The Lion's Den - Daniel 6

How do you measure whether someone is your friend? Is it when they can remember your name on a Sunday morning? Is it when they’ve come over to your house, have been in your space? Is it when they start giving the real answer to the question, “Hey, how are you doing today?” instead of the small talk answer? How do you measure whether someone is your friend? I remember years ago I was in a church that was launching Life Groups for the very first time. Now I want to say - I’ve been incredibly blessed, I have loved every church I have ever served, but at this one Sara and I decided to host the young families Life Group. And one of the reasons I am such a strong supporter of Life Groups is because of that group. We made lifelong friendships that exist to this day. And the way that group worked was we had about 5-6 families, and each family had a couple kids, and so we’d get together on a Thursday night, we’d eat a meal together - kids would go play in the basement and the adults could do the lesson or book study or whatever it was. But the problem when you’re hanging out with people every week is that eventually you’re going to have to parent your kid in front of other people. Do you know what I’m talking about? When I was a kid, you never parented in front of people. Even just like scolding - “I’m not going to ground you in public, but as soon as we get home - you’re in trouble.” My mom would give this look that said, “We’re not going to do this because there’s people around - but once we get home, you’re gonna learn.” My mother is not a yeller and she’s not a hitter - I’m not really sure how she did it. It was just that look! She could get me to behave from all the way up in the choir loft. But the problem with this new life group that my wife Sara and I had started, was that it met in our home! And we realized that we were not going to be able to keep that friendship at this superficial level. And for the first couple of weeks, inevitably one of the kids would have a huge meltdown. And the kids would take turns, this week it’s my kids meltdown, next week my kids are all happy and it’s your kids turn to break something. And every time it happened, we were so embarrassed. We would apologize, “like, oh good grief, I’m so sorry my four year old is acting like a four year old. He woke up this morning and he still wasn’t perfect. At four years old he’s still working out some of the kinks and I’m basically a terrible parent - I’m so sorry he’s crying like that. And every time the rest of us would look at one another and say, “No man, we get it. We’re all about that parenting life in this season.” And it was so funny because about a month or two into it - I gathered everyone together and I put it out there, like an announcement. I said, “okay, here’s a new goal. As a group, we’re going to stop apologizing for being parents. Deal?” And it’s like we broke through a barrier of friendship to a deeper level. It was like, wait - you mean, if I need to pull my kid aside and have a talk with them, you’re not going to judge me? And I’d respond, “yeah, of course not - when you’re done, can you go talk to mine? He’s the one who took his shirt off, again.” Think about this for your life. Do you have levels of friendship? Do you have some people in your life who see you, like really see you, more than others? And then, where is God in that spectrum? In your life, is God an idea? A stranger? Is God an acquaintance? A best friend? A co-worker? See, here’s the thing - we are about to tell a story that is VERY well known. We’re in this whole series about creating a resilient life and we’ve been in the book of Daniel and we’re up to chapter 6, Daniel and the Lion’s Den. And I know some of you might be thinking, “I know this story. I already know this message” - but I want to encourage you to listen with fresh ears, because God has a fresh word for you today. There is a deeper level to this.

And so if you want to grab your bibles, we’re going to be in chapter 6. And I always encourage people to bring their bibles to church, and I promise you if you bring it, we will open it. If you’d like a physical bible, but don’t have one - there’s a beautiful bookshelf in the back for you to grab one, otherwise crack open that smart phone and make sure it’s set to the New Living Translation. Now while you guys are looking that up, let me set the stage just a little bit. If this is your first time joining us - welcome! I’m so glad you were able to make it to worship with us this morning. Now the reason we are reading the book of Daniel is because we want to figure out how to build a resilient life, a life that is built to last, a life that can stay steady through all of life’s ups and downs and Daniel is one of the bible’s greatest examples of Resilience. At the very beginning of the book the people of Israel get conquered. King Nebuchadnezzar comes in with his army and destroys Israel, takes all the people captive, forces them to work as servants in the capital city of Babylon. And so Daniel starts as a young man, trying to figure out how to be a man of God in a world that is trying very hard to stamp out his old identity. A lot has happened, we’ve got dreams, we’ve got visions, this whole thing with Daniel’s friends and a fiery furnace - it’s a very exciting book. King Nebuchadnezzar - dies. Then there’s King Belshazzar, from last week - dies. And now, Daniel is much older, he’s on his third king, King Darius the Mede. Another thing you need to know is that Daniel has done very well. He’s been a faithful man of God his entire life, he has served each King very well. Even though he is a servant, he’s still one of the most respected and powerful people in the Empire. 

