← ArchiveEstherESTHER – Stand Up (Esther 3:1-4DateApril 21, 2024SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextEsther 3:1–4Passages in this sermonEsther 11:50Esther 21:51Psalms 18:23Isaiah 513:08Hebrews 13:1414:15Esther 2:8–1415:19Matthew 524:48Psalms 629:33Psalms 2329:53TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music*0:30*music* Okay, welcome to the church that gathers here locally at Bethel0:59Bethel We are thankful that you are here We're thankful that Owen is here And if you're watching online If you're new here, welcome We simply want you to know that we've been praying for you Your seat has been prayed over You have been prayed over Welcome to the gathering in the name of Jesus Christ If you are new here, let me remind you We are in the book of Esther And every sermon in Esther has a PG-13 rating Now, parents thought I was joking last week1:27I'm not joking I'm not So just know, if you're not comfortable With explaining what a eunuch is on the way home Like, you can go now So, Esther, it deals with some of the shadows of life Secondly, for our tech people On my notes I had Esther chapter 1 We're actually in Esther chapter 2 So if you use my notes to put the right verses You will have the wrong verse Because we're in Esther 21:56Not chapter 1 And they're scrambling right now That's my bad That's my bad So we're continuing this brand new series In the book of Esther Called "Fractured People, Flawless God" And Esther and Song of Solomon Are the only two books in the Bible That do not mention the name of God Now, you hear that And we say, well, why are they in the Bible? I believe they're in the canon as a reminder Even when you don't see or hear God2:24He is still working in your life So if you've come today And you're listening And you think, well, I don't hear God Is He there? Esther screams at us God is working Even when you cannot see Him moving And Esther 2 picks up the scene With a very simple phrase In verse 1 Sometime later So we're going to recap really quick2:53What's happened before this By way of summary The Persian king Ahasuerus One of the most influential people in the world Has thrown a party of all parties Six months long And at the end of the six months There's a seven-day party To end the party And at the end of that He invites his then queen, Vashti To parade herself He's showing her off She has nothing to do with that3:22And so he gathers these wise men Who understand the times The Bible says And they basically banish her From the presence of the Lord This is how men work, right? Vashti says, I will never go over there And the men issue an edict He says, well, you know what? We're going to ban her from the king's presence She's like, well, you're giving me what I want But anyway, do what you want to Four years later Chapter two begins So there's four years of water under this bridge3:50And this sometimes later The king is stewing He's finally cooled off And now we have verse one of chapter two Sometime later Four years Give or take King Ahasuerus' rage had cooled down He remembered Vashti What she had done And what was decided against her Now that makes it sound like it wasn't his decision4:18The king's personal attendant suggested Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king Now the word virgins there is most likely Married, marriageable women It's that age group Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his kingdom So that they might gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem At the fortress of Susa4:47Put them under the supervision of Haggai The king's eunuch Keeper of the women Now let me just stop there Can you imagine having that job? Your official royal title You are keeper of all the women I'm just going to leave that there That's another sermon I'm not saying good or bad Can you imagine that job description? You are keeping the women And he is charged with keeping them beautiful Giving them beauty regiments5:16And making them where they are desirable to the king Give them the required beauty treatments Then the young woman who pleases the king Will become queen instead of Vashti This suggested pleased the king And he did accordingly Let's pray as we have read the word of God Father, we have opened your holy word Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword5:44It penetrates the division of our heart and soul Joint and marrow Lord, your word hits us where we need Father, may the reading of your word Plant upon our lives forever May we leave here not simply hearers But doers of your word We pray in Christ's name Amen This is the word of the Lord6:12Esther chapter 2 So we find ourselves in this text Because as the Bible said That King Ahasuerus In verse 1 Has remembered Vashti He's remembered her Now, if you remember the recap Vashti is no longer in the palace Which means she is living in the palace And she is living in the king's head Rent free Four years For three or four years6:41He has considered her His memory And he's struggling with this thought Now, the textual note remembered Is a subtle way of saying That he regretted what had transpired But he's the king He can't let you know that he regretted this But the word of God gives a hint That he regretted the mess which he had In the first decision He gathered the men Who knew the times And they banished the queen7:09And so, some of these personal attendants Again suggest to him We have a better idea Gather all the women The beautiful