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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, June 15, 2008
 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it difficult to sing some of the words of the songs we sing – not because I can’t pronounce them, but because sometimes the level of commitment that they speak about is very deep.  For instance take the old hymn, “I Surrender All.”  We love to sing that song – “All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.”   That’s a big commitment.  And often times I can make that commitment in the comfort of this sanctuary, surrounded by a crowd of other believers, responding to the word as it has been proclaimed.  We all are singing those words and we are all gathering together to commit ourselves to the great things that God has called us to do. 

But then Monday comes.  And maybe on Monday I’m still good – the commitment that I sang about on Sunday is still with me.  But then Tuesday comes and the commitment I sang so bravely about on Sunday is a little less.  And Wednesday, well …. 

It’s a challenge to have a faith that is active and alive every day of the week, isn’t it?  It’s a challenge to live out Sunday morning commitments throughout the week.  We know it to be true – we joke about it,. If I’m a bit sarcastic with someone on a Sunday, people will often say, “I can’t believe you said that on a Sunday.”  Or if I twisted the truth a bit on in telling a story on a Sunday they would say, “I can’t believe you could say such a thing on a Sunday,” as if to say that it’s Sunday and my commitment to God should be at an all time high but if I had told that same lie on Wednesday it would have been fine!   

We have this challenge to live out Sunday morning commitments and values in the midst of weekday lives.  

Gordon McDonald tells of how he was driving along one day and he did something to make the driver behind him very upset.  The man blew his horn, screamed at him through the windshield and underscored his thought with an obscene hand gesture.  But it was a second later that they pulled up beside one another and they locked eyes and they both recognized each other – the man turned beet red as he realized that he had just tore strip of Gordon McDonald, his pastor! And Gordon McDonald recognized him as a man who had just greeted on the previous Sunday with a vigorous handshake telling him how much my sermon was a blessing.¹ 

To be sure we can all have bad days, but there is a disconnect there.  And as we think about our theme of “No Compromise,” as we think about truly being the church, and as we think about being genuine followers of Jesus Christ, we have to realize that if we are going to make a difference in this world, that what we are on Sunday has to follow through to what we are on Monday.    

It is an often repeated criticism of Christians that we are one thing on Sunday – polite, smiling, kind, patient, God loving, singing songs that commit everything to God – but we’re not that way on Monday.  And so the churches witness is tainted and people have a right to question whether or not Jesus Christ is real to us. 

But on the other hand, isn’t it refreshing to meet people who are the same  people of faith on Monday as they are on Sunday?  The world finds genuine Christians to be an inspiration and attractive in all the right ways.  I think of men like Jimmy Carter – regardless of what you think of his politics there is a man who demonstrates his commitment to Christ throughout his life style.  He is a man of integrity on Sunday, teaching his Men’s Sunday School class, and he is a man of integrity on Monday visiting dignitaries from the Middle East. 

I think of people who have gone on before us in this church – George Long, George Cruickshank, Myrtle Milligan, Myrt Moore and many others whose Sunday morning values were carried over into Monday morning life.  And that’s the kind of faith we are called to. 

And it’s the kind of faith I’m drawn to, and I pray it’s the kind of faith you are drawn to and seek to emulate.  It’s the kind of faith demonstrated for us in our text this morning – as we think of no compromise in our commitment, we read Daniel chapter 2.

Now the background to this book is that the people of God have been carried off from their homes to Babylon.  The Babylonians are the new world power and they have destroyed everything in the promised land and carted off the people to Babylon.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon does an interesting thing – he seeks to include the brightest and the youngest leaders of the people of God into the life of Babylon.  So Daniel and his three friends – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are brought into the godless, idol worshiping, superstitious, narcissistic world of the royal court. 

In many ways it’s just like the world in which we live.  Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego we belong to another – we live according to different values and standards and commitments, yet we live in this world that knows little of our values and standards and commitments and is always trying to get us to lower those values and standards and commitments by adopting the standards, values and commitments of the world in which we live.

