April 11th, 2021 - Be Different // Daniel 1:1–21

[Music] [Music] hey there welcome to summit online this is where you'll find the weekend worship experience coming right to where you are in fact we have two ways to watch first you can access the full worship service on demand on our youtube channel so don't forget to subscribe this is a great option for families watching together or maybe you miss the weekend service and want to catch up later in the week second we host a live service on sundays at 9 or 11 a.m at live.summitchurch.com we never want you to worship alone so this is an awesome opportunity to connect with a digital community through the live chat option plus we have hosts actual humans ready to connect with you answer any questions or pray with you in our digital chat rooms if this is your first time joining us i am so glad that you are here in fact i believe god has a purpose in you being here today here at the summit we exist to create a movement of disciple making disciples here in the raleigh-durham area and around the world we pray this worship service allows you to grow deeper as a disciple of jesus christ that's what this is all about the good news of jesus so our service will begin shortly but before it does i want to let you know about all the ways that you can engage with us today first our desire is that families would watch this service together so we offer resources for all ages including today's sermon transcript as well as kids and student notes for your families to follow along second you can give financially all that you give goes towards all that we do to propel the mission of god forward and finally we don't want you to worship alone so can you think of someone that might want to join you today go ahead and text a friend and ask them to tune in with you for resources ways to give opportunities to connect and a free download for our first time guests you can text next steps to 33933 or visit summitchurch.com nextsteps we look forward to worshiping with you [Music] today [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey summit family it is great to see you today i know i know i can't actually see you but i do see you in the live chat each week when you post a comment i see you posting on instagram i see you sending in prayers and i see you texting in so thank you thank you for engaging with us and speaking of texting in if it is your first time with us we have an easy way to connect with you and even send you one a free download of one of our favorite summer worship songs all you do is this simply text the word welcome to 33933 yeah dustin i love it when people text in in fact just last week i talked to a girl who lives in clayton a couple from chicago and even a girl who started online and is now attending the blue ridge campus yeah so just as dustin said we want to help you get connected to the life of our church as well so be sure to text welcome to 33933 or maybe you've been watching for a while and you know some people who'd be blessed by the worship and teaching now what you think right now who can you text this link to yeah true today is the perfect day to share with a friend because we are starting a new sermon series on the book of daniel and i am so excited about that i know it's going to be so good i am excited to hear from the lord today but before we do we're going to worship together actually dustin you're a campus pastor so i just assume you're the expert on all things so why do we always begin by singing can't we just fast forward through worship and watch the sermon and kelsey that's a great question i want to try to answer it with an analogy and it won't be perfect but maybe kids you've seen a flower or a tree growing well the word of god is like a seed that helps us plant faith in our life and praising god through singing is almost like we prepare the soil of our heart for the seed to fall on fertile ground scripture tells us to enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise i don't know about you it could just be me but i don't always walk into sunday morning ready to be with thanksgiving and praise until she don't have my coffee yet but so singing for us in those moments is almost like a time for god to refocus our heart reese in our hearts and allow our hearts to be ready prepared for what god wants to speak to us today i love that that's such a good analogy so where's your heart today is it hard and needing to be tilled then sing is it soft and ready to receive then let the overflow of your praise go up to god today no matter what kind of week you've had we have an opportunity to pause take our minds off of our circumstances and fix them on praising the one who is worthy of all glory and praise so let's sing summit church family welcome to another week of summit online as we worship today let me just invite you to do what isaiah 26 4 says to trust in the lord forever for in the lord god we have an everlasting rock so let's trust in him as we sing to him [Music] you are the rock strong throughout time the cornerstone glory to find your sacrifice is our riches game now we rest in the power of your name [Music] forevermore you are the god who saved us god forevermore from the depths of our sin you all have given life forevermore from our hearts we cry be glorified [Music] so teach us so teach us your ways father help i see unveil your face [Music] you give us strength to believe you satisfied you were more than enough grace poured out we are covered by your love oh we are [Music] forevermore [Music] oh [Music] [Music] by your name [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] forevermore [Music] come on let's trust him together forever [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh forever [Music] alone in myself and getting my sin lost without hope no place to begin your love made a way to let mercy come in when death was arrested and my life began my ash was redeemed only beauty remained in my orphan heart was given a name and my morning grew quiet and my feet rose to dance when death was arrested my [Music] you have made me new now life begins with you it's your endless love pouring down on us you have made [Music] my us i'm a prisoner no more and my shame was a ransom he faithfully bored he canceled my dad and he called me his friend when death was arrested in my [Music] life [Music] you have made me [Music] begins [Music] [Music] and our savior displayed on a criminal's cross [Music] and darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] me [Music] is you have made us [Music] forever amen [Music] yes we're free free [Music] in my life [Music] [Applause] amen summit family did you worship are your hearts ready to hear from god today before we do we want to take a moment and celebrate all that god did last weekend i mean dustin we saw incredible things even at blue ridge right can you tell us about what he did this past weekend at your campus yeah like kelsey said we saw god move in incredible ways at our blue ridge campus this past weekend when pastor jd and pastor brian gave the call for people to come forward to receive salvation or get to baptism counseling we saw over 28 people be counseled of that we saw 15 baptized and we've actually seen two people that were led to salvation in the counseling room but they came there with questions and the lord met them and lord saved them it was incredible that is so incredible amen it pumps me up to see god calling people to himself watching lives be changed by the gospel and then seeing them take that immediate display of faith through baptism so cool in fact let's check out this video to see what god did across the triangle [Music] do you believe that jesus has done everything necessary to save you and will you promise to follow him wherever he asks you to go and to do whatever he asks you to do [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome summit church at our different locations in the triangle and those you that are joining us of course by home or at home this weekend you can be seated if you have not already been so um i can see everybody is back in their normal post-easter attire this weekend um what a phenomenal weekend last weekend was amen i know many of you and many of you were back in church in person for the first time in nearly a year and it really seemed like god showed up to i'm listening to this we had almost 8 000 people attend in-person services last weekend um with 90 96 total at all the campuses um professing faith in jesus for the first time and another 86 who made a public declaration of their faith through baptism and that was just last weekend and it's amazing in the time of just um well things are still irregular and let's be honest there are a lot of people who are just shy about coming forward or sending in the text so i feel safe and saying we could call it an even 100 lives that were changed for eternity last weekend and i know listen i get it i know it's not about the numbers but i have said it before and i will say it to you again every single number represents a story and every story represents an individual that is made in the image of god so will we celebrate numbers you're darn right we will celebrate numbers because we're celebrating the people behind those numbers our campus teams are working feverishly to follow up with all the people who raised a hand or made a decision or texted that they're ready to start a relationship with jesus in fact i heard from our online or summit online director kelsey baker that she has four people who indicated you know i'm just not ready to go all in yet but i'm willing to have the conversation and she's already set up times to meet them and chat with them one of the big surprising things that's happened over the last year with coveted is how many people that are truly out of church and disconnected from the church that have engaged with us through our summit online and so a lot of things that are happening there and if you're joining us that way this weekend just know that we love you we consider you a part of us even though we're not able to see your face um a lot of people indicated interest in this class that we are starting called exploring christianity which is going to unpack a lot of the christian basics so to speak is for those of you who are either new to christianity or just wanting to learn more about some of the of the big questions by the way if you still want to participate in that class i think in most places it has not begun yet you can text the word ready to 33933 and we will get you the information on it and then you can participate if you want um something one more time can we just put our hands together to yes celebrate these numbers but even more so just in gratitude and praise to our awesome god for his faithful success to us in this season all right well the moment i hope that you've been waiting for would you get your bibles out and would you open them to the book of daniel the book of daniel's in the old testament if you don't know where daniel is or you don't know where the old testament is if you have a bible you can open it very front cover and there's a list of books there and you can look and find daniel and if the person next to you makes fun of you for doing that you raise your hand and i will have them thrown out of here i can do that okay so find the book of daniel we are starting a new series today called shining in babylon it is a study of the book of daniel all 12 chapters and i wanted to explain where the title shining in babylon comes from it's from a verse in the very last chapter of daniel a verse that that might be probably is one of my favorite verses in the whole old testament daniel 12 3 here's what it says those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever the book of daniel is about how to be a faithful witness in a dark and hostile environment you see unlike other books in the bible this book is not written from inside israel in fact let me show you look at verse one go back to chapter one daniel 1 1 that's a good place for us to start here's how it begins in the third year of the reign of king jehoiakim of judah king nebuchadnezzar of babylon came to jerusalem and laid siege to it the lord handed king jehoiakim of judah over to him along with treasures from the house of god nebuchadnezzar carried them to the land of shannar to the house of his god a false god and put the vessels of the true god israel's god into the treasury of of the false god king jeholicum who was judah's 19th king after king david continued to lead israel in a downward spiral of unbelief compromise and disobedience god had warned israel that if they continued to walk in this path that god was going to send them into exile you could read those promises in deuteronomy and all through the old testament and so they didn't really think that he was serious in 605 bc god kept his promise and might i just say here before we go any farther that i believe that god has a warning for some of you specifically