PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL (Esther 5) Sunday, October 11, 2015 Summit EFC Series: For Such a Time as This (Esther), Message #5 Pastor Doug Corlew

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1 PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL (Esther 5) Sunday, October 11, 2015 Summit EFC Series: For Such a Time as This (Esther), Message #5 Pastor Doug Corlew VIDEO CLIP: Esther, The Girl Who Became Queen (VeggieTales, 20:22 22:24) In the VeggieTales version of this story, the reason the king gets mad at Queen Vashti and kicks her out of the palace is because she didn t bring him a ham sandwich when he wanted one! And the edict he signs means Queen Esther and her family will be banished to the island of perpetual tickling! I guess the real story isn t quite so family-friendly, but it is a page-turner. Today we come to Esther 5, and we ll see what happens after Mordecai gives this challenge to his adopted daughter, cousin Esther. In chapter 4 he says: Esther, we need you to go speak with the king on behalf of your people, because we have a serious problem here. Haman, one of the king s officials, is furious because I won t bow down in his presence and show him the respect he thinks he deserves. And now he s convinced the king To send letters throughout the whole Persian Empire with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day and to plunder their goods (3:13). Despite the predicament of her people, Esther is not eager to intervene. She tells Mordecai: This king has a law, you know: if anyone enters his presence uninvited, they re put to death, no questions asked unless the king extends the golden scepter to them. Now I may be the queen, but the king hasn t wanted to see me in the past 30 days, so I m thinking I ll be dead if I do what you re asking me to do. Mordecai replies: Esther, don t think to yourself that you re safe if you choose to be silent. Your life is on the line too, you know! If you do nothing, God will use someone else to deliver us. But why is it you wearing the royal crown? Who knows whether you ve not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? It s her defining moment, and Esther courageously says: OK, I ll do it. You organize some prayer support, with fasting, for three days, then I ll go talk to the king. And if I perish, I perish. Now in chapter 5, Esther begins to carry out her plan. Mordecai told her what to do; he didn t tell her how to do it. And neither did God! Somehow she must figure this out. How can she use her position of influence to make a difference and save the Jews from the coming massacre? Well, God says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). And if there s one thing she s learned about Haman from all this, she knows he has an over-sized ego. This is a man who craves applause and affirmation; in fact, he demands it. Haman is totally absorbed with himself. And since, according to the inspired wisdom of Solomon, One s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor (Proverbs 29:23) Esther takes a humble approach, trusting that Haman s pride will be his downfall. She knows he s FLATTERED BY RECOGNITION, so in v 1-9a, Esther subtly begins to lay her trap. We might have expected her to have a private conversation with the king, behind Haman s back. But watch what happens instead: 1 - On the third day (that is, the third day of the fast) Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king s palace, in front of the king s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. The queen has now put her life on the line. Archaeologists have discovered ancient sculptures showing a Persian king, whom they presume to be 1

2 Xerxes or his father Darius, sitting on a throne, holding a scepter, while a soldier stands next to him, holding an axe. To appear before the king unsummoned generally meant immediate execution. So here s Esther, beautiful and brave, dressed for success in her royal robes, knowing she will either receive the scepter or the axe. The tension is mounting and it s quickly resolved in verse 2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. As readers, we breathe a corporate sign of relief Esther is safe, at least for now. Apparently the king is more intrigued than insulted by her boldness. He s probably very curious why she would take such a risk, and maybe he can see on her face that this is not a trivial matter. 3 - And the king said to her, What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom. This is a good sign half the kingdom?! That was a figure of speech. She knows he doesn t mean it literally, but obviously he s feeling very generous towards her right now. You might remember how Herod made the same offer to his step-daughter centuries later: Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom. After consulting with her mom, the girl says, I ll take the head of John the Baptist, please (Mark 6:23-24). And that was the end of John. So it seems like this is going to be easy. Maybe she ll just say, I ll take the head of Haman, please. But this situation is different and Esther has devised a more subtle approach. 4 - And Esther said, If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king. Esther wants to see Haman face to face. We re wondering, What is she up to? The king is wondering the same thing Then the king said, Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked. So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. 6 And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Once again, it seems like a perfect opportunity. The feast is over, the wine is served, and the king is still in a generous mood. It seems like she s ready to talk Then Esther answered, My wish and my request is: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request But then she uses another delay tactic! let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said. It s like one of those cliffhanger TV shows where you have to wait until the next episode to find out what s going to happen next! Come back tomorrow, Esther says! So what s going on here? Is Esther just losing her nerve? Maybe, but I don t think so. Of course, in the providence of God, the delay is absolutely essential. At this point, Esther doesn t even realize how God is guiding her. A couple things need to happen before she shares her burden with the king. That very night, the king is going to remember how Mordecai saved his life five years earlier, and he ll want to honor him. And that very night, some gallows will be built that are going to be very significant in the outcome. None of this was part of Esther s plan, but the unseen hand of providence is at work! As far as her motives, I think Esther just wants the king to be in the best possible mood before telling him what she wants. Now he s virtually obligated to do whatever she asks, because he s promised twice. Meanwhile, she s intentionally setting Haman up for an enormous fall. She knows he s flattered by all this attention. When she decides to reel him in, he ll be totally off guard, and unprepared to save his neck. 2

