Sermon – Daniel 6 – Faith in an Unfaithful Land – God's Law

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Daniel 6 – Faith in an Unfaithful Land – God's Law

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

October 23, 2011

I would like to begin this morning with some thoughts about an issue our nation is talking about these days. This issue is not directly connected to our scripture text or my sermon topic, but it is something people are concerned about so I will take a few minutes to put in my few thoughts. Mitt Romney is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormon.

Some evangelical Christians have been calling Mormonism a cult. Cults tend to think that they alone deserve God's approval. So they have little reason to engage in dialog with those with whom they disagree. They see no reason to promote scholarship in pursuit of the truth. So they see no reason to sponsor a college or graduate school to study their basic beliefs. But Mormons are known for their love of scholarship, having founded Brigham Young University with world-class professors. Many of the their leaders have graduated with PHDs from Ivy League schools, and are well read in Christian literature. This is not the type of behavior that you would expect from an anti-Christian cult.

But, are Mormons Christians? They do believe in Jesus Christ, but many aspects of their belief is very different from what we believe. So they are not Christian, but they are willing to talk with Christians about our differences. This is an important dialog for both of us and must not be destroyed by us calling them a cult. Thus we need to accept Mormons as friends and fellow followers of Jesus Christ, and we need to pray for them that they will one day accept the truth of the gospel.

Mitt Romney therefore deserves to be judged on his positions on public policy and political philosophy, but he should not be labeled as a cultist. (Based on Richard Mouw, http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/09/my-take-this-evangelical-says-mormonism-isnt-a-cult/ )

And now on to the sermon.

Today we conclude our journey through the stories contained in the first six chapters of the Book of Daniel. Here we have seen the narrative account of a group of faithful Judeans trying to hold onto their faith while living in exile in a faithless land called Babylon. We have seen how they tried to hold on to their religious practices by using their Hebrew names in private and not eating food sacrificed to idols. God blessed them richly by giving Daniel the gift of interpreting dreams which saved their lives. As faithful Jews they were subject to ordeals like being thrown into a hot furnace, but God was always there with them in the midst of these trials. But when an unfaithful king began misusing the holy vessels from the Jerusalem temple, God sent a warning through Daniel and eventually toppled his unfaithful kingdom. Today we will witness one final trial, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

¹⁴ When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. ¹⁵ Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, "Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed." ¹⁶ So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!" ¹⁷ A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. ¹⁸ Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.

¹⁹ At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. ²⁰ When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" ²¹ Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! ²² My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king." ²³ The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

²⁴ At the king's command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions' den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Daniel had proven his ability as dream interpreter and administrator. His loyalty to the king and his faith in God were beyond questions. There was no longer any reason for either the king or God to test him. But the evil administrators, filled with jealousy tricked the king into issuing a edict that they knew Daniel could not obey. The king, fooled by this trick had Daniel thrown into a pit filled with hungry lions and the only escape was sealed by a stone. This ordeal was not designed to test Daniel. God already knew of Daniel's faith. Rather this was a test of God and whether or not Daniel's God was stronger than the Persian gods.

The king's edict became “the law of the Medes and Persians”. This was the supreme law of the land, could not be changed, and was enforced by the king using the power of the Persian gods. For the Jews living in exile in Babylon the Persian gods must have seemed very powerful. After all they had defeated the great Babylonian empire and controlled what seemed like the whole world. The exiled Jews were required to obey Persian law and must have been tempted to worship Persian gods. No doubt many did just that. But as we have seen Daniel held on to his faith in the creator God of his ancestors. And Daniel had to obey the law of this God.

So the test that we see in today's scripture is between “the law of the Medes and Persians” and the law of God. Which law is backed by a stronger God? We need to know which god is stronger because when laws conflict, the law of the stronger God has to be obeyed. Daniel believed that his God was stronger than the Persian gods. So he obeyed the law of God and violated “the law of the Medes and Persians”, and suffered the consequences.

How did Daniel know the law of God? We haven't heard about any Hebrew schools or the preservation of Hebrew scriptures. These things were happening at this time. Synagogues had been established and scripture was still being copied and preserved. But we haven't heard anything in Daniel about any of this. Rather he hear in the Book of Daniel that Daniel's faith and his knowledge of God's will grew through his prayer life. We are told that Daniel prayed three times every day and this brought him closer to God.

In the medieval monasteries prayers were held every three hours every day. Monks would wake up late at night to complete their prayers. The Protestant reformers said that it was not necessary to wake up every three hours at night to pray. But they pointed out that Daniel prayed three times every day. And the psalmist said that we should pray every morning and evening. So the 16^th century reformers told us to pray when we get up, before and after each meal, and just before we go to sleep at night. My mother told me to pray a blessing before each meal and night time prayers before going to bed. My guess is that your mothers said the same thing. Just as Daniel heard God's law for his life through his prayers so too do we learn God's will for our lives in our prayers. And that is why it is crucial to pray every morning, as we do here in church, pray before each meal and pray before you go to sleep at night.

Once we know through prayer what God wants us to do we may find ourselves at odds with the civil law. Thankfully this rarely happens in America. But it could. We could find ourselves in situations where the government requires us to do something that violates what God wants us to do. Or maybe some other power causes us to ignore God's law. What if a boss tells you that you must work on Sunday mornings, an assignment that causes you to miss worship? What would you do? What if soccer practice is scheduled at a time that conflicts with Sunday school for your kids? What would you do? What if a spouse tells you that it is ok to go to church, but don't pray at home? What would you do. For many people, they respect the law of the boss, the law of the coach, and the law of the spouse because these are very powerful people. But we have to remember that God is stronger than any power in heaven or on earth, and so God's law must be obeyed over any other law.

Of course there will be consequences if you do this. You may loose your job if you don't work Sunday mornings. You children may be cut from the team if they attend Sunday school instead of practice. You marriage might be hurt if you disobey your spouse and practice your religion in the house. All these things happen all the time. But we all called to follow God no matter what happens even if it leads us to a pit filled with hungry lions.

And this leads us back to Daniel. Yes he was thrown in the pit. Yes the lions were hungry. Yes Daniel should have died from his ordeal. But he didn't. He didn't die because his God was stronger than the Persian gods. And so too our God is stronger than all the powers on earth. And the King, when he saw that Daniel had spent the night with the lion and was unhurt, realized that Daniel's God, our God, was truly the King of the Universe. He confessed his belief publicly for all to hear.

²⁵ Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: "May you prosper greatly! ²⁶ "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. ²⁷ He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." ²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

We leave the Book of Daniel filled with reverence for an awesome God. Our God is not some dead relic from the past. But God is alive and at work redeeming the world we live in. God saves us from sin and evil. And God's kingdom will never come to an end. Thanks be to God.