in this listen we are three minutes into this message and and i believe god is right now speaking to some of you through his word he is saying to you you think you can continue on in your sin you think i'm bluffing i kept my word to israel i will keep it with you you think if you continue on in your sin that it's beyond me to send you into some kind of exile some kind of suffering listen i will tell you as a pastor of what two decades now that i have seen god destroy many a a believer who just kept putting god off who would not listen do not be deceived the apostle paul says god will not be mocked god will not be mine don't mistake god's patience for his apathy he is not kidding god is not kidding he is telling some of you today you need to wake up and get serious because i am not kidding verse three verse three the king ordered ashbanez his chief eunuch to bring some of the israelites from the royal family and from the nobility young men without any physical defect good looking suitable for instruction and all wisdom knowledgeable perceptive and capable of serving in the king's palace the best of the best of course he was to teach them the chaldean language and literature they were selected to learn the culture and the ways of babylon now let's talk for a minute about babylon because there's some deeply important symbolism that is at work here babylon of course is the name of a particular kingdom in the 6th century bc that was located in what is modern day iraq but in the bible babylon also represents a spiritual power that is at work in every secular kingdom in every age you get that it refers to one particular kingdom in the book of daniel but it's also a spiritual kingdom that pervades all kingdoms and all cultures in history in the new testament for example the early christians used babylon as a code name for rome even though rome was miles away from the ancient city of babylon and had no political connection or or ethnic connection to babylon whatsoever in the book of revelation babylon becomes the apostle john's name for the whole world system in opposition to jesus in fact did you notice in verse 2 where it said the city of babylon was it said to the land of shanar shannar is the place in genesis 11 2 where all mankind gathers together in order to build a great tower and to make a name for themselves and you remember what the name of that tower was the tower of babel babel babel babylon aha right i see what you did there god nicely played the point is in the bible babylon babel is the term for the spiritual kingdom at work in the secular world powers and that has been true since the tower of babel it is the kingdom built in opposition to god built independent of god the kingdom where man is in charge and man's in the center satan has always used our enemy has always used secular government secular media secular business and secular economics to make war against the people of the gospel satan our scriptures say is the prince of the power of the air he's the ruler of the world he's the one in charge of the babylons in every age now here's the thing most of you like daniel are called to serve in babylon there's a handful of us that are called to serve in the church but the vast majority of you in the summit church are called to serve in the structures of babylon six out of seven days you're at work in babylon the book of daniel is a manual for you how to survive and to thrive and to shine there the book of daniel is written in a very interesting albeit confusing way chapters one through seven of daniel are all about the events of daniel's life in babylon there's a lot of famous stories in there daniel and the lions did shatter me chatting to bed to go in the fiery furnace and many others you're going to love it but chapters 8 through 12 are daniel's prophecy about the restoration of israel and the coming of the messiah and the end of the world chapter one is written in hebrew because it starts in the land of israel but chapters two through seven are written in the language aramaic which was the language of babylon because all the events took place there in babylon then chapters 8-12 which are the prophecies about the future those revert back to hebrew again because we're back to prophecy about the end of time the question the book of daniel presents is this you know a lot of you know how to be faithful to god in the hebrew chapters can you do it in aramaic you know what faithful christian service looks like on your home turf but do you know what it looks like in babylon do you know what it looks like when the powers that be are are raid against you you know what it's like to serve faithfully um god in a church or serve faithfully in a in a christian business but what's it look like when everybody around you is going the other direction here's the question of daniel what does faithfulness to god look like in a second realm controlled by secular powers at war with the gospel let's get back to the story daniel is one out of four young men good looking smart healthy athletic the best of the best who gets conscripted into nebuchadnezzar's service but don't think of this like an episode of the bachelor hebrew edition daniel says they were put under the chief eunuch which means they would have been made eunuchs also which means that their capacity to have kids was quite literally crushed plato plato said that people enrolled in these training programs were usually between 14 and 17 years old so we can assume that all this happened when daniel was about 15 years old nebuchadnezzar then has their names changed they had good hebrew names which pointed to the glory of god nebuchadnezzar changed their their names to speak praise to his gods so for example daniel daniel means in hebrew literally god is my judge his name gets changed to beltachazar which means baal protects the king hananiah hananiah god is gracious gets changed to shadrach which means under the command of aku the moon god miss i el mishael in hebrew means there is none like god none like jehovah gets changed to meshach which means there's none like aku the moon god azariah that that name means god has helped me gets changed to abednego which means the servant of nebo which was the babylonian god of wisdom he's the worshiper of nebo he's finding nebo or whatever i want you to pause for a minute to think about what happened to the world of those 15 year olds keep in mind as always these are real people these are high school age boys who watched as their homeland was