“God’s Kingdom and Providence” Esther 1 June 3, 2007
SI: It’s been my practice to preach a short sermon series
during the summer.
So we are going to take a
break from Mark—middle of chapter 8 a good place.
It’s the climax of the first half of the
book. Will pick up
again in late August.
Going to
spend these summer months looking at the fascinating book of Esther.
Esther is the story of a
young Jewish woman, a believer in the true God,
who completely
sells out to the values of pagan, Persian culture.
She compromises her
morality, her character, and her identity.
She makes those compromises so that she will
have a comfortable, easy life.
And she would have stayed
there.
And spent the rest of her
days living an empty, materialistic life.
But for one thing—God was at
work.
God was at work in huge ways
that she could not even see at first.
He did not let her stay in where she was.
He orchestrated events that
shook her comfortable, empty life.
Those events forced her to make a choice,
to identify once
more with God’s people.
But there is something even
more amazing.
God used Esther where she was to be the
savior of the Jewish people.
Even though she had gotten
where she was through sinful compromise.
We will see in this story
that because God is at work,
there is not such
thing as a Plan B for your life.
It is impossible to mess up
so much that God cannot use you in the very place
your sinful choices
have taken you.
He doesn’t do that by
excusing your sin,
or by making it
good, or even by removing the consequences.
He does it by sovereignly working through the consequences
to bring about his
purposes in ways that you could never imagine.
So the real hero of the book
of Esther is not Esther.
It is Jesus Christ who rules over all for
good of church.
As Paul says in Colossians 1, he is
sovereign over all things for the church.
Ultimately, book of Esther
will help you believe
that Jesus is
ruling over your life
in all the details,
for his glory, and for
your good.
But that’s very hard to
believe, because we can’t see God.
And there are powerful, appealing forces
that we can see,
that are in our
faces every day, pushing us away from him.
That’s where we start, in
chapter one of Esther.
Brought face to face with a kingdom and
values
that are completely
opposed to Christ.
INTRO: My first boss after college was the headmaster of a
Christian school
in
He was a man of deep
conviction.
Had poured his life first
into pastoral ministry, then into Christian schooling.
He had a son. I met his son and was impressed with him.
He was an attorney. Very sober-minded man,
serious about faith in Christ.
One time I asked my boss how
his son decided to go into law.
Expected him to say something like:
He sensed God calling him.
Believed he could serve God in the
courtroom.
But he laughed and
said: I never forget the day he said to
me,
Dad, I’m sick and tired of not having
everything I want.
Look at my friends. They all have boats, new cars, big houses on water.
I want to be rich. I’m going to be a lawyer.
He said to his son: Son, you can serve Christ in any
vocation.
But getting rich is not a worthy life goal
for a Christian.
If you go into law for that reason, it will
lead to a lot of unhappiness.
The only worthy goal in life is to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever.
Well, his son didn’t
listen. Went to law
school to get rich.
And
got out and did well—but I have to tell you the end of the story.
At some point God got his
attention.
Saw foolishness of chasing wealth.
Stayed in law, but made it his goal to serve
Christ instead of money.
Lord took that rebellious, ungodly decision,
used it for good in his life.
That’s an Esther story. In our study of Esther, we are going to get
to those exciting
turning points, and see God work things out.
But first we have to start
with our foolish decisions.
And even before that, have to start with the
worldly things
that capture our imaginations, that seem more real than God
himself.
It’s easy for us to see the
foolishness of a young man—
especially a
Christian—saying that his goal in life is to be rich.
But haven’t we all been
there?
Haven’t we all bought into the world’s
values?
Whether it is the world’s
view of money and possessions,
or beauty, or
security, or self-worth—whatever it is.
We all know what it is like
to look at those things
and for them to seem
much more real than God himself.
That’s where the book of
Esther starts. Starts with a vivid
description
of the wealth of a
king and his kingdom that is supposed to dazzle us.
After we are dazzled, we are
expected to look beneath the surface,
and see how empty
this life is.
And then, in a very unusual
way, this passage points us to
a kingdom that we
cannot see, the
And invites us to see the
greatness of life in that kingdom.
So let’s look at this
chapter under two headings:
1.
The dazzling kingdoms of this world.
2.
The invisible
MP#1 The dazzling kingdoms of this world
Xerxes is the great
example. Some Bible versions call him Ahasuerus.
