Queen Vashti's Uncompromising Stance - Patrosky Anderson

Welcome to Week 1 of our series the "Queen's Gambit" where we take a look at the book of Esther! Today's sermon we take a look at the story of Queen Vashti in Esther chapter 1.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I don't very often stand up here and speak for God, but I've read enough scripture to say, to know, to know that we are all made in the image of God. That we are all made in the image of God.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hey everyone, welcome to the Brick by Brick Podcast from Renovation Church, where faith gets built one truth at a time. In this sermon episode, you'll listen to our most recent Sunday morning message. So whether you're new to faith or have been walking with Jesus for years, there's something here for you. Kick back, hit play, and let's build this thing together.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

How many of you love to play chess? I love to play chess. It is like one of my favorite, favorite games. I don't know how to play Euchre. I know that's a sin around these. Wow, some of you actually looked up. You were like, I was on my phone until he said that. Now I'm locked in. I don't know how I know it's a card game. I don't know how to play Euchre. I don't know how to play spades either. I don't know how to play most card games. I just don't. But I know how to play chess. I love to play chess. I remember the first time I beat the computer on my iPad. You would have thought I won the lottery. I was like, hey, I ain't got nothing. I am a robot. Beating the computer is tough. For some. But I digress because it's not Father's Day, it's Mother's Day. I'm just saying. But I do. I love to play chess. I learned to play chess in the second grade. At my I know. I'm old. At my elementary, we had a chess club. And yo, that chess club did well, though. There was a lot of kids in the chess club, uh, mainly probably because you couldn't play football. You couldn't play tackle football uh in our city until the fourth grade. And so, like the chess club had a ton of ton of kids. And the chess club would do this end-of-the-year tournament. And if you won the end of the year tournament, then you were that grade's champion. And in the third grade, your pastor won. Nope. Nope, it's Mother's Day. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying. My mom's like, okay, we give me play chess. Here we go. You won one tournament. I did. I won that tournament. I was a third grade champion, chess champion. I remember, I remember telling, like thinking, telling my friends, like, I'm a champion. Like, I'm the third grade chess champion. I'm gonna hang up my champion belt next year. I'm gonna play football. So I'm going out on top. Like you, I just I like I love chess. Probably one of the reasons I love chess so much is because you get a chance to like sit down in front of one person and you just strategically try to get inside of their mind and take them down. Pastor, why are we talking about chess on Mother's Day of all days? Here's why. Because over the course of my life, my mother taught me a lot. A lot of things. And and and a lot of things still reign true in my life now, and they've guided me um with wisdom. And there's there's two things that she that she shared with me over the course of my life that, and I don't want to be like, it guided me in chess. No, but it is very um true in chess, and it is very true um in our lives today, and those two things are this. If you're writing this down, here's here's some wisdom from a mother. Not all sacrifice is you losing. Okay, not all sacrifice is you losing, and two, the company that you keep will dictate your life. The company that you keep will dictate your life. This morning we're gonna start a new series looking at the book uh of Esther, and we'll see that how through the entire book of Esther, these two thoughts, you will see them over and over again, that not all sacrifice is you losing. Okay? Not all sacrifice is you losing, and the company that you keep, that company will dictate your life. I think far too often uh in in today's world, people like to think that they're impervious from that last one. That the company that I keep has no bearing on who I am, my character, the the way in which I live my life, and the course in which I go, and they are absolutely wrong. Trust me when I tell you there is no escaping that truth. And time and time again, I could hear my mother saying that in my mind that the company that you keep, it will dictate your life. This morning, turn your Bibles, if you haven't already, to the book of Esther. Book of the Old Testament, right before the book of Job. The book of Job. Someone was like, I'm just gonna keep reading that book till I find some work. It's like I'm like, I love your heart, man, but no. The book of Esther, it chronicles, and I know that our women's Bible study, you're going through Esther, so you you're gonna know a lot of these things, but the book of Esther, it it chronicles this young woman and her story, and and it takes us uh through this look of how through a number of seemingly um divine appointments, she rises to the level of king or queen. And I say that these are seemingly divine appointments because we assume that they are divine appointments by God, but at the end of it, um, when you actually read the book of Esther, the book of Esther is one of just a couple books in the Bible that actually don't even talk about God. Like it doesn't even talk about God, uh, but it does serve as this story that we get to read and we look at from