invaded their families were killed their temple was desecrated god's name was drugged to the mud their futures as husbands and fathers was destroyed and their names were changed to give praise to a foreign deity some of you feel like you've been put into a difficult environment to be a christian i dare say daniel has you beat so again what does faithfulness in this kind of environment look like verse eight but daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and the wine and he asked the chief official for permission not to define himself this way the royal food and wine would have included a lot of things forbidden by the torah for israelites to eat so here's the first test of faith for them are they going to conform to the scriptures or are they going to cave to the culture of babylon so daniel asked that he and his friends be able to eat from a different menu now nobody in charge of feeding a group likes that can i get an amen from some of the moms out there there's nothing that burns veronica my wife up any more than one of our kids asking for a different meal than what everybody else is eating for dinner that night right verse 9 daniel asked that but god had shown favor god had now god had shown favor um caused the official to show favor and compassion to daniel but the official told daniel i'm afraid of nebuchadnezzar who has assigned you food and drink why should you keep looking worse worse than the other young men your age the king would have had my head because of you daniel then said to him please test your servants for 10 days just give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink now please please please do not be short-sighted and think that daniel just gave you some secret superior jesus blessed keto diet and somebody like i knew it i knew it vegetables and water all right it doesn't say this but i'm sure it means only whole grains and non-gmo stuff that is not the point here these things evidently were the only things he could get his hands on to eat that weren't richly defiled you are free to follow this daniel diet if you want but that is not the point of this chapter and so help me if you use this chapter to find some kind of biblical mandate for essential oils our relationship is over okay all right daniel said let us eat vegetables and water because that's what's not defiled verse 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 so we agreed to this and tested them for 10 days a test at the end of the 10 days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and the enchanters in his entire kingdom god bless them in other words there's a principle being taught here when you commit to doing things god's way god often glorifies himself by honoring you and exalting you now be very careful that's not some kind of magic formula sometimes as you're going to see in the book of daniel you're going to do the right thing and you're going to suffer for it but i am telling you a consistent biblical testimony a theme is that those who honor god he often honors in the eyes of others here's the first principle the book of daniel i want you to master you cannot make a difference unless you are different you will not make a difference unless you are different for these hebrew boys the first application of that principle the first test was in regards to to faithfulness to god and what they ate and drank now you and i today here in the 21st century we're no longer under torah law right so we've got to ask what does that look like for us today how do we keep from defiling ourselves with the royal food and wine in our babylon well as always i have three points for you okay preachers and three points if it works for the trinity we're like it's got to work for a sermon number one number one you show you're different you're sure you're different by living according to different values particularly let me say in relation to what what i call the big three saint augustine saint augustine said the followers of jesus are most distinguishable from the world in their attitude toward three things the big three money sex and power you want to know if somebody's really a christian don't look at how many verses of just as i am they know or or or you know how many bible verses in quote look at their relationship to money sex and power money babylon approaches money from the standpoint of acquisition get all you can keep all you can maybe give away a little to show you're a good person and maintain favor within the community but but money is lifeblood so the key to the good life so get it and hold on to it for the believer because god is their trust and their treasure well they're going to have a different attitude toward money yes we live off of money but we also recognize that money is something entrusted to us for the advancement of god's kingdom so as god prospers us we're not just thinking about how to advance our standard of living we'll also asking how we can increase our standard of giving for you here's what you should ask is money for you primarily something that you acquire and enjoy and you give a little bit away on the side or is money a tool to bless to empower to prosper the kingdom of god of which you enjoy a little bit on the side what's on the side for you the kingdom of god or or or is it your own enjoyment that's on the side here's one another way we ask that around the summit church which one of these is true of you okay right give sufficiently live extravagantly or is it the opposite way you should live sufficiently and give extravagantly for those that are in the kingdom of god and shaped by those values you will find that many of them are quite wealthy but you will find they live sufficiently and give extravagantly for those in the church who are influenced by babylon they live extravagantly and they give sufficiently they give respectably but it's sufficiently while their lifestyle is extravagant that's your here's your first that's your first one here's your second of the big three sex babylon approaches sex from the standpoint of it's all about me and if it feels good it can be wrong the christian sees sex as a gift of god to be used for god's purposes according to his design and that is of course within a covenant-based lifelong marriage between a man and a woman it was said of the early christians i love this that they stood in stark contrast to their roman neighbors because they were and i quote promiscuous with their money and guarded with their beds while other romans were guarded stingy