The struggle in Ireland first gave me a deeper urge than ever to answer my boyhood questions. But what other impressions did I have after two or more years as apprentice? I saw the office, the ‘superior’ staff, treating all other staff with the greatest contempt, except the Manager, whom they fawned on with the utmost servility. The waiters, feeling this, wished to get even with the remaining staff, so the kitchen staff, in the eyes of these ‘superior persons’, were dirt. But one could watch the cringing of the waiters to the manager and customers. No doubt their method of slavery made them so servile. The kitchen workers, not coming into with the customers, had a spirit of comradeship amongst them. Dan 6:10 when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. New Testament texts citing positive examples from the Old Testament include Romans 4 (Abraham and David); James 2:21-26 (Abraham and Rahab); 5:13-18 (Elijah); 1 Peter 3:5-6 (Sarah). New Testament texts citing negative examples from the Old Testament include Romans 9-11 (Israel); 2 Cor 11:3 (Eve); Hebrews 3:7-4:13 (Israel); 12:15-17 (Esau); 2 Peter 2:6 (Sodom and Gomorrah); 2:15 (Balam). The book of Daniel was inspired by God and passed on to His people to encourage them. It was also given to God’s people to guide them, to challenge them, to dare them to be a Daniel. What does it mean to “Dare to be a Daniel”? What was Daniel like? What did he do? What does being a Daniel look like? We need to answer that question before we can decide whether or not we will dare to be a Daniel.

Jesus calls His disciples to infiltrate and influence. (John 15:19; cf. also 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:9-10; Romans 12:2; James 1:27). Daniel is a great biographical example of living a life of infiltration and influencing for the glory of God. Granted, his was a forced infiltration due to a captivity. Sometimes that’s the way God works. Sometimes God puts us in situations we don’t like. But regardless of our environment, our mindset should be to serve as God’s infiltrators to influence others for His glory. Tenth, to dare to be a Daniel means to consistently obey God no matter what – no compromise – We see this with Daniel’s three friends who when threatened with a fiery execution boldly told King Nebuchadnezzar: The fact that most of the captives compromised, and conformed to the ways of Babylon, shouldn’t be surprising. Some Christians do the same thing when they find themselves in non-Christian environments! Think about the Christian teen who leaves his home situation, where he was safe and secure among Christian friends and family, and arrives in the "big city" or on the secular college campus. There will be a strong tendency for that young Christian to hide his faith - or even drop it altogether. The temptation to compromise and conform is very great. Almost unconsciously he may start to make excuses for his attitudes and actions. As all staff were human beings, all were workers, no one must think or treat the other as dirt beneath them. This was aimed at the management, office staff, head waiters, head porters, head chambermaid etc. All these demands after a lot of excited and dramatic opposition, in just over one hour. There was no more work that day. The whole staff, after singing, eating, drinking, laughing, formed up outside the staff entrance and marched to the syndicate’s hall. In the hall a small band was playing workers’ songs, then came speeches. This was kept up till past 12 midnight. So ended, as one speaker said, the first round of our war on capitalism and its profits.

GOSPEL FOUR QUARTET

Matthew 5:13–16 (NKJV) – 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. All staff required to be obtained from the Syndicate and the Waiters’ Union. This hit the sharks of the hotel agencies, and stopped chefs’ and managers’ surplus incomes. Thessalonians 5:16-18; Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

We live in enemy territory. We live in a world that is contrary to God. Our particular part of the world is particularly opposed to God. More and more we see people rejecting God. We see more and more people choose atheism and secularism over the living God and a personal relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. We live in a world and a country which is being torn apart by competing political views, is being deluded by fake news, and being corrupted by the immorality and perversity of godless world views. We live in an environment that is not unlike that which Daniel lived in. Finally, brethren, what is wanted is that we who hold the old faith should be in a better state of spiritual health. May every grace be developed! May every faculty be consecrated! May your whole lives be spent in walking with God; and may you be such men that, if we want evidences of the truth of our holy religion, we may bring you forward, and say, “See what grace has made them; a belief in the doctrines of grace has fashioned them as they are, and the men themselves are the proof of what they believe.”Daniel 1:20 (NKJV) – 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. There was also another ‘respectable’ trade union in the building, a branch of the Bakers’ Union. Needless to say, they ignored us completely. Now the syndicate realised that it would be better for us if we could get the waiters and other staff on our side, so we asked the Waiters’ Union for a conference with our members, and pointed out that the old way was dead. The waiters had got to realise the class struggle. So as to prove we did not want to smash their union or poach on their preserves, all our members outside the kitchen were prepared to join the Waiters’ Union, if their union would have a working arrangement during activities. Bob Young and his members saw failure staring at them, so he knew he had to accept and act just as the syndicate acted. What the Waiters’ Union did not know was that the staffs outside the kitchen in the syndicate still remained members of the syndicate in case the Waiters’ Union funked the coming battle. Then, the temptation seemed the road to honour. To consent to eat of the king’s meat, and to drink of the king’s wine, seemed to be the way to get on in Babylon. They would say to Daniel, “Surely, if you begin by objecting to what the monarch sends you from his table, you will never get on at court. People with a conscience should not go to court.” I do not say that to-day; but I do think that they ought not to be members of Parliament. It must be wonderfully hard for a man with a conscience to go in and out there. But for Daniel to begin with a conscience like this, so particularly tender that it was offended by a glass of the king’s wine, or a morsel of the king’s meat, why, any good old fatherly man would have said, “My boy, you will never get on; your religion will always stand in your way. I am sure you will never come to be much.” That would have been a great mistake, however, for Daniel became a great ruler, and he prospered in the world through that very conscientiousness which it was thought would spoil all his prospects.

Daniel set the example, and his three friends joined him. Only three! A pitiful minority. But God blessed and honored the faithful few. The compromising captives are never mentioned again in the entire book - but we do read more about the Faithful Four! Read on! See how God promoted these men and used them for His glory. Daniel outlived the Babylonian empire, and continued on into the Persian empire (v21). Notice how the Scripture seems to emphasize that Daniel “ continued.” He continued to stand faithful to the Lord. So often we feel good about God and trusting him when everything is going well for us -- when we have good health -- when the people think that we’re brave heros -- when we’ve got a 20 game winning streak. But Daniel shines in foreign territory.Dan 1:8 Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way. This is the whole point of Hebrews 11: faith leads God's people to look to their heavenly reward and therefore act with bold confidence in God during their earthly sojourns. How should we respond to these examples? We, "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses," must "lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely," and "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:1-2). In other words, we should follow the example of the saints of old as they too looked forward to heaven in faith and hope. It should mightily strengthen and encourage us to learn of the countless ways in which God's people have been able to look to God's saving grace and thereby find strength to remain near to him by faith during their earthly pilgrimages (Heb 11:13). Following their examples is as far from moralism as is possible. God has been faithful to save his people during all generations, and he has left us a record of this in the Bible to help us on our way to our heavenly home. For months I walked the City and West End streets, but not even a fried fish shop or a coffee shop would let me put my nose in. I had a fish-and-chip barrow built and went round the streets at Southwark where the people knew me. I carried on for ten years like this, when my wife died from cancer in 1930. During those ten years I was active in the unemployed movement. It was while working on my own that I met my only friend and comrade of the late union committee. He said I could help him to put the only position. He would propose me as a member of the new union if I agreed. So once again I was in the fight for the catering worker. All went smoothly until speakers were chosen for the May Day demonstration in Hyde Park. My friend nominated me, and I was third speaker on No. 2 platform. What I said on that platform does not matter here, but I was expelled from the General Workers Union. So ended by catering trade activities.