Tom Shrader teaches from Daniel 2, emphasizing that faith must be integrated into every aspect of life rather than segmented as a private matter. Through Daniel's supernatural revelation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Shrader demonstrates how believers can maximize their advantage by depending on the indwelling Christ in business, relationships, and all circumstances.
“Your faith, if it's real and genuine, must affect the way you do business.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Integrity Under Fire (2005)
Recorded: February 10, 2005
Duration: 44 min
Themes: faith, integration, worldliness, wisdom, dependence, transformation, testimony, supernatural, working professional, business leader, navigating secular culture, young professional, struggling with compromise, new believer, facing workplace pressure, seeking god's guidance
Scripture: Daniel 1:3-4, Daniel 2, Daniel 2:5, Daniel 2:10-11, Daniel 2:14, Daniel 2:17-18, Daniel 2:19, Daniel 2:23, Daniel 2:27, Daniel 2:30, Daniel 2:47, Romans 12, Isaiah 6
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, spiritual discernment, divine revelation, indwelling christ, biblical worldview, cultural engagement, spiritual maturity
Full Transcript
We look at today's second week. If you have Bibles, you can open them to Daniel chapter 2. We're taking six weeks. We'll take a chapter a week.
Let me give you a little history, just to remind you. Setting Daniel, we meet him about 605 BC. Daniel and a group of young men have been taken captive by the Babylonians. They had conquered Israel, and they've been brought back. Some had been killed, others had survived and been brought back.
Nebuchadnezzar is somebody who understands business. In your business, typically your number one problem is staffing. It's hard to find good help. So Nebuchadnezzar looks around and says, "We got these people who have extraordinary qualities."
The Profile of Excellence
Let me describe them for you. It's Daniel chapter 1 verse 3. The king ordered the chief of the officials to bring in some of the sons of Israel. Here's their description: They include the royal family. They were aristocrats. They were young with no physical defects. They were good-looking, intelligent in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding, discerning in knowledge, had the ability to serve in the king's court.
They were sharp. They were physically strong. They were bright intellectually. They had extraordinary IQs, but coupled with that—and you don't see this all the time—a lot of times you'll see people are really bright, but they don't have any common sense. Or you'll see people loaded with common sense, but they're dumb as a post when it comes to trying to learn something. These had a combination of the two.
The king said, "You know what? There are not a lot of those boys floating around. What if we could take them and get them to think like us and walk like us and act like us? Maybe we could merge them into our culture and see if we could use them."
The Plan of Assimilation
In fact, that's the plan. It's chapter 1 verse 4. We're going to teach them the literature and the language. I want to stop there because this can be confusing, but it's important that we deal with it. Here's what he says: We're going to get them looking and thinking and acting so much like us that they just assimilate into our culture.
That's the tension for you and me. There's a lot of tension here. I will admit that in my mind, I feel all sorts of tension in this. It's Romans chapter 12: "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed." Don't be conformed to this world. In other words, don't copy the behavior of this world. Don't be a worldly person. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed. How do I transform somebody? Not first with behavior, but by the renewing of their mind, because what I believe affects how I behave.
Here's where I say I feel tension here. Because you and I are called not to be out of the world, but in the world. That's what Jesus prayed. The night before He died, Jesus prayed, "Father, just as You sent me into the world, I want to send these people into the world."
The Danger of Cultural Drift
So you and I have to be really cautious here. Because we're going to be in the world, and we can, if we're not careful, not just understand the world, not just appreciate the world, and come up with ways to effectively communicate our message to the world. What can happen is, we can be assimilated into the world, and become so worldly that either, A, our message is negated, because they look at us and say, "Well, they are just like us. There's no distinction there. So their faith doesn't mean anything." Or, we're so concerned about relating to the world, that we water down the message to where you can't recognize it.
