HOW TO PREVENT COMPROMISING
Daniel 1:1-21
Believers are commanded not to conform to the ways of this world. READ Romans 12:1-2. Conforming to the pattern of this world means to be in accord or agreement with the principles of this world. Christians should not agree or follow the ways of this world. Instead we should be transformed in to the image of Christ.
How can Christians resist the pressure of compromising?
Let us study the life of Daniel and learn from his example of maintaining his position of non-conformity to the ways of his world. Please open your bibles to Daniel 1:1-21. (READ THE TEXT)
EXPOSITION
As you read the passage, note the following facts regarding the situation of Daniel and his friends in Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged the land of Judah and God delivered King Jehoiakim into his hand.
King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz to select young men to be trained for three years and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
One of them, Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.
Resolve – to reach as a decision or intention; take a firm stand or decision.
Defile – corrupt, contaminate, dishonor, desecrate, disgrace his life.
Royal food and wine – these foods were used in heathen worship.
How was Daniel able to sustain his godly convictions? What can we learn from Daniel as an uncompromising person?
A. PREVENT YOUR NEW LIFE SITUATIONS TO CHANGE YOUR FAITH IN GOD. (vv. 1-7)
Note how Daniel’s restrained his new life situations in changing his faith in God.
Imagine Daniel and his friends being snatched from their lovely homes in Jerusalem and moved to faraway Babylon. Since all of them were princes, belonging to the royal family, they were probably not accustomed to this kind of treatment.
From being dignitaries to that of being detainees. But these young men did not behave as detainees and criminals. They maintained their integrity as the people of God.
In the same way, let us not allow changes in our life status affect our godly conviction and character. These new status includes job promotion, unemployment, immigration status, 18 years of age and etc.
Daniel and his friends were place in a totally new spiritual environment. They are no longer surrounded by spiritual people and activities. Despite of these, they did not compromise their faith.
Some Christians the moment they move from home, from the presence of their godly loved ones, and the church they rejoice at the opportunity to “let down their spiritual guard”; but not so with Daniel and his friends.
New Literacy For Daniel and his friends, the old Jewish wisdom had to go; from now on it would be the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of Babylon. They had to learn the wisdom and the language of their captors. The king hoped that this “brainwashing” would make better servants out of them.
God’s people often have to study things that do not agree with God’s Word. Like Daniel and his friends, we should do our best but let us not abandon our faith. Let us not give up our godly heritage.
For the next three years, the four youths were supposed to eat the king’s diet, which, of course, was contrary to the dietary laws of the Jews. No doubt the food was also offered to the idols of the land, and for the Hebrew youths to eat it would be blasphemy.
Their names, which were coined from their Hebrew God, were changed in relation to heathen god. Daniel (“God is my judge”) was changed to Belteshazzar (“Bel protect his life”). Bel was the name of a Babylonian god.
Hananiah (“Jehovah is gracious”) became Shadrach (“the command of the moon god”); Mishael (“Who is like God?”) became Meshach (“who is like Aku,” one of the heathen gods); and Azariah (“Jehovah is my helper”) became Abednego (“the servant of Nego,” another heathen god).
The Babylonians hoped that these new names would help the youths forget their God and gradually become more like the heathen people with whom they were living and studying.
So you see, their new situations in life did not cause them to compromise their godly heritage and faith. We need to adapt to certain culture but our Christian principles and values should not be sacrificed.
B. MAINTAIN YOUR CONVICTION THAT GOD’S WAYS ARE BETTER THAN MAN’S WAYS. (vv. 8-16)
The Babylonians could change Daniel’s home, textbooks, menu, and name, but they could not change his heart. He and his friends decided in their hearts that they would obey God’s Word; they refused to become conformed to the world.
Of course, they could have made excuses and “gone along with” the crowd. They might have said, “Everybody’s doing it!” or “We had better obey the king!” or “We’ll obey on the outside but keep our faith privately.” But they did not compromise.
They dared to believe God’s Word and trust God for victory. They had surrendered their bodies and minds to the Lord, as Rom. 12:1-2 instructs, and they were willing to let God do the rest.
Daniel requested that they should be allowed to maintain the kind of food that they learned from their godly families. They believed that what they eat is better than what the king’s palace offered. They were aware that these foods were offered to heathen God and may affect their allegiance to the God of their fathers.
Daniel asked for a ten-day test, which was not very long considering that they had three years of training ahead of them; the head servant agreed with their plan. The servant was afraid to change the king’s orders, lest anything happen to the youths and to himself, so Daniel’s proposed test was a good solution to the problem.
Of course, God honored their faith. The boys were fed vegetables and water for ten days, thus avoiding the defiled food of the Babylonians. At the end of the test, the four lads were healthier and more handsome than the other students who ate from the king’s table.
It takes faith and obedience to overcome the temptations and pressures of the world. Sometimes when believers are confronted by new ideas, values, and philosophy, we immediately disregard the spiritual values that we gained. Perhaps due to inability to prove by experience the truthfulness of Godly values and philosophy, we humbly compromise our faith.
Anyway, it is easier to believe what we can see and test immediately rather than exercise our faith in heavenly promises. But we need to realize that the ways and thoughts of God are much better than the ways of men and this world.
God works in a very mysterious and unconventional ways. You will be surprised that His word is unchanging, the reason we have not seen its power is because we have changed by failing to exercise our trust or faith in Him.
READ Isaiah 55:6-11.
We may not understand deeply what God has set for man to follow but I still believe that what God thinks are important will remain valuable in our everyday life. The principles related to family, marriage, purity, respect, faith, love, sin, justice, righteousness, and relationship will never be outdated. Many have tried to change these values but suffered tremendously. Never compromise these spiritual values and principles.
C. EXPECT BLESSING FROM GOD WHOM YOU HONORED AND TRUSTED. (vv. 17-21)
Where was God when Daniel and his friends made a stand for Him? See Daniel 1:9, 17. God honored their conviction and commitment to Him. They were doubtless subjected to intense social pressure from their classmates and teachers to do what everyone else was doing.
They might have argued with themselves about the apparent uselessness of letting a spiritual tradition to destroy their chances of attaining high positions in the government. When the King talked to them, he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
He found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom, so they entered the king’s service.
Sometimes believers thought that they would lose the opportunity in this world if they seek to be faithful to God and His word. Let us realize that God is the source of all opportunity. Our God is the source of all enabling and abilities.
Later, we will learn that because Daniel and his friends were faithful to God while they were yet teenagers, God was faithful to them in the years that followed. Faithfulness to God does not happen overnight.
We need Christians today who will purpose in their hearts to put Christ first in everything—in the homerooms, in the classrooms, and even in the office rooms! Satan must have said to Daniel, “You had better follow the crowd if you want to stay around here.”
But Daniel obeyed the Lord—and he “stayed around” longer than anyone else. He ministered under four kings and probably lived to see the Jews return to their land at the end of the captivity. “He who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).
READ Psalm 37:23-29.
CONCLUSION
The ability not to compromise our faith is a simple act of obedience. Non-conformity with the world may put us into trouble but God will not forsake his children and be defeated by the world.
