LIVING FOR GOD IN A GODLESS CULTURE
THE JOY OF OUR SALVATION
ESTHER 9:20-32
Preached tag team style with Pastor Justin Werber
INTRODUCTION (ERIK-5 MIN)
-What do you think of when you hear the word “celebration”?
-The last few weeks I typed “celebration” into Google to see what would come up.
-I was surprised by some of what I saw:
-This past week people celebrated “roof over your head day”. Didn’t know that was a holiday.
-Nigerian soccer fans celebrated getting into the world cup and 12 people died, 240 injured
-Found a headline saying “celebrate National Geography Week with your kids.”
(Can’t figure out why that one hasn’t caught on)
-150th celebration of the Gettysburg address
-Probably the most moving thing I found was 100 kidney transplant recipients and their donors got together to celebrate being alive!
-What do you celebrate? What brings you so much joy that you want to celebrate?
-Obviously we’re heading into the holiday so we think Christmas.
-But outside the thing that the calendar tells you to celebrate...what do you want to celebrate?
-What causes you to get so excited that you want to share it with everyone you meet?
-What good things have happened in your life that are so good that you don’t want to forget?
-That’s what we’ll discuss today as we end our series in the book of Esther chapter 9.
-Justin Werber is with me…
• Haman was killed.
• Esther and Mordecai were honored.
• The Jews were vindicated and their enemies were destroyed.
-It doesn’t take much imagination to figure what kind of mood they were in.
-They were beyond happy! They were thrilled! Elated! Overjoyed!
-They had just been saved! 15 million people saved.
-Not surprisingly they wanted to celebrate the joy of their salvation!
-They wanted to party like it was 499 B.C. and they had a good reason to.
-They’d been saved! They were heading for destruction and now they’re alive and overjoyed!
-But they didn’t just want to celebrate, they wanted to commemorate!
-And so they took some very deliberate steps to make sure that they would never forget the day of their salvation.
ESTHER 9:20-22 (JUSTIN-7 MIN)
-vs 20 says
VS 20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to the Jews near and far, throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes, 21 calling on them to celebrate an annual festival on these two days. 22 He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy.
-The Jews had won an amazing victory because of God’s mercy, so Mordecai called the Jews to celebrate the salvation they received.
-Imagine with me:
-Before their salvation, they were:
-scared, people probably didn’t even want to leave their homes for fear of the unknown.
-there were tears of sorrow, everywhere you looked you saw red eyes and damp sleeves.
-the Jews were fearful for their children, their children were going to die, and they had nothing they could do. How would that make you feel? Can you imagine?
-they might have been trying to find a place to hide, they knew they were going to die, but if they could just hide they might be able to survive...
-they might have tried to leave town...if they left town maybe they could have escaped the genocide that was going to happen
-After they received their salvation:
-they were overwhelmed with joy
-it was a very emotional time, one moment everyone is scared for their lives, and next they are being told that they have been saved…
-they probably sang songs, praising God for everything that had happened to them.
-I can picture them dancing in the streets
-the children were probably able to play without fear of who was around them.
-I’m sure there was there was laughter
-and tears of joy
-The Jews in Persia were overjoyed by their salvation!
-How would you expect a bunch of religious Jews to celebrate? (sell this better)
-These are the guys with long beards, robes, who were known for the strict laws they followed and were soo religious that they even abstained from eating bacon.
-For some reason in my head I picture them gathering together making sacrifices, singing religious songs, and reading long boring scrolls.
-But that’s not what did they did to celebrate!
-The Jews celebrated in style! They ate tons of food, flat bread, matzo balls, lamb, most likely medium rare. They probably made a Kugel! (a Jewish pudding/casserole similar to a pie)
-It says they gave food to friends...probably in casserole dishes.
-They gave presents to the poor...usually this was money that they would give to people, or donate to a charity that they supported.
-They were so joyful that they couldn’t contain it. It was pouring out of them in the form of worship and generosity.
-They were so blessed that they couldn’t help but bless those around them.
-But most of all, they continued to celebrate for two days every year.
-They were overjoyed in their salvation!
-Do you have the joy of your salvation?
-Think back to the time that you gave your life to Christ, did you celebrate? What about today? Is that party over? Is that joy all gone?
