Pride of Life - Esther 1:1-9 - Sunday Sermon

dates to remember. There's one date we

are having a men's meeting on uh March

14th. Uh you'll get an email about that.

That's another way also through the

welcome cards you can get signed up and

subscribe to our e- bulletin. And we

don't spam your inbox. It's less than

once a month that those uh emails go

out, but then you can get information

about these kinds of dates and any

information you need for whereabouts and

time and things like that. So, I don't

think I have any other announcements.

I'm going to go ahead and pray and we

can get right into Esther 1 verse 1-9.

Esther 1:1–9

Heavenly Father, thank you for your

word. Thank you for the books that you

inspired to be written to encourage us,

to convict us, to build up our faith. uh

they're so relevant and no matter where

we go in scripture when we consider how

it applies to our life, it's just

amazing how many applications there are

for us to grow in the grace and

knowledge of Jesus Christ to be

transformed in our own character. Uh so

I pray that your word would have its way

in our hearts and as you've promised

that it would not return to you empty. I

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

I want to tell you a story about

something that my football player

buddies and I did. And uh uh the way

that I'm going to tell this story is

going to sound like I'm bragging because

that's what we did. And so I'm just

going to tell you the story like we used

to think about it. Um but it is a story

about vain glory. I'll define vain glory

in a moment, but it's a story about a

bunch of football players seeking to

make themselves look great and a

specific way to do it in front of tens

of thousands of people. And we used to

love to do it and that is what I lived

my life for initially until I was about

24 and God humbled me. And uh I don't

know how many of you have like a movie

like Gladiator as our as your favorite

movie. Gladiator is one of my favorite

movies. And there's this scene um he

basically gets enslaved to become a

gladiator and uh really has no interest

in slaughtering people. Um but he's very

angry about what's happened to him. His

wife and his son are murdered. And so

instead of just getting slaughtered in

the arena, he fights back and he's a

general. Uh used to be a general in the

Roman army. And so highly skilled in

tactics and warfare and handtohand

combat with swords and different

weapons. And so he just wins these

battles and there's this famous scene

where he just kills every opponent and

the cloud is roaring with applause and

he says, "Are you not entertained?" Like

that. And we thought that was the

coolest thing ever. Um Cole, if you're

watching this, you're going to laugh. Uh

Cole Smith is a good friend of mine. And

uh I actually um when I repented, told

him what had happened in my life and how

God had humbled me. And as God used that

to bring him to faith, too. and he's now

a deacon at a church in Springfield and

uh a friend that I stay in contact with.

Uh but he was the defensive end to the

right of me and I was a dtackle and ever

when we would make a best thing you can

do as a dtackle is basically a tackle

for loss. A sack is a tackle for loss

but it doesn't have to be a sack. if you

stop the running back, uh, you do that.

And we were playing against Cal. Um, and

at Cal, and you might know the name

Marshon Lynch, that's the guy we're

playing against 60,000 people. And the

very f and we're Portland State, so

they're paying us to play them kind of

as a to-up game. No one expects us to

win, and we didn't. But the very first

play of the game, uh, Cole and I just

smash Marshon Lynch and bring him down

and both of us just put our hands out to

the entire crowd and scream, "Are you

not entertained?" We didn't plan it.

Didn't plan it. It is in a way one of my

favorite memories of my football time

cuz we were we doubled over laughing cuz

we'd both done it at the exact same We

were roommates. We'd watch Gladiator the

night before to get pumped up for it,

you know. But there's a dark side to

that story. It's funny. It's ridiculous.

It was so great in front of all the Cal

fans to be screaming that. And to be

honest, I didn't I knew that Marshon

Lynch was good, but I didn't know him as

Marshon Lynch the Beast at that time.

It's unbelievably hard to tackle, too.

Just for fun. Little color commentary. I

was uh 350 lb uh 315 lb. And my neck,

you see how my ears kind of stick out?

You get made fun for that. and my neck

was sticking out farther than my ears.

I've got pictures if you ever want to

see it. That's how thick I was. Um, and

the best body fat I got to was 8% body

fat and that was about 2 295 lbs. So,

just just a ball of muscle. I'm only 6'

6' one at best. And I laid out and hit

Marshon Lynch as hard as I could and he

bounced back two yards and kept running.

first time that's ever happened to me.

We get a good clean hit on a guy and he

doesn't go down. So, he he indeed was

unbelievably hard to tackle. But that's

beside the point. Uh the point is that

what I lived my life for was the glory

of the crowd. That's not actually what

Maximus and Gladiator lived his life

for. He was mocking the crowd when he

said, "Are you entertain? Are you not

entertained?" Mocking their blood lust

and what they what they wanted. um he

threw his sword at the guy that was

presiding over the whole thing. So, I

wasn't mocking the crowd's um

the crowd in that way like I was mocking

the entire system of football. I was

mocking their team and acting like we

were greater. Look what we just did.

