Series: Salt & Light – 4 “Generosity and Deception”

Text: Acts 5:1-11

1. 15 years ago this month I hopped on a UAL flight bound for Lexington, KY via Chicago. I was flying to Asbury Theological Seminary for my 1st class in my doctoral studies program. I was excited & nervous.

I switched planes in Chicago & caught a 10:30pm flight to Lexington. We taxied out to the run way & stopped. The plane was experiencing mechanical difficulties and couldn’t go. I’d have to catch the 1st flight out in the morning.

UAL put me up in a hotel. I got to bed at 1:30am & set my alarm to catch the 6am shuttle to the airport. I didn’t sleep well. I got up on time. As I walked out the lobby I cleaned out my coat pocket & threw away some wrappers & papers.

I walked up to the gate. The UAL attendant asked for my ticket. I rifled through my pockets. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had thrown it away in the airport lobby…

…I told her that they didn’t give me a ticket last night. They said they had; I said they hadn’t.

“Mr Barton, I’m sorry we can’t let you on this flight without a ticket. You’ll have to step aside so we can continue boarding those who have tickets.”

“Like I said, you didn’t give me a ticket. This is my flight. Here’s my boarding pass from last night. You have my name in your records.”

I asked to see a supervisor. I told him the same story. After a few dirty looks they put me on the flight. Once I settled into my seat it hit me what I had just done – lied through my teeth to cover up my stupidity!

Today
1. I want to pick things up where we left them off last Sunday – the filling of the Holy Spirit & Heather’s sharing about the revival she experienced as a teenager. As she shared I was struck by the picture of people lining up to confess their sins to each other as the Holy Spirit worked in their lives.

2. it brought to mind an event we read about in Acts 5 – the story of Ananias & Sapphira. The church is rolling along & gaining a head of steam. Suddenly the church hits a bump in the road – lying & deceit.

3. to be salt & light in our world we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And to be filled with the Holy Spirit we must take our sin seriously BECAUSE our sin quenches the Spirit.

The generosity of Barnabas (4:32-37)
1. the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the day of Pentecost. I’m struck by this fact – in those early days of the Spirit-filled church, giving was motivated by the needs of the poor. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need (34-35).

2. for example Barnabas – who was called Son of Encouragement by the apostles – sold a field and gave the money to the apostles.

3. the Spirit moved people to sell houses or land in order to love the poor. What is the Spirit of God saying to us about –
® supporting Habitat for Humanity so the working poor in our midst can afford a place to live?
® supporting The Canby Center so the love of Christ & his church can be tangibly expressed to the needy in our community?
® supporting our Food Pantry so those short of food can eat?

4. Earlier this week a mother & her high school son showed up at the church asking for food. She had to work on Saturday morning & missed the food pantry. I took them into the pantry & let them fill up 2 bags with food. They were like children in a candy store. What we take for granted – food in our cupboards – was not a given for them.

The deception of Ananias & Sapphira (5:1-11)
1. a husband & wife by the name of Ananias & Sapphira sold a piece of property. They gave the money to the church just like Barnabas did. Except.

2. they lied about the money. They told the apostles that they were giving away all of the money. In reality, they kept some of it back for themselves.

3. Peter made it clear that the land & money were theirs to do with what they wanted (4). The judgment of God fell upon them. Both died on the spot.

4. I have 5 comments that I want to make this morning:

1st there is no perfect church.
1. even within the ranks of the Spirit-filled church in the early days of its existence sin was found.

2. Ananias & Sapphira were members of this Spirit-filled community. They were part of the people devoted to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (2:42).

3. but they lied & deceived the church. They wanted others to see them as radically generous, like Barnabas. They projected themselves before others to be something they were not.

4. all churches, this church, is full of sinners. We may be saved, most of us, but we’re saved sinners. We’ll never be perfect in this life.

5. we sin. We become masters at covering up our sin. The church should be the one place where we can be honest with God, with ourselves & with others about our sin.

