The God Who Chooses Nobodies

INTRODUCTION

Need: There are many, in this very congregation, who want their lives to count. You want your life to matter and the world says that the way to make that happen is to dream big, aim high and then work your fingers to the bone to climb the ladder that will take you to the accomplishment of your dreams.

Need: There are many, in this very congregation, who want their lives to count. You want your life to matter and the world says that the way to make that happen is to dream big, aim high and then work your fingers to the bone to climb the ladder that will take you to the accomplishment of your dreams.

The Bible speaks a very different message: If you are faithful to the Lord in the little things of life on a daily basis … God has a way of taking nobodies like that, working out the details of their lives to put them in exactly the place they need to be, at precisely the right time … and using them to make an impact.

God’s name not mentioned in this book - but God is at work on every single page. You read between the lines and you see the hands of God. Over and over - in every situation. Whether Mordecai .... Esther … King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) … even in Haman’s selfish pride .... God is working in all of it. We need to remember this: No matter the circumstance … no matter how dark things look … God never loses His grip on the levers of control, working out the plot … God may seem to be absent in the situation … He’s not. He is working it all out.

We need to remember this: No matter the circumstance … no matter how dark things look … God never loses the plot … God may seem to be absent in the situation … He’s not. He is working it all out.

Everything you do, MATTERS. We don’t always know HOW it matters - but God does. He is working behind the scenes, between the lines of the story … He is in control, working it all out for His good purpose … but you matter.

The decisions you make, the places you go, the things you read and write, it all matters - your actions are not irrelevant, just because God is Sovereign.

1 AN EMPIRE-WIDE SEARCH FOR THE BEST, vv. 1-4

1 AN EMPIRE-WIDE SEARCH FOR THE BEST, vv. 1-4

Verse 1 begins chapter 2 with these words, “After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done ...”. When you read these words, you could be forgiven for thinking that the events of this chapter follow after the events of chapter 1, after a matter of a few days … ‘King throws party … party is over the top … king drinks too much, makes an obscene request of his wife … wife refuses … king gets mad and makes rash decision … then sobers up, calms down and his anger fades away.’ Why, that all can’t take more than a week or two at the most.

That’s actually how I have read the Esther story all my life … until preparing for this message. But if you look back at chapter 1, verse 3 - The narrator tells us that Ahasuerus’ 6-month party was in the third year of his reign. Then if you look at chapter 2, verse 16, we read that ‘Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus’ royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the SEVENTH YEAR of his reign ...’. So between chapter 1 and 2, there’s a gap of 3 years (I’ll explain why 3 years and not 4 in a minute). So the question is - what’s been going on for 3 years?

History tells us what was going on. The whole reason for the big party in the first place was to get enough support to wage a military advance into Greece to extend the Persian Empire - make it even bigger than it already was. He did go to war - and it ended in disaster. The movie 300 - battle of Thermopolae was about this war. Ahasuerus had an army that outnumbered the enemy many times over … and yet he suffered a humiliating defeat … he was embarrassed, he spent way too much of the kingdom’s money and now he comes back home to Susa in defeat.

He walks through the doors of the palace with the weight of the world on his shoulders … needing comfort, needing arms wrapped around him … not a servant, not a hired hand, not an advisor … he needs the arms of a partner … a wife …

… but there is nobody home. ‘… he remembered Vashti’, verse 1 tells us … ‘and what she had done and what had been decreed against her’. His anger is gone, Ahasuerus remembers the warmth of her embrace, the beauty of her face - her smiling eyes … remembers her in the good times ...but there is no bringing her back, even if he wanted to. The law of the Medes and the Persians is a well-known saying - because it was well known that once a Persian king had made a decree or a law … there was no reversing it.

