You Gotta Take A Stand

You Gotta Take A Stand

3/29/98 Joshua 24:14-24 Ephesians 6:10-20 Daniel 6

LaKeisha is an eighth grade Christian. She’s new to the school and desperately wants to make some friends. By the end of the week, she’s invited into one of the more popular cliques. She’s thrilled. One day the six of them were are in the hallway. Mary is coming down the hall. Mary is overweight and poorly dressed and always made fun of by others. She says hello to the group, and before LaKeisha could say hi, the other five girls burst out in laughter at Mary. LaKeisha sees the tears in Mary’s eyes as she walks away. Her friends are just being funny. What’s gonna be Mary’s stand.

David is a good looking high school senior. He gave his heart to the Lord a year ago. One of the most popular girls in the school is interested in him. She invites him to come over to her house and meet her parents. When he gets there, she tells him her parents had to leave, but he can come on in. They’re sitting their watching TV. She comes real close to him. David wants to save his virginity until he’s married. She gives him a kiss. She says, "I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m on the pill and giggles. I know my parents won’t be back for at least an hour if you know what I mean." What’s gonna be David’s stand.

John just got a new job in the bank as a loan officer. He’s all excited about helping to make a difference in people’s lives. A friend comes over and says, "John this is off the record, but I’m telling you, the reason the guy ahead of you was let go was he made to many loans to minorities. The boss doesn’t really go for that."

That afternoon an African American couple comes in for a mortgage. They look as though they could probably make the payment without much trouble, but John could probably also justify turning them down. As he thinks of a way he could help them through a special program, the friend who gave him the warning comes by a shakes his head in a way that John knows what he’s thinking. What’s gonna be David’s stand.

We all are going to have to make choices to take a stand? Sometimes somebody is going to ask us to lie for them to cover for their mistakes? Sometimes somebody is going to offer us something, we know we should reject but we’re not going to want to hurt their feelings? Sometimes something we have wanted for a long time is finally going to come our way, but in order to get it, we will have to compromise our commitment to God. Sometimes we will minding our own business, doing what is right, and not bothering anybody, and someone will up against us and force us to choose between God and our position. Have you already made up your mind what you’re going to do?

All of us here can probably recall a time in our lives when we didn’t take a stand and we regretted it. We think, boy if I had the chance to do that again, I would have said, or I would have never, or if only I had do that.

I can recall when I was a freshman in college. I had been a Christian for two years. I had been trying to witness to a group of my friends. We all washed dishes together in the cafeteria. One evening we were coming from work and I wanted to fit in. We were laughing and joking, and someone made a comment about abortion. Trying to be accepted I made a joke about it and they all bust out laughing. The guy who was our supervisor, said laughingly, "I never would have thought you would have made a statement like that." In my eagerness to try to be one of the crowd, I threw away all the influence I had in demonstrating that a Christian is called to be different. I failed that

Let’s meet a person today who knew what it was like to be looked down upon because he didn’t fit with the majority of the people. He knew what it was like to be lied about because of his honesty. He knew what it was like to have his good deeds twisted and called evil. He knew what it was like to have others betray him, when he had done them no wrong. He knew what it was like to have to stand all by himself.

Daniel had been carried way as young teenager as captive to the land of Babylon. He was always a foreigner and a minority. As a teenager he first took a stand not to eat the food of the king, because some of the food violated the law of God. God blessed him for taking a stand, and gave him more wisdom and knowledge exceeding those of all the other students. Later Daniel took a stand to interpret the king’s dream and was exalted to a high place in the government. By chapter six the Babylonian government was overthrown and Darius the Mede took over the country.