- Daniel 1
- Are you ready to compromise your faith, or are you compromising it right now?
- Youth from public school to high school ages are dropping out of church increasingly
- effects of society -vs- poor training from us about compromise, discipline, discipleship, hedonism, focus on academia?
- we are sending them the message that Jesus isn’t worth our time and efforts
- Rom 12:1-2
- the call to be transformed; are you being changed???
- “Shinar” referenced in Gen 11 as Babel
- epitome of self-focus and false religion
- Babylon represents humanism and self-worship
- as believers, we are in exile too!
- Beliefs shape behaviour
- be resolved before you are ready
- being rooted in biblical truth of how you will live (v8; cf Jn 15:5)
- Satan may be waiting for you to be soft and weakened before launching a full attack again
- eating the food which was sacrificed to idols would have violated Deut 17 and the purity of Daniel
- since he was firmly rooted in the Lord, he knew how to navigate the situation
- truth doesn’t change you, truth APPLIED changes you
- if you don’t change, you can never break from the conformity and complacency of the world
- unless the Spirit works in you to change, you cannot
- if you don’t change, you can never break from the conformity and complacency of the world
- all throughout the book of Daniel, we see evidence of his resolve in the Lord
- be resolved before you are ready
- If we stand up to their culture, we must stand strong in OUR culture
- v6; cf Daniel 2:17-18; Heb 3:12-13
- do not stand alone; there is no strength apart from your community
- Israel always failed in 2 things:
- Resisting assimilation into other cultures
- Staying on their mission
- if we’re not in our mission with Christ, we will get assimilated!
- community is important to encourage and challenge each other to remain in face of God
- teaching others to obey God’s commands (Gal 4:19)
- we can’t live alone; remember Satan is prowling like a lion at the doorstep
- Since we are a mission and not a commune, we have to learn how to be “in” but not “of” the world
- v17, 20; cf Gen 12:1-3; Mk 16:16; Jn 17:15-18
- learn when to say Yes
- we were never called to be in commune and insulated from the world
- called to preach to all
- No to the food, Yes to the name change and education
- the food was a spiritual matter, showing allegiance to the land and customs
- Jer 29:4; the Lord carried them into exile
- Dan + Crew was presented with opportunity to use their education to bless the nation and turn the nation to God
- we are called to take elements from our community and employ it in furthering God’s kingdom
- we need to be 10 times better in our community and demonstrate that God exists
- compromise puts the whole Gospel in jeopardy
- v17, 20; cf Gen 12:1-3; Mk 16:16; Jn 17:15-18