“Fitting In” Esther 2 June 10, 2007
SI: Last Sunday began a study of the book of
Esther.
In chapter two we are introduced to Esther for the first
time.
And she doesn’t
make a very good first impression.
But as I said last week, the hero of Esther is not
Esther—it’s the Lord.
Message of Esther
is that because of God’s grace,
there
is no such thing as 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.
We’re going to get to that.
It’s exciting.
But first we have
to look at Esther’s sinful compromise.
See what it teaches us about the world, our own hearts, and
the Gospel.
INTRO: A few weeks ago I invited someone to go
with me
to
a dinner and lecture being held by a Christian ministry.
The man I invited said:
What should I wear to this thing?
I said: Why don’t you wear khaki pants, oxford shirt,
and navy blazer.
We laughed and agreed that in the South, a man can go to
almost any function
with that
wardrobe. Add a tie if you think it’s
going to be a little more dressy.
Take off your tie,
stick it in your pocket if you get there and it’s more informal.
You will fit in perfectly.
This chapter is about fitting in.
We are introduced to Esther for the first time
and
learn something interesting right away—Esther is not her real name.
Her real
name—Hebrew name her parents gave her is Hadassah.
But she goes by Esther, which is a Persian name
probably
derived from the goddess Ishtar.
And that says a lot about Esther and her cousin Mordecai who
raised her—
they
were Jews, but they wanted to fit in as Persians.
They knew who they
were. But they didn’t want anybody else
to know.
They wanted to keep their Jewish identity hidden,
so
that they wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.
This was more than just hiding their nationality—
they
were hiding their faith in the God of Israel, hiding their spiritual identity.
Do you remember last week, chapter one.
I said that chapter
one shows us two kingdoms—
The
dazzling kingdoms of this world and the invisible
The
The only thing that
was real to them was Xerxes and the values of his kingdom.
His party represented
all that was important to them—
Wealth,
pride, power—gold goblets, trophy wives.
But the Jews living in
They knew the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They knew the Lord was at work in history, carrying out his
saving purposes.
They knew that God
had saved them out of
They knew the
values and laws of the
But they wanted to fit in to the kingdom of this world.
In their case,
values and world view of
And that has always been the challenge for believers.
In John 17 Jesus is praying for his disciples and for us and
he says
that
we are in the world but not of the world.
We live here, surrounded by values of this world.
We participate in
it in many ways.
We work with
unbelievers, exposed to their thinking.
We enjoy much of
the same entertainment, watch same TV.
Breath
the same air of the culture around us.
But we are not of this world.
Our citizenship is
in God’s kingdom.
We are his adopted
sons and daughters.
We are followers of
Jesus Christ.
And so our value system and identity and destiny is totally different.
That’s a huge challenge for Christians.
Because,
very simply, we want to fit into the world.
We want to wear the
khaki pants and blue blazer like every other man.
We don’t want our lives to be so out of step with everybody
else
that
we stand out too much.
So we conceal our identity,
we
adopt the world’s values and ways.
And sometimes it is so subtle, goes on so long,
we
don’t even think that what we are doing is wrong.
We might not even
recognize that we are doing it.
That’s what this chapter is about. It’s about Esther, but it’s about us.
It’s about our need
for us to hear the Gospel every day,
so
that we can resist the urge to deny Christ and fit in—
and
so that we can find a way back when we do.
Three headings for note-takers:
1. The world’s values
2. Your own weakness
3. The Gospel’s power
MP#1 The world’s values
Let’s start with the world’s values—perfectly illustrated in
opening chapters.
Chapter one, last Sunday was all about a party.
It was a 6 month
long party Xerxes threw for all the important people
of
the empire that ended with a week-long blow out for every citizen
of
the capital city of
Why did Xerxes throw this party?
To display the vast
wealth of his kingdom
and
the splendor and glory of his majesty.
This was all about appearances.
He wanted every one
to see his great wealth and power
and
then to judge him according to that.
Remember, the historian Herodotus says Xerxes was planning
to invade
so
he was saying to everyone important—look at me, look at my wealth.
If you follow me to
And you remember what happened at the end of the party?
Xerxes was in such
high spirits, he said to his guests,
now,
let me show you one of my great possessions—Queen Vashti.
When you see how beautiful she is, you will really know that
I have it all
and
that I am a truly great man.
