Please have your Bibles turned to Esther chapter 9 and we going through to

Transcription

1 Turning Grief into Joy (Esther 9:20-10:3 & John 16:16-24) 4 th Dec Please have your Bibles turned to Esther chapter 9 and we going through to chapter 10 verse 3 and it s our final look at this wonderful book of Esther There s the usual outline in the bulletin for you to take some notes if that helps you concentrate Let me pray first for God s help in understanding and applying His word to our lives this morning. Let s pray Intro I thought I d begin with sharing some of my own personal struggles at the moment In an attempt to show that we re all in the same boat and that as your minister I m not immune to the troubles that life throws our way! In ministry here it gets tough sometimes I ve conducted 26 funerals in 3 years and watched many families hurting and grieving as well as losing close friends in the process I ve ministered pastorally to many people here who ve been lonely, who ve felt hopeless, people grieving the loss of a loved one, people dying of a terminal illness as well as people suffering with relationship problems and all kinds of different problems In the last couple of weeks personally - we ve had a niece involved in a horrific traffic accident and facing a long road to recovery And Heather and I have watched helplessly as one of our daughter s marriages disintegrates in front of our eyes Page 1 of 14

2 (pause) 2 There s not much joy in all of that is there? Or so it seems on the surface (pause) The reason I m sharing all of this this morning is to hopefully show that God s Word is real and true and it can help us even when the rubber hits the road and things get tough and things don t seem that joyful anymore. What do we do then? (pause) [Powerpoint 1 Not much joy?] The apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again Rejoice Is he kidding? What if I don t feel like rejoicing right now? What if it s all too hard! Do I just tear that page out of the Bible? (pause) No of course not! The apostle Paul also tells his prodi-gy Timothy that all of Scripture is God Breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) Page 2 of 14

3 3 So there must be a way that God s Word can teach me (and you) something this morning, and also rebuke me and you if need be and also correct me and you if need by - and also train us for righteousness Recap In our look at the Book of Esther [Powerpoint 2 Recap1] We ve seen Esther and her cousin Mordecai both Jews - and the Jewish people facing the very definite possibility of annihilation Not much JOY for them in that is there? And we ve read each chapter faithfully and watched the story unfold As the wicked Haman seems to have the upper hand over the Jews And we - like Esther and Mordecai and the Jews have all wondered where God is in all of this? [Powerpoint 3 Recap2] But then in God s perfect and wonderful timing We saw last week a number of a great reversals Haman is executed on the very execution device he had built for the Jew Mordecai Esther and Mordecai are given control of Haman s estate The King agrees to write a new edict (order) to allow the Jews to defend themselves against this possible annihilation Page 3 of 14

4 Mordecai is elevated to almost royal status and is now 2 nd in charge of the whole 4 of the Persian Empire The Jews completely overcame their enemies and are saved from annihilation And the Jews who had previously mourned and cried and tore their clothes and worn sackcloth and ashes in their grief because they feared being annihilated are NOW full of happiness and joy! Their grief has turned to joy as we hit our passage this morning from Esther 9 verse 20 So let s firstly look at the joy of the Jews Then we ll look at the joy of Jesus disciples from our NT passage And then finally we ll look at our Joy! The Joy of the Jews (Esther 9:20-10:3) So firstly let s look at the joy of the Jews Looking at v20 to 22 [Powerpoint 4-The Joy of the Jews] Page 4 of 14

5 Mordecai commanded the Jews to celebrate every year this great event where 5 the Jews got relief from their enemies. The celebration was to involve 2 days of feasting and joy giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor What a contrast to earlier in the book where the Jews were weeping and wailing and praying fasting as they faced doom. Now they are feasting and full of joy! From v23 we see the Jews agreed to this celebration Why wouldn t they everyone loves a good feed and a chance to let loose now and again! And they even come up with a name for this feast see v26 The name is Purim Pur means lot and Purim means lots Lot being like dice these were the dice that Haman had used to decide which day the Jews would be killed and annihilated. Finally the Jews grief has turned to full on joy! The Jews saw this as such a deliverance from their enemies by God as He saved His people from annihilation So much so that the feast of Purim is even celebrated today Page 5 of 14

6 This year it was on 23 rd and 24 th March 6 [Powerpoint 5-Purim today] During these 2 days: The book of Esther is read both days Money is given to at least 2 poor people Gifts of 2 kinds of food to at least one person The idea of the gifts is to show love to others just as God had shown love to the Jews in delivering them from the wicked hand of Haman Some people dress up in costumes to remind themselves how Mordecai went from wearing sackcloth and ashes to wearing royal robes The Jewish people see it as a time of spiritual revival and awakening the Jews in Esther s time were in exile remember and perhaps wondering if God still cared for His people especially when they were in a foreign land and the book of Esther shows that God does care for his people very much and always keeps His promises Of all the Jewish festivals Purim is the one where people can let loose and enjoy themselves Page 6 of 14

