I’ve known people, people I loved, family and friends, who would probably still be alive today if they had not ignored symptoms of poor health. If they had only gone for a checkup sooner. I’m sure some of you have had a similar experience.
I think fear and misinformation keep a lot of people from getting a checkup, when in reality, a checkup would allow their condition to be diagnosed in time for them to do something about it.
The same thing is true spiritually. A lot of people ignore symptoms of spiritual problems and they mistakenly think that by ignoring them their condition will get better on its own. Not true. God is constantly communicating to us – through circumstances, through the Bible, by the Holy Spirit, and by Christ followers in the church – that we need to deal with spiritual problems in our lives.
As we’ve seen in this series, God IS at work in our lives - but He allows and expects us to work with Him!
God is communicating to us that He loves us and wants to help us effectively deal with our problems. As we’ve been emphasizing in this series, however, we need to work with God. We need to let Him diagnos our spiritual condition and then work with Him to heal our hurts, habits and hangups.
So that’s why we’re going to focus today on "Spiritual Symptoms You Should Never Ignore."
We’re in the series on the book of Esther, "Divine Destiny, How God is at Work in My Life." So far, in the first 5 chapters of the book of Esther…
Esther, a Jewish orphan girl, became queen of ancient Persia because of God’s providence and also due to her inner, as well as outer beauty.
Esther’s adoptive father, Mordecai, became an influential part of Persian society in the capital city of Susa. He sits at the city’s gate, a sign of prestige and honor. He is Esther’s godly and wise mentor.
Haman, a petty and insecure hi-ranking member, perhaps Prime Minister of King Xerxes cabinet, hates Mordecai because he won’t bow to him. He builds a huge platform on which to have Mordecai hanged. He hates all Jews and manipulates the king into passing a decree that will have all Jews killed on a single day.
Esther and her friends pray with fasting for three days and God touches the heart of the king, allowing Esther to have an audience with him without an appointment, a risky business, since appearing at the king’s court without being on his agenda is usually cause for execution.
We’re not going to have time to read it today, but in chapter 6 of Esther the undeniable hand of God is once again at work.
Unable to sleep one night King Xerxes ordered his royal records be read to him. (Maybe he thought they were dull enough to put him to sleep.) One entry describes how Mordecai, through Esther, 5 years earlier, had forewarned him of an assassination plot by two of his attendants. He further learned that he had done nothing to repay Mordecai for his loyalty. This is a truly fascinating example of God’s timing. Sometimes we expect God to do something for us now but He waits, knowing that later will be a better time for us. “God’s delays are not God’s denials.”
At the same time that the king was reminded of how Mordecai saved his life and had not yet been honored for it, Haman has come to see the king about having Mordecai hung on the platform he had prepared for just such a purpose.
Since Haman is the palace at this hour, the king asks him what should be done for a man that the king wants to honor. The king of course is talking about Mordecai but Haman thinks that he’s talking about him. So Haman lays it on thick. “Put a royal crown on his head; let him ride on your own horse – even put a crown on the horse’s head (how over the top!); put a robe on the honored man and lead him through the streets and have it announced, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king wants to honor.’” (v9c)
Then…the poetic justice sets in. The king commands Haman to do these things for Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Haman’s jaw probably dropped so low it hit the palace floor! Humiliated, Haman has to follow through. He leads Mordecai around the city streets on the king’s horse, crown and all, proclaiming Mordecai’s greatness. Then he goes home and tells his wife and friends what happened and before long it’s time to attend the banquet that Esther had prepared for him and the king.
At the 2nd banquet for King Xerxes and Haman, Esther finally tells the king that she’s a Jew and that her request of him is to stop the plot to have all Jews in Persia killed.
Esther chapter 7:
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he? Who has done such a thing?"
6 Esther said, "Our enemy and foe is this wicked Haman!"
[Haman finds himself in a "lineup" and he’s the only one in the room!]
Then Haman was filled with terror before the king and queen.
7 The king was very angry, so he got up, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed inside to beg Queen Esther to save his life. He could see that the king had already decided to kill him.
8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying. The king said, "Will he even attack the queen while I am in the house?"
As soon as the king said that, servants came in and covered Haman’s face.
9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs there serving the king, said, "Look, a seventy-five foot platform stands near Haman’s house. This is the one Haman had prepared for Mordecai, who gave the warning that saved the king." The king said, "Hang Haman on it!"
10 So they hanged Haman on the platform he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king was not so angry anymore.
What went so wrong in Haman’s life that he became such a blindly egotistical cold-hearted and contemptuous man? Why had he become so dangerous, so malicious, so much of a threat to society that God had to judge him? What led to him to the ending of being hung on the gallows he built for another?
