Good morning, everyone, and welcome to St. Paul's.
We've not met you before.
My name's Steve, the senior pastor here at St. Paul's.
And this is a very important term for us here as a church.
It's the end of Follow 25, if you're familiar with that.
What Follow 25 has been for us is it's been our five-year ministry plan
to see us grow in faith in Jesus Christ
and be transformed into the image of Jesus
from the inside out, both individually and corporately.
Our plan has been to grow deeper and more confident in God,
particularly in a time and a place
where the prevailing view of society towards the Christian faith
is anywhere between apathy through to hostility.
And so this term, what we're doing is we're looking back
at what's happened in the last five years at the same time
while we're planning to look forward and seeking God's will
for our future together and what he's calling us into.
And so to help us to reflect on what's been and to inspire us
to look ahead with anticipation,
we are going back two and a half thousand years in history
to the book of Esther in the Bible,
which the first bits have just been read out to us.
Now, at first glance, when you take a helicopter view
of the book of Esther, it appears like it's one of those
kind of Cinderella stories of the Old Testament.
It's the orphan girl who, you know, raised up and becomes,
you know, queen of Persia.
It's, you know, rags to riches kind of story.
It's a heartwarming, you know, the poor girl gets good kind of thing.
And yet the reality is the book of Esther is fundamentally
so much more than that.
In fact, the book is about how God saves his people
from the brink of disaster, that he never abandons his people.
Because what we're reading here in the book of Esther
is one of the most perilous times in the history of God's people.
They're in exile in a foreign land.
They are a minority group ruled by a very powerful empire.
And as we will see in the coming weeks,
they are literally on the brink of extermination.
And what this book shows us is it teaches how to follow God,
how to trust him, and even how to expect big things of him
when, even when the society around us,
even when we're a minority group and society around us
is morally, spiritually, and culturally indifferent
or even hostile to the God whom we follow.
So if you've got the St. Paul's app,
three points for today that we're going to look at
just in these sections just being read out.
And the first point, God is working despite appearances.
One of the oddest things about the book of Esther
is that there is no mention of God in the book at all.
At all.
Not even once.
It's not like the writer got to the end of it
and sent it off for publishing.
It came back and re-read his.
Went, oh my goodness.
I forgot to mention God.
You know, like I'm pretty confident it's not an oversight.
I'm pretty confident that the writer here is making a point.
And the point is, is that God is always at work.
You see, whenever the God of Israel,
if you look at the Old Testament,
saw his people in trouble in the past,
he comes through for them in extraordinary
and spectacular ways.
And yet you get to the book of Esther
and there's no mighty miracle.
There's no vision.
Not even a dream.
It appears throughout the entire book
that God is absent.
That God is totally silent.
That God's not there.
And yet, when you read through the book,
what you discover is a whole heap of a string,
if you like, of apparent consequences.
You know, if those things had not happened,
God's people would have in fact been exterminated.
And each one is connected to the other.
You know, if Xerxes had not been a fool
and Xerxes had not got drunk
and made a boast about his queen Vashti,
Vashti would have still been queen
if he had not got drunk.
And yet Esther must be queen
in order to save God's people.
And what if there was no one
who was Jewish good enough
to be part of the harem?
What if Esther had not been pretty?
What if Esther was not chosen
to be part of the group?
What if the king had favoured
one of the other girls in the harem?
The whole narrative of Esther is
what if, what if, what if, what if,
what if, what if, what if?
All the way through.
And all of them are ordinary,
even flawed things,
bad things.
And by themselves,
they don't appear to be significant at all.
See, here's the point
that I think the writer is trying
to get across here.
When we see the plagues
in the book of Exodus,
we say,
there is God at work
saving his people.
Praise God.
When we see Xerxes drunk,
we don't go,
there is God at work
saving his people.
And Esther is telling us,
don't make the mistake
of overlooking the ordinary,
even the sinful and the bad,
about God bringing about his purposes.
Don't make the mistake
of the materialist
who judges situations
based on what they can see
and feel
and can know firsthand.
