The Monday Memo from John Stanko

936: Mordecai

I don't believe I have ever heard or read a message based on the life of Mordecai. Even an online search yields little information about this man. I have heard him mentioned in the context of Esther's story, but there has been little focus on this man who adopted his cousin after her parents died. I am still considering naming my next book something like Mordecai Men or Men Like Mordecai, for he is the epitome of the message of the book. We need more men to step up and be involved in Kingdom work rather than simply working to make a living and trying to stay out of trouble. Let's proceed and see what we can learn from Mordecai that can help us in our purpose journeys, whether male or female.

SITTING AT THE GATE   

We learned something last week in Proverbs 31:23 about the husband of the Proverbs 31 woman: "Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land." We do not read that Mordecai was married, but we do learn that he sat in a place of responsibility:

During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king (Esther 2:21-23).

It was at this point that Mordecai played an important role in the protection not only of Esther, but also of the king and then all the Jewish people. He was in the right place at the right time, paid attention to what he heard, and was a man of action—even though his action was that of a counselor and protector. This is more impressive when we see that Mordecai followed in the footsteps of Daniel: "Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah" (Esther 2:5-6).

Mordecai was in a foreign land not by choice. He was exiled from his homeland in an idolatrous nation, but he determined to serve a useful purpose and not mourn the past or yearn for a better future. He started by caring for his cousin and his role grew from there. Your purpose makes you a leader, even if it is only the leadership of your local garden club. Why is that? It is so because when you flow in purpose, you are in partnership with God, the One who assigned your purpose. He wants you to find and fulfill it more than you do, and when you accept who you are, He empowers you to fulfill it—whatever the "it" may be.

I have found too many men, and some women, who shun more responsibility. If they accept it, they may limit it to their own families and don't branch out to play a larger role in society. Some limit their leadership in their church, which is fine, but then if the church isn't growing, they stop growing or work to maintain the status quo instead of leading to cause change and increase. Mordecai positioned himself (we do not see that the Lord placed him at the king's gate), paid attention to what he heard and saw, and God used him in a mighty way.

HIDING OR GATE-SITTING?

Mordecai did not fade into obscurity in his new venue. He did not form a Jews-only social club to maintain Jewish culture and worship. Mordecai took his turn to serve society at large at the king's gate, and God used and then blessed him. Eventually, Mordecai received wealth and honor not as a salary but as a blessing for the work he did that was not tied to a job description. He did not serve because he had to to do so; he chose to do so. 

How about you? Are you serving beyond your own self interests? Is your goal to ensure that your tomorrow closely resembles today, or is it to launch out and play a role that helps others through the power of your purpose and creativity? Are you sitting at the gate of responsibility or hiding in the shed of self protection? I hope you will be a man, or a woman for that matter, like Mordecai, who is willing to serve at the highest level that your life preparation allows you to achieve. Have a blessed week. 

935: Rise Up, Oh Men of God

Last week, I began a new series, The Proverbs 31 Male, which will be the accompaniment to my book titled The Power of Purple: Women of Purpose in Scripture. My goal over the next few months is to highlight the purpose stories of men in the Bible, but not the usual candidates who command most of our attention. We will look at the men named Mordecai, Barnabas, Apollos, Ezra, and others to see what we can learn from their purpose to help us with our own.

I mentioned last week that there is much in Proverbs 31 addressed to men even though the chapter is usually associated with the profile of a wife with a noble character, and I included the verses to prove my point:

The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him. Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers! Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. It is not for kings, Lemuel—it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:1-9).

Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land . . . Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all" (Proverbs 31:23, 28-29).

What do these verses tell us about God's expectations for His male servants? Let's take a look at the answer to that question this week.

GOD'S EXPECTATIONS

It is said that there are three basic temptations for leaders to abuse their positions and they are sex, money, and power. Our fallen nature has found many ways to convert those temptations into sin. In Proverbs 31, we see at least two of those three temptations addressed: sex and power. Proverbs 31 contains the warnings of a mother to her son, urging him not to give his strength to women. If he doesn't learn to control his sexual urges, she warns him, he cooperates with a weakness that will "ruin kings." 

