Full Transcript for Daniel 1 - Resolved

better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:02.080 So the guard took away their choice food and wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:13.599 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. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:21.360 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:28.080 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.800 So they entered the king's service. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:42.479 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:47.520 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:49.919 Let's pray. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:55.520 Father, we thank you for the privilege of having access to your word. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:08.560 We thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in these pages, and we ask that you would guide us through the example of your faithful servants to live more fully for you, to honor you with our lives. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:11.039 We give thanks and we ask in Jesus' name. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:11.919 Amen. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:28.480 Throughout my life, I have experienced a variety of times where I moved to a new place and I was in an unfamiliar place. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:37.600 I've moved a lot of different times, and every time I moved, it brought with it a feeling of unfamiliarity. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:39.040 I was somewhere new. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.360 I didn't quite know this place. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:43.040 I didn't quite know what was going on. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.920 The culture, the way of doing things was a little bit different. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:05:06.079 For many years growing up, I lived overseas, and when we moved to a different country, uh, it was a different culture, different language, different uh customs, and there was a sense of unfamiliarity that I wasn't quite sure about everything around me. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:08.480 Things were a little unfamiliar. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:18.319 Then I moved back here to the US, but I moved to a very busy suburban area, which was also quite different than what I was used to. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:23.279 Uh very fast-paced, very congested, very different. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.000 And I felt a little out of place there. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.399 It just was new, it was unfamiliar. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:31.680 Then after that, I moved to a big city. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:37.839 And I lived in downtown Chicago, and getting used to living downtown was a totally new experience. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.040 I felt like buildings were falling in on me everywhere. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:43.439 I longed to see a piece of grass. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:45.759 It was different. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:52.720 And then, after many years there, I moved to southern Illinois where there's no shortage of grass. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:58.399 Every time I moved somewhere, things felt a little unfamiliar. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:01.839 Things felt a little different and uncertain. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:09.600 The world around me seemed just slightly strange and unusual, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:17.040 We meet Daniel and his friends in that kind of a situation. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:24.000 In a situation where the world around them feels uncertain and unfamiliar. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:30.399 Now, you may have moved in your life, or you may never have had that experience. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:42.160 But regardless of whether you have or you haven't, living as a Christian in this present world should feel a little bit like moving to an unfamiliar place. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:48.000 The world that we live in should feel just a little bit unfamiliar. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:59.920 When we seek to follow Christ and we live in a society and around people who don't share that commitment, it can make us feel a little bit like outsiders. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.480 Sometimes it can feel a little unsettling. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:09.920 People around us may not quite have the same way of doing things or the same values or the same priorities. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:20.720 We can be in our home country, our passport nation, and yet should feel a little bit like strangers because of our commitment to following Jesus. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:23.360 How should we handle that? 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:31.439 How should we navigate that tension of living in a world that we don't fully identify with? 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:38.079 Because if we're gonna follow Christ, we need to follow him, but we still gotta live in this world. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.040 You still gotta go shopping, still gotta do business here, still gotta go to work, all those sorts of things. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:44.800 So, how do we navigate this? 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.240 I suppose one option could be just to retreat. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:51.600 Try to say I'm gonna avoid people as much as possible. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.639 I'm only gonna interact with people at church on Sunday mornings. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.519 I'm not gonna talk to anybody who doesn't share my faith. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.360 I'm not gonna talk to anybody who doesn't think exactly like I do. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.399 That could be one extreme. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:10.879 Another extreme might be, well, maybe I'll just forget about this following Jesus thing. 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.439 The people around me don't seem too

