Walking Through the Flames

I'd like to begin by reading from Luke chapter 21, verse 10 and following. Then Jesus said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences.

And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But, before all this, they will lay their hands on you, and persecute you, and bring you up to the synagogues and prisons. And you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

Now this doesn't really sound like a description of the world we're living in. There are some wars, occasional earthquakes, some famine, 200,000 people near starvation, and starving on the other side of the earth. Nothing cataclysmic happening around us.

Nobody's hauling us off to synagogues or churches or prisons. There is a change taking place. And it's happening pretty rapidly all around us.

In the year 586 B.C., when Jerusalem was invaded by the Chaldean armies and destroyed, the people of Jerusalem experienced a very sudden change as they were tied together in ropes and hauled off to Babylon. You know, this week they were able to go up to the temple and go through the motions of worshiping God, and then go home and privately worship their idols, whatever kind of idols, as most of them did. Now, one week later, they're on their way to a nation where idolatry becomes the law of the land.

Almost as if the Lord Himself is saying, you want idolatry? You can have it. Now we're not being hauled off from Jerusalem to Babylon, physically. And yet the world in which we now live is rapidly shedding its Jerusalem characteristics and taking on the atmosphere of Babylon and beginning already to exert a pressure, the Babylonian pressure, to worship idols and to serve anything other than the living God.

And for us to survive in the atmosphere of Babylon, two basic requirements. If we're going to survive this, number one, there is to be a burning love for God, like the love that drove Daniel in Babylon to go to his room three times a day, open the window toward Jerusalem, and pray. And there also has to be a radical nonconformity to the atmosphere of Babylon, the world around us.

And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar. And the more we begin to, in fact, live this way with a burning love for God that dominates our lives, and a radical nonconformity to the world around us in the name of Jesus, the more we will experience the pressures of Babylon. They'll begin to appear, and it will become very quickly possible for us to discern that Luke 21 does indeed apply to us.

But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. And you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony.

Settle it, therefore, in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. I will be with you, and I will give you a mouth.

The more faithful you are, the more there will be pressure to conform. And the more you withstand that pressure, the more you will also experience my presence with you. And so, Daniel, when the decree is made that nobody worship, nobody pray for 30 days to God or man except King Darius, Daniel, three times a day, goes to his house, opens the window facing Jerusalem, gets down on his knees and prays.

In plain sight of anybody who wants to watch him, knowing full well that the price of this is a lion's den, but also knowing that he's not alone, that he is being sustained by God. And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down to this golden image when it's decreed that at the sound of the music, everybody bows down, knowing that the price of not doing this means the fiery furnace. And they do this because they also know that they are being sustained by a presence.

I will give you a mouth and wisdom such as none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. Reading from the book of Daniel, chapter 3, verse 1. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth 6 cubits. He set it up on the plain of Jura in the province of Babylon.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to assemble the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the politicians, all the officials of the provinces to come to dedicate the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

aloud. You are commanded, O peoples, nations, languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the burning, fiery furnace.

Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, bagpipe, lyre, trigon, harp, pipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the power behind this golden image, ninety feet tall, nine feet wide, is a power that inspires in the people a spirit of fear. You know, if you don't worship this thing, you're thrown into the fire a lot.

Now the image represents many things. It represents money. It's made of gold.

It represents political power. It represents organized religion, lust, anything which is allowed to become a substitute for the true worship of the true God. We're talking about the pressure of the world around us that tries to make us look away and turn from God in order to bow down or in some way serve the dazzling lie.

See, and that gleaming lie is not just in the plain of Duro, it's sitting in your living room, on the coffee table, the newspaper, the TV, down the street, your imagination, our memories. It's all over the place, everywhere you turn. Where do you get the, where do you get the power to withstand the pressure all the time to turn away from God? Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever.

You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of a province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

These men, O King, pay no heed to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. Well, here we got three men who refuse to obey.

You know, the king nods to the musicians. Right away they get working, right away. And suddenly 700,000 people bow down on the ground.

Here are these three guys standing. Where do they get the power to do this? See, many of us are very bold when we're in the assembly of the believers. We can talk with tremendous power about the lordship of Jesus.

We walk out the door and in a mystery suddenly become Babylonians. And there is nothing in our behavior that distinguishes us from the Babylonians around us. We melt right into the crowd.

And our boldness is gone until next Sunday. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. Then they brought these men before the king.

Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image which I have set up? Tell you what, I'll give you a break. Now if you're ready, when you hear the sound of a horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image which I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.

And who is the god that will deliver you out of my hand? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king. O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up. Notice, we are not looking at men who speak tough when they're in church and melt when they leave. We're looking at men who are able to defy the king, the golden image, the spirit of Satan, our god is able to deliver.

But even if he doesn't, we're not going to serve your gods or worship your image. Where do they get the power to do that? Where do we get the power to stand against this pressure? Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression of his face changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

And he ordered certain mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their mantles, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were cast into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was strict and the furnace very hot, the flame of fire slew those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He said to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered the king, true, O king.

He answered, but I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. And this is where this fourth man, whose appearance is like a son of the gods, walking with them in the flames, has been really walking with them all the time.

