LIVING FOR GOD IN A GODLESS CULTURE
Surprise Endings: Esther 2:1-18
INTRODUCTION
-A few weeks ago Shelly Szekely texted me to ask what to say when someone else uses the Lord’s name in vain.
-It struck me that it kind of depends on who the person is.
-What if they are a non-Christian? What if they are an atheist?
-What if it’s a stranger on the street? What if they are a Christian?
-What if they are someone who calls themselves a Christian?
-How we respond to such situations…sometimes depends on who the person is, and where they are at in their spiritual journey.
-When you live in a godless culture, it’s tricky to deal with the different people around you….
-Especially when you’re someone who is trying to follow God.
-Evangelical Christians in, people with beliefs like ours, make up about 13% of the American population.
-If you’ve ever felt like you held the minority view on issues of morality and faith there is a reason why…you do.
-No one hear considers themselves a radical fundamentalist but compared to many people in our culture…you are.
-And that sometimes has an unfortunate side effect.
-Sometimes we start seeing ourselves as the opponents of the people in our godless culture.
-In our mind we are pitted against people who are our family, neighbors, co-workers because they don’t share our beliefs.
-But the godless people in our godless culture are not our adversaries. They are simply people who don’t yet know God.
-And our privilege, our joy, our job is tell them the good news about our God and his Son Jesus Christ.
-And to recognize where people are at in their knowledge of God, their obedience to God, and their love of God.
-This morning we finally get to meet Esther and Mordecai.
-But let me give you a filter to read this book with.
-Esther and Mordecai were both sinners and saints.
-History remembers them as heroes, and they were. But they were also people who struggled…especially early in our story.
XERXES: A NON-BELIEVER
-A lot has happened between chapter 1 and chapter 2.
-Last week Jae and Allan told the story of King Xerxes and Vashti
-In chapter 1 Xerxes got drunk and demanded that his wife strut her stuff in front of all of the people at his party.
-He was wrong, she was right. To save face in front of all his men, he banished Queen Vashti.
-Between the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2, four years has passed.
-During that time Xerxes has launched two unsuccessful military campaigns against the Greeks.
-He spend 6 months wining and dining the nobles to get them on board with his plan, and once they were committed they were defeated by the Greeks.
-So the selfish, egotistical, and arrogant king has been humbled.
-And that is where we pick up in chapter 2:
VS 2 But after Xerxes’ anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made.
-It’s not clearly stated but it’s clearly implied. Xerxes realized that he’d made a mistake.
-He was drunk. He was angry. He was being selfish.
-He divorced his wife for all the wrong reasons and years later when things have died down, he regrets it.
-He was offended by her, and in the heat of the moment he made a very permanent decision over a very temporary problem.
-He got divorced. And in his case, he made a decree which could not be revoked…Vashti was gone for good.
-This happens all the time. People have a fight, have a bad season. -Words are spoken. Names are called. Threats are made.
-And many people today do what the king did back then.
-The king turned to his advisors, who were all single guys, for advice and they said, “you don’t need her. Cut your losses.
-Why do we seek advice from people who are not happily married, when we want to be happily married?
-Why do Christian people often seek marriage advice from non-Christians when they are having marriage struggles?
-Why don’t we seek counsel from God and God’s people?
-Years after their divorces…many people do exactly what Xerxes did. He rolled back the tape and regretted his actions.
-But not because of any religious conviction.
-Xerxes wasn’t interested in following God.
-There are countless people like this in our culture.
-They don’t know God and they don’t care what he says.
-They’ll get advice from anywhere, from anyone.
-And when we start feeling religious we get cantankerous toward these people…what is there problem?
-Why are they so foolish? Why can’t they get their act together?
-Like who…like me. Why can’t they be more like…me?
-I don’t act like that, do that, say that. I would never be like them.
-The only thing that separates us from people godless people like King Xerxes is who we know.
-We like to think that our track record is better, but it’s not.
-The reason they keep making foolish, sinful choices, is that don’t know God.
-If you want to ask a real question try this: What’s our excuse for making foolish, sinful choices?
-Not only do we know better…we know God.
-So four years later, which is about right…he’s lonely, he’s missing Queen Vashti…and who did he turn to once again for advice?
-The same people that got him into this mess!
VS 2 So his personal attendants suggested, “Let us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. 4 After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.”
-His advisors said:
-Let’s go round up all the prettiest young women in the empire.
-We’ll put them in a harem where they will be prepared to meet you. And you’ll take “auditions” with these women.
-The ancient historian Josephus said 400 women were chosen.
-And from this vast pool of applicants, a new queen will be appointed. And the end of vs 4 is a real shocker:
This advice was very appealing to the king, so he put the plan into effect. These ancient kings were depraved.
-If you have a daughter this would be your worst nightmare.