2nd Satan works in the church.
1. Peter – Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? Satan filled the heart of Ananias with the notion of keeping back some of the money and lying about it.

2. I believe Ananias & Sapphira were Christ-followers. I believe they were part of the Spirit-filled community. And I believe they stand as a warning to each one of us – we are everyone of us capable of being led astray by Satan.

3. I don’t believe they were demon possessed. I don’t believe followers of Christ can be demon possessed. But I do believe that Satan can deceive us. To become obsessed with an idea or a course of action. To the point that we get carried away & follow through. Even blinded to the consequences.

4. notice, Ananias was held accountable for his sin NOT Satan. We can’t blame Satan for our sin.

5. let’s remember – Satan is a limited being. He doesn’t know everything. He is not all-powerful. He cannot be everywhere at once. He is not the dark-side equivalent of God.

6. what do we do with Satan? James 4 – 1st submit ourselves to God; 2nd resist the devil and he will flee from you
We can only stand against Satan if we have first submitted ourselves to God. Then we stand in his strength.

7. one more thing, when we personally or we the church experience times of special blessing, Beware. Satan’s track record is that he shows up to disrupt what God is up to. Ours is to submit & resist!

3rd all sin is sin against God.
1. Peter accused Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit (3). You have not lied to men but to God (4). Lying to the church was actually lying to God.

2. Psalm 51 teaches the same thing. David committed adultery with Bathsheba. But when he went to confess his sin he prayed against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight (4).

3. Peter said to Sapphira how could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Her sin was against God as well.

4th we must take sin seriously.
1. we live in a time where people do not want to take sin seriously. Even in the church. We rationalize it. We minimize it. We hide it. We blame it on others. On our childhood. On our genes.

2. a little kid once said to his mother, why is it that whenever I do something wrong it’s because I’m bad. But when you get upset it’s because of your nerves?

3. if we want to make a salt & light difference in our community. If we want to see God do a new work in our church. If we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It has to start right here.
4. confession. Repentance. Bringing into the light what is hidden in the darkness.

5th we must live in the fear of God.
1. We lack this today. The fear of God. The fear of God is a good thing. If God in all his transcendent glory & holiness was more real to us today, we would be a changed people.

2. this week I memorized I Timothy 6:15-16 –
God, the blessed and only Ruler
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
who alone is immortal
and who lives in unapproachable light
whom no one has seen or can see
to him be honor and might forever
Amen

3. this verse fills me with a holy fear of God. He’s the God we must deal with.

4. close in prayer – take offering – sing – respond

Music i listened to while sermonizing – john rutter & the cambridge singers; hillsong united; u2; van morrison; willie nelson; american boys choir; gingerich family singers; chris tomlin; charlie hall; david crowder band;

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – acts by james montgomery boice; the intimate merton by thomas merton; the supremancy of Christ in a postmodern world edi by john piper & justin taylor; acts by ajith fernando; acts by john stott; sermons by john piper & ray steadman; the road by cormac mccarthy

Series: Salt & Light -- Today: Holy Spirit

Text: Acts 2

1. 30 years Jim Ferguson was the youth pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. One time he took a bus load of high school kids on a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort. He was driving up a long, boring stretch of Highway 395. He decided it was time for a little fun. He pulled the choke on the bus & flooded the engine. The bus sputtered to a stop. He told the kids we’ve run out of gas. Time to push the bus to the next town. The kids exited the bus & began to push. Jim shifted into 2nd gear, let out the clutch, the engine started & he drove away leaving the kids behind. He returned several minutes later and was laughing at what he had just pulled off.

2. the church, our church, can be like a big, cumbersome, difficult-to-get-moving bus. We can rally everyone to get behind the church & push it. And we can actually move the church forward a bit – maximum effort but minimum results.

3. but when CAC is moved along by the power of the Holy Spirit, we’d better get on the bus or be left behind.

4. Christ has made it very clear – he wants us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He longs for us to break out of our Christian ghetto and permeate non-Christian culture.

