Dare to be a Daniel

Or- The Kingdom in the workplace

Notes by Adrian Warnock

Our attitude to work is beautifully summed up by one of my children who when asked why John the Baptist didn’t think he deserved to carry Jesus Sandals, answered 'Of course he didn’t deserve to, Jesus should have carried his own sandals otherwise he would be being lazy!'

Read Daniel 1

· Why Daniel?

· Dare to be like Daniel!

How did he do it?

Why Daniel?

Daniel is the key book on the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament.

a big influence on the New Testament in many places but not often directly quoted

Daniel has much to say to us in a modern lifestyle, out there in the real world of the workplace.
Alternate title for today’s talk- The kingdom in the workplace.
Daniel was trained in God’s ways, suddenly thrust into a corrupt, ‘modern’ world just like us.

Dare to be a Daniel

Daniel was a noble of Israel. He lived, like we do in a time of general decline for the people of God. Carried away from the land, the victims of the judgement of God for their rebellion against him.

Israel was living in the good of a prophecy they would rather not have seen fulfilled!

“The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. 37 And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away. (Dt 28:36-37).

Daniel had been born different- set apart as a Jew and as a noble. True Christians are as different from the world as light is from darkness.

He had been talen in order to be used by the Babylonians as the cream of the crop. He must have felt very alone in the amazing city that Babylon was, at the centre of this vast empire. How dark it must have seen. BUT-

Does a candle brought into a dark room fear that the darkness will extinguish it?

Although small, he did not feel overawed by this dark, evil, powerful place for he knew a God who was greater.

Third of life today is spent in workplace if we have a job. If our work is at home the proportion is even higher!!

Our workplace or the school our kids go to is our sphere of harvest. It is where you have been put….. you have to evangelise where you are.

Today workplace is most peoples spheres of relationship.. Marriage/ relationships at work. Social life streams out of it. Centre stage for evangelism and for just being a witness. We can have massive impact.

>>>>Story about blowing other people’s trumpets not our own

At times we live in a very hostile world, and the ideas of the world is now readily available for us on TV even in our lounges. Imagine if I suggested you invited Satan into your lounge for the morning whilst you could listen to all his ideas passively whilst drinking coffee?

Or if I suggested that you invite your friends wife and another male friend into your lounge to watch them having sex.

We often find the world not to our liking, especially when suffering comes along, but

We have put on our parachutes not for a comfortable ride on the areoplane, but to slow our descent when we jump from the plane! Why do we complain if it feels uncomfortable at times?

Daniel was being tested, just as we are weekly Wherever there is faith in God, it will be tested at some time or other; it must be so. (CHS)

How could he have responded?

· Anger at God – WHY ME? Or play the subversive rebel Do you fight your corner or accept God’s will even in troubles?

· Forget God and join the secular world- how could he worship without the temple- like us if we had to live without church. Either Daniel was going to influence Babylon or Babylon would influence Daniel.

· Seek advancement in Bablyon. Do you seek to promote yourself or to serve the cause?

· SULK! Are you noncommittal at work or enthusiastically involved?

How did he respond?

· Resolved not to be defiled- He could still be holy even there. He cared about the smallest of identity markers- Do you blend in at work or the school gate or stand out as different?

In Daniel’s case, if he had done what it was proposed to him to do, it

would have been giving up the separated life………..This is the temptation of the present day. Profess to be a Christian, but float along the common current of the world. Take the name of a Christian, and go to your place of worship, and go through your ceremonies; but do not bring your [faith] into your business. Act as other people do. This is the temptation of the time: as the bulk of men think, so think you; and as the bulk of men say, so say you; and as the bulk of Christian professors talk, so talk you.

This is the Satanic temptation which is wrecking our churches, and doing I [know] not how much mischief to men of God.

[Someone might have said to Daniel ] “My boy, you will never get on; your [legalism] will always stand in your way. I am sure you will never come to be much.” (C H Spurgeon)

We would tend to say, I musn’t be too strict. But if we want respect as trustworthy workers we should refuse to lie and say our colleague is out of the office when he or she doesn’t want to take a call.

We must teach ourselves and our children that it is pointless hoping to blend in as somehow the same as everyone else. We are different, so mustn’t pretend not to be.

Living two lives depending on whether our Christian or Unbelieving friends are watching is the definition of hypocrisy. Paul condemned Peter for doing just this!

· Tactfully engaged with his superior.Do you make your boss’s life harder or easier?

· Was granted favour by the God who rewards faithfulness.

o Needs to be a warmth and loveableness that attracts others to us- we must demonstrate love to others.

§ .Do people avoid you or pursue your friendship?

o Harshness is not what we are talking of - Do you stab people in the back or give them an encouraging slap on their backs?

