Allen Jackson - Character Counts - Part 2
And to please God consistently, we're gonna have to understand his character. You can do it occasionally, but if you're gonna do it in a consistent way, you're gonna have to know the character of God. To do that, you're really gonna have to read your Bible with some intentionality and some regularity. I wanna bring you some examples of this. Again, I said, pleasing God is presented to us in every book of the Bible. We could pick up about any book and I could give you examples, but I chose a couple that I think are familiar to you, so they need less back story.
In the book of Daniel, Daniel is a slave in Babylon. Jerusalem has been destroyed. His life is inalterably turned upside down. He's not gonna celebrate the feast and the holidays that have defined his family for centuries. He's not gonna go to Jerusalem for Passover. He's not gonna go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Their holidays are different. The language he's forced to learn is different. He's a slave in a foreign land. Now, for most of us that's devastating beyond what we can even imagine. We don't even, we don't have a frame of reference for that, and I pray we never do, but Daniel did. The covenant people of God came under the judgment of God and they lost their homes. Do you imagine that could happen in the 21st century?
Again, you see, the God that we have kind of recreated in the form of kind of a house pet, he's just there to bless us, to make us happy when we come back in the door, to wag his tail, to jump up in our lap, to provide some comfort, to be kind of a friendly presence. We don't imagine that he has the authority to completely upend our lives. That would be unfair. Well, Daniel's a slave in Babylon and we meet him, my expectation, candidly, was that he would be angry and filled with rage and resentment and bitterness because God has mistreated him. But that's not his attitude at all.
And I brought you a couple of examples in chapter one and verse eight, it is really when we first meet, Daniel says, "Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way". In a foreign nation, having lost, really, everything, including his hope of the future that he would have dreamt about or his parents would have held for him, he says, "I don't wanna do anything that would be displeasing to God". That's the street version of what it means to "defile" himself. He probably can't keep Kosher in the way that it would have been described in Jerusalem, but he said, "I would rather not be forced, even with my fork, to dishonor God".
I suspect most of us would have felt justified in not only drinking the wine, or just relinquishing yourself to alcohol, as I have reason to be depressed. And Daniel said, "I won't even defile, I won't dishonor God with my fork". He's not using the difficulty of his life as a means of license. What's he doing? He's saying, I wanna please God, I wanna please God in an upside down world in a time when there's tremendous pressure. I wanna please God. He's not saying, "Well, I'm a part of the covenant people of God. I'm a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I'm good to go".
We tend to hold up our credentials and say why we have liberty and license, and Daniel's chosen the opposite tack. He has some friends that are a part of this decision with him, and by Daniel, chapter 3, they're in trouble. The king has made a statue of himself, you know the story. Everybody's supposed to bow to the statue. Well, for the Jewish community, that's not appropriate. But apparently, the Jewish community decided it was probably better for their long term viability to bow. But these three young men, who are friends of Daniel's, they're not so good at that. And so while everybody else is bowing here, they stand. It's in your notes, Daniel 3 and 12, "There were some Jews whom you set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who pay no attention to you, king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you set up".
There were tens of thousands of Jews there. These three stood out. Please don't take your cues by people that wear the banner of a faith-filled person, but lack the courage or the determination to honor God. You choose to please God. Sometimes, it will cause you to stand out in a crowd when it's not comfortable. Choose to please God anyway. You know the story, they get tossed in a furnace, things are not going well for the "pleasing God" crowd. Now, God supernaturally intervenes, but their message was very clear, "King, you know, the God we serve can deliver us from your hands. But even if he doesn't, we will not bow to your statue".
The king got so mad, it changed his appearance, and God delivered them. In Daniel chapter 6, it's another scenario, same kind of deal, Daniel has flourished so much in his civil service that his peer group is jealous of him; they want him removed. He's putting pressure on them, imagine that. They need to silence him, but he isn't immoral. He isn't unethical. He's not cheating or stealing or lying. They said, "The only thing we could possibly do to remove him was manipulate the legal system". Gee, that doesn't sound familiar. And so, they have a law inserted, that means it would be wrong for him to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In chapter 6 and verse 10, "When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs rooms where the windows open towards Jerusalem, and three times a day, he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God, just as he'd done before". He not only went home and prayed three times, and he opened the windows. Let's please God. Now the punch line: God gave Daniel revelation of the end of the age, God gave Daniel, Daniel was so trustworthy that God gave to Daniel understanding of what would happen and things that are still ahead of us. When God looked across the span of history and all the generations and all of the people, he said, "This young man is so trustworthy, I can trust him with the vision of the end of the age".
