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Three Keys to Navigate Uncertainty


Hi, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in. And I sure look forward to being together again. Hey, but

until then, thanks for joining us from the comfort of wherever you are joining us from. And for those of

you who have allowed us to be your church while your local church is gearing up to reopen, we have

certainly enjoyed having you and we will be here as long as you need us. Today, we begin a brand new

four-part series entitled "Leading Through", and the subtitle is "Three Essentials for Navigating

Uncertainty". "Three Essentials for Navigating Uncertainty".

Now here's the thing. Here's what we all have in common. In light of everything that's happened the past

several months, there's a sense in which we are all picking up the pieces, moving forward the best that we can,

but many of us, and I bet this includes you, many of us are responsible for helping other people move forward

as well. Family members, maybe employees, team members, students, members of the community. So if you're

a parent, a manager, a business owner, an executive, a teacher, a coach, a mayor, maybe part of a city council,

people are looking to you and they're looking to me for direction. They're looking to us for inspiration. And

mainly they're looking to us for hope. And you know this because you're a leader.

Leading under normal circumstances and leading in normal conditions is tough enough, right? But leading

people through and out of what we've just come through? Not for the faint of heart. And, and I won't tell if you

won't, but the people who are looking to us for leadership, they have no idea how unprepared we are and how

unprepared we feel, right? Because come on, we don't have all the answers. We don't have all the answers. We

don't always know what to do. And isn't it true? We're just kind of making this up as we go along. At least I

know I am.

Now this is super important. About 20 years before the story we're gonna look at today, about 20 years before

that, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah. The city of Jerusalem was actually spared for the time being. But while

he was there, Nebuchadnezzar went in and rounded up members of the nation's elite, their citizens, their best

and their brightest people, and brought them active Babylon as hostages. And included in this number of folks

where Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel. Then, a few years later, Nebuchadnezzar returns to

Jerusalem. He sacks the city. He destroys the temple. But before he destroyed it, he looted it. And then he takes

all the contents of the Jewish temple to Babylon, and he places them in the palace vault.

Now I need you to log all of that away because those details become very important toward the end of

today's story. Now, Daniel and the Judeans exiled in Babylon, for them, the moral of this story was

simple. That God was judging the nation of Israel for its disobedience, and that basically God was

putting the nation in timeout until they got their act together, until they decided to become faithful to

the covenant. So for them, that's how they understood these events. But King Nebuchadnezzar didn't see

it that way. The way he saw it, it was very simple. His God, Marduk, was clearly more powerful than the

Jewish god, Yahweh. And Israel's god had lost. So consequently, that's just the end of the story, right?

But as it turns out, that was not the end of the story. In fact, it's actually why we know this story.

Daniel documents these unusual events in the Old Testament Book of Daniel. He'd been in Babylon for about

20 years by this time. He'd become a trusted advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar. And according to Daniel,

Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing, terrifying dream that he was absolutely sure had some kind of significance

for him and possibly for Babylon. And so Daniel documents what Nebuchadnezzar describes as this horrible

dream. Here's what he writes. He said, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and

prosperous, and I had a dream that made me afraid".

And here's what he dreamed. He dreamed that there was this enormous, beautiful tree that was visible to all the

earth, and all the animals of the earth rested under the canopy of this enormous tree, and it provided food for

all the earth's creatures. Then, in the dream he hears this loud voice from heaven that says, "Cut it down". And

in his dream, suddenly this enormous tree is cut down to a stump. And then in the dream, the voice says this. It

says, "Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the

earth. And let his mind be changed from that of a man, and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven

times pass by for him".

And then the voice announces this. "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the

verdict, so that the living may know that". And here's the bottom line for Nebuchadnezzar and here's the

bottom line for us. That all the world would know that "the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth

and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people". So when Nebuchadnezzar

wakes up from this dream, he is terrified, and he knows it has something to do with him. So he calls in all the

usual suspects to help him interpret this dream, and they either can't or perhaps they won't, and eventually he

brings in Daniel. And when Daniel hears Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he also is terrified. In fact, Daniel is so

terrified when he hears Nebuchadnezzar's dream, that Nebuchadnezzar actually has to comfort Daniel.

