Rick Warren - When Your World Is Shaken Up - Part 1
Now, you know, folks, today it seems like that all the values that create a healthy society have been turned upside down. You agree with this? I mean, it’s amazing and everything’s turned inside out, and Isaiah, many years ago, thousands of years ago, warned that any culture is headed for collapse when it reverses the values that created the health of that culture in the first place. Let me show you this up here on the screen. The Bible says in Isaiah 5:20, «You are doomed if you called evil, good and call good evil. Destruction is certain when you call darkness, light and light, darkness; when right is considered wrong, and what’s wrong is considered right; when you claim what is bitter is now sweet, and what is sweet, you now call bitter». He said, «You’re gonna collapse».
That culture is not going to last. That, my friends, actually happened 2,600 years ago to the nation of Israel. And that nation had fallen into immorality and into injustice and into idolatry. Any of those sound familiar? You know, idolizing things that aren’t God, treating people unjustly and unfairly, and immorality. And there were a bunch of guys on that day, they were prophets, one was called Jeremiah, one was called Ezekiel, one was called Zephaniah. Daniel was just a young teenage boy when all this was happening, and they kept predicting. They said, «Guys, if we don’t get our act together, we’re gonna lose our freedom. We’re gonna lose our freedom». And they were warning the nation of Israel that God was ticked at idolatry and immorality and injustice in society.
And sure enough, about 600 B.C., the emperor of the powerful Babylonian Empire invaded Israel. His name was Nebuchadnezzar. It was the most powerful empire of its day. And he came in, took over the entire nation of Israel, destroyed the capital city, totally destroyed the capital city of Jerusalem, and took 25% of the nation as prisoners of war back to Iraq, back to Babylon, and kept them there for 70 years. It was a disaster. They lost their freedom because they were not paying attention to what God had said, and the collapse of that culture shook everybody.
Now there was another guy, he was not a prophet, his name was Asaph. Asaph was actually a songwriter, and he wrote 12 of the Psalms in the Bible. A lot of people think that David was the only one who wrote Psalms, but Moses wrote Psalms, Solomon wrote Psalms, and a guy named Asaph wrote 12 of them. And in Psalm 82, a Psalm of Asaph, he is complaining on God’s behalf, saying the leaders and the judges in your country are not playing fair and they’re corrupt. Here’s what he says. Notice here on the screen, Psalm 82:1 to 5, «God presides over Heaven’s court, and He pronounces judgment on the judges,» he’s talking about those in Israel that day. «How long will you guys, how long will you judges hand down unjust decisions… and show partiality»?
Remember we talked last week, partiality is the old English word for racism or prejudice. «How long are you gonna be prejudiced? Give fair judgments to the poor and to orphans; Uphold the rights of the oppressed and the defenseless». And he says there, «Rescue the poor and the helpless, and deliver them from heartless evil people… Because the leaders are foolish and they lack understanding, people are living in dark times, and,» this is the whole phrase I want you to get, «all the foundations of society are shaken to the core».
Does that sound familiar? All the foundations of society are shaken to the core. That sounds like today’s news. It seems like everything’s being shaken today. Our economy and the foundations of our economy are being shaken, the way we’ve done government in America for hundreds of years is being shaken, our freedom of speech and conscience and religion being shaken, marriages are being shaken, families are being shaken, so many things. Education is being shaken. The foundations of our moral and ethical values are being shaken. Now we’re living in a time of great upheaval when there’s a lot of shakiness going on, but I’m not here to talk about doom and gloom because this book is not about doom and gloom, it’s about the answer, it’s about the answer to those. And God says, no matter how bad the world gets in a rapidly changing world, and even in a decaying culture, God says, «I want you to survive and not only that, thrive, and not only that, I want you to succeed».
And so, I’m starting a new series this weekend. We’re gonna look at the book of Daniel, a great, great book from the Old Testament about, it’s called «Unshakeable». And this series on «Unshakeable» is how to thrive no matter what they throw at you, no matter what comes against you. And it starts with a young boy who was seeing all this happen in his life. His name was Daniel. The Daniel who wrote this book was not a famous prophet when he starts the story. And it covers 70 years of his life from age 15 to age 85. He starts off as a prisoner of war, he ends up 70 years later, as the second most powerful man in the most powerful empire at that time without losing his integrity. It’s an amazing story of lessons for everyone at every stage and age in our culture and in our church.
