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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
A deep thinker about theological things. He is the one who has the questions about God, especially around bedtime. Dad, I wanna ask you about this. And this morning, as I sat down for communion, he said, what is that whole he sought me and bought me thing? He said, that sounds like slavery.
John Gunter:And I said, well, son, it's actually not slavery, it is God giving you your freedom and Jesus paying for all of that. And in the midst of me saying that, he leaned over close and he pointed and he said, I see your nose hairs. So, that's where we are this morning. Sorry, miss Reba. So anyway, if I talk to you later, I'll probably look down.
John Gunter:I do wanna wanna say one more thing. Scott mentioned earlier, we are gonna have that celebration in June of our our our fifth year, I guess, anniversary, which means actually this week is my fifth year here. I've been here for five years. Do all believe that? The days are long, but the years are short.
John Gunter:Amen? And so, my goodness, it it it has flown, but we are certainly glad to be here, to make these relationships that that means so much to us, and so we are we are very thankful, even for Scott Rollins back there too, even for you, buddy. He always thinks I'm going pick on him, so I'll just pick on him once. Might as well. So this morning, we're going to talk about, just for the few minutes we have, we're talking about these graduating seniors.
John Gunter:And so we're glad that you're here, we're not going make you stand up or anything like that, unless you want to, I guess. You can stand in the middle. Do that later. Terry said, we're going to have that later. But this is a day of, I think, celebration, but for most kids, if you remember, probably for some of us, it's been a while.
John Gunter:It doesn't feel like that long for me, but it's been a long time. You know, kind of what that felt in that transition you because at this point in your life, if you're, you know, just graduating, your faith has been held in place by by structure, by parents, by the things your family has decided to do, and how they've decided to go about life. And the question this morning is, what happens when nobody is forcing you to do something anymore? That not only goes to your faith, but it goes to kind of everything and how you live your life. Right?
John Gunter:How many of you remember those times? It went from mom and daddy control everything to all of a sudden, they're not even close to me. I get to make all these decisions. And for some, that may be scary, for some, that may be freeing. It may be both, one then the other.
John Gunter:Yay. I get to make all these decisions. Oh, no. What are all these bills? Yes?
John Gunter:And so this is a time of transition. This morning, we're gonna be in Daniel chapter one. I'll have it on the the board for you, but if you have a bible and like to turn that way, we're gonna cover Daniel chapter one. And Daniel one answers that question, what are you going do when nobody's forcing you? Daniel was a young man, and he was removed from everything that was familiar to him.
John Gunter:This is we we can't even imagine this, but try to for just a moment that as we sit here this morning, people come in and they take you to another land against your will. That is where Daniel finds himself. We're so independent, we love where we live, we love our country, we have things going on in our life. Can you imagine somebody just coming in, taking you from all of that where you no longer have those choices, that control, now you are gone in a foreign land away from everything? That's where Daniel one is.
John Gunter:And a part of that change for him, he finds himself within a a system, political, cultural, that is designed to change him. Now, do you feel any cultural pressure, any pressure at your job to be someone different than who you are? Yeah. So this is not just for the the seniors today, this is for all of us. Because there are always outside pressures, really just kinda poking at you to change.
John Gunter:You get into a job, you you love it, I'm so glad I get into this job, and you find out it is full of toxic people. People who talk so poorly that you find yourself thinking those same words. Yeah? You've been there. All of a sudden, you feel like, I I I knew who I was, but now I'm kinda I'm shifting and changing, you know?
John Gunter:That that came out of my mouth. That would have never come out of my mouth before. And that's the kind of place that Daniel finds himself. We start in oh, I'm sorry. We start in verse one here.
John Gunter:In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of nobility, youth without blemish, of good appearance, and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. One of the weird things about this is that you could have ended up staying in your home, but the reason you would have stayed in your home is because they didn't deem you worthy of being taken to another place. You're not smart enough, you're not good enough looking, you know, I would have probably been taken.
John Gunter:I don't know about you guys. Yeah? I'm gonna joke about that enough. You're gonna like, he really thinks something like himself. No.
John Gunter:No. Don't. But that's what it said. They they were looking for the valuable people, which makes sense. Right?
John Gunter:If you have a a skill, they wanna use it. If you have some way that you can serve their kingdom and their desires, that's what they did is they they chose those people to take them. And so says there at the end, competent to stand in the king's palace, so people love it, they would have seen it as really good, and to teach them the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. So what's the first thing they try to change? Their language, and how they spoke, and what they understood in the literature.
John Gunter:The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of the time, they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names. Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
John Gunter:And so what we saw here is that Babylon, where Daniel is, is deciding and trying to change everything about who he is, even down to his name. Daniel is a the meaning of that remember, do you know what your name means? Do you know what your name means? I've looked it up on how many times. I'll give you guys a little tip.
