130: Jamin Lloyd - Exhortation: Esther 2 and Blessings
March 1, 2021 37 min
This week we are listening to an exhortation given by Bro. Jamin Lloyd that was given in January 2021 at the Eastern Suburbs Ecclesia.
Thank you for listening, God bless, and talk to you next week.
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Topics
Scripture references
Also referenced: 6 more passages
Transcript 95 sections, automatically transcribed
Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.
- 0:00
Welcome to Good Christadelphian Talks. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. And I'm Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week, with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to listen to.
- 0:33
And now, let's talk more about this week's talk. This week's talk is by Brother Jamin Lloyd. It was given at the Eastern Suburbs Ecclesia, which is in Perth. Western Australia. We don't have a title on this talk. Just the talk was sent to us by a listener, so thank you very much for the contribution.
- 1:06
The title on the file was Esther 2. Jamin doesn't mention a title. But we're going to include blessings in the title, because that is clearly his subject. And it's a really great talk. Very thought-provoking, interesting examination of what exactly is a blessing, and why maybe do we only call good things that happen to us blessings?
- 1:29
You know, how do we deal, really, with the providence of God, and how He's working in our life, and how we should think of that. And I found this to be, again, just really well thought through and well put together talk. It was great to listen to, so I'm excited to share it.
- 1:48
He compares the Chinese proverb, you know, maybe yes, maybe no, we'll see, to Esther's life, and makes a couple other comparisons. And just, it's a, again, great way to think. So thanks again to the sister that sent this talk, and to Brother Jamin. And we love suggestions. Please keep sending us talks that you hear that are worth sharing.
- 2:15
And also, we want to remind everyone about the YouTube channel. If you would rather listen to the talks on YouTube, we now are on YouTube at Good Christophian Talks. And also wanted to thank, we had a volunteer who's going to be taking over posting on the extended, Good Christophian Talks extended podcast stream, which is whenever there's a talk that we've pulled the one talk out of the series, we'll be able to post that whole series.
- 2:42
So it's a, that is also there. We haven't posted since in a long time, just because it's a tedious job, but we're thankful that we have a helping hand for that. So, so yeah, look, if you haven't subscribed to Good Christophian Talks extended, you can do that if you'd like to get more, kind of more talks.
- 2:59
So with that, here is Brother Jamin Lloyd on blessings. There once was a farmer, and he had a horse. And one day, the horse ran away. And that evening, all of his neighbors came together and they said, what a shame, what a shame that your horse has run away. We're sorry to hear this.
- 3:21
It's a real pity. And the farmer said, maybe. And the next day, his horse returns. And it brought with it seven wild horses. And everyone came together that evening and said, what a blessing it is that your horse has returned and brought with it these extra seven horses. Now you have eight horses.
- 3:42
What a blessing. And the farmer said, maybe. The following day, his son was trying to break one of the wild horses. And while he was riding it, the horse bucked and threw him off and he broke his foot. And everyone came together and said, what a shame it is that your son has broken his foot.
- 4:04
And the farmer said, maybe. Maybe. And the following day, the conscription officers came looking for conscripts for the army. And they rejected the man's son because of his broken foot. And all of the neighbours came together and said, isn't it a blessing that your son had broken his foot so that he doesn't have to get conscripted for military service?
- 4:27
And the farmer said, maybe. We often hear people in their prayers talk about what a blessing it is that we live in a country free from persecution. Or before suppers, we thank God for the blessings of the abundant food that we have. We've got so much food that we don't know what to do with it.
- 4:50
More foods than many other people in the world have. What a blessing. But what does this really mean? What do we mean when we say this? Is it a blessing that we live in Australia? Or is it just the fate of our birth? Is it a blessing that we have an abundance of food at suppertime?
- 5:11
Or are we just trying to tell ourselves that our affluence and our love of food are from God? After all, if we say that we are blessed because we live in Australia, there are 23 million other people who live here with us. Are they blessed by God as well because they get to live here?
- 5:30
What about the 23 million people who happen to be born in Syria who don't have the freedom that we have, who don't have the abundance of foods? Does God hate them? Has he not blessed them? I was talking to Emma about this and she told me a story about Ecclesia over East who sponsors Fiji.
- 5:55
And they had a camp at Rathmines and they flew one of the ladies over from Fiji. And before the start of the fraternal dinner at the Bible school, prayers were offered for the prayers of thanks for the blessing of all the food that we are about to partake of. And Emma said she remembers seeing this Fijian lady in tears at the end of the paternal at the five wheelie bins filled with thrown away food at the end of the supper.
