How to Live in Babylon (05-Feb-06)
How to live in Babylon Feb 5, 2006
(The sermon can be heard online at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
During January I was pursuing graduate studies in spiritual theology in the Bay Area of California.
While there, I met a couple who sense they are being led by God to move to Vancouver.
On some levels this doesn’t seem to make sense to them.
The husband is leaving a prestigious job at one of the best universities in North America.
The wife will be leaving her very meaningful work and they will both be separating from, their long-time friends in the Bay Area.
They are both followers of Christ and feel that in coming to Vancouver: they are coming to a place with a smaller percentage of Christians.
And finally, it rains less in the Bay Area in January than Vancouver!
But they sense God leading them here.
There are times when God put us in a place seem to make logical sense, but God has purpose for us.
Today going to begin look at Daniel and we’re going to God moved him to place that he would not have chosen on his own, a place far from home, a place hostile to his values and how he lives as a person of faith in this new place.
If you have Bibles please turn to Daniel 1.
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia [a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.
6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
In Daniel 1 we read in the 3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
Some of us may be familiar with the date 586 B.C. That was when the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and many of the Hebrew people were carried off to exile into Babylon.
But about 20 years before in the year 605 B.C.… there was an earlier exile of a smaller group of Hebrew people, perhaps 10,000 people who represented the professional and intellectual classes of people. Daniel and his friends who Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were among this first wave of deportees.
Superpower, Babylon wanted to expand it’s empire, and part of their strategy to pull this off this was expand their leadership base by identifying young leaders with potential whom they could thoroughly train in the ways and values of Babylon…
In vs. 2 we read that the LORD delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon…
In this text we see that God, through a military takeover of Judah by the King of Babylon, guides his people from the “promised land” to Babylon, a land that is considered an “evil empire…” He leads from a place of power and privilege to a place of powerlessness…
There are times when God in his sovereignty will call us to a place of powerlessness…
It seems counter-intuitive, we would think that God’s purposes could be best carried out if God’s people were in power… not always…
One of the best contexts to become strong faith is to live with some of resistance to your faith…
In my informal observations, I have found that people who are followers of Christ in places where there’s no social advantage to being a follower of Christian are generally stronger than those who live in the Bible belt where there are all kinds of social advantages in belonging to a church.
Trading companies from North America were important live fish to Japan, where love raw fish and they found were finding that about half of the fish died by the time they arrived in Japan. But someone at a trading company said I have an idea. Let’s put an octopus in the tank with fish. The octopus is the enemy of the fish. Guess what happened? Some of the fish were eaten, but 70-80 percent ending up living. Being a place where we are challenged can make us stronger…
God may bring us into a place of powerless to condition us, but also to be a light to that place.
I worked for a multi-national corporation in Tokyo, where as far in my immediate section… I was the only or one of the few followers of Christ…
I felt that though my light was especially, it seemed brighter because I was in a darker place spiritually…
God may call us into a place of powerlessness so we can make a difference in the culture itself…
So God at times calls to a place of powerlessness so He can accomplish His purposes in us and through us and so his name will be glorified…
As we’ve seen in the text Daniel and his friends refuse to eat the King’s royal Diet of rich foods and wine. They voluntarily opt instead to go on a diet of vegetables and water…
At the end of their time, they are healthier and better nourished than the others who were eating the King’s diet.
OT scholar Tremper Longman points out that the reason the young men refused to eat the King’s food was to demonstrate that it God not the King of Nechadnezzar prospered them.
When we are in a position of powerlessness not only can be good for our spiritual conditioning, not only are we in a position to make a difference, but we have special opportunity to allow God to glorify Himself in us.
It’s clear that it is God’s will for his people to live in Babylon and not only to live in Babylon to engage in the culture.
In Jeremiah 28-29 we read about a false prophet named Hananiah who is prophesying about the exile of the Hebrew people in Babylon. What Hananiah says in essence is don’t settle down in Babylon because the Lord is going to soon deliver you out of Babylon…
But, as Jeremiah the true prophet, says no it’s God’s will for the Hebrew to be in Babylon now…
He says settle down, build houses, marry have and raise children, and seek the prosperity of the city for if it prospers you will prosper…
God calls them to live and invest in Babylon, a “pagan place.” We are called to live in Babylon in places where the living God is not acknowledged…
So, HOW are we then to live when in Babylon?
