The Lion's Den At Work Series

Success and accomplishment are important in Babylon and success should come without having to ‘pay your dues’ or ‘work your way up from the mailroom.’ That is the old way of thinking. Our culture expects with a few clicks and a few videos that someone can go ‘viral’ and be famous overnight and be a millionaire in a week. We think it is silly, but it happens often and we think it can happen to us.

The world of work and business and self-employment and side-hustles is all important because marriage and family is being pushed back until later in life for many. Some things that used to be valued have been devalued and in their place is the need to be noticed and affirmed on a regular basis. In Babylon, people take time to make a little money here and a little money there instead of one place. Traditional work places are going out the window and COVID simply helped that along. In Babylon, people would rather be their own boss than work for someone else. In Babylon, expecting the government to help is normal. All of these truths mix to create the current climate of jobs and income in our society. Overall, work is important when living in Babylon, but work has to fit us and must bring us success pretty quickly. That is the culture in which we live.

TRANSITION / THE END IN MIND

Before we get into Daniel 6, I would like to show you where we need to end up. There is a specific set of beliefs that we need to work towards when it comes to work. For the believer in Jesus, we need to earn wages and work and carry ourselves in a particular way.

ILLUSTRATION… TABLE 10. WHAT BUILDS RESILIENT DISCIPLES? A WELL-DEVELOPED THEOLOGY OF WORK AND CALLING. ‘FAITH FOR EXILES’ BY KINNAMAN AND MATLOCK. PAGE 147

What I would like you to see on this table, are the principles on the left and the percentages

on the far right under the category of ‘resilient disciples.’ The principles represent proper Christian thinking and values and beliefs when it comes to careers and jobs and income. You and I want to be ‘resilient disciples’… at least I hope you want to be. I pray you want to be.

Notice the principles and the percentages:

#1 I want to use my unique talents and gifts to honor God. 94%

#2 Christians are called to do their work with integrity, no matter the type of work. 89%

#3 God designs each person with a unique calling in life. 82%

#4 I believe all the work I do is important to God. 82%

#5 My church does a good job of helping me understand how to live out my faith at work. 72%

#6 I do not have to work in a ministry to be working for God’s kingdom. 69%

Again, I am letting you know this is where our hearts and minds need to end up. This is going to be a struggle because fame and fortune and notoriety and being first do not always fit with God’s Kingdom. We are about to make our way through Daniel 6 and we will find some of these principles lived out by Daniel as he works and lives in Babylon. I could say that all the principles are present in Daniel 6, but then I might have to make God’s Word say what I want it to say. I hope you know I don’t do that. God’s Word says what It says and we need not shoehorn it to say something else. There are principles for us when it comes to work in this passage.