Simple Diet 1984

I'd like to read a little bit longer passage than normal, but I don't know any other way to get into what I'd like to share today, but to read the first 16 verses of the book of Daniel, chapter one, Daniel one, one to 16. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiachin, king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashkenaz, his chief unit, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, handsome and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to serve in the king's palace and to teach them the letters and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the rich food which the king ate and of the wine which he drank.

They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the units gave them names.

Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Mishad, and Azariah he called Abednego. 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 units to allow him not to defile himself.

And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the units. And the chief of the units said to Daniel, I fear lest my lord the king who appointed your food and drink should see that you were in poorer condition than the youth who are of your own age. So you would endanger my head with the king.

Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the units had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youth who eat the king's rich food be observed by you.

And according to what you see, deal with your servants. So he hearkened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's rich food.

So the steward took away their rich food and the wine which they were to drink and gave them vegetables. Now, the book of Daniel is much more than a description of the life of the Jewish captives in Babylon. It is that.

But it's really much more. The book of Daniel is a description of what it means to live as a son or daughter of the kingdom of God. In the midst of the kingdom of Satan, Babylon is the kingdom of this world.

The king of Babylon is Satan. And Daniel and his friends are the sons and daughters of the kingdom of God. Now, they find themselves, whether they like it or not, captives in battle.

Not only are they in Babylon, but they're in the very heart of Babylon, the palace of the king. And they have to function where they are right in the middle of this demonic kingdom and remain uncorrupted. By what goes on around them.

And so they draw a line. We're not going to eat the king's rich food, we're not going to drink the king's wine. And by doing this, by drawing this line, by in this way separating their diet from the diet of the Babylonians, they maintain a distinction, they draw their life, see, not from Babylon, but from God.

And the power and the boldness and the strength these people manifest in the coming years has its beginning, see, and has its source. With this diet. Now, if you and I are, in fact, sons and daughters of the kingdom of God.

Then our lives have to bear the marks of the kingdom of God. There has to be a distinct difference between the way we live and the way the Babylonians live. There has to be something clear cut, you know, a fundamental difference in the way we live, and we have to keep asking ourselves whether this, in fact, is true.

Now, is there is there really a fundamental difference between the way we live every day and the way the Babylonians live? Or is it true that when you scrape off the little religious customs we observe and the occasional religious platitude that comes out of our mouth underneath, our life is identical to the life of Babylonians, that we have our hearts fixed on the same idols and our minds get bent out of shape over the same worries, that there is no difference really. So we have to ask ourselves, is there really, in the way we live, a difference? Jesus deals with this in all his teachings. You could take almost any parable of Jesus and you will find in that parable the line going down between the kingdom and Babylon.

Example, the man who found treasure hidden in a field and covered it up and then in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. He's turning his back on Babylon and submitting himself totally to the kingdom. The parable where the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is a description of the citizens of Babylon and the citizens of the kingdom living together and really indistinguishable from each other to the natural eye until the judgment.

Ten versions go forth to meet the bridegroom and they all look the same. They all have lamps burning. They look like they all ten are of the kingdom.

But by the time the bridegroom arrives, it becomes clear that five of them belong to the kingdom and five of them belong to battle. The sheep and the goats look the same, nobody can tell one from the other. But when the king comes, he separates them on the basis of two radically different ways of life.

To the sheep, he says, come, oh, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was naked and you called me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.

You belong to the kingdom going in. But over here we have a ghost and to the ghost, he says. I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. I was naked and you did not close me, sick and in prison, you didn't come to me. You belong to Babylon and the destiny of the Babylon belongs to you.

The father has two sons. Go work in my vineyard, he says. One says I will, but he never does.

The other says I won't. But he repents and goes. He belongs to the kingdom.

The other man belongs to Babylon. Now, Daniel and his friends may maintain a radically different way of life from the way of the Babylonians, and they sustain that radically different way of life by means of their diet. They kept themselves to a simple diet.

