I only went off to summer camp once, like away, overnight.
It was a soccer camp.
I was in middle school.
I don't actually remember the details of it very much.
But I remember moving into the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, that's a mouthful, dormitories,
and finding myself sleeping on a bad mattress in a concrete shell of an empty dorm room for
that week.
I was there to learn soccer, and I'm sure I did learn a lot about it.
But one of my overwhelming memories of it was how disorienting and how unsettled I felt.
Because I had no idea who I was or what I was doing there in so many ways.
I was in a place where I had never been before.
And I remember I would go down and I would eat dinner at the cafeteria, and there were
other guys in the, you know, you'd eat with other guys and you'd sit around and like guys,
you just wouldn't talk and then you'd eat and then you'd be done.
And some of them would go off to do who knows what they would do during camp.
And I thought, I have no idea how to do this.
Or what am I supposed to do?
Or where do I go?
I was missing the familiar patterns of life, the familiar people around me, the familiar
activities that marked my life and my day.
And without these familiar identity markers, I didn't know who I was.
So usually I would retreat to some TV room where I couldn't really turn the lights on and
watch who knows what until I went to bed early and lonely.
The question of who we are is a large one.
And as we encounter the world that we live in, the question of how identity markers and
cultural patterns and forms shape us, how they affect how we understand ourselves is real.
It is not a bad thing, necessarily.
It is a neutral thing.
These identity markers can push us to either be good or can push us in good directions to
be more of who we truly are, or they can seek to conform us in different ways.
This is the beginning of the year.
Some of you have just moved to New Haven for school, for work.
You are particularly aware this morning of the disorientation that comes from change.
A new school, a new town, a new part of the country, new friends, new patterns, new responsibilities.
And with it come a whole mix of things, doesn't it?
On one hand, you're excited.
This is new.
There are new opportunities.
There are new people to meet.
There are new things to try.
There's freedom from the old patterns.
There are new things to try.
But probably there's also a bit of fear and bewilderment.
We want to grow in these opportunities, but we also want to feel like we belong and to feel
like we fit in.
And we don't quite know how to do that.
And we need to acknowledge that there's a darker side to these transitions as well.
There's a proverbial parable of the frog in the kettle.
If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out.
It knows that that context is not good and that he will end up as soup if he stays in.
And so he jumps back out.
But if you put a frog in lukewarm water and you turn up the heat slowly, the frog will happily
go to the dinner table.
The danger of being assimilated into a culture without thinking, the danger of being shaped
by forces that you're not aware of, the danger of losing who you are in a desire to fit into
the context around you is real.
We love the comfort of fitting in, but we need to recognize this danger.
What does the Bible have to say to us about these things?
What is it about knowing God that can help shape and transform how we navigate our lives
in light of this?
We are beginning this fall a series on the book of Daniel.
Daniel is in the Old Testament.
You can start turning there if you want in your pew Bibles.
We're going to read it in a minute.
Page 737 in your pew Bible is where it is.
We're going to be looking at the first chapter today.
But when you look at the whole series of the whole book, the whole book is given to give
us an answer to that question of who are we and how are we to live in this world in light of who God is.
I don't want to give you the punchline yet.
We'll get there at the end of our sermon.
But that's why we're studying the book of Daniel this morning.
As we come here, I want to give you some history.
If you want to pull out your bulletin, if you look near the back, there's a chart, a historical chart.
It will give you a date on the column to your left.
On the left-hand side, there's a…
Am I doing that right?
Yes.
Left-hand column is the dates.
And then there's the kings of Judah, the prophets that you read in the Bible,
and then the rulership of the area that I called Mesopotamia, which is basically Israel, Syria, Palestine,
what is now Iraq, Lebanon, northern Saudi Arabia.
This is Mesopotamia.
And this is the world in which Daniel lived.
And what I want you to see is that in the history of the Bible and of God's people,
God had called the people to himself way back at the beginning, right?
And you read through Genesis, Exodus, and into the end of the Pentateuch, the first five,
you see God's people being freed from slavery and being brought to the brink of the promised land,
which was in Israel.
