Sermon – Striving for Excellence By Maintaining Your Focus
Scripture - Daniel 6:1-28 “Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. 4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.
10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 Then the officials went together to Daniel’s house and found him praying and asking for God’s help. 12 So they went straight to the king and reminded him about his law. “Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions?”
“Yes,” the king replied, “that decision stands; it is an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they told the king, “That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law. He still prays to his God three times a day.” 14 Hearing this, the king was deeply troubled, and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. 15 In the evening the men went together to the king and said, “Your Majesty, you know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed.” 16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.”
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. 19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”
23 The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. 24 Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. 25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! 26 “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. 27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” 28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Introduction: As we have considered lessons from the life of Daniel, we have talked about integrity, character, partnership, and navigating change. In this final lesson, I want to consider Focus. Striving for excellence means being able to maintain your focus. How do you maintain focus effectively? Experts suggest that we maintain focus by eliminating distractions. How can we stay focused better when we are always bombarded with attacks of jealousy, envy, and character assassination? Daniel was living his best life. He is back in the king’s service and was the chief of staff in the empire. He was excellent in multitasking, practicing peace of mind, meditation, and prayer. Life was good. He was taking care of his health and chose to stay focused on his assignment. This cause Daniel to excel. It helped him achieve his goals. The entire kingdom of Babylon was blessed by his leadership.
Your focus will determine the level of achievements you get in life. When you bring your focus to achieve something in life, you will reach your goals. Otherwise you will end up wasting your time and energy on useless things. Yet excellent character, conduct and work ethic will not protect you from envy, jealousy, and criticism. Moses was the meekest man who ever lived, yet his brother and sister were envious of him. Joseph, the dreamer was a man of excellent character, but his brother’s jealousy caused them to sell him into slavery. You know Jesus was perfect in every way, but envy caused the Jewish leaders to kill him. In Daniel 6, Daniel is raised to the highest office in Babylon by his royal master Darius the Mede. Daniel's position had been earned by his excellent wisdom, character, and work ethic. Daniel came in early and stayed late. He worked harder and smarter. The king had no choice but to promote him. Even Daniel’s rivals could not find any fault in his conduct. We ought to live so our work will speak for us.
Daniel chapter 6 reveals the depth of their jealousy. They went to great lengths to create a law against Daniel’s practice of Prayer. They knew that Daniel would never abandon his God, nor his devotion to God. They tricked Darius into issuing a decree that for thirty days no prayers should be addressed to any god or man but Darius himself; anyone who disobeys this edict is to be thrown to the lions. Song of Solomon 8:6, says, “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as the grave: The coals thereof are coals of fire, Which hath a most vehement flame.”
Solomon reminds us, that jealousy is cruel to the grave. It is like coals of fire in a man’s blossom. Jealousy can be enflamed by the sight of a person. Trying to bring them down becomes their life’s work. Nothing tends to distract our focus like negative comment, people criticizing our motives and actions, people talking behind our back and such. Our assignments are too important to lose our focus. Let us now take courage, as did Nehemiah, when we face hard trials in our daily service to Jesus Christ. As we read these few verses from the book of Nehemiah, we will be strengthened as was Nehemiah. In Nehemiah 6:1-3, reads, “Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it […] that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, ‘Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.’ But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?’” Nehemiah states, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” We should never leave the work of God to answer false charges against the Lord or us. From Daniel's example we can identify the following principle: If we are continually faithful to the Lord, He will help us through challenges we may experience. Striving for excellence in our assignment means maintaining our focus by refusing to answer our critics.
1. Maintain Our Focus By Refusing to Answer Your Critics. Daniel 6:4, 5 “Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
You know Daniel probably knew what his rivals were trying to do, but he continued his work. The words of the Apostle Paul, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed” (2 Timothy 2:15). Let us not compromise, lose focus, be distracted, or give in to our own weariness, so that we are not ashamed at the Lord’s coming. The Lord Jesus, in His high priestly prayer, said to the Father, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). What we see in the lives of Moses, Joseph, Nehemiah, Daniel, and Jesus is a laser-like focus on their assignment. I ask you to join me as faithful brothers and sisters on assignment to ignore the noise, and bringing glory to God by finishing the work He has given us to do.
