1. Speaking Tough Truth
“The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”
Daniel 2:47

2. Over the last two weeks, we learned:
if we intentionally engage the culture around us by taking calculated risks based on the assumption that God is active in our world, then God will put us in the right place at the right time and equip us properly to participate in His activity in the lives of people.
when put in a place where we are engaging culture, it’s important that we pause, pray to, and praise our Heavenly Father as we do so.
Daniel was called on to come alongside King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at a particular moment in his life.

3. There comes a time when we all need someone to attune our ears to truth, no matter how difficult that truth may be …

4. Daniel 3:1-23
Daniel’s interpretation begins positively enough … Nebuchadnezzar is the king of kings, the head of gold, the ultimate ruler of the earth.
Babylon was a gold medal nation, a first-place people among all others.
This revelation probably played right into Nebuchadnezzar’s view of himself.
Nebuchadnezzar was a powerful ruler of a powerful nation.

5. Who is it that allows Nebuchadnezzar’s greatness?
“… the God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory”. (Daniel 2:37)
Daniel elevates God, above even Nebuchadnezzar.
The circumstances dictate something else entirely.
Tough truth is not self-evident … it often takes eyes of faith to “see” the truth in difficult circumstances.
Even though Daniel’s sight shows him that God is absent, his faith assures him that God is uniquely present.

6. After praising Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel utters these words “… after you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours …” (v. 39).
Not only would Babylon fall to an inferior nation, but subsequent nations would fall to consistently inferior nations, culminating in control by a divided superpower nation (vs ).
Following this, a nation would come along that would change everything a kingdom set up by the God of heaven will come (vs ).

7. Daniel challenges that Nebuchadnezzar’s legacy will be as “chaff in the wind” come the arrival of this eternal kingdom.
In 539 B.C., Persia marched against Babylon and conquered this land.
Alexander the Great and Greece swept through next, conquering Persia definitively in 331 B.C.
Rome ascended to power next, annexing Greece in 190 B.C.
In A.D. 33, we see fulfillment of the final promised kingdom, as through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christ’s eternal kingdom is established.

8. Jesus too delivers some tough information regarding entrance into His kingdom.
In Mark 10:17-27, a rich young man asks Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”.
Jesus directs him to the commandments and the young man asserts that he has kept the commandments.
Jesus so loves this young man that he must deliver some immensely difficult information to him – “go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (v.21).
As the young man turns and dejectedly walks away, the disciples question “Who then can be saved?”.
Christ responds honestly, elevating God, saying, “all things are possible with God”.

9. Both the Daniel-Nebuchadnezzar and Jesus-rich young man encounters communicate a pattern of action to us.
First, both accounts help us to see that speaking truth in love allows us to better deliver tough information.
Truth often has a sharp edge to it; tough truth even more so.
As we come alongside those who are yet to know Jesus as Saviour, it’s important that we allow love to pave the way for the tough information that will eventually come.

10. Secondly, it is through the honest elevation of God that we are allowed to effectively deliver tough information.
Both Daniel and Jesus exhibit a sincere dose of humility as they elevate God; neither seek to gain credibility by simply tagging God’s name on to the tough information; both just state face-value that this tough information is from God.
We too must be careful that our discussions of tough stuff with those who are yet to know Christ are not founded on our “opinions” and “biases”, but on the simple truths of Scripture.

11. Finally, it is by speaking with a clear conscience that allows us to better deliver tough information
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)
We should always speak with respect, with clear consciences allowing us to deliver tough truth in an incredibly gentle way. In doing so, we pave the way for the Holy Spirit to convince of the truthfulness of the difficult information we deliver.

12. The truth is that there will come a moment in our faith walk that we must deliver tough information to someone we care about.
We cannot own the outcomes of speaking truth in love … our call is to simply share what we know God has urged us to share.
Two reactions to tough information:
“Nebuchadnezzar moments” when praise of God develops
“rich young man moments” when rejection and dejection result

13. Let us approach our culture like Daniel, with eyes of faith, expecting to see God at work through His Spirit within it.
Let us see that we are surrounded by people caught in “Nebuchadnezzar moments”.
“ … the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.” (Daniel 2:48-49)

14.  This week, may we look more intentionally for those “Nebuchadnezzar moments”, boldly and lovingly speaking the truth of Jesus Christ into them, expecting that God will deliver the results we so desire.