Mirrors and Anchors with Pastor Ben Carruthers

A death sentence gets signed because a king likes being flattered, and a faithful old man refuses to let a new law rewrite his prayer life. We dig into Daniel 6, the Daniel in the lions’ den story many of us think we already know, and we slow down long enough to ask two better questions: what is God doing here, and what is God showing us right now?

We trace the context from Babylon to Persia, and we notice the pattern that keeps showing up in Daniel’s life: integrity, wisdom, and a steady devotion that enemies cannot exploit except by attacking his worship. When the decree drops, Daniel does not hide or negotiate. He goes to the same place, keeps the same rhythm of prayer, and even starts with thanksgiving. King Darius ends up saying the quiet part out loud twice: Daniel serves God continually. That phrase becomes the hinge for everything that follows.

From there, we get practical and personal. We talk about circumstantial faith versus consistent faith, using the images of mirrors and anchors. A mirror faith reflects whatever week we are having, good or bad. An anchor faith holds us to the promises of God, even when life is messy, painful, and full of seaweed. We also linger on a detail that changes the tone of the whole narrative: Daniel could have gone home when the exiles were freed, but he stayed, because God was not done with him, and God is not done with us either.

If you’ve been feeling pulled around by your circumstances, press play, then share this with a friend who needs steady hope. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: are you living more like a mirror or an anchor right now?

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Transcript

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Welcome And Series Focus

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Well, good morning. My name is Ben Carruthers. I'm the associate pastor here at Central. It's great to be worshiping with you this morning on a hot week, a very hot week. Some people say it's nicer today. I still think it's hot. And uh I actually brought an extra t-shirt today for this service because I figured it's a hot one. And we were in the sacristry this morning, and back there it really is hot. Like I don't know what's going on, but it is hot back there. And I walked out and came out here, and I told Sonia, this is what heaven feels like. It was just this massive transition. I'm really glad you're here because we are in this sermon series on Daniel called Pattern to Promise. And I have been loving this story of Daniel and seeing him go from this young teenager today. We find out he's about 80 years old. And we've been seeing this pattern. Pattern to Promise is the sermon series title. This this pattern of rebellion against God, but God's promise to us, no matter what the rebellion is. Today we're gonna see another pattern as we wrap up the narrative story of Daniel with Daniel chapter six, is you're gonna see a pattern of Daniel's behavior, his behavior of consistent faith towards God. And so this morning the sermon title is called Mirrors and Anchors. Mirrors and Anchors. And I

A Familiar Story Challenge

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will get to that a little bit later. But this morning we are on a story that we know in Daniel chapter six, this Daniel and the Lion's Den. I want to play this little game with you. If you read the Awakened email, it was in there too. I'm gonna show you just a real still uh picture of a movie, and you just yell out the movie title. Okay, pretty simple, not too scary, very good. Here we go. Ready? What's this one? Wizard of Oz. Very good, right? We see the picture, we know the story, yellow brick road, no problem. How about this one?

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Indiana Jones.

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Indiana Jones, very good. I like how it's coming fast. Extra points for quickness. I like it. Yeah, Indiana Jones, right? Again, familiar character. We know the stories. The stories get a little worse later on in the movies, in my opinion, but that's okay. Uh, but we know the story. How about this one? Which one? The first one, a new hope. Very good. Yeah, man, we know this space opera. We know it, right? We know the story like the back of our hand, and it's kind of gone off the rails a little bit again, but we know this one. How about this one? Toy Story Toy Story, right? Have you seen Toy Story 5? If you've seen it, did you cry? Raise your hand. Yeah. If you saw it, you didn't raise your hand, you're lying. It's okay. This is a safe place. But how about this one?

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Con Air.

