Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction**record**:
-On September 29th 1985, there was TV series that aired their first episode
-The show was created by Lee David Zlotoff, starring Richard Dean Anderson, about a blonde-haired secret agent with a mullet named — MacGyver
-And what made MacGyver unique, and made the show famous, was MacGyver’s ability to use any kind of materials to fix any kind of problem
-He can make a jetpack out of seatbelts and a powerwasher
-He can make tear gas out of vinegar and cayenne pepper
-He can even make an airplane out of bamboo, a wheelbarrow, and a lawnmower engine
-The ability of MacGyver to use just about anything to fit his purposes is what made people marvel at the show
-But tonight, we’re going to spend some time marveling at the wonderful things that God uses to Providentially accomplish His purposes
-Because in a much more incredible way, as we’re going to see tonight, God uses anything and everything to accomplish His purposes and work for the good of His people
“what kind of things does God use?”
-I’m glad you asked!
We’re going to look at that this evening
-So, we’re going to work our way through the account given to us by God
-And then we’re going to spend some time worshipping God and thanking Him for His incredible providence
-Sound good?
Background:
-So remember, this story is set while the Jews are in Exile
-The Babylonians were the ones who took the Kingdom of Judah into captivity
-But 70 years later, Cyrus of Medo-Persia conquers the the Babylonians and allows the Jews to return home
-This story is set in Shushan, the capital of the Medo-Persian Empire 50 years later
-And it focuses on Jews who did not return home for whatever reason
-King Ahasueras gets upset with his queen and removes her from her position
-He then gathers a lot of young virgins throughout the empire to the palace to see which one he likes the best, in order to make her the new queen
-Esther the Jew is the one chosen, but she does not reveal that she is a Jew
-5 years later, a wicked man named Haman is put in a position of power and influence with the king
-Esther’s uncle Mordecai, for whatever reason, refuses to bow and pay homage to Haman
-So Haman decides he doesn’t just want to kill Mordecai, he wants to kill all the Jews
-So he goes to the King and gets the King to sign off on a law that will make the genocide of the Jewish people legal on a certain day
-Mordecai and the Jews are devastated and go into mourning
-Mordecai tells Esther that she must go to the King and plead for the Jews
-She tells Mordecai that you can’t just go to the King whenever you want
-As a matter of fact, if you do, you’ll be killed . . .
unless the King holds out his golden scepter to you
-Mordecai tells Esther that if she doesn’t do this, deliverance will arise for the Jews
-But maybe it’s for such a time as this that she’s been placed in this position
-So Esther agrees that in 3 days, she will go in to the King
Scene 1 (5:1-8)
-The author wants us as readers to feel the tension
-The fate of Esther, and the fate of her people seems to hang in the balance
Vs.
1-2
-From the outside, it looks a lot like luck
-But for those of us who know the Lord, we see His hand of providence
-The King asks her to make any request and he’ll grant it!
-So Esther requests that the King and Haman come to a banquet she’s been preparing
-The King immediately has someone grab Haman and they go to the banquet
-At the banquet, the King once again wants to know what Esther really wants
Vs. 6-8
-The tension is rising, the suspense is building
-What will happen to Esther and to her people
Scene 2 (5:9-14)
-Now, after the banquet, Haman, is a great mood
-He’s on top of the world!
-Until . . .
Vs. 9
-So he goes home and gathers all his friends and his wife and begins to brag about all that he has and all that he has done and how he’s even been invited to this feast with Esther and the King
-but notice this:
Vs. 13
-No matter what Haman has, he’s incapable of enjoying it because Mordecai won’t pay homage to him
-One guy in all the kingdom who won’t give him his respect, and all the riches, money, power, family, and friends mean nothing to him
So his wife makes a suggestion:
Vs. 14
-So here’s the problem
-Esther is going to have a banquet the following afternoon or evening
-But Haman is having servants build the gallows that night
-And he’s planning on going in to the king first thing in the morning and asking permission to put Mordecai to death
-So even if Esther makes her request at the banquet, Mordecai will be dead
-And she probably won’t even realize it until sometime later on that day
-Mordecai’s life is a few hours from being ended, and neither Esther nor Mordecai knows it, nor is in a position to be able to stop it
So what’s going to happen?
-This verse right here, 6:1, is the turning point of the entire story
-The whole story pivots on this one verse right here
Scene 3 (6:1-14)
6:1
-Is that not the most unremarkable verse you’ve ever read?
-Think through some of our favorite accounts from Scripture:
-Think of how the fate of the children of Israel hangs in the balance, and God parts the Red Sea and lets them all walk through on dry ground
-Think of when the Midianites are oppressing Israel, and God miraculously uses Gideon and 300 men to gain victory
-Think of when the Assyrians are going to wreck Jerusalem and Hezekiah, and at the crucial moment, God sends an angel who kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night
-God throughout the history of the Jews has intervened in absolutely miraculous fashion
And in this account, in which God is not named, the entire account turns on the fact that a pagan king has trouble falling asleep one evening
-And so he gets his servants to read a record of what’s been going on in the kingdom
-I mean, this brings up a myriad of questions:
-did the king normally have a hard time sleeping?
-Or was this a very rare occasion?
-Was having the records read to him a normal thing?
-Why not a story?
-Was this his melatonin, or way of counting sheep?
-Why was that particular record read?
-Mordecai may have uncovered that plot up to 5 years earlier
-Why were earlier records not read, maybe from 10 years ago?
-Or why not more recent records, like within the past year?
-We don’t know the answer to any of these things
-But we do know that this saves the life of Mordecai
-And while it may seem to the average person that Mordecai is saved but an incredible stroke of good luck, we know this to be the providence of God
-And while the average person may think, “whew, Mordecai was this close to being dead”
-We know that God had planned this from eternity past
-God wasn’t sitting there like “oh no!
I didn’t see this coming that Haman would try to kill Mordecai this morning!
what am I going to do??
I have just a few hours to think of something.”
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