2016-08-28 Esther - We are Blessed to be a Blessing

Lord, we pray for the gentleman Scott spoke with – that the Gospel would reign in his heart – and that other people would connect with him – and that there may be others in his life trying to share the love of Christ. We ask that that man would give his life wholly to You. May we have our hearts and ears and mind open to the opportunities you make for us. Help us to be available.
I am going to close out Esther this week – I thought – eh, there are two more chapters – I should just finish it off. The last two chapters – there is this sense of hope and victory – but there is also some stuff – from our perspective can seem confusing and disturbing. There is a lot of killing – and it takes place by God’s people. And I am like- where will we go with this? How will I handle it? There are different perspectives on how people deal with this. I don’t have time to look at all those perspectives – but the first thing to understand – Haman got the king to sign an edict – to allow the people to annihilate the Jews. But Haman was dead – and so we think it shouldn’t be a problem.
Esther 1: 19 If the king is so inclined, let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, that Vashti may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another who is more deserving than she.
These edicts – according to the laws of the land – once a king puts forth an edict, it cannot be revoked – it must be carried out – the king cannot revoke it. Back to Daniel:
Daniel 6: 8 "Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked." 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.
This is a little before the time of Esther – “which may not be revoked”
Darius signs the law and his good buddy, Daniel, breaks it. So he has no choice but to throw Daniel into the lions’ den.
And so it is in Esther’s day. The edict cannot be changed – it has been set into motion – so what we end up with is tribal warfare among the peoples. The king talks to Mordecai – and they come up with another plan
Esther 8:10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses... 11 In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them,
So this is where the whole thing comes from and what is going on in their situation and circumstance. What is helpful to me – when I see things like this – “That was then, and this is now”
We have an entirely different perspective from our vantage point than they had from theirs. What is taught here is that God’s favor is with the Jewish people –and the king provides them with resources – and God will protect them from their enemies.
We ask – why didn’t God just change that? Why couldn’t he stop the enemies from attacking? Why doesn’t God just end terrorism and racism and all these things? But we see, in the Bible, God, in His wisdom – to work within the situation in the way it is – and to use His people to accomplish His will within it. Occasionally – God will step in – but that is not how He typically works. Normally he allows humans the freedom to get themselves into whatever situations we get ourselves in. If God stopped us every time we do something – that would be all that He would do! And we are trying! Somehow God gets more glory working within the situation. Maybe we can’t see it – because so much pain comes as a result of us being allowed to have this freedom. There is suffering – and maybe we can’t explain it now – but somehow – we will see that in doing it God’s way – there is mercy and compassion that we don’t see. We might not grasp this until we have been in eternity for some time.
Esther 8: 16 For the Jews there was light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.
Isn’t that interesting! Through all this – people throughout the land are turning to Yahweh. This has always been God’s ultimate goal for the Jewish people, starting with Abraham – Genesis 12:2 – God blesses Abraham that he might be a blessing.
Psalm 67 – God blesses us so that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.
For us to be engaged – God wants to enrich our lives – in one sense – to prosper us – so that we can be a blessing to those outside God’s family – that we might help people know and follow Christ.
The Jewish people continually forgot their purpose – and they became inwardly focused on maintaining their religious practices and beliefs, forgetting that those practices are to bless the world. And it is true of the church – we get so inwardly focused. We are the body of Christ. Jesus came that the world might know God. Now the body of Christ is in heaven – and we are the body of Christ on earth – that we might reveal Christ to the world. We are the light that has come into the darkness – so we have the same responsibility.
We ask- is the church meeting my needs? But that is not the purpose of the church – the church exists for those outside the walls of the church. We come together to build up so that we can engage with those outside the church.
The Jewish people – there is a restriction as to who could be part of the community. There were those who were ostracized by the community – they would insulate themselves from the outside world – they would multiply rules and regulations in attempt to keep things pure. But the only way to be pure is to live for those outside the walls. A church will never be pure until they do.
Jesus went into the world – God became the disease – Man – humans are the disease of the earth – and the Great Physician entered into the disease in order that we might be healed.
We are His hands – His physicians – to enter into the realm of the epidemic – as a doctor would – they can’t heal unless they go right in. Scott was one small example of that.
We have four values that came out of our Church Unique meetings – one of those is Gospel:
Gospel: Sharing the truth of the Gospel with those we meet in our daily lives through word and actions.
That is what we are called to do. We don’t want to do it at times – but we are all called to do that. And when the words – through word and actions – we think we do a couple good deeds and we have done it through our actions. It is not that we do service on Saturday morning – our volunteering – but words and actions mean “Everything about our lives” – all we do – at work, at home, in our neighborhoods -

Esther 9: 20 Mordecai wrote… observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar each year 22 as the time when the Jews gave themselves rest from their enemies– the month when their trouble was turned to happiness and their mourning to a holiday. These were to be days of banqueting, happiness, sending gifts to one another, and providing for the poor.
They still celebrate this holiday – it is called Purim.
What we have happening here – is that – what was going on up until this point was the way things were. The reality of dealing with this tribal warfare and all that – Mordecai does what Jesus said – “You have heard, this, this and this – but I say…”
This ought to be a time of celebration of giving gifts and providing for the poor. Your community should be a celebration. Remember what the king did at the start of the book – their celebration was turned to perversion. People take what God wants – God wants his people to celebrate – to have banquets – sending gifts to one another – and providing for the poor.
This is – someone wrote a book – the Kingdom of God is a Party.
When we look at Jesus’ life – you think it is this guy who never washes his clothes or something – but he was accused of being a drunkard – hanging with tax collectors and sinners – He didn’t fit the stereotypes. This world needs to see Christians who LIVE – who are alive and love good and love beauty – who are kind and gracious – incredibly gracious – because they don’t have that anywhere. They just don’t get that. All they get is negative and complaining.
I went to visit my parents this week – flying to Palm Springs – I flew from Palm Springs to LAX – 40 minute flight – and an hour sitting at the gate.
I sat in the last row – and it was a tiny plane – - Flight attendant – asks what I was doing there – visiting parents – do they live here? Yeah – this flight attendant – was from Griffin, GA – and that is where my parents just came from - and I asked – how does one become a flight attendant. She explained it to me. I asked – why does someone do this job? Is it for the travel? Because otherwise, you get nothing but complaints from everyone! Yep.
You know – some of it comes from Christians – and that is really sad – we should be the opposite – let’s pray:
Lord, thank You – I ask that – You would help us live in such a way that our eyes and hearts would be open to live the gospel in word and action. In Your name we pray. Amen.