I'm reading a book right now, and I bought 50 copies, and distributed them to a lot of our staff. I'm having our entire staff read it, and then at our staff meeting on Tuesday morning, I'm making them all sit at different tables, because the departments like to sit together. I said, "I'm going to get around the tables, get six, seven of you, and I want the men and women together, I want the older with the younger, and I want different staff. I don't want you sitting at a table that's with somebody that you work with each day. And I want you to talk about this book."
It's a book about what we're saying here. In fact, the subtitle is, "Reaching the World Without Selling Out." So that's the whole tension that's in here.
Understanding Without Compromising
Because I want to understand the culture. And when I say the culture, there isn't a singular culture out there. It's kind of what your peers, who are non-believers, how do they think and act and walk and talk, and what do they see and what are they doing? So that you can relate the truth to them in a way that makes sense to them.
Well, there's a danger, and the danger is exhibited by the way the king thinks. We'll get them so thinking like us that we'll just assimilate them into the culture. So all of a sudden, this is what we looked at last week, I have a conviction. My conviction comes in contrast with the people around me: conflict.
I can do, typically, the way we think, one of two things. I can cave in, which isn't a very appealing option, really. Or I can fight, and some of you kind of get off on that. You like that fighting. You like to think you're at war and everything's an issue. Or there's a third alternative. I can keep my convictions, but maybe if I understand the other person and what they're trying to accomplish, and they understand me and what I'm trying to accomplish, maybe we can create a win-win, and that's what we looked at last week.
Integration Over Segmentation
Today, continue the study, title of this series is, "Integrity Under Fire, Principles for Living in a Hostile Environment." Session 2, today we look at, here's the topic, integration over segmentation. Here's what we're saying: Your faith, while a deeply personal matter, should not be a private matter.
personal matter, is not a private matter. Your faith may be, in fact, and it should be, deeply personal to you, but it's not private.
Years ago, I did a deal with a guy, and at the end of the deal, he screwed me. So we're sitting down, and you know, you hear people say, "I got shafted," and then when you listen to the story, there's another side of the story. There's no other side to the story. He screwed me. Take my word for this. So I'm a little frustrated, because I'm not going to get paid on a deal.
I said to him something, and when I said it, I said, "That's just stupid. Why did you say that? That's stupid." I said to him, "I thought you were a Christian." I said, "That is so dumb," because clearly this guy isn't. I'm teasing about that part. Here's what he said to me. Then I was glad I asked the question, because he gave me one of my great illustrations of all time. He said, "I am, but I don't let it affect the way I do business." So I said, "If anybody ever doubts that, come give me a call, because that's exactly right. It hasn't affected the way you've done business here."
Here's what I'm saying to you. Your faith, if it's real and genuine, must affect the way you do business. It affects the way you relate to a spouse if you have one, or the way you date if you're dating, or with your kids, or with your parents, or with one another. It affects every relationship in your whole sphere of influence. Because I begin to think like, and then behave like a Christian. My life begins to change. My values begin to change. How I act begins to change.
Faith That Doesn't Hide
I want to understand it. It's not that my faith is not a personal matter. It is personal, but it isn't private. So when somebody can say, "You know what, I'm a Christian," one of the things that I admire about this president is that I do believe that He's as much a man of faith as you can be in that job, typically. And I do believe that he doesn't apologize for it.
I saw him in an interview the other day, and they asked him, "What are you reading? Because we know you read a lot. What are you reading?" And he said, "I decided this year..." In fact, they were asking him, because he read My Utmost for Your Highest, I think, last year, or Oswald Chambers, and he said, "What are you reading this year?" And he said, "I just decided to read through the Bible this year. That's what I'm reading." So that's kind of encouraging. But his faith, like your faith, must affect what you do.
There's no place for integration of your faith. You don't relegate it, and some people do. And I will tell you this, and I don't mean to make this cultural or generational. I discover that young people around right now seem to have a better handle on integrating their faith than the older generation. Because I think, typically, you are a little straight-laced and tight, and you didn't talk, and you didn't share, and that's just the way you were raised, and that's the way you were, and I understand that. I'm not making a judgment on that. I'm making an observation.