And here's what Daniel says. He says, "My Lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to

your adversaries". But it doesn't, it's all about you. And then I think, perhaps, because of what he was about to

say, Daniel takes a step back and he says, "King Nebuchadnezzar, here's what the dream means. The Most

High God has decreed that you will be driven away from humanity. That you're about to become like a wild

animal. That you're going to humiliate yourself publicly. And that this will go on until you finally

acknowledge", and then maybe he takes another step back, "until you finally acknowledge that the Most High

God, not you and not Marduk, is sovereign over the kingdoms of men".

And then he gives him a little bit of good news. He says this, he says, "Your kingdom will eventually be

restored to you, but not until you acknowledge that heaven rules. Therefore, your majesty, be pleased to

accept my advice". And then Daniel steps into his role as an advisor to the most powerful man on the

planet, and here's what he says. He says, "Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your

wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue".

Well, Nebuchadnezzar was terrified by the dream, but apparently he wasn't all that terrified, because nothing

changed for 12 months. And then everything changed. 12 months later, King Nebuchadnezzar was walking on

the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and he said to himself or he said out loud, "Is not this the great

Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty"? And we

can hear the music change, can't we? And we can pretty much guess what happens next, can't we? "The words

were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven". And the voice said this. "This is what is decreed for

you, King Nebuchadnezzar".

Now King Nebuchadnezzar is the one who's accustomed to making the decrees. Now someone is making a

decree about him. "King Nebuchadnezzar, your royal authority has been taken from you". It's been taken

because it can be taken, and it can be taken because it was given. It was on loan. It was a stewardship,

Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar, you didn't know it. But you are accountable and you're being called to

account. You made it all about you, and now you're through. "King Nebuchadnezzar, you will be driven away

from people and you will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox. And seven times, seven

times will pass by for you, until you acknowledge". And here's the bottom line. "Until you finally acknowledge

that the Most High is sovereign, the Most High is sovereign over all the kingdoms on earth, and he gives them

to anyone he wishes".

And immediately Daniel says, immediately, "Nebuchadnezzar was driven away from people and he ate grass

like the ox. His body was eventually drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an

eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird". Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind, possibly stricken with boanthropy.

Boanthropy is actually a real psychological disorder where the person is suffering from it actually believes that

he or she is a cow or an ox.

So what happens is his attendants or his wife walks in one day and they find King Nebuchadnezzar crawling

around on all fours making animal noises. They take him out to a private garden and they try to keep this story

private, and he lives there. We don't know how long, but eventually he comes back to his senses. And when

he's told what happened, of course, he's absolutely humiliated. And he puts two and two together. He

remembers the dream and he remembers Daniel's interpretation of the dream. And Daniel takes down his

confession, and here's what Nebuchadnezzar said at the end of that time. He said, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, I,

Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was finally restored". And then, then of course

he did. "Then I praised the Most High. I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an

eternal dominion".

Suddenly it's not all about Marduk, it's all about Daniel's God. "His dominion is an eternal dominion.

His kingdom endures from generation to generation". This is so powerful. "No one, no one can hold

back his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?' And now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and

glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who

walk in pride... Those who walk in pride, he is able to humble".

So here's the lesson for Nebuchadnezzar and for us. Leadership, even kingship, is a stewardship. It's a gift, it's

temporary. Leaders and kings, leaders and kings are accountable. And so we dare not, this is our lesson, we

dare not leverage our power, we dare not leverage our influence to oppress. Now this whole incident with

Nebuchadnezzar did not happen in secret. Wherever there were slaves, there were no secrets. And this story

eventually circulates throughout the royal family and beyond. Then, follow along, 40 years go by, 40 years

later, by this time Nebuchadnezzar dies, there were two or three other kings that lasted for a very short time,

but 40 years later, the new king of Babylon is Nabonidus. He's the brand new king of Babylon. He's the king of

Babylon, but he is no King Nebuchadnezzar.

