Of Kings and Prophets: When
the Writings on the Wall, Beware the Fall
September 6, 2015
BMC- Daniel 5:1-6 (& 5:7-31)
Through the Bible in a Year
Labor Day Weekend
Introduction: Pastor’s Meeting
Those of
you who were with us last week may remember that one of the prayer concerns was
for an Ohio Conference meeting of credentialed people. That meeting took place on Wednesday of this
week. We gathered in a meeting room at a
hotel off of I-71 outside of Bellville.
The goals of the meeting were trust
building and sharing among Ohio Conference pastors and leaders. The last couple of years have been rocky for
our conference and our denomination to say the least. And now with our current leadership and our
transitional conference minister in place, there was a need for us to get together
and talk face to face about what has taken place. We sat at round tables and used a circle
process to share both of our disappointments but also of our hopes.
Now the
credentialed leaders that gathered around those tables had no real decision
making ability. It is the congregations
through their delegates that make decisions for the conference. But as we look to the future in the wake of
Kansas City 2015, it also seemed important to get a sense of what the various
churches may be thinking and this was one way to do that.
53 of the
churches were represented at this meeting.
Of those missing all but one were not represented due to either not
currently having a pastor, the pastor being bi-vocational, or the pastor being
ill. Before our lunch break, we were
asked to place our church’s name on the wall in one of three categories in
relation to Ohio Conference and in relation to MC USA. We could say for instance that Bethel desired
to remain in relationship to Ohio conference, that we were unsure about our
relationship to Ohio Conference, or that Bethel desired to disassociate from
Ohio conference. We were asked to do the
same thing for our relationship to MC USA.
Once we
placed our churches in one of those three categories for both our denomination
and our conference, we were invited to spend a half an hour in prayer before
having lunch and returning to dialogue about what all this means. But very quickly, it was clear that the
writing was on the wall, in a very literal sense. This of course brings us to our passage from
Daniel this morning.
Daniel
“King Belshazzar
gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.
While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to
bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken
from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and
his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the
gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the
king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of
bronze, iron, wood and stone.
“Suddenly the
fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the
lamp stand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became
weak and his knees were knocking.
“The king summoned
the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of
Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed
in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the
third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
“Then all the
king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king
what it meant. So King Belshazzar became even more terrified
and his face grew more pale. His nobles were baffled.
“The queen,
hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “May
the king live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale!
There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy
gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and
intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King
Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers
and diviners. He did this because Daniel, whom the king called
Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding,
and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems.
Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”
“So Daniel was
brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the
exiles my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard that the spirit of
the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding
wisdom. The wise men and enchanters were brought before me to read this writing
and tell me what it means, but they could not explain it. Now I have heard that you are able to give
interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing
and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain
placed around your neck, and you will be made the third highest ruler in the
kingdom.”
“Then Daniel
answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards
to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell
him what it means.
“Your Majesty, the
Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and
glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him,
all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the
king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he
spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble,
he humbled. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened
with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He
was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the
wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew
of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all
kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.
“But you,
Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.
Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles,
your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of
silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or
understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and
all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the
inscription.
“This is the
inscription that was written:
mene, mene,
tekel, parsin
“Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your
reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the
scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and
given to the Medes and Persians.”
“Then at Belshazzar’s
command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck,
and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night
Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over
the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.”
Pride Comes Before a Fall
Now of course, it
seems to me that the most obvious lesson for us from this passage is that
“pride comes before a fall.” Or as
Proverbs 16:18 puts it, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a
fall.” Not only do we see the
destruction that came to King Belshazzar due to his pride. After all, he brought out the goblets that
were taken from the Lord’s temple and used them for his own celebration with
his nobles, his wives and his concubines.
And he used the goblets in worship not of the one true God, but in
worship of false gods; the gods of silver and gold, iron, bronze, wood and
stone.
But we also are
reminded of the pride of King Belshazzar’s father King Nebuchadnezzar. We are reminded that it was because of his
pride that for some time he lost his mind and behaved as an animal grazing in a
field. It was only once he humbled
himself before the Lord that he came to his senses and regained his sanity.
Pride comes before
a fall whereas Micah 6:8 tells us “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And
what does the Lord require of you? To act
justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Likewise James 4:10 tells us, “Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” As followers of the one true God, we are to
be humble not prideful.
Yet the challenge
is often in how we go about growing in our humility isn’t it? After all, there’s an odd irony in the fact
that it is prideful to think that we are humble, right? In fact, it seems to me that there are
probably two primary ways that we can work at growing in humility. One is to pray for God to teach us
humility. Now I believe that this is an
effective method, but I also believe that it will often be a painful process
for many of us. Because God often
teaches us things like humility by allowing us to experience being knocked down
a notch, doesn’t He? It’s much like the person who prays for patience, right
now; and then has a trying day that repeatedly tests one’s patience.
