Esther 1: 13-22, | Summoned to the Feast , Pastor Cody Harlow

God's word says this then the king said to the wise men who knew the times for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment the men next to him being karshna zathar admetha tarshish Mary's marcena mebikin the seven princes of Persian media who

Saw the king's face and set first in the Kingdom according to the law what is to be done to Queen vashti because she has not performed the command of King ahazurus delivered by the eunuchs and memicon said in the presence of the king and the officials not only against the King has Queen vashti done wrong but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King azurus for the Queen's Behavior will be made known to all women causing them to look at their husbands with contempt since they will say King azurus commanded Queen vashti to be brought before him and she did not come this very day the noble women of Persian media who have heard of the Queen's Behavior will say the same to all the king's officials and there will be contempt in Wrath and plenty if it pleased the king let a royal order go out from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the medes so that it may not be repealed that vashti is never again to come before the king azurus and let the King give her royal position to another who is better than she so when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom for it is vast all women will give honor to their husbands high and low alike this advice pleased the king and the princes and the King did as memicon proposed he sent letters to all the Royal provinces to every province in its own script to every people in its own language that every man be master in his own household speak according to the language of his people and so God we do thank you so much for your word today Lord help us to seek to understand this passage to understand the differences between

Your Eternal Kingdom in this Kingdom that is now gone for thousands of years help us put our trust in the internal and in an eternal Kingdom so that we might not be given over to despair so that way we may know your power in your presence God in our own lives we ask for you to move in our hearts that you would unite us to your Yourself by your Holy Spirit God and that we would experience deeper and greater unity and if there's anyone here Lord that maybe they don't know you maybe their eternity is not secure I pray that today would be that day of salvation that they would be born again by your spirit we love you and we thank you for this day in Jesus name amen well Queen vashti she had refused to obey her husband the king and we won't go into the details of why that was if you want to know you can listen to last week's sermon but there's little ears in here today so we won't what she was asked to do was wrong and she was righteously disobedient we talked about that a little bit because no one can ever command you to sin against the Lord your God no one King azurus was looking for compliance who's looking for obedience in front of his war council and his own wife refused to make an appearance before those men she refused to direct order and then the king he turns to his wise men and these are supposed to be the best Minds in the entire Empire and yet we see these men only looking out for their own interests sure they package it in a way that's maybe more palatable and maybe more this is going to be a good thing for the empire and yet they're just bureaucrats who aren't really wise at all these are these are wise men and

According to like Babylonian and medo-persian tradition the wise men were the most talented the wisest the smartest they had the like they knew the times and the seasons and they were they were connected spiritually probably in a lot of occult practices yes and we talked about that when we were in Daniel but these men are supposed to be the cream of the crop men like Daniel hananiah Michelle and Azariah they were wise men these were to be men of character just like Daniel just like his friends but these seven princes of Persia I mean is there really a book on the law for this situation and we might we might Shake our heads at King azurus and they think well this is just a silly law that he's making here or he's just trying to find a silly law before we're too hard on him we should probably even take a look at the laws that are in Missouri that are still on the books right because they're they're ridiculous like for example all right so I'm from the East Coast right I grew up in Richmond Virginia everyone lays on their horns right that's just what happens I'm a horn Honker any other horn Honkers in here yep I am not afraid of that you guys are some nice people you know that you know either that or you're lying so you know but I'm a horn Honker because I don't want to get in an accident and did you know that in the state of Missouri it is illegal to honk your horn yes it is because and here's the reasoning behind it I know I know it's it's because it can spook the horse okay that's that's why it's still on the books guys I promise you I it's just crazy there there's actually it's it's illegal for more than four women to live together in one house if they're

Unrelated okay totally illegal can't do it what's another law I got it written down here oh yeah all right so if you're a busboy at a restaurant okay or maybe you're over at uncles and you know you're you're taking trash out there happens to be an open container of alcohol in that trash you can be arrested as an underage person for illegal possession of alcohol if you're taking trash out and there's an open container in there which is just totally ridiculous to me and so before we're really too harsh on King azer we should probably take a look at our own laws memkin he was a bit of a wise man and we might shake her heads at these ridiculous laws but I think that it's this is what government big government leads to it doesn't lead to wisdom it actually leads to stupidity and bureaucracy I think that we should probably take a look at memicon's reasoning going back to verse 16 here manikini said in the presence of the officials not only against the King has Queen bash do done wrong okay so he's saying that this is immoral illegal it is wrong objectively wrong and you know let's let's be honest to refuse a direct order from the king is scandalous okay was she right doing it yes but it is scandalous but against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King azurus is that really accurate when you think about that did she really offend every person in the Empire before refusing this order no not really but he's changing it that way he's putting his own little twist on it for the Queen's Behavior will be made known to all the women there's the issue that's the issue is that he's afraid of

Losing the control that he might have over his own spouse causing them to look at their husbands with contempt since they will say King azazarus commanded Queen vashti to be brought before him and she did not come this very day the noble women of Persian media who have heard of the Queen's Behavior they're just over in the other room having this other Feast they've already seen this they will hear have heard of the Queen's Behavior it will say the same to all the king's officials and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty now this guy mimiken he was probably the closest thing that the king had to appear in the ancient medo-persian empire he had a personal relationship with the King he could speak to him face to face these men they knew the times they knew the seasons they knew the law they knew the judgments and the question is what would happen to male headship in the home if the Persians were to hear about Queen vashti that's the issue for him and it terrified these princes not because of their strength but because of their weakness we have to ask what did Queen vashti really gain from rejecting the king's order when it comes to a long term I don't know Vision outcome I mean a lot of feminists will say that this is that Queen vashti is a great example of a woman to who was fighting against the patriarchy well Esther is maybe a poor example and there's commentaries out there about that type of stuff and because Esther she didn't defy the patriarchy the fact is that queen of Ashley she didn't accomplish very much during her very short reign as the queen and definitely not nearly as much as Esther did who is not only a woman in an ancient culture without those rights and Liberties that we enjoy but she was also

A Jewish person remember that leadership is just simply the ability to influence others that's what leadership is to influence people towards an end and if we're looking at someone's leadership Queen bashti was not a good leader she's full of character at least in this situation that we know of but vastly she was ultimately stripped over Royal position in the law determined her guilt before the before the king and the punishment fit the crime if you will not appear before the king now you will not appear before the king ever again that is the punishment but this Lacy law this judgment it quickly brought about maybe another not so well thought outlaw look at verse 20. Look at it with me it says so when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all of his kingdom for it is vast all women will give honor to their husbands high and low alike now I want you to ask this question how on Earth is this Emperor this King supposed to enforce that law that women are to give honor to their husbands high and low alike this is such an arbitrary law it's something that the culture did why is there why they have to make a law about it this is so arbitrary and yet it has the full weight of this ancient government behind it similar to playgrounds being shut down across America right but I digress this new decree it's found in verse 19 it would include a bill of divorce it would banish vashti from him and so the goal is to intimidate any wives that would ever attempt to defy their husbands and were Persian homes really threatened by vashti's defiant no imagine what this communicates to

Married couples in the ancient world that no matter what your husband says you better obey immediately I mean that's not the basis for a happy marriage it's not the basis for a Godly marriage it's a basis for maybe a good slap in the head is every man supposed to dismiss his wife just because she disagrees with them amen Jamie that one was yours [Laughter] [Music] now I have to think of azurus he's writing this edict in order to control the narrative obviously Define the director of the king it's a scandal it's wrong but if he is hoping to have women respect their men in their homes then this is the exact opposite of what you want to do I mean if you have to demand respect then it's probably because you're not respectable and it's in this kind of culture the reason why this author is including all of this because really we could probably move past a lot of this and just get to Esther being chosen as Queen but what the author of Esther is trying to do is to try to show you the kind of environment that the Jewish people were living in and also how a man like Haman the wicked Haman would be able to get to one of the highest positions of authority in the entire Empire but you know what we live in the similar World our government is not run by solid Christ honoring people not on a state level not on a national but rather we are led by immoral people or at the very least morally gray people there might be one or two that really truly honor the Lord but it's not just in our government it's also in our workplaces it's also in many homes where people are morally ambiguous we live in a world that is