interested in it. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:14.480 Why should I be? 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.600 It'd be a lot easier to just give it up and fit in. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:27.519 One option to manage the tension of living in this world is to try to retreat from society, not even be a part of it. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.960 Another option would be to fully become a part of it, to give up following Christ. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.200 Neither option is what God calls us to. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:45.120 And I would suggest that the example of Daniel offers us a better way. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:59.840 The example of Daniel and his friends in the narrative we've read offers us a model for living in an unfamiliar society that doesn't quite share the same values that we do. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:13.279 Daniel provides us an example of engaging with the world and making an impact while also maintaining his distinct identity as a follower of the one true God. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:24.000 When the story opens, Daniel and his friends are taken into captivity in Babylon. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:32.639 Says in verse 1 that in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar came and besieged it. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.720 This happened around 600 years before the birth of Christ. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:45.440 Earlier in biblical history, the kingdom of Israel had been divided into two parts because of Israel's ongoing sin. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:52.240 Then in 722 BC, the northern kingdom, Israel, was invaded and scattered by the Assyrian army. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:10:03.759 The southern kingdom, Judah, remained, but God repeatedly warned them that if they did not turn away from their sin and turn toward him, that they would suffer the same fate. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.559 They would experience captivity and defeat. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:19.440 This had been promised in the Mosaic law in Leviticus, that if they obeyed, they would experience blessing in the land, and if they disobeyed, there would be defeat and they would be exiled. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:26.960 So this was not new information to them, and God repeatedly gave them warning and yet they did not listen. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:40.720 And so here in Daniel chapter 1, when Daniel was taken into captivity, this is the beginning of God's judgment upon the southern kingdom of Israel for their sin and their refusal to turn away. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:46.480 That doesn't mean that Daniel himself or his friends were personally culpable for the sin. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:52.080 They're portrayed as being very upstanding followers of God. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.679 But the nation as a whole was suffering a kind of judgment. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:02.320 And it says that the Lord delivered the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:06.480 And Daniel and his friends were taken into Babylonian captivity. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:16.080 They're taken into a new culture, a new society, a place where they talk differently, they look differently, they think differently, they act differently. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.120 It was unfamiliar and disorienting. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:34.399 And it's clear from the very beginning that this king, Nebuchadnezzar, has no intention to honor their faith in the one true God, the God that we know, revealed in Jesus Christ. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:38.799 Nebuchadnezzar had no interest in honoring that God. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:12:00.399 It says in verse 2 that when Nebuchadnezzar came and captured Judah, that some of the articles from the temple of God were carried off to the temple of the God in Babylonia and put into the treasure house of that God. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.600 The temple in Israel was a sacred site where people came and encountered the presence of God. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:21.679 In New Testament times with the coming of Christ, God's presence is not confined to any particular physical location, but the New Testament tells us that we are the temple of God, the people of God, where God dwells. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:27.120 In Old Testament times, God's presence was more sporadic, less universal. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:34.320 And God revealed himself in the temple in Israel, and there were instruments and objects there that helped them worship. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:40.000 Nebuchadnezzar took those instruments and put them in the temple of a false God. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:47.679 It was a clear sign that he had no regard for the one true God and had no intention of worshiping him. 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:54.240 A couple of years ago in suburban Indianapolis, there was a church that was vandalized. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:03.039 The cross outside the church was spray painted, and satanic symbols were sprayed all over the church. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:08.559 Somebody was trying to communicate. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.240 I have no regard for your God, and I couldn't care less about your faith. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:14.240 In fact, I detest it. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.720 That's what Nebuchadnezzar was doing here. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.399 Nebuchadnezzar was sending the message, I have no regard for your God. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.320 Your faith in God yet. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:26.639 Doesn't mean anything to me. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:31.679 And so Daniel is taken into captivity along with his friends. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:37.279 And it says that they were to learn the language and the literature of the Babylonians. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:39.519 Says they were given new names. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.840 Their identity was being changed. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:49.519 They were no longer to be Israelites who worshiped the one true God, that they were to be Babylonians, they were to worship the Babylonian gods. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:51.679 They were to learn all about Babylon. 00:13:51.840 -->

00:13:55.039 Their identity was being erased. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:05.200 It was living in a world, in a culture, where their commitment to the one true God was not shared, their faith was not understood. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:10.720 Their reverence for God was not respected. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:17.200 In fact, they were probably mocked, considered to be outcasts because of their faith. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:19.440 So how does Daniel respond? 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:21.840 How does Daniel respond to that? 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:27.600 The rest of the narrative, and really the whole book of Daniel, tells us how Daniel responds. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:33.919 But I like how Rick McKinley describes Daniel's response, which we're about to see. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:42.639 He says that in response to the captivity, that Daniel practices participation without assimilation. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.960 Participation without assimilation. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.879 He participates in the society that he's in. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.120 He makes a contribution to it. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.960 He gets to know people there. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:00.399 But he never loses his distinct set of values and convictions in following God. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:10.799 He's around people different from him, but he exerts a positive influence on them rather than letting them exert a negative influence on him. 