Blue Lake Presbyterian | 9-30-2018
Good morning,
Welcome to the Blue lake Presbyterian church and thank you for coming this morning.
Today’s message is titled “From Sorrow to Joy “, it is based on Esther 7:1-6 9-10 and 9:20-22
Earlier this week, NBC’s’ Lester Holt interviewed Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, while in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly. They talked mostly about the Iran nuclear agreement. Notably absent from the interview was any significant mention of Israel.
This was in stark contrast to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei who in November 2014 called for the destruction of Israel, stating that the” Jewish state “has no cure but to be annihilated.”
Similar sentiments were voiced by Iranian President Ahmadinejad in 2005, saying that Israel should be wiped off the map.
Almost a century ago in 1922, journalist Josef Hell interviewed Adolf Hitler, it provided clues of his ambition to commit mass genocide, saying: “Once I really am in power, my first and foremost task will be the annihilation of the Jews.”
By July 1941 Nazi leader Herman Goering gave authorization to prepare and submit a plan for a total extermination of the Jews in all territories under German control.
But this wasn’t the only time in history that a government leader gave a decree to annihilate all the Jews in the territories under their control. It happened 24 centuries earlier, in the year 474 BC.
A high ranking government official named Haman, was displeased by Jewish inhabitants in his country not adhering to the rules, established by the Persian authorities.
He convinced the King that the Jews should be killed on a specific date on the 14th day of the 12th month (March). A decree was signed and sealed by the King, 11 months prior to this dreadful day.
Haman, the government official was particularly annoyed with a Jewish fellow named Mordecai. He was determined to have him killed and hanged on the front lawn of his mansion.
At that time there was a Jewish girl named Hadassah. She was an orphan that was cared for by Mordecai her cousin; she was a beautiful young lady.
After Ahasuerus, the King of Persia divorced his wife, this beautiful girl won favor of the King to become the next Queen, and was named Esther, but at the time the King didn’t know she was of Jewish descent.
These events were recorded in a small book in the bible titled “Esther” and this is what takes to today’s scripture reading of Esther 7:1-6 9-10 and then 9:20-22.
So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. 4For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” 5Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” 6Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
9Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Esther 9:20-22
20Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, 22as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor…………..
Please bow our heads. Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will, discover your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From “Sorrow to Joy” is the overriding theme in the Book of Esther.
The story of Esther is unique because it is the only book in the entire bible that makes no mention of God.
In today’s vernacular, we would call it a secular book, one that we could find on Amazon or in the book store under thrillers and the biography section.
But there is an undercurrent in this book about the amazing sovereignty of God.
You may ask, how a Jewish girl ended up in the capital of the Persian Empire.
More the century earlier, after the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, most of the Jews were exiled to Babylonia. The exile formally ended when the Persians defeated the Babylonians six decades later.
The Persian leader, Cyrus the Great, was extremely tolerant of other beliefs; He offered the Jews the opportunity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple at Persian taxpayer expense. An estimated 60,000 Jews returned to their homeland, but many stayed in Persia.
Cyrus was killed 9 years later in 529 BC. The Jews didn’t fare as well under his son, Cambyses II, who suspended construction of the Temple. But work was resumed under King Darius. Who was followed by his son named Xerxes, also known as Ahasuerus (Hebrew Bible).
The Persian official Haman, convinced the King that the Jewish people in his land were a nuisance and he signed a decree that by the 14 day of 12th month (March), all the Jews in the Persian Empire should be exterminated, not unlike the authorization by Goering in 1941.
The Persian Empire at the time, consisted of 127 provinces spanning from Ethiopia in the west to India in the South-East and Armenia in the North. As the news of this upcoming doomsday, traveled throughout the empire, sorrow and sadness overcame the Jewish people.
The bible says in Esther4:1 Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city wailing with a loud and bitter cry.
And in verse 3: In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting and weeping and lamenting.
For months, the Jewish people were living in fear and agony of that dreadful day that was to come. But although God isn’t mentioned once, he is present, in all his omnipotent power.
He placed this Jewish orphan in the unlikely place as “Queen of Persia”. And she convinced the King to save all her people.
In Judaism, the book of Esther is the narrative behind the Jewish holiday of Purim. This holiday celebrates the joy after months of sorrow. This event has such significance in Jewish culture that to this day. Jews throughout the world celebrate “Purim”. This year it was on March 1, next year March 21st, essentially 4 weeks before Passover.
But that same agony and sorrow that captivated the Jewish people then, still lives in hearts and souls of many people today. How often do we hear, people being angry at God for things happening in their lives or proclaiming God is not real.
And even believers, may feel that God is not answering prayers, that God is silent, how often do we wonder, God where are you?
