Marcus Mecum - Why Worship Matters
Daniel 4, Babylon is in scripture a reference, not necessarily to the ancient, physical geographic location though it was a real place as we know. Biblically speaking, it’s a reference to a system, a governmental system that is anti-God. It is against God. It is against scripture. It is against freedom. It desires to oppress people, remove freedoms from people. And you see, Babylon, the spirit of it and that’s what it really is, most people know that love Jesus know the devil influences individuals by them opening a door in their life somehow. You remember the Bible says in Genesis that Cain had cracked the door to the enemy and he was crouching at the door.
So, as a Christian, you can open the door of your heart and sin just crouches and to pounce on you. So, you have to be aware of how the enemy is working as an individual, but also you have to be aware that the enemy is not going to settle for just individual control. He seeks to control society, culture, and the masses through systems, manmade systems in the earth. And so, that’s primarily what Babylon is speaking of. We have gone into it in great details over the last couple weeks. But my question was, what was the number one thing that Babylon is after? And if you look at chapter 3, chapter 4, 5, and 6, I’m gonna paraphrase those all. I’m gonna kinda wrap them all together 'cause I believe the one thing you see that’s similar, it’s attacked in different ways in each chapter. But the one thing that you see that the enemy is after is our worship.
And it’s important to understand what worship is and why God has gifted us worship. We are the creation. He is the Creator. Romans 1 says, «Do not worship creation». When you start to worship creation, that’s when things get messed up. That’s when you begin to exalt creation above Creator. Well, because he’s our Creator we have to know how he has created us. You would know that if you don’t have oxygen, you can’t breathe. Now, you can fight that. You can argue that. You can get mad at that. You can say, «I’m not gonna have any oxygen because I just don’t believe that oxygen is important». But you know that your blood needs oxygen, and your heart will stop pumping, and you die because you’re against oxygen.
That’s how you’ve been created. You can argue it, but you’re not the Creator, you’re creation. In the same way God has created us to worship. In the same way your physical body needs air, your spirit man needs worship. And without worship, the devil knows, what happens is you die. And that’s what the enemy is here to do, to steal, kill, and destroy. So, he wants to do everything he can to get you from worshiping God to turn your worship into what we would know is how the enemy lost his position in heaven as worship leader, we would know it’s how the enemy attacked Jesus in the wilderness. «That if you’ll just bow down and worship me, I’ll give you the kingdoms of this earth».
So, he knows the way to stop humanity is to keep you from worshiping your Creator and get you to worship creation in all of its forms. Whether that’s self, whether that’s satan, whether that’s sin, whatever it might be, «Worship that, give your life to that, give your devotion to that». Because he knows spiritually, it suffocates us. So, in Daniel 4 there is a great lesson on the importance of worship.
Let’s look at verse 20, «My Lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies,» this is Daniel confronting the king, «And if only the meaning was for your adversaries. The tree you saw grew large and strong. Its top touched the sky, visible to the whole earth, beautiful leaves, abundant fruit, providing for all. It gave shelter to wild animals, nesting places in the branches for the birds. Your majesty, you are that tree. You become beautiful, and great, and strong. Your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky. Your dominion extends to the distant parts of the earth. Your majesty saw a holy one, a messenger, coming down from heaven saying, 'cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze, the grass of the field, while its roots remain'».
Remember that. That’s important. «'while its roots remain in the ground, let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him live with the wild animals until seven years pass by for him'». This is the interpretation. This is what he says to the king. «'your majesty, this is the decree of the Most High and he’s issued this against you king. You will be driven away from people, live with wild animals. You’ll eat grass like an ox. You’ll be drenched with the dew of heaven. And seven years will pass by before you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign'».
Daniel here is helping us understand several things about how worship works. Nebuchadnezzar is a powerful king. His intelligence, his brilliance, his genius as a king is still studied to this day. One of the seven wonders of the world, the hanging gardens of Babylon, we still research the architecture that Nebuchadnezzar was a part of this, again, still studied by those who look into historical architecture to this day. When America attacked Iran years ago, one of the biggest concerns were so many of the historical places and traces of Babylon and the places that Nebuchadnezzar had helped build were possibly going to be destroyed and history lost forever. And so, people had great concern.
This is not an average leader. This is not a normal leader. This is a mighty king. He’s a man of war. He’s a military strategist. He’s a general. He is successful in everything that he touches. And like most people who are successful have to battle, pride sets in. And pride is this God complex. Pride is this thing that says, «You’ve accomplished something». And because you believe that you have done something special, what sets in is the opposite of what worship is, where humility is your acknowledgement that your creation, and that your worship doesn’t belong to self. It doesn’t belong to sin. It belongs to God. When pride sets in, you turn your worship to self, lifting self up.
