Who can tell me what we did last week during my talk about trustworthiness? (Looking for: trust walk) (Slide 1)
What people in the Bible did I use to help us understand why trustworthiness is important? (Looking for: the Wise Men) (Slide 2)
What two qualities of trustworthiness did I say the Wise Men demonstrated? (Looking for: be reliable – do what you say you will do; have the courage to do the right thing.) (Slide 2a)
Our pillar for this morning is respect. (Slide 3)
What does respect look like? How do you know when someone shows you respect?
One of the things about respect is that it requires us to be able to look at others in a way that sees them as people who God loves just as much as us. To see people this way is very hard at times especially when we are angry or afraid. Now I am going to show you a picture in a moment that is going to illustrate the importance (and the challenge) at seeing people in a respectful way. Now, you may want to get up and sit over here to get a better look before I show it.
Ready?
(Slide 4) Here it is… what do you see? (It was a slide of the old lady/young lady picture in which two different women can be seen.)
There is a picture of an older lady and a younger lady in this picture. Do you see either one of them? Do you see both of them?
(Encourage them until all have found it.)
(Slide 5) Respect is like looking at this picture and seeing both persons. For many people, it is easy to see only one person and difficult to see the other one. In the same way, respect requires us to be able to “see” people beyond our initial impression.
Respect, I believe, requires us to give it as well as expect it. It is, as the adults sometimes say, “a two way street.”
Our Bible story this morning is about respect.
It is the story of Daniel and his three friends, whom we know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Now before I read part of Daniel and his friends’ story, I want us to understand something important about them. They were taken from their home country and moved to another country whose language and customs were very different. It would be like moving to Mexico or Japan and having to learn to live in one of those countries.
But, God was with them and they made a choice, as we shall see, to keep honoring God while showing respect to those who had taken them. Do you think that you could do that?
The book of Daniel is in the Old Testament of the Bible and it is the story of Daniel and his three friends. Our story for this morning comes out of chapter 1 and begins with verse 8:
But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead. 9 Now God had given the chief official great respect for Daniel. 10 But he was alarmed by Daniel’s suggestion. “My lord the king has ordered that you eat this food and wine,” he said. “If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded for neglecting my duties.”
11Daniel talked it over with the attendant who had been appointed by the chief official to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 12 “Test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said. 13 “At the end of the ten days, see how we look compared to the other young men who are eating the king’s rich food. Then you can decide whether or not to let us continue eating our diet.” 14So the attendant agreed to Daniel’s suggestion and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the rich foods and wines. 17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for learning the literature and science of the time. And God gave Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of visions and dreams.
18When the three-year training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief official brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with each of them, and none of them impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they were appointed to his regular staff of advisers. 20 In all matters requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, the king found the advice of these young men to be ten times better than that of all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
21 Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus’s reign.” (NLT)
(Slide 6) How many of you like to eat? How many of you like to eat liver and onions? How many of you like to eat candy? How many of you like to eat everything put on your plate… at a friend’s house?
I have eaten liver and onions, in fact, I did so just a few years ago for the first time in a while. And I like candy, (but you already know that) and I like to eat at friends’ homes.
Now most of us have the ability to pick and choose what we want to eat after a certain age. (However, Susan still tells me to eat the green vegetables when she sees that I have not done so!)
I was raised that when you go to someone’s home, you eat what is put before you, unless you have a food allergy, as I know many who do. (I do not have any food allergies, except for green vegetables, and even then, except for Brussels sprouts!)
How many of you eat Tacos? How many of you eat sauerkraut? How many of you eat sushi (that’s raw fish!)?
People in different parts of the world (and even here in our country) each such food. Chicken, by the way, is eaten all over the world! Eating together is a very common practice around the world though there are different customs and cultures.
I have a friend who lives in France and she lives on a farm with her husband and animals. (On Christmas Day, she and her husband were helping the sheep they own as they gave birth to lambs!)
I decided to ask her about table customs in France that were different in America and she told me this.
“The French sit at the table with their wrists on the table . . . never in their lap. This goes back to Medieval times when they wanted to make sure you didn't have a weapon…
They will hold their fork in their left hand and their knife in their right hand and will only put them down when the course is over. While chewing, they rest their wrists on the table while still holding the knife and fork.
They eat virtually every dessert with a spoon . . . cake, pie, etc. Americans use forks.”
She goes on to say that the “French believe that we Americans cut our meat all at once into little pieces and then put the knife down. They were told that in the old days, Americans were very poor and only had one knife to a family and had to pass that knife around!"
I told her that today that often happens when the dishwasher has not run in several days!
I have another friend, a high school classmate, who has lived in Japan for nearly 26 years. I asked her the same question about eating manners and customs. She said this:
“We never leave chopstick stuck into a bowl of food. That is part of the funeral ceremony and so is rude at the dinner table. You aren't supposed to leave even a grain of rice in your bowl as it is disrespectful to the farmers who have worked so hard to provide food for us.