And it’s interesting to watch in the first six chapters especially how these four God-loving men fit – or don’t fit – into the society in which they are called. 

In chapter two we have Daniel interpreting a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar has of a huge statue – the head is made of gold, it’s chest is made of silver and it’s middle of bronze and its legs of iron and feet of iron and clay (verse 32).

Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar that each of these materials represents a different kingdom – his is made of gold, but another kingdom represented by the bronze middle will come and destroy his kingdom and then another kingdom will come and so on. 

In the dream the king sees this huge rock that comes and smashes the statue and each portion of the statue.  And Daniel says that’s the kingdom of God – it will be a kingdom that will last forever and will fill this whole earth (verse 35).   God is sending Nebuchadnezzar a message that says “your kingdom is not as important as you think.  God’s kingdom is THE most important and most powerful.”

King Nebuchadnezzar is appreciative of this interpretation, he promotes Daniel and life is good again.

Now you need that background to be truly shocked when you read chapter 3:1.   “King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits (90 feet high) and whose width was six cubits (nine feet wide).”  When we read that we are supposed stop and say “WHAT?”  Let me read it again. 

Think about it.  Daniel has just given the king an interpretation of a dream of a statue in which kingdom after kingdom comes – but none of them can stand against the Kingdom of God which will fill the whole earth.  But the king replies “HA!  I’ll show you – I’ll make my kingdom of all gold, not just the head, and it will endure forever.”  This is out right rebellion against the word of God. 

So, he makes this statue and orders everyone to bow down to it.  And we pick up the story in verse 8-18.  From this great story, do you know what I learn here? First, people who do not compromise their commitment to God – who manage to live out their Sunday morning commitments in the Monday morning world – always remember what team they are on.    

We need to constantly remember to whom we belong.  We need to remember what kingdom we belong to.  We need to remind ourselves whose team we’re on. 

Do you know the name Jim Marshall?  Jim Marshall played Defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings from 1961-1979.  He is most remembered for his part in 1964 game against the San Francisco 49ers in which he ran an impressive 67 yards for a touch down – take a look (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3T4GZfPIAs 3:48 – 4:20)   Wasn’t that amazing?  Unfortunately it was in his own end zone! 

How embarrassing.  I look at that and I think, boy that’s like life.  When we compromise our values and our commitment to God it’s sometimes because we forget whose team we’re on.

We forget that we belong to God.  We forget that we have transferred our allegiance to the Kingdom of God.  We no longer live for the things of this world.  We have a new home, we have a new goal, we have a new master, we have been made new.  Even though we, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego live in a foreign land we don’t belong to it.  We belong to another.

And we need to constantly remember that we belong to another.  Every morning, the first thing that we need to say when our eyes open is “God I belong to you.”  Colossians 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” 

We forget that and we think that we belong to the world, and so we live by its rules, its values and its commitments.  But hear the good news through faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you are called a child of God – heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).  Let’s stop running touchdowns for the other team. 

I know it’s difficult because we can’t see God and the things of this world are so tangible and so real to us.  Do you know Jim Marshall was asked if he wondered why while he was running all the people on the side lines where waving and shouting at him?  He said, We’ll I realize now, but at the time I thought they were cheering me on!” 

And sometimes we’re like that – we forget to whom we belong because we’ve not immersed ourselves in godly things.  That’s why we need to immerse ourselves with God’s Word, with God’s people, communicating to God on a constant basis.   So that when we are tempted to act like the world and run with the world, God is able to turn us around and keep the commitments that are in line with a child of God.  

