Ablaze: Change of Expectation

Pastor Burcham's Sermon

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Have you heard about the little girl who had a birthday party on Saturday? She turned 7 years old. She was so excited about the party, so excited about being 7. She got to church the next day and, at the end of the service, she looked at the pastors as they were coming out. She says, “I'm 7. I turned 7 yesterday, and I had a big birthday party yesterday. And I got 7 whole dollars on my birthday.” The pastor was impressed, of course, and she said, “And I'd like you to know that, today at offering, I put all $7.00 in the offering plate.” Well, the pastor congratulated her on being 7 and said, “My, what a generous little girl you are to put all of that in the offering plate.” And she said, “Oh, I know I was generous and I'm hoping God will start letting me do some of the things I want to do from now on.”

You see, she had some expectations there, some expectations about what her faith was all about. Now we could dismiss that as saying, “Well, that's just a child's way of reasoning and certainly none of us would ever think we could pay God off, that if we put a little bit more extra in the offering plate, then somehow that gives us free reign to live anyway we want to live.” But I wonder. I wonder if there isn't some sort of hint of that expectation, though, in all of us.

For instance, haven't you been surprised when something bad happens in your life? Doesn't it catch you off guard when you hit one of those valleys in life, when some challenge comes along and, all of a sudden, you're surprised it happened? I don't know, maybe you lose your job. Maybe you don't make the team. Maybe you find out your new home has termites. I don't know, it could be anything. It could be something that's just a little bit irritating to something that is absolutely catastrophic. But yet we're surprised something negative could happen to us. Usually when it happens, we follow down a certain road of comparisons, that is, we search out and we find the person we know above the lowest moral character, someone who's just a questionable individual, and we say to ourselves, “Now, nothing ever seems to happen to them. Why does it always happen to me?” In fact, haven't each one of us, at one time or another, said, “You know, what have I done to deserve this?”

We're getting dangerously close to our 7-year-old friend. You see, the implication is if I'm a faithful follower of Christ, if I do the things I'm supposed to do, then somehow life is going to treat me different than everyone else, life for me should be a little bit easier, life should be smoother, God somehow should reward me and I shouldn't have the same challenges as everyone else because, after all, if I'm being faithful to Him, I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do. We have this expectation of what the life of a faithful Christian should be.

That expectation, my Friends, needs to change. Because we set ourselves up for some serious challenges to our faith if we believe our life is going to be any different than the life of anyone else in the world. Because the fact of the matter is we're going to face the same challenges, we're going to face the same circumstances as everyone else in life. In fact, we might even face more than other people.

Now I know you had to live through that long Old Testament lesson so it's possible, by the time we got to the Gospel lesson, you just kind of shut things off. I understand that. But Jesus said some interesting things about us there. He said in Matthew 10, “Be on your guard against men. They will hand you over to local councils. They will flog you in the Synagogues. On my account, you will be brought before governors and kings.” And at the end of that lesson, He said, “Because of me, all men will hate you.” You see, not only will we face all the same challenges as the rest of the world but, on top of that, we're probably going to be in for some unique challenges because of our faith in Christ, because we want to remain one of His true followers. That means we have to change our expectations of what it means to be faithful Christians.

A case study, really, a case study of three individuals who have the right expectations for life and who face the challenges of life in the power and in the spirit of God comes to us from the book of Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There are three things we can learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they have the right expectations for life. The first thing we learn from them is we need to be prepared. What I mean by that is we need to have the right expectations of life and then be prepared accordingly.

Martin Luther once said, “You can fall off both sides of the horse. The trick is to stay on the horse.” What I mean by that is there are two ways we could fall off the horse. We could have the wrong interpretation that being a Christian means our life should be free from trouble, that we shouldn't have any challenges in our life. That's falling off on the right. But also, we could fall off on the left. And the left says, “Well, if I'm a Christian and Jesus says these things, really, unless I'm going through some dire straits in my life, unless I'm facing some challenge, unless I'm being persecuted, suffering for the Lord in some way, then I might call into question my faith and my commitment to God.” And neither one of them, either side, is really true. It's in the middle. You see, God says we're to enjoy this life. But He also lets us know there are going to be challenges in life. Jesus Himself said, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus says we're to enjoy the life we have this side of heaven. This world, this universe was created for us. God created all of that and the crowning achievement was human beings He put there for us to enjoy all He's done for us. He gave us dominion over all of creation. We're to enjoy the life God has given us.