Tackling this great running back for a

loss in the first play of the game. It

silenced the whole crowd. It was a great

feeling. But what I was living for was

my own glory. My real dream was to play

in the NFL. Uh because what I wanted to

was to be praised by that crowd to have

that kind of glory and there is a

certain kind of glory in football that

football players can gain. So happens to

this day in the NFL. We just got done

with the Super Bowl. There's a certain

type of glory to be gained in winning

one of the most competitive sporting

events probably in the world. Um so

that's what I lived for. And I'm I'm not

going to spend a bunch of time talking

about my testimony today. I've mentioned

that many times in the past, but God did

something to humble me and as a result

of that uh brought me around to a real

desire in my life to live my life out

for his glory, for the fame of his

reputation rather than my own. Um that I

don't for a second believe that I do

that perfectly. And I still find not

even close. I still find a lot of ways

that I continue to have to humble myself

and um I'm going to be talking to you

guys about that also just in application

to yourself. But the reason why I'm

telling the story of vain glory um is

that it almost destroyed my life. So in

the pursuit I'll tell you one little

part of my testimony. in the pursuit one

of the I call a deep sin, one of the

really destructive sins uh that I

committed um in order to be able to

continue playing football for as long as

possible was taking

performance-enhancing drugs. You know

them as steroids. They're kind of back

in the news these days for different

reasons regarding like hormone therapy

and some real dark stuff. But this was

basically just a bunch of testosterone

derivatives that allow you to recover

from really hard exercise faster and

build your muscle faster. Kind of like

they make your body like a little mini

Wolverine. There's a reason why I was

295 lbs at 8% body fat.

Not really possible uh without those

kinds of things. At least you'd have to

be a total genetic outlier to get even

close to that. Um and so I cheated

because what I was seeking was my own

glory. And I didn't think I would get

it. I didn't think God would give it to

me. I didn't think I was tall enough.

And that turned out to be the case. None

of the NFL scouts wanted to give a guy a

chance at six foot uh 6'4 or better.

Can't teach size, they used to say. And

that's how part of the way that God

brought that to an end. My I did

everything I could, including cheating,

to try to make it and didn't. And I had

my whole identity wrapped up in that

kind of vain glorious pursuit. And that

can happen to to I was not living my

life as a Christian, but that can h

happen to people that were for a time

living their lives as Christians and

then they get stuck in what John calls

the desires of the flesh in first John.

We'll go there or the pride of life

seeking to glorify their own

reputations. And it doesn't start with

some kind of elaborate premeditated plan

like you know what I'm going to do with

my life? I'm going to try to make myself

look great to others. It starts with

just one little idolatrous decision

after another. If you think about what

vain glory is, it's it's seeking glory

in all the wrong places. In a simple

definition, seeking glory in created

things disconnected from God. Seeking

glory in created things where the glory

isn't ultimately ascribed to the Lord.

And so you you know I don't know if you

experience worshipful moments when you

go out on a hike but uh I got into

hunting not too long ago and you got

into the Oregon woods and some of these

um you know some of the places will have

clear cuts and so you can see farther

and the the fog is just hanging right

over the trees and sometimes you get on

a hill and you're looking above the fog

at the tips of the trees and you get

below and you see it's just kind of a

breathtaking landscape. there's a glory

to it. Um, and when your heart is humble

and when you're being humble towards the

Lord,

that heart desires to ascribe that glory

to the log. Look at to the Lord. Look at

what you've created. There's a glory to

the creation that is meant to point to

God. But when you

don't humble yourself or allow God to

cultivate a heart of humility, uh your

pride will begin to look at those things

and instead of ascribing worship to the

Lord for it, the worship begins to be

ascribed towards the created thing. Um

and that ends up being turned then

towards self- glorification. Look at the

great things I've done. Look at the

great person I am. Look at the the great

things that I've accomplished through my

intelligence, through my power. Speaking

of football, uh even even mothers and

fathers who are not necessarily

wellknown can start using the

accomplishments that they've helped

their children to accomplish to ascribe

to themselves glory. It becomes a very

ugly thing, but you'll see it happen.

very reason I'm talking about this I'm

going to go and read read Esther chapter

Esther 1 · chapter mention

1-9 is that the pursuit of vain glory is

all over the story of Esther

and it leads to destruction this king uh

we know him historically as Xerxes one

the famous Xerxes in the Bible he's

called and also other uh historical um

documents he's called Aasawa as well and

we're going to get to know about him and

he's this vain glorious god king. He's

got temper issues. He's a womanizer and

uh another character we'll be introduced

to is Hmon. Some of you have probably uh

read Esther many times and so you know

really well. If you have not uh recently

read Esther, I would highly suggest even

if you haven't done it just before the

sermon, read it in one sitting. You

don't have to read it fast. It's 10

chapters. It doesn't take that long.

probably going to get it done in about

25 minutes of just reading it. Uh and

then you get just a sense of the entire

study and there's these major characters

you're intro in introduced to. Uh

Hassaweris is is one of the main uh if

we were making a movie he'd be one of

the stars of the show so to speak um but

in a vain glorious way. You're

introduced also to Morai. If I told you

that there's uh a character and I was

talking about biblical characters who

got taken into captivity into slavery to

a foreign land um and then suffers there

as a result and is under threat and gets

falsely accused and then rises to become

the second in command of this world

power. Who'd you be thinking of? Joseph.

Yeah, I'm talking about Morai.

And you probably knew that. I wasn't

trying to trick you, but more that

happens to Morai. Gets taken into exile

and everything I just said happens to

him and he rises and gets exalted to the

second in command under Aasaweras, under

Xerxes.

