Bomb Proof - Daniel 1:8-21

Cody Hale

Thriving in Babylon • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

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Introduction

(Show Pic) On August 6, 1945, an Allied plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, creating a fireball 1,200 feet in diameter. Disaster rained down upon the city, killing an estimated 150,000 people and leveling both the biological and man-made landscape.

That is, except for the Hiroshima’s gingko trees. When the bomb was dropped, the gingkoes were in full leaf, and in the instant that it detonated, the leaves and limbs were incinerated, and the bark was charred beyond recognition. Yet, remarkably, the heart of the tree remained alive. Beneath the charred bark was living cells uniquely equipped to endure the most catastrophic circumstances.

God’s Word

The scene that opens the book of Daniel is not all that different than the one in Hiroshima. God’s people have been decimated by Babylon. There was a blockade of Jerusalem that was so long and so extended that mothers began to cannibalize their children to survive. The brightest of Israel’s children have been taken away from their families and deported into Babylon, where they will work to assimilate them by stripping away their heritage and making them thoroughly Babylonian. But, the Psalms open with the picture of a bomb proof tree, a tree that’s planted by streams of water. And, we’ll see in Daniel a man that embodies that Psalm to a large degree. And, it’ll help us, as we live in a Babylonian age, to learn How to Have a Bomb Proof Life: (headline)

“You” give your “life.”

Wedding vows are a public declaration of decisive love. It’s making it known to your spouse and to all the people you know that you aren’t keeping your options open. You’ve decided that this is the person to whom you’re going to devote the rest of your life regardless of the impending circumstances.

I think that’s why God often compares his relationship with his people to that of a husband and wife. His love for you has been decisive. It isn’t dependent upon your circumstances or your productivity or even your morality. He’s chosen to love you. And, what He requires is a covenant in which you decisively choose to love him, regardless of what other opportunities might present themselves. God requires you to take yourself off the market.

You see, a bomb proof life requires a bomb proof love. One that’s decisive and committed. So, to live a bomb proof life, you have to answer a couple of questions:

“Who” will get your “heart?”

Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.”

The word “youth” is used five times in chapter one. Though it can in rare occasions refer to adolescents, it’s the word overwhelmingly used to describe children. I point that out because what I see in Daniel is what pray for my children. Daniel “resolved” at a young age that he was going to spend his life in the pursuit of God. He “fixed” his heart on God and was “determined” to never waver from it.

DL Moody had a fifth grade education and moved to Chicago because he wanted to become a wealthy businessman. But, he had a heart for the Lord and began to minister to children because he was too insecure about his lack of education to minister to adults. Then, at 30 years old, Henry Varley said to DL Moody: “The world has yet to see what God can do through a man who is totally yielded to Him.” Moody was captivated by these words and resolved, “By the Grace of God, I will be that man!” Moody would go on to preach to stadiums of people where thousands would trust in Christ. He founded a church, a school, and influenced students at Cambridge in Oxford.

I want to ask you the same question that Daniel answered and the DL Moody answered: Who will get your heart? Will you resolve this day that the Lord Jesus will get all of your life for the rest of your life? Daniel shows us that it’s not too soon. I’d rather spare you the consequences of any time apart from Jesus. But, DL Moody and others show us that it’s not too late? Will you resolve this day to offer your heart to the Lord?

And, when you answer that question in favor of the Lord, it leads to a second:

“Where” will you draw the “line?”

Daniel decided that God would always have his heart and that Babylon never would. We know that the Jews took seriously the food that they ate. It’s likely that that the meat and wine had be offered to idols or that it had been prepared in an ceremonially improper way. So, Daniel draws a line. He will deny himself the pleasures and excesses of Babylon because his stomach and his pleasure were not his chief priority. The Lord was.

Danny Akin puts it this way: “Daniel was forced into Babylon, but he would not let Babylon into him.” You see, it’s one thing to live in the world. It’s another thing for the world to live in you. If we want to impact our culture, we must live within it without becoming like it. That means we must draw some lines to forgo many of the excesses so that we are people marked by our devotion to God and not our devotion to the American Dream. Let me ask you: Do you look more like the culture than you do like Jesus? It’s time to draw some lines, not out of a spirit of legalism that says, “I need to prove how good I am,” but out of a spirit of joyful, sacrificial devotion to a cross-centered life that says, “Look at how much better Jesus is than this world.”