-These kings weren’t interested in a committed relationship.
-They were interested in money, power, and sex.
-They weren’t going to be a devoted husband.
-They weren’t going to be in a monogamous relationship.
-They weren’t going to be good to your daughter…just look at Queen Vashti.
-They’re attitude was: Do what I say, when I say…or I’ll replace you with someone else.
-When you don’t know God you don’t live for God.
-When don’t live for God, you’re living for yourself.
-Xerxes lived for himself.
-How many of those young girls were in love with a young man and then were suddenly taken away?
-How many parents cried themselves to sleep in despair when their daughter was taken to the king’s harem?
-How many of those girls, the ones who weren’t chosen, had husbandless, childless, and meaningless lives because of Xerxes?
-Did he care about any of them? No.
-Did he show any remorse or concern? No.
-At any time was he thinking about anyone but himself? No.
-How could one man be so heartless and ruthless and oblivious?
XERXES: A NON-BELIEVER
-What would you have done if you were Xerxes?
-If you were the most powerful person on the planet, and you didn’t know God, and everyone around you told you to go for it…what would you have done?
-You’d have done whatever you wanted to do. Just like he did.
-Sinners sin. That’s what they do. That’s what the know.
-2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.”
-They aren’t seeing thing clearly.
-It’d be easy to demonize a guy like Xerxes.
-But Xerxes was just doing what sinner do. He was sinning.
-He did what you did before you knew Christ.
-He sinned. He lived for himself. And so did all of us before we know any better.
-So when we run into people like this we have to recognize where they are at and keep it in mind as we minister to them.
MORDECAI: A _______________ BELIEVER
VS 5 At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. 6 His family had been among those who, with King Jehoiachin of Judah, had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
-Mordecai knew his family ancestry.
-He had kept track of his Jewish family ancestry.
-He was from the family line of King Saul.
-This was important to the Jews. If you read Ezra and Nehemiah you’ll see that some of the exiled Jews returned to the promised land but couldn’t prove their ancestry.
-Ancestry was your identity as a Jew.
-That’s why both Matthew & Luke start with genealogy of Jesus.
-The first thing any Jew would want to know about the alleged Messiah was his ancestry.
-But there is something strange about Mordecai. He was very Jewish, knew his family lineage back to Abraham but…
-When all the Jews were granted permission to go back to Jerusalem, as God predicted through the prophet Isaiah…
-Mordecai didn’t go back to Jerusalem with the other Jews.
-God’s prophets had predicted the destruction of Israel, but they’d also predicted the return of God’s people.
-Jerusalem was the holy city. Jerusalem was the place where God was worshipped. Any good Jew would pick Israel over Persia.
-But Mordecai didn’t go back. That tells us something about Mordecai and his family.
VS 7 This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter.
-Esther was a cousin to him. As a Jew he was honor-bound to take care of his family and so he did.
-Mordecai lovingly raised Esther as his own daughter.
-vs 11 says, “11 Every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the harem to find out about Esther and what was happening to her.”
-He loved Esther, looked after her, fretted over her.
-Once again, here’s Mordecai doing the right thing but why didn’t he do something to stop Esther from going to the King’s Harem.
-He knew what awaited her there…why not raise a fuss?
-He was an official…why not try to use his position to sway things?
-Did he try to hide her? Did her try to send her away?
-We can’t know for sure, but as you think more and more about Mordecai, there are some startling inconsistencies.
-Proud of his ancestry, but tells Esther to hide it from the king.
-Proud of his Jewish roots, but continues to live outside of Israel.
-Loves his daughter, but allows her to be taken w/out a fight.
-He seems to be deeply convicted about who he is and at the same time he is surprisingly passive when it’s time to act.
MORDECAI: A PASSIVE BELIEVER
-Mordecai is very different than Xerxes.
-While Xerxes was an unbeliever, Mordecai was a believer who wasn’t doing much about his beliefs.
-What would you have done if you were Mordecai?
-Would you have spoken up? Would you have taken action?
-Would you have tried to save your girl?
-Would you have told her to hide her beliefs and ethnicity while living in a godless culture?
-Would you have risked your safety, your career, risked your life to keep your daughter from being enlisted in the king’s harem?
-We see people like Mordecai all the time.
-They will gladly admit to being a Christian, but don’t really do much about their faith.
-There are some striking similarities between all these characters & the characters in this room. People are people wherever you go
-Do we speak up when our kids are signing up for wrong things?
-Do we even speak up if our sons or daughters are dating non-Christian kids?
-Do we protest when our values are being trampled?
-Do we ignore the things of God, to remain comfortable in our own culture like Mordecai did?
-Or do we watch silently, feeling conflicted…but doing nothing.
-And then there is our hero.
