Daniel: Dare to Be Distinct

Skip Heitzig
May 9, 2021
5 min read

Updated: Jan 19

MESSAGE SUMMARY

Introduction
1. Status Quo
  1. Legal term == the current state of affairs
  2. Has come to mean unchanged, not different, boring
  3. Kids don't want to be different; peer pressure
2. Individuality
  1. Be yourself
  2. As long as that fits in with what the group thinks is cool; individuality
  3. 1960s counterculture
  4. One day, our revolutionary music was playing in the elevator
3. Bible calls us to be countercultural, "Do not be conformed: Romas 12:2
4. New series in an incredible book: Daniel
  1. First half centers on the man Daniel
  2. Second half centers on the message of Daniel
  3. Daniel himself was very courageous
  4. Hence the name of the series: I Dare You
    1. Song in 1800s "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known"
    2. Each week we will look at a challenging aspect of Daniel
      1. About 20 studies -- 20 dares
      2. Think, act, live in a unique fashion
      3. I Dare, challenge you to step up to a new level of your Christian experience
    3. Theodore Roosevelt said, "It's better to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat"
    4. Challenge: live on the high wire
      1. Story: trapeze artist -- net underneath
        i. So we don't break our neck
        ii. So we don't fall
      2. We should live more daring because we have a net -- His loving hands (see Deuteronomy 33:27)
I Dare You! Be Distinct
1. Life Happens Unexpectedly vv. 1-2
  1. Babylonians attack the city, kill and take people into captivity
  2. Two view points: Secular history and biblical theology
    1. "The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand: v. 2
    2. On one hand: man is active in history, on the other hand: God is also active in history
      1. Story: 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated Egypt and Assyria
      2. 597 BC
      3. 586 BC -- burned Jerusalem with fire
    3. Israelites killed and some taken captive
      1. Daniel was taken captive around 15 or 16 years old
      2. Taken 650 miles away
    4. Entire population is in an uproar -- it's unexpected
      1. They should have expected it
      2. God warned them
        i. Warning number 1: Deuteronomy -- "Obey and love Me or..." (see Deuteronomy 28)
        ii. Several other warnings from prophets down through history
        iii. Isaiah 39 "Time is coming ...carried off to Babylon...descendants taken away into exile..."
    5. Always two side of histories
      1. Factual side: when, how, what, where
      2. Spiritual side: why
      3. God is the orchestra director
      4. Nebuchadnezzar is a pawn on the board
    6. Life may happen unexpectedly, but God is working supernaturally
      1. Calm down, God is behind the scenes
      2. One author said, "God's ways are behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes He is behind"
      3. Why would God let the bad guys attack the good guys?
        i. Think Daniel would have said the same thing as Paul the apostle, "The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel" Philippians 1:12
        ii. Joseph said regarding his sale and captivity, "As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good" Genesis 50:20
2. The world demands conformity vv. 3-7
  1. We live in a world that has standards that they want us to conform to
  2. It was that way in Babylon also
    They took the cream of the crop of the captives
    1. Brainwashed them
    2. Put them to service in the King's palace
    3. It was four-pronged approach -- still effective today
      1. Isolation -- take then from their homeland, family, priest, worship of their God
      2. Indoctrination -- challenge everything they learned growing up -- brainwash them, steep then in literature that would challenge their worldview
        i. Everything the learned growing up would be challenged by Babylonian, pagan worldview
        ii. Archeology shows they would have been trained in divination
        iii. Like our secular university campuses -- teachers try to undermine Christian student's belief system -- targeting them
      3. Concession -- make this so amazing that they wouldn't want to go back
        i. Food fit for a king
        ii. Impression of Babylon on a young teenager
        ii. "Our God didn't protect us, maybe..."
      4. Confusion -- new names, take away their identity
        i. Daniel: God is my judge; changed to Beltashazzar
        ii. Hananiah: Beloved of the Lord; changed to Shadrach
        ii. Mishael: Who is like God; changed to Meshach
        iii. Azariah: The Lord is my help; changed to Abednego
3. Commitment begins inwardly vv. 8-16; "Daniel purposed in his heart"
  1. Daniel made a choice -- this choice made Daniel become the man that he was
    1. One author puts it this way "All of life is filled with crisis and decisions. There are right decisions and wrong decisions -- high roads and low roads -- almost every day there will be a fork in the road. Where you are today is due to the turn in the road that you took yesterday."
    2. The fork in the road that Daniel took was to not go along with the crowd -- to be distinct: to not "defile" himself
      1. There are things in life that can defile you
      2. Daniel drew the line at the food
        i. What's the big deal? No one's there to see you
        ii. Daniel wasn't looking for an excuse. Daniel had a purpose
        iii. It's been said that an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie
      3. Daniel made an inward commitment to be distinct
      4. "Keep you heart with all diligence for out of it springs the issues of life" Proverbs 4:23
    3. Question: What's defiling to you?
      1. Magazines you read?
      2. Television shows that you allow in your home?
      3. The company you allow yourself to hang out with?
      4. Relationships that you're toying with?
  2. The secret to living a distinct life is this: Living a life with the awareness of, nobody else may be looking, but God is always looking.
    1. "The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and He ponders all his paths." Proverbs 5:21
    2. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13
    3. Your reputation is what you are on the outside, your character is who you are when no one is looking
    4. Story of Moses when he was still living in Egypt and sees an Egyptian mistreating a Jewish person; he kills the Egyptian -- he didn't see anyone looking (see Exodus 2)
4. God always honors loyalty vv. 17-21
  1. "The eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9
  2. After three years of graduate school, Daniel is about 20 years old
    1. Natural aptitude
    2. God's favor and grace -- three results
      1. Reverence v. 19: "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:7
      2. Preference, prominence v. 20: they were at the top of the class
      3. Influence. 70 years -- Daniel has influenced four kings
    3. Another way God used Daniel
      1. Christmas
      2. The Magi (Medo Persian priests)
      3. Daniels' influence; taught based on the vision he had
Closing
1. Challenge: Will you be a thermometer or a thermostat?
  1. Thermometer just records what's going on around it
  2. Thermostat regulates what's going on around it
  3. Daniel was a thermostat
2. Theodore Roosevelt "gray twilight"
3. Story of Nancy Jones :...no hits, no runs, no errors:
4. I Dare You: Be Distinct!

Figures referenced: President Theodore Roosevelt

Cross references: Genesis 50:20; Exodus 2, Deuteronomy 28, 22:27; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Proverbs 4:23, 5:21, 16:7; Romans 12:2; Philippians 1:12; Hebrews 4:13

Topic: Daniel

Keywords: courageous, unique, commitment

We learn from the courageous story of Daniel that:

1. Life Happens Unexpectedly (vv. 1-2)

2. The Word Demands Conformity (vv. 3-7)

3. Commitment Begins Inwardly (vv. 8-16)

God honors such loyalty!