Rob, Luke, it’s the deacon’s job to lead the church in joyful, sacrifical devotion to the Lord. Your work is the first to be dismissed in the world, but the first to be honored in the Kingdom. Your service is meant to remind us where our treasure is.

“God” gives you “favor.”

In spring of 2007, I was heading toward my wedding day, and the reality of needing to financially support my new bride was setting in. I was bi-vo youth pastor here and worked another part-time job, but it was hardly enough to support a new family. Then, out of nowhere, I get a call from FBC Talladega to talk to me about being their full-time youth pastor, and I was hired there a month before I was married. I turned 21 on their staff. And, honestly, I wasn’t a great fit. I was a little too Rabbittown, and they were a little too First Baptist. I was only there 11 months before the Lord moved me to Hill Crest.

I often wondered if I missed God’s will when I went there. But, as time has gone on, I’ve realized I didn’t. I had the opportunity to preach for my former pastor two weeks ago, and it reminded me that God had me there. The pastor I served with there has been one of the most constant sources of encouragement and kindness to me throughout my ministry. He’s the one that taught me the importance of good administration is a necessity in the ministry. The situation allowed me to taste failure in a way that I needed. God was positioning me.

Circumstances are often not as they appear with God.

He uses the “worst.”

Daniel 1:9 “And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,”

Jeremiah 24:7 “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

There’s an interpretive key for the book of Daniel that is often missed. It’s found in Jeremiah 24 (Jeremiah was a contemporary of Daniel’s). You see, Daniel’s being in Babylon is often presented as a punishment because of sin, but that’s only half right. Babylon is an instrument of God’s judgment against the sin of Judah, but Jeremiah 24 shows us that Babylon is also an instrument of gracious deliverance for his remnant. Jeremiah says that there are good figs and bad figs in Israel. The bad figs are so bad they must be thrown out. He says they’re the ones remaining in Jerusalem and going down to Egypt to be judged. But, there are good figs who are to be preserved and enjoyed by the Lord. They are those who are taken into Babylon for protection.So, Daniel has just experienced the worst thing he could’ve imagined, but God was using this evil nation, this horrible circumstance as a means to preserve Daniel and God’s promises to his people.

Do you see the refrain of the Bible? The instrument of judgment — Babylon — becomes the instrument of deliverance instead. Doesn’t this refrain sing of the cross — another instrument of judgment which became an instrument of God’s gracious deliverance.

You see, this isn’t a story about how good Daniel is. It’s a story about how good God is. Daniel says, “God GAVE” three times in chapter 1 (v.2, 9, 17), and it’s meant to show us that God is sovereignly overseeing everything that happens and moving it toward his good ends. When he says that “God gave Daniel FAVOR,” “favor” is the word “hesed” you might remember from Ruth. It’s a word that indicates God’s covenant, steadfast loving-kindness. This is about much more than a kind eunuch. It’s about Gods sovereign grace. He has a plan that won’t be stopped, and He “gives” us a “heart” so we can be a part. That’s the point of Jeremiah 24 that is being fulfilled in Daniel 1.

And, it’s a reminder that the worst moment of your life often becomes the first line of your testimony. He can use a miscarriage to reveal a calling. He can use a divorce to produce humility and empathy. He can use a disability as a ministry or a disappointment to create contentment. The worst happens sometimes, and we don’t have to call it good. But, God is there, and He is working it toward his good ends.

But, He doesn’t just use the worst…

He uses the “ordinary.”

Daniel 1:9 “And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,”

Daniel 1:12–15 ““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 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.”

What’s remarkable about this story is how splendidly unremarkable it really is. We’re seeing how God moves his people into the places that He needs them to do the work He has for them. And, He isn’t using burning bushes and talking donkeys. God can work this way, but He doesn’t usually work this way. Instead, God uses a compassionate eunuch and wholesome vegetables to provide for his people and to prepare them for the work He has for them. Isn’t that striking? Babylonians are known for anything but their compassion, but Daniel just happens to find a compassionate Babylonian. Vegetables are known for anything other than making you fat, and they plump Daniel right up.

Don’t think so lowly of God that you believe He can only work by interrupting the mundane with the miraculous. Realize that He’s so sovereign that every mundane detail of your life is a thread in his sovereign tapestry. God most often works through the ordinary means of providence. I thought going to FBC Talladega might end my ministry. But, God used the worst as the ordinary means of preparing me for a future ministry. This is what He does. We want him to call our pastors to us by writing it on the sky. But, instead, he sends a sweet young woman to join our church, love our church, and then marry the young man He’s going to bring to serve our church.