5. for the next several weeks we’re going to camp out in Acts 2. Here we discover what it takes to become salt & light. Today I want to talk about our source of power as Christ-followers – the absolute necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

2:1-13: the day of Pentecost
1. what happened on the day of Pentecost was a divinely planned event. One more step in God’s redemptive plan for the world involving Christ – incarnation + death + resurrection + ascension + Pentecost 50 days later.

2. Pentecost was an Old Testament feast day, 1 of 7 annual feasts in the life of Israel. It came at the end of 7 weeks of grain harvest & was celebrated on the 1st Sabbath after the 7 weeks of harvest – 50 days after the start of the harvest. Pentecost means ’50.’

3. 50 days after Christ was resurrected, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church during the feast of Pentecost.

4. the Holy Spirit is the life-line of God’s presence & power in the church. The Spirit indwells, fills & empowers the church. For sanctification (spiritual growth) & service (kingdom advancement).

5. Pentecost was marked by 3 signs of the Holy Spirit’s coming.

6. 2:2 – sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. In the Scriptures wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. A symbol of power.

7. 2:3 – they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Fire is a symbol of God’s presence. Exodus 19:18 – Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire, to cite one reference.

8. fire illuminates, refines, reveals. The Holy Spirit illuminates, refines & reveals.

9. 2:4 – all of them began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Those filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak in languages they had not learned as a witness to the nations gathered in Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost.

10. they heard the sound of wind. They saw tongues of fire. They spoke in tongues. The Holy Spirit had come!

2:14-36 – Peter’s sermon
1. 2:4 – he was filled with the Spirit

2. he preached from Scripture – Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16, 110, 132.

3. he preached Christ:
® 2:22: his ministry – miracles, wonders & signs
® 2:23: his crucifixion & burial
® 2:24: his resurrection
® 2:33: his ascension
® 2:34: his present ministry

4. Peter’s sermon is a primer on preaching. Preaching must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit, be based upon the Bible & ultimately be centered on Jesus Christ!

2:37-47 – results: conviction, conversion, change
1. 2:37 – when the people heard this they were cut to the heart. There was genuine conviction brought about by the Holy Spirit.

2. 2:38,41 – repent and be baptized…those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Holy Spirit-given conviction led to conversions – about 3000 people said ‘yes’ to Jesus & became his followers.

3. 2:42-47 – lives were changed forever. They devoted themselves to...teaching, community, worship, prayer, evangelism, generosity.

they were filled with the Holy Spirit
1. Acts 2 Pentecost is a once-in-time event. It ushered in a new chapter in God’s salvation history - the formation of the church by the indwelling & filling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would now be given to all followers of Christ THOUGH not everyone would experience speaking in other languages.

2. Romans 8:9-11 So Paul can write to the Romans that the Holy Spirit lives in all Christ-followers. When we invite Christ into our lives he comes in the form of the Holy Spirit.

3. what does this mean? We have the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit lives in us. But does the Spirit have us?

4. there are times when he does & times when he doesn’t. When he doesn’t, we live in our own strength, live for ourselves, do our own thing. We try to push the bus or the church or our lives in our own power.

5. but when we are fully surrendered to God, fully submitted to him, the Spirit, then, has us. He is free to fill us. Empower us.

6. Ephesians 5:18 – do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. Be filled is a command in the present tense. We are to be filled over & over again. This is to be an on-going experience. Our way of life.

7. one of AW Tozer’s lesser known books is The Divine Conquest. The last chapter is called The Spirit-Filled Life. Tozer makes 3 points about being filled with the Spirit: 1st you must make sure you want to be. Are you willing to let God take charge of your life? To be obedient in everything? To be fully surrendered?

8. 2nd your desire to be filled must be all-consuming. It must trump all other desires in your life. Tozer – the degree of fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire. One great hindrance to the Spirit-filled life is the theology of complacency so widely accepted among gospel Christians today.

9. 3rd you must first experience a period of deep anxiety and inward agitation. Tozer – religious contentment is the enemy of the spiritual life. We must want more, hunger for more. We must be bothered by our current spiritual state. Sick of the status quo.

