Daniel 3:1-12
Topic: Don’t let music influence to do the wrong thing
Whether you want to admit it or not, all of us have been influence by some type of music. Whether it be Jazz, Blues, Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, Country and Western, Hip Hop, Classical, or Gospel; all of us has been influenced by some type of musical style. Now, it has been said that God gave the gift of music so we can hear the melodies of the heart. Music in itself can be used to uplift the soul, elevate the mind, calm our fears, relax the mind, promote peace, and love. But music, when used the wrong the way, it can corrupt minds, entice you to sin, entice you to be violent, to dress inappropriately, to disrespect one another, and to influence to do something foolish that can cause you end up in jail, or end up dead.
And that is the basis for this message. In these passage of scriptures, we are going to see three young Hebrew men; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to bow down to a golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had built up for himself when they heard a certain sound of music being played.
Now, King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. According to biblical history, King Nebuchadnezzar was known to be a powerful king, who had led Babylon to defeat many nations, and bring many nations to be subjected to his rule. King Nebuchadnezzar was known to be a cruel and ruthless king who would kill anyone who had crossed him or slighted him in any form or fashion. Also King Nebuchadnezzar was an idol god worshipper in that He had a large and tall golden image to be built, in that whenever the people would hear some musical instruments playing in the air, he wanted everyone to bow down at that moment to worship this 9 foot golden image. Now according to biblical history, it has been said that this golden image was a statue of King Nebuchadnezzar himself, or a statue of Bel, which was an idol god that the Babylonians worshipped.
Now in Daniel 3:1-8, we see that as the music was being played, everyone who heard the music being played started to bow down and to worship this golden image that King Nebuchadnezar had built. Yes, everyone bowed down to worship this golden image, except for these particular three Jews; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
But notice something here in this text. Now notice in Daniel 3:8 that it says, after the music had been played, it says that certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews for not bowing down to worship the image. But yet in Daniel 3:12, the accussing Chaldean only mentions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not bowing down. Now the question is being asked; since they accused the Jews for not bowing down to the golden image, how come only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was being pointed out for not bowing down to the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had built? You see, when the Babylonian army overtook and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, King Nebucahnezzar had instructed his army to keep alive and bring the best of the young Jewish boys back into his palace so he could train them in the ways of the Babylonian culture, and to hopefully make them forget about the true and living God. And there were more than three Jewish boys that was brought out of Jerusalem and brought into the Babylon captivity. In matter of fact, one of those Jewish boys that was brought along with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the other Jewish boys to Babylon was Daniel himself. But notice this here. Notice that they don’t accuse Daniel for not bowing down to this golden image because if you know Daniel like I know Daniel, he would not have bowed down either. Nor do they accuse any other Jews, but they accused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Now the question is, why were they single out? Well if you look at Daniel 3:12 it says, “There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods, or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
Now notice there were other Jews that did not bow down and worship the golden image, but these accussing Chaldean only pointed out Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for not worshipping the golden image. Why? I believe it was because these three Hebrew men had been appointed to be over the affairs of the province of Babylon. In other words, it was because they had been promoted to positions of leadership in the Babylonian government and because they had been promoted to positions of leadership in the Babylonian government, that could have somewhat ruffled the feathers of some of the Chaldeans, who felt that they should be in charge and be in positions of leadership. No doubt some of the Chaldeans were jealous of their promotions. And because they were promoted to be on top, these Chaldeans were trying to find something to bring them down.
And that is a lesson for us to learn today. And the lesson is when you are being blessed by the Lord, when you are anointed to do a great work for the Lord, when the Lord is promoting you to higher heights in your life, there will be some people who are going to be jealous of you and they are going to do anything possible to try to pull you down. Not only that, whenever you take a stand against something that is wrong, you will have people who are going to lie on you, talk bad about you, persecute you, and try to tear down your reputations. And that is what was happening with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; they were being persecuted for taking stand, for not bowing down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image.
Also Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was being persecuted because they did not follow the crowd. You see the crowd was bowing down to the golden image when they heard the music being played, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not. You see, just because the majority is doing it, that does not mean it is right. Just because the majority is saying something, that does not mean it is right. Just because you hear people calling women the B-word, or the H- word, that does not mean that it is right. Just because you see people walking around with their pants hanging below their waist, that does not meant that it is right. You see, there are some things that you just don’t do simply because it is not right, and it does not pleases God.
Now another question that is being asked, How come Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow down to the golden image when they heard the music being played? Now it must be understood that it was not because they did not like the type of the music being played. It was not because the music did not have a nice tune, or a nice beat to it because it did have a nice tune, or a nice beat to it. It was not because they weren’t musically inclined or musically talent like some other people. It wasn’t because they did not know how or did not like to dance. Nor was it because they did not like the band that was playing the music. It was because the music itself that was being played in these passage of scriptures had some bad intentions to it. You see there was nothing wrong with the music in itself that was being played in these passage of scriptures, but it was how the music was being used, that is, the music was being used to signal to the people when to bow down to the golden image.
And it was because of this principal, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar golden image when they heard the music being played because the music that they heard had some bad intentions in that it was used to signal the people to worship the golden image. And even today times, there are a lot of music that is being played over radio that has some bad intentions. Whenever you hear music and songs that entices you to have sex before marriage, be involved in a alternative lifestyle, calling women the B and the H word, killing someone because they are not wearing the right color, being disrespectful to authority figures like your parents, teachers, getting high on drugs, selling drugs, dropping out of school, etc, anytime you hear music or songs that entices you to sin, that is a piece of music or song that has some bad intentions.