Let’s take a closer look at Daniel.
Daniel has two names, his Hebrew name Daniel, which means my judge is the Lord, but also his Babylonian name Beltshazzar, which interestingly enough comes from the same root as the word Bel a god of Babylon…
And as commentators have pointed out these dual names symbolize a kind of dual identity that Daniel belongs to God, but that he is also a citizen of the world…
As Tim Keller puts it, we are called to be spiritually bi-cultural.
Jesus said we are to be in the world, but not of the world.
When you are in a minority we will have one of 2 temptations: one is separate and curl up into our selves like Hedgehog: freeze and turn inward with needles pointing outward (show photo) and the other (show photo) to be like a chameleon and blend in.
We called to be in the world, but not of it…
As we see in the text, Daniel and his friends become fully immersed in the Babylon culture…
They pursue a liberal arts education in the Babylon, which by the way includes required courses in divination, something Hebrews would have consider idolatry… He is a citizen in his world….
But we also see he resists complete surrender to the culture, by not eating the rich foods…. OT scholars Ian Provain and Joyce Baldwin point out eating in this culture you would indicate you accept them, and so there refusal to eat the King’s diet shows that Daniel and his friends, want to convey that don’t fully accept the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar… They’re a demonstrating a subtle political resistance.
Some commentators have argued that the reason why Daniel and his friends refuse the royal diet is because the food was not kosher or clean by Jewish standards, but we don’t know that for sure.
We know Daniel refused wine, but wine is not wholly prohibited by God Scriptures… Bible warns against the excess use of alcohol and prohibits drunkeness, but there is no categorical prohibition against drink wine as such…
On the one hand Daniel and his friends are engaged in the culture, on the other hand they thoughtfully resisted by not eating the royal food and drinking the King’s wine..
This is the way we are to live in Babylon…
We one hand be part of the culture, but other hand resist…
We don’t curl up like a hedgehog, we don’t blend like a chameleon, we’re in the world, but not of it…
How might this play out in our lives?
Here in the book Daniel and his friends decide to forgo the King’s rich foods and wine.
As people of faith, we obviously will eat and drink… but we also from time to time as questions why do we eat and drink what we do?
We live with “consciously and in dialog” with ourselves.
In a world where many use alcohol ask a kind of comfort, will we will ask if and why we drink?
There are reasons on both as to why to drink… some abstain because of health, wanting to avoid the possibility of becoming dependent on alcohol, or causing others to stumble-- good reasons not to drink.
Other people of faith will choose to drink in moderation: enhances a meal, way to socialize, or for health reasons.
In this past month, I was a cocktail party, with an incredible bar, where I decided not to drink to be more present with people…
In another situation recently, I was some not at all religious, I felt could connect with him more deeply by joining him in drink.
The Bible by and large, doesn’t provide point by point specific instruction for every life situation, there are very clear commands: the 10 commandments, don’t lie, kill, commit adultery… positive commands to pray, to love, to give are clear, but the Bible provide a step for every single life situation.
So in order to be neither a hedgehog or a chameleon, in the world, but not of the world… we must prayerfully pursue conscious and dialog, ask why do I do what I do?
If you are a Christian parent, when it comes to the choice of school… the Bible would offers wisdom, but not a handbook on what school to pick…
Some choose, home schooling, others Christian schools, others private academy, others public schools.
What’s the school of choice according to Daniel?
Daniel/Babylon…. French immersion. Not necessarily.
It might be God’s will for a Christian to Christian School, it might God’s will for a person to pursue secular education.
We engage resisting become a hedgehog or a chameleon, we live in the world, not of it, by asking why we do what we do.
A member of our community who teaches in the area of faith and business was telling me recently about his working with businessmen in a certain Asian country and encourage them integrate business and faith. He said a person he was talking to there said now that I have a become a Christian I must leave business, business in my corrupt is so corrupt. This person said you would do well stay in business and help change the world business through Christian practices: like not over sell and underselling.