Somewhere along the line, Haman had ignored the symptoms of a disease that was slowly but surely eating away at his life. We’ll look at these because we too can ignore these symptoms to our own peril.
Here’s one spiritual symptom we should never ignore,
COUNTING CRAVINGS INSTEAD OF COUNTING BLESSINGS.
Haman was the second highest-ranking official in ancient Persia. He had fame, wealth and power. When he traversed the streets of the capital city everyone bowed. He should have been a very satisfied individual.
Instead he said,
“But all this does not really make me happy when I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate." (Esther 5:13)
Haman became obsessed with that one craving that he couldn’t have and it robbed him of peace and happiness in life. He was consumed by Mordecai’s conscientious refusal to bow to him. It ate away at him that he didn’t have Mordecai’s subservience.
This is has been part of the human problem since the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had everything! And yet they wanted more!
What is that one thing you crave in life that you think will make you happy? Is it more money? Is it the respect or attention of that one person you can’t seem to please? Do you long to go on a reality show so you can at least earn your “fifteen minutes of fame?”
Here’s a video that illustrates what always wanting more can do to us. “The Black Hole” [See YouTube.com, Future Shorts]
Whatever you crave, don’t ignore this spiritual symptom of counting your cravings more than counting your blessings! It ruined Haman and it will mess up your life too! If you’re always seeing the glass half-empty, admit it and do something about it. And here’s what the Bible teaches we can do about it.
"I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. 12 I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty. I have learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens, when I have enough to eat and when I go hungry, when I have more than I need and when I do not have enough. 13 I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength." Philippians 4:11b-13
I shouldn’t place my hope in things, other people, or circumstances. My hope is in Christ! No matter what!
Don’t place your hope in another person. Your spouse isn’t perfect. Don’t expect a perfect mate. Don’t place your ultimate happiness in them. Don’t go around all the time bemoaning his or her weaknesses when you could be enjoying their strengths. Don’t make the mistake of harping on the weaknesses of your children. Brag on and help them build on their strengths. Correct them when they need it, but be much more positive than you are negative to them. You ask, “How can I do this?” Christ will give you strength!
When it comes to the situation in the world around us, don’t be like the evening news, always focusing on all the bad stuff. Make it a point in life to focus on the good.
Take notice of the spiritual symptom of counting your cravings instead of counting your blessings. Do something about it. Don’t ignore it.
Another spiritual symptom we can’t ignore highlighted in the story of Esther…
WISHING TROUBLE FOR OTHERS INSTEAD OF THEIR SUCCESS.
Be honest, have you ever maliciously wanted someone else to fail? That may be a symptom of an inner spiritual problem.
Haman being hung on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai is a classic case of something that actually happens all the time. Things like jealousy, bitterness, envy and ill will toward others don’t affect them – they only poison us. And if they’re left unchecked these attitudes will boomerang on us! Listen to what the Bible says.
14 There are people who think up evil and plan trouble and tell lies. 15 They dig a hole to trap others, but they will fall into it themselves. 16 They will get themselves into trouble; the violence they cause will hurt only themselves. Psalms 7:14-16
Don’t ignore this spiritual symptom! Something’s wrong when I want someone around me to have trouble. We need to re-direct our attitude and our actions when we find ourselves wishing trouble to others.
Ask yourself, “Is there someone I wish trouble upon? Is there someone I want to see fail?” We’re not talking here about Osama Bin Laden. Of course we want terrorists like him to fail in their attempts to hurt innocent people. The Bible doesn’t instruct us to want evil men or evil plans to succeed. But if the only reason we want someone to fail is because they don’t give us the recognition we crave – then the problem is with us – not them!
Do you have a co-worker, a neighbor, or a family member that you have fantasies of them having hardship or trouble because they don’t jump when you snap your fingers? Something is wrong with our heart when we engage in this type of thinking, especially if we actually do things or fail to do things that would cause them hurt.
It can be as subtle as not speaking to someone or acknowledging their presence because we’re harboring some bad feelings about them in our hearts.
What should we do when this symptom appears? Jesus said something profoundly simple about this,
“…if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins.”
Mark 11:25
Forgiveness was the most important lesson best-selling author Tony Hillerman learned as a kid on his first job. His story goes…
“I was 14 when Mr. Ingram knocked on our farmhouse door in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma (pop. 38). The old sharecropper lived about a mile down the road and needed help moving an alfalfa field. It was the first time I was actually paid for work – about 12 cents and hour, not bad when you consider it was 1939 and we were still mired in the Great Depression.