Now notice that in Babylon, there were no Jewish Temples for the Jews to go worship the true and living God. There were no Jewish priests in Babylon teaching the law of God, but yet we see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego keeping the commandments of the Lord in a land that does not even honor God, or His Word. Now the question is, how were they able to do that? Well, Proverbs 22:6 says, Train up a child in a way they should go, and when they get old they wont depart from it. And in Psalms 119:9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word.”
No doubt when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was young, they were taught who God is. No doubt they were taught to trust in the Lord with all their heart. They were taught to worship God with all their heart. They were taught to obey God with all their heart. They were taught all these things and a whole lot more. But yet as they were living in a strange land that did not honor God. And the question is how do you honor God in a strange land? How do you honor God on a job that don’t want you to talk about the Lord? How do you honor God when you go to a school that has teachers, and administrators that don’t honor God, and don’t want you to honor God? Well, Psalm 119:11 says, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Yes, you may not be allowed to talk about the lord on your job, at school, in the classroom, but you can still honor God wherever you may be by keeping God’s word in your heart.
And when you have God’s word hidden in you heart, you will honor and worship the Lord God only because the bible tells us in Exodus 20:1-6, that God says, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I , the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”
And also the Lord says in Leviticus 26:1- “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear ye up standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord your God.”
You see, whenever a person bow down to a statute, to another person such as to another man or another woman, friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, children, relatives, neighbors, celebrities, famous athletes, famous rap stars, or when a person bow down to anything such as a stature, picture, poster, cars, house, money, sex, drugs, alcohol, job, or whatever…………
When a person bow down to another person, or bow down to anything, but yet does not bow down to the Lord God Almight, that person has committed the sin of “idolatry.” Idolatry is a sin when you bow down and worship a person or anything beside the Lord God Almighty himself. And idolatry is a sin that God hates because when you worship someone or something more you worship God himself, not only do you make God angry, but you make God jealous because God is a jealous God, and He will not share His glory as God with anyone else. That means, not only shouldn’t we bow down or worship anybody or anything beside the Lord God Almighty, but we shouldn’t worship ourselves as God because it is God who made us, and created us, and it is God who deserves all of our worship and praise.
Psalm 100:3 says, “Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
And the Lord says in Isaiah 42:8 that “I am the Lord; that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
You see, God is not going to share his glory with anything or with anyone else, including ourselves, because God is God all by himself and there is no other God beside him. In Isaiah 40:18, there is question that is being asked and the question that is being asked goes like this: “To whom then will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto him?”
You see, in the sport of basketball, you can compare Lebron James with Michael Jordan
In the sport of baseball, you can compare Barry Bonds with Hank Aaron
In the sport of football, you can compare Steve McNair with Donavan McNabb
In the world of Rap music, you can compare T.I with Soljah Boy
In the world of R&B music, you can compare Anita Baker with Jill Scott
In show business, you can compare Denzel Wahington with Jamie Foxx
In Comedy, you can compare Steve Harvey with Cedric the Entertainer
In politics, you can compare President Clinton with John F. Kennedy
But when it comes to God himself, you can’t compare anybody with God, because He is the only one who created this universe. He is the only one who can make a cow eat green grass, and that same cow produces white milk, yellow cheese, and yellow butter.
God is the only one who can make a donkey talk, walk in fire and not get burned, make a sea dry land to walk on, make water come out of a rock, walk on water like it is a sidewalk and not drown, heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, make a cripple man walk straight, cast out demons, feed 5,00 with just two fishes and five loaves of bread, and the list goes on and on because the God I am talking about is totally AWESOME!!!!!!! And because God is AWESOME, He is worthy to be bowed down to and worshipped.
The reason why we should bow down, and worship God only, because it is God who woke you up this morning. It is God who blessed you to have food to eat. It is God who gave you clothes to wear. It is God who gave you shelter over your head.
Yes, we ought to bow down and worship God because it is God who healed you when you were sick. It was God who delivered you when you were in trouble. It is God who blesses you to work on a job to earn money to pay your bills and provide for your family. It is God who blesses you to do well in school. It is God who answers your prayers. It is God who makes a way out of no-way.
Oh yes, we ought to bow down and worship God because He is our Creator, our Heavenly Father, our Deliverer, our Healer, our Provider from which all of our blessing flow……
And because it is God who has blessed us with many good and perfect gifts, God is worthy to bow down to and to give worship and praises.
Psalm 95:1-6 says, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let is come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hands are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”
And if God is to be bowed down to and worshipped, then we ought not bowed down to Allah, Mohammad, Confucious, Joseph Smith, or Rev. Sun Moon because none of these people can save you.
But yet, one must understand that you cannot bow down and worship God without worshipping Jesus Christ because when your worship Jesus Christ, you are worshipping God; for Jesus Christ is God. He is God in human flesh. He is one with the Father, and the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God.”
And in John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us( and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”
You see, Jesus was the Word that was with God in the beginning and is God because Jesus is one with the Father. Jesus says in John 10:30, “I and my Father are one.” And in I John 5:7 says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word(Jesus Christ), and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.”
And because Jesus is God in human flesh, He is to be bowed down to and worshipped. Not only should we worship Jesus Christ because He is God in human flesh, but we ought to bown down, and worship Jesus because He is the Savior of the world, He is Lord, He is the Son of God, He is the Bread of Life, He is the Good Shepherd, He is the Lilly of the Valley, He is the Bright Morning Star, He is the Resurrection and the Life, He is the Prince of Peace, He is the King of Kings, He is the Lord of Lords
Last, but not least, yes we ought to bown down and worship Jesus Christ because it is He who died on the cross for our sins,and rose from the dead with all power in his hands. And in Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
