Being Real in a world being Fake
Daniel chapter 1:1-21
Introduction-
Our leadership team has been down in Philly for District Assembly.
It happens once a year around this time and I want to talk a minute about it and its importance for the whole church not just those who are delegates that represent the Middletown church.
There are 63 churches represented in our Philly district and about 400-500 people are participating in church business and many more who take some vacation time because they want to experience assembly also… even if they are not delegates.
Our District Superintendent Kerry Willis gave his annual report.
One full day of Missions business and this year our guest missionary was from Papua New Guinea.
One evening service is dedicated where ministers are ordained into the church of the Nazarenes. They have done all their required studies and are recognized and prayed for by the General Superintendent laying hands on him or her and commissioning them as Elders in the church.
Biblical studies are not the only requirement, it comes after years of experience under local leadership and under the scrutiny of the board of Elders who determine who is or not ordained. I had many years of service in two other churches and the required biblical studies before I came to Rosedale and when I was ordained it was the most sacred moment in my life that I will never forget. Many of you experienced that moment with me when I was ordained at District Assembly 2007 in Lancaster, Pa. (16 years ago)
Our General Superintendent Gustavo Crocker spoke three times in two days on world events happening in the 168 countries that Nazarenes are in. Some countries we cannot name because Christianity is not allowed. They are there as teachers and other creative ways into the country. They are underground missionaries.
We had three days of great worship with all those people worshipping the Lord.
The tremendous fellowship of all the Nazarene in the services and even around town as we were in restaurants and hotels in the area. (You can almost tell the Nazarenes) you may not know them but you know them and when you talk together there is a bond and that bond is Jesus.
Two God moments while we were there-
Thursday night during service my legs and back were killing me… I don’t know a nice way of saying it- I don’t know if it was the change of weather but my rheumatoid arthritis was hurting and I just could not get comfortable and wanted to just lay on the floor but knew that would not go well. During the service I asked the Lord to touch me and when we had a break, I told our people sitting by me what was happening. As we standing there, I felt my back pop and it was instead relief… not totally gone but 80% better and I told Rev Porter. He said he was praying for me… I know because that is why I was telling him that. The Lord answered that pray
We had two delegates get sick at the last minute and not able to attend. We had bought missionary dinner tickets for them and did not want them to go to waste. So I was going to try someone to bless with these tickets. At a break in service I felt lead to ask Rev. Wayne Krell if he could use these tickets. Pastor Krell is a dear friend and also a former pastor here at Rosedale. He had a deer in the head light look on his face. He needed two tickets…he was willing to give up his ticket but didn’t know how to get the other person in. It is by reservation and limited because of space. About 200 of the 400-500 could get in.
God moments!
I want to share because it is important to know that we are not just one church in Middletown, Pa. We are a global church with over 5000 churches in USA and in 168 world countries and we are bigger and have a greater present in other countries than USA.
In other countries we have Nazarene hospitals and colleges all over the world.
We have 6 major colleges from coast to coast in the USA.
Why are we bigger in other countries? Because in third world countries they do not have all the toys and distraction we have here in the USA and they are hungry for the Lord.
We have for several weeks been looking at the church and the people who are called the body of Christ.
Today for a few minutes I continue that theme looking at Gods people living in a world that needs to see real believers. Real in the sense we know how we should act as believers . Saying and proclaiming one thing and living another way.
But are we living it out in our lives? Are we being fake Christians?
If you would turn with me to the Book of Daniel Chapter One we will find our text and message for this morning. Daniel is in the Old Testament between Ezekiel and Hosea.
I had the sermon text early in the week without the sermon and I told Josh and Marty that I was going to be late with information to them. That does not happen often and I knew the Lord was doing something different. I had to go to District Assembly before the text and sermon made sense and last night was going to be a long night.
Holy Spirit lead us and guide us as we look at your word!
You know what being two faced is?
By definition two faced is having two faces and not knowing which one is the real you.
Artificial
Counterfeit
Fake
Phoney
Hypocritical
You know anyone like that?
This world today is looking for real- I am not talking about everyone doing their own thing and calling it being real.
I am not talking about people who say they are one thing and act different.
People who say they believe one thing but if they had to prove they were Christian they couldn’t. There are a lot of people doing that. That is not real!
Daniels training in Babylon is what prepared him for what was down the road and why he could be used by God. Let me say it again- it is what prepared him for what was down the road.
God does not waste an experience that he takes us through.
He gets no glory out of seeing us hurt but he will use those times to prepare us for what is ahead and use them to help others by what we have gone through.
Anyone want to take the rough things in our life and use them for the glory of God? To see what He will do with our hurts and hang ups!
Daniel 1:1-5 Read from Bible and then give background-
We see that God had allowed the Babylonians to invade Judah and King Jehoiakim had been overthrown by king Nebbuchadnezzar. God had allowed them to be seized upon. A study of Jehoiakim shows us that he was an evil king and the Israelites had walked away from God and God used the Babylonians to bring down the rebellious people of God. God allowed them to steal from the temple precious items and take them and put in the treasures of their God.
