Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.thegathering.hk/sermons/100455/the-beginning-of-the-end/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Morning, everyone. Oh, nice and loud. Thanks, Alex. Thank you very much. Just to reiterate, for the retreat in December, How many people can I help and support and come as well?

[0:33] Okay, so that's part of what we do as a family. So do not feel as though, oh, that's going to be the problem. Please do not let that be the problem. Anyway, last week we had a climax, the climax of Genesis 22, of Abraham finally offering Isaac up to the altar.

[0:51] I watched a movie this week, which also had a very strong climax, The Odyssey. Can you put your hand up if you've watched The Odyssey? Gauzy watched it? Yes. Juju and I are actually talking about, can I have the feedback down a little bit on the speaker?

[1:04] I'm hearing, we're talking about starting a movie club to talk about this film. It's so good. As climaxes go, it's pretty strong. I won't spoil anything, though, again, I've told Gabs this before you watched it.

[1:17] You've had 3,000 years to find out about the story, so you deserve to have his support for you if you still haven't watched it. The climax last week was pretty epic. You have Abraham, who's waited for 25 years for this son.

[1:30] And then finally, he does it, and I share the story about my dad before he passed, kneeling down at the cross in our church, just in tears, telling me, James, promise me one thing. Focus on him.

[1:41] Be true to your calling. Say yes when he calls you to go, and that's been the marker of my life all the way till now. I imagined Abraham and Isaac at the cross at Calvary when Abraham sees Jesus on the cross.

[1:54] Imagining, by the way, this does not happen. Different time. But just imagining, given what he had gone through in Genesis 22, given that he was willing to give his son, whom he loved, to God, and then seeing God do the exact same thing, going, now I know, now I know, this God, this Father, loves us so dearly that he would not withhold his only son.

[2:14] Thankfully for Abraham, he offers up Isaac, but then God says, no, stop. I have a replacement for you. I have a substitute for you. There's a ram there that you can use instead.

[2:25] But at the cross, you see, God does not say, stop. He says, in fact, he says nothing. Psalm 22, Jesus quotes the words, why, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[2:40] For our sake, because of his love for us, he turns away from his son, whom he loves, so that we can live again. That was the climax of last week.

[2:54] And going back to the Odyssey, one of the things that really struck me, of course, who knows whether Odysseus was a real person or not. But the story itself, what Nolan tried to do was just depict this character who had gone on a journey, was a sojourner, but also was filled with grief.

[3:12] Right? And that's kind of what carried him through all the way. It made me think the journeys that we're on and the grief that we hold, whether there's moments where there are true gladness, joy, of what God's given us, but you and me would both be lying if we didn't say that our lives also bring us with grief nearly every day.

[3:35] And we look here now, post-climax, we see a really interesting passage here where, actually, Abraham deals with grief. I always have a saying, which is, I really love talking to people who are acquainted with grief.

[3:52] Not because of any weird thing, but because when I look into their eyes, I know that they know that this life is not all there is. That there's a soberness to it. There's a clarity to life that I think only grief can give you.

[4:07] And you see here what Abraham does with grief is he points to eternity. He points himself to eternity, and it's through a seemingly very mundane, trivial, real estate transaction.

[4:22] And that's what we're going to be doing today. We had the climax of Genesis 22, and now we come down to something that's seemingly very earthly, very mundane, and very tragic, and we're going to see what the Lord has in store for us.

[4:34] I'm going to invite Sonny to come up to minister to us and read to us the Word of God. So as per our tradition, can I invite you to stand out of reverence and awe for the Word that's about to be spoken over us.

[4:46] Genesis 23. Genesis 23. Sarah's Death and Burial. Sarah lived 127 years. These were the years in the life of Sarah.

[4:56] And Sarah died at Kiri at Arba, that is Huron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, I am a sojourner and foreigner among you.

[5:14] Give me property among you for a burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight. The Hittites answered Abraham, Abraham, hear us, my lord.

[5:24] You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choices of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.

[5:36] 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 of Machpelah, which he owns.