with their money and promiscuous with their beds promiscuous means kind of open to everybody and so so christians were promiscuous with their money they were like hey here it is anybody now anybody wants it you can come get it i'll give it away freely but they were guarded with their beds and romans were the opposite romans were promiscuous with their sex hey right i'm just out for a good time but they were really guarded with their money christians seemed totally backwards by babylonian standards they were strange because they wouldn't gorge on the on the royal foods and wines here's your third third quality there power the third of the big three for babylon whatever power you have you got to press it to your advantage fit your looks use that put your money use that if it's your talent your majority culture status if it's your minority status right whatever you got whatever power you have you should hold on to it and press it for your advantage but the christian the christian that is shaped by the kingdom of god sees any position of power and privilege like jesus saw his power and privilege which was something with which to serve and to live up lift up others the follower of jesus always asked how can i use this position of power and influence and privilege to lift up those around me christians are most distinct from babylon in relation to those three so what about you right is your approach to these things more characterized by babylon or the bible if your life is shaped by the bible you're going to be stranger and more offensive to those around you than daniel was in babylon in fact i've heard it described like this imagine you're watching a big marching band on a football field you know in a marching band everybody in the whole band is looking at one place their eyes are all trained on one guy or one girl and that is the conductor and they are marching in beat with with his or her baton but say you got one guy out there and as you play your binoculars and you're watching them on the football field you notice him that he's got in his his airpods and he's listening to drake or lil wayne on a radio station so he's marching to that beat what's that guy going to look like strange chaotic offensive to everybody around him in the van but that is only because he's dialed into music from another place so the question is what what are you dialed into if you are marching according to heaven's values then there's some really practical places that your life is just going to be totally out of sync with everybody around you um for you college students and young professionals if you are living by the principles of babylon then you will approach your career by saying all right which career is going to make me feel the most fulfilled which one's going to get me the most money that's babylon if you're saved by the bible then you're going to be asking which career can best serve the great commission we say to our students around here the question is not if you're called the question is where and how you're called the calling to leverage your life for the great commission that was included in the call to follow jesus that's not something something special for just a few of us who went to seminary all of you recall whatever your skill set is you're called to leverage that for the great commission we always say you got to get a job somewhere want to get a job in a place where you can be a part of something strategic that god is doing so that's why we challenge our college students and our young professionals to participate in what we call go-to which is the challenge to take the first two years after you graduate and just pursue your career for those first two years on one of our church plants either in the united states or around the world that's what it means to be shaped by the bible instead of babylon for those you that are approaching retirement how are you thinking about retirement are you thinking all right finally i got enough money where i can just get up and do whatever i want all day long with no obligations or are you going to be thinking are you thinking well now this is great right i won't have to work to support myself think of all the time and opportunity i have to invest in jesus kingdom and all the wisdom he's given me and how much i can pour into others here's another way of thinking about that is the trajectory of your life going towards suffering or away from suffering the people of babylon use their power and their money to take them away from suffering to isolate themselves from suffering that's the point of power money is to separate you from suffering the right for those that for those that are shaped by the kingdom of god you will find that the trajectory of their life moves towards suffering and that means the more power and money they have the more they feel freed up to bless others and the more they have to bless others with that means if financially i'm in a place to retire early well that just means i'm freed up to serve in a new capacity i'm not free to you know get my yacht and sail around and tour different islands and and you know call that like my vacation until i i go on to meet jesus if i'm really shaped by the values of the bible then i'm going to be totally different when how other people think about their career the american or what's called the babylonian dream and the gospel mission are going to take you to two entirely different places these values are going to show up and how you manage your business if you're a business owner i know for example one christian business owner who's committed to invest 10 percent of all of his profits from the business back into god's kingdom and listen let me be clear that's not a requirement nor is that a formula that god guarantees is going to make you successful you need to prayerfully discern what god is calling you to do i know of another business owner who's committed to do 90 of the profits that um that he gets the point is the point is you just live by a different set of values for those of you who are not business owners these values are going to show up in how you manage your personal budget i've told you this before but if you're committed to follow jesus with your money you'll be at least three steps behind everybody else who makes the same amount of money as you follow me here okay one thing that's true about human nature is you know who is about the same income level as you you know that and you're always comparing yourself to them and so you're always