If I asked someone in your family or neighborhood or place of employment or school about your faith, what would they say? Would those who interact with you regularly know that you are a follower of Jesus? Do you stand out as a Christian or do you blend in with the values, attitudes and conduct of unbelievers? It appears to me that too many Christians live like everyone else and fail to distinguish themselves from the sinful values of our age. In contrast, the Bible offers us numerous examples of living distinctly. One of my favorite examples is Daniel who not only survived exile in Babylon, but thrived.

In chapter one of Daniel, he and his three friends were taken to Babylon to serve the king. They were likely Hebrew royalty. It is also possible they were made eunuchs when brought to Babylon. They had lost their home, very likely lost contact with their families, been separated from the location of their faith and possibly been maimed physically. If any group of people could have justified compromise and sinful behavior, it would have been Daniel and his friends. Yet, they refused to compromise. They stood out. Daniel 1 reveals four specific ways that Daniel and his friends were distinct from the pagan culture around them.

• Daniel and his friends were distinct in name (v. 6). Daniel’s name means, “God is my judge.” Hananiah means “Yahweh is gracious.” Mishael means “what is what God is?” (the idea being that there is no god like the God of Israel). Azariah means “Yahweh has helped.” Even when given new Babylonian names, they referred to themselves by their given Hebrew names that referenced the one true God. When people hear your name, do they think of God? If your given name does not specifically mean something Christian, we must still remember that we’ve been given the name of saint, believer, Christian. Do our names reflect the salvation we’ve been given?
• Daniel and his friends were distinct in conduct (vv. 8-16). Daniel and his friends were given the best food that the king of Babylon could offer. The food of the king would have included pork and horseflesh which were unclean for Hebrews. The meat and wine would also have been offered sacrificially to Babylonian gods connecting the foods to idolatry. These foods would have made Daniel and his friends unclean. Daniel resolved himself not to be defiled. Daniel suggested a diet of vegetables and water and wisely offered a timeframe for their looks to be tested. While I don’t necessarily think that what we eat should reflect that we are Christians, what we do should reflect our faith in Christ. Does your conduct (what you watch, listen to, how you spend your time, what you read) reflect the wickedness of the culture around us? Or does your conduct reflect Christ? Can those who know you best tell that you are a follower of Christ by your daily conduct?
• Daniel and his friends were distinct in worldview (vv. 17-21). Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had the opportunity to learn and study at the locus of world power at that point in human history. They had the foundation of their biblical, Hebrew culture, but were introduced to many new ideas. I imagine that much of what they learned in Babylon was benign, while much was not. They were likely confronted with religious and philosophical ideas that were contrary to their childhood education in Jerusalem. Sounds a lot like public school, college and university campuses, doesn’t it? I don’t believe that sheltering ourselves or our children from false ideas is the solution to the worldview conflict around us. But I do believe we need to subordinate false ideas appropriately underneath a biblical worldview. Don’t be afraid of reading things that are false or being exposed to untruths. But become an expert in what is genuine and true–God’s Word. One of the surest ways to develop a biblical worldview is to read, study, memorize and meditate on God’s Word. To parents and grandparents reading this, if your children and grandchildren are not taught biblical truth regularly, then they will not learn to think Christianly. It is our responsibility to embed biblical truth into their minds and hearts. Thank goodness Daniel and his friends had a solid biblical worldview in place before being taken to Babylon.
• Daniel and his friends were distinct in God’s favor (vv. 9, 14, 17, 19-20). We are currently living in a post-Christian era. No longer does the expression of Western  Civilization reflect a biblical worldview. Media, politics and education reflect views on humanity, sexuality, philosophy, history and technology that are at best non-Christian and often anti-Christian. So how do we live distinct as Christians in a post-Christian world? We pursue the favor of God, not of man. Daniel and his friends experienced God’s blessing and favor even when their views contrasted greatly with the prevailing culture. Do you care what others think of your lifestyle and opinions or what God thinks? Being favored from God occurs when we receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and live underneath the truths of the gospel.

Living in these ways will lead us to live distinctly in our post-Christian age.

Each week I have the privilege of meeting with a discipleship group. We gather for breakfast at a local restaurant to share what we’ve been reading in the Bible and pray for one another. Our group provides accountability, support and encouragement. Currently, we have six in our group. As we read during the week, we prayerfully look for a Scripture verse that stands out to us. We make note of it, sometimes journaling about it and share it with one another. We are not on a common reading plan.

This week when we met, I just knew I needed to share from John 6. In the first few verses, Jesus fed 5,000 men (maybe 20,000 people with women and children) with five loaves of bread and 2 small fish. After that event, Jesus went to the mountain to pray and walked to his followers on the sea while they were traversing a storm. The verses I shared came from the conversation Jesus had with the crowds on the other side.

²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” – John 6:27-29

Jesus told the crowds to work for the food that leads to eternal life. You can anticipate the question of the crowds, “What must we do to work for eternal life?” I love Jesus’ response, “Believe on the One God sent!” Jesus does not tell us to work for eternal life. He tells us to believe for eternal life. The foundation of our Christian experience is belief in Jesus Christ. Belief is also the most important aspect of growing in Christian maturity. Anyway, I shared these verses during our meeting this week.

As soon as I finished, one of our group members, Lee Bentley, said, “You’re not going to believe this, but the verse I felt led to share is:

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” – John 6:29

It was as if God YELLED at us this morning. We need to believe in Christ and trust in his provision for our Christian walk. Not every group meeting results in such a providential development, but this morning was tremendously encouraging. It was also the first meeting for two new members so the experience was greatly encouraging.

The importance of reading God’s Word cannot be overstated. Here’s an excerpt from my new book Commissioned, that highlights the importance of reading God’s Word:

In his book The Shape of Faith to Come, Brad Waggoner reflected on the importance of Bible reading for Christian maturity,

Our study of churchgoers included the measurement of more than sixty factors characteristic of biblical spiritual development… Our statistician applied sophisticated procedures to our data to produce a rank-ordered list of correlations. The number one factor, or characteristic, most correlated to the highest maturity scores is the practice of “reading the Bible.” I almost had to laugh when I saw this. Sometimes we complicate things. The simple discipline of reading the Bible has a major impact on Christians.^[1]

Essentially, consistent Bible intake leads to spiritual maturity. Nothing is more important to one’s spiritual development than the reading of God’s Word. The reading of the Bible is where group interaction is so vital to the follower of Jesus.

[1]Brad Waggoner, The Shape of Faith to Come (Nashville: B&H, 2008), 68.

Reading God’s Word and sharing it together is vital for our spiritual growth. Let me challenge you.

• If you’re not reading God’s Word daily, start today. Begin in Genesis or Matthew. If you have a smartphone, you can download the ESV Bible app. The app contains regular reading plans that you can choose from.
• If you’re not in a Sunday school class or Discipleship Group, find one. Gathering with other followers of Jesus around God’s Word to learn together is spiritually invigorating.
• If you’re not memorizing God’s Word, then begin now. At Wilkesboro Baptist, we have monthly memory verses. For April, our verse is Isaiah 41:10. Or you can be like one of our most godly ladies and memorize Psalm 46.

By any means necessary, learn from God’s Word this week. Maybe God will use what he’s saying to you to encourage someone else!