The Faith to Thrive Sent (Daniel 1)

This weekend we are starting a new series in the book of Daniel that will take us all the way up to Easter, which is less than 2 months away. Crazy. Details are coming very soon about Easter so stay tuned. But go ahead and start praying about who you will invite. (Neighbors, Coworkers, Friends)

The message of Daniel is one that should resonate deeply with all of us. And this church more than any other I’ve been a part of probably understands it best. If you look around, we’re clearly an international church. I’m not even sure which group is the largest. And most of us aren’t Malaysian. We’re citizens of different countries from all over the world. And we’re living in a place that we’ve made our home, but only for a time. Many of you are only here for a couple years and then you’re off to your next assignment in another country or back home. 

A couple weeks ago, we asked our students to introduce themselves to the group and the prompt that gave many of them a hard time was: Where is your home country? Many didn’t know how to answer because they’ve lived all over the world. And their passport country doesn’t necessarily represent home either. 

And that feeling of not really feeling at home anywhere, as unsettling as it may be, is how we as believers should feel about this world. Sure, we live here for an appointed time, maybe a short 100yrs in light of eternity. But this is not our forever home. We’re resident aliens living in a place different from our citizenship.

And the book of Daniel is about how we can thrive and be faithful as we live sent to a place that is not our home… Dan. 1. Bibles. Turn. Screen.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. (Setting: Shinar – Anyone know why this is significant? Free GCCKL Shirt. Ge. 11:2 – Tower of Babel. Go back to Ge. 3:24. Sent away from the presence of God. East. Ge. 11 – Migrated from the east in Shinar – away from the presence of God and they disobeyed God there. And Shinar here in Daniel is in the foreign, enemy land of Babylon. And the people of God find themselves here because they’ve been exiled, carried out of God’s Promise Land and away from the Temple to the east, because of their sin against God. 

And I want you to notice something – V.2 – “The Lord gave…” Meaning God’s the one who not only allowed it. But he’s the one who did it. Takeaways: First, God is sovereign over all the nations of the earth. And he uses nations at his discretion and wisdom as he pleases. So whatever the world looks like today, no matter how chaotic and broken, God is still sovereign and in control. Know – God can use anyone, even nonbelievers, in your life too.

Ask – How could God allow it? How could he do such a thing? Loving? The penalty, the consequences, of sin against God are severe. God is patient, longsuffering, gracious, merciful, full of steadfast love and faithfulness. And he’s just. That’s who he is. So the problem is not God. It’s us. It’s our sin. And when we have the feelings of how could God allow or do… It shows that we don’t understand his sovereignty or the true wickedness of our sin and what our sin deserves. 

The right question is: How could God love us so much that he would make a way for us to be forgiven and restored back to him? Our sin is the very reason we’re in this situation living in a sin-filled, broken world. It’s what we deserved. Not God’s intended design. And the only reason there’s a way for us to be saved is purely because of his grace. That’s the kind of God he is. (Whole nother sermon…)

3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Best of the best. Assimilate. To become like them.) 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. (Not just nicknames. Pagan names – New identity. Meanings of new names are somewhat unclear but clearly not the same God honoring names they had before.):

-Daniel – “God is my judge” vs Belteshazzar – “Bel’s Prince”

-Hananiah “The Lord is gracious” – vs Shadrach – “Moon/Sun god”

-Mishael – “Who is what God is?” vs Meshach – “Earth god”

-Azariah – “The Lord has helped” vs Abednego – “Servant of Fire god”

The Babylonians were trying to get the world into them, but as we’ll see as we continue in the series, Daniel and his friends would get their faith into the world. 

8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, (See again, how God uses and stirs the hearts of even nonbelievers towards his will. Food issue regarding the law. But for Daniel it was also unwillingness to assimilate to an easy/luxurious life. Could have lived it up and enjoyed himself in the king’s court in Babylon – The world superpower. Top of the world.) 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. 16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. (Now I’m by no means a food nutritionist, but that doesn’t seem to make sense. I get that by eating vegetables and drinking only water, they looked healthy, but how did they get fatter? Lots of butter or miracle of God.)

17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. (Note this for later.) 18 At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. (God’s wisdom and power are greater.) 21 And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Question: How do we thrive, like Daniel and his friends, as exiles? What should our lives look like? And how do we live sent?

Approaches when it comes to living in the world:

-Withdraw and Isolate. We can huddle together with other Christians, within the church. Be comfortable and do our own thing without much regard for what’s going on out there. And as long as we’re good here, we’re good. But the problem is – Ingrown. Apologize – Constipated. Stagnant. Slowly dies. And the world perceives us as strange and secretive, maybe even cultish. But even worse, it’s hard if not impossible for us to engage in the mission of God in reaching lost people this way.

