Sermon Tone Analysis

For Christmas, Uncle Doug bought me a calendar for my desk.

In his avuncular thoughtfulness, knowing I have a lot of work to do while sitting at my desk, he really thought about it and purchased me something I could really use.

So he bought me a desk calendar…a “You might be a redneck if” desk calendar.

Good ol’ Uncle Doug—I love him so much.

I pulled these off my “You might be a redneck if” desk calendar within the last couple of weeks:

“You might be a redneck if…it takes more than five minutes to restrain your dogs before opening the door to visitors.”

“You might be a redneck if…you’ve been to the emergency room more than three times to have a fishhook removed.”

“You might be a redneck if…you would give up your house before you gave up your boat.”

“You might be a redneck if…you wave to people who are driving the same model car as you.”

I score right at 50%, I have to say.

Most of the time it doesn’t take me quite 5 minutes to restrain our two dachshunds, Pig and Peanut, but it takes far longer than I’d like.

And I proudly admit that I wave to everyone who drives a late-90s Honda Accord—especially those with similar paint jobs.

>Now, this sermon isn’t about rednecks or how to identify yourself as a redneck (if you need help in that department, you are free to consult my desk calendar).

This sermon is about exiles and how one might determine whether or not they are themselves an exile.

We’ve been talking about exiles during Sunday School—exiles in the time of Daniel and Esther and Ezra/Nehemiah.

One of the kids asked a very good question: “What’s an exile?”

I answered, “Yeah, it’s probably a good idea to define exile if we’re going to use the word.

An exile is someone who’s away from their home.

For the Israelites in the Old Testament, they had been taken away from Israel (Judah/Jerusalem) and taken to Babylon.

To be in exile means you are away from your home.”

If you belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ, you are an exile.

There’s no “you might be an exile if...” about it.

If you belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ (which, by the way, is the only way to belong to God), you, brother; you, sister, are an exile.

You are an exile: like Daniel and his friends; like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; like Daniel and the many others from Judah who were taken from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar all the way to Babylon.

You are an exile.

In our text for today, Daniel is referred to as an exile, just as he’s been twice before (2:25 and 5:13).

Daniel 6:13—“Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah...”

You are an exile.

Peter, the close friend and disciple of Jesus, refers to all Christians, to all Jesus-people as such; he writes (1 Peter 1:1)—“To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces”…and again (1 Peter 2:11), “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles...”

You are an exile.

You are away from your true Home.

>Just as rednecks have certain defining characteristics and things that are true about them, so also do exiles.

There are a few truths that exiles know.

Exiles know they might be hated (vv.

1-9)

I’m not sure who decided that “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” was a children’s story; it’s not really suitable for children, especially if we teach the whole story and teach it in its context.

I kind of understand why the story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den is in children’s Sunday school classes—for one reason, there are animals.

Any story with animals is almost automatically included in children’s curriculum (except maybe Samson and the 300 foxes (Judges 15:4).

But most of the stories with animals really aren’t truly suitable for kids.

For instance:

Noah’s Ark is a story about the end of civilization, the near-complete genocide of the human race, save Noah and his immediate family.

The animals marching two-by-two into the ark is cute and all, but it’s not children’s fare.

Daniel in the lions’ den includes themes of civil disobedience, the death penalty, and justice for the accusers and their wives and children who were thrown into the lions’ den and overpowered and crushed by the lions.

It’s pretty crazy, pretty violent.

>Now, I know you know the story.

Chances are, even if you’re virtually unfamiliar with the Bible, you know the story of Daniel in the lions’ den.

It’s a great story—I’m not sure it’s a children’s story—but it is an absolutely incredible story.

I know you know the story, though we tend to skip the set-up to the lions’ den; we tend to miss the context, what leads up to Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den.

This is where we see this first truth: exiles know they might be hated.

King Darius had kept Daniel in his administration when he took over the kingdom after the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon.

Daniel is one of three administrators over all the satraps, like a governor over a bunch of mayors (or something like that).

And among the three administrators, Daniel stood above all the rest—he so distinguished himself…by his exceptional qualities that he was set for a promotion.

This may be part of the reason he was hated by the other administrators and satraps; it may be most of the reason, in fact.

He was successful, he was more successful than them (and that’s usually a good way to make some enemies).

But there might be more to it than that.

Daniel was actually better than them.

They tried to find something blameworthy, something they could point to and say, “Aha!

I told you! He’s not that good of a guy—look at this and this and this!”

They tried to find something to pin on him, and they failed.

His conduct in governmental affairs was impeccable (what we have here is an honest politician—talk about a miracle!).

There was no corruption in him; he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

Daniel was actually better than them, and that made for no small number of enemies.

But there might be something beyond his success and his character that caused their hatred: his faith in God.

Look at verse 5:

If anything was going to be his undoing, it was going to be his religious faithfulness.

They know Daniel will not turn aside from worshipping his God.

So, all the administrators and satraps and prefects, advisers, and governors (everyone except Daniel) went to the king and said that all of them wanted the king to issue an edict about who could worship whom.

Everyone except Daniel was in on this, asking the king to put this into writing.

And so the king did.

And there it is: the way they get Daniel in trouble.

They hated Daniel for any number of reasons and found the singular way to get him in trouble.

There is a hatred, an animosity, that men have for God’s servants.

This was the case in Daniel 3 when the astrologers/Chaldeans went to Nebuchadnezzar to tattle on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

This is the case in Babylon (Daniel 3) and now it’s the case in Persia (Daniel 6).

Dale Ralph Davis said it best: “It matters not where you are— ‘the world hates you.’”

There is an explanation for it.

Jesus tells us why the world hates us.

Exiles know they might be hated, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it seems inexplicable.

Charles Schulz’s very first ‘Peanuts’ cartoon expresses this well (show cartoon on screen).

A boy and a girl are sitting on some steps.

Another boy approaches them in the distance and boy says to girl, “Well!

Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown!” Charlie Brown passes in front of them and the same boy says, “Good ol’ Charlie Brown—Yes, sir!”

After Charlie passes by, the boy says, “Good ol’ Charlie Brown…how I hate him!”

It’s so out of the blue.

But it seems to be a fact of life: You may well be hated, and it might not make any sense at all.

Daniel seemingly did nothing to make those around him hate him, but they hated him enough to place him in a situation wherein he’d be punished, killed even.

Sadly, Daniel and Charlie Brown are not alone in being hated.

This is the way it is with God’s servants in this world.

You should know: as a Christian, as an exile, you might be hated.

Exiles know they might be hated.

Last Thursday, I was having a conversation with a Hume-ite, a Hume-ian, a Hume-an, a person who lives in Hume about some of the men and women on TV who are referred to as “preachers” or “televangelists.”

He mentioned to me that he was finally able to catch one of them on TV.

“All that guy’s doing is leading people to believe that everything’s going to be okay,” said this Humean, “teaching them to believe that the Lord wants you to have a great life, your best life; that they can and should expect health and wealth and happiness and nothing else.”

He said, “That’s not preaching!

There’s nothing Christian about that!

But it’s no wonder people listen to it.”

He’s right; that’s not preaching.

There nothing Christian about that.

Here’s the truth, hard as it is.

And I tell you this because I love you too much to lie to you, to tell you half-truths, to blow smoke—Exiles know they might be hated.

Here’s the truth, if I may borrow a phrase: In this world, you will have trouble (John 16:33).