FAITH FOR EXILES: LIVING IN BABYLON
THE LION’S DEN AT WORK
DANIEL 6:1-28
INTRODUCTION… My first job (p)
My first job that I ever had was at the Wagon Wheel Theater on a US Army Base in Baumholder, Germany. It was run by AAFES which runs all of the stores (PXs) and grocery stores (Commissaries) on bases overseas. I worked usually on the weekends a few nights a week. I was 16. I was the only teenager who worked at the theater and all of the other employees were the spouses of soldiers who were on active duty.
Most of the time working was just fine and fun. No big deal. I would go home smelling like popcorn, but that was the only problem really. Except… except whenever the soldiers would ship out for training (‘going to the field’) those ladies would spend every single shift complaining and carrying on how they had to do life by themselves. They complained about their husbands, the Army, their kids, and the people who were the commanding officers. I have got to tell you, working there was eye opening and comical and what I could call a ‘Lion’s Den’ when the soldiers were gone. I never heard my mom complain like that, but to be fair my dad’s job was a bit different. I tried to keep my mouth shut because if I tried to inject some, ‘This is what you signed up for’ or ‘It is only temporary’… they would absolutely eat me alive with their comments. Besides, I was a 16-year-old kid who knew nothing. I learned a valuable life lesson: When three ladies are having a conversation when they are complaining about men… run away.
I mention that memory of mine because today we are talking about work and we are also talking about a lion’s den.
TRANSITION / SERIES REMINDERS
Today, we continue a 5-week sermon series (4 of 5) that focuses our attention on a basic truth that we no longer live in a Christian nation. We live in a land where God is not the priority in politics, dating, marriage, values, sexuality, entertainment, education, family, or worldview. Just about everything in our culture is designed to pull us away from God. We do not live in a nation rooted in Biblical values, but rather we live in ‘Babylon.’ ‘Babylon’ was a real place in the Bible, but in the Bible, it also became a symbol for a culture or a society that marches away from God and away from His way of living. We live in ‘Babylon.’
In this 5-week series, we are focusing on the life of believers in God who were forced to live in Babylon and draw important life principles for us. Today we will be looking in Daniel 6 where Daniel ends up in the lion’s den.
We discovered the first week (1 of 5) that Babylon is pressing us with clutter and complexity and a fast-paced life and the only way to be a resilient disciple of Jesus is to prioritize intimacy with Jesus and our priority must be our relationship with Jesus above all else.
We discovered the second week (week 2 of 5) that in a society that draws us away from God regularly, we must have a mindset that we stand our ground with God and be assured He is right because He is always faithful and we need to be effective and faithful right where we are at. God will be faithful to Himself and we must trust in Him and in His way.
We discovered last week (week 3 of 5) that our culture drives us to be all about ourselves and me-sized and self-centered and to prize entertainment and distractions. As a result, investing in our faith in our church and in relationships is a wise use of our time, energy, and effort to help us sharpen our identities in Christ and serve others.
This week we are focusing in an area of life where faith is not always welcome and we sometimes struggle to figure out how to express our faith. I am talking about at work. Employment. Jobs. Career. As we begin to think about this, I’d like to share a table based on some statistics from the Barna Research Group. It is all about faith and employment.
ILLUSTRATION… FAITH FOR EXILES (Kinnaman & Matlock, pages 151-153) [adapted]
I want to share with you a little bit about our culture and how it relates to careers and employment and attitudes.
The culture in which we live, in Babylon, is overall about ambition. In a 2010 survey of teenagers (Barna) who are now in their twenties, 26% expected to be famous by the time they were 25 years old. Famous on Youtube. An influencer. It is ambitious to think that you will reach a peak of success or fame while in your 20s. Fame is important in Babylon. Name recognition is important as well.
Success and accomplishment are important in Babylon and success should come without having to ‘pay your dues’ or ‘work your way up from the mailroom.’ That is the old way of thinking. Our culture expects with a few clicks and a few videos that someone can go ‘viral’ and be famous overnight and be a millionaire in a week. We think it is silly, but it happens often and we think it can happen to us.
