The Worlds Okayest Pastor

Who Do You Worship When Everything Falls Apart?

• Jason Cline

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What happens when a narcissistic king meets a faithful exile? Daniel chapter two unfolds as a dramatic confrontation between worldly power and divine sovereignty.

Nebuchadnezzar, drunk with his own authority, demands the impossible – his wise men must interpret a dream without being told what it was. The penalty for failure? Death for all wise men in Babylon. When innocent Daniel faces execution for others' failures, he demonstrates an extraordinary response that reveals the stark contrast between self-worship and God-worship.

The mysterious dream of a statue – gold head, silver chest, bronze middle, iron legs, and feet of iron mixed with clay – unveils the rise and fall of kingdoms throughout history. But the most significant part? A stone "not cut by human hands" that smashes the statue and grows to fill the whole earth. This prophetic vision reveals a profound truth: all human kingdoms are temporary, while God's kingdom endures forever.

The story resonates powerfully with our modern experience. We frequently find ourselves caught in circumstances beyond our control – exile moments where we suffer consequences of others' decisions or simply the brokenness of our world. Daniel's response offers us a template for maintaining faith when everything feels uncertain.

What makes this ancient text so relevant today is its unflinching portrayal of the human condition. Nebuchadnezzar, despite receiving divine revelation about the temporary nature of his kingdom, immediately builds a ninety-foot gold statue demanding worship. How often do we similarly miss the point, clinging to temporary power while ignoring eternal reality?

Daniel's life whispers a profound question across the centuries: Who do you worship? The answer shapes not just our eternal destiny but our present character – "you become like the one you worship." In your struggles today, will you choose self-reliance like Nebuchadnezzar or trust in God's sovereignty like Daniel?

Take time this week to reflect on areas where you need to surrender control and trust that God remains sovereign even when life feels like exile. Share this episode with someone facing their own impossible situation who needs this timeless reminder of hope.

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, maybe I don't know, hey. So this is not normally, typically how I do this, but we had some technical difficulties on Sunday morning so we were unable to record the sermon as intended. You know, the power being down last week and Wi-Fi was down and everything was kind of in a disarray. We thought we had it all figured out, but we must have missed something along the way, and that happens, right, that happens sometimes. And to those of you who are here, you saw it already, you kind of know where I'm going. But for those who catch this online, or maybe you listen to it later through our podcast, I just want to kind of recap Sunday morning for you. So here's kind of the focus. We're in Daniel, chapter two, and so we've been looking at the book of Daniel and we've started out last week just kind of reviewing and understanding that Daniel chapter one sets the stage for Judah Jerusalem to be in exile. They've been taken captive by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar's the king he's kind of the powerhouse in charge and really Daniel and his friends Jadrach, meshach and Abednego that's their names that they get changed to after they've been essentially abducted, right? So Daniel and his friends come along and they're taken captive and their names are changed. Daniel's name eventually becomes Belshazzar, which is actually the god, one of the gods that the Babylon's worship, which is kind of ironic, but you know it's interesting when you think about it. Which is kind of ironic, but you know it's interesting when you think about it. But so Daniel and his friends, they've decided to live a life in Daniel chapter 1, and they've decided to honor God with how they're going to live. So they're not eating sacrificed idols or anything like that, and God is through. That faithfulness has provided Daniel with an incredible gift, right, so Daniel chapter two. So Daniel chapter two is a huge contrast between good and evil in the world.

Speaker 1:

So Nebuchadnezzar is the king of kings, right, he's the one in charge. He's taking people in exile, and Nebuchadnezzar is a textbook narcissist. Everything's about him, everything, and we're going to find that out as you get into chapter three. But Nebuchadnezzar, in his attitude and his behavior. God gives him a dream. God gives him a dream, and Nebuchadnezzar has no idea what this dream means. So what he does is he has this dream in the beginning of Daniel chapter 2, and he invites all of his astrologers and magicians and all his wise people to come in and interpret the dream. Now he doesn't call Daniel and his friends. For some reason he decides to leave them out. So he calls them in and of course he says listen, I had a dream and you are the wisest of the wise, you are my people and I need you to tell me what it means he's like. But here's the thing, though I'm not going to tell you my dream, you have to tell me what it was and you have to interpret it completely. And so his wise men and his astrologers. And, by the way, if you haven't read Daniel, chapter two, I really want to encourage you to do that, because I'm just going to kind of bounce around and hit the high points, but it's only 49 verses somewhere around there I don't think it's much longer than that, so it's kind of brief.