Wild story. Um, we're also introduced to

a queen named Vashi that quickly becomes

uh deposed uh as uh queen because she um

uh she won't go along with the with the

king's will. He gets really angry

because his will, his glorious will is

being thwarted. And so he deposes her as

king and then holds what we would call

in modern times a beauty pageant but

much darker uh to find another queen and

to also increase his herum. And we find

Esther to be this unbelievably godly

woman, self-sacrificial woman. and

Morai, her uncle, who' become her father

figure and who'd raised her to be a

mentor and counsel to her. And Esther's

character is one of great humility,

submissiveness, and teachability. And

she lets Mororti teach her. And she even

is willing to put her life on the line.

One of the most famous lines in Esther

is, "If I perish, I perish." She'll put

her life on the line to save her people,

the Jews, who are under this terrible

threat. And I want to talk about this

threat too because it may be more epic

than you realize. When I started

studying and I've been spending I've

been loving it. One of the favorite

things of my vocation now and seeking to

spend my life on making God look good

rather than myself is that because of

your generous giving, I'm set apart. My

salary allows me to uh spend my hours

studying God's word. And then I get to

tell you what he's taught me and and try

to give you a leg up on application in

your own life. give you a sense of what

God's word means to use words about

preaching from from the book of Ezra.

Um, and so I want to give you just some

uh a map of the setting of this time.

Um, we're talking, you know, uh, King

Ahazerus or Xerxes one reign was from

486

BC. That's when it started, but the the

story actually starts about 465 BC.

remember in BC um the uh the the dates

get um uh smaller as you get closer to

the life of Christ. Um so it's before

Christ and so sometimes that can be

confusing but again uh his reign is from

486 BC to 465 but the story takes place

in about a decade or a little bit longer

from 483 to 473 BC

before the time of Christ. And here's

the map of just how large the Aido

Persian Empire had become. Okay, so you

can see it's just gigantic,

you know, all the way down the river

Nile, all the way over to the Indis

River. You can see all of the promised

land is under the control of Xerxes, all

the way into Thrace. They hadn't

conquered um Athens or Greece at this

time. Uh but there's famous stories we

might get into about that at another

time. But there's just it's a gigantic

empire.

But to us in our modern minds, you know,

when I think of the world, um I I kind

of think of a of a globe like one where

you can spin around and look at it. I'm

thinking where is this? And we actually

even have a globe. And so um when I

think of the world, I think of this as a

region of the world still. The world is

much larger than this. And so in the

back of my mind, I was thinking about

the threat to the Jews. We're introduced

to this man named Hmon. And God calls

him an enemy of his people, an enemy of

the Jews. And he hatches a plan to have

all of the Jews in the Meo Persian

Empire slaughtered. And in a way, he

tricks King Xerxes. And he uses King

Xerxes desire to glorify himself to

trick him. Uh what he does is says these

people are not willing to submit to you

or to your law and it's not in your best

interest. It's not in the best interest

of your greatness to allow them to live.

And so he decrees this law that all of

the Jews would be annihilated and they

sit down to drink callously. But it's

ultimately Hmon that is the one that

hatches this plan. And it's in part as a

result of his hatred for Mordori who was

a Jew and and Morortei wouldn't bow down

and worship him. So that's what Hmon

really wanted. He wanted people to bow

down and honor him. Another vain

glorious man of an even greater evil

character than King Xerxes or Aasaweris.

And so this decree goes out and you

still may with a modern mind think of it

and there's a there's a truth to this

that this is a regional threat to the

Jews. But the reality is that the

overwhelming vast majority of all Jews

lived in this region. And so if that

command had gone through and the Meo

Persian Empire and all of its citizens

citizens had slaughtered all the Jews,

man, woman and child alike, which the

decree said that it would have destroyed

the vast majority of the Jews. Basically

would have wiped out the Jewish

population altogether.

Okay? And so, to be honest, I I don't

like bringing up the Holocaust. There's

too many times where people bring up the

Holocaust and bring up Hitler as a

political slam. Um, which in my opinion

only serves to diminish how evil it

actually was. It's like crying wolf with

the Holocaust. And I don't like to do

that. So, that's not my intent here. But

when you think I also with what I'm

saying do not mean to diminish the

horror and dread. Um, but the numbers

I've heard are somewhere between six and

12 million Jews. Some numbers are even

higher of this horror of the Holocaust

of the Jews in in but they that was not

a threat to them over the entire world

unless Hitler and Germany had gotten its

desire to take over the whole world and

God thwarted that plan as well. Um, so 6

to 12 million Jews is dreadful. uh but

it's still not a threat to the entire

world population of the Jews. And the

only reason I'm saying this is like I

said in no way to diminish the

Holocaust, but to to elevate our

understanding of how dreadful this turn

of events was in Meo Persia. This was a

threat to the global population of the

Jews. That's how epic this is. When you

think about Mori talking about Esther

being queen for such a time as this, the

such a time as this is this although

it's regional, like I've explained, it's

actually basically a global threat to

the entire population of God's people.

That's what she decides to lay her life

down and say, "If I perish, I perish."

