Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Our culture is obsessed with heroes. NBC has a hit series called Heroes which features ordinary individuals who discover that they have superhuman abilities. It explores how these people learn to adapt to these powers and how they use them to prevent catastrophes and save humanity. The Heroes series on NBC has 14 million viewers every week, several of which are in our church. I’ve never watched it, but if you just come up to Brian Morrissey after the service and tell him that you like Heroes, he’ll be your friend for life.

Beyond the TV series, I’ve lost count of how many superhero movies are hitting theaters. Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Batman, Hancock are all in theaters this year. The Green Lantern and a new X-Men movie are coming in 2009. And in the years to come, we will most likely see movies featuring Wonder Woman, Captain America, Thor, Silver Surfer, and a possible blockbuster of the Avengers, which combines the foursome of the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor.

In the Edmisten household, we have a four-year-old boy who is a superhero fanatic. Ryan’s birthday was a few weeks ago, and we now have more superheroes than we know what to do with. If you come to our house, you’ll find everything from a Spiderman scooter to an Iron Man costume to Superman underwear. (Those are Ryan’s, not mine. Just so we’re clear.)

This week, Ryan conned his grandparents into taking him to lunch at Burger King. You know why? Because Burger King is now offering Incredible Hulk toys in their kid’s meal. He asked me to take him and I said no. So he did what any kid would do. He asked his Mammaw, who immediately said she’d take him to lunch. Yeah, they don’t spoil him or anything.

I think it’s safe to say that our culture is obsessed with heroes. But our view of heroes, as reflected by the media, is someone with extraordinary powers. Someone who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Someone with bulging muscles, the ability to fly, x-ray vision, and the like. In other words, a hero is someone who is not like us.

And that’s where we’re wrong. You’ve got the stuff it takes to be a hero. God has equipped you to be a hero. I’m not blowing smoke. I’m absolutely serious about this. You have been equipped to be a hero. In fact, I’d take it even a step further. God has not only equipped you to be a hero. He expects you to be a hero.

The problem is most of us buy into the lie that a hero is someone with extraordinary abilities and powers. A hero is someone who is not like me. But God disagrees.

Today we’re starting a new series that is going to last throughout the summer. Most of our series last 3-4 weeks. This one is going to run for the next 9 weeks. Oh yeah. We paid the extra 50 cents and had this bad boy supersized.

Throughout the summer, we’re going to explore different heroes from the Old Testament. And what we’re going to see is that these great heroes of the Bible were ordinary, flawed people like you and me. And in spite of that, God used them in incredible ways. He had given them, and he has given us, the stuff it takes to be heroes.

Let’s pray as we dive into our Heroes series.

We’re kicking off our series in Daniel 6. It’s a story a lot of you know. Even if you’re new to the whole church scene, you may have heard the story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den. As we unpack this story today, we’re going to learn one overarching truth.

Heroes are rebels. A lot of times, people think that being a Christ-follower means that you simply fall in line, acquiesce, and become a soft, compliant, never-rock-the-boat kind of person.

That might be a popular assessment of following Christ, but it’s not Biblical. The truth of the matter is that if you’re not willing to be a rebel, then God won’t be able to use you as a hero. Heroes are rebels.

In our story, Daniel was a man of God who was a high-ranking official in the administration of King Darius. Let’s pick it up in Daniel 6:1.

“It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss.

Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:1-5, NIV)

As our story opens up, we see that Daniel rebelled against complacency. Daniel was appointed as one of three administrators over 120 satraps, which was a position similar to a governor.

The Bible tells us that, “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.” (Daniel 6:3, NIV)

Daniel rebelled against the complacency of his counterparts. Instead, he worked hard. He pursued excellence. He stood out from the crowd.

That’s what the people of God do. They pursue excellence. They don’t settle for less. They work hard. They go the extra mile. Why? Because the people of God know that, whatever they’re doing, they’re actually doing it for God.

The Bible says in Colossians 3, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24, NIV)

Whatever you do, you are ultimately doing it for God. That truth ought to throw a new perspective on our day-to-day lives.

Our culture is becoming increasingly complacent. Like Daniel, we’ve got to be willing to buck against that trend.

According to a survey by salary.com, Americans waste more than 2 hours a day at work, costing companies $759 billion a year. The sad part is that I’m sure a lot of Christians are included in this group.

I’m pretty sure Daniel didn’t set himself apart from everyone else by wasting 2 hours of every workday. If everything you do is for God, then that should have a direct impact on the kind of employee you are. Wasting time at work, being lazy and complacent about your job…it has no place in the life of a Christ-follower because it is sinful. You’re ultimately not working for your boss. You’re working for Jesus. And he’s probably not happy that you take extra long lunches, spend company time surfing eBay, and approach your job with a less-than-your-best effort.

