A Christian Ethic From Daniel — George Verwer

Daniel's Faithfulness Under Secular Authority

It's two passages of Scripture I wanted to share and I asked Gary if I could share before we broke bread together. We used to break bread together years ago almost every week for a while and then we Pendulum went the other way as often does and so I'm encouraged that Gary was led to organize this Breaking of bread the first passage is in the Old Testament.

The second is in the new. Well, let's look at the old first Daniel chapter 6. Daniel chapter 6 a Book worth studying. I'm sure I don't need to say that it pleased Arias to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty princes.

Who should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents? My mind immediately goes over to France where the Conservatives won in the election and the prime minister or the president just appointed a right-wing prime minister.

It's given me an itch to study French government and compare it with British government. The president appoints the prime minister. That is not the way it happens here and over these three presidents.

Of whom Daniel was first. That's why some have referred to him as the prime minister and The princess might give account in different translations may have it in different ways on to them that the king should have no damage.

It's an ancient word. What word do you have there for damage? Suffer loss. Yeah, he was quite concerned about Finance and everything else. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and The king thought to set him over the whole realm.

Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel Concerning the kingdom, but they could find no occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him?

That is really strong. I've wrestled with it for many years. I'm sure some of you were around maybe eight years ago heard me share on this. I don't think I've shared in this text about eight eight years.

I always look at some of the oldies, you know, like common and he's probably heard me speak on Daniel chapter 6. So if you meditate memorize scripture while I'm sharing no problem. Then Said these men we shall not fight any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said thus unto him King Darius lived forever. All the presidents of the kingdom and governors and the princes and the counselors and the captains Have consulted together and established a royal statute.

Man has this unbelievable desire to make laws. And to make a firm decree that whoever shall ask petition of any God small G or man For 30 days except of thee O King shall be cast into the den of lions.

And if you wondered how Daniel got into the den of lions, that's that's how it started. They passed the law. Now O King established the decree and signed the writing. And it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and the Persians which altereth not.

Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. Look what Daniel does this is interesting chapter same chapter verse 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into the house and His window being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem.

He kneeled upon his knees Three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did previously talk about holy boldness. Talk about Challenging the highest authority of the nation. I Mean, it's just really quite quite spectacular.

Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree. Has thou not signed a decree. And I think you know Perhaps the rest of the story how this led to Daniel being thrown in the den of lions which led to his miraculous deliverance by God.

Misusing Scripture and Practicing Sensitivity in Ministry

It's not time to give you, you know a biography on Daniel and I think that this this passage like many passages can be misused. I've been working for some time and a message in my mind on a misuse of Scripture.

Some of you may have heard or heard the tape on the message I gave to a large number of Christian leaders on the need to develop sensitivity in our in our ministry. And I know over the years one of the things that I have been sad about is when I have been Insensitive to the ministry of God's Word.

It's one thing to preach and see people convicted of sin. It's another thing to say things that that are Lacking sensitivity and are hurtful to people who are sitting there in the audience. And someone was sharing with me.

I appreciated it very much this week. I don't remember even where it came from how sometimes in OM meetings certain kinds of people are intimidated. I may have touched on that in my message Friday about esteeming women.

But usually if you're saying something or if there's a joke about a particular kind of person be sure. Probably someone is sitting in the audience and now the age of the tape recorder. I will tell you Some of you know that Christian leader in America who lost.

Was it a quarter of a million through one misplaced sentence in a sermon? Referring to someone who committed suicide who had not committed suicide. They sued him For a couple of million and God's people had to pay the bill.

They raised the money from God's people. And I know we can take passages like this and we can push for perfectionism. We can. We can we can try to do a lot of things. So I think we need to understand that Daniel was an unusual man.

Excellence, Capacity, and the Danger of Perfectionism

I don't think he was a two-talent man. Or a five-talent man. I think he was a man of tremendous capacity and ability and talent and Certainly he had worked into a position of leadership over a period of time at the same time all of us Can certainly receive some inspiration from this.

The desire to do the best we can in the work of God and Daniel was not working for an evangelistic agency. I think you realize that He was not even in a Christian or a religious agency that day pre-christian.