· Invoked himself as a demonstration that God’s way is best

God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known. (Eph 3:9-11, NRSV)

We need to demonstate to the world that our faith is not gloomy but full of joy, that our gospel promotes the behaviour that others admire and long that they could produce themselves.

· Devoted himself to study, and intimacy with God.

No Word/Spirit divide for Daniel!

Bettered himself in worlds wisdom, without neglecting God’s wisdom- his prior study of the word (cf WORLD PLUS, etc) would help him in the workplace (cf my current job in the pharma industry obtained largely because of skills I learnt in a pulpit!)

He would of course have been weighing up what he learnt and testing it by scriptural principles. But man’s wisdom is not all wrong!

Are you a know it all or do you pursue knowledge? (could be Academic or skills based, or even becoming excellent in homemaking and childrearing- My wife is always trying to learn more and improve her already fantastic skills!)

· Was found to be 10x better than the rest I long for a day when that would be said of Christians in this country. Do you seek out or avoid Christian workmen?

o Do you seek to better yourself in your career so you stand out as someone people aspire to be like?

o Are you a settler who makes the most of his lot or a pioneer visionary who presses on in all aspects of life?

o Are you lazy and half hearted or proactive and passionate?

o Do you do the minimum possible to avoid being sacked or go the extra mile?

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition. --Indira Gandhi

o Do you endure or enjoy your work?

o Is your work a prison or a place of destiny?

o Are you longing for the beach or living for God with all your might?

o Are you a workaholic or do you know when to stop?

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (Ec 9:10, NIV).

"Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don’t skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it " (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10, The Message)

Are we full of the joy of salvation or as miserable as a sinner ought to be?

Do everything without complaining or arguing (Phil 2:14, NIV)

Obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.(

obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Col 3:22-24, NIV)

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)

This means that God really does have a place for us as individuals- a work we will enjoy and prosper in if we do it His way. But if you feel you are not there yet remember to give yourself to the moment- you want to know where God intends for you to be right now- right where you are- even if he wants you to begin a journey right now away from it to something else!

‘Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.’ Oprah Winfrey

We should hope to get as close as possible to a realistic job or vocation that we love-

How do we know what our call is? (adapted from Greg Haslem)

What do you see you have been packaged to do? This sense of being designed for something will tend to include what we want to do

What do you know you have been prepared to do? Our lives thus far have not been accidents and may be directing us in a way we might not have considered!
What do you feel prompted to do? What is it that we tend to think of when we are meant to be thinking of something else? What rings your bell? What do you think somebody ought to be doing in the church/workplace?
What do you feel a passion in doing? Don't tell your boss but just maybe you are fortunate enough to have a job you would do if no-one paid you for it!
What do you experience power in doing? There are some tasks we seem to be able to just keep doing without getting weary- we have all met waitresses and others that seem to be able to just keep going and look as happy as anything. OF course we will still get tired but we aren't tired of doing the job.
What do you receive praise in doing? Do people tell you that you're really good at a certain skill?

Our 'calling' is Where your deep gladness and the worlds deep hunger meet Do you believe that there really is a hole that only you can fill?

To know that there is something that needs doing and that you can do really well should be a truly satisfying experience. It is that satisfaction (as well as the financial benefits!) that work should really be about.

Sadly these days, too many people strive for promotion beyond this point until they get to the place of their inadequacy. How many good deputy managers are now poor managers? How many good managers are now bad members of the board? I guess its partly a quality of meekness that we are willing to be where we are best suited to be rather than desperately attempt to advance ourselves at the expense of others who may be better at the job than we are!

How did Daniel do it?

By being extremely heavenly minded so as to be of great earthly use.

Daniel was ‘lost’ in heaven frequently and was at least as at home in the world of visions and dreams which he had great understanding of (Dan 1:17b)

Overview of Daniel

Two entwined themes in the book

The individual believer playing a role in a secular world of proud kings who come and go
The future unchanging kingdom of God that will eclipse all Earthly kingdoms and bring all to judgement King, Babylonians and people of God alike

Two Sections in the book-

1. Daniel- servant of four kings (Dan 1-6)

Followers of God are in it for the long haul- we are not for the shooting star careers of some!

Daniel, his friends and King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 1-4)

· Excelling as a slave of the king (Dan 1-2)

· Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace (Dan 3)

· Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, fall and reinstatement (Dan 4)

Belshazzar, the hand of God and a kingdom’s destruction (Dan 5)

Darius, the lion’s den and Cryus the Persian (Dan 6)

Daniel and his friends appeared almost as happy being promoted as being thrown into a lion’s den or firey furnace. They knew they were working for a God who could save them and would worship him even if he didn’t. They cared more about his opinion of them than any kings. A Christian at work should be almost indifferent to the views of his workmates who at times will love him and at others hate him. Promotion may well be the outcome at times, but loosing a job that should be yours the case at another.