And this pursuit of excellence doesn’t stop at work. It extends to everything else, like things at home. As a pastor and as a Christ-follower, I’m learning more and more that everything about me is a reflection of how I view Christ. Everything.

For example, how does it look if I say that Jesus deserves my very best effort in everything, and yet I allow my yard to go to pot? You know, my flower beds are untended. My grass is so high that I won’t let Ryan play outside because I’m afraid I won’t be able to find him. I know, this sounds like small stuff. But roll with me on this.

Everything about us reflects exactly how we view Christ. If I let something as simple as my yard get into disarray, then obviously there are some areas of my life that I’m willing to let slide. Obviously I’m not concerned about doing my best for Christ in that area. That’s a slippery slope to start down.

This truth that applies at work and at home has obvious implications for the church as well. The average American church has become a bastion of mediocrity. Instead of pursuing excellence, we say, “Well, that’s good enough for church.” Good enough for church? What in the world does that mean?

The church often gets shafted by our complacent attitudes. For example, most people wouldn’t be late to work. They wouldn’t dream of walking into a movie or a Broadway play late. But being 10 minutes late for church…no big deal.

People wouldn’t walk in unprepared for a big presentation at work. They work hard ahead of time to prepare for it. But when it comes to teaching a kids class at church…they wing it.

This is such a simple truth, but if you apply it in all areas of your life, it will have a profound impact. Everything you do, you do for Christ. You represent him every second of your day. If that’s true, then Christ-followers should be the best employees that a company has. If they own property, it should be neat and well-maintained. They approach their service in the church with an aim toward excellence.

This isn’t rocket science. It’s simply arranging your life in way that reflects Christ in a positive way. If you have empty happy meal boxes and Diet Coke cans on the floor of your car, pick them up. If your shirt needs ironed, then iron it. If your car needs washed, wash it. This is not complicated. It’s simply reflecting Christ, even in the small stuff.

Our culture is becoming increasingly complacent, which should mean that it’s increasingly easier to stand out, to be different. What little things could you begin tweaking today to make you a more accurate and credible representative of Jesus Christ? If you want God to use you as a hero, it begins by understanding that whatever you do in your life, big or small, major or minor, you are doing it for Jesus.

Daniel pursued excellence, and he was honored by God for it. However, some of his coworkers didn’t react as favorably. Instead of ratcheting up their own game, they decided that it would be easier just to take Daniel out. But they didn’t have much success initially.

Verse 4 says, “The administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”

So, they turned to the only place where they knew they could nail him.

“Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5, NIV)

So all these sycophants went to King Darius and they conned him into issuing a law that said that no one could pray to anyone except the King himself for the next month. King Darius, being prideful and arrogant like most kings were, agreed that people should only pray to him for the next thirty days. He issued the decree, which could not be repealed.

How did Daniel react to this? Verse 10: “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” (Daniel 6:10, NIV)

Daniel rebelled against his culture. His culture was one of blind obedience to the king. To rebel against the king was unthinkable because it meant certain death. And Daniel was submissive and obedient to the king all the time…until the king issued this ungodly law. Then, Daniel had no choice but to unapologetically rebel.

Everything you do, you do for God. If you apply that in the small stuff like we talked about it, it will be more natural to apply it in the situations that matter most. Daniel honored God in the small things of life…so when he was faced with a critical decision, there was no question what he was going to do. He would honor God by rebelling against his culture.

This is incredibly relevant to the contemporary church. Our society is becoming more and more hostile to our faith. Judeo-Christian beliefs and values are being attacked more and more. And the people of God will have to decide if they are going to acquiesce or of they will rebel.

Tommy Bowden is the head football coach at Clemson University. Coach Bowden has a tradition in his program called “Church Day.” He encourages his players to attend one church service as a team during the two-a-day practices each preseason.

On August 31 of last year, the president of Clemson University opened a letter from the South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Even though “Church Day” was voluntary, and those who declined to attend suffered no penalty on or off the field, the ACLU urged the university president to end the practice of Coach Bowden taking his team to church. The letter is a precursor to legal action if the university doesn’t force Coach Bowden to drop the “Church Day” tradition.

Clemson’s preseason practices begin in August. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. I hope that Clemson and Coach Bowden reject this scare tactic by the ACLU and rebel against the agenda of political correctness being perpetuated in our culture.

Heroes are rebels. Daniel rebelled against his culture when the king issued a law that contradicted the law of God. When our culture tells us talk, act, and live in a way that is contrary to the ways of God, we have no choice but to rebel.