That’s where we start, chapter 6, verse 1, [read v.1-3]. But here’s the problem - if you do something well, people who are smaller than you in their hearts will try to find ways to bring you down. [read v.4-5]. They’re jealous, this is like a political drama with backstabbing and betrayal, and so they’re trying to find ways to bring him down. His work is airtight - can’t mess with that, so it’s got to be his religion. His relationship with God, that’s where we’re going to get him. So the high officers go to the king, and they butter him up, talk about how great he is and how people should only pray to him. And then one of them says, “Hey, I’ve got a cool idea - what if we, oh I don’t know, make a law that people can only pray to you, King Darius, for the next thirty days?! Like, if they pray to anyone else - they get thrown into the Lion’s Den. Oh, and [small voice] we’ll make the law permanent and irrevocable, you won’t be able to change your mind even if you want to later. [big voice] What do you think, sign on the dotted line?” So verse 9, the King signs the law into effect. For 30 days, you can’t pray to anyone except the King.

Now here is the best part of this chapter, 6 verse 10. It says, [read v.10]. “When Daniel learned” - you see it, right? They are making sure that we are aware - Daniel knows about the law. Daniel is well aware he is breaking the law. He goes up to his room, with the WINDOWS WIDE OPEN. You’d think, if he was smart, he’d hide it a little better. Have you guys ever done that thing - where you’re at a restaurant, and you want to say grace - but you sort of wait for the waitress to be gone? You don’t want her to have to stand there awkwardly and so you sort of [crane your neck], I think she’s gone let’s pray now. Like, there are ways to pray subtly! And there’s no rule that says you’ve got to have the windows open. Come on Daniel, close the window, pray in the basement, something. If you’re going to break the rules, could you be a little less obvious about it? But no! This thing that Daniel has, this connection to God is more important than anything else in his life. And so you know the rest of the story - the advisors point it out to the king, the king has no choice but to throw him into the Lion’s pit. Daniel spends all night in that pit and he comes out the other side unharmed, because he was protected by God. 

But let’s go back to the window for a second. Daniel opened the windows and three times a day he prayed to God, just as he had always done. This was a daily habit for David. This was his rhythm, his connection to God - I pray three times a day, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Literally the threat of death couldn’t keep him from worshipping God. He didn’t even hesitate! I think about my life - I love God so much, but the honest truth is that I might have hesitated! Would you? Or let me ask it like this - What keeps you from worshipping? Ah, the Church is so far away from my nice warm bed. I don’t want to get up early. I don’t want to get dressed up, I can’t find my shoes. I’m too busy with sports. I’m too busy with homework, hunting, work, vacation - there are a billion little things we let get in the way. There’s always a reason not to worship. Daniel didn’t waver one inch even in the face of death - but we get huffy if they sing a song I don’t like. Now please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to guilt you or make anybody feel bad. That’s not my point. Just think about Daniel’s life for a second. He could have just not prayed for 30 days. No big deal. There’s no rule that says you must pray three times every day with your windows open towards Jerusalem. But there was something that Daniel got out of that time with God. Something valuable about stopping, taking a moment and talking to God all throughout his day. Whatever benefit Daniel was getting was so awesome it was worth risking his life. Now I don’t know about you, but I want a connection to God like that. To have a connection to my creator, a relationship with God that is so valuable, so precious to you that you would be willing to risk your life, I want a faith like that. That’s why I say I’m not trying to guilt you or pressure you into empty rituals or filling up the seats of a church - that’s not my point. But just imagine praying, like talking with God, and that moment of time with God is so rewarding, so fulfilling that you would literally break the law to keep it up. You wouldn’t trade that moment with God for anything. It would be such a great connection, such a great relationship - it would almost be like, well - love. 

But here’s the problem - I think the truth is that a lot of us don’t have a faith like that. And I know this is a drum that I beat on a lot, but I think the reason a lot of us have a faith we are willing to substitute is because we have a connection to God that is more ritual than relationship. Daniel wasn’t willing to give up his time with God, even if it cost him his life. There are some mornings where I give up my time with God for a couple of tiktok videos. How cheap is my relationship with God if I give up my time with him so easily? But here’s what I want to challenge you with this morning. Maybe the reason we are so willing to give up our time with God in our lives, maybe it’s because we have not gone deep enough into our relationship with God to truly see how valuable it is. Maybe you grew up in West Michigan - the land of a thousand churches. You go to church your whole life, you go through all the motions, but if you’re not experiencing a real connection to God - it all seems sort of empty, inconvenient. And if that’s what you have - if that’s what faith means to you - well then yeah, of course we’re going to let all those little things get in the way, because there’s this empty ritual that you do a couple Sundays a month and you think that’s all there is to organized religion! And if that’s all there is, I promise you I wouldn’t be here. I got better things to do with my time. I am in this room this morning because I genuinely believe this is the best use of my time - to worship with the family of God, to worship with my brothers nd sisters in Christ. Because if you actually find God, if you actually have that moment when you recognize his presence in your life - it is so amazing, you’ll do anything to keep it up. Heck yes - I’ll wake up as early as I need. Heck yes - I’ll drive as far as I need. Yeah, I’ll wear whatever I have to wear. I don’t care about the obstacles, because I found something real and nothing will keep me from it. That’s what Daniel had, and that is what I pray for each and every one of us here today.

