Sermon Tone Analysis

*Pray slowly*

*1.

**When church and state collide?*

There has been increasing comment in the media over the past few months about the place of religion in politics.

Australia’s Treasurer Peter Costello said a few weeks ago ‘Australians are rightly suspicious of people who will try and use religion for another end.’

Last year Kim Beazley said those who exploited religion ‘risk hindering the faith of people who have different views.’

Even George Bush back in 2000 said ‘I am not all that comfortable describing my faith, because in the political world there are a lot of people who say ‘vote for me, I’m more religious than my opponent’.

And those kinds of folks make me a little nervous.’

In a recent book by the managing editor of Newsweek, he argues that faith is a matter of choice not coercion.

If God doesn’t force us to believe, he argues, then why should mere mortals try to force us to.

Tonight I don’t want to talk about whether politics and religion should be kept separate, but rather what happens when we live in a political world, whose laws clash with our religious beliefs.

Let me give you a few scenarios from the Bible League’s latest ‘Bibles for the Persecuted’ booklet.

1)      In China An Chang was leading a Bible study group when 4 government officers burst in.

They beat him, took him to the local police station and questioned him for hours.

If it was you would you keep leading that bible study group?

2)      In Laos Chan keenly evangelized his friends.

Soon the authorities swooped and for 18 months he was in gaol.

They tortured him, beat him, drew blood from his veins to weaken him.

Now out of prison he is still threatened and interrogated, but he is setting up a second church.

Would you?

3)      In Egypt a church planter has to get permission from the President every step of the way to start a church.

Would you persevere in such conditions?

4)      In Libya a man was allowed to import 2000 Bibles as long as he only gave them to Christians.

What would you do?

5)      In Vietnam it is forbidden by law to read a Bible.

One lady was ordered to turn hers over to some army officers.

When she refused and held on to it more tightly they beat her to death.

What would you do?

6)      Andrei was a pastor of a small but growing evangelical church in Russia.

Some supporters of the local Orthodox church dragged him into a cemetery, beat him and told him to leave the village within a month or else.

He didn’t, and kept ministering in that church.

What would you do?

What would you do?

When human law and your faith collide?

Or when you are threatened for your faith?

Remember the book ‘Rachel’s tears’ and the Columbine High school tragedy  - imagine you      are sitting in class, when two hooded youths burst in carrying guns.

They demand that all those who love Jesus stand up.

The young girl at the front of the class stands, only to be shot dead.

Will you stand up?

Where will you draw the line and say I cannot do that?

Or on the other hand say I must keep doing this?

For us in Australia it doesn’t often get as severe as the places I’ve just mentioned.

But the principle remains.

So two more quick examples which may perhaps be closer to home:

            1) Your tax agent is showing you the return he has just prepared for you.

He has put down some expenses connected with your job that you never spent.

You ask him what these amounts are, and he says that in your line of work you can claim that amount without having to prove it, so you might as well.

Would you claim it?

2) You have just bought a new computer.

Your friend comes around with a copy of the latest software, or movie or music, which you know is already loaded on his computer.

It’s just what you want and need, and he offers to give it to you free.

Will you take it?

Where do you draw the line when it comes to living out what you believe?

Where do we stand up for what God wants and say to the world ‘this far and no further’?

What cost are we prepared to pay to maintain our obedience to God, despite the authority of the state?

Or do we keep compromising our faith?

They’re not new questions.

In the Old Testament Daniel and his friends faced very similar pressures – to deny God, to disobey God, or else.

As we look at Daniel 3 & 6 my prayer is you will leave tonight encouraged to stand up for your faith in Christ every day in every way, regardless of the cost.

Daniel’s God is our God and he is worth it.

So you might like to turn to Daniel in your Bibles, we’re going to look at both chapters 3 and 6, and to the outline in your Bulletins if you don’t already have it handy.

Daniel is just after the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

*2.

The continuing clash of kingdoms*

            But first let’s just remind ourselves of who Daniel is and where he is and why.

Because if you just jump straight into Daniel it’s like watching the current series of 24 without having seen the previous ones.

You feel a bit lost, and not sure of what’s going on and who is who.

So, what is the story thus far?

            722BC and Israel have spent centuries generally rebelling against God, despite His clear warnings that He will punish them.

So God acts – in that year the northern tribes of Israel are wiped out by the Assyrians.

You would think the tribes that are left in the south would learn from that – but they don’t.

So in 605BC the unthinkable happens - the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar come and invade Jerusalem, the city of God, taking away the treasures of their temple, and taking away the cream of Jewish youth to re-programme them, to indoctrinate them into the ways of Babylon.

Including a young man called Daniel, and three of his friends – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

For the Israelites these events raise huge questions – Where is their God?

Is he powerful?

Is He still king?

What is He doing?

What will happen to Israel?

           

            Chapters 1 and 2 of Daniel show Israel that God is still very much in charge, and in fact he is responsible for their situation.

It was God 1:2 who delivered Judah’s king Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.

It was God who in 1:9 caused the official to grant Daniel’s request.

It was God in 1:17 who gives Daniel and his friends great wisdom, and who gives Daniel the ability to understand visions and dreams.

It is God in chapter 2 who gives Nebuchadnezzar his dream, and it is God who gives Daniel the meaning of the dream.

And in the dream itself it is God and his kingdom who will prevail against all the kingdoms of the world.

On the surface it seems God has been defeated.

But when we look past the physical events themselves we see that the One true God is still in control.

As we look around our world, it often seems that God is missing in action.

So the recent letter in the Bush Tele from a Berowra lady who said in essence she couldn’t believe in a God who would let innocent children die in war.

But friends we need to look beyond surface level to see that God is still working to fulfil His plan and nothing will thwart Him.

It’s all about kings and kingdoms.

God, our God, the true and eternal king of the universe is building his kingdom, which, as the dream last week reminded us, will one day overthrow every human kingdom.

But until then humans still try to build their kingdoms, usually without any reference to God, and often in opposition to God.

The question for Daniel and his friends, as it is for us, is which king to obey, when these two kingdoms clash, as they will?

How does Daniel and his friends live out their trust in God in Babylon?

How will we as Christians live out our trust in God, in a very pagan nation, which is what Australia is fast becoming?

So let’s see what happens to Daniel and his friends.

We’re going to look at chapters 3 and 6, which are part of the half of the book which is written in Aramaic, rather than Hebrew.

Aramaic was the language of Babylon.

And I take it these chapters are written in it because God, the true God, wants all the nations of the world to know that He is carving out His own Kingdom, a Kingdom not of this world, which will eventually crush and destroy every man-made kingdom, and then last forever.

The challenge is will they be part of this kingdom or not?

 

*3.

Hot in the city (Daniel 3)*

            Let’s get to the Bible.