And then in Joshua and Judges and King Samuel and Kings and Chronicles,
you see the story of them taking the land and establishing,
God's people established themselves as a sociopolitical nation.
To worship God and to display his glory in the world.
And yet, what you then see is that they didn't do that very well.
In fact, they rebelled against God.
They did not trust him, nor obey him, nor honor him, nor worship him as he deserved.
And so, slowly, over time, the nation decayed.
In 722, the nation of Assyria came and invaded the northern part of Israel and conquered it.
And so, the great nation that God had established had then shrunk significantly.
And then as you look through, you see the southern kingdom hung on for another hundred plus years,
had some great kings like Hezekiah and Josiah that brought some needed reforms.
And yet, they were constantly threatened.
In the north, by the kingdom of Assyria.
In the south, by the kingdom of Egypt.
And in 612 BC, the Assyrians were defeated by the Babylonians.
A new power on the scene.
In 605, the Babylonians continued.
And they defeated the Egyptian army.
The Carchemish, which is actually a town north of where modern-day Israel is.
And so, Babylon came on the scene as the new power.
And during that time, as they pushed south after that victory, they came to Jerusalem.
And that leads us to our text this morning.
So, let's look together and read Daniel chapter 1.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
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.
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,
used without blemish of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom,
endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace,
to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
The king assigned them a daily portion of 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.
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, of the tribe of Judah.
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.
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food,
nor with the wine that he drank.
Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
And God gave to Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.
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.
Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
Test your servants for ten days.
Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
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.
So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the 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.
So the steward took away their food and wine and gave them,
and they were to,
the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.
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.
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.
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,
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.
And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you for this word.
Lord, we thank you for the story of these,
the lives of these, your servants.
Lord, as they faced new circumstances and challenging things,
Lord, you showed up with them.
God, we pray this morning as we hear this word
that you would challenge us, teach us, encourage us, Lord.
To know you and to trust in you and to follow you.
Lord, I pray you would use me and my words this morning.
I pray that your Holy Spirit would make clear to each of us
what you have to say.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
How do we face life when we are in exile?
This is the story.
These boys were taken away into exile.
Where does God meet us in those places
where we feel like we are in exile?
Let's explore the story of Daniel together.
There are three parts we want to look at
as we explore this this morning
and what it has for us.
First is, what is the crisis of exile?
The second one is, what is the opportunity of exile?
And the third is, the God with us in exile.
So that's what we're going to look at this morning.
First is the crisis of exile.
If you look back with me in verses 1 or 2,
in a very terse way, the writer says,
And so, the king Nebuchadnezzar of this foreign nation
that worshipped foreign gods
and had already threatened the nation of God before,
if you go back and you look at the story with Hezekiah,
they'd already been there.
They'd already thrown their warning signs
across the bow, so to speak.
They showed up.
And they besieged the city.
And the king was given into their hand.
It doesn't mean that he was necessarily
taken away for prisoner.
It's a bit tricky to figure out the history
of exactly what happened.
But clearly, he capitulated to their rule.
And they went into the house of God.
And they took special, special things
out of the house of God
and returned with them to,
it says Shinar, I believe, in verse 2.
Is that right?
Yes.
Shinar, remembering that Shinar is
back in the whole, in the beginning of Genesis
and the story of the Tower of Babel.
It was the place where humanity rebelled against God.
And so, he's reminding them that what happened was,
from the Israelite point of view,
these pagan brigands had broken into their house,
had overrun their city,
had gone into the temple of their God,
and had stolen stuff and taken it back
to this place that had no care for God,
and in fact, was the symbol of rebellion against Him.
And friends, if you were a Jew in that moment,
all the promises of God would suddenly seem suspect.
Where is God?
How could this happen?
What about the promises that He gave to Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob
that He would make this place His place
for His people forever where He would rule?
There is no analogy in our culture
because even if Washington, D.C. fell,
it is not the religious center of our country.
It is merely the political one.
There is no way for us to imagine
the depth of crisis that this created
in the hearts of a Jew.
Jerusalem, the city of God,
was violated by these pagans
who worshipped other gods.
How could this be?
Who are we?
What do we do now?
Are the questions that are going to be
the hearts of every Jew.
