KNOW YOUR LIMIT AND PLAY WITHIN IT! “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 …In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.” Daniel 1:17, 20

The Context of the book of Daniel The record in the book of Daniel begins over 2,600 years ago in 598 B.C. Over a span of about twenty years, Israel is systematically ruined on three different fronts. Politics – trouble with the Babylonians Religious desecration - Nebuchadnezzar ransacked the temple, then destroys it in 586 B.C. Social ruin - Nebuchadnezzar deports the elite from Jerusalem, pressing them into his service. Among the first to be deported were four specific Israelites – Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

The first thing the Babylonians do is provide the four young men with new names. Daniel, which means “God is my Judge”, becomes Belteshazzar which means “protect the king”. Hananiah which means “Yahweh has been gracious”, becomes Shadrach meaning “under Aku’s command”. Mishael which means “Who is comparable to God?”, becomes Meshach, meaning “Who is comparable to Sheshach?”. Azariah which means “Yahweh has helped”, becomes Abednego meaning “servant of Nebo”. The Babylonians have sought to erase any reference to the God of Israel – Yahweh – from these young men.

Step one in engaging missionally is to KNOW WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST. Name changes are often associated with encounters with God, and were/are a huge deal to the people of the Middle East; last names were assumed on family lineage. Good father = prestige, bad father = scorn … to understand what it truly meant to be a son or daughter of your father, you had to come to an understanding of who your father was and what he stood for. “… if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) “ … so in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”. (Galatians 3:26-27)

By placing our faith in Jesus Christ, we too become son and daughters of God! Just as a Jewish person would have to understand who his or her father was to understand their identity in him, so too do we have to come to a knowledge and understanding of Jesus to know what it means to be “in Christ”. The first question we need to ask is “who am I in Christ”?

Secondly, Daniel needed to KNOW THE CULTURE that he was now being immersed in. Daniel and his three friends understood very clearly the culture they were engaging and it even informs their decision to resist the food and wine offered them from the king’s table. Why did Daniel and his friends go on a “vegetable and water” hunger strike? If the Babylonians were forcefully setting upon them new names, Daniel and his friends would set it upon their hearts not to declare allegiance to King Nebuchadnezzar by eating food from his table. Their strike is an act of cultural rebellion.

Because we are concerned about the influence of culture – and rightfully so – we retreat from culture, creating all sorts of barriers around ourselves. The result of this bubbling is that we fail to engage the culture around us in an effective manner. The second question we need to ask is “what is the culture I seek to engage all about?”.

Because he knew who has was as a follower of Yahweh and because he knew the culture that he was engaging, it allowed him to set some boundaries around how he would engage in Babylonian culture – this allowed Daniel to KNOW HIS LIMIT AND PLAY WITHIN IT. Daniel and his friends could have bubbled themselves from the Babylonian culture, but they instead walk a delicate balance exhibiting faithfulness to God in a hostile culture. Daniel and his friends knew God was at work in this culture and this allowed them to take calculated risks based on their faith in God. Do you believe God is uniquely at work in the pagan world around you? Are you prepared to take calculated risks based on that assumption, knowing that God will deliver the results?

The Outcome God is uniquely at work even in this foreign land The faith of the four friends is rewarded, setting the stage for more of God’s action. God continued to favour the four friends not only giving them knowledge and understanding, but enabling them to be ten times better in wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and enchanters in the whole kingdom. God delivered the results big time.

A Recap of Daniel 1 Daniel shows us a unique way of engaging a hostile culture. He does so by: recognizing who he is in God’s eyes taking time to get to know the hostile culture engaging culture within certain limits God blesses Daniel and he and his four friends “enter the king’s service”; they are rewarded for their show of faith. Because of a calculated risk based on God’s presence with them, they gain a greater platform from which to operate within Babylonian culture.

We too live in a hostile culture. We must engage our culture meaningfully, without compromising what it means to follow Jesus. We must: fully wrestle through the meaning of what it means to follow Jesus become students of our culture engage our culture from a boundaried position We must be willing to take calculated risks based on the assumption that God is active in our world and that He will deliver the results. Then we should expect to receive His blessing, knowing that by His blessing, you’ll be pulled into deeper and more intimate conflict with the hostile culture around you.