[5:54] 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. Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites and Ephron, the Hittite, answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites of all who went in at the gate of his city.

[6:14] No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead.

[6:26] Then Abraham bowed down before the people 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 the price of the field.

[6:37] Accept it for me that I may bury my dead there. Ephron answered Abraham, My lord, listen to me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me?

[6:50] 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. Four hundred shekels of silver.

[7:02] According to the weights the current among the merchants. So the field of Ephron and 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.

[7:26] After this Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre that is Huron 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.

[7:43] This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, Sonny. Please take a seat. Alina, when you read the Bible do you find every passage that you read just exciting and invigorating and something that you can take away?

[7:58] That was not me on Monday morning. When I read that passage again I was like okay we had just such a great time going through Genesis 22. One passage that everyone is familiar with and then we reached 23 and I'm like okay well where do we go with this?

[8:11] What is it Lord that you are trying to show us in this? But before that though if you have your Bibles which I do hope you do I haven't shamed people for a while paper Bibles. Paper Bibles is the way to heaven is the way to salvation.

[8:23] The apps will not get you there unfortunately. That's what it says in the Bible. You should read it. Genesis chapter if it's your first time here I'm joking. Kind of. Pass it aggressively. Now the end of 22 is really interesting.

[8:37] 22 is this fascinating passage right? But for some reason the author decides to leave a couple sentences at the end just after the whole epic incident on the hill. and then he says now after these things it was told to Abraham behold Milca also has born children to your brother Nahor Uz his firstborn Buzz his brother Chemuel the father of Abraham Hesed Hazo anyway I'll hold this to names and moreover his concubine whose name was Rumah bore Teber Gaham Tahash and Maka.

[9:05] Isn't it interesting that that's just a random piece of information there that he leaves in one of the most key chapters in the whole Bible. I don't know if you find it interesting. I did. Interestingly because his brother Nahor 25 years ago was not called out of Ur so he didn't have to leave home.

[9:21] He stayed home he didn't have to take a leap of faith to go out and away. Almost just to rub salt in the wounds is Abraham has just offered his son his only son whom he loves his only chance of livelihood his social future is based on this one son he offers him up and then suddenly he receives news from home saying hey do you remember that brother that you left who actually doesn't follow God and doesn't believe in God and is still worshipping the moons he has so many kids is basically what it's saying.

[9:48] Isn't it fascinating? When you take that leap of faith to follow God you don't know where he's going to lead you don't know how he's going to provide for you and most often it doesn't make sense. Abraham's like wait I was told to leave my home and then you'll bless me with family and my family land right now I don't really have much whereas my brother Sarah who didn't listen to you doesn't have a relationship with you is at home living at large with 12 kids and tribes how's that fair?

[10:23] What does that even mean? Don't you think it's funny that the author here just seems to have a sense of humour here who's kind of just showing hey what we see in this world is not all there is there is more to it and then sadly 23 starts Sarah lived 127 years these were the years of the life of Sarah and then she dies is what it says the consequence of the curse even though there are promises that are made to him and his family there is the consequence of this curse which still remains which is that we will die Genesis 25 that whole list of descendants and he died and he died and he died and you'll die and you'll die and you'll die and I'll die and we will all die isn't it sobering when we talk about acts of faith when we talk about trusting when we talk about choosing faith over fear we also still must acknowledge that there is death death is still very much part of the picture here in fact Abraham's in a bit of a weird place now he had two promises given to him one that you'll have family and two your family will have land he's received one through just Isaac but he's not got any land and then it carries on here and it talks about it verse 3 he goes to the Hittites which at that point were again a prominent people along with the Egyptians along with the you know eventually with the Greeks so the Hittites were a big group and so they were the ones who were kind of owning

