As the saying goes, “There is no ‘I’ in ‘Team’”. Many people are hearing those nowadays as they are being “encouraged” to be a team player by taking one for the team. However, taking one for the team means compromising, which is not always a bad thing. But then there are times when the prospect of compromising causes an ethical dilemma, which is when two deeply held values collide. Sometimes, a person can navigate through the situation without making serious compromises so both values remain relatively unscathed. But what do you when it is a death match and only one deeply held value can survive, someone is going to get hurt, either them or you?🤔😳
As a Christian, you will face those dilemmas, some of which will try to pit you against Jesus Christ. It is important that being and remaining on “Team Jesus” reigns supreme. The person you should be most concerned with disappointing is Jesus Christ.
The Book of Daniel is rich with examples of men who refused to compromise their faith in God, even when faced with death. Daniel (Belteshazzar) and his compatriots Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abednego) were exiled Israelites who were leaders in Babylon. They served Nebuchadnezzar, a king who did not have a relationship with their God. By the way, please note that they had Hebrew names but were given the slave names in parentheses instead. Especially in the case of Daniel’s friends, we have a tendency to remember them by their slave names instead of their birth names. It is reflective of how some compromises are meant to change your identity (in Christ Jesus), preferably forever.
Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abednego) were team players who loyally served King Nebuchadnezzar, until he made a golden idol and commanded them to bow down and worship it. Despite their leadership positions in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom, that was a line they would never cross, even when faced with death. They were prepared for that standoff because of how they started their captivity. The captives refused to compromise by defiling themselves by eating the king’s meat and drinking his wine (Daniel 1). Be careful of small compromises that are meant to cause you to submit to larger compromises.🐸🥘
The above three men stood firm in their commitment to the Lord God, despite the potential costs. Never forget what happened when they were thrown into the raging furnace and Who showed up:
🔥Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, ‘Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’
They answered and said unto the king, ‘True, O king.’
He answered and said, ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’🔥 ~ Daniel 3:24-25 (KJV)
The Lord was with them in the fire and protected them from harm. Their friend Daniel would later have his own potentially life-threatening trial.
Daniel (Belteshazzar) was the senior leader in the Mede and Persian empire, subordinate only to King Darius. Yet, when the presidents and princes convinced the king to establish an irrevocable law that banned petitioning any god or person except for the king, rather than be a team player like everyone else, Daniel continued to faithfully worship the Lord his God several times per day. The king later realized what the presidents and princes had done, but despite the conspiracy, he could not break the law. Therefore, he had Daniel thrown into the lions’ den, which was the punishment for noncompliance. The king spent the night fasting for Daniel. Then this is what happened the following day:
🦁Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?’
Then said Daniel unto the king, ⚖️O king, live for ever. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.⚖️
Then was the king exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.
So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.
And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.🦁 ~ Daniel 6:19-24 (KJV)
In both instances, the Lord intervened to save His children. But that will not always be the case. In the first example, Daniel’s countrymen basically stated they preferred death to dishonor. They worked for the king, but they would not do so at the cost of compromising their service to the Lord:
🔥Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 😳But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up😳.’🔥 ~ Daniel 3:14-18 (KJV)
The words of those three men point to the following:
⚔️And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.⚔️ ~ Revelation 12:11 (KJV)
They preferred to die for the Lord than to dishonor Him. One of the potential risks for compromising everyone needs to carefully weigh is how compromising may actually cause to them to lose the respect of the people’s whose respect they are trying to get or keep.
There is a powerful similarity between Daniel and his compatriots’ trials. Please look at the Godly fruit their (open) defiance caused:
😇 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.” ~ Daniel 3:28-30 (KJV)
😇 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; ‘Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.’ So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” ~ Daniel 6:25-28 (KJV)
The Lord received glory through their righteous rebellion. They were men of distinction in a dark world. The Queen of Babylon spoke highly of Daniel, citing him as a man with an excellent spirit [the Spirit of God](Daniel 5:10-12). Joseph also served in a dark world without compromising his faith in the Lord, as was rightfully recognized as a Man of God:
😇And Pharaoh said unto his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?😇’ ~ Genesis 41:38 (KJV)
People tend to respect strength more than weakness. Why should anyone respect you if you refuse to stand for what you profess to believe in and/or if they can impose their will on you?🤔 Did God call you to be like everyone else, or did He call you to be like His Son, Jesus Christ?
Also, please keep Mordecai in mind. Even though in captivity, he refused to do what “everyone else” did:
😇After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.😇 ~ Esther 3:1-2 (KJV)
The incensed Haman conspired to execute Mordecai and all the Jews in the kingdom’s 127 provinces. But in the end, that plan backfired as the king had Haman executed. And guess who the king gave Haman’s unceremoniously vacated position and authority to?
⚖️So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified. On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.⚖️ ~ Esther 7:10-8:2 (KJV)
Do not let your loyalty for others or worldly things cause you to become disloyal towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Please keep in mind that Jesus said:
😇 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think not that I AM come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I AM come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” ~ Matthew 10:28-39 (KJV)
😇 “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” ~ Luke 16:13 (ESV)
The Lord Jesus will put His children in dark places to be the light. He called us to be the light of this world (Matthew 5:13-16). Therefore, be a team player, but one whose ultimate and uncompromising loyalty is to Him, Christ Jesus. We are called to be team players, for #TeamJesus, because being a team player will not absolve us of this personal responsibility:
😳Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.😳 ~ Philippians 2:12 (KJV)
In closing team player, please remember this
😇Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His Commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.😇 ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (KJV)
Therefore, do not have any other god before Him (Exodus 20:3, Mark 12:29-30)
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