This week Pastor Mark preached the sermon “Jesus Died a Better Death” out of Esther 2:19–3:15 for part 4 in our sermon series on the book of Esther. Here are some social media highlights from this week’s sermon.
Our lives are marked by sins, mistakes, and tragedies. The story of King Xerxes, Haman, Mordecai, and Esther is no different. Mordecai and Esther fail to walk faithfully with God, Xerxes cares more for money than people, and Haman decrees the murder of all Jews. Though there is no evidence that God shows up to deliver his people, there remains hope for the coming of a greater King.
Faith must be public. It is never private. We want others to know the God who loves us so that they might love him.
Tip: Bible words are hard, no one knows how to pronounce them. So read them fast, confidently & loudly and they’ll assume you nailed it.
We need to be very careful when we read the Scriptures we don’t come to them with a haughty, religious, self-righteous high ground.
Spirituality can be the most dangerous thing of all. If it’s not from, for, through, or to Christ, then it’s to be condemned.
People are not good, morally upright, and devout by nature. This is the human heart, untethered from the restraining grace of God.
Xerxes should not have divorced his wife Vashti. He didn’t have grounds for divorce. She didn’t deserve it. He should have apologized.
Some men’s sins are sins of commission. Most men’s sins are sin of omission.
We conspire to murder the King of kings. And unlike Xerxes, he doesn’t have us crucified. He allows us to crucify him.
Our humble, loving, gracious, servant King looks people in the eye who have plotted his demise and says, “Father, forgive them.”
Jesus forgives all the sins, Jesus works out all the mistakes, and Jesus takes the worst tragedy and makes it into the greatest glory.
If your whole life is concealing your relationship with God because you don’t want to suffer publicly, be mocked, be opposed, or anybody to dislike you, then what you worship is not Christ, but ultimately, comfort.
We’re no better than the Persians. They would slaughter innocent people who hadn’t done anything, and we do as well, and they can’t vote, so it doesn’t bother us.
You need to know that spirituality is a very dangerous thing. Now, they won’t tell you that. They’ll tell you that spirituality’s a good thing, but when we’re talking about spirits, we’re talking about angels and demons, clean and unclean spirits, holy and unholy spirits, obedient and disobedient spirits, and to open yourself up to the spirit realm is to potentially open yourself up to the demonic.
Friends, this is so important. I don’t want us to just be a self-righteous, judgmental, hypocritical, moralistic people who say, “Haman’s bad. Xerxes is bad. Thank you, God, that I’m good.” Say, “You know what? I could be like Haman. I could be like Xerxes.”
People are not good by nature. People are not morally upright and devout by nature. This is the human heart, untethered from the restraining grace of God.
Friends, there’s nothing wrong with making money. There’s something horribly wrong in making money by destroying innocent people.
Mars Hill, may we live in such a way that when persecution or opposition comes against Christianity, that those who are non-Christian would say, “Wait, they love the whole city. They serve the whole city. They cared about everybody. They love us, and we love them.”
Mordecai should have fought for, died for, declared war for Esther. And men, I’m asking you to do the same thing for your daughters. Love them, serve them, protect them, encourage them.
People will say, “Well, everything’s according to his plan.” No, there are rebels who are fighting against his plan and sinners who are sinning against his plan. “Well, everything has a reason.” Not everything is God’s will, but everything is used for God’s will. There’s a big difference.
Jesus is a King, seated on a throne like Xerxes, and he does something that Xerxes never does: He gets off his throne, and he comes into human history, and he humbles himself. He loves, serves, and knows people.
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Is faith public or private? In Esther 2:20, it says that Esther has not yet told anybody she’s Jewish, since her uncle Mordecai had told her not to, which is what a lot of Christians do today. If your whole life is concealing your relationship with God because you don’t want to suffer publicly, you don’t want to be mocked or opposed or disliked, then says Pastor Mark, what you worship is not Christ, but ultimately comfort.
How are you lazy and greedy like Xerxes? It’s important, especially for leaders, to not just make a decision, but to make the right decision—and that involves doing the work to get the right information. Sometimes as well, the best thing to do is not what’s in our interest but what’s in the interest of others. We need to be cautious to not brand Xerxes as evil and us as good, but instead prayerfully ask how we in our sinful nature are like Xerxes and how, in the grace of God, we can be faithful to live different lives in the example of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the great King. Haman was not the first one to try and destroy God’s people, and just as God delivered his people in Egypt, he will deliver them in Persia years later. And it all points to Jesus, the Bible’s lone Hero. Xerxes sat on a throne, but King Jesus got off his throne and humbled himself by coming into human history as a man to be the fulfillment of Passover. Jesus knows it’s our sin that crucified him, and he looks us in the eye and says, “Father, forgive them.”
Watch the full sermon here. Next up: “Jesus Is a Better Mediator,” part 5.
