
Speaker: But our Savior has conquered all of these horrors. He has given us his love and his life, his resurrection, his promise that I will be with you always.
Speaker: Therefore, as the apostle Paul writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
Speaker: Be not ashamed.
Speaker: For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed. A righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.
Speaker: There it is. That is how we are supposed to live in this negative world. bye faith. And your school lives.
Speaker: In your university. In your high school. By faith. In your workplace. Your home. By faith. In the nursing home.
Speaker: By faith. The righteous will live by faith. That's how we're supposed to live.
Speaker: You know, as I've been thinking about this text, the story of Daniel and his friends is... It's actually really more like ours than maybe some of the others that we've been ah covering so far.
Speaker: In the New Testament book of 1 Peter, we're told that we as Christians were called strangers in this world. We're strangers.
Speaker: ah Daniel's hometown was in Jerusalem.
Speaker: Do you know that our hometown... It's called heaven, right? But it's also known as the new Jerusalem. We're very much like Daniel. Jesus tells us to be in this world, but at the same time, not of it.
Speaker: Let your light so shine. For as Peter writes, dear friends, I urge you as aliens, as strangers in the world,
Speaker: Run away, abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day that he visits us.
Speaker: The true king is coming, and that is a promise for In the meantime, live. Messiah Lutheran, it is a great time to be the church.
Speaker: It is a great time to follow Jesus. So live. Live courageously. Dare to be a Daniel.
Speaker: Stand out. Stand up. Stand firm by faith. Amen. If this week's episode inspired you to do a little bit more, dig a little bit deeper, we have some discussion questions for you right now at normalgoesalongway.com.
Speaker: And then Ms. Hannah and Ms. April, they will be back on Thursday. They will present Chapter 18, Daniel in Exile, in kids' form with Normal Goes a Long Way for Kids.