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Con Air, if you said Conair, you're my friend. All you were hanging out after this, all right? Conair, Nicolas Cage, 1999, fantastic movie. We see these pictures, maybe not this one for some of you, but we know the story, right? This morning is no different. The majority of us in this room know the story of Daniel in the lion's den. We know the story of this faithful man of God who chooses to possibly die, then turn away from his faith. We know the story. So the question: what do we do with a story that is so familiar? What do we do as we dive into this thing? I think there's two questions we ask ourselves this morning. The first is this what is God doing here? What is God doing in this passage? And what is God showing us today? Because this ancient story reveals something about our lives today. What is God doing here and what is God showing us? And believe it or not, in the story, King Darius himself answers this question twice. He gives us the same answer and he says it twice. So as we dive into this story today, a familiar story for many of us, let us go in asking that question what is God doing

Daniel’s Long Road To Persia

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here and what is God showing us? So will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, God, we give you thanks and praise for this story of Daniel, for this life of Daniel. We thank you for this familiar story that many of us remember from Sunday school, from many sermons in the past, this story of a faithful man named Daniel being thrown in the lion's den. Lord, we pray that as we dive into it and dissect it a little bit and really focus on it, we pray that those questions are on our heart. What are you doing here? And what are you showing us this morning? And that's a tough question to ask. It takes bravery, it takes courage, because sometimes the answer to that means change. And so, Lord, I pray for that courage as we dive into this story this morning. In your name we pray. Amen. So before we get to Daniel 6, there's five previous chapters, and if you've missed any, go back, check out the sermons, or read it yourself. Uh, but so what's kind of going on here? What's the context or history leading us up to this point? It's about 605 BC through 537 BC, and we've seen the Jewish people of the southern kingdom of Judah be taken into exile from Babylon. Babylon has now fallen, and now Persia reigns. Okay, and so in the story of Daniel, Daniel started off as a teenager, being taken out of uh out of his homeland of Jerusalem into captivity in Babylon, 13, 14 years old. Today we find him around the age of 80. So a lot has happened. Years have gone. So maybe in today's translation, when Daniel started off, he was wearing Nike Air Jordan shoes. Now in this one, he's wearing white new ballots. They're beautiful. All right, it gives you an idea of where Daniel's at in his life. So he's an older, wiser man. Now, King uh Daniel rises to power no matter what kingdom is controlling the world. Daniel seems to rise to power. He did it in Babylon as a teenager. He's doing it now in King Cyrus' court. He seems to rise to power because he has the power to interpret dreams. God gives him this gift and ability to interpret the king's dreams. And his dreams are coming true. Right? In Daniel chapter 2, he the King Nebuchadnezzar had this dream of this giant statue made of different materials, and he was the ruler of Babylon. And now in Daniel 6, we understand that Babylon has fallen to the Persians. And so where we are in the timeline, it's exactly what Daniel said would happen, that the kingdom would fall and that the Persians would take over. And we, standing on this side of history, know that the rest happens as well. So Daniel is given this incredible gift from God. And so no matter who is in charge, Daniel seems to rise to power. There seems to be some kind of pattern there in the life of Daniel. So King Cyrus comes from Persia, conquers Babylon, and does something incredible. He sets the Jewish people free. He says, You're no longer captive to this land. You are free to go back to Jerusalem. Not only that, he says you're free to go back to Jerusalem and you're free to rebuild your temple. Not only that, King Cyrus gives him everything that was stolen from the temple back to them. Not only that, but he encourages those who stay in Babylon because many years have gone by now. People have established their life and their family in this new land, and they're staying. He says, if you're staying, if you're not going back, I encourage you to financially support the rebuilding of your temple. So they are freed people, which means Daniel can go home. Daniel can go home and rebuild the temple and be with his people, but he chooses not to. He chooses to stay. And I want you to hold on to that till the end of the sermon. Daniel stays. So here we are. That's the setting for Daniel chapter 6, freed people. He stays in the court of Cyrus, and this is where chapter 6 takes off. Now Daniel is 80 years old or

