Faith Among the Faithless: Learning from Esther How to Live in a World Gone Mad

By Mike Cosper

Encounter a timeless story of evil, awakened faith, and hope for good in a world where God seems absent.

Can Christianity survive a secular age? Can Christians live without compromise in an increasingly hostile society? And what if they’ve already given in to that society’s vision and values?

In this revelatory and provocative new book, Mike Cosper answers these questions by pointing out the parallels between our world and the story of Esther. A tale of sex, ego, and revenge, the book of Esther reveals a world where God seems absent from everyday life—a world not unlike our own. Far from the gentle cartoon we often hear in Sunday school, the story of Esther is a brutal saga of people assimilated into a pluralistic, pagan society, embracing its standards. Yet when threatened with annihilation, they find the courage to turn to God in humility.

A call to spiritual awakening and to faith in an age of malaise and apathy, Faith Among the Faithless is an invitation to remember the faithfulness of God, knowing that in dark times—as in the days of Esther or our own—God may be hidden, but he is never absent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9780718097486

Mike Cosper

Mike Cosper is the executive director of Harbor Media, a non-profit media company serving Christians in a post-Christian world. He served for sixteen years as a pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the author of Recapturing the Wonder, The Stories We Tell, and Rhythms of Grace. He lives with his family in Louisville, Kentucky.    

Book preview

PRAISE FOR FAITH AMONG THE FAITHLESS

‘Be a Daniel’ is the go-to-phrase for encouraging Christians to impact our culture. Mike Cosper turns this mantra on its head by looking to Esther to figure out our world. A brother looking to Esther, I love it! He gets it because Esther has the guts and the grit that we all need to bend the times to Christ.

—Kyle Idleman, pastor and author of Not a Fan and Grace Is Greater

Mike Cosper gives us a finely written, timely, and sometimes provocative commentary on the themes of Esther. He retells the story with particular emphasis on how her story is really our own in a highly secularized society. I want an authentic witness in today’s world and this commentary will help you to live and tell Christian truth in a non-Christian world.

—Ed Stetzer, Billy Graham Distinguished Chair, Wheaton College

"Faith Among the Faithless reveals rich and timely parallels between the ancient biblical story of Esther and the current time Christians find ourselves in. Deftly weaving these threads together, Mike Cosper creates a rich and illuminating tapestry of timeless biblical truth. It’s been a long time since I have been so informed, inspired, and encouraged by a contemporary examination and application of a biblical narrative."

—Karen Swallow Prior, author of Booked and Fierce Convictions

"Mike Cosper is one of only a few Christian authors today who can match meaningful, insightful commentary with a sense of craft and artistry. This is why I’m honored to recommend Faith Among the Faithless to you, not simply as a guide to wisely navigating our tumultuous times but as an excellent reminder that the beauty of God’s gospel has always overpowered the lures of this fallen world."

—Jared Wilson, director of content strategy at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, managing editor of For The Church, and author of Supernatural Power for Everyday People

We may live in a world gone mad, but that’s not a new development. So long as you and I or our ancestors have walked this earth, sin has followed close behind. We need wisdom and grace to walk by faith among the faithless. You’ll love how Mike Cosper retells the timeless story of Esther with details and perspectives you hadn’t before considered. We need this book’s vision of courageous faith in the face of assimilation.

—Collin Hansen, editorial director for The Gospel Coalition and coauthor of A God-Sized Vision

"Few things resonate more powerfully than someone reminding you of who you are. Faith Among the Faithless plants the truth of scripture into our modern moment. With power, clarity, and conviction Mike Cosper clarifies the Christian response in our cultural moment."

—Gabe Lyons, president of Q and author of Good Faith

"Mike Cosper’s latest work is a brilliant and timely walk through the book of Esther. From the moment I started reading this book, I could not put it down. In Faith Among the Faithless Cosper ushers the reader into the biblical account and shows how the message of Esther is a beam of light for a follower of Jesus navigating the current culture. I hope every Christian reads this book!"

—Brian Howard, chairman of the board of Acts 29 and founder of Context Coaching

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© 2018 by Mike Cosper

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Epub Edition APRIL 2017 9780718097486

ISBN 978-0-7180-9748-6 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-0-7180-9747-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954539

Printed in the United States of America

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FOR HAROLD BEST

CONTENTS

Introduction: Finding Ourselves in a World Gone Mad

CHAPTER 1: Empire of Idols

CHAPTER 2: Conquest and Compromise

CHAPTER 3: The Girl with Two Names

CHAPTER 4: Resistance

CHAPTER 5: The Plot

CHAPTER 6: The Crossroads

CHAPTER 7: The Throne Room

CHAPTER 8: The Feasts, the Honor, and the Downfall

CHAPTER 9: Remembering

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Notes

INTRODUCTION

FINDING OURSELVES IN A WORLD GONE MAD

On a hot June day, with green skies and swirling winds, I found myself stuck at the Denver airport, my flight home crawling through a series of delays that would ultimately lead to cancellation. I made my way to a restaurant with an indoor patio overlooking one of the airport’s central hubs and began writing down some thoughts that had been stirring for a while—thoughts about the book of Esther, and how it might illuminate a way of life for Christians in a culture people have called a secular age and post-Christian.

