Stand firm (Daniel 1:8)

Daniel 1:8 says: “And Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the King's portion of the food nor with the wine that he drank and therefore asked the chief eunuchs that he not be forced to defile himself.

And God put Daniel in favor and in good will with the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king who appointed your food and drink, for when he sees your face paler than that of the boys who are like you, you will condemn my head to the king." ”

Then Daniel said to Melzar who was placed by the chief of the eunuchs over Daniel, Hananías, Mishael and Azarías, “I beg you to test your servants for 10 days and give vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our faces with the faces of the boys who eat from the king's ration of food and then do it with your servants as you see."

So he consented with them in this and tried with them ten days, and at the end of the ten days their faces seemed better and more robust than that of the other boys who ate of the portion of the king's food.”

Brothers, I want to share with you one of the most exemplary characters in writing, it is the prophet Daniel. Daniel represents some of the most beautiful values in scripture, and is an example for us in this time in which we live. The image of Daniel came to me while I was looking for an appropriate theme for the time in which we are living in the state of Massachusetts.

As you look at this graphic illustration that is being given through gay marriage, how far American culture has strayed from the values of God's word.

I told a reporter who was interviewing me yesterday precisely about our position regarding homosexual marriage, that we have nothing, like we have isolated homosexuality as an unforgivable sin. But when we see in scripture God has dealt with homosexuality, or rather scripture looks at homosexuality as simply an illustration of the level of distance humanity can reach from God.

If I had been told five years ago that Massachusetts would be preparing to celebrate gay marriages today, I probably, knowing the heart of man, would have had doubts about it. However, today that fact, that element is a reality.

And Daniel lived in a context similar to ours. He was a God-fearing young Jew who was brought into a nation that rebelled against all divine principles.

Babylon practiced all sins ever and ever. Babylon is seen in the Bible as the source of many abominations, occultism and astrology, worship of pagan gods, oppression of nations, and a general departure from God's principles.

And Daniel was brought to live in that context. And in a sense he illustrates the state of living inserted in an environment that is hostile to the values we embrace. And that is why for us the figure of Daniel is important in this stage that we are living.

And so that we understand that what we are going through is nothing strange in history. The Church has always lived inserted in a context of opposition to the values of the world.

What the Word tells us, over and over again, is that if we remain faithful to the principles of the Lord we will always be victorious.

So, this afternoon I want us not only to receive a call to keep our faith firm, but also to be encouraged to move forward keeping our eyes on the Lord.

What do we see in the figure of Daniel? What kind of man was Daniel? First, Daniel was a man of integrity. Integrity in the sense that he stayed true to his values no matter what situation he might be facing.

In the famous passage from the Lions' Den, when they wanted to force him to kneel before the statue of the king, Daniel said "I do not adore any man and therefore I cannot do it."

And in this case, in which he was asked to eat a meal, probably sacrificed to idols, impure, according to Hebrew laws, he preferred not to obey and simply eat legumes.

And that's integrity, integrity is staying true to the principles we know to be true, no matter what. And if at any point we stray from those principles, instead of disguising our action in a way that justifies what we are doing, our integrity realigns us with the purpose of God's Word.

And that's what I was saying to another person, who was interviewing me this past Friday, asking me if we thought we were better than the people we were criticizing. I told him, Christians are aware that we are all in need of God's Grace. The difference is that when we experience sins and temptations instead of calling them something else, we call them what they are and try to improve our lives.

Man gets addicted, and experiences certain sins, and then tries to change the name and move the rules and say it's not a sin, but God knows it's the opposite. Integrity means adhering to a standard and sticking to it no matter what happens. Daniel was a man of integrity, he gives us lessons in integrity.

The second thing I see in Daniel's life is that Daniel was willing to take positions that weren't popular. In this same case, for example, when Daniel and his friends said "we are not going to eat the king's food" Daniel ran the risk of people thinking that this man does not know how to play as a team. He is an individualist, he thinks he is better than us. You are questioning our values.

And I also believe that it could happen that it would affect his career in the future because he was being trained to occupy a high level position in the Babylonian government. And as in an army where a soldier is reluctant to follow the norms and values of his army, Daniel ran the risk of alienating and being singled out as a person who did not fully obey, who was a rebel in his heart. But Daniel understood that he had to take that position because his understanding of God's law demanded it. And even though he wasn't popular, he still held his ground.