But, at the same time, we know, because of the fall, there are challenges that come into play. It was right there when we fell into sin God says, “I hate to tell you but, from now on, by the sweat of your brow will you produce food from the earth.” Because we live in a fallen, sinful world, there will be those times, those valleys in life, those difficult times we have to go through. It's the right expectation of knowing there's going to be both. We are to enjoy life but know there are going to be challenges as well.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have this down. Chapter 1 we find out the Jews had been taken into captivity over in Babylon . And you have King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man of the world at that time. He has them over there and, out of all of the Jews, he picks a certain number of them that he wants to be trained up. He wants to give them special education. Well, of all of those, there are four individuals who rise to the top, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel. Now these four guys are going to live in the palace with the king. So the best of the best is going to be for them. Well, I have to tell you, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were enjoying life. It was good! They had all the comforts. They weren't living out with the rest of the folks. They're living in the palace but, at the same time, they understood there were going to be challenges.

The first challenge came up when, all of a sudden, you have food from the king's banquet table brought to them. That sounds pretty good. Except it had food God had declared as being unclean. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel say, “We won't eat that food .” You see, they remained firm. They understood there were going to be peaks and valleys. In other words, they were prepared.

The first thing they needed to be was they needed to be prepared. Prepared with the right expectations, prepared for what life would bring to them. Now being prepared, I know it seems to state the obvious, means you're ready ahead of time. You don't wait until you hit the valley but, before you hit the valley, you're ready for the situation. It's kind of like any officer I've every talked to, any officer, police officer, male or female, the last thing they ever want to do is fire their weapon. They hope and they pray they never have to fire that weapon. But you can be assured, if they're in a situation where their life is threatened or someone else's life is threatened, that will not be the first time they un-holster that gun and it will not be the first time they've pulled the trigger on that gun. Even though they don't want to, they have spent hours, countless hours on the range getting themselves ready. So, in case that situation comes up, they're prepared.

We need to be prepared. We need to prepare our hearts and our minds to understand life is going to be full of peaks and valleys and we're going to be ready. You see, the challenge, as when we're on the peaks, when we're on the mountaintops, when life is going well, that's pretty hard then to focus in on our spiritual life because we could convince ourselves, “What do we really need God for right now? Life is going rather well.” But it's at that time we need to draw close to God so, when we hit the valleys, we have that same faith and strength and commitment. That's what you see with Meshach and Abednego and Shadrach. Things are going well for them in the palace but yet they stay firm to their faith. They say, “No, we're not going to eat the meats that were sacrificed. We're not going to have the unclean food that is here. We're going to stay true to our God. We're going to remain faithful to Him.”

You and I need to remain faithful and strong in every season of life, whether things are going well or things aren't going so well, so we are prepared. It means we have to spend time in God's word studying it. We need to spend time talking to God in prayer. We need to partake of His sacrament whenever it's offered so our faith can be built up through those means of grace, that we can remain strong in our commitment to God, which means we're prepared. We're prepared for all seasons of life.

The second thing we learn from these three guys is to be convicted. Conviction means we're willing to act according to our faith. Conviction begins with courage. Now I think you'd go a long ways to find three guys that had more courage than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Think about it for a moment. They have these high-ranking positions and now, all of a sudden, Nebuchadnezzar builds this golden idol, who knows why, but he builds it and he makes the command, “Whenever you hear every instrument in the book and then some, fall down and worship it.” They don't. Alright, well, King Nebuchadnezzar is angry with that. But did you notice he gave them a second chance? He likes these three guys, remember? He chose them from all the rest. In Chapter 1, we found out God had really gifted them with knowledge and wisdom, alright? So really, it's jealously on the fact of the astrologers that they turned them in. So Nebuchadnezzar recognizes that. He brings them in and, even though they're supposed to be immediately thrown into the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar gives them a second chance. You know, he says, “Now, boys, I'm pretty upset with you. Now listen, when you hear every musical instrument we have here played, fall down and worship the idol.” These three guys say, “No.” No? “No, we're not going to do it. We don't even need to defend ourselves, Oh King.” Think for a moment. They can feel the heat of the furnace on their back. How many ways they could justify their actions? You know, they could just go through the motions and not really worship the idol. They could convince themselves by saying, “Well, you know, it's probably better off for our people that we stay alive and in these influential positions than to be burned up as toast in the furnace.” There are all kinds of ways they could have justified their actions but it was courage, raw courage that said, “No, we will stand by our convictions and, Oh King, we're not doing it. We're not falling down in front of this idol.” That kind of courage only comes from God. That kind of courage only comes from being infused with God's spirit. Because it's God's Holy Spirit that gave them the courage to stand up for that. It's the same kind of Holy Spirit we see happening in the New Testament that we see happening today.