[11:46] Canaan right now and so Abraham goes to them and says this I am a sojourner and foreigner among you give me property among you for a burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight brackets God had promised me family and he had promised my family all of this land but actually up until this point I do not own a single piece of land I only have one son and now my wife has died and actually when we left 26 years ago I promised her I told her God said that we would have lots and lots of land and lots and lots of descendants but sadly she's now dead and she had two sons one who we sent away well Ishmael wasn't really her son but then Abraham I offered up and now she's gone and I as a husband was not able to show her what God had promised us I want us to feel a little bit of just the pain and heartache that Abraham would have gone through maybe his husband sits with wife his wife sits with husband going what were the dreams that we had to sail away to enjoy our future together all the things that God had promised us together and now we sit and now he sits here with grief going didn't get any of it couldn't even give my wife a house is what he's saying

[13:00] I'm a sojourner and a foreigner and I couldn't give her a house could you at least give me a cave to bury her they respond to him by saying verse 6 here is my lord you are a prince of God among us bury your dead in the choices of our tombs none of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead so they like him so again he's a wealthy man remember he's a wealthy Genesis 13 he had so much money he had to split from his nephew so he's got a lot of people a lot of cattle and of course a lot of tents in the camp of Abraham and they know him and they say hey you're a prince of God wouldn't that be great to just be described as that by people outside of the faith there's something about you that is just different you're a prince of God and hey you do look we know you've been living a sojourner we know you're a foreigner which means we don't really want to give you our land but hey just take your pick where do you want to bury your wife you do that and so then he says to them if you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight hear me and entreat for me

[14:02] Ephron the son of Zohar that he may give the cave of Machpelah actually something else just interesting here is he's a foreigner he's a sojourner and yet he still acts with integrity at every step of the way to the point where other people on the outside look in and go you're a good guy I would love for us all to be there I would love for people to look at me outside in that same way and so he he goes there is actually one piece of land actually it's just a cave it's the end of this field owned by a guy called Ephron if you can speak to Ephron and I can buy that cave off him so I can bury my wife that's all I want brackets despite God has promised me so much yeah I'm not getting any of it I'm just going to buy the cave verse 10 now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites of all who went in at the gate of the city remember the gate of the city is a very important place remember Lot was hanging out at the gate of the city it's the place where all the transactions are done okay this is this is the interactive brokers of the day and this is where they sit and wait and actually everything is made official and exchanged here everyone knows about it so Ephron is sat there and he's going okay and then a fascinating interaction happens and this is where it gets into literal real estate business transaction here and he says this no Lord hear me

[15:24] I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it in the sight of my sons of my people I give it to you bury your dead interesting here Abraham asks for a cave he only wants a cave but then Ephron comes to him out of this kind of it seems as though it seems warm and kind of generous he says hey don't just take the cave take the field take the field my sons can see it take it bury your dead and do what it is that you need to do on the surface this looks like a good piece of generosity but we actually if you keep going down further you'll see that it actually isn't bury your dead then Abraham bowed down before the land of the people again showing respect even though they don't worship his God he still respects the society and the structures that are in place and he said to Ephron in the hearing of people but if you will hear me I will give the price of the field accept it from me that I may bury my dead there Abraham's like thank you so much for offering me this cave and this field but I insist I want to buy it off you what's Abraham thinking he's thinking okay well you might say yes to me now but your kids might not say yes to me in the next generations and then you'll take that field and that cave back off me again unless we make it legal so he's respecting the structures that are in place for society honoring them and also insisting that he does not take shortcuts but he does not cut corners in this he lives as a man of faith and of integrity and he says please let me buy the field and this is where

[16:46] Ephron's true colors are exposed and he says this Ephron answers Abraham my lord listen to me a piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver what is that between me and you you and me it's okay it's just you and me 400 shekels of silver this is where you know it's been exposed because 400 shekels of silver is actually about 40 years of wage I put it into AI and it's the equivalent would probably be about 5 million Hong Kong what people what scholars believe here is that he's charging an exorbitant price for the field that Abraham only wants to the cave can you see he's showing his true colors here and actually if you've been in the Middle East if you've even done any kind of bargaining and kind of negotiation this is typical Middle Eastern negotiating and actually if Abraham at this point said oh thanks

