Why preach through Esther? (How Esther was selected for preaching)

If you would rather listen to today's discussion, simply click here to listen to the audio on Youtube! 

Yesterday we took a look at 3 tools in the preachers kit to aid in sermon and sermon series preparation. Those 3 tools were prayer, God's Word, and the experiences of God's people. 

To borrow a phrase from mechanics, today we are going to "take a look under the hood" of our Esther series (all of which is either on Facebook or Youtube along with accompanying blogs here at Toman's Tome). In this discussion we are going to demonstrate how the 3 tools mentioned yesterday were put to work in preparing and delivering the series on Esther. 

1. Prayer before deciding anything.

About a month before formally starting as full-time in my current calling, the church held a vote to extend a call to me to be their full time pastor. Upon accepting the call one of the first tasks I needed to do was begin praying, seeking God regarding his work in this church and the surrounding community. There was a ton to pray about, both regarding how best to plan for 2021, as well as how best to serve in the midst of Advent. 

In prayer a growing sense of the need to work through a whole book took hold of me. This meant not preaching a topical series (one note here, there is nothing wrong with preaching topically. We have many examples in scripture of topical preaching, more on that tomorrow!), but rather preaching a steady, dedicated series of sermons through a single book of the Bible. Through prayer several books were ruled out, and eventually God set before me to look to the Old Testament rather than the New Testament for this first series. 

2. Start with the Bible, not with a commentary.

As I began reading through different Old Testament books of the Bible I began to narrow down the focus of what would be most helpful. Reading through some books questions would come up that I would then take to prayer and observation. 

*In reading through Proverbs I wondered, do we as a church need to hear Godly instruction on wise living? That could be a good thing amidst the differences and approaches to responding to Covid-19. 

*In reading through Exodus I wondered, do we as a church need to hear reminders of God's deliverance and covenants with his people? That could be a good thing amidst the adversity many are experiencing. 

*In reading through 1 Samuel I wondered, do we as a church need to hear teaching regarding God's passionate love for his people? That could be a good thing amidst much heartache from circumstances. 

I continued to read from passages that were from shorter books of the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes, Minor Prophets, Ruth, and eventually...Esther. Upon reading Esther I then found myself wanting to read it back again and see the story and events with a more detailed look. Then I found myself desiring to pray through the book. Then I awkwardly realized "welp, looks like I'm starting to prep for Esther without even realizing it". I continued to read through Esther and then began to jot down notes and outline potential series for our church. 

3. Study God's Word in light of the opportunities observable.

I began to notice three tangible spiritual realities. These realities became evident as I began to watch, listen, and learn in my new setting. 

First, this was a church who had been wounded. Every faithful group of God's people are subject to the hatred of the world and the darts of the evil one. Malice had worked it's poison into an elixir of bitterness and caution. 

An image of Christian fighting Apollyon as told in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

Second, this was a church who loved one another. Despite all the heartache and hardship, these people loved their God and were not going to forsake one another. I've commented in the past during sermons and conversations that this is a witness of God's power on display! By all the statistics known to me this church should have closed it's doors multiple times over the years. Yet this group of God's people were still together. They had been heartbroken, but they were not broken. Some had not attended any gatherings with family, friends, or church members since Covid-19 first lockdown, yet they still prayed for the church and regularly were in the prayers and conversations of the people!

Third, this was a church who was hungry for growing in faith through God's Word. During my first few weeks as a candidate filling in preaching and leading worship I got little comments after each week. Some had said "I love how you preach from the Bible!" Others said "I like the scripture readings today". These little comments on their own potentially were simple niceties that were uttered out of a social obligation to politeness. Yet the more I observed and listened, the more I witnessed the sincerity in these statements. In Bible study many had faithfully attended for decades, some who no longer were able to attend the church on Sunday made time for Bible study together! Some had never heard portions of scripture and shared their excitement and joy to hear from God's Word. Others had earnestly tried to study the scriptures but found it a challenge and sought for help and guidance. God's Word continually was coming up in discussions. Believe it or not, that is not always a common thing in the church! 

Rembrandt's painting of Esther and Xerxes with Haman. 

As I observed these three things, the scars, love for one another and hunger of this church, God grew in me a sense of direction for the first sermon series: 

1) Because of the scars of the past I thought our church needed to have the evil of sin exposed. 

2) Because of the love of our God and one another I thought our church needed to be encouraged towards good works done in faith even when there is great peril. 

3) Because of the hunger for God's Word I thought we needed to spend some dedicated time in a book rather than on a topic. 

These factors and a growing desire as I read through Esther all combined to make a decision that Esther would be the first book we tackled together as a congregation in worship. 

Tomorrow we will discuss a little of the process that has led to our next sermon series. One difference I can tease immediately is that we will not be preaching through a book in a verse by verse, chapter by chapter fashion for the next study. The next sermon study will be on a topic, rather than through a book.