Pastor Dan Eddy
Daniel 6
Courage
7-25-10
I.
Introduction – the courage and conviction
of our faith in Christ
Port
The food services
provider at the senior citizens center told them they couldn’t pray before
meals, because federal funding subsidizes the food. Instead, the company said
they could only have a “moment of
silence.” Tim Rutherford of Senior Citizens, Inc said the rules are part of
their “operational guidelines.”
But individual senior
citizens kept on praying, and along with the mayor stood on their courage of
their faith in God, encouraging Senior Citizens, Inc to reverse its decision. It
did and the meal time prayers have returned.
Two
It seems like there are
more legal challenges to prayer in the
CLC Biblical
Figure #5, Daniel, serves as a great example for us to follow when it comes to
courage. (Point to sign on the front of the pulpit) My prayer is that you will
be encouraged by the Word of
God to live your faith more courageously. Encouragement – YES; Discouragement – NO.
God gives
courage; He does not want us to take away from others.
Based on Daniel
6, living courageously for the Lord means trusting in Christ by doing at least
three things. (Put up graphic #1)
II.
Doing what’s right - based on God’s Word -
even when it’s scary.
Daniel experienced
some scary things in his life. When he was a teenager, his tribe of
Daniel was picked
from among a handful of his countrymen to be trained to serve Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in the world at that time.
Courage was a way
of life for Daniel. Daniel served the king without compromising his faith. The
Lord gifted Daniel to interpret the king’s dreams. That was scary work because the
news was not always good, but the Lord proved Daniel right by fulfilling the
prophecies he predicted for the king.
He stood up to
Nebuchadnezzar, and was even by his side when the king went insane. Daniel
guided him to repentance and I believe to a true confession in the Lord God.
Then Daniel stood
up to King Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzar’s idiot son) who didn’t follow his
father’s example. That king called Daniel in to read the writing that the Lord
supernaturally wrote on the wall. Daniel told him that the message revealed
that God had numbered the
days of his kingdom and it would be brought to an end, and it would be given
over to the Medes and Persians. Tell me that isn’t scary. Imagine telling the President
of the
Daniel was
promoted to third in command, but that night King Belshazzar was slain, Now King
Darius of the Medes-Persian Empire had taken over.
The lesson of us
is how many times is it scary to do what’s right by telling someone they’re
doing something wrong?
We may not face
kings, but how many times do we have the courage to stop gossip at home, work,
on a chat board or during coffee hour? How many times do we have the courage to
confront negativity? It can be scary. How many times when people are
discouraged do we have the courage to pray with them? It’s easier for us to be
discouraged, hold our breath, stay silent, and wish it would all blow over.
It’s easier to give into a “moment of
silence” than to have courage to stand up and pray out loud.
In Romans 12 God
tells us through the Apostle Paul:
“Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect… Let
love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one
another with brotherly (sisterly) affection. Outdo one another in showing
honor…Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer…Do not
be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans
12: 2, 9, 10, 12 and 21 ESV)
Jesus did not
conform to this world, but transformed it with His perfect encouraging example
of life. He did what was right. Christ showed courage when He stood up to the
power brokers of His day…the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the Romans
and did what was right all the way to the scary cross, the unbearable
punishment and the dark grave. Jesus is
the Word of God made flesh who did what was right for our salvation.
Christ gives you
courage. He is right by your side – in your heart – working so you can do
what’s right with no fear.
Living
courageously for the Lord means trusting in Christ by (put up graphic #2)
III.
Always acting with integrity…without
compromising God’s Word…even under discouraging circumstances
So by Daniel 6,
the Babylonians are out of power, which could have been discouraging for
80-year-old Daniel, working all those years with them. But Persian King Darius
took a liking to Daniel, saw him an exceptional administrator and promoted him
to be only one of three supervisors over 120 Satraps or governors. That was
encouraging.
But it had to be
discouraging for Daniel to have 120 governors and the other two supervisors to plot
his demise, strictly out of jealousy for his success and because he was a
believer in the one Lord God. Can you imagine 122 people plotting against you?
And what was the key to the plot: have the king declare you can’t pray to
anyone but him for just 30 days. Royalty
were considered deity in those days.
Once the king
figured out he’s been tricked…he couldn’t go back on his word. Medo-Persian law
said kings’ edicts were irrevocable. That had to be very discouraging for
Daniel.
Now at this point,
Daniel could have tried to compromise his faith and prayed silently. I mean who
would know? Oh…I guess God would. He could have rationalized his actions as
saving his own life. But he didn’t. He opened up the shutters for everyone to
see, and kept right on praying every day 9am, Noon, and 3pm.