So the the that elevated the conflict to

an even more epic level when I started

realizing and back of mind came front of

mind. It's not just regional, it's the

threat of just about the entire Jewish

population. That's what Hmon um was

seeking. So very evil, very much an

enemy of the Jews. Another very

interesting thing that most faithful

students of the Bible already know is

that God's name is not mentioned in all

of the book of the of Esther and it's

it's only place that that's true in the

Bible where there's just no mention of

him but his providence and his

sovereignty is over all of it. You know,

when Esther realizes what is required of

her, um she uh commands that a a fast

would be held. Her and her young servant

ladies fast and she asks all the Jews to

fast as well as Morai. And what do you

fast for? Fasting is and fasting and

prayer go together. You're seeking God's

deliverance or God's will in some

relatively desperate way. if you're

fasting. So God is implied all

throughout Esther and his providence,

his sovereign control over the events

that happen becomes so obvious even

though it's all behind the scenes. And I

think that's really interesting because

there are times where especially if

you're kind of going through a rough

time in life and you haven't front of

mind been thinking about how can I serve

the Lord in his glory and maybe your

heart has started been turning towards

worldly things and things that are more

about the glory of created things

separate from uh God's glory and you're

just not all that excited about your

faith and you're kind of going through

the motions and the concept cept of

laying down your life for some cause

like this. The concept of serving the

Lord is not front of mind or or the

thing that really matters in your heart.

And it wasn't like Esther knew she was

going to become a queen all of a sudden.

It wasn't by choice that that happened.

She was just taken into the herum. It

wasn't by choice that she decided to be

in a position where she either stands up

verbally and out loud and goes into the

king's presence without initial

permission which the law for that was to

be executed or she and her people die.

She didn't decide that those

circumstance would happen and they can

happen to you overnight.

Maybe your story won't have some kind of

global epic threat to God's people

today. As we talked about the Israel of

God, the people of God who who have

repented and placed their faith in Jesus

at this point and any future people that

will do that as well.

Um maybe

it'll just be a smaller version at first

of faithfulness,

but since you're kind of going through

the motions, you're not prepared for

that faithfulness. And you're not you

might not listen to the counselors or

mentors or Christian faithful people in

your life that are telling you this this

is what you need to do. And there are

terrible consequences when we're seeking

actually to exalt our own reputations

rather than the Lord's reputation. And

the very reason for that is that God

opposes the proud. His character is such

that he will always oppose the proud.

He opposes men that throw their arms out

and say, "Are you not entertained for

their own glory?"

He opposes men like King Asaweras.

He vengefully opposes men like Hmon.

Another thing about seeking your own

very vain glory that we'll learn more

and more about is that when Hmon gets

exalted to a very high position, but

this one man Morai will not bow down to

him and it takes over his heart and

mind. He can't take any joy in any of

the ways that he has been advanced by

King Aasaweres. All he can think about

is this one man

that won't bow down to him. And the very

same thing will happen on the road to

pursuit to pursuing uh the betterment of

your own reputation. Uh rather than

showing off God's greatness, what will

happen is uh God will start opposing you

in that. and the contentment that you

could find in being thankful in the

things he'd given him. When there's just

even one thing wrong in your life,

that's what your heart will start

focusing on, this inglorious thing that

you didn't want to be and that's not

according to your will and that isn't

working right. And so that becomes the

focus. And then because we're

Christians, we haven't just completely

forgotten God. We start thinking God's

holding out on us. He's not really

taking care of us. He doesn't want to

give us this one thing. And that's why

we don't have it. And the reality is

because you're living for an agenda that

seeks to

strengthen the fame and glory of your

own reputation rather than the Lord's.

He is indeed actually opposing us. What

is the way out of that? What is the way

out of that? That is a major question

we're going to have to ask in this

question and answer. I want to give you

my main point as I give you at the

beginning of every sermon and I'll have

it displayed here. And the main point

that we'll take away from this passage,

and you'll see how this is the main

point and why I arrived at it as we walk

through it. God's will for us is to

sobermindedly

show others the greatness of his

reputation rather than our own.

That's God's will for every single

Christian. God's will for us is to

sobermindedly show others the greatness

of his reputation rather than our own.

We're going to learn that by contrast of

negative example. That is the opposite

what King Xerxes or Hassaweras was

living his life for. That is what Mori

and Esther were living their lives for.

But it's not what Hassaweras Hmon his

wife Zesh were living their lives for.

Let me read Esther 1 1-9. And I want you

to consider all the desire and activity

surrounding vain glory. Glory ascribed

to created things in disconnection from

God.

Now in the days of Aasaweres, the

Ahasaweras who reigned from India to

Ethiopia over 127 provinces. In those

days the king when king Aasaweres sat on

his royal throne in Susa, the citadel.

In the third year of his reign, he gave

a feast for all his officials and

servants. The army of Persia and Media

and the nobles and governors of the

provinces were before him, while he

showed the riches of his royal glory and

the splendor and pomp of his greatness

for many days, 180 days. And when these

days were completed, the king gave for

all the people present in Susa, the

citadel, both great and small, a feast

lasting for 7 days in the court of the

garden of the king's palace. There were

white cotton curtains and violet

hangings fastened with cords of fine

linen and purple to silver rods and

marble pillars and also couches of gold

and silver on a mosaic pavement of pfery

marble mother of pearl and precious

stones. Drinks were served in golden

vessels, vessels of different kinds, and

the royal wine was lavished according to

the bounty of the king. And drinking was

according to this edict. There's no

compulsion. For the king had given

orders to all the staff of his palace to

do as each man desired. Queen Vashi also

gave a feast for the women in the palace

that belonged to King Aasaweris.

So you can probably already see

how by negative example, King Xerxes,

King Aoeres is doing the very opposite

of God's will for us. seeking to show

off his own greatness to his entire

kingdom.