He may not be seen,
but God is at work
all the way through this book.
His silence
is not his absence.
His hiddenness
is not his abandonment.
God is not obsessed
with appearances
the way that we are.
He's working out his promises
even when it appears
that he's nowhere around.
And there are things going on
in our lives right now.
We could be looking
right at it,
things that God is doing
that are so ordinary
and we're not either
not seeing it
or we're not embracing it.
You see,
even in all the ugliness
of Esther 1 and 2,
and it is ugliness,
there's hardly anything redeemable
in Esther chapters 1 and 2
at all.
God is at work.
He's using the flawed,
the failed,
and the questionable
people in this chapter
like Xerxes,
all his noblemen,
and Esther
to bring about his plans
and his purposes.
God is at work
despite appearances.
And that matters to us
because we live in a world
that is obsessed
with appearance.
The book of Esther begins,
if you've got it there,
open up chapter 1.
It begins by introducing us
to the great empire
of King Xerxes I,
also known as Xerxes the Great,
or the fourth king of kings
of the Achamanian Empire.
Verse 1,
this is what happened
during the time of Xerxes,
the Xerxes who ruled
over 127 provinces,
stretching from India
to Kush.
Xerxes I,
his reign
was from 486
to 465 BC
when he was
assassinated
by the head
of his security.
His empire
included
northwestern India,
Pakistan,
Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan,
Iran,
Iraq,
Armenian,
Azerbaijan,
Syria,
Lebanon,
Israel,
Jordan,
Turkey,
northern Greece,
Egypt,
Libya,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia,
and Sudan.
There is no one
at that time
more powerful
on the face
of the earth
than Xerxes I,
and he knew it.
He was not a humble man,
and so he holds a party
to show the world
just how great he is
in case there was any confusion
about the matter.
Verse 4 tells us
that it went on
for a full
180 days.
He displayed
the vast wealth
of his kingdom
and the splendor
and the glory
of his majesty.
In other words,
he got all of his wealth
out and he paraded it
like a ticker tape parade
in front of his friends
and it took six months
for the parade to end.
And with an open bar,
it's not surprising
he was drunk.
See,
the whole point here
is we are meant
to gaze
upon the greatness
of Xerxes,
gaze wide open,
eyed at his gold
and his silver
and his jewelry
and the sheer
accumulation
of his power
and his wealth
and his splendor
and his majesty,
and we are meant
to admire him.
We are meant
to be envious
of him.
He is the ancient
version
of a social media
influencer.
I have
the enviable
life.
Be like me.
Everyone was meant
to want to be
Xerxes.
That's the point.
But Queen Vashti
knows the man.
While Xerxes
is over here
for six months
doing his best
to get the thumbs up
and the likes
and the little love hearts
as many as possible
amongst the crowd
that's gathered,
Vashti is hosting
her own separate banquet
for the ladies.
And Xerxes' party
gets a little
out of control,
tends to happen
when the ladies
are not around.
Verse 10,
we see Xerxes
make too many trips
to the open bar
and he decides
it's time
not just to show
off to everyone
that he's the wealthiest,
most powerful man
in the world,
but he also has
the best looking woman
in the world
that he has
as his queen.
Verse 11,
bring before me
Queen Vashti
wearing her royal crown
in order to display
her beauty
to the people
and the nobles
for she was lovely
to look at.
That's the point.
Bring out my queen,
put her on the end
of the parade
so all the guys
can drool at her too.
He wasn't interested
in her friends,
his friends meeting her.
she was brought out
and paraded
amongst all
of his drunken
friends
so that she might
be admired
and people would go,
Xerxes,
lucky man.
And for some,
if Vashti refuses
to come,
it's an incredible
act of bravery
on her behalf
and defiance.
You see,
in a hierarchical shame
and honour culture,
for an authority
like this
to be rejected
is not just
a personal affront,
it's a cultural crisis.
The king
was furious
at this.
He's furious.
But instead of getting
some marriage counselling,
he holds a cabinet meeting
to work out
what now needs
to be done
with Vashti.
