Esther: A Call for Courage
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Church history tells the story of a man named Ignatius. He was an early church father and is said to have been a disciple of the Apostle John. He served an important role in some of the early churches in the second century but is known as the Bishop in Antioch. He came under persecution in Ephesus and wrote a letter to the Ephesians concerning his circumstance.
Chapter IV.-Allow Me to Fall a Prey to the Wild Beasts.
I write to the Churches, and impress on them all, that I shall willingly die for God, unless you hinder me. I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen asleep [in death], I may be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice [to God]. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man: they were free, while I am, even until now, a servant. But when I suffer, I shall be the freed-man of Jesus, and shall rise again emancipated in Him. And now, being a prisoner, I learn not to desire anything worldly or vain.
Chapter V.-I Desire to Die.
From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts, both by land and sea, both by night and day, being bound to ten leopards, I mean a band of soldiers, who, even when they receive benefits, show themselves all the worse. But I am the more instructed by their injuries [to act as a disciple of Christ]; "yet am I not thereby justified." May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for me; and I pray they may be found eager to rush upon me, which also I will entice to devour me speedily, and not deal with me as with some, whom, out of fear, they have not touched. But if they be unwilling to assail me, I will compel them to do so. Pardon me [in this]: I know what is for my benefit. Now I begin to be a disciple. And let no one, of things visible or invisible, envy me that I should attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.
Chapter VI.-By Death I Shall Attain True Life.
All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. "For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul? " Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do not ye give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. If any one has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.
I love the story and testimony of Ignatius because it is of a man who never walked with Jesus but had the faith and boldness to die for Him. He did not want to be spared his circumstance but stood firm knowing that in dying for his faith he would be testifying to the goodness of God and that more would come to know Jesus through his wittness.
Tonight as we look closer at the story of Esther we will see that there is a call for us to have courage in our faith. Following Jesus will put us into situations that require boldness and perseverance of faith. They are situations too big for us to endure other than by the grace and power of Jesus. I don’t believe anything happens accidentally. Instead, God is working in and through our circumstances to soverienly work even the worst of situations for good.
Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 25 that is helpful to us in setting the tone for us in our study.
“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
“Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.
“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them.
“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We live in a time that desperately needs the Gospel. A time that needs Christian to take a stand on the truth in love and to opperate in courage and boldness rather than fear. This parable talks about a master who entrusts his wealth to some of his servants. Some invest and earn a profit while one of the servants hides the talent out of fear of his master. God has entrusted to us the message of the Gospel and has made us to be ambassadors of reconciliation to a lost world that desperately needs the messagage of Jesus. To take that and then to hide it out of fear would be a waste. This Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all people and it is something we should never be ashamed to share.
I think for all of us there are all kinds of excuses we make for why we aren’t more vocal about our faith but I think for most of us the number one reason is fear. We are afraid of what people think of us, we are afraid of not knowing enough or of looking stupid. We can be afraid of all kinds of things, but God is calling us to courage knowing that He has done the work. By God’s grace Christ has accomplished the work and we are called to represent that with boldness.
For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through athe laying on of my hands.
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own bpurpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.
Paul encourages Timothy that even though this Gospel message has led Paul to be imprissoned He still is unashamed of what Christ has done. Paul is in chains for this message but he continues in boldness. I think for Timothy it was important to see that example of faith. Timothy was ministering in the same context that had been hostile to Paul years before. To continue down this path of faithfulness would likely cost Timothy greatly, yet in spite of it, Paul encourages Timothy to press on. If there is any cause worth suffering it is that of Jesus and His Gospel.
Where does a courage like this come from? It came from wittnessing the faithfulness time after time again. Paul had endured severe hardships. He was beaten, stoned, imprissoned, shipwrecked, all for the sake of the Gospel. He had a confidence not rooted in himself and his abilities but in God who protected him in all those situations. For the Christian, courage comes from our faith. We have boldness because we know whom we serve. Jesus love is the thing that compels us forward. When we our frozen in fear it is God’s perfect love that drives out fear.
Who do you put your trust in?
If I am honest, I tend to try and do everything in my own strength. I get burnt out and frustrated, and it’s when I come to the end of myself that I realize I desperately need God. I can’t do this life on my own. When I put my trust in myself I can do little.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with bdifficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
We have courage because it is in our weakness that God’s power is perfected in us. When we are solely trusting in God we are strong.