That's what was the secret of it all. And if you and I are going to remain children of the kingdom and live a life that's distinct and different from the life of Babylon, it begins in the same place with our diet. Now, of course, everybody understands we're not talking about the food that goes into our mouth.

We're talking about the food that comes in through the eye and the ear and the heart. That's where it begins. Reading from First John, chapter three, verse two.

Beloved, we are God's children now. It does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Now, the power of the Lord is sufficient to keep us clear all through our journey in the midst of Babylon. God has sustained us so we can survive the ways of Babylon in the midst of it all.

But it's up to us to purify our hearts from the ways of Babylon. Just as Daniel did and just as our Lord did. Our Lord lived in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem of Jesus' day was called Jerusalem, but it was in fact Babylon. It was hypocrisy, religious legalism, self-righteousness, greed, adultery, lies, murder beneath the facade of religion. Jesus didn't run off into the hills and live in a hut.

He lived right in the middle of it. And he functioned there. He ate and drank with scribes and Pharisees as well as Republicans and sinners.

He kept his heart pure, his eyes single, his mind clear, because Jesus held to a very, very simple diet. He ate the Father's bread. He lived by every word that came out of the mouth of his Father.

And he calls us to follow in his steps. We are now to live also in the midst of Babylon. This is what this is.

Babylon. Be in Babylon, function in Babylon, and remain distinct. With a heart pure, the eyes single, the mind clear, and the body ready.

All is for the kingdom. How can we do it? The same way Jesus did it. By watching our diet.

Satan says to Jesus, if you're the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. And Jesus returns with these words. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

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. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

And as you know, the chief of the eunuchs got scared. What if you guys don't look as well as the rest of them? I'm going to have my head cut off. And Daniel says, test your servants for 10 days.

Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. And then let our appearance and the appearance of the other eunuchs who eat the king's rich food be observed by you. And according to what you see, deal with your servants.

Now, what we're talking about here is not the food that goes into our mouth. Jesus makes clear, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man or a woman, but what comes out of the mouth. And what comes out of our mouth that defiles us comes from our heart, from our mind, and it gets into our heart and our mind through the ear and the eye.

The king's rich food, the food of Babylon, the food that corrupts our judgment and distorts our vision, is the food of spiritual illusion. Reading again from 1 John 2, verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And when he's talking about the world here, he's not talking about people. You know, people God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

He's not talking about the trees and the rivers and the sky and the rocks. He's talking about Babylon. He's talking about the world system, the order, the world order.

This kind of cosmos. And so you can read this passage and understand it very clearly if you substitute the word Babylon. And it goes like this.

Do not love Babylon or the things in Babylon. If anyone loves Babylon, the love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in Babylon, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of Babylon.

And Babylon passes away and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. So the rich food of Babylon consists of three things.

All three are illusions. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh is the illusion that if my bodily appetites are really satisfied, really satisfied, I will be fulfilled.

You know, if I get that peak of satisfaction, you know, whatever it happens to be, then I'll be fulfilled. The lust of the eye is the illusion that if I possess those things which my eye delights in, I will be fulfilled. If I get the Cadillac and the girl that goes with it, or the man that goes with it, or the condo down by the ocean, or whatever it is, whatever it is that happens to get us going, you know, then I'm going to be fulfilled.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and finally the pride of life is the illusion that if I become a success in Babylon, I will be fulfilled. See, and Babylon has it all. You know, if I'm a success in the religious realm of Babylon, Babylon's very religious, or the realm of arts, or science, or politics, or business, or the military, or you name it, then I'll be fulfilled.

Now, to simplify our diet means that we push away these three false foods with an act of our will all the time, and each time we settle for the bread of God, the living bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, that quickens us, cleanses us, sustains us. So it comes down to, first of all, pushing away the lust of the flesh, this illusion that if my bodily appetites are really satisfied, I'm going to be fulfilled. And so I push that away, and in place, I receive the bread of God.