What I’m trying to say is that there is a chance that you may not be experiencing God as much as you could be. Do you have a walk with God like Daniel did? Do you wish you did? When I think about it, I’m just so blown away by what that man did. One of the most common things I hear when I talk to pastors of other churches is “where have all the young people gone?” Statistics show that Gen Z is leaving the church to the tune of roughly a million people a year. Where did all the young people go? And it’s like, I know where they all went. They went anywhere else. They went everywhere else. Some are sleeping, some are working, some are playing, traveling - they’re at the grocery store. They did not feel God in the church they grew up in, and so they left. And you always hear the parade of excuses, the rationalizing - well, I don’t like the music, I don’t like the style, I don’t like the preacher, I don’t like the theology, I don’t like getting up early in the morning - but all of those excuses fall away if people are wildly in love with God. And some churches try to address the symptoms. They fix the music, they fix the preaching, they change the expectations of what you wear, they’ll even change the theology - but it doesn’t bring people back, because all of that, it’s just symptoms. All of that stuff doesn’t mean much if the people are not in love with God. But when people encounter love, real love - they will climb over a mountain of broken glass and rip down every single obstacle, they will break through every wall like the kool-aid man to get at it.

Dwight Moody used to say, “Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community.” And then he would tell this story about a little boy who went to church in Chicago. And every Sunday he would go to this Sunday school at the church. Then his parents moved to another part of the city, but the little boy still attended the same Sunday School, even though he had a long tiresome walk each way. One day a friend asked the little boy, “Why do you go so far, there’s plenty of other churches that are just as good, nearer to your home.” And the boy replied, “They may be as good for others, but not for me.” Why not? “Because they really know how to love a fellow over there.” Show me a church where there is love and I will show you a church that is a power in the community. 

I remember a couple of weeks ago, I had this moment. I was standing right there in the doorway. And it was a few minutes before the 10:30 service, and I heard something funny, and I look over to the stage, and our worship leader Katie is entertaining my 2 year old Asher by playing Baby Shark for him on the piano. And I know it was on January 19th, and I know it was the second service, because it actually got caught on the livestream. We run announcements on the screen before we start worship - and at the start of the livestream you can hear Baby shark playing in the background. And that morning as I pan my eyes across the room - I notice my two older boys, Liam and Amos are hanging out over by Jenn and Mark Rubick, playing with their two older boys, and I knew that even though my boys are crazy and energetic, they were in very good hands if they’re hanging out with the Rubicks. At that moment I turned my head and noticed Jack come barrelling out of the Elementary room with Ezra slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. And finally I see a gaggle of middle school girls crunched down around my daughter Maggie as she toddles around by the nursery door. And I just stood there in the doorway for a moment before worship and soaked it up, as my family was tangibly loved by this church. I too drive past a lot of churches to get to this one. Because you know how to love a fella. 

Church, what I want you to realize this morning is that you have the ability to be a reflection of God’s love in this world - with the things we do in this place. Church, I want you to know that it is possible to have an authentic connection with Jesus. To move past rituals, and obligation church - to find a deeper level of connection you can’t get anywhere else. And when you find it, it is the greatest thing you can experience in this life. I wouldn’t ask you to give your life for something less. But because I know how good the love of Jesus is - I will boldly ask you to give up everything to follow him. There was this story Jesus told, and you don’t need to turn to it - but it’s Matthew 13. Verse 44 if you want to write that down and he tells this story, [read v.44]. That’s the whole thing - one verse, two sentences. And I struggled with this story when I was a kid - because I didn’t get it. A guy finds a treasure in a field, puts it back, sells everything he has to buy that field, because that treasure is worth everything. I think for some of us we don’t think of the Kingdom of Heaven as a treasure in a field, we think of it like an ol’ rusty pop can we found in a field, or like a cool rock we find in the field. I found a cool rock, it’s interesting, it’s pretty, take it home, clean it up - looks good on my shelf. That’s our faith - it’s pretty, looks good on my shelf - but it’s not worth giving everything up for. But I look at the story of Daniel, and I look at the teachings of Jesus - and I think about the depth of connection that I have found both in my time with Jesus and in my time with the brothers and sisters of the church - and it leads me to this place where I see what Daniel has, and I want that for you. A deeper level is possible. Authenticity and true value can be found in the person of Jesus. 

