DANIEL CH. 3
BOW DOWN OR BURN
Good morning, church! Thanks so much for joining us today. Whether you’re with us on campus or joining us online, we’re glad you’re here. [2]SERIES: Today we’re continuing our sermon series called Daniel: Standing Up in a Bow Down World. And we’re going to be in [chapter 3] if you would go ahead and grab your bibles or devices and go there. You can also follow along at auburncstone.info to the sermon notes that go along with today. Today we’re in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace. We have a lot of ground to cover today so I’m going to pray for God to speak, for the Spirit to give understanding, and for us to surrender our lives to Jesus. Then we’ll dig in. [Prayer] [3-7] [Dan. 3:1-7]
TEACH: BOW DOWN OR BURN
BACKGROUND: As we’ve mentioned in the previous weeks, Nebuchadnezzar is the most powerful man in the world at this point in history. He has been sweeping through areas and conquering people and expanding the Babylonian empire. But one of the major problems every empire has is that as it conquers large amounts of people spread out over a huge area is how to keep them from rebelling. And he is a master at doing this subtly. He takes the next generation of leaders, artists, and influencers ISOLATES THEM from their homes, their cultures, their religious centers, their network of family. THEN HE INDOCTRINATES them to think, dress, and act like Babylonians. But it will take time to get the next generation to forget who they are, where they came from, and who their God really is.
So, in the meantime, he has to unite his people around something. [8]He wants to create a symbol. Something that can represent a way of life and give people a sense of shared community, identity, and allegiance. We see this all the time. Here’s some symbols that do that. [9] I’m not qualifying any of these as right or wrong, good or bad. Except maybe Chipotle, that’s absolutely a gift from God! What I want you to see is that we are surrounded by symbols that people use to give us a sense of who we are and what we’re all about. And we often use those symbols to decide who is right and who is wrong, who is one of us, and who is at best not part of the in crowd, at worst, who is our enemy. [10]
So, he creates a statue that is 90’ tall and 9’ wide that is probably only coated in gold. Just to give you an idea of how big this thing was, it’s just shorter than the auburn water tower which is 110 feet tall and taller than the Scheels Ferris wheel that is 65 feet tall. And he commanded, whenever you hear the awesome band I’ve put together, playing really emotional music, I want you all to show how much you appreciate our country and the powers that make it all possible. Prove you’re a good citizen, prove one of us. Ultimately this is…
- PRESSURES TO BOW: And we see two ways that Nebuchadnezzar is applying pressure to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The first is…[11]
- PRESSURE TO PRIVITIZE: Babylon was a pluralistic society, which means they had multiple gods. Worship different Gods for crops to make money, for fertility to have a family. And Nebuchadnezzar knew that the Jewish people worshipped a different God. And what he’s essentially saying is, I’m not telling you that you can’t worship your God, I’m just saying add my God to your list. You can believe and worship your God however you want in private, just fall in line in public and politics. Don’t dare to claim there is only one God or that he decides what is true and good. We’re tolerant people here in Babylon, right? We’ll tolerate you as long as you agree with us publicly. Just keep any of your controversial beliefs private. And the command is made… If you don’t bow down, then you’re gonna burn. [12-17][Dan. 3:8-15]
- And as everyone bowed, [18] there were 3 men still standing. Talk about peer pressure. So, the King calls them up and gives them a second chance. Bow down, pledge allegiance, and I’ll overlook what you did. If not, I’m going to have to make an example out of you. I can’t tolerate anything that will undermine my authority and my ideology. And their response is one of the most beautiful ones in the whole bible. [19-20][Dan 3:16-18] This isn’t up for debate. We don’t need to defend our decision. We have a God that can save us from whatever you want to do to us. We also believe that he can and will save us. But even if he doesn’t, we’re not bowing down. (tom petty: won’t back down) [21]
- WORSHIP, EVEN IF…Listen, as a pastor I have heard people say, well I believed in God and he didn’t do this, or he didn’t give me this. We worship God because of who he is, not because of what we get from him! If you’ve got cancer, worship him anyway. If you’re struggling to pay your bills, worship him anyway. If your marriage is falling apart, worship him anyway. If your 2020 hasn’t worked out the way you planned, look around, no one’s has. We’re gonna worship him anyway! Because even if we don’t understand his plan, we know he’s good and we know he loves us. [22]And even if he doesn’t save us FROM the fire, he’ll walk with us THROUGH the fire! [23-28][Dan. 3:19-25] THE REAL KING SHOWS UP IN THE FIRE WITH THEM! Sometimes, God steps in and rescues us from the fire. He can and does cure cancer, he can and does provide financially, he can and does heal marriages. And we praise him, and we pray for that to happen and we live in faith that he will.