It's a crisis.
It's a cultural crisis.
What do we do
with someone
who will not join
on the end
of the parade
for the sake
of appearance?
What do we do
with someone
who's not
going to join
with the culture?
And of course,
the nobles
are concerned
because they've got
their wives
who Vashti
may inspire them
to do the same thing.
I mean,
anarchy will reign
in our homes.
Vashti is banished
and the royal decree
went out
to the whole kingdom
so that
when everyone
heard it,
verse 20,
all the women
will respect
their husbands
from the least
to the greatest.
Chapter 2
begins with
Xerxes.
It appears
that the
next day
comes
the...
he's kind of
waking up
from his drunken
stupor
and realises,
oh my goodness,
I've now
banished Vashti.
I need to find
another trophy
wife.
And the whole
kingdom is searched
for the best-looking
candidates.
It's probably,
from what we could
tell,
the first recorded
instance of an
international
beauty pageant,
Miss Persia
Empire
for 80 BC.
It's likely
that there
as many
as 1,000
young women
were brought
back to the
king's harem
to see
which one
will be
his favoured
one.
They underwent
beauty treatments
and training
for a whole
year
just to get
ready
for one night
with the
king.
That's it.
One night
alone with
Xerxes.
Every single
thing in
that preparation
turned on
that one
night.
And there
were only
one of four
possible outcomes.
Xerxes,
you have your
night with
Xerxes,
he sends you
back to
become a
permanent
concubine
but he never
calls you
again.
You see,
after you've
had that
one night
with Xerxes,
you don't go
back to your
family and
your friends.
You are
forever his
concubine
and he may
never call
you again
which means
that you're
essentially
banished to
permanent
widowhood
around about
the age of
18 in that
sort of
vicinity
somewhere.
Secondly,
you become
a concubine
which he calls
for, you
know,
occasionally
for entertainment
when he feels
like it
and that'll
be for the
rest of
your life.
Now,
thirdly,
you might
be one of
the one
or two,
maybe three
chosen women
whom he
marries
and the
children that
you have
will become
royal heirs
with royal
benefits.
But fourthly,
if you are
the one he
most favours,
you become
the queen.
He marries
and you
become the
queen.
And one
of the
girls who
was taken
was a
Jewish
orphan
named
Esther
who we
were just
introduced
to.
And when
they took
her,
her older
cousin
Mordecai
instructs
her
not to
say
anything
about
her Jewish
identity
or her
beliefs.
Nothing.
Don't mention
that.
Hide that.
and she
was the
one of
the great
harem,
she was
the one
that Xerxes
favours over
everyone else
and he
marries her
and he
makes her
his queen.
And so
this Jewish
orphan girl
becomes
the queen
of the
greatest
empire
on the
face of
the earth.
This is
not a
Cinderella
story.
Neither
is it
giving us
relationship
advice
in any
shape
or form.
You see,
what this
is telling
us,
when you
stand back
and look
at it,
in the
Persian culture,
the most
important thing
about a
man was
his wealth
and his
power.
and the
most
important
thing
about a
woman
was her
sexual
and
physical
beauty.
A man's
worth
was determined
by the
size of
his wallet
and a
woman's
worth
by the
size
of
her
dress.
Can you
imagine
living in a
culture like
that?
It's
pretty
ugly.
I mean,
look at the
way the
women are
treated here.
Look at the
pride and the
arrogance of
these blokes
here.
But I
wonder,
apart from
some superficial
differences,
is the
world still
the same?
Is it
still the
same?
Our
society
says
externals,
images,
appearances
matter more
than
character.
What you
have matters
more than
who you
are.
Whether it
be beauty,
talents,
money,
connections,
influence,
they matter
much more
than your
character.
We are
in our
society
today
under
constant
pressure
to undergo
beauty
treatments
on all
their
various
forms.
Our
culture
says that
unless you
get these
credentials,
this kind
of beauty,
this kind
of money,
this kind
of
resume,
this kind
of
education,
these kinds
of
connections,
in the
end you
don't truly
matter.
