Now we must admit that some of these changes are for the better. For example:
• None of the ladies would want to go back to washing their family’s clothes on a scrub board
• Mothers would not know what to do without their microwave ovens
• Men would not know what to do without our T.V. remote control
We have many modern conveniences today that have spoiled us rotten, and we certainly would put up a brutal fight if someone tried to take them from us.
While we cling to all these new modern conveniences, we have a group of people in our society known as the Amish people that refuse to enter into our modern world of conveniences.
The Amish people live in the United States and Canada and are divided into two major groups.
• The Old Order Amish use horses for farming and transportation, dress in a traditional manner, and forbid electricity or telephones in the home. Church members do not join the military, apply for Social Security benefits, take out insurance or accept any form of financial assistance from the government.
• Beachy Amish and New Order Amish groups have fewer limitations.
Illus: The Amish people that belong to the OLD ORDER remind me of three men that were hiking and unexpectedly came upon a large raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so.
• The first man prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river." Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, after almost drowning a couple of times.
• Seeing this, the second man prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength ..and the tools to cross this river." Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times.
• The third man had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools...and the intelligence... to cross this river." And poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge
These Amish are different. They refuse to do things the way we do things. They raise their children in a different way. Someone said the Amish have such a strict standard that they know they have a troubled teenager when -
• He/she stays in bed till after 6 am
• In his sock drawer, you find pictures of women without bonnets
• You come upon his secret stash of colorful socks
• He's wearing his big black hat backwards
Illus: An Amish lady is riding down the road in her horse and buggy when she is pulled over by a police officer.
• “Ma'am, I'm not going to ticket you, but I do have to issue you a warning. You have a broken reflector on your buggy.”
• She says, “Oh, I'll let my husband, Jacob, know as soon as I get home.”
• “That's fine. Another thing, ma'am. I don't like the way that one rein is tied to the horse tail. I consider that animal abuse. That's cruelty to animals. Have your husband take care of that right away!”
Later that day, the lady is home telling her husband about her encounter with the policeman.
• “Well, dear, what exactly did he say?”
• “He said the reflector is broken.” Jacob said “I can fix that in two minutes. What else?”
• “I'm not sure, Jacob ... something about he did not like the way you had the emergency brake hooked up!”
The point I want to make here is that we have become accustomed to many changes. In fact, we have become so accustomed to changes that we now accept them without really thinking whether they are good or bad. THIS CAN BE BAD!
Everything that comes down the pike is not something we should accept. For example, we see a lot of changes in:
• The PHYSICAL WORLD
• The SPIRITUAL WORLD
Many churches today have accepted everything that has come down the pike, and now many of these churches have changed so much they do not even resemble God’s church according to the scriptures.
You see, when it comes to changes in the spiritual world, we need to make sure those changes line up with the Word of God. IF NOT, THEN WE SHOULD NOT MAKE THOSE CHANGES.
Why shouldn’t we accept those changes? Because the Word of God has not changed one iota, so why should we change? Matt. 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
With all these modern translations saying different things, you get the impression God’s Word changes from year to year. BUT IT DOES NOT! The God of the Bible says He has not changed! Look at Malach 3:6, we read, “For I am the LORD, I change not….”
We all like it when someone has not seen us in 10 or 20 years and says, “You haven’t changed a bit!” Now we know they are lying, and they know they are lying, but we still like to hear it.
God has not changed one bit! God is immutable! That means it is impossible for God to change. If He changed for the better or worse He would not be immutable and would be just like us!
While we live in an ever-changing world, when it come to God and God’s Word, they do not change.
God knew these times would come, and He warned us to NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD! Look at Rom. 12:2, we read, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
When Daniel was captured and carried into Babylon he was facing a different culture than the culture that he had been raised in. So the question for him was:
• Should he change to blend in with this new culture?
• Should he refuse to change in a culture that he knew did not line up with the Word of God?
There are three simple lessons in this passage that I would like for us to consider. We see -
I. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE
The Word of God supports this. Look at Titus 2:14 “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from alliniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
We are peculiar in the sense that we are not like the people that surround us daily. If we become like them, we are no longer a peculiar people.
