God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 2015.09.14 You are God (Daniel 5:1-­‐31, ESV) INTRO: Belshazzar threw a party. He invited all of his friends. And then before he knew it, things got a bit out of hand. Ever been to a party like that? I have. Started innocently enough, but then someone brought some alcohol and people started hooking up and what was supposed to be just a fun night with a few friends all of the sudden became complicated. And people got hurt. That's essentially what happens in Daniel 5. Daniel 5 takes everything you’ve heard and seen in this series, brings it all together, and challenges you to ask some important questions about your relationship with God. For example, have you ever wondered what God actually wants from you? Do you believe in God, but deep inside feel like something is missing—that you’ve lost the joy you once had? Do you look around at all the junk happening in the world (or maybe even in your own home) and wonder why God’s not doing anything about it? Do you ever fear you’ve wandered so far from God that He’s given up on you forever? Or do you wonder if God really has a message for you tonight, what would He even say? Daniel 5 addresses all of these questions. But I’ll warn you it’s going to treat you like an adult. There’s a reason we don’t teach this chapter in Kids church. If you work with children you know this is true. We skip right over it and go to Daniel and the lions’ den, which honestly I don’t know how we’ve made that into a kids story either—hungry lions prowling around an 80-­‐year-­‐old man before devouring his tormenters. If you put animals in the story we think it’s appropriate for kids. But what happens in chapter 5 is more intimidating still. TEXT: 1 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. 3 Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone (Daniel 5:1-­‐4, ESV). ∗ We’ll stop there. Let me tell you about this guy, Belshazzar. For starters, great name. Sounds like a Viking. Belshazzar. But his name was about the only good quality he had. 1 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 ∗ Belshazzar was a petty little man. Cocky. Full of himself. He was all about impressing people. I’m sure you don’t know anyone like that. And on this particular night, he thought to himself, “How can I send my guests home with a story? What would make tonight a night my guests will never forget?” That’s when he remembered the goblets of the Hebrew people’s God. ∗ It’s not like Belshazzar runs out of cups and just grabs the nearest spares. No, he has something more sinister in mind. We’re told these goblets are the same ones Nebuchadnezzar had taken from God’s Temple back in chapter 1. By now you know about Nebuchadnezzar. He wasn’t the boy you wanted your daughter bringing home. He was wicked enough to steal from God, but even he knew there were some lines you just don’t cross. There were some things of God’s you just didn’t mess with. Belshazzar doesn’t care. He two-­‐fists these goblets like they’re cans of Red Bull. He does this for two reasons. ü First, he’s mocking the old king, Nebuchadnezzar. He’s saying the former king was too weak to drink from the goblets of God. I’m much more of a man than him. Much more of a king. This is good-­‐old fashioned locker room talk. If you had been there you could have seen the testosterone spewing all over the room. ü But second, and even worse, Belshazzar is mocking God. As he drank from the cups of the LORD, he praised other gods. The Bible has a big word for this. It’s called “Idolatry.” Idolatry means giving someone else or something else the position in your heart that God alone deserves. The Bible says idolatry is so serious it’s like cheating on God. But Belshazzar doesn’t just cheat on God. He cheats on God and then celebrates it—does his own little touchdown dance. And when you reach the point you celebrate your idolatry, it’s what the Bible calls blasphemy. Blasphemy means taking something pure and making it profane, i.e. dirty (good à evil). It’s like this piece of art (show picture). Back in 1987 a guy named Andres Serrano put a crucifix into a container and every time he had to go to the bathroom, he peed into the container until the cross was covered in his urine. He called it “Piss Christ.” He was saying, “This is what I think about Jesus.” That’s blasphemy and it’s the attitude Belshazzar demonstrates here. Here’s how God responds—5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together (Daniel 5:5-­‐6, ESV). 2 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 ∗ Now, I believe God has supernatural power. I believe He performs miracles. And I believe He did exactly as these verses say. But I’ll also admit this isn’t something we see everyday. I’ve never seen fingers come out of a wall (maybe this only happens at the churches that handle snakes). Let me try to explain what’s happening and why. ü Did you hear about the family in New York City who knew they wanted their daughter’s name to start with the letter “E” but they couldn’t agree on an actual name. They decided to call her “E” and when she got old enough they’d let her choose whichever “E” name she liked the best. When she was old enough, she decided she liked “E” so she kept it. That’s now her legal name, the letter “E.” They tried the same thing with her younger brother but they used the letter “K.” When he was four he chose the name “Knuckles.” Awesome. So his parents made “Knuckles” his legal name. True story. ü What if your parents had let you choose your own name? Tell you what, let’s do this—