Lifting what you’ve done, who you are, up above worshiping your Creator. It’s important that we look at how this story reads because Nebuchadnezzar, in his pride, had begin to oppress the children of Israel to such an extent that God said, «Okay, you’ve crossed the line. You’ve gone too far. I’m going to intervene». God had used king Nebuchadnezzar to chastise the children of Israel because of their rebellion. But now, he’s crossed the line. He’s gone too far, and God says, «I’ve had enough». It’s important to remember that the devil is God’s devil. It’s important to remember that it’s not like the devil and God are equals, and they’re fighting one another, and which one will win, and it’s light and darkness, they’re both equally opposing one another.
That’s not how it works. The devil is God’s devil, and he has to come into the presence of God, we read in scripture, to ask him for permission to even touch your life. And if he is allowed to touch your life with a trial, or a test, or a situation, he crosses the line at some point. If he does, he learns that though God loves us, and may chastise us, and may occasionally test us, he knows when it goes from being helpful to harmful. And when that happens, God says, «You’ve crossed the line, king, and I’m gonna intervene». So, there are times when God just says, «Enough». So, God says, «Enough. It’s going into your head. You are brilliant. You are mighty. You are successful. But it’s going to your head».
So, God begins to mess with him. And like he did before, he messes with his sleep. I love this because this reminds us that if God can’t get to you any other way, he’ll get to you through some Jesus trouble. This is when you don’t want him but he wants you. You want nothing to do with him, but he’s not checking with you. He’s got you in his sights, and he’s gonna start Messing with you. He’ll make everything you usually love miserable. He’ll take the fun out of sin. He’ll make your relationships that you’re leaning on go weird. He’ll make you go through things that you don’t like, and you’re like, «What is going on»? And you can kick, and scream, and fight, and argue, throw on the ground, flail and throw temper tantrums. But God has a way of getting through to you. He doesn’t quit. He doesn’t back off. He’ll stalk you if he needs to. He’ll mess with your sleep if he needs to.
And so, that’s what he does. He has this dream and it’s of a large, flourishing, fruitful, prosperous, healthy, alive tree. A tree that’s protecting animals and giving them shade. The limbs provide strength for birds to have their nest. And then, all of the sudden, in this dream a lumberjack comes down from heaven with a mighty axe, and the axe starts hitting the tree. And the tree falls over, but there’s a stump that’s left, and there’s some roots that are left. And this is an important part of the story, because Nebuchadnezzar is trying to figure out, «What does this mean? What does this mean, that there’s this great tree, but it’s been cut down»?
So, he reaches out to Daniel, and Daniel says, «Okay, king, I’m gonna tell you what this means, but you’ve got 12 months to get your life right. You’ve got 12 months to let go of the pride, let go of the ego. You’ve got 12 months. And if you don’t humble yourself, God’s going to cut you down». And this is not a message of condemnation. God’s trying to get his attention. God’s trying to say, «Listen, I want a better future for you, but you’ve gotta learn that pride is not from me». And so, God says, «I’m gonna leave the stump. I’m gonna leave some roots».
See, if God was trying to condemn him, then we would know that God would get rid of the roots, God would get rid of the stump, and there would be no way for the tree to ever live again. But because God says, «I’m going to leave the roots,» what’s he’s saying is, «No matter how bad it gets, I’m gonna make sure that the tree can live again, that it can be restored at some point. I’m not going to allow it to ever be outside of being able to see its potential again».
So, like Daniel said, one month goes by, three months, six months, nine months, a year to the date. The king refuses to listen. He refuses to humble himself. And on the anniversary of that one year, he suddenly loses his mind. He goes crazy. He’s loose into the wilderness acting like a wild animal. His hair grew like feathers covering his body. His fingers were outgrown like bird claws. He’s running around on all fours. He’s howling at the moon. His mouth is foaming. Notice, this great king, this powerful king, has now become a beast. Because that’s what pride will do to you. Pride will take your brilliance and your success. It will take even a powerful king and turn them into a beast. The best definition I’ve ever heard of sin is temporary insanity.
When you see an individual, you’re like, «What are they thinking»? That’s just it, they’re not. Because if you’re not careful, you can lose your sensibility. You can lose reason. Because that’s what sin does. And in this case, he didn’t just lose it for a day, or five days, or a moment. It wasn’t just like a lapse in judgement for a day or two. For seven years he’s running around. He’s lost his mind. He’s making no sense. He’s not acting like a king. He’s not acting like the genius that he is. He’s acting the opposite of it, and nobody can figure it out. Not only does this happen to an individual, but we’re talking to Babylon.
And Babylon can start, it can be powerful but beast like, not making an sense, crazy decisions, crazy cause. Things like, «Let’s prosecute a patriot, but let’s protect a pedophile». What? «Let’s throw our veterans out on the street, but let’s protect the criminal». And you’re like, «But where is the reason»? That’s just it. Pride gets in and we start elevating the way we see things, and the way we think things. And creation starts to exalt itself above God. And the king becomes a beast, and his mighty nation starts to destroy the lives of people. Because sin and pride reduce us down to acting like a beast. No dignity, no honor, no respect, becoming who we do not what to be. Pride does this to people. It turns us over to our beastly nature and our beastly instincts and we start worshiping creation, not the Creator, self instead of God, crazy decisions, crazy lifestyles, makes no sense. But God is involved in all this.