First to officials and uh men in

positions of high authority throughout

all the provinces

um princes and governors and nobles and

then also to the commoners. But notice

it says in verse 5 to the commoners both

great and small

not just the least of these but also uh

other great men in this case I keep

saying men because that is who was

invited to this is a very patriarchal

society and this case I don't mean in a

good way chauvinistically patriotic it's

a patriarchal uh it's a major theme is

the wrong version of uh patriot

hierarchal male coercive dominance. So

there will be themes especially in the

next sermon about what it looks like for

men to lead the way God actually wants

them to without this kind of coercive

force. Uh so you can be looking forward

to that. We'll be talking all about

marriage and preparation for marriage

but also just relationships to

authority. Looking at this, you have

this culture and feast days

all dedicated to vain glorious pursuits.

And you know, it wasn't just King

Hazerus that was pursuing this vain

glory. uh we get introduced to Hmon

who's seeking his own vain glory

underneath the authority of King Hazarus

and just looking for more for more ways

to um cozy up to the king so that he can

rise in power and wealth and in

greatness of his own and he wants that

displayed to everybody and when Morai

doesn't bow to him it's opposing his

will or when Vashi doesn't obey the

current queen doesn't obey a hazardous

will he flies into a rage he gets

enraged about it

and so it's just a culture inundated

with this. And you can look at King

Xerxes and think, "Oh, what a pompous,

arrogant pride monster, right?" And

think, "Oh, these god kings with their

herm. It's just so evil and dark." And

it is. It is. But let's consider how

different our culture really is.

Remember, they have god kings. We have

elected presidents and elected

officials. Um, but when you think about

just fast forwarding the story a little

bit when Vashi is deposed and

Hasaweras is seeking a new queen and

they find all the beautiful virgins in

the kingdom, not all of them, but they

find maybe the most beautiful ones and

they bring them and there's basically

this beauty pageantlike competition for

who's going to win the king's favor. And

we end up knowing it's it's Esther. And

at the same time, you think about I said

that word beauty pageant. What are Miss

America or Miss Universe beauty

pageantss about? Well, there's no God

king. But the God king sits on the couch

and just enjoys lusting after these

women in their swimsuit competitions.

How's that really different in God's

eyes than a man having a herum? Well,

you can't through coercive first force

just take this for yourself. But that's

what so many men are lusting after when

they there's a reason why there's these

swimsuit competitions.

It's not an inner beauty pageant,

right? So, we found a way to design it

with the consent of women, but God still

sees the desire of the heart.

Or consider social media. I don't mean

to slam social media as if there is no

good use of it. We post these sermons on

social media. Uh it'd be hypocritical to

be like, "Oh, social media is evil." But

when you think of Instagram and what

influence are displaying, isn't so much

of it just vain, glorious? Look how

great my life is. Look how great my

vacations are. Look how well I've

designed my house. Look how smart this

life hack is that I came up with.

There's so much vain glory everywhere.

So much vain glory. Or consider the

workplace and just the rat race of

people trying to climb over each other

for a promotion. All this competition.

There may be more than uh I I don't

think there are more than two stories of

a guy getting taken into slavery and

then being exalted to the second in

command under the king. Morai and Joseph

come to mind. But that's what happens.

That's what happens to Mori. He humbles

himself. He seeks God's will. Esther

humbles herself and God just keeps

exalting them.

So, it's not as though God doesn't have

a plan for the exaltation of people that

are humble and actually pursuing his

glory. He does. We're going to talk all

about that. But my first point that I

want to make in support of this idea

that God's will for us is to

sobermindedly show others the greatness

of his reputation rather than our own is

that our situation and time has some

differences in terms of we're not under

a god king. And he the the the leaders

that we have to submit to don't have

total uh decree authority like King

Xerxes did. We're in a constitutional

republic and there um the power of the

people is still very much a very real

thing and a degree of individual

sovereignty is um but what God's after

is not some kind of outward display of

us seeking his glory. But he's after the

heart. Is your heart turned towards

pursuing him being glorified? His

reputation being magnified? Does your

life when you evaluate it across

different areas and different desires,

does it look like your life's designed

to make God look good or is your life

designed to make him look good? And

don't forget, we live in a culture where

we're just marinating in vain, glorious

pursuit, vain, glorious pursuit in

advertising. Vain, glorious pursuit,

objectifying women in advertising.

Right? It's not just God King Xerxes

that does it. It's almost every

advertising company

that uses women scantily clad, paraded

in front of the TV to sell their

product.

This vain, glorious pursuit is all over

our lives. You cannot escape it as long

as you're living in the world. And you

can't really escape living in the world,

can you?

God has something to say about such

vain, glorious pursuits. I'd like to put

up 1 John chapter 2 verse 15-17.

1 John 2:15–17

I think I have it up for you on the

screens. Do not love the world or the

things in the world. If anyone loves the

world, the love of the father is not in

him. Next verse. For all that is in the

world, the desires of the flesh and the

desires of the eyes and the pride of

life is not from the father, but is from

the world.

So there's this, it's not a false

dichotomy. You either love God the

Father or you love the world. And you

can't have it both ways.

Jesus also said you can't serve God and

money.

Money, by the way, in a lot of ways is a

tool

that really amplifies self-

glorification.

We're going to be talking about how uh

our fleshly desires can be amplified in

the pursuit of vain glory. Alcohol is

one of those, right? They're all just

drinking. Each man can do as he desires.

Well, the flesh, left to its own desire,

desires drunkenness, desires partying.