But Vashti refused to come out
before the king and his drunken followers.
And so, as chapter
one ends, Xerxes deposes Vashti for disobeying him.
So chapter two begins, and Xerxes decides he needs a new
queen.
He sends out his
men to find the most beautiful virgins, bring to palace.
There is going to
be a contest—Persian Idol!
The winner will become the next queen of
This is not exactly like our beauty pageants.
The beautiful girls were taken from their homes—they had no
option.
They were brought
to the harem and received one year of beauty treatments
in
preparation for their big audition—a night with the king.
The girl that wowed the king most with her beauty and sexual
moves
got
to be queen, the rest went back to the harem to be his
concubines
and occasional playthings.
Sometimes the story of Esther is presented as a love story.
But it’s not a love
story at all. This is all about
appearances.
It’s about a man who judges his own
worth by his possessions,
and
he wants another possession—another woman to add to his collection.
And what makes that woman collectable?
Her
mind? Her
spirit?
Just
her looks.
So then, in these two chapters we see the basic values of
the
The measure of a
man was his wealth and power—chapter 1.
The measure of a
woman was her physical beauty and sexiness—chapter 2.
On preacher put it this way.
A man’s worth was
measured by the size of his wallet.
A woman’s worth was
measured by the size of her dress.
Aren’t you glad you didn’t live back then?
Wouldn’t it be
terrible to live in a place where people
based
their worth on appearances?
Wouldn’t it be terrible to live in a place where what you
have
and
what you look like matters more than who you are?
Aren’t you glad you don’t live in ancient
Aren’t you glad you
live in modern
Hey, wait a minute, this sounds a
lot like
Some of the details
are different but the values are the same.
And that’s because
this is not just a Persian thing,
or
an American thing—it’s a human thing.
As a believer you see how completely bankrupt this value
system is.
It’s all based on
external, passing things that do not in any way
determine
a person’s true worth.
These things cannot give a person security, or happiness,
or
anything else important for life.
But even though we see the emptiness—we still get sucked in.
That brings us to the second heading . . .
MP#2 Your own weakness
How did Esther do?
She blew it.
She won the
contest. She was picked to be queen.
But she got there
by completely selling out to the culture.
It started with her concealing her identity as a believer.
And it ended with her
sleeping with a man who was not her husband,
and
marrying an unbeliever—all to get what she wanted.
Now, you might say wait a minute.
Mordecai had
forbidden her to reveal her true identity.
She was just
obeying the father figure in her life.
Let’s talk about Mordecai.
He was wrong. Shame
on him.
Mordecai was
motivated by fear.
He was afraid for
Esther. Didn’t want
her to get hurt.
He knew that if she lived as a Jew,
that
would bring her into immediate conflict with officials in Xerxes’ harem.
They would bring her the palace food and what would Esther
say?
I’m sorry, this is
unclean food. God’s law forbids me from
eating this.
That would just be the first of many stands she would have
to take.
And Xerxes was not
the sort of man who took kindly to people
standing
on their convictions if it went against his own values.
But Mordecai told Esther the exact opposite of what he
should have told her.
He should have said:
Remember who you are.
You are a child of
Abraham, servant of the Most High God.
Do not
compromise. Do not hide your identity or
your faith.
Be ready to suffer but know that the Lord is with you. Daniel and friends.
The only thing
Mordecai have feared was Esther turning away from God.
So, yes, Mordecai bore a huge responsibility for Esther’s
failure.
He pushed her to
adopt the values of the world.
But she bought into them.
And you don’t see a bit of resistance on her part.
She was absolutely
compliant to the head eunuch.
She basically said,
You tell me what to do.
You tell me what is
beautiful and I will become that.
And he tells her and she plays the perfect Barbie Doll.
She adopts world’s
standard of beauty and sexuality.
But it’s hard to be too critical of Mordecai and Esther,
because
we are just as weak, give in just as easily to the values of the world.
Even in Christian homes, we can push our children toward the
world.
It often starts
just like it did with Mordecai—with our fears.
As Christian parents we so often
afraid of the wrong things.
We are afraid our
children will be left out,
not have enough friends, not be popular.
We are afraid their
psyches will be damaged if they are denied things—
if they don’t make the team, if they don’t have the latest
thing or clothing.
