LIVING FOR GOD IN A GODLESS CULTURE
SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION - ESTHER 5:1-14
Preached tag team style with Layperson Larry
INTRODUCTION (ERIK: 5 minutes)
-There is a new television show called “Preachers of L.A.” on Oxygen network
-Show depicts 6 Los Angeles Pastors at Mega Churches
-And it is everything I never wanted pastor’s reality show to be.
-These guys are wearing expensive suits, sporting lots of gold.
-They are driving Porsches, Ferraris, Bentleys
-They live in big hilltop mansions, with diva wives and entourages and fat bank accounts.
-One critic of the show said “if you watched this show on mute you’d think it was about rap stars not pastors.
-I watched one episode and there was something that really jumped out at me.
-These celebrity pastors want people to look at them, notice them, celebrate them.
-As Christian leaders their job is to promote Christ, but they’ve got caught up in the promotion of self.
-Using a TV show that could really bring attention to Jesus, but really seems to bring attention to them.
-Now a new lesser known show on cable access “Preachers of McMinnville”
-Have Larry Sanders with me this morning...custodian at our church.
-At Adventure we are committed to making disciples
-And we’re going to see that play out today as we continue our series in Esther
• Mordecai had offended Haman
• Mordecai wouldn’t show respect by bowing when Haman passed by
• Haman issued a death sentence for all Jews in Persia
• Overreacted big time!
-Last week we some major character development in our main characters.
-Esther and Mordecai and all the Jewish people have been fasting because she is going to approach the king...which means your putting your life on the line.
-If you approached the king with an invitation you could be put to death.
-Our story picks up with Esther about to make her risky entrance, and make her big request for all the Jewish people.
• Esther is preparing to ask the King for mercy.
VERSES 5:1-5 (Larry about 7 minutes)
5:1 On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance
-It would be really easy to miss the significance here.
-Esther couldn’t do what some of you ladies like to do and march into the living room, where HUBBIE’S kicked back on the RECLINER ….. plant yourself between him and the T.V. and just wait until he says…WHAT???
-We need to remember a couple things:
-Esther hadn’t talked to her husband for over a month, AND
-Her husband considered himself, KING OF THE UNIVERSE and had a reputation as a REALLY BAD DUDE !!
SO HOW DID ESTHER DEAL WITH THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND OVERWHELMING SITUATION ??
-She fasted and prayed for three days and sought GOD...AND, she even encouraged other people to be doing the same things.
-Then it says she put on her ROYAL ROBES…... so she made herself presentable
-THEN she entered the inner court to wait for the king
-It’s important to note what she DIDN’T DO:
-She didn’t spend her time leading up to this simply wallowing in her own anxiety and depression
-She didn’t enter the courts looking all strung out and exhausted from 3 days of fasting
-And she didn’t break any of the normal palace protocol by bursting in and demanding an audience with the king, EVEN THOUGH, he was her own husband
-Esther didn’t attempt to draw undo attention to herself
-ESTHER FOLLOWED THE NORMAL RULES OF RESPECT AND DECORUM FOR HER DAY.
VS 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.
-Would love to see some of you guys try one of these XERXES MOVES, next time you wife is demanding your attention
-Just assume your best REGAL POSE, and slowly extend that universal remote out to your wife like a scepter
-Come back and let me know how that works out for ya
-ASSUMING THAT YOU CAN STILL TALK
-Seriously, it’s important to understand the significance of holding out the scepter
-Presenting yourself before the king without being summoned was risking the king’s wrath for irritating him
-And Xerxes had a reputation for EXECUTING people who irritated him.
-So when Xerxes held out the scepter to Esther, not only was he saying,”COME HERE HONEY, LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT’S BOTHERING YOU.”
-But it was also a code to the palace guard
-Telling them that didn’t need to take you out and impale you on a stake
-So, when Esther finally saw Xerxes extend that scepter, you can only imagine what a relief it must have been
VS 3 Then the king asked her, “What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
-Xerxes was saying, “Esther, whatever it is that you need, I’m ready to listen and provide it, you have my favor!