King Nebuchadnezzar appointed a chief to take the best of the best of the men of Judah and train them to be Babylonians.
They took them from who they were and made them to be who he wanted them to be.
It was taking them and stripping them of who they were and molding and making them who he wanted them to be.
They had no choice of being taken, they only had a choice if they wanted to die or be slaves like the others or because they were elite, go through the training and be working in the palace as God’s special servants who ate at the table of the king.
They had to learn the language, they had to learn the culture, they had to eat the food and they had to change their ways. It was a three year training program.
In enters Daniel and the three Amigos-
Daniel 1:6-21read from Bible
(8) “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor…”
Daniel was a foreigner in a foreign land but He did not have to change who he was.
The food defilement was the first test of Daniels faithfulness in times of trouble. The first six chapters of Daniel lines up because Daniel was faithful to His God and was not going to be polluted by a strange God.
A perfect example of staying true to our God is when the social and moral struggles in our community would have us go a different way and away from God.
Chapter 1, 3, and 6 are Daniel maintaining his religious conviction in the midst of hostile environment. He is threatened with severe consequences for holding unto his beliefs.
Each test we go through is an opportunity for us to show our faith and the outcome of the test is the manifestation of God’s faithfulness.
Daniels faith was real
Daniel’s faith said that I cannot always change my circumstances but I can change how I act and what I do in those circumstances.
“Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Heb 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
The faith chapter tells us some of the people of the bible who lived there faith and it says “All these people were still living by faith when they died.”
We do not always know how things will turn out- we live by faith!
Daniel chapter 3 Daniel in the lion’s den
Daniel Chapter 6 He is in fury the furnace where it could of went either way but Daniel was not going to give up on his God or on his faith in his God.
Fake faith has no power to save
Fake faith has no power to change your life
Fake faith cannot answer prayer
Fake faith cannot transform you
Faith is a lifestyle- you do not need anything added to what Christ ahs done for us on the cross but a saved person that wants to serve God should have a faith that is real and it should be active and obedient to the teachings of Christ.
Daniels faith was active
People don’t usually push back by you saying or acknowledging that you are a believer.
They don’t usually pushback that you love Jesus-
They push back when you invite them to know your Jesus… and you start stopping the things you used to do with them because you are a believer.
People today if you do things for Christ you are a super-Christian.
Really there is no such thing as a super-Christian- there is just a Christian doing what God had called them do. It is those who have little or no relationship with Jesus and call themselves Christian that realize what they are doing is not following Jesus.
It is not about saved by works- hear me when I say that- there is nothing else we need to do to be saved but there is a lot to do when we are saved and we want to serve.
It shows up in our actions.
It shows up everyday in the way we treat others.
It shows up when the times are tough and we are not willing to let go of our faith because it would be easier.
Daniel could have easily said I have arrived. The rest of the Israelites were slaves and a lot of men lost their lives but because of God grace on these smart, good looking, young ambitious Israelites they were offered great blessings to adopt to the foreigners way of life.
Why would some believe that we need Jesus to save us but we don’t need Jesus to help us everyday in our lives to live a life that is pleasing to God?
Daniel and these men could of said “All things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose” …that’s us, we are blessed by God and he has put us here to live this life.
Once you understand the relationship you have with the Lord it should want us to be active in our faith.
We should be the same person behind closed doors as we are in public.
The people that know us should see one face not two faces of how we live our lives.
They shouldn’t have to guess who showed up. We should be the same.
He didn’t eat the food from the king because I believe it would cause him to think that he was better than those under him.
He also knew that the meat that was being eaten was meat that was offered to the idols of Babylon and he was not going to eat tainted meat.
He asked permission- he tried to do what was right in the land but first right in the eyes of the Lord- he has been shown favor because I believe his faith was lived out and those around him knew that he was someone different than the world by his actions.
Daniel faith was secure
“For the Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Psalm 9:10
“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
James 1:3
“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
(Verse 15)
Daniel is granted favor because he had been true to his faith and people could see it. Daniel stood out from the others and his faith was secure because he knew that it did not depend on circumstances but on Gods promises.
Close-
If someone was watching your faith and they are- would they say that your faith is real?
Being real must begin with being real with the Lord.
We cannot live two lives- one who most people see and the one we are when nobody is looking.
We cannot be different at church than who we are at home.
We cannot be different at home than when we are work. We must strive to be the same wither someone is watching or not. Daniel was the same and God could use him.
He had Christ-likeness. Oh you say that was before Jesus came to this earth- I believe he knew Jesus. I believe the angel of the Lord that closed the lion’s mouth and the one that walked with them in the fury furnace was none other than Jesus himself.
He had an encounter with Jesus and we must too.
It is the only way that we will determine to be the same no matter what.
We all stumble and fall at times- it is attitude and gratitude that will keep us humble and wanting more of Jesus and the more of Jesus in us will be the more of Jesus others will see in us.
Daniel faith was real
Daniel faith was active
Daniel faith was secure… help us to walk the same way in Jesus Name! Amen!
Prayer-
