Worship

Salem Lutheran Church

Pastor Jon Enter                 SalemLutheran.org

Theme: Dare to Be a Daniel

Text: Daniel 6:10-12,16-23

Dare to be a Daniel! When you witness actions that are not God pleasing, defend the truth of God’s Word! When you are told to or allowed to do something that is contrary to the Lord’s will, be firm, be unshakable in your faith! Dare to be a Daniel. Martin Luther did.

Today, we celebrate Reformation Day. Today, we thankfully recall reforms made within the church to bring erring Christians back into line with the narrow pathway to paradise. 509 years ago, a faithful Christian named Martin Luther witnessed actions being displayed within the Christian church which were anything but Christian. They weren’t     God-pleasing actions; they were God-infuriating actions.

You see, back in Luther’s day, the Pope and his religious leaders were hawking on the streets something called an indulgence to the peasant people. An indulgence was a worthless piece of paper written in Latin that the people couldn’t read that was sold with the claim that purchasing an indulgence erased years off a loved one’s time trapped in purgatory.  The more coin shelled out; the more time was wiped off a loved one’s suffering and waiting in purgatory.

What’s purgatory? It’s a made up, false teaching that erroneously claims that Christ’s death on the cross was not enough to take away the guilt of our sins. Believers were told they must supplement Christ’s work of atonement on the cross by good works of penance. And if not enough works of penance were added to a believer’s account, then that believer would be stuck in a holding chamber called purgatory until enough time ticked off the clock to make up for not doing enough good works.

Fallacy! Fake! It’s not in the Bible. There is not one reference to purgatory or anything close to it. There is not one passage claiming we complete our salvation. Instead, there are countless passages that clearly showcase Christ gave us the gift of forgiveness and salvation FREE OF CHARGE. Ephesians 2:8-9, among other Biblical passages, show how horrible an abomination it was to sell indulgences. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves,    it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Even though it was clearly against God’s Word, the church went around selling indulgences because it was such a huge money maker. In fact, the colossal mega-cathedrals that dot the European landscape were built off the lie sold in each indulgence. Johann Tetzel, a famous indulgence salesmen sold sin under this catchy motto: “When the coin in the coffer clings, the soul from purgatory heavenward springs.” They weren’t selling an easy way into heaven; they were selling off burial plots in hell. Doesn’t that make your freely-forgiven soul twinge in disgust?

If that weren’t bad enough, the lay people found a way to abuse further this already open abuse of Scripture. They purchased these pieces of paper to cover their own perdition. It is told that Luther one day ran into a church member who was stumbling through the streets stone-faced drunk during the daytime! When Luther confronted him about his sinful drunkenness, the man sloppily reached within his pocket and pulled out a haphazardly folded indulgence. “I cun be dunk,” he said with slurred speech. “I’ve get right hur an indulgence!”

Luther had enough of this open sin! He dug into God’s Word and wrote down 95 reasons (95 Theses) why the sale of indulgences was contrary to Scripture. On October 31^st, 1517, Martin Luther dared to be a Daniel by standing up to the religious and political leaders by standing up for the truth of God’s Word.

When Luther nailed those 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, he was in essence nailing his death certificate to the door. Anyone who crossed the Pope was hunted down and executed. Luther knew he would probably be slaughtered for standing up for Jesus yet he knew it was better to die in faith and in faithfulness than to live in fear and faithlessness. Luther’s confidence in Christ is heard within our sermon hymn, the battle hymn of the Reformation:

The Word they still shall let remain – Nor any thanks have for it;

He’s by our side upon the plain – With His good gifts and Spirit.

And do what they will – Hate, steal, hurt or kill

Though all may be gone – Our victory is won;

The kingdom’s ours forever!

I wonder if Martin Luther ever connected his life and his unswerving faithfulness to the truth of God’s Word to the faithful life and committed confidence that Daniel had in the Lord. Daniel also stood up for the Lord against the political authorities and religious atrocities of his day. Daniel was a slave held in captivity. Under God’s guidance, Daniel was trained for service within his captor’s government—along with his Israelite brethren: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel grew to be the second most powerful person in all of Babylon.  This, of course, infuriated the Babylonian politicians so they sent out the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, and even the National Inquirer of their day to dig up some dirt on Daniel. None could be found. No skeletons in his closet.  No cooked books. No secret bank accounts. No fudged tax returns. No mistress on the side.

