I got a small card through my door the other day, from a certain Mr Ameen. Let me read it to you:-
MR AMEEN

JUST A SINGLE CALL CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR BETTER!

Internationally renown Healer and Clairvoyant

With spiritual powers from my ancestral master spirit, I can help you in bringing back your loved ones, infedility in relationship, domestic/family problems, depression, substance abuse/addiction, losing weight, impotency/infertility, immigration/court cases, breaking black magic, jinx, demonic forces, anti-social behaviours in people, good luck, success in business, in exams, careers, spiritual guidance, stress, job interviews, marriage.

YOUR PAIN IN MY RESPONSIBILITY!

Well, what are we doing here? Here is the man with the answer to all your problems. Here is the man who claims to sort out your troubles. Here is the man who is convinced he can re-arrange your concerns into joys.

He has the answers …. But has he got the qualities to serve you? On what basis does this man make these extraordinary claims? And how depressing it is that there are people out there – your friends, your neighbours, even you potentially – who will fall for his claims, because they don’t check if he has the right qualities to back them up.

When you ask someone to do a task, you call in a builder, you seek out a decorator, you interview for a post – you are always seeking the candidate with the best qualities for the work in mind.

Nebuchadnezzar was running a successful empire and he was determined to ensure that the empire was well run. He wanted people in his employment who had the best qualities – we could read into the text that he doesn’t seem to have worried about their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or anything else – but we are not told any of that, so that is bad interpretation and I digress.

Context of Daniel 1
Let’s take a backward step first to put ourselves in context, to recall the situation that surrounds Daniel 1 and what is happening there.

Nebuchadnezzar was the leading ruler of his time, ruling over the very successful Babylonian empire. He came to the throne in 605BC and ruled for 40 odd years. By 601BC he had conquered the Assyrian empire, modern northern Iraq and Syria, and had reached Jerusalem, which he besieged. Again he was successful and the then King of Judah, Jehoiachin, agreed to be his client state.

But not for long. In 598BC, Jehoiachin fancies his chances and rebels, so Nebuchadnezzar returns and in 597BC, he captures Jerusalem and deports loads of important people – officials, nobles, leading students. Now Daniel with Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah was part of that mass deportation.

And as we read, these four were among the chosen ones, chosen to enter Nebuchadnezzar’s royal service (v.3). Now embedded in this chapter of Daniel are a number of fascinating insights into qualities for service, qualities as seen by humans compared to qualities as seen by God – and you can guess which ones I will be encouraging.

Two weeks ago, at the All Age service we looked at the disciples of Jesus:-
Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Matt 10:2-4)
And we noticed that there was little to commend them in human terms. They were chosen by Jesus to be the building blocks of the world-wide church, but you wouldn’t have chosen them yourself.

I’m reminded of a spoof memo, apparently sent to Jesus, from the vocation and selection department of the Ministry Division:-
SUBJECT: Selection of candidates for Ministry

Thank you for submitting details of the 12 men you think suitable for Ministry. All of them have now attended a Selection Conference. It is the Ministry Division’s opinion that most of the candidates are lacking in the background, education and vocational aptitude for full-time Ministry.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper.
Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership.
The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above vocational commitment.
Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude and he needs to be more sure of his own faith before being involved in Ministry to others.
A bad business reference has been forwarded for Matthew.
James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus have unhelpful political opinions and both appear to be manic depressives.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen financial mind (so necessary in today’s church), and has good contacts in Government. He is highly motivated and innovative. We can recommend Judas Iscariot without hesitation as being an outstanding and successful candidate.

Sometimes, as I look round my Anglican colleagues, I sense that Judas Iscariot is alive and well, and sadly living in me.

Human v divine qualities for service
Let’s have a look at the human qualities and the divine qualities needed for service. Now, it’s not beyond the wit of any one of us to know that the same or very similar criteria were being exercised by Nebuchadnezzar’s chief official, Ashpenaz (v.3), as were exercised in that spoof memo (v.4).