take ten seconds and turn to the person on both sides of you and tell them if you had to choose any name other than your current name what would you choose. ∗ Experts tell us that your name helps shape your personality. That’s why they changed the names of Daniel and his friends in chapter 1. Names say something about who you are. Your identity. But what does any of this have to do with Daniel 5? GOD WHOSE NAME IS JEALOUS: Well, if names say something about who we are, what do we do with a verse in the Bible like—14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14, NIV ‘11). ∗ One of God’s names is Jealous? Isn’t jealousy a bad thing? Jealousy is wanting what someone else has. But what about when that something rightfully belongs to you? What if you did all the work on an office project, but someone else took the credit? What if you worked overtime but someone else got paid? Is jealousy wrong, then? Now take a step back and imagine you’re the Creator of the Universe. What if everything rightfully belongs to you? If you had made everything from galaxies to koala bears to the atoms making our chairs, even the sound waves that made the music we heard a little while ago. What then would you say about jealousy? You see when something is rightfully yours jealousy is the appropriate response, like the jealousy of a husband for his wife or wife for her husband. 3 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 ∗ Here’s what the Bible wants us to understand—God, and God alone, deserves our worship. First words of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s the first thing the Bible wants you to know—God created it all. It all belongs to Him. Right in the middle of the Bible, the Psalms tell us God knit you together in your mother’s womb. God created you. You belong to Him. The New Testament says all things were created by Jesus and through Jesus and for Jesus and that in Jesus all things hold together. From the beginning to end, the Bible is telling us God has the right to be Jealous. ü Maybe this is why Daniel refused to eat food from the King’s table in Daniel 1. ü Perhaps it’s why when Daniel interpreted ole’ Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2 he said, “Don’t give me credit for this. No human could do what you asked, but there is a God in heaven who interprets dreams.” ü Could this also be why Shadrach, Meeshach, and Abendego refused to bow down to the statue in chapter 3 even though it almost cost them their life? ü And may it ultimately have been the reason Nebuchadnezzar repented in chapter 4? The Jealousy of God has been influencing the key players of this book the entire time. And it all comes to a head in Daniel 5. TRANSITION: Remember where we left off. Fingers were emerging from nowhere and beginning to write on the wall opposite Belshazzar. But these are no ordinary fingers; they are God’s fingers. Four times in the Bible we read about the fingers of God. Every time it’s a big deal. God really wants to get this guy’s attention. And I’d say he was successful. People a lot smarter than me suggest v. 6 is trying to politely tell us the king, as they say in KY, soiled his britches. Or as my ten-­‐year-­‐old nephew says, dropped his Tootsie Rolls. Terrified and a little messy, the king calls in his best people and commands them to read the writing on the wall. We’ve seen this before with Nebuchadnezzar, so we’re not surprised when they can’t do it. Finally someone says, “Get Daniel.” And Belshazzar tells him, “If you can read this message, I will shower you with gifts and make you the third most powerful person in the kingdom.” 4 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 TEXT: 17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another (Daniel 5:17a, ESV). ∗ He goes on to tell Belshazzar, “You know all about what happened with Nebuchadnezzar. You know about the statue. You know how God drove him mad. You know that he eventually humbled himself and recognized the God of the Bible as the one true God. But you, Belshazzar, have refused to humble yourself.” ∗ Did you know one of the most offensive things you can do to God is to see how He worked in someone else’s life and still refuse to humble yourself? To see that Jesus Christ is alive and powerful but just not care. It’s like spitting in God’s face. I see what you did with that person over there, but no thank You, God; I’m just fine myself. I’m going to do my own thing. Forget you, God. That was Belshazzar’s attitude. Which explains why God wrote what He wrote on the palace wall—25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5:25-­‐28, ESV). ∗ God put 3 words on the wall. Each word is a message to Belshazzar and a challenge for us. ü The word Mene means “numbered” – God has numbered your days (hold up the thumb on your hand like this and say “numbered” because Belshazzar has one day left). ü Tekel means “weighed” – your life has been weighed and you have fallen short (take your finger pull it back into a fist, smack it into your other hand and say “weighed” because God is about to bring the smack down on Belshazzar). ü The third word, Peres, means “divided” – your kingdom will be split in two (separate your hands like this, without hitting your neighbor, because God is going to give Belshazzar’s Kingdom to others). ∗ Now v. 30, 30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain. 5 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 ü God took his life that very night. It may seem harsh but here’s the message—God should not be messed with. Not because he is bad but because he is Big. ü The Book of Daniel has taught us that chapter 1—God’s presence is inescapable (even when you find yourself in a strange land, God is there); chapter 2—God’s power is unending; chapters 3/4—God’s purposes will not fail; but in chapter 5 we learn God’s patience has a limit. God’s patience has a limit (2x). And He is jealous for you. TRANSITION: Earlier I asked if you’ve ever wondered what God wants from you. Do you know what He wants more than anything? You. Pure and simple. He created you. You are His child. And He knows that until He becomes your greatest prize everything else competing for your attention will wind up breaking your heart. God loves you with a jealous love and He has a message for you today. Something He’s trying to get through to you. Some of you know what it is because He’s been speaking it all series long. Some of you know because it’s been even longer. But before we talk about what