On the other hand, it is also rude to eat something like a watermelon slice all the way to the white rind as it implies that your host did not serve you a large enough piece. The same holds true for licking or sopping up any of a sauce or dressing that is on the food. Also rice is a very "respected" food and should not have any sauces (even soy sauce) put on it. In formal situations, you turn your chopsticks around and use the end that has not been in your mouth to take things from a communal dish...”
One of the ways that we show respect is through good manners at the table. And the issue of food and respect is part of Daniel and his friend’s story.
The first verse we read says, “But Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief official for permission to eat other things instead.”
We do not know how old Daniel was when he left Israel for Babylon. But, he must have been old enough to realize that he had been raised differently regarding what to eat.
He was not use to eating rich food and drink. He was used to eating and drinking simple foods and certain kinds of food was off limits.
For example, the Israelites of that day did not eat pork. I eat pork and I think many of us here today eat pork but in Daniel’s day, pork was forbidden!
So, Daniel, and his three friends, had a decision to make. Go and along and eat what the king wanted to eat or eat more simply – as we read in verse 12 – a diet of vegetables and water. Daniel did not seem to jump up and down and demand that he and his friends be treated differently but he respectfully asked for permission to eat a different diet for 10 days.
Now, this caused a problem for the Babylonians who were assigned the task of helping Daniel and company get in shape for serving their royal court. He was asking to go against the king’s command and this caused a problem for those in charge of Daniel.
But he was alarmed by Daniel’s suggestion. “My lord the king has ordered that you eat this food and wine,” he said. “If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded for neglecting my duties.”
In other words, those who disobeyed the king’s command often paid the price by losing their life!
But we read in verse 9, “Now God had given the chief official great respect for Daniel.” That is a very interesting thing to say. How did the chief official come to respect Daniel? (Ask for feedback)
Maybe the official showed Daniel respect because Daniel had showed respect to the official from the very beginning! Another possibility is that God also moved in the heart of the official to show Daniel respect rather than to mistreat him. God does act on behalf of His people!
(Slide 7) One of the most important ways that we show respect, according to Character Counts!, is to “Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule.” (Source: charactercounts.org)
What is the Golden Rule? (Ask for responses)
Is it in the Bible? (Ask for responses)
Yes it is! (Slide eight) Matthew 7:12 “Do for others what you would like them to do for you.”
If we want others to respect us, then we need to show respect in return.
The Bible says that Daniel helped the chief official by respectfully asking that he and his friends try this diet for a period of time and then for the chief official to make the decision if they were in better shape or not.
Daniel, I think, practiced the Golden Rule, with the result, and, we must certainly remember, God’s help as well, that he and his three friends were better nourished than the others.
When I was in junior high or high school (I can’t remember), I was bullied.
A boy who lived around the corner, and down the street from me started giving me, and one of my friends, what he called his ‘daily kick’ for about a week or two. I remember dreading the walk to the bus stop every morning because I knew that he would be there to kick me in my behind.
One day, on the way home from school, on the bus, he smarted off to the biggest kid on the bus. HE got off at our bus stop that afternoon. He was supposed to wait until the next stop. But, not today.
As soon as the bus disappeared around the corner, my bully met his match. He was roughed up quite a bit and was soon lying on the ground in a quivering heap.
I was in a bit of a shock and then I looked down at my feet and saw his glasses. As he stood up, I picked them up and handed them to him. He jerked them out of my hand and walked away still smarting from the licking he had just taken.
He never bothered me again.
Maybe it was because I did not join in the laughing at him or the taunting. Or I did not step on his glasses. I don’t know.
But what I do know is that he did not bother me any more.
Jesus disagreed with people and argued with them over what it meant to follow God, but as I have read the gospel accounts of his life, I never recall him disrespecting people. Disagreeing yes, disrespecting, no.
Even on the cross, as he was disrespected by many, he said, “Father, forgive them for they no not what they do.”
(Slide 9) How then do we show respect?
(Slide 9a) First, use the golden rule in all our relationships. Daniel practiced the golden rule with the chief official. As a result, Daniel was honored, the chief official was honored, and God was honored by it all.
(Slide 9b) Second, by learning how to disagree not, disrespect. Daniel disagreed with what he was being fed and he did NOT disrespect those who fed him. He could have, but what would have been the outcome?
I remind all of us this morning that if there somebody you have trouble respecting we must ask Jesus to help us respect that person. The Bible says in Romans 12:18, “Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible.” (NLT)
Is there some who is disrespecting you? Treat them kindly. Jesus said to love your enemies and to do go toward those who disrespect you.
(Slide 10) For just like the two women in the picture, respecting someone requires us, with God’s help, to look a little deeper at a person and see what God sees – a person who matters to God and maybe who should matter to you as well. Amen.
