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Daniel (x2), ch.1, Stranded in Babylon
 I don’t know if you have seen the recent Hollywood movie ‘the Martian’,
starring Matt Damon. I found it quite a gripping film. It’s a movie about
an astronaut who gets stranded on Mars as the rest of his crew believe
he is dead, and they fly off leaving him there.
 And it’s about how he survives and becomes productive
against all the odds, in this hostile, foreign environment.
Intriguingly Matt Damon is a botanist in the movie, and he
uses the knowledge he has about soils, and fertilization
from earth, to grow potatoes on Mars so he can keep
himself alive until a rescue ship arrives.
o He also finds intriguing ways to keep in contact
with the technical team back on Earth, who
help him to keep his hopes up in the midst of
his isolation, and give him advice about how he
can adapt to life on Mars.
Now when we come to the book of Daniel, we find something similar going on.
Daniel is about a Jew, living his life in exile, in a foreign superpower that is
hostile to his faith. And it’s all about how he manages to live a godly life, how
he manages to keep his faith in the God of Israel, in a foreign pagan
environment.
And he has a small group of friends – Shadrach, Meshach and
Abed Nego, in a similar situation as faithful Jews, learning to
remain faithful to God in the Babylonian court.
 And this opening chapter of Daniel sets the scene. Though we live
hundreds of years removed from Daniel’s particular situation, we all find
ourselves trying to live for Christ in a secular nation, and in workplaces
and communities and even family homes where you feel like a stranger
in a strange land.
 And Daniel is asking the question how can we live a godly
life in a pagan culture. And this chapter gives us 4 principles
that will help us live for Christ in a pagan culture.
 Firstly
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 Respect God’s sovereignty (v.1-2)
 The book of Daniel opens in a tragic way for any Jewish reader. (v.1) ‘In
the third year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.’ Here was the nightmare
for any Jew – foreign invaders had overpowered, and taken captive
God’s own people.
 And to make matters worse, (v.2) tells us that the king of Babylon took
the precious vessels from the temple in Jerusalem, and he put them in
the house of a Babylonian god.
 This was a moment of shame for every Jew. And a moment
of seeming humiliation for Yahweh himself, the God of
Israel. But if we read carefully, we discover that this was
actually God’s sovereign plan.
 (v.2) begins ‘The Lord gave Jehoiakim of Judah into
Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.’ God had decreed that
Babylon would take the people of Jerusalem into
captivity. He raised up Babylon for this very purpose,
that his people might be refined in exile.
 In fact it had been prophesied years earlier. Isaiah
told king Hezekiah, ‘the days are coming when all that
is in your house shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing
shall be left, says the Lord.’ (Isa 39:5)
God gave Jerusalem into the hands of Babylon, so that his people could be
refined like gold in a furnace. Daniel is shipped off to Babylon under God’s
sovereign decree. He will be a foreigner in a pagan empire by God’s express
will and purpose.
And we enter the mysterious world of God’s
sovereignty here. Daniel is not in Babylon by mistake.
Daniel found himself a teenage exile because that
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was God’s will for his life. He would never set foot,
even for a day, in the Promised Land.
And it is so important that we as Xians get to grips with the mystery of God’s
sovereignty. You may find yourself today in unpromising circumstances.
Perhaps your workplace is a nightmare because of job uncertainty and a huge
amount of pressure you are facing.
Perhaps you came to Aberdeen looking for work – this is not your home
– but you find yourself out of work now and wondering what it’s all
about, like these Babylonian exiles wondering why God had abandoned
them.
Perhaps you are the only Xian in your home, and daily
family life is a strain because your faith distances you
from your family. Or perhaps you are going through a
chronic health problem – a problem that has
frustrated you and reduced all the impact for God
you wanted to make.
And you ask ‘why?’ You think to yourself ‘something must have gone wrong
with God’s plan for my life.’ But it hasn’t. God has placed you in the situation
you find yourself in for his own purposes, just as he placed a teenage boy like
Daniel, full of skill and potential – as an exile in Babylon.
It’s very tempting, in negative life situations, to always want to be
somewhere else, when actually God wants you to glorify him in
the here and now, exactly where he has placed you. It was God’s
plan for Daniel’s life, that Daniel would glorify him most, living as
an exile.
And once Daniel got his head around that, then he
was able to serve God with all his heart in the
circumstances he was given. And in this chapter,
there’s no sense of ‘why me, God? Why do I have to
live in a pagan land?’ Right from the get go, he’s
ready to serve.
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We need to learn how to respect Gods sovereignty, when his plans for our
lives are totally different to what we imagined.
Ask God to help you come to terms with the circumstances he has
placed you in – to make you truly aware you are exactly where he wants
you – even if that place seems negative or hugely limiting. For once you
respect God’s sovereignty, then you are able to glorify him right where
you are.
