May 5, 2025 • 29 mins
As we continue our Courage In The Fire series, Pastor Zach takes us through Daniel chapter 3, exploring the unavoidable conflicts that arise when we live faithfully for God in a world with opposing values. Using the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s defiance of King Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatrous command, Pastor Zach highlights how God often uses these challenging moments to display his power and glory to those who don’t believe. Ultimately, he encourages us to embrace these trials, trusting that God can use our steadfast faith—even under intense pressure—to transform the hearts of others, just as Nebuchadnezzar eventually recognized the supremacy of their God.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
This is a reading from Daniel chapterthree.
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of goldwhose height
was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits.
He set it up on the plain of durain the province of Babylon.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent togetherthe satraps,
the prefects, and the governors,the counselors, the treasurers,
the justices, the magistrates,and all the officials of the provinces
(00:24):
to come to the dedication of the imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Then the satraps, the prefects,and the governors, the counselors,
the treasurers,
the justices, the magistrates,and all the officials of the provinces
gathered for the dedication of the imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
And they stood before the imagethat Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
(00:44):
And the herald proclaimed aloud.
You are commanded, O peoples,nations, and languages,
that when you hear the sound of the horn,pipe, lyre, trigon,
harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music, you are
to fall down and worship the golden imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
And whoever does not fall down
and worship shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
(01:06):
Therefore, as soon as all the people heardthe sound of the horn, pipe,
lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music,
all the people, nations, and languagesfell down
and worshiped the golden imagethat came Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Therefore, at that time, certainChaldeans came forward and miraculously
accused the Jews.
(01:26):
They declared to King NebuchadnezzarOken, live forever.
You, a king, have made a decreethat every man who hears
the sound of the horn,pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,
and every kind of music shall fall downand worship the golden image.
And whoever does not fall downand worship shall be cast into a burning
fiery furnace.
(01:47):
There are certain Jewswhom you have appointed over the affairs
of the province of Babylon.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These men. Okay, pay no attention to you.
They do not serve your gods or worshipthe golden image that you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage,commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego be brought.
So they brought these men before the king.
(02:09):
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them,is it true, O Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my gods or worshipthe golden image that I have set up?
Now, if you are ready,when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe,
lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music
to fall down and worship,the image that I have made well and good.
(02:30):
But if you do not worship,
you shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
And who is the God who will deliver youout of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answeredand said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no needto answer you in this matter.
If this be so, our God, whom we serveis able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver usout of your hand of King.
(02:54):
But if not, beit known to you, O King, that
we will not serve your gods or worshipthe golden image you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,
and the expression of his face was changedagainst Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
He ordered the furnace heated seven timesmore than it was usually heated,
and he ordered some of the mighty menof his army to bind Shadrach,
(03:18):
Meshach, and Abednego andcast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their cloaks,their tunics, their hats,
and their other garments, and they werethrown into the burning fiery furnace,
because the king's order was urgentand the furnace overheated.
The flame of the fire killedthose men who took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego.
(03:38):
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego fell down into the burningfiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzarwas astonished and rose up in haste.
He declared to his counselors, didwe not cast three men down into the fire?
They answered and said to the king, true.
Okay.
He answered and said, but I see four menunbound, walking in the midst of fire,
(04:00):
and they are not hurt in the appearance ofthe fourth is like a son of the gods.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the doorof the burning fiery furnace.
He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, andAbednego, servants of the Most High God.
Come out and come here.
Then Shadrach, Meshach,and a Bendigo came out from the fire,
and the satraps, the prefects,the governors, and the king's counselors
(04:23):
gathered together and saw that the firehad not had any power over the bodies
of those men.
The hair of their heads was not,since their cloaks
were not harmed,and no smell of fire had come upon them.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessedbe the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, who has sent his angeland delivered his servants who trusted
(04:43):
in him, and set aside the king's command,and yielded up their bodies.
Rather than serve and worshipany God except their own God.
Therefore I make a decreeany people, nation, or language
that speaks anything against the Godof Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
shall be torn limb from limband their houses laid in ruins.
For there is no other Godwho is able to rescue in this way.
(05:06):
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Well, good morning and
welcome to the weekly gathering of ChristCommunity Chapel.
My name is Zach.
I'm one of the pastors here, and I'mso glad that you're here with us
this weekendas we continue our sermon series.
Looking at the first few chapters
(05:28):
of the Book of Daniel,we're talking about having courage.
In the fire did want to give a specialshout out the 10:00 service.
Our fifth grade club is here.
Fifth grade club.
We're glad you're with us.
You know, we're in the midstof an Every Minute Matters theme.
Every Minute Matters
campaign for the next couple of years,because we are a church that is serious
(05:51):
about investing in the next generation,including and especially right now.
And you guys, hey, if you have a Bible,would you open it to Daniel chapter three.
Daniel chapter three take out your phone,your tablet.
How are you going to get to Danielchapter three if you're here this weekend
and you didn't bring a Bible, maybeyou're not super familiar with the Bible.
(06:12):
Firstlet me say so glad that you're here, that
that might have been a pretty big stepfor you, and I'm glad that you took it.
And everything we have to say this morningis as much for you as it is for anybody.
But we do make Bibles available to you
there in the pew, in front of you,or in the back of the room in East Hall.
And if you want to hold a Bible and follow
along that way,I preach from one of those Bibles,
(06:33):
so I can tell you that today's readingis on 692 and 693.
But by the way, the verses I referenceare going to be on the screen behind me.