But another way
that we can approach this is through a disciplined posture of humility. For instance, when someone accuses us of
making a mistake; whether we did or not, we can begin by giving that person the
benefit of the doubt. Instead of
immediately going on the defensive, we can begin by saying something like,
“Well, I’m sorry if I misplaced X. Maybe
if you tell me where you last saw it, it will help me to remember what I did
with it.”
This is a lesson
that I have learned and continue to learn most powerfully in my marriage. Early on I was very quick to go on the
defensive and to attempt to demonstrate the many ways that Beth was wrong and I
was right. I’m sure that you can imagine
how that went. In the first place, I am
blessed with a spouse who was right at times and left me needing to eat some
humble pie. In the second place, I
learned that our “discussions” were much more productive and life giving to our
marriage if I first tried to understand where she was coming from and spoke to
her from a position of humility rather than certainty.
Follow God and Stand Tall
The next
lesson for us is that we should follow God and stand tall. In each of the stories of Daniel, we see his
commitment to being faithful to God, even when this meant being put into the
lion’s den. Here we see that he was
known for his faith in God and in the abilities that God had given him. And when called upon, he went before the
king, not for the possibility of gain; but out of faithfulness to God. He went and gave bad news that could have
resulted in harm to him, though in the end the king remained true to his word
and clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck and made him
third in command of the nation.
It can be
difficult for us in our faithfulness to God to stand tall while still remaining
humble. It can be difficult for us to
stand tall while still exhibiting the fruits of the spirit. As a delegate to Kansas City 2015, each of
our mornings started with a testimony from one of our agencies about how God
has been working through them. Along
with this was a time of singing and of prayer.
It was a time of worship before we began our business.
One morning
as Everence was sharing about how God has been working through them, there were
people going to each of the delegate tables passing out a flyer to all of the
delegates. It had a somewhat pixilated
logo for Mennonite Church USA at the top and it said, “Because we as Mennonites
believe in clear boundaries and tall fences to keep out any abominations in the
eyes of God: We heretofore resolve that those struggling with opposite-sex
attractions at variance with the Mennonite Confession of faith will not be
recognized for their membership or ministry in the life of the church. All those in favor will be asked to say
“Aye!” Those opposed, please to the
Hokey Pokey and turn yourself about.”
It became
clear to me that something was about to happen to us. What was less clear was
what should be done about it. I’ve been
to enough delegate assemblies to know that there is a listening committee through
which concerns may be expressed and that they are seated at a table at the
front of the delegate hall. As the
Everence representative spoke, I got up from my table in the back and went to
the listening committee table at the front.
When I got
there, I politely asked if these papers that were being passed out were
approved by Mennonite Church USA. The
response I got was that he did not know.
He clearly had no idea of what was going on either. Uncertain of what to do, I opted to put my
concern in writing. When the speaker
finished, I was going to return to my seat; but as soon as he finished a group
of people took the stage and the microphone and read this mock resolution. When the delegate hall microphone was shut
off, they brought out their own microphone that was connected to their own PA
system.
The
moderator tried to regain control of the proceedings, but wasn’t able to until
this demonstration was completed. And
then she was very apologetic for what had taken place. Now some would say that this demonstration
was standing tall. And in some ways
perhaps it was. But in my opinion, it
was not standing tall in the ways that God has called us to. It was not standing tall in the ways that
bare the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
In fact in my reading of Ephesians 5, I would characterize that demonstration
as more in line with the acts of the flesh listed like hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, and factions. But to be fair, that has been my same
disappointment with those who have claimed a more conservative theological
position; but done so in a spirit of anger and hatred rather than love and
peace.
The Writings on the Wall
The third lesson
is a reminder that so often the writing is on the wall. How often do we find ourselves saying, “If
God would only give me a sign” as if we desire a big neon sign in the sky to
point the way that we should go. Well in
the first place, in the case of King Belshazzar, the writing was on the wall,
very literally. And even before he was
able to understand it, the words caused him to turn pail and his knees to
knock. He had a sign, and I wonder if
after understanding it he wished that he hadn’t received the sign and died in
ignorance instead.
In the second
place, I doubt that the meaning of the words on the wall were all that
surprising to us. The narrator told us
what the king had done. He had
desecrated holy relics from the temple both in how he used them and what he
used them for. As we read these words,
it’s almost like we are watching one of those movies in which a character
approaches a closed door and before she opens the door, we know that she
shouldn’t go in there but she still does.