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:16.240 Daniel practices participation without assimilation. 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:24.159 He maintains his distinct identity as a follower of God when he's surrounded by a society that doesn't share the same values. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:25.200 How does he do that? 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.480 How does he participate without assimilating? 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:33.200 How does he maintain that distinct identity in a foreign society? 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:37.200 Text gives us a couple of indications of that. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:42.159 As the story goes on, we see that Daniel makes a commitment. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:46.000 Daniel makes a commitment, first and foremost. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:55.440 He makes a commitment that he is going to maintain his distinct identity and maintain his conviction about the one true God. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:57.120 Verse 8. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:03.120 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:08.559 Daniel resolved not to defile himself. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:14.159 We hear a lot about resolve at the beginning of the year, New Year's resolutions. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:19.120 People make resolutions that from now on I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.720 Whether or not they stick is a pretty open question. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.360 Talk to them around, well, this time of year. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.240 I made a New Year's resolution at the beginning of the year. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:30.399 Wish I remembered what it was. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:33.120 Daniel resolved. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:35.120 Daniel made a resolution. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:42.240 He made a commitment that he would not defile himself by eating the food that had been offered. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:47.440 Up until now, in the narrative, Daniel has been acted upon, but now he exerts agency. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:48.559 He acts. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:55.039 He makes a decision to define his own life rather than simply being acted upon. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:00.080 And the text doesn't explicitly say why Daniel didn't want to eat the king's food. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:08.319 It's possible that the food was unclean, according to the Mosaic law, according to Israelite law. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:16.400 Or it's possible that the food itself was clean, but it was prepared in a way that was inconsistent with the Old Testament law, the way God told them to do it. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:23.519 These Old Testament dietary regulations and food laws are not something that apply to us as New Testament believers today. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:31.039 But in Old Testament Israel, they were a way that the people had of honoring God in their distinct cultural setting. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:37.839 And so it's possible that it would have directly violated the law that God had given if Daniel were to eat it. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:45.839 It's also possible that he simply wanted to maintain an element of distinctiveness over the others around him. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:53.440 He wanted to be different in some way, in order to remind himself of who he was, that he wasn't quite like all the people around him. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:59.759 Regardless of Daniel's exact motivation, the text says that he resolved not to defile himself. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:05.920 He felt that eating the king's food would compromise his distinctiveness as a follower of God. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:09.759 And so he made a commitment about the type of person he would be. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:16.480 And if we are to maintain our distinct identity as Christ followers, it begins with resolve. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:18.559 It begins with a commitment. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:31.839 It begins with deciding the kind of people who we are going to be, and it begins by deciding that we are not going to let others steer us away from the resolve that we have to follow Christ. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:34.880 I like what D.A. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:36.000 Carson says. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:37.599 Carson says this. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.759 He says that people do not drift toward holiness. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.640 People do not drift toward holiness. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:54.000 The kind of person that God calls you to be is not something you are going to drift toward. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:19:01.279 The integrity that God calls you to live with is not something that you are accidentally going to

move toward. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:09.359 The kind of commitment that Christ calls us to have to his kingdom is not something that we are accidentally going to acquire when we're not trying. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:12.960 Nobody drifts toward holiness. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:17.359 Nobody drifts towards the kind of life God calls them to live. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:20.240 In fact, quite the opposite is true. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:21.680 We tend to drift away. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:29.920 If left to our own devices and our own desires, we tend to drift away from God over time. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.559 Sometimes dramatically, sometimes subtly. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:36.559 It begins with a commitment, with a resolve. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.519 Daniel resolved not to defile himself. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:44.960 Have you resolved to honor Christ wherever he's placed you? 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:51.759 Have you resolved to honor the one true God regardless of what the people around you are doing? 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:57.920 Daniel maintained his distinct identity by making a commitment. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:01.440 He resolved not to defile himself. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.079 He committed to following God. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:11.119 That commitment that he made was an internal commitment that he had to make in his own heart. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:15.920 But when we make a commitment like that, it also has to be lived out in how we interact with others. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:22.319 The commitments that we make, the resolve that we have, it displays itself in the way that we interact with other people. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:28.480 And Daniel, his commitment played out in the way that he interacted with people. 