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February 27, 2005
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The Purpose Driven Life
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"For Such a Time as This"
The Book of Esther
Esther 4:1-17
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
NIV
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- Today we will be sharing about the great things God has done in our lives. God is the worker of great things.
In the book of Esther, we have a glimpse into a time in history when God was working wonders for the Jewish people. It is a very practical story, in many respects. It never mentions the name of God and yet is fully about the miraculous intervention of God in human affairs. For anyone who might doubt that God can use them for something great, Esther is worth reading. For here God orchestrated incredible circumstances all in response to one young woman's bold step of faith.
In brief this glimpse at the history of Purim, a Jewish feast day, takes place about 163 BC in the city of Susa in Persia during the third year of King Xerxes' reign. He was having a big banquet and after 7 days when thoroughly drunk commanded his queen, Vashti, to come display her beauty before all his guests. She refused for he was drunk as a skunk, and he in anger divorced her for all his advisors were concerned if the king let her get away with such a refusal all the women in the kingdom would likewise refuse their husbands wills.
Well, he is left "queenless" and so plans are made to find him a new one which meant a gathering of all the most beautiful virgins in the city to the palace in order to find one who could be queen. A young Jewess, Esther, is among these, and is named queen.
Her uncle Mordecai sits at the gate of the palace to keep an eye on his niece, and while there overhears two guards plotting to assassinate the king. Mordecai tells Esther, who in turn informs the king giving Mordecai credit. The matter is investigated, proven, these rogues are executed and the whole event is written in the history books of the king.
The King's second in command is a wicked man named Haman, who loves honor and hates it that Mordecai will not show him the honor of bowing to him when he walks past. Now Haman is of such immaturity as to follow his anger against one man to lead him to the extreme plot of killing Mordecai along with destroying anyone of Mordecai's race in all 127 provinces ruled by Xerxes from India to Ethiopia!
The King trusted Haman so signed the edict as Haman dictated for all Jews to be annihilated nearly a year later on March 7th. Letters were then sent in the King's name to all the provinces so that all the people of the lands would be ready to do their duty, by killing the Jews, on the appointed day.
That brings us to chapter 4 which was read. You heard how Mordecai dressed in sack cloth and mourned at the palace gate after hearing of this decree and then says that the only hope is for Esther to speak to the king. But you heard the palace rules are such that no one, not even the queen, can go to the king without being invited. And without the king's extension of grace, would be executed for doing so! But she believes her uncle that perhaps for such a time as this she has been born so takes the risk after fasting and praying.
The severity of the fast, similar to the one called for by the King of the Ninevites in the book of Jonah, is to go without food and water for three days. That designation would make the fast about 48 hours long counting days as Jews do: the evening of the first day to noon on the third. Esther "broke fast" with the king and Haman at the first of two banquets to which she invited them.
Then during that night, the king could not sleep so asked someone to come read to him from the annuls of the history of his reign. In the reading he heard the retelling of how Mordecai had saved his life. Upon asking if Mordecai had ever been honored for this and told "no" he determines to honor him. At that moment Haman came into the court in order to ask permission to hang Mordecai on his newly erected gallows, instead is sent out to show great honor to this one he so hates by parading him through the streets of the City of Susa, perched upon the King's horse, with Haman shouting: "This is what happens to those the king wishes to honor!"
At the second of Esther's banquets, she discloses how there is a plot to destroy her people, and the king is enraged: "Who is the wicked man who has plotted such a thing?" he asks. And she points to Haman. A moment later Harbona the eunuch observes that Haman had erected a gallows intended for "Mordecai the Jew, the man who saved the king from assassination," to which the King responds: "Hang haman on it!"
The end of the book deals with how Mordecai, who becomes the Grand Vizier of the palace, in place of Haman, and Esther, work to save the Jews by issuing a second decree in the King's name to all the provinces giving the Jews a right to arms and to self defense. And the event of this rescue is celebrated yearly as the feast of Purim.
- Can you hear how God orchestrated circumstance: why did the king hear from that one section of history? Why couldn't the king sleep that night? I love that story. God had chosen Esther for "such a time as that" and God has chosen you to live in "such a time as this."
I have thought of that verse from Esther's time and again as I have been lifted to serve God at the conference level through this local church. I have been given the privilege to speak in astounding ways into the lives of people whom I have only previously known from a distance. And this week I have received two emails from my DS saying there are many chapters of the "Brian Shimer Fan Club" in the conference and she was a part of two separate conversations this past week where my name came up and very positive things were shared.
Now, I know that favor can change in a moment, so am not putting my weight down upon the favor of men. However I also see that God has chosen this season to begin to more fully work through me after working in me over these years. I am excited to see what God will yet do as he uses me for his purpose!
But over these past weeks we have been learning that I am not alone, but that each of us has been created with a God-given purpose. And we have the privilege of walking into God's purpose for us "in such a time as this" in our generation. You are the only one who touches the people you touch as you touch them. There is no one else God has involved exactly where you are. So, what a great thought that God intends to use YOU there.
This is what is also said of King David. In the book of Acts it says David "served God's purpose in his generation" (13:36).
That is to say, David did the eternal thing, God's purpose, in the here and now, in his generation.
For us to "do the eternal thing" to serve God in "such a time as this" won't necessarily mean we will all be an Esther who was the main character in the story. Some of us will have bit parts in God's bigger story, like the Eunuch Harbona who was behind the scenes the whole time, but speaks a sentence that is a major turning point in the whole story bringing about justice for Haman.
We cannot know the full purpose God has planned for us but none of us can afford the foolish thing of just living this life all for ourselves and ignoring what God has intended. For whether it is a cup of cold water to a friend, a listening ear to someone at a grocery store, a single word spoken to a teller in the bank; whatever it is, we are here for just such an action and that action or word can be part of God's eternal plan for such a time as this.
We are alive to "live life on purpose" - to live knowing that God has a purpose for us in our generation. The people who came before us and those who follow us cannot do what we can do now in this generation. So, beyond the testimonies that we share today, I want to ask you to dream with me, "What would God like to do through your life?" and "What would God like to do through our lives, through the life of this church, in this generation, in these years in order to bring God's grace and love to the Banks community and beyond?"
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