So, they used his faithfulness against him. They knew Daniel would only worship the True God. They appealed to the king’s ego to pass a law that no one could pray or worship anyone except the king for a month. What did Daniel do? He obeyed God and it got him on the menu for the lions’ lunch.

Daniel dared to stand up for God and God lovingly stood up for Daniel. How many days do you think Daniel’s enemies kept the lions from food so they would be extra angry hungry? I’m sure they were ferociously hungry! Yet the bloodthirsty, flesh-shredding lions purred and pranced around Daniel as if he was a friend of the family! What a testimony to the power of God! What a witness to the results of being faithful to the Father!

If someone had it out for you, if someone sicked on you the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, and the dirt-diggers of the National Inquirer, would you come out squeaky clean like Daniel? What nastiness would they find in your past? What drugs, drunkenness, sexual infidelity, financial fixing-the-books would they find? Is your history on earth above reproach? Is your internet search history above reproach? What gossip, slander or anger have your spoken against another?

In the folklore of the South, there is a story about a farmer who took a wagon of cotton to the cotton gin to be sold. While the gin owner was busy, the farmer stepped on the scales and fraudulently added his weight to that of his cotton. The gin owner saw him do it but said nothing. He made a check out to the farmer for the full measurement of the scales and then said, “Mark, you sold yourself today for a $1.37!”

What is your price? What is mine? We have sold ourselves not for a worthless piece of paper like in Luther’s time but instead with worthless sins of temporal self-gratification. We are the exact opposite of Daniel, who was thrown into the lion’s den for faithfulness to the Lord. We deserve to be thrown into the lion’s den known as hell, where Lucifer the Lion resides, because of our unfaithfulness to the Lord.

In a way, we are already in the lion’s den. This is the devil’s lair. You are surrounded on every side by a soul-thirsty, faith-shredding lion known as the devil. God warns us to step through this world carefully in faith: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). You can see the lion on the Internet where any fancy of fornication is only a click away. You can hear the roar of the lion in music where wayward teens and adults listen to songs that celebrate what God clearly calls sin. You can see that lion on TV in pagan programming that follows the mantra “sex sells” and networks that push homosexuality into their sitcoms in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

The lion, Lucifer, is stalking you like prey and he is ready to pounce!  Lions in the wild hunt best by picking off the weak and those away from the pack. The devil hunts the same way! He is best at destroying the faith of those who have weakened their faith by living sinful, unrepentant lives and he easily destroys those who are away regularly from the pack of believers! Stay in the pack! Stay in church! Stay in the Word! Beef up your strength to resist the devil’s temptations by being connected firmly to the Almighty.

The devil is a fearsome lion, but we have a Greater Lion on our side.  The dominant Lion is described in Revelation 5:5, “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.” Jesus has destroyed the power of the devil. Jesus has turned the roaring lion of the devil into a harmless kitten. Kittens can spat and claw but they really can’t hurt you. Friends, when you are connect to Christ, when you have faith in the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the devil can’t harm you. He can’t harm you because he has to go through Christ to get to you and Christ is an impenetrable wall, He is your Mighty Fortress. Even the sins of your past cannot hurt you because they were slaughtered and sacrificed with Christ once and for all. You have been made strong by His forgiveness. You are in the pack of believers today. You are safe in the care of Christ’s church.

What comfort and what confidence this gives us! Christ is not walled within Salem Lutheran Church. He is with you wherever you go. He is guiding your path. He is the Protector of your life. He is your refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore, live! Live for Christ.  Stand up for Christ. Be brave. Be strong. When you see sin happening in your life or the life of another, do something about it! Dare to be a Daniel. If the Lord can shut the mouths of ferocious lions, if the Lord can destroy the power of Lucifer the lion, He can and will protect when you stand up for Christ!

Dare to be a Daniel; Dare to stand alone;

Dare to have a purpose firm; Dare to make it known.  Amen.