Leaving a God Honoring Legacy - Genesis 23:1-20

Genesis 23 Leaving a God Honoring Legacy INTRO Over the years in our walk with the Lord as we regularly spend time with Him, seeking Him in His Word and in Prayer.…He challenges and even changes our thinking on things. Thoughts and positions we once held may,…not all of them, but many,…may alter or even change dramatically from what they once were. And this is to be expected in His sanctifying work in our lives to at least some degree, right?. Isn’t this what (Romans 12:2) is speaking to in large part? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” And this chiefly comes through His Word and through Prayer…as you wrestle through it. Well, upon reading this passage, Genesis chapter 23,…the recalling of a thinking of mine,…that has been put into question by God’s Word,….came to mind a fresh,…on a particular subject matter. Now, allow me to clarify something before I proceed. Don’t hear me share this as if attempting to sway you one way or another. That is not my intent….At all….THE Verdict is not yet in even in my own mind on the topic….OKAY.…It may provoke some contemplation in your mind along with me, which is fine and well,…but I only share it as a place where the Lord has worked through His Word over time to challenge my thinking, to have me reconsider my thinking on a subject matter and how it comes through in the text before us. Some years ago, if ever in conversation about my death….I was adamant that I wanted to be cremated,…with only the question of where…where were my ashes to be dispersed on the earth. It had to be some amazing place where I loved to be. My reasoning? Was two fold…#1,..It’s the most affordable. I didn’t want the burden of the expense of a full burial to be left to my family. Just incinerate me and pour my ashes out at some mountain place, or maybe the ocean,… a place yet to be determined, pour my ashes out there and be done with it and then go have a festive time…in my name. That was number 1 reason,….and # 2….when Jesus returns, those ashes will come up, from where ever they are and meet me, (my soul) in the sky where glorification of my whole body will be completed. God is fully able to do so. Many men and women have passed in such a way where their remains are at the bottom of the ocean, or,..burned to ashes in a fire, scattered in every direction by an explosion, buried in a permanent snow tomb, or…heck,… even turned to dung from animals who ate their corpses. Whether those or any other imaginative returning of your body to the earth when deceased…it doesn’t matter. Nothing poses a difficulty in God bringing every man and woman who ever lived before His throne at the end of all time. On that day…Judgement Day. Everyone from Adam to the last of us will stand before our maker and give an account. (2 Corinthians 5:10) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” So, if I have a saying in how this is to go about,..what are to be of my remains when I die…that was how I would like it to be. Cremate me. Which is all fine and good, … but , but…I began being challenged on this thought as I started noticing how everyone in the Bible was….buried. Laid in a tomb as if sleeping peacefully. Both in the Old and in New Testament. We’ll see this take place with Sarah in today’s passage and it’s clear that Saints in the New Testament were also buried. After John the Baptist was beheaded…(Matthew 14:12). “….. his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.” Following the stoning of Stephen….the first martyr…(Acts 8:2) “Devout men…..buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.” Our Lord Jesus himself was… “laid in a tomb”. (Luke 23:53). “Then he (Joseph of Arimathia) he took it (the body of Jesus) took it down (from the cross) and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid.” Just like that example of Our Lord Jesus….Consistently, we see in scripture,…great care done in the process of burying,…the deceased. SO,..how does this tie into Genesis chapter 23 other than Abraham purchasing a piece of land…to bury his wife Sarah in….which the acquiring of property, becoming a possessor of land in the land God swore to give him being very noteworthy…mark that,…we’ll spend more time on that shortly. Other than that,…How does this challenge in my thinking (Cremation verses burial) tie in to the passage before us? You ask. For me, it had to do with ones legacy. More than the burial alone, there is much involved with Abraham in what is taking place with the death of his wife Sarah that provides an example to us of Leaving a God Honoring Legacy. Which is the crowning truth to lay upon our heads today from Genesis 23 ….. Leaving a God Honoring Legacy. SO whether it be looking over the tombstone of a deceased loved one or fly fishing a favorite spot of theirs where their ashes were let go in the stream….It’s those reflecting moments that speak volumes of the legacy left by them. And the passage before us speaks volumes about Leaving a God Honoring Legacy. The verses in Genesis 23 won’t cover every way, it’s not exhaustive in how this is done….but it does provide primary truths for consideration and application for each of us this morning. SO, Our First point to expound upon Leaving a God Honoring Legacy - Is… Love your family well. BODY 1) FIRST POINT - (Genesis 23:1-2). Love your family well Looking at the first two verses, Love your family well We know all too well that Abraham made mistakes, to be certain he did..BIG