And, brothers, in this time in which we live, we have to be willing to take positions that are not popular. We are going to be an element of concern, we are going to be a sting in the sensitivity of modern culture and particularly in this state.

Let me tell you that, in that case, we will be in very good company, because the Lord Jesus Christ was the first to be disturbed by the culture in which he lived. That is why, among many reasons, they killed him.

And you, in your school if you are a university or high school youth, or if you work in a social agency or are a teacher in a school, or a university professor, or you are a doctor that you may not agree with abortion or other doctrines that are preaching at this time. You are going to have to ask yourself: am I going to go with the flow or am I going to stand firm in what God has taught me?

I applaud those six justices of the peace, I don't know if there will be more, who preferred to surrender their licenses rather than celebrate homosexual marriages in Massachusetts. And here we have in mind one of them, who is our sister Mary Santiago, who handed in her license as a justice of the peace before it was held. That, perhaps, is not popular but, brothers, we have to ask ourselves if we are going to go with the flow of culture or are we going to stand firmly on the word of God.

The Word of God says “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” What the Church has always done throughout history is to stand in its position until the bad day passes. And having spent the bad day, stand firm, that's what the Word says

Are you willing to suffer for Christ at work or wherever? College or high school youth, are you willing to eat your lunch alone in a corner of your lunch room because your friends reject you because you have an unpopular position?

Daniel assumed a non-popular position and remembered, rather, anticipated what the Word says "do not be conformed to this century, but be transformed by renewing your understanding". Daniel took unpopular positions.

And at the risk of dwelling too long on this point, I've come up with something I want to point out as well. Unless we are unwilling to take unpopular positions, the enemy's convincing power is stronger than ever in history.

Mankind has resources like never before to strengthen itself in its evil motivations. We only have to look at the technological resources that the media have at their disposal. We just have to see the colors and technical resources that can be used in movies and the great cunning that the media have to gradually change the sentiment of culture.

And then, unless we are determined and willing to take unpopular positions, we can fall into so many traps that other generations before us have fallen into doing things that are not of God.

This week I was reading a book, my daughter Abigail is doing a report on Nazi youth, the "Hitler Youth" as they were called. When you look at how this country of Germany, in a period of about fifteen years or so, was totally mesmerized by the demonic figure of a man and a social movement. And driven to commit atrocities that today, sixty years later, we wonder how that was possible, the same Germans ask themselves the same question. And how these people, one of the most civilized peoples in history and most refined in their sensibilities, were led to bake and starve and experiment on millions and millions of human beings. And one wonders how is it possible for a society to lose its mind in that way?

When we look at the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition, committed in the name of Jesus Christ in the 16th century. And when we look at the atrocities committed by Japan during World War II, and how that nation also got into that same evil hypnosis of destruction and violence. So we can understand, brothers, that the human mind is the most malleable and impressionable thing that exists.

Man, society can be led to adopt any conceivable perversion if the correct stimuli are applied in a systematic and persistent way. And, unless we do not resist that influence, little by little, we are going to become desensitized and adopt those positions. Because the same tendency of ours is going to be towards seeking comfort.

Man does not like to be in the position of isolation, we need the sense of belonging, it is one of the most powerful instincts in the human psyche. And, little by little, this tendency will be to abandon, lower our hands, to accommodate ourselves, to enter the general flow, because there is more comfort and more security there. And, if we don't take care of ourselves, we will begin to question the very Word of God, as so many Evangelicals with good intentions but led by evil have already done.

So, Daniel is an example for us and tells us: He is willing to take unpopular positions because they are going to become very popular in the ranks of the enemy.

And the last thing I see is that Daniel was willing to take big risks, take big chances, and sacrifice things that were important to him. We have already noted, he was willing to sacrifice relationships that he loved and that were important to him. When King Nebuchadnezzar, who appreciated him very much, and had put him in a high position, wanted to force him to worship his statue, Daniel said: "King, I cannot do it. And God is powerful to deliver me from the fiery furnace, and if it doesn't release me, well, 'Too bad'. If I have to sacrifice my relationship with you, I'm very sorry." We saw that Daniel was willing to sacrifice his career also for the values of the Kingdom of God. And he was willing to even sacrifice life itself in the case of the Lions' Den and the Fiery Furnace.