- 6:25
How is it that we're treating these blessings that we've been given from God? Are we wasting them? Are we wasting the opportunity that we have for freedom of worship and freedom of preaching? Are we wasting the gifts and the blessings of the food that we have? This morning, I want to consider to begin with the story of Esther.
- 6:49
Esther. We all know how the story of Esther begins. King Ahasuerus is throwing this massive party that lasts for six months. And all of his officials are there. And he's showing off the wealth of his empire. And at the end of this six months, he throws another party that lasts a week. And this time it's for all of the people of the city.
- 7:11
Right at the end of this party, he demands that his wife, the Queen Vashti, comes so that he can show her off as well. Just as he's been showing off all of his possessions, he now wants to show off his wife. And she refuses to come. And this angers the Queen so much that he removes her from being Queen.
- 7:34
And he orders that officers go out throughout the empire to search for all of the beautiful young maidens that they can find. So that Ahasuerus can have a new Queen. Now imagine what that would have been like to hear that knock on the door at the house of Mordecai. And he answers the door.
- 7:56
And there's officers from the king demanding to see any young women who live in the house. Because they're about to be taken away to be put into an audition for the bride of the king. The thing about the king that has been depicted so far, he is proud, showing off all of his possessions.
- 8:18
He is quick to anger. He is drunk. And he treats his wife like a possession. And the officers are there at the door saying, bring out your beautiful young women so that we can take them away to audition to become the next Vashti, the next Queen. Imagine what it would have been like to comply with that demand, to send Esther away with them.
- 8:50
There would have been no thoughts at this point about being the one who became the Queen and changing the world. This would have been an incredibly frightening and distressing situation to be placed in. The very real likelihood was that Esther wouldn't have been the one picked out of the hundreds, thousands of other young women who were selected.
- 9:14
The likelihood, when those officers were standing at the door, was that she was about to end up in the harem of the king to be called upon at his desire. Not exactly a moment that we would consider a blessing. We wouldn't look at that and say, this is God working my life. I'm really grateful that this has happened.
- 9:35
And so Esther is taken to the palace. With all the other young women. And they spend a year in preparation for their one night with the king. And maybe we've got this leftover image from Sunday school of all of the young women filing past in a single file as the king sits on his throne.
- 9:54
And he runs his eye over them to try and pick out who is going to be the next queen. If you have a look at Esther chapter 2, verse 12 to 14. Now when the turn came for each young woman to go to the king, Ahasuerus, after being 12 months under the regulations of the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying.
- 10:15
Six months with oil of myrrh and six months with the spices and ointments for women. When the young woman went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she was desired to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. And in the evening she went in. And in the morning she returned.
- 10:30
This is not some fashion show. This was going in and spending a night with the king. She's been dragged away from her family. And now she's placed in this situation. All of this on the shoulders of a 16, 17, 18 year old girl. Not exactly a moment if this was happening in our lives that we would say, this is a blessing from God.
- 11:03
This is God working in my life. Picture what that would have been like. It's easy to see the moment where Esther becomes queen as a blessing from God. It's easy to see that moment there as God working in our lives. God working in Esther's life. But the bits that come before it, the uncertainty, the confusion.
- 11:26
There was no precedent for this. What was Esther supposed to do? But Esther does become queen. And everything is going wonderfully now. She's made the queen. Mordecai is spending his days in the gates of the king. And while to our ears this might not sound like a blessing, sitting in a dusty gate, this was the place where prophets prophesied, where people met to discuss the events of the day, to discuss their opinions.
- 11:56
This is Mordecai is a man of leisure, probably looked after by Esther as the queen. And so we can look at this moment in the story and say, this feels like a blessing. Esther is the queen. And Mordecai is a man of leisure. He's able to sit in the gate and discuss politics and talk with the people of the day.
- 12:16
Everything is going wonderfully. But then disaster strikes. Ahasuerus promotes Haman above all the other officials. And now he gets to ride through the gates where Mordecai sits every day and everyone has to bow down to him. And Mordecai won't. And this really gets under Haman's skin. And it breaks on him. And he gets angry.
- 12:43
And he makes inquiries. And he finds out, who is this man who won't bow down to me? And he's told that this is Mordecai, the Jew. And so Haman decides to destroy all of the Jews throughout the empire. He goes to the king and he seeks letters, granting him permission to destroy all of the Jews on the 13th day of the 12th month.
- 13:08
But he wants to deal with Mordecai. And he wants to deal with Mordecai personally. So he goes home and he builds a huge stake on which he plans to execute Mordecai. And before long, the letters from Haman arrive. And everyone knows that Haman has it in for the Jews and that he's about to kill them.