He was working basically for an ungodly secular government and yet He put everything he had into it. He did the best he could. We don't understand everything about every detail and it says that when they tried to find something wrong with his work They were after finding something wrong with his work.

That they couldn't find anything then they decided to work on his religion and This has been a great challenge to me. I guess I may have used this passage 20 years ago when I launched the famous zero defects program in operation mobilization something that was started in industry and Something we learned in OM was a lot easier to accomplish when it was a job that was the same every time you did it the job was the same and so you could get better and better and better and Often in industry factories were doing perfect jobs.

Turning out things perfect. I can always remember Frank Buss one of the first OM mechanics that ever came on OM. Not Frank Buss, Tiny Schnell. Frank came after him Tiny Schnell one of the first OM mechanics.

And he was he believed as Daniel. He believed it should be done right. He would sit me down and He was a professional mechanic. Came around the same time Steve Hart did who was a professional in the area of business management and law.

And Those two guys amazing, but anyway tiny Tiny would always have this illustration. You know talking about a car factory when the the machine that made the fenders when it came down upon that molten steel.

Oh, you'd bang his big hands every time it would come out perfect and His goal in the garage and in the mechanics work in the early days was perfection. You know he suffered much In operation mobilization and eventually launched to start his own ministry.

After many years and that ministry continues to this day called hands that serve over in the Netherlands but one day tiny driving down the road something happened and His car went out of control and he hit a tree and went to the glory.

Quite an amazing Story perhaps should be written. How do you keep this all in balance, you know the desire to do things, right? Certainly the goal of every typist Present with us at this time is that the letter be a hundred percent correct, right?

I mean, that's just Without saying you don't expect people to sit down and think now as I type this letter. Maybe I should plan on four mistakes. Probably the boss is reading it, you know, he won't catch four.

They're not too bad. I don't think anybody does that except, you know, if you're in a really foul mood I'm sure when we're working on vehicles and when we're packing books. Whatever we're doing we desire to do the best we can we desire.

By God's grace to do a perfect job. I think the whole area is difficult. Because when it comes to living the Christian life and walking with God fellowship love prayer reality. We know it's gonna take a lifetime to really continue to grow right the way God wants us to grow.

But to repair an engine properly or type a letter or work on the computer I don't think we want people who are gonna sit down. Well, this is a long-term program folks, and I figure it's gonna take a lifetime Before I learn to do this this way.

This is why in making comparisons. We have to always understand the tremendous variety of Kinds of jobs we're doing and the great variety of challenge there is in our Christian life. There are areas where I'm not planning to do certain things ever not once am I gonna make the mistake.

In the moral area, I don't plan by God's mercy and grace to make one mistake with prostitutes. I don't want to have to come back to my wife and say, you know I went around the world in this last trip and tremendous victory, but I made one mistake in Sydney.

I saw this chick on the road. She really looked lonely and she looked like she needed a new dress and I went over to talk to her and give her a Track and well, but it was the only mistake on the entire trip.

You know that really wouldn't go over too. Well, would it? With you and I did see those girls on the streets of Sydney. It's actually a very heartbreaking thing and We just drove on to where we where we were going.

But there are other areas which are of concern to God. Where we make mistakes? Wrong attitudes toward people. I had that sometimes on the trip. I'm sure Bob must have intended to have a wrong attitude toward me.

An impatient word a lack of love pride impatience my daily area of difficulty and so, you know. Sometimes it is difficult To understand God's ways and and what areas can we really expect, you know? Sort of a hundred percent and what areas is it.

Is it going to be continual growth? I'll tell you if you get that mixed up. You can end up with a good quick nervous breakdown and the same is true as we come into the commercial world. We come into warehousing.

Balancing Professional Skill and Spiritual Ministry

We're in the warehousing of books business. We're in the communications business. We're in a you know, some people lately have Have used the word commercial operation is this is some new term words are powerful things, especially among Christians.

You know whole churches are split into them just on the basis of one word. In fact, I think the whole church didn't the Orthodox Church split with the Roman Church way back. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know at times some of our tensions and difficulties, you know, I'm come through the different use of words.