-Don’t you think that after all the tension of the last few days it would have been a real temptation for Esther to simply pour her guts out right then ?
-But she doesn’t do that
-Instead, she is PATIENT and TACTFUL and begins by buttering up her husband,
VS 4 And Esther replied, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a banquet I have prepared for the king.”5 The king turned to his attendants and said, “Tell Haman to come quickly to a banquet, as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet.
-This brings to mind a New Testament verse….
Colossians 4:5-6 (ON SCREEN) Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
-Doesn’t that sound exactly like what Esther was trying to do??
-GOD gave me a lesson in this just the other day
-I have a facebook friend that I’ve known since I was a kid
-Even went to church together for a period of time
-Through the years he’s fallen away from the faith
-now he has sort of a you’re ok, I’m ok, Universalist attitude
-The other day, one of his comments to my scripture posts really got me REALLY ANGRY
-Rather than try to explain the whole thing,
- let’s just say, he included: GOD, Santa Claus and the Easter bunny in the same sentence
-Luckily I had the wisdom not to respond immediately, but man did I want to blast him
-All through the day, I just got madder and madder.
-How dare he insult my faith by comparing my GOD to the Easter Bunny !!
-After letting me stew about it most of the day, God must have decided that I’d wasted enough time
-I feel like he spoke to me and HE said, “WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO ASK ME HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS ??”
-Well, that got my attention...OK LORD, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS?
-So HE asked me another question, “DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I NEED YOU TO DEFEND MY CHARACTER??”
-and that’s when it hit me
-I wasn’t really angry because GOD had been insulted
-I was mad because my friend had deliberately taken a cheap shot at MY FAITH, -tried to make ME look like a fool in front of other people
-I wasn’t angry for GOD’S sake
-I was angry because someone close to me was trying to make me look like an idiot
-I was like Haman being DISSED by Mordecai
-When I really needed to be more like Esther
-SEEK GOD FIRST
VERSES 5:6-8 (Erik about 7 minutes)
-Esther was playing things pretty cool for someone who was in crisis.
-She dressed nice, looked nice, had prepared nice food.
-She was really buttering Xerxes up before pleading her case.
-And ladies, that does actually work sometimes. (large chunk of meat)
-Now Xerxes is a pretty savvy guy. He knows that something is up.
VS 6 And while they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “Now tell me what you really want. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
-You get the idea that these ancient kings were a little impetuous.
-On the one hand Xerxes might kill you if he’s in a bad mood and you walk into his throne room.
-On the other hand he might offer you half of his kingdom if he was in a good mood.
-Now he really wasn’t offering her half of the kingdom.
-He’s saying Esther, tell me what you want...name your favor…
-This was a saying.
-We may take someone out to dinner and say “order whatever you want, I’m buying” but we don’t expect someone to order the most expensive items on the menu.
-Esther...up half the kingdom.
-Esther and all the Jews had been praying and fasting for days…
-What were they fasting for? They were hoping for an audience with Xerxes. Got it.
-Why did they want an audience? To ask the King for mercy.
-So here she is...she’s got an audience with Xerxes, he has shown her favor...now is the time to make her request and what did she say?
VS 7 Esther replied, “This is my request and deepest wish. (her pulse was pounding) 8 If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request and do what I ask,(heart is in her throat)....please come with Haman tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for you.” Then I will explain what this is all about.”
-That’s not what she came to say.
-That’s not what she wanted to ask for
-The commentators speculate why she didn’t ask.
-Some think she was working a carefully laid plan...if you look closely at the original language and you find the Hebrew term for she “chickened out”.
-She got there and chickened out. Ever chicken out?
-Try to witness. Try to tell someone the truth. Need to confront. Need to ask favor.
-But you can’t blame her. Her life was on the line.
-Her family member’s lives were on the line.
-Her whole race of people were facing annihilation. Huge pressure here!
-For all the pressure and turmoil going on inside of Esther I find verse 9 to be fascinating. It says...
