Title: The Courage to Fear
He was still young when his world came crashing in around him. In his parents’ time, the kingdom had seen its last great ruler. But, in an instant, the king had been killed at the height of his power and greatness. And now, a succession of less than stellar kings had brought the land low. Crime was up, security was down, and it was impossible to know whom you could trust. Chaos had set in, disorder reigned. The prophets begged and pleaded for the land to return to God, but no one would listen. And over the river was the biggest fear of all: Babylon.
The Bible says that Daniel was only a youth – so that could have meant he was as young as ten or eleven. And yet, the world he grew up was not for children. The name of the time was fear. Everything that he and his family had known was changing. The old ways seemed destined for the ashbin of history.
I’m sure Daniel wondered what was happening in his time. The Kingdom that God had called his own was being toppled – the King’s eyes were put out, just moments after his own children were slaughtered in front of him. The Temple that bore witness to the fiery God who had led the land was now set to flames. And the people that God had called out of Egypt were now being dispersed in foreign lands.
The book of Daniel may concern itself with a pivotal event in Israel’s history, but its setting could have come right out of today’s headlines. Oh, I’m not saying that the United States has just been invaded, the president blinded and led off in chains – but the climate of change and uncertainty that underlines this book is one that I sense all around me today.
On a political level, we have largely chosen to define ourselves by our fear of terrorism. We even have introduced the concepts of September 10th and September 12th as if they represent vastly different epochs in history. On a cultural level, I wonder what it is that we as a country really believe in and hold onto. Watching the news can be an exercise in wading through the sewers of mankind’s depravity to his fellow man. And on a personal level, everything is in flux. Marriages fall apart, work is more about the paycheck than a sense of accomplishment, and we wonder, what can really hold on to?
For the next several weeks, we’re going to be looking at this trying time in Israel’s history, but let me tell you that in the midst of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, there is one person you can hold on to. I’m calling this series: “The Courage to Fear” because in these few short chapters, I hope to show you that there is one who will never leave you and never forsake you. But that’s too easy a thing to say when things are easy. I need you to know that these aren’t just words.
These are the real stories of a life lived in constant upheaval. By the time we are done with Daniel, we will have seen five kings come and go . But through it all is one God who never leaves, who never lets us go. You see, in a sea of constant change, there is a way to hold on, and the courage to face your fears in the name of the one who will get you through is what this book is all about.
With that, please let me read the first few verses of Daniel.
In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord let King Jehoiakim of Judah fall into his power, as well as some of the vessels of the house of God. These he brought to the land of Shinar, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his gods. Then the king commanded his palace master Ashpenaz to bring some of the Israelites of the royal family and of the nobility, young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king’s palace; they were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal rations of food and wine. They were to be educated for three years, so that at the end of that time they could be stationed in the king’s court. Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the tribe of Judah. The palace master gave them other names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself.
Da 1:1-8;
Look at what is happening to Daniel here. His Temple has been destroyed and looted. His home has been taken away from him. And now, they want to teach him completely new ways of eating, thinking, and being. They even want to take away his name.
We’re going to spend some time talking about that next week. I can’t think of much that is worse than losing my name. But there’s more in these few verses.
If I saw this little church building being ransacked, a minaret going up on the top of this hill, I might be just a little bit afraid.
The Bible says that the King ordered the best and the brightest kids to be taken away from their parents, and shipped hundreds of miles away to Babylon. Given the transportation back in those days, they may as well have been shipped off to the moon. And if that were Jonathan or Rachel in that lottery, I think I’d be on my knees.
Daniel was facing that unholiest of all trinities: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.
And yet, in the midst of this, Daniel was not only able to overcome, he was able to prosper. Over the course of these next few chapters, we’re going to see that three different kings all tried to make Daniel their number two man. Where most people would have crumbled, Daniel was crowned.
What’s the secret? What is that gave him the strength to carry? Very simply this: He had learned to lean upon him who is invisible. He had learned to see that even in the midst of constant change he could rely on the God who never changed. As James would say, ‘there is no shadow of turning with Thee.’
Daniel 1.8 says something very simple. Just this: Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. He was not going to be changed by his culture – he was going to change it. That’s the key. It’s simply a decision that he would remain true.
If Daniel knew the simple truth that God doesn’t change – that he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow – then it wasn’t that difficult to realize that his behavior need not change either. He would stay true to the God who was always true.
That is not to say that it was always easy to hold on. In fact, the longer I live this Christian life, the more I realize how impossible it is. Circumstances are constantly changing, and how I live my life in Christ is a dynamic thing.
God may not change but everything else does. I do not even pretend that I can tell you I can understand why he chooses to act as he does. But I do know this – He is a good God. I may not see it in my lifetime, but his purposes and his plans are an intricate tapestry that brings peace.
Bear with me a little while on this story if you would, because I know many of you will already be familiar with much of it. It is hard for many people to sing, “It is well” without thinking about the story of Horatio Spafford. But I learned there was a lot more to him than one simple song.
Spafford was born in upstate New York, but he established himself in Chicago. In the post-war recovery, he was a successful businessman. He had grown up in simple faith and was by all accounts a good man. But in 1871, his life took a turn for the worse. He was still grieving the death of his first son when the Great Chicago Fire wiped him out.