And I think we ought to just and I'm speaking to myself sometimes just relax a little more about the word people are using and Work toward balance work toward definition work toward compromise. Because lately there's been tension between some perhaps who have emphasized words like commercial professional Expertise things like that with others who are saying well training ministry.

Spiritual life, you know, none of these words are new in operation mobilization. You think we launched a ship 16 years ago without an amalgamation of those two things? Our greatest prayer request in the ship ministry was that God would give us the right professionals and If God hadn't given us the professional people in the Merchant Navy, there would be no ship ministry.

Captain Graham Scott first officer with P &O left a big job years before we had the ship and Brought brought his professional knowledge into OM and I learned a lot from living and traveling and working with him.

And I had to study often many many books on You know Merchant Navy terminology. I remember when I actually had to send the Telex to buy the ship which was called human act. I called Tori Mosvold the top shipper in Norway.

I was just with him in Florida man who originally was skeptical about the ship now things one of the greatest miracles in the 20th century every time I meet him he started jumping and I Called him up in Norway to ask him What is the terminology to use on a Telex.

The whole Merchant Navy world is a world in itself. They have their own language. They have their own way of thinking and you don't buy a ship. You know like you're presenting prayer requests at the prayer meeting Danish government God has led us to purchase the envy and What is it human act.

We don't have any money and we don't have a company yet. But we're seeking the Lord and we're believing for God's provision and wonder if the ship is available. Now maybe we should have sent that Telex, but instead I did what Tori Mosvold told me to say in that Telex and I just believe that OM has right from almost the beginning been a tremendous amalgamation of different kinds of people and The truth is that we do if STL is going to continue and I CT We do need professional people.

We need people who know their business and know their work now at the same time God will continue to bring in people. Like Jerry Davey who is an aeronautics engineer and Started way back in the Bolton bookshop.

That seems like a long time ago. To learn a whole new profession and so within say who knows how many years five or ten years was a professional in the area of Christian literature and God will continue to bring in people.

Sometimes they're older people not always like Steve Hart from the very earliest days like tiny Chanel and there are many others who are professional people they bring with them their skills and their expertise and their training.

Hopefully they come also With spirituality so that they want to pray and they know something of humility and godliness. At the same time there will be others trained up through the work who after so many years.

Though we don't use the term a lot necessarily in OM. They are people who are professional and we've seen people learn Professional skills in OM all through these years go out of OM and get quite good jobs.

Do you realize we have trained a number of men to be professional lorry drivers and they got their jobs after OM in professional driving. We have an army of women around the world who got their first chance to learn secretarial skills on operationalization.

And some of them got their bread and butter for many years because they learned that OM has been known as a movement. That has given a lot of people their first chance in life. Especially in places like India where I tell you it's a lot harder to get your first chance than here I mean the opportunities for education.

I think today is budget day as you know, they just throw a whole new load of money into this Rescue program for the unemployed and teach people what they'll never learn, but they're pressing on now that wasn't fair.

But I believe it's it's it's not either or it's not one or the other it's not OM is is is you know this or it's that it's somehow all these things people of different abilities and different gifts there's also those group of people who come on come along and Who never perhaps develop a high area of expertise in some area where they're going to go out and make big money.

But they're willing workers. They're faithful people. They may only have one talent they may make mistakes and so the Daniel message if not given in its Balanced way makes them very nervous but they're willing workers and If it wasn't for the army of willing workers some short-term some long-term.

Oh, and we don't exist. This has been one of our secrets. Because you're not going to get too many Oxford graduates. They're going to pack books in his warehouse. Now perhaps we should start like they have in France the priest factory system.

Priests who took off their collars and they went into the factories when the Roman Church was so Dissipated and it still is they're just struggling for survival in France these priests. By the hundreds moved in and took factory jobs and were called working priests.

I remember I guess about the second or third year that Jerry was in the leadership here. I asked a brother who was a leader who was a good brother to spend a year working in the warehouse. Some of you may remember that Larry Oren.

He was a seminary graduate. I said you go work in the warehouse just get among these young people and just just love them and encourage them and work With him and he did it with great joy and I just believe the great need of the hour.