Did you see the feature stories on the national this past week? Dr. Ranjit Kumar Chandra, former professor at Memorial University in St. Johns, New Foundland, a world-renowned expert in the field of nutrition, winner of the Order of Canada… uncovered for series of fraudulent studies putting people’s health at risk in order to make money and become famous, not infamous? but he uncovered… because Marilyn Harvey a research assistant, allowed her inner light to guide her and blew the whistle…
Like Marilyn, we are called to be in the world, but not of the world.
In the world of the arts, we must be in, but not of the world.
I remember a actor, breaking out in his career… coming to me and saying, I am ask I’m often asked to do a lot dark roles, where I have to kill people (in the movie)… now that I just committed my life to God, should I quit acting?
I said, no—we need people of faith in the movies, but as a followers Christ ask thoughtful question about what kind of role, I’ll take and not take…
We are to live neither as a hedgehog or a chameleon, neither in the world, but not of it… in prayerfully consciousness and dialog…
How do we become this way. How does Daniel become this way? Part of the way he becomes this way is through his friendship Shadrach, Mesech, and Abednego, friends and people he shared values with, hung with, prayed with.
Their myths the heroic lone ranger, but every heroic person is product of a community. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
People in significant relationships live longer than those with out relationships. People who are in significant relationships are physically and spiritually healthier than those who don’t have such relationships.
People in who have circle of trusting relationships are must more able to resist temptation than those with out. As Berkely scholar Robert Bellah, puts it is absurd to expect a young person growing up in poverty and no loving relationships to “just say no” to crack cocaine.
We need some small group, may you be and one or two it may more people… help hold you so you become your true self, so you don’t hide like a hedgehog or blend in like chameolon…
And the most significant relationship a person can have is a relationship with and that has been made possible through Jesus Christ…. 2000 years he lived a perfect life and died on the cross absorbing all of our sins in his body… when we come to God through God views are sinning have been all paid by Christ, he see as forgiven…
On the night… he was betrayed… take BREAD…
Forgiveness… in the world…. We’ve blended… thank for new beginning and new way of being in the world…
(The sermon can be heard online at:
http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
During January I was pursuing graduate studies in spiritual theology in the Bay Area of California.
While there, I met a couple who sense they are being led by God to move to Vancouver.
On some levels this doesn’t seem to make sense to them.
The husband is leaving a prestigious job at one of the best universities in North America.
The wife will be leaving her very meaningful work and they will both be separating from, their long-time friends in the Bay Area.
They are both followers of Christ and feel that in coming to Vancouver: they are coming to a place with a smaller percentage of Christians.
And finally, it rains less in the Bay Area in January than Vancouver!
But they sense God leading them here.
There are times when God put us in a place seem to make logical sense, but God has purpose for us.
Today going to begin look at Daniel and we’re going to God moved him to place that he would not have chosen on his own, a place far from home, a place hostile to his values and how he lives as a person of faith in this new place.
If you have Bibles please turn to Daniel 1.
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia [a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility- 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.
6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
In Daniel 1 we read in the 3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
Some of us may be familiar with the date 586 B.C. That was when the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and many of the Hebrew people were carried off to exile into Babylon.
But about 20 years before in the year 605 B.C.… there was an earlier exile of a smaller group of Hebrew people, perhaps 10,000 people who represented the professional and intellectual classes of people. Daniel and his friends who Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were among this first wave of deportees.
Superpower, Babylon wanted to expand it’s empire, and part of their strategy to pull this off this was expand their leadership base by identifying young leaders with potential whom they could thoroughly train in the ways and values of Babylon…
In vs. 2 we read that the LORD delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon…
In this text we see that God, through a military takeover of Judah by the King of Babylon, guides his people from the “promised land” to Babylon, a land that is considered an “evil empire…” He leads from a place of power and privilege to a place of powerlessness…
There are times when God in his sovereignty will call us to a place of powerlessness…
It seems counter-intuitive, we would think that God’s purposes could be best carried out if God’s people were in power… not always…
One of the best contexts to become strong faith is to live with some of resistance to your faith…
In my informal observations, I have found that people who are followers of Christ in places where there’s no social advantage to being a follower of Christian are generally stronger than those who live in the Bible belt where there are all kinds of social advantages in belonging to a church.
