Esther - A Woman Of Humility And Wisdom
The Queen Of Beauty And Courage
Esther - A Woman Of Humility And Wisdom
The Queen Of Beauty And Courage
(The Book Of Esther)
THE Story Chapter 20
Sunday March 10, 2019
Thank you for joining us today as we continue with The Story. This week we are looking at chapter 20 The Queen Of Beauty And Courage, which is part of our fourth mini-series, God Is Speaking, Are You Listening. I’ve titled today’s message – Esther – A Woman Of Humility And Wisdom.
If you have missed any of the previous sermons in this series we encourage you to listen online at calvarycommunity.ca or order a CD copy at the Connecting Point or church office.
As in past Sundays, I encourage you to take a thought from today’s teaching, apply it to your life, and share it with others. And you might be asked to do that at the end of today’s sermon so be prepared!
Before we proceed just raise your hand if you are continuing to follow us through a daily reading of The Story. Great! If you aren’t, it’s still not too late to join us in our daily reading of this resource. Copies of The Story are still available at the Connecting Point today.
If you’re not yet in a group it’s still not too late to join one. Just come and see me afterward or contact me however and we can still fit you into one of our 17 The Story groups.
BTW The Story book contains readings from The Bible and we do hope that as a result of this series you will be inspired to further delve into the Word of God.
As we continue today I want to give us an idea where we are in chronological sequence of The Story.
http://www.thestory.com/resource-library/weekend-services/
TheStory_Timeline reduced.pdf
Before we go further I want to ask you a question. Is there a specific piece of wisdom that you have applied to your life? (x2) If so, what was it, and what difference did it make in your life? (X2)
To give you a moment to think, here is my example: At a weekend conference I didn’t connect at all with the only speaker for that event. In exasperation I prayed and said to God, “If you can give me one item of wisdom, I will consider that worth the cost of the conference and will happily go home. And shortly after that the presenter said, “Just remember, you are not God.” (2X)
And that is what I needed to hear, as I was taking on too much responsibility as a pastor to make everything work as I thought it ought to. And so I went home that evening thanking God and I didn’t have to go back the next day! And I continue to remind myself to this day that I am not God!
So is there a specific piece of wisdom that you have applied to your life? If so, what was it, and what difference did it make in your life? Now please turn to someone near to you and for one minute each share. Go ahead.
Briefly, what were some of your answers. Shout it out.
And so today, The Story is your story. The Story is my story. But most of all, The Story is the greatest story ever told. This is God’s story. We have the Upper Story which is God’s story. The Lower Story is Humanity’s story. And then there is My Story – your story and mine.
And now today we come to another of the lesser known individuals in The Bible, that of Esther. How many of you know her story?
Let’s watch this video summary of her story. (7 minutes)
Story of Esther From Bible / Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qnJxZIVLOU
And so a happy ending to a remarkable story full of twists and turns and plots and deception, which resulted in ultimate victory for God’s people.
A key verse illustrating a key element of this story is found in Proverbs 15:33 (NIV)
Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.
To fear the Lord means to highly respect, to deeply honor, to hold in esteem. It’s somewhat like, but better than that, what you experience when you see a police car in your rear view mirror.
And while we can glean a number of insights from the story of Esther and apply them to our own lives, I want today to focus on one, yes just one.
Our Key Thought: Humility and wisdom go together hand in hand. (2X)
I now want to define these two important terms:
A simple definition of humility is a personal dependence on God and respect for other persons. (2X)
A simple definition of wisdom is the God-given ability to judge or discern correctly and to follow the best course of action. (2X)
And we’re going to see in today’s message how true that was in the Book of Esther, and how true it can be for us, for you, for me.
In the beginning of this story King Xerxes has a massive weeklong party for everyone in Susa, his capital city. On the seventh day, being basically drunk, he commands that his wife Queen Vashti display her beauty to everyone as she was apparently lovely. But she refuses. And of course the king is embarrassed to say the least. Actually he is furious and so decides to depose her as queen.