That is the Hebrew name for this king.
But he is commonly known as Xerxes I.
He inherited the
Ruled for 20 years, from 485-465 BC
an empire that
stretched from
We are introduced to him at
a party he threw for all the military leaders
and nobles of his
empire that lasted for six months.
Party ended with a seven day
blow out for every single citizen
of the capital city
of
No expense was spared for
this party.
The palace gardens were decorated with
opulent furnishings.
These linen hangings, marble pillars.
An ornate
mosaic pavement inlayed with mother of pearl, precious stones.
Gold goblets for each
guest, every one a work of art in itself.
As much wine as people
wanted to drink. No limits.
Why this six month party and
seven day blow out? What was Xerxes
doing?
He was showing off. During those six months he was parading his
wealth
in front of all the
important men of the empire.
The Bible doesn’t tell us
why—
but Greek historian
Herodotus does.
Xerxes was planning a
massive invasion of
And he wanted to impress everyone with his
wealth and power.
Look at me. I’m the man.
I have it all together.
Come with me to
Oops! I dropped a gold goblet. You keep it.
Look at me, I have it all. I’m the measure of what is real and
important.
And the men were lapping it up.
Looking at this party from
over 2,000 years away, can see how silly it was.
But if
we had lived then, we would have found this very appealing.
If you doubt that, just ask
yourself how important it is for you
to have the right
stuff. Our culture tells us what we have
to have
in order to be
secure, fulfilled, happy, beautiful, successful, and admired.
It’s not gold couches and
inlayed pavements—but we have our own lists.
Going to see, as we look at
Esther, even believing Jew bought into the values
of Xerxes’ kingdom
when they should have seen the emptiness.
Right at the climax of the
party, seventh day of the big blow out—
when Xerxes ego is
just swollen to the bursting point.
Says to all these men—let me
show you my greatest trophy.
You will see what a great man I am. Will see I really have it all.
Sends his seven eunuchs to
fetch Queen Vashti—his trophy wife.
And she refuses to
come. The Bible doesn’t say why. Doesn’t really matter.
Vashti would not
come out to be seen by the king and his drunken followers.
This was a major crisis.
The dazzling kingdom was shaken.
Xerxes lost face right at
the pinnacle of his pride.
This was the man leading armies to conquer
But he couldn’t control his own wife.
All his wealth and power could not change
the fact that he was just a man.
He called an emergency
council meeting.
They said, depose Vashti, issue decree declaring every man ruler over
household.
After the appropriate chest
thumping, he did that—and order was restored.
But the party was ruined.
We can see the emptiness
underneath all of this wealth and power.
Xerxes had no real pleasure in his gardens,
wine and wife.
He just an
insatiable desire to feed his ego.
And even that was frustrated.
All the wealth in the world could not
control the details of his life.
This edict did not cover up
that emptiness—just let everyone know,
who could read
between the lines, that Vashti had defied the king.
One of the things that
prompted me to preach on Esther
was an excellent
commentary that I read about 8 months ago.
Recently
published by Dr. Iain Duguid, professor at
Westminster Seminary
Makes the point several times, book of
Esther is supposed to be funny.
Several times in this book
we are invited to laugh at people
who put all their
hopes in dazzling emptiness of this world,
then have the rug
yanked out from under them.
But then Dr. Duguid goes on to say—really ought to laugh at our own
foolish attraction
to the values of this world. We ought to
know better.
Look at Meditations section
of bulletin, last quote:
“Esther
chapter one reminds us not to take the power and glory of this world too
seriously. Sometimes we just have to
laugh. The empire of materialism in
which we live takes stuff desperately seriously, and it wants us to take it
seriously too. It wants us to dream of
six-month-long banquets in beautifully decorated gardens, and then to devote
our lives to pursuing the dream. It is
easy for us to be dazzled by the empire’s ostentatious show, but it is empty of
real power at the center. To defend
ourselves against the danger of being assimilated, we must learn to laugh at
the empire. We must learn to laugh at
those around us whose lives are wasted in pursuit of so many worthless goals,
and to laugh at ourselves when we see our own hearts getting weighed on the
empire’s scale of values. What shall it
profit a man if he can throw six-month-long parties with gold couches on
mother-of-pearl pavements? How much more
ridiculous are we, then, when we spend so much time and energy desiring a new
sports car, or a great pair of shoes at the mall, or the latest home
improvement in the mail-order catalog?