A Jealous Plot Becomes A Law

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so, and this land is massive. So the new cut king comes in. He needs a new government system. This is what one through three says. It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom. These are like little commissioners or governors to see over the different counties in the land, 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. So we see that pattern of Daniel rising to power amongst this new government. He sees something in Daniel. Now this doesn't sit well with the rest of the 120 governors, these young buck politicians who are seeking to make a name for themselves, seeking for power. And so they don't like what's happening here. And so the next verses say this. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for change 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. So the satraps, they're not having it. They want to figure out what we can get Daniel with? What can we pin against Daniel? What skeletons does he have in his closet? And they can't find a thing. Think about that. He's 80 years old. He's been in service since he's 13. And they can't dig up any dirt on this man. And the only thing that they decide that they can do is to get him to do something against his God. Because they know that he won't. They're not having this. The only thing that they can do is have Daniel challenge his faith. So they come up with a plot. These young guys looking for power, looking for some, looking for some uh control over this new government. So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said, My King Darius live forever. The royal administers, prefects, advisors, and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who praised any god or human being do the next thirty days, except to you, your majesty, shall be thrown into the lion's den. Now your majesty issued the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered, in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed. So King Darius put the decree in writing. So this is it. They're gonna get him. Because they know the pattern of Daniel. They've seen him over all of these years, and the one thing that is consistent with him is he is a man of God. And so they have this, they they plead to the king's pride, and they say, Listen, you are a great king. So great that we think people should worship only you for thirty days. King said, That's a great idea, as most kings think. And so he puts this decree out there that says, You have to worship me for thirty days. Otherwise, it's death in the lion's den. Now, this is pretty important, this decree that's made, because it was law of the Persians that if a decree was made and signed by the king, it could not be taken back. A matter of fact, there's an ancient writing about King Darius getting real close to this guy, a good friend, who was accused of a crime and he had to be put to death. And Darius tried to do everything that he could because information came to him that he was innocent. Innocent of this crime. But because the decree was made, because his signature was on the line, the man had to be put to death. So these young Buck politicians know that they have Daniel. Because they know when

Daniel Prays Like He Always Has

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Daniel hears this, they know exactly what Daniel's gonna do. And this is what he does. 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. He gets this news that says, if you pray to any other God, death in the lion den is what awaits for you. And he doesn't run and hide. He doesn't uh stop worshiping God, he runs like he always does and prays to God, like he always does. Not only does he always go to God in prayer, but even when this stuff comes at him, where death is on the table for him, the first thing he does in his prayer is give thanks. If you go back to chapter two and chapter three, when this stuff happens to him earlier as a teenager, where his life is put on the line, it says he goes and prays and gives thanks. Another pattern in the life of Daniel. And so we know how the rest of the story goes. These guys know where Daniel's gonna be, so they go to Daniel's house, they see Daniel praying to God, they got him. They run to Darius and say, Darius, man, you signed this, you said this, and this is what's happening. Daniel needs to be thrown in the lion's den. The Bible tells us that Darius was so distraught that all day he tried to find another way to save Daniel. All day he tried to figure it out. He brought his best lawyers and advisors in, tried to figure out a way around this edict, this decree, and couldn't do it. And so he sends Daniel to the lion's den. And in scripture it tells us, it says that there was no entertainment for Darius that night. He's the king, he's a ruler over all this land. Every night was a party for this guy. Meals, wine, women, the whole thing. It was this massive party. And scripture tells us that he had no entertainment and he did not sleep at all. How ironic is it that the most powerful person who put this person to death can't sleep a wink. Is up all night. And the person in the lion's den probably slept like a baby. Because King Darius runs to the tomb the next morning, takes off the boulder, and he screams down there, My friend, my friend, are you alright? And he hears Daniel's voice because God saved Daniel. And the chapter ends where the king rejoices, brings up Daniel. Daniel's safe, but then he takes all those other guys who conspired against him and their family and children and throw them into the lion's den. And scripture tells us they don't even make it down before the lions devour them. Now, if you're looking for a you pick question for Sonia, that's a great passage to send in. Make sure S-O-N-J-Y is her name, make sure you put that in there. We know the story. We know the story of faithful Daniel who's saved by God from the lion's den. But what is God doing here? What is God trying to show us here? King Darius says it himself. He says it two times.