Unity Across Generations, Gifts, and Denominations

Forgive me if I've played this record too much I don't think I haven't I haven't even been around the great need of the hour right here in Bromley is more unity. You know if we presume that unity is just something we have automatically you know, and we'll make the greatest mistake in our life.

It's probably the strongest message on our orientation tape. If you've been through those tapes I mean in in OMS early days one of the greatest distinctives was our emphasis on unity and Many of us for years have again and again laid aside personal likes or dislikes for the sake of unity not sacrificing our major doctrines.

That's why we've always said to people look after one or two years in OM if you're not really happy about it. You don't feel it's your thing fine. Join another mission join a group where maybe the doctrine doctrinal line is is narrow.

We know that OM doctrinally is too broad for some people. Especially some who come from certain kinds of churches and we have never Wanted to make those people feel second-class because they wouldn't come along With OMS, you know broader view.

In fact, we all go to different churches on Sunday and many times maintain a broader view. Or a narrow view and a lot of people after training on OM have gone back to their denomination. Even started OM within their their same denomination.

But if we are going to go on with this forward thrust the Hindu world the communist world the Muslim world Europe in both sending and target fields. Many many other things connected with that a ship ministry, which now is adding Africa to the target South America, which is in there I will tell you we are going to have to re-emphasize That initial orientation tape number three or four unity and we're gonna have to see an amalgamation.

You know M that will have been and be just as great as what we saw in the birth. Oh, it must be born again every year. Somebody won't say we get people making statements and these things are not necessarily out of Bromley people making statements like, you know.

We a lot of these older guys have been around for a while. They need to you know, they need to do something else. Let's get younger men in take over the leadership. They they usually get some interesting feedback for me when I hear that.

What do you think's running the world today? Will you tell me what do you think's running the world teenagers? Guys in the 40s. How old's Reagan? How old's the guys in Moscow. How old Margaret Thatcher.

The people who are running the world including the armed forces? Most of them are older people and I don't believe God's work. I never have believed that you can't find it on any tape. I've ever given that God's work is to be led by young and often immature people.

And I will tell you I'm not even near Retirement and when Val greed just spoke to me on the telephone. He is so you know, he is so over the moon about his Pakistan trip. You know, I thought the phone call was gonna go on all day and I was paying.

And I said I agreed to see him on the weekend. But he celebrated his 60th birthday up there in Peshawar and he came back and 100 healthy. No health problem whatsoever. And he is now going part-time in his legal firm so he can give more time to the work of God.

I dare to say not too many Christian organizations would say that Val greed at 60 was a little too old. For them to want to take in fact this man Could be grabbed up by many organizations if he ever wanted to go in that direction.

I believe the key for OM in the future is Partnership between I Personally find it easier now to relate to people in the 20s than I did when I was 20 because I was 20 I was immature in many ways. I was insensitive at times.

I had more impatience and though I turned some people on I can tell you I turned many people off especially if I couldn't get to them personally and Now I think with a little more wisdom and sensitivity and love because that's what counts with God.

Not whether you're young or old or tall or short or whatever. That I can often relate and understand. I have so many open doors to speak among young people today far more than I ever did when I was 25.

I will tell you and I believe the way ahead is unity. It's an amalgamation of The man that's come up through OM being trained year by year with a man who maybe joined us last Month with his professional skills having left maybe $50 ,000 a year job.

I'll tell you one thing we decided back on the Lagos those of us who are new in the area of merchant you know merchant Navy terms and all we decided to just esteem these professional singers and God just you know, God blessed that they in turn esteemed us and We through struggle and heartache and tear and I'll tell you even fistfights.

Near fistfights. I don't know if they actually landed. Peter says He's a historian and all this but God gave the unity. I remember when the the ship Lagos went into a 24 degree list in the port of Rotterdam the captain was off doing something and the whole ship started to go over we thought the Ship was gonna go over.

We had read in books that ships go over even on the dockside. They flip right over. I Tell you everybody was off that ship in a few minutes. I remember somebody carrying Judy Seifert Who was a crippled girl?

And now Judy dance and there we were all standing on the docks watching the ship. And Bjorn Christiansen comes driving up in his Volkswagen. I Quickly ran down the road and the coal Graham Scott on the telephone.