- 13:32
And this news gets back to Mordecai and to Esther. And they discover that the Jews are going to be killed. Surely before long, people will put two and two together. And remember, Mordecai was the man who came with Esther when she became to be queen. Before long, everyone will know that Esther is a Jew as well.
- 13:59
And surely she will be put to death. And once again, Esther is in a place that we wouldn't think of as being a blessing from God. We wouldn't instinctively look at this and say, this moment is God working in her life. We wouldn't think of this as a blessing. But Esther goes and she speaks to the king.
- 14:21
She reveals that she is a Jew. She exposes Haman and his plot. And ultimately, the Jews are saved. Mordecai is saved. And he becomes the second in command.
- 14:37
A moment which we can easily look at and say, this is a blessing from God. Mordecai is second in command. All of the Jews have been saved. And Esther's life is filled with these ups and downs, these moments that we wouldn't look at and instinctively say that this is a blessing from God.
- 14:57
But these low moments that Esther goes through are needed for the high moments where we would look at it and say, that's God working. She had to be taken away from her family. She had to go through all of the uncertainty of being removed from her family and placed in the harem of the king so that she could become the queen.
- 15:20
She had to go through all of the uncertainty and the fear of being discovered as a Jew so that she would speak to the king and ultimately save her people. These moments that we might look at in Esther's life, that we would look at and say, these are blessings from God. The high moments are linked closely with the moments in Esther's life that are really low and that we would not consider to be blessings.
- 15:45
But without these low moments happening first, without God working in these low moments, Esther wouldn't have experienced the blessings that she did. There once was a girl who was very beautiful and all who looked on her commented on the blessing of her beauty. And then one day officers came and took her away to be part of the king's harem.
- 16:10
And all the people of her village came together and said, what a shame it was that she was taken away from her family. But miraculously, she was selected to be the queen. And everyone in her village came together and celebrated the fact that she was the one who was chosen to be queen.
- 16:28
But then her uncle drew attention to the fact that he was a Jew. And a wicked man ordered that all of the Jews in the kingdom should be put to death. And the people from her village came together and they were afraid. And they spoke about the fact how that because Esther was the queen and her high profile had drawn attention to the fact that her uncle was a Jew, that they would all now suffer and be put to death.
- 16:53
But that young girl went and spoke to the king. She saved her people. And everyone came together and said, what a blessing it was that she had been made queen. Hopefully, you can start to see the connection between those two little stories. There are moments in our lives that on the surface, we may not consider them as blessings.
- 17:15
We might not think of them as God working in our lives. We often think about blessings as positive things, as things that make our life easy. We say we're blessed to live in a country where we're free to practice our religion. We're blessed because we have an abundance of food. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't and we can't be grateful for those things.
- 17:33
And maybe they are blessings. But we can't limit our understanding of what blessings are to simply being those things. To simply being the things in our life that give us ease, that give us comfort, or that make our life in some way better. There are moments in Esther's life where she's brought low, where there's confusion and she doesn't know what's happening.
- 17:56
Moments that we wouldn't think of as blessings. But it's God working in her life to bring her to a place where he is able to extend moments in her life that we would typically think of as blessings. And those moments are linked together. Let's consider another character that goes through a similar experience.
- 18:16
Turn back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. In Genesis chapter 12, verse 2. Abraham is promised by God that he is going to create a great nation. A huge family from Abraham. Genesis 12, verse 2 to 3. God tells Abraham, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee.
- 18:53
I will make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. I will bless them that bless thee, curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. But there's just one problem. Abraham has no children. So God's given him this great promise. It's going to make your family great.
- 19:11
It's going to fill the whole earth. And all families will be blessed because of you. Abraham has no child. And then later on, Genesis chapter 17. God comes to Abraham again. And he says, verse 15 to 16. God said to Abraham, As for Sarah, your wife, you shall no longer call her Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name.
- 19:34
And I will bless her. And moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations. Kings of people shall come from her. And so God comes and he reaffirms this promise to Abraham. He says, yes, you are going to have a large family. It's going to fill the earth.
- 19:52
Everyone is going to be blessed because of your family. And he promises this time that there is going to be a son. This is how this blessing is going to be enacted. Finally, the child comes. And he grows steadily until one day he's a young man. And God comes to Abraham again and he says, I need you to sacrifice your child.
- 20:15
It's easy for us to read that in hindsight and say, yes, Abraham believed in the resurrection. And he knew that God could just resurrect his son. It's easy to say that in hindsight. But imagine what that would have been like for Abraham in that moment. God's appeared to him multiple times, promised him this family, which is going to fill the earth, in which all families of the earth are going to be blessed.