[17:46] I'll take the cave I'll take the field thank you very much there would have been chaos but instead there was this almost superficial negotiation that gets Abraham to the point where he pays full market price for a piece of land that he didn't actually want he just wanted a cave to bury his wife whom he had promised so much and she had passed without seeing any of it this was a grieving man if you look at just verse 2 Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her just the grief that comes and all he wants is the cave and he's pulled into this fascinating thing that happens with Ephraim so Ephraim was like fine I will charge you the 400 shekels of silver and he does that and even then Abraham listened to Ephraim and Abraham weighed out for Ephraim 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 even then even the weighing of the silver was still it was still saying hey we're going to decide and it will fluctuate depending on how much silver there is and back in those days there were less silver than actually there is now so this was a very very expensive piece of property that he was buying for his wife so they do it and what can we learn from this whole story and that's it and as I was sitting there this weekend what can we see from this passage that we can actually take away from and the first thing is that you see a grieving sojourner who was very much willing to grieve

[19:16] I can tell you this I always hold grief and gratitude hand in hand there's not a moment that goes by in my life where I don't look and go there are things that I'm grieving there are things that I've lost every yes I say yes everything I say yes to there are ten no's that I have to say no to we all carry grief in some way that's almost part and parcel of this life here and yet you see a grieving sojourner living in a certain way where he doesn't get the promises fulfilled and we now sit here and we have the whole bible and we see Hebrews 11 that's filled with all these great things said about Abraham at this point he doesn't know he just knows that the wife that he loved is now dead and she didn't get what was promised and in his last act of honour to her last act of love to her who no doubt I mean those of you who have moved house a lot of times will know how painful it is so again

[20:21] I'm projecting here but there'll be a moment where the wife's going can we just settle down now I'm so tired of this tent Abraham didn't you say that God had promised us this land forever for our descendants why are we still living in this tent and this tent has a leak it's just horrible and dark and dingy he doesn't do anything until she passes and he insists on paying full price for this land he is a grieving sojourner but he is pointing to eternity he's pointing himself to eternity and I'll show you why the reason why he insists on buying this land is because he doesn't just believe that God's promise was about giving them the land in their lifetime remember last chapter last week what does Abraham believe in?

[21:11] he believes that there's a chance actually there's a big chance that God can raise Isaac from the dead that's why he's willing to offer he's like I don't know how it's going to happen even if I have to sacrifice and kill Isaac some way Hebrews 11 says this Abraham thought don't worry even if I offer Isaac up God will raise him from the dead somehow so Abraham believes in the resurrection from the dead so the reason why he buys this land for his wife who never got to see the land is hey I know I didn't get you this land in your lifetime but I assure you this when you resurrect you will resurrect in the place that God promised you that's why he bought this land because he's saying this will be a marker this will be a deposit this will be a down payment for our future because the promise that we receive from God isn't in this lifetime it's for the next one and the moment Sarah you wake up the moment you resurrect you will be resurrecting in the lands that God promised you because of that I am willing to pay above market price for this land so that when you wake up when not if when you wake up when you are resurrected you will be in exactly the place that God promised you he's not going to take any shortcuts because there was another way that he could have done this which was not bury her just cremate her just get it out of the way why does he need to engage with the locals get this favor from them or pay so much for them he didn't have to do any of that he never he'd held restraint all this time anyway why buy her the land now she's not nagging anymore and yet in his eyes there's something that needs to be done here that is beyond their life beyond their lifetime so he's going to insist on buying this land and because it was done in the presence of all these other leaders around the city around the gate this transaction would be official and it would pass down the generations guess who ends up getting buried there in the future not just Sarah but Abraham himself and then Isaac and it continues and continues just another moment of sentimental value here this place in Hebron is basically where after they split with the nephew Lot so Lot goes this way and they go this way and they set up in Hebron it would have been where they settled those many years ago and so he's like no