He was in England and of course We later on sat in the captain's cabin and we realized it goes up to that time Engineers and the deck people the captain and the chief engineer were not getting on there was a lot of tension.

I Was just feeling my way with very very little, you know authority. I was giving the authority to these people. Because it was a ship and they were the professional people I will tell you in that captain's cabin after that experience we were all humbled and We admitted that we had cooperated the engine room had cooperated well with the deck department To jeopardize the ship and there was a new unity not a total unity.

But there was a new unity through that and there was a humbling of ourselves before God that without his help That ship wasn't gonna let a rotted in and that meant the amateur and the professional that meant, you know the Pentecostal Norwegian captain with the PB Australian Scottish background chief engineer and the long-nosed skinny Dutch mixed-up English Director and all the other people that were involved in that and you know, there are many comparisons Between what we are doing in SDL and ICT right here and the ship ministry are many comparisons.

There are other things that are totally different. But one of the things we know today with computerization with the competition we face in Society in many many ways that that's a society has gone and this has been true for years.

Not really that new but it escalates it escalates we have got to have people like Daniel who are committed to do the job, right and Who will just believe? that what they are doing is Something that should be done as we read in the New Testament with all your heart as unto the Lord.

Serving the Lord Wholeheartedly in Every Role

I Have a lot of illustrations not time to give them but I think I think people know I need to know That that quarter of a million dollar fire that hit us in Bombay was completely our own fault and it was a devastating thing.

I believe me there are other factors that Don't make us a hundred percent our fault because the way India is the way the electrical system was the huge chunks of metal that were in the fuse box instead of fuses, you know, just They have ways of doing things in Bombay, but ultimately That fire was our fault even if we had had a few decent fire extinguishers a quarter of a million dollar we had no insurance a quarter of a million dollars of Christian books and everything would have never gone up tell you what a lesson for all of us and when I think of this building and All that God has committed to us these vehicles this building.

The the task we're doing physical work here and I tell you in OM Our teaching has always been that the man doing physical work is absolutely equal to the man. Who's down here with the biggest brain in the place?

Pushing buttons or managing the whole operation. There is no and will never be by God's grace. Discrimination in a land between the so-called working class and the upper class that all stinks with God.

It always has it's just like slavery. You can defend it, but you'll never really find it in the Word of God. And we're living in a country where the problem of class has still caused some of the greatest heartaches in the nation and The caste system that we just it's interesting.

We referred to that in the message. You just can't even believe how destructive that is. And yet we in the Western world Through our social life We create the same thing. Let's face it how many nice pale-faced American or British or German or Swedish white people have ever had some black people into their home.

I'm talking about family people with their own homes. You know when you're a young person, you're you know, you're a bit wild you do for this and that but after people get married. They settle in to their little way and believe me right now.

The immigrants in this country. They are feeling a mighty big chill. And I believe all this literature we give out to them and all the books we sell to them if there isn't more love. Among God's people.

It's just sounding brass. Not that we should give up give up distributing in and as you know. Our strategy is as mixed with love as it is with literature, and I just think it's a great testimony for God that 24 years or 23 years after I hadn't got the dates in my mind 1962 STL was born in Britain.

How many years ago is that? Was born that somehow we're still Going we're now in a tremendous transition and we need to unite. We're never all going to agree on this and that. You know even the things we've gone through with computers around the land to get the experts to agree on what computer we set up computer committee that became you know.

We're dealing with things that are complicated. What kind of vehicles we should use. We used to be Volkswagen now with Ford Transit of course here. It's just whatever goes. Sometimes it doesn't go but there's so many so many things really there's so many things we can argue about.

So many things we can differ on the whole church is this way this is not us we're not some kind of weirdos the whole church is fighting over endless issues and. Right now because we're in transition because we're computerizing because we're in a trend a change of leadership and do not have yet.

The director for this work in the future. You know there's going to be even more differences of opinion and especially when there's problems, and I would just ask of you as we battle together in this.

To try to be positive. Surely you've read some books on the subject of of being positive and Negativism as it goes out. It just spreads right across the whole world and we're not going to be able to get the people we need in this operation.

