Genesis #21: The Promise - Finishing Well

But today we are in a transitional period. And we should always handle transitions carefully. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about life, a sermon, a business, a church. These are the times that prove to be the most tenuous.

So while looking at a mourning man makes us a bit uncomfortable; resisting the urge to skip ahead will afford us a chance to gain wisdom for the transitions in our lives as well.

Chiefly, that there is a time to mourn what was and there is a time to move forward.

GOD:

In order for us to see the whole picture, I want to read the text today, because it is really then end of a chapter… a chapter in the story of God at work in history.

Genesis 23:1–24:9 NIV

Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” The Hittites replied to Abraham, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.” Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.” Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.” Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.” Ephron answered Abraham, “Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants. So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site. Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

I wanted to almost skip today’s message, because well, it was as though there wasn’t much there. His wife died and he made arrangements for her.

The climax of the story of Abraham and Sarah’s life happened last week when they gave their son, their only son to God.

Today’s text felt to me like that part of the movie that runs during the credits… yea, it’s good but its not the movie… the cliffhanger has come and gone.

But there is encouragement here. That’s what I want us to see today.

Abraham’s response to his wife Sarah’s death helps us see that when folks finish well, we aren’t so much sad they died as we are glad they lived. Their living gives us encouragement for living in our present circumstance and it gives us encouragement to prepare for the next chapter of our own life.

Let’s face it, we are in a period of transition right now.

We have been for the last 10 months strapped down without any hugs here at church, without our small groups getting together in person, without things we used to do. We are mourning those things that we have lost… and we are looking forward to Covid running out of steam. People getting their vaccine, or natural immunity. COVID will have less of a hold on us in 2021 if for no other reason than we just decide that life is worth too much to lock it away.

We are in transition.

The church is in transition. For generations, the church was a social center of the community. That’s true no longer. Fortunately we were not created to be the social center of the community, but instead the spiritual center. How do we get there? It’s going to take change.

Transition. I think that’s what we have in today’s text.

And we will see that in periods of transition, the faithful - finish well. Meaning they finish what they started and they prepare for what’s to come.

They finish what they started. They don’t run off and leave it. They stick to their commitments even when it’s hard.

The faithful FINISH what they started

You married couples out there, let me ask you a question, what’s the most important day of marriage?

The day you got married? You had the white dress… he was dressed so good. He’s never looked so good or been that clean. All the time and energy that went into planning and preparing for that moment. Surely that was the most important day in your marriage?

What if I said it wasn’t. Not even close. What if I said that the most important day in marriage is the last day of marriage.

Finishing what they started. Genesis 23:1-2

How you finish your marriage is the most important.

You can see what I mean by finishing well in Abraham’s response to Sarah’s death.

He’s laid over her body weeping.

The first time to show someone in tears.

Sarah died at 127. This is, I think, the only woman who’s age we know in the Bible.

The Bible doesn't tell us how old women are. So when you get corrected for telling how old a woman is… it’s sort of a Biblical principal I guess.

We don’t know when Abraham and Sarah got married, but in their culture she would probably have been around the age 17… so according to my math, that means that at the time of her death, they were married for 110 years.

What do you give someone for their anniversary who’s been married for 110 years? Anything they want.

110 years. And in the course of 110 years, they had learned a lot. A lot about themselves, each other, and God.

Was it easy? No, Not at all… but that’s why they learned so much.

Their marriage wasn’t perfect, but they kept at it. Granted their world had a different view of marriage; about the roles of men and women, but their marriage - just like one today - was still a man and a woman trying to figure it out.

Was Abraham a perfect husband? NO

That’s what makes marriage so hard. You bring two broken, selfish, prideful people together, with all their baggage, and require them to love one another no matter what. How can you do that without God’s help? It’s a dream.

You remember how it began for Abraham and Sarah?

Genesis 12:1–4 NIV

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

They had been married for around 50 years when he said, hey hon… I think we need to leave.

He took her away from her family… probably the hardest thing for her to that point in her life, only it would get more difficult.

We might miss why this was so hard, but remember they had no children. Children were the retirement fund in their day. Without kids, there would be no one to care for you when you got old and became unable to do the hard work life required.

But God had called them.

God’s calling was most important, not their comfort.

At least it would become the most important thing in their life.

But it would take time to learn the importance of God’s calling on their life.

They would learn at the hands of a

Famine

In Chapter 12, He would lead her into a famine, Because there was no food in the land which he was promised instead of trusting God, he would take her to Egypt.

They would learn at the hands of

Pharoah

Our of fear for his life, not fully trusting God to provide, Abraham would convice her to lie and say he was her brother. Leading to her being taken into Pharoah’s harem. But God’s call was still on their life and God got them out.

They would learn at the hands of a servant

Hagar

Before that, out of fear of failing God, Sarah gave her servant to Abraham to have a child. Hoping that this would be the answer to God’s plan. It wasn’t and wound up being a source of pain in their relationship. No surprise right.

But she would submit herself to God’s plan again.

They would learn through dealing with family

Lot

Then, when his nephew started causing problems, Abraham gave him the choice lands to take his herds…

Then he had seen the holiness of God as the sin of Sodom and G was judged while Lot and his family were saved.

Abimilek

He would make this same mistake again from chapter 12, before God delivered them the promised son, after they had witnessed God work in all these ways, Abraham again feared for his life and allowed his wife to be taken by another king… only to be returned by a someone else who feared God more than Abraham did.

Isaac

Finally a year later the son was born. Then in chapter 22 God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. To Abraham that meant to kill his son. Wow. What faith they modeled for us. God’s will not theirs was most important. What God wanted was for Abraham to trust him, to love him more than the promise. Trusting that their love for God would see them through anything that life brought their way.

