PROGRAM W-1778 – Part I
As Christians in the marketplace, we face a continual challenge of walking that fine line between pursuing our careers and seeking success, while endeavoring to be a strong witness for Christ where we work. Integrating your work and your faith is not the easiest thing to do, is it? The choices are not always black and white; the decisions are not always clear. While you may not have gone to a foreign country and culture as a missionary, there are times when it sure feels like you’re outsiders—foreigners in a culture that is opposed to Christian principles—right where you work.
The story of Daniel offers some very important principles for workplace Christians. I hope you’re familiar with the whole story, not just the lion’s den episode. You might want to read the book of Daniel again to refresh your memory.
Let me point out some of the issues that Daniel faced which are not that far from ones we encounter.
Daniel was forced into a job he never chose nor ever wanted.
Daniel’s story begins on a very bleak note: He was taken as a captive—a slave—to another country. He had no choice. But even when evil seemed to be in control, God was actually working out his purposes. Through it all, Daniel kept a positive outlook.
Do you ever feel that you’ve been placed in a position you never aspired to? Have you ever felt trapped in your job or your company? When you find yourself in that kind of predicament, it’s very easy for your attitude to go south very quickly.
Even if you’re in a job of your choosing, there are days when you still feel trapped—when you have dreams of running away or catching the next flight out to a far-away place! But it is exactly in these times that the real depth of your faith shows through. Staying positive and joyful in a place where you may not want to be is a sign of a Spirit-controlled life—and this is a strong testimony for the Lord.
Daniel was taken out of his comfort zone completely—away from familiar people and surroundings—into a different culture altogether.
In most secular working places, you are surrounded with a different culture. It is a stretch to call America a “Christian country” any longer. We are more and more secularized every day, and we’re recognizing that we’re living in post-Christian America. When you go to work each day, you are likely to be leaving your comfort zone and entering a different kind of world.
In writing to the church in Pergamum, Jesus said—through the Apostle John—“I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name” (Revelation 2:13). Pergamum was the capital city of Asia, and the official center for emperor worship. There were many temples there to different gods. Pergamum was thoroughly pagan, and many Christians were martyred there.
There are probably no “temples” erected to pagan gods where you work, but no doubt there is pagan worship all around you. The gods are a bit different today, but they are there:
- The god of materialism
- The god of success
- The god of sexual pleasure
- The god of any kind of pleasure
- The god of “it’s all about me”
Our challenge is to remain true to the Lord even though we may work in Satan’s territory. Daniel—and his three faithful friends—were fully immersed in a pagan culture. They worked hard and succeeded in that society. But they did not accommodate their lifestyles or beliefs to the pagan world around them. Their approach was obedient involvement: They stayed involved in the world, while at the same time remaining obedient to God and his principles.
This attitude is a big contrast to other Jewish exiles in Babylon recorded in Psalm 137:1-4:
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”
Have you ever felt like a foreigner in your working world? Well, that’s because you are—if you’re a believer. This world is not our home. Peter wrote that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood a holy nation, a people belonging to God. He goes on to remind us that we are aliens and strangers in this world.
But Jesus doesn’t want us to “hang our harps on the poplars.” He wants us to sing songs of Zion, even by the rivers of Babylon! A joyful spirit is one of the most powerful weapons we have, both to fight off the enemy, to sustain us—because the joy of the Lord is our strength—and to testify to the foreigners around us that we do have songs of Zion to sing! We have something to sing about!
Interesting that they were asked to sing songs of Zion. They were given an opportunity to sing truth in a fallen world, but instead they wanted to hang up their harps!
Jesus prayed specifically for his disciples: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:15-17).
Daniel was deeply influenced by a letter the prophet Jeremiah sent to the exiles. In Daniel 9:2 we read: “In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” That letter, being prophetic in nature, was the Word of God.
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. . . Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)
Notice that they were to serve the Lord right there in Babylon—while they were in exile. They were to prosper, work, and be involved in the society around them.
I believe God intends for his children to be involved in the pagan culture around us—to work in that culture, be a light in that culture, and even be successful in that culture. But we’re never to compromise and adopt the sinful ways of the culture. In the world but not of the world—that is our challenge. Daniel and his three close friends were able to do it very well.
You’ll note that they knew the Word of God as delivered by the Prophet Jeremiah. Undoubtedly that was one of the main reasons they could stay true to their beliefs—because they knew and believed the Word of God. We have it a bit easier because we have the whole written Word of God, and when we make that an integral part of our lives, it fortifies us to be strong for the Lord and stand true to his principles, as Daniel did.
Daniel had God-given talents and skills, which he had honed. He was a good steward of his gifts and opportunities.
God had endowed Daniel with a very bright and quick mind, and Daniel had taken that gift and made the most of it, even in a hostile environment. Paul wrote to Timothy, “For this reason, I remind you to fan into a flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The reason Paul referred to was Timothy’s heritage in his mother and grandmother, Eunice and Lois. They had passed on to him the mantle of sincere faith, and Paul urged him not to settle for just taking that gift and using it, but enlarging it and growing it.
Have you fanned into a flame the gifts and talents God has placed in you? It’s easy to just settle with getting by, but I’m often convicted that God expects me to take my gifts and make them better. You and I will be accountable for the stewardship of our talents and skills.
Daniel had a compassionate heart for his “co-workers.”
When Nebuchadnezzar was ready to kill the wise men of Babylon because they could not interpret his dream, Daniel went to Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, and interceded for these men. He asked, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” (Daniel 2:15) Now, these men meant nothing to him personally, but he had a compassionate heart and he knew it was wrong to execute them. So, he went to his trusted fellow-Israelites, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, and urged them to pray for these men. God then revealed the meaning of the dream to Daniel and the next day he asked Arioch not to kill the wise men, but instead to take him to Nebuchadnezzar because he could interpret the dream.
Talk about sticking your neck out! Daniel was a man of great courage as well as great compassion. He cared about these men, even though they were not fellow-Israelites and indeed were astrologers, sorcerers, and enchanters—men who were doing things directly opposed to God’s principles.
It’s not easy to have compassion for people sometimes, is it? Especially those who are antagonistic toward us, who have no clue about true spirituality, or whose lifestyles are sinful and against all you know to be right. But as God placed Daniel in the midst of these kinds of people, so he does us today as well, and he does it so we can show God’s love and compassion to people who have no clue what it’s all about.
Daniel’s greatest testimony was his work habits and dedication to doing his job right.
Daniel got a promotion from Darius, the new king of Babylon, and was made one of three administrators over all the satraps. We read, “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3). This caused much jealousy among the satraps, so they set out to find something against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so: “They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4b).
What a testimony! Neither corrupt nor negligent. I never really think of myself as corrupt, do you? Yet let’s take a look at what comes under the heading of corrupt: Guilty of dishonest practices. This would include things like cheating on the expense account, using company assets for your own benefit, being disloyal to your employer, giving reports that exaggerate the good and overlook the bad, to name a few.
And even if we pass the “corrupt” test, here comes never negligent. You mean, never neglecting to do what you’re supposed to do? Never? Never giving it all you’ve got? Never? Never failing to fulfill promises and follow-up as required? Never? Never overlooking the stuff you hate to do and leaving it undone? Never?
I’m guilty! I wouldn’t want my work habits to be as closely scrutinized as Daniel’s were. With all those satraps looking for something to hang him with, they could find nothing. Daniel must have slept well at night! Do you see why Daniel gives us such a great role model of a Christian working in the secular workplace?