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of those qualities, and the candidates had a big task ahead of them – 3 years training in the language and literature of the Babylonians. This was a big ask of the candidates. If you want a modern day example, a certain Archbishop may fail on the handsome stream, but he has all the qualities of learning, well-informed and quick to understand. He could nearly have been a candidate for Nebuchadnezzar.

These qualities are the ideals in human terms, where perfection of body and mind is sought. But it’s not reality as we know it and as we experience it in our lives and in the world around us. There’s an element of Hollywood here where reality does not get in the way of making a good story. Have you noticed in the films you watch that:-
- The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place.
- The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
- A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds. (maybe that is reality)
- It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.
- All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they will go off.
- Medieval peasants had perfect teeth. (and John Evans had no work)
- It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight; your enemies will patiently wait to attack you one by one, dancing around in a threatening manner until you have individually knocked them out.

If that is the unreality of human thinking, then what is the reality of divine thinking? What is it that makes for divine qualities?

Divine qualities involved Daniel and his friends asking if they could be excused the royal food and wine, and be allowed to live on vegetables and water only. Now this is not an advert for vegetarianism. In fact whether it was meat or vegetables was not the issue. The real issue was Daniel’s desire, together with his friends, not to defile themselves.

In other words, they knew that the royal food and wine were prepared within some sacred religious context – a sort of Jamie Oliver meets the Archbishop of Canterbury (you can sense the polar extreme there) – and that therefore the royal food and wine were tainted by the Babylonians’ idol worship.

The divine qualities for service have got nothing to do with your defects, or lack of them, or your striking good looks (or not), or your ability academically. Daniel and his friends had divine qualities of service because they put the practice of honouring God before all else, however attractive the world’s qualities were (think of the fabulous food and great wines they sacrificed).

Seeking human qualities emphasises only human ability, and few would measure up to the standard of Nebuchadnezzar or the standard of the media today.

Seeking divine qualities is not only very different but also possible for each of us: to honour God wherever we are – in a foreign land, serving a foreign king – or in the alien world of our office with all its human pressure on integrity and honesty, or our home perhaps with all the pressure of conforming to the family ways, or our neighbourhood with all the pressure to keep up with those around us.

It’s possible for us, but not necessarily easy for us, to honour God, and sometimes there will be a clash of civilisations, so to speak.

Daniel honoured God and he served God, not as a great man, not as some leader of Israel, but as a servant of a foreign king – rarely famous, not at the top of the tree, often the number two or three or four or whatever. But he honoured God. He was faithful to God – that is the highest quality of divine service we can aspire to.

So just as we have seen what human qualities are and just as we have seen divine qualities are, let’s turn our minds to God’s qualities in this.

Human v divine v God
The most wonderful quality of God is his faithfulness. Compare last week’s reading from Lam. 3:22f:-
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

When Daniel invested in divine qualities, rather than work to human qualities, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams – he served in that royal court for some 70 years, he served at the highest levels in the Babylonian government and he served with distinction time and again.

All this was because he honoured God. That is clearly one of the messages that the writer of the book of Daniel wants to get across to us. There’s an important proverb that maybe Daniel remembered from some distant reading as a child (Prov. 9:10f):
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom … For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life."

But it’s not all one way traffic. Even in that Proverb, God is saying that he will honour those who honour him – in this case live a long life. For Daniel served 70 years, so he must have been close to 90 when he died. That’s a long life, not just now but certainly then.

God is faithful to those who are faithful to him. God blesses those who are a blessing to him. God honours those who honour him in serving God’s purposes and ways.

Daniel served God’s purposes and we see the blessings on his life. The story of Daniel is asking us to serve God as Daniel did. Yes, our circumstances are different. Yes, our situation is another century. Yes, our lives have different pressures.

But underlying all these possible excuses lies the example of Daniel that points us towards the importance of developing those divine qualities.

If you want to gain meaning out of life, then understand Daniel and serve God’s purposes – seek not human qualities, but seek those divine qualities of honouring God wherever you find yourself and whatever you are called to be and to do there.

Then God will honour you, as you serve him, here in the church, but also out there, beyond these walls, in your community, in your home, in your work. Seek the qualities of service that make a difference to you, to the world around you and to the kingdom of God.