In the World but of the Kingdom 1984

Book of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men, but have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and have found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake, and you have not grown weary, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned your first love.

Remember, then, from what you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. You have abandoned your first love.

Why does that happen so much? Why is it that that love seems to cool down? What do we have to do to get back to that first love and hang on to it and live it all the way to the end? Jumping over to Revelation, chapter 3, verse 1. To the angel of the church in Sarnas write, the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works. You have the name of being alive, and you are dead. Awake and strengthen what remains.

It is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep that and repent.

If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. You have a name for being alive, but you're dead. Why is it that that fire dies down, that zeal sags, and after a while we have the appearance of being alive, people looking at us think we're alive, but we know that we're dead in here, and so does God.

What do we have to do to wake up and get that life and walk in that life and stay alive and never again become a shell? Skipping down to verse 14 of chapter 3 of Revelation. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works.

You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.

Lukewarm. There was a time when we were burning hot, imperceptibly, bit by bit by bit, the temperature dropped slowly down to the place where now we're just lukewarm. What do we have to do to get hot and stay hot and never diminish in that heat until we get to the end of the road? There are two men who have lived not too many miles from Detroit, who in years past were leaders in a retreat movement that was very, very effective.

They would take people away for a weekend or for a longer period sometimes, and they would lead them into the presence of God, help them to come to the place where they're again fired up. And they would come back from these retreats. The people would return from these retreats to their homes, their jobs, their churches, determined to live a radically committed life and in no way compromised.

After about two weeks, the fervor would begin to cool and in about two months, it was as if they'd never been on that retreat, and in some cases, they were worse off than they were before they ever went. These two men came to the conclusion that if we're going to keep our zeal and that heat burning all the time, they came to the conclusion that it was necessary somehow to become almost physically separated from the rest of the world. And so they became a means by which a new form of Christian community emerged, which is extremely impressive.

People who are in this community, many of us know some of them. You know, they keep going, burning hot, five, seven, ten years. The only drawback, the price they pay, is an almost physical separation from the rest of the world.

Some of them still have jobs. They may be working hospitals as doctors or nurses. Some may work as secretaries.

But even those who have jobs outside the community are so absorbed in the life of the community, they have very, very little contact. Now, we're not knocking what they're doing. I mean, we just have to admit, at least they stay hot.

But here, most of us are convinced under God that we are to stay in the world, hold our jobs, be with our families, maintain those relationships with relatives and friends and neighbors, circulate in a world where there are all kinds of distractions and problems and temptations, and still remain hot. And never get lukewarm. Is this possible? Well, Jesus expected it of the seven churches in Revelation.

And he expects it of us. Reading from the book of Daniel, chapter 6, verse 1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps to be throughout the whole kingdom, and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above the other presidents and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

Then the presidents and satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful, and no error was found in him. Then these men said, We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, O king Darius, live forever.

All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, the satraps, the counselors, and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict that whoever makes petition to any god or man for 30 days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document so that it cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore, king Darius, sign the document and the interdict.

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem, and he got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as he had done previously. Daniel didn't get lukewarm. He didn't grow dim.

He didn't lose his first love. He kept right on going. Now, we can imagine that perhaps Daniel had some friends who were radically committed Jews to the kingdom of God.

And perhaps they met with Daniel one time and said, Look, man, we're going to have to get out of this city or we'll never keep our vision. And so one night they escaped over the wall of Babylon and headed for the desert and formed their community of believers out in the wilderness. And there they maintained their vision of God.

Now, we can't knock that. If that's what they did, then perhaps their prayers helped other people, but they were never seen again in Babylon. Then perhaps, without a doubt, Daniel had friends who, being in Babylon, began to settle down.

Well, here's where we are. We're in Babylon. And pretty soon they became less and less Hebrews, more and more Babylonians, until finally their vision of God was totally gone.

And they were lost in the realm of Babylon with mind and body and spirit. But here we have Daniel functioning in Babylon in the very upper echelons of power and never losing his vision, paying whatever price he has to pay to keep that vision. How does he do it? Well, he doesn't do it by wearing a polka dot shirt to show how different he is from everybody else.

I hope nobody has a polka dot shirt on today. I don't know, you know, anyway. Nor does he do it by finding the most broken down chariot in the city to prove that he's more pious than anybody else.

Nor does he do it by finding a chariot with all the gadgets on it to prove that he's more successful, therefore blessed of God, than anyone else. Nor does he do it by tying the Torah to his head to prove that he's holier than everybody else. Nor does he do it by joining a commune The man is absolutely too busy to be part of a commune, even a Christian commune.

