Daniel 3:8–18
In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled in Wisconsin vs. Yoder that the only religious beliefs protected under the First Amendment are convictions. Preferences, the Court said, are not. [Amish families did not want their children in Public School pass the 8th grade and the state said they must attend till age 16. It was against their religion to expose children to worldly knowledge and was a possible threat to their very salvation.]
According to the supreme court, a preference could be a very strong belief, held with great strength. You can give your entire life in a full-time way to the service of that belief/preference, you can also give your entire material wealth in the name of that belief which is your preference. You can also energetically proselytize others to your belief/preference. You can also want to teach this belief/preference to your children, and the Supreme Court may still rule that it is a preference.
A preference could be a strong belief, but a belief that you will change under the right circumstances. Circumstances such as:
1) peer pressure; if your beliefs are such that other people must stand with you before you will stand, your beliefs are preferences, not convictions.
2) If family pressures you to believe or not believe, you have a preference.
3) If the threat of lawsuits force you to change your beliefs, you have a preference.
4) If the threat of jail or prison time makes you change what you believe, then you have a preference.
5) If under the threat of death; you change what you believe, you have a preference.
A conviction is a belief that you will not change. A conviction is not something that you discover, it is something that you purpose in your heart. Why? A man believes that his God requires it of him. Even under the threat of certain death, a true conviction will not change.
Convictions on the inside will always show up on the outside, in a person’s lifestyle. To violate a conviction would be a grave sin to that person. A Conviction is:
1) Self-determined. You choose to accept. A gut level decision.
2) Non Negotiable.
3) Consistent with a person's lifestyle. Practiced daily.
Preferences aren’t protected by the constitution. So the question we must ask ourselves regarding our beliefs: Do we have a preference or a conviction?
Daniel 3 is a familiar story, and you know the story; It all started in Daniel 1 – Daniel and his 3 friends – captives from Israel, but into service of the king. But they would not allow themselves to be defiled - They purposed to live holy lives despite their circumstances.
Daniel 1:8 (NASB95) But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself …
I like the NKJV – “But Daniel purposed in his heart …” Daniel and his three friends made a gut level decision, they made a conviction to honor God in all they do. And God blessed them.
Then one day… King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that all should worship an image of himself – why? To unite the kingdom? Assured the allegiance of his the leaders? Serve his ego? The bible does not really say but we can look at the big picture and figure there must have been a reason for Nebuchadnezzar to do so. But the facts remain. For all he call called, all the officials in his kingdom the only option was to bow or burn.
It’s not easy to stand your ground when everyone else is bowing to the gods of political correctness, to the gods of altered morality. It is not easy to maintain sexual purity in a sexually charged culture and world. It is not easy to remain sober when the rest of the world is partying, getting high, and getting drunk. It was hard for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to remain standing when the everyone one else was bowing.
They probably stood out like a sore thumb. They did not try to blend in. They did not try to camouflage their standing. They did not make excuses. They did not say “maybe just this once, then we can continue to get on with our lives.” Their choice was clear – They had made a conviction to serve only their God, they choose to burn rather than to bow.
As we examine this story, I’m breaking it down into three parts: 1) The Accusation; 2) The Confrontation; 3) Their Response.
THE ACCUSATION: and there are always those who will make accusations.
Daniel 3:8 (NASB95) For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews.
These were the guys that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were promoted over – they took their jobs. These Chaldeans reminded the king of his commands:
Daniel 3:9–11 (NASB95) 9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: “O king, live forever! 10 “You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. 11 "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
Now listen to the accusation these Chaldeans made:
Daniel 3:12 (NASB95) “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
The Chaldeans words dripped with sarcasm. "Those Jews who you appointed..." It’s a little like what we hear – "What about Those Christians, those intolerant, bigoted Christians."
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, they were not singled out because they worship Yahweh, God. They were singles out for not doing what the rest of the world was doing.
Look around, Christians are not being accused as being followers of Christ – they are accused as being radical right wingers who do not know the truth. And what is the world’s truth? Love and tolerance. We therefore ought to be loving and tolerant – translated means that we are fully accepting as valid and normal and God approved all lifestyle choices. For example, as Christians the world says we must accept as valid and normal: gay marriages, transgenderism (more than 2 genders, ignoring biology), shacking up (the number of seniors doing so have exploded in recent years, mostly due to the tax and social security benefits of doing so, yet that does not make it right), children out of wedlock. We won’t talk about the harm all this causes, crime rates, diseases, drug use, etc.