So if you want to follow along that way,that's fine.
However you're getting toDaniel chapter three,
three points I'm going to useas an outline to guide our time together.
Three points. Very simple.
They go like thisI want to show you there will be moments
(06:56):
God is behind themto change the world around you.
Okay?
There will be moments God is behind them.
Changing the world around you.
All right, let's start with the first one.
There will be moments.
We're almost to summer.
And if you're like me and your families,like mine, summer
(07:17):
means vacation is on the horizon.
You're thinking about traveling now?
I've been married for 20 years. Almost.
My wife,Amy, and I have completely different
philosophiesfor what makes a good vacation.
When Amy travels somewhere, she sees it asa cardiovascular or workout.
(07:39):
She wants to see
everything, do everything, experienceeverything.
When I vacation, I want a pooland a chair and a book, and that's it.
That's all I want.
I don't want to do anything, on vacation.
And what that meansis that usually when we travel,
we're pretty clear on whose trip it isand who's the plus one.
(08:02):
I know you can say,
well, can't you do a little bit of both,but then we're both just miserable. So.
No, somebody gets to plan the trip, and,
we have a 20th anniversary tripcoming up this summer.
And based
on, the planning, I know it is Amy's tripand that it is going to be a whirlwind.
So I've already startedplanning the post vacation.
Vacation for myself.
(08:23):
The thing is, we are two different people
with two differentphilosophies on vacation.
Which means if I'm going on Amy's trip,there's going to be some tension.
There's going to be some conflictnot between us, but between
what I want to doand what we're actually doing now
in a marriagethat's not that big of a deal, right?
(08:43):
A little communication, sacrifice, othercenteredness, and you can figure that out.
But in culture, it's a much bigger deal.
Now, here's what I mean by that.
In the book of Daniel, God'speople are living in exile in Babylon.
They've been defeated.
The enemy has taken them overand brought them to Babylon.
(09:04):
And Babylon is a countrywith a very different set of values
than the valuesthat God talks about in the scriptures.
It's a polytheistic culture,meaning they worship many gods,
not a monotheistic culturelike the God of the Bible.
Once they are a culture of oppression,a culture of domination.
(09:25):
But God's vision for his people in the OldTestament is that they would be a light
to the nations, that that they would winthe nations over, through, through
display, saying his glory in the waythey live, not through subjugation.
They're two very different cultures,two very different worldviews,
two very different ways of living.
And that means conflict is inevitable.
(09:50):
Now, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegodid not know
that morning when they got upand went to work what was going to happen.
But what they understoodwas that moments of conflict,
moments of controversy,moments of tension were inevitable.
And Daniel won. It's over.
What they eat here, it's over.
How they worship next week it'll be over.
(10:11):
How they party.
In two weeks it will be over.
How they pray.
My point is,when you're living in a culture
whose value system isdiametrically opposed
to the value system of the Bible,when you're trying to follow God
over and against a dominant culture,
(10:31):
conflict is inescapable.
And the thing is, it's not just truein Babylon.
It's true for us.
Our culture is not Babylonian,
but it is antithetical to the gospel.
And that means that if we desire to followJesus, we're going to find ourselves
(10:53):
in similar moments.
Maybe not with a furnace, maybe not facingdeath, but moments nonetheless.
We work at companies, for example,that pursue profit, not principle.
We are in
families where unforgivenessand bitterness
and grudge holdingare the norm over and against.
(11:14):
Jesus's teachingabout loving and forgiving
our kids go to school systemswhich teach worldviews
very antitheticalto the one that God calls us to
in the Bible,which means conflict is unavoidable.
Let me use another marriage illustration.
Something we try to teachin the premarital class here
(11:37):
at Christ Community Chapelis that healthy couples fight.
When you meet a couple who says to me,
for example, pastor, we never fight.
I just look at them and say, well, whichone of you gets their way all the time?
Because that must be what you mean.
Me? Your two different peoplewith two different views on something.
(11:58):
And if you're never fightingabout it, it's
because one of you is dominatingthe other.
That'snot the sign of a healthy relationship.
That's the sign of an oppressive one.
Healthy couples fightbecause two different people
from two different backgroundsmean two different ways of living.
Conflict is, and the absence of conflictis not the presence
(12:18):
of a healthy relationship.
The absence of conflictis the presence of compromise.
It's the same for you and I.
If we live in a culturethat is antithetical
to what God teaches in the Bibleand we never experience conflict, it's not
because we're the one group of Christiansthat somehow thread the needle.
It's because of compromise.
(12:41):
And the reason why I say that is becauseit seems to me when modern Christians
find themselves in any situationlike this, we're so shocked.
But we shouldn't be.
The first Peter four tells us to not besurprised when we experience fiery trials.
James chapter one says to count itas joy when we experience trials.
(13:03):
John 16 Jesus himself says, in this world
you will have trouble.
But when we experience it,
we tend to be shockedand we tend to say, God, where are you?
God, what are you doing?
But there will be moments.
It's okay though, to ask where God is.
(13:25):
That's actually my second point.
Not just that there will be moments,but second
that the God is behind them.
There will be moments God is behind them.
Let me ask you a question.
Who drives the action in Danielchapter three?
Who moves the plot forward?
(13:45):
That's a really important questionfor understanding this passage.
There are three possible answersto that question.
Let's walk through them.
The first is you could say thatShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are the ones who drive the plot.
But is that true?
I mean, do they show uplooking for a fight?