I remember professor David Short wrote a very helpful little booklet for Xians
who ended up in hospital. We rarely plan to be in hospital, and it can be very
disorientating. But the opening page of Prof Short’s booklet said ‘you are
exactly where God wants you – even in a hospital bed, even if you are awaiting
an operation for a serious health problem, God is with you, and has ordained
the circumstances of your life for his own purposes.
I found that booklet so thought provoking, and it reminds us we
can glorify God from unpromising life situations. Half of our new
testament was written from a prison cell!
I was really impressed by the Archbishop of
Canterbury recently, and how he responded to the
shocking news that the man he thought was his
father, wasn’t really his father.
That could have sent the Archbishop reeling, and questioning his whole
identity. But instead he said that his life was a story of hope and redemption.
His identity was in Christ, and he deeply impressed the media, and all who
heard him, because he used his difficult life circumstance as an opportunity to
glorify God.
Daniel reminds us that we need to respect God’s sovereignty, as we find
ourselves in a pagan land, and often in unpromising life situations.
Surrender to what Jonathan Edwards called God’s sweet sovereignty,
and God will use you in ways you did not expect.
That’s the first principle we need to learn, if we want to live
a godly life in a pagan setting. Respect Gods sovereignty.
Secondly
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 Recognize the world’s seduction (v.3-7)
 It is quite clear the tactics that Babylon employed for these new young
Jewish exiles. They wanted to immerse these Jews in Babylonian
culture, Babylonian ways of thinking, so that these Jews would become
as pagan as everyone else.
 (v.4) says the king wanted ‘to teach them the literature and
language of the Chaldeans (another name for Babylonians).
The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the
king ate and the wine that the king drank. They were to be
educated for 3 years and at the end of that time, to stand
before the king.’
o The tactics were very subtle. These Jews were
isolated from any form of Jewish worship.
They were confined to the Babylonian court
and couldn’t go to synagogue.
o And then the Babylonians filled their minds
with a pagan worldview, some of which would
have been very enriching and stimulating –
Babylon had an advanced education system,
but God was nowhere to be seen.
Then Nebuchadnezzar gave these trainees a taste of the good life, allowing
them to eat the refined foods and wine of the Babylonian culture. There was a
seduction going on here as well as an immersion in a Babylonian worldview.
And that’s exactly what the world does to us, isn’t it? Our pagan
culture wants to isolate us from being with God’s people. Sunday
used to be a day of rest where church was a priority. Now there
are kids parties and football, and supermarkets opening, and it’s
becoming just another shopping day.
And many Xians end up simply veering away from
church because there’s just so much else to do. That
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is actually Satan isolating you from a Christian
culture.
Count up the number of Sundays you are here morning and evening, the
number of home groups and prayer meetings you attend, and ask yourself, has
Satan succeeded in isolating me from God’s people and Christian worship? Do
you recognize the world’s seduction?
Then of course our culture fills us with a vast range of messages
that conflict with our allegiance to Christ. The lyrics of the music
we listen to, the content of the websites we visit, what we hear on
radio and TV and office conversations. Even the billboards in the
city, and magazines in the supermarkets - you can’t avoid a lot of
it, and so much of it is just godless trash that deadens your spirit
to God.
And you need to be able to recognize the damage it
can do to your faith. How engaged you are with
worship on a Sunday is related to whatever movie
you were watching last night, or what thoughts were
going through your head this week.
Imagine 2 Xians brought up in the same church and
under the same teaching, but one reads discipleship
books regularly and the other has a diet of secular
magazines. There is a cumulative impact here.
The content of what they are allowing into their minds will dictate
so many of their decisions, their spiritual state, their openness to
sin, their passion for Christ. Do we recognize the world’s subtle
seductions?
The evangelist Wilbur Chapman said, ‘It’s not the boat in the water that sinks
it, it’s the water in the boat. In the same way it’s not the Xian in the world that
sinks him, it’s the world in the Xian.’ Be alert as a Xian what you are allowing
into your mind. Take every thought captive, and make it obedient to Christ.
Because out of your mind flows all your good or evil.
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And add to that the allure of the high life. Nebuchadnezzar’s fine
wine and meats were a taste of the best of Babylon, and of course
all good things come from God, and he doesn’t mind us enjoying
them.
But we need to be aware that the good life and robust discipleship rarely go
together.
Wealthy people can know God in a wonderful way, but we all
need to recognize what ‘the good life’ can do to us. Who longs for
heaven when we already have it on earth? It’s much easier to cry
out to God when you are struggling, than it is when life is
comfortable.
The answer is not to get rid of your comforts, but to
recognize what the good life can do to you, and to
make sure the good things you enjoy don’t tone
down your commitment to Christ, your generosity
towards the kingdom, your daily disciplines of
godliness and your willingness to suffer for the faith.
Recognize the world’s seduction. The way it isolates you from Xian
community, the way it feeds subtle message into your mind all the time that
conflict with your commitment to Christ, and the seduction of the good life, to
those who want to take up their cross and follow him.
