Be Careful of Becoming Polluted!!!
Dan 1: 1-17 NIV
Purpose: Become
self-aware of the contamination of this world in our lives.
1 In the third year of the reign of
Jehoiakim king of Judah ,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem
2 And the Lord
delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah
into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God Babylonia [a] and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king
ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s
service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
4 young men
without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of
learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the
king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the
Babylonians.[b]
5 The king
assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were
to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s
service.
6 Among those who were chosen were some
from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 The chief
official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah,
Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile
himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for
permission not to defile himself this way.
9 Now God had
caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
10 but the
official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking
worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head
because of you.”
11 Daniel then
said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael and Azariah,
12 “Please test
your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to
drink.
13 Then compare
our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat
your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 So he agreed
to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they
looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the
royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice
food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave
knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel
could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
Footnotes:
a.
Daniel 1:2 Hebrew Shinar
b.
Daniel 1:4 Or Chaldeans
c.
Daniel 1:10 The Hebrew
for your and you in this verse is plural.
This is the Word of God,
for the people of God.
Praise be to God.
Amen
Be Careful of Becoming Polluted!!!
Dan 1: 1-17 NIV
Purpose: Become self-aware of the contamination
of this world in our lives.
Outline
I. Introduction
a)
Change can be positive or negative
II. The
prophet Daniel
III. Explanation
and parallel with the biblical text
IV. Conclusion[s]
V. Prayer
Be Careful of Becoming Polluted!!!
Dan 1: 1-17 NIV
Purpose: Become self-aware of the contamination
of this world in our lives.
Do you know
what a change is? Change has different definitions, but the definition that hit
me the most was to pass gradually.[1]
To change gradually. This definition really strikes me because the
great majority of the time, our understanding of change is something that
occurs right away, because we are living in a very fast culture. But the reality is that change easily
happens as a gradually event!!! Because change comes into our lives and we
don't recognize it. For example, a college student changes gradually from one
semester to another. This student needs to be responsible for himself in all
the areas of his life. Life in his/her parents’ house has stopped, at least for
his/her life in college. In this case,
the student has embraced the change of growing and become more mature. He/she
becomes responsible for himself/herself. One important thing to notice is that
this student doesn't notice the change until someone points it out. The change
is already engraved in her/him. That is why he/she doesn't notice it.
On the other hand, change has the potential
to introduce a negative attitude which becomes a contaminant and toxic into our
lives. For instance, another student is recently attending in college by
him/herself, and this student chooses not to be responsible. Then she/he is
going to fail and probably has to come back home with a big inner
disappointment, inner crash, and no diploma.
So a change is fruitful and productive when it is a reassuring
force of our morals and ethics, especially for us serious and committed Christians. For
example, now with the new ministry of Room in the Inn or the Bible Study on
Wednesdays, we, as a church, are going to be part of helping the less privileged
in our community and we, as a church, are coming together and growing in grace,
in the knowledge of God. How? In the case of the homeless, we are going to
provide them with food, a secure place to spend the night, and the gift of our
presence, time, and full attention. In the case of the Bible study of
Wednesdays, we are coming together to know ourselves better, to know each other
better, and mainly to become more mature Christians. For us, the church, it is
going to be easy because we have changed
for the good. WE are giving fruit. We are getting ready to become more and more
like Jesus and try to be His presence in this broken world.
Now, change
can be negative, when it is harmful, when it is against our Christian moral and
ethics and beliefs; for example, going back to the example of the Room in the
Inn, if as a church, we know that we have the capacity to help but we don't
want to do it, because we don't want to be in contact with the homeless because
they can smell bad or they look unpleasant. Or in the case of the Bible study,
we say, "No, I don't want to leave my house, it is more comfortable watch
the drama on TV. Then the change that we
experience is a harmful and toxic change. It is when we become polluted. Truly
speaking, at the end of the day, who is going to hurt the most? It is going to
be us, because God is going to send another church to do what we didn't want to
do.
Pay attention
that in order to experience a change in our lives, there has to be a reason, a thing, a person, a situation, an event that
comes to our encounter and initiates the change, because changes don't happen
out of nowhere. We don't wake up today and decide to go to the streets
looking for homeless people and bring them to the church. No, changes can be the response to a need, the need to be more mature
Christians for the transformation of this world through the communal study and
to be the presence of Christ helping homeless people.
This is what is happening in the text. This was happening to Daniel. He and his friends were experiencing
a big situation in their lives that forced them to change. They were taken from
their mother land to a foreign land. The Babylonians conquered Judah Judah Judah
It is clear
that Daniel had a relationship with God to the point that he was a prophet, a
person who delivers a message from God to the people. He, Daniel, was wise,
because he talked about everything with God. We need to keep in mind two
important things: (1) human nature has
not changed. That means that Daniel had the same weaknesses and temptations
that we have today. Yes, we have the same inclinations and temptations as the
ancient people; (2) the conquerors of
this time in history were not as some books or movies or 21st century scholars
have interpreted them. The text is telling us that they were having very
good conditions in the exile because they were going to be part of the royal
court. They were going to be part of an
elite class which has power and influence. Power and influence has the
potential to change a person, if their convictions are not pure and strong
enough to face big changes. That is why power and influence can be as dangerous
as pollution, because they can contaminate our selves, our mind, and our souls.
So, carefully,
Daniel decides not become polluted by the change, because Daniel believes and
trusts in the Only God who is capable of helping him for a good growing
experience with the change in his life. In
the text also, we see the faithfulness of God, when Daniel decides not to
become polluted or contaminated with the food of the Babylonian king. God
delivers him. God gives him strength and wisdom and a healthy look. In all of
these things, God helps Daniel to keep himself pure from pollution and to navigate
at peace in an overwhelmingly changing society.
Until now, we
have witnessed the faithfulness, the love, the care, the healing, and the deliverance
of God for Glendale UMC, in our individual lives and in the life of the church.
Therefore, my dear ones, we need to keep the bad stuff out of our lives. We
don't want to become polluted or contaminated. We want to keep growing in maturity, faith, and understanding of God
and helping Him to change the world in the way that we have been doing it.
Do not let any kind of
change contaminate us. Let’s keep ourselves pure and together.
Let
us pray,
Dear and Good Father
We have
decided not let pollution contaminate us. Help us to keep ourselves, our
families, and our church growing in Your understanding and obedience. In this way we are going to
influence the world for good and a fruitful change out of contamination.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Amen.