women Of the land And put them under the direction of Haggai The keeper of the women And he will make them even more beautiful And this suggestion Pleased the king Now, let's pause here Because some of you think Well, this is a pretty good suggestion I would love To have a kingdom wide edict7:38And I get to hand choose Who I want to be with And they can't say no to me But the historian Herodotus And I'm sure that was in your reading This morning before you came to church Wrote in the Annals of the Kings That the proper procedure For the Medes and Persians To find a queen Was to choose from one of the seven noble families Which means that this course of action Was not good and right by the kingdom standards8:07So here's what's happened to the king He is living in an echo chamber He is only hearing From the people that tell him What he wants to hear And Psalm 1 tells us exactly about This type of idolatry And danger in your life Psalms 1 says Blessed is a man who does not walk In the counsel of the wicked8:35Or stand in the path of sinners Or sit in the company of mockers Instead, his delight Is in the law of the Lord So church What happens when you surround yourself With people who only tell you What you want to hear Now I know you might read this And think Well that would never happen to me It would never happen today An echo chamber is defined As information Or beliefs that are reinforced9:04Or amplified in a closed group Of information or friendships So when you only hear What you want to hear You only hear What you want to hear Let me put it in modern terms The king was stuck In a selfish algorithm The algorithm heard That the king did What pleased him And so the world began To send him information9:33That pleased him Church We have no far ventured From the throne Than we are today We live in a world Where we surround ourselves In echo chambers Be wary when people tell you Only what you want to hear Actually the Bible The function of the Bible Is to not to brainwash us But to keep you From being brainwashed Freeing you from the words of man10:02It is the word of God That breaks this desire To only hear what we want to hear It's the word of God That when you feel like You want to be the greatest In the kingdom That says become the least It's the word of God That when someone slaps you And you're ready to fight It's the word of God That says no no pastor You turn the other cheek You turn the other cheek It's the word of God When you want to live life10:31For you It's the word of God Through the words of Jesus That says if anyone desires To follow me He must deny himself Take up his cross And follow me The word of God Breaks echo chambers And may the word of God Break our selfish motivations today Life in an echo chamber But we also see a life here in Esther This life in exile11:00Look at verse 5 Not only was the king living in the echo chamber In the fortress of Susa There was a Jewish man Now what type of man was he? He was Jewish That's important But his name was Mordecai That's not a Jewish name We'll come back to that He's a son of Yair Son of Shimei Son of Kish A Benjamini He had been taken into exile From Jerusalem With the other captives When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon11:28Took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile Mordecai was the legal guardian Of his cousin Hadassah That is Esther Because she had no father or mother And the young woman had a beautiful The young woman had a beautiful figure And was extremely good looking When her father and mother died Mordecai adopted her as his own In verse 10 Esther11:56Esther Did not reveal her ethnicity Or her family background Because Mordecai had ordered her Not to make it known To make it known So three times here The Bible says That Mordecai is living in exile He's living in exile So let's begin where verse 5 begins He is a Jewish man But he's a Jewish man Not living in the promised land12:25He's in exile He was taken captive And his family was removed from the promised land With King Jeconiah in exile So for those of us Who are dull to the sense And hard headed Like myself Three times the Bible Kind of grabs your face And says Hey He's in exile He's not where he wants to be And he's not where he needs to be12:52The Jewish exile The Jewish exile refers to the period Of ancient Jewish history When the Israelites were forced To leave their land Because of their disobedience Isaiah 5 says it like this Therefore my people will go into exile Because they lack knowledge Her dignitaries are starving And her masses are parched with thirst This is Isaiah proclaiming the impending doom13:21Upon God's people Now you might read this And you think Well, okay What does this have to do with me at all? I kind of like where I live Things aren't difficult But by definition Exile is not your home Or your native environment So let me connect dots with you If you have given your life to Jesus Christ By faith Right13:50Right The faith that Kim Kimmy and Mitch have said today In your hearing They said to their son We commit to live a Christ-filled home before you That's a testimony That's them saying We are people of faith If that is you also This world is not your forever home You are in exile right now For instance, Hebrews 13:14 We do not have an enduring city here14:17Instead, we seek the one to come So if you struggle with I don't feel like I belong here You don't As the young people say Do y'all