Genesis 23:3-9 Bible Study | Episode #293

November 23, 2022

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Genesis 23:3-9  Bible Study | Episode #293

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

If you would like to revisit today’s Bible study, please visit our website at https://hopealive.buzzsprout.com/ to download the transcript. 

If this podcast ministered to you, please subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Reviews help us reach more people and spread the wisdom of God. 

Please follow us:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopealivewithgod/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hopealiveministry/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LakeComChurch/ -Lake Community Church

Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive, Applying God's Word to your daily life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him.

And to know his will, that you might glorify him, and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today in Jesus'. Good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's Morning Bible study. We are in Genesis chapter 23, and we're dealing with the death of Sarah and Moses.

And the things that happened and went on in Moses is li Abraham, the death of Sarah and Abraham, and the things that went on in Abraham's life. And the things that took. As Sarah passed away and his dealings with the people around him and his desire to have a place to bury family members because he was not from that area.

And he did not have. What we would call legally possession of the land, even though he had rights to to graze the land rights to roam about the land and move with his herds and with his with his, and with his camels and with his sheep he did not possess the land. Because the Bible says he was a sojourner, and that is a wanderer in the land.

And when we come to this passage it is a very important there's a very important Principle that is being dealt with in this passage. And that principle is a, is one that I don't think we talk about very much if at all in the church. And and we don't talk about it in the sense of our presentation.

Of ourselves to the world. And as we go through scripture oftentimes we don't understand this and then we don't understand why the world doesn't see us differently than it does. And I think you're, you would you gain importance. You gain. You gain you gain an understanding when you actually dive in this.

And I draw the the understanding of this principle from Luke chapter two, verse 52, and it's the last verse in Luke chapter two before John the Baptist is introduced in chapter three and Jesus is Baptized and begins his ministry. And it is the only passage of scripture in all of scripture that tells us anything about Jesus' life.

Life from age 13 to age 30 and the passage is very simple. It says, And Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men being plural. Human beings, people. And so it says that he grew in wisdom and stature, meaning he grew physically and. And I think that's important.

It's a, it's also important to understand that is revealing the humanity of Jesus. Jesus didn't come out of the womb fully mature. He had to mature as a man just like we all did. Now you say does that mean he was lacking anything? No, he. A man exactly the way God created man to be.

When he did, when he created man in the garden and then Adam and Eve had children, he made it so that man would mature. And so that is a natural part of the process God has for us. It does not speak anything ill of Jesus. It just is an understanding that both Jesus was a human and so Jesus had to.

Mature as humans do. He had to go through all the things that humanity deals with. He had to deal with those things so that him being 100%, God also could play its full role in his life. And so he had to grow up. He had to grow in his in his knowledge. And right before that we see that he's been doing an excellent job of that before because he's in the temple teaching the leaders of Israel in that temple.

So at 13 years old, he was obviously a man of great knowledge and. But he also had to grow up. And anybody who knows a 13 year old boy, they know that they're not fully grown physically. Girls mature quicker than boys, both mentally and physically. And most of the time you'll see a 13 year old and if you don't see 'em for a year or two, and you come across them as a 15 year old They don't even look like the same person.

They're not the same person. And so Jesus also had to mature. He had to mature physically, and he had to mature mentally so that his ministry might have its fullness in us. And it says the second thing, and that's the thing that we oftentimes don't get and don't understand in the, in that verse, it says that Jesus grew in favor with God and man.

He grew in favor with God and man. Now how do we gain favor with God? We gain favor with God by trusting him and hearing what he says. And we see that Jesus is obviously done that because when he goes and is baptized by John the Baptist, the Bible says that the spirit of this is chapter three of.

He says The spirit of Lord descended on him as a dove, which means the Holy Spirit came upon him in power. And there's a difference between the Holy Spirit indwelling you and the Holy Spirit coming upon you in power. And we see that in the Old Testament. And we see that really emphasized in the New Testament.

We can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and let yet walk in darkness and not have the power of the Holy Spirit upon us in our lives. And the, and God said to those around who are watching Jesus be baptized. God said this is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased, which means that Jesus had gained the favor of his father.

Now, he always had it, but he had done nothing to lose it and favor with God. How do we please God? We please God, by trusting him, by hearing his commandments, hearing his precepts, hearing his commissionings, hearing his direction for our life, and trusting him. We trust him and he teaches us and teaches us to walk with him and Jesus had done.

Since birth, in the sense of in, in every possible way as a human being, he could know God and walk with God. He had done that and so he gained favor with God. Now how do we gain favor with men? I would say if we're gonna use the New Testament model we have to do what God says and.

