Will You Compromise? part 1 (Daniel 3:8-12)

The 1992 hit movie Indecent Proposal may have caused many Americans to more closely examine their moral ethics than any church sermon in the last few years.  The movie proposed a moral dilemma: Would you, or would you permit your mate to, have sex with someone else—for the right price?  In the movie, $1 million did the trick.

What if we upped the ante to $10 million in real life?  According to the book The Day America Told the Truth, Americans are ready to trade some dear things for that kind of money.  Twenty-five percent said they would abandon their families, 25 percent would abandon their church, 23 percent would become prostitutes for a week, and 7 percent would kill a stranger.  Alarmingly, the figures remained consistent even when the potential payoff was reduced to five, then four, and finally three million.  All of us must ask ourselves what we would do in a situation when we have something to gain by violating our conscience, or stand to lose something very precious to us, even our very lives.

If we are like most Christians, we compromise more than we want to admit.  Again, according to George Gallup, even though 94 percent of us believe in God and 84 percent believe that Jesus is God’s Son, fewer than ten percent of us can be called committed Christians.

Bob Slocum, businessman and author of Maximize Your Ministry, discovered why this may be true.  After teaching a Sunday morning class that addressed the issues of ethics and right and wrong, a bright young businessman approached Slocum with the following observations:

He thought that in talking about good and evil I was three levels above where most people are living.  He said that when people must make a business or personal decision, the first question they ask is, “Do I or don’t I want to do it”—not “Is it good or evil?”  If they get to the next level, they ask whether it is legal or illegal.  At the third level, they may ask whether it is right or wrong as judged by friends and peers.  Only at the fourth and highest level would the question arise of good or evil as judged by God.  And the young man didn’t think most people ever get to that level (Robert Slocum, Maximize Your Ministry, pp. 21-22).

Let’s just admit it, most of us are prone to cave in or compromise rather than pay the price for doing what is right.  But the problem we tend to forget is that there is a price for compromise as well.  In fact, most often that price is steeper.

What’s that old saying?  “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Now well established in their careers as Babylonian officials, Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who at the time were in their mid-life, were offered a simple alternative: bow or burn.  Caught in the web of global politics, they were being called to choose between their commitment to God and their allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar.

At the sound of the music everyone was supposed to bow before the 90 foot statue Nebuchadnezzar had built to exalt himself and to solidify allegiance among the disparate peoples he had conquered.  A roaring furnace added to the noise, reminding everyone of the extreme price to be paid for disobedience.

For a moment, the whole world was united in bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.  The curse of Babel had, it seemed, successfully been reversed.

So people all around went down to their knees, and then this sea of humanity fell like a wave on their faces before the image and the throne.  But in the middle of this sea of bowing humanity, three figures stood firmly, quietly, not bending a knee!  In fact, it is quite possible that they turned their backs on this abominable idol.  Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These young men did not compromise, and for all practical purposes, it looked like they were to pay for that stand with their lives.  We can applaud them for their uncompromising position, but what about you and me?  What will we do?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego must have felt very alone as they looked about and saw everyone else obeying orders.  Where were their fellow countrymen?  Where was Daniel when they needed him?

These young men, instead, show contempt for the image (Dan. 3:8-12) by refusing to bow.  Other cultures and religious beliefs could accommodate pluralistic worship, but the Jews could not.  They worshipped God alone.  So they did not bow down, and some of the jealous officials, peeking during worship, came and tattled on them.  Some had noticed that they had not bowed down.

These three Hebrew children remembered and held in reverent fear that God had said:

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. (Exodus 20:4, 5)

They probably also remembered when the newly redeemed Israelites created an image of a golden calf and danced around it (Exodus 32:4).  They remembered how their God hated that and exercised swift and sure judgment.

Theologian John Calvin writes, “A true image of God is not to be found in all the world; and hence…His glory is defiled, and His truth corrupted by the lie, whenever He is set before our eyes in a visible form….Therefore, to devise any image of God, is in itself impious, because by this corruption His majesty is adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He is” (Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, p. 108).

