Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Daniel 3:16-28
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  October 31, 2021

It was hot and dry in Babylon but they didn’t mind the heat of the sun on this day. After all, the climate wasn’t unlike their homeland of Israel. As teenagers they watched Israel surrender to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. They were then hauled off and trained to serve in his administration. But all that was a distant memory now–their homeland, their temple, their king, their families—all of it was gone, destroyed. No, the heat that bothered them wasn’t the sun in Babylon, it was the white-hot flames of a large brick kiln, the so-called fiery furnace. The heat was so intense that it would even kill those who came near the entrance. Every fiber of their being longed to shrink back and yet, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo stood their ground. They could have avoided all of this if they bowed down and worshipped the 90 foot statue constructed by Nebuchadnezzar but they refused. The tyrant did not want to lose face on this great day when all the leaders of his empire had come to pay homage to his image. So he brought the three men before him and commanded them to bow or burn. This is what they said, “Our God…is able to save us from the blazing fiery furnace. But if he does not, you should know that we will not worship the golden statue that you set up.” In other words, “Here we stand.”

The air was cold in Wittenberg, Germany. The autumn wind rustled leaves in the street gutter which swirled around the ankles of a young university professor on his way to church. In his hand he carried a piece of paper with 95 statements on it. With a hammer and nail he fixed it to the church door,  at that time sort of a town bulletin board. He only meant to spark discussion, but soon the paper became a poster, discussions turned into debates, and a world-wide Reformation began. But all that was a distant memory now, long gone were the quiet days of Wittenburg. Now, three and a half years later, excommunicated from the church with mortal threats, Martin Luther was summoned to answer for his inflammatory writings in which he dared to say that salvation is by grace through faith alone in Jesus. Standing before the emperor and princes, with his life in the balance, he was asked to bow, to recant his writings. This is what he said: “I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything. Here I stand…”

The weather’s been seasonably warm here in Wisconsin, and every year as the leaves turn from green to red in late October our focus turns to the Reformation; to the truth of the gospel; to solid faith under pressure. To the rally cry of God’s people which resounds through the ages: “Here we stand!” 

But I’m afraid that this phrase isn’t celebrated much anymore. It’s not popular to stand upon God’s Word, to be dogmatic—that word itself has quite a negative connotation. And while today, the temptation doesn’t sound like bow or burn, it’s still the same, just more subtle. The temptation isn’t that we have to give up being Christian. It’s a call to compromise or hide our faith. Note that Luther didn’t have to give up being a pastor, he just had to compromise on what God’s Word said. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t have to stop worshiping the true God, they just had to bow down and worship this statue at a dedication ceremony. The story of these three friends and their experience with the fiery furnace is so remote from our everyday experience that it would be easy to miss its universal implication. All of us who follow Jesus as Lord have to face difficult situations and choices that put our values to the test every day. In fact, you might be surprised at how much you would relate to Shadrach Meshach and Abednigo in this way.  

Babylon, like America, was a diverse city filled with all sorts of different cultures and religions. Religious pluralism and human achievements ruled the day. The thousands bowing before that statue on the plains of Dura didn’t reject their own gods, they had just been conditioned to accept any god. Sound familiar? We can deny temptation when it punctuates our life in obvious ways. But the steady pull of temptation is what wears us down. Social conditioning led to spiritual compromise in Babylon and it still does today in America.

“Gone with the Wind” came out in 1939, and I haven’t seen it, but it aired the first swear word in a major American film. The directors had to get a special dispensation to use the word. At that time, people freaked out, they couldn’t believe that that kind of language would be allowed! Now, thinking about movies today, we hardly blink an eye when it comes to that language. What has happened? We have been socially conditioned. Now this isn’t always bad. Our consciences have become desensitized to many things but also a bit better calibrated in other areas. For instance, we are much more aware of ethnic slurs and other forms of racism today than in 1939 which is good, but we are completely desensitized to sexual sin which is not good. Each age has their own specific challenges.

But overall, in America there has been a steady stream of secularism which has conditioned us to live with no reference to God. To live with no fear of God’s wrath over sin, with no reference to nature as God’s creation, with no understanding of God’s ownership of our bodies and souls. It’s no surprise then that in this age of individualism, we are conditioned to cringe at any dogmatic statement of faith. “Do you really need to hold to everything the Bible says?”

Take a step back and see what’s really going on here. Does this line of thinking sound familiar? You don’t have to believe ALL of what God says. Isn’t this the same lie the devil told in the Garden of Eden? He says, “You can be happy, fulfilled, and at peace; just dismiss some of what God has said.” But if you fall for this lie you are vulnerable to anything else he says. Compromising God’s Word seems like we can still honor God and fit comfortably in the world. But as Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters.” The truth is that in a secular society, casual Christains eventually become Christian casualties. Because once you reject one part of Scripture, why not cut out other parts you don’t like? Why not get rid of the parts that offend people? If you bow to Nebuchadnezzar, why not Marduk and Nergal as well? Why not receive all the blessings of the babylonian pantheon? 

