Time To Choose

(click on pic to listen)

There’s a story in Greek mythology about a young man named Narcissus. He was a beautiful young man, and he knew it. One day Narcissus saw his reflection in a stream, and he instantly fell in love with the reflected image of himself. What he saw staring back at him from the water was so beautiful that he couldn’t pull himself away. One day he said to himself, “You are handsome, Narcissus! There’s nobody so handsome in the whole world!” He stooped down to kiss his reflection, fell into the water, and drowned.

Daniel 4 is about a man who was full of himself. It was written by a King that had a reputation as an evil, pagan, monarch. His name was King Nebuchadnezzar. He was the King of Babylon, the most powerful city in the world which is not called Iraq.

Remember Saddam Hussein? King Nebuchadnezar was his hero. He gave himself the title of the “Sucessor of Nebuchanezzar.”  And the two had plenty in common. Jeremiah 39 tells of Nebuchadnezzar murdering the sons of one king of Judah before the king’s eyes; then immediately gouging out the eyes of the king, so his last memory would always be the murder of his sons.  Other rulers of Judah were literally roasted to death over a fire.  His power and cruelty had no equal. So it’s fairly surprising that he would write a chapter of the Bible, but what he writes is shocking.  Chapter 4, verse 1 begins this way:

King Nebuchadnezzar, To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly! It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.

King Nebuchadnezzar has basically written a worship song. But this is the last person you would expect to be singing the praises of God. It would be like tuning in your radio and hearing Howard Stern telling of God’s greatness or turning on your TV and watching Bill Maher speak of the one true God, the God Most High.

So how did this happen? There is a literary device that has become fairly popular these days known as “reverse chronology.” We have seen  movies or read novels that use reverse chronology. This is when the story begins by revealing some extraordinary or shocking ending and then goes back and shows you what led to such a conclusion. When you see the beginning scene, it seems so outrageous, so unbelievable that you ask yourself, “How could this have happened?” But as the story unfolds it all starts to make sense. The fourth chapter of Daniel is written using “reverse chronology.” We see this incredible change that has taken place in Nebuchadnezzar’s life. He goes from being the ultimate self-worshiper to worshiping the one true God.

Look at verse 4, “I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace contented and prosperous. I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me.” Notice how things are going for him. He is content and prosperous. In a few minutes we’ll see just how prosperous. But he is at the pinnacle of his success as a ruler. He’s living the good life. But he has this nightmare, where he dreams of an enormous tree – it’s visible to the ends of the earth. This tree is abundant with fruit. But in verse 13 Nebuchadnezzar says, “In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked, and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He called in a loud voice: ‘cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground in the grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live the animals among the plants of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.’”

This dream gets his attention and he sends for his wise men and magicians to interpret it for him, but they don’t have clue.  He finally sends for Daniel, who by now is the chief of his wise men. When Daniel hears the dream, the King can see that he is disturbed; but Daniel gives Nebuchadnezzar the truth. And in verse 20 he says to the King – “You are the tree.” Babylon was the largest city in the world at that time, and there was no one more powerful than the King. But remember, in the dream the tree gets cut down.

Daniel tells the King in verse 25: “You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.” In the dream everything comes crashing down.

God is going to give this king–who thinks he’s god–a reality check. He’s going to make it clear that he is the only true God. Let’s push pause on our story and do a little self-diagnosis. There are some questions we can ask ourselves as we look at King Nebuchadnezzar’s life that determine if we are sitting on the throne of our own hearts.

Question #1:  What motivates you?

In fact, earlier in chapter 3 we read about him building a huge statue and insisting that everyone bow down and worship or be put to death. He was consumed with everyone acknowledging his power. Talk about impressing others, Nebuchadnezzar was responsible for one of the 7 wonders of the world – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. These were massive gardens he built for one of his wives who came from Media where there were mountains and vegetation, so Nebuchadnezzar constructed an artificial mountain and planted gardens that hung down the side of this structure. It looked like these gardens were growing in air. An ingenious system had been devised to hoist water over 300 feet from the Euphrates to water these gardens.