VS 9a Haman was a happy man as he left the banquet!
-Esther was a blessing to the people around her.
-Because we know the end of the story it’s easy to suppose that Esther wanted Haman to pay for his crimes with his life.
-It’s easy to think that Esther invited Haman to the banquet for a big confrontation.
-But that wasn’t what happened.
-Remember, Mordecai sent Esther to the King to ask for mercy.
-She didn’t invite Haman to a banquet to accuse him, she invited him because he’d made the edict against her people and she wanted mercy from him.
-She had no way of knowing how things would turn out.
-She had no reason to expect Xerxes to reverse the verdict.
-So here she is in the presence of her mortal enemy...and he walks away from her as “a happy man”.
-How did she do that? How did she pull that off?
-How could she sit at the table with her enemy and conduct herself in such a way that he was happy in her presence?
-Most of us would have been nervous, shaky, showing emotion in our face, sweaty palms...stumbling with our words.
-For all the things Esther did wrong, she did a few things right.
-She was a blessing to everyone around her.
• She was apple of her adopted father’s eye.
• She made an immediate impression on Hegai.
• She won favor with King Xerxes.
• It seems as if Hathach her assistant was very loyal to her.
• And now she’s even made an impression with Haman.
-Jesus said that we must, Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”
-People can argue with us about our beliefs.
-They can judge us about our moral stances.
-But it’s really hard to argue with love and kindness.
-The world says kill your enemies. Jesus says kill them with kindness. Bless them.
-Esther could have jumped up, pointed a finger, made accusations, demanded Haman’s blood..but she didn’t do any of that.
-She invited her enemy to dinner not knowing what would happen.
-In a kingdom where promotion of self was the prevailing sentiment; Esther consistently blessed the people around her.
-And in our own age of self-promotion we are the people that must be different...we are the ones who live to bless others.
-Mark Moore story: staff of 21,000 peoples, always stop to pick up trash
-Our character is won and lost in the little things.
-As Christians we are not self promoters.
-We serve others. Bless others. Encourage others.
-We pray for others. Rejoice at the prosperity of others.
-Work for the success of others.
-We are not self-promoters, we promote God.
-We don’t say look at me, look at me, look at me. We say look at him.
-We are not people who step on others to get ahead.
-We are not people who use and abuse others for our own pleasure.
-We don’t beat people down even if they do deserve it.
-We are not cocky, selfish, egotistical drama queens like Haman.
-We are trying to be humble, selfless, servants like Esther, who bring glory to God, and bless the people around us...even if they are our enemies.
VERSES 5:9b-14 (Larry 7 minutes)
-So Haman leaves the party pretty jazzed up, feeling pretty good about himself…
VS 9b But when he saw Mordecai sitting at the palace gate, not standing up or trembling nervously before him, Haman became furious. 10 However, he restrained himself and went on home.
-Just a little disrespect from Mordecai is enough to ruin Hamans whole day
-Then Haman gathered together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, 11 and boasted to them about his great wealth and his many children. He bragged about the honors the king had given him and how he had been promoted over all the other nobles and officials.
-Haman’s not satisfied being the 2nd most powerful man in the kingdom
-His ego depends on the admiration of others
-He needs to hear other people say...YOU DA MAN, YOU DA MAN !
-But before we come down too hard on Haman, we need to ask ourselves, do we do the same thing?
-Are we promoting Jesus with our words and actions, or seeking the attention for ourselves?
-There was this kid in grade school
-He was a little turd who really had a chip on his shoulders
-any time the teacher asked a question, he was always the first with his hand up
-This kid was so fast at doing his work, that he would sometimes actually have it completed BEFORE the teacher finished explaining the assignment
-Looking at him you could tell that he really relished the attention he got showing off how smart he was.
-One day the teacher handed out a pop-quiz
-Across the top, in bold print, it said...READ THROUGH THIS ENTIRE TEST BEFORE BEGINNING
-Well you could see this kid over there just scribbling away with his pencil just as fast as he could go determined to be the first one to finish the test and turn it in
-Well...when you got to the very last page of the test
-Written in bold across the bottom of the last page were these words….