7 When I worked in IT by Jewish friend would bring in pastries that his wife had 7 made for Purim (Haman s ears) [Powerpoint 6 and 7- Haman s Ears and Dress up] So - what can we learn from the feast of Purim? [Powerpoint 8-Learning from Purim] Well we can rejoice when the Lord intervenes and answers our prayers And as the Jews remember this blessing from God each year - we too can count our many blessings: King David says in Psalm 103:2 - Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 5:20: 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So relating that to the problems we might be experiencing this morning Instead of focusing on the problems and complaining as I ve been doing of late and saying woe is me Page 7 of 14

8 Instead we can focus on the blessings in our lives and forget not all God s 8 benefits to us and always give thanks to God for everything! The Joy of Jesus Disciples (John 16:16-20) In our NT passage (which you can turn to in your Bibles John chapter 16 from verse 16 to 20) the context is that Jesus is talking to His disciples shortly before his arrest and crucifixion [Powerpoint 9-Disciples] Jesus says to the disciples in v16: In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me. Notice there are two phrases little while The first one is in a little while Jesus will die hence you will see me no more And the second after a little while Jesus will rise from the dead hence after a while Jesus will rise from the dead after 3 days Now clearly the disciples have no understanding in their minds of a saviour Messiah who would die, then rise from the dead and then abandon them in favour of another Counsellor (14:16). They can t wrap their heads around that just yet. Page 8 of 14

9 So they ask themselves in verse 17 and 18 what does Jesus mean by all this. 9 Jesus realizes they don t understand in v19 So in v20 Jesus explains that their grief in Jesus dying and departing will turn to joy. Jesus is basically saying whilst the world (namely the ones who killed Jesus) are rejoicing you will be grieving because I m dead. But don t worry that grieving won t last long and it will turn to joy because you will see me again raised. Jesus illustrates this dramatic change from grief to joy By using childbirth One of my daughters had a baby back in February (Cruz) and throughout her pregnancy she had morning (and afternoon) sickness every single day not to mention Braxton Hicks contractions almost every day too! It s safe to say that the suffering she felt was immense but all that grief and suffering was soon forgotten about - and grief turned to joy when baby Cruz was born! That s what Jesus is talking about here the disciples grief will soon to turn to joy when they see that Jesus has conquered even death! Page 9 of 14

10 Our Joy 10 [Powerpoint 10-Our Joy] Well that s all very well for Esther and Mordecai and the Jews they were saved and delivered from the wicked Haman and they can have their party time drinking wine and eating Haman s ears! And it s all very well for Jesus disciples they got to see Jesus again after He died. But I don t know about you? But I still don t feel that joyful about what s going on for me right now? So where is my joy? Where is our joy? Well I reckon we need to think of it this way. The Old Testament often uses the combination of intense suffering and relieved joy at childbirth as common illustration of the life of God s people as they must suffer because of their sin and rebellion and because of the brokenness of the world but there is relief and joy brought about by the coming of the Promised Messiah. Page 10 of 14

11 Just like the feast of Purim is a celebration of deliverance from God s enemy, 11 the wicked Haman Christmas is the feast when we celebrate the birth of the ONE who delivered us from God s greatest enemy SIN itself So it occurred to me this week is that it is the sin (sometimes ours, sometimes others) and the brokenness of humankind and this world that stops us feeling joy and it also occurred to me that Jesus defeated God s enemy of sin on the cross once and for all! We just get tricked by our own sinful nature and by Satan into thinking that sin is not defeated but it is Therefore we can be joyful knowing that all our sins are taken care of by Jesus But the birth of the ONE who fixed sin is not our only feast day We also have Easter when we remember not only Jesus death for sin but His resurrection where Jesus took care of another enemy we all face death itself And Jesus has conquered death so we can be joyful knowing that sin and death are taken care of Now I m starting to feel better Page 11 of 14

12 Are you? 12 Our sin and our death are not a problem to us and they are the 2 biggest problems we all face so everything else is small in comparison. (pause) This morning we celebrate the Lord s Supper together we don t do it every week because we want it to be special when we do celebrate it because we remember our Lord s body broken for us on the cross and his blood poured out for our forgiveness But - there is still one more joyous event to look forward to though And this is what keeps me going through the tough times [Powerpoint 11-Our Joy to come] And I pray it keeps everyone here going through their tough times So turn with me to Revelation 19:6-9: 6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Page 12 of 14

13 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God s holy people.) 13 9 Then the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! And he added, These are the true words of God. So there s a feast we can all look forward to a wedding feast between Jesus the Lamb of God and us His church the body of believers and we re all dressed in fine white and bright linen because we re seen as fully righteous and right with God because of Jesus What a joyous occasion to look forward Literally a marriage made in Heaven [Powerpoint 12-Heaven] In Heaven a place that John the apostle describes as: God s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4-5) It s the hope of a joyous feast in Heaven with Jesus and our Heavenly Father Page 13 of 14

14 In Heaven 14 A place where there s no more funerals, no more tears, no more grieving, no more terrible traffic accidents, no more terminal illnesses, no more pain and suffering, no more pastoral care, no more broken marriages Just living in peace and harmony with God forever! That hope of Heaven turns my grief and sorrow into Joy this morning and I pray it does the same for each one of you. Let s pray Page 14 of 14