2. Daniel’s prophetic experiences (Dan 7-12)

‘One like a son of man…given dominion and glory, and a kingdom’ (Dan 7:13-14)
Intercession sparked by prophetic insight (Dan 9)

· 70 Weeks of years between decree to restore Jerusalem and Messiah prophesied. (Dan 9). Jesus may have been referring to this prophecy when he said “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”(Mark 1:15, ESV)

Detailed (fulfilled) prophecy of precise events of many future Kings including rise and fall of Alexander the Great (Dan 9 & 11)
‘Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase’ Dan 12:4

So Daniel foresaw our modern, busy world. He would have seen it as alien, just as much as Babylon was alien to him. He would have resolved to continue to Dare to be a Daniel serving under this regime, just as he did under four very different Kings. I hope this passionate, God filled man has inspired us today as we go out from here into the work God has given us to do. We should see ourselves as small but significant parts of God’s overriding purpose for Human history, with a real opportunity to make an impact for good in our day as Daniel did in his.

The remaining notes from this point are not intended to be covered in the sermon but serve as background and are faith building in the God who is completely in charge of the history of the kingdoms of this world, as well as the ups and downs of my life!

Daniel’s Four Kingdoms

Babylon

(605–538 b.c.)

Medo-Persia

(538–331 b.c.)

Greece

(331–146 b.c.)

Rome

(146 b.c.–a.d. 476…)

Dan 2:31-45

(aprox 603 B.C.)

Statue to be smashed by a small stone that will grow to be a mountain

Head of gold

Breast, arms of silver

‘inferior’

Belly, thighs of brass

‘Will rule all the earth’

Legs of iron

Feet of iron and clay

‘divided and mixed kingdom’

‘in those days God will set up a kingdom’

Dan 7

(aprox 553 B.C.)

First Vision: Four Beasts

Lion with wings

Bear

devouring

Leopard

‘Dominion given to it’

Strong Beast. Terrifying, iron teeth, exceedingly strong, devouring and trampling.10 horns, 3 of the 10 plucked out, 1 little horn wars against the saints

Dan 8

(aprox 551 B.C.)

Second vision: Ram and goat -named as nations in the vision

Ram (Medes and Persians) with 2 Horns, second one greater than first.

Goat (Greece) with 1 horn (Alexander the Great), broken then instead of it, 4 horns, 1 of which, a little Horn became great and desecrates the temple for the first time- ‘Antiochus Epiphanes, [was] a wicked leader who came out of Syria, one of the four divisions of Alexander’s empire. He invaded Palestine and set up a statue to Jupiter in the temple. He even went so far as to sacrifice a pig on the Jewish altar and sprinkle its blood around the courts… Judas Maccabeus…rededicated the temple 2300 days later’^[1]

Daniel's "Seventy Weeks"

Daniel 9 "“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”" (Daniel 9:24-27, NKJV) ^[i]

These dates definitely coincide with events of history and Jesus life. There is some room for flexibility in these dates however, depending on which decree is referred to (there was also one in 444 BC which more specifically refers to rebuilding Jerusalem), the exact chronology of Jesus life, and the different length of the Jewish year vs the Roman one. (which interestingly allows for the same end point for the 70 weeks of years if 444 BC is indeed used).

There is no doubt, however, that this is a strikingly accurate prediction by Daniel. One quite likely sequence of events is as follows…..

Date	Period 70 x 7 Years (weeks of Years) = 490 Years	Event
458 BC	Return of Ezra	Isaiah 44 also foretold this event and it is reported in Nehemiah & Ezra
409 BC	49 Years End of "seven weeks"	Jerusalem is fully rebuilt (Nehemiah and Ezra)
5 BC		Birth of Jesus
25 AD	483 years End of "sixty-two weeks"	Jesus anointed following his baptism
29 AD	Middle of "70th week"	"Messiah cut off"- Jesus dies
32 AD	End of 70th week	Martyrdom of Stephen- Gospel rejected by Jews, their sin ‘is complete’. Gentile evangelism begins.
70AD	After this	Abomination erected in temple, Jerusalem is destroyed & sacrifices end

The Prophecies of Daniel 11- Fulfilled in subsequent history

2 “And now I will show you ^vthe truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.

There were indeed three more Persian Kings ‘Cambyses (530–522), Smerdis (522), Darius I (522–486), Xerxes I (486–465)’ This fourth King is thought to also be the King Ahasuereus of Esther, and was the richest of the four. ‘Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned ^afrom India to Ethiopia over ^b127 provinces’ (Esther 1:1)

Xerxes invaded Greece, ‘even capturing Athens before suffering a military defeat at Salamis in 480 b.c. Thereafter, he withdrew and stayed in Persia.’

