WHEN CULTURE BEGINS TO ZIG IT MAY BE TIME FOR CHRISTIANS TO ZAG

WHEN CULTURE BEGINS TO ZIG IT MAY BE TIME FOR CHRISTIANS TO ZAG

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF DANIEL

¶ But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.  And God gave Daniel favour and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs
Daniel 1:8-9

Daniel’s world had been turned upside down. As a young well-to-do Jewish boy who grew up in a highly regarded family with parents who took their devotion to Yahweh seriously, he too would have expected that all of his training would have led him to follow in his father’s and Grandfather’s footsteps in the service of the King’s royal court. Even as a young man in his early teenage years he would have expected to one day take a wife and pass the baton of his knowledge and privilege to his son too. But then his world began to be shaken. The early stages of the disruption began when he was not yet a teen and a very upset and tearful young man from Anathoth, not too much older than himself, stood on the temple steps and denounced the wickedness of the King of Judah. Daniel would have remembered hearing this teenage prophet call the King and the people of Judah to repentance before the Lord’s wrath came upon them. This virgin prophet warned of the destruction of the temple and the invasion of the world’s most vile people — the Babylonians. The disruptions from this highly emotional priest-prophet continued until he was barred from entering the city, but undaunted, he wrote his prophecies out and his secretary, Baruch, deliver them in his stead. Despite the scorn, mocking, and eventual imprisonment, Daniel witnessed the tenacity of the one who came to be known as “the Weeping Prophet” and some seventy years after Jerusalem was indeed destroyed by Babylonian forces (just as the prophet had foretold), Daniel referred to his copy of the now late prophet’s words and turned them into a prayer.

…I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
¶ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel 9:2-3

 

THE DAY DANIEL’S WORLD COLLAPSED

The day the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem was the day Daniel’s expected world collapsed. His dreams of being a royal bureaucrat, a husband, and a father were destroyed that day. Nebuchadnezzar’s first invasive visit to Jerusalem was a humiliating one. He deposed the existing king, appointed and renamed a new king, and then took for himself the cream of the young trainee bureaucrats to enter his service back in Babylon. Daniel, at this stage could have only have feared what his selection would have entailed? Would he ever see his parents again? Would he be rescued by the new King’s military forces and reinstated to his position in the royal Judean court? Would Yahweh, the GOD of Israel, ignore his years of faithful devotion and not answer his prayers for his deliverance from this nightmare?

The day that Daniel was forcibly taken from family, his home-land, was also the last day he would never see his parents or his beloved city with its temple again. Upon arriving in Babylon as a fifteen year-old, things only got worse when he discovered that the price for entering into the King of Babylon’s service was the very essence of his manhood. As a result, he was now to submit to “the chief of the eunuchs” (Dan. 1:8).

 

YET DANIEL

¶ As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 1:17-18

Daniel’s ability to zag in the midst of a culture that was entirely committed to zigging began as soon as he arrived in Babylon. His zagging involved his commitment to worship God despite his circumstances. It involved him being faithful to God even though he had ample opportunity to do otherwise with little to no immediate consequence. It involved him choosing to ignore his very negative circumstances and to press into God to become a man attuned to God’s voice (he would late become recognised as the Prophet Daniel).

Daniel eventually realised that his dream of perhaps one day being restored to home-land was never going to happen. Rather than wallow in bitterness and disappointment, Daniel zagged by being the best public administrator that he could be. Due to his excellent work ethic the day came when he rose to the position of Prime Minister of Babylon. Along the way though his faithfulness to Yahweh led to the king of Babylon humbling himself and surrendering his own life to the God of Israel. Strange things happen when someone committed to being faithful to God (“zagging”) lives among a culture that is hell-bent on zigging!

¶ Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.
Daniel 5:13-14

THE APOSTLE PAUL’S INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ZAG

¶ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2

The birth of Christianity marked the beginning of a new world. The old world at the time Christ walked the streets of Jerusalem was a world where “might was right”. The new world that Jesus established was a world where humility was now among the highest virtues. It was a world caring for each other was prized. It was a world where generosity toward the less fortunate was honoured. It was a world in which the each believer valued their obedience to the One True God. Living in the new world of Christ required zagging in a world where everyone else was zigging. And I suspect that the world we now live in today also a world where zigging is what is demanded — and in Christ’s new world (which He called His Kingdom) we are still called to live our Romans 12:1-2 and zag.  

Your pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

THE MAKER'S MEANS OF OUR STRENGTH

Many people now live in a world where everyone looks at them but no-one sees them. As strange as this is, it is also a world where many people have physical contact with them but no-one touches them. Added to these shameful blights, is that in this world many people say things to them but no-one talks to them! This is not how our Maker designed for us to interact. And a result of this, although we are designed to be nourished, satisfied and strengthened with someone truly seeing us, carefully touching us and appropriately speaking to us, we now live in a world of people who are weakened because they do not experience this triune source of strength.

And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, "O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength.
Daniel 10:16

People need someone to look at them. Jesus once asked His disgusted host, Simon the Pharisee, "Simon, do you see this woman?" (Luke 7:44) Of course Simon saw the woman! That's why he was so disgusted! But Jesus knew that there is a world of difference between looking at someone and looking at someone. How many people really see you. Everybody needs at least one person to see them. When the aged Daniel was at a low and confusing point in his life, someone saw him - this heavenly visitor looked not just at him but into him. Who sees (in) you? God has made women beautiful to look at. It is natural and right that a woman spends time accentuating her God-given beauty in how she grooms, clothes, and makes herself up. But God has made each woman extraordinarily beautiful intentionally for just 1, 2, or a few related men (her father, her husband, her brothers for example). It appears that when a women does not receive these rightfully deserved affirmations of her beauty, she goes to great lengths to show off her beauty and looks for affirmations from other sources. Of course this makes the role of a dad toward his daughter all the more critical.

