Genesis 23 – Living Like Sojourners

This sermon is from Genesis chapter 23 and is entitled, Living Like Sojourners.

Genesis 23 · chapter mention

It was delivered to Ekklesia churches on Sunday, September 20th, 2026.

The life of Abraham is now nearing its end, and he is forced to deal with some of the

realities of being a sojourner or a traveler in this land that he's in. He has spent the majority

of his life in this land that has been promised to his future generations, but that he doesn't

own a single square inch of yet. And the reality of this really hits home for Abraham when his wife

dies in the opening few verses of chapter 23. Suddenly, living the life of a wanderer raises

some very practical yet very hard questions like, where am I supposed to bury my wife?

And this practical question leads Abraham to make some very concrete choices over what

it means to live as a sojourner, yet with hope of a kingdom that has yet to come.

In that way, we have a lot in common with Abraham's current situation.

In fact, he will describe himself in verse 4 as a sojourner and a foreigner in the land that he's in.

And these are almost exactly the words that the Apostle Peter uses to describe Christians in 1 Peter 2, verse 11.

1 Peter 2:11

He says,

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

The life of a Christian is really defined by this reality that our citizenship is in a kingdom

that while it has been inaugurated or begun in Christ, it still has yet to come in fullness.

This life is described often by theologians as an already but not yet kingdom. The tension

between the present spiritual war, but also with our hope firmly planted in the finished work of

Jesus and with our eyes fixed on him as we await his return. I don't think there's any time when

we are so clearly aware of this tension than when, like Abraham, we are presented with the reality

of earthly death. I can think of very few other times than when we are mourning a loss of a loved

one that we yearn more for the return of Jesus. And yet, because we place our hope in Jesus,

We don't grieve like those who have no hope because we believe in the resurrection of Jesus.

Our hope is in his return.

So the question for us to consider today is not just one of death, but actually it's one of life.

If we are living in the certainty that Jesus is coming back and he is our hope, how does our life reflect that?

Does it cause us to deal with hard things differently?

Does it cause us to invest our lives and treasure in different things?

Does it cause us to live in a way that points the generations after us to the hope of Jesus?

The question that I really want you to consider today in this passage is,

does the way that I am living reflect a hope in the kingdom that is coming?

Let's read the first part of this passage in Genesis 23.

This is verses 1 through 9.

burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight. The Hittites answered Abraham,

Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs.

None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.

Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. And he said to them,

If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron,

the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave at Machpelah, which he owns. It is at the end of his

field. For the full price, let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.

I love how we have this pause in the first part of the chapter to recount the life of Sarah and

recognize her. Sarah is, in fact, the only woman in Genesis to be recognized with one of these

lifespan statements, which really indicates her importance in this story of redemption.

She's not just a side character in a narrative that's about Abraham. She is one of the main

characters in this story. And from Abraham's perspective, this is a moment of deep grief

over a woman he has celebrated 100 years of marriage with.

This woman who followed him into this land

and witnessed his failures and his growth

and brought Isaac into the world and raised him to manhood.

My wife and I have been married for almost 15 years

and I can't stand the thought of being parted from her.

And Abraham genuinely mourns the death of his wife.

But he doesn't stay there.

verse 3 says he rose up and he begins to make arrangements with the people of the land and one

of the hard realities of dealing with death in any time period is that life does kind of keep moving

forward when you lose someone that's close to you the last thing that you want to do is make decisions

and plan things and deal with people yet that is what is required of those left behind and abraham

doesn't shy away from this. He steps up to the occasion, which has a particular problem. Moving

from place to place is easy for the living, but in this culture where tombs are cut into rock

and designed for many generations of a family, where is Abraham to bury Sarah?

Now, Abraham could have gone back to the land of his kin, to where his brother lives. In fact,

we know that Abraham has knowledge of the family of his brother back home because they're mentioned

at the end of the last chapter. That's what most people in his position would have done.

But Abraham has a different perspective than most people. Abraham has the perspective of the promise.

Abraham doesn't want to bury Sarah outside of Canaan because he has this confidence in the

future that God has promised. He believes that the future home of his people will be in the land of

Canaan. And so his planning keeps that right at the forefront. This is not Abraham trying to force

God's hand by buying a piece of the land promised to him prematurely. This is an act of faith by

Abraham that he believes that one day the generations after him will be given this kingdom.

God has promised an entire country to them.

And so Abraham is essentially saying, give me just enough space to wait here until that

happens.

And he even has a place picked out.

Now, for the record, Abraham really is as rich as a prince.

These guys aren't kidding when they call him a prince of God.

He probably could have bought or taken any place among the Hittites that he desired.

But he's not going to take the promised land and he's not going to buy it.

He's going to wait.

Even if that takes him to the grave first, he will wait for the promise of God.

The life of a follower of Jesus is like Abraham's life, not without pain and not without heartache

and not without loss.