People who keep Sunday morning commitments in the Monday morning world are people who know they belong to God.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego teach us that people who live out Sunday morning commitments in a Monday morning world are willing to stand alone.  Look at verse 7 – “As soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language fell down and worshipped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

“All the peoples, all the nations, all the men of every language fell down and worshipped the image”.  That’s not hyperbole.  Have you heard the phrase, “But mom everyone is doing it?”  or, “Everyone is going to be there.”  Well, here everyone was doing it and everyone was there!  Except for three guys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

Wow!  How hard it must have been to stand alone in their commitment to God. How hard it must have been to go against the crowd.  How hard it must have been to do that which was not popular.  How hard it must have been to stand up for something that no else believed in.  How hard it must have been to not do something that everyone else was doing!  How hard it must have been to stand alone. 

But if we are going to live out Sunday morning commitments in a Monday morning world we are often alone.  We will be going against the crowd.  We have to be willing to stand alone. 

But here’s the neat thing – when we stand for Sunday morning commitments in a Monday morning world – we are not alone.  Let’s read the rest of the text –Daniel 3:19-27.

Are the three men alone?  No!  They are not alone.  Look at verse 25.  King Nebuchadnezzar sees not three men but “four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god”.  

The fourth had the appearance as a god because it was God – God in the flesh. It was Jesus Himself.  We need to understand that when commit ourselves to everything that is right and pure and holy, honest and just the world often is against us and we appear to stand alone.  But in fact we do not stand alone.  God almighty is with us and stands with us. 

I think verse 26 is one of the funniest verses in the Bible: “Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of the blazing fire and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!  Come here!’ ” 

The king has to order them out of the furnace.  Why didn’t they run out of that thing?  Because they were having a great time communing with God!  We need to realize that when we stand by our commitment to God, He does not abandon us. 

I love that story of Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23) where the man of God who is trapped inside the city of Dothan by the Arameans.  Elisha’s servant is frantic as he sees an army of horses and chariots had surrounded the city – “What shall we do?”

Sometimes it seems like that when we live out our Sunday morning commitments but what we need to see is what Elisha sees. He says to his servant, “Don’t be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  And he prayed that his servant’s eyes could see what he saw – “Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

I know it’s difficult because God is unseen.  His presence often is not felt.  But it a truth that when we stand for that which is godly, He does not abandon us.  While we stand alone in the world living out our Sunday morning commitments, we have a God who stands with us in the Monday morning world. 

Finally from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego we learn that people who stand for Sunday morning commitments in a Monday morning world are willing to go the end.

Look at verse 28 – “Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!’  They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

My father loved the whole positive thinking movement.  He loved to tell stories of Walt Disney who was fired by a newspaper editor because he had no imagination and no good ideas.  He went broke several times before he built Disneyland.  Henry Ford too went broke several times before he was a success.  Dad loved to quote Winston Churchill, one of my heroes, who said in a speech “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never give in.” 

If dad was alive today I think he’d enjoy the fact that one of Mark’s favorite movies is a family movie called, “Galaxy Quest.” The motto for the space crew in this movie is “Never give up – never surrender”. 

All those quotes and people inspire us.  But when we think about it, as great and wonderful as Walt Disney was and all he created, as wonderful as Henry Ford was in all he did to help industrialization – there is nothing more inspiring than a person who knows what is right, does what is right and will not be swayed from it. 

Throughout his letters to fellow Christians, Paul - a Christ follower himself – often compares the Christian life to a race.  And in the New Testament books of 1 Corinthians 9 he says – run the race to win.  In Hebrews 12 he says run the race with perseverance. 

My friends, the commitments we make on Sunday morning are real – when we sing I surrender all.  And you are singing it from the heart that is a real commitment.  Don’t be afraid to carry it out.  Don’t be afraid to stand for all that is Christ like and good and holy.  Why? Because we serve the living God. He is not some lifeless idol.  He is not some figure made of gold.  No, He is the living God who has called His children co-heirs with Christ, who stands with us as we stand very often against the world. 

May we be a people who go the distance in our desire not to compromise the commitments we make to God so that our Sunday morning commitments become Monday morning realities. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - June  2008

ENDNOTES:

1. Gordon MacDonald, Christ Followers In The Real World (Nashville: Oliver-Nelson Books, 1989), 182.