We are afraid they
are not going to make good grades, not get into college,
not get the right job, and on and on.
We have these fears because the world’s values have a grip
on us.
Just like Mordecai, we push our children to adopt these
worldly values.
We might not be as
blunt as Mordecai but through our fears we say to children:
This is what is
really important to me—
I hope you fit in. I
hope you are successful as the world defines success.
Our children pick up on that.
Success narrowly
defined (good grades, good job).
Popularity based on
most superficial things.
Immediate
happiness rather trusting God in suffering.
And like Esther, they often buy into these values.
And then they find
themselves ineffective and unproductive as young Christians.
They might be very successful in work, appearance,
popularity,
but
they are not glorifying God in it.
When you look closely at Mordecai and Esther in Chapter 2,
it is deeply convicting.
We want to be beautiful by the world’s standards.
The values of the
world captivate us,
We essentially
become concubines to the world and are too weak to resist.
We need something strong—
and
that brings us to our third heading.
MP#3 The Gospel’s power
The way back from a life of compromise comes through the
Gospel.
A pattern for living before your children, not repeating
Mordecai’s mistakes
comes
from knowing and applying the Gospel.
Two things:
1. The Gospel shows you real beauty.
The beauty pageant in this chapter is a symbol of the
world’s values.
It’s all about how
you look, what you have, how you can get more.
How you can be
successful, how you can fit in.
We are drawn to that value system. It appeals to us.
The only way its hold over you can be broken is when you see
real beauty.
The Gospel teaches that we see real beauty in a man who
allowed himself to be
rejected,
and made hideous because of his love for God and for you.
Listen to the way the prophet Isaiah describes Jesus crucified:
“Many were appalled
at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that
of any
man
and his form marred beyond human likeness . . . He had no beauty or majesty
to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was
despised
and rejected by men.”
Appalled, disfigured, marred, no beauty, noting to attract,
despised, rejected.
Did Jesus try to fit in?
No. As we’ve seen in
our study of Mark, he deliberately refused
to
fit into the Messianic mold that the people and leaders wanted.
And in refusing to fit into that political mold, and the
acclaim of the crowds
he
chose rejection and the cross.
Who did Jesus die to save?
Esthers,
Mordecais, Peters, Andrew Siegenthalers—
People who know his grace but who still
want to fit into the world.
People
who at times conceal their identity as believers.
He knew our
character when he died for us.
That’s true beauty—the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Will only be by looking at the beauty of Christ crucified,
and
holding Jesus before our children, that the beauty of the world
will loose its attraction and seem shallow and passing.
2. The Gospel shows you how to become truly beautiful.
Esther had 12 months of beauty treatments in Xerxes harem.
But the prettier
she got on the outside, the uglier she got on the inside.
The wonderful thing we will see about the story of Esther is
that the Lord
doesn’t
give up on her. He loves her, works in
her life,
and
turns her into a woman who is brave and lovely on the inside.
How do you become truly beautiful?
Well, it’s not your
work, it’s God’s work.
And there are two parts to his beauty treatment.
First, He takes the beauty of Jesus Christ and he clothes
you with it.
The Bible calls
that justification.
The perfect life of Jesus Christ that we just talked about—
his
perfect love and obedience.
All of his goodness, his life and his death, are applied to
you
the
moment you put your trust in him.
So from that moment, no matter what you do—
even
if you turn your back on God and embrace the world,
as
Esther did for a time—he looks at you and sees the perfection of Christ.
Second, for every person who has truly been justified, the
Holy Spirit
begins
a life-long series of beauty treatments called sanctification.
He slowly makes you
a holy person. You become who you are.
You start to take on the characteristics of Jesus Christ.
That’s what we will see in Esther, as her character changes,
and
she starts to realize that fitting in, hiding her identity is not really
living.
She comes to a point—hope I’m not spoiling the story—
where
she puts her life on the line to save God’s people.
The Holy Spirit
changes her from a compliant concubine to a Christ-like savior.
It is as you realize the power of the Gospel to change you,
that
you will start to see all your temptations to fit in as really challenges
to
become more like Christ.
You can say to your children—you know this challenge you are
facing,
with
friends, popularity, grades, college, making the team—whatever.
The really important thing is that you listen to the Holy
Spirit,
cooperate with
Him. Yes, this is tough, but it’s making
you beautiful.