Into my body, I take the word that Jesus speaks to me, translate it into flesh and blood by doing it. I present my body now as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to him, which is my spiritual worship. My meat and my drink becomes the desire to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

See, every day, every day we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, to the living word, to the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Specifically, you know, we roll out of bed, in the name of Jesus, and put our feet on the cold floor. As a form, as an act of obedience, we deny ourself the comfort of the covers.

You know, and get that cold floor going on our feet. Deny ourself, take up our cross, it's a minor one, and follow him. And with an act of the will, we put our hearts all the time over to him.

And we walk through this day feeding on him, looking to him for our satisfaction, our fulfillment, our life. And with an act of the will, we push away the illusion. Then, we do the same thing with the lust of the eye.

This illusion, that if I possess those things, my heart, my eye delights in, I will be fulfilled. And so, with an act of the will, I push that away. And instead, I fix my eye on the living bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

See, I refuse to be conformed to this world, but I'm transformed by the renewing of my mind by looking to him. Pull back a veil of lust and behold with unveiled face the glory of the Lord. And I'm transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another by the spirit of the Lord as I listen to him.

I look beyond the visible and penetrate to the invisible. And I see him. He reveals himself.

He begins to speak. If I desire this, this is what happens. And I begin to feed on the life of heaven.

And the more we feed on the life of heaven, the less we are drawn to the illusions of earth. We live in the world. We function in the world.

We can be matter-of-fact and realistic in the world, but we're not going to be conned by it anymore. Finally, we push away the pride of life, which is the illusion that if I become successful in battling, I will be fulfilled. And instead of trying to be successful, whether it's the one who can beat up everybody in a highway bar, or the biggest dealer on the southwest side, or the one who is looked upon with great respect in the field of religion or whatever it is, I humble myself, get rid of that, and I come down into the simple basics of obeying him so that I can prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God by my deeds.

My meat and drink becomes the desire to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. How do we get to the place where our meat and drink is to do his will? By a radical and continuous daily commitment to him. So I open my life to him, and I receive his word into it and translate it into flesh and blood.

In a few minutes, we're going to come down and kneel at the altar, and we're going to be given a piece of unleavened bread. It doesn't matter whether it's leavened or unleavened. It's manufactured in one of the ovens of Babylon.

Never mind. When this bread is received in the name of the Lord, it becomes part of our body as soon as we swallow it, and pretty soon it's absorbed and becomes our flesh and blood. In the same way, we now receive the living bread as he speaks to us, and we translate it into flesh and blood by obedience, by doing it.

With an act of the will, we continuously say all the time, Take away the king's rich food and give me the bread of God. But Daniel resolved, he resolved, decided, made up his mind 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.

And if we're going to make it through Babylon, this period of time in our existence, without getting sidetracked and corrupted and confused, with a mind that is clear and a heart that is pure and an eye that is single, we're going to have to watch our diet. With an act of the will, we're going to have to push away the king's rich food and settle for the bread of God. And if there's anybody here who says, yeah, that sounds good, but I can't do it.

I just don't have the religious nature. I'm not spiritually inclined. Or whatever other excuse you can dream up.

Take Daniel's proposition. Take him up on his proposition. Do what he said to the leader of the chief steward of the head of the eunuchs.

Let's do it for ten days. Try for ten days. For ten days, get up in the morning and go to the bread of God.

You know, some simple thing like going to one of the gospels and hearing something from Jesus afresh. Make a commitment of your heart to him. Enter into the day to walk with him.

And every time the king of Babylon shoves another dish, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, something like that at you, you'll know it. God will reveal it to you. You'll push it away.

And you settle, take another bite of the bread. And eat that bread and live on that bread. And if at the end of ten days your body is in better shape, and your eye isn't clearer, and your mind isn't saner than it's ever been, then go back to Babylon.

But if at the end of ten days you find that your eye is sharper, and your mind is clearer, and your heart is more pure, then make up your mind to push it away forever. And live by the bread of God. Okay, let's just take some time in silence now before God in prayer.