When the wine wears off and the king’s anger subsides, he remembers what he did and now he has no queen! So nothing better than a kingdom wide beauty contest to find a replacement!
Now among the hopeful contestants was a young woman by the name of Esther. She was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai. And she was beautiful!
Now you need to understand, this wasn’t voluntary. This contest was by obligation and any woman chosen had to participate whether she liked it or not. So Esther and other women were assigned to the king’s palace and entrusted to the care of someone named Hegai who was in charge of the harem.
Now notice, it says she pleased him and won his favor. He immediately provided her with beauty treatments, special food, female attendants, and she was moved into the best place in the harem. It would certainly seem that something about her caught the attention of Hegai. I would suspect he was a wise man and he noticed that there was something more beautiful about Esther than the others, and it wasn’t just skin deep.
I believe he saw a deep peace, an abiding calm, a humility and wisdom that he didn’t see in the other women, some who perhaps were more physically beautiful than Esther. Nonetheless something about her caused Esther to be treated with favor above all the others.
BTW, is there something different about you that causes others to take notice of you. The way you interact with them, the way you talk to them, the way you treat them? The respect you show others, the things you say or don’t say, the kindnesses you show rather than the harshness of others. Whether it is in your home, your school, your workplace, or wherever, is there something different about you, that causes other to take notice.
As it says in Colossians 3:12, Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Is that true of you? I hope so.
Interestingly, Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, had forbidden her to reveal her nationality and family background. Why would that be? What was so important that she needed to hide her cultural and religious identity? The reason is simple. Throughout the centuries the Jewish people have often been despised and persecuted wherever they have lived. And I expect Persia was no different, and being a Jew was not a favored position in the kingdom. At least not yet.
And so Esther, who may have been rightly proud of her heritage, demonstrated a humble spirit, a humility, which morphed into wisdom as she remained silent about something so core to who she was as a person. And when you think about it, how many of us in various ways are proud of our heritage, our background, whether it be from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, or from wherever. I think many of us would find it a challenge to say nothing of where our ancestors have come with their rich diversity.
Esther completed her twelve months of beauty treatments and prepared to meet the king. It says in the scriptures that anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. When her turn came to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s harem caretaker suggested again showing wisdom and humility. As it says, Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. Quite a commendation! Further we are told the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, she won his favor and approval. And so she became queen.
Moving on we see that that Mordecai overhears two of the king’s guards plotting King Xerxes assassination. Mordecai reported their plan and saved the king’s life. And what was Mordecai’s initial reward? Well, nothing! Absolutely nothing. Now you would think he would have expected a medal from the king, financial reward, a government position, but no, Mordecai got nothing for his efforts.
What did he do about that? Nothing. He left that matter in God’s hands. In humility he had chosen wisdom, trusting God to address the matter in due time. And in due time that happened because Mordecai was humble enough, he trusted God enough, he was wise enough to know that his good deed would at the right time and the right way be rewarded by the king. And it was.
And so as we’re going to see, Humility and wisdom go together hand in hand.
As the story goes after these events, King Xerxes honored a man named Haman elevating him to second in command of the kingdom. And all who met him would kneel down and honor him, but not Mordecai. That infuriated Haman. And upon hearing that Mordecai was also a Jew, he decided to kill not only him, but all the Jews in the kingdom.
And so Haman engineered a plot where he convinced the king that the Jews were different from other people in the kingdom, did not obey the king’s laws, and that it was in the king’s best interest to not tolerate them. In fact it would be better if they were annihilated.
So the king agreed with his trusted advisor. A royal decree was then dispatched through the kingdom that on a certain date the people were ordered to destroy, kill, and wipe out all the Jews, young and old, men, women and children, and to plunder their goods.
When Mordecai found out, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth along with ashes and went out into the city wailing loudly and bitterly. Likewise there was also great mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping, and wailing with many laying in sackcloth and ashes.
An edict from the king himself has gone out to destroy the Jews. Mordecai knew it was no veiled threat; the lives of God’s people were in grave danger.