So, this 15-year old teenager is named Daniel and he watches the destruction of his nation. And he’s taken as a prisoner of war, one of the guys taken. They took 25% of the nation to Babylon. He’s one of the ones, and he would never see his parents again, never see his family again, and never see his homeland of Israel again. He would spend the rest of his life living in a foreign hostile culture. And the book of Daniel teaches how to thrive no matter what they throw at you. We’re gonna study his life in detail the next eight weeks together, but this weekend I want to just set up the theme. And this is how the book of Daniel starts. I’m just gonna read you the first seven verses and then we’re gonna look at the theme.
Here’s what the first seven verses of this book say, «In the third year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar,» that’s the Babylonian guy, «of Babylon besieged Jerusalem with his armies,» have you ever been besieged? Have you ever felt besieged by all the problems in your life? By all the work that you gotta do and you don’t have the time and the money to do it? You’ve ever felt like things were caving in on you? This is the way Daniel and the people of Jerusalem felt. They were besieged by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies, and it says, «And God gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory». What? Nebuchadnezzar is not a godly man. He’s not Jewish, he’s not Christian. He’s a total pagan. God gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory.
Now I’m not gonna get into this, but I will just say this, God often uses pagan leaders to discipline his own children. He did it with Pharaoh, he did it with Cyrus the Persian, he did it with Darius the Mede, he did it with Nebuchadnezzar. God often uses ungodly leaders to do his will, and he let Nebuchadnezzar discipline his own children, the children of Israel. And here’s what happened. So, after the battle and the whole nation is taken into captivity, «When Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon, he took with him the best sacred objects from the Temple of God in Jerusalem and put them on display in his pagan temple in Babylon». What’s he doing? He’s showing off, you know, «See, our god is better than your God. These are supposed to be your holy things. We got them now, and they’re in our foreign temple».
And it says, «He also ordered that the best young men of Judah taken as captives to be brought to his palace,» and one of those happened to be Daniel. And he says this, «I want you…» He told them, «Select only the best-looking, the strongest, and the smartest young men and bring them to my palace». Okay. By the way, look up there for just a second. Did you notice that it’s the same three values that we value in our culture today? Beauty and brains and brawn, okay? He says, «Okay, our society is built on if you’re not academically, you know, proficient, academic aptitude, and if you don’t have athletic ability, and if you don’t have great appearance, you’re nothing».
Well, that’s what he’s saying. This is not a new, this is the culture of the world, that it’s all about sex and salary and status, it’s all about brains and brawn and beauty, it’s all about academics and athletics and appearance. And King Nebuchadnezzar said, «Bring me the best guys». And so, then they put these guys, these young teenage boys through a three-year cultural indoctrination program, and here’s what the Bible says, the rest of the verses, «'Make sure that they’re well versed in every branch of learning, that they’re gifted with knowledge and good sense, and have the poise needed to serve in my royal palace, '» he’s gonna make them his servants.
«'Teach these young men the language and literature of the Babylonian culture, '» they’re gonna be indoctrinated. «They were to eat only Babylonian food and they were to be trained for three years». And then it also says this, «Also they were given,» these young boys, teenagers, «were given new Babylonian names, so Daniel,» who was clearly Jewish and Hebrew, «and his three best friends were renamed: Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar,» now later we’re gonna see in Daniel, one of the guy who replaces Nebuchadnezzar, his name is Belshazzar, not the same guy. Belteshazzar is Daniel, Belshazzar is the emperor. «Hananiah was renamed Shadrack, Mishael was named Meshach. And Azariah was named Abednego».
Now what’s going on here? What’s going on here is they’re systematically reprogramming these Jewish teens. They said, «You’re not gonna be Jews anymore. You’re not gonna have that ethnic background anymore». They’re shaking things up. They’re destroying the foundation. They’re replacing the godly values of Israel with the pagan values of Babylon. They have separated them from their parents, from their loved ones, their families, and they have given them all brand new names and new identities. He said, «Your old life, that’s over. You’re now Babylonian».
Okay, question. If you’re a 15-year old kid, would you say that your life had just been shaken up a lot? Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. You’re never gonna see your parents again and your life has been shaken up. And yet, even though his life was shaken to the foundations, Daniel, this 15-year old kid, grew into a great, great man of God, one of the greatest prophets in the Bible, and while keeping his integrity and his faith intact in the years ahead. In a hostile culture, he kept getting promoted and promoted and promoted. And he’s promoted five different times, and he served and he outlasts three different empires of two different cultures. First, the Babylonians had taken over the Assyrians. And then he served under two Babylonian emperors and then they’re taken over by the Persians. Cyrus the Great says, «You guys are all dead, but I’m keeping Daniel».