-I remember when I got baptized, it was October 5, 2008. I remember being baptized by Kenny Beckman, 91 at the time. He said being baptized was a special time when heaven and earth meet. On that day I was publically announcing, in front of my church family, that I believed in Christ and accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. I loved looking out into the audience and seeing all the people clapping and being excited. It was even cooler to know that even the angels in heaven were doing the same. Afterward, my parents, grandparents, and all my friends gathered together in a very holy place known as Mongolian Grill to celebrate.
-Many of you have similar stories...but does the joy of our salvation end the next day?
-The Jews wanted to….
-always remember their salvation
-remember the reason for their joy
-celebrated every year to remember
-What was that day like when you gave your life to Christ?
-Did you celebrate?
-was there lots of food?
-Did you have any family and friends?
-Did you go to Mongolian?
-What if we still celebrated the day of our salvation? What if we made it an annual event like the Jews?
-I’m not saying presents, or a potluck, or even friends and family necessarily...
-But do we celebrate at all? Shouldn’t we still be celebrating the joy we have in Christ?
-Shouldn’t we still be celebrating what Christ has done for us?
Psalm 5:11 “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever.
Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy.”
-God has given us a wonderful gift of salvation. It brings us great joy when we receive it, but when life gets going, sometimes our joy can fade. Does God give us a joy that is only temporary though, or does He have something better in store for us that we should continually remember?
ESTHER 9:23-27 (ERIK-7 MIN)
-When you study the Old Testament people you find that remembering was a big deal.
-You can find a couple of easy examples with a quick glance:
• Pile of rocks called Ebenezer to remember a military victory.
• The feast of Tabernacles to remember their time living in tents in the wilderness.
• The Passover celebration to remember when the angel of death passed them over
• They even celebrated Jubilee which was a year off every 49 years! That’d be cool.
-Almost all cultures and religions have special days of remembrance:
-We Christians have Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas!
-What’s interesting about the Jewish holy days is that they were instituted by God.
-With several of these holy days God said, “don’t forget” or “remember”
-Don’t forget what? Remember what?
-Who our God is and all that he has done for us! You see...
-The Persian Jews knew their joy would fade.
-They knew it because of the Scripture, and because of human experience.
-So how did they react to God’s providence in Esther? They set up a holy day of remembrance!
VS 23 So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom. 24 Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted to crush and destroy them on the date determined by casting lots (the lots were called purim). 25 But when Esther came before the king, he issued a decree causing Haman’s evil plot to backfire, and Haman and his sons were impaled on a sharpened pole. 26 That is why this celebration is called Purim, because it is the ancient word for casting lots. So because of Mordecai’s letter and because of what they had experienced, 27 the Jews throughout the realm agreed to inaugurate this tradition and to pass it on to their descendants and to all who became Jews. They declared they would never fail to celebrate these two prescribed days at the appointed time each year.
-In their moment of joy they said we don’t want to lose this joy.
-So they made it an annual custom!
-Verse 26 they gave it a great sounding title “Purim” to recall the casting of lots and the role that the dice played in their situation.
-In verse 27 they said we are going to pass this on to their descendants! Our kids and grandkids
-So they set a time on their calendar, reserved two full days, made it an annual holiday.
-They didn’t ever want to forget what God had done.
-Now, I don’t want to cause any trouble this morning but…
-Has anyone here ever forgotten your anniversary? Valentine’s Day?
-Anyone ever forgotten Mother’s Day? Father’s Day? Talk like a Pirate day? (Sept 19th)
-Anyone ever forgotten someone special’s birthday?
-Anyone wish people would forget your birthday?
-What about the day your first found faith?
-What about the day you pledged your life to Christ in the water of baptism?
-Does any here even remember the day you were saved? Or has that also been forgotten?
-It’s not a big deal. It’s just the day you crossed from death to life.
-It’s just the day we were rescued from the fires of hell and guaranteed eternal life through Jesus Christ our Savior?
-I’m sure it’s on your calendar. I’m sure you celebrate it every year!
-I’m sure you take time off work to celebrate your salvation! Not usually the case.