all of these uh multiple angles, and and I believe, because it is the word of God, that it still speaks throughout time, even to us today. But it doesn't mention God, like it is a topical preacher's dream. Because the story really is meant for you to read it and to look at how it is applicable to your life today. I think a lot of Christians we like things black and white. Esther is the book where we actually look, and the Holy Spirit has to speak to us to say that, okay, God, why is this inspired piece of God that does not mention you in the book, and what can it say through the power of the Holy Spirit to me today? The book of Esther goads us to be mature and look at it for what it means and what the Holy Spirit wants to speak to us. Amen? So are you there? Esther chapter one? Because the book opens up by setting the entire stage, uh, by setting the stage for the entire book, right? As good books often do. Um here we go. Esther chapter one, verse one. And we're gonna skip through it, we'll fly through it, we'll get you out of here to take more Mother's Day pictures and things like that. But it says this in verse one. It says, This is what was happening during the time of Xerxes. Xerxes ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces stretching uh through India and through Cush. And so um, you can see Xerxes was a very powerful king. He had a vast empire that he was overseeing, and this is what the author wants us to know. And at this time, King Xerxes reigned, it says, from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa. And in the third year of his reign, he hadn't been king that long. That's important to know that he hadn't been king that long. He'd only been king for how many years? Three years. You think he would have been roaming the place, he would have been figuring things out. You ever get a new job? And you're like, I'm not gonna change anything in the first six months, like you think in the first three years of being a king, like he would be surveying things, getting the, you know, seeing what's what's going on in his kingdom and how can he make things better? But it says that he had a banquet for his nobles and his officials and the military leaders of Persia and media and the princes and the nobles of the Providence, they were all present. So he's throwing a huge party. He's been in office for three years, and he's throwing this huge party, and all of the big whigs are in attendance, right? Of course, why not? If the king throws a party, you're gonna show up. And it says that for how many days? A hundred and eighty days he displayed his wealth, the vast wealth of his kingdom, the splendor of his glory, and of his majesty. And it says that when these days were over, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days in this enclosed garden, right, of the king's palace. And all the people, all of the people, from the least to the greatest, they were in the citadel to party. Are you with me so far? Guy's been in office for three years. He throws a six-month party to say, look at me, look at all these things that I got, like, look at this, look at this, oh, look at this. Oh, no, you can touch that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's real pearl. Yeah, that's gold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you ain't never seen nothing like this. That's what he's doing for six months. He's just partying. And when he's done, he throws a seven-day after party for everybody else. He throws a seven-day after party in the garden for all the cheap seats. Do you see it? And if you skip down to verse eight, it's important to know that he is partying, he is hanging out, he's got the cook in there, he's got the servants in there. It says he's got everybody in there. And in verse eight, it says, by the king's command, each guest was allowed to drink with no restriction. It says, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished. The first open bar ever recorded in history. And they're taking full advantage. I think the author is trying to set up the scene. Because if you're partying for six months, and then everybody's invited in, and then even the lowliest of the lows, they get seven days to drink and have their feel. You can imagine what the atmosphere looked like. We're not making any judgments, but I think there's a reason why the author tells us what's going on, how long it's been going on, and who's been invited. And then in verse 9, it says, Queen Vashti, that's the king's wife, she's also having a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Exerxes. And so they're separate. All of the men are over here for six months, and then for seven days, and then the women over here partying as well. And then it says, on the tent or on the seventh day, when King Exerxes was high in spirit from wine, code word, he was drunk and willing to make bad decisions, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him, and it lists their names, to bring in his wife, the queen, wearing her royal crown. Why? In order to display her beauty to the people and the nobles, for she was lovely to look at. And on the seventh day, it says that he is full, he is drunk, he is feeling good about himself and how things are going. And then he has this thought to himself there's one more beautiful prize possession that the people here in my kingdom have not seen. And so let me go get my wife, let me go get my queen, make sure she puts on the crown so that they know that she's the queen, and let me flaunt her for this drunken crowd to see. Do you see what's happening in the book of Esther? But when the attendants, verse 