And it
says it
different to
men and
women and
it says it
different depending
on your
culture and
your race
or your
class,
but it's
basically saying
the same
thing.
You need to
go through
your culture's
beauty
treatments,
you need
to perform,
you need
to do
all this
and maybe
once you
do you
will find
approval,
acceptance,
admiration,
you become
enviable.
We live
in a world
of appearances
and performance.
We live
in a world
that elevates
the trivial
on social
media.
we have
entire
magazines
devoted
to the
antics
of soap
opera
stars.
We
elevate
to hero
status
and pay
obscene
amounts of
money
to people
who run
around
hitting
little
balls.
We live
in a
culture
that considers
the car
we drive
or the
tone
of our
skin,
the texture
of our
skin
as an
extension
of who
we are
and our
worth.
We are
more impressed
by the
school someone
attends
than what
they learn
when they're
there.
In other
words,
we blow
it again
and again
just like
Xerxes.
and just
like Esther
too,
just like
Esther.
You see,
in these
first two
chapters,
there's
nothing
redeemable
about her.
She has
completely
sold out
her culture
and her
God.
Esther
gets to
her pinnacle
to where
she is
as queen
by absolute
compliance
to the
culture.
She does
what Mordecai
tells her
to do.
She
listens to
the head
guy in
the harem
more than
any of the
other women
in the
harem.
She did
everything
that she
has asked
of her.
She
aims to
be the
next
Vashti.
She
is a
blank
page
on
which
these
men
write
what
they
want.
She
kept her
identity,
her culture
and her
God
secret.
She
turns her
back on
God's
law
when she
ultimately
goes and
has her
one night
with Xerxes.
she's
completely
sold out
and yet
the good
news of
this entire
book as
we will
see as
we go
through
that God
is not
yet finished
with her.
We'll
see again
and again
God's
patience
with her,
the way
that he
grows her
in invisible
ways through
circumstances,
again and
again grows
her and
turns her
into
something that
is truly
great,
someone who
is truly
great.
And that
which brings
me to my
third point
is in
fact
God's
work,
his
invisible
work
and
visible
work.
His work
is in
fact to
make us
beautiful.
And that
is the
good news
of the
message of
the Bible
is that
God is
not,
this is the
great foundation
of the
Christian faith,
God
does not
bless us,
he does not
love us,
he does not
save us
because we
are beautiful,
because we
are morally
good or
exemplary in
any way,
he goes,
ah,
there's someone
worthy of my
love.
The message of
the Bible is
that God
persistently
and consistently
gives his grace
to people who
don't ask for
it,
who don't
deserve it,
and don't
appreciate it
when they're
being given
it.
The good
news is that
God has not
given up on
us either.
In 1
Samuel 16,
when
Samuel's
looking for
a king
to replace
Saul,
God says,
man looks
at the
outward
appearance,
but God
looks at
the heart.
You see,
true beauty
is not
on the
outside.
God is
the only
one who
does not
judge a
book by
its cover.
How often
we say
that,
don't you,
you should
never judge
a book
by its
cover,
and yet
we do
it every
single
moment,
every
single
day.
Every
culture
in one
way or
another
communicates
to its
members,
we will
accept
you,
but you
must work
incredibly
hard and
make yourself
attractive to
us,
to make
yourself
lovable,
to make
yourself
approval
worthy,
and then we
will approve
of you.
And it is
exhausting,
it is
exhausting,
and there
is only
one way
out,
and that
is the
gospel of
Jesus
Christ.
One of
the most
striking
images of
the Bible
is its
declaration
that God
wants to
be your
spouse.
He wants
you to
be his.
see,
what the
Bible does,
it betrays
God not
just as
the divine
creator and
the all-powerful
king over
everything and
rules everything
in the world,
but a God who
is an all-loving
husband.