God is saying, I want to look at a story from the life of Jesus, we’ll connect it back to Daniel, and then we’ll close our time together. APPLICATION: Jesus and his closest friends are sailing across the Sea of Galilee (picture). Beautiful place but storms tend to brew up pretty quick with the air coming through the mountains. We’re told when a storm broke this day Jesus happened to be asleep on a cushion in the boat. I always picture one of those neck pillows people use on airplanes. Whatever it was, his friends wake him up in a panic, totally afraid, but Jesus rebukes the storm and everything becomes calm. Here’s the crazy thing. The people in the boat with Jesus are more afraid after the storm than during it. Because they had just learned that Jesus’ power over the storm is even more powerful than the storm itself. Jesus and his friends finish crossing over the sea where they meet a man possessed by an army of demons. The Bible says this guy roamed the hills and made his home in the tombs, screaming all through the night and cutting himself violently. Even the bravest townspeople would occasionally work up the courage to try and subdue him, but the man would always break free. This is the first person Jesus meets when he reaches the other side of the Sea. And in that moment Jesus frees this man from what has enslaved him for years. He heals him. 6 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 Now the demons that had possessed the man recognize Jesus and beg him to send them into a group of pigs feeding on the hillside. And when he does, the pigs run down one of these steep banks into the Sea of Galilee. It’s quite a scene. Notice what happens immediately afterwards. 14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-­‐possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-­‐possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. (Mark 5:14-­‐17, ESV). ∗ Did you get that last line? And they began to beg Jesus to depart from them! Here’s what they’re saying—Jesus, we’d rather you leave us than come face-­‐to-­‐face with what your power might do in us. ∗ Listen up, church. Sometimes when we think about the bigness of God, when God starts to speak into our lives or begins to do a work in us, we push Him away. Listen, I get it. For you, the thought of letting God speak or letting Jesus transform your life might seem more frightening to you than just keeping things like they are. But when Jesus reaches out and writes on the walls of our hearts, we have to respond. TRANSITION: God has a message for you today. Perhaps He’s been working on you this entire series, writing on the walls of your heart. He gave Belshazzar three challenges in Daniel 5. I want to leave each of you with the same three challenges tonight. CONCLUSION: #1 – God has numbered your days – I know it seems sometimes like life just drags on (till graduation, till turning 16, till you get out of the house), but I’m telling you your life is short. The Bible tells us we’re just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes (use spray mist). Some of you know this because you’ve begun to feel the brevity of life. Others of you may feel invincible but life is short and it only comes with so many chances. Sometimes we think we’ll just follow God when you get older. Don’t mock Him. If you believe He’s God, start treating Him like God—now. It’s what He deserves. It’s what He asks of you. 7 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 #2 – Your deeds have been weighed and you have fallen short – all of us fall short of God’s standard. All of us sin and mess up. Belshazzar misused goblets and we saw how that turned out for Him. Imagine how God feels when you misuse the life He gave you—when you use your body or your mind or your time in ways God never intended. You may be worried you’ve wandered so far from God that He’s given up on you. Here’s your answer. Not yet. You may be far from Him, but you’re not too far. Jesus offers to meet you where you are. He offers to take your sin and shame upon himself and give you his life and grace. All you need to come home is Jesus, which leads me to number three. #3 – Your kingdom will eventually crumble – All that you have in life apart from Christ will one day be gone. You can spend your life building your own kingdom knowing that it’s eventually going to crumble. Or you can walk with Christ and receive a Kingdom that will last forever. And I promise you only Jesus can give you what you’re looking for. Only Jesus can give you what you need. Sometimes it may seem like God is just sitting on His hands letting all kinds of bad stuff happen in the world. You may wonder why you’d want to trust a God like that. Why doesn’t He come back and do something. You want to know why? He’s waiting for more people to come home.1 Come home. It was too late for Belshazzar, but I promise it’s not too late for you. God is waiting for you. He’s not just waiting; He’s speaking something to you today. God has a message for you. How are you going to respond? Prayer à Response (decision/baptism, prayer, cards) 1 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed (2 Peter 3:9-­‐10, ESV). 8 God has a message for you—how will you respond? September 12-­‐13, 2015 Resources Baldwin, Joyce G., "Daniel," Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove: IVP, 2009). Boice, James Montgomery, Daniel: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006). Kremer, William, Does a baby’s name affect its chances in life? Accessed www.bbc.com/news/magazine-­‐26634477 Longman, Tremper, "Daniel," The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999). Piper, John, The Lord Whose Name is Jealous, a sermon on Exodus 34:10-­‐16 delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on October 28, 1994. Accessed www.desiringgod.org/sermons/the-­‐lord-­‐whose-­‐name-­‐is-­‐jealous Zhang, Maggie and Jenna Gourdeau, 13 Surprising Ways Your Name Affects Your Success. Accessed www.businessinsider.com/how-­‐your-­‐name-­‐affects-­‐your-­‐success-­‐2014-­‐8 9