Leading in Anxious Times

MORDECAI: A Leader Takes Action

Sunday June 20, 2021 - Pastor Wungreiso Valui

Esther 2:13-14

And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 2:13-14)

The Message

Take action to lead, not just in your best interest, but in the best interest of others. Do not be anxious about taking credit or receiving honor before men. Mordecai worked diligently in the background while Esther got the book deal.

The Crisis

Haman had persuaded King Ahasuerus to destroy, to kill, to annihilate all the Jews

Mordecai's Response

Mordecai responded quickly. The crisis facing his people called for immediate action. Mordeca first prayed, humbled himself, and was then ready to make a great personal sacrifice for his people, the Jews.

Leadership Lessons From Mordecai

1. Be a Responsible Leader

"Mordecai took Esther as his own daughter." (Esther 2:7)

1. Make sustainable, ethical, and sound moral decisions for yourselves and others.
2. Challenge others to also be morally responsible people.
3. Mordecai made responsible decisions for himself, Esther 2:11, the Jews 4:13-14, and the King 4:21-22

"And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter" (Esther 2:7)

2. Be a Self-Aware Leader

"I am a Jew"- Mordecai

1. Devote your time to self-leadership and self-governance. (Gal. 5:22-23)
2. Be self-aware: Do not melt into oblivion, and surrender to the natural order of things, and stop merely existing, merely going through the motions.
3. Focus on internal growth, and let God take care of the external growth
4. A leader of the church of Christ who is disloyal to his God is wholly unfit to lead, what­ever other superficial and outward qualifications he may have.
5. Mordecai would rather accept death than idolatry. The pursuit of righteousness, and Godly character, counts most.

Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you transgress the king's command?" Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. (Esther 3:3-5)

3. Be a Praying Leader

"He cried out with a loud and bitter cry."

1. Sacrifice something of your own for the benefit of others.
2. Inspire and awaken others to return to God through fasting and prayer.
3. Mordecai's self-sacrifice eventually led to a spiritual awakening in the entire nation, with everyone returning to God through fasting and prayer.

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth... There was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (Esther 4:1-3)

4. Be a Humble Leader

"Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate."

1. Let your generous acts be done quietly, with no expectation of public recognition.
2. Humility is the awareness and consciousness of standing in the presence of God's greatness. Compare yourself, not to other men, but to the Sinless Christ.
3. Humility comes from the revelation of Christ in us, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:27)
4. Mordecai was sincerely humble. He accepted the honor conferred on him by the king, but when that ended, he returned back to his place of humble service, a servant at the king's gate.

Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken." So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!" Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate. (Esther 6:10-12)

5. Be a SelflessLeader

"Seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen."

1. Be a leader that is able to look beyond your own interests and see how other people are affected by your actions.
2. A leader can be firm and decisive without being ruthless and cruel.
3. Mordecai used any position of power he received to bless others, and create a better future for them.

"For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen" Esther 10: 3

What are your Key Takeaways?

1. Mordecai made a great personal sacrifice for the benefit of others.
2. Mordecai challenged others to do what's right and good.
3. Mordecai challenged others to trust in God's providence.
4. Mordecai used any position or power he received to bless others and create a better future for them.
5. Mordecai ascended to be second only to King Ahaseurus, but remained faithful to care for his people to the very end.