Last week, we celebrated Easter. Where did we find the disciples on resurrection Sunday? Scripture tells us they're hiding out behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. These guys are scared. They don't want anyone to know where they are. They're afraid the same fate Jesus got was going to be theirs. They are frightened but, 50 days later, on Pentecost, when Jesus said the promised Holy Spirit would come and that Holy Spirit came and infused those disciples, all of a sudden, they leave the locked doors, they're on the streets of Jerusalem , and they're preaching the gospel to anyone and everyone who will listen. It was God's Holy Spirit that gave them the courage. It's that same Holy Spirit that was given to you at your baptism. The same Holy Spirit lives in your heart. It's the same Holy Spirit that gives you the courage to live by your convictions. And conviction means you trust God. You trust God above everything else. And that's really the hallmark for these three guys.

Key verses for me in Chapter 3 of Daniel have to be Verses 17 and 18. They're talking to the king. “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. He will rescue us from your hand, Oh King. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Oh King, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.” There are three things you can pick up from what these guys did. First of all, their solid belief that God is able to save them. “Don't care how hot you make the furnace. Don't care whatever you're going to do to us, God is more than able to save us.” “The second thing is, until proven otherwise, we believe God will save us. Until it's shown to us differently, we will firmly believe we will not budge, that God will save us from the furnace.” And then the most incredible one is, “But even if He doesn't, that's okay, because we trust and believe God knows a whole lot more than we do. And if it's God's decision that we become burnt toast, then that must be the best thing for God's kingdom and we still won't serve your idols. We still won't worship your gods.”

You see, conviction says we believe that, indeed, all things are possible with God. We believe God is able to do anything and everything in our life, God is able to rescue us from whatever situation we might be in, that He is able to pull us out of the valley and put us back up on the mountaintop. Second of all, we believe until proven otherwise that God will do it. When we pray to God, we pray with the confidence God is going to answer our prayer in the affirmative. If we're asking God, “God, I don't want to go through bankruptcy. I know you're able to save me from that and I believe you will do that,” firm belief God will rescue you from wherever it is you're at. But then thirdly and most importantly, we pray to God, “But your will be done.” In other words, “God, I trust you so much that you know a whole lot more than I know. You're looking at all of history and I'm looking at just a sliver. You know what is best for me and what's best for your plan for your kingdom so, even if you don't rescue me, I still worship you and I still trust you and I still believe your will be done.” That's being convicted.

My Friends, if we are prepared and we are convicted, then be ready to be blessed by God. That's the third thing we see happening to our three guys in the story. They are blessed by God. Oh sure, we can look at it first of all and we can say they are blessed worldly. Nebuchadnezzar sets them up in an even higher position than what they were before. He pours out wealth upon them, power, and authority but the real blessing, the real blessing for these three guys was the spiritual blessing they received. Can you imagine? They're standing before Nebuchadnezzar and they have courage. They have courage to say, “Oh, King, we will not bow down and worship.” But you have to know inside they're scared. You see, courage isn't a lack of fear. Courage means you act in spite of your fear. They're still scared. They're fearful inside. They're tossed into the furnace and then, when God acts in this miraculous way and God is walking around with them inside the fiery furnace, when those three guys came out, their spirits had to soar as they saw what God had done, what He did to Nebuchadnezzar's heart and now how all of the land could worship the one true God, the true blessings they received were the spiritual blessings.

If we are prepared and we are convicted, my Friends, we are going to be blessed by God. Sometimes it's hard to see, but we are blessed when we go through the valleys of life. When we face those trials, those tribulations, those struggles, it's at those times we learn to trust God. It's usually at those times we turn to God more than any time else. It's during those times God is shaping us and molding us. Can't you look back even this morning to some time you went through that it was an incredible challenge to your life and now you can look back and you can see how God was working and how you're a changed person? You're a stronger person. You have a deeper faith and commitment to God. That's what happens through the valleys of life. God shapes and molds us so, when we come out on the other end, we're stronger. We're much stronger than we were when we began. And our relationship with God is much stronger and it's much deeper. That's the greatest blessing we could receive. That's what scripture says when God says, “All things will work together for those who love Him.” It's not fun to go through the tough times. They never end soon enough for us. But the promise we have is, when we come out on the other end, we're going to be a different person, a stronger person, and a better person.

It all begins with our expectations. What does it mean to be a faithful follower of Christ? Well, it means we're not going to fall off the horse on one side or the other. Life will have valleys. Life will have peaks. The key is we're prepared, always strong in our faith, always close to our God. We're convicted. We're willing to act upon the beliefs we have. And then, my Friends, we are blessed. Amen.