The Lions’ Den And A Sleepless King

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Daniel 6, 16. This is before he's thrown into the lion's den. So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lion's den. The king said to Daniel, May your God, whom you serve, continually rescue you. And in Daniel goes. Next morning, King Daniel runs to the tomb. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's 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 from the lions? What's in both of those passages that he recognizes about Daniel? He serves continually. Serves continually. His consistent faith in God. No matter what came Daniel's way, he served God. This is what's going on in this passage. I think God is showing us what it means to have consistent faith, not faith based on circumstances. Circumstantial faith versus consistent faith. And this is where we get mirrors and anchors. Because a mirror is something that reflects what's going on in your life. And oftentimes that mirror is our faith. Because depending on what we see going on in our life, that's what we're going to base our relationship with God on. Maybe it's something where, man, if life is really great, you give all thanks and praise to God. But then that storm of life comes and you retreat from that faith. Or maybe it's reversed. Maybe you're someone who, when the storms of life come, you run to God. But when life is really good and you're cruising, you seem to forget about God and his blessings in your life. This mirror-like faith is based on circumstances. And our life is all about that. It's really how we live our lives, is based on what is going on in our life, right? This morning you woke up and you're wearing what you're wearing probably because it was what was clean in your closet, right? You ate breakfast of what you had because that's what you had. Or maybe you didn't eat breakfast because you had no cereal in your cabinet. You're here with the people you are here with because those are the ones who chose to come with you. Life is full of circumstances. And we based on how we live our life based around those things. But it's when we that bleeds into our faith and our relationship with God where it becomes a bit of a problem. Because there are consequences sometimes to living a life in a faith of circumstances. Years ago, when I was just a kid,

Continual Faith Versus Circumstantial Faith

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uh, we were attending a church, and some of you may remember, some of you may not, but they used to have like uh picture directories, picture directories, right? Where families would go and smile nice, and then you would all get one. Then when you saw someone at church, you'd go home and be like, who was that person? Right? You can find them in the directory. And so we did this. So we all got up, we got our best clothes on. I had a nice sweater and my corduroy pants, and we're on our way to church to have our picture taken by Olin Mills. If you remember Olin Mills, there we go, yeah. I remember it because the name was in the bottom of the picture. And on the way to church, I had a little rumbly and the tumbly. I was hungry and I wanted some McDonald's. So I said, Mom, Dad, can we stop and get some McDonald's for breakfast? They said, No. I said, I'm sorry, there must have been some miscommunication. I asked for McDonald's. We hungry. He said, No. I'm like, fine, no McDonald's, no smiling for the family picture. Oh, yeah, that's funny. So we get there and I'm determined. I'm like, I'm not gonna smile for this picture. And there's six of us. I have three sisters and we're all dolled up. It's the 80s, right? So there's lots of big hair and big smiles going on in the 80s. And the guy, we sit down, we're all there, and he's like, all right, everyone smile. And he looks at me. He's like, everyone smile. No, man, no McNuggets, no smile for you today. And I didn't, but the guy was so funny. And he would come up to me and he would make me laugh, but I was so determined, I'm not gonna smile. And so what hung above our fireplace, I'm not kidding, for my whole life living at home, is this photograph of our family. Everyone's smiling great, except for this young boy who looks like he's got tummy troubles because his faith is like, uh that's what hung. And I'm determined to believe that my parents did it on purpose to remind me. But the circumstance was if I wasn't gonna want, I'm not gonna listen to you. That's sometimes how we live our life. This morning I got a call from my youngest Ezie. He sleeps in, so he usually calls me when he wakes up and we're going shopping after this, going to the mall, and I said, Hey, we're going shopping. Are you excited? He's like, I'm not going shopping. I said, No, we're all going. He's like, I'm not going. I'm like, you're seven. You're going. You don't have an option here. And he's like, nope, I'm not going. I'm not going. I'm not going. And I owe him a stuffed animal. He's really big in a stuffed animal. I said, buddy, today's the day I'll buy you that stuffed animal. Oh, I'm excited. Let's go shopping. He was getting something, right? Circumstances have changed. You see, that's how we view our faith. Instead of asking the question, what is God doing here? We ask the question, what can God do for me here? And when we do that, we miss out on the things that God is already doing. But that's what circumstantial faith looks like. It's based off the things that are around us. And God calls us not to this kind of faith, but faith like an anchor. Our faith should be an anchor, what holds us to the things of Him, of His promises, right? Pattern to promise. We come back to the promises of God, those unmovable, unshakable promises of God. Our faith is like an anchor. And this is what David had. Now, here's the thing about an anchor, right? This is a nice, beautiful, shiny anchor. Uh, we go up to my in law's cabin quite a bit in the summer, and they have a pontoon, and we love going out in the pontoon. Tune. And one of the favorite things of the kids to do is lower the anchor in. I'm like, great. I don't have to do it. Fantastic. Knock yourself out. But the really favorite thing to do is to pull