And as the glory of Babylon begins to fade, in the East, the Persians, under the leadership of Cyrus the Great,

begin to flex their military and economic muscle, and Cyrus the Great sets his sights on the city of Babylon

with all of its legendary wealth, and he launches a campaign of conquest and destruction with Babylon, the city

of Babylon, as the ultimate prize. So King Nabonidus, who's the king now in Babylon, he put his co-regent,

Belshazzar, in charge of the city. I know it's a lot of names. He puts Belshazzar in charge of the city of

Babylon. Then he and the Babylonian army go out to confront Cyrus who's making his way toward the city of

Babylon.

Well, the Persian army under Cyrus decimates the Babylonian army. They capture Nabonidus and they march

on the city. And Cyrus knows, Cyrus knows that the great city of Babylon, the defenses make it pretty much

impregnable, but he's gonna march on the city anyway. Meanwhile, inside the city of Babylon, Belshazzar,

who now considers himself the king, prepares the city for a protracted siege. He reinforces the gates as the

Persian army surrounds the city. And he is so confident the Persians will never breach the walls of Babylon. I

mean, from his perspective, the Persian army is gonna thirst to death, starve to death, or if they stay too long,

they're gonna freeze to death. But there was no way they would take the city of Babylon. So with the city's

defenses set, Belshazzar decides to throw a party. A huge party.

Now, in light of what happens next, it's important to note that Belshazzar was actually the late King

Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. In the text, it refers to him as Nebuchadnezzar's son, but that's just the

way they talked. He was actually King Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. So here's what happened next.

"King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for 1,000 of his nobles". This was a big party. "And he drank

wine with them. And while Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and

silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father", or his grandfather, "had taken from the temple of

Jerusalem". We talked about that up top, remember.

"So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and

his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them". They essentially made a mockery of these sacred

things that had been taken from God's temple in Jerusalem. But it gets worse. "As they drank, as they drank the

wine, they praised the gods of gold, the gods of silver, of bronze, iron, the gods of wood and the gods of

stone". And Yahweh had finally had enough. The text says that suddenly, "Suddenly the fingers of a human

hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand, in the royal palace". And the party

stopped, right? The king watched. "The king watched the hand as it wrote", but he can't read what's being

written. In fact, nobody can read it.

The text says that "his face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were

knocking". And then Belshazzar announces to everybody at the party, "Anyone who can read this, anyone who

can read and interpret this writing, I will make them the third highest ruler in the kingdom". But nobody steps

up. Now his queen, who apparently either wasn't invited to the party or who left early, hears all of this

commotion, or maybe she hears a lack of commotion, she steps into the banquet hall, she glances up at the wall

and sees this strange writing on the wall, and she comes over to the king and she says, "Pumpkin", or however

she referred to Belshazzar.

"Pumpkin", she says. "Don't be alarmed. Don't look so pale. There's actually a man in your kingdom who has

the spirit of the holy gods in him. King Nebuchadnezzar actually appointed him to be the chief of the

magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners a long time ago. And this man has in him the ability to

interpret dreams, explain riddles, and to solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the

writing means".

Now, Daniel must've been in his 70s by this time. Apparently he'd been forgotten by everybody, except

perhaps the queen. So they find Daniel, they usher him in. Belshazzar repeats his promises of wealth and glory

and power. Daniel shakes his head. He glances up at the strange script that's written on the plaster and he says,

"You may keep your gifts. You may keep gifts for yourself, Belshazzar, and give your rewards to someone

else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and I will tell him what it means".