-Truthfully, a couple weeks, a couple of months, a couple of years after being saved, the memory is almost gone and the joy starts to fade. Why is that?
-I had to call my twin sister to figure out when I was baptized! January 18th, 1987
-Why does the joy of our salvation fade at times?
-Even King David cried out to God saying, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation….” Ps 51:12
-Everyone will feel this way at times.
-You ask people “how their walk with God is” and they say “not good.”
-They say, “I don’t feel close to God right now.” Many in this room feel that way today.
-Joyless. Dreary. Saved but sad. Redeemed but indifferent.
-Always at war or always at work. Dominate...never stop to appreciate.
-Sometimes our joy fades because we’re struggling with sin.
-Sometimes our joy fades because we are preoccupied...too busy to give it much thought.
-Sometimes there is no joy because there is just no joy.
-But I suspect that sometimes our joy fades because we don’t take the time to remember.
-It’s like couples who don’t take time on their anniversary to remember.
-To ask that all important question, “what were we thinking?” (JK)
-To remember how you met. To remember falling in love.
-To celebrate another year of honoring your commitment and keeping your word to God.
-It’s important to say, “I love you, I’m so glad I married you, and I’d do it all over again.”
-To remember those feelings, those commitments, those promises...and the overwhelming joy of your wedding day!
-The simple act of remembering can help energize a marriage and breath new life and new joy...to make sure that the joy in your marriage isn’t lost.
-That’s why many Christians have a joyless faith just a short while after finding Christ.
-They never stop to remember!
-There was a time when the message of Jesus moved you us to tears.
-When the fact of our salvation filled us with joy.
-But when was the last time you stopped to thank God for your salvation?
-When was the last time you really thought back to remember who you were before Christ?
-When was the last time you turned your thoughts toward heaven to really remember. I am saved! I will rise with Christ on the day of his return and live forever in heaven!
-If anyone on the planet should be joyful over something, it’s us!
-Do you take joy in your salvation? How do we take joy in our salvation?
-How do we make sure that we never forget?
ESTHER 9:28-30 (JUSTIN-7 MIN)
VS 28 These days would be remembered and kept from generation to generation and celebrated by every family throughout the provinces and cities of the empire. This Festival of Purim would never cease to be celebrated among the Jews, nor would the memory of what happened ever die out among their descendants.29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote another letter putting the queen’s full authority behind Mordecai’s letter to establish the Festival of Purim. 30 Letters wishing peace and security were sent to the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of the empire of Xerxes.
-Not only did they remember their salvation, but they took some very deliberate steps to insure that no one would ever forget!
-They wanted this to be remembered for generations...and can I point out that it is remembered...we’re talking about it this morning!
-And Jews are still celebrating it today!
-They sent out announcements, letters, messengers...all to insure the celebration of their salvation would never cease to be celebrated!
-The Jews were determined to stay joyful about their salvation.
-As Erik has talked about, Jews cared about remembering things of their past. It was important to them. They never wanted to forget what was done for them, so every family celebrates Purim every year.
-On the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar.
-On this day Jews read the “Megillah” or Book of Esther as we know it
-The Jews blot out Haman’s name or boo him
-They cheer every time they hear Esther’s name even
-They gives gifts of food or money to each other
-They even eat PASTRIES!!! Who doesn’t like that?(Erik: Praise be to God! and pass me the brownies!)
-They knew their lives were on the line, and they never wanted to stop being thankful to God for saving them from death.
-How do we stay excited about our salvation?
-We have to be realistic about these things. We won’t always be super joyful, won’t always live on the mountain top
-It was interesting this summer to get to go to some of the camps with the students.
I was able to see in them a passion for Christ that I had never seen before. They were making commitments to follow Christ and to serve Him over this next school year and the rest of their lives. Some of them were so excited that they said that they were going to invite all their friends to youth group this next year. Others were so excited that they made commitments like only drink water for a whole year to remind them of people in Zambia who have no clean drinking water. It was interesting to see students crying and saying how close they felt to Christ at these camps, but I noticed when some of them got home, they were hit with “ordinary life”, and were discouraged. Some were passionate even when they got home, but have since started to lose that passion they had while they were at camp. One might say they were having a “Mountain Top” experience, but life now has started to work them back down to the base of the mountain.
