Religious culture is seldom worth dying for. Daniel understood the difference between religious culture and God's eternal laws. That resulted in great glory coming to the name of Jehovah God Pastor: Eugene P. Harder * Daniel 6 * First Baptist Church, Armstrong, BC. Feb. 24/02
Sonia and I visited you the first Sunday of this new year. We sat in the back row and surveyed the congregation and noticed that many had a beautiful head of near white to white hair. I thought, this church is experiencing the triumph of a long obedience to God.
Top gun pilots would say that you people have the right stuff. You are disciplined, courageous, dependable, responsible people who exercise a high level of self-control, initiative and endurance. The doors of this church have been kept open for 100 years because of faithful believers who have the right stuff.
Daniel was a faithful man of God who had the right stuff. He is a picture of what I want to become, a majestic oak of righteousness who finishes life well. That's a challenge because only 3% of Christian workers finish life well.
Daniel was kidnapped from his home, culture, country and religion. All the influences that support the growth of godliness were removed, yet his choices honoured God and he finished life well. Early in your lives many of you made the decision to be faithful to Jesus and your triumphant obedience to God ensures that you will finish life well. Daniel served three wicked heathen tyrants with distinction without compromising his faith in Jehovah God. Some of you have lived your faith in an ungodly work environment and you stood tall for Jesus.
Daniel maintained the spiritual discipline of prayer. Long ago you discovered the truth of that old hymn, "Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care."
One secret of Daniel's success was his ability to distinguish the difference between Biblical holiness and religious culture. To maintain spiritual balance we must discern the difference between Biblical imperatives and religious culture. Biblical truth is never out of date, religious culture constantly changes.
The Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon, killed Belshazzar and elevated Daniel to a position of great power and authority. Remember, Daniel is now between 80 and 90 years of age and his courage and confidence in God is about to be tested. (Read Daniel 6:1-3)
"It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps (princes or govenors) to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
Notice how success brings jealous people out of the woodwork. V.4. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
Many years ago many of you made a strong decision to be trustworthy, honest, diligent and dependable people in your jobs and in your church. That's character that employers value and jealous people hate. Jealousy seeks advancement by tearing others down, not through merit.
V. 5-8 "Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God. " So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: "O King Darius, live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions' den.
8. Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered-- in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed. " So King Darius put the decree in writing.
Jealous evil people cannot stand to see good people succeed. Good people's character sets them apart from the mediocre masses. Excellent choices eventually build character that shines with excellence. Godly success and advancement does not come by good luck. It comes to those who are in the habit of making excellent choices. Notice the cool manner in which Godly character deals with evil.
10. "Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before."
For Daniel, prayer was a way of life. It was his first line of defence, not the last resort for help. His enemies knew that Daniel would be sure to pray. Prayer is essential for differentiating between Biblical imperatives and religious culture. Prayer also gives us the courage to accept the consequences of obedience.
V. 11-14. "Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day. When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.
Daniel was a highly valued employee thus the King tried every legal manoeuvre to try and spare Daniel's life. This wasn't a young 40 year old civil servant in his prime. Daniel was at least 80 years old, long past retirement age.
Notice how bold Satan can be when it comes to silencing people with a long history of obedience to God and faithfulness to their employer. V. 15-16 Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, "Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed. So the king gave the order, they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"
Daniel knew that some things are worth dying for. He would rather die than worship an idol to save his neck. That is an important lesson for us to learn today. I would rather die than deny Jesus, my Mighty God, Wonderful Counsellor, Prince of Peace and my Lord and Saviour.
Daniel walked a tight rope for 67 plus years while serving evil tyrants. Legalistic Jews would have accused Daniel of selling out to the Babylonians. They would say, "How could you be true to God and at the same time serve an idolatrous king? Surely he would have to compromise his faith in Jehovah God."
Daniel knew the difference between spiritual culture and the laws of God. He was not prepared to die for cultural distinctives. We evangelical Christians need to learn this lesson if we are to survive this new millennium.
Like Daniel I'll fight to the death for essential Biblical truths but I refuse to fight to the death over the colour of the church carpet. Nor will I give my life over singing from a hymn book verses an overhead. I'll not sacrifice my life over singing songs written in the 1900's verses songs written after the year 2000.
