The War of 1812 is called the war nobody won. It was a very
costly war for both United States and Britain, yet it was a war that
accomplished nothing, and should never had been fought. In fact,
the entire war was fought after the reason for it no longer existed.
France and England were at war, and the United States was neutral.
It was shipping goods to both nations. Britain decided no U. S. ships
were allowed to go to France, and Napoleon countered with an
order to confiscate all U. S. ships going to England. This put the U.
S. right in the middle of the war with both sides against her.
The U. S. protested, and finally in 1811 got Napoleon to respect
her neutrality and stop raiding U. S. vessels. Britain continued to
attack American ships, however, and forced American seaman into
the British Navy. Diplomacy was not working, and so President
Madison urged congress to declare war. They did so on June 18,
1812. What Madison and congress did not know was that two days
earlier on June 16, 1812 the British Council voted to cease
interference with U. S. commerce. The problem was resolved and
there was no need for war, but because communication was so slow,
Britain and America fought a war based on the obsolete past. Had
they known the present reality, and the change that had taken place,
the war need never have been apart of history.
The tragic story is repeated at the end of the war. Far away in
Ghent the American and British negotiators, out of sheer weariness
with a meaningless war, signed a peace treaty on Christmas Eve of1814.
But again, the good news could not travel fast in that day.
The result was, one week later on New Year's Day of 1815, Andrew
Jackson led the Americans in the great battle of New Orleans. It
was the largest and bloodiest battle of the war, killing over 2,000
men. The tragedy is that it was fought after the war was already
over.
Thank God for the radical changes in man's communication
systems. Today, only seconds after a decision is made anywhere in
the world, the news of it can be known in the rest of the world.
Change is not always good, but change always advances the
potential for good. Progress means man has found new and more
effective ways to prevent folly, and to prevent the destructive forces
in nature, and his own fallen nature. Progress is a positive word, for
it represents a positive experience. It is advancement, moving
ahead, climbing toward a goal. If you stay where you are, you can't
get to where you ought to be, so progress is good. but progress
means change, and change is not as clear cut a positive as is
progress. You can't have progress without change, but not all
change is progress. Change covers many complex circumstances
both good and bad. That is why the thought of change can make us
both hopeful and fearful. That is why a New Year holds before us
both hope and fear. The fear that change will be negative, and the
hope that change will be positive.
The one thing we know for sure is that change is certain. Change
is inevitable in a world like ours, and though we love it or loath it,
we have to live with it. Sometimes change seems progressive, and we
can flow with the stream. Other times changes seems regressive,
and we have to fight it, and swim against the stream. But one way
or the other, we are always in the stream of change. Bob Dylan
wrote,
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land,
And don't criticize
What you don't understand.
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command.
Your old road is
Rapidly agin
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend a hand,
For the times they are a-changin.
This sounds very contemporary, but it could have been a popular
song back in Daniel's day. Daniel lived in a time of radical change
where even the things tied down and locked in were changing. He
and his friends, who were the cream of the crop, who were educated
youth of Israel, were carried captive into the land of Babylon. All
their dreams and plans for the future were radically changed. They
had to give up their culture, and adapt to a totally new culture.
They took on new names, a new language, and a whole new way of
life in a foreign land.
There is no book of the Bible more filled with change than Daniel.
It contains 14 references to Hebrew words for change, which is more
than any other book. No other book better illustrates both sides of
change, revealing it to be both hard, and healthy. We want to look at
these two aspects of change as we are about to enter the New Year,
for how we deal with change will determine, in large measure, what
kind of year it will be. If we resist all change, it will be a year of
folly, and not progress. If we receive all change without resistance,
it will be a year of folly, and no progress as well. Change can
advance both the causes of good and evil, or it can be much ado
about nothing.
Years ago a man lived between a coppersmiths and a blacksmith,
and he suffered from noises from morning till night. He told them
often that if they ever moved he would give them a party. One day
the two smithies announced they were both moving. He was so
overjoyed that he entertained them and their families sumptuously.
After the feast he asked where they were moving. One of them
answered, "I'm moving into his place and he is moving into mine."