The world of work and business and self-employment and side-hustles is all important because marriage and family is being pushed back until later in life for many. Some things that used to be valued have been devalued and in their place is the need to be noticed and affirmed on a regular basis. In Babylon, people take time to make a little money here and a little money there instead of one place. Traditional work places are going out the window and COVID simply helped that along. In Babylon, people would rather be their own boss than work for someone else. In Babylon, expecting the government to help is normal. All of these truths mix to create the current climate of jobs and income in our society. Overall, work is important when living in Babylon, but work has to fit us and must bring us success pretty quickly. That is the culture in which we live.
TRANSITION / THE END IN MIND
Before we get into Daniel 6, I would like to show you where we need to end up. There is a specific set of beliefs that we need to work towards when it comes to work. For the believer in Jesus, we need to earn wages and work and carry ourselves in a particular way.
ILLUSTRATION… TABLE 10. WHAT BUILDS RESILIENT DISCIPLES? A WELL-DEVELOPED THEOLOGY OF WORK AND CALLING. ‘FAITH FOR EXILES’ BY KINNAMAN AND MATLOCK. PAGE 147
What I would like you to see on this table, are the principles on the left and the percentages
on the far right under the category of ‘resilient disciples.’ The principles represent proper Christian thinking and values and beliefs when it comes to careers and jobs and income. You and I want to be ‘resilient disciples’… at least I hope you want to be. I pray you want to be.
Notice the principles and the percentages:
#1 I want to use my unique talents and gifts to honor God. 94%
#2 Christians are called to do their work with integrity, no matter the type of work. 89%
#3 God designs each person with a unique calling in life. 82%
#4 I believe all the work I do is important to God. 82%
#5 My church does a good job of helping me understand how to live out my faith at work. 72%
#6 I do not have to work in a ministry to be working for God’s kingdom. 69%
Again, I am letting you know this is where our hearts and minds need to end up. This is going to be a struggle because fame and fortune and notoriety and being first do not always fit with God’s Kingdom. We are about to make our way through Daniel 6 and we will find some of these principles lived out by Daniel as he works and lives in Babylon. I could say that all the principles are present in Daniel 6, but then I might have to make God’s Word say what I want it to say. I hope you know I don’t do that. God’s Word says what It says and we need not shoehorn it to say something else. There are principles for us when it comes to work in this passage.
BIBLE PASSAGE: DANIEL 6:1-28 (ESV)
READ VERSES 1-5
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
One of the things we notice about Daniel in these opening verses of Daniel 6, is that his job is government work. He is a bureaucrat not a farmer or a soldier. He is a paper pusher and someone who is an administrator not a laborer or a doctor or a teacher. Also, he was good at his job… not just good… but excellent because verse 3 tells us that God was blessing Him. Daniel’s job was in no way religious, but secular and out in the world and he was using his unique talents and gifts to work and honored God while he worked. I think it is important to make sure we know that.
We also notice, in verses 4-5, that Daniel did his work with excellence and faithfulness and the people who were looking to accuse him did not find fault in him. They tried to find fault with him but his integrity was tight.
APPLICATION
This is a principle that is key for us as we are believers living in Babylon. The key principle in these verses is that we need to work with excellence and perseverance and faithfulness no matter what job we are doing. That is what God calls us to do. That is what our identity in Christ calls us to do. We reflect our Savior when we work. A resilient disciple at all times realizes they are serving Jesus Christ… even if that is at work. Even when that is at a job you hate.
There is a passage in the New Testament that confirms this for us. The Apostle Paul teaches the same principle to the Christians in Colossae.
READ Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
TRANSITION
Daniel 6 continues.
READ VERSES 6-13
6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. 10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
We see in these verses that Daniel worked in a stressful environment that was not friendly to him or his faith. His co-workers were jealous of him and did not wish for his success. I would say they probably actively worked against him most of the time. We see overall in these verses that his co-workers were so intent on getting rid of him that they made up policies designed to attack his faith and trap him.