10. Acts 2 Pentecost reminds us of the absolute necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit!

Heather interview
1. what did you learn about the Holy Spirit in high school when the Western Canadian Revival came to your church?

2. can you share a couple of personal stories.

consuming fire song
there must be more than this
o breath of God come breathe within
there must be more than this
Spirit of God we wait for you
fill us anew we pray
fill us anew we pray
consuming fire fan into flame
a passion for your name
Spirit of God would you fall in this place
Lord have your way Lord have your way with us
come like a rushing wind
clothe us with power from on high
now set the captives free
leave us abandoned to your praise
Lord let your glory fall Lord let your glory fall

Music i listened to while sermonizing – delirious?; tony bennett; u2; hillsong united; patty griffin

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – acts by james montgomery boice; the intimate merton by thomas merton; the supremancy of Christ in a postmodern world edi by john piper & justin taylor; acts: brazos theological commentary on the bible by jaroslav pelican; communion with the triune god by john owen; the divine conquest by a.w. tozer

Salt & Light Two

Matthew 5:13-16

1. halfway through college Heather & I went on a 10 month short-term mission to the Philippines. One of my responsibilities was to teach a weekly Bible study in the Cebu Provincial Jail.

I met with 6-8 men. One was convicted of murdering his political rival. Another, George, murdered his wife. Another, Jimmy, was in for armed robbery. Eventually Jimmy was released, moved in with me, and a couple of years later was shot & killed by the police in an attempted robbery.

These were desperate men. I sought to bring the light of Christ into their darkness & rub the salt of the gospel into their spoiling lives.

2. last week I launched a 10 week series that I’m calling Salt & Light: Stepping up to make an Impact for Christ. I made 2 points from Matthew 5:13-16:
® Christ-followers must be radically different from the rest of the world
® Christ-followers must permeate non-Christian society

3. to be a light in our culture we have to get out into the darkness. Light around light is not what Christ is talking about.

example – shine flashlight with sanctuary lights on/off

4. to be salt in our culture we have to be poured out of our salt shakers into our culture. More than that we have to be rubbed into the meat of our culture in order to act as a preservative. We have to penetrate it.
5. I illustrated these 2 points using the prophet Daniel:
® he didn’t withdraw from secular culture
® he didn’t compromise his faith

6. Daniel neither separated himself from secular culture nor allowed himself to be assimilated into it. On the contrary, he engaged it as salt & light for the kingdom of God.

7. mike higgs – community care coalitions in Portland

learning from the Sermon on the Mount
1. the Sermon on the Mount gives us some pretty strong clues regarding how to engage our secular culture as salt & light.

2. 1st we are to personify the character of Christ as found in the beatitudes:
® poor in spirit (recognize our spiritual bankruptcy)
® mourn (in touch w/ our own & the world’s pain)
® meek (humble)
® hunger & thirst after righteousness (pursue the way of God)
® merciful (show mercy to others)
® pure in heart (pure motives)
® peacemakers (seek peace in all of life)
® persecuted (suffer persecution for Christ)

8. 2nd salt & light influence will flow out of our Christ-like character. This is our distinctiveness. The radical nature of our lives. This is what makes us different, makes us both desirable & detestable.

9. 3rd Christ shares examples of what salt & light looks like in the rest of the sermon. And that’s what I want to go to now.

Pictures of salt & light at work in the Sermon on the Mount
5:17-20 = the pursuit of righteousness:
5:21-26 = anger & reconciliation:

5:27-30 = lust:
1. salt & light in pornography – Salem Alliance Church offers support groups for men who are addicted to pornography. They also offer support groups for their wives. The highest rate of success comes for men whose wives are part of their recovery. They are seeing men freed from pornography.