Speaker 1:

But so Nebuchadnezzar tells his rulers, astrologers listen, tell me my dream, tell me what it means. And of course, their reaction is oh, wise king, right, butter him up. Action is oh, wise king, right, butter him up, flatter him. There's no one in the world that can do that. What you ask of us is insane. Why would you do such a thing? And Nebuchadnezzar responses. He says listen, this is what I've decreed, this is what I've determined. And I think I think you're trying to buy yourself some time because you realize that I am firmly decided. This is what I'm going to do. And then he says listen, honestly, I think you want me to tell you the dream, because if I do, you could probably make something up. You could probably, you could probably butter me up and flatter me and tell me what I want to hear. But I don't want you to do that, because I think you're trying to deceive me. I want you to tell me my dream and then I want you to tell me what it means. Oh, and, by the way, if you don't, I'm going to murder you. Oh, and, by the way, if you don't, I'm going to murder you. What so? Not only is Nebuchadnezzar asking for something that's near impossible, he's threatening them, says if you don't do this for me, I'm not only going to kill you, but I'm going to kill all of the wise men in the world in Babylon.

Speaker 1:

And so let's talk a little bit about Nebuchadnezzar's attitude. If you've ever been around someone and on Sunday morning I use the word shady because I think that's a fun word, right, if you've ever been around someone who you would deem shady. They tend to have a certain personality about them. They're not trustful. They don't trust other people very much. They're always looking out for themselves. They tend to be focused on only their wants and their needs, and they think that everyone's out to get them Again. Narcissus 101, right, it's all about them.

Speaker 1:

And so Nebuchadnezzar is not a great human being. He might be a good king, he might even be a great king, but he's not a good person. He's probably lied, he's probably manipulated, he's probably found ways to be deceitful in order to gain his position of power, and now he's lording it. He's positioning himself over the wise rulers and threatening them death. If you don't give me what I want, I'm going to kill you. Death. If you don't give me what I want, I'm going to kill you.

Speaker 1:

And again, their response is that doesn't even make sense. There's at some point in the text they say that only the gods can interpret this dream for you. But they don't live among man which, by the way, is an interesting point and we'll talk about that later but they had this realization that there was gods lowercase who could probably interpret this dream if he really wanted it, but there was no way in their human strength and their human knowledge they would be able to do this and their human knowledge, they would be able to do this. And so, as Nebuchadnezzar promised, he sends out his chief guard to murder every wise man, to round them all up to take their life. At some point in the text he says he was going to cut them from limb to limb and make their houses a rubble. So he's not just killing them, he's going after their families. This is what evil people do. When people who are evil don't get what they want, they force it or they abuse their power and they abuse their privilege, and they don't care who gets hurt and listen. In this case, nebuchadnezzar really doesn't care, because Daniel and his friends, who aren't even part of this conversation, the chief guard, goes to their house and says listen, this is the decree Nebuchadnezzar has said. Because these wise men over here couldn't interpret this dream, your life is now at risk. Talk about an unfair world, talk about an unfair situation.

Speaker 1:

I mean, what did Daniel do to deserve this? He had nothing to do with it. It wasn't his fault. No one asked him if he wanted to go into exile. I mean Jerusalem, you know Judah. They had messed up, they had fallen away from God.

Speaker 1:

We talked about this last week when, back in Isaiah, that there's. You know, there's about 150, 200 years prior to this moment that Isaiah is prophesying saying listen, you're going to lose all of this. And so, 800 years prior to exile was the Exodus, when they were set free from Egypt and God brought them out of captivity and they walked right back into it. It wasn't an overnight thing. It took time, it took decisions. But Daniel and his friends, they were young men. What could they have possibly have done to deserve this? And it's even more interesting because, if you think about it, their prayer life, as it gets kind of revealed throughout the text, was incredibly significant. Daniel seemed to be a man after God, a man blessed by God, actually.

Speaker 1:

So what did Daniel do to deserve exile? And listen, I don't know the whole story of Daniel, but I would assume he probably didn't do much. But he had to suffer the consequences of an unwise ruler like Nebuchadnezzar. He had to suffer the consequences of broken, sinful people who turned away from his God. He had to suffer the consequences of a king drunk with power, taking all captives. And here we find Daniel. His life is at risk simply because the king is asking for an impossible thing to be done.

Speaker 1:

You ever feel like that, that you're in a situation in your life where you ask yourself how did we get here? What did we do? What mistake did I make? What sin did I commit? And listen, sometimes there's an answer for those questions. Sometimes there's not. Sometimes the downside to living in a broken world is you and I have to deal with the brokenness of it. Nebuchadnezzar is a broken man, a narcissist, a ruler who's bent on destruction.

Speaker 1:

And so the, the captain guard, comes to Daniel's house and says I have to kill you. And Daniel says hold on, give me an audience with the king, just give me five minutes. And so Daniel goes to Nebuchadnezzar and he says listen, I cannot interpret your dream, nor can I reveal it to you, but I know a God who can Again contrast right, the astrologers, the magicians. They talked about their gods, but their gods were disconnected. Their gods weren't among men, their gods were somewhere up in space, uninvolved with them. But Daniel says listen, I know a God who can do this. Give me the night, give me the night.

