‘Discernment’ is making wise decisions. A’ disciple’ is a wholehearted student-follower. And Daniel is both.
Taken in 605BC to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (in the first act of discipline of God’s mob), Daniel was subjected to an assimilation programme by Nebuchadnezzar – his language, education, clothing, name, diet, address and even his name were reworked so that, at least on the outside, his was a ‘disciple’ of Babylon.
And, yet, in a memorable moment, Daniel ‘draws a line in the sand’ – he resists being completely submerged into Babylon by drawing a line in the sand at his diet. Now, I don’t think this is a statement about the vegetables he ate, or the meat he rejected. I think this is Daniel stating publicly, ‘I belong to God – with him, I lack nothing’.
After all, we have been reminded three times that God is faithful, always doing exactly as he says (v.2, 9 and 17). God has a track record of shepherding his mob faithfully, and Daniel acts on this. Because he lacks nothing because of God, Daniel resists the discipleship programme of Babylon.
‘Culture’ is as simple as ‘the way we do stuff around here’. It covers not just what a mob of people do, but also why they do those things. It covers both what a mob proclaims (about who they are) and what they practice (how they live it out). Every mob of people has one.
It is worth thinking about our culture as we start the year. And that is the purpose of this short two-week series.
This week, we are looking at our ‘Titus-culture’ – the culture we have inwardly, as God’s mob, who do life together. At the heart of this culture, which we see Titus establishing in Crete, is ‘sound teaching’ – the good news of God’s salvation in Jesus, which creates a people for God that are completely transformed. This ‘sound teaching’ is preserved, nurtured, passed on across generations, as men and women meet together, talk together, and encourage each other. It is the proclamation that creates the practice that is ‘the way we do stuff around here’.
The last request that Jesus outlines in the Lord’s Prayer completes our picture of who we are as God’s children—we need his provision, we need his pardon… and we need his protection.
The request for God to ‘lead us not into temptation’ sits parallel with the request for ‘the evil one’ to be kept at bay. Both are a plea for spiritual protection, for God to walk us away from the allure of sin and the work of the devil.
And in both areas, we must be alert to the very great danger we face, a danger that we can often be unaware or unwilling to confront.
And in both areas, because Jesus met the devil and commanded him to ‘go away’ - and then beat him at the cross—we have complete confidence that our Father hears our prayer, and can and will act on it.
And in both areas we are given all that we need to resist temptation and flee the devil—just look at the suit of armour that Jesus has tried and now given us (cf. Is.59:15ff; Eph.6:10ff).
‘Forgiveness’ always makes for a headline in our world. Just recently, online, there was a headline proclaiming the remarkable nature of ‘forgiveness’ that was offered by a sibling of one of those killed at Bondi. Our world marvels at such a notion… but ‘forgiveness’ is central to nature of God’s kingdom. And so it is central to the relationship between God and his children.
That all being said, how do we define ‘forgiveness’? What does ‘forgive’ mean? How does our forgiveness by God affect our relationships with each other?
All of these questions are connected to the next request that Jesus outlines in the Lord’s Prayer: ‘And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors’.
As we read this request, please be aware of two truths. First, this is a request spoken our Father—the relationship with our Father exists, and is displayed in how we live that out. This request is not one of ‘condition’ but of ‘consequence’. Second, please note that this request captures the essential vertical-horizontal nature of being children of God—it starts with God (vertical) and plays out with others (horizontal).