- 20:37
It's going to come through Isaac. It's going to come through this son. And now God is saying, I want you to kill him. Imagine how confusing this would have been for Isaac, trying to grapple and trying to understand what it is that God was doing here. This moment here is not exactly a moment that we would look at and say, this is a blessing.
- 20:59
This is a confusing, deep, dark moment in Abraham's life as he's grappling with what it is that God is trying to achieve. He's made these promises of a family. It's going to come through Isaac. Now he wants me to kill him. But God trusts in what, I'm sorry, Abraham trusts in what God says.
- 21:17
And he's going through with the sacrifice. And then at the last minute, God intervenes. And he shows Abraham the ram in the thicket. And he turns this low moment of confusion and darkness in Abraham's life, this moment where he's been asked to kill his son, he turns it into a reaffirming of the blessings.
- 21:38
Turn over to Genesis chapter 22. And verse 15. Yeah, sorry, verse 16. And he said, Abraham's life. Where he's been promised a huge family that's going to fill the earth. And all families will be blessed. And God is now asking him to sacrifice his son. This confusing moment, God turns this dark, confusing moment into another blessing for Abraham.
- 22:51
And he says, You've trusted in me. I will bring about the blessing which I have promised to you. And I just want to springboard from this moment in Abraham's life to quickly think about the blessings that were given to all of the patriarchs. I'll just read through them quickly. So we're told in verse 18 of this chapter that Abraham is told, What was the promise that was given to Isaac?
- 23:23
Sojourn in this land and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you all of these nations, all of these lands. I will make thy seed to multiply. And I say, shall be all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Because you have kept my commandments, my statutes and my laws.
- 23:42
The promise to Jacob. Thy dust shall be as the dust of the earth. And you shall spread aboard to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed. I will bring them into this land and I will not leave them.
- 24:01
The promise to David. I will appoint a place for my people Israel and I will plant them there that they may dwell. And thy house and thy kingdom will be established forever. And thy throne shall be established forever. All of the blessings that God gives to the patriarchs, all of these promises, revolve around bringing vast numbers of people together into an eternal land with an eternal kingdom under an eternal king.
- 24:29
These promises, these blessings are all pointing forward to a future kingdom. The patriarchs, when they were given their promises, they didn't receive anything in the present day. It was all pointing forward to a future blessing. On a side note, the first three times, sorry, the three of the first five times that God pronounces blessings occur in Genesis.
- 24:55
And all of these promises as well, all of these blessings are pointing forward to the same thing. I'll read them out to you. Genesis 1 verse 22. God blessed them and he said, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters. In verse 28, God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply, replenish the earth and subdue it.
- 25:17
In Genesis 9, God blessed Noah and his sons and he says, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Now you might, may or may not remember back last year when we had a look at the Garden of Eden and how God is calling man to continue his work. So just as God has started this creative work in the garden, he takes this wild and waste world and through the power of his word, he transforms it into a garden and he gives that command to man and he says, I want you to go out into the world and do the same thing.
- 25:46
Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth. I want you to take this command or this work that I've started and I want you to continue and fill the world with people who are going to bring honour and glory to me. Once again, it's pointing forward to this future time when there is going to be a world filled with people who are bringing honour and glory to God.
- 26:08
This idea of the blessings are constantly drawing our minds forward. It's not about blessings in the here and now. The blessings are constantly dragging our mind forward to a future kingdom, not about material blessings now. And we can find this, this idea continued on in the New Testament. Turn over to Matthew chapter five.
- 26:31
We had a look at these not that long ago, so we won't spend too long here. But let's just refresh our memories about what these blessings were.
- 26:44
Matthew 5 verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
- 27:06
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you.
- 27:23
And utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad. This on face reading is not exactly a positive list, is it? I mean, it doesn't say those who love God will be blessed with safety. Those who love God will be blessed with a successful career. And this list is not a list of things that we would typically want to strive to be.
- 27:48
Poor in spirit. Hungry. Thirsty. Persecuted. It doesn't sound like a group of people who are being blessed now in this life. But that word blessed in Matthew 5 simply means to be happy. It's a state of mind. Don't think of it as a gift in terms of I'm blessed by God because he has given me something now.
- 28:12
This is a state of mind. It means to be happy. Be happy when you find yourself being persecuted for the sake of Christ. For righteousness.
- 28:27
And this idea, when I first looked at it, challenged my thinking about what it means to be blessed. I think often we hear today people say that they're blessed because they have abundance of wealth or they're blessed because they have interesting, exciting and happy life. It's all about receiving gifts now. Making our life good now.
- 28:51
But the idea of blessings in Matthew 5 and the idea frequently of blessings in the Bible is always about a future reward. Have a look at verse 4, for example. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. It's people who are mourning now. The mourning is now. The pain, the sorrow is now.