Question #2: What is your standard for success?

For Nebuchadnezzar it was PERSONAL GAIN. The King’s main palace was some 350 yards long. Today we might be amazed at a home that is 10,000-12,000 square feet, but his palace was estimated to be about 630,000 square feet.

Question #3:  What’s your source of power?

Where do you go to for help? When you need strength, where do you find it? For Nebuchadnezzar it was SELF EMPOWERMENT. In verse 28 he looks at all of his success and concludes that it was accomplished by his mighty power.

Question #4 : What’s the purpose of your life?

For King Nebuchadnezzar it was PERSONAL HAPPINESS. Everything he did was motivated by a desire to be happy and satisfied.

How Nebuchadnezzar answered those questions are the same answers we give when we are worshiping the god of me. But God is about ready to flick Nebuchadnezzar off the throne of his own heart. Daniel tells the King that he’s about ready to be cut down. Nebuchadnezzar will soon be living like an animal and eating grass like cattle.  In verse 27 Daniel says to Nebuchadnezzar, “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” Daniel tries to warn the King, but one of the problems of making yourself god is that you don’t tend to take advice very well.

Verse 28: “All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, ‘Is this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’”

Notice he had 12 months since his dream. Twelve months where, if he could have humbled himself, maybe it wouldn’t have come to this. But verse 33 says, “Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”

Try to imagine the transformation that took place. He could no longer live with people. He lived outside in the fields with grazing animals. At night he slept in the open field. His hair became matted and coarse, and looked like eagle feathers. His fingernails and toenails, never cut, became like claws.

For a number of years Nebuchadnezzar lived as a wolf-man. But verse 34 he says, “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does what He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of earth.” This man, who thought he was god, is made a beast…and eventually realizes he’s just a man.

Skip down to verse 37. Let’s see what Nebuchadnezzar had learned. “Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right, all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

We need to ask these same questions:

1). What really motivates you?  What causes you to get up in the morning?

2). What is YOUR standard of success? Is it money, power, or position?

3). What’s YOUR source of power? Where do you go for help?

4). What’s the purpose of your life?

Nebuchadnezzar takes himself off the throne of his heart. He knows there is only one God and that’s not him. And now he answers those questions differently.

When God replaces you on the throne of your heart you answer the questions differently:

What motivates you? Instead of “impressing others” that answer becomes “pleasing God”.

What is your standard for success? Instead of “personal gain” the answer becomes “faithfulness to God”.

What’s your source of power? Instead of “self-empowerment” your answer becomes “dependence on God”.

What is the purpose of your life? Instead of answering “personal happiness” your answer becomes “God’s Glory”.

The big problem with making yourself God is that you can’t save yourself. Did you catch what he did in verse 34 when he finally changed? He said, “I raised my eyes toward heaven.”  That’s the best thing you can do today.

Like Leah from last week – now is the time to choose. Now is the time to make a willful decision.

You might not have little Buddah’s sitting in your house. Or you might not have a  nine foot statue built in your honor. You might not have any carved images in your home that you bow down to.

We have learned that  it is not about statues anymore. Every sin we struggle with , every discouragement we are dealing with and the lack of purpose you’re living with is because of idolatry. What god you allow to have first place in your life will be the god that dictates what you do, the relationships you have, the decisions you make, the dreams you have, or what you hope or wish to become.

Now is the time, to stop staring at your yourself and “raise our eyes toward heaven.” If you look in the mirror too long you will find all kind of flaws about  yourself or for some of us we could drown in our arrogance.

Because In the end, when this life is over, you will find out what gods or God you chose to serve.

Now is the time to choose between

• Impressing others or pleasing God
• Personal gain or being faithful to God
• Being Self-empowerment or being dependent on God
• Personal happiness or giving God the glory

Time to Choose.