Trading companies from North America were important live fish to Japan, where love raw fish and they found were finding that about half of the fish died by the time they arrived in Japan. But someone at a trading company said I have an idea. Let’s put an octopus in the tank with fish. The octopus is the enemy of the fish. Guess what happened? Some of the fish were eaten, but 70-80 percent ending up living. Being a place where we are challenged can make us stronger…
God may bring us into a place of powerless to condition us, but also to be a light to that place.
I worked for a multi-national corporation in Tokyo, where as far in my immediate section… I was the only or one of the few followers of Christ…
I felt that though my light was especially, it seemed brighter because I was in a darker place spiritually…
God may call us into a place of powerlessness so we can make a difference in the culture itself…
So God at times calls to a place of powerlessness so He can accomplish His purposes in us and through us and so his name will be glorified…
As we’ve seen in the text Daniel and his friends refuse to eat the King’s royal Diet of rich foods and wine. They voluntarily opt instead to go on a diet of vegetables and water…
At the end of their time, they are healthier and better nourished than the others who were eating the King’s diet.
OT scholar Tremper Longman points out that the reason the young men refused to eat the King’s food was to demonstrate that it God not the King of Nechadnezzar prospered them.
When we are in a position of powerlessness not only can be good for our spiritual conditioning, not only are we in a position to make a difference, but we have special opportunity to allow God to glorify Himself in us.
It’s clear that it is God’s will for his people to live in Babylon and not only to live in Babylon to engage in the culture.
In Jeremiah 28-29 we read about a false prophet named Hananiah who is prophesying about the exile of the Hebrew people in Babylon. What Hananiah says in essence is don’t settle down in Babylon because the Lord is going to soon deliver you out of Babylon…
But, as Jeremiah the true prophet, says no it’s God’s will for the Hebrew to be in Babylon now…
He says settle down, build houses, marry have and raise children, and seek the prosperity of the city for if it prospers you will prosper…
God calls them to live and invest in Babylon, a “pagan place.” We are called to live in Babylon in places where the living God is not acknowledged…
So, HOW are we then to live when in Babylon?
Let’s take a closer look at Daniel.
Daniel has two names, his Hebrew name Daniel, which means my judge is the Lord, but also his Babylonian name Beltshazzar, which interestingly enough comes from the same root as the word Bel a god of Babylon…
And as commentators have pointed out these dual names symbolize a kind of dual identity that Daniel belongs to God, but that he is also a citizen of the world…
As Tim Keller puts it, we are called to be spiritually bi-cultural.
Jesus said we are to be in the world, but not of the world.
When you are in a minority we will have one of 2 temptations: one is separate and curl up into our selves like Hedgehog: freeze and turn inward with needles pointing outward (show photo) and the other (show photo) to be like a chameleon and blend in.
We called to be in the world, but not of it…
As we see in the text, Daniel and his friends become fully immersed in the Babylon culture…
They pursue a liberal arts education in the Babylon, which by the way includes required courses in divination, something Hebrews would have consider idolatry… He is a citizen in his world….
But we also see he resists complete surrender to the culture, by not eating the rich foods…. OT scholars Ian Provain and Joyce Baldwin point out eating in this culture you would indicate you accept them, and so there refusal to eat the King’s diet shows that Daniel and his friends, want to convey that don’t fully accept the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar… They’re a demonstrating a subtle political resistance.
Some commentators have argued that the reason why Daniel and his friends refuse the royal diet is because the food was not kosher or clean by Jewish standards, but we don’t know that for sure.
We know Daniel refused wine, but wine is not wholly prohibited by God Scriptures… Bible warns against the excess use of alcohol and prohibits drunkeness, but there is no categorical prohibition against drink wine as such…
On the one hand Daniel and his friends are engaged in the culture, on the other hand they thoughtfully resisted by not eating the royal food and drinking the King’s wine..
This is the way we are to live in Babylon…
We one hand be part of the culture, but other hand resist…
We don’t curl up like a hedgehog, we don’t blend like a chameleon, we’re in the world, but not of it…
How might this play out in our lives?