But anything that speaks to the contrary to the world will earn you a label of being bigoted, haters, homophobic, narrow minded, stupid people, and the worst crime of all, being intolerant. Don’t believe me? Read your newspapers. If you stand up for natural marriage in your business, you are taken to court and the government penalizes you and eventually puts you out of business.
Soon, teaching God given, Biblical values to our children will be considered child abuse. Don’t believe me, check out the United Nations treaty on the rights of children. [The US Senate has not yet ratified this treaty.]
The Chaldeans reminded the king of the penalty for such disobedience. To be thrown into the fiery furnace. Do we have a preference or a conviction?
THE CONFRONTATION
Daniel 3:14 (NASB95) Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
Is it True?? The king was full of rage that anyone would dare to defy him, least of all, his handpicked administrators. Is it true?
If you were to go on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
The King gave them another chance, Look at verse 15
Daniel 3:15a (NASB95) “Now if you are ready . . .
Another chance, to deny their God; another chance to go along with the politically correct thing to do; another chance to save themselves. The King warn them again what would happen. Did they have a preference or a conviction?
THEIR RESPONSE
Daniel 3:17 (NASB95) “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
God able – we know God is able to do anything. No question there. But did they have any right to presume God would do so? We must remember what the word "martyr" really means. It is from the Greek "martys" which in the NT is usually translated as "witness." In Acts 1:8 Jesus says we are to His witnesses (martys).
Verse 18 however, has the best line in the whole story.
Daniel 3:18 (NASB95) “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
“But even if He does not” They had it settled in their minds a long time ago what they would do. There was no question, there was no thinking about it, there was no – “let me go an pray about this” (there is a time for prayer and a time for action).
They did not doubt the power of God to deliver them, but they had no right to presume that He would act to deliver them. Where do you dig in your heels?
It is estimated that there have been 70 million Christian martyrs over the last 2,000 years. About 37 million of that 70 million were Christians who died at the hands of the Communists in the 20th century. Over half of all Christians who have ever died because of their beliefs did so in the last 100 years. More Christians are dying for their faith dtoday than ever before in history. That’s a lot of believers who said “But even if He does not . . .”
Do we have a preference or a conviction?
Asian Access (or A2), a Christian mission agency in South Asia, listed a series of questions that church planters must ask new believers who are considering baptism.
This is in an area hostile to Christians.
1. Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
2. Are you willing to lose your job?
3. Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
4. Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
5. Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
6. Are you willing to go to prison?
7. Are you willing to die for Jesus?
If the new convert answers yes to all of these questions, then A2 leaders invite that person to sign on the bottom of the paper, that of their own free will they have decided to follow Jesus. But here’s the risk: If a new convert signs the paper and the government get a hold of it, he or she will spend three years behind bars. The one who did the evangelizing faces six years in prison.
Do we have a preference or a conviction?
Today we are only merely inconvenienced. "What will people think of me?" In today’s politically correct world – church is worried – if we speak out on political issues they will take away out tax exempt status. There are many political issues we must speak out against regardless of our tax-exempt status. Do we, as the church, speak out against:
abortion – over 60 million since 1973 – 20% of the US population;
gay marriages; transgenderism;
older people shacking up (to avoid the marriage tax & Social Security penalties);
and the list goes on.
The plain fact is, what is right from God’s standpoint, which should be right from our standpoint, that fact remains that SOME THINGS ARE JUST PLAINLY WRONG. It matters little what world says, in what the Bible says everything matters.
Do we have a preference or a conviction?
Isaiah 5:20 (NASB95) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
In the world we live in today – even in America, the separation between the world and the true Christianity is growing wider and wider – we are standing out like sore thumbs.
You know how this story ends But DON’T MISS THIS: God did not save Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego from the fiery furnace, but rather through the furnace.
God saved Daniel not from the lion’s den, but through the lion’s den.
God saved Noah and his family; not from the flood, but through the flood.
God does not so much saves us from the problems of this world, but rather through the problems of this world.
What does Jesus say if He is only a preference to us?
Matthew 10:33 (NASB95) “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
It does matter how we live. Have we "purposed in our hearts," to be a witness (martyr) for Jesus?
Do we have a preference or a conviction?