And so Esther was alerted to this situation. But what could she do? Anyone who approached the king without being summoned could be put to death. The only exception would be for the king to extend his gold scepter to spare their life, but Esther hadn’t seen the king in thirty days.
Then Mordecai tells her, “Do not think that because your are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.” And he concludes with the words, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to the royal position for such a time as this.” meaning to save God’s people from destruction.
What did Esther do? Did she immediately run to the king to alert him of this situation? No, in humility, and no doubt fear too, she carefully considered the words of Mordecai, telling her of this impending danger and its implication not only for the Jewish people, but for Esther herself, even though she was the queen.
God placed Esther in the right place at the right time to carry out his will and his plan to save his people. Now the wisdom to know how to do it.
BTW you may have not noticed it, but God’s name is never mentioned in this book, yet He is very evident behind the scenes. Someone has said that a “coincidence” is simply a time where God has chosen to act anonymously.
There are no coincidences with God! Life is filled with appointments God has waiting for us. He is at work in the intricate weavings of our fragile human decisions. It is like a tapestry that on the reverse looks like a jumble of colors but yet when we turn it over it is a beautiful picture.
Even though His name is absent from the Book of Esther, God is touching life in every scene. And God has chosen to work out His plan today through people like you and me. Behind every circumstance we face is a greater purpose than we can see at the moment. It’s an opportunity to exercise humility and wisdom.
God has put you where you are, not simply for you to enjoy the benefits of your position, or to just tolerate your job, or to just read a magazine when you’re waiting for an appointment. Look around and see the people that He has placed in your life for such a time as this.
Take the time to humble yourself by acknowledging your dependence on God in your work situation seeking to approach your relationships with wisdom to become an effective instrument, His servant to serve others.
Just because you don’t know what to do, doesn’t mean You cannot do anything or are helpless. Don’t take the easy way out. Engage with God through humbly praying for and seeking wisdom and then acting on it.
A number of years ago I was given a book, “Muslims, Christians, and Jesus.” At the time I knew no Muslim people and didn’t think there were many in our community. After reading this book highlighting the story of a Christian man who loved Muslim people, I was challenged to do what Jesus said, that is to love others as myself, and as The Bible says to love my enemies even though I didn’t know a single Muslim person.
And so I began a journey of a lifetime getting to know their faith, their culture, and so on. And in the process developing a number of wonderful relationships such that I been given the privilege to share in various ways the love of Jesus Christ with a number of these precious people who call me their friend.
As Christians we too often think there is nothing we can do in various situations, yet there is so much we can do if we are willing to move out of our comfort zone, walking in humility which will often lead us out of our comfort zone and into God’s comfort zone for us.
Yes, God has us, each one of us, in the right place at the right time to serve him, and bring about the fulfillment of his will. It’s not coincidental that you work where you do. It’s not fate that you live in the neighborhood you live in.
Your lives, your relationships, your jobs, your friends, your everything, are not an accident. It’s God’s providence because He has something for you to do. God has placed you where you’re at, to be an influence for him in the lives of the people with whom you come in contact, and that is why humility and wisdom must come together hand in hand if you want to be an effective agent of change.
And it’s no accident that you’re here this morning at this time. God has something for you today. God wants something of you today. He wants you - your will, your emotions, your mind. He wants you to say yes to him. And as we say yes to God, he is going to use us, every one of us, to accomplish his purpose in us and through us in the lives of others.
It says in Romans 5:6 NIV that “… at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
As so similarly in the wisdom of God, He put Jesus Christ who in humility submitted to be in the right place at the right time to serve Him and to accomplish his will even though Jesus in his humanity would have preferred otherwise for he said in Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
And so we have the assurance that God will use us where we’re at as long as we’re living for him, and if I may say, willing to die for him too. I want to assure you that if you are living for God, He is with you and he has something for you to do for his kingdom.
With those thoughts, we are once again reminded that, and say and do it with me, Humility and wisdom go together hand in hand.