Here in the book Daniel and his friends decide to forgo the King’s rich foods and wine.
As people of faith, we obviously will eat and drink… but we also from time to time as questions why do we eat and drink what we do?
We live with “consciously and in dialog” with ourselves.
In a world where many use alcohol ask a kind of comfort, will we will ask if and why we drink?
There are reasons on both as to why to drink… some abstain because of health, wanting to avoid the possibility of becoming dependent on alcohol, or causing others to stumble-- good reasons not to drink.
Other people of faith will choose to drink in moderation: enhances a meal, way to socialize, or for health reasons.
In this past month, I was a cocktail party, with an incredible bar, where I decided not to drink to be more present with people…
In another situation recently, I was some not at all religious, I felt could connect with him more deeply by joining him in drink.
The Bible by and large, doesn’t provide point by point specific instruction for every life situation, there are very clear commands: the 10 commandments, don’t lie, kill, commit adultery… positive commands to pray, to love, to give are clear, but the Bible provide a step for every single life situation.
So in order to be neither a hedgehog or a chameleon, in the world, but not of the world… we must prayerfully pursue conscious and dialog, ask why do I do what I do?
If you are a Christian parent, when it comes to the choice of school… the Bible would offers wisdom, but not a handbook on what school to pick…
Some choose, home schooling, others Christian schools, others private academy, others public schools.
What’s the school of choice according to Daniel?
Daniel/Babylon…. French immersion. Not necessarily.
It might be God’s will for a Christian to Christian School, it might God’s will for a person to pursue secular education.
We engage resisting become a hedgehog or a chameleon, we live in the world, not of it, by asking why we do what we do.
A member of our community who teaches in the area of faith and business was telling me recently about his working with businessmen in a certain Asian country and encourage them integrate business and faith. He said a person he was talking to there said now that I have a become a Christian I must leave business, business in my corrupt is so corrupt. This person said you would do well stay in business and help change the world business through Christian practices: like not over sell and underselling.
Did you see the feature stories on the national this past week? Dr. Ranjit Kumar Chandra, former professor at Memorial University in St. Johns, New Foundland, a world-renowned expert in the field of nutrition, winner of the Order of Canada… uncovered for series of fraudulent studies putting people’s health at risk in order to make money and become famous, not infamous? but he uncovered… because Marilyn Harvey a research assistant, allowed her inner light to guide her and blew the whistle…
Like Marilyn, we are called to be in the world, but not of the world.
In the world of the arts, we must be in, but not of the world.
I remember a actor, breaking out in his career… coming to me and saying, I am ask I’m often asked to do a lot dark roles, where I have to kill people (in the movie)… now that I just committed my life to God, should I quit acting?
I said, no—we need people of faith in the movies, but as a followers Christ ask thoughtful question about what kind of role, I’ll take and not take…
We are to live neither as a hedgehog or a chameleon, neither in the world, but not of it… in prayerfully consciousness and dialog…
How do we become this way. How does Daniel become this way? Part of the way he becomes this way is through his friendship Shadrach, Mesech, and Abednego, friends and people he shared values with, hung with, prayed with.
Their myths the heroic lone ranger, but every heroic person is product of a community. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
People in significant relationships live longer than those with out relationships. People who are in significant relationships are physically and spiritually healthier than those who don’t have such relationships.
People in who have circle of trusting relationships are must more able to resist temptation than those with out. As Berkely scholar Robert Bellah, puts it is absurd to expect a young person growing up in poverty and no loving relationships to “just say no” to crack cocaine.
We need some small group, may you be and one or two it may more people… help hold you so you become your true self, so you don’t hide like a hedgehog or blend in like chameolon…
And the most significant relationship a person can have is a relationship with and that has been made possible through Jesus Christ…. 2000 years he lived a perfect life and died on the cross absorbing all of our sins in his body… when we come to God through God views are sinning have been all paid by Christ, he see as forgiven…
On the night… he was betrayed… take BREAD…
Forgiveness… in the world…. We’ve blended… thank for new beginning and new way of being in the world…
posted by Shigematsu at 10:39 AM
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