Culture and the Kingdom
In ch.1 we watched Daniel interact with the powerfully pervasive Babylonian Culture. He couldn't reject all of it. He carefully chose his battles and was gracious, wise, respectful and courageous in his negotiations to achieve win-win solutions.
We may have to deal with a corporate culture that promotes excessive time away from family, outings to strip-clubs for office parties or the paying of bribes. Or it may be a society that imposes new values and norms on us while ridiculing our values as old fashioned, outdated and even intolerant. We have to handle these pressures by:
- Earning people's respect through integrity and good performance.
- Coming up with win-win solutions or trial periods when we negotiate changes.
- Being firm of purpose but maintaining respect and gracious politeness.
The first six chapters of Daniel can be divided up as follows:
-The Pressure of Culture (Ch.1-2)
-The Pressure to Bow down in public (Ch.3-4)
-The Pressure to give up personal faith (Ch.5-6)
In each division there is a chapter describing the pressure and a chapter that describes a God-given vision that gives us more perspective.
Chapters 1 and 2 have been about the power of culture.
In chapter 2 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. This was a vision of the Babylonian Regime which would be followed by the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Then the statue is struck by a rock "not cut by human hands".
| "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. (Daniel2:44) |
