FREE, BUT BENEFICIAL? (UPDATED)

Daniel 1v8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your[c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

1 Cor 10v23: All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

Notice here that DANIEL COULD HAVE eaten and drunk just what the Babylonians ate, and could have APPEARED (v10) exactly the same as the Babylonians themselves (on the outside), and there would have been nothing wrong with this, BUT HE DIDN'T. Now, on the surface of things this seems to be a pretty odd and unnecessary choice that Daniel makes. After all, who cares if he eats the food and drink of Babylon, as long as he doesn't gorge himself, right? As long as he isn't getting drunk, and isn't becoming unhealthy to the point of not being able to serve, what does it matter if he eats and drinks what others eat and drink? But to Daniel, this was EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, and EXTREMELY NECESSARY. 

So the question is, why was this the case for Daniel? 

Daniel did not want the Babylonians to think that ANYTHING GOOD AND GODLY that came from his service in ANYWAY ORIGINATED FROM THE WORLD and from what they, as their so called 'great society' prided themselves on. And, by the grace of God, this worked, because God honoured what Daniel desired and chose to do. Daniel allowed the chief official to test whether he would end up worse for wear with not consuming what the Babylonians did, and low and behold, not only did he not look worse for wear, BUT HE APPEARED EVEN HEALTHIER. This was to show that if Christians and ministers choose to have God create the required image they desire for His glory, not only will God do this well, but in a better way than they ever could through those natural means that are available to them. Those natural means are not unlawful (in and of themselves), but by the use of them, not only are they not beneficial, but they end up defiling the spiritual health of the people of God, and also the good purposes and appearances the Church and its ministers are trying to achieve, because the Spiritual Church isn't built by being fed with natural things, and not with those things the world prides itself on.

To eat and drink what the Babylonians did would not have been wrong, but it would likely have made the Kingdom of Babylon and its rulers believe that the great wisdom and insight that Daniel received from God (and that ended up saving it's ruler), was actually due, in most part, to those things that originated from them. Rather than risk this kind of obscured testimony, Daniel did what many would've thought to be drastic and unnecessary. And so it is today, most if not all think that the means by which the Church is using to appear healthy and good looking to the world; big lights, big cameras, big smoke machines and everything else under the sun is just fine, but while they're fine for use outside the Church, they're not for His Church. While ministers believe these things are the very things God uses to create an appearance that they believe will in some way inspire our walks with God to be healthier and stronger, they do not, rather they make us more prone to love how the world represents itself. 

These 'things' that the Church is feeding itself with are the natural things of this world, the natural things of Babylon, and while they are fine in and of themselves, how they are being used at the moment is defiling the Church, rather than them being expedient for it. At the moment these things are inspiring a love of pride, position, prominence, promotion, shallowness, greed for gain, and outright error (after all, if the Church is rich, of course that means that God wills that all His people be rich...right?...). Simply put the Church of today beside the Church of Sturgeon's and Tozer's era, and you'll see the massive differences between each, and that sums up the point of this whole writing. And why those differences now exist today are only because of those things that pretty much no-one thinks are important now. I don't even want to mention what I think the Apostles would've thought of the Church now, or what those greats I just mentioned would've thought. My goodness, what they would say would make my comments seem like fairy-floss to the fire they would've brought. But nevertheless, the choice remains for His people. Are they willing to use their freedom to gorge themselves on the world for what they would say are 'good motives,' or will they make the choice that Daniel made, knowing that sometimes freedom to do something doesn't mean that we should do it. Conversely, often freedom is given by God to test us to see where our hearts are really at. Are our hearts really and truly with God? Or are we open to the things of the world as well? Are we as jealous as Daniel was to see all glory, honour and power go to the only one it should go to, or do secretly believe that we should be sharing some it? Are we doing everything we can to make sure the world knows the difference between our lack of goodness, compared to God's complete goodness? Or are we willing to take the freedom that is ours and so allow for the possibility that the world and other Christians may be mistaken and think that some good things actually come from us? 

These things that seem so little, are actually so important. So as a Church, what choice shall we make? and what do we really want? both for ourselves and for God?