[23:18] I'm putting a deposit on this a down payment for this this is for our future he sees something beyond death it makes me think how do we approach our earthly things now do we approach them with an eternal mindset I once heard a quote that I've shared many many times before that there are two most important days in your life today and that day today the day that you're living in right now and that day when you meet your creator those are the only two important days in your life and our prayer is that that day impacts the way you live today when was the last time you made an investment that didn't really make sense in an earthly sense but makes absolute sense in an eternal sense when was the last time you invested your time your resources your money your efforts your love into something or someone or some project with eternity in mind if we're honest with ourselves that doesn't really happen because we make investments for this life we choose to put time into studying so we can invest into getting the grades that we need to get to the university that we need to get to the job that we need so we can get the lifestyle that we need all in this life but when was the last time we said

[24:33] I'm going to make an investment that I'm not going to see that the world isn't really going to understand but it is so much bigger than what I experience in this life and there's going to be a moment where I'm going to experience it in eternity where my wife is going to wake up and she's going to be in paradise do we here live with eternity in mind it's impossible to go through the book of the story of Abraham without looking at Hebrews 11 so I want to turn to us there for the next bit and then I'm actually going to invite a friend up so if you can stay awake until then I promise you it will get more interesting after that Hebrews chapter 11 growing up always I've used this I've felt this was just a just a hall of fame of people who just put their trust in the Lord who never put a foot wrong who never made a mistake who lived life completely trusting in their God but what I have more recently seen is that is not the case you look and Abraham by the way is the one who's had the most written about him 11 verse 8 by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance by faith he obeyed so that's the thing he obeys and goes out not knowing what he's going to get not knowing where he's going to go and he went out not knowing where he was going to go verse 8 by faith he went to live in the land of promise the land that was promised to him he lived there in faith living in tents with

[25:57] Isaac and Jacob why because he was looking forward verse 11 sorry verse 10 for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God just step with me into the life of Abraham again he's promised this big land he goes leaves everything he's ever known and goes and lives there and he lives in tents never settles down and somewhere along the way things turn and he realizes that he's not actually living for Canaan anymore he's living for a city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God he's going further away I think that's a bit of the life that we have as followers of Christ is in the early stages when we choose to follow Jesus it's because he's going to help us find purpose he's going to help us find meaning he's going to help us find and some of us think he's going to help us find bring health and wealth and we're just going to be much more happy and that's often how we start and I'm not saying that's all terribly wrong but I'm saying that would be a real terrible shame if that's where we stayed and so then what happens is as we start following Jesus we end up at the place where actually

[26:58] Jesus I'm kind of losing interest in the gifts that you're going to give me and I'm more interested in you because those gifts have got to come from somewhere and the kingdom of God is the gift that keeps on giving so I'd rather come towards you and that's where you end up King David Psalm 27 says the one thing I ask now the one thing I seek is to dwell in the house of the Lord to gaze upon his beauty to inquire in his temple all I care about is you now the life of a believer those seasons those cycles that we go through the whole objective is to get to a place where Jesus I want you more than the things that you can give me and recognizing especially that I may not even get it Hebrews 11 verse 13 these 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 earth Abraham is there he speaks to the Hittites and says I am a sojourner a foreigner I am a stranger I am an exile this doesn't really belong to me anymore if we could all just get there to a place where we look at the comforts and luxuries and excitement and the gifts of a city like Hong Kong and go and yet I desire a better country

[28:12] I desire a city whose builder and foundation and designer is God himself this isn't enough with that said what we're praying for is that actually heaven would come onto earth every time I walk into Hong Kong Park I'm like what a beautiful park surrounded by these incredible buildings reminds me a little bit of just the book of Revelation where there's going to be it's going to be a garden city but the whole point is and again remember my wife loves trees that's why we have a tree in our church but if you just look even look around anywhere that's nice and hip and cool these days whether it's Hong Kong or if you like Shenzhen then you go to Shenzhen and you see all these what do you Trevor's like yes amen all these malls all these places that are cool what do they have trees there's something in our hearts that are just crying just yearning for this garden city actually the good things in the city in reality actually point us towards those things Abraham gets to the point where he acknowledges and sees them from afar but he recognizes he's a stranger and an exile and he's now looking for something else