Speaker 1:

So Daniel goes back and he goes back to his friends and says listen, I need you to pray for mercy, I need you to pray for grace, I need you to ask God to give me not only this dream, but the interpretation of this dream. I need them to show me, I need God to reveal to me, because our lives are at risk, the lives of all the men here are at risk. And again you see the contrast. Nebuchadnezzar is trying to kill people. Daniel is trying to save not only his life but the lives of the other wise men, because he realizes that this is an unjust situation to be in. He understands this, so Daniel prays.

Speaker 1:

That night God shows him the dream and the dream. So he goes back to Nebuchadnezzar and says listen, god showed me what you saw. And he talks about this great statue of the head of gold. And he starts to, as it breaks down, everything kind of lessens in value. And so it starts out with gold at the top. And again I read Daniel 2, starts out with gold at the top and ends up with clay and iron at the bottom. And so Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar now I'm going to tell you what it means. And he praises him, says you, oh, great king, that's you at the top. You're sitting at the top of the throne, but there's coming a kingdom after yours that will be inferior, and then there's going to be a kingdom after that that will be even more inferior, and there's going to be a final one that's even worse than that. And if you do a little bit of research, you'll find out that David or Daniel man I get those names mixed up all the time Daniel is actually speaking of what's about to come in the next roughly 500 years, that eventually the Persians would come in and overthrow Babylon.

Speaker 1:

The Greeks would come in and overthrow the Persians and eventually end up with the Romans who would overthrow the Greeks. And so Daniel is telling of this prophetic dream of the future to come for Nebuchadnezzar. And then Daniel says but in this dream there's also a giant rock, not cut by the hands of man. At the end of your dream, that rock comes down and it smashes all of these other. It smashes the statue to pieces, leaving nothing behind except for this rock. And Daniel says let me tell you what that means. He says, king, you're in charge, you're the ruler, but your kingdom won't last, and neither will a kingdom after yours or the kingdom after that, because you see, that rock represents the kingdom of God and that kingdom, that kingdom will last forever. It's going to destroy all other kingdoms, actually, you know.

Speaker 1:

And so Daniel gives this incredible dream to Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar's response is to bow down and worship Daniel for his wisdom, which is kind of ironic, because who's Daniel? Daniel's nothing more than a man who's being used by the God who created him. But again, nebuchadnezzar can't see past this. So he's worshiping Daniel, he appoints him. But again, nebuchadnezzar can't see past this. So he's worshiping Daniel, he appoints him and his friends Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, they kind of sit on this high place in the kingdom and he gives them everything they want.

Speaker 1:

And then Daniel, chapter three Nebuchadnezzar decides to build a statue made of gold. Because why wouldn't you? And in his arrogance, with everything that just happened, the realization that his kingdom was going to fall, the guy goes and builds a giant gold temple of him, 90 feet tall, and says worship this statue. He missed it. He missed the entirety of it. All he could think about is that gold statue is me. And all Daniel could tell him was yeah, but that gold statue won't last. Your kingdom won't last, you know. We get back to Daniel, chapter one.

Speaker 1:

Chapter one really does two things. One, it teaches us the sovereignty of God over our lives, right, and there's nothing God's not aware of, there's nothing God can't do, there's nothing God can't help you and I with. The struggle is sometimes those struggles are exile. We talked about this last week too. You know Jeremiah 29, 11,. Everyone loves that verse. I know the plans that I have for you, not to harm you, but to prosper you, right, but Jeremiah so he's a contemporary of Daniel. So the same time that this is happening, jeremiah is prophesying alongside Daniel's life, and so that verse in context Jeremiah 29, 11, is actually being written to men and women who are in exile.

Speaker 1:

Can you imagine being in the darkest moment of your life and you hear God say I have a plan for you, not to hurt you, not to harm you, but to prosper you. Listen, I can say I've been through moments like that and my reaction is yeah, but do I have to be here? Can't you just make all this go away? And again, I think that's the human side of us, right, we want God to fix it, fix it. But Daniel 1 shows us God's in charge.

Speaker 1:

Daniel 1 also helps understand that our identity is grounded in who God is. That's important. That's significant, really significant. Actually, throughout the rest of the book of Daniel it's going to show itself. Daniel knew who God was, so he was confident in who he was. He was confident in his faith. He trusted God. Again. When he goes to Nebuchadnezzar he says Listen, I can't do this, but I know a God who can Give me a day.