(14:05):
I don't think so.
I think Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegojust show up for work
and find themselves in a fight.
Have they any idea that Nebuchadnezzarhad spent the weekend building a statue,
or that he
was going to ask everyoneto worship the statue?
No. They showed up to work.
They didn't show up to rub their faithand other people's noses.
They didn't show up to dominate, to argue.
(14:29):
Listen, if you are the kind of Christian
I want to say thisbecause I've been worried about
doing a sermon seriesin the book of Daniel that for some
Christians, that would embolden youto be antagonistic.
Listen, if controversy and conflictfollow you wherever you go, it's
not because you're being courageousor you're being faithful.
(14:50):
It's because you're a jerk.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegoare not causing this conflict.
They don't.They don't come looking for a fight.
They're not the ones who drive the action.
The second possibility is the most obviousone that it's Nebuchadnezzar.
That Nebuchadnezzar is the one drivingthe action in Daniel chapter three.
(15:12):
After all, he'sthe one that builds the statue.
He's the one who plays the music.
He's the one who wants to tell peoplewho to worship.
There's a couple of problems with that.
The first one is thatthis is not Nebuchadnezzar's book.
It's not about Nebuchadnezzar.
The second problem is
there are a lot of Nebuchadnezzarin this book.
(15:36):
If it's not Nebuchadnezzar, it's Pharaoh.
If it's not Pharaoh, it's Cyrus.
If it's not Cyrus, it's Darius.
If it's not Darius, it's Herod.
Not that Herod, the other Harriott Herod.
You get the point.
There's a lot of despotic, egotistical,maniacal tyrants in the Bible.
They come and they go.
They're not the main character.
(15:56):
But here's the other reasonwhy Nebuchadnezzar
is not the one drivingthe action in Daniel chapter three.
There were a lot of waysto make him happy.
I mean, after all,
he just wants people to bow.
He doesn't care if you mean it.
Do you know what I mean?
This is a flex for him.
(16:17):
I mean, he woke up that morningand said to his wife or wives
or concubines like, watchhow powerful I am.
I'm going to make everybody worshipa stupid statue that I made.
This is just a flex,which means he doesn't
care what you're thinking or feelingwhen you bow.
He just wants you to bow.
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego couldhave said to each other, listen, just bow.
(16:39):
We don't mean it.
It doesn't mean anything. Just do it.
They could have said, hey, let's bowand we'll ask for forgiveness later.
They could have
said, hey, we should bow,because if we don't, he's
going to kill us, and then he'sgoing to give our jobs to Babylonians.
And that's going to make life harderon our fellow Jewish people.
So for their their sake, we should bow.
(17:00):
They could have looked at each otherand said, other people in the Bible
did worse than this.
The point is, it didn't matter what theywere thinking or what they're feeling.
He doesn't care if they bow, he is happy.
The action of this passage
is not about their unwillingnessto please Nebuchadnezzar.
Look at what they say.
(17:21):
By the way, just for proof of thisin verse 16, here's what it says.
Shall Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answeredand said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer youin this matter.
If this be so, our Godwhom we serve is able to deliver us
(17:41):
from the burning fiery furnace,and he will deliver us out of your hand.
Okay?
But if not, be it known to you, O King,that we will not serve your gods
or worshipthe golden image that you have set up.
Do you see what they're saying?
They're saying, look, Nebuchadnezzar,you can give us one more try.
Three more tries, 100 more tries.We don't care.
(18:03):
We are not going to bowbecause God won't have it.
You see, theythey've read the Old Testament.
They know God said in the Ten Commandmentsnot to worship anyone other than him.
They knowGod said not to make any graven images.
They've readwhere God said he was a jealous God.
(18:23):
They they are saying to Nebuchadnezzar,look, man, it's not about you.
Whatever we do to make your you happy,he won't be okay with. No.
It's God who drives the action of Danielchapter three.
It's God who's not willing for compromise.
It's God who's not willingto look the other way.
(18:44):
And you see, he never gets.
He never is.
God is never okay with moral compromise.
God is never okay with corners being cut.
God is never okay with lookingthe other way.
God is behind the action.
(19:07):
Now let me show you that in one other way,because the most
important verses of this passageare verses 13 through 15.
If you want to know what is God doing,
it tells you here in verse 13, let's pickit up is what it says.
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage,
commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego be brought.
(19:28):
So they brought these men before the king.
And Nebuchadnezzar answered
and said to them, is it true,O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my gods or worshipthe golden image that I have set up?
Now if you are ready,when you hear the sound of the horn,
pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music
(19:49):
to fall down and worship,the image that I have made well and good.
But if you do not worship,
you shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
Listen to this next line.
And who is the God who will deliver. You.
Out of my hands?
So you can't understand the story to you?
Understand? That's the point.
(20:09):
That's the point.
Nebuchadnezzar says,who is the God who can save you from me?
And everythingthat has happened up to that point
and everything that happens after thatpoint, is God answering that question.
You see, it isn't Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego being put to the test.
It's God.
(20:31):
God wants to be tested.
God wants to be displayed.
God is wanting Nebuchadnezzarto ask that question
so that he can definitively answer it in
moments of testing,in moments of conflict,
not the ones we went looking for.
(20:51):
Not the ones that we caused in ourignorance, but in the ones that come for
us. God knows fundamentally,it is not us who is being put to the test.
It's him. Will he show up?
Will he show out?
What will he do?
And God welcomes the test.