Are we willing to sacrifice great things for the Lord, to honor God? Are you willing to lose your life for the Lord? Are you willing to lose your job for the Lord? Are you willing to lose a romantic relationship for the Lord? Are you willing to sacrifice your sense of comfort and your dreams of success for the values of the Kingdom of God? Because, with the passage of time, that will be less theory and more reality in the lives of the children of God. So we see this, Daniel is an exemplary man, a model that we must follow.

Now we are going to see some things for which Daniel is, in addition to that, a model for today, for this specific time in which we are living. I have already said it, we live in a culture that is contrary to the values of the Kingdom of God. And that the consequences of resisting that culture are serious. Like Daniel, we are under great pressure to conform to that culture.

And I have a word for the youngsters on this as well. Young people, do you know that the homosexual movement is very confident that in the long run the victory is theirs? And that the reasons why they think is that... Surveys have been done that show that 60% of young people today, including many young Christians, think that homosexuality is not a problem, while 60% of Adults and the elderly think that homosexuality is not from God. So, they are not stupid, and they think that in 10 or 15 years, when we are six feet underground, you are going to have control of the government and society, and they have nothing to worry about.

Young men, I want you in the name of Jesus to promise the Lord, right now, that you are going to stand your ground. Promise the Lord right now.

What enabled Daniel to exercise that kind of integrity?

Look, number one: Daniel determined to honor God and stay pure. It says here in verse 8: "Daniel purposed in his heart...". That is speaking of a previous decision, a deliberate decision. We are saying that Daniel weighed the pros and cons and reflected on the matter that concerned him. Daniel thought "why eat?" or "why not eat some of the king's food?" He measured the possible consequences of one course of action or another. And then he made a moral, spiritual, emotional determination and said, "I'm not going to do it."

Brothers, we have to make a prior determination. We have to stop living the Christian life out of inertia. God hates generic religiosity. These are times to decide whether or not we believe.

These are times to take a radical stance concerning the Kingdom of God. It is time to say, as Esther said "If I perish, let me perish". It is time for us to decide how we are going to live the Christian life. If you are just visiting church, or if you have been going for years and are undecided or undefined, it is time for you to reach a crisis position and say "no, I am going to live the Christian life red hot. I am going to honor the Lord, not It doesn't matter what. I'm going to resist the pressures of the world. I'm going to honor the Lord with my life. And I'm going to live a life of spiritual excellence.”

Because if you let the world define your values, including the values If you don't define yourself, the world will define you Christian, if you don't you determine which vision is going to guide your life, the world is going to define that vision. We have to decide and then go firmly guided by that vision that we have established in the name of the Lord.

Second, Daniel knew the God's will because, for him to know that eating of that food was contrary to him at the will of God, he first knew what the Word of God said. He knew that the Scriptures forbade the eating of food sacrificed to idols. If he had not known the Scriptures he would have been carried away by simply the context in which he was.

That is, brothers, we have to know the Word of God. There are still people who call themselves Christians, today, who are preaching the doctrine of demons. There are people that you are going to respect and admire, who are going to teach you things that are going to be against the Word of the Lord. And unless you don't take the time to investigate God's Word for yourself, unless you don't get into the Spirit of Scripture, unless the vision, the worldview of the Word doesn't get into every pores of your life so that you can instantly and instinctively determine what is of God and what is not of God, you will often be unable to resist the subtle indoctrinations and tricks of the enemy.

The time is coming when the Christian needs to discern the Word of God almost by ear and not so much by reason. That is to say, that the Word of God has become so permeated with our being that our very spirit is in tune with the Spirit of God to help us navigate the subtle deceptions that the Devil has established in this very rational time. That is why it is necessary to know the Word of God, study the Word of God, know the Word of God.

Third, Daniel trusted in the faithfulness of his God. He trusted in the promises of the Lord. I take risks and put God to the test. The eunuch who led him thought, "well, if this man doesn't eat the king's food, he will become malnourished and they will cut off my head, because I am responsible." Daniel said "put us to the test, we will see what happens in 10 days", because he trusted that God was powerful to supernaturally nourish them.

Over and over again, Daniel took great risks in his life, trusting that God was powerful enough to make up for whatever shortcomings he fell into by serving and honoring the Lord.