2. Maintain Our Focus By Refusing to Get frustrated by The Choices of Others. Daniel 6:6-9 “So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law."
Sometimes after we ignore our critics, we can become frustrated by the gullibility of others. Being gullible or naive means that a person is willing to believe in any received information without deep reasoning and analysis. Often, this comes due to a lack of experience and judgment. Also, naivety might mean that a person may lack guile or the ability to recognize deceit or alternative motives. If we don’t stay focused on our assignment, our motives, our attitude, we will allow the actions of others to frustrate us. Maybe king Darius should have been wiser, but flattery can make us blind. Flattery can be harmful because it makes people believe lies about themselves or about specific relationships. If you flatter your boss, you make him believe a lie about himself. If you flatter your children, you cause them to embrace deceitful perceptions rather than the true reality of their abilities or condition. King Darius must have been a man given to flattery. Daniels’ rivals used it against him. He made an eternal decree with a moment of consideration. Yet Daniel still respected his king. We must maintain our focus by refusing to get frustrated by the choices of others. In this world of division, people are separated and frustrated by denominations, political parties, personal preferences which leads to disrespect and hatred. Daniel was neither hateful nor disrespectful. He simply stayed focused.
When we are attacked for our faith, and when our relationship with God is tested what do we need to do? We need to stay focused on the things we can control. We can not control the envy and jealousy of others. We cannot control the actions of others, their gullibility and instability. We cannot control whether or not we will end up in the lion’s den or whether God will save us or not. We can control our focus, our attitude and our assignment.
3. Maintain Our Focus By Remembering Everybody is not against us. Daniel 6:18-22 “Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night. 19 Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den. 20 When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Daniel answered, “Long live the king! 22 My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”
Lion Dens of life have a way of making us feel like we are all alone and everybody is against us. I know these thoughts must have come to Daniel’s mind. He did not know the king was praying and fasting for his safety. He did not know that God had predetermined to save him and release him. He did not know from the moment of his arrest; an angel had been sent from the presence of God to save him. Everybody is not against you. There are forces working on your behalf. In our lonely hour, we must remember God promises never to leave us nor forsake us. Regardless of the outcome, God can be trusted. Striving for Excellence means Maintaining Your Focus by refusing to answer your critics; by refusing to get frustrated by the choices of others; by remembering everybody and everything is not against you. It’s easy to get down, feel down and start looking down, but looking up is a choice. Look up because help is on the way.
4. Maintain Our Focus By Remembering God is Still in Charge. Daniel 6:23-28 “The king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. 24 Then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel. He had them thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. The lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. 25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world: “Peace and prosperity to you! 26 “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his rule will never end. 27 He rescues and saves his people; he performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.” 28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
God is still in charge. Regardless of the king on the throne or the president in the White House, God is in charge. Regardless of the enemies against you, the depth of the lion’s den, or the length of the night, God is in charge. God knows how to glorify himself and deliver each one of us. God knows how to take care of your reputation and your image. God knows how to exalt you to greater glory. Striving for Excellence as demonstrated from the lessons from ends with maintaining our Focus by refusing to answer our critics; by refusing to get frustrated by the choices of others; by remembering everybody and everything is not against you. It’s easy to get down, feel down and start looking down, but we must choose to look up. Look up because help is on the way, because our God is still in charge. He knows how to take care of our enemies, lift us up and promote us, glorify himself and change the attitude of a nation. Don’t haters to distract you, or gullible people to frustrate us, or loneliness and adversity to deflate you. Take courage that God is with you and God is in charge of your life. Keep striving for excellence. “I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].” Philippians 1:6 AMP. Amen.