[29:18] I wonder whether we can live with that kind of heart it's funny he buys his land they end up staying there and this is where my conclusion is before I bring other people up you fast forward to the end of Genesis Joseph remember they end up in Egypt right and Joseph is very very powerful he's not a sojourner he's not a stranger he's not an exile he's the second most powerful man in Egypt and when he dies what does he make them promise take my bones I do not want to be in Egypt because our people our family were promised a land in Canaan so when you leave and God will come and deliver you from Egypt and when you leave and come take my bones with you and wander in the desert for 40 years he didn't know that but take them with you wherever you go because I want my bones to be buried with my ancestors with my great great great grandmother my great great great grandfather why because God promised us something that we will realize maybe not in this lifetime but in eternity we will so take my bones home please is what Joseph is saying he lived with that eternal mindset just like

[30:21] Abraham Abraham of course had this interaction with Ephron and Ephron thinks he gets a great deal five million Hong Kong for a field and a cave that he doesn't really use anymore and yet what he doesn't realize is that Abraham actually gets the better side of the deal that Abraham paid 400 shekels of silver for his family to have the whole land of Canaan the whole of the promised land he just won't see it just yet Abraham himself doesn't see it Sarah definitely didn't see it and yet Abraham lived with that kind of faith it reminds me of Judas not for 400 shekels he just had a bag of 30 coins and he exchanges it how often do we deal in the earthly thinking we just want the best deals that we can here when God's calling us to live with eternity in mind to look at something far greater the truth is everything that we have here will fade away it will go it will rot it's interesting when Jesus comes in John 8 he was talking to the people who are who are you are you greater than Abraham and then he really annoys them by saying some stuff but John chapter 8 verse 56 says this your father

[31:37] Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day he saw it and was glad Jesus quotes their founding father of the faith and says your founding father saw this day he saw me and he was glad which is why he was willing to make a down payment a deposit into a future that he wouldn't even see because he saw the city he saw the better country and he was glad would we all be like Abraham and recognize and acknowledge that everything that we have promised to us from this book from God himself we may not even realize before death and that's how we can grieve that's why 1 Thessalonians 4 says we grieve not as those who have no hope because we have an eternal inheritance that awaits us that we won't see here you can count on it but yet the moment Jesus comes the moment

[32:39] Jesus the one who's resurrected comes back for us the moment we're all woken up raised from the dead we will be in the land of promise and where he will rule with grace and truth and peace and love in a kingdom that will never end that is the hope that we have that is what we are going for Jesus the son of God himself who was outcast who became a sojourner and a foreigner and a stranger and an exile ends up sacrificing himself his tomb becomes a deposit for our life and now he lives and his spirit lives inside us and that is the deposit and the guarantor of our faith do we recognize that can we live by that that the great climax is not here yet we live in the already but not yet we're waiting for the moment where our king comes back for us and makes all wrongs right when you are grieving when you are sojourning can I encourage you to look at the cross can I encourage you to look at Jesus and see that there is something beyond the grave can I encourage you to look at the empty tomb and remember there is something beyond the grave

[34:06] I'm going to invite a dear friend up now to have a chat I'll tell you what we're trying to do here trying to have different ways for us to engage in scripture together and engage with each other together together and so we had J1 last week come and share with us what it means to trust what it means to wrestle with that trust and this week I'm going to have a dear friend Queenie come up to talk about this passage again I've given some advance notice for people who come up they've been chewing over this passage as well and the goal is actually at some point maybe there's going to be some Q&A where we can actually talk about this and engage in the word of God together as a community once we get to that stage where we have questions coming I can assure you I won't know the answer to every question but I think the whole point of this is that we engage with scripture together and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us so can we give a warm round of applause to Queenie hello hello

[35:08] Queenie I always like to joke about what you do but I would love you to introduce yourself to the people and what it is God has called you to do in the place you are working thanks James I'm a barrister I'm the lawyer that goes to court sometimes people ask me if I make good coffee and they think I'm a barista and I always say yes actually some barista tried to add me on LinkedIn but I actually go to court and I love what I do because for myself I definitely feel called to the workplace and yeah there's many many opportunities there sorry testing testing so you've always said that you love your job and in loving your job and being very good at your job you've become one of the youngest senior counsels in Hong Kong I believe what is it that you love about your job I like the intellectual stimulation I find it interesting I like arguing with people and actually just through my work