3 He s thinking, What an honor to be the only one invited to a special banquet with the king and queen, and in the queen s private apartment at that! Unheard of! And now she s invited me back tomorrow when she s going to share a very personal request. She must value my counsel! Haman s confidence grows. You can almost see him standing a little taller, his chest puffing out just a bit more than it was before. 9 - And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. This is what he lived for! Haman had an insatiable appetite for praise. He was a praise vacuum, sucking it all up, always hungry for more. Now there s nothing wrong with needing a word of encouragement, or feeling good about yourself when someone honors you. As Christians, the Bible calls us to honor one another, and to give special recognition to those who serve well. The problem comes when we depend on that kind of applause and appreciation for our sense of self-worth, when life loses its meaning if we are not in the spotlight. Haman s greatest joy is to be the center of attention. Compare that with John the Baptist. As his popularity grew, John said, Hold on, folks. It s not about me. I m like the best man at a wedding. I m just friend of the groom, that s all. Put the spotlight on Him. My greatest joy is to hear His voice. He must increase; I must decrease. (John 3:29-30). What brings you the greatest joy? Haman was flattered by recognition and 2 nd, he was FLATTENED BY REJECTION (9b-14). 9 - And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. How quickly Haman s bubble is burst! He s walking on air when he leaves the palace, but just the sight of Mordecai immediately brings him down to earth again. On previous occasions, Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, this time he won t even stand up to show honor. And this causes a real problem for Haman, because the whole world revolves around his fragile ego. A proud person is like that always evaluating: Do people appreciate me enough? Am I getting what I deserve? Are they treating me right? Is someone else getting more attention than me? Endless ego calculations. We may not expect people to bow down before us, but one symptom of our pride may be An overreaction to criticism. We get angry at critics. In a sense, that s what s happening in v 9. Mordecai s refusal to bow was an act of criticism. He s saying, Haman, you don t deserve honor. You re not as great as you think you are. That s what we often hear when people criticize us. You don t deserve honor. You re not as great as you think you are. A mature Christian realizes there s some truth to that, and there s always something to learn from criticism. The words might sting, but we know we re far from perfect, so it shouldn t be a shock if someone observes a flaw. What if our first reaction was to think, Maybe there s something to this, and the Holy Spirit is using that person to show me something. Even if the criticism is totally undeserved, sometimes we receive undeserved praise, so it probably evens out. And knowing the depth of our sin, we could be thankful the criticism wasn t more severe! If your security is rooted in the love of Christ, you don t need everyone to like you. You re not crushed by criticism, because you know you re a well-loved son or daughter of God. You have access to the king! So if someone rejects you, you shake it off and move on, trying to discern whatever God is telling you. Leaders are especially going to take some shots; but if nothing else, let it remind you that you can t please everyone, so keep playing to your Audience of One. Haman was angry at critics, and boastful of self. He s furious at Mordecai 3