say this anymore? The struggle is real Do y'all still? I'm saying a yes An affirmation Well, we are saying that today The struggle is real If you've ever felt like that14:45That is a spiritual desire Birthed in you by the Holy Spirit This world is not your home Jesus would say it this way He would pray in the garden Lord, they are not of this world Just as I am not of this world As the people of God Exile is a place of brokenness But it's a place of hope Because we long for the day Where we will return back to the land of God's promise15:12Church, we live in exile And we see how Esther 2:8-14 describes this Esther was taken from her family And into the palace Now if you think this is a story book ending Oh, look how nice You know, she found her glass slipper And if it doesn't fit She's going to turn into a pumpkin And things like that This is not a fairy tale15:41She is kidnapped Their family is kidnapped from their home Taken to Persia She's kidnapped from her local home Taken to the palace And put under the authority of a man named Haggai The keeper of the women I don't know what that means But that's his title So, it's the equivalent of modern day sex trafficking Esther lives in a broken world And if that's not enough16:09If you continue to read You realize that she goes into the harem of the king And after she's had her regimented beauty treatment Then the king gives her one night with him And if she finds favor in his eyes And I'll leave it with those words If she finds favor in his eyes Then she possibly could become king If not, she goes to the second harem16:38And if you think, well this is disgusting How dare they do this? I'm reminded that we watch television shows Where people are handpicked And they get one night with the bachelor Or one night with the bachelorette Church, we live this filth in the modern world And we call it entertainment We are no different than Persia And when you get to spend one night17:06We are saying, what is in it for me? Dear friend, we live in a broken world We live in a world that cries out God, how could this happen? And if you read this and you just cry out right now God, how, how could you let this happen? That is the language of exile You are saying, God, I'm sick and tired17:35Of being sick and tired I want my forever home And God says, just wait One day I will make all things right again One day you will come back to the land of promise But until that day comes, son, daughter You are in this world, but you are not of this world You are living in exile, but you don't belong there You are an alien in a place that is not your home But keep striving in the spirit18:05Church, we live in exile And when we live in exile Don't be surprised when the world doesn't understand you Don't be surprised when the world doesn't understand you As a person of faith Now the word describes Esther's uncle as a what type of man? He is a Jewish man Which is fascinating because his name is a Persian name18:34He was named after the god Marduk or Marduka So the world saw him as a kingdom man, right? Mordecai is one of us He is a worshipper of Marduk But little did they know that Mordecai was a God fearer He was a Yahweh fearer He was a Jewish man On the streets They thought Mordecai was just like them But at home and in life19:04Mordecai was a fearer of the one true holy God Mordecai would say listen if the world doesn't understand you Don't worry they call me Mordecai But I don't worship Marduk like they I worship the one true God And it's not just Mordecai We meet a young lady named Hadassah Now you might think well who is that? I don't know Hadassah19:33You know her by her Babylonian name You know her by the name Esther So why would you know her as the Babylonian star And not the Hebrew name Myrtle The tree, the flower Well because you know her by her Persian name Which is a reminder That the world does not understand Christians fundamentally So if you grow frustrated People don't get how I speak They don't get why I turn the other cheek20:03They don't understand how I can forgive How I can lay down my life and follow Jesus Christ They will not understand I guess that's all I can say to you They keep calling me Mordecai But I don't worship Marduk That's okay Show them your faith by the way you live Pastor, I grow frustrated They only know me as Esther But my name is Hadassah I'm a worshipper of the one true God20:33I'm not a star goddess Christian it's okay The world will never understand you fully Because this world is not your home You are living in exile Listen to how Jesus says it In his prayer He said I have given them your word The world hated them Because they are not of the world Just as I am not of the world If you sent me into the world I have sent them into the world I sanctified myself for them21:01So that they also might be sanctified By the truth If you are frustrated That the world doesn't understand you Cheer up You are in good company You are not alone Esther, you're not by yourself Mordecai, you're not by yourself Seek Christ in his kingdom And everything else will be added unto you Church, we live in exile21:30And in the exilic world There is a world of Brokenness Mordecai offers this recommendation To Esther in verse 10 He says Esther We see the implicit Recommendation Esther did not reveal her ethnicity Or her family background Why? Because Mordecai had ordered her Not to make them known Now there is no biblical comment22:00On whether that