Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around, you might miss it.
To help, we’ve broken down Pastor Mark’s latest sermon, “Jesus Is a Better Savior,” the third sermon in our Esther series, into a handful of social-media-sized bites. You can watch and share the clips at the bottom of the post and share the full sermon with this shortened link: //jesus.to/U3makI
Those who chase glory only get misery. #betterSavior
When you don’t turn to God, you turn to someone else to replace God. #betterSavior
When you use everyone, you don’t love anyone. #betterSavior
If the story of Esther is “God loves & uses good people, he doesn’t love & use bad people,” then Bible is a worthless book. #betterSavior
The Bible really is a good book, and even the heroes are just little “h” heroes. They all need a big “H” Hero named Jesus. #betterSavior
Don’t you find great hope in the story of Esther? God takes messed up people and gives them grace! #betterSavior
We want to invite everyone whose story is like Esther to meet Esther’s God and to change like Esther did. #betterSavior
Like Esther, God gives “favor” to undeserving and ill-deserving people. #betterSavior
Like Esther, Jesus saves his people from death. Jesus is a better Savior than Esther. #betterSavior
God is not a God who gives shame, he’s a God who takes shame. He’s not a God who uses, he’s a God who serves. #betterSavior
We’re part of the kingdom of God, and people really need our King. #betterSavior
We were made to glorify, we were made to praise, we were made to worship, and because of sin, we glorify or seek to glorify ourselves.
Our relationships suffer and fail because we hand people the job description that only God can fill: never leave me, never forsake me, never fail me, always help me. Other people fail under the weight of being God to us.
If the story of Esther is, “God loves and uses good people and he doesn’t love and use bad people,” then the Bible is a worthless book. If the story is that I have to be my own savior, I have to be my own hero, I’ve got to straighten out all that I made crooked, or worse yet, if you’ve made it crooked, it can’t be straightened out at all, because you’re a bad person and God doesn’t love bad people, then that leads to pride or despair.
Don’t you find great hope in the story of Esther? God takes messed up people, perverted people, rebellious people, people who are not walking with him, people who are not obeying him, people who are not close to him, and he gives them grace, and he gives them favor, and he chooses them!
God needs to save you before he can have you help him save others. This is by turning from sin, trusting in Jesus, and getting a new nature, getting a new heart, and the punishment goes to him and the new life comes to you so that you can have that conversion experience and that change in character, like Esther.
God is not a God who gives shame, he’s a God who takes shame. He’s not a God who uses, he’s a God who serves. He’s not a God who discourages, he’s a God who encourages.
Our Jesus is a much better king than Xerxes, and his Kingdom is a much better kingdom, and though Esther is a great gal at the end of the book, our Jesus is even a better Savior.
Dads, do something!
What does Mordecai do while Esther’s in the castle being prepared for her night in the king’s bed? He checks on her from outside the city gate—but he doesn’t do anything, and doesn’t say anything, all while Esther’s in a precarious situation. Dads, says Pastor Mark, we’re supposed to actively stand up for our daughters, and that can include dumping a loser boyfriend for her. Don’t just feel bad and worry about her—say something. Do something.
It’s not good vs. bad people in the Bible
It’s tempting to read the Bible and think it’s a story of good people vs. bad people. But if that’s all it is and it’s up to us to be good, then the Bible’s a worthless book. The truth is that God loves and uses the undeserving and the ill-deserving—people like Esther, people like us. Jesus is the one Hero of the Bible.
Is your story like Esther’s?
Is your story like Esther’s? You’ve broken some commandments, slept with somebody/bodies, etc. The truth is that for all of us whose story is like Esther’s, we’re invited to meet Esther’s God and to change as Esther did. The bigger story is that God takes messed up people and he gives them grace and favor and he chooses them. That’s hope.