Don’t just look for God at work in the miraculous signs. Read his word every day. Keep his word every day. Then, just keep doing the next thing that comes. Keep going to school and to college and to work. Keep living for God. And, God will use the relationships you have and the training you receive and the suffering you endure to present to you with the opportunities to be used by him in exactly the way He intends.

Rob, Luke, Deacon Ministry is a commitment to doing the worst and most mundane jobs in the church. But, Daniel reminds us: Don’t begrudge the ordinary. See God in it.

“God” gives you “wisdom.”

One of the things that I admire most about military families is their adaptability. They move so often that they develop the skills that are needed to be able to flourish wherever they are.

Daniel shows us that something similar ought to be said about the people of God. In fact, if you read 1:21 you see that Daniel moves to Babylon and outlasts Neb and Babylon. He makes it longer than anybody. Walking with God gives you the wisdom and security that should make you adaptable to any circumstance you may encounter. God’s wisdom bomb proofs your life. You see, we shouldn’t fear sending our children into Babylon with dangerous ideologies and antagonistic professors. We should fear sending them without God-given wisdom.

They need to…

Know when and how to “resist.”

Daniel 1:17 “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.”

Daniel 1:12 ““Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.”

It’s interesting that the third “God gave” statement of chapter one is learning and skill in education and insight in dreams for Daniel. I think we can summarize this as wisdom. “God gave” these four young men the skills and insight to be able to navigate extremely tricky situations with great effectiveness.

Think of how we see wisdom in Daniel’s life here. He recognizes that eating the food is a line that he can’t cross. He knows it’s the right time to resist the order. That’s wisdom. But then, notice how he handles it. He does go in guns-a-blazing. He didn’t get angry with the eunuch and tell him what a reprobate he and all of Babylon were. “He asked….” He didn’t demand. He wasn’t hostile. He was gentle and respectful. “He asked.” Further, when the eunuch expresses concern, Daniel doesn’t get exasperated. The eunuch has good reason to fear the reaction of the king. Rather, Daniel makes a wise proposal: “Test your servants” to see that it’s true.

Church, if we want to be agents of change in our day, we need to be less known for our anger and bitterness and more known for our respect and wisdom. We are sheep among wolves. We are light among darkness. We are bearers of Good News. Since our hope is not contingent upon the economy or the government but the sovereignty of Almighty God, we don’t have to live angry. We don’t have be harsh. We have to resist respectfully and steadfastly with our confidence in God.

But, there’s another layer. We also have to….

Know when and how to “comply.”

Daniel 1:17–20 “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.”

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Daniel resisted the food, but not the education or the opportunity to be elevated into diplomatic service in Babylon. That is, Daniel sought to a be a representative of God from within culture, not separating himself from it. He would comply in every way he could so long as he didn’t have to cross the lines that would diminish his obedience or witness as one of God’s people.

Wisdom is recognizing how to adapt to the culture without assimilating or capitulating to it. It’s knowing how to be in the world but not of the world. In fact, Daniel and his four friends show us a wise, balanced approach toward political life in a secular age. Gracious, but unflinching. Active, but not assimilated. Firm, but not hostile. Daniel is committed to making God’s ways known by using his influence in Babylon, but He doesn’t think for a second that his hope lies ultimately with the direction of Babylon.

I am confronted here because I am tempted to be apolitical because of my disdain and skepticism toward politics. I have found it to bring out the worst in people and the worst in Christians. I have found myself turning my nose up at the whole enterprise. But, this isn’t wise. We must be active, but with balance and wisdom. There are others here who are tempted to be imbalanced in the other way. You allow your politics to dominate your thoughts and attention more than your faith. You find that it brings out anger, bitterness, and anxiety. Daniel warns us against this too. We must be in Babylon and active, but we must not let Babylon into us.

Rob, Luke, in Acts 6, the apostles asked the church to appoint the first deacons. They chose seven men of good reputation who were “full of Spirit and of wisdom.” That is, the deacons are to lead the charge in balanced, wise living. You’re the peacemakers in the congregation. You’re the ones that set a tone of reasoned, wise action in a dark time. This is perilous, but vital work. And, your hope to fulfill it depends entirely upon your trusting in the sovereignty of God. That is, you help us to build a bomb proof church by leading the way with bomb proof wisdom.

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