The young people now, they can't shut up about anything. They want to share with you every feeling they've ever had. I'm frequently in meetings saying, "Just because you have a thought, it doesn't mean you have to say it. Your opinion isn't really important on every issue."
Engaging the Next Generation
I'll give you one more thing here. This is a long introduction. I'll give you one more thing. As you go out, I will tell you, especially if you're older, because I think you guys undersell yourself a lot. The younger generation really wants to hear from you, and they'll talk about anything.
I was at the restaurant the other day, and the girl checking us out, and two or three, four of the servers had a little nose diamond thing in there. And I just, I mean, it's funny. There was that day, I think, when we would kind of see some of that, see a guy with an earring or see something like that, and we got shocked, and now it's just part of the deal.
But we're checking out, and I had invited a guy to lunch, and I just figured he'd buy, but he didn't. I say, "I'm only kidding." I say that because he's sitting over here, and I knew that'd bother him. I'm only teasing. But we're checking out. I'm paying. And I said to the gal, "How does that hurt, or how does that stay in there?" Because I assume it's like the earrings you wear, where there's a clip in the inside. She said, "No, no, no, there's no clip. Let me show you." And she just gets a Kleenex and pulls the thing out and shuts it down.
So we have this discussion. And what I'm saying to you is, these kids will talk to you about anything. And when you start engaging them in a conversation about God, they'll talk to you about it. And it's a great opportunity for you to share.
Daniel's Challenge
So, integration, segmentation. Here we go. Daniel's challenge. We pick up the story here. Chapter 2, verse 5. The king has, over the years, dealt with his astrologers and his magicians and his encanters, his people. But especially his astrologers, he said, "Here's what would happen. He'd have a dream. He'd tell him the dream. And then he would say, 'Tell me what the dream means.'" So apparently, he's had enough of this. He thinks maybe they're working him.
The king says to the astrologers, "This is what I firmly decided. Here's a brand new management technique. We're going to do things a little bit different now. I'm not going to tell you what my dream was and interpret it. I'm going to have you tell me the dream. And if you don't tell me what the dream is and interpret it, I'll cut you into pieces and your house will turn into rubble."
Now, that's a tough management policy right there. I want to explain to you what, when he said "cut them into pieces," here's what they would do. They would have four trees, firm but flexible trees, strategically planted. And what they'd do is they'd take those trees and they'd bring them, bend them down. And then they'd tie one to their arm, one to the other arm, one to the leg.
But the death wasn't immediate. King Nebuchadnezzar told them, "If you don't tell me the dream and interpret it, I'll have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble." Then he said if they tell him the dream and explain it, they'll receive gifts, rewards, and great honor.
The pressure was on. All of these guys who had been living on their creativity were now facing death. I like to have the radio on when I go to sleep, and Sunday night they'll have this guy on one of the local radio stations. He's a guy who connects you with the world beyond—I think that's even the name of the show. People call in and he says, "I'm picking up a hard C sound. Is there a Cathy, a Candy, a Clarence? Does that make sense? Does that mean something to you?" When they say no, he goes, "Who had some surgery? I think it's arm surgery. Is there a job change? I'm picking up a job change." If they still say no, he says, "Well, tonight's just not one of those nights for you."
These guys in Babylon were under that same kind of pressure. The difference is, if we were going to do Nebuchadnezzar's deal, we'd cut that radio guy up right there on the air. But he gets a second chance. These guys don't.
The Astrologers' Response
The pressure reached its breaking point in verse 10. The astrologers said to the king, "There's not a man on earth who can do what you ask. No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of a magician, enchanter, or astrologer." They were essentially asking, "Who do you think you are? Nobody's ever asked for anything like this."
In verse 11, they continued: "What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king, except the gods, and they don't live among men." There's some truth here. What they said is exactly right—no human being could do this. Where they're wrong is their assessment of the gods.
Their assessment of the gods is that there are these powers, these forces out there, but they don't walk around with us. We may have contact with them, and they may influence us once in a while, but we don't have real contact with them. What they're getting at here is a whole view of God and who He is.