You know, that's what I did when I was

in college football. The greatest thing

you could do was being a great football

player. Maybe second greatest thing to

do would be like a womanizer. And the

third greatest thing you could do was

hold your liquor.

That's what these gladiators of football

players really cared about.

There may there was maybe one guy I knew

that actually was walking in his faith

at that time and didn't give into all of

those things. Everyone else, even the

guys that called themselves Christians,

and I did, I lived like a total

hypocrite. Those were the things that

they were pursuing. Things that would

make them look glorious to other people.

Things that objectified women, things

that led to total foolish destruction.

And that's what God's saying. These

things are passing away. They don't even

last. They're not of eternal value. But

pursuing God's will, which is that

you would display the greatness of his

reputation with your life, that will

last forever.

That will last forever. And he will

share it with no idoltor. Let me show

you Isaiah 42:8. If you're worshiping

Isaiah 42:8

created things cut off from a pathway to

be glorifying God, he says, "I am the

Lord. That is my name. My glory I give

to no other, nor my praise to carved

idols.

You know, anything can become an idol.

An idol doesn't have to be something

that's inherently evil.

A common example that is just so

relevant in our life would be

entertainment.

You've got probably 10 different

streaming services that you can find

just about every movie and every series.

And if entertainment has become an idol

in your life, then you just spend so

much time binge watching these shows.

Is there anything wrong with some

entertainment and watching shows? No, I

don't think so. I don't think there's

wrong something just automatically wrong

with entertainment. I I seek times of

entertainment. Valentine's Day might be

a time where a husband uh looks to

design uh a romantic dinner and some

entertainment and uh his heart could

totally be turned towards the Lord,

thanking the Lord for the dinner,

thanking the Lord for the entertainment

and for this marriage and for this wife.

And so the entertainment and the food

and the marriage glorifies God. It's not

cut off from that. or when what we

really care about is how good the food

is, how interesting or funny or

captivating the entertainment is or even

our wife can so quickly become an idol

and our husbands too. It's it's what you

care about most.

What you care about most that is either

the Lord or an idol and a little baby

idol can be in development at any time.

I like to think in terms of like

diagnostic tools to figure out, do I

have idols in my life? Um, when I think

about reading God's word, I don't know

if this is relatable, but

Holy Spirit's prompting me to pray and

read God's word and simultaneously to

that desire because I I love reading

God's word. I really enjoy it. um except

right before committing to do it and

going upstairs and sitting down

studying, there's this other voice in my

heart, this other will that would rather

do anything other than that.

And it's astonishing because I also know

I love it and I can't wait to learn

things and God will show me things that

I've never seen that have these amazing

applications and there's eternal life to

be found in the scriptures and the grace

and knowledge of Jesus Christ

whose glory is peerless and without

compare.

Nothing better than the word of God,

better than gold.

And yet,

oh man, I just want to play video games

so much right now or shoot my compound

bow or do some project in the yard that

I really didn't want to do before, but

man, maybe just to avoid God's word, I

could go and take out the trash even.

These are the thoughts my flesh is

having. I don't know if you felt this

but man and you just Lord put to death

those thoughts that will keep me from

your word but if you don't and then you

start pursuing those things and you find

yourself in a season of prayerlessness

of to where you've like the desire for

God's word has been totally diminished

and you given into those desires do

anything else and you start finding

yourself in the shire life where God

calls you to a glorious and epic and

dangerous adventure of going destroying

the ring. But the Shire, that's where

all your desire is. That's what you've

been building for yourself. And so your

house now, not in the service of the

Lord, but in the service of your own

agenda. Your money, not in the service

of the Lord, in the service of your own

agenda. you're way more excited to get a

hot tub

than you are pursuing serving the Lord

cuz oh man, a hot tub's so warm and it's

so therapeutic to my muscles and all my

football injuries that feel so chronic

and hard. You know, you can just geek

out on anything that's an idol.

You know it. You know it. One of the

reasons for that is there are is glory

in created things. There is

there's glory. And we'll learn about

these horses all bred from one stud of

the king that he sends out hurriedly for

a new decree that the Jews can defend

themselves against any people that would

try to carry out uh the entire

annihilation from them. There's glory in

these kinds of forces. There's a certain

glory in chariots. There's a certain

glory in winning the Super Bowl. Like I

said, there's a certain glory in your

son

winning a fifth grade inter mural soccer

championship at Grand View Baptist

Academy.

But who does the glory belong to?

It doesn't belong to me as a father. It

doesn't even belong to my son. It

belongs to the Lord who made his legs

who sustains his legs and his mind and

his

you know in this case

what is it hand eye coordination foot

eye coordination for soccer you know who

in your job you know the Lord makes a

point of as he's bringing the people

into the promised land to tell them

don't think it's because of your own

righteousness that I brought here and

when you go there and despair

paraphrasing and you make money and you

make for life for yourself. Don't think

that it's because of your own will and

power that you gain these things for

yourself because I gave you the power to

get wealth. I gave you the context in

which so he gives us our jobs. He gives

us the intelligence we have. He develops

our competence in that area. And so all

of the success of your life and anything

you've done,

the glory for that is rightly ascribed

to him.

The glory of that is rightly ascribed to

him. But when you cut that off,

your heart desire because of the flesh

starts becoming focused on your own

glory. You know, if we look in at verse

6 again, there were white cotton

curtains and violet hangings fastened

with cords of fine linen and purple and

silver rod rods and marble pillars and

also couches of gold and silver on a

mosaic pavement of porefree marble

mother of pearl and precious stones. Had

you walked into this feast, it would

have been breathtaking.

