Test of Faith
Am Service October 4th 2009
Daniel 1:1-21
Introduction
Today we will begin a brand new series titled “Faith Under Fire” taken from the book of Daniel.
The world, in which we live, is not conducive to a growing faith in Christ. In fact I would say it is the opposite, it has the potential to destroy your faith if you are not careful how you live.
Everyday that we are alive as Christians our faith is under fire. Not unlike the characters of this book of the bible. When King Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, in about 605 B.C. fought against Israel, God allowed the Israelites to lose, and for some to be carried off into captivity in Babylon hundreds of miles away.
These Israelites are far away from home, no parents, no church, and for some I am quite sure felt as if there was no God. For four of these young men, this was truly a test of there faith, and they were determined to pass the test.
Faith is strengthen by testing, no exceptions, we don’t like it, but it is true. When we go through faith test, it is in those times when our faith in God will grow. As we will see in the first two verses of this book God allows the testing, in order to grow us in our faith, and in order for us to be more like Him.
Today from this passage of scripture, I want us to learn four of tests of our faith so that we can be better equipped when those test come.
Read Scriptures: Daniel 1:1-21
I. Test One: Isolation
Vs. 3-4 “Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.”
The first test of our faith as found in this passage is the test of isolation. Think about this for a moment. How do you act or talk when you are the only Christian around? When nobody really knows or cares that you are a Christian, how do you act?
Isolation is a major test because, when we are the only one, it is apart of our fallen nature, to want to fit in, so many times we try to blend in.
Look at these Hebrew boys, they were taken away from everything that was sacred and religious to them, no more Temple worship, no more priesthood to burn your offerings for sin, for the most part no more parents, they were isolated from everything that they new to be of their faith, they were totally isolated in a far away land in Babylon.
America is our modern day Babylon, it is possible in our day and time to be the only true Christian out on the job, or in your family, or out and about in our daily lives, maybe isolated in your home, just you and your computer, just you and your boyfriend or girlfriend, what do you do, or how do you act when you are isolated? How you answer that question, will determine whether or not you pass the test of isolation.
II. Test Two: Indoctrination
Vs. 4b “He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.”
If you don’t think this is a major test of our faith in our day and time, then maybe you are living with your head in the sand. We are bombarded daily with this issue of indoctrination.
In fact, we are in the shape we are in today as a nation, as far as having politicians who uphold Christian values, because we have fallen victim to indoctrination.
We have text books in some public school systems that teach our young children from Kindergarten on up that same sex families are okay, they are no different than a family with a mom and a dad.
We have text books, and this one I know for a fact, in our public school system that teach the Theory of Evolution as fact, even though it is an unproven Theory. We are taught in science class, that a theory is an educated guess, then why is the Theory of Evolution taught as fact in our text books, now I will say this to balance that, God has planted some great Christian teachers who risk there jobs, who by law have to teach this theory, but they teach it as a unproven theory.
Not only in our school system, and government, but it is all over the television, and written media, girls, and women are indoctrinated with this idea that you have to be a size 0 or 1 to look normal, when in reality you are beautiful just the way you are, young woman who has had children, don’t let the world lie to you and tell you, “you need plastic surgery”, to be beautiful, you are already beautiful just they way God made you.
For the Hebrew boys, they were being taught how to be magicians and enchanters, it was about getting them to think like Chaldeans, rather than like Israelites.
Let me make myself clear, because I don’t want anyone to walk out of here today saying Bro. Chad is against public education, that is not what I am saying, this is what I am saying, look and listen to what your children or grandchildren are learning, and if there is anything that is unbiblical, then it is your job to combat that teaching with the bible.
Listen, if we send our children to Caesar to be educated, and that is all the education they receive, then we should not be surprised when they act like Romans.
We need to be aware of indoctrination as a test to our faith.
III. Test Three: Compromise
Vs. 5 “The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.”
Compromise begins with sayings like this, “just this one time”, or “maybe I’ll try a little”, or “we never have to do it again”.
Addictions are started with “maybe I’ll try a little”, teen pregnancies happen when “we never have to do it again”, marriages are broken up over “just this one time”. Compromise!
I am sure that Nebuchadnezzar thought he was providing the best food that money can buy. These boys were getting the best of the best food. But these foods would have also been offered to idols first, thus causing the partakers to indirectly sanction idol worship.
Also, these foods would not have all been prepared correctly or be listed in the clean foods for the Jews. But think about it. They were hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, separated from family, the food is so good, and nobody would ever know.
Chuck Swindoll wrote, “Character is the moral, ethical, and spiritual undergirding that rests on truth, that reinforces a life in stressful times, and resists all temptations to compromise.”
The sexual revolution has given us internet pornography, high teen preg rates, and a president who thinks sex education needs to begin in kindergarten. Things we watch on TV or the internet would have embarrassed us years ago. This leads adults and teens alike to live secret lives of sin that nobody knows about. And it begins with “oh, just a little taste won’t hurt.” We must be careful that our faith is not destroyed over compromise.
I like what Andy Stanley, the son of Charles Stanley had to say on this issue, he said “whenever I am out of town on a preaching or speaking engagement, i always ask the church or event coordinator if they send a car to pick me up at the hotel, not send a woman, or if they do I will refuse to get into the car, because I don’t want to leave any room for compromise in my Christian walk or marriage.”
IV. Test Four: Confusion
Vs. 6-7 “Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.”
It was a fairly common practice in the ancient world to give names to captured people that reflected the culture of the captors rather than their home country. Some commentators made little of the fact that it happened.
But I believe it gets at the heart of what Nebuchadnezzar is doing. He is trying to strip these young men of their faith and religion in order to get to their hearts. He is aiming at the deepest level of their being. He wants them to be reminded every time someone addresses them that they are servants of other gods now in the eyes of their captors. And that is the bottom line of the chosen names. Previously all of their names reflected Yahweh in some fashion. Their Chaldean names represented gods from the Babylonian pantheon.
So many fall victim to this test, because we have fewer and fewer people really studying the Bible, so that so many are confused with what it really teaches.
Many people will say “God helps those who help themselves”, that is not in the bible, in fact the opposite is true.
My wife and I were watching the Golden Girls Friday night, you know you are getting old when on a Friday night you watch the Golden Girls, in this particular episode, Sofia says to Dorothy “it is like the good Lord says, “you’ve got to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run”, which Dorothy rightly responds, “ma that is not the good Lord, that is Kenny Rogers”.
I know we laugh but that is the kind of confusion that so often permeates our society. Listen, if Daniel, and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azeriah, would not have been certain of what God expected of them, they too would have fallen victim to confusion.
It is the same confusion that has been going on since the beginning of time, it started with these words “Ye, hath God said…” in Genesis 3:1.
What we need in our lives is less confusion and more of “Yes God did say”, and the only way to get that is to know what God says.
Conclusion
Faith test, we all face them, the question is how did you come out of it. Did you come out a Victor or a Victim. I pray that we could say Victor.