America's View of God
You live in a country where roughly 94 percent of people say they believe in God. The number has stayed pretty consistent since I've been a Christian—it might go to 92, might go to 96, but it stays around 94 to 95 percent. If you want to have a conversation with them about God, they're more than happy to have that conversation, and it goes pretty well as long as you're talking about God in broad, general, undefined terms.
They like to talk about praying to God. They like to talk about thinking life has a purpose, life has a meaning. I heard Oprah the other day say, "Everything happens for a purpose." That's a fascinating thought. If everything happens for a purpose and a reason, then it doesn't happen randomly. There must be a force who has dominant control over all things, because that force couldn't work things for a purpose unless He could achieve that purpose. So He must be all-powerful and all-knowing, or it couldn't work for a purpose. That sounds a lot like the God of the Bible, doesn't it?
But if you said "God of the Bible," they'd go, "Oh no, no, no, no, no. It's God as you understand Him to be."
God Is Objective Truth
Here's the deal, and we've got to go quickly: God is not a subjective truth. God is an objective truth. If we talk about subjective truth, if I say to you right now, "Is the room temperature here okay?" the women are going to say, "Oh, it's so cold, I need a blanket." The guys, usually the heavier ones, are going to say, "It's so hot, I'm sweating." Then somebody to patronize me will say, "No, it's just right." If I ask who's correct, the answer is everybody, because it's a relative term.
But if I say, "Tell me about God," and this guy says, "Well, it's a higher power. It can be a light bulb, it can be a chair, it can be a tree," and another says, "God is a distant God, not really related to this world in any way. He's a laissez-faire God, hands off, watching and thinking, 'Oh God, I wish it would go a different way,'" and somebody else says, "No, that's not right at all"—how do we know God?
We don't guess, we don't speculate, we don't wonder—we read the book. God wrote a book. He left the book. If I want to understand who God is, I go to this. I don't go to Starbucks and ask the person next to me, "What's your view of God?" Everybody's a theologian. Everybody has a view. Even the atheist is a theologian when he says, "There is no God." If I want to know who God is, how God works, how God thinks, how He responds, it's right here.
The Executions Begin
The astrologers got it pretty close when they said no human being could do this. In verse 14, we see what happened next: "Arioch, the commander of the king's guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon." Some time had passed. These guys weren't guessing the dream, and Nebuchadnezzar was a man of his word—they were killing them.
Daniel comes in, and He spoke with wisdom and tact. He asked the king's officer, "Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" Apparently, Daniel had now elevated into one of these positions as one of the wise men.
of at least somebody who has access to this. He has ongoing relationships, it seems here. And he said, why was the king so harsh here? So Arioch explains the matter to Daniel, for whatever reason.
Now, Daniel hasn't been around. At this time, Daniel goes into the king, and he says, give me a little time, that I can figure out this dream. Again, here's this young man showing great respect.
The Power of Time as an Ally
I'm going to show you something, because we're not going to develop a story. Daniel asks for something that we often see as our enemy, but can be our ally. He asks for time. Most of the people that I talk to, when we talk about time, speak of it as a commodity that's evaporating way too quickly. It's almost Easter. It felt like it was just Thanksgiving. Where did the time go?
Here's what I want you to see. Time can also be your ally. Time often heals a lot of hurts and pains and wounds. Time in the midst of making some serious decisions is really important. Now, I can wait too long. There's kind of a myth that says, if I study it longer and research it longer and pull in more consultants, I'll make a better decision. That's not necessarily true. But it is important to give things some time.
I was watching Emeril the other night. I am officially fat. I am so close. I think I'm two pounds away from being able to qualify for a staple thing. I am huge. I just feel awful. So I've decided I've got to do something about it. And I had a problem getting back in the gym, but I was in twice this week, so that's good. And I'm going to fight this all my life. If you get tapes from 20 years ago, it says the same thing. So this is no big news.
