INTRODUCTION
Many of us in the church will have first come across the
story in Daniel chapter 3 as children.
It is a great story and one which we, if we did come across it as
children, will have enjoyed and found exciting. However, some familiarity with
a story can often insulate us from the full truth of it. Read on and get
challenged......
The Fiery Furnace (Read Daniel Chapter 3)
The
story starts with the king putting up a 90 foot statue which has great
resemblance to the statue which the king saw in his vision. It is amazing how
people can twist things revealed by God and turn them into idols.
Daniel
does not appear in this story. His three friends: Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego are the heroes of this chapter. They quite rightly do not
bow down to the statue as they are commanded to. The penalty of them refusing to bow down is
to be burned to death in the fiery furnace.
The main challenge of the story is in verse 17&18.
Our heroes say,
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we
serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your majesty’s
hand. But even if he does not we want you to know, your majesty, that we will
not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
The key point is the stand that our heroes have taken
for God having counted the cost involved. God is so important to
them that they are prepared to die for Him. This whole story is a picture of
salvation. Their love of God and the faith they put in him results in them
being saved from the fiery furnace. God is able and indeed does save them as a
response to their faith and love for Him.
So often our Christianity seems feeble, we often blame
many things, maybe sin in our lives, the church or even God himself. However, I
think that if our Christianity appears feeble it is because our preparedness to
give all to God is feeble. A people who are zealous and passionate for God will
give everything for Him.
This story also illustrates the point that God’s wisdom
is superior to ours. In fact God’s wisdom often seems like foolishness. It is
not wise to be thrown into a fiery furnace and expect to be saved.
Matthew chapter 10 gives a different view of what
appears to be God’s foolishness. The disciples here are challenged to go out on
their missionary work completely trusting God and living by faith. This passage
shows that mission itself has to be fuelled by faith. If we expect people to
turn to Christ by faith then our mission needs to be lived by faith. We mustn’t
do it in our own strength.
Cross Reference to
other books
Matthew 10
Isaiah 52:7
Luke 12:16-21
Questions
to think on (Please think and post comments on the blog)
1.
When
you gave your life to Christ, to what extent did you “count the cost?”
2.
Think
and share about ways in which we can develop our understanding of the cost that
Jesus paid and our response to it.
3.
How
does the mission you do compare to that in Matthew 10?
4.
Do
you think that the church sees itself as beautiful? (see Isaiah 52:7)
5.
Think
and share about ways in which you and others in the church may be able to
encourage ourselves to do more mission.
6.
To
what extent to do you think that you as well as the church are similar to the
rich man mentioned in Luke 12:16-21?
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