“Boys will be boys”
Daniel 3 10/07/08
There is a saying that shares the title of my sermon, “Boys will be boys”. It is not that I disagree with the saying, but I do not believe it can be used as an excuse for the wrong doings that boys often do. I like to look at it rather as a reference of the differences between boys and girls. For example; I would never potty train a daughter to use the bathroom outside as I did with my sons. Let’s just say writing your name in the snow just would not be as fun.
But this morning I wanted to share with you a story we find in the Bible about some young boys who were different and who made a stand for God.
Let me give you a little introduction before we begin. In the year 605 B.C., the Babylons ruled by king Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem and took, among other things, some of the children. Among those where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Now nothing is said about their parents or any other influences they might have had in their lives, but I would like to congratulate whoever had a hand in raising these boys before their capture. It just goes to show you what an impact you can make in the life of a child. It can be a positive impact or sadly a negative impact. How you are... what you are...molds the lives of the next generation. So with that in mind let me share with you how someone made the right influence on these three boys. First let’s look at...
The Challenge
We find that even in captivity these young boys remembered what they had been taught. We are not sure of their age, but it is believed that they would have been under the age of 12. The first challenge we find is in their diet. In chapter one of Daniel we find them being brain washed in the language and the literature of the Chaldeans. They were being raised to serve the king. As part of that training they were given food and drink from the kings menu. Quite a treat I may add, but due to the fact that food had been dedicated to idols, they made a deal with their trainer to let them eat only veggies and drink water for ten days and see how they faired against the others. They ended up in better shape then their other captive friends.
Then we read in chapter two about a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. The king wanted the dream to be interpreted and when no one could, he got angry and ordered the death of the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel and his friends; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So Daniel asks for some time to give the king his interpretation. So Daniel went to his friends and they went to God with their problems. Can you see their wisdom already. Daniels shared his problems with some of his godly friends and they took their problems to God. Something we all can learn from them. God reviles the dream to Daniel and as the result, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all got promoted.
Now we get to chapter 3 and we find Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold about 90 to 100 feet tall and when the music sounded...EVERYONE...including Daniel and his friends were to bow down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And that is where we find the next challenge.
Daniel 3:10-15 You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?"
So we find the challenge. Just do like everyone else and you will be fine. Does that have a familiar ring to it? Everybody is doing it. But just because everyone else is doing it, does that make it right? Not only our kids, but all of us face these same challenges.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The word conformed here means to form or mold. Instead of being molded by the morals of this world, we need to be transformed, or changed, like the toy, “Transformers” into the new life that Christ can give. Just because the world thinks it is acceptable to have a partner of the same sex, God says that it is an abomination. Just because some think it is OK to take an innocent life as a form of birth control or because the timing is not right, God calls it murder. Just because others skip out early on work and take home a view supplies...God calls it stealing. Just because it is viewed as acceptable on TV, does not mean it is acceptable in the eyes of a righteous God. We all are faced with challenges everyday and we need to have the attitude of Joshua and these young men of God. “But as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!
Then we have...
The Choice
The choice they were given was to bow or burn. What would you do? How many of you would choose toast? Let’s see what our boys chose.
Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."
Wow, what faith. We don’t care what everybody else does. Even if God does not deliver us...we are going to do the right thing. Someone had taught them right, and through their example we can learn to do right as well.
That is the way it is with choices. Sometimes we look at the short term rewards and forget about the long term results. You see it all the time. Sex is a gift from God. But like all gifts form God, it has boundaries. And anything else outside those boundaries may offer you some short term pleasure, but the long term consequences can be devastating. Pregnancy, STD’s...not to mention of the mental anguish.
Drinking, drugs...may make you feel great for a while but when you come down...the problems are still there.
May you are here this morning and you have never entered into a personal relationship with Christ. You may think you are having fun, you make think you have more time. You may think someday but you are making a choice that leads to destruction. You are taking the chance of spending eternity in a place called hell, eternally separated from God. You have a choice to make today. Are you going to accept Christ as your personal Savior? If you have already done so, then are you going to chose to serve Him and obey Him the way these three young men did?
Then finally we have...
The Consequences
King Nebuchadnezzar got so angry that he commanded that the furnace be heated up seven times more than usual. Then he commanded that his guards bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them in the fire. The furnace was so hot that it actually killed the men who cast them in the flames. Then we read what happened after that.
Daniel 3:24-29 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this."
When these three Hebrew boys took a stand for the Lord...He didn’t save them from the fire. But He was with them in the fire and He saved them in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar said, “Didn’t we throw three men in the fire? Now I see four.” They came out of the flames smelling like a rose. Not a hair on their head was singed. That would have been a little hard to tell in my case. But because of their choice to their challenge, God was glorified.
God has a purpose in our trails. And if we allow God to work through those trials and trust Him and His direction, then we can be the light that leads others out of the darkness as well. How you are, what you do, can make an effect on where someone spends eternity.
What choices are you making? Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? Are you living a life that would a difference in the lives of others?
