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Daniel's Parent's (Part 2)
Pastor Bill Farrow
Daniel 1:3-5
[3] Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles, [4] young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. [5] And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king's delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.
(Verse 4) - We looked yesterday at some things we can see implied in the life of Daniel about his parents and the job they did raising him. They portrayed godliness in the home and built in him the values and perspectives of godliness. They taught him to fear God more than men and they built into him discipline & godly habits. They taught him the importance of self-discipline and helped him develop it. They gave him a love for God and for His plan for Israel. They taught him that service to God is an active matter and not simply a matter of the heart. They taught him the value of personally relating to God and calling others to submit to God. They showed him the value of good associations and how they can aid or hinder life. All those things are wonderful, but there are more!
They taught him that right and wrong are real things and that he must choose the right. Sadly, we've lost this concept today. It is not just that people don't know what the right is, they don't think that there even is anything that is right for all men. Daniel understood that there was a right and way for him to live in Babylon. He further understood that he was responsible to choose the right way as everyone was! Right was a real thing that he was responsible to choose and act upon!
Further, they taught him that God's way was the right way. They taught him that determining what was right and was wrong was ultimately up to God. It is the eternal creator of the universe that gets to declare what is right and what is wrong. Men only recognize that truth and respond to it either by submitting to it, or rebelling against it. Truth is not a relative thing, it is an absolute thing that has its definition in the mind and the will of God, not in the understanding and needs of men. Daniel understood that it was not the culture or the King that determined what was acceptable and what was not. It was the God Who is the same yesterday, today and forever!
In order to arm him to know that truth, they taught him the Word of God. Man is not equipped, naturally to know the truth. It must be revealed to him from outside of himself. That is why God has revealed truth to us in the Word of God. Daniel’s parents must have known this, at least to some degree, because they saw to it that Daniel knew the Word of God! How many teenagers do you know who would know the Law well enough to know that eating the meat sacrificed to idols was an evil witness? How many adult do you know who would know where to find the decree of God that et the length of time the Israelites were to be in captivity to Babylon? Daniel’s parents armed him to know and submit to the truth by teaching him, and enabling him to be taught, the Word of god as it existed in their time.
We mentioned the fear of God yesterday. Daniel’s parents taught him to fear the Lord. Further, they taught him that the fear of God was the beginning of real wisdom and that obedience and submission to God was the key to pleasing him. Knowledge was not an idol to Daniel. He understood that knowledge without fear and submission to God was just another form of human righteousness and was, in effect, idolatry. Real wisdom, Daniel understood, started with the fear of God; that is, all real knowledge must be submitted to the knowledge of God revealed in His Word.
They taught him the need to be active in his community and be a part of the solution and not the problem. Daniel’s parents gave a very valuable understanding. They taught him that godliness does not hide out in a room or on a hillside, but that the light that God gives is designed to be shown forth to all men. They taught him to become actively involved in his community and to be a part of the functioning of society in order to be the influence and witness for the truth that God desired him to be.
They saw to it that he learned "secular" things as well. Daniel learned that all knowledge is not evil. He learned that it is OK to learn things that are not directly spiritual, but that all things must be submitted, as we have mentioned, to the “grid” of the Word of God. Daniel learned far more, in his childhood, than just spiritual things. The spiritual things, of a certainty, were most significant and formed the framework upon which all other knowledge was laid; but his parents did see to it that he learned there rest of what life had to offer. The issue at hand in learning is not the thing s that are learned, but the perspective from which they are learned. We ought not shield our children from knowledge. That knowledge can prepare and equip them for great things in their futures!
They saw to it that he trained his body well. The discipline of the body has many benefits. We do not know what the future holds for our children, and so we ought not exclude physical training from their upbringing. Daniel’s parents saw to it that he was in good physical condition and they took care of his health needs, as best they could, given the state of medicine at the time. Today’s parents, with so much more information and treatment available, can do no less. Our children need to be active physically. They need to pursue vigorous play when little and more organized play when older. They value of this when older is more that just the immediate effect. It can set the tone for the entire later of their lives.
They didn't just teach him facts, but taught him how and why things worked as well. When I was younger, my father didn’t teach me much of anything. As a result I grew up not knowing how things like a car engine worked. I knew nothing of wood working, even though my father was an expert. I even knew very little about cameras and photography, though that was his life’s work. We need to teach our children the depths of what we know and not just the fact, but the hows and the whys as well. This detailed knowledge will serve well later in life. Daniel’s parents taught him detailed knowledge that equipped him understand things and see how they worked and why they functioned the way they did.
Further, they taught him to figure things out for himself, not just rely on the word of others. Built on the previous item, this gave Daniel the ability to figure things out that he faced and had not been instructed in previously. Problem solving and the ability to learn new things, and the flexibility that comes from such a mindset is invaluable. So many people are locked into a given way of thinking and are rigid in their thinking and their approach to things. It is their way or the highway! How marvelous to able to flex and to learn new things and new ways of thinking about things already known!
They taught him self-assurance and confidence. They taught Daniels things that he needed to be a confident and self-assured individual before all men, and they gave him the love and acceptance that would enable to be confident and stand for himself. This sounds corny and trite, but it is so important to young people that their parent love and accept them. If they are secure in the home, then they will be secure in the outside world as well. Daniel’s parent bear a major part of the responsibility for Daniel’s ability to stand in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court and take a place of prominence and leadership in that very intimidating place. They taught him that he was equipped and ready to stand before men, because he was equipped and ready to stand before his God!
They taught him the difference between being Biblically separate and being only a legalist. This last one is an important one as well. There is a real difference between being different, and being different because God said to be different. Further, there is a difference between how someone like Daniel approached separation and how the Pharisees in Jesus’ day approached it. Daniel understood that his acceptance before God depended on God’s mercy and grace, not on his conduct. He understood that his conduct was important and significant, but his acceptance before God was rooted in a work that only God could do. He was separated, but not to earn favor with God, but to demonstrate his devotion to God and as an act of love and thanksgiving to God for blessing. It was an act of submission and obedience aimed at pleasing Him, not qualifying for His blessing. That is the difference between a legalist and one who is Biblically separate. One is trying to earn God’s blessing in some fashion, the other is demonstrating that God’s favor already rests on him!
Daniel’s parent and their importance to Daniel cannot be understated. It is fair to say that Daniel would not and could not have been the man of God that he was without the preparation that his parents gave him as a child that enabled him to stand as a believer in that very dark place that was the court at Babylon. As parents, we cannot know what kind of “Babylon” our children may face. Life may be wonderful for them and they may never face the kind of hardship and trial that Daniel faced. However, we cannot guarantee that and we ought to do what we can to prepare them for whatever God might allow in their lives by training them up in the fashion that will best serve them in any eventuality!
I need to teach these principles actively to my congregation and see to it that, as best I am able, I am helping them to live these things out in their lives.