And of course, what we see here
is just the precursor.
When you see the history,
they came back in 597,
and then they came back again in 587, 586.
And when they finally came back,
they razed the city and destroyed the temple,
took the king off into prison,
removed all of the best people from the land.
And Israel was no more.
What they feared,
what they saw happening,
actually did happen.
The worst of what they had thought would happen.
And they were left wondering,
where is God?
I wonder if you're here today
and you're facing a crisis like that.
Where is God?
Maybe you've been uprooted from a place
you thought you were going to be for a long time.
Maybe you've been brought here
to study, for school.
But maybe your marriage has fallen apart.
And you're left with the wreckage of it.
And wondering, where is God for me?
Maybe your job,
that looked like the dream job,
has turned out to be a nightmare.
Where is God in this?
I want you to note verse 2.
Eyes that have eyes to see
need to notice these little things.
When you're reading Old Testament narrative,
you need to look for the little God sightings
because it's the writer reminding you
that in fact he's behind the whole thing.
Look with me in verse 2 again.
And the Lord gave.
This did not happen with God
wringing his hands in heaven going,
Oh no!
How could this have happened?
God actually gave Jerusalem
and the king into the hands of these pagans.
God was not absent
and he was not far off.
He was confusing, yes.
He was bewildering, for sure.
But he was not far off.
And as we continue to see the story,
we'll see that this is true again and again.
But this crisis of these circumstances
is then compounded by what happens next in the story.
Don't forget that the Old Testament writers,
as they wrote narrative, wrote beautiful stories.
This is just the setting part.
Verses 3 through 7 is now the beginning of the action.
Right?
Having done this, Nebuchadnezzar went home.
He actually went home because his father had died
and he was ascending to the throne
in a particular, in the fullness of his power.
He had been the general as he did this
and he was going home to become the king.
So he left town pretty quickly.
And along the way,
he said to the chief eunuch,
oh, by the way,
I want you to bring some men.
Look with me, 3 through 7.
Right?
He said, bring some of the royal family,
particularly youths.
This would have been men.
Right?
And they were, by his command,
the cream of the crop.
Look at what they were.
They were from the right families,
royal or nobility.
They were the bold, the beautiful,
the best, and the brightest.
Right?
They were good looking.
They were smart.
They were competent.
They were able to learn and to teach.
They were able to receive the language of the Chaldeans.
The Chaldeans was the tribe of people
from which the Babylonian empire rose.
So it was kind of like the tribe of Chaldeans
became the Babylonian empire.
In case you're wondering how those words interact,
that's why it's there.
Basically, what the king is doing is saying,
we want to assimilate the best of them
into our kingdom.
We want them to be Babylonian,
just like we are.
We're going to take them in.
And we have a program of assimilation.
We're going to teach them.
We're going to train them.
The training in the writings of the Chaldeans
would have included the Chaldean emphasis on magic
and on divination and a number of their spiritual
as well as political and religious worldviews.
So they're getting trained completely
in an alien worldview as good Jewish people.
And not only that,
but they're being taken as the best specimens
and they're going to be given the...
I was thinking about this.
It's kind of like,
if you remember in the beginning
of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
when Eustace goes in
and do you remember who he meets?
He meets the white witch, right?
And what does she give him?
Do you remember?
Candy.
Toffee, right?
What was it?
What was the word?
Yes.
You guys remember.
It's this...
Gives them this special...
Right?
So this is what eating from the king's food
I think was like.
It's basically saying,
hey, you know what?
Not only do we bring you in
and give you all this training,
but man, you get some perks.
You get the apartment.
You get the car.
You get the, you know,
club med.
You get all of these perks
for being assimilated
into the greatness
of the Babylonian empire.
Come and be a part of us.
Oh, and by the way,
we're even going to give you new names
so that you fit in
and everyone can say your name
without stumbling over it.
We're going to give,
take away your names.
Each of your names that had,
if you look at Old Testament names,
always had,
Jewish names almost always had
either L or Yah
or A, you see it in E-L or A-H
at the end of names often
as because it's referring to God.
They were people who belonged to God
and so they had these names.
And the Babylonians said,
yeah, we're going to give you new names.
Ones that don't tie you to your old God.
Ones that don't,
that take away yet another culture marker
of who you were
and who your God was
and what your identity was.
They didn't get to choose.
This was not a foreign exchange program
that they signed up for.
They were slaves.
They were forced to do this.
They were forced to go
and they were forced to walk
into this program of assimilation.
And if you're reading the story,
you're asking the question,
how will they respond?
What is going to happen to these boys?
Are they going to be lost forever
to the Babylonians?
Are they going to become
unrecognizable to us
because they are going to become
so Babylonian?
Before we go on with the story,
I want to stop and pause
and think about us for a minute
because we need to place ourselves
in the broader biblical storyline
for a minute.
God created a world for us to live in
in Genesis 1 and 2.
And in Genesis 3,
in our rebellion,
we said,
no, thank you.
And God sent us into exile.
God sent us out into a world
that no longer lived
completely under his rule
in obedience to all of his commands
and reflecting the fullness of his glory
as it had been intended.
With the fall,
with the rebellion of man,
the world then was also
in rebellion against God.
And God sent his people out
of the Garden of Eden,
the place of fellowship with him
and the place of perfection
and sent them out
to live in exile.
Spiritual exile
from our true spiritual home.
And as you look through
the whole Old Testament,
you see these themes
again and again and again
about how do we get home?
How do we become God's people again?
How do we get there
without answer?
And it's only when we get
to the New Testament
where we read Paul
writing to the Philippians
reminding the believers in Christ
that their citizenship is in heaven.
Or Peter,
in the passage it was read earlier,
reminding the believers
as they're facing persecution
in a fierce Roman season
of oppression against the church.
Peter reminds them
that they're God's people
called by his grace and mercy
living as exiles and strangers
in this world.
Knowing that through faith in Christ,
now this world is not our home.
The home that we long for
is the home that is yet to come.
When God remakes this world
and renews it to be fully
for his glory.
When heaven and earth
will actually be brought together.
This is the big storyline
of the Bible.
And so we need to recognize
that we,
just like these young men,
live in exile.
And the question is,
how do we respond?
How do we respond to a world
that just like the Babylonians,
although maybe not so explicitly
or overtly,
we live in a world
that seeks to train
and to shape us
in particular ways.
If you were in school,
a school has a vision
for what kind of person
you will be
because you go there.
If you were in a particular department
or a particular discipline
in academia,
there are all of these unseen forces
and sometimes very seen forces
that seek to shape you
and how you think
and who you ought to be
in this world.
And when you go to the beach
and hang out with your neighbors,
when you play,
stand on the sidelines
of the soccer fields
on Saturdays,
you are also
in a training ground.
It's a social training ground
where your friends
and your neighbors
have visions
of life,
of how things ought to be
and how you ought to be
in this world.
How will you respond?
Give you some specifics
to think about.
How do you respond
when the moms
in the playground
are discussing
what school their kids
simply must go to
or cannot go to?
How do you respond
to your lab director
who sets an expectation
of you working
through dinner
six days a week
when you have a wife
and family
or a husband
and family at home?
What do you do
when you get
that invitation
as a young lady
to send a picture
to the boy,
an invitation
from a boy
to send you
a picture of him,
a picture you'd never
send to your mom
and dad?
What do you do
when your coach
tells you
that your child
has made the team
but it's a traveling team
and you'll be gone
a lot of weekends
and the games
are on Sunday mornings?
But that won't be
a problem,
will it?
What do you do
when your coworkers
complain about your boss,
what a stickler he is
for safety regulations
and how it slows down
your production
and limits your bonus?
What do you do
when you walk
into a new job
and you realize
you're off the rack
attire,
which is really
all you can afford?
Seems pretty shabby
next to all
of your coworkers.
These are little tastes,
my friends.
But what I want you to see
is that this crisis
is real.
Every time you walk
out your door,
you walk into a world
that is seeking
to shape you
through its messages,
through its mediums,
through all
the various ways.
And the question
that it's asking is,
who will you be?
And friends,
there are not rules enough
to be able to give you
instruction
to navigate
all of these things.