Daniel was
encouraged to keep giving thanks to God, and prayed to Him for guidance and
wisdom. Daniel’s faith told him to obey
God, not man.
The king was hoping that the God Daniel continually served with integrity
would save him from the hungry lions. Incidentally,
this text was originally written in Aramaic and the word for “den” is similar to the word in Hebrew
that refers to the place of the dead.
For us today, I
know it’s easy to get discouraged here at CLC when we talk about offerings and
budgets. I know it can be discouraging when we don’t see enough people helping
with various projects. I know it can be discouraging when we don’t see fellow
members regularly in church. But the last thing God wants us to do is to compromise
our faith by rolling back to ministry of the past. He wants us to be encouraged
like Daniel to keep praying, and not allow the negativity of people and our culture
to discourage us.
The senior
citizens in
Instead,
I encourage you to take these Words of God from Ephesians 6:10-11 (ESV) and
pray them: “Be
strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of
God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
It
is God in Christ Jesus who gives us our integrity and the encouragement to
stand strong, and not be discouraged. Christ
always served His Father with integrity, never compromising, especially in His
greatest hour of discouragement being mocked, beaten, and martyred for you and
me.
Jesus
faced the den of death, torn apart by our sins. What was discouraging on Friday
turned to encouragement by Sunday. By faith, He gives you the encouragement of
His love, shown always in His most courageous act, death to give you life for the
forgiveness of your sins.
By
faith, Jesus gives you courage. He doesn’t want it taken away from you.
Lastly, living
courageously for the Lord means trusting in Christ by… (Put up third graphic)
IV. Giving a true witness to God that’s
encouraging for others
Well
the next morning King Darius anxiously went to the den and called down to
Daniel and rejoiced that he miraculously lived.
Even after Daniel
was delivered he did not hold a grudge against the King, didn’t curse or swear
at Darius for throwing him in with the lions. There was no malice. Instead,
Daniel exclaimed “O King, live forever,”
and he served the king after that. He gave a true witness of forgiveness. And
as a result, King Darius was willing to allow the one Lord God to be viewed as
the God over himself, and added to the edict to worship the Lord God. Darius
reached the same conclusion as Nebuchadnezzar did before him about who the most
power almighty God is.
Because of his
faith, God found Daniel innocent and saved him from death. God looks at Jesus
who survived death and finds us innocent by faith in Christ. Daniel is a forerunner to Jesus. Christ, too,
was plotted against because of His courageous witness of God. Christ
represented a threat to the rulers of His days of walking the earth. But Jesus,
too, survived the den of death by rising from the dead in the flesh. But unlike
with Daniel’s conspirators, in Christ’s case we, the guilty, will not be
punished to death. Because of that we can say: “O those who have faith in Christ, live forever.”
Many times our
most encouraging witness for Christ to others is when we face situations in our
lives courageously. When we face the threat of death from a terminal illness
and live. When we face the threat of financial ruin, and survive. When we face
unfair criticism for our actions, and do not gossip or retaliate or show malice.
This week various
CLC members gave a true witness of God that was encouraging for me. When I was
feeling down on Friday I read Barb Johnson’s column in this month’s Beacon, and I was encouraged. I’m
encouraged that we have a fundraiser date set for Dan and Patty Schmelzer. I
was encouraged as I read Charlie’s article in the Beacon on “Defending the Faith.” I am encouraged when I go to our
website that it is much easier to read and has a lot more content. But I am
really encouraged by the baby’s face on the home page, who was baptized about a
month ago. I am encouraged by the 26
people who filled out their prayer request forms. I was expecting 5-6, Shame on
me.
We give courage;
we don’t take it away from others.
For Jesus is the
living God
and He endures forever;
His kingdom of the Church will not be
destroyed,
His dominion will never end.
Christ rescues and He saves;
He performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth…
He performed signs and wonders through the miracle of Baptism and
His real Body and Blood of His Supper to encourage your faith in him.
IV.
Conclusion
So let me
conclude by speaking God’s blessing to you this morning:
Now may the God of peace
continue to equip your faith, like He did with Daniel,
discouraging
sin and encouraging every good work,
that you may do his will
courageously,
doing
what’s right by His Word even when it’s scary,
always
serving with integrity without compromising His Word, even under discouraging
circumstances
and
giving a true witness that’s encouraging to others.
God bless you to do that through
Jesus Christ, and may the glory be His forever and ever. Amen.