was a holy Or a sinful recommendation This is simply descriptive And not prescriptive This is what happened Not necessarily what should have happened But it seems to me That it is possible That Esther actually is able To conceal her ethnicity And you go Pastor, how do you know that? Because I read the book Right? Just hold on there Because later on in Esther22:29It is the concealing of her Jewish identity It's the concealing of her faith in the one true God And Mordecai's that will actually come To the rescue and the salvation of God's people But the question we have here Is it possible To conceal your identity When you live in Persia Because it seems to me in verse 10 That Esther was actually able to reveal her22:56To conceal her identity She did not reveal her identity Which meant that the world was able to look at her And at that point in the Jewish world They looked at the Jews and said Are you of this world? Or are you not? Something has changed with the people of God In Egypt Pharaoh knew who were Egyptians23:25And who were Israelites In the promised lands The people knew who were of the covenant And who were not But something has changed in Persia It now seems to be possible From the outward look That the world doesn't know who is of God And who is not And so I ask you Church, will you lose your identity When you live in exile? I know what you say You would say Well pastor, that would never happen to me23:55I would never let anyone call me Mordecai I would never let anyone call me Mordecai I would never let anyone call me Esther I will never bow down To the world And yet we live in this echo chamber Where we only hear what we want to hear And we only share on social media What we want to share The things that tickle our ears And not touch our hearts And when we do that The world says24:25Are you a Christian? Because the way you speak And the way that you live And the way that you serve It looks like us Are you concealing your identity? Or are you not? And Jesus says And warns us of this As you have already heard From Matthew chapter 5 He says You are the salt of the earth Which I love this24:54Because I love salt I am the guy Before I taste I salt it just in case I know it's not good for my blood pressure Or my kidneys But it is good for my taste buds I'm that guy I want the salt Before the salt And Jesus says You are the salt But if The salt Should lose its taste How can it be made salty? Which means there's a chance That the salt Could lose its saltiness25:24There is a chance That you could conceal Your Christian identity In a world that is starving For your saltiness He continues Verse 14 You are the light of the world A city situated on a hill Cannot be hidden No one lights a lamp And puts it under a basket But rather on a lampstand And gives light for all Who are in the house Is it possible That we can love Jesus25:51And still conceal our love for Jesus? It seems to me that Jesus warns us of that danger When you come to faith You become salt When you come to faith You become light You are no longer the goddess of the stars You are Hadassah You are no longer the man who worships Marduk You are a Yahweh fearer Don't lose your saltiness26:20Don't lose your light When in exile Do not lose your identity Because if Satan Has lost your soul The next best thing he can do Is cause you to lose your impact For the kingdom Don't let Satan take what is rightfully Jesus and his alone Do not lose your saltiness26:49Life in the echo chamber Life in exile But there is one life to live And that is a life of favor A life of favor Let's look at verse 15 Esther was the daughter of Abahel The uncle of Mordecai Who had adopted her as his own daughter When he When the turn came to go to the king She did not ask for anything Except for what Haggai The king's eunuch keeper of the women Suggested27:19Suggested Now can you imagine Let me just go back to Haggai I'm stuck on Haggai Can you imagine The role of having to suggest The right beauty treatments I don't want that job No, not this lotion but that Not this perfume but that He is suggesting The beauty treatments And so she asked him Because she has gained Favor In the eyes of everyone Who saw her In verse 15 In your bible27:49The word favor Verse 16 She was taken to King Ahasuerus In the palace In the tenth month The month In the seventh year Of his reign The king loved Esther More than all the other women She won more favor Circle that word An approval from him Than did any of the other virgins And placed the royal crown On her head And made her queen In place of Vashti Because again Vashti is living rent free In his head The king held a great banquet28:20For all his officials and staff It was Esther's banquet He freed his provinces From tax payments And gave gifts Worthy of the king's bounty Look back at verse 9 The young woman pleased him Haggai And gained his favor Sometimes We see the favor Of God Upon Esther's life Out of all words Why favor? Because this word28:49Is a highly charged Spiritual word For God's covenant blessing It's the word chesed Now I'm going to have us practice that If you have a little spittle When you say it You know you're saying it correctly It's not he It's not h It's a h Okay? Ready? So everyone with me Chesed So apologize to the person in front of you For saying that word29:18It's the word that means loving kindness It's not just that you have found grace Or you have found favor It is God's unmerited blessings upon