“Mr. Ingram liked the job I did and ended up hiring me to dig postholes. I even helped to deliver a calf. One day he found an old truck that was stuck in the soft, sandy soil of the melon patch. It was loaded up with melons that someone had tried to steal before their truck got bogged down.
“Mr. Ingram explained that the truck’s owner would be returning soon, and he wanted me to watch and learn. It wasn’t long before a local guy with a terrible reputation for fighting and stealing showed up with his two full-grown sons. They looked really angry.
“Calmly Mr. Ingram said, ‘Well, I see you was wantin’ to buy some watermelons.’
“There was a long silence before the man answered, ‘Yeah, I guess so. What are you wantin’ for ‘em?’
“Twenty-five cents each.”
“Well, I guess that would be fair enough if you help me get my truck out of here.”
Hillerman continues, “It turned out to be our biggest sale of the summer, and a nasty, perhaps violent incident had been avoided. After they left, Mr. Ingram smiled and said to me, ‘Son, if you don’t forgive your enemies, you’re going to run out of friends.’” (What I Learned on My Paper Route, Daniel Levine, Reader’s Digest, March 2002.)
Instead of wishing trouble for someone we are to forgive him or her. Any real or imagined hurt or affront we know or believe them to have directed toward us, like Haman’s anger against Mordecai for not bowing to him, is to be handled by Christ followers in the same manner that our Father in heaven handles our sins – forgiveness.
Spiritual symptoms you should never ignore:
Counting cravings instead of counting blessings.
Wishing trouble, instead of success, for others. And…
NEVER BEING SATISFIED WITH SECOND PLACE.
It has been said that the most difficult instrument in the orchestra is "second fiddle."
Haman didn’t just want Mordecai executed because he couldn’t be number one as long as Mordecai was around – he was the kind of person that wasn’t going to stop plotting until he had the king’s throne - and even then he wouldn’t have been satisfied!
Our culture is "Hamanistic." In sports, entertainment, and business, the all-consuming goal is to be number one. If you aren’t number one you’re just not as important in the eyes of many. If you don’t make the most money, if you don’t have the most, if you aren’t the most beautiful or most handsome, if you aren’t the smartest or don’t have the highest level of education, etc., then you’re out of the spotlight.
Tragically this warped thinking has crept into our spiritual lives as well. And the symptoms don’t have to be as overt as they were in the life of Haman for us to exhibit this symptom.
Speaking at the 2008 National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego, John Ortberg related a conversation with Dallas Willard in which John posed the question: “How do I determine how my spiritual life is doing?”
Willard responded by saying you should ask yourself two questions:
“Am I growing more or less irritated these days?”
“Am I growing more or less discouraged these days?”
If your answer to those questions is “more,” it may be that you have allowed your own ego to become the driving force in your sense of personal ministry identity. Instead, our lives and ministries should be centered on a vision of God. As Willard observes, ’Our life is not an object of deep concern’ when we have abandoned ourselves to a vision of the Kingdom of God." (Preaching Now, 3/4/08)
How about you? Are you more or less irritated these days? More or less discouraged? Have you, like Haman, allowed your own ego to become the driving force in your personal sense of identity? When someone else is number one in some area – in wealth, or attention, or abilities, or ideas, whatever – can you say, “Good for them! They’ve been blessed in those areas and praise God for it!”
If being second place is a problem for you…then it’s a spiritual symptom that shouldn’t be ignored.
I wonder...
What if Haman had realized his sins at any point during the process in which God was showing him his wrongs?
Every thing we know about God says that He would have given him another chance.
I believe Haman could have repented. He could have admitted his wrong to himself and to others – he could have gone to Mordecai in humility and learned about the God that was responsible for Mordecai’s happy life.
He could have said, "Mordecai, how did you not complain for five years while the king never rewarded you for uncovering that assassination plot? I would have been petitioning the king for all kinds of favors if I had done what you did! What makes you able to be so satisfied and happy in life? What makes you content?"
Instead, Haman persisted to allow him self to be filled with bitter hatred, pride and envy against Mordecai and the Jews. He had all the symptoms of a spiritual disease that was robbing him of inner peace and that would eventually violently end his life –
1. He counted his cravings instead of counting his blessings.
2. He wished trouble instead of success for others.
3. He was never satisfied with second place.
He wouldn’t treat these symptoms.
God warned him through circumstances – but he wouldn’t heed the warnings.
"Proud people will be ruined, but the humble will be honored." Proverbs 18:12
People like Haman that won’t make way for God’s discipline…people like Haman, who was about to hurt a lot of other people, had to be judged to save others.
"Whoever is stubborn after being corrected many times will suddenly be hurt beyond cure." Proverbs 29:1
Don’t be like Haman. Don’t ignore the symptoms of spiritual disease in your heart and mind and spirit.