The other evil of social conditioning is how it affects churches as a whole. Compromising faith encourages other churches and believers to compromise as well. That’s the route many churches have gone. And I don’t say this lightly or happily; Christ loves his Church and so do I. That’s why it pains me to see the Scriptural shallowness of most mainline Christian denominations in America. Even now to say we’re Lutheran is really something that needs explanation because the largest Lutheran church body in our country has completely moved away from Scripture. I fear for many souls in these congregations who call themselves Lutheran. 

That’s why we are celebrating the Reformation today. We give thanks that the Lord has preserved his Word here. And we rededicate ourselves today to the purity of his Word. We remember that what it really means to be Lutheran is not being German, or having a spirit of rebellion, or being willing to change traditions, or whatever else people think the movement was about. To be truly Lutheran means to say Here We Stand upon God’s Word no matter what. It is to believe this truth, that though all earthly powers will change and shift, the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this isn’t something we do just once a year. Saying “Here we stand” isn’t a spontaneous, one-time thing that only happens in moments of great testing. It is a daily cross and a daily confession.

This great stand for God wasn’t something spontaneous for Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego either. They were in the babylonian administration, they would have known what was coming. A 90-foot statue isn’t built in a day. They had plenty of time to think about what they would do and what would happen as a result. The real stand they took didn’t take place on the plain of Dura in front of the image. It took place everyday for the months and years leading up to it.

The same thing could be said of Luther. He wasn’t foolish. When he arrived at the Diet of Worms, he knew there was a real chance that he would be arrested and even killed. In fact, when he realized that he was called to recant, not defend his writings, he asked for a day to make his decision. This is a lesser quoted portion of his response the next day: What I have just said will, I think, clearly show that I have well considered and weighed, not only the dangers to which I am exposing myself, but also the parties and dissensions excited in the world by means of my doctrine, of which I was yesterday so gravely admonished. But far from being dismayed by them, I rejoice exceedingly to see the Gospel this day, as of old, a cause of disturbance and disagreement; for such is the character and destiny of God’s word. “I came not to send peace unto the earth, but a sword,” said Jesus Christ. “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be those of  his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36)

It is not a spontaneous decision to say “Here We Stand.” It is something for which we must “count the cost”. It calls us to clarify what God says and then to hold it closely. Luther rejoiced, not because of the pain his decision would make, or because of the blood that would be shed because of the reformation, but because the Gospel was being revealed accurately and was cutting to the heart of God’s people. What about you? Can you rejoice that as our society increases in secularism, your confession of Christ will only stick out more? Will you hold to all of God’s Word even when division may come to your family and friends because of your confession? Can you find the strength in your trembling knees to remain standing as thousands bow?  Are you and I anything like Luther and the three men in Babylon who were willing to stand before Nebuchadnezzar and face the flames?

Can you imagine that scene? Nebuchadnezzar apparently was seated in such a way as to be able to observe the interior of the furnace from a safe distance. What he saw, however, brought him to complete astonishment. He could not believe his eyes and in his excitement stood up and asked his counsellors whether the three men had not been cast bound into the midst of the fire, because he saw four!  Instead of being bound, they were free; instead of writhing in anguish in the flames, they were walking about in the fire and making no attempt to escape! Apparently the presence of the fourth man was not only protecting them, but they felt comfortable among the searing flames.  Most astounding of all, King Nebuchadnezzar had the impression that “the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” God had come himself to be with the three men who stayed true to him.

There was another in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo. There is an important matter of principle at work here. God did not deliver Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego from having to wrestle with the temptation to deny him at the cost of their lives. He did not save them from having to wrestle with and commit to honoring him at the cost of their lives. God was with them the whole time, but he did not save them from the fire, he saved them in the fire.  Like these three ancient believers, God often doesn’t spare us from suffering temptation and having to make difficult choices and sacrifices for our faith. But God does promise that he is with us in the midst of our temptations. He gives us his Word and Sacraments. He gives us strength as we wrestle with difficult decisions of faith. He often doesn’t save us from the fire, but in the fire. 

Sometimes when I find myself bowing down under the pressure of small everyday threats I wonder, “How would I ever do what the persecuted and threatened before me did? How would I ever stand against the flames of the fiery furnace, or the flames of intimidation and rejection?” And yet I know that God does not help us face theoretical situations but real ones. I cannot imagine what I’d say in the moment of trial or testing, much less hope to be as articulate as Shadrak, Meshak, and Abednego, but I know God promises to meet us in the fire. My friends, trust that there is another in the fire standing next to you. Trust that there is a cross that bears the burden, where another died for you. Trust that there is a grave that holds no body, where another rose for you. Trust that by grace, through faith alone, in Christ alone, you have the power to stand.

When the time comes you will not need to worry about what to say. Moments of testing do not produce our faith, they reveal it. And by God’s grace, when the time comes we will say “Here I stand, because that’s what we’ve been saying everyday, not just on Reformation Sunday.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24-25)