ones at that, shameful ones. Abraham was not flawless,…but he was faithful. And we know from scripture that overall he loved his family well. And I am not saying so just because of his successful military conquest to rescue Lot, as legitimate that was of being an act of love for his family…not to mention his intercessory prayer for Lot that God answered in His rescue of Lot and his daughters before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorra. Those both support loving your family well. But most emphasized of leaving a God honoring legacy in loving his family well I believe to be from the opening 2 verses here and also from where we just left, last week in Genesis 22,…where God tested Abraham in the offering up his son Isaac as a burnt offering. I believe Abraham gets 5 stars in living out (Matthew 10:37). Where Jesus says…“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Abraham passed that test….And therefore,…Abraham was a good dad. He loved God more than his son Isaac. God knew Abraham loved his son, his only son who Abraham was willing to sacrifice as God told him to as a test. Abraham loved his family well because he loved God above them all ……which is crucial to get and have exhibited in our lives. Husbands, Dads, our love of our family can only be done BEST when our love of God is greater. You desire to be a great husband…Love Jesus with all your heart. You desire to be a great dad…Love Jesus above all. Abraham, though flawed…was faithful in doing so and we have a further peering into an aspect of this loving his family well, put on display here by his mourning and weeping over the death of his wife whom he loved. - read Abraham loved his wife. They grew very old together and remained together through all the ugliness in there lives. We’ve learned a lot about that by what is retained for us in scripture. They had their trials, their difficulties….they remained together, they were faithful. Flawed…but Faithful. Broken but for Better or for Worse, they remained together and GOD, in spite of it all, GOD worked through them as a part of His redemptive story. Husband and wives in the congregation…who are also a part of God’s redemptive story….are we any different? This has all sorts of displays depending on your life situation. We all don’t share the Charles and Caroline Ingles storyline. I realize that. All our situations are different and complex and messy. I won’t pretend that is not the case. But in every situation there is,…I believe, according to God’s Word,…there is a (Psalm 25:10) steadfast love and faithful path to take steps in that exhibit the love we are to show by virtue of being recipients,….of-that-same-love…GOD’S LOVE. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) YES, love God first and foremost, which we are able to do because He first loved us,…which is what that passage is speaking to,…but what does Jesus tell us in John’s gospel (John 13:34) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”…and this,….the apostle John emphasizes over and over again in his FIRST epistle,…telling us believers,…(1 John 4:7)…as an example among many in that epistle…he says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” SO, on the authority of God’s Word,…in every situation there is always, by the guidance of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit in you, there is always a path of love. Steadfast love sometimes means facing fears head on. It can be terrifying, painful, have great risk….yet be the path the Lord would have you choose to take. You may know clear as a bell what love looks like in a given situation but flat out do-not,…want to. Acting in faith to take the step along the path of steadfast love is fought against by seemingly every part of your being…..while, in faith, you know it to be right. That’s difficult if not impossible for us…but then it wouldn’t be steadfast love would it? Steadfast love is thinking and feeling…. “I can’t possibly go forward…I can’t!”. And then doing just that. Steadfast, by essence of the very word, implies it’s not easy. Majority of the time it will go against your instinctual bent. But “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 25:10) And these opening two verses provide two key qualifiers of his love for Sarah. “Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.” It is right and good to grieve over the loss of a loved one. To be sad…to mourn…to weep…to express deep sorrow. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) To every season,..turn…turn…right? Your welcome for getting that song in your head…but as that passage….turned into a song goes. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” Just as laughing and dancing are in that list, in that song…so also are mourning and weeping. Bridling those emotions …..is harmful,…and dishonoring to the deceased. I really like a quote by Matthew Henry: he says…“Tears are a tribute to our deceased friends. (Listen to this) When a body is sown (as in burying a seed in the ground) When a body is sown, it must be watered” (1 Corinthians 15:35-49). Isn’t that beautiful? Cast out any notion that to not cry is a manly thing. That not crying shows your are tough. On the contrary, it shows you to be a prideful idiot. “Tears are a tribute to our deceased friends. When a body is sown it must be watered”. Abraham loved his wife Sarah,….he loved his family well and therefore lived a Life that would Leave a God Honor Legacy. Another healthy part of grieving over the