But understand that, if you rebel against your culture, you’ll pay a price for it. Rebellion can come with a steep price tag attached to it. It did for Daniel.

Daniel’s enemies went as a group and found him praying to God. Then they ran as fast as they could to tattle on him to King Darius, who had issued the law that no one could pray to anyone but him. Darius really liked Daniel and tried all kinds of legal maneuvers to save his friend. But at the end of the day, even the king himself could not repeal the law that he himself had passed.

Picking it up in verse 16, “So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed.” (Daniel 6:16-17, NIV)

The lion’s den was a subterranean cavern with two openings. One in the roof, where the victims were dropped in. The other was a side entrance, which was sealed off with a large stone. The king and the nobles used their signet rings to make an impression in the seal, which effectively prohibited anyone from trying to rescue Daniel. Daniel was going to stay in the pit of lions for the entire night, without hope of escape.

The story continues in verse 18.

“Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den.

When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"

Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:18-23, NIV)

It’s an incredible story, isn’t it? Even if you’ve heard it hundreds of times, this story should make you stop and say, “Wow!” It’s incredible!

But the danger in stories like this is that we know how they end. Yeah, Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den, but we know that God saved him. We know the lions didn’t have a Dan-wich. They didn’t have a brunch of green eggs and Dan. They didn’t dine on Dan chops. I’ll stop now.

We know the end of the story, and that can be a problem because when we know the end of the story, we tend to miss other important parts of the story. We know the end of the story…but Daniel didn’t. We know that God saved him. Daniel wasn’t given that information ahead of time.

Here’s what Daniel knew. “If I pray to God, I’ll be thrown in the lions’ den. No one has ever survived the lions’ den.” That is the sum total of what Daniel knew at the time. Daniel didn’t know that he was part of a drama that would end in victory and that would subsequently be taught in children’s Sunday School classes thousands of years later. All he knew was that obeying God could cost him his life.

And yet, Daniel rebelled against his fear. You mean that Daniel was afraid? Wouldn’t you have been? Of course he was afraid. But this is the mark of a true hero.

A hero isn’t defined by the absence of fear. A hero is defined by rebelling against their fear.

What is God calling you to do that scares you? What do you know that you need to do, but you have put off because it’s too hard?

You know you have to forgive that person, but it’s just too hard.

You know that you need to seek counseling to help you work through some tough issues, but you’ve always thought that counseling was for the weak.

You know that God has positioned you to call someone on the sin in their life, but you have no idea how to have that conversation.

You know that God is calling you to make some big changes in your finances, but letting him have control of your money is really scary.

For a lot of us, the problem isn’t that we don’t know what God wants us to do. We know it perfectly well. We’re just afraid to do it.

Craig Groeschel said something that really helped me put this in perspective. He said, “The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be may be the painful decision you refuse to make.”

If you want to be a hero that God can use to accomplish some pretty amazing stuff, you’ve got to be willing to rebel against your own fears. It doesn’t come without risk. There aren’t a lot of guarantees.

For example, maybe God is calling you to have a difficult conversation with someone. You could have that hard conversation and it could go really, really bad. Or it could be the moment that forever changes their life. You don’t know the outcome. Are you willing to rebel against your fear and do it anyway?

In 1 Peter, God says, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” (1 Peter 3:14-15a, NIV)

This is how we rebel against our fear. Even if we suffer for doing what is right, even if we follow God’s call and it hurts, we can stand strong…if we allow Christ to be the Lord of our hearts. Knowing that we’re pleasing Jesus, knowing that he is honored by what we’ve done, and knowing that he will ultimately reward us for it…that’s our motivation to keep on. To keep on taking risks. To keep on following his call, even when it’s hard. To keep on rebelling against our fear because we know that our God is bigger than our fear.

God has equipped you to be a hero. God expects you to be a hero. And being a hero means being a rebel.

Alex Bogusky said, “Life conspires to beat the rebel out of you.” It’s true. There are so many things in life that sap the rebellion right out of you. But to be a hero of God, you’ve got to be willing to rebel.

Mark Batterson wrote, “One of the things I love about Jesus is that He remained the rebel his entire life. He didn’t bow to the Pharisees. He didn’t bow to Pilate. Truth is, He didn’t bow to anyone except His Heavenly Father. That is what it means to be a spiritual rebel.

In the words of Dorothy Sayers: “To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It is has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”

Jesus was a rebel, and he is calling his followers to rebel. To rebel against mediocrity and complacency. To rebel against our culture. And to rebel against our own fear. Those are the kind of rebels that Jesus can turn into heroes

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Daniel 6, Daniel in the Lions' Den, excellence, fear, Heroes, rebellion