4 Things Your Church Needs to Learn From Esther

Esther and Mordecai are surprisingly helpful guides for pastors equipping their congregants to live out their faith in a culture far from God.

By Kelly Minter

Have you ever wondered what it looks like for your church members to faithfully follow Christ in a post-Christian world? Or how they’re to hold to their faith when the political environment doesn’t always reflect the kingdom of heaven? Can God use His people in a culture far from His heart?

We may not think to turn to the book of Esther for answers to questions like these, but the story’s main characters, Esther and Mordecai, are surprisingly helpful sages for pastors equipping their congregants to live out their faith in a culture far from God.

If America is in a post-Christian era today, during the time of Esther’s reign, Judah was in a post-Israelite era. What do I mean by this? Approximately a hundred years before Esther and Mordecai arrived at the Persian palace, Judah was exiled to Babylon. Eventually, the people trickled further east toward Susa, the capital city of Persia. Esther and the Jews were without the temple. No priests, no sacrifices, no prophets. And we’re not sure how much access they had to Scripture.

While people like Nehemiah and Ezra were back in Jerusalem hoisting stones for a new temple and carrying scrolls for new hearts, Esther and Mordecai were in “Sin City.” The Persian Empire and its king, Ahasuerus, ran on wine, power, opulence, and oppression. This is not to say there were no redeeming qualities in Persia, but it was no Israel.

How were the Jews to live out their faith in a place 900 miles from the Promised Land? How do modern-day Christ-followers live out their faith in today’s culture? Here are four things believers in your church need to learn from Esther.

1. God is not afraid of the dark

The first thing Esther shows us is that God is not afraid of the dark. Just as God was with Ezra and Nehemiah in Jerusalem, He was with Esther and Mordecai in the Persian empire. I grew up as a pastor’s kid in a Bible-believing church. I’ve always been more comfortable in Christian circles where everyone holds similar values and most importantly everyone believes that Jesus is Lord and Savior. In other words, I would have been more comfortable following Ezra to Jerusalem than Esther to Persia.

And the same is true for many in our churches today. Churchgoers may be more comfortable living in their church circles, running in their Christian bubbles than venturing among those who may disagree with them. But Persia is the world we live in. We can help believers in our churches experience the comfort of watching God work through people like Esther and Mordecai whose circumstances and careers were patently Persian. God is not afraid of the dark.

“We can help believers in our churches experience the comfort of watching God work through people like Esther and Mordecai whose circumstances and careers were patently Persian.” — Kelly Minter Share on X

2. The Word is our best weapon

We can’t imagine what it was like for the exiled Israelites to be stripped of their homeland, their temple, their regular sacrifices, their king. What now? As many scholars have noted, it was during the post-exilic period that the Jews went from being people of the temple to people of the book. In other words, when they didn’t have the temple, they still had God’s Word. And the Jews dug into it like it was a treasure chest of God’s historic acts and present attributes.

If God had delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, could He not deliver His people from extinction? If He was compassionate then, would He not be now? We must remind our churches of these same truths today and allow them to strengthen our brothers and sisters in the pews. More than sound politics, as important as they are, our culture needs a church steeped in God’s Word. It needs a church walking in the purity of the Holy Spirit and tangibly showing the love of Jesus to others.

3. God has His people everywhere

The book of Esther brings a wealth of affirmation for the believers in your church who wonders if God can use them in politics, their secular job, or any manner of complicated home or work situations. One of the most challenging and simultaneously rewarding parts of studying Esther’s life is reckoning with her time in a harem, wrestling with her marriage to a dastardly Gentile king, trying to figure out how respectable Jewish life was supposed to look in such impossible circumstances, in such a godless empire.

The only way any of it begins to make sense is when we recognize God’s presence with His people. We may not always know what to do or how He can use us where we are, but if we belong to God, He makes a way. God was clearly with Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews throughout the Persian Empire. Even though His name is never mentioned in the book, His activity is unmistakable. And He has not stopped working.

“We may not always know what to do or how He can use us where we are, but if we belong to God, He makes a way. ” — Kelly Minter Share on X

4. For such a time as this

This is one of the best-known lines from the Book of Esther, maybe even from all of the Old Testament. Mordecai suggested that in “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14, CSB) Esther should go to the king and plea on behalf of her people. The only problem is this wasn’t an audible command from God. God hadn’t spoken from a burning bush or the thunderous top of Mt. Sinai or even through a prophet. This was Mordecai taking his best guess at what obedience meant in their day, in their time. It wasn’t reckless. It wasn’t knee-jerk. But it wasn’t certain. All Mordecai knew for sure is God would save His people one way or another if Esther passed on her opportunity.

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As we lead our churches to consider what faithfulness to Jesus looks like in our day, in our political divisions and culture wars, we must strive for obedience. We must seek to glorify Christ above all. We must set aside unhurried time to listen to God’s Word and humble ourselves in prayer.

But how we are to live in such a time as this may not always be crystal clear. We will need wisdom. We will need kindness and respect for those who don’t claim Christ, virtues both Mordecai and Esther showed the king. We’ll need grace for other believers who see things differently than we do.

Esther and Mordecai went back and forth several times before landing on their plan. Ultimately, what God desires more than anything in our own day are men and women willing to risk the palace for the people. Can you imagine what God might do through a church with such a posture as this?

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.