And I'm sure you could have heard a pin drop in the throne room as Daniel begins. And he says this,

"Your majesty, your majesty". He recounts a little history, puts this in context. "Your majesty, the Most

High God", and here's our word, "gave your father or your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty

and greatness and glory and splendor". It was a gift. Because, he says, "Because of the high position he

gave him, all the nations and all the peoples of every language dreaded and feared your grandfather

Nebuchadnezzar. But when his heart, but when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he

was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory". Until, until, until. "Until he

acknowledged". And here's the bottom line. "Until he finally acknowledged that the Most High God is

sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and he sets over them any one he wishes".

Then I think he paused, and he looks at Belshazzar right in the eye and he says this. "But you, but you, but you,

Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all of this". You've heard this story before.

You knew what happened to your grandfather. You've been warned, you should know better. "But instead, you

have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven".

And then I think Daniel got a little bit angry, because as he looked around the throne room and he saw these

precious articles that had been stolen from the Jewish temple being used the way they were, and he shakes his

finger in the face of the king and he said, "You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and

your nobles and your wives and your concubines drank wine from them". You have made a mockery of

Yahweh. And then, to make it worse, "You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and

stone, which cannot see or hear or understand".

He just offends their entire pantheon of gods. "But you did not honor, you did not honor the God who holds in

his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription". To which he could

have added, and are you really sure you wanna know what it says? "Here is what the words mean. Mene, God

has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end". Belshazzar, your leadership was a loan, and

God is calling the loan. "Tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and you have been found wanting". You

are accountable, you've been evaluated. "Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the

Persians". It's been taken away. You thought it was yours. It was never yours. He gives and he takes away, and

now he's taking it away.

Now, while all of this is going on, while they're having the party, you know, while Daniel's interpreting

what's been written on the plaster, unbeknownst to anyone in the room, Persian engineers were actually

diverting a portion of the Euphrates River into a swamp outside the city. Now the Euphrates River

actually ran under the wall of Babylon and through the city, that's why they had an endless water

supply and that's why they were not afraid of a protracted siege. But here's the thing. By diverting the

water supply, the Persian engineers caused the level of the Euphrates River to drop. And when it was

low enough, a Persian SEAL team swam under the wall, killed the Babylonian guards guarding the

gates, and then dragged those enormous steel-girded doors open, and the Persians look the city.

In fact, Daniel tells us that that very night, "That very night, Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain.

The Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, and he gives them to anyone he wishes". Now, I'll be

honest. I'm not sure how all that works. But if it's true, and I think it is, there's something there for all of us

who have any measure of influence. Your talent, your education, your family connections, your hard work,

your discipline, or maybe just your plain luck, you know, puts you in a place of influence. But what you do

with that influence determines whether or not you are a leader worth following, a leader worth emulating. And

this is what's so catalytic about this idea.

Unlike Nebuchadnezzar in his early years and unlike Belshazzar, when we view our influence, when we view

our influence, however great or small, when we view it as a temporary stewardship for which we are

accountable, we will be far less likely to spend it all, focus it at all, or leverage it all on ourself. And we will be

far more inclined to leverage our leadership and our influence for the sake of those we have the privilege to

lead. We won't need to be reminded that greatness is more than progress.

When we embrace this definition of leadership that incorporates the idea that it's a stewardship, that it's

temporary and that we're accountable, we won't have to be reminded that people matter, that people matter

most, that what's best for people is always what's best. We won't need to be reminded that people matter to

God, because we will live with the understanding that it's God who loaned us our temporary opportunity to

begin with.

So, whether you're leading a family, a business, a nonprofit, a division, a department, a team, a city, a

state, or a nation, remember this. Leadership, leadership at every level, leadership is always a

stewardship. It is always temporary. And you are accountable. And here's why. Because the Most High

is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them temporarily to any one he wishes. Now all of

that is simply the setup or the context for where we're going over the next three weeks. And next time

we're gonna tackle the first of these three essentials for leading through times of disruption and

uncertainty, so please, please, please, don't miss part two of "Leading Through".

The world needs leaders, especially during times of uncertainty. But not just any leaders. King Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by God in a drastic way, but learned from his suffering to trust God and lead wisely. We can learn to lead in difficult times too.


Preached at North Point Church.


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