12, it says that when they delivered the message, when the attendants delivered the king's command, it says that king or that queen uh Vashni refused to come. And the king, it says that he became furious and he burned with anger. Vashti refused to subject herself to a room full of drunken men who simply wanted to engage with her for pleasure because she was beautiful. And so she denied the king. And as I'm sure she would have known, that's something you don't do. But there was something about her. She had a level of self-respect that she felt was worth holding on to. And she said, even the title of the queen is not worth me sacrificing this thing that I know is greater. In chess, there's this there's this simple yet powerful move. It's an opening move, and if you play chess, you recognize it. It's called the Queen's Gambit. And the reason it's the reason it's called the Queen's Gambit, a gambit is to sacrifice something for the greater. And the reason it's called the the the Queen's Gambit, right? And when you're a third grader, it's so hard to do because to pull the move off, you have to move, you move your first pawn up, right? They bring the second pawn out. If you know anything about chess, pawns can't attack straight, they they attack diagonal, right? The whole goal of chess is to take over the middle. And if you move this second pond up, either one, what's gonna happen? You're gonna sacrifice that pond, aren't you? But when you sacrifice that pond, then you get to move the other ponds up free of charge. And you own the middle. But to do so, you have to be willing to sacrifice. And a lot of people are like, I don't know, man. I need these ponds. See, because these ponds, if I can get that pond all the way to the back, oh that pond can turn into a queen. It's got so much potential. So instead, I'm gonna move out my knight, I'm gonna move out my bishop, all these other things. Instead, one of the best things you can do in this moment is sacrifice the pond to take over the middle. Can I just talk to the young people today? Just for a second. Can I tell you this? There will always, always be a moment. There will always be something or someone calling you to compromise who you are, to give of yourself, to diminish yourself. There will always be something, but you have got to be resolved and willing to sacrifice for what you know is true in your heart, to recognize who you are, whom you are. Because can I tell you not all sacrifice is you losing? And I think far too often we skip over Queen Vashti and we go straight to Esther because my gosh, her name's on the book. But can I just tell you the queen is the only honorable one in the entire story? Because she's the only one that had enough courage to stand up to the king and say, I'm willing to lose it all, but I will not let you subject me to a place of compromise. The queen is who we should be talking about because she's the one that's willing to give it all for the sake of what she knew was true. Her dignity, her value, her worth. And so, guess what? The queen ain't coming. She ain't coming. She says, No. I will sacrifice it all. And in verse 13, this is what the king does. It says, since it was customary for the king to consult experts in the matter of law and justice, this was a matter of law and justice now. It says that he spoke with the wise men who understood the times. Don't gloss over these words. Wise men who understood the time that they were living in and the culture that the queen was in. And so he spoke to wise men who understood the time. And it says that these were the closest men to the king. And it lists out seven men. Notice seven days, seven eunuchs, seven nobles. And these were all men who were closest to the king. It says they had access to the king, uh, and they were highest in the kingdom. These were some, these were them the men who had special access to the king. They were the king's inner circle. Church, the company that you keep will dictate your life. The company that you keep will dictate your life. And so the king goes to these men and he's like, What should I do? And in verse 15, it says, According to the law, what must be done to Queen Vashti? He asks. She's not obeyed the king, uh, the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her. And then Mimekan, one of the seven, replied, don't miss this, in the presence of the king and the nobles, he says, Queen Vashti has done wrong. She's done wrong. Not only, not only against the king, but also against all the nobles and the people and all of Persia. And in the providence of King Vashti, the audacity. Am I right? The audacity to think that they had the right to have her come out. So much so that they're like, man, she's done wrong. For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women. So they will despise their husbands and say, King King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought to him, but she will not come this very day in Persia. And the media says that the women of the nobles who've heard about Queen, the queen's conduct, it says that they will uh they will respond to the nobles in the very same way. In other words, if my wife finds out that your wife stood up for herself, my wife's gonna start standing up for herself too. I'm just breaking it down in case you didn't speak. Noble speak. And he's like, We can't we can't have this happen. This very day. If this word gets out that this happened, oh, it's gonna be wild. He says, There'll be no end to the disrespect and discord. The disrespect of who? Think about that. The Bible wants you to ponder these things. Think about that. In verse 19, therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a world degree to decree to be written in all of the law of or in all of the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed. That Vashti is never, he's not even calling her queen anymore, that Vashti is never again to enter into the presence of King Xerxes. Also, let the king give her royal position where to someone else who's better than she. Young people, there will always be someone who wants you to compromise and who will say, if you don't do this, you will lose that, lose it. If you don't go here, you will lose. Lose it. Because not all sacrifice is losing. It's just not. It says, then when the king's edict is proclaimed throughout all of the vast realm, all of the women's will respect their husbands from the least to the greatest. Verse 21 says, Then the king and his nobles were pleased with this advice. Church, the company you keep will dictate your life. It just will. So the king did as he proposed. And so he sent dispatches. It says, all uh throughout all the parts of the kingdom to each of the provinces in their own script. They put a lot of time and effort into this, into their own script, to each of the people in their own languages, proclaiming that every man should be ruler over his own household in his native tongue. And just like that, just like that, Queen Vashti goes down in history as a woman who defied her husband and disappears, never to be seen again. But I don't think that's fair to gloss over this act of defiance. Many people have written about it. The abolitionist author uh Harriet Stowe writes that Queen Vashti, her act was actually the first stance for women's rights. And we cannot allow this bravery to simply fall off the pages of history and move forward because this act of bravery and defiance to a structure that was built to uh dehumanize women was actually prominent in the culture. It was prominent in the culture, and this act of defiance was actually the catalyst that the Lord uses to save an entire nation. Pastor, is it really that serious? You bet it is. You bet it is. And if you don't think it is, get your heart right. If you don't think it's that serious, get your heart right. Because we have got to be a generation of people. We've got to be the church of God who says that these things matter. That these things they matter. That it is okay to sacrifice so that you can hold on to the things that matter most in your heart. Men, can we not tell the women in our lives that they matter most? Can we not tell that to the culture? If you don't think these things matter, then you've got to check your heart. I don't very often stand up here and speak for God. But I've read enough scripture to say, to know, to know that we are all made in the image of God. That we are all made in the image of God. And if our young girls can't hear that it is okay for them to sacrifice, to not compromise who they are, then what are we talking about, men? What are we talking about, men? Men, if if if our women can't hear that you are valued, then what are we talking about? And I've read enough scripture to know that that is God's heart. And so look, I'm not trying to stir up emotion in you. Because at the end of the day, when you have the opportunity to compromise, it will either be in you or it won't. It will either be in you or it won't. Amen? We often like when I was a youth pastor, I would tell kids you better memorize scripture now. Because when it you're like when it's late night and you're somewhere you shouldn't be, the Ten Commandments ain't coming to mind. They just aren't. So you better get it in there now. Right? So we better check our hearts now. We better look at stories like this and ask the Holy Spirit to search us now. So I don't want to conjure up any emotion. Come to the altar if you want. No, no, no, no, no. All I want to do is this. When you leave today, there are two black bowls at the end there. And there's a chess piece in there. I want you to take it. And I want you to pray, and I want you to search your own heart and ask the Lord how you feel about sacrifice. Do you feel like it is okay to sacrifice? Will you trust the Lord to understand that not all sacrifice is really losing? That's on you. And allow the Lord to speak to your heart. Take one of those chess pieces, and every time you look at it, let God speak to you about the company that you keep. Because it was the king's job to gather wise men around him who in moments like this could have said, King, you out of control, bro. Right? You're out of control. Like, this party's been cool. This is a little too much. But instead, he surrounded himself with men who were like, How dare she not come? It's alright. The company you keep will dictate your life. And you gotta get that in your heart. Because that's wisdom. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but that's the wisdom. My mother always told me, son, the company you keep will dictate your life. And there will be times in your life where you're gonna have to sacrifice. Can I just tell you? Sometimes sacrificing for the greater good is one of the best things you can do. It's one of the strongest things you can do. It may look like weakness, but it is pure strength. Amen. Take one of those pieces on your way out. Let the Lord search your heart. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Thanks for tuning in to the Brick by Brick Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us on our journey to build faith one truth at a time. Be sure to follow us so you never miss another episode. We've got plenty more coming your way.