The king’s closest advisors see him slipping into a state of depression. They come up with a plan to fix the problem: “Let’s get you a queen”. This is not just a case of the king needing a woman. He had the power to have any woman in the kingdom … the king doesn’t just need physical touch. With his absolute power, he can snap his fingers and, in a matter of minutes, any woman he wanted, would be in his bedroom. No, the king needs a companion … someone who cares … someone to walk with him through everything. The king needs a wife. The advisors see it!

Verse 2, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. (3) And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. (4) And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.”

“A god-king like you deserves more than just ANY wife … you deserve the best … so let’s put on a Miss Persia beauty pageant … we will search through all 127 provinces with a fine-tooth comb … we will bring the best of the best AND THEN … we will supply the cosmetics (because only the best will do) ...”. In fact, take a look at v. 12. It gives more details on the program for the girls who make the cut: “Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being TWELVE MONTHS under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women ...”

An entire year of spa treatments to prepare each young woman to be brought before the king!

The entire might of the empire is being brought to bear to find a woman suitable to be queen.

Verse 4, “And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ This pleased the king, and he did so.”

And the curtain closes on the scene.

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2 A COUPLE OF NOBODIES, vv. 5

Verse 5 takes the camera outside the palace, to the household of a nothing foreigner, who lived in the capital city - far from the halls of power.

: “Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, (6) who had been carried away from Jersualem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon had carried away.”

What a difference from a king who could comb the whole empire to have whatever woman he wanted, brought to him for a a wife. See how many times in 1 short verse, the phrase , ‘carried away’ shows up: v. 6: ‘(Mord.) had been carried away from the Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jec. (the king), whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away’. The same Hebrew word - means ‘forcibly removed from home and taken away.’ The narrator is making the point here - this is one powerless man.

Now, it sounds like the text is saying that Mordecai was one of the original exiles - born in Judah and forcibly removed alongside king Jeconiah. But that can’t be - - would make him like 115 years old. The point is that when the Jews were forcibly removed from home and taken to a foreign land … Mordecai was represented by them. His whole identity is bound up with exile - - a foreigner, living out his life in a place that’s not really home. He is a Jew, born here in Persia - he’s heard about the promises of God to His people … He listened to the stories told by his father and grandfather, about the golden age of Israel … and God’s promises for the future .... but all he’s ever known is Persia. This is the only place he’s ever lived. Susa is his address, but it’s NOT his home.

On the other hand, the man’s name IS ‘Mordecai’ … and that sounds a lot like ‘Marduk’ - the name of the god of the Babylonians. Doesn’t mean that he worships the false god … he doesn’t. But it does mean that his whole life is lived out in that wrestling .... living as a child of God, in a world dominated by other gods … a world where the God of Israel … the One God of heaven … seems silent.

The Bible doesn’t tell us whether or not Mordecai was ever married - he has no wife now … but verse 7 tells us that there is ONE other member of his household …that’s his much younger cousin -

, “He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”

If Mordecai comes across as a powerless nobody in mighty Persia - how much more does this teenage girl? Hadassah is her Hebrew name, Esther is the name she’s known by in Persia - sounds a lot like Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of power and love.

… so here’s an orphaned girl, raised by her cousin … and not even known by the name of her people - her heritage.

Esther knows nothing about palaces or politics … all she’s doing is living out her life as a nobody, who belongs to the people of God, in the heart of the greatest empire of the day - that doesn’t even acknowledge God - and where God seems to be so silent.

You can identify, Christian - you know how what it feels like to be a Mordecai or an Esther. We are strangers and aliens in this world … Our citizenship is in heaven … but we exist here in Persia .... and so often the voices of this world’s gods are so, so loud. And the God we worship .... seems silent.

Esther’s story continues in v. 8

3 AN UNLIKELY RISE TO THE THRONE, vv. 8-18

Read vv. 8-11.

When you read these verses, do you picture a grand combination of Miss America, Miss Universe and some kind of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, royal courtship? And you imagine … ‘what a life! What a fairy tale fantasy!’

Verse 3 “Let their cosmetics be given them ...”.