This look came at a time in Daniel's life when he was particularly lonely, unaffirmed, and uncertain. It became a part of the cause of the strengthening that Daniel experienced.

Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me.
Daniel 10:18

Daniel was strengthened not just with a look but with a touch as well. We are designed by our Maker to give and receive strength through touch. There are far too many people today who have been weakened beyond what's acceptable simply because they have not been appropriately or sufficiently touched. A handshake, a hug, a backslap, a hand on a shoulder, a kiss, have far more power than most of us realise. When women do not receive touches they may be tempted to invite inappropriate touches. (Dads, give your daughter a hug before day's end.)

How can my lord's servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me."
Daniel 10:17

A look, a touch, a word. Daniel's strengthening was made complete with a word.

And he said, "O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage." And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, "Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
Daniel 10:19

"He spoke to me, I was strenghtened" says Daniel. I used to say that there are no words that can help at this time when attempting to comfort the bereaved. I found myself saying this to myself (just as I had previously said it to hundreds of others) at the time we were shocked to be told that my father-in-law had suddenly died. Just as I was saying it to myself, I felt the gentle loving rebuke of the Holy Spirit reminding me that the ultimate comfort and source of strength can only come from words and that the greatest expression of this is the Bible. Since that time, I have never repeated the myth that words alone cannot heal, comfort, or strengthen.

God has given us eyes not just to see with but to understand with. "I see" is a way of saying, "I understand." But our eyes are not merely to see and understand things, they are primarily to see and understand those God places in our world.Helen Keller (who was born deaf and blind but was taught to read and write and communicate with others through touch) said that: There are none so blind as those who will not see. Helen Keller was an uncontrollable wild child - until someone looked at her. This someone was Annie Sullivan. She connected with Helen with a look, a touch and then a word. And the previously unteachable, uncontrollable, incommunicable young girl was set free and strengthened to be the curious, co-operative, talkative, thoughtful woman that she was destined to be. Because someone looked at her, touched her, and strengthened her with words, she-

... received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments, including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and election to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965. She also received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Additionally, she was named an Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.*

Our Maker has designed how we are strengthened. "Man does not live by bread alone" Jesus reminded us, "but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." A weakened person who craves the strength that can only come from a look, a touch, and a word, may think that their hunger for strength is satisfied by food. (Anyone noticed what's happened to obsesity rates in areas where the Maker's methods are ignored? See Phil. 3:19.)  Our Maker has meant for us to be in worshiping communities where we are strengthened by looks of real love from others, the tender touches of those who see us, and by words of life shared with us by those see and hold us. This is the air we breathe within the protective, healing, strengthening bounds of our local church. The world craves church. They crave what their Maker has designed for them: someone to truly see them, someone to tenderly touch them appropriately, and someone to speak deeply and sweetly into their soul. Without this triune source of strength feeding a person's soul, that person is left to look for strength in a bottle, a pill, a bed, a meal, or a needle. This futile hunt was powerfully captured in the movie Good Will Hunting.

Will Hunting was not loved by his father. Instead of looks of love, touches of tenderness and words of wisdom, Will's father looked at him with disgust, scorn and neglect. Instead of touches to comfort, reassure and heal, Will's father beat him spanners, electrical cords, chains and burned him repeatedly with lit cigarettes. Instead of words of life, encouragement, and wisdom, his father verbally abused him. Will grew up weak. We recognise his weakness as obvious in the way he scorned others, spoke to people with malice, and continually got into fights and treated girls as objects of lust. The next time you see a prickly person who's hard to like, consider that they might be a person craving the Maker's strength that comes from the Maker's agents who share a look, a touch, and word on His behalf. Will Hunting was dramtically strengthened when someone used the Maker's method. 

A community psychologist, Sean Maguire (played by Robin Williams) is the first person in Will's life to really look at him. It is Sean, who understands that Will has never been touched. (Many young men crave the fatherly touch of a man and in their weakened state of identity confusion are often taken advantage of by an older male predator - which only adds to their confusion.) Sean touches Will. And it is Sean Maguire who speaks to Will. Although many have spoken to Will Hunting throughout his twenty years, no-one has ever said anuthing to him. Sean Maguire corners Will in his office. He touches him tenderly on the shoulder. He says to him, "It's not your fault." Will doesn't hear him (although he hears Sean's words). "I know" he responds. "No. It's not your fault" says Maguire now with both hands on Will's shoulders. Will shruggs this off. Maguire moves closer, looks Will in the eye, and repeats his word to him. "Stop messing with me", says the tearing Will. Maguire moves closer to Will and Will breaks down. The two embrace and finally the strength that can only come from a look, a touch and a word, floods into Will's dry, empty, shrivalled soul. He has just experienced what the Maker's agents feast on each week in their church community.

This is why meeting together each Sunday for church is more beneficial and strengthening than most of us realise. Hopefully I've shown you by now that those incidental parts of our Sunday congregational and Wednesday small group meetings are notincidental at all and that your presence is vital both for strengthening others and for being strengthened. The man looked at Daniel, touched Daniel, and spoke a word to Daniel, and he was strengthened. Couldn't you use some strengthening as well?

Ps. Andrew