In fact, Jesus is far clearer on this than most preachers are today.

The invitation of Christ is to a certain kind of death, to self.

Luke 9.24, Jesus says,

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Paul says in Galatians 2.20,

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And in Philippians 1.21, Paul says,

For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Christians are not immune to loss.

We just have a different perspective on it.

And that perspective leads us to live through suffering and loss differently.

We still grieve at the loss of those we love.

But we don't grieve as those without hope, particularly for those who have died trusting

in Jesus.

We still suffer through all kinds of circumstances in which we can see that life is not as it

should be.

Sickness breaks the bodies of those we love, and sometimes we witness it breaking our own

body as well.

Dreams that we had for the future fail to come together in the way and the time that

we thought they would.

And yet, as sojourners in this life, we can continue walking in faith, knowing that the

one who keeps his promises walks with us, and that his eternal kingdom is closer every

day.

And because we treasure Jesus above all else, that also impacts what else we treasure.

So let's read this negotiation that happens between Abraham and a Hittite named Ephron.

This is verses 10 through 16.

of the land. And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land,

But if you will, hear me. I give you the price of the field. Accept it from me that I may bury

my dead there. Ephron answered Abraham, My lord, listen to me. A piece of land worth

400 shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.

Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named

in the hearing of the Hittites, 400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current

among the merchants.

So there are a few things that we need to understand about ancient negotiations that

will help us to put together what's really going on here.

There is a form of haggling over the price that's happening here, but it's a little

different, reversed actually, from what we would experience in most places today. So haggling today,

usually the seller starts at a price that they know is too high. And then the buyer counters with

a price that they know is probably too low. And then they work their way to the middle-ish and

everyone is more or less satisfied or equally unhappy at least. And the price is kind of what

they've haggled over. The ancient negotiation was actually not so much fueled by profit or price

as it was by honor, a different kind of currency. So in this case, the seller actually started with

a price that everyone knew was too low, which made them appear insanely generous. They would have been

honored for this. And then the buyer would come back and give a price that was obviously too high,

making them appear to be the generous one. Remember, these negotiations aren't a silent

auction. They're happening in front of the prominent members of the community. So it's

really a performance to see who will appear more generous. And then they both walk away with a more

or less fair transaction. So when Ephron begins by saying, I will give you the cave and the field,

we already know that he has no plans to give away this property. We know that he's only trying to

appear extremely generous. Receiving the cave as a gift, even if it were a legitimate offer,

is also a non-starter for Abraham. Because the problem with a gift is that it can be taken back

by future generations. So what Abraham desires, even more than a cave, is a receipt, a kind of

proof of ownership for the sake of the generations to come, so that Ephron's descendants don't cause

issues for the children of Abraham when it comes to this burying place. So Abraham chooses not to

participate in this little charade, and instead of countering, he asks a second time for a price.

Why? Well, because he's not trying to get a good deal, and he's not trying to impress the other

Hittites. What he wants is a completely undisputed ownership claim over this tiny field and cave for

burial place. The price, therefore, has to come exclusively from Ephron to be ironclad.

Apparently, Ephron thinks that he has the upper hand here, standing among his peers. He realizes

this is not a standard negotiation. And he thinks to himself, you know, I think I can get away with

the honor and the money here. And so instead of following the standard negotiating plan,

And he pivots as well and lists a price that is unbelievably high at 400 shekels.

This is like six pounds of purified silver, which is extraordinarily high.

But he still follows it up with this phrase, what is that between you and me?

So he looks at this field with the cave and he says, oh, you know, it's probably worth

a million dollars, but you can have it, Abraham.

And Abraham, to the astonishment of everyone, says, done.

And he brings forth the silver and he weighs it and he pays it.

To the onlookers at this negotiation, it looked like Abraham was a little crazy.

But that's because Ephron and the Hittites valued something different from Abraham.

For Ephron, this negotiation was an opportunity to increase his own treasure and his own glory.

But for Abraham, this was an opportunity to invest his treasure and desire the glory of God.

Abraham has a long history of viewing treasure and reputation differently from those around him.

And remember, after entering the land with Lot, he gave first choice to his nephew, trusting

God's promise and not his own eyes and desires.

And after coming back with these spoils of war in the valley, he refuses to keep it because

he didn't want anyone but God to receive the credit for any of his success.

And now he sees this earthly wealth as something to be invested as a statement to future generations.

about his confidence in what God will do.

And God does keep his promise.

And his inheritance is even larger than just Canaan.

Paul in Romans 4.13 describes Abraham as actually inheriting the world

because of his faith in God and God's salvation.

So while Ephron insincerely said that a small fortune was nothing to him,

Abraham's sincere actions show us that he treasured God's promised kingdom more than any amounts of earthly wealth.

See, if we are driven by the values of a coming kingdom, we should treasure different things in this one.