You and I benefit because of Daniel's faithfulness. That's stunning to me. Is your determination to please God so entrenched, are you so committed to it, that generations who follow us will benefit because you decided to please God? "Well, I'm busy". Oh, stop. One of the things I've concluded is that we hide behind our children. "Well, I'm afraid there'd be a consequence for my children". If your ungodliness, or your refusal to stand for godliness, you think you're protecting your children, you're offering them on the altar of convenience.
Now, that's the truth. But Daniel has these, on more than one occasion, he has an angelic message delivered, a message delivered to him by an angel. An archangel. And in Daniel 10, it's repeated, but I gave you just one instance. It says, "Do not be afraid, O man, highly esteemed". The angel says, "I came from the throne of God with a message. And the first part of the message is you are highly esteemed in heaven". Let's please God. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a part of a generation where the message is as history unfolds and the narrative gets told, there was a generation that was committed to pleasing God? A generation esteemed by God. Why don't we decide to become that people?
"Well, you know, really pastor, I just wanna go to heaven. Could you tell me what is the minimal daily requirement of Christianity? I don't want, like, more than I need". And we don't really say that out loud very often, but I think it's what we often have practiced. You know, we don't want to become like zealots. We don't want to be over the top. You know, we kinda, like, keep it in check. I don't wanna be emotional. Folks, if it matters to you, you get emotional, and we get emotional about different things, but if you have no emotion attached to your faith, your faith doesn't mean much to you. Well, I'm not encourage, you can be emotional, it doesn't make you more faithful, but we've got to recalibrate a little bit.
I want to give you a parable from Jesus. Daniel is such a good expression of pleasing God; Daniel and his friends. But Jesus told a parable that invites us into this concept. Remember, in this session, we're talking about the character of God, knowing who God is makes all the difference. Knowing who God is when he's displeased, you know, the Bible is very clear that God is not only pleased, God is also displeased, and you need to know what he will do when he's unhappy. You see the displeasure of God is not just reserved for the devil. In fact, the story of scripture most frequently shows God's displeasure towards the people that he's leading. And the New Testament, if you prefer that, says that the story of the Old Testament was written down so that we would have an example from those who preceded us.
In this parable, it's a familiar parable, it's the parable of the talents. It's Matthew 25, I put it all in there, but we won't read the whole thing, "It'll be like a man going on a journey, he called his servants and entrusted his property to them". Then he gives them three different things: One gets five talents, one gets two talents, and another gets one talent. We don't all get the same thing, and some of you were unhappy about that. Some of you are mad that you're not 6'5''. Some of you are unhappy that you don't have 3% body fat. Some of you wanted different physical skills, or you wanted to be something. You wanted a shorter nose, or longer feet, or you wanted a different kind of hair, and you're kinda mad at God.
"Well, I always wanted to be". Do you understand, there's so many things that are beyond us? I marvel at the way we can be manipulated by such absurd ideas, that somehow everybody should have the same, that we should...do you understand, I was in the Amazon River basin, a short period of time, a few days, but I met people who have no access to electricity, who have no access to health care. Most of them, many of them will not travel more than 30 or 35 miles from the place where they were born. And the only, the primary difference in their life and my life is where I was born, not that I was smarter, or more godly, or more anything, just happened to be the circumstances of my birth.
And people will try to get you heated-up, torqued-up, and we're so gullible, we're so greedy, and so envious, and so covetousness, so covetous. We go, "Now, I want some of that"! Jesus said, "Some got five talents, and some got two talents, and some got one talent". Let's see, he has the perspective. He's gonna help us with it. "The man who received five talents went at once, put his money to work, he gained five more. Well, with two talents gained two more, but the man who received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground". That's the story. The next piece of the information that's introduced is they're gonna give an account. There is accountability for what you do with your journey under the sun.
This notion that, "It's my life and my time and my money". Well, it is, but you will give an account. "Well, I don't like that. I think I should do what I," you can do whatever you want, but since the creator has chosen to give you a revelation, he's also given you an opportunity to receive his blessing. "Well, I don't want his blessing". Then help yourself, but you can't choose ungodliness and then expect the same blessing that comes with godliness. "Well, I don't like that. It's not fair". It's the designer system. I don't think it's particularly fair that Double Stuff Oreos and mint chip ice cream are not vitamin-enriched health foods. If I had written the system, those would be superfoods, much better for you than an acai bowl, or however you pronounce it, but I didn't design the system, so I have much less mint chip ice cream and Double Stuff Oreos than I would prefer. Again, if you've made a pet out of God.
"After a long time," in verse 19, "the master of those servants returned and settled accounts. The man who received five talents brought the five. 'You entrusted me with five, I've gained five more.' 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few, I'll put you in charge of many. Come and share your master's happiness.' Two talent comes in, 'You entrusted me with two, I've gained two more.' 'Well done, good and faithful,'" identical commendations. So, the implication seems to be that you'll be held accountable for what you're entrusted with. Or, if I use another passage, "To whom much is given much is required".
