The Lions Sleep Tonight: Daniel 6:6-27 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Out of all the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, there are few that are taken for granted as much as the freedom to worship.

In many parts of the world, throughout history, we would be risking costly fines, imprisonment, or death by doing what we are doing here today. I should also point out that we enjoy freedom not to worship.

As Americans, we have the freedom of choice. As Christians, we have a commandment:: “remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” Why? Because worship in the church is the most basic exercise of faith. It is the heartbeat of the people of God. It is to your spiritual health what walking is to your physical health. It binds together with God and his people. Worship is a gift that God commands you to receive.

But you still have a choice. And in the Old Testament, we see what happens when God’s people choose not to worship. They used the Sabbath Day for work and play. They pursued other gods to satisfy their wants and desires. This neglect of worship; this dual failure to love God and the neighbor played no small role in the disintegration of Israel as a nation. In 587 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and burned Solomon’s temple. All but the poorest residents of Jerusalem were exiled in Babylon. And, as we heard last week, the freedom to worship God was also taken away. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow down and worship the giant golden idol Nebuchadnezzar had built to himself. 

Click here to read the Scripture text

Today, we are in Daniel 6, and Nebuchadnezzar is dead, as are his grandchildren and the empire he ruled. Decades have passed, and King Darius the Mede is now on the throne. Daniel is a very old man—but not too old for Darius to appoint him as one of 120 officials who will govern his kingdom. Because God was with him, Daniel so distinguished himself in the king’s service that his colleagues felt threatened by his success. 

Photo by Petra Bednarova on Unsplash

 

So, they form a conspiracy to take him down. They advise King Darius to “establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to any god or human, for thirty days, except to [him], shall be thrown into the den of lions.

Darius naively complied, and the decree was issued. Daniel continued to pray three times each day, as was his habit, and the conspirators quickly caught him in the act.

When Darius finds out, he doesn’t want to kill Daniel, a man he trusts and respects. But he also knows that “the laws of the Medes and the Persians cannot be repealed.” Unsurprisingly, Darius chooses to save face over saving Daniel—and into the lions’ den he goes.

Still, Darius agonizes over the decision he’s made. He doesn’t sleep a wink. The lions, on the other hand, sleep all night. And in a remarkable twist, Daniel finds in the lions’ den the one thing that had been taken away from him: the freedom to pray and worship.

Sadly, a few centuries later, this freedom completely taken away from God’s people. Judaism will be outlawed under penalty of death until the Maccabean Revolt in 186 B.C., which Jews still celebrate today at Hanukkah.

We are blessed to have no civil authorities threatening our lives for worshiping God. But there are many gods demanding that you worship them with your time, money, and resources. If you fail to worship them, you will be denied fun, success, and belonging.

It’s astonishing to think of how many Christians risk death by coming to worship. American Christians don’t worship due to fear of missing out on other things.

There will always be a voice in your mind, tempting you to believe that you have nothing to gain and much to lose by worshiping, praying, going to bible study, or by volunteering.

It always makes me sad when people say, “you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” That’s like one of the Steelers saying that they don’t need to attend training camp or practice to play football.

Worship wasn’t a choice for Daniel. It was a necessity. It was as indispensable to him as food and water. In his mind, it was better to die for worshiping God rather than live without worshiping God.

If coming to worship on Sunday morning isn’t as indispensable to you, then we need to do some soul-searching. Worship is a two-way street, and you will only receive from worship in measure to what you give. At the same time, we need to be open to the Holy Spirit teaching us new ways to feed and be fed. The empty pews are a telltale sign that we are not yet reaching neighbors who are hungry for God.

But how will we do that? How do we feed hungry souls in this age of plenty? What things hold us back from reaching new generations?

These are tough questions, and the answers will not be found without prayer, struggle, failure, and sacrifice. At the same time, we need to be mindful of those who would come to worship, but work Sunday mornings. We need to be mindful of those who cannot be here due to illness, or limited mobility. How can we share the gift of worship with them and their families?

Maybe that’s the lesson to be learned here: to understand how much we need God and two empty our lives would be without him. And that there are no substitutes for what God gives us in worship, which is his very self in the word, in the water, in the bread, in the cup, and in the brothers and sisters who love you in Christ.