Two years later, when hope of recovery failed, he decided to seek counsel from the great evangelist D.L. Moody, who was in England at the time. Unable at the last minute to board the S.S. Ville Du Harve, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead. In the middle of the Atlantic, the ship sank. Miraculously, Anna survived. His four daughters were not so lucky. Anna sent back the telegram, ‘Survived Alone.’
In 1878, the Spaffords had another daughter, Bertha, who recalled what transpired on the ship that Horatio took to rejoin his wife in England:
In Chicago, Father searched his life for explanation. Until now, it had flowed gently as a river. Spiritual peace and worldly security had sustained his early years, his family life and his home....... All around him people were asking the unvoiced question; "What guilt had brought this sweeping tragedy to Anna and Hoaratio Spafford?" ..... Father became convinced that God was kind and that he would see his children again in heaven. On the way across the Atlantic, the captain called Mr. Goodwin and Father into his private cabin.
"A careful reckoning has been made," he told them, "and I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked."
Father wrote to Aunt Rachel: On thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there, before very long, shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. "I will praise Him while I have my being." May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him.
To Father, this was a passing through the "valley of the shadow of death," but his faith came through triumphant and strong. On the high seas, near the place where his children perished, he wrote the hymn that was to give comfort to so many:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know;
"It is well, it is well with my soul.
It is a beautiful comfort and consolation – but Horatio’s life did not end there. Like Daniel, it is not enough to simply to overcome our fears and losses. Our God is bigger than that. I don’t know why, but it seems the vessels that he is most likely to use are the ones that have first been broken. Once all that is dross is shaken away, God can mightily use that which remains.
Let me tell you what happened next. When in England, Horatio Spafford became convinced that God had called him to Jerusalem. The same city that Daniel had seen destroyed in 587 BC, was in 1881 AD still in foreign hands. But he was convinced that he was called, and so he, along with 16 others, formed what was called the “American Colony,” on the outskirts of the old city.
There, they committed themselves in Christian community to praying for the peace of Jerusalem. There, they desired to love the city over which Jesus himself had once wept. Slowly, they became an agent of reconciliation amongst Jews and Muslims who fought over those sacred walls. Later, they were joined by a group of Swedish missionaries, and during the upheaval that came with the fall of the Muslims during WWI, they ministered to thousands with their soup kitchens, orphanages, and hospitals. Even after they ceased to exist as a formal organization in the 40s, they left a legacy. Their headquarters – the organization that Horatio Spafford spearheaded to bring peace to Jerusalem – was turned into a hotel: the American Colony hotel. In 1992, that’s where the PLO and Israel hammered out their first peace accord – the one signed in Oslo in ’93.
I don’t mean to minimize your fears, your uncertainties. But have no doubt, God is still in control. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.
Would you pray with me?
Benediction
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Th 5:23;
PostScript – Information from the companion to the Baptist Hymnal, my wording:
Tragedy seems to follow this song. The tune composer, Phillip Bliss, was returning home from spending Christmas with his family via a train when tragedy struck. The bridge in Ohio over which the train was traveling broken, and seven cars plunged into the icy water below. Bliss himself survived the fall, but he went back into the car in a desperate attempt to rescue his wife. The fire that then broke out in the car killed them both. This tune was (I believe) one of several that were pulled from the wreckage…
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Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Psalm 34:1-15
*Opening Hymn #339
“It is well with my soul”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer [See Insert]
*Hymn [See Insert]
“You are my hiding place”
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #35
“How Great Thou Art”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture Daniel 1:1-8
Sermon
“The Courage to Fear: Daniel”
Invitation Hymn #337
“The Solid Rock”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.
He shall set his mind to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of peace and perform them.
Do you not fear me? says the Lord; Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? But I call upon God, and the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he will hear my voice. He will redeem me unharmed from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. God, who is enthroned from of old, will hear, and will humble them— because they do not change, and do not fear God. O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace— in peace because they trust in you.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Ro 8:6;Dt 13:4;Da 11:17;Je 5:22;Ps 118:6;Ps 55:16-20;Is 40:9;Is 41:10;Is 43:1-7;Is 26:3; Ps 23:4Php 4:7
MORNING PRAYER
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work. Give us the grace to follow daily in his blessed steps we pray.
Confess your sin and pray for your relationship.
Give us grace, grant us your grace we pray.
Father, your Son gave healing to us all. We pray that you would allow that work to continue in those whom we love. Lord, show your power on behalf of Warren and Kathy, Martha and Marian, Susan, Chester, Lee, and these.
Lift up others who need healing.
Give us grace, grant us your grace we pray.
Father, your Son called us all to be his. We pray for the little children, that they would come to him. We pray for those in the prime of their lives that they would know the abundance of his life. We pray for those in the shadows of life, that they would know the comfort of your Son. Bring them all to you.
Pray for those who need to hear the Good News.
Give us grace, grant us your grace we pray.
Father, your Son wept for Jerusalem. If only they knew who it was, O Lord. But we pray now for all the governments of the world that need you. Lord do a mighty work in Iran and North Korea, soften harden hearts around the world we pray. Lift up those who proclaim your name in all the world.
Pray for our nation, our church, & missionaries around the world.
Give us grace, grant us your grace we pray.
Teach us peace, teach us your way, and teach us the goodness of life in your Son we pray. Teach us all things, even as we pray the prayer your Son taught us: Our Father…