There are other passages in the Bible that help us see the type of atmosphere Daniel worked in. It was not an atmosphere that encouraged his faith in God. A great example comes from Ezra chapter 4. Ezra was one of those who had lived in exile and was trying to rebuild after their exile was over. There was much against them. Listen to what happened in Ezra’s day…
READ Ezra 4:1-6 (ESV)
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
The environment was one of adversaries and false partnerships and bribes and accusations. This is the work environment of Daniel and others. How did Daniel approach living and working in this type of society? How did he maintain his faith? How did he keep his head on straight and his heart right?
Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel was a man of routine prayer. I love verse 10 which shows us that Daniel knew exactly what was signed and he chose to be faithful to God no matter the policy laid out against him. What words would you use to describe Daniel? Some might say stupid or stubborn or ignorant. I would not use those words. Daniel knew exactly what happened and exactly what the end results would be and knew his faith. I would use words like faithful, steadfast, immovable, and full of integrity.
APPLICATION
We find a principle here that there may be policies or co-workers that we have to deal with that directly oppose our faith, but we are called to be prayerful and faithful. I am not talking about policies that rub against your personal preferences, but rather people that actively oppose faith. It is our job by prayer and with the Holy Spirit to distinguish between personal preference and a ‘thus sayeth the Lord.’
There is a passage in the New Testament that confirms this for us. The Apostle Paul teaches the same principle to the Christians in Corinth.
READ 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
It is not in vain to prioritize our faith and prayerful and to be steadfast in Christlikeness when at work or when facing issues in our career that make persevering in faith difficult. Prayer is a core value for us as we keep our minds and hearts centered on God in the midst of events or co-workers or policies that draw us away from God.
TRANSITION
Daniel 6 concludes with Daniel being in a lion’ den. Now his lion’s den was not chatting with stressed complaining housewives, but rather an actual pit of hungry predatory lions. This is not a metaphor for something or a symbol, but Daniel was tossed into an actual den of lions.
READ VERSES 14-24
14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. 15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.” 16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. 24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
King Darius realized too late he had been duped by his underlings to get rid of Daniel who was a rock star for him. Darius wisely relied on Daniel as other kings had done. King Darius had to follow the letter of the law and tossed Daniel in with the lions and had a sleepless night.
Daniel relied on God. That night a bona fide supernatural miracle happens. It is a miracle because when a human being is put into a den of hungry and most likely mistreated lions, the lions should overpower the humans and break their bones to pieces and eat them. That is normal. Daniel explains to King Darius in the morning that God sent an angel and shut the lion’s mouths with duct tape. Maybe. We don’t know how, but God’s angel calmed the lions and Daniel was saved.
In a gruesome turn of events, the people that schemed to put Daniel there were themselves tossed in with the lions and died.
As I was thinking about Daniel, a passage from the New Testament came to mind.
READ 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Daniel presented himself rightly and was not ashamed of his actions or why he was in the lion’s den. His conscience was clear. That is a fantastic place to be when the world blows up around you. If you and God are good and your conscience is clear with the people around you, there is no better place to be when hardship comes.
SUMMARY AND APPLICATION
I hope you can see that Daniel was a man of prayer and principles at work and he did not let his society remold him and shape him away from his values. We need to be the same. I’d like to remind you and encourage you towards the six truths we started with.
#1 May you want to use your unique talents and gifts to honor God.
#2 May you work with integrity, no matter the type of work.
#3 May you prayerfully find your God-given calling in life.
#4 May you believe all the work you do is important to God.
#5 May we as a church teach how to live out our faith at work.
#6 May you know that you do not have to work in a ministry to be working for God’s kingdom.
INVITATION
For our invitation this morning, I would like to read from the very end of Daniel and King Cyrus’ proclamation about God.
READ VERSES 25-28
25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. 26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, enduring forever; His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues; He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, He who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” 28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
I invite you to investigate the God of the Bible Who is the Living God and endures forever. I invite you to be part of His kingdom that will never go away. I invite you to accept Jesus Christ Who rescues and delivers us and worked signs and wonders to prove His identity. Jesus saved us from the power of sin and death. I invite you today to accept Him if you have not done that.
PRAYER