loss of a loved one is not perpetually staying in that state. What does Abraham do in (verse 3)? “And Abraham rose up from before his dead…..” He rose up, he didn’t remain in an immobile despondent state, but gathered himself to take the next step in life, and that being another aspect of Abraham’s love for his wife Sarah in his pursuit for a proper burial place for her. And in this pursuit we will find a remarkable amount of the God honoring Legacy Abraham will be leaving. Let’s not forget, ….Abraham is a sojourner, meaning he moved around from place to place. Abraham is in the land promised to him by God but he possess none of the land of Canaan and has been and also known to be,…by the people living in Canaan, as one who wanders, one who resides temporarily at a place. At the time of her death, Sarah has been a sojourner with Abraham for about 60yrs now. 60yrs…I don’t think any of us have even lived that long. But this doesn’t prevent Abraham from gaining the respect and honor of those living in the land. He does so and to great magnitude. Brought about over time, I believe, by Loving your neighbors well. Which is our second point to emphasize in Leaving a God Honoring Legacy. To do so, it’s important,…and exemplified for us by Abraham…To Love your neighbors well. For this directly links into our witness of God. These cannot be separated. To Leave a God Honoring Legacy,…let’s step it up from important to vital, it’s vital to Love your neighbors well. Our second point……in (verses 3-20)…taking us through the rest of the chapter. 2) SECOND POINT - (Genesis 23:3-20). Love your neighbors well Love your neighbors well. How revered was this man Abraham? Again, he made mistakes, he wronged his neighbors on occasion,…but that was not his MO. Whatever wrong was done was made right and Abraham sought for and established peace among the people of the land he lived. He fought for righteousness and justice. We see that in his conquest to rescue his nephew. Abraham’s life earned him the respect..the high regard of his neighbors and it was clear to all who knew him,….whom Abraham worshipped. Abraham would mark places in the region by planting a tree or building and alter and that place “Call on the name of the Lord”. These were at public places…Abraham was not private with his faith….It was on display in the public arena. We see this distinctly in (verse 6)…..with the Hittites response to Abraham’s request they respond…“Hear us, my lord; (Hittites speaking to Abraham) Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God..” TELL ME that Abraham wasn’t public with his faith in God. You better believe He was and was highly respected for it. Let’s go ahead and read these verses (3-20) all the way through to capture the whole scene afresh. - read Can you picture this scene? The mutual care and respect exchanged between them is remarkable. The interaction between Abraham and the Hittites in these verses is taking place in this moment of time at the city gate “before all who went in” and also where the elders of the city sat and such business affairs and transactions occur for….witness sake,…That which takes place here at the city gate is greatly revealing of the relationship shared between them. Between Abraham and his neighbors. Abrahams’s integrity is pointedly seen here,….but he wasn’t born with integrity nor is anyone. It came over time through trusting God and remaining faithful and obedient when being tested by God. (Psalm 37:3). “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” I believe Abraham is a testimony to this. He conducted his affairs in a respectful manner. Though freshly grieving the loss of his wife in his old age, he still bows in respect to the Hittites on more than one occasion. The Hittite, Ephron, whom Abraham inquires with to purchase the cave from and the land that the cave is in along with it,….. is delightfully willing to just,…..give it to Abraham. Are you kidding me. That is not common place. Certainly isn’t now and it wasn’t then, but here we see an expression of the high regard and honor Abraham held in the eyes of the natives to Canaan. And while retaining the honor towards Ephrons’ generosity, Abraham respectfully motions to pay full price for it. Which is also very wise, for in the witness of so many, (which included the elders of the city)… in the witness of so many,… never would this transaction be called into question, whether it be in Abrahams remaining days or any of the generations to follow. He secured a burial place for his wife Sarah that he himself would be buried at with Sarah which we will see in chapter 25…just a few Sunday’s from now. Abraham, known as a sojourner, secured this place as a possession…just as God promised Abraham would. It wasn’t the whole land God promised but it was a part of it. The unfolding of God’s redemptive story. God is moving His redemptive story along and here we have another significant piece of it. Abraham is now to be a landowner in the promise land of Canaan. Maybe even putting aside his reputation as being a sojourner now….YET YET….coincidently, the very purpose of the land purchased is right in stride with Abraham,…even as a land owner now, still being a sojourner at heart. What does (Hebrews 11:9-16) tell us about this man of faith?… “By faith he (Abraham) went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he (Abraham and those heirs with him of the same promise) were looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.