4 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. 12 Then Haman said, Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Haman is the kind of guy you don t want to get stuck talking to at a party, right? Cause he s going to do all the talking, and it s always about him: his job, his travels, his house, his hobbies, his family. Haman needs to boost his dented ego, so he gathers his friends and his wife to remind them how awesome he is: the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, and all his promotions. I m thinking, this had to be old news for all of them, especially his wife! I assume at least she hadn t forgotten how many sons they had! Although v 12 was a news flash: I had lunch with the king and queen today, Haman said. It was just the three of us, and the queen wants me to come back again for lunch tomorrow. 13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king s gate. Kind of sad, isn t it? Discontentment with life is another symptom of pride. When you re proud, you re never really able to enjoy what you have. You re never satisfied, you re always restless, because you always want to prove yourself or impress somebody. Haman has lots of family and friends, a good job with plenty of income, lots of possession. And yet he says, all this is worth nothing to me? Amazing that he allowed one guy to have that much influence on his life. Sometimes you and I are guilty of that. We have a thousand reasons to be thankful, and plenty of people who love us. Yet we fixate on that one person who s not a fan, or that one person who s not paying enough attention to us. So how would you counsel Haman if you were in his circle of influence? A skilled counselor might have advised Haman to take a close look at his emotions and figure out what it is that s driving his life. Why does he get so angry? Why so depressed? What triggers these feelings? And what is it in his life that brings his greatest happiness? When does he feel the greatest sense of achievement? If Haman is like most of us men, he d have a hard time answering those questions. We don t bother to think that much about our emotions. But if someone could help Haman think it through, he d probably realize that he was driven by the need for public recognition. We might say that was the idol in his life. That s what he was turning to, to fill the gap in his heart that only God could really fill. Someone needs to help Haman see it and to repent of his idolatry. Really he s worshiping himself he s a narcissist. He thinks the world revolves around him. Haman needs to be introduced to the God who is truly glorious and powerful and worthy of praise. He needs to find meaning and significance in God, so he won t be so insecure and worried about what everyone else thinks about him. Haman needs to know the God who loves His people unconditionally, in spite of their sin and selfishness the God who gives lasting joy to His people, as we live for His glory and grow in His likeness. When you feel overlooked or unappreciated, someone needs to remind you to humble yourself under God s mighty hand, so that He might exalt you at the right time, and you won t have to exalt yourself. After all, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Someone should ve said, Haman, do you really want God opposing you? Cause right now, that s who you re up against! Maybe you should try on some humility; clothe yourself with that, and we ll see how it looks on you. (1 Peter 5:5-6). 4

5 No one in history ever choked to death from swallowing their pride, you know. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Unfortunately, the family and friends of Haman weren t very good at giving good Biblical counsel and arrogant people are always vulnerable to bad advice 14 - Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast. This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made. Scripture calls us to provoke one another to love and good deeds, but Haman s counselors provoke him to hatred and sin. This is worldly wisdom: Get even, show them who s boss, take no prisoners. Haman s wife and friends advise him to construct a gallows 50 cubits high that s 75 feet! Obviously the only purpose of the enormous height would be to not just kill Mordecai, but to make a public spectacle of him. It reminds you of the advice Israel s King Ahab received from his wife Jezebel (1 Kings 21). Ahab, you recall, was sulking like a spoiled child, because despite his great wealth and power, he wasn t satisfied either. He wanted just one more thing: the vineyard owned by Naboth. Jezebel had an easy solution: Let s kill murder Naboth, then and you can have what you want. And so he did. Wives, never under-estimate the influence you have on your husband. Be careful how you encourage him. If pride comes before the fall, don t be the one who pushes him over the cliff. Our hearts are evil enough without someone fanning the flames of our sinful passions. Husbands, love your wives, and seek to present them to Christ, holy and without blemish. Friends, provoke one another to love and good deeds. The problem with the advice of Zeresh is that it s just feeding Haman s sin rather than killing it. It doesn t address the underlying problems of his heart. It s only going to lead him into greater bondage. Sooner or later, something or someone else is going to make him mad, and the cycle will repeat itself. Pride is the essence of sin. Pride is the source of every spiritual pathology and broken relationship. Our anger and boasting and discontentment can all be traced to our pride. We are all prone to go our own way and seek our own advantage. The only effective cure for human pride is to give ourselves up to the King of Heaven. His approval is what really matters. He s the one we should fear. To God we must give an account, and then be welcomed into eternal joy or turned away to eternal destruction. As sinners, we deserve the axe and not the scepter. Yet God mercifully holds out the golden scepter of His favor, only because the fierce axe of His judgment has already fallen upon His only Son. Jesus died in our place! And just as Esther received life instead of death on the third day, Christ rose so we could have peace with God and approach Him with confidence. Though he was in the form of God, (Jesus) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:6-11). Have you confessed Christ as your Lord and Savior? Just as Esther stepped forward to touch the tip of the king s scepter, we too must personally respond to the grace offered us by our King. If you hear His voice today, don t harden your heart, but come to Him! turning from your sin and pride, trusting in His cross for He has promised, Whoever comes to Me, I will never drive away (John 6:37). 5