Esther 4

Bringing the sermon home:

Can “the real you” be hidden from those around you, or is it necessarily the case that your true identity is always evident in the choices you make? Who is this Queen of Persia? Is she Hadassah the Jew, or is she Esther the pagan (2:7)? With the lives of the Jewish people on the line, Esther is pressed to decide who she really is, which is really a decision about who she is now going to be.

The people that God uses to fulfill His promises are not angelic superhumans – they are flawed sinners like us. Like Moses, the great deliverer in the Exodus who repeatedly hesitated to obey God’s call to go before the king of Egypt to plead for the lives of God’s people, so too Esther is initially unwilling to risk her life by going before the king of Persia to make a similar plea. Thank God that He really does use crooked sticks (like us) to make straight lines!

As Mordecai explains to Esther, the question is not whether God will accomplish His purposes on the earth. The only question is whether God will do so through you or in spite of you. No matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves, we can be confident that God has placed us precisely where He has placed us so that we may stand up and speak out about the deliverance of His people. On this 506th Reformation Day, let us sing: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever!”

Sermon outline:

1. It’s right to openly express our need for God’s mercy and grace. (vv.1-3)
2. Will God accomplish His purposes through you, or despite you? (vv.4-14)
3. “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also…” (vv.15-17)