Castles in the Sand | Daniel 2:31-45
Intro: Building sandcastles
What does the king see?
He sees an idol
It’s an idol worshipping human splendor and progress
Idolatry isn’t unique to ancient peoples; we have idols too
What happens to it?
The idol is completely destroyed and replaced by God’s everlasting Kingdom
All idols/human kingdoms will be completely destroyed, ours included
Time, death, and the reckoning of God will destroy all idols
We should repent of our idolatry now
What’s the point?
God wants Nebuchadnezzar to recognize that his rule is a gift from God, and to humble himself
Nebuchadnezzar is repeating the original sin: throwing off God’s rule and deciding to rule his own life instead
How we can crush idols in our own lives
(1) Love the Stone
Above all else, we need to grow in our love for Jesus; we can’t just lessen our love for idols, it has to be replaced by greater love for Jesus
(2) Recognize that all good things are gifts from God
When we know they’re a gift, we’re pointed to the Giver in worship and less tempted to worship the gift itself
(3) Put good things to use in service of God’s unique Kingdom
Until Jesus returns, we live in God’s upside-down Kingdom; we don’t see our own strength, we lay down our lives and every good gift we have in service of the gospel and in love for God and others
Prayer Guide
Adoration - Quiet your heart and consider the glory of the One you worship.
Lord, from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You are great and do wondrous things. Yours is the power, the glory, the victory and the majesty. (Pause to adore God)
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:2
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Psalm 86:10
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
1 Chronicles 29:11
Confession - Confess to God what has become more fundamental to you than Him. Has it been your desire for approval, comfort, power or security?
Lord, I have pursued worldly achievements, pleasures and ambitions for my own sake. All is vanity and ultimately empty. (Acknowledge specific ways you’ve pursued happiness, meaning or identity apart from God.)
1 The words of the Preacher,[a] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity[b] of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens[c] to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,[d]
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things[e] yet to be
among those who come after.
The Vanity of Wisdom
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart[f] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity[g] and a striving after wind.[h]
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 1
2 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.[a] 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines,[b] the delight of the sons of man.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
The Vanity of Living Wisely
12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
The Vanity of Toil
18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment[c] in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him[d]who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2
Thanksgiving - Thank God for His steadfast love.
Father, thank You that You loved us and sent Your Son to be the propitiation for our sins. You are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You. (Thank God for specific ways He has demonstrated His love to you.)
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Psalm 86:5
Supplication - Call upon God for an increased love for Him and others.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer. Listen to my plea for grace. Lord, help me to be rooted and established in love so that I may have the strength to comprehend and know the love of Christ. Enable me to recognize that every good and perfect gift is from You. Help me to abide in You, that I may bear much fruit. May Your joy be in me. (Reflect on specific idols and ask God to help you replace them with an increased love for Him.)
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
Psalm 86:6
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[a]
James 1:17
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:5,11
(Reflection):
Are you investing your time and energy into things that will not last?
Weekly Prayer Spotlight:
Staff:
Pray that the GBC staff would remain humble and dependent on God.
Student Ministry:
Ask for students emotional, physical, and spiritual protection from evil, harm, and dangerous influences in their schools and daily lives.