STAKING YOUR CLAIM
Genesis 23:1-20 (NLT)
for audio, video of this sermon, thecreekmonroe.com
Intro: How many have been following our Atlanta Braves baseball team this year? Not doing so well are we? They fired the manager Freddie Gonzales this week. The news said he found out about from a confirmation email telling him that his ticket back to Atlanta was ready for his pick up. It seems that Freddie didn't survive the re-building process that is going on. It seems the Braves are looking to the future. They gave up many of their high dollar and arguably better players in order to prepare for the future. They are following a model that the Kansas City Royals used several years ago that led to the world series championship for them last year. The Royals had staked their future, they had staked their claim on the championship by molding their team around the younger players. The Brave are doing the same thing. They are staking their claim for the future through what they are doing now.
. For me, I wish they would hurry up.
. We are back in Genesis this morning. Chapter 23. At first glance it seems that really all we have here is a historical narrative that really wont preach very well.
. In researching the chapter, I found that it has been used a lot for funeral sermons but not much else.
. Since we are not having a funeral this morning, God will have to use this scripture to speak to us in a meaningful way.
. All scripture is good for teaching and preaching and rebuking the Bible tells us; so what is God trying to tell us this morning.
. This chapter in the Bible is all about staking our claim. It is about our future as God's children and our dependence on the future God has promised us.
. There is 20 verses here so what I want to do is tell you the story and then we will go back and highlight some passages.
. We have been preaching through and you have probably heard more about Abram who became Abraham and Sari who became Sarah than you have in your whole life.
. Our scripture this morning begins with the death of Sarah. She is 127 years old. They are living in Hebron which is in the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. While God has promised all of this land to Abrahams descendants, he does not yet possess it. They only live there.
. Abraham decided that he wanted to bury Sarah in Canaan but he didn't have any where to bury her. He owned no suitable grave site. He went to the elders of the city and said look, I know that I am a foreigner around here but I sure would like to bury my wife here.
. Abraham must have been living a pretty good witness because they told him that they would be happy for him to choose one of the tombs that they had to bury his wife.
. Abraham said that since you think so highly of me perhaps Ephron so of Zohar, one of you, would sell me this cave that I have seen and the field that surrounds it.
. They kind of negotiate back and forth and Abraham winds up buying the cave and the field that surrounded it for 400 pieces of silver. A hefty price at that time. It seem that Ephron liked Abraham but he liked a hefty profit better.
. They went to the closing table and transferred the deed and title to the property into Abrahams name after payment.
. Abraham buried Sarah there and established it as a permanent burial place for his family.
. Now what can we glean from this other than history.
. What we see here is that Abraham is:
.STAKING HIS CLAIM ON GOD
.He is looking to the future. He is depending on God's promises.
. Look at verses 1-4 with me.
1When Sarah was 127 years old,
2she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.
3Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders,
4“Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”
. These four verses show us Abrahams:
. Faith for the future
. The concept of taking our loved ones home for burial, for a final resting place is fairly normal in our society today isn't it.
. We will fly loved ones around the world after their death just to bring them home wont we?
. One of the precepts that our military lives by is that no soldier will be left behind. To this day we still have people looking for the remains of lost soldiers in Vietnam in order to bring them home.
. This concept of being laid to rest back home was very prevalent in the middle East at the time of Abraham and Sarah also so why didn't Abraham take Sarah home?
. Abraham and Sarah had come from Ur of the Chaldeans. They had been in the land of Canaan, God had promised this land to Abrahams descendants, but it did not belong to them. This was not there home, why didn't Abraham take her home?
The answer is because Abraham was not looking backward to where he came from, nor was he looking at his present situation in which lived in a tent because he did not possess even 1 acre of the promised land. Abraham’s was looking forward, in faith, to what God had promised!
. Abraham was staking his claim on God's promises.
. Abraham’s recognized and believed that God’s promises are still in the future. He had a faith for the future and therefore he acted accordingly. Abraham had received very little of Gods promises in his earthly life and yet this story demonstrates that he continued to believe faithfully, despite many difficulties, because he had a faith for the future.
. He expected God to fulfill every one of His promises.
. He was fully depending upon God to fulfill his promise of giving the land of Canaan to his descendants and he was preparing a place for his descendants to be laid to rest when they were called home. Even though he did no currently possess this land, God had promised him that this would one day be home to his people and he was staking his claim on God's promises.
In this way, Abraham’s serves as an example to Christians today, who also have been given “very great and precious promises” that we must wait to inherit.
. We as Christians are given promises.
. Here on Earth, we are promised not to be given more than our faith can handle.
. We are promised Peace in the midst of the storms of life. We get this peace through our faith in Jesus Christ but that peace comes with future promises doesn't it.
. Look at what the writer of Hebrews tells us about faith of the biblical heroes and our faith also.
. Hebrews 11: 9&10 when writing about Abraham tell us:
9And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.
10Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
.Then in verses 13-16
. 13All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.
14Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.
15If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
16But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
. And then look at verses 39&40
. 39All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised.
40For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
. Folks, when we stake our claim as Christians, we are looking to the future. Yes we have many benefits here on Earth from belonging to the family of God.
. That peace that I talked about, the fellowship of the believers, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the help from other believers, the camaraderie of the faith and more but we are never promised a rose Garden are we?
. As a matter of fact Dr. Luke tells us in Acts 14:22 that when Paul and Barnabas were preaching in Lystra and Iconium and Antioch that they shared this with the believers.
. 22where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.
. Not everything is going to be peaches and cream Christians.
. Sometimes this old life will be hard.
. this verse reminds God’s people that, as we go through this life awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promises in the future, we will undergo difficulties.
. Abraham didn't live a life of luxury. He was considered a foreigner. Living in tents. A stranger in a strange land but he believed what God had told him and he was looking forward to future events where God would fulfill his promises to him.
. Abraham was motivated by what God had promised in the future. He stayed focused on God's promises.
. Sometimes we get so busy with our lives and all the issues that come along with them that we lose focus on God's promises don't we?
.We are to live in today but we are to plan for our future.
. I'm not talking about stock portfolio's or retirement plans.
. I don't know about you but I have an eternal retirement plan.
. It's not one that I had to buy or invest in.
. My retirement plan comes to me free of charge though my faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
. You see, I have staked my claim, I am looking to God for his future promises.
. I am depending on God's promises.
. The old Gospel Hymn tells us that the writer was standing on the promises of Christ their king. Through eternal ages let his praises ring. Standing on the promises of God.
. Abraham stood on God's promises. Look at the last verse in this chapter . Verse 20 reads:
20So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.
. This land was now a permanent burial place, waiting for God to fulfill his promises.
. Abraham had staked his claim to the promised land. His claim to God's promises.
. I ask you this morning, have you staked your claim to God's promises yet. Do you have that eternal retirement plan in Heaven.
. What God promises us most of all is a future, eternal life in the presence of Jesus Christ.
. We sing a song around here by building 429 titled "Where I belong."
. This is the chorus:
"All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong"
. Have you staked your claim this morning.
. Have you guaranteed your future.
. Do you live looking forward to God's promises being fulfilled?
. Christian, have you gotten so bogged down in life and so discouraged that you can't see the future anymore?
. Abraham had just lost his wife of probably 100 years but he still could see the future. A future filled with the promises of God.
. Can you see a future this morning.
. Have you staked your claim to an eternity in Heaven with Jesus Christ?
. Stake your claim today before it's too late.
Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Larry Sarver, "Faith For The Future" (sermon central)