Anchor Faith That Gets Messy

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the anchor up. Right? So I'm like, all right, we got to pull the anchor up, and the whole boat goes, because I have four kids and they're all in the back. One of the pulling the anchor up. And they pull this anchor up, and we've been there for an hour, two hours, and the anchor's not clean and shiny. The anchor looks more like this. Covered in dirt. Covered in seaweed. Because that anchor has drilled down into the earth and kept our boat there. The anchor has held us no matter what has come, what waves have come, no matter how much seaweed, the anchor holds strong. This is what our faith looks like. You see, our anchor is not all clean because life isn't clean. Circumstances come, storms come, but the anchor holds us. Our faith in God holds us to his promises. In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to them, he says, Stand firm in your faith. Don't stand firm in the circumstances of this world. Don't be pulled left or right. Don't be pulled by what you see in the mirror and reflecting back to you. Hold strong to the promises of God. And this is what it's going to look like. It's going to be messy. It might be full of hurt and pain. But it always comes back to the promises of God. And when you live your life as an anchor, people notice. Why do you think Daniel was loved by all of those kings over all of those years? Because they saw something different in him. They saw that no matter what came his way, he was consistently strong in his faith. Even if it wasn't the faith of the king, even if it was against the law. When someone lives their life this way, you notice. I'm fortunate enough to work in a place where the staff here are Daniels, whether they'd like to admit it or not. But we come together each week and we share what's going on in our lives and we pray for each other. And the struggles that people go through here are intense. And there's just like everything else, every place else. But to walk with them and see them hold strong to their faith, you notice. You notice the story of Daniel. You notice the story of Job. You notice the story of Christ praying in the garden. You notice people who are anchors. So central, mirrors and anchors. Which one are you? That's a really hard question to ask, right? Because for most of us, we're like, man, probably a mirror. Probably base my faith on what's going on. I probably have that question of what can God do for me more than what God is doing here? And the good news this morning, Central, is that no matter if you're a mirror or an anchor, no matter if your faith wavers with the wind and the seas, no matter what troubles come, what you may pull away from your faith, if you're here today and you say, I'm a mirror, the good news is even though we may be inconsistent in our faith, God is consistent in his love for you.

Daniel Stayed And God Isn’t Done

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You see, his love isn't based on what we do, the circumstances of our life. God's love for you is based on you are a child of God. And it doesn't change. And that's the good news of the gospel. I want to leave you with this last bit here. I told you to remember something. I said, remember this. What was it? Do you remember? He stayed. Daniel stayed. That really stuck with me this past week. Because we talk about this great man of faith who loves God so much that he's willing to die for his faith. And here he's given the opportunity at 80 years old to pack up his new balances and head back to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple and to be with his people after being in exile for the majority of his life. He has the opportunity, this man of faith, and he stays. Why? Why does this man of deep, consistent faith stay? I believe it's because he knew that God wasn't done with him yet. God's not done with him. He's got more work to do. So, people of Central, I want you to hear me very clearly. God's not done with you. No matter what the circumstances are, no matter how far away you feel, God's not done with you. Mirrors or anchors, we have more work to do. So let's get into it. Amen.