Why? Why?
(21:13):
Well, that's my third point.
Not just that there will be moments,not just that God is behind them, but.
He's changing the world around us.
Listen, this whole story is about God's
pursuit of Nebuchadnezzar.
You can't read this story correctlywithout understanding that this story
(21:34):
is about God's pursuit of one egomaniacal,despotic,
tyrannical ruler,one guy who's so convinced
of how big and bad he is that he says,who is the God who can stop me?
God does everything he doesin this chapter to grab Nebuchadnezzar.
(21:55):
Don't believe me?
Look at the climax.Pick it up in verse 24.
Look at the climax of the story.Here it comes.
Verse 20.
Yeah. Verse 24.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished,
and he rose up in haste
and declared to his counselors, didwe not cast three men bound into the fire?
And they answeredand said to the king, true, O king.
(22:15):
And he answered and said,but I see four men unbound,
walking in the midst of the fire,and they are not hurt.
And the appearance of the fourthis like a son of the gods.
Skip down to verse 28.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessedbe the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, who has sent his angeland delivered his servants who trusted
(22:38):
in him, and set aside the king's command,and yielded up their bodies.
Rather than serve and worshipany god except their own God.
Therefore I make a decreeany people, nation, or language
that speaks anythingagainst the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego shall be torn limb from limband their houses laid in ruins.
Listen to this, for there is no other God.
(23:02):
Who is able to rescue in.
This way. Friends, listen to me.
If you're here this weekend
and you are not yet a Christian,you don't have a relationship with God.
Do you see the linkshe will go to to rescue sinners?
You see, this entire
story is about Godputting himself to the test,
(23:24):
God putting himself on displayto answer the hard
question of one sinner.
So great is his mercy.
So great is his grace.
For you
now I know you're hard wired to push backagainst that and go, no, no, no, God.
God wouldn't do that for me.
(23:45):
He doesn't love me that much.You don't know what I've done.
You don't know.
You don't know how much shame and guiltI carry.
Let me ask you a question this weekend.
Did you spend timebuilding a golden statue of yourself?
Did you bring out the stereo equipmenton your cul de sac
and command all your neighborsthat when the music played,
they should bow down and worship you?
Because if you
did anything less than that, actually,
(24:08):
even if you did that.
God's mercy and.
Grace are coming for you.
This story is not about the courageof three young men.
This story is about the God.
Who leverages his power,
who puts himself to the test
(24:29):
in order to answer the heart cry.
Of sinners.
Let me put a pin in that.
I'll come back to it.
So if you're hereand you're a Christian, you.
I got to imagine right nowyou're going to hold on a second.
This is the logic of the sermon, Zach.
If I'm listening to you,God will put me in awful
(24:50):
testing situationsin order to reach other people.
God will put my job in jeopardy.
God will make it so that I'mthe black sheep of the family. God.
God will make itso that I've got to go meet with the kids.
PrincipalGod will put me in the moment of testing
just so he can reach other people.
(25:12):
How is that fair?
Well, there are two answers to that.
The first
is, is it not true that you.
Desire to see God move in your life time?
People always say to me, pastor,how come we don't see.
God do the things.
Today that he did in the Bible?
Well, I can answer that question for you.
(25:34):
God's power in the Bible and today.
Follows his mission.
Where is God in this story?
He's in the furnace.
If you want to be around
God, if you want to experience
God, if you want to livea biblical kind of life,
(25:55):
not by following the rules,but by experiencing the power of God,
you only get that in the furnace.
We hear storiesall the time of what God is doing
miraculously from the mission field.
Forget the mission field.
I hear stories all the time of amazing,miraculous things God is doing
at this church in the lives of Christianswho want to join him in reaching people.
(26:23):
So you see,Daniel three is really about this choice.
You want the sidelines, you get safety.
You just don't get to experience God.
Where do you want the furnace?
And you get God?
But here's the second thing.
And let me bring those of youconsidering Christianity
back into the conversation.
(26:46):
This is exactly what God did to save us.
Don't you see that.
He put himself to the test?
The Son of God came to earth
and stepped into a much hotter furnace,
not a literal furnacebuilt by some guy named Nebuchadnezzar,
(27:10):
but the furnace of God'sanger and judgment and wrath.
Jesus put himself to the test for us.
Here's my life.
Here's my dad.
Don't you see?
We killed Jesus because he wouldn't bow.
We didn'twant to hear about neighbor love.
We didn't want to hear about forgiveness.
(27:32):
We didn'twant to hear about sexual purity.
So we killed him.
He stepped into the furnace of our anger
on our behalf
so that, like Nebuchadnezzar, three dayslater, we might be on the edge of the seat
or our seats going, wait a minute,wait a minute, wait a minute.
Didn't we kill that guy?
(27:56):
The resurrection of Jesus is
God saying to each one of us.
This is the answer
to the questionyou're asking in your heart.
Do I love you?
Will I forgive you?
Is there a place for you in what I'mdoing?
And Christian, it's an invitationto join him
(28:19):
in doing for others what he did
to rescue us.
There's only one main character of Daniel,chapter three.
And it's not the king.
And it's not these three guys.
It's the God who puts himself to the test
to rescue centers.
Let me pray for us, father God.
(28:40):
Thank you for Daniel chapter three.
Thank you for this display of your powerand your glory.
Thank you even more that it pointsus forward to a greater
display of your power and your graceand your forgiveness.
An even more courageous young man,your son, who stepped into the furnace
of our anger and of yours
(29:04):
and put you on display.