Standing with the heat of a blazing fire in their face, I can see how they would have been tempted to rationalize and convince themselves that it would be all right to bow down just this once, ignoring the command of the Sovereign Lord.  Some might make a case for situation ethics.  In this situation it would be all right to bow down because they would get killed if they did not.  Certainly God would not want these three young men to die, would he?

But this is exactly what this world is crying for: men and women, boys and girls, who have conviction of heart and do not change their convictions on the basis of their circumstances.

Others would argue in terms of culture. “The Babylonians are not going to understand the laws of our God.  We don’t want to offend our culture and ruin our witness, do we?  We will bow now so they will listen to us later.  Anyway, nobody that we know will see us.”

Still others would argue on assumption of forgiveness.  “We have a loving God who is slow to anger and quick to forgive.  We will bow just this one time and then ask forgiveness. God is more understanding and forgiving than these Babylonians.  It’s His job to forgive.”  Now, it is true that God does forgive the sins of his people.  Jesus died to pay the penalty for all of our sins.  However, we misunderstand the grace of God when we base our disobedience on his gracious forgiveness.  That is absurd!  The apostle John tells us that he gives the opportunity to confess and be forgiven our sins, but not as an excuse to go ahead and sin (1 John 1:5-2:1).  Sinning so that grace may abound reveals a deeper problem of the heart.  Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God.”

Some would prefer a silent protest.  “We will kneel on the outside, but we will be standing and worshiping the true God on the inside, in our hearts.  Surely God will understand.”

The uncompromising nature of the king’s decree provided incentive for some to accuse “the Jews”—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  “Certain” Chaldeans went to the king and “maliciously” made charges against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

The three Hebrews could have come up with many excuses to justify their disobedience to the Law of God.  We often do.  We compromise under pressure even though the pressure we face is nothing compared to that of facing death if we obey.  But the three friends of Daniel considered the first two commandments and decided to defy the king’s order.

[And remember, there are more than two commandments!]  Biblical faith obeys God’s laws.

I love what Charles Spurgeon says about these three young men: “Their actions were not public but neither were they hidden.  These three Hebrew men must have known they would be discovered, yet they obeyed God rather than man. “You will not be able to go through life without being discovered: a lighted candle cannot be hid.  There is a feeling among some good people that it will be wise to be very reticent, and hide their light under a bushel.  They intend to lie low all the wartime, and come out when the palms are being distributed.  They hope to travel to heaven by the back lanes, and skulk into glory in disguise.  Ah me, what a degenerate set!”

These Chaldeans couldn’t wait to tattle to the king.  Remember, these “Chaldeans” had been losing out to Daniel and his friends ever since they had arrived in Babylon (cf. Dan. 1:20; 2:49) so they had plenty of incentive to spy upon these men and tell the king of their infraction.  Seeing their chance, they report it.

They were obviously motivated by jealousy and envy.  These sins feed off inequality—the fact that someone else has something I don’t have—popularity, power, friends, influence, possessions.  Success breeds envy like nothing else does, and along with it: rivalry, competition, covetousness, territorialism, and resentment.  Proverbs 27:4 indicates that jealousy can be more powerful and dangerous than even anger and fury!

Jealousy involves the fear of losing something or someone to a rival; envy is the feeling of resentment towards someone for something they possess that you lack.  “In envy you recognize people who are better off and you burn with bitterness.  John Gielgud, the great British actor, in his autobiography, said, ‘When Sir Laurence Olivier played Hamlet in 1948 and the critics raved, I wept.’” (Timothy and Kathy Keller, God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life, p. 127).  You can see both jealousy and envy in the “certain Chaldeans” who came forward and “maliciously accused” the three friends.

Jealousy and envy can destroy a relationship, a ministry, a church.  When others possess something we don’t have, or might take away from something we have, we get anxious and react, often by “tattling” to someone in authority.

Jealousy in ministry is dangerous not only because it is sin, but because it is sin that so quickly hides itself.  It takes refuge in places like “correct theology” and “the right methods” and pretends to be anything other than what it really is.  It did with the Pharisees, who were jealous of Jesus’ popularity.

Instead of being filled with gratitude to God for his kindness, we become so many Sauls, stewing resentfully as we hear the crowds singing, “Saul has tweeted to thousands, but David to ten thousands.”