Last week I was listening to Erwin Lutzer of the Moody Church in Chicago, he said: don’t mistake the silence of God with the absence of God. (2x)
Let me illustrate this with an example:
Last week a movie called “Unbroken the path to redemption” was released. The film begins where the movie Unbroken concludes, sharing the next chapter of the true story of Olympian and World War II veteran Louis Zamperini.
Haunted by nightmares of his torment, Louie sees himself as anything but a hero. Louie’s quest for revenge drives him deeper into despair.
He turns to alcohol and develops a severe drinking problem, in an attempt to soften the deep emotional wounds that the war had inflicted on him. Sorrow and sadness dominate his life.
Then comes a remarkable turn of events, a young preacher called Billy Graham comes to LA in 1949, using a rented circus tent. One night on October 23, Zamperini heard Graham say “If you suffer, I‘ll give you the grace to go forward.
Zamperini tells how he recalled all the miraculous moments, when his body might have broken and yet, did not. But on that night, Zamperini’s broken soul was touched. He walked down the sawdust aisle towards Graham.
Louis Zamperini gave his life to Christ that night; put away the bottle forever. In an interview for CBN he said that from that moment forward, he did not have another nightmare ever again.
Louis Zamperini devoted the rest of his life to Christian testimony and helping youth………..
One of the team members in our company lost her son earlier this year, he was only 27. This traumatic, heartbreaking experience left her in a state of deep sadness and despair for many months. Sorrow had filled her heart and soul. At one point she asked me, if someday I would give a sermon on sadness and sorrow.
She told me, that she put her trust in God. She surrendered to the Lord, and put it all in his hands. The light of Jesus is shining through her, and she is talking to her customers again.
She is engaged in her work, and she is in great spirits, and she is here this morning, bless her heart. Her journey took her from “Sorrow to Joy” because of her faith in Jesus Christ and the love of God.
How often we see people losing their faith when thing go bad. But this is where the test of our faith starts. God wouldn’t have allowed it, if he wasn’t going to use it for good. May be he has not all brought it together yet.
Two weeks ago there was a celebration of Life of Dottie Haukenberry at New Heart Church in Mckinleyville. She was my administrative assistant for 12 years, and a regular visitor at this church. What a blessing, to have been Dottie‘s friend for the last 33 years.
A year ago she came to me with a book written by Billy Graham, called “Nearing Home”. She told me reading this book had inspired her to start putting things in order. She asked if I would give the eulogy at her memorial service.
I felt honored and privileged, to be asked to do this. I couldn’t think of a better way to articulate, how this exceptional person had an impact on my life, and that of countless other people who had the fortune to come in contact with her, and were touched by her warm heart and hospitality.
She told me, after her husband Bill had died, how she was grieving and was immensely sad and filled with sorrow.
Then she said, rather than shriveling away, like a dried up prune, I am going to make a difference and she certainly did. She dedicated the rest of her life, bringing God’s message of salvation to others.
During the memorial service many people shared how Dottie had touched their lives, including a man who spent some time in jail, and Dottie came to visit him several times.
The sorrow of the death of her husband was transformed into the joy of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
The bible says in Nehemiah 8:10 Do not grieve, for the Joy of the Lord is your strength.
Esther had lost her father and her mother at a young age, she was in a foreign country, and she was filled with sorrow. But here she ends up as the Queen of Persia, one of the most powerful empires in the world at the time. And it put her in a position to save her people.
At our farm in Willow creek, we grow some grapes to make wine. Jesus used vineyard and wine analogues his parables; but in order to make wine, it takes grapes.
See these beautiful grapes here. In order to turn this into wine, these grapes need to be crushed. It takes crushing and destroying these grapes in order to turn them into award winning wine.
So it is in our lives, the sorrow of crushing ultimately produces the Joy.
Jesus said in John 16:20 very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice, you will have pain, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
God put Esther into this agonizing place, fearing for her life, while disclosing her identity, to save her people, but her fear and bravery turned victorious.
So can ours, do we share our testimony to bring comfort to those that are in despair, are we prepared to share our journey from Sorrow to Joy.
The bible says in Psalm 94:19 when anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a bad place, with hardship, misfortune, and sorrow.
Instead of praying it away, maybe God put us there on purpose, to let his light shine.
Difficulty may look like a setback, but it could well be is a set-up, to push us into his destiny.
The psalmist said: the steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord.
Sometimes we are distressed and in agony. We can find comfort in 1Peter 1:8:
Though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your soul,
Friends put your trust in God.
Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and he will lead us through that narrow gate on the pathway to eternal life.
Thank you,
God Bless you,
Amen
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