Keep sharing good news without ads.
Don Filcek, Esther: Encountering God in the Twists of Real Life; Esther 7 A Day Is Coming
Hi everybody, this is Kyle Douglas, Associate Pastor at Recast, and unfortunately we had some technical difficulties this week with our sermon audio and weren't able to record Don on Sunday, but we know that many of you like to listen to the sermon and so we're going to do the next best thing.
I'm going to read you Don's sermon from his manuscript. I'm no Don Filsek, but we hope this is an adequate plan B. Good morning. Welcome to Recast Church. Don Filsek, Lead Pastor here. One of our core values at Recast Church is simplicity, and that means that we have intentionally and purposefully pared down our programming so that we're not tied up every evening at church.
It's about involvement with our neighbors and community, but if we have a few programs then it makes it all the more important that we maximize what we do for growth. Our growth map is pretty simple. We want everyone to be growing in faith, growing in community, and growing in service.
Regardless of your starting point with us, you can grow, right? We grow in faith by coming together, hearing God's word, believing it, and going out and doing it. We also want to be growing in community.
It is my conviction that the church is people and God has ordained the church as a primary way that he helps us move forward. We need people involved in our lives to help us stay on the right path. We also want everyone to be growing in service.
You have a skill set. You have gifts and abilities that are needed in this church and out in our community. Everyone should be looking for ways that God could use you in ministry. In this process of growing in faith, God has us in Esther chapter 7 this morning.
And here in our text we are going to come to a very fateful day. One day can make a big difference. Some of you can relate to having your entire life turned upside down on one significant day. Haman's day has arrived.
There is a reality of judgment for those who have aligned themselves against the Creator God. But there is equally a day of glory, a day of protection, a day of restoration for those who have aligned themselves with God.
And as we read this text this morning, consider these dramatic events. God is simultaneously bringing his enemy to ruin and his people to deliverance. So open your Bibles with me to Esther chapter 7. So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of my kingdom it shall be fulfilled.
Then Queen Esther answered, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.
If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent. For our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king. Then King Asurus said to Queen Esther, Who is he and where is he who has dared to do this?
And Esther said, A foe and an enemy, this wicked Haman. Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. And the king arose in his wrath from the wine drinking and went into the palace garden. But Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.
And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?
As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs, in attendance on the king, said, Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house fifty cubits high.
And the king said, Hang him on that. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. Haman was a wicked man. His arrogance knew no bounds, and he willingly accepted worship from his subjects.
He bribed the king of Persia to pass an edict of genocide against the entire Jewish race. Haman had aligned himself against the people of God. He had aligned himself against the promises of God. And he had aligned himself with his own power, his own prestige, and his own prophet.
But by the time that we get to our text, Haman is in trouble. Haman doesn't know what we all know, and that is that the queen over the entire empire of Persia is Jewish, and therefore under his death sentence.
She has set up a plan to plead with the king for her life and the life of her people. And it all comes down to this day at a feast that the king and Haman have been invited to. And so we pick up in verse 1.
Haman and the king go to Esther's feast. And verse 2 reminds us that this is the second day because they actually had a feast the day before in which Esther requested a further feast. And so Esther 7 -2 reads almost identical to Esther 5 -6 because the king is still very curious about Queen Esther's request.
So when they get to the wine at the end of the meal, he once again asks, verse 2, What is your wish? It will be granted to you. And what is your request? Even up to half of my kingdom. She has now heard this offer three times, and verse 3 has been a long time coming.
And so here it comes. And her reply mirrors the king's questions. My wish is for my life to be spared and my request is for my people. It is clear that Esther expresses that her life is in danger and that her entire race has been threatened.
And she goes on to explain in verse 4. Her people have been sold, herself included, and then she uses the exact terminology found in the edict. They have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated.
And then she softens her request by appealing to her sensitivity for the convenience of the king. And how many of you know, if you can make the king believe that you have his best interest in mind, that's a bonus.
She says if we were merely sold into slavery, she would have been silent because a request would then be coming to him suggesting economic loss for him. In other words, this kind of confusing statement means, if we could have served you best by slavery, I wouldn't have bothered you with a request to free us.
The king's rage is immediate and ironic. It's hard to translate verse 5 and 6 into English because in Hebrew the word choice makes the sentences sound angry and quick. Who? Where? Whose heart has been filled to do this thing?
And her response is just as quick and terse. Who? A foe. An enemy. Where? Right here. This wicked Haman. Now, if we had a remote control, we could freeze the screen and pull the Duke of Hazard as the narrator.
Anybody get that? The General Lee is in mid-air and just as you're expecting the crash, the frame freezes and the narrator comes in to spell out the predicament. There sits Haman, eyes wide in terror.
There stand the king, surprise and rage mixed as his eyebrows are slanted inward. There sits Queen Esther, finger pointed with dismay and anger. And as the narrator would say, it's not looking like this is going to turn out well there for Haman.
And notice that as personal and chummy as Haman has become with King Xerxes, both Esther and Xerxes are granted their royal titles in verse 6. He is terrified before king and queen. He is the third in a party of two.
The king arose in his wrath and stepped out into the garden. Now, some have debated about why the king stepped out, which I think is funny because the text tells us. He stepped out in his wrath. He is processing his anger.
Imagine what a bomb has just been dropped on him. His closest advisor has placed his own wife and queen in jeopardy. The queen herself is a Jew. I am sure he is considering his own complicity. Ever try to process information while enraged?
He stepped out for a minute. Those of you who are married, you understand this, right? Sometimes you just need to step out. I would not suggest that you pattern your married life after King Xerxes, but at least the dude tries to regain his composure.
But Haman makes the last mistake of his life. Rather than depart the feast when the king does, which is his duty as an officer in the presence of the king, he stays. To be male and to remain with the queen was in itself an affront to the king.