I see the wheels turning in some of your heads. Ladies - free makeup. .... and this is on the royal budget. My son, Noah, came home the other night all excited. He had just been shopping at VV. And he had picked up a shirt. It was a dress shirt. Blue. Looked nice, but I didn’t quite get the excitement. Well, he was excited because it was 10 bucks. Okay - I love a good deal - but 10 bucks for a used shirt? Turns out it was not just any shirt - YSL ... brand new it would cost 12 hundred.

Ahhh - now I get it.

Some of you hear about these young ladies getting free makeup from the royal treasury and you’re thinking, ‘this isn’t going to be cheap stuff - this is going to be makeup carrying the name of every top designer in the world of the day. This would be worth a fortune’

Free royal makeup … AND a twelve-month spa treatment - pampered like a queen for 1 whole year

… no cooking, no dishes, no cleaning, no laundry … no trying to balance your finances,

… and then you get to audition to be queen of the most powerful nation on earth. Talk about climbing the ladder

“FREE MAKEUP! AUDITIONING TO BE QUEEN?! WHAT A LIFE! What’s wrong with that?!”

Ladies … “Where do I sign up?” But not so fast. Do you realize what life for these young ladies is going to consist of?

One morning, the government officials show up at the door … “Where’s the girl who lives here. We’ve heard of her beauty …”. “There you are. Get your things together - you need to come with us. You are needed in service of the king.

The net is cast over the empire and just like that, Esther is scooped up, out of the only home she’s ever known … and ‘carried away’. Notice verse 8, ‘when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also WAS TAKEN into the king’s palace and put in the custocy of Hegai, who had charge of the women.’

This wasn’t Mordecai’s idea. This is not Esther’s father figure saying, ‘Hey, here’s a great opportunity to make something of your life. You’re beautiful, Esther - here’s your chance - your ticket to the top.

Mordecai cared about Esther. Esther didn’t ask for it. She WAS TAKEN. Just like a slave was taken as a spoil of battle.

Powerless. Where’s God?

The historian Josephus writes that there were about 400 women involved in this unique competition. And what does the audition look like?

Look at vv. 12-14. “Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women - (13) when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. (14) In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.”

So this is how the audition for queen went: Each girl is prepped and made up with the spa treatment for 12 months. Then, when her turn comes, she is adorned in the finest of clothes … she’s aloud to take one thing with her - whatever she wants from the harem … she takes it with her … and in the evening, she is led out of the harem … ushered past the stern looking security, through the doors into the king’s private residence … introduced to the man who holds the power of life and death over every person in the empire. And there she spends the night.

When morning comes, the young woman is ushered out of the king’s bed and out of his private residence. Back to the harem she goes … but THIS time, it isn’t the harem she has been in for the past year … that one is reserved for the virgins being prepared. The new residence is a second harem - where all of the other concubines live. She has had her night with the king. And unless she made an impression powerful enough for the king to call her by name … she will never visit his quarters again. This, second harem will be her residence for the rest of her life. Never will she go home to her parents. Never will she marry. Never will she have children … an entire life, secluded in a luxurious bubble. All the comfort and security a person could ever ask for … but nobody to share it with. Nobody to love. And here, will you grow old, become irrelevant and, when your days run out, you die.

Just in case you think that this is absolutely sexist of the king - you’re partly right - it is. But the king is an equal opportunity ..... he was just as likely to take your promising, intelligent son and castrate him, before making him a eunuch in his service. That would make quite the change in someone’s life, too.

Esther is not just a nobody. It’s worse than that … she’s a nobody in a harem .... trapped. For a whole year, she is beautified and plumped up ...

With no guarantee that she will ever be anything more than a plaything for the king … to be ‘taken’ whenever he pleased … and ignored the rest of the time. There’s no guarantee, after giving herself to the king, that she will ever see the face of Ahasuerus again. Does that really sound like heaven?

