September 20, 2015 - Chris Dolson
Series: Thrive: The book of Daniel
Title: Be Flexible
Scripture: Daniel 1
Purpose: To motivate thriving in Madison by being both flexible and faithful.
Main Idea: We can thrive in our culture when we are both flexible and faithful.
I. Introduction
 Illustration: Chris shared a story to express the idea that there is something deeply embedded in each
of us that is hard to remove. You might move away from a small town but you will always be a part of
small town people. You can leave the big city; but still be a “big city” person no matter where you live.
 In the book of Daniel, four young men were taken out of their country, but no matter how far they
ventured no one could take their country out of them. They maintained their deep devotion for the God
of their youth and remained obedient to Him no matter where they lived. No matter where what
happened to them; you couldn’t take away their devotion to God.
 They understood the idea of “both/and.” They were both connected and adapted to a culture AND
they were faithful and obedient to God – that is the key to thriving in culture that is hostile to God.
II. Historical Background
 Read Daniel 1:1-2.
 The author assumes the reader knows who these kings are, however, the Bible was written for us not to
us.
 Jehoiakim was 25 when he began to reign in Judah. The books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles give an
account of this time. Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and was the “puppet” king of Necho – pharaoh
of Egypt. He “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Kings 23.37): worshiped the stars and foreign gods,
practiced child sacrifice and divination, put an Asherah Pole in the temple, and “Did more evil than the
nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites” (2 Kings 21:9).
 Nebuchadnezzar was the second ruler of the Babylonian Empire. He reigned 43 years, rebuilt
Babylon and became the central and primary leader of their Near Eastern Dominance. He was used
by YHWH to punish Judah (2 Kings 24:2).
 For many of us this makes God look bad. Why would God do this?
 God wants His people to be a testimony of who He is. When His people practice injustice and evil this
reflects poorly on who He is, so He sent prophets to warn the people. Jeremiah warned them for 23
years that they needed to change.
… 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For
twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—
the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not
listened.
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And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have
not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your
evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors for ever and
ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your
hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”
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“But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have aroused my anger with what
your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
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Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will
summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares
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the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding
nations…This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of
Babylon seventy years.
 God continually warned them. If God did nothing He would be like a bad parent who says to his/her
child, “I’m going to count to 10 and if you don’t stop doing that by then, I will give you a time out.” But
then the parent counts to 10 and does nothing. The child learns that he or she can do anything without
consequence.
 So Nebuchadnezzar sacks Jerusalem.
 Read Daniel 1:3-7.
 “How to Rule an Empire in the Ancient Near East (101)”
o In those days dictators conquered other countries far away from their homeland, and wanted the
people conquered to obey and give money.
o Since people are prone to rebellion, and armies couldn’t move quickly, dictators would try to get the
people not to rebel by using their own royalty to keep them in line. They’d take the youngest from
elite families; bring them into their culture, treat them great, fully assimilate them into the culture, and
then send them back. It’s even better if they have a personal relationship with the new dictator.
o Dictators changed their education, identity, names, looks, everything.
o In Daniel, they learned the language of Akkadian.
o Their names were changed to:
Daniel (God is my judge)
Belteshazzar (May ‘Belt’ protect his life)
Hananiah (YHWH has been gracious) Shadrach (I am fearful of god)
Mishael (Who is what God is?)
Meshach (I am of little account)
Azariah (YHWH is my help)
Abednego (Servant of Nabu)
o God’s name is taken out and other gods’ names are inserted.
 Despite the changes, these boys did not lose their identities. “You can take the boy out of the country
but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”
 Their assimilation was total. These four young men were devoted to God. They did adapt and they did
learn; BUT they were also faithful to God. Flexible, but they were also faithful.
III. Daniel and His Friends –“Pushback”
 Read Daniel 1:8-16.
 There has been a lot of discussion about the food issue. At first glance it looks like they simply
preferred a kosher diet as proscribed in the Torah. But that diet doesn’t prohibit wine and they stopped
drinking wine.
 The bottom line is that we really don’t know what was in the royal food and why they chose this course
of action. It was probably related to the idea that it was not so much the food as the total program of
assimilation.
 At this point the Babylonian government is controlling every aspect of their lives. They have little means
to resist the forces of assimilation. They seize on one of the few areas where they can exercise choice
as an opportunity to preserve their distinct identity.
 When reading the word “vegetables” in Daniel 1:12, most think of salads and greens. But the word
really means something like “seeds.”
 The point is that they were eating things that on the surface didn’t look like they were going to
succeed. So how were they successful?
 They were respectful/humble.
 They were not “in your face.” They showed great respect toward Ashpenaz and his guard. The first
word that Daniel says in the entire book is the word, “please” (vs. 12).
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 Essentially, Daniel said “decide what we should eat after we do this experiment. Treat us in
accordance to what you see” (vs. 13).
 God is behind their success. He wants them to assimilate, connect, and adapt. He is in favor of them
fully thriving.