Ultimately, it is all empty. True
value lies in the values of an altogether different empire.”
And
that brings us to the second heading:
MP#2 The invisible
Did
you notice someone important missing from chapter one?
I’ll give you a clue—His name is not
mentioned once in the entire book of Esther.
I’m
talking about God himself.
The book of Esther is unique in that there
is not a single mention of God.
There is not a single religious reference
either that might refer to God—
no mention of
prayer, or worship, or the Scriptures.
In
fact, the writer goes out of his way to avoid mentioning God.
There is a time in the story when the Jews fast.
The never just fasted—they fasted and
prayed.
But
prayer is not mentioned.
This
absence of the mention of God has led some through the ages
to question whether
or not this book should be in the Bible.
But
the writer of Esther knew what he was doing.
His deliberate decision not to mention God
is a literary device
intended to make a
powerful point.
We
will see, as the story unfolds, that the Jews are threatened
with total
destruction by a determined enemy.
Now,
in other parts of the Bible, when the God saw his people
He responded with miraculous acts of
deliverance.
Think
about the Exodus. How did the Lord
deliver his people?
With the 10 Plagues. By parting the
But
in this deliverance there are no miracles, no visions or dreams—
there is no mention
of God—he seems absent.
What
we have instead of miracles, is a whole string of coincidences.
And because all of those things happened,
one after another, the Jews saved.
And, of course, these are not
coincidences—this is the hand of God.
Because
if King Xerxes had not gotten drunk,
he would not have
demanded Queen Vashti to appear.
And
if he had not demanded that she appear,
she would have not
had any reason to oppose the king,
and she would have
remained queen.
And,
as we will see, if she had remained queen, the door would not have opened
for a beautiful Jewish woman, named Esther to become queen.
And
if Esther had not become queen,
there would have
been no one in the corridors of power
to save the people
of God when threatened with annihilation.
And
if you know the story of Esther,
you know that it’s
even more complicated than that.
So
this drunken king, with his drunken advisors who had no thought of God
at all, who cared
only about material wealth, and puffing up his ego,
who made laws,
ruined lives without a care for anyone else—
set in motion the
salvation of God’s people.
That’s
the invisible
Xerxes is not the great King, Lord is.
So
by not mentioning God, keeping him totally invisible, behind the scenes—
the reader of
Esther is forced to see, with eyes of faith,
God’s providential hand
behind every single event.
When
you see the
But when you see King Xerxes get drunk,
and lash out when
his pride is wounded, it’s hard to see God in that.
But
he is.
And
that’s important because we do not live in an age of miracles.
The Lord does not appear in pillars of fire
and part the
We
cannot see him.
What we can see are the powerful forces of
this world,
forces of
materialism,
forces of nature,
economic forces, social forces.
Those
things seem so powerful and uncontrollable.
There are times when it seems that your life
is caught in the grip
of impersonal forces, bad luck, bad timing.
The
book of Esther shows us that there is no such thing as impersonal forces,
or bad luck, or bad
timing—everything, even drunken kings
making drunken
decision are in the providential hand of God.
The
Lord is working behind the scenes for his glory and your
good.
He has a much bigger plan than anything you
can imagine.
Only by looking back through the years,
probably only in heaven,
will you look back
and say—Oh, now I see. The Lord was
there all along.
But
the book of Esther will at least assure you right now that the Lord is with you,
and he is at work,
even though you cannot see him.
And
what are the values of God’s kingdom?
Is it ego and pride? Well, you say, God wants his glory.
But his glory is different from Xerxes.
Let’s
look at God’s providence again.
Why
did he orchestrate events so that Esther could become queen?
To save the Jews from
annihilation.
Why
did he save the Jews?
So that 400 years later, Jesus would be
born.
Why
was Jesus born?
To parade his wealth and power, and crush
people who oppose him?
No,
to lay aside his wealth and power, to allow himself to be crushed on cross,
so that you can be
forgiven, receive sonship, enter God’s Kingdom,
and come under the
gracious providence of a loving Father.
To
the degree you know that, believe it, you will be able to laugh
at the dazzling
kingdoms of this world, and laugh at your own heart
when you crave its
values—and say to yourself—
I
don’t need that, all of my life, every detail, is in the Lord’s hands!