-DON’T DO ANYTHING ELSE, JUST SIGN YOUR NAME ON THE TOP OF THE FIRST PAGE AND TURN IN !!
-OBVIOUSLY…..He wasn’t the first to turn in his test that day
-And That arrogant little kid….was ME !!
-Let’s get back to Haman
VS 12 Then Haman added, “And that’s not all! Queen Esther invited only me and the king himself to the banquet she prepared for us. And she has invited me to dine with her and the king again tomorrow!” 13 Then he added, “But this is all worth nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew just sitting there at the palace gate.”
-Even with everything going for him, all it takes to bring Haman down is Mordecai showing disrespect.
-But don’t we let this sort of thing happen to us as well, when we let something said by one of our co-workers,
-or getting cut off in traffic, or maybe even some slow service at McDonalds put us in a funk and ruin our whole day?
-Why does stuff like that matter to us?
VS 14 So Haman’s wife, Zeresh, and all his friends suggested, “Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it. When this is done, you can go on your merry way to the banquet with the king.” This pleased Haman, and he ordered the pole set up.
-WOW….this guy needs some new friends
-SERIOUSLY….this is the plan his wife and friends came up with, to cheer him up!
-Tomorrow morning, let’s make ourselves a Mordecai-kebob,
-They thought that watching Mordecai be slowly tortured to death would lift Haman’s mood.
-Are you beginning to see how Haman’s shallow moodiness and shameless self promotion, not only gets him in trouble but it seems to bring out the worst character flaws in those around him
-Contrast this with Esthers righteous behavior
-Not only did Esther make Haman feel important
-but she was able to draw favorable outcomes from even a megalomaniac like King Xerxes.
21:49 APPLICATION (ERIK)
-This book records the lives a few important people in Persia and their desire to shine.
-Xerxes wined and dined the masses to earn their favor.
-Esther started out trying to win a beauty contest.
-You know Mordecai loved the attention he got for not bowing to Haman.
-And next week we’ll see Haman’s shameless promotion self come back on him
-I want to close this morning by asking you two questions:
-In what ways am I guilty of self-promotion?
-We may not be vying for top positions of power/influence in our nation.
-But we seek self-glorification in other ways.
-Larry was humble enough to share a story about a Facebook experience he had.
-And frankly, I think that’s one of the greatest self-promotion tools we have.
-Look at me. See what I’m doing. Hear what I think. Like what I like.
-Here is an update. Here is my politics.
-Think I’m pretty with my carefully taken selfie. Think I’m smart.
-Think I’m macho. Think I’m clever.
-Facebook is one of the greatest self-promotion tools ever invented.
-But what if redeemed it? What if we made it a great tool to promote Jesus?
-In fact I challenged everyone on Facebook this morning, to not self-promote in any way for the next 30 days.
John 3:30 “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
-There are other culprits out there that are just as easy to identify.
-Bragging, in all forms is self-promotion.
-Boasting over people who’ve made a mistake.
-Tearing people down to make yourself look great.
-Doing anything that draws attention to yourself.
-Wanting people to notice us, be impressed by us.
-One of the greatest freedoms we have in Christ is that we are no longer bound up by the pressure to be god.
-When we lived for ourselves we were the center of the universe.
-It takes a lot of effort to live like that.
-When we gave our lives to Jesus we laid that idol down.
-And now we live to promote Jesus.
In what ways do we promote God and his causes?
Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
-When we talk to people...opportunity to promote Jesus.
-When interact with people...opportunity to promote Jesus.
-To be a blessing to people like Esther was.
-Maybe you’ve got an enemy...how could you bless and serve them?
-Maybe you’ve got a stubborn friend lost in their sins...how can you promote Jesus?
-Maybe you’re under conviction this morning, you know you’ve been living to promote yourself; living for your glory, your success...time to start living for Jesus.
-Come back next week, and we’ll see how Haman’s self promotion got the best of him.
