Missionary to
Daniel 1
I have a word straight from the Lord to share with you this morning à
“Thus saith
the Lord (because God really does
speak in 17th-century
King James English), I am
calling each of you to become a foreign
missionary—today. You will be allowed to offer one reason why
you cannot go and serve.”
Imagine that were true...what excuse would you give?
*I’m not a good public speaker (the Moses excuse)
*Frankly, I don’t care about those people (the Jonah excuse)
*There’s no way I could learn the language
*It wouldn’t be fair to my children or my parents
*I’m too old
*I have my whole life ahead of me
*It’s just not a good time for me
*I’m needed here...plus, this is my home
Ok, but what if the foreign mission field is here...here in
in
-I
don’t want to de-emphasize the critical importance of continuing
to send and to go to other nations and
people groups...but what
if our culture is now so radically different from what it was 30, 20,
or even 10 years ago that we now are the foreign mission field?
--please understand how difficult this is
for me—I absolutely
detest preachers
whining about how good things used to
be
---those comparisons—usually to the
wonderful, magical
decade of the
1950’s—do far more harm than good
---we come away
from those sermons with the belief that
everything
would be peachy if we could only recreate
the social, governmental,
and family structures of 1954
----that’s sugar-coated
nostalgia...and it’s totally bogus
As great as
is not, nor never was, God’s Kingdom come to
earth
-electing more Republicans or
more conservative Democrats won’t
change
that...nor will posting a copy of the 10 Commandments in
every
courtroom...nor teachers leading prayer in the classroom
None of those possesses the power to produce real change
-and we’d better be careful
because we’re to the point where we’ve
almost created idols out of
getting the right people in office, passing
certain
legislation, or convincing Target not to say “Happy Holidays”
I don’t believe we were ever the
“Christian nation” that so many
people say they want to return
to
-were times simpler “back
then”? most likely...
-were we a “gentler, kinder
nation” a generation ago? sure...
--but we never were as
righteous as we imagine ourselves to be
and it is not God’s hope for us to go
back to 1954
-so as long as our ideal is
some elusive era from the past, then we
will always be distracted
from what is truly required of us
We are being called to become missionaries to
-to engage our culture, not to
isolate ourselves from it
-to cultivate meaningful conversation,
not to launch an all-out attack
-to speak truth always to a
world that largely denies truth’s existence
-to be salt and light to a world
that has forgotten God
We are called to be missionaries to
we must become foreign missionaries to a culture and a
people who
no longer know God...and who
believe they no longer need God
-I want to emphasize that we
are to be foreign missionaries
because while we do live here in
--like Abraham, Sarah,
Isaac, and Jacob we are aliens and
strangers here...our
temporary mailing address may be
permanent home—our
eternal home—is in heaven
-that makes us fundamentally
different from those who call this
earth “home”...it doesn’t
make us superior, just different
--we talk like and live
like aliens...much of what we do and say
makes no sense to
them...we have faith, therefore we have
hope...so we face
death differently, we grieve differently, we
believe our life is
not our own...nor is any of “our stuff”
God sends us into a culture we think we know and comprehend
-but we are terribly naïve...because
we are fundamentally
different,
we don’t intuitively understand
the language, we don’t automatically
follow their logic, we don’t
hurt the way they hurt
---we think it’s odd
that they think we’re odd...but that
just goes
to show you that
they and we are more unlike than you
ever before imagined
How do we even attempt being a missionary to
-is there a missionary
model...someone who is living among
foreigners, trying to relate
to them, but still retaining his own
identity
as a God-follower?
--what a great question!
Read Daniel 1:1-7
Of course, the book of Daniel is
not a handbook on how to be a
foreign missionary...instead it’s
a record of how God orchestrates
history for His purposes
-still, the example of Daniel
and his three friends can teach us a lot
about living in political,
cultural, and spiritual exile
--are we living in
---I’ll let you be
the judge...but allow me to read to you how
The Message translates the second-half
of Romans 1
---listen...and
decide how much in common 1st-century
had in common
with 6th-century (B.C.)
how they both
compare to the
Read Romans 1:18-32
That passage says a couple of key things
-the “good ol’
days” were never as lily white as we tend to remember
-we are still sinners...sin is
pervasive...there is no such thing as a
private, harmless sin...all
sin comes with consequences...all sin
wreaks havoc in our lives and
on creation...and ultimately sin will
bring death to all of God’s
creation...we’re sin-sick and it’s killing us
--and that’s just as true
today as it was back in “the day”
-despite Louis Armstrong’s classic
tune, if you’re honest, this really
isn’t such a wonderful world
after all...and hasn’t been since
But...this world is where we live for the brief moment we
call “this life”
-we can bury our head in the
sand...or use violence, force, and hate
as a means to spread our
message of love, peace, and grace...or
we can live as missionaries
and simply show them Jesus
--over the next few weeks,
we’ll see what Daniel did...how he
chose to live out his
faith in a world that was not his home
-shortly after his arrival in
the capital city of
modern
--do I go with the
all-you-can-eat buffet at the best restaurant in
town...or do I
go all-out vegan?
Read Daniel 1:8-15
Interesting, isn’t it, that Daniel is willing to learn the language,
literature,
and customs of these pagans who wiped out his nation?
-isn’t it odd that Daniel
figures it’s ok to be indoctrinated into the
Babylonian culture, but he
can’t bring himself to eat good food?
I think this decision is less about eating only kosher food, and more
about having a godly wisdom
about knowing what’s unimportant
-in last month’s Christianity Today, Mark Buchanan notes à
[Daniel] had to sort out his place within that
culture: What could
he, without
violating his conscience, say ‘yes’ to?