And God is saying, «Listen, king, you don’t have to stay this way. I’ve got an opportunity for you to turn. I’ve got a better choice for you. I’ve got a better option for you». And we have to know that all of us are just like that king. That if God ever withdraws his grace from us, if we ever refuse to realize that God gives us a space of grace, and that space of grace is a time. There’s a clock on it. There’s an end date to it. You’re like, «No, no, no. God’s grace doesn’t have an end date to it». God will speak to you. He’ll warn you. He’ll try to get a hold of you. And if you just continue to push it aside, there is a day that God says, «Okay, my message of grace and mercy is not working, so let’s go ahead and see if they’ll turn when they start losing some things, and things start getting messed up. Let’s see if they’re gonna realize without my grace, they’re never going to be who I call them to be».
So, God is teaching him, «You don’t play with pride». Yes, God is merciful. Yes, God is loving, but he’s also holy. Yes, he’s a God of grace, but you gotta read the sentence. There’s no period there. Grace and truth. So, it’s grace, but it’s not greasy grace. It’s grace, but it’s not just forever you do whatever you want and he don’t care. For seven years, the king has lost his mind, running through the forest, howling at the moon. But God said, «I’m gonna make sure that no matter how bad it looks, no matter how far gone this king seems, I’m going to leave some roots. I’m going to leave the necessary material to bring about restoration. I’m going to make sure that though he’s facing a setback, that is actually the platform that God can use to orchestrate the comeback».
We have to know that no matter how far gone it seem, we seem, someone else seems, and it looks like they’re never going to come to their senses, God wants us to know he’s always going to leave some roots. He’s always going to leave something there for them to turn back around. Can anybody testify that we serve a God that knows how to restore? That he does not leave you in that place, but he can restore you. So, verse 34 of that verse is the key. It says, «The king looks towards heaven and finally after seven years, he humbles himself and he begins to worship». And notice what happens, «His understanding returned to him». Isn’t that beautiful? All of a sudden, he wakes up, «What am I doing? Where am I at? This isn’t me. This isn’t what I was meant to do. This isn’t the level I was called to live at».
Then he comes to himself, and God looks down and he sees this king living like a beast, and he sees him humility, and he sees his worship, and God says, «It has taken seven years, but he’s finally looking my way». And that’s what this service is about today. It’s about no matter how far gone you think you are or somebody else is, no matter how long it’s been, no matter what areas the enemy has somehow cut down in your life, maybe your marriage feels cut down today. Maybe it’s your dream that’s been cut down. Maybe it’s your emotions, and your mental life has been cut down. Maybe it’s your faith has been cut down. God just looks, not for perfect people. God looks for a posture of humility, a posture of worship. And when we’re willing to worship, God looks at that king and he says, «Because you’ve humbled yourself, I’m gonna restore you back to the throne».
Now, watch this. The word worship or bless, when it says to the king, «Bless God,» it’s the word barak, which means to kneel. Every time barak is used in the Bible it’s mentioned in a desperate situation. When Jehoshaphat, he was outnumbered, but he begin to bless God. Job lost everything, but he begin to barak. So, barak represents, not just lifting your hands in a cute way in a worship service, it represents desperate worship. It represents, «I’ve tried everything I know to do, and I’ve come up with no answers, no solutions, and that’s when you barak».
One translation said that barak is the praise or the worship of a helpless one. It’s when you say, «The assistance that I need, the situation I’m in requires supernatural and divine intervention. I cannot do this without God. Nothing else will turn this around but him». And because the king is no longer proud, is not longer filled with his ego, is no longer worshiping self, no longer creating golden images, giving the command to down and worship me, because he’s been humbled and now, he realizes he’s just creation. It doesn’t matter what his title is. It doesn’t matter what his position is. It doesn’t matter what his success is, he’s just a man. And when he humbles himself, God says, «I’m gonna restore him back to his throne. I’m restoring his family».
And God loosed everything that had been tied up in those roots and that stump that the enemy tried to completely destroy. This means that in church life, every now and then you’ve gotta say, «My cute, fancy, sophisticated worship may not cut it». I may have to say, «In this situation I’m helpless and this situation is bigger than me. And I have to humble myself and say, 'God, I’m desperate. I can’t do this any other way. I need you. I want you'». I believe it hit the king that these seven years are over. «Things are turning around. Things are going to move in the right direction for me. I do believe that God is a restorer».
The question is, are we desperate enough? I can testify that God can restore. But I can also say we prolong the pain because we don’t think somebody is deserving or we were upset, or we’re disappointed, and we’re discouraged, and we hang on. And as a result, restoration can’t find its way to us, so we have to life our hands every now and then and say, «God, I’m desperate. I’m desperate. I can’t do this on my own. I can’t do this without you». And when we do that, God gets involved and says, «I think there’s some roots somewhere in there. I think there’s the potential for things to come back. I don’t think it’s over for that person».