Ultimately,
this is a heart issue.
Who will you be?
What will your identity be?
Who are you going to
make yourself
in this world?
Where will you
draw the line
and say,
I'm not going to be
to follow
what is expected of me
and enjoy the acceptance
that comes with it?
Where is it that you,
in your fear
of being overwhelmed,
are withdrawing
when you need
to engage
and love
the place
that you live?
How can you
engage in the culture
without losing yourself?
This is the crisis
that life
as an exile
is all about.
And this leads us
to my second point.
The possibilities.
The possibilities
of exile.
Look with me again.
Look with me again
at verse 8.
Because remember,
we've read the story
up to this point
and the story says,
what's going to happen
to these boys?
Are we going to lose
them forever?
But Daniel,
Daniel resolved
that he would not
defile himself
with the king's food
or with the wine
that he drank.
And therefore,
he asked the king's eunuch,
the chief of the eunuchs,
to allow him
not to defile himself.
And God gave Daniel
favor and compassion
in the sight
of the chief
of the eunuchs.
How did Daniel respond?
Daniel saw the danger.
Daniel saw
the challenge
of not becoming
Babylonian
while he was being
forced to live
in a world
where he was
surrounded by it
every day.
And the narrative,
even in these
first two verses,
raises all sorts
of questions
because what it says is,
so Daniel said
that he wouldn't
defile himself.
Everyone goes,
yay, that's wonderful.
Right?
We think he's good.
He's standing up
against the man.
He's saying,
I'm going to be free
from that.
Right?
And then,
and so we ask for a person
and then it says
in verse 9
that God gave him favor.
All right,
this is all going
to work out.
This is wonderful.
But what happened?
He goes
and he asks
the chief eunuch,
can we do this differently?
Can we try
something else?
And the answer is,
no,
I don't think so.
The chief eunuch
basically says,
so you're saying
you want me
to put my neck
on the line
for your identity
being preserved.
You want me
to have the risk
of looking bad
and not managing
this program well
in the eyes
of a king
who's going to
down the road
throw people
who he doesn't like
into fiery furnaces?
I don't think so.
Some people think,
and I think
it's a good point,
that he does say no,
but he does explain himself,
and there might be
a hint of,
if you can solve
this problem,
if you can make sure
you don't make me
look bad,
go ahead and
give it a try.
But I'm not going
to risk myself for you.
This is all on you.
Right?
Because it's interesting,
because what does
Daniel then do?
He doesn't go back
to the,
he doesn't go back
to the eunuch
and say,
okay,
I've got a plan,
what do you think
about this?
He says,
no,
I've already tried you,
but there's this steward
who's responsible
for the working out.
Here's my analogy.
This is like asking
the head of the department
for permission
for something
and getting a,
no,
we really don't think
we could probably
flex our institutional
standards for that.
Then you go to the,
to the secretary
of the office,
and you know that
she's really the one
that gets anything
done anyways,
and you ask her,
hey,
could we do this?
And that's what he did.
Daniel said,
how about this?
We'll test it
for 10 days.
Just give us vegetables.
And let's see
how it works out.
And you know what?
Daniel even says,
and if it doesn't work out,
hey,
you do what you want.
But will you at least
give it a try?
Now,
a couple things
I want to say,
observations about
how Daniel responded.
Overall,
the pattern is this,
he neither was assimilated
fully into the Babylonian world
and became a Babylonian,
nor did he withdraw.
And this is in our culture today.
We have a strong impulse
in the conservative church
to say,
we just want to withdraw.
We just want to run away.
And we'll see later,
there are times
to just stand your ground
no matter what.
But here in this story,
that's not the pattern.
The pattern here is
engage.
I want to honor you.
I want to be
a healthy specimen
who's going to make you
look good.
But I need to not
defile myself.
I need to draw a line here.
And some people
wrestle with,
was Daniel worried
about Jewish
eating laws?
I don't think so.
Because he drank the wine
and there's no problem
with that.
Was he worried
about idolatry
and that this food
might be food
offered to idols?
Again,
I don't think so.
His world was saturated
with idolatry.
There's no way
he could have escaped
that.