The king should have never done what he did and we know it. How do we know it? We know it from years of training in the
faith and from chapter upon chapter of scripture reading that we have done this
year.
Much of what God
desires for us and that we should do is spelled out for us so clearly in the
Ten Commandments, in the Beatitudes, in the stories of God’s people. It is written clearly, we know it, and all
that we have to do is to follow it.
Certainly there are those parts that are shrouded in mystery, that are
not so readily apparent. But as one man
said, “Do what you understand, and as you do it, more of scripture will become
clear.”
In the third
place, how often are we seeking an answer from God when the answer is right
before us? How often is the writing on
the wall, but we refuse to take notice?
Or how often is it there, but we are in need of someone like Daniel,
people from our community, to help us in discerning its meaning. I wonder how often God has told us the answer
and the short coming for knowing it is actually with us rather than God.
What the Writing Said…
This
all brings me back to the Pastor’s meeting on Wednesday and the writing that we
had placed on the wall. After everyone
placed their church’s name on the wall, spent time in prayer, and ate lunch
together; we reconvened to talk about what we saw on the wall. The first thing that was obvious was that no
one had placed their church under the category of wanting to disassociate from
Ohio Conference. There were many who
were under “remain connected” and many under “unsure,” but no one was “under
disassociate.”
The
next thing that was very clear was that when it came to relating to MC USA,
things were very different. There was
about a three way split between those who desire to remain connected to MC USA,
those who were unsure and those who desire to disassociate from MC USA. What became more clear as we talked was that
many who were unsure about Ohio Conference were there because they were also in
the “disassociate with MC USA” while others were there because they desired to
remain connected to MCUSA.
So for those who
want to disassociate with MC USA, they may not remain with Ohio Conference if
Ohio Conference remains with MC USA.
Meanwhile for those who want to associate with MC USA, they may not
remain with Ohio Conference if Ohio Conference leaves MC USA. So while it was clear from the writing on the
wall that every church represented does desire to remain connected to Ohio
Conference, it was also clear that there is no clear direction about the
conference’s connection to MC USA.
Additionally, it was clear that whether Ohio Conference stays or goes,
there will likely be churches that leave Ohio Conference.
So from there, we
worked at proposing direction for the conference. We were not a deciding body, but rather an
advising body for conference leadership in thinking about what options they
will bring to the cluster meetings and ultimately to this year’s Annual
Conference Assembly. There were
primarily five options that came to the forefront:
“Summary of expressed preferences from among group-discerned
options
for moving forward for Ohio Conference
1. Leave
- Ohio Conference would leave affiliation with MC USA - quite strongly
supported possibility
a. Several of these indicated that Ohio Conference
should seek affiliation with some entity supporting the 1995 Confession of
Faith or simply another entity.
2. Adopt
some form of provisional membership - quite strongly supported
possibility
a. Ohio Conference would remain affiliated with MC USA
but adopt a provision whereby congregations could be members of Ohio Conference
without being part of MC USA.
3.
Stay - strongly supported possibility
a. Ohio Conference would retain its present
affiliation with MC USA.
4. Probational
- strongly supported possibility
a. Ohio Conference remains affiliated with MC USA but
self-identifies as being at "variance" in defined ways with policies,
actions, or such of MC USA. Ohio Conference undertakes steps to clarify future
relations and boundaries.
5. Provide
other options - supported possibility
a. Ohio Conference retains affiliation with MC USA and
works to aid congregations which decline connection with MC USA to find other
optional connections.
Conclusion: Clear Yet Connected
While the
final decision is yet to be made, it seems clear that the writing is on the
wall. It will be in time through
community discernment that we will seek to interpret this writing and discern
God’s leading for us as a conference.
But most likely while congregation’s connections to Ohio Conference may
remain strong, there is a very good chance that Ohio Conference’s connection to
MC USA will likely be different a year from now.
But while
the writing is on the wall, for now what seems more timely for us is that we
avoid the pride that comes before the fall.
As people of God who cling to God’s truth, we are called to do so in
humility rather than prideful certainty that we have whole of who God is and
what God desires wrapped up in some box that would be clear to everyone else if
they would just peek inside.
And that we
continue to stand tall as we follow God.
We can continue to be clear about what we believe and to share that
respectfully, while remaining in relationship with those with whom we
disagree. All too often we err on the
side of giving up our beliefs for the good of a relationship or on the side of
cutting off contact with those whom we disagree. Instead, we can be clear about what we
believe while at the same time maintaining relationship with those who see
things differently. Amen.
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