Esther: A Heart to Serve, Part 2

Let's recap the first two things that serving from the heart consists of: the first being love - having a passionate love relationship with God, and the second being risk - being willing to lose what seems to be more important than God and others. Now on to number three, another word we don't always like...selflessness - laying down our personal wants, rights and feelings for the sake of others.

When Esther came before the king, she was offered up to half of his kingdom. We know from the first chapter of Esther that this was a huge amount - it took six months to show all the king's wealth! I think most of us today would have been tempted to try to work it both ways - help the people and acquire a little "stuff" on the side! But here's what I think happened. I think that Esther made a key realization - she was the queen! The kingdom was already hers - she had access to everything in the kingdom. We are no different today. Instead of striving to gain position and approval and wealth and status, God longs for us to realize that as His bride, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, all these things are already ours. Do you want approval? You have God's approval! Do you want noteriety? God knows your name! Do you want wealth? God owns the cattle on a thousand hills - when you need something, He supplies it! We can be free to put aside our agendas and selfish desires and focus out attention and actions on those who need our help.

So why do we hide from loving God in this way and serving others our of that love? Well, most of our answers stem from selfishness. One reason might be because we've been hurt in some way. When we selfishly hold on to our hurts and offenses, we clog the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives to reach out to others. Another reason could be that we're simply too busy with our own lives and our own concerns. When King Xerxes had his party in the first part of the book of Esther, he commanded his queen at that time, Queen Vashti, to come before the people and share her beauty with them. He wanted her to be a part of the people - to come and be with them. But she was too busy being the belle of her own private party to obey the command of the king. She lost her position as queen. We are often too selfish to interrupt our own plans and agendas to tend to the needs of others or to simply just be with others. Sometimes we hide because we are simply too busy and burdened down with serving out of duty and obligation. When Darrel was first saved, he remembers that he signed up for every ministry available. Bus driver, nursery worker, children's church, usher, sunday school teacher - you name it, he did it. And let's be honest, most new Christians are targeted for just these types of jobs. But the sad thing is, he was unable to serve where he was gifted because he was so busy trying to "pay God back" by doing lots of jobs at once. He was soon burned out and was ready to hide from serving for a while.

A lifestyle of serving others is simply an overflow of our passionate love for God. When Jesus decided to speak openly about His purpose here on this earth, isn't it interesting what He said? Let's look at Luke 4:16-21, "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. And there was handed to Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed, [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound]'. Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing [attentively] at Him. And He began to speak to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.'" Wow! Jesus used the language of love, didn't He? Of true, unselfish service from the heart. He didn't use the languages we are so accustomed to hearing today - the languages of self-promotion, or promises of wealth and position, fame and approval. He also didn't use the language that the people of His time were used to hearing - the language of the law - duty, obligation - "you owe Me big time". We live in a time today where position is so important - it is popular right now to have the title "Bishop" before your name. We hear tv preachers teaching us how to get "promoted" to the next level, and on and on. Jesus wasn't about all that - He simply stated that He was here to set people free - the poor, the hurt, the used, the broken. Jesus' life wasn't glamorous. He didn't jet around the world and stay in four-star hotels. He didn't have a place to lay His head... Sounds like a drag to most people, but to those who are passionately in love with Him and are willing to risk everything and lay down their lives for Him it sounds like Life!

Let's look at the fourth and last thing that service from the heart consists of: Reward - finding pleasure and fulfillment in a life of service. Now I know we have all learned that we are to give without thought of receiving - no truer words have been spoken. But this doesn't mean that there are no benefits or rewards for us when we live the life Jesus lived out for us. Today, many of us have misconceptions of surrendering our lives to God in this way. We have a picture of us walking down the church aisle, kneeling at the altar and "surrendering our lives to Jesus in full-time ministry". Next we find ourselves in some remote jungle battling mosquitoes and cannibles in some far away land or stuck in a way too small Sunday School room battling way too many four year olds! Does God call us to monotony and things we hate? Well, I admit there are always unpleasant tasks that need to be done - nothing is ever exactly the way we like it all the time. But I'm talking about the overall theme to our service. Scripture tells us that we are all given gifts from the Holy Spirit. Talents reserved for us alone to use in our own unique way. So why do so many of us spend our lives trying to shave off the corners of our square peg in order to cram ourselves into a round hole? Esther served her people within the life she had been given - as queen. She paired that with her God-inspired passion for life and for people to achieve some extraordinary results. God calls us to do the same. Once we find this incredible relationship with God and an incredible love for people, we begin to feel this need to reach out - but where? Well, we usually turnn to the church and look for a program to get involved in. But let's look outside the four walls of the church for a minute. What is the passion of your heart - for it is here that you will find the rewards of serving. What are the things you enjoy doing? What is your position in life - are you a mom, a banker, a secretary, a teacher, a grandmother? God wants to combine all of these things in the most wonderful way to make an incredible impact on your world! It is here that we find an awesome fulfillment like we've never known - an energizing satisfaction - a peace that passes all understanding - and even a pleasure that exceeds even the most mundane task or the greatest risk!