Full of dangers for a little turmoils and contradictions and hardships and so everyone is told by the word of this King in a new decree a law that was expected to be held to by Society and you got to think if you got a like a new law in the mail from our government that just said hey guys be good to each other you would think how much of her tax money went to this note that I got in the mail of course we're we're supposed to be good to each other it's the exact same thing here this law could never be repealed according to Persian custom and this is exactly what the ungodly leaders did in the Book of Daniel when they were trying to prevent him from praying and so this massive Imperial engine starts to generate these letters send it out across continents into different areas all according to each person's own language which means you need translators and delivery boys and all that kind of stuff and it all stemmed from one person saying no to another person that's what it all stemmed from and so McKinley was apparently the spokesperson for this group decided to make this law and this is an illusion to Haman rising to power to protect his own interests not the interest of the king not the interests of the king's bride or even the interests of the empire and so I think that we should probably take some time and really reflect on Esther chapter one and kind of tie this all together on why this is important for us in 21st century America as Believers first thing I want you to write down if you're taking notes is that those in power and in our world are way too serious about themselves you can't laugh about yourself your toast okay

It is good to laugh at ourselves and sometimes it just helps us to gain a proper perspective growing up I loved watching cooking anybody any Food Network fans in here okay all right now I'm looking at some of you I know that you're a fan of food okay all right oh hey I'm right there with you okay here's the thing I loved watching cooking I didn't just love watching Cookie I loved watching like cooking shows but I loved watching my grandma cook and it would always crack me up because how she was in the kitchen was completely different than the people that I saw on TV right and you know a little bit of this a little bit of that you know pinch here a pinch there and it always cracked me up like on these these cooking shows when chefs would pretend like what they are making is a life and death issue and they treated it like it was the entire Pinnacle of their existence that creamy risotto that they were making just there and it's like no Trevor you're making a risotto you're not you know like sharing the Gospel with someone right and these guys they treat it like it's all life and death like it's the Pinnacle of their existence and they take it very seriously and we might think well that's cooking well what about like large men pushing each other on a football field oh or chasing the little ball and hitting it with a with a golf club into a little hole you know 500 yards away and we pay millions and millions of dollars for this and it's a life or death kind of thing people are way too serious I'm a fan of sports I'm a fan of cooking but it's not

Life that's not why we exist we live in a materialistic society and yet as Christians as Believers as followers of Christ we are not materialists we know that there is a whole lot more to life than what we can see what we can taste which we that which we can touch and feel life is more than those things and in our in America people they want to boil your identity down to what you where you went to school what neighborhood you live in what kind of car you drive whether you own a boat all of these different things they want to boil your identity down too and yet we're so hard on azerus and we say man that guy was a fool and maybe we should look in the mirror a little harder or World it holds all of these things to be so extremely important so much so that they would be willing to spend six months and literally millions of dollars in order to hold a six-month banquet the fact is that much of what we see on TV the news social media it is designed to bedazzle you to make you think that these things have power and influence and it gives you a taste of sensationalism but there is no power in what the world truly offers what Eternal benefit is there in a six month long Feast with lavish decorations what Eternal benefit is there what Eternal benefit is there if your team wins the championship cheer for the Chiefs I don't care it's not life though and we better stop treating it as life because the world is watching and they're looking for something more and when they see Christians behaving just like the world does it's no wonder people don't want to follow Christ in fact I would argue that it's only when we belong to another kingdom that

Any of the stuff that's around us has any value whatsoever but before we get there we probably need to look at another thing another thing that we learned from Esther chapter one is that sometimes we have to wait and see what God is up to sometimes we just have to wait and see what God is up to now I want you to think about how often have we heard God in Esther chapter one zero he doesn't even not even remotely mentioned in Esther chapter one now one of my favorite film series is the Lord of the Rings I've mentioned many times nerd I'm watching it right now we're on the two towers the second disc and does anybody know who the director is of The Lord of the Rings movies Peter Jackson my fellow nerd there you go all right now as I'm sitting down and I'm watching that film you know what I'm not thinking about I'm not thinking about Peter Jackson unless I see him in a cameo in the movie right he appears in each one of those and I'm like there's Peter Jackson but you know what it doesn't matter because he's the one that's directing it he's coordinating it he's pushing everything to that wonderful conclusion in a very similar way God is the one that is in charge of the mundane he is the one that is directing all of human history to one great point when Christ himself will descend from heaven and establish his visible kingdom here on the Earth and we will be saved and United with him forever in glory he is working all of creation even right now he is working through the mundane and the regular in the ordinary for your salvation for the Salvation of your neighbors he is working to accomplish his eternal Plan of Redemption God is the one that's

The director he's the one that is in Esther chapter one organizing all of these different things moving the hearts of kings and men so that he could deliver the Jewish people through Esther and we might look at this when we say well Cody these are these are things like happenstance chance look Our God does not allow for luck to exist God is the most Sovereign and the most Supreme and the most wonderful and he's the one that rules and Reigns over creation and we can trust him with all of our being and I want you to think put yourself in a Jewish Citizen's shoes in Esther chapter one what difference does it make who's ruling on the throne for you what difference does it make that Queen vashti's out as Queen life is still hard as a Jewish person you're still living under God's judgment as part of the victims of the Exile in fact I would say that a Jewish person might feel abandoned he might feel forgotten he might feel like God doesn't care you might ask where are the Samuels where are The Davids where are the elijahs and the isaiahs but the truth is so much better that God doesn't just work through the miraculous events like marching through the Red Sea or appearing as fire on a mountain but God he worked through the ordinary things and that's one of the things that we learn and is a primary purpose of the Book of Esther and thirdly In this passage we see that there is a stark contrast between the kingdom of azurus in the Kingdom of God and there's some similarities as well and if you follow that chart along we're just gonna go through these these are just things I wrote down as I was comparing and thinking the Lord is the great king who will not repeal his word or change

His degree try as people might God's word never changes it does not change from one generation to the next it doesn't change regardless of whoever the king or the president is God is the one that makes the walls the contrast is that God is the one that's truly sovereign over all things and he must be obeyed regardless of what leaders may say it is incumbent upon Christians to say this is what God says I'm going to walk in it amen here's a couple more things there is a command of obedience for the woman towards her husband both give commands of obedience but for the husband he has a big responsibility to be Christ-like and respectable we don't see that with King azurus's law look at what Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22-25 says it says wives submit to your own husbands as the church submits to Christ that's the big point husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that is the big overarching theme is that husbands have the responsibility to be sacrificing themselves for their wives this is true loves and marriage not husbands giving or using their wives as objects to display for their friends God he doesn't he doesn't do that to us the Gospel is the only Firm Foundation that we have for new minds and we receive those new Minds when we submit to the Lord if Christian husbands were a little bit more like Christ a little less like azerus I guarantee you that your marriage your suffering or even your future marriage will be so God glorifying but yeah we're just down here on Earth chasing our tails I pray brother that you would just

Submit yourself to Christ and say God can you make me more like you and my relationship to my wife how can I be like you to her I'm tired of just going down this path over and over and over again I want to love my wife like you have loved your church help me to do that God he will do that look another similarity is that both make laws to govern their kingdoms but God's laws are never arbitrary all of God's laws all of God's word is useful for you it's profitable for you it's good for you they're always beneficial God he also grows his kingdom oh this is another one God's God never views you like a trophy to display that's good to know isn't it you're not an object to the Lord you are beloved you're cherished you are valued and we know that because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross we're commanded to come to him when he calls us that's one of the similarities we are commanded to who else has the right to command us and the one who provided everything for us the contrast is that God does this lovingly and he reaches out to us full love and grace and he does that through his son Jesus Christ he doesn't fly off the handle in a drunken rage unlike azuris who has to get his vassals to agree to go and attack Greece God he grows his kingdom both are concerned about it expanding their Kingdom but the kingdom of God grows not through military mind but through the proclamation of availed Gospel and you know why it's veiled it's because people can't understand it until they're shown it and it's made beautiful when Christians

Take the time and share it with the lost with love and Jesus he said Matthew chapter 13 verses 31-32 he put a narrative another Parable before them saying the Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field it is the smallest of all seeds but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests and it's branches you know God's kingdom it grows and it expands through the process of changing lives and this is a similarity and a contrast too both summon their wives to the banquet both king azurus and the and the great God has summoned their wives to the banquet the contrast is that he summons us out of love not to display us and expose us we read about this in Family Worship time about the marriage supper of the lamb and Christ he will one day summon his church to be at that marriage supper of the Lamb and he doesn't summon us to expose us but rather to clothe Us in radiant white garments and he doesn't Force Sinners to come unwillingly but he changes our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel and draws us to himself with such Grace and such love and what a contrast there is between the true power of God and the false power of King azurus I mean queen vashti she had good reason to refuse her husband's command but do you do you have a real good reason to refuse not to come to the Lord to say I'm okay God I got this he beckons you he calls you to follow him to come to him he's the one that will take care of you he's the one that loves you he's the one who died on the cross so that you could be redeemed but the

Judgment remains we already talked about this a little bit the Judgment remains that when she refused she was never allowed to come into the presence of the king all right and I will say this that if you refuse the call of the Gospel to submit yourself before the Lord and say God you are God and I want you if you resist that call you will not be allowed into the presence of the king and what a terrifying thing that is do you think that you're strong enough to endure the awfulness of hell you're not the most terrible fate awaits those who do not trust in Christ and if that's you if you do not know Jesus then today is the day of salvation trust in the Lord trust in his death his burial his resurrection for you he's the one that took on all of your shame and your sin and your punishment he's the one that was stripped down and exposed he's the one that was nailed to the cross and he extends that nail scarred hand to you and he invites you to come and dine with him and to enjoy his banquet forever and so who is your king the world wants to make you a Slave the treasures of this world I mean it's designed to make it look like it's wonderful and glitzy and glamorous and amazing but yet it's empty in what it brings about is even emptier it seeks to entice you it seeks to ensnare you but you can experience the freedom that God offers by trusting in Jesus Christ by coming to him by submitting to him as Lord and Savior and saying God you are God and I'm going to follow you all the days of my life I want you and I trust in you and your death for me on that cross and we see this stark contrast

Here and while Queen vashti had every right to refuse King azerus's command what good reason do we have to refuse the Gospel call and you can't say that you weren't warned and my prayer for you today is that you would have eternity settled in your minds before you walk out of this place we're going to go ahead and go to head heart hand can you get me there I want you to know that you are invited to be with the King of Kings at the marriage supper of the Lamb you are invited to be there don't don't delay okay God has provided his own son to make atonement for your sins so that you can have eternal life heart I want you to believe that today can you can you get me there to heart it's not working right now heart I want you to believe that today is the opportunity to receive God's invitation to be with him today's the day don't don't wait until later you know what there is not a day of the week called later don't wait until later don't put it off you're not guaranteed tomorrow today is the day of salvation I want you to believe that today is the opportunity to receive God's invitation to be with him hand you can be saved by trusting in Jesus Christ's death burial and Resurrection by turning from sin that's what's called it's called repentance repent and believe is what we hear in the Gospel over and over and over again and it's as simple as that we don't clean ourselves up to come to Christ he makes us clean we don't change our lives in order to come to the Lord

He's the one that changes Our Lives it's as simple as that and my prayer is that you would know him today if you whip out your heads and close your eyes with me and let's respond in worship after we pray and so God we do thank you so much for this day and we pray that your peace would be on us that you would guide us that you would keep us Lord and if there's anyone here that maybe they need to have eternity settled before they walk out Lord I pray that either during the worship time or after service they'd grab me or one of the elders or someone here and just say I need to be saved how can I do that and I pray that would be settled in their minds even before they leave God I pray that you would help us to understand these contrasts Lord of this the kingdoms of this world and your kingdom God that we're not called to Delight in the things of this world but we're called to Delight in you Lord help us to do that with all of our hearts and all of our soul God I pray that you would continually bless us watch over us may we experience the fullness of your presence with us God we just ask that you would prepare us Lord as you prepared your people this book of master God [Music] Lord to be delivered from the Wrath to come we thank you that you have already provided that through your son Jesus Christ Lord and in the meantime prepare us for Mission work prepare us for Evangelistic conversations prepare us Lord that we might be your handsome feet to a world that desperately desperately needs this message God we love you and we thank you for this day in Jesus name amen

Hallelujah [Music] all I have is Christ yeah Jesus is my life I once was lost this night yet thought I knew the way the sin that promised joy in life led me to the Grave I had no hope that you would own a rebel too your will and if you had not loved me first I would review [Music] see but as I ran my Hellbound race [Music] and led me to the cross and I we have we had God's love displayed you suffered in my place [Music] Hallelujah [Music] Hallelujah Jesus is my now Lord I would yours alone and live so all might see the strength to follow your commands could never come from me oh Father use my Ransom life in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only [Music] all I have having iced Hallelujah see this is my life [Music] if you would just pray with me father we do ask that you would help us Lord as we leave from here to go and be Salt and Light to our community sword this is not the conclusion of the week but the very beginning and I pray that next week would just

Be a greater celebration of what you've done in our lives and in our community help us God to live for your kingdom not for this world in Jesus name amen thank you