"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. " Daniel 1:8
What were born to do? Why did Christ redeem us? Do you feel a sense of purpose and destiny for your life? The prophet Isaiah says that we were created for God's glry. (Isaiah 43:7). The word of God says that you were predestined in order to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Jesus said that we were chosenin order to be bear fruit that lasts for the Father's glory (John 15:5,8,16). The apostle Paul said that whatevver we do we are to do it for the glory of God( 1 Corinthians 10:31). Do you beleive what God's word says about you and your future? To become that person, God wants you to be committed!
Commitment can chage your life! William Murray wrote some lines that I go back to often times in my life. "Until one is committed, there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment one definitely commits oneself, then God moves, too, and a whole stream of events erupts. All manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, persons and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way, begins to flow toward him."
Michelangelo was possibly the greatest artist in Western civilization. When 30 years old he was commissioned to paint a simple depiction of the twelve apostles on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. By the time he was finished four years later the project had expanded to include four hundred figures and nine scenes from Genesis. For four grueling years he lay on his back painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a work that permanently damaged his eyesight and wore him down. One day while working diligently on a dark corner of the Sistine Chapel that no one would ever see, he was asked why? Michelangelo's simple reply was, "God will see."
What words would describe commitment to you? If I could sum it up in one word I would say “alone”. Its human to stand with the crowd, its divine to stand alone; It’s human to follow the people and drift with the tide, it’s godlike to follow the truth and to stem the tide; it’s natural to compromise conscience and to follow social and religious fashion for the sake of gain and pleasure, it’s divine to sacrifice both on the alter. In 2 Timothy 4:16 the apostle Paul wrote, "At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them." These were the words of a battle-scarred apostle Paul in describing his first appearance before Nero to answer for his life. Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, "Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
I really think the word “alone” describes commitment because few people are committed to anything to anything beyond themselves. They just follow their fancy, whatever tide is flowing. When you see someone who is committed they are always doing something different than the crowd. Not because they are trying to be different but because commitment has the tendency to make us stand out. Oh for you to see the power and the reward of commitment to Christ, His work, his people, and his cause! Our society is in desperate need for Christians who are committed. “There is no limit to what God can do through a man or woman who is fully committed to him ” says John Maxwell.
Daniel was a man who knew the meaning of commitment. His life becomes an inspiration, a model, and a conviction as to what commitment means in the way we live out our lives. Daniel was being enticed with daily rations of the finest and richest of royal food and drink. By doing this, the Babylonians were figuring Daniel would feel a sense of obligation and disassociate themselves from their old Hebrew ways. It didn’t work. We read in Daniel 1:8, "But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank." I really like the NKJV translation, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank."
Why do you think Daniel did what he did? What’s the big deal? Some answer that it must have been because of some ritual taboo. Jewish law did, of course, lay down certain dietary regulations. Did Daniel refuse to eat because the food was not kosher? That seems doubtful, for we read that he objected to the wine as much as to the meat, and there was no ceremonial prohibition on alcohol in the Law of Moses. Yet clearly Daniel's reluctance to eat the emperor's food was religious in origin, because the writer uses the word defile (1:8). This word strongly implies that he saw the issue as one of moral or spiritual pollution. It was not just that he was vegetarian or that he had trouble adjusting to a foreign diet. This was an issue of religious conscience for him. To eat of the king's food would have been, for Daniel, to compromise his personal holiness in some way.
The only conclusion we can safely draw is that Daniel judged this sharing in the king's table to be one step further than he was prepared to go in accommodating himself as a view to his new situation in a pagan world.
As a believer, surrounded by this pagan pantheon of religions that Babylonia offered, he felt he had to draw a line somewhere, and this was where he decided to draw it. Perhaps he reasoned that eating with someone, especially in the ancient world, was a sign of friendship. In a diplomatic context, eating together often implied a political alliance. The fact was that he was a hostage, a POW. But Daniel was a member of a nation that was bound by exclusive covenant to Yahweh, the only God. No other loyalty could ever be permitted to usurp the priority of that relationship in Daniel's life. He was determined on that. He seems to have felt that eating food from the king's table, even if the king was not personally present, threatened that loyalty to an unacceptable degree. It created, perhaps, a feeling of intimacy between him and his pagan master that was too close for comfort.
Notice the way the writer puts it: "Daniel resolved not to defile himself.' This was a personal decision. Literally, "he purposed in his heart." The Hebrew phrase suggests an inner wrestling with conscience that resulted in personal determination to make a stand of principle on the matter. If Daniel was to remain true to God in the face of this assault on his spirituality, it would require immense self-discipline. He simply could not allow himself to be softened up by the king's food.