Nor will I split God's church over traditional cultural worship verses contemporary cultural worship. Those issues of style are always cultural and make no difference to God. But my attitude certainly does matter to God.
If this were the end for Daniel, the testimony of the heathen king would have demonstrated that Daniel finished life well. I love the words of the king, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"
Look at the positive consequences of Daniel's choice to stand for truth verses culture. Listen to the ringing endorsement King Darius gives Jehoovah God. V26-27 "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.
He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions. " So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian."
Daniel clung to his God with his whole heart but was always ready to release his religious culture. Religious culture is often a road block to people coming to Jesus. The New Hope Community Church in North Vancouver determined that religious culture would not stand in the way of young people coming to Jesus.
Two church young people started leading their school friends to Jesus. We made cultural adjustments to our service so these teens would feel comfortable, accepted and loved. Some Sunday's there would be as many as 15 - 20 high school kids in the front row cheering me on as I preached.
Many of them came from broken dysfunctional homes. They knew little about the Bible, thus the Bible stories fascinated them. One Sunday I had preached for 45 minutes and said, "I'm sorry I've gone way overtime I'll have to quite."
The youth piped up, "No, don't stop now, tell us the rest of the message."
There is a price to pay when you put teen evangelism ahead of religious culture. Sometimes the drums grated on my nerves. Some of the musical scores for the songs we sung were poorly written and difficult to sing to.
A few of the young ladies wore those ubiquitous tank tops and when they were on the worship team their belly buttons would show. I thought how can this happen in my nice church. When you looked at the faces of these young ladies you saw the joy of the Lord as they expressed their praise and worship to him.
The lord seemed to say to me, "Do you remember Eugene when your daughter was that age? You insured that she was dressed for church in the culturally correct clothes but her countenance radiated rebellion and bitterness. Which do you think honours me the most?"
I said, "Lord the souls of these kids are of infinite more value and worth to you than my religious cultural preferences. Last fall I spoke for six Sundays to the Fellowship Baptist people of Revelstoke. That congregation sacrificed some religious cultural preferences which resulted in a front row of teens. Wow! What a delight to minister to them.
Following my last message some of the Revelstoke teens gathered around me and thanked me profusely for making the Bible so real to them. Many of them would not have been in church if the adults had not honoured some of the teens spiritual cultural preferences. What a small price to pay to see these teens worship and praise the Lord.
I am currently serving as the interim pastor at the Hyde Creek Community Church in Port Coquitlam. Once again in front of me sits a wonderful row of teens. Half of them were led to the Lord by the church young people.
The leadership of that congregation said, "We will sacrifice some of our religious cultural preferences to make this church a place where teens will feel comfortable, accepted and loved. We must reach the next generation for Jesus."
Jesus set aside His cultural preferences and left the glories of Heaven to come and die for us so that we might have new life in Him. If He did that for me the least that I can do is set aside some of my religious tastes and preferences so that the teens Jesus died to save will be accepted and loved in my church.
When I was a young pastor I ran into a brick wall at a church I was serving. We had a large group of vibrant teens. Some people were determined that no religious cultural changes would happen thus we had tension in the church.
One day I received a letter from Mrs. Stebbings, a 70 year old lady who had lived a long obedience to Jesus and His word. She wrote, "Dear Pastor, I've had my chance to serve in this church for a long time in the way that was comfortable for me. Now I'm happy to step aside and support the younger people as they serve in a way that is comfortable to them."
What a beautiful biblical attitude and spirit Mrs. Stebbings exhibited. Your long obedience to God's Word has built a strong foundation for future growth. To capitalize on that God is calling you to be brave, bold, flexible, patient, tolerant and visionary to make a few religious cultural changes to fill these front rows with the teens God wants to reach through First Baptist Church.
Watching the teens drink in the Word of God will give you unspeakable joy and the sheer thrill of being used of God. That will be the triumph of a long obedience to God.
Please invite me back to speak to the valuable treasure of teens that will one day fill these front rows. May I not have to wait another 44 years.
