When the Pressure Is On
Griffith Baptist Church – 3/9/08
P.M. Service
Text: Daniel 2:1-18
The Introduction
Endurance The Thresher was a submarine that could go to great depths because of its great strength. The steel bulkheads were built to withstand great pressure of tons of sea water. But it went too deep once and was finally crushed into little pieces like a plastic model. Yet there are little fish that live even deeper in the sea than the submarine went. How do those little fish survive?
How do you deal with pressure?
Some deal with it in negative ways:
o Panic
o Depression
o Anger
o Disregard
Transition Statement: When we hear an unfamiliar noise in our car that we know doesn’t belong there, we want to pinpoint the source so we can take care of the right problem. We also need to know the source of stress in our lives so we can take care of it as well.
Body
1. The Source of Stress – 1-13
A. People (1-3)
i. When people are right with God, they are apt to be hard on themselves and easy on other people. but when they are not right with God, they are easy on themselves and hard on others. - John Newton
ii. Nebuchadnezzer was a man that needed pleasing; He was the boss
iii. Others around them were keeping a watchful eye
iv. It is not wrong to want to please others, but what is our deepest desire beyond that?
v. Ephesians 6:6 - Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
B. Performance (3, 5-6, 9)
i. A juggler, driving to his next performance, is stopped by the police. ’What are those machetes doing in your car?" asks the cop.
’I juggle them in my act."
’Oh, yeah?" says the doubtful cop. ’Let’s see you do it." The juggler gets out and starts tossing and catching the knives. Another man driving by slows down to watch.
’Wow," says the passer-by. ’I’m glad I quit drinking. Look at the test they’re giving now!"
Contributed by Natalie Kaplowitz, Reader’s Digest, May, 1994, p. 67
ii. Pressure to do what you are supposed to do and do it well (nothing wrong with that) – 1 Corinthians 10:31 - Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
iii. Pressure to take up someone else’s slack
iv. Pressure to play politics in order to get ahead
C. Persecution (5, 9)
i. This is not necessarily persecution for your faith
ii. It can be bullying or harassment
iii. It can be harsh treatment because you didn’t live up to their expectations
iv. Here King Nebuchadnezzer offers a grisly death as a reward for failure. No pressure there!
v. John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
D. Poverty (4, 7, 10)
i. Means “a lack of”
ii. Lack of finances to pay those bills
iii. Lack of education to understand certain principles
iv. Lack of skills to perform certain tasks
v. Here these scam artists passing themselves off as wise men have some problems:
a. Consternation – 4
b. Perspiration – 7
c. Desperation – 10-11
vi. Plainly, this is poverty of honesty and integrity
Transition Statement: Now that we know some of the things that can cause stress in our lives, let’s take a look at the solution to stress.
2. The Solution to Stress – 14-18
A. Apply Discretion (14)
i. This is wisdom
ii. Discernment in Scripture is the skill that enables us to differentiate. It is the ability to see issues clearly. We desperately need to cultivate this spiritual skill that will enable us to know right from wrong. We must be prepared to distinguish light from darkness, truth from error, best from better, righteousness from unrighteousness, purity from defilement, and principles from pragmatics. Fan The Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 44
iii. Ability or power to decide responsibly
iv. It pays to be calm, step back and think through the situation
B. Avoid Anger
i. An author for READERS DIGEST writes how he studied the Amish people in preparation for an article on them. In his observation at the school yard, he noted that the children never screamed or yelled. This amazed him. He spoke to the schoolmaster. He remarked how he had not once heard an Amish child yell, and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The schoolmaster replied, “Well, have you ever heard an Amish adult yell?” Counter Attack, Jay Carty, Multnomah Press, 1988, p. 41ff
ii. Even our tone of voice can be off sometimes - 90% of the friction of daily life is caused by the wrong tone of voice.
iii. Ephesians 4:26 – Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
iv. There is a time for anger but:
a. It should always be under control (do not let it alter your perception or ability to think rationally)
b. It should be temporary (see the end of Eph. 4:26)
c. It should never be allowed to escalate to bitterness and hatred (this is sin, not anger itself)
d. It’s chief end should be to resolve whatever is causing the anger (get it right and understood)
e. It should never lead to vengeance – Matthew 5:22 - But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: . . .
C. Ask Questions (15-16)
i. A very dear friend of mine (We’ll call him Mr Smth) was walking along the road with a lady when she asked him this question.
"Mr Smith" she asked "What do you think about cremation?"
Mr. Smith replied without hesitation by asking a question of the lady. "You know the scriptural principle don’t you?"
"No" the lady replied
"You bury treasure but you burn rubbish" Mr Smth enlightened her, "But why do you ask?"
"We cremated my mother last year!" was her answer
It always pay to find out why the question is being asked.
ii. You don’t know how to handle difficulty if you don’t have the facts and information necessary to get a grip on the solution.
iii. We are stressed because we accept it
iv. A friend once asked Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in science, how he became a scientist.
Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn’t so much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired, “Did you ask a good question today?”
“Asking good questions,” Rabi said, “made me become a scientist.”
v. Asking questions:
a. Helps us mature
b. Makes us wiser
c. Teaches us for the future how to deal with similar situations
D. Acquire Counsel (17)
i. 16-year-old named William left home to seek his fortune. His earthly possessions were tied in a bundle carried in his hand. One day he met an elderly canal-boat captain who listened to his story that his family was too poor to keep him, and the only skill he had was making candles and soap.
The old captain knelt and prayed for the boy’s future and afterward gave him some advice.
’William, someone will be the leading soap-maker in New York. It could be you. Be a good man, give your heart to Christ, pay the Lord all that belongs to Him, make an honest soap, give a full pound, and I’m certain you’ll be a prosperous and rich man."
The 16-year-old who listened to godly counsel was William Colgate, who not only prospered beyond his wildest dreams but was able to give millions of dollars to the Lord’s cause. Daniel D. Busby, Kent E. Barber, and Robert L. Temple, ’Worry-free money management", Christian American, January/February 1997, p. 41
ii. Wise counsel of others - Proverbs 1:5 – A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
iii. The counsel of God (His Word) - Proverbs 19:21 – There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
E. Abide in Prayer (18)
i. One day, Joe, Bob and Dave were hiking in a wilderness area when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so.
Joe prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river."
Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, although he almost drowned a couple of times.
Seeing this, Dave prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools to cross this river."
Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times.
Bob had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools, and the intelligence, to cross this river."
Poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge.
ii. We need prayer - Why pray, if God loves us and knows all we need before we pray? ’What if he knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God’s idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need,the need of himself? What if the good of all our smaller and lower needs lies in this, that they help drive us to God? Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other needs; prayer is the beginning of that communion. George MacDonald, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 72
iii. Prayer is that indispensable tool connects us to God
iv. We pray and than trust Him for the answer
Conclusion:
Do you deal with the pressures of life on your own?
If so, we need to think the way Daniel thought, with a cool head and a trust in God.