Getting back to the text, Esther says to Mordecai, “Gather together all the Jews in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.
Esther was not under any illusion as to the gravity of the situation and the danger to her life, let alone the Jewish people. She was humble enough to realise she could not avert this disaster through her own ability, beauty, intellect, position, or whatever. She needed divine intervention. She needed godly wisdom that was certainly beyond her. And so she along with Mordecai and the Jews of Susa humbled themselves.
How often do we decide to act without humbly seeking God’s wisdom first, and then we wonder why we are not heard or successful?
As it says in James 4:10, Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. (NLT)
And fasting has a powerful way of humbling us as we realize that we don’t have what it takes to do what is needed, especially so in various crises of life. And I know many of you, myself included, have stories of how God used our, yours and my fasting as not only a means to develop humility in us, but to grant the needed wisdom in decisions that we have needed to make, and things that needed to occur.
In this process there were many things Esther would have considered and I have asked my wife Mandy to share some of her thoughts on this.
Now after this period of fasting, of humbling herself and seeking God’s intervention, His wisdom in this matter, Esther approaches the king not knowing if she will live or die when she enters his presence. No doubt to her relief he extends his sceptre and asks what is her request, even up to half of his kingdom.
And in humility and wisdom she asks not for that, rather for nothing other than the privilege of hosting the king and wicked Haman for a banquet. The king gladly accepts along with Haman, no doubt wondering what is up, and so they enjoy a banquet together. Then she invites them to a second banquet the following evening.
That night, unable to sleep the king ordered a book, the record of his reign to be read to him, no doubt to help him sleep. But instead of sleeping, he is reminded that Mordecai had exposed an assassination attempt by the king’s guards. And what was Mordecai’s reward for his loyalty? Well nothing, at least that far.
So King Xerxes orders that Mordecai be publicly honored and who do you thing is tasked to do that? Yes Mordecai’s mortal enemy Haman. And so Haman is publicly shamed as he leads Mordecai around the city acknowledging the king’s honoring of Mordecai. Wow, talk about a reversal of roles. And it only gets worse!
As it says in Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. NIV
So Esther, Haman, and King Xerxes come together for a second banquet and the king again asks what her request is. This time she answers - her life and that of her people as they have been destined for destruction, slaughter, and annihilation. The king demands to know who would do such a thing. Esther responds – the adversary and enemy is this vile Haman! In a rage the king orders Haman be executed. Following this Mordecai is elevated to Haman’s former status and the challenge is how to reverse the king’s decree for the destruction of the Jewish people as no order by him can be undone.
In a stroke of brilliance, of wisdom, a further decree is announced providing for the Jewish people to protect themselves and attack their enemies.
And so that happens and everyone lives happily ever after. Well not exactly, but the Jews for a time experience relief from their remaining enemies in the kingdom.
And so we see that because of Esther and Mordecai’s humbling of themselves in fasting, honoring the king, and seeking divine intervention, they received wisdom which led to their honor, and together were used of God to bring deliverance to the Jewish people of that time.
As we come near to the end of today’s presentation, let’s watch this short video reminding us of this story.
Story of Esther From Bible / Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qnJxZIVLOU
In closing I would like to share this personal story with you.
Many years ago now, before I became a follower of Jesus, a Christian, I had a decision to make and wasn’t sure what to do. In my very limited wisdom I as a church goer said to God who I believed in vaguely, “Please give me wisdom.” And this was with regards to a relationship I was involved in with a young woman.”
In an instant I had the answer. But the problem was, I didn’t like the answer I received. And so because of my lack of humility, my arrogance and pride, I rejected that wisdom and made a decision I later regretted. Fast forward one month, I become a Christian and quickly realize I made the wrong decision, but it’s too late to change what happened.
If you have made decisions you now know were wrong, or are considering decisions you need to make, it is never too late to call out to God asking for both the humility and the wisdom to make the right decision whatever that may be and whatever the consequences.
Remember and let’s say it and do it together, Humility and wisdom go together hand in hand!