But of course it’s not enough just to recognize the world’s
seduction. Thirdly we need to
 Resolve to honour Christ (v.8-16)
 That’s the strong word that is used of Daniel here. (v.8) ‘but Daniel
resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food.’ He made
a conscious decision, and was determined that he would honour God,
rather than be sucked into Babylonian ways.
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 We’re not quite sure why Daniel chose food as the area in
which to draw a line. Certainly drinking wine was not
forbidden for a Jew. Perhaps this food had been offered as
a sacrifice to Babylonian gods, but we have no proof of that.
Whatever the reason, Daniel took a conscious stand to be different. To show
that he belonged to the God of Israel. It’s also interesting that throughout the
book, he keeps calling himself Daniel, and is referred to as Daniel by others,
even though the Babylonians had given him a Babylonian name than reflected
Babylonian gods.
Daniel made a conscious decision to be different in his daily
working environment. In what ways have you resolved to be
different in your working life? In what ways does your life and
testimony stand out in the office?
Is there something about the way you work, the way
you speak, conversation about your commitment to
church, the values you have for your children, that
sets you apart?
Daniel resolved to honour Christ in a way that was public and obvious to
everyone – in the food he ate in the Babylonian court, when he had been
offered the riches of Nebuchadnezzar’s banquet.
Where do you draw the line? What are the parameters that set you
apart from your colleagues as a Xian? What makes you stand out? Is it
your direct debits? Is it the attitude you have to the cleaner in the
office? Is it your attitude to social status? Your willingness to defend
Xian values when others mock them?
Notice that Daniel’s stand for God did not involve him
being rude or offensive. He is a model of
graciousness and reasonableness as he deals with his
Babylonian bosses.
But he takes a stand. He was looking to take a stand. He resolved to honour
Christ in a pagan land. If you start a new job somewhere, or enter a new
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environment, find a way, right from the start, to show that you are a Xian, that
you dare to stand alone if that is what it takes.
And you will be training yourself to live a godly life in a pagan
world. And it will make an impact on those who watch you, and
we know from the story of Daniel, he was watched very closely.
Here are key principles for how we live a godly life in a pagan world. Respect
God’s sovereignty, recognize the world’s seduction, resolve to honour Christ
and finally
 Remember your reward (v.17-21)
 God honoured Daniel for the stand that he took. (v.9) says ‘God gave
Daniel favour and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.’
(v.17) ‘God gave learning and skill to Daniel and his friends, and Daniel
had understanding in visions and dreams. (v.20) ‘in every matter of
wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he
found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that
were in all his kingdom.’
 God clearly rewards Daniel for the courageous stand he
took. The understanding Daniel had was not from his own
initiative – God gave it to him as a reward. The favour he
was shown by the eunuch was given by God.
o God ensured that Daniel and his friends
excelled in an unexpected way in the
Babylonian court, so that even the seasoned
Babylonian wise men were not able to
compete with their wisdom.
o It’s a bit like when Peter and John, 2 humble
fishermen, stand in front of the Sanhedrin in
the book of Acts, and the Sanhedrin are
overwhelmed by the learning of these
uneducated fishermen.
o God gave Peter and John unusual skill, unusual
eloquence because of the bold stand they took.
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Normally when we think about God rewarding us, we think about the future
and heaven. But the reward in this passage, is a reward for godly men facing
extraordinary pressure. Grace under pressure is a gift from God.
It will be given to you if you honour God in whatever pressure
cooker situations you find yourself in. I have heard about Xians
feeling extraordinary peace when they went into surgery, or
speaking extraordinarily powerful words when they are witnessing
in a testing situation.
Or extraordinary favour with a local councillor
governing authorities.
I remember Will Donald, who provided the land for this church – I remember
him talking about the conversation he had with Stephen Cordiner, Neil’s dad.
Will was not a Xian at the time, but he said he felt compelled to give the land
to Mr Cordiner because of the esteem in which he was held.
He felt he could not refuse such a godly man. This church, and its
very existence, is a story of God showing favour to bold Xians who
honoured him.
‘Those who honour me, I will honour’, says the Lord. As you stand up for Christ
in all kinds of testing situations, God promises to reward you in some way. Of
course we have an eternal reward to look forward to – our inheritance beyond
the stars, the glory of unfading crowns.
But this week, also remember that God rewards us here and now
with grace and power when we honour Christ in difficult
situations. He gives us favour we did not expect, power beyond
ourselves. God turns fishermen into apostles, and teenage exiles
into the confidants of emperors.
‘Those who honour me, I will honour’. This is how to
live a godly life in a pagan culture. Respect God’s
sovereignty – God has placed you exactly where you
are, even if that place seems unpromising. Recognize
the world’s seduction – don’t allow the world to
squeeze you into its mould. Resolve to honour Christ
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– take a clear, public stand for Jesus in your
workplace, and Remember your reward. God will
honour those who honour him.
There is a sense in which we are all in exile. This world is not my home. This
world is not a placer to get comfortable, it’s a place to get godly, as we await
our heavenly inheritance.