- And sometimes, mysteriously, he chooses to work differently. [29]But we’re promised that God always shows up WITH US IN THE FIRE, and HE WILL BRING US THROUGH IT. You may be in the middle of a fire right now, but you need to know that if you belong to Jesus, it won’t destroy you. God will meet you there. He’ll keep you from ultimate destruction. You know what else is interesting. It says that there were four people walking around and Nebuchadnezzar is the one who sees them, but we’re never told if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saw the fourth person in the fire. It’s possible they didn’t notice the fourth in the fire, yet they knew their God was with them because they fire wasn’t destroying them. We might not see God working, but he is both with us and at work in the middle of the fire. Now, if you are in the fire right now, or even if you’re not, you will be someday, I want to give you…[30]
- PRESSURE TO PRIVITIZE: Babylon was a pluralistic society, which means they had multiple gods. Worship different Gods for crops to make money, for fertility to have a family. And Nebuchadnezzar knew that the Jewish people worshipped a different God. And what he’s essentially saying is, I’m not telling you that you can’t worship your God, I’m just saying add my God to your list. You can believe and worship your God however you want in private, just fall in line in public and politics. Don’t dare to claim there is only one God or that he decides what is true and good. We’re tolerant people here in Babylon, right? We’ll tolerate you as long as you agree with us publicly. Just keep any of your controversial beliefs private. And the command is made… If you don’t bow down, then you’re gonna burn. [12-17][Dan. 3:8-15]
APP: 2 WAYS CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCE FIRE:
The first is the fire of PERSECUTION: [31-32][1 Pet. 4:12-13] We’re told not to be surprised when persecution comes. Don’t seek it out, don’t be idiots and bring it on yourself for being unkind and unloving, but don’t be surprised when those who love the dark hate the light. Anytime persecution has come on Christians, the Kingdom of God exploded. Persecute Christians in China, the church explodes. Persecute Christians in Iran, and God is busy giving dreams and saving Muslims and the church is growing. When there’s no persecution, you know what tends to happen? The church gets fat, comfortable, and no one gives them any problems. I’m not praying for persecution, but maybe it might be time for the church of God in America, that is in decline, to feel some fire for following Jesus. [33]
The second is the fire of PURIFICATION: [34-36][1 Pet. 1:6-7] When you put gold in an intense fire, it melts and all of the other elements that are not pure gold float to the top. Then you scoop those off and you’re left with something that is more pure, and more valuable. We are all a mixture of pure and impure thoughts, desires, and actions. We pray for things that are selfish. We cling a little too tightly to people instead of God. We love our toys a little too much. We substitute physical pleasure for pleasure that comes from God. And sometimes we need the loving fire of God to cause those things to become less dear to us. It causes us to feel less at home in this world and long for our true home with Jesus. And it may be painful, but it is fruitful and purifying. Jesus himself had to deal with both of these kinds of fire in his life. He experienced…[37]
ALL ABOUT JESUS: JESUS IN THE FIRE
THE FIRE OF PERSECUTION: [Isaiah 53] is an incredible description of the persecution that Jesus would experience 700 years before he was born. It says in [38-41] [Is. 53:7-9] it says… What was his crime? People hate hearing that they’re not kings and gods and seek to silence anyone who says differently. Jesus felt the fire of persecution as he was mocked, slandered, beaten, had nails go through his hands and feet, and thorns shoved into his head.
- Even in the middle of his pain and experiencing the hatred of others, he was respectful before Pilate and loving towards those who lied about him and betrayed him. He even prayed for them as he’s dying on the cross. Will you follow his example and pray for those who have hurt you? So, we can see Jesus as our example of how to walk through though the fire of persecution, he also experienced…[42]
- THE FIRE OF PURIFICATION: [43-44][Heb 2:10] says “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.” It says that Jesus becomes the perfect leader by experiencing suffering. Does that mean that Jesus was imperfect or sinful? No, it means that Jesus is able to perfectly lead us through suffering because he learned how to trust God through it firsthand.
- In the garden of gethsemane, before he was crucified, he struggled with fear, he struggled to trust, he struggled with loneliness, and temptation. And as he came out on the other side of those fires, he is now able to say to us, I understand, this may be painful, but you’ll grow through this, your trust will be even deeper, and your understanding of love will be more complete. I did it and I’ll help you. Will you trust him? But there is a final fire that Jesus walked through that we have not had to yet. [45]
- THE FIRE OF PUNISHMENT: Isaiah 53 says in [46-47][v. 5-6] Jesus was “pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so that we could be whole. He was whipped so that we could be healed.” We all are nebuchadnezzar. In our pride we have all built monuments to ourselves through houses, jobs, trophies. We all wished the world would bow down to our desires and wishes. We all have rebelled against god and taken his place. We’ve refused to bow down to the one true God. And we’ve made a mess of ourselves and this world. And God hates sin. He hates it because it destroys us, it destroys those around us. But instead of punishing us for our rebellion. Instead of destroying us to destroy our sin, Jesus willing walked into the fire of punishment in our place.He died the death we deserved to die. [48][John 15:13] Says “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus looked at us and said, because I love them so incredibly much, I’m willing to take the punishment they deserve. I’ll step into the fire of punishment on the cross, so they don’t have to step into the eternal fire of hell! [49]
- FIRST STEP: If you have not chosen to give your life to Jesus, I want you to know that you have a God who promises to meet you in the trials and fires of this life. You have a God who can use even the most horrible circumstances as a way of transforming you into who he wants you to be. But I also want you to know that he loved you enough to dive into the most painful fire on this earth, the fire of punishment, to grab you out of the flames. God doesn’t hate you. He hates what sin does to you and wants to call you to a new way of life. A life of following Jesus. If you want to know more about following Jesus, please come talk to me after service or you can go to…[50]
- ONGOING STEPS: And if you have given your life to Jesus, Don’t give up. Don’t fear! Our God is able to save us, and we believe he will. But even if he doesn’t, we will not bow to any other king, kingdom. We bow to no symbol but the cross, where the image of the invisible God died for us. The one who enters the fire with us, the one who saves us from the fires of punishment!” And we will not fear death, because our Jesus has conquered the grave. I want to end with something Nebuchadnezzar said, even though he didn’t realize he was speaking such a powerful truth. [51] [Dan. 3:29] “…There is no other God who can rescue like this!”
DISCUSSION:
- Have you ever been in a situation where others are doing the wrong thing and they’re trying to get you to do it with them? What did you do? Why was it so hard?
- Which do you speak more about: sports, relationships, entertainment, politics, business, or Jesus? Why is that?
- If you’re hurting right now, who can you ask to be praying for you so that you can experience the presence of Jesus in the middle of the fire?