What do we learn about commitment?
Commitment Is The Result Of Choice Not Conditions Or Environment
Daniel made up his own mind. He didn’t ask anyone else what he or she thought. I am not, I will not period. He did it immediately. That was a great moment. “People don’t make commitments because the conditions are right; they make commitments to do right in spite of the conditions.”
In general, people approach daily commitment in one of two ways. They focus on the external or the internal. Those who focus on the external expect conditions to determine whether or not they keep their commitments. Because their conditions change so often, their commitment level changes like the wind. not Daniel, he based his action on the decision that he had made within. Commitment must be settled before the moment arises Daniel didn’t get caught up in the emotion of the moment. He made the decision before the food was ever brought to him. “The battle is won before the battle is begun.” “The most important decision you ever make is the decision you make before you ever have to make a decision.” Daniel knew what to do and did it!
Jonathan Edwards wrote at 19 seventy resolutions. These were the principles that guided his life. Do you have principles that guide yours? We often times think we have to learn or experience things before developing convictions. Get settled! If you don’t get settled you get tossed. Get convictions, get values. Either be a Babylonian or be a Christ follower. I look at people who are still trying to settle issues they should have settled years ago. Commitment starts in the heart Daniels commitment preceded his achievement.
Your Commitment Will Be Tested Every Day
Its one thing to talk about it, its another thing to do it. Arthur Gordon, “Nothing is easier than saying words, nothing is more difficult then living them day by day. What you promise today must be renewed and redecided tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you”
Your commitments will be tested! Many people see commiment as an event or something done in a moment. they say "I do" at their wedding and a few years later say "I don't". Commitment does not end with a decision, it's just getting started. And you better beleive that any time you make a commitment it will be tested! Daniel made a decision to not eat the kings food. Then he was tested with the kings food. When facing the test, Daniel did not eat the kings food. He kept his commitment going. Commitment begins with little things in our lives Luke 16:10, "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much."
I have learned that little commitments are the foundations for bigger ones.” No one ever makes big commitments without first making little ones. Later on in Daniel, he will face an even bigger test in whether or not he will bow down to the kings idol (Daniel 3). Before Daniel said no to the kings idol, he said no to the king’s food. When Daniel saw God helping on the food issue, it gave him courage for the idol issue. It works the opposite as well. Compromise once, it’s easier to do it the next time. Take stand once, its easier as well. We need to take stands at the front end of our lives not in the middle.
Commitment Leaves The Results To God
Daniel 1:11-20, "So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. "Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants." So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. "
Daniel seems to communicate, “If I do right, God will take care of me.” Psalm 37:5, " Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." We get this mindset that if I do the right thing, I’ll be alone, unhappy, a missionary in Barstow, I’ll be poor, unfulfilled, I’ll lose out. Jesus promised in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Something wonderful happens when we put God first. Even as Daniel was deciding and living out his commitment, God was working out His plans and purposes. All through our story God is working. Three times in the chapter we read that God gave something to someone. In 1:2, he gave Jehoiakim and Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. In 1:9, God gave the chief official sympathy toward Daniel and his friends. Now in verse 17 we read that God gave the four Judeans "knowledge and understanding." Of course, Nebuchadnezzar and those involved in their education would take credit for their brilliance, but Daniel and the others would know to whom the credit was due. After all, they had grown physically robust not because of their Babylonian diet but because of the grace of God, that is, in spite of their diet of vegetables.
The effect of the theme of "God's giving" throughout the chapter is to press home who is really in control of the events of Daniel's and our life. God provided, God protected, and God promoted. Proverbs. 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; he turns it wherever He wishes." Proverbs. 16:7, "When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."
William Murray whom I quoted at the beginning wrote, "The moment one definitely commits oneself, then divine Providience moves too. All sorts of things occur that would never otherwise would have occured. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, rising in one's favor all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistancew which no man could have dreamed would come his way."
An old hymn says, “Dare to be a Daniel; dare to stand alone; dare to have a purpose; and dare to make it known.” John Maxwell says, "The greatest days of your life are the days you sense your commitment to its highest degree. Your greatest days are not your days of leisure. Your greatest days are not even the times when you have your closest friends around you. When something has seized you and has caused you to have a high level of commitment to it, those are your greatest days. They may be your days of struggle, they may be your days of suffering, and they may be your days of your greatest battles in life, but they will be your greatest days.”
Looking ahead for your greatest days as God moves your heart to commit yourself to Him and His cause,
Pastor Bill
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