John Gunter:Evan and John mean the same thing. It's kind of a covert way that we we did that without having him have the same name as me. And so but it's been so long I've looked it up that I've looked it up, I don't even remember what it is. Do you remember? What is it?
John Gunter:God's grace? Man, I was good when I did that. But they really that was instilled in them that that my name and what it meant was a big deal. So think about that and and thinking, okay, I I am named this because I want to be reminded of God's grace. All of a sudden, I'm taken from my homeland, taken to another place, and one of the first things they want to do is rename me.
John Gunter:And what we believe is happening here is Belteshazzar is a tribute to another god. And so what they're trying to do is change the very core of who they are, a new language, a new education, you saw that, to be educated for three years. We're going to try and get this out of you. We're going to change you into a person that we want. He's in a new environment, new food, and new names.
John Gunter:It's almost as if Babylon, in this moment, is saying, we are going to tell you who you are. And again, I want to point you back, you adults, you non high school seniors, how much does culture try to tell you who you are? Think about the people that you even choose to surround yourself with. Take yourself out of the job for a moment. How are those people influencing you and and maybe changing, you know, not coming up to you and saying, you know, Heath, I'm changing your name this week, I'm gonna start calling you this, as tribute to this other God.
John Gunter:But how many of us choose to be around people that kind of change and morph who we are. And so we have to be conscious of that for our lifetime, not just in these these transition moments. But in this moment, graduates especially, you have to start defining who you are. And if you don't have a really good grasp on that, the world is going to tell you you're somebody else. One of the biggest things you need to have a grasp on is faith.
John Gunter:Because in these moments everybody remember these moments where it is just kind of chaotic? The craziest thing for me is one one moment I had to be in that particular high school. The next moment, I graduated, and it was probably illegal for me to go into that high school and walk around. That's an odd feeling. Right?
John Gunter:You better be there. Don't you dare come in here. Right? And all of a sudden, you were in for so long, and this is who you are, now you cannot go back in. And so it's almost you're thrown into the chaos.
John Gunter:And now I'm going into this new part of my life, into college, and all of these courses which is which is different. Now I'm surrounded by different people. And if you are not anchored or grounded in something, you are going to be thrown around, you are going to be tossed. And again, who you thought you were may change. And I'll tell you, one of the most important things in my life when things are going crazy is to walk back into my home and know I am loved by my family, and to understand that I'm always loved by God.
John Gunter:And I hope that's what we're building here as a church, that when you walk through those doors maybe it's camp we're all people here. Right? We're all human, and I know how crazy a Sunday morning can be. And I know it may not go as smoothly as you want, because she didn't get ready on time. I should have said she.
John Gunter:Oh, goodness gracious. He didn't get ready on time. Alright. Now we got it. If I'm gonna get in trouble, all of y'all will too.
John Gunter:There you go. But things may not have gone the way you wanted to, not as smoothly, you had an argument on the way because it's so chaotic, but I think that some of that stems from I want to be there, and I wanna see my people. Because that is that is what you've chosen, you adults, that I have chosen. This is gonna be my people. I'm gonna find that anchor.
John Gunter:I'm gonna find that stronghold in faith in God, and part of that is surrounding myself in people who have chosen the same thing. There are a lot of things in life that you can't choose. You can try to chase the perfect job with the perfect people, and good luck. Maybe you'll find it. I pray you do.
John Gunter:Most likely you won't, and you've got to learn to operate in that. But I pray in your life, find an anchor like church in your faith to come to and know whatever is going on out there, I know there are people in here that will offer me encouragement, and that will offer me shelter from the storm that is all the stuff out there. Now, we still got to leave and go operate in that stuff. I don't know about you, but I find encouragement, I find strength, I find energy in just coming together and seeing your faces, having that conversation, and knowing I'm not alone. Because I'll tell you, that's one of the things that as you graduate and as you move forward, you can really fight with that, feeling like as I separate from these things, as have more distance from family, all my friends in high school, all of those things, I can start to feel more isolated and alone.
John Gunter:How many of you knew you would be friends with all those high school people for the rest of your life? Yeah. How many of you are? Connie is? Would you graduate with three people?
John Gunter:Of them. Not all. Oh, but I'm saying all. Yeah. And unfortunately and and sometimes you you think, I definitely will be friends with them, and and something happens.
John Gunter:Right? And so life has a way of of separating us and making us feel isolated. And so I hope that we find that anchor because quite frankly, the world will be happy to rename you and reshape you into something else. Yes? It will.
John Gunter:In in the next verse, in in verse eight, 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. It's interesting that Daniel chooses this. Now, it says he was educated and all that. You don't see Daniel saying, you know, thanks.