Look, we've been given more liberty, more freedom, more access to the Word of God, better communications tools than almost anybody on the planet, and certainly than any generation that's ever lived. The assignment to preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world is still open before us, it hasn't been rescinded. We will give an account. "Then the man who'd received the one talent came in, 'Master, I knew that you're a hard man, harvesting where you hadn't sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed. I was afraid and I went out and hid the talent.
Here's what belongs to you.' His master said, 'You're wicked and lazy. You knew that I harvest or I haven't sown and gather where I haven't scattered, then you should have at least put my money on deposit. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For everyone who has will be given more and you will have an abundance, and whoever doesn't have, even what he has will be taken from him, and throw the worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth". Well, that's the New Testament, if you weren't paying close attention. That's a parable that Jesus told.
The third servant is described as "wicked and lazy," and he's thrown outside, he's excluded from the benefits of the kingdom, and if you look for the fundamental reasons, he didn't understand the character of God. He said, "I knew you to be hard and I understood you to be mean-spirited, and my understanding of who you were dictated a pattern of behavior". You see, character counts. I don't want you to live in dread of God, but I would submit that it would be in our best interest, all of us, to live with the respect and a reverence for God, that we not treat him as if he is our lapdog. He's not our lackey. He's not our hireling. He is the creator of all things, and we serve at his pleasure, and it would behoove us to begin our days by saying, "How may I please you," not in arrogance saying, "I'm not really sure you're necessary, but I'm gonna incorporate you into my life plan, just a sort of a spiritual insurance policy".
That phrase, and I don't have the time, but "weeping and gnashing of teeth," it's a phrase that is repeated in more than one place, and it seems to suggest a group of people who had a great deal of access and proximity to the opportunities of God, but didn't choose to participate until a point in time where they were excluded irrevocably. And then they're described as being in a place of great weeping and the gnashing of teeth, tremendous angst. "I could have, at any time I wanted, participate. I chose not to, I lived presumptively. I lived indulgently. I lived apart from the council of scripture".
See, I think it's far too easy for us to think that the challenges we have are because of a demonic outpouring, and unleashing of demonic, I don't doubt that those things are happening, but they happen because of the vacuum that's been created by the disinterest of the people of God. Let's please God. We can do this. We can do this. Say, "Well, it's not easy". Granted, you got me. It's not easy. It is not easy. Duly noted. Let's stop asking the question, "What do I want to do"? Let's start asking the question, "What needs to be done"? Fewer and fewer times in my week, do I ask myself, "What do I want to do," And far more of the time I'm asking myself, "What needs to be done? And is there any way I could add momentum to that"?
Let's please God. You'll love the outcome. What better result could you have when your strength is diminished, and your days under the sun come to a conclusion, that you hear the creator of all things say, "Well done, well done. Good Job". "Well, I don't like volunteering with kids. I don't like kids. They're so annoying". Okay, duly noted. Now, hush and volunteer. "I don't like camps. There's bugs". You're right, there are, we'll even bus some in for you. But now that you've expressed that, go volunteer. "I keep running out of time". A part of the talent thing is about what you do with your stuff. People say, "I don't like to give".
Okay, now go be generous. I don't like to eat vegetables, but I like them better than having broken health. So, watch me eat brussels sprouts. It's an acquired taste. Acquire it. We have filled churches with a bunch of toddlers going, "You know, I don't...can I have ketchup? More ketchup, please". And we reinvent God into this puppy-like thing, that's for our amusement and our pleasure. He's a lion. We gotta go. I wanna pray. How many will be willing to say, "God, we wanna please you this week". Let's just take it on a week-by-week assignment. Can we do that? Why don't you stand with me. If you're at home, you can stand too. Put down the mint chip ice cream. What an honor to serve the Lord. What a privilege we have. He has blessed us so richly. Why would we not honor him?
Father, thank you for your Word and its truth, and power, and authority. Thank you that you called us out of darkness, that through Jesus's shed blood, Father, we can be clean and forgiven, established in your presence. Forgive us, forgive us when we have been distracted, and selfish, and childish. Forgive us, Father, when we have cared little about you and far more about our own agendas. But Lord, I thank you that you're awakening us. For your spirit within us, who leads, and guides, and directs, Father, our choice, our desire, our intent, is to please you. We ask now for your help in the midst of our routines, and our days, and our assignments, and our responsibilities, help us see how we might be pleasing to you, and any place where we're displeasing, Lord, give us an awareness, make us uncomfortable with it, that we might repent and choose you. May you be pleased, may we be esteemed in your sight. I thank you for it, in Jesus name. Amen.