What makes
that so
great is
it's not
about what
we do to
make ourselves
beautiful to
him,
good for
him,
worthy of
him,
Ephesians
5 puts
it like
this in
its
instructions
to
husbands how
to love
their wives,
it says,
husband,
love your
wives just
as Christ
loved the
church,
his bride,
and gave
himself up
and gave
cleansing
her by
the washing
with water
through the
word and
to present
her to
himself as
a radiant
church without
stain or
wrinkle or
any other
blemish,
but holy
and blameless.
would it
surprise you
if I
said that
the whole
purpose,
the
trinitarian
God of
the Bible,
the whole
purpose of
creation is
that he
would provide
a spouse
for his
son,
that God
the Father
would provide
a spouse
for his
son,
whom his
son delights
in,
who is
blameless,
flawless,
whose heart
bursts when
he sees
her.
The Bible
declares in
the New
Testament
that that
is his
church.
Esther was
accepted by
Xerxes because
she was already
beautiful,
but Jesus
loves us
despite our
flaws and
our sin
and our
ugliness.
He does it
to make us
beautiful.
Esther had
to give her
life and
her freedom
up for the
king,
but
Jesus
Christ is
the only
king,
the only
spouse who
gives up
his life
and freedom
for us.
He gives
up everything
for us,
not because
we are
lovely,
but in
order to
make us
lovely.
And when
we understand
that,
when that
truth gets
driven down
into our
hearts,
we have,
I think,
at least
three things,
the three
things that we
need to be
free from
our culture's
enslavement
to external
appearances and
be made
truly beautiful
and glorious
on the
inside.
Firstly,
what it does,
what it does
is it gives us
a definition of
what true
beauty actually
is.
beauty is.
You see,
our culture's
definition of
beauty means
that we
cannot go
past a
mirror
without
noticing
ourselves.
that we
are obsessed
with
appearances.
Who would
have imagined
that within
two years
of combining
products that
we'd have for
a very long
time,
a camera
and a
phone,
combining
those two
things,
within two
years of
combining
those two
things,
that dictionaries
in the world
had to be
rewritten to
include the
word selfie.
a word
that didn't
exist
before
2002.
Selfie.
Millions
of selfies
are taken
every day.
And when
we look
at Jesus
instead of
ourselves,
we actually
see ultimate
beauty.
we see
infinite
glory and
majesty and
splendor.
And he
gave all
of that up
for us
to make
us beautiful.
He left
it to one
side.
He became
human.
He went
to a cross.
And the
book of
Isaiah says
that he
had no
beauty that
we would
desire him.
beauty.
The one
of infinite
majesty
became
cosmically
unsightly
to make
us beautiful,
to make
us majestic
in such
a way,
so cosmic
unsightly
that his
father
turns his
face away
from him.
That is
true beauty.
genuine
beauty is
not
self-obsession.
It is
self-sacrifice.
And that's
why it
says at the
end of
Isaiah 53
about Jesus,
the one
who had
no beauty,
the suffering
servant of
humanity,
I will give
him a portion
among the
great.
and he
will divide
the spoils
with the
strong.
That's the
first thing.
The second
thing we get
when we
understand that
Jesus gives
up everything
to make us
beautiful is
a new
experience of
our beauty
to him.
Nat and
I, my
wife, were
married 26
years, eight
months and
27 days
ago today.
It's not
an anniversary
per se.
That's
9,767
days, not
that I'm
counting.
Now I
still remember
that day,
not far from
here, I still
remember the
day when she
appeared at
the door of
the church and
started to walk
down the
aisle.
She looked
stunning.
she was
absolutely
stunning.
Do you
know why?
Do you
know why?
Because an
awful lot of
money had been
spent on a
fancy dress,
on hair and
makeup, that
she had to get
woken up early
in order for
that all to be
worked out.
now bear with
me here.
I haven't
finished the
illustration just
yet.
I think Nat
was beautiful
before all of
that and in
fact I would
say so much
more to me
now than
even then.
but it is
a fact that
makeup and
fancy clothes
make most
of us,
pushes most
of us up
a notch in
terms of
appearances.