John Gunter:But within this food, for whatever reason, Daniel chooses to be different. I'm not gonna defile myself the king's food, and and the thought, at least partially, is all of this food has probably been offered to another god or an an idol. And so David is trying to distinguish himself and saying, okay, I don't want to be a part of this. And so he says, he resolved he wouldn't do this. And so there there comes a moment, and it could be a job change, it could be going from high school to college, it could be that move for that new job, But there comes a moment in all of our lives where we have to decide.
John Gunter:We have to have a faith that becomes our own. I grew up, as the saying goes, going to church every time the doors were open. I don't know how many sermons I've heard over the years. We had the the Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, if you had a gospel meeting, we can call them revivals because Baptist did that. I'm just so honest, that's what we did.
John Gunter:I'm ashamed of it, but that's what we did. But if we had one of those, you better be there. I remember coming in and my mom would have a beach towel put over the chair because I'd just been at a baseball game, we had a gospel meeting, you had to be there. So I had red dirt all over that beach towel. And so I was surrounded by people of faith.
John Gunter:But my faith did not become my own until I had to make that decision. When I was separated from the family, and I'll tell you, my mom has this innate ability, and you'll probably find this about your mom as well. That Sunday morning that I didn't get up and go to church, mom would call me. And this was before Life three sixty and all that stuff. You couldn't just check and say, oh, yeah, still at the house.
John Gunter:Uh-uh. She knew. And it was never yelling at me or anything like that, she just knew, and she wanted to talk to me. But that was a transition period of who am I going to be? I knew who I was in high school.
John Gunter:We were a family that did this. Right? But there is a moment in all of our lives, these transition moments, you have to decide, is this my parents' faith, or is this now mine? And so, most people, most seniors, walk away from faith not in a a moment of just I'm gonna choose that, but it's it's most of the time it's a gradual change. Casting Crowns, I've mentioned before, one of my favorite songs they have is it's slow fade when you give yourself away, and it's just a song about decisions.
John Gunter:It's usually not the big decision, it's the small decisions. So many little decisions that lead you to a place you didn't want to be. And so you have to decide, again, who am I going to be? And so a faith that only works when someone else carries it for you is not going to stand up in the store. A faith that you're relying on from your parents is only gonna get you so far before you decide, yeah, that's who my family is, but this is who I am.
John Gunter:In continuing on in verse nine, and God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king who assigned your food and your drink, for why should he see that you are in worse condition than youth who are of your own age? Remember, Daniel was choosing not to eat this meat. So you would endanger my head with the king. Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, test your servants for ten days.
John Gunter:Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. That sounds like a very bad idea. I'm just going to say it right now. Then let our appearance and appear and the appearance of the ewes who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see. So he listened to them in this manner and tested them for ten days.
John Gunter:And so in this moment, Daniel is putting this to the test. What is it gonna look like? I want to be different. Now, the thing is, as they have tried to shift Daniel, you see all of a sudden he starts pushing back. Now, one of the things that isn't stated here plainly, but a lot of people think, is that you've seen a lot of comments so far about eunuchs.
John Gunter:It was very likely that that was also something they turned these guys into. I'm not going to go into that because that will make for a fascinating conversation on the ride home, what that is. But they're trying to change everything about him, and this is the moment you see Daniel pushing back and saying, Okay, I've got to take a stand, I want to be different, kind of let's watch God work in this moment. Right? And so, this is a moment where Daniel this is not an easy decision, is it?
John Gunter:This is not a we're in church and everybody agrees and we're all good and we're all happy. This is in the midst of a different place. Right? This guy has power over him. And so we see this, that's when the faith really comes up.
John Gunter:Are you gonna decide to worship now that you're in a different place? Am I gonna decide to go to church? What what are my decisions going to be? I told you about not going to church and stuff. I didn't I didn't go partying or anything like that, but I love playing some video games till two in the morning.
John Gunter:And guess what? I don't care if you play video games till two in the morning, that's a great thing, a lot of fun to do. But that's a small decision that led to me kind of not walking away from faith, but straining of faith. Right? It's not as strong when I'm not with my people.
John Gunter:I'm not going and remembering Christ's sacrifice, not all of these things. You know, little small decisions that take us to a different place than where we want to be. In verse 15, at the end of the ten days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youth who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill and all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
John Gunter:Now, what I want to point out is when you push back and you're trying to to strive for that faith, God is gonna show up for you. That's exactly what we see here. Because sometimes it just feels like I'm gonna change for these other people because that's the easier route, and it probably is. There's no pushback. I can just go into the crowd.
John Gunter:Even sometimes, people go to different churches, go to a bigger church, that way I can just kind of blend into the wall, and I don't really have to do anything. I don't know what's happening. Hello? I'm not moving now. But we can be like that.