like well how do they afford that they must be houseboard that's what it is well clearly they spend all their money on clothes the bible teaches you three things about your money that will distinguish you from babylon from the world it tells you number one don't go into debt by the way they say the average raleigh citizen lives about five percent above their means and somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen thousand dollars in credit card debt all right so bible says don't do that number two is a save proverbs tells us that the wise man saves number three it says be generous and 10 is the the general starting point for that that means if you're following biblical values with your money and you are not going into debt you are saving and you are being generous you're going to be at least three steps behind the lifestyle of everybody else who makes the same amount of money as you that is going to be noticeable question is do you look different in these areas do you look different in those areas money sex and power number two here's a second way that we show our difference we show we're different by refusing to compromise our integrity for followers of jesus in babylon we don't compromise our convictions based on the pressures of the moment these four hebrew young men did not depart from their convictions even when it looked like doing so would get them ahead or in their case keep them alive pastor brian here told me about a hotel owner at his previous church um that chose not to offer porn in his hotel as an option on the tvs even though even though they say that porn is one of the most lucrative things a hotel owner can do it brings in about a hundred thousand dollars of profit per year even for a small hotel that's just saying i'm not going to compromise my integrity just because it it gets ahead or maybe you've heard the story of eric little eric little whose story was featured in the movie chariot to fire um eric liddell or little say pronounce it was an incredible runner who was also a very committed believer and he was recruited for the 1928 olympic team for to run for great britain but when he got to paris that year to to be in the olympics he was told that the 100 meter qualifying heat was going to be held on sunday and his convictions were that that he shouldn't run on sunday because sunday was the lord's day and that it was dishonoring to god for him to run on sunday the british team appealed first to him and when he wouldn't change his mind then the british team appealed to the olympic committee to change just change the day to the heat but the olympic committee would not budge it became this big scandal and the british papers just skewered him a betrayal of your country he became the worldwide laughingstock for a couple of days his team this team eventually switched him to the 400 meter race for those of you that have done any kind of track no that's a totally different race that you train for in totally different ways but against all odds eric little won and after he won he said he quoted that verse those who honor god god will honor now again that's not a promise or a magic formula like i said sometimes you do the right thing and you suffer the books like daniel show you that god will sometimes use your refusal to compromise as a vehicle through which he shows off his power and and glorifies his name here's a question where are you being asked to compromise where are you being asked to do something like daniel is being asked that is going to going to get you ahead in babylon's way is what will separate you from the blessing and power of god number three number three we show we're different by conforming to scripture not the culture the way of jesus is counter to every society though usually in different ways in some cultures for example it is the scriptures teaching on the sanctity of marriage that offends the culture in other cultures it's the scriptures emphasis on grace and generosity and giving away power in some cultures it is jesus's emphasis on the equality of all peoples as made alike in the image of god that offends the culture because that threatens to overturn the system the system and the hierarchy and the power structure in other cultures it's god's authority over his creation that offends like the fact that god says he made male and female differently and we can't overturn the system or reassign our gender because it feels right to us that's why we always say the bible is an equal opportunity offender it's going to offend everybody just in different places but it's going to make everybody mad if you're paying attention one of the great tragedies of the church in the west is how often we have conformed to babylon in my library i have a three volume history of slavery in the world that's written by a very prominent african-american scholar and one of the things that he points out in this volume these volumes is that slavery was present in almost every culture in history one of the common characteristics of of sinful fallen men is that we tend to use whatever power we have to exploit those who are less powerful and one of the primary expressions of that has been slavery and that's been true in asian cultures african cultures european cultures numerically the largest slave trade took place in arab cultures the terrible european slave trade that trafficked over 11 million africans is terrible but twice that many were bought and sold on the arabian peninsula during that same time period the real tragedy the scholar said though is that western cultures embraced a gospel that undermined the very nature of slavery a gospel they had to willfully blind their eyes to in order to participate in slavery our gospel taught that that all people were made in the image of god and therefore were equal in the eyes of god therefore one person shouldn't own somebody else it taught us that jesus died for all equally alike and that it was the responsibility of the strong the lift of the weak not to oppress them like jesus did for us and yet we find that the church in the west not only was complicit in slavery it was often a defender of and proponent of it in several places in other words they conformed to babylon and what did that do it left a legacy of damage both to our society and to the witness of the church that we still haven't fully recovered from he said well we learned our lesson there we're not going to do that again don't you see the church doing it again in other areas for example as babylon shifts