This week we continue our study called Anomaly, which looks at how we can live uniquely in a culture of conformity. We will look at Daniel to see how he lived out his faith in the midst of Babylon, a culturally and spiritually diverse place. Just like every other culture throughout history, the people of Babylon were spiritually inclined and possessed spiritual longings that had never been fulfilled. And if we look closely, we can see that God wants to use each of us, His followers, to help our culture find satisfaction for its spiritual hunger.
Prayer: Take a moment and ask God to give you a heart-deep desire to help your culture find its way back to God.
Once again we find that king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had dreamt a dream that greatly disturbed him. However, in our passage for today, we find the story written by the king himself.
Read Daniel 4.1–18.
In this passage we can discover four principles that will assist us in helping our culture find its way to God. In verse four, we read that Nebuchadnezzar was contented and prosperous. This was a man who was powerful and did what he pleased. This included destroying Israel, enslaving entire nations, making a giant statue and forcing his subjects to bow down and worship it, and killing people who refused him. And yet, God gave him this dream that rocked his world and greatly disturbed him. In this we find our first principle:
God is actively reaching out to every person on earth, even those who seem the furthest from Him.
This could be that person who sits next to us at work or school and ridicules our commitment to integrity and ethical choices, but it also applies to those on the other side of the world who have never even heard of Jesus.
God doesn’t expect us to somehow force people to be interested in Him. Rather, God asks us to get to know those around us who don’t know Him. When we ask questions and seek to understand them, we will see how God is already at work to get through to them.
Question: Who in your life seems the furthest away from God? Take a few minutes to pray for God’s work in their lives.
In verse eight, in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar’s disquiet, we see that he invited Daniel into the situation. He shared his dream with Daniel and sought his help in understanding the meaning of the dream. This leads us to our second principle:
God has placed believers in strategic locations where they can share a message of life with the spiritually curious.
Not only is God at work in those around us, He has positioned and equipped each of us strategically to share the message of life with someone who is spiritually curious. But if that is going to happen it is going to require three things of us:
1. It will require us to face our fears.
Read Daniel 4.19.
When Nebuchadnezzar shares his dream with Daniel, Daniel realizes God is trying to tell the king that if he doesn’t get his life right with God, all he’s worked for is going to come crashing down. Even though Daniel knows that this message could help the king, he’s scared to say anything. Wouldn’t we all be? Can you say fiery furnace?
Each of us will also face significant fears when we attempt to share the message of life with someone. Unlike Daniel, we probably won’t be worried that they will have us tossed into the fire like Nebuchadnezzar did Daniel’s three friends. But we may be worried about offending them, saying the wrong thing, embarrassing ourselves, or even losing a friend.
Question: What are some of the fears you encounter when you share, or think about sharing, with someone God may have placed in your life?
2. We will have to be willing to sacrifice.
In order to be in this place of influence with the king of Babylon, Daniel had experienced a significant amount of sacrifice. Not only had he been removed from his hometown of Jerusalem and placed in a new city, Daniel had to serve in the government of the very country that had destroyed his own nation. This is what it took for God to place Daniel in this strategic location.
If we are going to effectively share the message of life with people, we also need to be willing to sacrifice. This may mean we will need to hang out with those that we wouldn’t normally hang out with. Or it could mean that God will call us to pull up roots and move to a new location, possibly even a new country.
3. We need to maintain consistent dedication to our own spiritual growth.
It wasn’t just because Daniel was present in Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar called for him. The king had clearly noticed something different about Daniel. Verse eight tells us that Nebuchadnezzar observed that the “spirit of the gods” was in him. Though Nebuchadnezzar didn’t fully understand why, he saw that there was something different about Daniel.
1 Peter 3.15 tells us that we should be “prepared to give an answer” for the hope that we have. As we saw with Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, when people see the difference in us they will be open to hearing our message. It is through a consistent pursuit of spiritual growth that they will see this difference. Then when they hit a spiritual rough-patch, they will seek us out and be open to hearing our message.
Question: Evaluate your commitment to spiritual growth. What do others see in you that might draw them to ask you about the hope you have? What are you doing to continue your spiritual growth?
Read Daniel 4.24–28.
Daniel’s message to Nebuchadnezzar was not an easy one to deliver. First, he tells the king that he needs to renounce his sins. Then he says that the king needs to start submitting to God by doing what’s right and being kind to the oppressed. Finally, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that if he does these two things, God will show up in his life and will restore him. This brings us to our third principle:
God doesn’t just raise us up to give good advice, He raises us up to share a complete gospel.
In the New Testament, when Jesus invited someone into a relationship with Him, He challenged them to seek His forgiveness and to follow Him with their whole life. This whole-hearted commitment to Jesus provides the evidence that a person accepts His complete gospel, not just the comfortable parts.
In light of our submission and the evidence of our commitment to Him, Jesus invites us into a future that is better than anything we can imagine. If we are going to share the message of life with those around us, we need to go beyond sharing just nice words, to sharing a complete gospel. We need to call them to a whole-life allegiance to Jesus.
In chapter five of Daniel, we read about a new king, Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son. We are told that despite all that happened between Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, Belshazzar refused to turn his heart toward God. The chapter goes on to offer a warning about wasting one’s life. It is important to consider that the book of Daniel was not written to those who didn’t know God, but rather to His people. Daniel’s warning to Belshazzar was recorded and communicated as a caution to us as God’s people not to take what we are given and do nothing with it.
Read Mark 4.14–25.
In His explanation of the parable of the seed and the sower, Jesus talks about how people react when they hear the seed of truth about Him. We see that those who accept the good news about Christ will produce fruit. He then goes on to tell us that no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bowl. Why not? Because a light is intended to shine out and provide illumination for others. We have a responsibility to pass along the good news about Him, to let His light shine in and through us.
Jesus concludes with a promise and a warning to those of us who have received the seed and the light. He promises that to those who have, those who receive and share the message of life, more will be given. But He warns that to those who do not have, those who keep the good news they have received to themselves, even what they have will be taken away. So our fourth and final principle for helping people find their way to God is this:
God rewards the evangelistically generous.
It only makes sense that God plants His seed in soil that will generously multiply that blessing to others, and that He will only put His light of truth inside a vessel that will let it shine for others to see.
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