These three Hebrew fellows refused to be corrupted by this culture they found themselves in.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger has a tradition in his church. The first Monday night after Father’s Day, he takes the dads to a nice restaurant and buys them a steak. This particular restaurant is known for a 32 oz. steak they call “Bodacious!” Dr. Belger had decided before he went that he was going to get something to drink, a salad, and perhaps a small hamburger steak. He got there with almost 60 of these dads, and they could choose to go for the big steak if they wanted to. One after the other they decided to go for the big steak, and it was not very long before this evil environment corrupted Dr. Belger and he also ordered the big steak. He said he went home that night feeling like he had swallowed a brick and could hardly sleep. He started praying, “God, help me to live through this night and I promise I will never do that again!”
Illus: The people that surround us can affect us. Why do you think these young people have -
• Tattoos
• Nose rings
• Tongue rings
• Bellybutton rings
• Eyebrow rings
Someone else did it and they followed their lead!
Illus: Why do you think these young men wear the dumb looking haircuts they wear? Do you think they sat down one day and said to themselves, “I am going to start wearing a dumb haircut?” No, they saw another dummy influence another dummy. And soon there were all these dummies corrupted by people around them.
We are a peculiar people. We have -
• A Different vocabulary
• A Different dress code
• A Different life style
• A Different motivation
In the world’s sight we are PECULIAR!
While the lost world walks around 80% to 90% naked, we have a different dress code. We do not use our bodies as instruments to try and cause the opposite sex to lust after us. We use our bodies to glorify God.
1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
We do not need to apologize for being peculiar, because if we are not different it means we have bowed down to their gods!
We see GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE and -
II. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PERSECUTED PEOPLE
Look at Daniel 3:19-23, we read, “Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.”
If we bow down to the gods of this world, we just blend in with the crowd.
• Perhaps thousands were bowing, but these three refused to bow because they knew God forbade it. NATURALLY THEY STOOD OUT!
• If you have ten men on a job and they are cursing with almost every breath, but one refuses to talk like that, NATURALLY HE WOULD STAND OUT!
When we take a stand for what this Bible teaches, we STAND OUT and become the target for persecution.
The Word of God says, in 2 Tim. 3:12, “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
God’s word says we will be persecuted because we refuse to bow to the gods of this world.
Nebuchadnezzar became angry when they would not bow to his gods. He ordered them bound up and cast into a furnace. This was one angry dude!
WHY WAS NEBUCHADNEZZAR SO ANGRY?
Look at Daniel 3:9-18, we read, “Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow to these gods. Their faith in God would not allow them to stoop to the same level of these pagans around them.
The world has a mold and the world wants to squeeze every one of us into that mold. When we refuse to be shoved into that mold, we are going to suffer some persecution.
As Christians, we have to accept the fact that as we take a godly stand -
• Some are going to be put into the furnace of intimidation
• Some are going to be put into the furnace of hatred
• Some are going to be put into the furnace of temptation
Listen, none of us likes to be stuck in these furnaces! But down the road, we will be glad we took a stand and did not bow to the gods of this world.
We see GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PERSECUTED PEOPLE and -
III. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PRESERVED PEOPLE
Look at verses 24-27, we read, “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.”
The three Hebrews are cast into the fire, but an amazing thing happens. Instead of dying in the flames, they are loosed from their bonds and are walking around in the flames. This is a miracle!
Nebuchadnezzar cannot believe his eyes and commands them to come out, which they do, totally unharmed by the violence of the flames. Notice how this amazing preservation took place.
Look at verse 25, we read, “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the flames, they found that they were not alone. The God they had professed faith in met them in the fire.
We have the same promise. Look at Matt. 28:20, we read, “…lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
God allows these persecutions to come into our life for a purpose.
Illus: I think about John Wesley, the father of the Methodist church. He wanted to preach in the pulpits of the land in England, but his doctrine was so different they forbade him to preach in the pulpits. When that happened, he thought he was being deprived. But God knew something Wesley didn't know. God knew that the people weren't in those churches anyhow. So John Wesley, going through the fires of being excommunicated and deprived of the pulpits of the churches, began to preach out in the open air where the people were, and thousands of people were won to Jesus Christ. The flames just simply loosed them from the ropes that bound them.
That’s just God! When He does something, He does it all the way.
• When He heals, He heals completely
• When He saves, He saves completely
• When He forgives, He forgives completely
Whatever He does, He does it all the way!
Conclusion:
Everyone, the saved and the unsaved, goes through the trials of life. This is normal! But Christians go through the fiery furnace because we are children of God. Peter says, “THINK IT NOT STRANGE.”
We see -
I. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE
II. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PERSECUTED PEOPLE
III. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE A PRESERVED PEOPLE