The first two chapters of Esther serve as an introduction to a conflict that really doesn’t come up until about seven years after Esther is taken from her home to be made queen in Persia. You can imagine the long nights and difficult conversations Esther and Mordecai must have had. What is God doing? Why is this happening? It is hard to wait patiently on the Lord when you are in a difficult situation, when everything around you is not the way you think it should be, yet, Esther waited patiently to see how the Lord would use her. What was the conflict Esther must overcome? Enter Ahasuerus’ right hand man and chief antagonist of our story: Haman.
Haman hated the jews but most of all he hated Mordecai.
After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and aadvanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him.
All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.
Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the king’s command?”
Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.
But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.
Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
“If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”
Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
The king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”
Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.
A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day.
The couriers went out impelled by the king’s command while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion.
After a year of conspireing, Haman’s plot was in effect. He convinced Ahasuerus to issue a decree concerning the house of Israel, that all those who were under the rule of the king would be put to death. This isn’t just about the Jews in Susa. This includes every Israelite in the empire. Haman intended to wipe the people of God off the face of the earth. This decree spread quickly throughout the empire and while Susa was thrown into chaos and confussion Haman and the king sat down for a drink. I love the book of Esther. You can feel the weight of what is going on. The gravity and the drama of their situation. The stage is set and the stakes couldn’t be higher. You can almost see the devious smile Haman has on his face while he sips his glass and as people weep and cry openly outside the palace gates. In the next chapter we get to see some of the turmoil that occurs.
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
What proceeds next is some correspondance between Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai quickly realizes that if the Jews want to survive their only hope is for Esther to make an appeal before the king. The only problem is that to go before the king unsummoned was cause for death and the king hadn’t called for Esther in thirty days.
Esther had every reason to fear Ahasuerus. He was an irrational man who had already disposed of at least one wife already. He was a man who had just survived an assassination attempt and would likely be unwelcoming to uninvited visitors. Not only that, but Haman, his right hand man, hated Esther’s people, especially her cousin Mordecai. She had every reason to hide. Nobody in the palace knew who her family was, there was a chance she might survive this ordeal, but it would come at the cost of her family, her culture, and her people.
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
Mordecai was sure that deliverance would come. Though God is seemingly silent through this book Mordecai understands that it does not mean that God has forsaken His people. Even if Esther shrinks back in fear, God’s people will endure. God will keep His covenant with Abraham. But for right now, in this moment, God has worked to bring about the deliverance of His people through Esther. Mordecai suggests an answer to the question he and esther had been asking themselves for almost a decade. Why is this happenning? Why is Esther being taken from her home? Why is she being forced to parade herself in a beauty pagent to win the eyes of a king she wants nothing to do with? Why is she elevated to the position of queen of Persia? Why, for seven years does she live in this palace? Why? For such a time as this.
We don’t always know the reason why we go through the circumstances we go through. We don’t always understand why bad things happen to us. Why loved ones get sick, why jobs are losts, why friends are lost. It can be a long time before we see the fruit of what God is doing. Imagine seven years of unanswered prayers and questioning. An unlikely girl put in an unlikely position becomes the only person in the entire empire who can intercede for her people. I think that our situation is not all too different from Esthers. God has put us in the position we are in so that we can help those around us. We all have different mission fields and contexts that God has put us in so that we might be faithful in sharing the Gospel. For some people we might be the only example of Christlike love they see. We might be the only people in their lives who can share the Gospel with them. That takes courage. Esther was interceding on behalf of her people but who will intercede on behalf of our people? Who will go?
Isaiah is brought before the throne of God in a vision. He sees the beauty an majesty of God and is brought to ruin. He realizes quickly that he does not belong in such a holy place. He is a man of unclean lips and comes from a people of unclean lips. Yet, an angel of God meets Isaiah where he was at, touches a cole to Isaiah’s mouth and purifys him. Next, God spoke asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” and without hesitation Isaiah says, “Here I am, send me”.
God is calling us to go. He is calling us to live with character, and to have courage, and to act, but it is important we take a step back to understand, whoever God calls he also equips. This call to courage is central to what we are talking about this weekend. How are we to live with integrity without courage? How are we to act in faithfulness without courage? And where does this courage come from? It comes from what Christ has done for us. Isaiah was broken over his sin yet he answered the call with confidence. Why? Because he was made clean. It wasn’t that he was doing it out of his own strength, God was preparing him for the task. The courage we need isn’t summoned from inside us but is given to us in trusting God with the outcome. It is being willing to be obedient no matter the cost.
Courage is not the absene of fear but the discipline to say yes in the face of it.
Sharing our faith can be scary but answering the call to courage means saying yes anyway trusting that whatever happens God is in control. No matter what it may cost us. Esther is at a crossroads. She can do what she thinks is best, she can hide or run from this moment, or she can trust God and be obedient to the call on her life.
How will we respond?