God, mightyou speak to the heart right now
of every Nebuchadnezzar in this room?
Who is the God.
Who can save me?
His name is Jesus,
and in his name we pray.
(29:26):
Amen.
This is a reading from Daniel chapterthree.
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of goldwhose height
was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits.
He set it up on the plain of durain the province of Babylon.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent togetherthe satraps,
the prefects, and the governors,the counselors, the treasurers,
the justices, the magistrates,and all the officials of the provinces
(00:24):
to come to the dedication of the imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Then the satraps, the prefects,and the governors, the counselors,
the treasurers,
the justices, the magistrates,and all the officials of the provinces
gathered for the dedication of the imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
And they stood before the imagethat Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
(00:44):
And the herald proclaimed aloud.
You are commanded, O peoples,nations, and languages,
that when you hear the sound of the horn,pipe, lyre, trigon,
harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music, you are
to fall down and worship the golden imagethat King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
And whoever does not fall down
and worship shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
(01:06):
Therefore, as soon as all the people heardthe sound of the horn, pipe,
lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music,
all the people, nations, and languagesfell down
and worshiped the golden imagethat came Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Therefore, at that time, certainChaldeans came forward and miraculously
accused the Jews.
(01:26):
They declared to King NebuchadnezzarOken, live forever.
You, a king, have made a decreethat every man who hears
the sound of the horn,pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,
and every kind of music shall fall downand worship the golden image.
And whoever does not fall downand worship shall be cast into a burning
fiery furnace.
(01:47):
There are certain Jewswhom you have appointed over the affairs
of the province of Babylon.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These men. Okay, pay no attention to you.
They do not serve your gods or worshipthe golden image that you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage,commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego be brought.
So they brought these men before the king.
(02:09):
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them,is it true, O Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my gods or worshipthe golden image that I have set up?
Now, if you are ready,when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe,
lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music
to fall down and worship,the image that I have made well and good.
(02:30):
But if you do not worship,
you shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
And who is the God who will deliver youout of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answeredand said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no needto answer you in this matter.
If this be so, our God, whom we serveis able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver usout of your hand of King.
(02:54):
But if not, beit known to you, O King, that
we will not serve your gods or worshipthe golden image you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,
and the expression of his face was changedagainst Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
He ordered the furnace heated seven timesmore than it was usually heated,
and he ordered some of the mighty menof his army to bind Shadrach,
(03:18):
Meshach, and Abednego andcast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their cloaks,their tunics, their hats,
and their other garments, and they werethrown into the burning fiery furnace,
because the king's order was urgentand the furnace overheated.
The flame of the fire killedthose men who took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego.
(03:38):
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego fell down into the burningfiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzarwas astonished and rose up in haste.
He declared to his counselors, didwe not cast three men down into the fire?
They answered and said to the king, true.
Okay.
He answered and said, but I see four menunbound, walking in the midst of fire,
(04:00):
and they are not hurt in the appearance ofthe fourth is like a son of the gods.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the doorof the burning fiery furnace.
He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, andAbednego, servants of the Most High God.
Come out and come here.
Then Shadrach, Meshach,and a Bendigo came out from the fire,
and the satraps, the prefects,the governors, and the king's counselors
(04:23):
gathered together and saw that the firehad not had any power over the bodies
of those men.
The hair of their heads was not,since their cloaks
were not harmed,and no smell of fire had come upon them.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessedbe the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, who has sent his angeland delivered his servants who trusted
(04:43):
in him, and set aside the king's command,and yielded up their bodies.
Rather than serve and worshipany God except their own God.
Therefore I make a decreeany people, nation, or language
that speaks anything against the Godof Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
shall be torn limb from limband their houses laid in ruins.
For there is no other Godwho is able to rescue in this way.
(05:06):
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Well, good morning and
welcome to the weekly gathering of ChristCommunity Chapel.
My name is Zach.
I'm one of the pastors here, and I'mso glad that you're here with us
this weekendas we continue our sermon series.
Looking at the first few chapters
(05:28):
of the Book of Daniel,we're talking about having courage.
In the fire did want to give a specialshout out the 10:00 service.
Our fifth grade club is here.
Fifth grade club.
We're glad you're with us.
You know, we're in the midstof an Every Minute Matters theme.
Every Minute Matters
campaign for the next couple of years,because we are a church that is serious
(05:51):
about investing in the next generation,including and especially right now.
And you guys, hey, if you have a Bible,would you open it to Daniel chapter three.
Daniel chapter three take out your phone,your tablet.
How are you going to get to Danielchapter three if you're here this weekend
and you didn't bring a Bible, maybeyou're not super familiar with the Bible.
(06:12):
Firstlet me say so glad that you're here, that
that might have been a pretty big stepfor you, and I'm glad that you took it.
And everything we have to say this morningis as much for you as it is for anybody.
But we do make Bibles available to you
there in the pew, in front of you,or in the back of the room in East Hall.
And if you want to hold a Bible and follow
along that way,I preach from one of those Bibles,
(06:33):
so I can tell you that today's readingis on 692 and 693.
But by the way, the verses I referenceare going to be on the screen behind me.
So if you want to follow along that way,that's fine.
However you're getting toDaniel chapter three,
three points I'm going to useas an outline to guide our time together.
Three points. Very simple.
They go like thisI want to show you there will be moments
(06:56):
God is behind themto change the world around you.
Okay?