- 29:15
When are they going to be comforted? They shall be comforted in the future. It isn't happening now. They're not being comforted now. This is a future promise, a future reward. The state of mind is now. Be happy when you find yourself being persecuted for righteousness sake. Because there will be a future reward where all of the sorrow, all of the confusion will be wiped away.
- 29:45
Have a listen to the flavor of these verses. Just going to read out a list of people who are blessed in the Bible. Blessed are those who aren't offended by Christ. Blessed are those who hear and see the gospel message. Those who Christ finds watching when he returns. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who are hungry and those who weep.
- 30:09
Blessed are those who are hated. Who aren't offended by Christ. Those that hear God's word and do it. Blessed are those who Christ find watching when he returns. Blessed are the faithful and the wise stewards. Those who look after the unfortunate. Those who believe without seeing and who have faith. Blessed are those who give.
- 30:32
Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven. Blessed are those to whom God won't impute sin. Blessed are the faithful. Those that endure temptation. Those who keep watch and keep their garments clean. And those who keep Christ's commandment. Remember what that word blessed means in the New Testament. It means to be happy. Happy are those who aren't offended by Christ.
- 30:56
Happy are those who hear and see the gospel. Who are looking and watching for Christ's return. Who hear the words of God and do them. And whose iniquities have been forgiven. It's a state of mind. Happiness. I think it's different to how I used to think of blessings. Always thought of them as some present reward that God was giving us now.
- 31:16
We're blessed with X. But it's a future thing. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. The comforting is in the future. It's pointing our minds forward to the real blessing. The return of Christ. And the kingdom that he is going to set up. That doesn't mean we can't be happy for.
- 31:39
We can't be thankful to God. For the things that he does give us in our life now. But let's not limit our understanding of blessings to the things in our life which appear to give us ease. And give us comfort. Or that we think of as nice things. So often in our life the way that God is working in our lives might be difficult.
- 32:04
There might be hard circumstances that we're struggling to understand. Like Esther. Taken away from her family to the harem of the king. It's hard to see God's hand in that. But if she didn't go through that difficult experience. That trial. She wouldn't have been able to become the queen. And ultimately save the Jews.
- 32:28
And so there are moments in our lives as well. That we might be going through difficult moments. That we struggle to see God. And we can't understand what it is that he is doing. But let's not simply think that this is God abandoning us. That we aren't being blessed. Because God is working in our lives.
- 32:48
And these moments that we struggle to understand what it is that he is doing. Are so often the moments that he uses to bring about real blessings in our life. And so as we come to the emblems now. Let's consider the greatest blessing that God has given us. The gift. The blessing of his son.
- 33:12
A means of reconciliation and salvation that he has given us. Think about the moment where Christ was hanging on a cross. And the world would have looked at it and seen foolishness. A man who threw away his life.
- 33:30
They couldn't see the real blessing in that moment. That means of salvation that God was offering to humanity. So what is it that we are doing with the blessings that God has given us? Are we wasting? Are we using them? Or are we using them? Are we making full use of the blessing that we claim to have?
- 33:51
Or of the freedom to practice our religion and to preach? Are we making use of that time? That freedom and that blessing? Or are we wasting it? Are we making full use of the food that we've been given? And the abundance of money? We so often say that it's a blessing. But what are we doing with it?
- 34:11
And what are we doing with the ultimate blessing? The means of salvation that we have been given in Christ? Are we making full use of this blessing? Or are we wasting that as well? There was once a carpenter who had a wonderful career. He made all manner of wooden furniture. He constructed homes all over the city and everyone came to tell him what an amazing craftsman he was.
- 34:42
When he reached the age of 30, he abandoned his business to wander the wilderness, to preach and to teach people. And those from his village came together and said, what a shame that he's thrown away the blessing of a wonderful, promising career that he had. But the carpenter's message and his care and compassion that he showed to people resonated with the people.
- 35:07
And they came to him in droves. And the people from the carpenter's old village came together and they said, what a blessing it is that the carpenter's message is being heard and so many people are following him. But this attention and the following that the carpenter had received reached the ears of the religious leaders at the time.
- 35:28
And they were angry about it. So they sent men to arrest the carpenter. And they tried him and they crucified him. And people from the carpenter's old village walked past the place where he was crucified. And they wagged their heads and they said, what a shame it was that he threw away his life.
- 35:48
And three days later, God raised the carpenter from the dead. And he went back to his people. And those who understood the message of the carpenter spoke about what a blessing his life and his resurrection was.
- 36:16
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- 36:32
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- 37:01
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