It is not paradox enough that change can be both good and evil, it
can also be without any effect whatsoever. It can be a change that
changes nothing. There are even changes that do less than nothing.
Cy Ruddenbery tells of being on a Mexican airplane that taxied
back to the ramp after being ready to take off. Then it taxied back
out and took off. He asked the stewardess what happened back
there, and she said the pilot found something wrong with the engine,
and said it was to dangerous to fly. He asked if they changed the
engine? She said, "Oh, no senior, they changed the pilot." Change
is just to complex to consider all aspects, so we are going to keep it
simple and look at just the negative and positive. First let's consider,
I. CHANGE CAN BE HARD.
This is putting it mildly, as we look at the situation in our text.
More accurately we could say that change is impossible.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king, would ordinarily tell his wise men his
dream, and they would interpret it. This is not really that tough, for
since you are the expert, who is going to challenge your
interpretation. It was really a good racket. But this time there is a
nerve-wracking change. This time he wanted them to tell him the
dream as well as the interpretation. This was a change they were
not prepared for, and the result was, they went from being the
favored class to the condemned class. All wise men were to be
executed, and this included Daniel and his friends. I think it is safe
to assume that none of the wise men liked this change. This was not
progress, but a terrible change in circumstances that was hard to
accept.
Change is clearly not good in itself. It can be the worse thing that
can happen. When all is well, change often means going from the
good old days of the pleasant past to the bad new days of the fearful
future. Daniel lived in a day when the individual, and even the
group, had far less freedom to determine their destiny than we do.
There was no security. The king was a totalitarian ruler, and his
whim or mood could mean death for anyone who fell out of his
favor. Thank God for a land where power is controlled, and where
government cannot change by mere whim or mood. We may not
like the changes we experience either, but at least they come with
some degree of order and warning. We do not have to endure
spontaneous life and death changes like Daniel did.
Change is hard, but thanks to the changes of history change is
less hard for us. Thank God for the changes that have taken tyrants
like Hitler and Stalin off the throne. There are still tyrants in the
world today, but they are known and kept under control by more
powerful nations like the United States. We still live in a dangerous
world, but we need to see it in perspective. There are more controls
on the changes now than in past times. Daniel and his friends were
condemned to die without a trial even though they were innocent of
any crime. The whole Jewish race was subject to being wiped out
based on mere prejudice. The point I am making is that people of
the past faced more radical changes that were life threatening than
we do today. Most of the changes we experience are progressive.
They can still be hard to adjust to, but if Daniel could make the best
of it in his tough time of transition, how much more should be able
to make change count for good.
Being hard is not a good reason to resist change. Even good
change can be hard. Vincent Teresa in My Life With The Mafia
points out that the Mafia is always on the lookout for businesses that
never change for they are the easiest to rob. He tells of a
supermarket where the manager never varied his pattern. He went
to the bank on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He never changed
his pattern, and so it was easy to break in on Sunday night and roll
the sage right out the front door into a station wagon. He got 14
grand in cash, and a month later he went to the store and there was
another cracker box safe just like the one he took. Nothing was
changed. He watched the place for a week and saw there was no
change in their routine whatever, and so he broke in again on
Sunday night and got 17 grand that time. He said that had they
responded to the first theft and changed their routine, and had some
safety precautions, he never would have touched the place.
Change is a threat to the criminal. It may be hard to change, but
it can be worth it, for it can prevent the criminal mind from taking
advantage of the known routine. Satan, I am sure, is delighted when
we get locked into a routine where we resist all change. He knows
our pattern then, and we are predictable, and less of a threat. John
Wesley changed the course of history, but he may not have made a
mark on history had he not struggled to break through a very hard
change. George Whitefield was a friend of Wesley, and he began a
new ministry of preaching to crowds out in the open field. Churches
closed their doors to him, and so he reached people in the open air.
He called his friend John Wesley to come and take his place in these
great open air meetings.
Wesley went to see for himself, and he wrote this in his journal,
"I could scare reconcile myself at first to this strange way of
preaching in the fields..... Having been all my life so tenacious of
every point relating to decency and order, that I should have
thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a
church." It was so hard to change, but he did it, and the result was
his dying ministry was revived, and England and America, and the
world have been radically changed because he was able to change.
Change can be hard, but it is worth it because of the second point we
want to focus on.
II. CHANGE CAN BE HEALTHY.
Change was the key to Daniel's fame. Had all gone normally, he
may have been a very successful man in Israel, but the world may
never have known of him. It was the radical change that thrust him
into a new world that led to his playing a major role in the plan of
God for history. Daniel lived in constant change, and this led him to
total dependence upon God. In the midst of constant change he had
an unchanging loyally to God, and the result was all of the changes
were healthy for Daniel. He learned that the only way you can
survive in a rapidly changing environment is to have a foundation
that does not change. That foundation has to be above the changing
environment, and, therefore, has to be in God, who alone is above
and beyond the changing circumstances of earth. The hymn writer
was right when he wrote, "Change and decay in all around I see, O
Thou who changest not, abide with me."
Daniel let the impossible changes of time thrust him into
dependence upon the God of eternity, and the result was, he grew
and became one of the greatest men of God in history.
Change was healthy for Daniel, for he used change for the glory of
God. Daniel demonstrates that no change can come into life that
cannot b used for good if it drives you to a deeper dependence on
God. This means both the hopes and fears of the New Year can be
beneficial to all of us if we let them lead us to look above and lean on
the everlasting arms.
Change needs to be seen as a friend, and not as an enemy. The
Bible begins with change. If it were not for change, we would not
exist, nor would the universe, for in the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth. That was the most radical change on record,
going from nothing to a universe that boggles the mind in greatness
and complexity. And God said this change was good. Even after he
rested and cease to create, He built change into His creation, and
there has never been an unchanging moment since.
Daniel in verse 21 in praising God says He changes times and
seasons, so we see good change in nature. He also says that He sets
up kings and deposes them, so we see good change in government.
He says that He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the
discerning, so we see good change in individuals. Change is part of
God's plan, for only by means of change can nature, government,
and man fulfill all of their potential. Progress demands change.
Adam named all the animals, and developed a relationship with the
animal world. Man is still doing this, and this constantly changing
world of the interaction of man and animals is a lifetime study in
itself. It leads to changes that benefit both man and animals.
Change is not a one way street, and there can be collisions as
traffic goes both ways, and people abuse even good change. The
greatest change Adam experience after going from non-existence to
existence was the creation of Eve. This radical change in Eden was
both his greatest blessing and his heaviest burden, for the change
meant his destiny was not longer in his own hands only. Another
now had some control. The more you develop loving relationships,
the more your life is open to changes you cannot control. Fear of
this keeps people isolated and uncommitted, for they do not want to
risk losing control.
As risky as it is the Bible supports the risks of developing
relationships. Take the risk of experiencing change that calls for
adjustment, for the challenge of change is just what you need to
fulfill your potential. Someone said, "The price of progress is the
risk of change." Eve was the channel by which Satan introduced
negative change into the flow of history. Sin came onto the stage,
and ever since life is a complex struggle to know which stream is
hazardous and which is healthy. The mistake we need to avoid is
that of assuming that change that is hazardous is always unhealthy.
Most of the changes that are God's will for man are hazardous, but
very healthy for their growth and fulfillment of His plan.
Abraham was called to change his place of residence, and go to a
new country. God changed his name, his house, and his destiny, and
He made Abraham the father of His people. He faced hazards of all
kinds. He was tempted in his new land and he fell. He had to fight
for survival, and endure much, but it was all part of God's plan. We
could study the lives of all the Biblical heroes, and the one thing they
would all have in common, was God's call to change. Nobody in the
Bible became famous for God by staying just as they were. They
either changed things for the glory of God and the good of man, and
became leaders in the kingdom of God, or they changed and
corrupted the will of God and became enemies of the kingdom.
Everybody who was anybody became famous or infamous by
change.
Change is another word for freedom, for freedom means the
choice to change. If you can't choose to change anything you are not
free. Only those who can choose to change are truly free. The new
year is filled with opportunities to exercise our freedom. We can
choose to change in the new year. We can choose to change our
state of knowledge. We have the freedom to select more resources to
use to change our lives than any people who ever lived. Change is at
our fingertips. It maybe hard and may even be hazardous, but it is
healthy to change. It will be a happier new year if we resolve in our
minds that we will make some changes that are clearly progressive,
and which will lead us to be more of what we can be for the glory of
God.