So I'm watching Emeril the other night. Susan's on this thing now where we can't eat sugar and we can't eat. Susan's got her act all squared around. So I'm watching Emeril thinking, if I could get Paula, I'd like to watch Paula cook. I don't know if you ever watched Paula. Because when Paula cooks, I don't care what it is. We're going to add some sugar and some butter and some cream cheese. And this is going to be the best turkey we ever had. I mean, it doesn't matter. If you watch Paula, you know, sugar, that's it.
So Emeril's making this thing, and I don't even remember what it was, some sort of a meat thing. And he says, and it was really interesting. He said, this is the point where everybody wants to take it out of the oven. We're going to leave it in there two more minutes. And it's going to just seal in all the juices. We're going to add a little more seasoning right here. And bam, this thing, this is a mistake. Don't take it out too soon. I'm thinking, that's exactly like a lot of thoughts and ideas you have. Don't let them out there too soon. Let them simmer just a couple more minutes.
Daniel's Request and Response
So he said, give me some time. And apparently the king said, we will. Verse 17, then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends. And the names we use are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That's how you know these guys. Verse 18, he urged them to plead for mercy from God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men.
I want to study him a little bit. And I will acknowledge right here, I'm going to start reading things into the text. So you don't have to accept this. And I'm not saying that this is necessarily exactly right. I am saying to you, I think I understand how people feel and think and respond.
The Importance of Community
The first thing I observe is that he didn't have to go home and call up his buddies. They were already assembled. So often, we're out there like the Lone Ranger, trying to do our deal, make stuff work, think we're the king, captain of our fate, that we don't begin to bring some wise counsel in around us until there's a crisis. All of a sudden then, we got to get on the phone, not speed dial, because we haven't dialed these guys up since the last crisis, and now we're calling them and saying, Hey, this is Tom. I got an issue. I got a problem. I'm in real trouble. Can we meet? And he says, Yeah, Tom. What do you think? About two weeks from Monday, how's that work for you?
This apparently was part of the way they lived. And you need this. You need people in your life that you can go to, not just in times of crisis, but they're around you all the time. You need, and we've used the term before, a personal board of directors. Doesn't need to be a big group, but needs to be a group that understands a little bit about you, how you think, has the same core values.
I have, where I, in my life, I've got a guy or two who know me pretty well, and we meet on a regular basis, and we talk a lot. And then I'll have specialists. If I've got a question dealing with money or something, I'll go to this guy, or a theological question, I'll go over here, or a common sense question, I'll go over here.
Understanding Our Limitations
That's the first thing I observe. He goes home. He doesn't have to call a meeting. They're there. Here's the second thing. He says, Boys, let's pray, because what those astrologers said is right. No man could ever figure this out. We're not going to be able to figure this out. We're never going to understand this. We've got no chance. Why don't we pray? Why don't we pray and ask mercy from God? Because that's what it's going to take. If God doesn't give us mercy and understanding, then we're never going to get it. We're never going to understand it. It's never going to take place.
I want to give you a line here, because I don't know how time's going to work out today. And if I get crunched at the end, and I don't get back to this, I'll feel like I shortchanged you. This, to me, is really good thinking. It is silly for you to attempt to do something only God can do. And it's silly for you to wait for God to do something that you can do.
Now, that has to flesh itself out. I'll give you an example. We had a guy who came into the study one day. He looked awful. I said, You don't look too good. And he said, Oh, I've lost my job. This
was awful. We talked a little bit. I said, you know, I felt my role was not necessarily to counsel him in job placement. That's not my deal. But to say, "Hey, God's in control. And you know how God works. And God's faithful. Be anxious in a way to see what God will do. And when you work through the emotions, that's a great way. And that's not just hype. That's just a great way. God's going to do something."
See him a couple weeks later. I said, "How's the job coming?" He said, "I don't have a job." I said, "Well, how's it going?" He said, "Eh, not so hot." I said, "Is it hard market?" He said, "I don't really know." I said, "Well, is it hard to get some interviews and get plugged in?" He said, "I haven't had any." I said, "Well, how about networking? Is it friends coming?" "I haven't talked to anybody." I said, "Well, what are you doing?" And he said, "Well, what you said. God's going to provide. So I'm waiting for God to provide."