John Gunter:Are you gonna push back in your faith? And so, are you gonna decide who you're gonna follow? Are you going to decide, this is mine? Or are you gonna decide to just go along with everything else that you see? Daniel's story does not end after kind of one faithful season, and neither does God's call on you.
John Gunter:Because how many of you, like, some days are better than others, some weeks are better than others, I feel close to God this week. The next week, something goes wrong, you're off the rails, you're going, what happened to that? Right? And that is life. And if you're not holding on to something, you're going to be thrown around.
John Gunter:In verse 18, 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. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of king Cyrus.
John Gunter:What I want you to notice is that Daniel's faith didn't get him out of the situation. And that's a problem because sometimes you think, well, I've been faithful, God, but I'm still in the situation. Yeah? So you start to question, alright, what am I doing? What why am I being punished?
John Gunter:The fact is you're not. God is still there even in the midst of that thing, that storm, that job, those people. God is still with you. Amen? And so you've got to say, okay, well, even Daniel, even someone like Daniel is not just let out of this just because he was faithful, just because he pushed back.
John Gunter:And so what this shows us is life is going to be like that. Yes. Life is gonna be the ups and downs. Some days and weeks, it's gonna feel like it's still coming at you with all it has. But we have to be people deciding this is my faith and I want to live this faithful life.
John Gunter:I'll tell you one of the one of the things that I think helps us How many of you are attached to your cell phone? If I didn't do this,
John Gunter:my wife would yell at
John Gunter:me and say, you are? What does it feel like when you see that battery percentage going down and you don't have a charger? Anybody want to say? You change your habits at that point. Right?
John Gunter:I'm going to kill some apps, I'm going to try to not use it as much, battery saver the thing is on, try to make this go slower, maybe I need to get off of it just a little bit, but it starts changing. And that's how we are when we're separated from those things that keep us grounded. You start stretching, you start getting away, I'm out of the power source, and all of a sudden I start changing those things, when what I need to be is plugged back in. Yes? I need to be plugged back in to the one who gives me strength.
John Gunter:That's what I need to do and go towards. Not change all the things as as I kind of distanced myself, but to be plugged back in. Eugene Peterson wrote a book, and it was called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. I think that's right. And what he was talking about as a minister is choosing to live a life that is faithful to God, no matter all the things that kind of throw you off.
John Gunter:I'm going to choose, and you have to choose, what am I going to do? Because life is going to keep coming, I'm going to go off the rails at times, but my decision still needs to be, as a Christian, to be following him in the same direction. Don't let that bad day throw you off. I am so sorry. I do not know what's happening.
John Gunter:Daniel, am I getting in the same spot in this doing that or what? I don't know. No idea? Okay. I can turn it off if I need to.
John Gunter:But are you going to choose a faithful life? What we see here, I believe, is Daniel did not become faithful just when Babylon arrived, he had decided he was a faithful person, a person of God long before this. He arrived in Babylon already belonging to God. And when you do that, you have already made the decision. There's not a decision to be made because when the storm comes, you already know who you are.
John Gunter:And I understand, especially talking to teenagers, that you may not know who you are right now. You may have a lot of questions about faith, about what you believe, about all of this. And I understand that, and I'll tell you, I I take pride in being a person that you can ask anything. And I'm not gonna look at you like you're crazy even if after we talk, you point out my nose hairs. But seniors, let me talk to you just a second.
John Gunter:We want you to follow your faith. If that means, as you go, I don't know where you guys are going, if you're going local or far away, plug in to somewhere faith based. Follow God. If you've got a lot of questions about that right now, that is just fine, and God can handle it. If you don't believe so, again, go read Psalms because there's lot of that, and that made it into the book.
John Gunter:God, where are you? God, what about this? Why? And guess what, as adults, we all have those questions as well. Amen?
John Gunter:So follow God, plug into him. And let me tell you this, if you have not fully plugged into faith, don't throw it away thinking it doesn't have anything to offer. Because in that moment, if you haven't and I'm talking to adults too. If you have not fully plugged into faith, that is on you, not God. Because God, as we have read and talked about week after week, God is standing, open arms, ready for you.
John Gunter:And oftentimes, we are stand we are the ones backing up from God, aren't we? So go into him, choose to live a life of Jesus. And so I'm just gonna end with this, does your heart belong to Jesus? If it doesn't, why not? Let's begin a walk with him, be baptized into his name.
John Gunter:If you've already done that and you've strayed from him, we're gonna offer a song of invitation. Love to pray with you. Love to answer some of those hard questions or say, I don't know.
John Gunter:Because I'll certainly do that.
John Gunter:But choose this day who you
John Gunter:will follow. Follow God. Follow God.
John Gunter:Would you stand as we sing this morning?