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How to Thrive In a Post-Christian Culture (1/1/17)
(Daniel 1:1-4) “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakima king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzarb king of Babylonc came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.”
- The Babylonians overran and conquered Israel. Israel was rendered powerless as a nation and clearly these young men that were unwillingly taken captive were too. How is this analogous to Step 1? “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable.” We were not overrun by Babylonians but, none-the-less, we were hopelessly conquered.
(Daniel 1:8-16) “But Daniel resolved not to defiles himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassionu to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, ‘I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.’
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.’ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.”
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.’ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.”
- Daniel knew what they should not eat or drink yet was in a position of powerlessness over these choices. How does Daniel’s resolution to this problem relate to our Step 2? “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
And lastly, as we all know, Daniel eventually faced inevitable death in the lion’s den and yet, he lived. Daniel’s faith in God brought miracles that saved his life, once again, from something he was powerless over.
- What are the “lions” in our lives? How does our Step 3 seek Daniel’s resolution? “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God …”
- Just a quick footnote regarding the phrase “… God as we understand Him.” First notice that both God and Him are capitalized as proper nouns so there’s really no question who or what is being addressed. Secondly, we are simply incapable of understanding God’s power and nature so “as we understand Him” is the very best any of us could hope for.
I look forward to seeing you Thursday night from 6:30-7:30 in the Youth Building to talk through these scriptures and how they support today’s sobriety.