Remember Who You Are, Remember Where You Come From
6/20/2014 Esther 4:1-17 Romans 1:8-17
Today we are celebrating promotion and graduation Sunday to recognize the achievements some of you have made through the past year or years. As proud as we are of your accomplishments, we want you to know that even though you got the report card, or you got the award, or you walked across the stage, you didn’t get there by yourself and you did not do it alone.
You had parents or family members who saw to it that you got to school, you had cooks, security guards and janitors who made sure school was a good place to be. You had teachers, coadhes and administrators who made sure there was something for you to learn. You had friends who helped you with assignments, and you had church members who were praying for you.
There are a lot of people who believe in you and believe that you have the potential to make a difference in this world. You are going to face times when you are going to want to give up on yourself and settle for a lot less than you could have. In those moments, you will need to “Remember Who You Are, and Remember Where You Come From.”
As your pastors, we have told you over and over, that you are children of a God who loved you enough to send his Son Jesus Christ, to die for you because He wanted to use you to make a difference for the kingdom of God. That God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, so that you can have a resurrected power in your life to move you to the next place.
You didn’t get promoted just to go to another grade, or graduate just to go to college or graduate school or to land a job. God is a wise planner, and God places all of his children in various classrooms, high schools, colleges, and job locations in order to be a witness for him. You are to be a light of what God looks like working in the life of a young person.
You can do that in kindergarten and you can do it in graduate school. The temptation is going to be, to not do it all. You are going to be tempted to go along with the crowd and to forget who you are, and where you come from.
There was a test conducted by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line.
One student was the test student. The usual reaction of the test student was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school.
This study showed that most of those involved would rather stand with the majority and be wrong, than stand alone even though they were right. Young people God is looking for people who will stand for what is right, even though the majority of the people is saying, “wrong is okay, and that wrong is even right.”
You have been taught the truth of the word of God. It’s up to you to remember who you are and remember where you are from. It’s going to hurt to stand alone, it may be embarrassing to stand alone, and it won’t be easy to stand alone, but be know in fact, you are not alone. Jesus has promised to stand with you. You don’t have to go along with the crowd. God can be with you in any circumstance.
In our Scripture reading today, there were two people who did not forget who they were or where they had come from. The first was a guy by the name of Mordecai. Mordecai was one of God’s people. He was a Jew. God’s people had started accepting doing the things of the people around them who did not know God. They rejected God’s laws as being old fashioned and out of date as our society tells us today.
But God told them, if they rejected him, their enemies would destroy the nation and carry them away as slaves and captives. The people would not listen to God and didn’t believe God’s word through the prophets. Well there was another great nation called Babylon which is where Iraq is today. The Babylonians came and conquered the people, and took them out of their nation and scattered them into other nations hundreds of miles away.
Mordecai’s parents and or grandparents were among the first group of people that the Babylonians took and carried away. Mordecai was born in this foreign country and was pretty much a nobody, but he remembered who he was and where he had come from. His parents taught him about God, and how no person was to be treated as a God. They taught him who his people were, and that when some tragedy happens, you help out your family members.
It had been nearly 113 years since the Babylonians had taken the Jews and scattered them into other nations. The nation of Babylon was now destroyed and a new kingdom had been established. The Media-Persian Empire had been established and it stretched from Ethiopia all the way to India. The ruler over it was Xerses in the year 486 BC.
In the midst of this vast empire, is an unknown figure by the name of Mordecai. Mordecai had an uncle and aunt who died unexpectedly, and they left behind a young daughter. This young girl’s name was Hadassah, but she was called Esther.
Life didn’t seem to be treating Esther very well. It must have been hard for her to lose both of her parents at the same time. She probably was just a young girl when it happened. There was no money to take care of her and no social services to come in and help out. But God knows how to send us help when we needed it. Her cousin Mordecai came to the rescue and he raised Esther as his own daughter. Only God knew the tremendous impact this man and little girl would have on this vast empire, in which they were nobodies.
Young people remember this, when hard times hit your life, you can complain, become angry and resentful, or you can choose to make something positive with you life. One or both of your parents may not have been a part of your life for whatever reason, but that does not mean that God does not have a plan for you and a place for you to be.
Esther is not only a foster child, she’s raised in a single parent family from as far as we can tell. Mordecai chose to rescue Esther. He did not know that this choice was going to one day save his life. Sometimes the sacrifices that me make in choosing to do the right thing, will come back in the form of blessing that we could not have imagined. We miss out on blessings because on the front end they look too much like work and sacrifice.
You can read the story for yourself in Esther chapters 2 and 3, but the King searches from Ethiopia to India, to find a new bride to become Queen. Of all the women in the kingdom, this young woman who had no claim to fame, no claim to wealth, no claim to influence, or anything else except being a child of God is the one who was chosen.
You see, 113 years ago when God set his people into exile, God knew that He was going to have to place one of his own on the throne to save His people who would be scattered all over the nations.
Yes Esther did receive a fine promotion and she graduated from being a servant girl to become queen of the empire. The food she ate was wonderful. The clothing she wore was outstanding. The vacations she had were awesome. God didn’t mind her enjoying all these things, but God put her on the throne to be a witness when the time came. All of us are going to face our moment of truth, when it costs us something to stand for God. At the present time, nobody knew that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai had told her, not to tell anyone.