If we are committed to Christ, we are committed to change, for to
become more Christlike is to change. Man was formed and then
deformed, and all his struggles are to be reformed, but Christianity
comes along and says he needs to be transformed. The most radical
changing agent in history is Jesus Christ. To believe in Christ is to
believe in change. But studies show that many Christians have
breakdowns because they try to change the wrong things, and they
suffer defeat, disillusionment, and despair. We all need to pray
Reinhold Niebuhr's prayer, "God grant me the serenity to except
those things that cannot be changed; the courage to change those
things that can be changed; and the wisdom to know the difference."
Bill Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five said he lived by this prayer,
but he concluded that the things he could not change were the past,
the present, the future. This kind of fatalism is very dangerous for
those who really believe that no good change is possible. They tend
to become agents of change for evil. One of the things we ought to
fear is lack of change. Change may be hard, but lack of change is
often a curse. Adolf Hitler was baptized as a Christian, but he never
changed, for he never chose to let the spirit of Christ reign in him.
His lack of change was a curse to the world. Al Capone was
baptized a Christian, but he likewise did not give himself to be
changed by the spirit of God. Joseph Stalin even went to seminary,
but he was not changed by the Gospel.
The list could go on and on. Change is the best thing that can
happen to a life. Being born again from above is the best change
anyone can experience. That is change that leads to life and
blessings for this world and all eternity. Those who do not submit to
this change do not stay neutral. They begin to drift with the flow of
change that leads to the satanic stream. The change for the worse,
and all of their talents and abilities become dedicated to evil instead
of good. Everybody is always changing. The question is, which
direction is the change taking them? You will not be the same
person who came into the church when you leave. You will have
opened yourself up to the Spirit of Christ and be more willing to
change for His glory, or you will be hardened to change and will
become less of what God wants you to be in the new year. It is not
likely anyone is going to be just the same in the coming year. All
will change and be better or worse than you were the year before.
Change is certain, but you must choose to change for the better.
Sometimes it may be possible to sort of drift into the better Christian
life but that is rare. The growing Christian is one who has to
struggle and take risks to change. Just as the pole on all objects by
gravity is downward, so the pole for change is always the downward
pole of complacency. You've done enough; you've climbed enough;
you have fought enough; now it is time to relax, level off, and be
content. If Daniel would have done that, it would have been the last
chapter in his life. He had to depend upon God for the impossible,
and if he was to have any future, he had to press on to a higher level
of dependence. Because we do not feel the same pressure Daniel did,
we can choose not to press on and just settle down on the level
where we are.
Change was the whole purpose of the life of Christ and His
ministry. The lost were found; the sick were healed; the blind were
made to see; the lame were made to walk; those in darkness came
into the light, and their lives were changed. Jesus came to change
things, and it was hard for the establishment to accept, and it cost
him his life. But he got the job done, and changed all of history. He
put the people of God under a new covenant of grace instead of law.
The unchanging Christ changed everything, and that is still His
plan. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and never ceases
to change all who trust Him. If any man be in Christ he is a new
creation.
The goal of every Christian in the new year should be to change
so that some old things will become new. The world is always doing
this. They have a product that they claim is the best, but before you
know it, they have a new label that says new and improved. They
have found a formula for making it even better. That is to be the
Christian attitude for the new year. Even if you feel you are a
wonderful Christian, there are always areas for improvement. This
means you cannot be content to stay the same. You must be
committed to change.
If it is hard for you to change, start by doing something different
each day that may be trivial. Walk a different way than usual; put
on different clothes than usual; read or listen to something different
than usual. Try to form some new pathways in your brain. Get out
of the rut and expose yourself to something new, and in all your
experiments seek to discover new ways to grow in your knowledge of
God's Word, and in some service for Christ. Daniel adapted to
change, and his greater dependence upon God led to many lives
being spared, and many being blest. That same thing can happen in
each of our lives, and we can be greater channels of blessing in the
coming year if we will only exercise our freedom to change.