-Judge and Condemn. We might not be completely isolated. We might be out in the world, but keep people at a distance but close enough to throw stones at them. And in this scenario, the world usually views Christians as hypocritical and hateful. Now, let me tell you something that shouldn’t be surprising. Sin is sin no matter what and you shouldn’t excuse it, but you can’t expect nonbelievers to act like believers. It shouldn’t surprise us when nonChristians do nonChristian things. We were all once those people too before Christ saved us. Not by anything we’ve done. We’ve got no grounds to boast. We are no better than anyone else. So this approach is also flawed and doesn’t reflect Christ’s love for the world and mission to not condemn the world, but to save it.

-Thrive and Live Sent. The world should see us as gracious, loving, forgiving, having an excellent spirit, competent, having a peace that makes no sense, and a joy that is not of this world. They should see that we are different. And the only way for people to know these things about us is if we are proximate and living life with them. 

How to have thriving faith…Let’s get practical…

1. Stop – Don’t go with the flow. Many people think, you should just do what everyone else is doing and you’ll be fine. “You don’t want to be on the wrong side of history.” History has shown us that going with the flow is more often than not a disaster. Ex: Slavery (Modern), Nazi Germany. Because the world is not naturally heading towards God. The world is not becoming a better place.

So you have to decide: Do you want to be on the right side of history – where it might be easier to fit in – or the right side of God? It would have been easier as exiles for Daniel and his friends to just go with the flow. But their conscience wouldn’t allow them because they would dishonor their God. Listen, it is infinitely better to suffer righteously than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. 

There’s a saying in America: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” And the thought is, when you go to Las Vegas, you can do whatever you want, indulge in any sin you desire, without consequences. It’s a free pass. Likewise, some think, while in Babylon, might as well. Everyone else is doing it. What’s the big deal? Just go with the flow. Gossip, lie, steal, cheat, sleep with someone who is not your spouse…God will understand.

Problem: God tolerates no sin. There is nothing that is hidden. Everything is exposed before God. And you may not think that sin has a grasp on your heart but it is killing you softly (Yes.) – slowly numbing you and squeezing the life out of you. So listen, if there’s some sin in your life: It is better to confess than conceal. And live in the light – Elders. Txt – I will share more but for now, this happened – lost my temper with wife/kids – I need to confess it. Secret sin always grows mutant. And it has devastating effects on both you and others.

Not loving to accept or excuse sin. We have to call sin, sin. It is a lie that to love someone you have to accept their sin. No. We must love the person and hate the sin. One of my pastor friends always used to say – High grace, high truth. And we can’t allow the world to dictate what is acceptable or normal. Only God.

Warning: There’s a problem if you feel at home here in this world. If you’re comfortable. Stop and re-evaluate your heart and your life. Who/What are you living for? Don’t go with the flow.

2. Be Different – Live out Scripture. Clear – This is different from being weird. You don’t have to be weird. Anyone ever met a weird Christian before? Men/Women – Talking to/Touching like shaking hands might lead to an affair. If that’s the case, then there may be something much deeper going on that I’d be more concerned about. End Times – Figure out the date. Jesus – No one knows except God. Don’t be weird. And I’m not saying you’re weird. (No one here.) Be different…

Because you can’t make a difference unless you’re different. Are you different? In the way you work, the way you speak, the way you treat others, spend your time and money. Or are you no different from everyone else in the world? Does your faith in Jesus make any difference in your life?

Well, what do you mean, be different? What does that look like?

Daniel and his friends – How did they know what not to do/eat to defile themselves? How could they differentiate the world and culture and God’s law? They had to know the word. And God’s Word is what they followed. Not what culture and their context said was right. But what God said is right. 

The Word is what makes you different. We have to submit all areas of our lives to God’s word, his authority. Not our preferences or values. Scripture-it teaches, trains, corrects, rebukes – which means there are places in our thinking, our living, and our doing that is contrary to scripture. If you’re never corrected/rebuked by scripture there can only be two options 1) You’re Jesus. You’re not. 2) You’re a liar or you’re deceived. 

And you have to not only know the Word, you have to live it. You don’t just think about Scripture, you think Scripture. So that you don’t compromise your faith, integrity, and biblical values. Training in righteousness – Letting the word do work in us. You have to be in the word so the word will be in you. When in the Word, you are consuming God’s breath of life into you. Changes you. 

God’s truth/word transcends all cultures and man’s wisdom. We have to be able to stand firm in God’s truths while in love bring the truth to bear on all peoples from all nations and cultures.

Key: Like Daniel and Friends, the fear of God is greater than the fear of man. Not you’re afraid of God, but you respect and honor and love him so much more and you’re so secure in your identity in him than your care for what man thinks of you and their approval.

To honor God fully according to his word won’t always be easy but it’s always right. It will make you different.

