Living A Life Without Compromise

Living A Life Without Compromise

Daniel 1:1-20

The life of Daniel is the story of a young man that “Lived a Life Without Compromise.” The setting for the book of Daniel is during the third year reign of Jehoidakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon occupied the territory of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar was the reigning monarch of the kingdom of Babylon. While Nebuchadnezzar was gathering the treasurers and hostages in Judea when an emergency call came from Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar’s father had died and he needed to go back home.

Among the hostages Nebuchadnezzar took with him back to Babylon were Daniel and his three friends. Daniel was from a royal family and only a teenager at the time as were his three friends also teenagers. They were forced to travel 1,500 miles to Babylon.

Daniel 1:3-5: Nebuchadnezzar was a smart political leader. He chose the most gifted princes from Judah and planned to train them to team up with him as political leaders. Nebuchadnezzar ordered his chief officer to “bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The kind assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.”

Daniel 1:6 “Among these were some from Judah: Daniel – (name meaning ‘God is my judge’, Hananiah, (the Lord has been gracious), Mishael, (The one who comes form God), and Azariah (The Lord is my helper). The chief official gave them Babylonian names: to Daniel, Belteshazzar (the secret of their God Bel), to Hananiah, Shadrach (“the inspiration of the sun god”, To Mishael, Meshach (he who belongs to the goddess Sheshach.) and to Azariah, Abednego (servant of Nebo - the morning star). Although the young people were given names of pagan gods of Babylon they continued to live up to their Hebrew names.

Daniel 1:8: “But Daniel (along with his three friends) resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and win, and he (Daniel) asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”

With unshakable conviction, holy daring and delicate finesse of courtesy Daniel and his companions revealed their extraordinary gifts of wisdom and character. Whether they should eat the king’s food was much more than a questions of expedience or health. It related to the integrity of their vows of consecration as Hebrews to the God of Israel. The ceremonial significance of food even when just a part of the meat was dedicated to the pagan gods of Babylon would mean compromising their faith in the Lord God and the laws given by God to Moses. Regardless of the cost they would not defile themselves by eating any food dedicated to false gods.

Daniel and his friends were committed to living a life without compromise.

Do you want to live a life without compromise? Then there are several commitments you can make.

I. You Live a Life without Compromise when you Stay True to Your Convictions. Daniel 1:8

Daniel requested that their guard serve them only vegetables and water to eat for ten days. If after ten days they were not as healthy as the others in training then they would look at other options. At the end of ten days Daniel and the other young men looked healthier than any of those eating the royal food. So the guard did not force them to eat the king’s diet but continued to serve them vegetables instead.

Daniel and his friends based their convictions on God’s Word. Leviticus 11 – 17 outlines God’s commands concerning eating clean or unclean food. The true Jew only ate Kosher food.

It’s helpful to distinguish between personal convictions and Biblical convictions.

Personal Convictions come from family, community, and are often based on personal tastes and preferences.

There are various convictions on how to spend your Sabbath or Sunday. For those who work on Sunday they need to find another day to celebrate their Sabbath. For most of us our Sabbath is also on Sunday.

I grew up without many convictions on how to observe Sunday. I attended church Sunday morning and the rest of the day was fun in the sun – fishing, swimming, playing ball whatever. Carollyn grew up with strict Sunday observance. The entire day was special and dedicated to the Lord. The Sunday paper was saved to read until on Monday.

Some have the conviction of not eating out on Sunday. Others do not mind eating out on Sunday.