I said, "Well, here's the deal. He's going to provide through a resume and an interview and a network. He unlikely is not going to have the phone ring from a guy you never heard of, who's never heard of you, who said, 'I'm just randomly working my way through the phone book, seeing if perhaps you'd be interested in a job.' It doesn't work that way." So there's a tension there too. It's silly for me to knock myself out, to worry about something that only God can control. And it's equally silly for me to wait for Him to do something that I have the power to do.
The Mystery Revealed
So they pray. I want to recreate the scene. Time's getting away. But I want to recreate the scene. If these boys don't come up with this dream, they're dead. They're going to get killed. And crunch time is approaching. It may be as early, and we're going to see this characteristic again later in Daniel's life, it may be as early as tomorrow.
Verse 19, during the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Daniel's asleep. Can you imagine yourself, knowing that if you don't get this dream by morning, you're going to be killed. Can you imagine yourself getting a good night's rest? I don't know if you're a 20 or a 30 or a 50 on your bed, but whatever it is, it ain't going to work that night.
Daniel's asleep. See, we're learning an awful lot about God, and an awful lot about Daniel, and an awful lot about the relationship with the two. Because Daniel's got it nailed. Only God can reveal this. If He doesn't give it to us, we're not going to get it. So we might as well go in there tomorrow, and at least be well rested when they cut our head off. Maybe that's a good approach to it.
Natural Gratitude
Look what happens now. Verse 19, the vision comes to Daniel. Then Daniel prays to the God of heaven. Again, this is natural.
I remember Haley was, I don't know, 5 or 6. She lost her first tooth. In fact, we were talking about this last night at dinner. And everything to Haley was gross. "That's gross. Oh, that's gross." She lost this tooth. So she came in and she said, you know, because we go through it. She was talking about it last night. "Oh, I hated losing my teeth." And she said it was so terrible, but she said, "Dad, tell me about the tooth fairy." And I said, "Well, what do you want to know about? Tell me the money thing." Then I said, "Well, the way the story goes is you take your tooth and you put it under your pillow, and in the morning there's money there." And she said, "Well, does that work?" I said, "You know, I don't know. Maybe, I don't know. Try it."
So Haley went, and I am not exaggerating. She got this little tooth, little dinky tooth. She must have had 10 Kleenexes wrapped around this because it's gross. "This is gross." Then she put it in a baggie, squeezed all the air out, sealed it, put it under her pillow. So I wait for her to go to sleep, and I sneak in there and do my little tooth fairy imitation. I go down and go to bed.
The next morning I hear this scream. It's not a scream of I'm scared. It's a scream of joy. She comes racing. I mean racing down the hall. We had a long ranch house. And it was really cool because Susan and I were at one end, and everyone else was at the other end. And there was kitchens and family rooms and dining rooms and living rooms between us. They were a long way down there. And you could hear yelling and screaming and running. "Dad, dad, dad, dad, look at this, look at this, look at this." I said, "What is it?" She goes, "I got a dollar and a quarter for my tooth." I said, "That's really cool. Go out and watch TV or something. I'm sleeping." No, I'm kidding about that. But I said, "That's pretty cool."
And she said, "When will I lose the rest of my teeth?" I said, "Well, I don't know. It'll take some time." And she started. And this is pretty good thinking for a little kid. She said, "Dad, if I lost all my teeth, and Sarah lost all her teeth, and mom lost all her teeth, and you lost all your teeth, we would be rich."
But see what she did? Absolutely natural. You wake up. You find that dollar and a quarter. Boom. You're in Daniel's sandals, and you have this dilemma, and you get this dream. I'm thinking you're running down the hall and saying, "Boys, boys, boys, I got the dream." The first thing Daniel did, he praised God. He prayed. He thanked Him.
A Personal Relationship with God
Look at verse 23. Look at the personal pronoun you. And the you here speaks of God. "I thank and praise you, O God of heaven. You've given me wisdom and power. You've made known to me what was asked of you, and you've made it known to us the dream of the king."