But in the flames he becomes visible. They have the power to continue to passionately serve and love God and radically refuse to conform to the ways of Babylon because this fourth one walking with them, whose appearance is like a son of the gods, sustains them. And if we are going to make it, if we're going to survive and clearly day in and day out in incorruptible love serve God and with awesome boldness refuse to be conformed to the ways of this world, in other words, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God and to not be conformed to this world, the only way we're going to do it is if we have this same, this fourth man, whose appearance is like a son of the gods, walking.

Now understand I am not talking about adhering to certain doctrines about Jesus. I'm talking about having the presence of Jesus clearly with us so that when we walk down the streets of Babylon, he's with us. When we walk through the flames of the fire, he's with us.

Now he promises that this is what we can have and really apart from this, there is no way adherence to the doctrines is going to do us much good. He promises that he will be with us if we respond to him honestly in three areas of our lives. First of all, he will be with us if we truly come together in unity around him.

Reading from Matthew 18 verse 19, again I say if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. In Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we're in unity.

They're always together. Even if they're in different parts of the city, they're still together. They never move as a separate individual.

They move as members of this body. And so they have the presence of this fourth one walking with them. And you say, well, what about Daniel? Daniel's always portrayed as being alone, but notice what Daniel does when he goes up to his room and opens the window.

It's facing Jerusalem and he's praying to God, the God of Israel, but he's also joining his heart to his people, the city of God, Jerusalem. He's not praying to the buildings, but he's joining himself to the people of that city. He's one with them.

See, there is no way we can experience the presence of Jesus walking alone as individuals. The fullness of God can be contained not by the individual, it's contained by the body. And there's a presence that walks with the Christian when the Christian is united with others.

That does not happen when he or she walks alone. We're only beginning to taste this here. You know, we're finding it very hard, you know, to let down the barriers and really join our hearts together.

But there is no other way. If there's going to be a genuine experience of the presence of the Lord in our midst, we're going to have to pull down the barriers, open our hearts to each other, and come together. And as we do, he will walk with us through the streets of battle.

He will walk with us through the flames of the furnace. The second place he promises to be with us is in the area of obedience. Reading to his word from John chapter 14, verse 18, Jesus is speaking, I will not leave you desolate.

I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. And because I live, you will live also.

Even if you're in the fiery furnace, you will live. In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, the other Judas, said, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered him, if a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Now this brief passage is full of all kinds of promises.

You'll see me. I'm going to manifest myself to you. I'm going to be with you.

I'm going to make my dwelling in you. And all I'm asking you to do is keep my word. And his word is simple.

It's not complicated. You don't need a Ph.D. to figure it out. And if you think you do, then you got the wrong thing.

Many of us this past week have been reading the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 every day. And it's safe to say that the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, contains the basic teachings of Jesus. Everything you need to know after you receive the power of his blood and his spirit, even if we just take those three chapters and study them and soak them up, every time we read them, we'll come across commandments in there applying to us specific things he calls us to do that we have not been serious with.

One particular passage may jump out from the page and address us, like getting reconciled, or speaking the truth, or giving to somebody in need, going without a meal, taking the log of criticism and resentment and cynicism out of my eye. Some specific thing. The minute I determine before the Lord I'm going to do this, and I get up and I begin to do it, that instant he visits me with power.

And I'm going to walk with you through the streets of battle and through the flames of the furnace. Finally, he promises that he will be with us. If we respond to his final command, to go and make disciples.

Matthew 28, 16. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came close to them and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always to the close of the age.

And we've read that hundreds of times. You know, we say amen, but we don't take it seriously. You know, well, I can't go.

So if I can't go, I'll send someone who can. But that's not what the command says. It doesn't say, if you can't go, send someone who can.

It says go. You go. Send somebody else too, but you go.

And make disciples of all nations, not just your own kind, not just the people you feel comfortable with, but people who don't even speak your language, people who come from a radically different culture, people you've had a hard time with or who have had a hard time with you all your days. Within three miles of this building, a minimum of fifty nations are represented. Fifty at least, probably more like seventy.

What a mission field. You know, you don't have to go all over the place. You can start right here.

And within a few blocks of where most of us live, wherever it is, in metropolitan Detroit, within a few blocks, people of all kinds. He says, you go make disciples. Now, he doesn't say, when you've converted them all, I'll be there.

He says, you just go and I'll be with you. Go and start, make disciples, teach them, baptize them. And as you seriously do this, you will have my presence and I will walk with you through the streets of Babylon and I will be with you in the midst of the flames.

Now, if we're going to survive the pressures that are here now and are on the increase, so that we don't yield and conform to the ways of Babylon and don't bow down to the golden image, we're going to have to have that fourth man, whose appearance is like a son of a God, walking with us in such a way that we absolutely know he's with us. It's not a matter of just having it in our heads. It's a matter of knowing he's there.

If we will come together around his name and lower the barriers and get off it and become truly one, he will be with us. If we will get serious about doing the things he has already made clear to us, you know, we get all bent out of shape over other commands, you know, that this and that and somebody else ought to be doing and we're not doing the things he's told us to do. If we get serious about doing that, he'll be there.

And if we will seriously begin to go out and make disciples, he will be with us. And if Nebuchadnezzar calls us to account, he will give us, Jesus will give us a mouth and wisdom that our adversaries will not be able to contradict or withstand. And if Nebuchadnezzar chooses to throw us into the fiery furnace, Jesus will walk with us.