Modern culture might not play quite the same game with these negotiation of prices,

but people still live to keep up a facade.

buying houses and cars, and the appearance of wealth, whether we can afford it or not,

making a god of our careers or our education or hobbies or sports, you name it,

maintaining the American image of someone who can have it all and do it all

and fit perfectly in with the culture around us.

But if we are residents of a kingdom that is not our own,

if we are sojourners living in a kingdom that is coming,

that cannot be us. If we are viewing our resources, be that finances or time or our home,

as investments in the kingdom of God, what would change? Would you open your home and schedule

more often to show people hospitality and the love of Jesus? Would you spend your money

differently than you do now? Would you continue investing your time in the things that you are

right now? I'm not telling you to empty your schedule and empty your bank account. I'm saying

that God says the things you choose to treasure will always direct your heart. And it is the

responsibility of every follower of Jesus to regularly ask what kingdom your treasure is in.

And an equally important question is, what are we teaching the next generation to treasure

by our example?

What kind of legacy are we leaving?

So let's read these last few verses, verses 17 through 20.

So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the

cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field throughout its whole area

was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites. Before all who went in

at the gate of his city, after this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field

of Machpelah, east of Mamre, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is

in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

So at long last, in verse 18 of chapter 23, Abraham finally possesses his first piece of ground

in the land God promised in the land of Canaan. It's but a tiny token piece, one small foothold

in this land that God will give to the descendants of Abraham. And to understand the significance of

this small piece of property, we actually have to zoom out and look at what happens in the

generations that follow. So Isaac will be buried in this cave by his sons. Jacob, his son, will ask

to be buried there and not in Egypt where he spends his final days. Even Joseph, his son,

will ask to be carried out of Egypt because he trusts that God will bring his people to the land

he promised. And in Exodus, Moses ensures that they do exactly that. There's this common faith

through multiple generations of Abraham's descendants, that God is going to fulfill

his promise. And this field with this tomb becomes not just a memorial to the dead,

but to the promise of the living God. This is the legacy of faith that Abraham leaves.

It is a legacy of hope in the promise that God made and kept. The sobering truth is that even

after seeing the promise of God to give them this promised land, the people of God are only ever

one generation away from forgetting. In Joshua, we see the fulfillment of this promised land,

but by the second chapter of Judges, the following book, we see a different generation take shape.

Judges 2 verse 10 says, and all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. They died.

Judges 2:10

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

What kind of legacy are you leaving to the next generation through the example that you are setting?

What is your life a monument to?

And I want to be really clear that this is not just an invitation to parents.

When you come into the family of Jesus, you take on the role of older brother or sister in the Lord to many.

There are numerous others who are looking to your example as a follower of Christ.

And I know this may feel like a foreign concept in a day and age that prioritizes individual expression and freedom of identity.

But when you understand that you are a representative of Christ and of his kingdom to the people

around you, your perspective on your own behavior starts to change.

When you realize that the priorities you have and the monuments you build will continue

to impact the generation that comes after you for good or ill, you really start to think

about those differently.

Moms and dads, this gets really concrete when we start to consider the ways in which we

are leading our children, praying with them, reading scripture to them. Yes, those things,

but also modeling what following Jesus is supposed to look like. If our kids don't ever see us reading

the Bible, what makes us think that they are going to do any differently? I'm not trying to guilt trip,

and there's so much grace for us from the heart of God, but I do want us to realize that every day

and every choice that we make is laying the foundation of this monument built by our own

example. And that monument will either point the watching world and the next generation to Jesus,

or it won't. I don't want you to think that the answer is just try harder or do better.

That might get some kind of result in behavior, but I don't think at its root, this is just about

behavior modification. I think it's a heart issue. Abraham didn't act in this counterintuitive way

when it came to treasure and reputation because he was trying to be a good person. If you look back,

all of the best things that Abraham ever did, the greatest demonstrations of faith came out of a

heart that was caught up in the beauty of the coming kingdom of God. It was in those moments

that he was so in awe at the glory of God and the provision of God, the certainty of his coming

kingdom, that he acted out of character for a sinful man and instead acted because he was

convinced in the character of the God who called him. And by contrast, the worst failures of

Abraham's life occurred when he forgot the reality of God and his promised kingdom.

Can I just tell you, I'm right in that same boat.

This describes my life and probably many of you who are listening.

I need to be reminded to live in the light of a kingdom that has come with Christ and

is coming in full when he returns.

I don't need to just try harder so much as I need to see Jesus more clearly.

Because when you see Jesus for all that he is, everything changes.

changes. Your priorities change because your heart changes. And this world so desperately needs to

know the heart of God through people who have had their hearts changed by him. I believe with all

my heart that Jesus is coming back. And on that day, the kingdom that has been his all along will

be fully realized. And until that day comes, I don't want my life to be about anything else so

as it is about the glory of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.