Daniel understands this intimate relationship in God and who He is. And there is in this, I think, connected with an understanding of who God is, a sense of gratitude for who He is and what He's done for you. We're oftentimes so busy asking for more that we fail to thank Him for what He's done. And what He's done in your life is beyond your wildest dreams. Because what He's done, for those of you that are Christians, what He's done is made heaven a guarantee for you and allowed you to escape hell. And then all the other things
Daniel's Approach to the King
Now it's time for Daniel to go to the king. Imagine this scene, and I will go ahead and put myself in there. Here's this dream. Nobody's been able to get it. I got it. I know the king has promised gifts and rewards, positions of power, and he's historically been an honest man. So I know something big is happening.
I think my approach to the king might be something like this: "Well, well, well. Neb. Can I call you Neb? It seems right. Neb? Now, a lot of guys have taken some shots at this, but I got the dream. And I just thought I'd go ahead and share it with you. Remind me again, gifts, rewards?" That would be my approach. I shouldn't put you in that uncomfortable position because that might not be you. I'd be surprised, but it might not be you.
The God Who Reveals Mysteries
Look at Daniel. Daniel goes to the king, verse 27, and he says, "No wise man, enchanter, magician, diviner can explain to the king the mysteries that he's asked. But there is a God in heaven," and part of what He does is reveal mysteries. As for me, verse 30, "This mystery has been revealed to me not because I have greater wisdom than any other living man, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind."
Here's what he says: "Hey, there's a God who revealed this. And He's not one of those gods. He is the God, the one true God, the God who is in heaven, who rules, who reveals. And He revealed it to me." Let me add real quickly, "Nebuchadnezzar, sir, He revealed it to me not because there's anything in me that's special at all. Nebuchadnezzar, don't for a second think I'm a special guy, or that I've got special gifts, or I've got special talents, or that I'm even somebody that's significant. There's only one reason. He could have revealed it to anybody, but He revealed it to me so that ultimately I could reveal it to you for your own good."
Supernatural Humility
That's supernatural living right there. It's exactly what John the Baptist said when he said this about Jesus: "He must increase and I must decrease." That doesn't happen naturally. All of a sudden, when I understand who God is, all of a sudden everything begins to change. And the first thing that changes is my view of me.
That's what happened in Isaiah 6. Isaiah gets a view of God, right? Isaiah gets a view of God and immediately he describes what he sees and immediately he doesn't say, "Boy is the world in trouble. Boy is He some kind of God." Immediately he said, "I'm in trouble. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Here's God and here's me."
That's why when I watch with amusement these guys on TV who say, "I was transported to heaven and I saw Daniel and David and talked to Jesus." Boy, we don't get that impression as we see the visions in the past. Isaiah didn't go, "God, I've always wanted to ask you something." I hear that, "Oh, when I get to heaven I'm going to ask God." I don't think so. If I could ask God something, I wouldn't even be that interested. I'd like to find Adam and say, "What were you thinking about?" That would be the question I'd want to ask somebody.
A Modern Example
This goes back a long time. I don't know, five or six years ago, they retired Herschel Walker's jersey, football player at the University of Georgia. On that occasion, with the stadium filled with people who were there to honor him, here's what he said, and I quote: "I achieved all that I achieved through the power of Jesus Christ and not through my own power at all." That's kind of sniffing up toward the Daniel thought of this.
Daniel's Reward and Promotion
Here's what the king said to Daniel. Verse 47, we've got to close here. "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, revealer of mysteries, for you're able to reveal this mystery." And the king placed Daniel in a high position. That's exactly what he said. Lavished many gifts on him. Made him the ruler over the entire province. Placed him in charge of all the other wise men.
Now, if you understand people, that little bit of information right there tells you we're going to have a problem. Because you've taken this young buck who was an Israelite and he's now over everybody. All the Babylonians who in fact would look down on these Israelites, all the Babylonians are now reporting to Daniel. That's going to be a problem.