Which is God's work not my work. If of course a lot of rumors are around and and and things that are being said I remember the ship went through this for a while. The ship of course having tremendous support from the whole of OM.

With a lot of major leaders continually speaking has been able to stand against almost any gossip that could be released against it. But let's be let's be you know let's understand in STL. We don't have the kind of support those ships have.

Well, we're just a little at times Jerry has stood alone with a few others battling to keep this thing going and Even India people can get very excited about India in OM. I'm tremendously excited about India.

But I can also remember days when our teams here were Devastated by people coming back from India getting the idea everybody out. There was a dedicated soldier of Jesus Christ who had deep reality in prayer and everybody here was a spend Spend thrift schnook who ought to really get right with God and put in for long-term service in Mongolia.

Then we wondered why you know not everybody was popping around here looking like Harry happy and Most of us here most of you are young. Can't say us anymore unfortunately that term. Most of you are young and look if you can't do this work here as unto the Lord.

With a joy we talked about last week working in unity with your brothers and sisters battling through the problems. You know forget about these dreams you have about going to India in the Muslim world.

We have seen so many people go out there and bounce back in the last 25 years. We could write a book about it. You've got to develop stick ability and if the job here is something you don't like you feel you're misunderstood you feel you're Walked on or this is going wrong or whatever.

God can use that to train you more than if everything's going right personally. I'm working for everything to go, right? That's just built into my Anglo Dutch whatever background. I want things to go right but I know it's often when things go wrong that the Spirit of God really gets to me and I can get my emotions sorted out and my attitudes and and and that's where often my greatest relationships have come.

When something's gone wrong, and we've heard each other and we've said things. We shouldn't have said we overreacted and then we got back together. We talked it out. We went for a walk we apologized and and we learned to understand people of different backgrounds.

What a tremendous thing if people from very poor family backgrounds. Who maybe never learned very much in terms of manners or maybe never got a lot of education develop deep friendships with people who may have come from a wealthy background and been taught a lot of manners and are into art and Ballet and and other great cultural things great.

This is why I married my wife. We're all different and let's by God's grace join hands in a greater way. Those who are professional people and let's believe God for more of them. Let's not be afraid of that term those who glory in being called a dynamic amateur.

I mean in the United States we have the professional league and we have the amateur league and I don't think you can even go into the Olympics if you're a professional. Isn't that right? There's a lot of big talk about that.

So, you know in God's work if you're somehow an amateur. No problem. You can even go all the way to the Olympics. God is going to give us the people we need. I Absolutely refuse the pessimism that we cannot get the people we need.

This movement has been blessed For 25 years again and again with people. We have a hundred new men in leadership training across the world right now. Now it's harder for us because we have been generous with the people we train.

We don't manipulate them into staying. We challenge them to consider other missions and other groups. So it's never going to be easy but I believe that if we stay united and we stay on our knees and we know this kind of reality that we see in Daniel and and there's both spiritual reality here as well as this kind of Daniel.

Professionalism if you want to call that doing the job, right? Believe me people are going to come here. People are going to come here. And when I talked to that friend Gordon Moore In 20 minutes over lunch, he agreed to come before you guys even agreed to have him.

Yeah. Now we you know that may not turn out as well as some of us would dream it's it's it's it's a risk. It's a risk for him to leave everything he's got over there and come here OM is risks from A to Z and I tell you when God in eternity looked down at Madison Square Garden and saw the skinny little fry baby and Saved me and then put me into the ministry.

He was taking big chances. I don't know about you. Somehow. You know, it seems that maybe he made a right choice and when he chose you. Maybe it was a risk. But I'm believing that he made the right choice.

And as people come to us Let's somehow believe the best. Let's somehow believe that God is sovereign. He's bringing these people. He's gonna work it out as people leave. We don't like to see anybody leave.

We know some have left here hurt. That's always happened all through the history of OM. It's happened in every mission. It's happened in every agency. That doesn't mean we make any excuse. But I believe that as we pull together and as we just Find the balance in these different areas we're wrestling with which means listening to each other more.

That God is going to take us through this transition period and is going to make this ministry something sharper something that even Can perhaps accomplish more? We're not putting any heavy mandate on STL or ICT right now that you know.