its view on views on sexuality and gender there are a lot of people in the church that seem to go right along with it in fact if you look at the statistics they are not encouraging attitudes within the church among college students and young professionals within churches like ours on things like same-sex marriage they change right along with the culture i got a friend who teaches a religion class in a public high school here in the area and he says you know he says he says the most remarkable you're not this guy's not even a believer he says the most remarkable thing has happened over the last decade in in the school he said when i used to ask questions about things like same-sex marriage he said the class was roughly divided 50-50 and that was pretty much the division between those who were practicing christians and those who aren't he said then it shifted over the next three or four years to about two-thirds to one-third he said now when that question is asked he said it is the rare student it is the isolated individual student who says no i think that's wrong and all the others that are participating in church to sort of go right along with it because it's just too costly you see what's happening it's the same thing that happened in the west 250 years ago you're just conforming to the culture with all the damage that it brings and listen by the way don't congratulate yourself because you get the slavery question right or because you're so bold about the wrongness of discrimination nobody really debates that anymore i'm not saying we've achieved a racially just society i'm not or i'm not saying there's not work to be done because there is i'm just saying that very few people overtly embrace racism anymore the question is what are you going to do with those things our culture today requires us to conform to what about those those royal foods that our king requires us to eat you're going to go along with the culture are you going to say no i the scriptures my conscience is bound to the word of god there's a famous line that is attributed to the reformer martin luther the courage of the soldier is tested in how well he stands where the battle is the hottest not in how brave he postures himself where the battle is past you understand what he's getting out there the place where there's not a lot of battle man it doesn't take any courage to stand there and just wax eloquent about how wrong something is that nobody thinks is right anymore you want to know the courage of the soldier it's how well he or she stands and fights at that place where the battle is the fiercest where your name gets drugged through the mud in class on cnn in the papers because you say a certain thing and they say that is you're not eating the royal food off with your head by the way next week we get to have a friend of mine here she's going to be with me on stage here her name is rebecca mclaughlin she is a british cambridge grad who got saved in in college and she was um really uh just she tells her story about same sex attraction and how god has changed and all that's a remarkable story and i'll have a chance to interview you as a part of our our time together next week but that the question is what are we going to do when it comes to standing on things that that are that are that are offensive to our culture what are you going to do when abstaining from the king's table cost you for some of you not conforming to babylon and these things might cost you your job for daniel not conforming to babylon threatened to cost him his head and please don't think by the way that these are just right or left issues that i'm talking about as if i'm trying to push you from one political leaning to the other being shaped by scripture is going to put you out of fashion with both the political left and the political right at various points i'm not saying that both political platforms are morally equivalent or there's no wise choice between the two um i'm just saying that neither for us captures the essence of the kingdom of god because both are political parties of babylon there are things that are associated with the political left that we must profoundly reject how they treat unborn human life like a commodity to be discarded at will for the sake of convenience how they reject christian understandings of morality and gender they call that oppression how they leave no room for disagreement on these matters and threaten to cancel you if you object but there are many things associated with the political right that we must also reject some on the right go beyond a healthy patriotism and appreciation for american freedoms they go to an unhealthy embrace of christian nationalism where we are urged to place our hope for the future in american exceptionalism or military might some on the right speak as if as if our only responsibility is to protect our own rights and pursue our our own interests and don't have any responsibility for for the less privilege around us a follower of jesus is going to look different from all things babylon whether it's babylon donkeys or babylon elephants let's return to this main idea okay i want to keep circling back to you will not make a difference unless you are different in the new testament jesus compared this to being salt salt preserves the food that it is in and brings out the beauties of flavor in the food jesus said if the salt loses its saltiness it's worthless to be thrown out the same thing is true of a christian that conforms to the world they neither help preserve the culture nor do they they demonstrate the distinctive beauty of christ in the culture and as such jesus said they're useless to god in the world and they're going to be thrown out if you study the history of christianity in our country you'll see that a lot of churches particularly in the so-called what they call mainstream denominations the big denominations around the mid-20th century as our culture began to change its opinion on orthodox christian theology and christian morality these churches changed right along with them and they said things like well if we don't change our old-fashioned outdated views on these things will be so offensive to our culture will lose all influence and yet it's those churches and denominations the ones that did that they're the ones that have shrunk the fastest today their numbers are incredibly small and they become altogether irrelevant if you want to make a difference you got to be different you got to be different i want caveat okay