And so, he outlasts three administrations and he, by the way, leads two of those emperors to faith in God. Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus the Great, both turn to God when they see Daniel’s life. This is an amazing young man. And at 85, he’s now retired near the end of the book, and they have a big problem in the empire and the emperor calls him out of retirement at 85 years of age. So, we still need you. And he does such an amazing job that the emperor says, «I’m putting you second in command in the entire empire only to me». Now that’s a huge story. That’s better than «Lord of the Rings,» okay? Or «Star Wars». This thing’s filled with adventure, political intrigue, and all kinds of things. We’re gonna look at it for eight weeks after this week. And it’s an amazing story of how you survive and thrive and actually succeed when people around you don’t agree with what you believe. Are you interested in that? Yeah, well, you ought to be. And it tells us how to do that.
So, what should you do when your world is shaken up, when the foundations become real unstable and unsteady and you don’t know which way is up? What do you do? Well, we’re gonna start this journey with just three simple suggestions today. I told you we’ll get into the actual life of Daniel next week. This sets up the theme for the entire series. First suggestion, when your life is thrown into chaos, when your world is shaken up, number one, don’t be surprised by adversity. That’s the first thing we’re gonna learn from this young man, Daniel. Don’t be surprised by adversity.
Now although the collapse of the nation of Israel was shock, it shocked everybody, it wasn’t unexpected because the prophets, Daniel and Zephaniah and others had been saying, «Guys, we’re gonna lose our freedom, we’re gonna lose our freedom, we’re gonna lose our freedom if we don’t wise up and stop all this idolatry and other stuff». And so, as a teenager, Daniel had been hearing this. He heard these preachers, he could hear them in the streets saying, «Guys, we’re being warned, we’re gonna lose our freedom if we don’t do this». Now here’s what the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:12, «Dear friends, don’t be shocked or surprised when you suffer painful tests and trials as if something strange is happening to you». He said, «You know, shakeups are a normal part of life in a broken world».
We do not live in heaven. In heaven, everything’s perfect, everything’s done great. There are no tears, no sorrows, no suffering. But on earth, everything is broken because of sin. Every relationship is broken, every body is broken. We don’t have healthy minds. The weather’s broken, the economy is broken. And so, we shouldn’t expect things to be perfect here on Earth. And when something bad happens in your life, instead of going, «Why me»? You might wanna say, «Why not me»? I live here on earth and this is not heaven. That’s coming later. And so, there are gonna be sufferings, there are gonna be trials, and don’t be surprised by it.
Jesus said it like this, John 16:33, «Jesus said, 'In this world you might experience difficulties! '» That’s not what he said. «In this world you,» what? Circle that, «Will». Now if Jesus said it, you can count on it. You will have problems in life. You are gonna face adversity. You are going to have times where your world is tossed upside down and everything is shaking and baking and flying and you don’t know which way is up. «In this world you will experience difficulties»! Jesus promised that, but he said, «Take heart! I have conquered the world»! He said, «I’ve told you this so that in trusting me, you will be unshakeable,» that’s the theme of our series. Circle that, «You’ll be unshakeable and deeply at peace».
Jesus warned us that adversity is gonna be a part of life. Don’t let it blow you away, don’t be surprised, don’t be shocked, but you need to be unshakeable, I’m telling you, so you won’t cave in. Now you know what the typical response is when you go through a crisis? The typical human response when I or you go through a crisis is this. First thing we do is try to figure out who’s to blame. That’s the last thing you need to work on. Whose fault is it? As long as you’re fixing the blame, you can’t fix the problem. To blame is to be lame. That’s how you spell blame. And so, when you blame other people, you’re just perpetuating the problem, you’re not solving anything. Politicians love to blame each other, these groups and that groups blame each other. You know what? Blame is lame. Instead of asking whose fault it is, you need to be asking what should I do.