Let's sum all this up. We can live a life similar to what Queen Esther experienced. No, we're not queens and the fate of an entire race of people does not rest literally in our hands. But we are the Bride of Christ and the spiritual fate of those He puts in our paths does rest to a certain extent in our hands. Love God passionately and realize He loves you the same way. Risk everything in reckless abandon to obey Him. Look beyond yourself and live beyond yourself. Reap the rewards of fulfillement, purpose, and peace. We don't know Esther's life beyond the last chapter of the book of Esther. But we are told of Mordecai's life, and I think Esthers would be similar - Esther 10:3 "For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Xerxes and great among the Jews, and was a favorite with the multitude of his brethren, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to his whole race."

I want to encourage you today - God loves you! He is pleased with you - He wants more of you - not more work or more following the rules. He wants more of your love and relationship with you! He wants you to look outside the four walls of your homes and your churches and take ministry where He intended it to be - to the streets - to the people around you each and every day! He didn't say, "Stay ye inside your churches and hope that the lost will find you there..." No! He didn't give us the great commission to pile more work and obligation on top of us! He have us the great commission to encourage us! "As you are going...make disciples...feed the hungry...hang out with the lonely...bake a pie...knit an afghan...scrapbook...have coffee...whatever. The point is, as you are going... - it's simply an overflow of your relationship with the Lover of your soul!

I had so much fun sharing with the women what God had placed on my heart - I hope you enjoyed reading this - although I dare say it would have been much more fun for you to come over, have a cup of coffee, and let me just share with you in person! I know we would have laughed more - tons more! We probably would have even cried a little. But this will have to do for now.

I love you all - talk to you tomorrow.

Esther: A Heart to Serve

I was invited to speak at the Missouri Cumberland Presbyterian Women's Retreat last weekend in Branson. My mother and I went and had a wonderful time - the ladies are all so nice and the Keeter Center at College of the Ozarks is absolutely gorgeous! Several people have asked if the classes I taught were taped - well, no they weren't so I thought I would just blog it all! Their theme was "Esther: For Such a Time As This - Reaching Out to Serve".

Serving involves four things - let's take a look at each one. The first thing is Love - having a passionate love relationship with God. When we talk about having a heart for serving, we have to first come to a place where we understand how God feels about us and, in return, how we feel about Him. God describes our relationship with Him in many different ways - potter/clay; master/servant; father/child; each stage represents a growth in our maturity in Him. Most of us can easily handle the first two - potter/clay and master/servant - those descriptions require little personal involvement from us. In fact many of us spend the majority of our lives comforatble in these two beginning stages of our relationship with God. But God wishes that we take a few steps further. In the gospel of John, Jesus says He no longer calles us servants but now calls us His friends, which is even more intimate. But the most intimate relationship we can have with Jesus is when we can call Him our Bridegroom - our Fiance - like in the book of Hosea and Song of Solomon. It is then that we begin to realize how passionately He loves us and longs for intimacy with us. Now we come to apoint where we can return that same passionate love.

When we find this new passionate romance with the Lover of our Souls, we begin to see His hand in everything around us. Perhaps we see it played out before us in our favorite movies - Rose and Jack on the bow of the Titanic, Jo and the Professor in Little Women, Sam and Annie on the top of the Empire State Building in Sleepless in Seattle, or Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly in You've Got Mail (the last are two of my personal favorites). Maybe it's in the songs we hear on the radio listening to Delilah. It could be the beautiful sunsets or the smell in the air right before a rainstorm. Our senses are heightened to be aware of His presence and the wooing of our hearts. Darrel & my's relationship was not your typical romance. We met the year I graduated high school. We became good friends and spent a lot of time together. Very soon, Darrel began to move in a more serious direction. He was sure that I would be his wife. It took me a little longer to trust that - about 8 years longer! He stuck by me through all that time - time that God needed to heal my heart and show me what it meant to be pursued. I appreciate that so much - without it I would have never been able to see that God pursues me in the same way. I would never be able to understand it!

Have you ever noticed that women who are in love just seem to glow? My soon to be sister-in-law is a great example. She simply radiates with love. She is being pursued by the love of her life and it shows! When we find this passionate romance with God, our countenance changes, too!His words become alive to us - not just good sayings or wise teachings, but they beome life to us. Our worship deepens, our hearts soften, we become truly beautiful. And in this discovery of how deeply Jesus loves us, we discover that we also deeply love Him and those He has created.