It seems to me
that Daniel chose this
as a place to say,
I am not going to buy
into the seduction,
the sort of,
the seductive power of,
you eat my rich food
and then you owe me.
There might be
a little bit of that
and there might be
just a fundamental,
Daniel knew he needed
to do something,
to put a stake
in the ground
to say,
I am a Hebrew first.
I believe in the one
true God of Israel
and I am not going to,
and I will not be
co-opted completely.
And he may have
just chosen this.
It's not clear why,
but he did.
He said,
I'm not going to
defile myself
in this way.
I'm not going to
lose myself
in this way.
So how do you respond?
A couple of observations.
First,
he looked for
a creative,
risky,
full of faith,
out there
kind of way.
Right?
Again,
withdrawal
or assimilation,
those are easy.
They're black and white.
Daniel tried something
that had never been
tried before.
And often,
that's what it's
going to call us
to do.
It's going to call us
to ask God for wisdom
and to try to be
creative in that way.
He also did it
with a desire
to do good.
He honored
the eunuch
and said,
I'm not going to
put you at risk.
He submitted himself
to the authorities
without giving them
ultimate control
over himself.
He wanted to honor them
and to do them good.
He was living out,
Greg referred to this
earlier in a prayer,
he was living out
what Jeremiah
in Jeremiah 29,
7 would tell
the exiles
as they were
taken away fully.
To seek the welfare
of the city
where I have sent you
into exile
and to pray to the Lord
on its behalf.
For in its welfare,
you will find
your welfare.
This was the worldview
and the mindset
that Daniel took.
Not merely a defensive,
how do I avoid this,
but how do I actually
engage well in this
without losing myself?
How do I love Babylon
without becoming Babylonian?
This is what Daniel
was trying to do.
And notice too,
he had a persistence
in trying things
and his approach
to authority.
He didn't just
overrun authority
and say,
well, I believe in God
and so I don't care about you
because you're not God.
He recognized
that the human authorities
that he had to navigate,
he sought to honor them.
And finally,
I want you to see
something else.
He did it together.
The focus on this section
is on Daniel,
but recognize
that it's not Daniel.
Every time at the end,
the summary statements,
it's Daniel
and his friends,
Hananiah,
Azariah,
and Mishael,
right?
If you are new
to a place,
if you are new
to New Haven
and you are just starting
out in your journey,
find others
to travel this journey with.
Look for others.
If you have come here
and you're in a job
and you don't know anyone else
who is even thinking
about these questions,
come talk to us.
Come talk to the church.
Help us try to network.
We may not know someone
in your office place,
but we might know someone
in your field.
If we don't know someone
in your field,
we could probably find someone
who could at least understand
the pressures you're facing
and the opportunities
that might be before you
and to partner together
with others
because we so easily
lose our identity
when we try to do it alone.
We don't know
that we're a frog alone
in the kettle.
But when we do it together,
it creates all sorts of dynamics
of encouragement
and support
and creativity
and accountability.
That's what Daniel did.
And so Daniel tried it.
And in fact, it worked.
So much so that
all the other guys
stopped getting to eat
the king's rich food
and got vegetables instead.
Come back to that
in a few minutes.
What does it look like
to work differently
rather than being
just like everyone else?
As I said,
it's hard to give you
lots of rules.
Let me give you two examples
of people that I know.
I had a friend in high school
who went off to college
at William & Mary.
It's a college
where the social life
is dominated
by being a part
of a fraternity or sorority.
He, in his desire
to engage with his friends,
wanted to do that.
But if you were
a fraternity brother
or if you know much
about fraternity culture,
you know that often
the initiation
of new members
into a fraternity
can often include
a lot of alcohol.
A lot of alcohol.
I know they're trying
to reform it.
I don't want to throw
fraternities under the bus.
Back then,
20 years ago,
I know for sure
that there was
a lot of alcohol involved.
And he had drawn a line
like Daniel
and said,
the one thing
I won't do in college
is drink
because I think
it's going to be
for me
a loss of my identity.
So he pledged
this fraternity
but along the way
he went to the leadership
and says,
just so you know,
I don't drink.
But here's what
I want you to do.
