Unwritten rules of society (social norms)
- Each society has some unwritten rules
Social norms:
- Holding the door open for someone after you
- Yes ma’am – No ma’am
- Not calling someone late at night
- Please and thank you
- Respect peoples personal space
- Don’t buy most expensive dinner when someone is paying for you
Social norms can also become “SOCIAL PRESSURES.“
- How you should vote
- How you should view yourself
- How you should view sexuality
- How you should view marriage
- How you should view God and religion
You might not know that WHAT you are doing or HOW you are thinking is from a “SOCIAL NORM.“
- Just what you are used to thinking
- What you are used to believing
- What you have been taught
- What you WANTED to believe…
You have to be EXPOSED TO THE TRUTH
John 8:31-32
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The question I want to ask today is:
As followers of Jesus, how do we handle Social Pressures that don’t align with God’s scripture?
In this series called “Christmas at the end of the world”
- Discussion what real Christmas is
Reason it’s called Christmas At The End Of the World is…
Christmas comes when we arrive at the END of our World
- World of self
- World of being our own God
Last week:
We discovered that…
Christmas is NOT about BEING a better person; Christmas is about THE better person
That means we LOOK UP and don’t LOOK IN…
Psalm 121
1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Because Christmas is celebrating: EMMANUEL
- God WITH us
How do we LOOK UP when we’re UNDER PRESSURE from ungodly social norms?
Let’s look at a story that is not a “Christmas Story” but has everything to do with the meaning of Christmas
Daniel 6
1 Darius decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, stationed throughout the realm, 2 and over them three administrators, including Daniel. These satraps would be accountable to them so that the king would not be defrauded. 3 Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm. 4 The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”
6 So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, “May King Darius live forever. 7 All the administrators of the kingdom—the prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors—have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that, for thirty days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Therefore, Your Majesty, establish the edict and sign the document so that, as a law of the Medes and Persians, it is irrevocable and cannot be changed.” 9 So King Darius signed the written edict.
Let’s get some CONTEXT
Daniel is:
- In His 80s
- He was a political hostage taken from his home as a young man
- He Has seen much political change and volatility
- Has been faithful to God
- He was also faithful to the governing bodies above him as far as his faith allowed him
Our story picks up:
- Daniel is under a NEW king and kingdom
- About to be made PRIME MINISTER of the realm
- He had enemies, but they couldn’t find any fault in him charging him
They came up with a scheme
- schemers will scheme
Convinced the king to pass an unchangeable law that said if ANYONE prays to ANYONE but the king, they will be put to death
- Kings have big egos, so he agreed
Daniel had a decision to make…
- Would he change who God had called him to be, or would he bend to the social pressure?
Daniel 6
10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
What did Daniel do?
- Did he Hide?
- Did he make his faith just more “PERSONAL”
- Did he fold to the SOCIAL PRESSURE to appear more TOLERANT?
- Did he LOOK IN to see
He kept doing what he had always done
- He stayed faithful under pressure
He LOOKED UP UNDER PRESSURE
Psalm 121
1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
BUT, We live in a world of COMPROMISE
- It’s difficult not to do
They ARE consequences of not giving in to the pressure around us
It might cost you:
- Comfort
- Job
- Financial lifestyle
- Friends/family
- Etc…
Christmas is not compromise
- God did not send 2nd best
- He sends the one and only final sacrifice for the sins of man
- He sends Himself
- He sent Immanuel
The greatest gift we can give our children is uncompromising hearts like Daniel
- to demonstrate what it looks like to be IN the world but not OF it
To stand for TRUTH in love
- Because only truth can set you free
Back to the story…
Daniel’s enemies went back to the king
- Reported that someone had broken the command
- The king had no choice but to through Daniel to his death like the law said
Daniel 6
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you continually serve, rescue you!” 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing in regard to Daniel could be changed. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him, and he could not sleep.
Daniel is sentenced to death…
- His unwillingness to compromise held consequences
But Daniel did not waiver in his FAITH even to death
It reminds me of what Jesus once said…
Matthew 10:28
28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Let’s finish the story…
The king rushed out the next morning
- Daniel is alive
- God shut the mouths of the lions
The king gets Daniel out and throws in his accusers for their deceit…
This situation was so powerful that the king had a RADICAL change of heart…
Faithfulness cal physical AND ETERNAL consequences…
Daniel 6
25 Then King Darius wrote to those of every people, nation, and language who live on the whole earth: “May your prosperity abound. 26 I issue a decree that in all my royal dominion, people must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel:
For he is the living God, and he endures forever; his kingdom will never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end.
27 He rescues and delivers; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for he has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Because of his actions under pressure, Daniel changes an entire kingdom
The greatest story of God’s goodness in your life may come in the most difficult season of your life
What is Daniel?
- A righteous man
- In a pagan, unjust, ungodly country
- A man who is after God’s heart, and God has his heart
Daniel is unjustly…
- Judged
- Sentence
- Put in a hole of death
- And sealed with a rock
Daniel’s story is a foreshadowing of a much greater story
Christmas is the BEGINNING of the Jesus story
- The one who went to the lions of death for our sake
- The innocent one who came to die the death that we deserve
Here’s the Big question that we all should ask this Christmas?
What story is your life telling?
Is it one of COMPROMISING or WEAK FAITH?
- Giving into the social pressures of our current culture?
It is COMPLACENCY and LACK OF DISCIPLINE?
- Is it FEAR?
- Is it a story of DISREGARD FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS?