Good morning, everyone. Welcome to St Paul's. If I've not met you, my name is Steve. I'm the lead pastor here at St Paul's.
Great to have you here. If you have just joined us, we are partway through the book of Esther. We've been following this story.
She's a young, orphaned Jewish woman who becomes the Queen of Persia.
We're doing this in this season as a church because we are looking forward into our life and ministry together as a church over the next three, five to ten years,
developing a strategic plan for our next phase of our 124-year history here at St Paul's in this place at Chatswood.
And particularly looking forward in a society that, in the time that we've existed here, has moved further and further away from the Christian faith.
So what does it mean to be God's people in this time, in this place for such a time as this?
And so what we've seen leading up to this, Esther has risked absolutely everything,
used a position in the palace as Xerxes' new queen to save God's people from annihilation.
An edict has gone out to the entire Persian Empire against the Jews.
And that edict's got several months to run before they are all annihilated.
But there's another crisis that we've just seen.
It's just risen right here.
It's much more immediate.
And the crisis is that Haman, who is the villain in this entire book of Esther, is determined to execute Mordecai.
And this plan has got literally hours to run.
It's a much more immediate crisis.
So open up your Bibles, Esther 5, running into 6.
And also, if you've got the Sir Paul's app, there's an outline for today's message,
which that's the trajectory we're heading on through the course of this morning.
Haman would have to be one of the most vivid and, I think, sustained case studies in the Bible
about what the Bible talks about in terms of pride.
And what happens when pride rages unchecked in the human heart?
Haman was the highest position in the king's administration.
But the odd thing with this is that Xerxes, the ruler of this empire,
must, in fact, command people to kneel and to honour Haman.
What is unusual about that is that this is a hierarchical traditional society
where bowing and honouring is instinctive.
But Xerxes has to command people to bow and honour Haman.
And so we get an indication that Haman must have been a particularly obnoxious individual.
And Mordecai would not honour him.
And so in chapter 5, verse 9, Haman is leaving a dinner party that he's just had,
a personal dinner party with Xerxes and Esther.
And he is in very high spirits.
Not because of the alcohol.
Nevertheless, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.
Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.
In other words, he went out of there in high spirits of his own importance.
That was the point.
And Mordecai was the pin that popped the balloon for him.
He was intoxicated by his self-importance.
Verse 10, here comes the true Haman,
calling together his friends and Jerez, his wife Haman,
both of them about his vast wealth, his many sons,
and all the ways the king had honoured him
and how he had elevated him above all the other nobles and officials.
And then he says, that's not all.
I'm the only person the Queen Esther invited to accompany the king
to the banquet she gave.
And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow.
But all this gives me no satisfaction
as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate.
What we have here is a man whose fragile ego is being poked.
And his whole sense of who he is
has got to do with his ego.
When his ego was fed, as it was moments earlier
in the presence of Xerxes and Esther,
he was feeling great on top of the world.
But when it was dented, when he saw Mordecai,
he is filled with anger and malice.
The Oxford professor, C.S. Lewis,
has a great definition of pride in his book, Christian Behaviour.
He wrote,
In other words, what he's saying is that your whole world
is so desperately working to concentrate everything on me.
You don't get into relationships.
You don't take up a role.
You don't do anything unless it affirms your perception
that you have of yourself.
Nothing is about the thing that you're doing
or the people you do it with.
Everything is ultimately about you.
And in that sense, pride is essentially competitive.
Lewis wrote that pride gets no pleasure out of getting something,
but only in having more of it than the next person.
Pride turns everything into a means to an end.
You never do anything for its own sake.
It is a means to an end of getting respect, approval,
affirming who I perceive myself to be.
And so Haman here gets no satisfaction from his many accomplishments.
He only has satisfaction in those things
if it gives him what he really desires.
And what he really, really desires is really not a wife,
not his sons, it's not even his vast wealth.
What he really desires is the respect and the approval of others,
and Mordecai is not giving him what he thinks he deserves.
When you understand pride,
I mean, we can see people that we would regard as proudful.
There's two, really, two forms of pride.
One is obvious, one's not so obvious.
There's a superiority form of pride,
and that's fairly obvious amongst, you know, in the media,
certain leaders of countries and things like that,
we would say, very proud individual.
Like the very first president of Tunisia in his public assembly
has said that gifts of leadership that he has
is virtually non-existent in the world.
That's a proud moment.
That's a superiority form of pride,
and it's pretty obvious, right?
But there's also an inferiority form of pride
that is not so obvious.
This is where a person is constantly negative about themselves.
They are very self-conscious.
They are always beating themselves up.
Inferiority pride is when someone affirms you for something
and you deflect it.
You immediately talk about,
yeah, I could have done it better here
and I could have done it better there.
Inferiority pride is doing exact same comparisons
as the superiority pride,
but you're just not scoring yourself as well on the assessments.
And that's where I think Lewis was absolutely right
when he said humility is not thinking less of yourself.
It is thinking of yourself less.
Humility is not self-loathing.
You see, Lewis went on to write that
if we met a humble person,
we would not come away thinking
that they were a humble person.
We would just come away thinking
that they were just incredibly humble,
so incredibly happy that they were stable,
that they were not anxious by my presence.
They were interested in me.
A humble person is not thinking about themselves
and how you are treating them
or how you are scoring them.
For a humble person,
there's no ego calculation there.
But it's more than that.
Pride ultimately is deadly.
Haman's monologue of his greatness
is kind of embarrassing and awkward.
But it's more than just embarrassing.
Pride is more than just embarrassing and awkward.
It is so much worse than that.
Haman wasn't just satisfied with killing Mordecai
and therefore forcing Mordecai
to do the very thing that he desired of him
and that was to bow.
He was not going to...
He's going to force Mordecai down.
He wanted to make every Jew in the empire
bow down to him as well
by ultimately annihilating them.
That is, pride is deadly.
It leads to devastation.
It leads to ultimate destruction.
Christian theology,
ever since the days of St. Augustine,
has acknowledged that pride
is not just one of the sins of humanity,
but it's the very foundation
of all sins of humanity.
C.S. Lewis writes,
Pride leads to every other vice.
It is the complete anti-God state of mind.
It is the essential vice,
the utmost evil,
unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness,
are mere flea bites in comparison.
For instance,
and Lewis unpacks this more,
but for instance,
some of us struggle
with bitterness
towards other people
because they've hurt us
in some kind of way in the past.
They've put us down.
They've made us bow in one level.
They've made us feel low.
They've treated us
as if we are below them.
Ironically though,
the only way that you can stay bitter
towards another person
is because I feel superior to them.
Even my bitterness is linked to pride.
You can't stay bitter with someone
unless you feel superior to them.
And you want them to be brought low.
There is no bitterness without pride.
Pride says,
ultimately,
well,
I would never treat someone like that.
And with that statement,
you've elevated yourself above them.
Pride is the driving force
of a life distorted by anger.
Pride also leads to being indecisive.
It makes us either too abrasive
or it makes us too shy.
Pride is the fuel behind racism
and social injustice
and classism and imperialism.
Pride makes us foolish
by keeping us from learning
from our mistakes.
It diverts us to self-justification
and blame shifting consistently.
When relationships are going bad
or the job's not working out,
it is always someone else's fault.
It's a problem of circumstances.
It's something else's fault.
Humble people aren't always,
in any sense,
standing on their own dignity.
Humble people are learning.
When something goes wrong,
they look for what they've done
in terms of the contribution,
even if it's not mainly their fault.
And if they find the part that they own,
they learn from it and grow.
You see, proud people don't just not learn
from mistakes in general,
but they don't learn from criticism in particular.
One of the ways to grow
is to take criticism.
The superiority type of person,
of pride, dismisses criticism.
The inferiority form of pride person
means that you are so melted down
by criticism
that people are in fact
too scared to give you any.
Because of the mess,
they've got to clean up.
But what is particularly difficult
about pride
is that it hides itself.
Pride is the carbon monoxide of sin.
It's killing you,
you don't know it.
The prouder a person is,
the less proud they think they are.
Because the more they will see it
in other people.
That's the irony.
Lewis writes,
I pointed out a moment ago
that the more pride one had,
the more one disliked pride in others.
In fact,
if you want to find out
how proud you are,
the easiest way
is to ask yourself,
how much do I dislike it
when other people snub me
or refuse to take any notice of me
or patronise me
or show off?
He's making a very significant point there.
Traditionally,
in Australian culture,
we have a disdain.
It's called tall poppy syndrome,
but we have a disdain
for what we call snobs.
A snob
is a slang term
for someone
who believes
that they are superior to others
due to their social class
or their education
or their taste
in fashion or food
and it often leads them
to be condescending of others,
disdainful of others.
So we don't like snobs
in Australian culture.
Ironically,
it is only possible
to disdain a snob
if you feel superior to them.
That is,
disdaining snobbery
is snobbery.
That's the irony of pride.
See the problem?
We can't see it.
Takes a certain amount of pride,
in fact,
to come even to this point
in this message
and to be mostly
think about someone else.
I wish they were here
with me right now
listening to this.
But this leads me
to one more deadliness
associated with pride.
that there is no pride
like religious pride.
This brings it a bit home
for us.
Being religious
can stifle
a certain amount of,
or externally constrain
a certain amount
of sins
to a degree.
You know,
it can stifle greed
to a degree.
It can stifle
lust
to a degree.
And a whole lot
of other sins
to a degree.
If we work hard
to live
by a certain set
of moral standards
with the hope
of life going well now
or approval
in the future,
then we will
constrain ourselves
to certain constraints,
be strifled
as we pursue
those things.
That's the definition
of religion.
But religion
fuels,
it throws
petrol
on the fire
of pride.
Jonathan Edwards,
an American theologian
in the 1700s,
he's got a,
he wrote a book,
a series of lectures
really on humility.
It's called
Charity in Its
Fruits.
And he says
this,
to know that
there is
an infinitely
great God
of justice
does not
create humility
in itself.
Because either
you will try
to live up
to this God's
standard
and become
self-righteous
as you
achieve it
or
you'll feel
like you
can't live
up to that
standard
and you'll
just feel
like a failure.
And either
way,
you're focusing
on yourself.
Religion
will either
make you feel
more
self-consciously
a failure
or
it will
make you
feel
much more
superior
to everyone
else.
And either
way,
you're still
at the
centre.
So what
happens?
Where's the
cure for
pride?
Chapter 6,
right at the
beginning,
Haman is
arriving to
see Xerxes.
He's there
to ask
Xerxes to
kill Mordecai
in a pole
that he's been
building with
his mates
all night,
75 foot high.
Haman,
he's not
just satisfied,
he wants
to make
a public
spectacle
of Mordecai.
He doesn't
send his
assassins
in the
middle of
the night,
he wants
to,
this is
the man
who has
made me,
the public
figure Haman,
feel low
and I'm
going to
show to
everyone
what I
do to
the person
who makes
me feel
low.
So he's
spent the
night working
on his
pole,
he's now
coming to
King,
asking for
special
permission
to kill
Mordecai
and hang
him on it.
While he's
there,
while this
is all
going on,
while the
pole's
being built,
Xerxes
can't sleep.
Maybe it's
the construction
noise,
we don't
know,
but Xerxes
can't sleep.
Now,
here we see
another one
of those
so-called
coincidences
that is God
working silently
and sovereignly
through all
of this
narrative.
And so
here it is,
Xerxes
can't
sleep.
Xerxes
has a
harem
of the
most
beautiful
women
of the
empire,
the
choicest
food
and wine,
dances,
endless
options
for
entertainment,
and in
his inability
to sleep
and his
restlessness,
he says
to his
attendants,
go and
get what
is equivalent
to the
parish council
minutes and
read them
to me.
I mean,
he really
did want
to sleep,
didn't he?
And what
is read
out here
is the
record of
Mordecai
saving his
life from
assassination
and now
he really
can't sleep
because
there is
no record
of Mordecai
being rewarded
for that
and in
that moment
Xerxes
knows we
have a
cultural
crisis,
a cultural
crisis.
You see,
this is not
just a mere
simple oversight
that poor
Mordecai
wasn't
thanked,
so,
you know,
guys,
send him
an Uber
Eats
voucher.
This is a
cultural
crisis.
If word
got out
that Xerxes
does not
reward those
who stick
their neck
out and
report
assassination
attempts and
other risks
to his
rule,
who else
is going
to come
forward with
information?
And so he
needs some
suggestions of
what do we
do?
You know,
Uber Eats
wasn't around
those days,
so what do
we do?
And who's
in the court?
And it
just so
happens that
Haman's
there in
the middle
of the
night,
early hours
of the
morning.
What should
be done
for the
man the
king delights
to honour?
And so this
is Haman
desperately
needing
respect,
desperately
needing
approval,
desperately
wanting
honour
and glory
driven by
his heart
of pride
is thinking
as you
do as
a proud
person.
Who else
could he
be possibly
talking about
than me?
Verse 7,
this is his
response.
For the
man the
king delights
to honour,
have them
bring a
royal robe
the king
has worn
and a
horse the
king has
ridden,
one with
a royal
crest
placed on
its head.
Now this
is a bold
move by
Haman.
What he
is proposing
for himself
is nothing
short of
the
honour
that would
be given
to a
conquering
ruling
king
of an
empire.
A
conquering
conqueror's
parade.
Then let
the robe
and the
horse be
entrusted
to one
of the
king's
most
noble
princes.
The
greatest
noble
was to
be put
into
the
position
of
slave
and to
lead
the
horse,
elevating
the
rider
to the
position
of
momentary
king.
Make
the
great
one
less
and
the
lesser
one
great.
Let
them
robe
the
man
that
the
king
delights
to
honour.
In
ancient
times
for the
king
to put
the
robe
on
someone
is
more
than
just
giving
them
a
high
position
or
trying
out
his
outfits.
When
Pharaoh
puts
his
robe
on
Joseph
in
Genesis
41
it
means
Joseph
is
participating
at that
moment
in
the
king's
position.
When
Jonathan
gives
his
kingly
robe
to
David
in
1
Samuel
18
it
is
Jonathan's
way
of
saying
even
though
he
is
the
son
of
the
king
he's
saying
in
that
moment
to
David
you
are
to
be
king.
And
so
this
is
Haman's
moment.
If
everyone
saw
that
he
is
the
one
who
is
loved
and
approved
of
by
someone
as
great
the
most
powerful
man
in
the
world
at
that
time
Xerxes
the
first
then
everyone
will
know
and
he
will
know
deep
down
inside
of
him
how
much
he
is
valued
How
much
he
is
loved!
Lead
him
on
lead
him
on
the
horse
through
the
city
streets
proclaiming
before
him
this
is
the
one
what
he's
done
for
the
man
the
king
delights
to
honour
his
heart
is
so
satisfied
and
this
is
when
it
all
comes
tumbling
down
the
great
reversal
begins
Xerxes
says
great
plan
do
that
for
Mordecai
and
you
lead
the
horse
Mordecai
was
literally
hours
from
death
he was
about
to be
lifted
up
as a
public
spectacle
on a
pole
75
feet
high
to be
scorned
and to
be
mocked
by
all
who
passed
by
a
great
humiliation
and
instead
he is
lifted
up
onto
Xerxes
horse
covered
with his
robe
and paraded
in front
of all
and honoured
in front
of all
and
Haman
thinking
he was
about
to be
lifted
up
even
higher
than
what
he
currently
is
and honoured
is now
down at
the feet
of the
one
who
refused
to bow
in the
role of
the servant
leading the
horse
as a
slave
and in
verse 12
Haman
rushed
home
with his
head
covered
in
grief
and
Haman's
reversal
here
signals
the
great
reversal
of
God's
people
here
in
the
book
of
Esther
God
stands
against
the
proud
it's
an
ethic
that
runs
right
throughout
the
Bible
the
first
will
be
last
and
the
last
will
be
first
if
we
humble
ourselves
we
will
be
exalted
but
if
we
exalt
ourselves
we
will
be
humbled
as C.S.
Lewis
put it
lose
yourself
that
you
might
find
yourself
the
principle
runs
right
throughout
life
from
top
to
bottom
lose
your
life
and
you
will
save
it
for
instance
I haven't
got time
to unpack
this
in every
area
sphere
of life
but
in
social
life
you
never
actually
make
a
good
impression
on
people
until
you
stop
trying
to
make
a
good
impression
on
people
this
is
the
principle
of the
universe
because
it is
the
nature
of the
God
who
made
the
universe
Haman
wanted
the
one
thing
that
we
are
all
humanities
created
to
want
and
that
is
the
approval
the
love
of
the
lovable
what
we
need
what
we
need
is
the
ultimate
assurance
of
who
we
are
assurance
ultimate
assurance
of our
worth
what we
all
need
is
the
praise
and the
affirmation
and the
approval
and the
love
of the
praise
worthy
you see
Haman
here
asks
Xerxes
he's
seeking
from
Xerxes
for the
very thing
that we
all
want
and that
we
all
need
in
life
so
what
Haman
is
wanting
here
he
didn't
ask
Xerxes
for the
wrong
thing
he
just
asked
the
wrong
king
that's
his
problem
he
asked
the
wrong
king
there
is
a
better
king
there
is
a
king
with
ultimate
glory
who
came
to
earth
was
stripped
!
allowed
himself
to be
stripped
He
chose
to
strip
himself
of
all
of
his
glory
why?
because
he
was
trading
places
with
us
Mordecai
was
saved
because
Haman
swapped
places
with
him
but
Haman
did
it
involuntarily
and
if this
is new
to you
let me
just
say
that
the
uniqueness
and
the
truth
and
the
goodness
and
beauty
of
the
Christian
faith
is
that
it's
very
central
message
that
all
things
flow
out
the
very
central
message
what
we
call
the
gospel
the
good
news
of
the
Christian
faith
is
that
Jesus
Christ
the
son
of
God
the
one
of
infinite
glory
and
majesty
and
splendor
has
traded
places
with
us
just
in a
number
of
weeks
we
will
be
celebrating
him
taking
on
human
form
to
trade
places
with
us
but
he
did
it
voluntarily
you see
Jesus
is the
ultimate
king
he's
the
king
with
ultimate
splendor
and
glory
and
an
infinite
cost
to
himself
he
did
the
great
reversal
he
reversed
places
with
us
you see
in
Jesus
voluntary
act
of
trading
places
with
us
we
see
the
consequences
of
our
pride
and
the
cure
for
our
pride
2
Corinthians
5
21
puts
it
like
this
God
made
him
talking
about
Jesus
he
made
him
sin
who
knew
no
sin
perfectly
that
we
might
become
the
righteousness
of
God
in
him
that
he
might
give
his
royal
robes
to
us
he
was
stripped
naked
nailed
to a
stake
for
our
sin
and
that
all
would
walk
past
him
and
mock
him
and
scorn
him
as a
public
spectacle
humiliated
so that
we could
be raised
up and
clothed in
his perfect
righteousness
and
honoured
he takes
what we
deserve so
that we
can get
what he
deserves
John 17
in the
New
Testament
reads what
this means
for those
who bow
to Jesus
now
father
I want
those
you have
given me
to be
with me
where I
am
and to
see my
glory
the glory
that you
have given
me
because you
loved me
before the
creation of
the world
he's talking
about his
glory there
the father
has given
Jesus glory
and then he
says something
remarkable
a couple of
verses earlier
I have
given them
the glory
that you
gave me
I have
made them
what I
am
that is
unbelievable
you see
glory is
not fairy
dust
glory is
delight
it is
honour
for those
who bow
in submission
to Jesus
who hand
their life
over and
follow Jesus
what awaits
is not
a life
of religious
subjugation
what becomes
ours
is the
praise
of the
ultimate
one
who's
worthy
of
praise
the glory
and honour
and the
robes
of the
ultimate
eternal
king
and when
we know
Jesus
loves us
like that
when we
know that
the horror
of the
cross
was the
cost
of our
pride
and the
solution
to our
pride
that in
fact is
what our
ego needs
to divert
it from
us
and constant
self-assessment
to look to
him
and to
finally be
self-forgetful
and at
rest
you see
it's not
enough just
to say
well I
believe that
God exists
that doesn't
make us
humble
what we
must see
and know
and push
down into
the driving
centre of
our life
is God
coming down
and reversing
places
with us
at infinite
cost
to himself
to know
that he
had to
die
for us
humbles
us
to know
that he
was glad
to do
it
chose
to do
it
actually
affirms
you
in a
really
infinite
way
and that
ultimately
is what
causes the
Christian
to be
strong
enough
to be
weak
strong
enough
to learn
from
mistakes
strong
enough
and humble
enough
to not
try to
exert
power
or influence
people in a
negative
way
strong
enough
to take
jobs
and get
involved
in
relationships
and to
serve
others
that don't
just make
us feel
good
about
ourselves
it means
we won't
be constantly
down on
ourselves
or constantly
elevating
ourselves
or in fact
anything about
ourselves
it is a
place
of
stability
of
freedom
so
freeing
so
refreshing
so
restful
and so
beautiful
and that's
what we
offer our
society
as we
look forward
as a
church
a church
of
diverse
people
growing
downward
in
humility
as we
grow
upward
embracing
the Lord
Jesus
and all
that he
has done
for us
a church
that is so
beautifully
countercultural
that it
makes in
fact Jesus
and Christianity
compelling to
our society
Amen