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:40.880 Because it says in verse 10 that he went to the official and asked not to eat the king's food. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:42.559 Verses 8 and 9, that is. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.359 He asked not to eat the king's food. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:52.319 But verse 10 says that the official told Daniel that he was afraid of the king. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:06.240 He was afraid that if Daniel didn't eat the king's food, that Daniel's health would wither, that he would look not so good, and that the official would then be in trouble with the king, that the king would have his head. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:16.559 Daniel made a request not to defile himself, and it didn't work right away. 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:21.279 And so Daniel then found a compromise. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:24.160 He offered a little experiment. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.079 He said, Well, let's just test it for 10 days. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:33.039 Verse 12, please test your servants for ten days. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:38.079 And then verse 13 and 14, he said, At the end of the 10 days, let's see the results. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.799 And if I look fine, we'll stick with it. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:42.960 If I don't look fine, we'll stop it. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:49.839 He proposed an experiment to see if his commitment would have a negative impact. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:56.319 You see, Daniel found a way to work out his commitment among the people that he was around. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.759 He found a way to work with people who thought differently than him. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.720 Who had different priorities and values than him. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.519 He did so respectfully but clearly. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:09.039 He displayed wisdom in how he interacted with people. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:14.960 One article I read says that wisdom is practical knowledge about how to get things done. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:19.599 Wisdom is practical knowledge about how to get things done. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:33.119 The resolve that we have to follow Christ needs to play itself out in wisdom, being able to interact with people and get things done effectively. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.599 Daniel displays his wisdom through the tact that he has. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.319 He has tact in how he handles people. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:46.079 He's diplomatic, he's respectful, but he's also direct. 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.039 He's able to sensitively navigate the issue. 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:54.079 He recognized the concern on the part of the chief official, and then he navigated that. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:23:01.119 In other words, for Daniel, being a witness to God didn't mean being obnoxious and intrusive and annoying. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:08.480 For us, being a witness for Christ doesn't mean that we have to go out into society and be a bull in a china shop. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:18.400 We can interact with people respectfully, tactfully, honor their concerns, honor where they're coming from. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:26.559 And yet, as we do so, still maintain our own identity and our own resolve to follow Christ. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:28.480 Daniel was resilient. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.319 His first attempt was not successful. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.160 He asked and he was denied. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:41.279 Sometimes when people cross us, especially if they feel like, if we feel like they're crossing our faith, we might have a tendency to explode, just get upset. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:43.039 But Daniel doesn't do that. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.880 He keeps his composure and he finds another way to address it. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:49.519 Daniel has tact. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.079 He has skill in interacting with people. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:24:01.200 His resolve to follow God displays itself in how he negotiates and works with people who are different than him. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:07.279 Maybe as you sit here this morning, you think to yourself, I want that kind of wisdom. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:13.440 As I read the passage this week, I wanted that kind of wisdom. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:22.480 But I want to encourage you that that

wisdom is possible not just for Daniel, but for all those who follow Christ. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:30.319 In verse 17, it says this to these four young men, God gave knowledge and understanding. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.880 The source of Daniel's wisdom was God. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:38.880 God was the one who imparted wisdom to Daniel. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:46.720 It's not simply that Daniel was born with a great IQ or born with great skills, perhaps though he was. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:52.720 But the text explicitly says that the wisdom he displayed and the knowledge that he had came from God. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:25:04.240 And so if you feel that you do not have the wisdom needed to interact with people and to effectively witness for Christ, I invite you to ask God for wisdom. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:15.759 James chapter 1, verse 5, James tells us this if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:17.599 You want wisdom? 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:18.960 Ask for it. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:23.200 Jesus says, you have not because you ask not. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:33.279 If you want to be tactful and respectful in dealing with people, then when you're in situations where people push your buttons, ask God for wisdom. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:38.880 When you're in a situation where you don't know how to bear witness to Christ, ask for wisdom. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:49.839 When you are in a situation where somebody seems opposed to the gospel and you want to be a positive influence on them, but you don't know how to do that, ask for wisdom. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.720 God is the one who grants wisdom. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:59.279 When we make a resolve and a commitment to follow Him, He will give us wisdom when we ask. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:09.279 Daniel maintained his distinct identity by his resolve, by his wisdom in interacting with others. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:13.279 But the wisdom that he displayed seems a bit risky. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.039 And it was a bit risky. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:21.279 And so if we are to maintain our distinct identity, we need faith. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:23.359 We have to trust in God. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.559 Daniel did something a bit risky. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.240 He trusted in God. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:36.319 It's clear that the way that Daniel negotiated the situation required him to rely on God for results. 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:38.079 It wasn't guaranteed to work. 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:45.039 The text does tell us that at the end of the ten days they look healthier and better nourished than any of the young men. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:46.799 So his plan paid off. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:49.839 It was successful, but that wasn't a given going in. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:56.319 Daniel had to make a commitment from a place where the future was uncertain and the outcome wasn't quite clear. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:03.200 And we do not always have all of the information or all of the facts or perfect knowledge of the future. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:10.000 Sometimes we simply have to make decisions using wisdom based upon the circumstances in front of us. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:16.240 And when we act out of conviction, it requires faith. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:23.279 It requires that we trust in God to provide for the situation even when the outcome is uncertain. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:35.200 Faith is a trust and a confidence that God will go before us into the future and will take care of things even if we don't know how they will work out. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:38.000 I like what Paul Nyquist says about faith. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:44.720 He says that faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:50.400 Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:56.240 Sometimes we have to walk forward, but we can only understand our path looking backward. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:08.480 Sometimes we need to step out in faith even when we don't know how it's all going to go, trusting that hindsight will reveal the providential hand of God carrying us each step of the way. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:19.759 We often face uncertainty in life, and managing that uncertainty, negotiating uncertainty, is a key to wisdom. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.240 Often we have to act in the face of uncertainty. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:33.759 And when we don't have a full picture of everything ahead, sometimes we have to act out of our resolve to follow God and a sense of wisdom about what's best. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:38.799 Hebrews chapter 11 tells us without faith it is impossible to please God. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.799 Without faith, it is impossible to please God. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:53.200 But when we trust in the character of God, it helps us to act out of conviction and leave the results in his hands. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:29:00.480 Daniel maintained his distinct identity when he was in a world that didn't share his values. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.720 He practiced participation without assimilation. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:12.319 He was a part of society and yet maintained his own unique values. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:22.480 He did that by making a commitment to follow the one true God, by exercising wisdom and by trusting in God for the future. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.960 There's a quote I like by Wilbur Chapman. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:32.480 He says this about the way that Christians relate to the world around them. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:40.400 He says this it is not the ship in the water, but the water in the ship that sinks it. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:47.200 It is not the ship in the water, but the water in the ship that sinks it. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:49.519 Think about that for a minute. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.519 A ship that gets in the water doesn't automatically sink. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:00.160 But if the water starts to get into the ship, then it begins to sink. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:04.880 Now any ship is at risk of sinking, right? 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:08.799 You know the easiest way to get a ship not to sink? 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:10.960 Never put it in the water. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:13.200 Can you imagine that? 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:18.160 Build a nice luxury cruise liner, and then the designer says, This ship is so beautiful. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:19.759 I need for her to sink. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:21.599 Just leave her sitting here on land. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.200 She won't sink that way. 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:23.920 Right? 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:29.279 She won't sink, but she'll be totally useless and will not fulfill the purpose that she was designed for. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:34.160 In order to fulfill her purpose, she's got to get into the water. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:36.480 That does risk sinking. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:41.359 But being in the water, in and of itself, doesn't make the ship sink. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.519 It's when the water gets into the ship that it begins to sink. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:51.599 And so Wilbur Chapman says, it is not the ship in the water, but the water in the ship that sinks it. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:58.240 So it's not the Christian in the world, but the world in the Christian that constitutes the danger. 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:05.440 It is not us being out and about in the world that constitutes the danger, but the world being within us. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.920 The true danger is not that we might meet people different than us. 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:18.240 The true danger is that we will fail to maintain our distinct commitment to Christ in the midst of interacting with others. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.039 We could become a holy huddle. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:27.839 We could refuse to interact with anybody other than other believers. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:30.400 We could be ships out of the water. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.920 But if we did that, we would not be fulfilling our purpose. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:39.279 Let us follow the example of Daniel with God's help. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:46.960 Let us participate in society without losing our distinct identity as followers of the one true God. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:48.079 Amen.