Singing the Songs of The Lord In a Strange Land October 24, 2004
Daniel 2
Using Your Spiritual Gifts In the Marketplace
In the sphere of life that you spend most of your life and energy (work, family, school, sport…) have you ever come up against something that was impossible to solve?
Read Daniel 2
The Problem:
Nebuchadnezzar is having a bad dream – the same bad dream each night. & it is leading him to distraction – he is afraid to go to sleep, because he knows that the disturbing dream will be there, when he does sleep, it is fitful, and he wakes up in a cold sweat because of the same dream.
So he goes to his shrink – his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers and asks them to interpret his dream – they say, “Great, tell us the dream!” They’re confident, because interpreting dreams is what they are trained to do. If they can’t do it off the top of their head, they’ve got books and charts and other means of divination that will help them interpret. And if they get it wrong, how will the king know?
“Great, tell us the dream!”
The king says, “No.”
We’re not told why he says no – it could be that he can never remember the dream in his waking – that would tick you off, sleep disturbed by a dream that you cant remember! Or he could be in a sour mood due to his sleep deprivation, and he’s fed up with incompetent magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers, so he wants to test them to see if they are the real thing.
When they ask for the dream, he says, “you tell me, or you and everyone you love will die in a most painful way. I’ll even rip down your houses and turn them into dust so that you will leave no legacy or sign that you once lived”
And you thought you had a bad boss!
Has the impossible ever been asked of you at work? At the cost of your job? Have you ever been asked to know something unknowable, ever been asked to make bricks without straw?
I was reminded of that movie “Glengarry, Glen Ross” When Alec Baldwin comes into the sales office and berates the salesmen for not making any sales when they have been given terrible leads to work with, and he says first prize for sales this month is a Cadillac, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize is “you’re fired”
Daniel’s Response:
Ariach the executioner comes knocking on Daniel’s door and explains the situation. “Sorry, old chap, but I’ll be killing you now.”
Daniel goes to the king and asks for some time.
Prayer
He comes back home & gathers his friends and they pray.
I might pray while gathering my stuff to make a dash for the boarder! But they pray and only pray.
They know that it is only God that can get them out of this mess. They know that only God’s wisdom can reveal the mysteries of life.
I think that Christian or not, our usual response to an impossible situation in everyday life is either to go to work – get busy even if it isn’t solving the problem.
When we get busy to solve the impossible it is saying not, “In God we trust,” but, “in me we trust.”
We get busy or we get whiney – like the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers
Daniel prays. Daniel gets his friends to pray.
When we come up against a brick wall at work, as Christians, our first response should be to pray – the knife is at Daniel’s throat and he leans fully and completely on God. They go to God, not demanding the interpretation, but asking for mercy, that God will save their lives
We need to be supernatural people – not just in church, or in our daily devotions, but in our toughest situations.
Psalm 46 is a battle song – the imagery is all about battles and defenses, but in the middle of the battle, God says
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
God answers their prayers almost immediately – Daniel is given a vision of what the king dreamt, and the dream’s interpretation.
Thanksgiving
Daniel doesn’t run right out and save his life – he first gives thanks. And it is not a short “thanks”
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king."
Compassion
Daniel could have seized this opportunity – there was a death sentence on all the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers in the land. What a victory for the kingdom of heaven could be had – to rid Babylon of all the top witch doctors! – to rid the enemy king of all his top advisors!
Daniel doesn’t do this – he first goes to the executioner & tells him to hold off on his orders, he saves their lives, and then goes to the king.
It reminds us that our battles are not always the same as God’s
Witness 27-28
The first thing that Daniel does when the king asks him for the dream is not to spill the beans, but to give all the glory to God
"No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.
Using your Spiritual Gifts at work, family, school…
Don’t compartmentalize – Daniel has been trained as a Babylonian wise man as a diviner of signs. But he doesn’t say – that is my job, but my spiritual gift of wisdom is my religion…
Graham Cooke who is a man who seems to have a running conversation with God tell the story of going to work at a small company – he was the bottom man on the totem pole. But one day a sales meeting came up. The number two man was off sick, and the boss needed support, so he asked Graham to come along. As they entered the sales meeting Graham heard God ask him, “do you trust me?” Graham winced and said “yes, but I don’t want to!”