This is the height of powerlessness. See Mordecai in v. 11 - - “Every day Mordecai walked in in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.”

Oh but God is working. Quietly, behind the scenes … the Sovereign God is working out his plan.

Verse 9, “And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to THE BEST PLACE in the harem.”

Esther gets what all the other girls get … PLUS special food, PLUS special servant girls, PLUS the BEST PLACE in the harem.

Is this Esther scheming to get ahead? Absolutely not.

… but this is God working … behind the scenes … and Esther is getting closer and closer to the king.

.

The king spends one night with Esther and that’s it. The contest is over. He is smitten … head over heels in love. And right there and then, the king puts the royal crown on the head of this powerless, foreign nobody named Esther. Ahasuerus makes Esther his queen.

And this is more than lust … Verse 17 tells us that Esther, ‘won grace and favor in his sight’. The word ‘favor’ is the Hebrew word, ‘Hesed’ - ‘loyal love’ - a word used so often, in the Old Testament to point to God’s stubborn, faithful love for His wayward people.

Verse 18, “Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants (another party. But this is not like the last one, where he got drunk and made the foolish demand of his queen. This one’s different” - it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.”

Verse 18, “Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants (another party. But this is not like the last one, where he got drunk and made the foolish demand of his queen. This one’s different” - it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.”

When a king - gives tax money back to his people … you KNOW something’s up.

Do you see the hand of God in this. No mention of His name. But He is the unseen power behind this Jewish orphan girl, named Hadassah, making the journey to become queen Esther of Persia.

, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”

A king lonely and yearning for love, advisors pushing, agents of the crown taking young women, young women competing … but the king fell in love with THIS girl. Because God’s plan all along, was to get Esther to the throne of this empire … for the sake of His people … for the sake, ultimately, of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who descended from a people who would have been wiped out, if not for this.

4 A PLOT FOILED, vv. 19-23

Chapter 2 ends with Mordecai showing his character.

Read ,

So, Mordecai uncovers a plot … his character comes through .... warns Queen Esther about it. Esther’s character also comes through. She passes the warning onto the king, but doesn’t use it to build up her own reputation - - she gives credit where credit’s due and tells the king that this is Mordecai’s warning.

The conspirators are arrested, they’re hung on the gallows (this king sure seems to have a thing for gallows) and Mordecai’s name is written down in front of the king, in the official records. We’ll talk more about that next week.

What I want us to take from this whole chapter is to see the people God uses to make an impact in this world. The people He powerfully uses to leave a legacy with their lives. Main Point: God’s Way of working out His purposes, is to take nobodies, faithful in the little things … and raise them to places of influence.

For all of you here, this morning, who think about the future and break into a cold sweat:

“I’m finished high-school and I don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

“I’m almost finished university and I don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

“I’m 50 years old and I STILL don’t know what I want to do with my life .... and it’s passing by so fast.”

… and the temptation is to scheme (Oh, planning is good - nothing wrong with that - - the problem is the anxious scheming) … “What do I need to do to make things happen … what do I need to manipulate to gt where I want to be? What does Esther manipulate? What does Mordecai orchestrate?

Nothing .... they’re both as powerless as you and I are today.

Notice what it is that marks both of their lives ...

FAITHFULNESS in the small things and HUMILITY where they’re planted.

Esther listens to Mordecai. He says, “Don’t tell anyone your race”. And she is faithful to obey. She becomes the queen and doesn’t suddenly become ‘too good’ for little old Mordecai - Esther stays humble … keeps in touch with her father-figure, listens to him and honors him.

This is how God works:

1) He is SOVEREIGN … He will accomplish His purposes

2) He USES the HUMBLE FAITHFUL - - “It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus” (Robert Murray McCheyne).

So why would be anxious about ‘making your life happen .. making your mark?’. Jesus said, in - “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

WHAT YOU DO, MATTERS - - - God uses faithfulness.