What that means is you ha we have to do do the law of the spirit. We have to love God, but we also have to love our neighbor as we would want to be loved. We have to learn to love each other in the church as God wants us to to love Him. We have to love self sacrificially. We have to give.

Of our lives self sacrificially. And so understanding that and seeing that and knowing. It's important that we, we do that in our community because if we don't do that we don't gain favor in the world we live in. Now I know, people who have lived their lives. Chasing after God and they've lived their lives, truly caring and loving the people around them, even those that are what we would call unlovable.

They're the ones who make it very difficult for you to love them and having great concern for them having. Real genuine concern for them, not concern that you have to have because the position you may have as a pastor or teacher or leader or something like that, or a family member, but actually genuinely caring for people around you because.

God has placed them in the path of life for you and you love God and you know that he loves them and therefore you love them because of his great love for the people around you. And you begin to do things the right way and you do things the right way on a regular basis. You do things on the right in the right way, on such a regular basis that God blesses.

And that those people see the love you have, see the genuineness of your character, see the see the strength of your actions, and then they trust you and you gain their favor. This is very important. Just because you have the power to do something does not mean that you alt to do that. Just because you have the power to say something doesn't mean that you alt to say it, I even this last week had a situation where I had the power to say something, but probably I said it the wrong way. And that would dis cause disfavor among those who would've heard it and those who would've seen it and acted upon it. It would've been not favor favorable for me.

It would cause me not to gain favor. And, people say I just, I'm me and I'm gonna be who I am. You're right. God did make you unique and he did make you uniquely, But just because you're uniquely you, doesn't mean you've been given a license to just be anybody you wanna be.

What you're saying is that God cannot change you. That you're unchangeable that God's plan for your life is not going to effectuate anything about yourself. And let me say this, that is a terrible view of the world you live in. That is a terrible view of how you're living your.

And I will say this, it is a terrible idea of how to walk with God. There is an importance that comes with actually hearing God and trusting him and acting accordingly, or having your life changed or having your point of view changed or having the way you see the world changed. Abraham did.

You can see that in this passage when he is trying to get some property so he can bury his wife, Sarah says in verse three, Then Abraham stood up from before his dead and he spoke to the sons of he saying these are the Hittites and the sons of. Are the ones who live in the area of Hebron where he's at.

And he stands up and he says to them, I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. And what in this is Abraham, even though he's a great man, even though he's a great prince, even though the people around him did owe him a great debt, because he has defeated the kings of the North, he has been a.

Person of protection. For them, he has been a great source of economic power and economic benefit for them. They owe him a great deal. Abraham has a proper view of himself and he understands that he's not from their family lines. He's not from their people. He is a wander in their land. He's a sojourner in their land.

And even though he is the greatest of men that live at that time, and he's the greatest of men in that area, he is still not one of them. And he recognizes that. And he understands that he shouldn't be treated as someone special just because of his immense power and his immense wealth. He is someone who is humble as to who he is and his circumstances.

And remember, humility is not a picture of weakness. Humility is a picture of strength under. I wanna say that again. Humility is not weakness. Humility is strength under control. Oftentimes when I've dealt with people I've tried to deal with them kindly. I hope you do too. And when we deal with people kindly, sometimes, They take our kindness as weakness.

And for a person who wants to take my kindness as weakness they usually run into a rude awakening at the end because I am not going to be weak around them. However, I am going to do my best in always to be kind. To them and the moment they make it impossible for me to be kind then I have to be unkind because they are usually hurting others.

Taking my kindness for weakness. Abraham was not weak. Abraham was absolutely the strongest man in that area. He was powerful. He had a powerful group of people around him. He was able to defeat any king in that area. He was able to defeat any princes in that area. And everyone knew it.

Everyone knew it. However, just because he was strong, just because he was rich did not mean that he necessarily could just, or would do just what he wanted to do. He was a man of kindness. He was a man who did things the proper way. He was a man who did things in a way that brought, listened to. He did things in a way that brought honor and favor to God because he was a representation of God in the land that he lived in.

And that is great importance to get that so many Christians don't understand that we need to do things the proper way. You need to do things the right way and you need to do things always with other people. Feelings and other people's Other people's. I guess the best way for me to describe it is other people's interest in mind.

And if you don't have other people's interest in mind oftentimes you, you don't have favor with them. And I will say this sometimes you need a bull in a China shop. Sometimes you need a George Patton to to defeat the Germans. But a lot of times, That does not work well. It ends up destroying more than it helps.

And God does give us those people and God does bring us, bring those. God gives us the ss of his day. Who. Bring about destruction on those who need destruction. But the truth is that we're we are trophies and we are symbols of God's grace. And we do not always need to be seeking the destruction or things to be set right in such a way that destroys the interest of others.

