Remain Faithful to Your God!

1st Sunday of End Time, Reformation, 10/30/11


Daniel 6:10-12, 16-23

Remain Faithful to Your God!
I. Hold steadfast to his truth.
II. Live confident of victory.


I’m sure that most of you, if not all of you, are acquainted with the term “situation ethics.” One of the simplest definitions of that term is that right and wrong depend on the situation. What’s wrong in one instance might be right in another. Situation ethics is closely aligned with the outlook that everyone should simply do what they think is best. Another way of saying that is to do your own thing.

But God is nowhere to be found in such thinking. Situation ethics can’t abide with the statement, “Thus says the Lord,” and militates against absolute truth. It views God’s word only as a suggestion or one of many opinions to be considered as the individual determines what course of action to take. In the end, situation ethics has this single goal, “What’s best for me?”

There’s no indication that one of the greatest believers in the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel, felt any pull from situation ethics as he decided which course of action he should take. Rather, God’s word paints us the opposite picture. Daniel knew and believed the truth of God’s word which applied to every facet of his life. He would rather lose his life than comprise a single letter of that truth.

This morning we join our fellow Lutherans in praising God for transmitting that truth to us. We have God’s word in its truth and purity. That truth centers in our salvation by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. That truth alone has brought us into fellowship with God and through that truth alone we’ll remain in fellowship with God. Bending or breaking that truth only leads us away from our God and his eternal love for us.

So, as we ponder how blessed we are to have that truth, let’s resolve to remain in it and, in doing so, remain faithful to our God. Remain faithful to your God! May our God fill us with that resolve as we examine this familiar event in the life of Daniel.

Part I.

Calling this is a familiar event in the Old Testament might be an understatement. Daniel in the lions’ den is one of the most well-known events in the Bible. But how much of Daniel’s life do you recall? Recalling those events in his life helps us understand the situation he was in. He had come to Babylon as one of the first exiles from Jerusalem in the year 605 BC. As a young man of exceptional abilities, he was chosen to serve the King of Babylon. As we meet Daniel in our text, he had likely been doing that for the past 6 decades, making him about 80 years old. And it wasn’t just any service that Daniel performed. He was the highest ranking official in all of the empire.

When a man named Darius became the new king, he kept Daniel in that high position, much to the regret of the other leading government officials in Babylon. You see, even though Daniel served so faithfully, they were jealous of his position and looked intently for a way to discredit him before the king. Finding none at all, they plotted to bring him down. They would use the fact that Daniel was a faithful follower of the Lord to erase him for good.

And they also used the ego of Darius. They suggested that Darius make and enforce a law that required his subjects to pray only to him for the next 30 days. Darius was only too happy to sign that suggestion into law. Violations were punishable by death.

So, what would Daniel do? This was the situation he was in. What were his options? He could have blamed God. After all, it was obvious God had placed him there and now God was allowing this to happen to him. How dare he?

He also could have found ways around the law. He could continued praying to the Lord by making it appear that he was praying to the king, but in his heart praying to the one true God and only he and God would know it.

A third option would have been to put his prayer life on hold. After all, the law was in effect only for 30 days. Daniel could have felt it best simply to comply with the law and save his skin and his high government position, a position which he used to help carry out God’s plan for the Jewish exiles. Situation ethics.

But look what Daniel did. The Bible says, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” Daniel had a prayer routine three times every day. It involved praying in a place where he could look towards Jerusalem although it was far away. While he prayed in his home, it was in a place where others could see him if they wished. Daniel continued that routine in spite of the new law against it because he knew that any deviation from his former practice would be a compromise to his faith. This was not a time for situation ethics. This was a situation that called for a clear confession and a bold stance on the truth of God’s word. Any deviation in his routine at this time would be saving his own skin and would not bring glory to God, and that’s a sin against the First Commandment.

So he did what God’s word called for him to do. He placed his life in the hands of his loving Creator and Savior and got down on his knees and prayed to his God just as he always had. From the way our text reads, it doesn’t sound like he agonized over this decision. It was a no-brainer. Daniel was not going to disregard God’s truth. He was going to remain faithful to his God by steadfastly holding to that truth.

Some would call Daniel’s actions foolish. They would advise him to lose this small battle in order to live another day and win the war. Other’s might call him brave, and would admit they wouldn’t be up to making the same decision he made. At the risk of speaking for Daniel, I think Daniel would say it was simply a matter of trust. Here’s what God said in his word, so that’s what Daniel believed and that’s what he did.

Today we’re celebrating the truth of God’s word and part of that celebration is making the same bold stance on God’s word that Daniel did. God’s word says much that our world won’t abide by. Even many Christians have decided to turn from what his word says because it seems to go against what is reasonable, politically correct, or popular. I’m overjoyed to hear that you stand with me on the truth of his word. But let’s recognize how difficult that is. It will be all too easy to compromise that truth and indulge in our pet sins. We can justify a sinful action because of the mistreatment we’ve received. We can justify speaking badly about others because of what they said about us. We can justify harboring resentment and discontent. After all, we’re the victims. The truth about ourselves is that we’ve failed to be faithful to our God. But that’s where trust comes in—a trust in the central truth of God’s word. Our forgiveness has been won for us by Christ on the cross. He gave his life for us. He won eternal life for us. Don’t ever waver in that faith! Remain faithful to your God and hold steadfast to his truth!

Part II.

But now for the rest of Daniel’s story. He paid the highest human price for his faithfulness to his God. He was thrown into a den of hungry lions.

Imagine Daniel’s thoughts as he was led to what looked like certain death. He was the one who had always served his Lord and his king faithfully. Even though the Babylonian government was filled with corruption, greed and deceptions, Daniel never played that game. He always tried to do the right thing. And look where it was getting him—he was about to become a feast for lions. Do you think he wanted to scream at God? Do you suppose he felt it was unfair at the very least and an utter travesty of divine justice at worst? Was he tempted to think, “If this is the way you treat your faithful people, Lord, then I want nothing to do with you”?

We read nothing of that at all. Instead, it appears that Daniel took the same approach to martyrdom that great men of faith in the New Testament took, men like Stephen, Paul and Peter. They refused to compromise God’s word and would glorify God in their death just as they did in their life. They had that attitude because they knew, just as Daniel did, that either way, they win.

Daniel knew that death was a very real possibility. No one made it out of lions’ dens alive. But if Daniel died, then this was the way God had chosen to take Daniel out of this life after years of serving him to life with him in heaven. And God would be glorified.

But Daniel also knew there was another possibility. Decades earlier Daniel’s three friends had been rescued from death in a fiery furnace by one of God’s angels. Daniel knew that God could use one of his angels to rescue him if that’s what he chose to do. And that’s exactly what happened and God was glorified.

As Daniel remained faithful to God he knew that he would overcome and finally win the ultimate victory.

We have that same assurance. We’ll sing in our closing hymn, “Though all may be gone, our victory is won, the kingdom’s ours forever.” That victory comes to us by faith in Jesus, who won heaven for us. His death means our life. His resurrection means our resurrection and eternal life. No one and nothing can take that from us as long as we remain faithful to him. On this Reformation Sunday, resolve to remain faithful to your God. Amen.