He's got work to do, and the work he has to do won't allow him the time to be spending with his commune all of days. It's his heart. Daniel's heart is radically committed, genuinely on fire for God.

So much so that he just can't be sucked in to the rat race of Babylon. He's in Babylon, and he's working in Babylon, and he works so well, functions so effectively, he gets promoted again and again and again, but his heart is not there. His heart is in God.

Daniel knows that he doesn't belong to Babylon, even though he's there functioning as a high official. Daniel knows that he belongs to the kingdom of God, and Daniel expresses his commitment to the kingdom in five specific ways. Basically, the book of Daniel is given to us for this purpose, to see these things, five ways in which you and I are called to express our commitment to the kingdom of God.

And if we will commit ourselves and express our commitment in these ways, we'll stay hot, right in the middle of battle. First of all, Daniel prayed. When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house, where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem, and he got down upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

For Daniel, prayer is the source of his life with God. I can't survive without this. So if the lions get me, they get me.

I'm going to keep praying. And this is equally true for us. No more can we survive in God, in the realm of Babylon, in which we live, without prayer than we can survive in the physical realm without breath.

The atmosphere and the system of Babylon will do everything it can to discourage our praying. First of all, to fill our heads with all kinds of junk to convince us that it's useless. Man, all you're doing is psyching yourself up.

You're wasting your time. Nothing ever happens. You're crazy.

Or to lie to us, or to distract us, or to put us to sleep, or to have us so full of other things there's nothing left, no time left for prayer. But if we're going to make it, we're only going to make it if there's a discipline of prayer. And you say, I don't know how to pray.

Nobody knows how to pray. We don't know how to pray as we ought, Paul says. The Spirit helps us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

But you have to at least do what Daniel did. Get to the place. Go into your house, shut the door, and open that window that opens, faces the heavenly Jerusalem.

And let the light of the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom of God, come down into you and renew you as you speak to the living God. Cry out to Him. Intercede for people.

This is the basic, fundamental foundation of our life. You can have all the correct theology, you can believe all the proper doctrines. If there's no prayer, there's no life.

And so if we're going to stay hot and not sink down into lukewarmness and not lose our first love, this is essential. Second thing about Daniel. Daniel kept his life simple.

Reading from the book of Daniel again, in chapter 1, verse 5, a passage that describes when he first arrived as one of the young men, captives from the land of Judah. The king assigned to these young men a daily portion of the rich food which the king ate and of the wine which he drank. And they were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's rich food or with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. See, and the idea of only eating vegetables, it's not what, as Jesus says, goes into the mouth, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles us.

True. But this was a sign of something even more basic. What comes in to our heart, through our eye and our ear and our imagination and our memory is what causes the junk to come out of our mouths in time and in our hands.

And Daniel kept it simple. Kept his diet simple. Wouldn't allow himself to get distracted.

And Daniel and his companions basically fed on the bread of God. A word from God was what they needed and what they sought and what they got. Which gave them the wisdom to know what other things had to be pushed aside.

The same is true for us. The king's rich food for us may be this compulsion to always get the latest news. News radio 95, it's four o'clock, let's hear it.

Five o'clock, did anything happen? Six o'clock, maybe something happened. Or it may be the compulsion to get in all the latest entertainment. Oh, it's marvelous, you can't miss it.

Five new ways to make more money. Or it may be that we're absolutely consumed with an obsession with clothes or an obsession with the latest stereo equipment or the hottest Christian fad going among all the Christians. Or some, you know, my favorite political crusade to the point where I forget what I'm even here for.

First, he kept his life simple. Our Lord did the same thing. He deliberately kept it simple.

Evil is not simple, evil is complicated. Very complex, we can't figure it out. But the kingdom of God and our relationship with God has to be simple.

This is why Jesus said, unless you repent and become as little children, you'll never enter the kingdom. Keep it simple. Get down to that basic diet of beans and water, the living bread, a word from God.

Not just mechanically reading your Bible and thinking it's going to come into you like an injection. But a living word from the mouth of God that's hot and alive. And settle for nothing less than this.

Lord, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Be not silent unto me, speak to me. And he will.

And by the power of a clear, simple word from God, day by day, we'll have the wisdom to know what things to chuck out of our lives so that they're clear. Daniel stayed in touch, stayed in union with the body, with his brothers. Reading again from Daniel chapter 2, the time the king had a dream, he was troubled by the dream, wouldn't tell any of the wise men even what the dream was, but he wanted an interpretation.