As much beer
as they drink,
I will drink
Orange Crush.
And you know what?
It made him
just as sick
as the beer did.
They all ended up
sick outside
in the bushes.
But that's what he did.
He was creative.
It was costly.
And yet he was able
to maintain
his identity.
I also know
of a friend of mine
who when
having started a job
and done well
initially
negotiated
that Sunday mornings
were an inviolable
commitment.
They just said,
I will work
80,
90,
100 hours
for you
if that's
what it takes.
But I need
to go to church
on Sundays.
So whenever
those hours come,
they can't come
on Sunday mornings.
And as long
as you're okay
with that,
I'm on,
I'm your man.
It was a line
in the sand.
And it was a good one
that's borne
great fruit.
sometimes
it takes a lot
of creativity
to see where
those third ways
are.
Sometimes
there aren't
third ways.
We will see
further on
these same guys,
Hananiah,
Mishael,
Azariah,
Mishael,
they come up
to a situation
where there's
no third way.
They just say,
no,
we can't bow
to the God.
And they get
thrown in the furnace.
They got to deal
with that.
When we get to there,
we'll get there.
A couple of chapters.
Sometimes there isn't.
But,
what I want to see
is that here
with Daniel,
there is a model
of how to live
in exile
and maintain
your identity
which has a strong
sense of,
you need to engage,
you need to think
about how to be good
and a blessing
in where you are
without losing yourself.
And it may not,
there are no rules
on how to do this,
but it may mean
a change in thinking.
It might mean
recognizing that
school choice
is not a matter
of right and wrong,
but a matter
of stewardship
of your family,
your ministry
to your community,
and your children.
And for each person
to make wise decisions
about how to do that,
not under the pressure
of those around them.
It may mean
having to think through
what is it
that your employer
really wants
and to propose
a different way
than what they've envisioned
to get the results
that they need
in a way that doesn't
destroy your family life.
It may mean
developing radically new
and probably odd
patterns of dating
in this world
to say,
I'm going to learn
how to develop
a healthy relationship
with someone else
that doesn't involve
Snapchat.
It may mean
praying for some friends
who will figure out
what good,
clean fun
and good,
crazy fun
can look like
on a Friday night
that doesn't have to be
a compromise
of your Christian identity.
So in the face
of living in exile,
the question
that you need to ask,
where have you
drawn the line
to maintain
your identity
in Christ?
Where do you
need to ask
for wisdom
and help
to develop
a creative
and new way
to engage
in your world
in the specifics
of your daily life?
to walk
through the pressures
you are facing
without giving in?
Where do you
see the danger
of wanting
to withdraw
completely
when God
has placed you
in a place
for its good?
This is what
Peter exhorts
the church to
in 1 Peter 2.
I urge you
as aliens
and strangers
as exiles
I urge you
as exiles
to live
such good lives
among the Gentiles
that though
they revile you
they will glorify
your father
in heaven
on the last day.
Recognize
that the third way
is not always
going to be popular.
Daniel
was not popular
as we go along
in the story.
His success
did not
endear him
to his fellow
compatriots.
But do we see
that ultimately
we have a different
audience?
Because this is
the third point
that this story
wants to remind us of.
God gave them
as you look
you can see
there's a refrain.
Look with me
in verse 2
and the Lord
gave.
And look with me
in verse 9
and God
gave.
And look with me
in verse 17
and God
gave
them
success.
God
delivered them
in this situation.
God
gave them
favor
in every
possible way.
as this story
plays itself
out
what you see
is
Nebuchadnezzar
evaluates
all these
men
after three
years
and what
happens?
They are
did you see
it?
Ten times
that's a
meta
it's like
we might
use a billion
times.
They were
so far
better
than everyone
else.
God
gave them
great favor
and great
ability
to do this.
God
was with
them
in exile.
God
loved
them
and God
would be
with them
and God
would be
for them.
And so
the crisis
that they
started with
God
how could
you let
this happen?
Where
are you?
Who
am I
in all
of this?
Is all
answered
by that
little
phrase
God
gave
because
it means
that God
was with
them.
He
had not
abandoned
them.