…(..Abraham, along with the heirs with him of the same promise…)…all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…now listen…on the earth….strangers and exiles on the earth…(Not just in the land of Canaan, but on the earth) For people who speak thus (..Abraham, along with the heirs with him of the same promise…speaking thus..) make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” And so, even the very purchasing of this field with the cave as a burial place, it’s purpose serves….Leaving a God Honoring Legacy…for it Points to a hope of resurrection. JESUS would use the word “sleeping” (Matthew 9:24, Luke 8:52) in referring to the deceased girl he would raise from the dead…. Not to mention Lazarus who Jesus stalled 4 days in coming to him purposely that God would be glorified in raising him Lazarus from the dead. Remember Martha’s caution to the Lord?, “Don’t open the tomb…his body will stink…as in….“his corpse is passed rigor mortis and is well in the process of decay at this point and will surely stink like anything dead and beginning to rot will….” JESUS calls forth the dead to life (1 Thessalonians 4:16) “…The dead in Christ will rise first…” at the trumpet call from the LORD,….Whatever and wherever our remnants are here on earth,….will rise up in a glorified state same as Jesus’s body was when he rose from the grave. “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:53). To die now, before Christ has returned…is “to be absent from the body (as in this body of flesh) to be away from it and…present with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8) Our soul, our spirit at that point is in heaven with Jesus Forever and enjoying Him in His Kingdom in the light of the presence of the Father,…but there still awaits,…there still awaits a reuniting with our body here on earth.… “that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4) When that occurs… the BIBLE says…We will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52) Seemingly instantaneous but nevertheless a change taking place that involves both our physical body and our entire Spirit. The person as a whole. (Romans 8:11) “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you..” Resurrected Jesus, ate and talked and walked. He was not a ghost floating in the air. No, the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were kept from recognizing him, until Jesus was revealed to them in the breaking of bread. They were sharing a feast together. Doubting Thomas in (John 20:25-28) says “…..“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” And (Romans 8:23) “….we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,…” …meaning if you love Jesus and delight in his Word…you have the firstfruits of the Spirit….and therefore are (Ephesians 1:13-14) “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it (that is the redemption of our bodies), .…” For…(2 Corinthians 5:5) “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” So as Peter describes to the church in (1 Peter 2:11)…which is you and I…those who love Jesus and delight in his Word…he says “Beloved, I urge you as (guess what?)…as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” CONCLUSION We, like Abraham, see and greet God’s promises from afar, and acknowledge that we are strangers and exiles on the earth… Like Abraham, trusting “God who made the world and everything in it” and has, for everyone of mankind since the beginning…(Acts 17:26) “,…. determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,” Seth Schreiber, born 1976, currently living in Parkdale Oregon..for example,….determined allotted period of my existence and the boundaries of my dwelling place (my current address),” as determined by GOD. The same for you Christian,…and so as sojourners ourselves…. Establish deep root in the boundaries God has placed you to live. Love your family well…to the end like Abraham. (Psalm 37:3). “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”…..Love your neighbors well. Be faithful and steadfast there while exhibiting the reality of being a sojourner. Meaning, not living as if this is your home but rather knowing with full assurance and living circumspectly of your home being where your heart is and that being heaven. This doesn’t mean you don’t blossom where you are planted. By all means - blossom, plant vineyards, gardens, improve your dwelling place as you are able, “seek the welfare of the city”, (Jeremiah 29:7) be invested in the community you live in…do all this… just don’t permit your heart to be wrapped up in it where it becomes your treasure (Luke 12;34, Matthew 6:21), where it becomes the kingdom you are living for. Be watchful of this saints. This broken world is not our home. As beautiful and enjoyable life can be at times… it is not our home…it is broken, it is cursed. We have a heavenly inheritance. We are pilgrims on our march of faith, coursed by our heavenly Father,….to our heavenly abode,… “..to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…”.(Hebrews 12:22), The Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that cannot be shaken. This is where, by faith in Jesus, we belong, this is our home. As sojourners here on earth keep your treasure where it belongs, wrapped up entirely in JESUS…“for where your treasure is, there will you heart be also.” And thereby Leaving a God Honoring Legacy that brings about high regard for your name to God’s glory both now and in time to come. - PRAY COMMUNION - (John 12:23-28) BENEDICTION (1 John 3:1-3)