And everybody says, what are you asking for? This is impossible. So the king's going to have everybody killed. Daniel hears about it.

He goes to the king and besought the king, chapter 2, verse 16, to appoint him a time that he might show the king the interpretation. Daniel doesn't have the interpretation, but he's convinced that God will give it to him. After he gets the appointment to tell the king what his dream is all about, he runs back home.

Daniel went to his house and made known the matter to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, his brothers, in the faith, and told them to seek the mercy of God, of the God of heaven, concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision in the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Daniel didn't go around like a one-man show, a lone ranger. Nor did Daniel find three companions that he could manipulate and push around and call it fellowship. He was in submission to those men as they were to him.

It was a mutual submission, and there was a unity there. Our Lord does the same thing. From the minute he begins his ministry until he's hanging on that cross, he is in submission to his father first, but he's also in union with men and women who pray with him, share the burden, walk with him.

They're there all the time. Peter, James, and John stick with me. Stay awake while I go over here and pray.

He needs them. And who do we think we are that we can make it by ourselves? There's no way we'll ever survive in Babylon as little lone rangers. Whether we like it or not, somewhere we belong in the body.

Maybe not here, maybe somewhere else, but somewhere. And wherever it is, there are going to be brothers and sisters who will sometimes rub us the wrong way and misunderstand us. It doesn't make any difference.

In union with them, we pray, we share, we break bread, we struggle, we work, we suffer together. And without this, we don't live. And if some of us have become lukewarm, consider if it isn't perhaps because we so value our independence that we're just afraid to be in submission to anybody.

Daniel, for free, refused to compromise. Back to that passage about the den of lions. The presidents and the satraps came by agreement to the king and asked him to sign this document so that nobody can pray to any god or man except Darius the king for 30 days.

When Daniel knew it, that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had chambers with windows that opened to Jerusalem, got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before God as he had done previously. As far as Daniel is concerned, there's only one king, the king of the universe, Yahweh, the living God. And King Geras is under him and he can't come between Daniel and the real king.

Whatever price he has to pay, he will pay, but he will not compromise, out of fear. At another point in the book of Daniel, Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall and he offers Daniel rewards and gifts, if you'll just tell me what that means. Daniel says, keep your gifts, give your reward to somebody else, I'll read it for you, free of charge.

He won't be compromised by money and he won't be compromised by fear and most of us allow ourselves to be compromised by both. Jesus says, the light of the body is the eye. If your eye is single, your whole body is full of light.

If your eye is double, evil, mixed, then the light in you is darkness. If your eye is on the kingdom, but it's also on the object of your lust or the object of your covetousness, the bottle, the needle, the pills, the thing that gratifies your ego, whatever. If our eye is on this and that, then the light in us is darkness and Jesus says, if the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.

The call is upon us to see if our eye is single. Get rid of the compromise, keep it single. Finally, Daniel proclaimed the kingdom of God in the midst of battle.

Notice, he didn't just get some of his Jewish brothers together and proclaim the kingdom of God to them. No, he spoke the word of the kingdom to Babylonians, even to the king of Babylon. And so we read in chapter 4 of Daniel, verse 24, he's speaking, Daniel now is speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar.

It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox and you shall be wet with a dew of heaven seven times, meaning seven years, shall pass over you till you know that the Most High God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be sure for you from the time that you know that heaven rules.

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sin by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed that there may be perhaps a lengthening of your tranquility. Daniel telling King Nebuchadnezzar he better repent.

That's enough to get him thrown into the den of lions, but he doesn't. Why do you think the Lord has us in the world? Why doesn't he put us in a little valley someplace where we can have our own little pious retreat center and live there forever until the king comes? He has us in the world because we are to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom in the world, to shine in the world like Daniel did. If we're afraid to open our mouths and speak, we will soon be absorbed in the atmosphere of battle.

Matthew chapter 5, verse 14. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. We can't be the light of the world unless we're in the world.

But in the world, we have to be a light that doesn't grow lukewarm and doesn't lose its first love. We will be such a light, a light like Daniel was, if we will learn from him. These five lessons, simple and clear.

He prayed. He kept his life simple. He stayed in union with the body.

He submitted. He refused to compromise. And he opened his mouth and he spoke the word of the kingdom in the heart of battle.

If we will do that, we will keep our first love. Our light won't grow dim and we won't become lukewarm. May the Lord indicate to each of us specific things that we can do and need to do and need to begin to do today as we draw close to the table and break bread together and eat his body and drink his blood.

Let's continue by singing hymn number 214. Please rise.