A year later, on another hot summer day, I was stuck once again in the Denver airport, awaiting a long-delayed flight. I took the time to look over my thoughts on Esther and culture. This time, though, the manuscript was pretty much finished.

It seemed oddly poetic to begin and end this book in an airport. Airports are in-between places, liminal spaces, thresholds that lead us to and from honeymoons, vacations, funerals, sales meetings, and the glories and miseries of work. They are also (as I know all too well) places of unpredictability, much like our world.

Consider the cultural shifts of the last decade. We’ve seen the expansion of gay rights and the rise of the alt-right. We’ve elected the first African-American president and we’ve elected Donald Trump. Christian schools, bakers, and florists have faced litigation for their beliefs and practices. Meanwhile, a conservative justice who nearly all assume is committed to the cause of religious liberty was easily confirmed to the Supreme Court. Even as I sat finalizing this manuscript, there were images of neo-Nazis and white supremacists marching around the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. By the day’s end, one of them would slam a car into a crowd of protestors, injuring several and killing one.

I didn’t see any of this coming, and it leads me to ask: Where are we headed? What comes next?

The world seems to be alternatingly progressive and regressive, and neither movement seems to be getting any closer to creating a world of peace and flourishing. Nor does either movement harmonize well with the way of life and understanding of the world described in the Bible. It seems most certainly a post-Christian world, but it isn’t yet clear exactly what kind of world that is.

Within the Christian community, debates are taking place about the posture that Christians should take in this in-between space. Some think we should grasp once again for power and take back the cultural influence and cachet that’s been lost in the last few decades. Others, seeing things in a bleaker light, are calling for a well-considered withdrawal, focusing on shoring up our institutions and preparing for the new dark ages that modern decadence is sure to bring upon us.

I confess I’m sympathetic to the latter view. I do think things are going to get worse before they get better. In spite of signs to the contrary, secularism marches on, and it will continue to apply pressure on churches and ordinary Christians, both in resisting their beliefs and undermining their place in the public sphere. There’s some wisdom in saying, Dear Christian: brace yourself.

But it’s also true that this has always been the posture of Christians in the broader world. Christians have always served a different King and a different kingdom, and every generation faces the temptation to compromise—whether it concerns sexual ethics, racism and human dignity, or the ever-present lure of power and money.

And of course, compromise is never confined to one single issue. Today, we’re immersed in a secular age, and we’re profoundly shaped by its values—its consumerism, its addictive nature, its pleasure and distraction seeking. A way forward in such a world will be countercultural in a host of ways.

SEARCHING FOR A ROLE MODEL

Many who have examined our current cultural situation have looked to the prophet Daniel as a role model. Daniel found himself living in pagan Babylon and pressured on all sides to compromise, but he endured that pressure and lived to tell the tale, unstained by the culture around him. He bore witness to God’s faithfulness, and he won a certain respectability and plausibility for Jews in the process.

But there’s a problem with looking to Daniel: Most of us aren’t a Daniel. In fact, we are far from it. As much as we recognize that our culture is in decline, we also kind of . . . like it. Christians in general consume as much mass media and are as addicted to pornography, as likely to divorce, as consumeristic, and as obsessed with social media as the rest of our world. Again: we’re immersed in a secular age, and it’s had a profound effect upon us.

Daniel’s faith was iron-clad. He never let the pressure of exile shake his faith, and he didn’t adopt the dominant culture’s way of life. I wish that were me, but it’s not. I’m not a Daniel. I—like many of us, I suspect—am more troubled than Daniel. Less steely. Like the old hymn says, I am prone to wander,¹ prone to moments of grey doubt that leave me wondering how certain I am about the things I think I believe and value most.

Daniel, on the other hand, was rooted in a countercultural way of life. Most scholars think he was taken into exile when he was about fifteen, which means he had spent most of his formative years in a Jewish world, immersed in the rhythms of the Jewish religion. He had a frame of reference for resistance in Babylon, clinging to his heritage and upbringing in the midst of a hostile world. And while he’s a great model of faithfulness, I’m not sure he’s the best reference point for most of us.

With that in mind, let me suggest an alternative to the Daniel model: someone born into exile, disconnected from a heritage of faith, out of touch with the practices that marked her people as distinct from the surrounding world. One who nonetheless found a way back to her identity as one of God’s people, and one who might illustrate a path forward for the rest of us.

I am talking about Esther, but not the Esther you may think you know. I’m talking about the real Esther—the biblical and historical Esther—whose life was a whirlwind of spiritual compromise and spiritual awakening, and whose story is full of power, sex, and violence.

This is the Esther whose great moment is marked not by a show of force, but by vulnerability. The climax of her story comes when, after weakening her body with three days and nights of fasting, she walks a path that could most likely end in her death, in hopes of saving God’s people.

Esther’s story reveals a way forward in a culture where people of faith find themselves at the margins of society. She neither clutches for power nor seeks self-protection. Instead, she faces reality, embraces weakness, and finds faith, hope, and help from a world unseen.

Her story is also an invitation to those whose faith, convictions, and morality are less than they wish they