There was a certain glory in this palace

of citadel in Soua, you know. I mean

what it reminded me of if you read

towards the end maybe chapter 35 and on

in Exodus it reminded me of the

descriptions of God's tabernacle and

later descriptions of his temple as

well.

You know acacia wood overlaid with gold.

It would have been breathtaking to walk

into the temple.

In this case

is displaying his own glory with that.

But is it wrong for God to do the very

same thing to display his glory? I want

to compare a little bit how man

glorifies himself compared to how God

glorifies himself. Okay, with the

hassawer seeking his own vain glory

almost leads to the entire annihilation

of God's people.

That's a that's a a warning, isn't it,

from God? Like a woe. Seek your own

glory. You will not know

the magnitude of the destruction coming

your way.

And yet, is that is that how God glory

exercises his glory? Is is glory all

about foolish self-exaltation

at the cost of his people?

or is it actually exactly the opposite

thing? I want to go, you know, we talked

about Isaiah 42 that he does not share

his glory uh with anyone practicing

idolatry. Um but listen to what Jesus

prays in John 17

about shared glory. John 17 also known

as the high high priestly prayer verse

22

the glory this is Jesus Jesus praying to

his father God the son to praying to God

to fa the father the high the true high

priest

here's what he has to say the glory that

you have given me I have given to them

he's talking about his disciples that

they may be one even as we are one.

We have another verse. Yeah. I in the I

in them and you in me that they may

become perfectly one so that the world

may know that you sent me and loved me

uh and loved excuse me back one more

time. I misread. Uh and love them even

as you have loved me. I, Father, I

desire that they also whom you have

given me may be with me where I am to

see my glory that you have given me

because you loved me before the

foundation of the world.

The prayer of Jesus Christ, our savior,

the son of God,

is that God would share his glory with

us.

Idolatry will interrupt that every time.

Look at second Peter 1 3-4.

His divine power has granted to us all

things that pertain to life and

godliness through the knowledge of him

who called us to his own glory and

excellence.

by which he has granted to us his

precious and very great promises so that

through them you may become partakers

in the divine nature having escaped the

corruption that is in the world because

of sinful desire

or consider Romans 12 1-3

pretty famous verse I appeal to you

therefore brothers by the mercies of God

to present your bodies as a living

sacrifice

words of Esther just echoing in my mind.

If I perish, I perish. Holy and

acceptable to God, which is your

spiritual worship. Do not be conformed

to this world, but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind, that by testing

you may discern what is the will of God,

what is good and acceptable and perfect.

and last verse in this book. For by the

grace given to me, I say to everyone

among you, to think of himself, to not

think of himself more highly than he

ought to, but to think with sober

judgment, each according to the measure

of the faith that God has assigned.

You know, I made the point that

idols don't start necessarily as

inherently evil things. There's nothing

wrong with feasting. There's nothing

wrong with celebrating.

There may be something wrong with even

one glass of wine for some Christians

who feel convicted by God not to. There

is nothing wrong with all Christians or

Christians in general to have a glass of

wine

to have a measured relationship to

alcohol. It'd be legalistic to say that

that's just not allowed biblically.

That's not what it says. It says, "Do

not be drunk on wine, but be filled with

the spirit."

So now consider how things like alcohol

for a second because it's right here.

The edict was there is no compulsion.

Everyone did as they desired. So you

know it was a drinking party. Doesn't

mean that every single person got drunk.

Doesn't mean that every single person

was was even drinking. But man, combine

vain glorious pursuits with alcohol.

Dipping into the very next chapter. But

Vashi refused to come to the king's

command delivered by the Unix. At this

the king became enraged and his anger

burned within him.

I'm thinking of a verse a friend

recently quoted from memory to me from I

think it is um

Psalm

I forget maybe someone might remember

here but it's a famous one. Whoever is

slow to anger is better than the mighty

and he who rules his spirit than he who

takes a city. Who does God see as glory

as glorious? Someone that can control

their emotions.

So you think, "Oh, maybe your testimony

includes severe anger issues like mine

does, and you're wanting God to conquer

those more and more." Well, you can sew

to the flesh, and every vain glorious

pursuit is sewing to the flesh. And then

when someone thwarts your vain glorious

will to make your own reputation great

at your job as a mother as a kid in

junior high or high school or elementary

school and someone starts gossiping

about you and some people start

believing things about your reputation

that isn't true and you're just so

angry.

Maybe kids aren't adding alcohol to that

although some are. You know people kids

drink way more than you might think in

college. They just tend to hide it.

Well, but as adults, you think it's

going to help you

to without any boundaries engage with

alcohol in the pursuit of becoming a

more emotionally controlled person.

What helps you is being filled with the

spirit and the fruit of the spirit like

patience and self-control and gentleness

and kindness.

Or like James says, "Be quick to listen,

slow to anger, slow to speak, for the

anger of man does not produce the

righteousness of God." Oh man, fathers,

you know who will thwart your way, vain,

glorious will all the time? Your wife

and children.

Am I slamming those wife that wife and

children? No, I'm not intending to. But

your wife knows you. She My wife knows

me. And every once in a while, she'll

have some choice words to help me

understand just how not glorious I

actually am.

