This morning I’d like to introduce you to a book, for those of you that know me you may be surprised to learn that this book is not by J K Rowling or Tolkein. In fact its not even a science fiction book. It’s a little book called “The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.” And it’s just a manual, written in quite a factual tone, based on interviews with experts in a variety of fields. It has reached number one best-selling status as a non-fiction paperback book.
Here’s the back cover where it lists some of the sections. How to fend off a shark, how to take a punch, how to deliver a baby in a taxicab, how to survive a poisonous snake attack, how to jump from a moving car, how to identify a bomb, how to escape from Killer Bees, How to survive if your parachute fails to open and dozens of other dire situations. There’s even a whole chapter on how to perform an emergency tracheotomy on one of your friends if you should need to do that. All you need is a razor blade or very sharp knife and a ballpoint pen with the ink removed from it. For those of you who watch the TV series 24, then this should be the ideal book for Kim Bauer. In fact there ones section she should have read up on.
And I’m going to see how well you would do and test you on it this morning. What should you do if confronted by an angry mountain lion?
1, run;
2, play dead;
3, hold your coat open like a cape;
4, sing a gentle, happy song.
OK, shall we have a show of hands, how thinks its 1, 2, 3, 4. Believe it or not, the correct answer according to the “Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook” is 3—the idea is that by holding your coat open your make yourself look bigger and have more chance of intimidating the lion or at least looking to big to swallow.
This is what the authors say, “The principle behind this book is a simple one. You just never know. You never really know what life will throw at you, what is sitting around the corner. You never really know when you might be called upon to choose life or death with your actions. But when you are called, you need to know what to do. That’s why this book is written.” That’s what they write.
This morning, we’re going to study together another kind of worst case scenario, and see how real-life people, ordinary people like you and me responded, because you never know what curves life will throw at you, when you’ll be called to choose life or death. But when you are called--and you will be called--you need to know what to do. That’s why this Book was written.
So the situation. What should you do if the King commands you to worship his statue or die? Play along but cross your fingers behind your back, Go through the forms but don’t mean it, Don’t but try to remain inconspicuous, Defy the King. Well it will come as no surprise to you, unless of course you were sleeping during the Bible reading that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego choose the last option. From the story it sounds like they tried to do number 3 to start with but there’s always one who likes to tell tales especially, when they don’t like you and so somebody told the King.
When you look at it from hindsight, sitting in our comfortable church with no-one coming to arrest us for being a Christian and knowing how the story turns out it’s very easy to say the obvious answer is number 4. But to someone under persecution, facing the death penalty, then the numbers 1 and 2 begin to look attractive. After all, true worship is in Spirit and not a matter of form. What does it matter if for appearance’s sake we bow the knee to a statue, we know there is only one God and that we are not really worshiping the statue, what does it matter if we do a little bowing to keep in with the crowd. Who would it really hurt if we go through the forms but don’t really mean it in our hearts. After all in this situation the decree is not stopping us being a Jew or worship God, we just have to bow to a statue every so often.
People are willing to make these sorts of compromises. The incident that immediately sprang to my mind was the Scottish parliament. I don’t know if there was a similar incident at the Welsh assembly, but at the swearing in of MSP’s they have to swear their allegiance to the queen. However, several of the MSP’s, including Tommy Sheridan, shown here are staunch republicans who believe that their allegiance is to the Scottish people and not the queen. They therefore object strongly to swearing allegiance to the queen. However, since they have to swear to sit in parliament, they all swore although some made protests before and after. Tommy Sheridan even said it was hypocritical. But they had to do it to sit in parliament, so they swore an oath they did not believe in or want to keep, because they had to.
It’s very easy to rationalise decisions sometimes. Come up with all kinds of reasons why it is ok, to appear to give in but the message of Daniel chapter 3 is no compromise on worship. Our allegiance is to God first and there is no room for compromise. The first commandment according to Jesus was the Shema of Jews which even today many devote Jews tie on their foreheads, arms and put on door posts. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”, or if you have footnotes it might say “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone”. Or perhaps the first two of the 10 commandments “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them”. God is the only God and he is the only one to be worshiped. God first.
