Daniel 1:5-20 “Holiness & Worldliness”

INTRO> Does the name Martin Handford sound familiar to you? It should, he has sold over 73 million books and is worth right about 20 million dollars. He sold insurance to pay his way through art college. He loved doing sketches, particularly sketches of crowds, very detailed crowds. He landed a local magazine when the editor said that he should as something in the picture to make the people look in detail more, so he created a character, Wally. Martin is the creator of “wheres waldo” Waldo is distinguishable and noticeable because of the way that he looks. “I gave him that look because when I originally thought of the character who was lost in all those scenes, I just imagined the reason he was lost was because he was slightly idiotic and didn’t know where he was going.”

CONTEXT> Why does any of that matter and what does Waldo have to do with Daniel? Well if we had to picture from this text what Daniel and his friends looked like in Babylon, they would look like Waldo. They stick out, they are distinct from everyone else. Why? Because of what the bible calls, holiness.

• •  “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” Levitcus 20:26
  • “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

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Big Idea> God uses a holy people to influence a worldly culture.

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1. Holiness requires convictions. v8

• • • “Daniel resolved in his heart”…. This is strong language, it literally means that he “made up his mind and set in his heart” Now, a lot of people differ on Why he did eat it. 1) Dietray Law 2) Idol Worship 3) Fellowship at the kings table.

APP> Obedience to God is more important than acceptance to man.

“But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29

What determines my convictions?

• • • The Word of God.
    • The Spirit of God.
    • The people of God. (past and present)

2) Holiness requires trusting God. v9-16

• • • “And God gave Daniel favor and compassion…” Do you see what is happening here? Notice again the phrase “God gave” Who is the one who is in control here? God is! But he is using Daniels obedience! And that obedience puts him to the test!

APP> Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God’s responsibility. (*credit to multiple preachers)

*ILL> Just recently I picked Roman up from school and we stopped and got a snack. He got a special treat, a Sprite. We got into the car and I told him not to open it yet, he said, “I’ll be careful” and started to open it. I said, “No, don’t be careful, just listen to me.” APP> A lot of us are like that, thinking God wants us to be careful when in reality he wants us to obey. It’s scary but the outcome is his responsibility.

3) Holiness requires engaging the culture.v17-20

• • • “the king found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters…” This is a really interesting verse. Daniel and his friends did their best so they could influence the king. The only way that they could influence Babylon is to know about Babylon.

3 ways to engage culture:

• Separate from culture
• Saturate in culture
• Infiltrate the culture.

“ And the Word became flesh and dwelt amoung us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son fro the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

3 questions to ask when engaging culture (*credit to Mark Driscoll)

• • • Do I receive this?
    • Do I reject this?
    • Do I redeem this?

APP> Those who don’t compromise to the culture become the most effective to the culture.

“The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. Isis then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones

4) Holiness requires perseverance. v21

• • • “ And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus..”   Daniel is hitting the fast forward button here, King Cyrus is years and years after Daniel. In this verse Daniel is close to 80 years old.

“Here in verse 21 Babylon, the hairy chested macho brute of the world, has dropped with a thud into the mausoleum of history, while fragile Daniel, servant of the Most high God, is still on his feet.” Dale Davis, pg37

• • “King Cyrus..” Do you know who this King is? This is the same King who writes to decree to Nehemiah and Ezra to free the slaves and send them back!

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Big Idea> God uses a holy people to influence a worldly culture.

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Closing Questions:

• • • Do you have settled, biblical convictions?
    • What act of obedience is God calling you to right now?
    • In what ways is your life “holy” from the rest of the world?