The book of Esther tells us the story of a young Jewish girl named Hadassah, or Esther. She was raised by her cousin, Mordecai. Scripture says she was brought up to fear God and execute His commands. I believe she was raised to have a love relationship with God. Mordecai was a man who was full of love and passion for God, for life, and for his people. He played an important role in shaping the kind of woman Esther would become - a queen. Likewise many people have influenced us in our relationship with Christ. Think about those people - most likely the people who have influenced you the most are the people who have passionate love relationships with God. When we find this kind of relationship with Jesus, we begin to hear His heart - believe it or not, God's heart does not beat "duty" or "obligation" or "discipline" - His heart beats "people, people, people" and "love, love, love". All of a sudden, people begin to leap out at us. That checker we see every day at the store, the one who has such sad eyes - suddenly God shows you a glimpse of her heart. We begin to see more than just cute hairdo's or trendy clothes or crooked teeth and freckles. We see their hearts, their needs, their hurts.

Mordecai felt the plight of his people. Haman, a high-ranking official in the King's court, hated Mordecai because he would not bow to anyone but God. He decided that killing Mordecai wouldn't be enough - he would have to exterminate the entire race. Mordecai asked Esther, who had become Queen, to help in some way. He even suggested that she had been born for such a time as this. In compassion and out of a heart of love for her God, Esther risked her life to expose Haman's evil plot. This brings us to the next thing service involves - risk...being willing to lose what seems to be more important than God and others.

Loving God in this passionate way involves a certain amount of risk. Loving others involves risk as well. We have an enemy who would love to see us fail. He hates God, and although sometimes his voice seems all too friendly to us, we know that he hates us, too. We take the risk of spiritual attack from our enemy. In the same way, Esther, too, risked attack - even death - as she approached the king unsolicited. She risked having Haman find our who she really was, a Jew. She risked rejection from the king, her friends, her family, and her people. But her love for God and her people proved stronger than the love of her own life and reputation. Now few of us will have to risk our literal lives to serve and love others, although many across the world do lose their lives every day for the love of God. But maybe we will have to risk rejection from those around us or perhaps we will have to risk losing a certain amount of personal gain. People will think you are crazy when you begin to live from a heart of passion for God and for people. We have lost friends and family because of it. We've been "relieved" of ministry positions and conveniently and gradually pushed out of inner circles of leadership. But Jesus promises us in Matthew 19:29 "And anyone and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for My name's sake will receive many [even a hundred] times more and will inherit eternal life." Now we know that eternal life doesn't mean heaven - no! Eternal life starts the minute we find this relationship with Jesus Christ - He's talking about finding true, eternal, abundant life - right now! Finding that place where we can risk it all energizes us!

Well, I don't want to promote eye strain or brain strain, so I will blog the second half in the next couple of days.

Ain't it the truth sister...

It was foreordained...I'm sure of it. I turned on the television today just in time to find Chonda Pierce on James Robison. She is hilarious, and I love hearing her comedy act, but today she was discussing a different topic. She was talking about her bout with depression brought on by menopause. Now this was riviting in itself because I am again finding myself struggling with this thorn in my flesh, even though I thought it was gone for good after my surgery. Here's what caught my attention and left me in tears...

She said how we are always trying to make God look good - we're so afraid we'll do something that will make Him look bad. Here's a newsflash - He doesn't need our help to look good! One of my favorite quotes from today is, "Honey, I've seen the Grand Canyon...He's lookin' good!" What we do or don't do on the outside is not the basis for whether or not God looks good. He is good! We spend so much time trying to prove that God works. We feel if our lives aren't perfect and if we struggle at all, it makes God look like He doesn't work. Again, not a lot we can do to help Him in this area - we see the proof in our every-day lives that God is at work. Nature itself screams the fact that God works. Now here's the quote from Chonda Pierce that sent me to that familiar spot over the edge...

"I'm going to stop trying to show how God works, and start showing how God loves."

Oh, if we - no if I - could only grasp this incredible statement. God loves. It's that simple. He loved us from the start. We love Him because He first loved us - and still loves us warts and all. Depression and all. Addictions and all. Pride and all. Bad temper and all. (Feel free to slip your weaknesses in the blank) When will I finally be able to understand that He holds me in His hands and never lets me go. That my good works and outward "holiness" are not spiritual ropes that hold His hands closed around me ensuring my security. After all, what is true holiness? "I don't drink, I don't chew, I don't run with those who do?" I don't think so. I think it's more a heart attitude of being constantly open to the work of the Holy Spirit perfecting us in the art of love.

So I will close with another statement made by Ms. Pierce - "God has met me at every step toward healing that I have taken - no matter how small." Whether it's a step toward recovery from illness or addiction, a step toward another level of freedom from selfishness, or a step toward loving, God will meet you there. With His hands out. Cheering you on. Loving you unconditionally.

Having struggles doesn't doom you to hell. It simply makes you human.

Ain't it the truth?