[36:09] I actually get to meet a lot of different people and some actually have become very good friends and a lot of the people I meet I may not meet if I were not doing my job and so I especially in society we talk about Abraham here who lives as a foreigner but lives with integrity and with faith and almost lives with eternity in mind what does that look like for you as you navigate the environment that you're in it may or may not surprise you but it surprised me to realize that not everyone plays by the rules so as a lawyer my job is to do what I can for so actually just even doing what

[37:11] I'm supposed to be doing I think that in itself is something it counts for something you say that so easily but I can't imagine that being easy when someone takes the gloves off and does something that they do what's your response how's your process in responding to it I'm trying to think of a real life example which is when someone approached me to try in a way that I was not supposed to be taking it I don't want to go into the details but in a nutshell I just said no and I just extracted myself from the situation and I told the receptionist if this person ever calls again then don't put the call through so I think sometimes it's about extracting oneself from that situation not every situation you can get out of but if there are ways to get out of it and to protect oneself from that I think that's one way forward but I'm assuming when you make that decision to extract oneself it most often probably comes with a cost is that right yeah it does

[38:18] I mean it happened very early on in my career so in theory things like do I get good cases do I get paid! etc is I asked you to look at Genesis 23 and just to meditate over it what stood out to you as you read this chapter I think one of the things that really stood out to me is that it's about something quite normal you used the word mundane and I most things I do almost or everything I do is just normal and ordinary and I was just thinking about this further James I may never do anything amazing or spectacular but one thing I am guaranteed to be able to do is ordinary stuff because

[39:20] I go to work I talk to people on a day to day basis and I dare say for all of you you may all be doing spectacular things already talk to whoever and so I think how we carry ourselves and how we do that is something worth thinking about and like you were mentioning earlier on and there's another thing that stood out to me is how the Hittites who I assume are non-Christians etc how they described Abraham and they described him as prince of God I think some translations say mighty prince etc but I think it does have the there is a reference to God and like you were saying part of it was probably because he was very successful he was doing very well he was very wealthy all the rest of it but it didn't just say you amazing person or you prince prince of God and so somehow they recognized that there was something about him that came from this

[40:25] God that they didn't even really know! how do I do it and what impression do I give to people what do I make people think of can I just reflect a little bit of God and if I can just do a little bit of that then I think it's what I'm trying to do I suspect a lot of people will agree with you in the sense that most of our lives we're living somewhat mundane lives doing repetitive things especially in the field of law I'm just imagining documents you live in a world of black and white but you live in a very colourful way tell me when you're dealing with contracts and people and things that are seemingly mundane and we all have our equivalents to those things what do you remind yourself in terms of to bring colour into your life and to bring purpose into your life I think one of the things is to think about what God has called me to do and the way

[41:25] God brought me into this profession into my particular working place all that sort of thing I definitely see God's fingerprints all over it and it's definitely him who brought me to this profession and to my particular chambers and so I think that helps me remember that I'm here not just because I have nothing better to do with my life but I'm here because God put me there and then I want to see what is God wanting to do in my life and so a lot of it is also trying to be aware and trying to be open to spotting whatever it is that he's doing and sometimes it can just be something completely unexpected it can be just a conversation that I decide to pick up and then I decide to pick it up and then a friendship builds and then a really deep friendship builds and yeah so that does happen and it has happened and I hope will continue to happen you made me think that even though we live in the physical realm dealing with the physical things but when you live with eternity in mind the possibilities end of being endless you actually don't know when were there any things that actually troubled you or confused you or convicted you anything that comes to mind

[42:43] I think Abraham's humility to these people and his engaging with them in a very respectful way is something that really encouraged me it's easy for people to feel judged when they talk to Christians at the time I was doing something with a Bible study organization that for some utterly silly reason at the times that leaders are not allowed to drink for example and so I just had to suck it up and not drink apart from on special occasions but then I discovered that all my friends all my chamber mates they all felt very judged and so I think I didn't try and say it in a judgy way but really emphasized for me how actually culture is really important and how to engage with people in a way that enables them to feel comfortable