2. Jane Wolf, who oversees the recovery group ministry at SAC, has a vision – that the church will lead the way in society in addressing sexual addictions & become safe places where women & men can disclose their private struggles

5:31-33 = divorce:
5:34-37 = oaths:

5:38-42 = retaliation:
1. salt & light by giving a 2nd chance – I know of a business owner who fired an employee for breaking company policy – this man was drinking on the job. He then went into treatment for his alcohol use….

2. ….and came back & asked for his job. The business owner gave him his job back & a 2nd chance. He wants to support & encourage him in his struggle to overcome his drinking.

5:43-48 = enemies:
1. salt & light in China – our district, the Pacific Northwest District of The Christian & Missionary Alliance, has a partnership with Alliance missionaries working in China called the Pacific Rim Initiative. We send money to our missionaries who, in conjunction with the Chinese government, build Alliance churches in China (a few years ago money from our Miracle Sunday Offering helped build one of these churches).
2. the government officials in China that we work with are intrigued by why people in Oregon & Washington would send them money to build churches. Get this. In April we have our District Conference. One of the Chinese pastors who oversees the building of these churches will be our special guest. And he is bringing with him 2-3 communist officials who want to meet the people who send the money to build churches. Being salt & light in China is bringing communist party officials to our District Conference!

6:1-4 = giving:
1. salt & light by giving lunch – for the past 8 years the Pacific Covenant Mennonite Church here in Canby has been giving food to the needy. They serve lunch once a week at the S. Locust Str. Park.

2. this is an area of our city marked by gang & drug activity. The church has been quietly doing this. They don’t blow their own horn. They are a shining light in a dark part of our community.

3. salt & light by providing a learning opportunity – Tammy Myers is heading up something called Stay & Play (productive learning after school for youth) in our public schools. 674 students signed up. 60 classes being offered. Starts tomorrow. For $10 kid get a healthy snack, all materials, bus ride home.

4. over 40% of children in our area are "latchkey" children who go home to an empty house after school. Stay & Play is designed to provide them a safe, enriching environment where they can experience new things – piano lessons, ballet, art, soccer or academic classes where they can get extra help.

5. like a tutoring class where they match up students with CHS students or adult buddies to read together or do homework. For many of these kids this will be the only time someone sits down and works with them or listens to them read (4 people from our church are working as "tutors" in this program)

6. Stay & Play depends on 70 VOLUNTEERS from Canby High School and the community. Over 10 of these volunteers are from CAC!

6:5-15 = prayer:
1. salt & light by prayer in the Philippines – when President Ferdinand Marcos was toppled from power in 1986 Filipino Christians said it was because of prayer power NOT people power. Protestant & Catholic churches, lay people & nuns, united together in prayer. In their homes, in the streets, in their churches.

2. John Stott – we should take the task of public intercession more seriously than we commonly do. If local churches were to bow down before God every Sunday for 10 or 20 or 30 minutes, what might God be free to do?

3. salt & light by prayer for a community – I know of someone who lives in a nearby community that has been marked by political division. This person & a friend do a weekly prayer walk through their community. Street after street. They pray for peace, for unity, for Christ to come to their city.

6:16-18 = fasting:

6:19-24 = treasures:
1. salt & light through a home for un-wed mothers – Thiessen Roadhouse for unwed mothers, Linda Wiles Thornton & Annie Cernak interview

6:25-34 = worry:


7:1-6 = judging:
1. salt & light by visiting bars & taverns – Bob Keyes was an Idaho cowboy & an alcoholic until he became a Christ-follower about 40 years ago. Instead of leaving the bars behind like his church told him to do, he made them his salt & light hang-out.

2. he spent his spare time in bars in Boise, Cascade, McCall. He sat with people, drank coke, talked to them & listened to their stories. He shared Christ. And he saw Christ transform drunken lives just like his had been transformed. He didn’t judge them – he loved them.

7:7-12 = prayer:
7:13-14 = focused living:
7:15-23 = fruit:
7:24-27 = solid rock:

Where to now?
1. what follows now is 8 weeks in Acts 2:42-47. There are certain practices or habits that we have to give ourselves to if we are going to be salt & light – the filling of the Holy Spirit, teaching, caring, praying, worshipping, generosity to name a few.