And look, brother, if we had time, for me it's one of the most powerful lessons in all of writing.

Are we willing to put ourselves at a disadvantage in our lives over and over again, to honor the Lord?

When you arrive tired from work, on a Wednesday afternoon, and it's cold outside and it's already four in the afternoon and it's dark outside, and your Church is summoning you to come to the house of the Lord and worship Him in a mid-week service. And you are thinking that tomorrow morning you have to get up at six in the morning and go out into that cold street again. You have to make a decision at that moment. You have to ask yourself, is God powerful to compensate for that loss of rest in which I am going to fall, and tomorrow give me strength and joy so that I can not even feel the difference between one thing and the other?

You know what guides me many times to do things that are not in my job description, it is the example of people like Daniel, who tells me that if I invest looking, that the Lord will honor me, I know that He will give me the desires of my heart and will make up for any lack.

When you give the Lord that 10% of your money that you need to pay this or that, but you say, "no, I'm going to put myself at a disadvantage, and I know that God is powerful to fulfill his promise.”

When you decide to leave that boyfriend that you know in your heart is contrary to the values of the Kingdom of God and you say, “well, what if I stay single all the time? life, and I lose my last chance?", but you decide to honor the Lord anyway, and you trust that the Lord is faithful to provide for you.

Oh, brother, we're not talking about poetic imagery, we're talking about things that have an impact every day, every moment in decisions that we make 24 hours a day in our life. That is the principle that says that if I put myself at a disadvantage, my God is powerful to compensate for any lack in my life. If I seek first the Kingdom of God, other things will be added to me. And that principle of taking great risks in the name of the Lord, putting it in n test and know that God will get ahead.

The last thing Daniel did was associate with others who believed like him. He sought the affirmation that comes from living in community with other believers. There were other friends of his who made the same decision because they were strengthened together in the purpose of being faithful to the Lord. That is the principle behind the Church. For us to be able to live the values of the Kingdom of God, we have to stay together, do you understand?

A single fathom cools off in an instant. But a coal attached to hundreds of other coals heat each other and keep the energy or the temperature level very high and can keep burning for a long time. We, united in spirit and in faith, and enjoying communion with one another, can remain firm in the purpose of being faithful to the Lord in the midst of adversity. You and I need each other. We need the Church of Jesus Christ.

You can't be faithful to the Lord, in this day and age, living like a lone ranger, watching TV shows while eating cereal, watching a TV evangelist. You need the warmth, and the encouragement, and the support of your brothers.

So I tell you, keep seeking the Lord in the context of a spiritual community. Look for two or three men and women like you, who are willing to live a life of excellence for the Lord. Stay attached to the Body of Jesus Christ because that will give you encouragement in the midst of difficulties. And it does not mean that we isolate ourselves, and that we do not have contact with the world, understand me. Because we need to be salt, and the salt has to be inserted in the body that is going to be salted. But what we are saying is that our best affections and our most intimate relationships should be with people who have the same values and the same faith as us. The context from which we derive our satisfaction and enjoyment must be one that shares the values of the Kingdom of God. Let's not stop gathering.

So, brothers, there we have Daniel, he is an exemplary man for us. He took risks, put God to the test. He trusted in the faithfulness of the Lord, and sought others to encourage him in his faith and in his search. He was not afraid of assuming unpopular positions. And he determined in his heart to be faithful to the Lord.

Would you like to make a resolution on this day, to live at that level of excellence?

In the Name of the Lord. If you want to live according to those values, if you want to adopt those values, and let's determine to live at that level of excellence.

Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, we adore you, we adore you. Take a moment to measure the cost.

And we are going to ask the Lord for forgiveness for our indifference and our mediocrity. And let us determine to live a life of excellence and firmness. Thank my Lord.

Father we believe that you call us to live up to a Man like Daniel. On this afternoon, Lord, we embrace that vision of excellence. And we apologize because many times we have not lived at that level. But today, Lord, we determine again to honor you before men. Give us the power. Pour out the Holy Spirit on us. And let us be luminaries. Help us to illuminate this world, each day more submerged in darkness.

And we declare, Lord, that you are faithful. You will honor those who honor you. Thank you Father, we stand firm in you Lord, thank you Jesus.