ESTHER: A ___________ BELIEVER
VS 8 As a result of the king’s decree, Esther, along with many other young women, was brought to the king’s harem at the fortress of Susa and placed in Hegai’s care. 9 Hegai was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments. He also assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.
-Esther finished as a hero in this story and became a national hero for all of Israel, but she isn’t off to a very good start.
-We can wonder and debate about whether she was forced into the king’s harem, but she played some part in how she was treated once she got there.
-She didn’t exactly resist the royal treatment…
-The Jews were not allowed to eat unclean food.
-When Daniel was offered the royal foods of Babylon he said, “no”
-But Esther said, “oooh, that does look pretty tasty.”
-Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were ready to face death rather than bow to a Babylonian statue.
-Esther didn’t seem to put up much of a fuss when being sent to the Persian King’s palace for a one night stand.
-In fact she stood out. And while we’d like to paint her out to be a spiritually radiant and virtuous young woman…she was the winner of in a contest to be the Queen of Persia.
-She didn’t make a stink, she didn’t make a stand, she did nothing to dissuade Hegai’s impression of her as a candidate.
VS 10 Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had directed her not to do so.
-Esther had a secular name and a Jewish name Hadassah. (vs 7)
-Her cousin Mordecai had a hand in her decision, but she was culpable for this decision just the same.
-She was a Jew in a place where it wasn’t popular to be a Jew and so she just didn’t talk about it.
-Many of us work in places where it’s not real popular to talk about our faith, and we also hide our identity from people.
-We don’t share our faith, don’t make stands for what we believe in, and don’t where our other name too proudly…Christian.
-Esther was in an extreme situation. It goes on to say…
VS 12 Before each young woman was taken to the king’s bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments.
-Not only is Esther eating the royal food, and getting the treatment, she is being beautified to have an audition with the godless king Xerxes.
-The following verses say that each of these 400 women had one night with the king.
-After that she would never see the king again unless he specifically requested her. (vs 13-14)
-When it was her turn, she let Hegai dress her up in a way that the king would find appealing…probably wasn’t sweats and a hoodie.
-And after receiving all this attention, beautifying, coaching, vs 15 says, “she was admired by everyone who saw her.”
-Esther went right along with the values of her culture.
-You may not like to hear this, but it’s what happened.
-She was allowed to prepare herself in any way she saw fit.
-She could have been modest, made herself unattractive, but she said to Hegai…”doll me up. Give me the full treatment dude.”
VS 16 Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter of the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti. 18 To celebrate the occasion, he gave a great banquet in Esther’s honor for all his nobles and officials, declaring a public holiday for the provinces and giving generous gifts to everyone.
-This guy has slept with a different woman every night.
-He could have had anyone he wanted but he wanted her.
-She was the one who stood out.
-It doesn’t exactly seem like Esther was trying to lose the competition to be Queen.
-Christians sometimes make it seem like she was a nice Amish girl with thick glasses who was innocent to the ways of the world.
-I’m proposing the opposite.
-She hid her Jewish identity. She went along with all the worldly values of her culture. She won a contest to be the queen of Persia
-I’m suggesting that…ESTHER: A WORDLY BELIEVER To start with
-that’s one of the things I love about this book.
-We get to see the growth of our characters throughout the story.
-This book spans several years with several twists and turns.
-And without giving the whole story away, let me say that there is some pretty major character development in our star players.
SURPRISE ENDINGS
-God was working with Xerxes, Esther and Mordecai.
-You mean God could be working through a scumbag like Xerxes?
-You mean God took malleable Mordecai & worked through him?
-God was even working through Esther while she was working on being the pagan king’s wife? Yes, yes and yes.
-And no matter how messed up your life might be today, let me tell you something. God is working with you as well.
-And he’s working with the people in this godless culture of ours, 4 his purposes, for their salvation & for the success of his kingdom
-Esther and Mordecai change throughout the story.
-Esther starts off as a worldly young woman who is just going with the flow. Doing what everyone else is doing.
-But before this book ends she lays her life on the line for the people of God.
-Mordecai watches silently as bad things happen around him, but next week we’ll see him find his voice and start speaking up.
-Church, people change. God changes people’s hearts and lives.
-How many of us can look back 10 years and say that we have really done some growing up as Christians?
-You mean, as time has passed you’ve had opportunities to grow?
-You mean, God has used people, circumstances, and life changes to get a hold of your heart and change your mind on some things?
-Of course! That’s what God does.
-How is God working on you and the people around you?
-As you deal with people in culture who are godless…ask yourself…how is God working in this person’s life?
-As you deal with worldly Christians, passive Christians, in our church, in your life2life group,…as what is God doing with these people? And what’s my part
-As you find yourself wanting to give up on people. Write them off
-If you are feeling frustrated, stuck, plateaued in your walk w/God
Remember that God is at work in your life too.