Moreover, at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators. Daniel himself remained in the court.
The Principle: Integration Over Segmentation
Here's a principle. We've got about two minutes here. Integration over segmentation: Maximize your performance by unleashing the advantage of the indwelling Christ. I'll hear all the time, "My business isn't what it could be." And I'll say why. And they'll say, "Well, I'm a Christian. And I act that way." And the implication is, if I could cheat, steal, and lie like everybody else, I'd be okay. I don't think so.
The greatest advantage you have in every situation in life—business, family, every situation in life—the greatest advantage you have is the indwelling Jesus Christ. When they were getting ready for Super Bowl and they're talking to all these guys and all this different stuff, they're talking to Jimmy Johnson about Super Bowl. "How do you win a Super Bowl?" Jimmy Johnson said this, and I quote: "I would do anything—I would do anything to gain," and he held up his hand, "this much of an advantage." And I'm sure that's true.
If that's true for a Super Bowl, why wouldn't you just trust and obey the living God who dwells in you to have His entire advantage? That seems to make sense to me.
The Process of Supernatural Living
Here you go. Here's the process. And we'll go with it real quickly here. As you confront these things, anticipate or accept things with a sense of anticipation. In other words, life throws this stuff at you. Don't run from it. Don't hide from it. No wimps here. There's a sense of anticipation here. When I think of anticipation, I think of different things, but there's nothing that really materializes and focuses anticipation like this.
When the guy climbs into the ring and says, "let's get ready to rumble," we're ready. Get it on. Bring them out. The gloves. We've built to this point. We've had the hype. We've had all the stuff. Now, we're ready to go.
There should be that ready to go. And then I try to look around accurately and see what's going on. Again, silly for me to try to do something only God can do, or silly for me to wait for Him to do something I can do. I pray. And then I engage with a great level of expectation.
Living with Divine Expectation
There's something that I think is here in Daniel. And again, this is one of those things that I don't know what this means or how it fleshes itself out. I know God is an awesome God. And when He does something like He did in Daniel's life, I'm not really surprised by it.
Well, I didn't necessarily expect it. I'm not really shocked by the fact that He did that. That doesn't really shock me because He does those kinds of things. And here's the other side of the coin. And it's a big one.
But on the other side, I'm not disappointed if He doesn't. Because here's the deal. He's God and I'm not. So anything I pray to Him is already tainted with my own sin and selfishness, isn't it?
Surrendering Our Plans to His Will
So I'm praying to Him and I say, "God, here's what we've got. We've got this situation. Here it is. You make it up in your own mind. And God, here's what I see. I see some options. A, B, C. And I've evaluated this and clearly A is the best. Let's do A. God, do A. I want you to do A. The fact that I personally benefit from it is not the driving issue here. It's what's good for everybody."
God says, "Nah, well, let's try Q." The fact that God doesn't do what you expect shouldn't disappoint you. Because He's God and ultimately, He knows what's best for you and for me. He is the one who causes all things to work together for good for you and for me.
The Daniel Model: Pray, Wait, Work
So I pray and I wait and I work. And if God does move, all the praise and glory goes to Him. If God doesn't move, all the praise and glory goes to Him. Because that's who He is.
Isn't that a great story? I love that story. That's Daniel. Supernatural. Totally dependent on Him. He'll do as much as He can. And then when He's done with it, He goes to sleep. Waits for God to work.
In this case, God works. He gets up the next day. He accepts none of the glory. And He says, "No, it's about God and who He is."
Reflecting God's Glory
That's exactly what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. That your light shine before men in such a good way that they see your deeds. Now the minute they see your deeds, what they're naturally going to do is glorify you, but He says, let them glorify your Father in heaven. That's Daniel 2.
Next week, boom, we just keep going. Go ahead and read. Next Tuesday night or Wednesday night, go ahead and read Daniel 3. We'll talk about it next week.
Father, thank You for this truth. Thank You that You as the one true God who worked in Daniel's life, work in our life.