Regardless of
what you think
of my appearance
right now,
you should have
seen me when I
crawled out of
bed this
morning.
this morning,
you don't get
my when I
first wake up
look, I've
used David
Beckham's
shower gel
this morning.
Not literally
his shower gel
but the one
that promises
you, you may
look like him
if you use
the shower gel.
And also a
thing called
facial fuel.
which promises
to be a
facial recovery
accelerator.
Now the
irony of that
particular
product is
that I
didn't even
know, I
didn't even
buy it, it
was just
there on
the bench
and it's a
men's product
and I'm the
only man in
the house,
man in the
house, so
someone has
picked this
up.
I'm working
on the
assumption
that maybe
I need
it.
So there
we go,
recovery
accelerator.
We'll see
over the
course of
Esther whether
it's worked
or not.
Several of
the
imperfections
and flaws
that I'm
self-conscious
of have been
hidden, they've
been covered
up, they've
been worked
on.
See, when
Jesus uses
the metaphor
of us being
his bride,
one of the
things that he
has in mind
is that despite
all the
spiritual flaws,
despite all
the failings,
despite all
the sin,
despite all
of my
lackluster and
apathy towards
him, that he
has so
clothed me
with his
beauty, with
his righteousness,
that he
has so
surrounded me
and us
with his
own beauty
that he
gave us,
that he
has so
cleansed me
of my
sin, that
when he
sees me,
when he
sees his
children, when
he looks
upon his
church, his
heart
bursts,
his heart
bursts with
delight.
and to
the degree
that we
know that
this is
true of
us, in
his eyes,
every single
moment, it
will free
us from
our culture's
enslavement,
telling us
what we must
look like,
what we
must have,
what we
must accomplish
in order to
be accepted,
in order to
be loved,
in order to
be approved
of, because
in Jesus
Christ, in
the gospel,
we have the
approval of
the only
praiseworthy
one.
The third
thing we
get when
we understand
that Jesus
gives up
everything to
make us
beautiful in
his sight,
is a new
understanding of
the ugly
things in
life.
Those things
which we
might otherwise
cause us to
question his
existence or
his power or
his willingness
to intervene
or even
his presence.
And including
the new
understanding of
the ugly
things within
the church
which are
difficult to
navigate and
process.
There are
parts of the
Bible that
talk about
suffering and
hardship,
refining those
who Jesus
loves.
And the
imagery is
always of
gold being
refined and
the impurities
being burned
up in the
furnace.
And once
we are
assured of
God's love,
I mean really
assured of
it, when we
go through
troubles and
sufferings, it
actually purifies
us.
It makes us
more beautiful
down on the
inside.
You see, in
Jesus, suffering
is not God
abandoning us
in any sense.
He uses the
refining process
to get rid of
the pride and
the foolishness
and the fear,
bit by bit, he
is making us
more beautiful
to him.
And once we
are assured of
God's love,
then we see the
hard times, the
ugly moments of
life as God's
spiritual beauty
treatments.
When we go
through the
hardships with
absolute assurance
that we are
already beautiful
in God's
sight, we
start to become
more beautiful
in our hearts,
in our lives,
just like
pressure creates
a diamond.
So God has
not abandoned
you in your
troubles.
He's at work,
even if it's not
obvious, he's at
work, leading
you, holding
you, refining
you, and
ultimately saving
you.
His invisibility
is not his
absence.
So keep
looking to
what he's
already done
for you in
Jesus to
make you
beautiful and
acceptable to
him.
It's a
commitment to
you that he
intends on
following through
for all of
eternity.
Once he sets
his heart on
you, he will
make you
beautiful forever.
Romans 8,
we know that
in all things
God works for
the good of
those who
love him,
who have
been called
according to
his purpose.
For those
God foreknew,
he also
predestined to
be conformed
to the image
of his son.
Those he
predestined,
he called,
those he
called, he
justifies,
and those he
justifies, he
glorifies.
When he set
his heart to
love you, the
end of that is
to make you
beautiful.
Let's
show
some