At the end of the presentation the people were very interested in the service that Graham’s company could provide. All they need to know was the cost – that was Graham’s job – he had the breakdown of figures. As he turned to that page, God said, “double it.” Graham (in his heart) said “What?!” “Do you trust me?” “Yes.” Double it.”
So Graham took the number at the bottom of the page, closed his binder and doubled it.
The other team glanced at each other, nodded and said “that sounds about right. And the deal was made.
It wasn’t until the end of the day the boss and Graham we alone together, in the elevator. Graham broke the uncomfortable silence and asked “so am I fired then?” The boss said “”I’m not sure.” After more silence he asked “What possessed you to double the price?”
At that point Graham had to explain how he believed that God spoke to Christians today, and that God spoke to him and told him to double it. The Boss had no idea what to do with divine revelation as a sales help.
What is a Spiritual gift – a supernatural ability to bless other people. – there are lists of Spiritual gifts in the Bible, some people have complied the lists
Administration, Apostleship, Craftsmanship, Communication, Discernment, Encouragement, Evangelism, Faith, Giving, Healing, Helps, Hospitality, Intercession, Interpretation, Knowledge, Leadership, Mercy. Miracles, Prophecy, Shepherding, Teaching, Tongues, Wisdom. - from “Network” – Willow Creek
But anything that God gives you that blesses others supernaturally can be considered gift of the Holy Spirit.
While we often teach that spiritual gifts are for the encouragement and the building up of the body of believers; that is not their sole use. They are also there to give glory to God in the world and in the spheres that we inhabit. We are called to be spiritual people in the world
Be Normal! – if the glory is going to go to God, we need to be normal in the use of our gifts. If you have the gift of healing, but you have the need to yell, or get all earnest and quiet when you pray for healing, bring the healing to work, but leave the affected voice at home. God healing someone, or solving a work related problem has nothing to do with the volume or apparent earnestness of our prayers – it has to do with his power and his will.
Be Humble There is not a speck of triumphalism in Daniel – he goes to the king, not promising an interpretation, but asking for the time to ask for one, Daniel and the boys pray, not demanding an answer, but recognizing that what they are asking for is mercy – not deserved wages.
We Christians can not turn on the “I’ve come to save the day!” Super Hero attitude when we see that God can help. We are not Super Heroes, we are people who pray.
A friend who I see at my kids school told me about a worrying medical issue she had – the soonest they could do some tests was in two months. She was worried, so I told her I’d pray for her. I saw her again and she said, “Someone cancelled & I can get tested this week!” - you must hold some sway!” I said, “no more than you – I just ask.”
Pray – don’t just pray for the salvation of your boss & co-workers, do that, but pray for the business, pray over projects that you are doing, pray that the business will prosper, pray that God will help you problem solve. God is the creator of all that there is! There is nothing in this world that he has not already had his hand in – nothing is off limits.
My Friend Dirk Maat from Mississauga has a prayer group for business people where they just pray through issues regarding work, and they’ve seen amazing answers of prayer come from those meetings.
Trust God
Thank God
Give God the Glory
Bless your boss, even if he/she is a tyrant.
The Dream
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was that of this wild statue:
The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel explained that the different parts of the Body were kingdoms, with the head being
Nebuchadnezzar’s. The big rock that destroys all the kingdoms was the Kingdom of God and it becomes a mountain that never fades away.
Although you might be really interested in further interpretation of the dream, I’m not going to deal with that today, because I believe that the main point of this story is that only God’s wisdom can reveal the mysteries of life.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Response:
1. He is somewhat self serving – he’s happy that his is the first and best kingdom.
2. He praises God – this is not a conversion – he is just happy that this god served his purpose at this moment.
3. He promotes Daniel, he lavishes him with gifts & puts him in charge of the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers. – instead of killing them, God’s prophet becomes the head of the “wise men”
Daniel actually turns down being ruler of the whole Babylonian region, he feels that he can do more by staying close to the king in his court, but he gets his buddies, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego put in charge of the Babylonian province.
Graham didn’t get fired. In fact he was promoted through the company until he was in charge of sales for the whole company. As the top selling person in the whole parent company, he was asked to give the address to the annual sales meeting. He was able to share God’s heart for integrity in sales and business.
We must not compartmentalize our lives – God is not constrained by these four walls – he is God in the marketplace as much as he is in the church. We must expect him to work there as much as we do here.