And God’s way proved to be better than their way.

God’s call for their life was the most important thing

Some of you hearing this today have experienced the most important day in your marriage at the death of your spouse. So you know the lessons that Abraham and Sarah have learned. You have experienced them.

You know what it means to finish well.

There are others here who are still learning. Learning that the most important day is the last day.

I want to encourage you… today might be your last day. Love God. Allow your love for him draw you both closer together.

You may say, yea but I don’t have that in my marriage we don’t both love God. I do but my spouse doesn’t. He lets me/ she lets me do my own thing but we don’t share it.

My best encouragement would be for you to stay faithful, pray for them and show them Jesus.

Don’t hold back, don’t compromise your faith; be bold and courageous and expect God to be at work in your marriage.

Was theirs a perfect marriage? No. Was their relationship dysfunctional at times? Absolutely. Did we think it was a happy marriage every day? No it was filled with trials.

But they stuck with God’s plan. They determined to view God's calling as more important than their comfort.

Their marriage was just like yours. Two sinful people called to live in relationship with each other… but not just with each other, but in a covenant relationship with God.

OK, now if you are here with your spouse, don’t look at them. You can hold their hand, but resist the urge to give it a squeeze right now… because some of you aren’t married to a perfect spouse… actually none of you are married to a perfect spouse… go ahead and look at them.

Listening to this, are many who are not married. I want to tell you though, the same rule applies to you, finish what you started. Whether that be single or widowed. Finish faithfully.

Somethings you must finish alone. Genesis 23:3-20

That makes the dialogue of Abraham purchasing the ground for her tomb so powerful.

They buried people the day of their death back then. So we are left to imagine that Sarah’s death was a bit of a surprise to Abraham, he wasn’t prepared. He had to go buy a place to bury her.

There’s this detailed account of him buying the land. But two important things jump out here. One is, the amount of money he paid for the land.

The Hittites are like, just take it… but Abraham is like, no I’ll buy it… they respond… oh don’t do that… just take what you want… he’s like no I”m buying it. In fact, i want that one. Who’s is it, where is he?

The guy says here I am… just take it. Abraham says no i’ll buy it. But Ephron says just take it… Abraham says how much. Ephron says, oh it’s like 400 shekels… but you take it.

Now we aren’t sure if Ephron is posturing here. Making his generosity seem bigger than it was. I get the sense that he wanted to give it to Abraham, but wanted acknowledgement from Abraham for the gift… Instead, Abraham takes him up on it. He’s not in the mood to haggle over his wife’s resting place. He pays 40 years wages for the land… crazy right.

Maybe, but he is finishing what he started… and he is finishing well. He’s honoring his wife in her death as they sought to honor God in their life.

Seek to value God’s call on your life as the most important, more important than your comfort, your preference, your safety. God has all those things into account. We can trust that he knows what’s best. So be faithful today.

Finish what you started.

And here’s where transitioning comes in, because part of finishing is preparing for what’s next.

But it’s not over, because finishing well includes preparing for what comes next.

Finishing well includes preparing for WHAT’S NEXT.

In order to have a good finish, you have to prepare for what comes next.

For A&S that would include preparing for the life of Isaac to be a blessing to the world.

Abraham, having buried his wife now begins to look see his own mortality and remembers that he wasn’t the promise, that Isaac was the promise. Isaac is becoming the point of the story… that we are going to be looking at starting next week when we begin our next series THE BLESSING.

Genesis 22:17–18 NIV

I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Sure God was going to do it… they knew that. That’s the way it had worked in their life. But wouldn’t it be much better if Isaac didn’t have to relearn all the lessons that they struggled with along the way?

So we see in the transition Abraham making plans. He’s laying out the groundwork for his son Isaac to be the promised Blessing.

Future generations decide how well we finished. Genesis 24:1-9

He tells his servant, don’t let Isaac leave this promised land. In fact, you go get his wife for him from my relatives. The servant says, but what if I cant get one to come back with me… Abraham says, she will because God will bless you, but if she won’t… don’t take my son there.

Why? Because this land is the promised land. This land is his inheritance. Abraham knows, he remembers how hard it was to get Sarah to leave. He remembers all those difficulties; he doesn't’ want that for his son. God has promised Isaac to posses this land.

All that Abraham and Sarah had gone through would be worth it if Isaac were to inherit what God had promised. Abraham wanted that for his son and he wanted to do everything he could while he still had life in him, to make sure that future generations would inherit what A&S only dreamed of.

Hebrews 11:13–16 NIV

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

You see in a strange way, Isaac’s future would decide how faithful A&S were to Gods call.

That’s the way it is with us. We don’t get to decide how we finish. We don’t get to grade ourselves. History does. Looking back does. The next generation does.

This is true whether we are talking about our life, our marriage, our church, our community.

We can’t write our own history, but there is something you can do.

You can be faithful today.

Good finishes are all about being faithful.

Isaiah 51:1–2 NIV

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.

Look to Abraham and Sarah to gain perspective on living faithfully.

We think often that faithfulness is about what we do.

But in reality it’s about who we are. We see a&s were rocks and God made them who they were.

It’s not doing that we must focus,

Am I going to do what God wants me to do? Is this God’s will? Is this the next right step?

Instead of trying to do the right things first, first we must focus on being.

Luke 6:43–45 NIV

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Will I be

Identity. Are we in the right relationship with God? Being in the right relationship with God, he will lead us, he will shape us, he will bless, he will chart our path.

Will I do

Then our doing is simply a matter of being faithful one moment to the next.

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