2. go & be light; go & be salt

Series: Salt & Light -- Salt & Light On

Text: Matthew 5:13-16 & Daniel 1

(Special thanks to John Stott & Vaughan Roberts)

1. today I begin a 10 week series that will take us up to Palm Sunday.

2. Salt & Light: Stepping up to make an Impact for Christ. 2 messages on salt & light from Matthew 5 followed by 8 messages on Acts 2. Acts 2 shows us those things we must give ourselves to in order to become salt & light that makes a difference in our culture.

Salt & Light
1. salt & light are common elements found in almost every home in Jesus’ day & ours. As Jesus grew up he would have watched Mary light oil lamps when the sun went down.

2. Jesus would have also observed Mary rub salt into fish or meat. Mainly to preserve it from spoiling. Salt (40% sodium & 60% chloride) retards the growth of microorganisms that cause food to rot.

3. Jesus chose these 2 common household elements to illustrate the impact he wanted his followers to have on the world. He turns them into metaphors to teach us 2 spiritual realities that I want to explore this week:
® Christ-followers must be radically different from the rest of the world
® Christ-followers must permeate non-Christian society

1st Christ-followers must be radically different from the rest of the world
1. you are the salt of the earth. Society is like rotting meat or decaying fish. We are to be salt that hinders spiritual & social decay.

2. you are the light of the world. The world with all its evil & tragedy is like a dark night. We are to be lights that light up the darkness.

3. salt is different from fish. Light is different from darkness. That’s what makes them so effective.

4. and in our culture we are to be as different as light from darkness & salt from fish.

5. it’s no accident that Christ started with the beatitudes (5:1-12):
® poor in spirit
® mourn
® meek
® hunger & thirst for righteousness
® merciful
® pure in heart
® peacemakers
® persecuted

6. these Christ-like characteristics are counter-cultural, counter-intuitive. Christ-followers who live out these behaviors will naturally become salt & light where they live, work, play & worship.

2nd Christ-followers must permeate non-Christian society
1. we are to be spiritually & morally distinct. But we are not to be socially segregated.

2. Jesus says Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works. Light is meant to penetrate darkness. It makes no sense to light a lamp & hide it under a bowl. Jesus said put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.

3. salt is no different. Salt must penetrate meat in order to act as a preservative. Salt is useless if it stays in the church salt shaker. Salt must soak into the meat of the world’s decaying fabric, structures & people.

4. Jesus calls us to break out of our ecclesiastical ghettos and permeate non-Christian culture.

5. the Old Testament prophet Daniel is a perfect illustration of salt & light as taught by Jesus.

Daniel 1
1. Daniel is in exile in Babylon in the late 6th century BC. The Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into (Nebuchadnezzar’s) hand (2).

2. this is a shocking statement. God gave his beloved people into the hands of a brutal, secular king. How can this be?

3. this is a hard lesson to learn – God wanted his people to know that, when they were in the hands of a brutal king like Nebuchadnezzar, they were still in his hands. He’s in control.

4. Daniel teaches us how to live as exiles in a secular world.

1st don’t withdraw from secular culture
1. this is parallel to what I just said about salt & light – we must permeate non-Christian society.

2. the common Christian response is often to withdraw. We try to protect ourselves & our children from the big, evil world that’s out there.

3. there’s church group called the exclusive Brethren. Their church buildings have no windows except in the roof. They want to see the return of Christ BUT they don’t want to see the world or the world to see them. They choose to ignore Jesus’ teaching about being salt & light.

4. in chapter 1 Daniel says “yes’ to three things in Babylonian culture before he says “no” to one.

1st he said yes to a secular education (4)
1. Daniel was handpicked by Nebuchadnezzar. He was given a full-ride scholarship to the best university in Babylon. The curriculum? They were taught the language and literature of the Babylonians.