A problem arose in the land with a big shot by the name of Haman. Haman was so full of pride and egotism that he wanted everybody to bow down to him. Since he was over all the nobles in the kingdom, the king made an edict that when Haman passed by, stop what you’re doing, and kneel and bow to honor him.
Mordecai had a problem with this. He remembered who he was and where he had come from, and he was only going to bow down in honor to God. Everybody else was going along with the crowd, but Mordecai had convictions. He stood out like a sore thumb, when everybody else was bowing and he was standing tall. The people tried talking some sense into him day after day, “saying, you better get with it.” He told them since he was a Jew, he could not bow down. So finally the people went and told Haman, “we know you haven’t noticed, but there’s a dude named Mordecai, who does not bow down to you and he says he should be exempted, because He is a Jew.”
Know that it is going to bother people that you hold some biblical convictions, and they are going to try to get you in trouble for it. Mordecai was not trying to put down Haman. He wasn’t saying anything bad about him, but for Mordecai, if he had to choose between obeying Haman and obeying God, God was going to win.
Now Haman just did not believe anybody would stand up against him. He wanted a showdown. When he rode his horse in front of Mordecai, and Mordecai did not bow down, his blood boiled he got so angry.
He decided it would not be enough to just kill Mordecai. He wanted to kill every Jew that existed anywhere in the kingdom from Ethiopia to India. He went in to the king, twisted the truth about the Jews and how they were a threat to the kingdom, offered to pay the cost to the king of wiping out every Jew in the kingdom.
The king was glad to get rid of the threat to his empire and let Haman keep the money.He issued a new law. Esther 3:13 (NIV)
13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews--young and old, women and little children--on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
Bottom line was, anybody that helps us to wipe out the Jews in your area can keep whatever property they have for yourselves. Couriers on horseback raced all over the kingdom, spreading this news. This meant even the Jews that had returned from exile and gone back to Jerusalem were not going to be safe. As the law went from place to place, the Jews cried out in prayer, in fear and in terror. What on earth could they do? There was no place to run to and no place to hide. There was little hope of defending themselves with so many people eager to get their property.
All of the Jews were terrified except one and that was the Queen. She didn’t know about this royal decree. It wasn’t until she got word from her servants that Mordecai was walking around in raggedy clothes with ashes on them that she got involved. She sent him some new clothes to replace the ones that he had on, but he refused the clothes. You need to remember when God promotes you to a certain place, sometimes sending a donation is not going to cut it. You are going to have to get more involved.
The queen sends and ask Mordecai, “what it is really the deal. Why are you carrying on like this.” Mordecai tells her about the new law, sends her a copy of the edict, and asks her to go in and beg to the king to spare the life of her people. He’s saying. “Esther, now is the time to remember who you are, and remember where you come from.”
Realize that God is going to promote us and graduate us into some very comfortable lifestyles, that will shield us from the suffering of others. But God has you there for a purpose. Eventually it is s going to cost you something to be faithful to God. Don’t ever forget the promise in Scripture, “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Esther sends back a message saying, “I really would like to help, but I can’t. You see the King has not called me for the last 30 days. If I go in to talk to the king without being called, the law says I will be put to death, unless the king extends to me the gold scepter.”…….. “ Surely you’re not asking me to risk my life just to go in and beg the king to change his mind.”
You see it is possible to get promoted and be tempted to stay there for the benefits regardless of how it affects other. Sometimes you have to be a whistleblower to save other people.
I can’t imagine how upset Mordecai, must have been with her answer. He’s thinking of all the sacrifices he made for her and she’s thinking, this might be too big of a risk for me to take. I can’t imagine what Jesus thinks about us, when are unwilling to stand for him because we like our surroundings and what they have to offer us. He gave his life for us, and we’re ready to throw him under the bus.
Mordecai, sends back the message. “You may look protected today, but there is a God who remembers. Don’t think you alone will escape the massacre. If you don’t help us, God was raise us up a deliverer from somewhere else. You and your father’s house will perish. Has it dawned on you, that it wasn’t chance that made you queen. That it was God himself who put you where you are for such a time as this.
When Esther got his message, she decided to remember who she was and where it was she had come from. She said okay, “let’s do this thing right. Get all the Jews in Susa the capital to fast and pray for me for three days and three nights. I and my maids will do the same thing. At the end of the period, I’m going to go in and see the king. If I perish, then I perish. In other words she was saying, I will have remembered who I am, and where I am from. I will stand with the people of God.
Esther did not know what was going to happen to her when she went in to see the King. We will not have the privilege of knowing that everything is going to go our way and we will see the deliverance of God in a remarkable way. Sometimes, you are going to pay a price in order to stand for God. The goal of a believer isn’t having everything go his or her way, but to grow in faith knowing the truth of the gospel. This world is not all there is. You and I are going to give an account for the decisions we make. Jesus said,
Mark 8:34-38 (NIV)
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
We need to ready for the anti-Christian attacks that are going to come away. People will try to shame us out of being followers of Christ. Let’s be like Paul when he said, Romans 1:16-17 (NIV) 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Remember who you are and remember where you came from. For Jesus certainly will.