your life It's the same word that the psalmist used in Psalm 6 verse 4 Rescue me Lord Save me because of your faithful love Your chesed God in your favor Save me by your loving kindness29:46But that's not the only time it's used in scripture Psalm 23 verse 6 says this Only goodness and faithful love will follow me all the days of my life And I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live That word is the word favor It is this chesed It is God your loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life You say pastor30:15Is there a boundary upon God following you? Esther says to us even in exile God's faithfulness can follow you there Even in the valley of the shadow of death The faithful love of the God will pursue you And the loving kindness of the Lord doesn't mean that the road will be easy Esther in modern terminology was sex trafficked30:42She was taking from her home into a harem Taking from the harem into the king Taking from that back to a second harem And if she found favor in the eyes of the king She would be brought She would be made his wife And you read this and you would say This is sex trafficking And I would say you are correct Esther reminds us that the road will not be easy31:09And she experienced the worst of humanity sexualization upon her And I wonder On those days and in those nights Did Esther constantly say out loud Surely Lord your goodness and your faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life Lord we're not in the promised land31:38Surely your goodness and faithfulness will follow me God they stole me from Mordecai's I don't have a mom and I don't have a dad But my uncle has been caring for me He's been loving me and God I'm in exile again They took me from my uncle's house who loves me God surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life God I'm in this harem I'm under the control of Hey guy Lord surely goodness and mercy God I've had this diagnosis32:07Surely goodness and mercy God my sons my daughters have wandered away from the faith Surely goodness and mercy God we live in a broken world Surely goodness and mercy will follow me And three times Verse 9 Esther found God's loving kindness Verse 15 Esther gained loving kindness in the eyes of everyone who saw her32:34Verse 17 She won more favor more loving kindness Than from anyone else Maybe you're there Maybe you look in your world and you say Pastor I am sick and tired of being sick and tired When will this end?33:02Listen to Esther Even when you live in exile Surely Goodness And loving kindness from the Lord Will follow you How many days? All What locations? All Whose home?33:32Whose home? Doesn't matter where you live All the days of your life Professor Joanne Bradley Summed up Exile this way She said Unlike Israel's exile Our process of secularization Is not clearly marked by hostile takeover And again we watch shows That glorify some aspects of this story So we are losing our land by way of a thousand little changes34:02Christian we live in exile If you are here today and you say I'm just done I'm worn, I'm tired I don't know where to turn Hear the words of Jesus today He says to all who are weary He says come to me And I will give you rest34:31All who live in the land of brokenness Come to Jesus I invite you to run to Jesus today God sent his one and only son to die upon the cross So that whoever believes Might not perish But have everlasting life Why would God do that for you? Because he loves you Because he's created you in his image And although you walked away from his love by your sin35:00His loving kindness pursued you And the greatest demonstration of God's love for you To let the blood of his only son be spilled out on the cross That we who were sinners could be made right again And I imagine on the cross that Jesus is hearing these words God this is the worst day in my life But you promised35:30Surely goodness And your loving kindness will dwell with me If you don't know the love of Jesus Christ Would you surrender your life to him today? It starts by faith and confessing your sin For the first time to get out of your echo chamber and say God I'm tired of being in this loop God I am the sinner Forgive me I'm not worthy to call upon you Lord35:59But you promised that you sent Jesus to die for me And if I believe That you'll forgive me of my sin Today Father I believe I believe you sent Jesus to die on the cross I believe he lived a sinless life And God I believe he rose again And God I believe what you say That whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved God I'm a whoever God hear my prayer And to that prayer heaven always responds36:27Josh it's about time you prayed It's about time you asked Of course I sent Jesus for you To wash you To redeem you To save you To rescue you Son Daughter Welcome home Welcome home Church we live in exile If you're simply here and you're just tired36:56Run to Jesus If you are angry at this The abuses of our society Run to Jesus Christ And if you're simply frustrated and says Pastor the world doesn't get me I'm frustrated The Bible says Duh Because by faith you are no longer of this world But there's a better place37:25And one day you'll be there But until he calls us home Hadassah Mordecai May we be found faithful Even in exile Father, we thank you for your word.← Previous in EstherESTHER – Life In Exile (Esther 2:1-4)Next in Esther →ESTHER – If You Keep Silent (Esther 4:1-3)More sermons on Esther →