Most of the mother's warnings, however, focus on an abuse of power. Since men usually have the stronger muscle mass and larger physical stature, and since men have also historically held most of the leadership positions, this makes sense. Proverbs 31 warns men that their power is not to be used and abused and their judgment is not to be perverted by beer or wine, or any substance that could possibly blur their understanding of social justice and their role in making it a reality. These "kings" are to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Men are to use their power to defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Now that women have more leadership positions available to them, the lessons are clear for both men and women. God grants leaders power but expects them to use their power not to abuse or take advantage of others but to empower those who have no power. Later in the chapter when the noble wife is described, we read that her husband "takes his seat among the elders" and arises to call her [his wife] blessed." Male leaders are expected to place themselves where they can use their maturity and experience to help others, especially women and the poor.

THE IMPLICATIONS

My concern and the reason for this series is that I don't see enough men rising to God's expectations for service and leadership. I was listening to the classic song Rise Up Oh Men of God the other day and reflected on the words:

Rise up O men of God, Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength,To serve the King of Kings,

 

Rise up O men of God, His Kingdom tarries long, Bring in the day of brotherhood, And end the night of wrong,

 

Rise up O men of God, The Church for you doth wait. Send forth to serve the needs of men In Christ our strength is great,

Lift high the Cross of Christ, Tread where His feet have trod, As brothers of the Son of Man, Rise up O men of God,

 

There is a need for men to rise up as the song directs but it seems that many are called but few respond. Next week, we will look at Mordecai, Esther's protector and guardian, who epitomizes the Proverbs 31 male. For now, I ask that you examine your approach to power. Do you avoid or abuse it, or are you preparing to accept it and then use it for God's intended purposes? May this series help you, whether man or woman, to aspire to leadership and once there, to use the purpose power you have for the benefit of others. Have a blessed week.

934: The Proverbs 31 Male

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season and that your 2020 is off to a purposeful start. I took a week off from writing last week because I was still considering my next series for the Monday Memo. In 2018, I released a book titled The Power of Purple: Women of Purpose in Scripture and have wanted to do a similar book for men. I am concerned for how inactive and un-purposeful some men in the church are. For example, my team going to Kenya in February is all female. Our church choir is 80% women. I want to challenge men to overcome their fears and lethargy to become more purposeful and hope this book will help do that in some way.

At first I was considering calling the men's book Men Like Mordecai because we will get started by looking at Mordecai's purpose story. Then this week I was thinking and praying and the thought came to me that we have made Proverbs 31 a chapter about women because it describes a wife of noble character. Yet the first nine verses of Proverbs 31 are addressed to someone named King Lemuel and the Proverb's 31 woman's husband is an elder at the gates of the city. Therefore,I have decided to extract some fo the purpose material in Proverbs 31 where men are concerned and build on that from week to week.

I also don't want to write about the usual men of purpose like David, Moses, Paul, and the like. I want to dig a bit deeper and look at Amos, Ezra, Matthew, Luke, Simon (not Peter), Philip the evangelist, and Onesiphorus, just to name a few. As I did with Success in Babylon, I will then take each week's Memo and make it a chapter in my next book titled The Proverbs 31 Male: Men of Purpose in Scripture. As was the case with the Power of Purple, the lessons we learn will apply to both men and women, but the focus will only be on male case studies every week.

To get ready for our series, let me include the verses from Proverbs 31 that speak about or to men and then next week I will explain what i see in them that indicate what God requires from men who are citizens of His kingdom:

The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers! Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. It is not for kings, Lemuel—it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:1-9).

Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land . . . Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all" (Proverbs 31:23, 28-29).

When I first considered this series, I thought I would be able to draw on the many Memos I have already written about men of purpose, but I feel impressed not to do that. What I write in the next few months will be all new material and I am excited but a bit apprehensive that I will be able to squeeze enough purpose insight from some of the lesser lights of biblical fame. I am confident, however, that the same God who has helped me write 934 Memos to date will continue His support as I look to write a few more. I would appreciate your prayers and your feedback as we move along from week to week. Thank you and have a blessed week!