 The subject of this chapter is God. Read vs. 2 and vs. 9.
 God orchestrated events so His people could succeed.
IV. God wants the “Four” to Thrive
 Read Daniel 1:17-21. God wants these four to thrive in this culture.
 What happens in these verses is remarkable. God is the one who gives them knowledge about the
Babylonian culture. God sent them to the Harvard of their day and they don’t only do well they
graduate summa cum laude.
 There was no separation between religion and secular. Everything was religious. God gave them an
education in the religious education of the Babylonians.
 To study Babylonian literature was to enter a completely alien thought-world. According to the
Sumerians and Babylonians two classes of persons inhabited the universe: the human race and the
gods. Pre-eminence belonged to the gods, though they were not all equal. The writer of Daniel implies
no objection to the study of a polytheistic literature in which magic, sorcery, charms and astrology
played a prominent part, though these had long been banned in Israel (Deut. 18:10–12; cf. 1 Sam.
28:3ff).
 Omens were the primary way by which gods revealed their “will, intentions, or fateful decisions to
people.” However, this type of divine revelation is different from what we know as biblical prophecy.
Divination was a learned practice in that portended events were associated with certain signs (like
symptoms of an illness), whether the shape of a liver, unusual births, the flight pattern of birds, the stars,
or dreams. Diviners used reference books to tease out the significance of the sign. Omens could be
solicited or unsolicited. In the case of dreams they could be solicited by an incubation rite, where the
subject induced sleep expectant of a significant dream. But the reference books only helped diviners
interpret dreams that the subject narrated to them. They did not have the tools to discover the contents
of a dream if the subject chose, for whatever reason, to withhold that information.
 God wants them to succeed and the person who gives the final test is the king himself (vs. 19).
 The author writes from a future vantage point in history that Daniel lasted until Cyrus. In other words
Daniel remained in the royal court for 66 years – he outlasts Nebuchadnezzar himself!
V. Lessons for Our Lives
1.The Genius of “both/and”: God wants his people to BOTH adapt and connect to culture AND
to be faithful to Him.
 Thriving in a culture means this: As followers of God we adapt and connect to the culture that we are
in, and yet at the same time, we can challenge and push back on the culture because we want to be
faithful to God. It is a balance. Both/and.
 Not either/or. Many times Christ-followers just do one without the other.
 They adapt and connect to culture so well that the Christ-follower is completely assimilated and never
stand out. Or they just challenge the culture and never seek to connect to it.
 Some may have misinterpreted the message to mean it’s okay to party hard on campus because their
friends are. However, life is more complex than that. Perhaps go to the party and hang out but don’t
get stoned. Draw lines, and be known for that. Don’t be the person who condemns everybody, but the
friend who helps people get back to their dorm room.
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 This may makes people feel uneasy, and it should. There are many things in our culture that are
seductive and dangerous. Many just don’t have the maturity to be able to stand up and say, “no thank
you,” instead we go along with the crowd to fit in.
2. Daniel was not alone.
 He was in a group. As a group they supported each other. As a group they could pray together and
hold each other accountable.
 Much of the problems that we have by being totally assimilated into a culture are that we are walking
alone. Walking alone in a challenging secular culture is problematic. We need each other.
3. Daniel was humble and respectful.
 Notice that Daniel was not arrogant, but very respectful.
 Illustration: A student had an ethical issue with a class assignment and respectfully approached her
professor with her dilemma. The student didn’t say it was a bad assignment. She said she didn’t think it
would be the best for her to do the assignment. She didn’t demand anything, but suggested an
alternative. She was humble and respectful. Her professor responded with equal respect and provided
a different assignment for her.
 Since the value of freedom and not judging people is so high in our culture, people can be very
respectful of someone’s religious beliefs. Our culture teaches that it is a sign of bigotry to denigrate
someone’s faith. Hence, if someone is kind and humble, sometimes people will show respect.
IV. Conclusion
 God wants us to thrive in our secular culture.
 If God wants Daniel and his friends to excel in ancient pagan Babylonian culture, surely He wants us
to adapt and connect to our culture. At the same time, He wants us to be faithful to Him.
 God wants us to thrive by being both flexible and faithful.
 Some of us are at points in our lives where we are growing spiritually, perhaps for the first time. Some
of us think that it may be best for us to get into another school or another line of work where we could
pursue our faith in a more faith-friendly environment. You may want to rethink that.
 God can use you where you are right now. God wants “Daniels” in the arts, media, board rooms,
laboratories, sales meetings, daycare, public schools, and government.
 He wants “Daniels” to thrive where they are. Perhaps we are where we are because God has opened
doors. Maybe should look around and thank God for giving us the opportunities we have.
 As we connect and adapt to our culture in thousands of ways, we need to remember that God also
wants us to be faithful.
Going Deeper
“You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it, too.”
Annie Lamott, Bird by Bird, 156.
“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be
always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:5-6
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