There will be moments God is behind them.
Changing the world around you.
All right, let's start with the first one.
There will be moments.
We're almost to summer.
And if you're like me and your families,like mine, summer
(07:17):
means vacation is on the horizon.
You're thinking about traveling now?
I've been married for 20 years. Almost.
My wife,Amy, and I have completely different
philosophiesfor what makes a good vacation.
When Amy travels somewhere, she sees it asa cardiovascular or workout.
(07:39):
She wants to see
everything, do everything, experienceeverything.
When I vacation, I want a pooland a chair and a book, and that's it.
That's all I want.
I don't want to do anything, on vacation.
And what that meansis that usually when we travel,
we're pretty clear on whose trip it isand who's the plus one.
(08:02):
I know you can say,
well, can't you do a little bit of both,but then we're both just miserable. So.
No, somebody gets to plan the trip, and,
we have a 20th anniversary tripcoming up this summer.
And based
on, the planning, I know it is Amy's tripand that it is going to be a whirlwind.
So I've already startedplanning the post vacation.
Vacation for myself.
(08:23):
The thing is, we are two different people
with two differentphilosophies on vacation.
Which means if I'm going on Amy's trip,there's going to be some tension.
There's going to be some conflictnot between us, but between
what I want to doand what we're actually doing now
in a marriagethat's not that big of a deal, right?
(08:43):
A little communication, sacrifice, othercenteredness, and you can figure that out.
But in culture, it's a much bigger deal.
Now, here's what I mean by that.
In the book of Daniel, God'speople are living in exile in Babylon.
They've been defeated.
The enemy has taken them overand brought them to Babylon.
(09:04):
And Babylon is a countrywith a very different set of values
than the valuesthat God talks about in the scriptures.
It's a polytheistic culture,meaning they worship many gods,
not a monotheistic culturelike the God of the Bible.
Once they are a culture of oppression,a culture of domination.
(09:25):
But God's vision for his people in the OldTestament is that they would be a light
to the nations, that that they would winthe nations over, through, through
display, saying his glory in the waythey live, not through subjugation.
They're two very different cultures,two very different worldviews,
two very different ways of living.
And that means conflict is inevitable.
(09:50):
Now, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegodid not know
that morning when they got upand went to work what was going to happen.
But what they understoodwas that moments of conflict,
moments of controversy,moments of tension were inevitable.
And Daniel won. It's over.
What they eat here, it's over.
How they worship next week it'll be over.
(10:11):
How they party.
In two weeks it will be over.
How they pray.
My point is,when you're living in a culture
whose value system isdiametrically opposed
to the value system of the Bible,when you're trying to follow God
over and against a dominant culture,
(10:31):
conflict is inescapable.
And the thing is, it's not just truein Babylon.
It's true for us.
Our culture is not Babylonian,
but it is antithetical to the gospel.
And that means that if we desire to followJesus, we're going to find ourselves
(10:53):
in similar moments.
Maybe not with a furnace, maybe not facingdeath, but moments nonetheless.
We work at companies, for example,that pursue profit, not principle.
We are in
families where unforgivenessand bitterness
and grudge holdingare the norm over and against.
(11:14):
Jesus's teachingabout loving and forgiving
our kids go to school systemswhich teach worldviews
very antitheticalto the one that God calls us to
in the Bible,which means conflict is unavoidable.
Let me use another marriage illustration.
Something we try to teachin the premarital class here
(11:37):
at Christ Community Chapelis that healthy couples fight.
When you meet a couple who says to me,
for example, pastor, we never fight.
I just look at them and say, well, whichone of you gets their way all the time?
Because that must be what you mean.
Me? Your two different peoplewith two different views on something.
(11:58):
And if you're never fightingabout it, it's
because one of you is dominatingthe other.
That'snot the sign of a healthy relationship.
That's the sign of an oppressive one.
Healthy couples fightbecause two different people
from two different backgroundsmean two different ways of living.
Conflict is, and the absence of conflictis not the presence
(12:18):
of a healthy relationship.
The absence of conflictis the presence of compromise.
It's the same for you and I.
If we live in a culturethat is antithetical
to what God teaches in the Bibleand we never experience conflict, it's not
because we're the one group of Christiansthat somehow thread the needle.
It's because of compromise.
(12:41):
And the reason why I say that is becauseit seems to me when modern Christians
find themselves in any situationlike this, we're so shocked.
But we shouldn't be.
The first Peter four tells us to not besurprised when we experience fiery trials.
James chapter one says to count itas joy when we experience trials.
(13:03):
John 16 Jesus himself says, in this world
you will have trouble.
But when we experience it,
we tend to be shockedand we tend to say, God, where are you?
God, what are you doing?
But there will be moments.
It's okay though, to ask where God is.
(13:25):
That's actually my second point.
Not just that there will be moments,but second
that the God is behind them.
There will be moments God is behind them.
Let me ask you a question.
Who drives the action in Danielchapter three?
Who moves the plot forward?
(13:45):
That's a really important questionfor understanding this passage.
There are three possible answersto that question.
Let's walk through them.
The first is you could say thatShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are the ones who drive the plot.
But is that true?
I mean, do they show uplooking for a fight?
(14:05):
I don't think so.
I think Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegojust show up for work
and find themselves in a fight.
Have they any idea that Nebuchadnezzarhad spent the weekend building a statue,
or that he
was going to ask everyoneto worship the statue?
No. They showed up to work.
They didn't show up to rub their faithand other people's noses.