What must he,
regardless of personal risk, say ‘no’ to?
In other words, Daniel understands he has to pick his battles
-learning the language,
literature, and culture allows him to ______
what? [be a missionary!]
-refusing to eat food from the
king’s table signifies ________ what?
[I don’t belong here...I
answer to a higher authority...my King does
not reside in
How does Daniel do it?
-I think it starts with Daniel’s
attitude
--rather than griping all the
time about
as it used to be in
fact
that his nation had been carried into exile because of God’s
judgment on their own unfaithfulness...and rather than allow
resentment and bitterness
render him useless, Daniel sees this
as a unique opportunity
to show these pagans what the one,
true God is all about
How would things change if we, the Church, stopped seeing the world
as our sworn enemy and, instead,
saw them as our mission field?
That’s where I believe many well-intentioned believers get off track
-we tend to forget who the enemy
is...and who the enemy is not
--Republicans? Democrats?
--Sunnis? Shiites?
--radical, liberal,
activist judges?
--radical, right-wing,
fundamentalists?
Turn on the radio...listen to some preachers...read certain websites...
and the amount of vicious,
hate-filled speech is astonishing—and it’s
coming from Christians
-listen: we are foreign missionaries...not armed
militants
--the Apostle Paul lived in a time and
place that was far more
hostile to Christianity
than our own...yet while he was in prison
for preaching the gospel, he was inspired to
write in Ephesians
6 à Our struggle is not against flesh and blood
-when Paul later does describe our battle weaponry, it
does not
consist of things we’d naturally
expect à truth, righteousness,
the gospel of peace, faith,
salvation, and the Word of God
Daniel understands
-after he resolves to stay away
from the king’s food and wine, he
asks permission from the
chief of the court officials
--that’s not exactly the
“take no prisoners” attitude we see today
-Daniel’s approach works, not because
of Daniel’s charm, manners
or persuasive abilities, but because
God works (note v. 9a)
--God uses Daniel in
far-from-ideal circumstances
---yet here we sit in
incapable of
making any difference
----and so we
either try to take matters into our own hands
or we
throw up our hands and throw in the towel
Os Guinness à The problem with
Christians in
Christians aren't where they should be; the problem is that they're
not what
they should be right where they are.
The problem isn’t that God’s too weak or that the evil in
the world is
too strong
-the problem is
that the Church has been minimizing the problem,
ignoring God,
and rejecting His calling...we’ve lost our passion for
God and
for those God loves with all His heart
We’re called to be missionaries
-but we quickly
figure out that a missionary’s life is no fun, so we
turn the church
into a country club
-or we realize in
order to be missionaries, we have to be servants...
and since there’s
no power in servanthood, we turn the church into
a political
action committee
-or when it hits us
that being missionaries means our focus must be
on God first and
then others, we feel like our own needs aren’t
being met...so we recreate the church to revolve around us
Daniel doesn’t do that
-Daniel establishes
a conversation, a relationship with Ashpenaz
--he cares enough
to learns the culture
--he adapts
without compromising
Paul wrote, again from prison in
wise in the way you act toward outsiders;
make the most of every
opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of
grace,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Conversation must be personal, relational
-conversation cannot occur
through a brick wall
--I can stand up here, pound
the pulpit, and yell “Repent!”...which
might make us feel better
about ourselves—that the gospel is
really
being preached—and it may lull us into a satisfied sleep...
but that will do little
good for those on the outside
Knowing Peter’s rash, hotheaded reputation, we might expect him to
counsel believers to lash back
against those who are persecuting
them...instead his words echo
Paul...
-1 Peter 3:14-15 à Even if
you should suffer for what is right, you
are
blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do
not be frightened.”
But in your hearts set apart Christ as
Lord. Always be prepared
to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason
for the hope
that you have. But do this with
gentleness and
respect.
--isn’t that what Daniel
does?
---he is clear and
bold, but respectful
---he does not resort
to yelling, protesting, and picket signs to
make his point
And Daniel refuses to retreat into a shell of isolation
-Daniel is not afraid of being
“contaminated” by the Babylonian
culture...he knows precisely
where he stands, who he loves, and
what
must never be compromised
--if people like Daniel
hide from the sinners, then who is ever
going to reach them?
--it is possible for us to
become so afraid of the world slipping
into the church that
the church never risks engaging the world
-Jesus didn’t do that...Jesus
didn’t live like a recluse in a cave
--it’s one of the things
about Jesus that really irked the religious
leaders of the day
-Matthew 9:10-12 à While
Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s
house, many tax collectors and “sinners”
came and ate with Him
and His
disciples. When the Pharisees saw this,
they asked His
disciples, “Why does your teacher eat
with tax collectors and
‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the
healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick.”
Twenty-five years later, Paul wrote to the Christians in one of the
most pagan cities in the world
-instead of advising them to
withdraw from society, he encouraged
them by his example to meet
them where they are
Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-22
Do I have hope for the future of
-that may be an irrelevant
question
The more pertinent question is:
will we answer God’s calling to
engage our culture as foreign
missionaries to
I don’t know God’s plan for the future of
know the only hope for the people of
Christ...and the only way the
gospel will transform lives is if the
Church—you and me—becomes the
missionary force God intends
for us to be
-short of that, either God will
send a missionaries from other
nations to
--will you answer God’s
call and follow the missionary examples
laid before us by Paul, Daniel, and Jesus Himself?