Now, just so you’ll know, let me tell you, there are four sources of the problems in your life. You might write these down. I’m gonna tell you in just a minute, doesn’t really matter where the source is from, but I’ll go ahead and tell you anyway. Okay, there are four sources of every problem in your life. Number one is you, okay? I am the biggest problem to myself. I caused myself more pain, more heartache from my dumb decisions. I was talking to Kay this afternoon and I said, «Honey, you know, I wanna talk to you about a character flaw in me I’m just really bugged by». And in a moment of clarity, I was just talking to her about this and you know, I think it’s one of the reasons why I’m looking forward to heaven is because in heaven, I don’t have to hang out with me, okay? When I get to heaven, all my weaknesses, all those flaws, they’re gonna be taken away. So, I’m gonna be the new improved me.
So, by the way, if you don’t like me right now, you’re gonna love me in heaven, okay? I’ll have no imperfections, I won’t irritate you in any way. Of course, you won’t irritate me either because all your hangups will be taken away too. But I think being in heaven is gonna be cool just so I don’t have to hang out with all my faults and flaws and foibles and weaknesses that I’ve had to live with all my life and you’ve had to live with yours all your life. But the first source of the shakeups in your life is your own nature, your old nature, which is your own biggest problem. You might wanna write next to that Romans 7, Romans 7 is the classic chapter explains how you are the biggest problem to you, and I won’t go into that.
The second source of the problems in your life is the world, the world. And the world… your nature is within you, the world is around you and it wants to pull you down. And the primary way the world tries to pull you down is to ridicule and through withholding approval. We are desperate for the approval of other people. And so, we will lower our standards and we’ll change our convictions and we’ll give in and give up simply because we want somebody to like us. You don’t need the world’s approval to be happy. You’re as happy as you choose to be. You don’t need the world’s approval, but the world causes a lot of problems in your life too. The third source of problems is, of course, Satan.
The devil is real, evil incarnate. And the moment you wake up in the morning, he’s plotting to discourage you, to defeat you, to create doubts, depression, discouragement, distractions, all these different things. When you get up in the morning, if you don’t meet the devil head on, it just means you’re headed in the same direction because he’s been planning to take you down. He hates you. God has a good plan for your life. He’s got a bad plan for your life, okay? So, my old nature, the world, the flesh, and me and the devil, they all work on me. But the one I wanna talk to you about this weekend is the fourth source of problems in your life and it’s God. God, yes.
Some of the problems and pressures and difficulties you have in life actually come from God. God will sometimes shake up your life for very good reasons, and that’s why I wanna cover this in detail because this is the one that’s unexpected. And I want you to look at that. Now it really doesn’t matter where your problems came from. They could be caused by the devil, they could be caused by the world, they could be caused by you, or they could be brought on in your life by God. It doesn’t really matter. God will use every one of them for your good if you will trust him.
«You mean even the bad things in my life? Even my own sins»? Yes, even God can use those for good in your life. He can turn crucifixions into resurrections. He can bring good out of bad. Any anybody can bring good out of good, but God can change even bad things into good if you will trust him. So, regardless of the source of your shaking, what’s got you all shaken up? «I lost my job, I can’t get married. I want this, and it hasn’t happened. I have this dream and I’m hitting the barrier». Regardless of whatever was shaking you up, God wants to use it for good. So, the source isn’t nearly as important as your response.
Now here’s the second step based on that. Anytime your world is shaken up, number two, look for ways that God might use it for good. I look for ways that God might use it in my life for good because he wants to use everything, even the bad things in your life. He wants to bring good out of even those. And if you want to succeed and thrive rather than just survive in a hostile culture, you need to look for ways that God takes the things that shake you up and can use them for good. Jeremiah 29:11 says this. God says, «The plans I have for you are plans for good and not to harm you. They’re plans to give you hope and a future».
The devil has bad plans for your life and therefore, bad and for destruction. God has plans. His plans are always good. They’re to give you hope and they’re to give you a future. Now I’m gonna give you a sneak peek at where we’re going in the next eight weeks, because in Daniel’s life, God did five things with the problems that he had to face. And they are the same five things that God wants to do in your life, regardless of what kind of problems you’re going through. So, you might write these down. This is kind of an index to Daniel’s life.
Number one, sometimes God shakes things up, I’m talking about in your life, sometimes God shakes things up in my life to inspect me, to inspect me. And what I mean by that is God will bring a problem in my life that reveals a motivation that’s out of whack, or a character or a thought or an emotion or a motive. He examines and he checks it out and he does it all the time. And when you, somebody said, «You know, people are like tea bags. You don’t know what’s in them till you drop them in hot water». And God will use problems to inspect you and show you what’s wrong, what’s out of whack in your life.