Abraham stood up and he went to these people and he said, I understand who I. And I also understand who I am, not to you. He said, I'm a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And what he's saying is, I just want a place to bury my dead.

Please allow me. To buy that. And you say he said, Give me you're gonna see that he's not going to ask for it without any payment. He's gonna ask for them to give him an opportunity. Now, that's a big thing to ask for in this day because land land was not something that people gave up easily.

Land was their source of. And land was their source of income. And to give up a piece of land to someone was oftentimes to give up the blessings of the future. And in fact, the land, there is the land of promise and it is the land of blessing for the future. He said, he says here that and the sons of, he answered Abraham saying to him, Hear us, my Lord.

You are a mighty prince among us. Notice they recognize his. And they recognize his power. They rec recognize that Abraham is someone of great wealth and power, and they also recognize that he is someone that they he is someone that has always done right by those around him. And so he has great favor with the people he's talking to.

He says, Bear your, they say barrier dead in the choices of our burial. He's saying, they say, Listen, you choose the very best we have and we want you to because you are a great man, a great prince among us, and we want to honor you in this way. People don't honor people who have not. Who have not conducted themselves properly with them.

People do not honor you if you don't conduct yourself in the right way. A, around them, they honor you when you conduct yourself properly. They honor you when you do things the right way. They honor you when you set others' interest above your own. And if you're trying to gain honor if you're trying.

Gain importance in this world. Let me say this if you're a born again believer, the only way that's ever going to really happen in your life is that you do it the way God would have you do it. And the way you do that is that you grow in your wisdom, you grow physically, and that you grow in your knowledge of him.

And as you grow in your knowledge of him, you're gonna learn that the way you treat others. Is very important and it says that Abraham asked for a burial place and they said, Abraham, not only do we want you to bury your dead among us, you choose the choices of places. The best of places to bury your dead, and we're gonna give it to you.

And he says, None of us will hold withhold from you. His burial place that you may bury your dead. They, he says they we're not holding anything back from you. You choose, we're gonna give you the best. Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land and the sons of. Notice Abraham could have come in there and said, I want this land.

You're gonna give it to me. And they would've probably given it to him, and they probably would've done exactly what he said because he was obviously powerful enough to keep to conquer five kings who had come down from the north. He'd obviously been able to do that. He would've been able to conquer the sons of he, he would've been able to conquer the hit tights and take what he wanted, but he didn't do.

He came and asked, and when they acted rightly to him, he honored them. Notice he bowed down to them. He bowed before them and he was thankful that they had reciprocated his goodness that he'd shown them to him. And, that is one of the ways we do life well, is that we honor God.

By acting toward others in a loving and proper way. It says, he says, and he spoke with them, saying it. If it's your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and meet with Efron, the son of Zohar for me, that he may give me the cave at Mac Pillar. Which he has, which is at the end of the of his field.

What he's saying is I know where I want a barrier and I want you to go to this man and ask him for that cave. And he said, Let him give to me at the full price as property for a burial place among you. Notice he says, I wanna pay the price to, to. To get this piece of property to bury Sarah, and that is the final principle we need to talk about today, and that's the principle of if you want to gain favor with others, are you really willing to bear?

Are you willing, really will willing to pay the price necessary? For that to happen. Are you really willing to do what it takes to gain favor in other people's eyes and become someone of influence? If you're a wise person, if you're wise according to God's will in his ways, you will. If you're not, you will try to manipulate, you will try to cajole, you will try to wh and beg to get your.

And let me say this, that will never ever bring about the favor of men upon you, the favor of other people upon you. You've got to learn the ways of God. You've got to learn the character of God, and you got to learn to walk in that character. And if you don't learn how to do that, you're not gonna gain favor with either.

Or other people. And the reason you're not going to gain that favor is because God made all things and he made human beings, and he knows exactly what is required in order to walk rightly before him and before them. And if you're not willing to learn and to be changed into that, you'll never have it.

And that's the way life is, and that's the way God is. And so I would say to you that we have been a church and we have been a people who've done right by the people around us. We've done right by the people that God has sent our way. We've learned to love them, and we're learning how to love them greater and care more about their needs.

We've even started a care ministry. This week and we're, we are doing our best to learn how to care for those in our community that God might send more and more for us to care for us to grow, for us to mature, for us to see the kingdom of God at work in the world we live in. We must learn how to do that.

If we don't learn how to do that, we will just be your average everyday church that never really ever does anything. And let me tell you something that is a sad commentary on the Church of America today, but it's a true one. Most churches never, ever really accomplish anything kingdom wise, anything that measures up even close to the power and the presence of God that is promised to us.

And that's usually because they do not gain favor. With the community that they live in, they don't not for game favor with the people that they live among.

As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus' name.