3 Then ^wa mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and ^xdo as he wills. 4

And as soon as he has arisen, ^yhis kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the ^zfour winds of heaven, but ^anot to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

‘The text skips about 130 years from the end of Xerxes’ reign to 336, when Alexander took the throne of Macedon. Within five years his military prowess had toppled the Persian empire and ushered in the Greek.’

‘… he invaded and conquered the territory from Turkey to India and thus came to rule the largest empire the world had yet known.

Alexander reigned over this empire less than a decade. He died of a fever in 323 b.c. and his empire shattered. It will “divide toward the four winds of the heavens”: four major units eventually emerged from Alexander’s fragmented empire, centered on Macedon and Greece, Thrace, Syria and the east, and Egypt. To speak of the empire dividing toward the four winds of the heavens is to use a figurative expression for this fragmentation (cf. the four horns of 8:8): the division did not correspond at all closely to the points of the compass.

Alexander’s half-brother Philip III and his son Alexander IV were nominal rulers of the empire until their deaths in 317 and 311 (or 305: see Wacholder, “Seleucid Era,” 183–211), but central administrative power was held by Alexander’s prime minister, Perdiccas, until his assassination in 321. In any case the united Macedonian empire immediately became a fiction. Alexander’s real “heirs” were the generals who ruled different satrapies of his empire. Among these were Ptolemy, who was allocated Egypt (1^st ‘King of the South’) , Antigonus, whose area included much of Turkey and later Syria (‘Kingdom of the North’) and the east, and Seleucus, who became satrap of Babylonia in 321.^[ii]

5 “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he ^band shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority.

The first southern king is Ptolemy I……Seleucus had fled to Egypt and become one of Ptolemy’s generals. Ptolemy and Seleucus defeated Antigonus’s army at Gaza in 312.

‘Subsequently Seleucus not only recovered Babylon but also gradually won control of the rest of Antigonus’s empire, until after Antigonus’s death at the battle of Ipsus in 301 Seleucus ruled “a greater realm than his [Ptolemy’s]”’

6 After some years ^cthey shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported¹ her in those times.

‘half a century later, Ptolemy II (King of the south) attempted to mend relationships with the Seleucid empire whose capital was now at Antioch, by marrying his daughter Berenice (daughter of the King of the South) to Antiochus II(King of the North), who divorced his first wife, Laodice, and excluded their sons Seleucus and Antiochus from succeeding him. “But she will not be able to hold onto her power. …” After two years, Antiochus II apparently went back to Laodice, who then had him killed, along with his son by Berenice (thus clearing the way for her own son Seleucus), Berenice herself, and a number of her Egyptian attendants. Berenice’s father also died in the same year.

7 “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the ^dfortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 8 He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious ^evessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.

Berenice’s brother, Ptolemy III, succeeded to their father’s throne in Egypt.. in connection with this violent sequence of events involving his sister, his nephew, and his kingdom’s subjects, Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid empire, gained control of considerable areas of Syria (including Antioch and Seleucia, its fortified port on the Mediterranean) and of the lands further east, avenged his sister by having Laodice killed, and took much booty back to Egypt. Taking a nation’s gods was a sign of subjugation and the exercise of power. Despite his huge successes, Ptolemy did not press on to total conquest of the Seleucid empire. .. for two years there was no conflict between the two empires; then in 242 Seleucus II attempted to invade Egypt, but had to retreat, his army decimated.

10 “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming ^fand overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his ^dfortress. 11 Then the king of the south, ^gmoved with rage, shall come out and fight with the king of the north. ^hAnd he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand……

(And so the fulfillment continues…..)

Seleucus II was indeed succeeded by sons who waged war…. His first son ‘Seleucus III was killed in a campaign against Pergamum in Asia Minor. He was succeeded by his brother, Antiochus III, who began mustering troops for the Fourth Syrian War (221–217) against Ptolemy IV’.

Ptolemy IV (221–203) (King of the South) in due course…took 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 102 elephants into battle against Ptolemy’s 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants. Antiochus lost over 14,000 men in defeat, but Ptolemy, despite the encouragement, still lacked his father’s instinct for warmaking. He was content with victory and the regaining of Palestine and Phoenicia, and did not press his advantage, making peace with Antiochus.

‘Over the next fourteen years Antiochus campaigned in Turkey and the east and regained much of the old Seleucid empire. winning for himself the title “the Great.” Then he raised an even larger army in alliance with Philip V of Macedon to invade the Ptolemaic kingdom’