Now, if you’re like me and you’re reading this - you’ve got the hook. Alright, I see it - I want that treasure. I want to have faith like Daniel, I want to have a connection with God that is precious and valuable in my life. And the question is HOW? How do I get that? There’s probably a secret prayer right? Or a special spiritual event. There’s a new spiritual practice or habit or book I need to read - but hold on, listen to me, listen to this. If you want to grow in your connection to Jesus - to make that connection more precious and valuable to you, you do the same things that you would do for any other relationship. Just show up. If you want a faith like Daniel, do what Daniel did - what did Daniel do? He carved out time to pray and talk to God three times a day. And that’s it. And maybe that feels disappointing to you - I have a buddy who went on a weight loss journey two years ago. And after a couple of months he posted this tweet that said, “I regret to inform you that diet and exercise do in fact work.” It made me laugh so hard because… I think so many of us are trying to find a short-cut for spiritual growth. But these aren’t new problems, and they don’t have trick answers. Just show up. Pray. Read your bible. Get into community with brothers and sisters in Christ. Follow the teachings of Jesus - serve the least and the lost in our community. These are the things we do to make our connection to Jesus more valuable in our life, more precious in our hearts.

You know actually, I tried to write a different message this week. In our network of churches, in the zero collective - we write our own sermons, but we gather to go over our outlines. And I had an outline for a sermon about the Lion’s Den. I wanted to write about how the Lion’s Den was this catalytic event that grew Daniel’s faith - but then I had a friend, Pastor Kyle from Story Church. And he pushed back and said, “did the Lion’s Den do anything for Daniel? Or did he already have a rock solid faith?” And I had this moment of realization, and I had to scrap half my sermon to adjust. And I’m so grateful for his input, that’s why I want to give him a shout out and say thank you - Daniel is not a story of overcoming incredible odds, and dangerous situations - it’s a story of boring, consistent, showing up for God, and how that made Daniel unshakeable, now matter what life threw at him. 

One of the things I introduced when I became the lead pastor of this church was something I call the Center Circles. It’s our process for growing closer to Jesus. It’s just three words - Christ. Community. Co-Mission. Three steps to help you grow. The first circle is Christ. For a lot of people, that’s Sunday morning. That’s the first point of contact - we’re just introducing you to the fact that there is something more out there. If you use the image of fire, that’s a spark. And after people have worshipped with us for a while, we really want to encourage them to get into a Community. For us it’s Life Groups, and if I can put a little plug - we are looking for a few new Life Group Leaders. We have a couple groups that are finishing up, and we want to launch some more. And I’m just going to put it out there - I think we need a “parents of teenagers group” a “20-somethings group” and maybe a Gen X group? Like, approaching retirement? There are people in this church, and they don’t have a group for them yet - and that’s going to be one of my projects for the next few weeks and months. And on a personal note - I’m part of the men’s group that meets on Thursday mornings, and I just feel bad for everybody else because my life group’s cooler than yours. And I want to repeat myself - Life Group are not some magic formula. We’re not doing anything brilliant. We’re just showing up for one another, getting in the word, praying and yet those connections have become so valuable to me. It’s so early in the morning, and there always seems to be a Wednesday night snow storm - but I wouldn’t trade it. With the metaphor of fire, you start with a spark, then you add twigs to the fire, little sticks and the flame catches. We start with Christ, then we get into community, and finally we have the Co-Mission. This is where the teachings of Jesus, which have been nurtured and grown in community, grow big enough to give off heat. The community around us starts to notice what’s going on in our lives. We take our faith and we put it into action in our community. This is Hand 2 hand, right? Feeding hungry children in our community. This is Hope Unexpected. Caring for single mom’s in our community - helping them rebuild their lives. And we don’t limit it to those programs, that’s just what our church can partner with the budget and resources we have. We can always volunteer outside the church. And sometimes Life Groups will serve together to do a Hand 2 Hand packing or a meal at Hope Unexpected or something like that. As Center Church grows in Byron Center - from Christ as our foundation, into Community, out into the world on Co-Mission - I don’t want attendance numbers to be what we are known for. I love to see a full church, but that’s not the reputation I care about. I want people outside the church to notice the heat, the warmth that we bring to Byron Center because we are building the fire of our faith. I want people outside our church to say about Center, “Those Center Church folk? Let’s get them involved - because they are on a mission. They are focused on growing in simple, consistent ways. It seems like they have found something valuable. 

If you want to build a resilient life, like Daniel, who could face the Lion’s Den without even blinking - just show up for God, show up for each other - in small, consistent ways, and we will change the world. Let’s pray.