Speaker 1:

So chapter 2, daniel shows us that God is sovereign over all things. You know the culture we live in, the times we live in now can seem overwhelming. War, rumors of war Listen, I'm not trying to get like prophetic here, so don't take this any further than it needs to be. I know Daniel and where he's headed. Further than it needs to be. I know Daniel and where he's headed. But again, daniel is helping us understand that God is in charge of everything the world. It doesn't matter who's in power, it doesn't matter who the current sitting president is, it doesn't matter who's in charge of another country. Ultimately, those people are in positions that God has allowed them to have for one reason or another. That's his decision, not ours.

Speaker 1:

But Nebuchadnezzar had to be reminded that his kingdom will not reign or last forever, it'll come to an end and be replaced by the one who's eternal. That's significant Because at the end of this life, everyone will bow to the creator of the universe, whether you do it willingly or you do it because you have to. That's what the beauty of God being sovereign is he's in control even when we feel like he's not. That's what exile, by the way, teaches us, or should teach us that God's in charge. That's what difficult circumstances in our life should teach us that God's in charge. So some of the hardest things we might go through, whether we're through exile, whether we're going through the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, financial struggles, the loss of a marriage, loss of a child, the brokenness of families, like all of those things are really hard for you and I to go through. But God is still sovereign, he's still in charge and at the end, no matter which way this world goes, everyone has to answer to him. He's going to take over. He's already reigning, already raining. You and I just are. We're living in the in-between. We're not there yet. Some of us are still trapped in exile.

Speaker 1:

And listen, that doesn't just mean here, I mean you talk about other countries that there are Christians all over the world in persecution. Some of them don't know if they're going to make it out tomorrow. Daniel was granted great favor in the eyes of the king. His life was spared more than once. Sometimes that doesn't happen. Sometimes death comes, sometimes brokenness comes, sometimes prison comes.

Speaker 1:

We see that as you jump in the New Testament, Paul specifically, and Peter and most of the disciples, that they suffered for the cause of Christ. But again, daniel 2 teaches us that God is in charge. That matters. No king, no power, no, anything will ever overthrow him. In the end, hell does not win, it never will. In the end, whatever country thinks they're in charge currently is only there because God allows it. God is sovereign, you and I as Christians. That's an incredible truth to stand on, because at the end of my life, at the end of your life, hopefully, you realize that God's in control, that it's going to be okay, that God is able to do so many more things, that when God says in Jeremiah 29, 11, that I know the plans that I have for you to prosper you, to not to harm you, even to people in exile, he means it. By the way, we see that kind of unfold later in the Old Testament, but in exile. It's hard In stress, it's hard In moments of doubt and fear. It's hard to remember that God is sovereign. But Daniel understood who God was and because Daniel understood who God was, daniel knew who he was. That's important.

Speaker 1:

You become like the one that you worship. I read that a couple weeks ago. I thought that was powerful. You become like the one you worship. So who do you worship? Because here's the thing Again, daniel 2 is a contrast. You have Nebuchadnezzar who worships himself. It's all about him. Giant, 90-foot statue of gold. Praise me, worship me, do what I tell you or I'm going to kill you. That's a narcissist. That's someone who worships themselves, and we might not all be that bad, but we worship ourselves a lot. We worship our families a lot. We worship our jobs a lot. We worship our activities, our skills. Those things can become idols for you and I. Those things can distract us from the bigger picture. Because here's the thing at the end of your life, none of that stuff matters anyways, because God is sovereign. So you can either worship yourself, like Nebuchadnezzar, or you can worship God like Daniel did.

Speaker 1:

Daniel trusted God. He prayed to God, not just in the moment Daniel's prayer life had been built into who he was. You don't pray three times a day by accident. That's a choice. Daniel spent so much time in relationship with God that he trusted him and ultimately he knew that God was in charge anyways, and as we continue through the book of Daniel, you're going to see this unfold Kings come, kings go, countries come, countries go, dictators come, dictators go, dictators come, dictators go. God lasts forever. That that's important, because I don't know what you're struggling with right now. But I know that God can be in charge of your life. I know God wants to be in charge of your life, and not because he wants to lord it over you. That's the opposite, because he knows the plans he has for you. He wants to protect you, prosper you, watch over you. He wants those things for you and me because we're his children, and that's what he desires. He's our dad. He's our father. He wants to protect us and take care of us. So, whatever your struggle is, trust him, trust in him. He's in charge.

Speaker 1:

Nebuchadnezzar was just a man, god's eternal Since the beginning to the very end. His worship is deserved because he's the only one who truly rules this world. There might be some people along the way that look like they do. They don't. They're only there because God let them be there. There is coming a day, though, when he's going to finally return in clean house. For those of us who follow him, that's going to be an incredible experience. For those of us who don't, that's going to be hard. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That's what to be hard. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That's what scripture says, that's what we learn through Daniel's life that you either worship God or you worship yourself, and only one of those things lasts forever. Alright, you guys, have a good afternoon Later.