3. Live Sent – Engage People and the World. If we are going to thrive, we have to live out our God given purpose that we are sent into the world for the sake of the world. Daniel and friends – Engaged but didn’t assimilate. And they were excellent at what they were called to in exile.

God – Jer. 29:4-7 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jesus – Jn. 17:14-18 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Living sent means engaging people and the world through Word and deed.

–Deed – Good works. They don’t save others, just like they don’t save us. But God saved us so we’d do good works instead of the works of the flesh for the benefit of the world. Our good works are partly how God shows his goodness and his grace to the world.

–Word – Have to share the gospel. You cannot truly love someone without sharing the gospel with them. Yes, using words. Saying – “Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary?” It may seem like a nice thought but it couldn’t be more wrong. Like saying call me but don’t use my phone number. Breathe but don’t use your lungs. Smile but don’t move your face. Impossible. Gospel – You have to use words.

Seeking the welfare of our city – Where are the needs? Where has God already sent you?

-Refugee ministry – One of the things I’m most excited about at our church. People/You are engaging. Pastor – So proud. Not the only way, but it is an amazing opportunity we want to get behind as a church.

-“Secular Jobs” – Raise hand. Not any lesser. Most people are not called to be in full time vocation ministry – pastor, missionary, or work in the church. And that’s a good thing. We need Christians who are excellent at what they do in every field – Hospitality, Teaching, Tech, Finance, Medicine, Service. Living sent, bringing redemption to their field. Doing what you do well for the glory of God and leveraging it for the mission of God. (Tiktok. – TBH I don’t even really know what it is. Never been on it or used it. I don’t have access. But you do. / Embassy.)

-Prayer for the city – You will not be able to do everything for everyone. But in prayer you’re calling on the God of all power to do what you cannot. Prayer is the greater work.

4. Live Light – In light of your eternal home. Ask – When you go on a holiday or you’re visiting a place and staying somewhere that’s not your home… How many of you unpack all your things into the dressers/drawers – your bags are completely emptied and everything is put into their right place? How many of you keep everything in your bags and just pull out what you need as you need them?

Grace is the first. I’m the second. And the second is the biblical way. Point – If this world is not our home, then don’t get too comfortable cause you’re not going to be here long. You’ll have problems if you don’t live in light of your eternal home. If you don’t know where you’re going or what you’re living for, with your end destination in mind, then you’re going to go and live the wrong way. Develop healthy homesickness for heaven and live in preparation.

Pastor (CL) – I want to live light. So if God were to call me to go anywhere, I could pick up and go right away. And I thought that’s such a good perspective. Ask- Am I weighed down by the things of this world? They could even be good things. Are the things of this world holding me back from running after Jesus and living on mission faithfully? What do I need to do to lay them down?

5. Live in Community – We’re Stronger Together. There are times when you may have to stand alone, when we need to be missionaries in spaces where we might be the only believer. But it’s not good or healthy if those are the only spaces you’re in. The strength of your faith is often correlated to your community. You need to be in solid biblical community where you grow with other believers in the church. There is strength in numbers. An isolated Christian is an emergency. The enemy is looking for whom to devour and if you are alone, you’re in danger. So if you don’t have that in your life, you need to join a community group today. Connect Table.

(Live… -1. Live for God, not the world.)

Our lives today are so similar to what Daniel and his friends were facing. We were also once like the people of God, exiled away from him because of our sin. We rejected his goodness and decided we wanted to live our own way. But that only resulted in death and brokenness. The gospel is simple…

Those who live for and honor themselves will be brought low. But God honors those who honor him with their lives. Those who honor Jesus as their King, will be exalted with him and become coheirs with him. But how? On what basis? Jesus in my place. And I in his. Jesus not only lived the perfect life I could not live and died the death I deserved for my sin, in trading places with me, he gave to us everything that he was – perfect righteousness and relationship with the Father. 

See, Jesus honored the Father, so the Father honored his son by giving him the name that is above every name. And the Father does the same for us – He gives us through his son, Jesus, new identities, new names – son and daughter. He makes us citizens of his kingdom.

Most important: Not the strength of your faith but the strength of the person you faith is in. The book of Daniel is not about Daniel’s faith. Daniel’s faith is pointing us to the God who is sovereign even when believers are in hard circumstances and the world seems like it’s winning. Just like Jesus’ crucifixion and death. God is working to bring life – not just for Jesus but for all who trust in him.

Thriving faith while living sent is not in and of ourselves but in Jesus working his power in and through us. Small faith in a big God.

And like Daniel, God sends us into the world, into KL our Babylon, to be a light in the darkness. To bring God’s wisdom where there is folly, to bring his peace where there is chaos, to bring restoration where there is brokenness, to bring hope where there is despair, and to bring life where there is death all through the gospel. 

You are separated from God because of your sin. Death and brokenness. God desires to bring you back to himself through Jesus. Only way. See his love for you and receive.