Sarah Nixon, involved in student ministry, shares these diagnostic questions to see if we are fighting jealousy with self-righteousness:

1. Is my first thought or comment about this ministry or person a critique?
2. Do I feel the need to distinguish myself from “them,” to specifically note differences in our theology or methodology?
3. Am I “leaking” comments to my peers or students that slander or malign this ministry or person?
4. Do I seek out negative information or opinions, or ask for “more” information under the guise of confirming my bias?
5. If given the chance, would I want their ministry or impact to suffer?
6. Am I willing for the Lord to “set me aside” and use someone else? What if it is, indeed, this particular ministry?
7. If this student comes to know Jesus more through this ministry, would I rejoice?
8. Is my response to the last question, “but that’s not possible! No student could come to know Jesus more through another ministry!”?

John the Baptist could have been jealous and envious at his cousin Jesus’ ministry.  But fortunately he models for us how we ought to respond to someone else’s ministry being blessed.

First, he remembers where all blessing, success, and opportunity comes from.  “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”  We kill envy when we remember that whether we succeed or whether someone else does is ultimately given from the God who reigns in heaven.  And how dare we assault his wisdom by murmuring about the opportunities and success of others.

Second, John remembers his role.  He is the friend of the Bridegroom, the groomsman, not the Bridegroom himself.  And the groomsmen rejoice greatly when they hear the voice of the Groom.  Now most of us aren’t jockeying to replace the Bridegroom.  We don’t want to be Jesus.  But we sometimes act like we’re in a competition to be the best man.  Which is why it’s so important to labor to rejoice greatly when we hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the voices of our fellow groomsmen.

Finally, John’s joy is complete when the Bridegroom arrives and surpasses him.  Where Christ increases, John is content to decrease.  But are we?  Are we content to decrease, when Christ increases through the ministry of another?  Do we even acknowledge that Christ is increasing in the ministry of others?  Or do we attribute their success to some other factor: their ambition, their compromises, and in our worst moments, to the efforts of the devil?

So jealousy and envy are dangerous and destructive for ministry, for fellowship, even for our own spiritual life, and that is what we see expressed by the Chaldean officials in vv. 8-12.

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!  10 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.  11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace.  12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

These men begin with flattery, “O king, live forever!”  Their plan was to draw the king into their rhetoric and guide him to the conclusion they hoped for, and so they reminded him of his decree: everyone who heard the instruments was to worship the image.  They reiterated (v. 10-11) the warning of death for dissenters (cf. v. 6).

Their climax was to remind the king of how illegitimately these men had arrived at their exalted positions.  You can almost hear the sneer in their voices. “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”  However, notice that they didn’t even voice their names, merely calling them “the Jews” and “certain Jews whom you have appointed.”  You can feel the antisemitism in their words.  You can see the disdain dripping from their lips.  After all, these defeated peoples should be servants, not leaders (v. 12)!

Those who refused to worship could have been described as certain individuals, or certain leaders, or even certain men.  But it was their identity as Jews their accusers emphasized when describing their behavior.

That hated, belittled Jewish race who had no place in your exalted kingdom O King, these men “pay no attention to you” emphasizing that they had ignored his command to bow to the image, “they do not serve your gods” emphasizing that they were outsiders and they do not “worship the golden image that you have set up” which shows their defiance to the king himself.

The words “maliciously accused has the idea of “eating to pieces.”  As their own insides were being gobbled up by jealousy and envy, so now their tongues tear apart these three Jewish friends.  John Phillips says, like most rumor mongers, “they enjoyed every word of it.  They went all around the issue, savoring every statement and making it last as long as they could.  They were prodding the king, provoking him, preparing him for the news that some people would not bow” (Exploring the Book of Daniel, p. 64).

They made three accusations against the Hebrews:

1. They were disloyal to Nebuchadnezzar.
2. They didn’t serve the Babylonian gods.
3. They didn’t worship the image.

“As usual, jealousy resulted in a slippery grip on reality, causing the astrologers to think the worst of the three men.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego certainly didn’t worship the image or serve the Babylonian deities, but they were never disloyal to Nebuchadnezzar—until he tried to pull rank on God and commanded them to worship the image” (William Peel, Living in the Lions Den without Being Eaten, p. 84).