God
had taken
them
into
this
place
of
exile
and
he
had
a
purpose
for
them
in
that
place
of
exile
that
God
was
able
to
provide
for
them
all
that
they
need
to
continue
to
maintain
their
identity
and
not
become
assimilated
into
the
culture
that
they
lived
in
because
ultimately
they
were
God's
people
and
this
is
the
identity
that
they
clung
to
and
this
is
the
reality
that
they
were
on
and
God
would
help
them
to
do
that
and
God
would
intervene
in
special
and
supernatural
and
wonderful
ways
to
allow
that
to
happen
and
friends
I'll
admit
to
you
this
is
the
hardest
part
of
the
story
for
me
because
I
struggle
to
believe
God's
going
to
do
that
for
me
as
I
live
in
exile
I
struggle
to
think
is
God
going
to
make
my
life
work
out
okay
and
of
course
when
we
read
the
New
Testament
we
see
that
God
doesn't
always
make
our
lives
work
out
okay
in
the
way
that
we
want
them
to
Hebrews
11
is
full
of
all
the
great
saints
that
God
honored
their
faith
and
then
at
the
end
he
has
oh
and
God
honored
all
of
these
people's
faith
too
when
they
were
killed
and
when
they
were
persecuted
and
when
they
were
oppressed
and
when
they
were
taken
off
into
captivity
and
weren't
released
and
weren't
saved
friends
we need
to
recognize
that
in
this
story
we
see
these
dynamics
a
situation
is
difficult
the
trial
is
fierce
but
God's
sovereign
intervention
delivers
his
people
this
is
true
for
this
story
this
is
in
some
ways
the
message
of
the
whole
book
of
Daniel
and
it
is
large
more
larger
more
largely
the
story
of
the
whole
Bible
because
we
may
live
or
we
may
die
in
our
identity
in
Christ
but
God
has
delivered
his
people
in
Jesus
he
has
come
to
us
in
fact
think
about
this
the
incarnation
of
Jesus
is
Jesus
himself
entering
into
the
exile
of
life
in
a
fallen
world
and
identifying
with
exiles
like
us
who
had
rejected
God
and
who
are
living
in a
world
that
is
contrary
to
him
and
in
fact
his
identification
with
the
exile
is
so
great
that
he
goes
to
the
cross
and
in
his
death
and
his
resurrection
he
overcomes
that
exile
and
restores
a way
by which
we
might
now
be
brought
back
into
God's
people
and
we
are
called
to
live
in
this
world
as
exiles
as
long
as
God
keeps
us
here
but
our
home
is
not
here
our
home
is
in
heaven
and
that
is
where
we
will
know
that
he
will
vindicate
us
and
that
is
where
we
will
know
that
his
promises
are
true
and
good
forever
and
we
know
it
because
he
died
on
the
cross
and
rose
from
the
dead
and
we
can
see
it
in
the
future
and
if
we
cling
to
that
those
things
as
our
identity
then
we
can
live
as
exiles
and
strangers
in
this
world
to
the
glory
of
God
I
pray
for our
congregation
to be
full
of
Daniels
and
Azariahs
and
Mishels
and
who's
the
third
guy
I
forgot
I
pray
that
we
will
be
people
who
live
in
exile
fighting
for
our
identity
working
for
the
good
of
our
land
and
our
city
and
our
world
for
his
glory
let's
pray
oh
lord
have
mercy
on
us
lord
how
often
we
are
unaware
or
unready
and
unwatchful
lord
we
don't
want
to
live
in
exile
we
want
to
live
at
home
and
yet
lord
our
home
is
not
here
lord
help
us
we
pray
help
us
to
know
how
to
follow
in
the
footsteps
of
these
faithful
men
lord
help
us
to
see
you
as
a
god
who
will
vindicate
who
has
vindicated
lord
and
who
has
called
us
to
live
now
in
this
in
between
time
as
exiles
for
your
glory
lord
protect
us
strengthen
us
be
with
us
do
greater
than
what
we
would
ever
ask
or
imagine
for
your
glory
lord
i
pray
that
you
would
make
us
a
blessing
to
our
city
and
to
our
world
in
jesus
name
amen