We’ve looked at one context of Daniel chapter 3 but there is another. As we have been discovering in the Bible studies and will continue to do, at least part of the reason that Daniel was written was to encourage Jews living 300-400 years later. As had been revealed to Daniel, the Babylonians declined, the Medes rose, the Persians conquered and all fell before the Greeks. Then the Greek empire broke apart and various factions fought over Palestine. Up to this point all of the empires that controlled the fate of the Jews had been pretty happy to let the Jews worship as they please as long as they didn’t cause problems. There were one or two exceptions like this story, but for the most part the Jews could worship who and how they liked. Until a character called Antiochus the 4th lied, cheated and murdered his way to the throne. He wanted one religion throughout his empire and that meant the Jewish religion had to go. He stopped the sacrifices in the temple and persecuted mercilessly those who wanted to cling to the Jewish ways and not embrace the Greek gods.
It was for the benefit of these Jews that Daniel was largely written. The visions told them to hang on, God had not forgotten them and they would be freed. But the stories were also written to inspire those same Jews. To those who were suffering under persecution and being told that they could no longer worship the one true God the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was have been an encouragement. A powerful King might have been against them. But the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was with them to. Antiochus 4th might have asked the same question Nebuchadnezzar asked “What god will be able to rescue you from my power then?” The answer was the same, the one true God.
But as it served as an encouragement holding out the same hope of salvation, it was also a challenge. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego may have been rescued from the fiery furnace but the truth is most of the Jews that were persecuted under Antiochus 4th died. They were not rescued. To those the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was a also a challenge. Verse 18, “But even if he doesn’t, You Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” It holds out the hope of salvation but issues a challenge of faith that holds up even in the face of death. This was the challenge to the people living in 160’s BC, that were dying for their refusal to worship the Greek gods, even if God doesn’t save us, we will never serve your gods. While the visions of Daniel held out the hope that the persecution would have an end and the nation would be saved, the stories demonstrate and call for the kind of personal faith that would be necessary to endure such times.
But what about us. Its all very well talking about the context of ancient Babylon or the encouragement and challenge to Jews living in 160’s BC but what does it have to say to us, in the 21st century in Wales. We are not facing life or death decision about the God we worship. As we heard last week in our missionary meeting there are people in our world today who do face this and the book of Daniel must serve to them as it did to those long ago as challenge and encouragement but what does it have to say to us.
Well we might not face death in furnace, from the government or by lynch mob, but there is still sometimes the temptation to deny the fact that we are Christians. Whether it is because we will lose respect, friends, social standing or any other reason, there is often the temptation to hide that we follow Christ. We can be ashamed of the fact that we follow Christ. It is a sad fact that often what we would be willing to die for or to endure under great persecution we let slip under mild annoyance or frustration. One of favourite quotes from a book by Robin Hobb
Everyone thinks that courage is about facing death without flinching. But almost anyone can do that. Almost anyone can hold their breath and not scream for as long as it takes to die. True courage is facing life without flinching. I don’t mean the times when the right path is hard, but glorious at the end. I’m talking about enduring the boredom, and the messiness, and the inconvenience of doing what is right.
That is not to lessen those who are martyrs, I think perhaps she underestimates the courage that takes. Nor, so much to glorify the ordinary life and show how difficult it is. No, it is just that for some us, under pressure we rise to the challenge, we can meet the big challenges. But the small things, the niggles and the bothers of day to day life, we grow tired and it all just doesn’t seem to be worth the effort. People who under persecution would die for Christ, leave the church because of disagreements. Those who would preach Christ on the street corner while being laughed at and mocked, deny him because it’s just too much effort to get out of bed on a Sunday morning and then the TV is more interesting on a Sunday night. In our society it is not great persecution which makes us give up, rather it is the mundane, the boring, the inconvenient and the annoying.
The other thing we need to learn is that God has a claim to first place in our lives. It may not be a golden statue that takes God place but other things do. We might not fall down on the ground in front of it every time some plays music but we do give things that are not God, first place in our lives. For some it is money, for some it is power, for some it is a job, for others it pleasure, for some it is life, for some it is family. Now none of these things are wrong in themselves, in fact some of them are very important, but none of them deserve first place in our lives, that belongs to God and God alone.
So what can we say about this story from the book of Daniel. It is all about putting God first! It is about not letting anything get in the way of putting God first, whether it is a King, death or even just the inconveniences of life. Not compromising on worship. God first!