2. his studies would have included literature, math, science, astronomy & the magical practices of which the Babylonians were experts. Temper Longman in his commentary writes Daniel clearly would have been trained in the arts of divination through such means as interpreting terrestrial and celestial phenomena, astrology, the examination of sheep livers, and so forth.

3. as parents we struggle to know what is best for our children – public, private, or a home school education. We’re concerned that our kids are not engulfed by the secular ideologies of our time:
® materialism (the material universe is all there is)
® relativism (there are no absolutes)
® humanism (man is the measure of all things)
® postmodernism (new way of understanding the nature of truth, reality, history & spirituality)

4. the fact is we can’t protect our kids from any of these influences. Maybe for a few years BUT not forever. What we can do is to teach them to recognize them & respond with a Christian mind. But that’s a whole different sermon.

2nd Daniel said yes to a Babylonian political career (5)
1. Daniel agreed to enter the civil service of a pagan king & help a secular nation prosper. Eventually he was appointed to be something like the Prime Minister of Babylon.

2. Daniel learned to serve the Lord God in Babylon by seeking peace & prosperity for that pagan, secular country.

3. he must have known the words of the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon – build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile (29:4-7).

4. we discover an important Biblical lesson here – God is glorified when his people use their abilities & training as a Prime Minister or public servant for the good of our communities; when engineers, architects, bricklayers & carpenters build roads, bridges, & homes; when journalists, filmmakers, musicians & artists enhance our cultural life.

5. Daniel leads the way deep into the pagan, secular culture of his time & ours as well.

3rd Daniel said yes to a change of name (7)
1. Daniel’s name meant God is my judge; his new name, Belteshazzar, meant may a god protect his life or a goddess protect the king. His Hebrew name was dropped & he was given a new name associated with a Babylonian god or goddess.

2. Daniel fully participated in this secular Babylonian acculturation program. He said ‘yes’ to education, to public service & to a new name.

3. and Daniel is one of the most revered people in all of the Bible. He is one of the 30% of Biblical leaders who actually finished well. He’s a hero!

4. but if he were alive today many of us in the church would criticize him, judge him, question his motives & commitment to God. But he was smack dab in the middle of God’s will. He reminds us that there are multiple ways to love & serve God in an unbelieving world. No one size fits all.

2nd don’t compromise your faith
1. this, too, is parallel to what we learn from salt & light – we must be radically different from the rest of the world.

2. Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine (8). Doesn’t this seem crazy? Yes to a secular, polytheistic, magical education AND entering the king’s service AND accepting a new name linked to a Babylonian deity BUT No to the king’s food & wine.

3. what’s going on here? Most Biblical scholars believe this is not a theological move but a political one. In that day to eat food from the king’s table was to accept his authority & lordship over your life.

4. by refusing the king’s food & wine Daniel was keeping Israel’s God – Yahweh – Lord of his life.

5. finally Daniel draws a line.


Conclusion
1. how we are going to be distinctive from our secular culture WHILE at the same time permeating it? We have 3 choices.

2. separation – we can draw too many lines, keep retreating & close ourselves off from the world God has placed us in to be salt & light.

3. assimilation – we can draw less & less lines, to the point where there’s very little if any difference between those who follow Christ & those who don’t.

4. Daniel avoids both. He says No to separation & No to assimilation. But what he says Yes to is engagement.

5. he freely & deeply walks into a culture far more pagan or secular than ours today. As you read the rest of his book you will discover how he let his light shine for Yahewh and how he learned to rub the salt of his faith in God into Babylonian culture.

6. we can’t impact our culture for Christ by separation or assimilation, only by engagement. Is your light shining? Do you taste like salt?

7. the more Jesus’ life & Spirit lives in us, the more engaged we will be with the world he came to love & die for.




Music I listened to while sermonizing – Handle; Delirious?; Patty Griffin;

Books I read & studied while sermonizing – The Intimate Merton by Thomas Merton; The Rhythm of Life: Celtic Daily Prayer by David Adam; The Living Church by John Stott; Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer; The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott; The Lord is King by Ronald Wallace; Daniel by Tremper Longman III