The story is told of a New York taxi driver who picked up an overseas journalist during an American Presidential campaign. The journalist, ever ready to test the local wisdom on the political story she was pursuing, asked the cabbie how he was going to vote in the forthcoming primary. The cabbie replied, "I'm a Republican, and my father before me was a Republican, and his father before him was a Republican, but I have decided that the time has come when a man must put aside his principles and do what is right!"

We live with mixed messages and confusion about what ethics is, what constitutes the good life, and how to respond to the ethical challenges that face us as a human race, and as individual people. We can give a terminally ill AIDS patient a quick, easy death - but should we? We can bring a human foetus to full term in a host womb not of the biological mother - but should we? We can have casual sexual intercourse without any fear of procreation - but should we?

We can improve the Gross Domestic Product by exploiting our forest resources - but should we? We can instantly move capital around the world without considering the social or ecological consequences, making a few people exceedingly rich and robbing others of the basic means of existence - but should we? And so on.

Daily we are faced with ethical decisions, and the sad truth is that Christians are almost as likely as non-Christians to falsify their income tax returns, commit academic plagiarism, bribe to obtain a building permit, ignore construction specifications, pirate computer software, steal time from an employer, exaggerate a product or service, or selectively obey the road rules. We're to reflect the holiness and justice of God, but we're not exempt from testing and falling, and we're so much like the world in the way we live.

I don't know about you, but I feel old. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's untimely death, and I clearly remember hearing the news of his death from my fourth-grade friend Cameron Patterson. He was the first of my friends to own a tape recorder, and he introduced us to the music of Abba, Skyhooks, the Bay City Rollers - as I said, I'm not as young as I used to be.

But this morning we meet a very young man, Daniel, whose faith in God and whose integrity when faced with compromise is an example for us all of how to live. This morning we're going to look at what the Bible says about my person: what challenges and claims does God make on our personal lives?

Daniel was one of the Jewish prisoners taken to Babylon in April 597 BC following Nebuchadnezzar's overthrow of Jerusalem. Despite the somewhat negative treatment of his enemies, Nebuchadnezzar believed a policy of assimilation would unite his empire, so he selected the fittest and most intelligent of his young male captives and reprogrammed them with Babylonian culture, language and religion. Daniel was among those privileged people selected to train at what was then the world's top university.

The three-year curriculum was demanding, involving isolation, immersion and indoctrination in the language and culture of Babylon, blocking out students' past interests and alliegances. Daniel and his friends were being transformed into good Babylonian officials, even to the extent of having their names changed to those of Babylonian deities. [Daniel 1:3-7]

And in this foreign culture, cut off from their spiritual and cultural roots and with the unexpected possibility of security and success if he obeyed his new master, Daniel was faced with compromise. Ashpenaz has been deciding on Daniel's new name, but now Daniel does some deciding for himself. No longer a helpless victim of crushing circumstances, he draws the line at eating Babylonian food.

Why? Perhaps Daniel saw this as subtle seduction, encouraging him to adopt a pagan lifestyle and enjoy pleasures he had never known before. Things had not gone well back in Judea, and Nebuchadnezzar had laid seige to Jerusalem to overthrow it. Good times, material comfort, self-esteem and social status were powerful temptations, and Nebuchadnezzar knew that every person has their price.

At a spiritual level, Daniel knew that meals served at the king's table included food offered to false gods, pagan deities, demons. To share such food was to honour the demon, admitting its existence and claims, and denying the living God. Not only was the education designed to turn these young men into pagans; even the food and drink compromised their convictions and redefined their values.

Fortunately, although Daniel was young and in a strange place, he maintained his integrity and was true to his spiritual convictions. Resisting the temptation to compromise, he "resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine" (verse 8) - like Job, who said to his three friends, "Till I die, I will not deny my integrity" (Job 27:5).

Like Daniel, you and I are under enormous pressure to conform to this world's standards, to surrender our integrity and go with the flow. Don't do it! The cost of integrity is high, but the rewards are even higher.

Long ago, the people of China wanted security from the barbaric hordes to the north, so they built the Great Wall of China. Too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to get around, they achieved their security!

Unfortunately, over the next hundred years China was invaded three times from the north. Was the wall a failure? No - not once did the barbarians climb over the wall, or break it down, or go around it. They simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open gate. The fatal flaw in the Chinese defence was relying too much on a wall and neglecting to instill good character in the gatekeeper.

Where did Daniel learn about good character and integrity? Probably from observing how his mother and father lived. And that's an excellent way to develop good character and integrity today: learn it while you're young. Those of us who are parents have a special responsibility to teach our children, by word and example, to live as God wants them to live.

Daniel was not only blessed with integrity; he was blessed with wisdom. When Ashpenaz placed the questionable food on Daniel's table, Daniel could have refused to eat. Instead, he takes the path of wisdom, asking Ashpenaz for permission not to eat it, and offering an alternative. The four Jewish students would become vegetarians for ten days, after which Ashpenaz could compare their appearance with that of the students who ate the royal food without reservation.

The Bible tells us that Daniel courageously left his fate in God's hands, and God proved faithful. Daniel and his friends passed the test with flying colours, and became confirmed vegetarians, training to serve in the Babylonian empire while remaining faithful to their God.

At last the day came when they graduated from their three-year course and were presented to Nebuchadnezzar (verses 19-21). Daniel proved that not only was it possible to be faithful to God in a hostile and pagan world, but it was possible to be successful there too. He lived through the 70 years of Judah's submission to Babylon, and on to the first year of King Cyrus who encouraged the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

In Psalm 15, David widens the scope of integrity by asking the question, "Lord, who may go and find refuge and shelter in your tabernacle up on your holy hill?" And the answer is:

"Anyone who leads a blameless life and is truly sincere. Anyone who refuses to slander others, does not listen to gossip, never harms his neighbour, speaks out against sin, criticises those committing it, commends the faithful followers of the Lord, keeps a promise even if it ruins him, does not crush his debtors with high interest rates, and refuses to testify against the innocent despite the bribes offered to him. Such a man shall stand firm forever" (Psalm 15:1-5, LB).

That was true in Daniel's experience, and you and I can "stand firm forever" if we maintain the same standard of personal conduct. Daniel was one whose walk was blameless, who was faithful to God, resisting compromise and maintaining his integrity. God in turn proved faithful to him, helping him pass the test and rewarding him beyond his wildest dreams. The cost of integrity is high, but the rewards are even higher.

Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny - for yourself, your family, your church, your world. We need good men and women like Daniel here at Flinders who stand up for biblical principles and demonstrate integrity in every aspect of their lives.

If we want to be salt and light in our world, the kind of high-impact Christians that Jesus said we need to be - if we're going to lead hundreds of Ipswich people to the Lord - we're going to have to examine our lives and be willing to make any needed character adjustments, because the impressions people have of us will have a profound effect on how they view God, and whether they respond to him.

Let me close by quoting from Paul, another biblical character who proved God faithful in difficult circumstances: "And as for you, brothers (and sisters), never tire of doing what is right" (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

Copyright (c) 1997 Rod Benson. All rights reserved. Talk no. 121 by Senior Pastor Rod Benson at Flinders Baptist Community Church, Ipswich, Australia, on Sunday 17 August 1997. Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

Recommended reading: Bill Hybels, Who You Are When No One's Looking (Downers Grove: IVP, 1987). R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991).

Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Melbourne: The Business Library, 1989).