-students don’t always realize that they can’t live on the mountain top
-Like the students, we will have days when it is hard to remember joy of our salvation
-BUT what are some ways that we can remember our salvation?
-It may be easier that you suspect. What if I told you that you already have natural opportunities every day, every week, every year that highlight all that we have in Christ.
-When we read God’s Word...just this week I was reading in Matthew about how Christ calls us to serve those around us. God’s Word is the story of God’s plan to save people from their sins. Daily opportunity to remember...
-we can gather for worship with other believers...we challenge you to come to church every Sunday unless you are sick or out of town. Being with each other reminds us of why we are Christians. That’s a weekly opportunity...
-we can take communion to remember what Christ has done for us. We take the juice to remember Christ’s blood that was spilled for us. We take the bread to remember Christ’s body that was broken for us. Christ didn’t have to do that for us, but He did to save us. That’s a weekly opportunity
-we can gather together for Life2Life groups...they have different people, different ages, but one thing in common...we’re saved!
-we can celebrate Christmas and Easter (don’t underestimate these things, these are important days that Christ made an impact in the world) He was born on Christmas, and raised from the dead on Easter. That’s a yearly opportunity...
-What if we celebrated the day we born again though?
-What would that look like?
-More than anything, we need to find ways to remember what was done for us.
-We were all going to die and suffer the consequences of our sins, shouldn’t we be excited knowing that Christ has given us new life, just as the Jews received new life?
-We need to share our story with others. Nothing helps us remember what has happened to us more than having to share with others what Christ has done for us.
-The Jews committed themselves to remembering...They didn’t want to ever forget their salvation. It was so important to them that they shared with their family, friends, and everyone around them the importance of what was done for them.
-All these things we do are little ways to remind us of the joy we have in our salvation.
-To remind us that we can be joyful.
ESTHER 9:31-32-(ERIK 5 MIN)
-Don’t confuse joy with happiness. Happiness comes and goes.
-Circumstances determine whether I’m happy.
-Who I’m with can make me happy.
-What I’m doing can make me happy.
-A good meal. A good laugh. A sunny day can make me happy.
-But an unkind word or something stressful can send that happiness packing.
-When the Ducks lose I’m unhappy. Another person can change that happiness in an instant.
-We can be happy one minute and unhappy the next.
-That’s where joy distinguishes itself. For Christians, joy isn’t just an emotion.
-Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. That means the joy of our salvation, the joy we have in Christ, is lasting.
-When does the Spirit leave us? never. When is our salvation compromised? Never. Not while we’re walking with Jesus. Our joy is constant because the source of our joy is constant.
-That doesn’t mean we always have a smile on our face. It doesn’t mean we’re silly and laughing all the time. But even when we’re unhappy because of life’s circumstances, we have a joy that is unshakable.
VS 31 These letters established the Festival of Purim—an annual celebration of these days at the appointed time, decreed by both Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther. (The people decided to observe this festival, just as they had decided for themselves and their descendants to establish the times of fasting and mourning.) 32 So the command of Esther confirmed the practices of Purim, and it was all written down in the records.
-This is an attitude that we can carry everway we go.
-Do you see that the people decided to keep the festival?
-They made a decision to remember their salvation.
-I realize the situation is different, the people are different, but the principal remains.
We have to decide to be joyful!
-When we face injustice! Decide to be joyful.
-When we struggle with sickness and death. Decide to be joyful.
-In moments of loss we have one thing that will never be lost. Salvation.
-When things are taken from us...we have something that’ll never be taken. Salvation.
-When people fail us, betray us, or let us down...I’ve still got Jesus.
-When enemies tease us, taunt us, and oppose us….we still know we’re saved.
-In the worst moments of our lives we can say “yeah, but at least I’m saved.”
-In the best moments of our lives we can say…“and...I’m saved!”
-When life on earth gets tough, we have a home in heaven that we look forward to!
-Philippians 4:4, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”
-We have a joy in our salvation that cannot be taken, stolen, or diminished in any way.
-We have a joy that must not be cheapened, traded, or neglected.
-We have a treasure that will not be fade, decay, or fade away.
-And we have it all because of Jesus Christ.
