Stupid Move

Nebuchadnezzar is an idiot and chapter three of Daniel proves it! For some reason this kings forgets the power of God revealed to him through Daniel’s interpretation of his dream and goes on the big ego trip of building a statue to himself. There is nothing more over the top than a statue to you but this one is really out of control. He builds a statue 90’ high and 9’ wide. He erects it on a flat pain outside of the city so everyone could see it. To make things even crazier he demands that everyone in the kingdom bow down and worship this statue. Oh yea, this statue is made of gold, yea gold!
As I read this I can’t help but think, who was whispering in his ear. What advisors were so “sucking up” to the king that they pushed this ego monster to this stupid act? Ok, teaching point, God is not into statues to yourself that you demand to be worshipped.
In “The God Culture” there is only one god and it is not you! We often attempt to erect a statue based on our ego and we end up down “stupid road” right beside Nebuchadnezzar! Be careful to whom you listen and who you worship.

Big Dream, Bad King

God puts the big “push” on Daniel. So many times God sends tests into our lives to check our devotion and dependence. He doesn’t do this so we will fail but to help us prevail. This is one such case.
The king as a dream that troubles him, in this culture dreams are a big deal. In fact, in the east dreams are still a big deal. These people believe that wisdom, the future, and spiritual truths are revealed in dreams. In my dealings with eastern cultures I have experienced God using dreams to bring people to Christ. Dreams are a big deal and this king as a bazaar one.
Instead of being normal and telling folks about his dream, he chooses to be over the top ego driven and demand that his wise men interpret the dream without being told what he dreamed. He then capped it off by saying that if no one could answer him, he would kill all his wise men. Talk about pressure!
All the wise men freak out and the King orders to have them all killed. Now, Daniel was one of these dudes and he didn’t know what was going on. When they came to kill him, he discovered the problem. He then asked for time and was given it.
Daniel refused to let circumstances dictate his reactions. He went to the source of wisdom, God Himself. He didn’t ring his hands nor did he allow fear or speculation to grip him. He asked the officials for time. He asked others to pray for him. He was confident that God would come through. He knew that there was a God in heaven who can do anything, so he placed his trust in Him.
God came through! Here is the deal; this whole thing was not about the King, Daniel, or the dream. It was about God! God did something only He could do and Daniel gave Him the glory. “The God Culture” is about making God famous not you. So many times I have heard this passage and people pay attention to the dream and build their view of Biblical prophecy spending all their energy showing that God knew what was going to happen. Do you think God needed some kind of validation? NO! Do you think that God knows the future? YES! So what is the point? God is so amazing that He can cause a man to dream another man’s dream. Nothing is too hard for Him. All of this sent a revival to the Kingdom. God became famous and Daniel was rewarded. WOW! That is life in "The God Culture".

Daniel's challenge

Chapter one of Daniel we find desperate times. Jerusalem has fallen and the brightest and best of the Jews were carried off into exile. All of this happen because of disobedience and sin. The Jewish people had wandered off into a lifestyle of paganism. For several hundred years they had mixed their devotion to God with the pagan cultures around them. This blending of cultures was rooted in a decision to not fully obey God’s instructions regarding the people of the promise land. God instructed them to remove them but the Jews did not. The influence of the pagan religions that was sexual and perverse overcame the purity of following God. The Jewish people began to act like the pagans around them thus causing God to move in discipline. God responded this way out of love and only after years of pleading through His prophets. God’s desire was that the world would be blessed through the Jewish nation but they would not obey.
As I read this I can become prideful but I realize that I have the same “bent”. I want God on my terms and not on His.
The Jewish nation was broken, the temple of God, which was the national symbol of God’s presence, was destroyed. The Jewish people were carried away from their homes and those that were left in Israel were uneducated, unqualified, and unprotected. It was the worst of times.
God stirs a man and his friends to live in “The God Culture”. Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Misheal, and Azariah, were exceptional young men who lived fully facing God. They were selected to be immersed into Babylonian culture and to be trained as leaders. The Babylonians believed that conquered people should be assimilated into a common culture thus maintaining unity. Daniel had “made up his mind” (v.6) to live fully facing God and not to follow the god or culture of those who held him captured.
This decision lead Daniel and the three to challenge the common practices of his captors and to fully rely on God. God came through launching Daniel into a place of influence. Because of Daniel’s obedience God gave him and his friends unusual abilities and wisdom.
God will do the same for us. Notice that God didn’t remove Daniel from his situation. He blessed him in the situation. History shows us that Daniel and the three were so influential that they lead a revival in that pagan culture. What would happen if followers of Jesus Christ made the same decisions? We so often want to be separated from the influence of our culture that we live in the “Christian bubble”. We then become weird and detached. That is not the desire of God. Living in “The God Culture” is influencing the culture for God’s glory!

The God Culture

What would our lives look like if we lived fully facing God? What choices, decision, and commitments would we make? What would we do and stop doing? How would we live if we were facing God?
The truth is that we are facing God. Most of us chose to ignore Him. Over the next few weeks we will track a man who lives his life in full view of God. I will call that lifestyle “The God Culture”. All of his actions were measures by his devotion. This man is Daniel. From him we will learn how to make decisions, take actions, and excise faith. If we chose to live in “The God Culture” we will be different and make a difference.
Here are a few thoughts.

“The God Culture” is not a hunker down and hold on attitude.
It is not a “pull yourself out of society” reaction.
It is not “I am better than other people because I have Jesus” attitude.
It is not “I will put a fish on my car, a bible on my coffee table, but live life on my own terms” attitude.
It is a lifestyle of Lordship, courage, and risk taking all for the glory of God.
It is a life that says “Jesus, I am yours”.

Let’s enjoy “The God Culture”.