They didn't show up to dominate, to argue.
(14:29):
Listen, if you are the kind of Christian
I want to say thisbecause I've been worried about
doing a sermon seriesin the book of Daniel that for some
Christians, that would embolden youto be antagonistic.
Listen, if controversy and conflictfollow you wherever you go, it's
not because you're being courageousor you're being faithful.
(14:50):
It's because you're a jerk.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegoare not causing this conflict.
They don't.They don't come looking for a fight.
They're not the ones who drive the action.
The second possibility is the most obviousone that it's Nebuchadnezzar.
That Nebuchadnezzar is the one drivingthe action in Daniel chapter three.
(15:12):
After all, he'sthe one that builds the statue.
He's the one who plays the music.
He's the one who wants to tell peoplewho to worship.
There's a couple of problems with that.
The first one is thatthis is not Nebuchadnezzar's book.
It's not about Nebuchadnezzar.
The second problem is
there are a lot of Nebuchadnezzarin this book.
(15:36):
If it's not Nebuchadnezzar, it's Pharaoh.
If it's not Pharaoh, it's Cyrus.
If it's not Cyrus, it's Darius.
If it's not Darius, it's Herod.
Not that Herod, the other Harriott Herod.
You get the point.
There's a lot of despotic, egotistical,maniacal tyrants in the Bible.
They come and they go.
They're not the main character.
(15:56):
But here's the other reasonwhy Nebuchadnezzar
is not the one drivingthe action in Daniel chapter three.
There were a lot of waysto make him happy.
I mean, after all,
he just wants people to bow.
He doesn't care if you mean it.
Do you know what I mean?
This is a flex for him.
(16:17):
I mean, he woke up that morningand said to his wife or wives
or concubines like, watchhow powerful I am.
I'm going to make everybody worshipa stupid statue that I made.
This is just a flex,which means he doesn't
care what you're thinking or feelingwhen you bow.
He just wants you to bow.
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego couldhave said to each other, listen, just bow.
(16:39):
We don't mean it.
It doesn't mean anything. Just do it.
They could have said, hey, let's bowand we'll ask for forgiveness later.
They could have
said, hey, we should bow,because if we don't, he's
going to kill us, and then he'sgoing to give our jobs to Babylonians.
And that's going to make life harderon our fellow Jewish people.
So for their their sake, we should bow.
(17:00):
They could have looked at each otherand said, other people in the Bible
did worse than this.
The point is, it didn't matter what theywere thinking or what they're feeling.
He doesn't care if they bow, he is happy.
The action of this passage
is not about their unwillingnessto please Nebuchadnezzar.
Look at what they say.
(17:21):
By the way, just for proof of thisin verse 16, here's what it says.
Shall Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answeredand said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer youin this matter.
If this be so, our Godwhom we serve is able to deliver us
(17:41):
from the burning fiery furnace,and he will deliver us out of your hand.
Okay?
But if not, be it known to you, O King,that we will not serve your gods
or worshipthe golden image that you have set up.
Do you see what they're saying?
They're saying, look, Nebuchadnezzar,you can give us one more try.
Three more tries, 100 more tries.We don't care.
(18:03):
We are not going to bowbecause God won't have it.
You see, theythey've read the Old Testament.
They know God said in the Ten Commandmentsnot to worship anyone other than him.
They knowGod said not to make any graven images.
They've readwhere God said he was a jealous God.
(18:23):
They they are saying to Nebuchadnezzar,look, man, it's not about you.
Whatever we do to make your you happy,he won't be okay with. No.
It's God who drives the action of Danielchapter three.
It's God who's not willing for compromise.
It's God who's not willingto look the other way.
(18:44):
And you see, he never gets.
He never is.
God is never okay with moral compromise.
God is never okay with corners being cut.
God is never okay with lookingthe other way.
God is behind the action.
(19:07):
Now let me show you that in one other way,because the most
important verses of this passageare verses 13 through 15.
If you want to know what is God doing,
it tells you here in verse 13, let's pickit up is what it says.
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage,
commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego be brought.
(19:28):
So they brought these men before the king.
And Nebuchadnezzar answered
and said to them, is it true,O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my gods or worshipthe golden image that I have set up?
Now if you are ready,when you hear the sound of the horn,
pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe,and every kind of music
(19:49):
to fall down and worship,the image that I have made well and good.
But if you do not worship,
you shall immediatelybe cast into a burning fiery furnace.
Listen to this next line.
And who is the God who will deliver. You.
Out of my hands?
So you can't understand the story to you?
Understand? That's the point.
(20:09):
That's the point.
Nebuchadnezzar says,who is the God who can save you from me?
And everythingthat has happened up to that point
and everything that happens after thatpoint, is God answering that question.
You see, it isn't Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego being put to the test.
It's God.
(20:31):
God wants to be tested.
God wants to be displayed.
God is wanting Nebuchadnezzarto ask that question
so that he can definitively answer it in
moments of testing,in moments of conflict,
not the ones we went looking for.
(20:51):
Not the ones that we caused in ourignorance, but in the ones that come for
us. God knows fundamentally,it is not us who is being put to the test.
It's him. Will he show up?
Will he show out?
What will he do?
And God welcomes the test.
Why? Why?
(21:13):
Well, that's my third point.
Not just that there will be moments,not just that God is behind them, but.
He's changing the world around us.
Listen, this whole story is about God's
pursuit of Nebuchadnezzar.
