Daniel 4:36-37 and 6:26-27 records royal decrees of two kings. Both of them ruled at one time over one of the greatest cities and nation-states in the ancient world.
These two men came from different cultures: one was a Babylonian by birth; the other was born a Medo-Persian. They also belonged to different generations. Yet they were both tied together in history by their relationship with one unique individual - a Judean prophet called Daniel.
Daniel, or as he came to be known in Babylon, Belteshazzar, was born a Jewish prince in the 6th century BC. As a teenager he was forcibly taken from his home and heritage and transplanted to the Babylon of king Nebuchadnezzar. There, Daniel and his peers were trained for service of the Babylonian empire. Their training involved a process of changing the essence of their personal cultures. How you ask? Their names were change, their cultural food was forbidden and their connection with their homeland was severed. Some 'mm, mm good' stuff to think about right here...but another time!
Daniel was a slave who rose up through the ranks to become a trusted advisor, a confidante, to not one but five successive kings of this ancient city.
In the process of Daniel's service, he led two of the kings to faith in God - this in a nation that virtually invented astrology and worship of the stars.
Whether they liked him or not, all the kings who knew Daniel respected him. AND all agreed: the spirit of the gods were in him!
Daniel's incredible and eventful life reminds us, again, of one great fact: We were created for influence. Regardless the scenarios or situation, we are architects of atmosphere and engineers of environment.
Let me say this again, Genesis 1:26-28 outlines the first calling God placed upon the shoulders of humankind - the mandate to influence the world.
How do we win this tug-o-war for influence? How can we shape our culture more than it shapes us? How can we transform our life situation before it transforms us?
Be a Culture-Creator in your world.
Having real influence is about creating a culture -- a new way of seeing and doing things, a fresh way of interpreting what is right, normal and acceptable. Without this kind of cultural definition there can be no leadership. The person, or group, who has the strongest culture will inevitably rise to leadership.
Wherever Daniel was involved, the prevailing culture changed. People, even those in high status positions, were forced to rethink what was right, normal and acceptable.
To influence your world, you must define and build a culture in your own space that is stronger, more dominant than the culture that surrounds you. People must feel that when they're around you, certain things are normal, right and acceptable.
Proverbs 29:18 is about setting goals for our lives. Its about you and me redefining the culture of our immediate environment, our sphere. The Hebrew text says: 'Without a redemptive revelation the people lead undisciplined lives.'
God wants to give you not just a set of goals, but a redemptive revelation of himself. He wants to show you something of his own nature; something so revolutionary that, if you live it out, it will actually redeem things around you for the kingdom of God.
Because of that revelation, you will be able redefine what it means to be in business, to build a family, to study in school, to do whatever it is that you do!
Now i know it is easy to become overwhelmed, so hold on. In my last post, i quoted Abraham Kuyper the nineteenth century journalist, theologian and Dutch Prime Minister who wrote: 'There is not one part of our world of thought that can be hermetically separated from the other parts, and there is not an inch in the entire area of our human life of which Christ, who is sovereign of all, does not cry "Mine!"'
While some churchmen of his era taught that Christians should retreat from everything relating to the secular world, Kuyper borrowed from Paul’s teaching to give us the idea of ‘sphere authority’.
This is the idea that church and state are both of divine origin, yet both serve different functions.
Each must obey God's laws: the state must not try to be neutral towards God, but must recognize his supremacy over the civil sphere of authority. Government policies and procedures must respect God's moral precepts, so they must uphold the sanctity of marriage and the family; they must restrain and punish.
No one is entitled to rule absolutely, for that is a divine prerogative alone. God delegates authority to human agents in family, church, school and state, and those who govern in such spheres are accountable to God in the discharge of their duties and in the exercise of their limited authority.
This means, for example, that neither the state nor the church is to intrude upon the other spheres. Each should seek to protect the rights of the other to operate freely.
Kuyper's concept of sphere authority contradicted the basic principle of socialism that would give the state the right to regulate life in practically all of its aspects, economic, political and social.
According to Deuteronomy 28, God’s people are destined for leadership; AND leadership on any level begins with creating a culture.
There are, I think, two fundamental questions we need to answer, if we're each going to win our battle for influence.
The first is this: what kind of neighbourhood, city and nation do I want to see around me in 10 years from now? What kind of city and nation would God want me to be living in by that time? What changes would he want me to make; what things would he want me to redeem around me?
The second question is this: seeing that preferred future, what am I now prepared to do to set that in motion? I quoted him already, but he bears repeating: As Bill Wilson, the great apostle to children in New York, likes to say: 'It's not important what you achieve in life; it's what you set in motion that counts!'
dreaming...
Jonathan
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