You'd love her for it if you heard it.

And how do I react to that? Speaking of

another diagnostic tool, when someone

criticizes you, even if their criticism

is meant in a mean-spirited way, or if

it's not, how do you react? Well, if

you've been pursuing the glory of your

own reputation, your reaction is

somewhere around, "How dare you talk

about me that way?"

But if you've been humbling yourself,

recognizing that in order for God to

make you a partaker of the divine nature

and to share his glory with you as Jesus

prayed, his son has to be put to death

for your sin.

And now you think about the glory of the

Lord

most prominently displayed

in the destruction of his son.

What is God's glory

other than the cross and resurrection of

Jesus Christ? Jesus is the radiance of

the glory of God, the very imprint of

his nature. And what does this glorious

king seated at the right hand of the

father do before he ascends to that? He

humbles himself to become a servant and

even beyond that humbles himself

to take on the sin he never committed.

We did the sin of every vain glorious

pursuit of the magnification of our own

reputation.

And the justified outrage of God also

known as his wrath is poured out on him.

It's a glory like no other. A

self-sacrificing glory.

A glory that shows just how worthy God

is of our souls magnifying

every day all the way into the farthest

reaches of infinite eternity.

Aasawoeras's vain glorious pursuits

almost leads to the destruction of God's

people.

God's

justified pursuit of his own glory that

he is worthy of leads to the salvation

of his people.

It's so dramatically different.

Let's go to Colossians 1:27 because we

Colossians 1:27

talked about the temple and where God

displays his glory. But you may not have

thought about this concept in

relationship to pursuing God's glory to

them. God chose to make known how great

among the Gentiles are the riches of the

glory of this mystery which is Christ in

you the hope of glory

gaining that mystery the Holy Spirit

living in you

indwelling you making you the temple of

God

making you God's means on earth of the

display of his glory.

Mystery hidden from ages past. Nobody

knew about it. This is revealed to us.

This is the purpose of our lives, but it

is gained

through a the lowest door of humility.

Not only is there nothing you can do to

gain this glory, everything you done in

God's mind shows how inglorious you

actually are. Our best works like filthy

rags, he says. God's words, our best

works like filthy rags.

So you do not gain

this ancient mystery of God himself

living in you, making you his own temple

of without repentance.

It cannot be gained this way. The end of

our vain glorious pursuits, however

developed or undeveloped they are, if

that's what your life's about,

you can't break that pattern without

repentance.

Cannot break that pattern without

repentance. Let me read James 4:7-10 and

James 4:7–10

then conclude.

Submit yourself or yourselves therefore

to God. Resist the devil and he will

flee from you. Stop right there. It is

not just our flesh

that will populate desires to make

ourselves look great to other people.

The enemy's desire himself

is a God king type of desire. Remember

when he tried to tempt Jesus

What was his ultimate goal? Worship me.

God in the flesh worshiping Satan.

That's what Satan wants. So whether it's

him or any one of his demonic minions,

what they're all in the service of is us

ultimately worshiping Satan. And they

have power to advance along that way.

all along the way the road to predition

will themselves be condemned.

They know that end and they still resist

it.

And we're said to resist not only our

flesh but that enemy as well who's all

about stoking the flames of our vain

glorious pursuits. And he will flee from

you when you resist him. Can't do it

apart from the spirit. Next verse.

Draw near to God and he will draw near

to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

These are painful words. Be wretched and

mourn and weep. Let your laughter be

turned to mourning and your joy to

gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and he

will exalt you.

To your left, to your right, and behind

you is the lowest table of hum of

humility you can ever approach. It's the

one where everything you've ever done

requires your condemnation.

Shows how in glorious we really are. And

the very imprint

of God's nature, the radiance of his

glory, his son Jesus Christ

takes on that sin and is condemned

himself.

And you did nothing to earn it and I did

nothing to earn it.

And now throwing out your arms and

saying things like, "Are you not

entertained?

are a shame that I've had to have God

take away from me and not funny to me

anymore

when I think of the gravity of the glory

of the Lord

in his cross and resurrection.

And so what could we what could be

better than us entering the story of

Esther in a time where our nation

is devolving more and more into

depravity

where the enemy is turning people's

hearts

against God's people again against

Christians where persecution is almost

assuredly coming and may be right around

the corner where we may may have to put

our lives on the line for the will of

the Lord. What better than for us here

right at the beginning of this sermon

series on Esther to come to the table

and humble ourselves and say, "God, I

confess the ways that I've been seeking

my own glory. My prideful reactions for

those who you're using to tell me I'm

not that great.

my prideful ways of using even other

people's success and wrapping that up

into my own greatness. Whatever it is,

whatever

desires have captured our hearts more

than God and just to come and sacrifice

them to the cross and say, "Lord,

take this desire from me. I repent of

it. Forgive me and fill my heart with

desire to live for the greatness of your

reputation alone.

Let me pray.

Father,

it's a reset.

It's a call to humble repentance.

It is a place where we might weep and

mourn just how devastating our sin

actually is.

But thank you for the promise that those

who humble themselves before you will be

exalted. will participate in your divine

nature. You share your glory with us and

we will be glorified in our bodies in

worship of you eternally

with no destruction or sorrow or sadness

or even desire for anyone other than you

to be glorified. What a God you are and

how glorious he truly are. And I pray

that we would come in our hearts on

bended knee before you today in Jesus

name. Amen.