But to approach the queen was even worse. Several sources pointed out that part of the harem protocol was that nobody was to enter within seven paces of a member of the king's harem. Large personal space.
So Haman, in the absence of the king, approaches the queen's couch, where she has been reclining and eating, and likely kneels down to beg for his life. A funny side note is that Jewish tradition believes that the angel Gabriel gave Haman a little shove onto the queen's couch.
Since I'm struggling to find this in the text, I'm going to stick with the end of verse 7, that Haman knew the king was intending to judge him and was pleading for mercy. It's interesting to note that Haman, in the office of prime minister, knew the king well, and he knows that the king means him harm.
But just as he is kneeling by the queen's couch, likely falling over in a bowing motion toward the queen, the king returns. Now let's pause again. How did this whole thing start for Haman? A Jew refused to bow before him, right?
Mordecai, Esther's adopted father, refused to bow and pay homage and worship to Haman. But now here in the end, the last free act of Haman is to grovel and lower himself before a Jew. There's at least a little bit of irony in this, right?
Haman has now forfeited any right to appeal, because he has broken the harem protocol. Now we know that Haman was not assaulting the queen. He was begging for his life. But the king, in his rage, interprets the action as sexual assault.
That is what the word actually means. He doesn't come back and say, Why have you broken court protocol? Or even, Why are you trying to physically harm the queen? But he immediately, in his rage, assumes the worst possible action.
And as the words left his mouth, the eunuchs, who also serve as guards, cover Haman's face with a gunny sack. This practice was followed even into American history in the West during execution. Harbona, one of the eunuchs, offers a great suggestion to the king.
Haman has the spike out by his house in which he was going to impale Mordecai, the same Mordecai who saved your life, O king. And the king said, Hang him on that. So they carried out his order, and the king's wrath subsided.
Anybody see anything intense in this passage? Within 24 hours, Haman has gone from boasting to his wife and friends about his high and lofty standing, to execution as a traitor against the king. A lot can change in one day.
Do you think it's accurate to say that Haman experienced judgment? Judgment is not a popular topic in our culture. And yet reality, as found through the pages of Scripture, is that there is a day coming.
There is a day approaching. Both a day of passing for each one of us, but also a grand and epic day of judgment spoken about in Scripture. There will be a reckoning. Haman stands in the text as a model of judgment.
But let's be careful as our tendency is to quickly draw up categories. Haman deserves judgment, but Esther does not. People out there deserve judgment, but we do not. Or those kind of sinners deserve punishment, but we do not.
Have you ever noticed that we tend to believe that God holds the worst judgment for those who do sins we don't struggle with? But there is a reality that there stands Esther in this text, not being judged, but being delivered.
And there stands Haman in the text, not being delivered, but being judged. And here lies the lesson for us this morning. Because if you're anything like me, knowing what made the difference between Esther and Haman is helpful.
Was it Esther's perfect and impeccable character that made her one of God's favorites? Was it Haman's wicked pride that condemned him? If so, what about our pride and arrogance? I can relate on many levels to Haman.
So what is our hope? I believe that what we are looking at here is a question of alignment. Haman aligned himself against God, against his people, and against his will. Haman was self-sufficient, self-important, and aligned his primary priorities with his own glory.
Esther aligned herself with the people of God. She aligned herself with the purposes of God. She demonstrated need for others. She did not abuse the power she was given, and in the end submitted herself to the will of God.
A day is coming. And on that day it will be a question of alignment. And we have the advantage of having been born under the new covenant of God. When you hear the word covenant, think contract or agreement.
The old covenant was made between God and a people group, the Jews. But the new covenant is between God and his Son. In this new covenant, God has written it and signed off on both sides. He wrote the agreement and fulfilled its requirements.
Therefore, the pathway of alignment is open for all. And yet, he who wrote the contract dictates how we can benefit from it. You see, a day is coming. And the same day that will prove to be the demise of those who have aligned themselves against God will be the same day that will prove to be the salvation of those who have aligned themselves with God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
As Haman is led away in darkness, Esther and all her people who have aligned their hearts with God stand on the brink of salvation. We can easily get caught up in the unfairness of judgment. But the more I have lived in the skin, the more I have become caught up in the unfairness of grace.
Why me, O God? Why would you say of me, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Haman is not worse than me. Haman chose to join the wrong team. His was not a primary issue of ethics and behavior, but one of alignment.
And that is why my point in the text has not been, act like Esther and don't act like Haman. But my application is, know this God. See how he works on behalf of his people. See the love and concern he has for the preservation of his people.
And throw yourself at his mercy. The center of this new contract with God is the cross. At the cross, the righteous requirements of sacrifice for sins were met. At the cross, the sinless Son of God completed the payment.
He took that death for us. Haman paid for his own sins, and I deserve to pay for my own sins. But God chose to lay my sins on Jesus, and he paid for them at the cross. And that day is coming, a day of judgment for those who have rejected God and his Son, but a day of restoration and completeness for anyone who comes under the protective covering of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away our sins.
If you're here, and when I speak about this coming day, you're not sure how it will go for you, would you please come and speak with us? Pass by this communion and reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus for you.
If you are here and you are in Christ, trusting in him to save you on that day, rejoice as you take the bread and the juice, his body broken and his blood spilled out, so that over you is the banner, no more condemnation.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this grace. We thank you that we are made right through the cross of Jesus Christ, and that we don't have to suffer the punishment of our sins. Father, we pray that we would align ourselves with you, that we would choose your team, that we would not choose our own glory and choose to glorify ourselves.
Father, but that we would see the grace, that we would accept the grace that you've extended to us through Jesus. We love you and we thank you for this. We thank you for your word. We thank you for Esther chapter 7.
And it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.