You can't read this story correctlywithout understanding that this story
(21:34):
is about God's pursuit of one egomaniacal,despotic,
tyrannical ruler,one guy who's so convinced
of how big and bad he is that he says,who is the God who can stop me?
God does everything he doesin this chapter to grab Nebuchadnezzar.
(21:55):
Don't believe me?
Look at the climax.Pick it up in verse 24.
Look at the climax of the story.Here it comes.
Verse 20.
Yeah. Verse 24.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished,
and he rose up in haste
and declared to his counselors, didwe not cast three men bound into the fire?
And they answeredand said to the king, true, O king.
(22:15):
And he answered and said,but I see four men unbound,
walking in the midst of the fire,and they are not hurt.
And the appearance of the fourthis like a son of the gods.
Skip down to verse 28.
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessedbe the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, who has sent his angeland delivered his servants who trusted
(22:38):
in him, and set aside the king's command,and yielded up their bodies.
Rather than serve and worshipany god except their own God.
Therefore I make a decreeany people, nation, or language
that speaks anythingagainst the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego shall be torn limb from limband their houses laid in ruins.
Listen to this, for there is no other God.
(23:02):
Who is able to rescue in.
This way. Friends, listen to me.
If you're here this weekend
and you are not yet a Christian,you don't have a relationship with God.
Do you see the linkshe will go to to rescue sinners?
You see, this entire
story is about Godputting himself to the test,
(23:24):
God putting himself on displayto answer the hard
question of one sinner.
So great is his mercy.
So great is his grace.
For you
now I know you're hard wired to push backagainst that and go, no, no, no, God.
God wouldn't do that for me.
(23:45):
He doesn't love me that much.You don't know what I've done.
You don't know.
You don't know how much shame and guiltI carry.
Let me ask you a question this weekend.
Did you spend timebuilding a golden statue of yourself?
Did you bring out the stereo equipmenton your cul de sac
and command all your neighborsthat when the music played,
they should bow down and worship you?
Because if you
did anything less than that, actually,
(24:08):
even if you did that.
God's mercy and.
Grace are coming for you.
This story is not about the courageof three young men.
This story is about the God.
Who leverages his power,
who puts himself to the test
(24:29):
in order to answer the heart cry.
Of sinners.
Let me put a pin in that.
I'll come back to it.
So if you're hereand you're a Christian, you.
I got to imagine right nowyou're going to hold on a second.
This is the logic of the sermon, Zach.
If I'm listening to you,God will put me in awful
(24:50):
testing situationsin order to reach other people.
God will put my job in jeopardy.
God will make it so that I'mthe black sheep of the family. God.
God will make itso that I've got to go meet with the kids.
PrincipalGod will put me in the moment of testing
just so he can reach other people.
(25:12):
How is that fair?
Well, there are two answers to that.
The first
is, is it not true that you.
Desire to see God move in your life time?
People always say to me, pastor,how come we don't see.
God do the things.
Today that he did in the Bible?
Well, I can answer that question for you.
(25:34):
God's power in the Bible and today.
Follows his mission.
Where is God in this story?
He's in the furnace.
If you want to be around
God, if you want to experience
God, if you want to livea biblical kind of life,
(25:55):
not by following the rules,but by experiencing the power of God,
you only get that in the furnace.
We hear storiesall the time of what God is doing
miraculously from the mission field.
Forget the mission field.
I hear stories all the time of amazing,miraculous things God is doing
at this church in the lives of Christianswho want to join him in reaching people.
(26:23):
So you see,Daniel three is really about this choice.
You want the sidelines, you get safety.
You just don't get to experience God.
Where do you want the furnace?
And you get God?
But here's the second thing.
And let me bring those of youconsidering Christianity
back into the conversation.
(26:46):
This is exactly what God did to save us.
Don't you see that.
He put himself to the test?
The Son of God came to earth
and stepped into a much hotter furnace,
not a literal furnacebuilt by some guy named Nebuchadnezzar,
(27:10):
but the furnace of God'sanger and judgment and wrath.
Jesus put himself to the test for us.
Here's my life.
Here's my dad.
Don't you see?
We killed Jesus because he wouldn't bow.
We didn'twant to hear about neighbor love.
We didn't want to hear about forgiveness.
(27:32):
We didn'twant to hear about sexual purity.
So we killed him.
He stepped into the furnace of our anger
on our behalf
so that, like Nebuchadnezzar, three dayslater, we might be on the edge of the seat
or our seats going, wait a minute,wait a minute, wait a minute.
Didn't we kill that guy?
(27:56):
The resurrection of Jesus is
God saying to each one of us.
This is the answer
to the questionyou're asking in your heart.
Do I love you?
Will I forgive you?
Is there a place for you in what I'mdoing?
And Christian, it's an invitationto join him
(28:19):
in doing for others what he did
to rescue us.
There's only one main character of Daniel,chapter three.
And it's not the king.
And it's not these three guys.
It's the God who puts himself to the test
to rescue centers.
Let me pray for us, father God.
(28:40):
Thank you for Daniel chapter three.
Thank you for this display of your powerand your glory.
Thank you even more that it pointsus forward to a greater
display of your power and your graceand your forgiveness.
An even more courageous young man,your son, who stepped into the furnace
of our anger and of yours
(29:04):
and put you on display.
God, mightyou speak to the heart right now
of every Nebuchadnezzar in this room?
Who is the God.
Who can save me?
His name is Jesus,
and in his name we pray.
(29:26):
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.