Devotion LCEC 201124 - The Mandate Given unto us

Good evening Chairman and members of the LCEC,

it’s my pleasure this evening to bring unto you, God’s words for us this evening...

but before we do that, let us come before the lord and ask him to guide us in the reading and reflection of his written word...

Let us pray.

For this evening’s devotion, i thought we turn our attention to our lectionary reading for today, taken from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, which informs us that the Old Testament Reading today, is taken from Esther 8:3-8 … and it will be from this few verses that we will reflect upon today...

Let us now read his words,

Esther 8:3–8 NIV

Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?” King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

I’m sure the story of Esther is a very familiar story for all of us...

this was set during the time of the post-exilic period, just after the Persians had conquered over Babylon and hence rule over the exiled Jews...

which means that the Jewish people are being ruled over by the third foreign powers… (excluding Egypt)

and for at least 300 years, the Jews were a group of ruled people...

they were not a people who could have the autonomy to call the shots so to speak....

and as we read in chapter 3, their very existence as a people group was really dependent on the whim and fancy of the king or members of the king…

this was the precarious lives the conquered people had to face…

this was the precarious life Esther faced…

and yet, by the strange turn of events, Esther had an interesting twist of fate...

she, though a member of the Jewish community and a conquered people group, some how rose through to ranks so to speak and was elevated to the highest position in the land...

she became queen of Persia...

her future was secured… her life was saved...

she was no longer a pauper, not longer a person of the land anymore, but someone who lived in luxury, in the royal courts...

but then trouble arose through the person of Haman, one of his chief of staff, who out of jealousy, plotted to kill Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, as well as the Jewish people....

and Queen Esther now had a dilemma,

should she speak up and risk losing everything she had?

i mean, i’m sure it’s quite fresh in her mind that the queen she replaced, Queen Vasthi was disposed off quite abruptly when King Ahasuerus was unhappy with her while he was drunk...

but on the other hand, if she didn’t say anything, her uncle and the Jewish people would die...

what should she do?

and you need to bear in mind as well that she couldn’t just go up to the king casually and state her demands...

remember that in those days, the women were highly oppressed…

and we do read in the book of Esther that if the King were not to extend his scepter to Esther, her life would be cut short… (Esther 4.11)

in other words, she would be risking her life just to approach the king, let alone try to change the decree that was put in place by the Kings Chief of Staff...

then she was challenged by her uncle, who was essentially sending her to risk her life by telling her in Esther 4:14 “have you not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

and Esther was challenged, because she knew that if didn’t, her family and her beloved uncle would die...

and by God’s grace, the King spared her life, and Mordecai, her uncle was spared… and the enemy was eliminated...

Mordecai was honoured and made the Chief of Staff…

Esther got what she wanted… at least some of it...

she escaped death by making an unsummoned visit to the king...

but the Jews were still in trouble for the decree by the Haman to destroy all Jews still stand…

what should Esther do?

she had already risked so much, and gained so much grounds....

she is safe, her uncle is safe, her household is safe…

should she risk losing even more?

previously, the stakes were lower… it was just her life… but now, she risked losing even those things she had redeemed, such as the lives of her household...

and that is where we are in today’s passage...

out of compassion for her people, out of the obligation and duty she felt being a Jewish Queen of Persia, she decided to risk it all once again, even her very life once again, to cause the commands by Haman to be rescinded....

and God honoured that, by granting Esther full power over the lives of the Jews, for we read in v8 of our passage today

Esther 8:8 NIV

Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

Esther was given the power of the King as far as things regarding the Jews were concerned, and became an agent (so to speak) of the King… whatever Esther did and spoke was as good as what the King did and spoke, and it cannot be revoked… even the king himself...

and how is that relevant to us, LCEC?

well, fellow leaders, there are many lessons, but let me just draw out a few...

we are the Esthers in this world… we are the ambassadors of our God, created and bearing the image of God, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and have been set aside not just as His children, but His leaders of the church...

we have the signet ring of God and what we say and do, carries weight and impacts the lives of our church and the community around us...

we are the very tangible representation of God Himself on earth...

Praise God for that… thank God for that… how privileged we are...

but carrying this signet ring also calls upon us to make careful decisions.... making sacrifices and dying to ourselves to carry out this sacred duties of leadership...

may we never see our position as leaders as a status and privilege, as well as the resources we have, to be used for our own benefits, while the community around us is suffering...

we need to learn to be like Esther who out of compassion for the people, risked it all, to ensure righteousness is fulfilled, and not out of self-preservation, thought of her status and tried to hold on to it, by keeping quiet and letting the people perish…

and yet, Esther did it in accordance to the established rules of the courts...

she knew how to dress herself and the decorum before approaching the king, she knew how to facilitate banquets and knew how to time her speeches and talks...

she knew her ground...

likewise, may we also be wise and discerning in making decisions, understanding the workings of our land, TRAC boards, sister churches within and outside the methodist church, companies, para church organisations, schools and the statutory boards etc...

and partner them, not so much to achieve our agenda, but to fulfil God’s agenda of reclaiming the world for God, one government ministry and other agencies at a time, and bringing a transformation to our land, and the world...

let us learn to be like Esther, to lead the church well, and bring the church into the next level of building up God-loving people, who are empowered to make a difference in their lives, engagement with the world, in transforming our world, and may we as the leadership make decisions in this board room, to facilitate that work...

so that as a church, we can be a church that is a family blessed to bless the community and the nations, growing deeper in word, spirit and community, extending the God’s Kingdom, through our faithfulness to His call and works… amen