i just feel like i got to say this i'm not talking about being weird there's no excuse for christian weirdness we all know christians who are just strange they say weird things even the non-believers like i'm gonna bathe you in prayer and you're like i don't even want to know what you mean by that or they think the greatest witness they can have is through cheesy bumper stickers like um do you follow jesus as closely or i'm honk if you love jesus text if you want to meet him um in our day the internet has come along and given birth to a whole new level of christian weirdness with phrases like god answers an email and adam and eve were the first ones not to read the apple terms and conditions or or tweet others how you want to be tweeted and some of you were like oh it's pretty good see you're part of the problem this is why i feel compelled to say don't do that um by the way some of you have met some weird christians and that really turned you off what i've learned and i'll just say this from uncle jd these people would have been weird whether or not they were christians they just expressed their weirdness through christianity don't believe it on on jesus okay that caveat aside i'm not talking about being weird if you want to make a difference you've got to be different the best example of that is jesus jesus ministry was a paradox because there's never been anybody who was so pure and righteous by god's standards and yet who at the same time so effectively gathered the outcast and the non-religious beside him be they the prostitutes the tax collectors they all wanted to be around him why because his life his life it was like he was dancing to a heavenly beat one of purity and wholeness and grace watching his life was like watching somebody that was was dancing to a different tune and see that's really who what the book of daniel is all about the point of daniel is not that he or his friends could ever be righteous enough to win babylon back to god or that we could be daniel's life is itself a prophecy a prophetic picture about a savior who would perfectly display the kingdom of god that savior would not defile himself with any of babylon's delicacies though it it cost him his very life and then in the ultimate act of courage he he displayed the kingdom of god by offering grace and salvation to the people who crucified him and god didn't simply make him look better and healthier after 10 days of righteousness god raised him from the dead that was how god poured out power on him and now because he's done that and demonstrated the victory for us we can follow his pattern and we can demonstrate the beauty of god just like he did we can call people to a different kingdom a kingdom that's based on different values god has called most of you to live in babylon to work in babylon now he wants to use you just like daniel and shadrach meshach and abednego wants to use you like he used his son jesus he put you here to make a difference but you're only going to be doing that you're going to do that by being different question of daniel 1 and a question we'll come back to over and over again in the book of daniel are you willing to be different to make that difference what shapes you is the scripture or is it babylon why don't you buy your heads if you would bow your heads all of our campuses are there at home friend every week there's an invitation an invitation for you to choose one of two paths a wide road a lot of people go down but leads to destruction or a narrow road like daniel chose that leads to life and just get a sense of god is moving in some of you right now saying follow me follow me i got something different something better with your life following jesus means agreeing to let him be the conductor not nebuchadnezzar you willing to do that why don't you tell him right now tell him right now father i thank you in jesus name for those god that you are shaping and molding in this moment and i thank you in advance for the difference the difference that they're going to make in their communities their families and their world give you thanks for this in jesus name [Music] blessed are sure ends jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine air of salvation purchase of god born of his spirit washed in his blood perfect submission all am is savior i am happy and blessed watching and waiting filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior this is [Music] wonderful [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Music] under [Music] wonderful jesus [Music] you are [Music] you are victorious [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] this is my story this is my song praising my savior this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long [Music] summit family were you able to sing those lyrics in full faith can you say that today that this is your story and your song have you made jesus the lord of your life if you're ready to say yes to christ today text the word ready to 33933 and someone from our staff will reach out to help answer any questions you have and help you take your next steps with god amen we would love to have that conversation with you more than that we'd love to just pray with you right now even just click request prayer or email us at prayer summitchurch.com summit next week author rebecca mclaughlin will be joining pastor jd it's an awesome weekend to invite your one or someone who may be skeptical of christianity you may be asking who is this rebecca is a phd student from cambridge who wrote 2020's book of the year by christianity today a book that our staff team just went through called confronting christianity 12 hard questions for christians and rebecca and pastor jd will be diving into some of those hard issues and difficult questions yeah her book has been so helpful for me as i've even walked through some of those questions myself she spent some time with our staff a few weeks back and i am telling you it's going to be amazing so consider grabbing a copy of her book and invite someone back with you next week so her and pastor jd can answer all the questions that are too hard for us to answer well i mean for me to answer at least because i know that you're the expert on all things stuff yeah i don't think so but praise god he has given us the holy spirit who grants us wisdom right well something it's in that power that you are sent [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 69min 51sec (4191 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021