[43:45] I mean not in a kind of you just sin and do crazy things wait but within reason how one can still engage people in their culture and in a way that's respectful to them and that they can find acceptable which I think Abraham really did you talk about culture reminds me of a conversation we had last night I feel that there's two groups of people that we always need one is the group of people that are actually sharpeners and keep us accountable and it's the you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with so look at the five people you spend the most time with and you'll see yourself and that may encourage you and comfort you or it may horrify you and terrify you so have a think about that but there's a group of people who if I want to be that kind of person I need to surround myself with these kind of five people that's one group but then there's and I need my first group to anchor me otherwise I'll lose my way but I also need the second group and you're someone who I know has both a lot right I'm very very blessed with a lot of friends and I would just also add that the whole kind of being part of the culture or somebody that stands out is not mutually exclusive and I think it's learning to try and hold all of this together and trying to marry it together in a way that is helpful to people

[45:05] I also as I was hearing you talk I'm just imagining Abraham he's grieving he wants to buy this cave and then he agrees on this exorbitant price just imagine all the elders at the gate just kind of sniggering and like almost kind of just chuckling to each other it's like this foreigner doesn't know anything we're going to totally just sell this little way out and yet somehow he lives just like I know and it doesn't matter why because I live with eternity in mind so you can do whatever under the table stuff you do I'm unfazed because I am a child of God I'm a prince of God and I'm not affected by this any final thoughts from you yeah I mean you started by saying this passage is all about grief and actually I wasn't really necessarily going to talk about it very much today but the occasion just arose and grief is something that I have wrestled with as well I've actually shared here before so some of you may have shared I lost a very close friend to suicide a couple of years ago actually just when

[46:10] I started coming to the gathering and actually I think this is like probably not the world's best passage on grief in that it just talks about it in about two sentences so this is not the main point of today but it also so happened that just when I was having breakfast with friends my counsellor also told me about a grief support group that she is about to run and so I just also wanted to open that up to anyone who might feel that's helpful the group is for anyone who's lost someone either recently or a long time ago it doesn't have to be recently so it can be both and it's just an occasion and a space where you can explore some of the emotions in you I certainly found that I thought I was okay but then various things happened I realised I was not and everyone is at a different place but if anyone is interested please feel free to come and talk to me my counsellor is called Eugenie and then this is going to be held at Watermark's premises in Wangchukhang and there's a little flyer which I can send around in the gathering

[47:12] WhatsApp chat group later on as well but do come and talk to me if anybody is interested it's on Thursdays for six weeks starting on the 10th of September and actually you say it's only the first two verses that talk about grief but I happen to think this whole chapter grief is the springboard as in he loses his wife and it's in that moment having not bought any land for the whole of his life decides now I'm going to do it and I think at least I can speak from personal experience grief I don't think ever ends and I lost my dad in 2003 and I'll say to this day it's still something that keeps going but I'll say the point of grief is to point us to eternity that loss that we have should remind us of what we have gained in Christ and I think you're right grief doesn't just sort of end and I hate this concept but my counselor keeps talking to me about it and I've sort of come to terms with it a little bit I think is learning to coexist with grief and everything else in life so yeah so even if time has passed etc even if you've been able to do lots of things like Abraham was able to do a whole bunch of things like buy the spots of land etc etc sometimes one still needs to give oneself that space yeah round of applause for Queenie thank you thank you so much so we're going to finish with just a time of response through song now

[48:42] Kelly and the team up but maybe the prompt here is this what is the grief that you're going through as a sojourner you know maybe you know you may not be a mighty warrior like Odysseus you may not have the resources of Abraham but yet you are grieving that there is loss in your life and I respectfully and lovingly wonder today whether that can point you to eternity where again the passage in Thessalonians hits me every time that we should not be uninformed when we go through grief and when we lose loved ones that we do not grieve as those who have no hope but there is going to be a day where the Lord comes back and wakes us all up and when we wake up we will be in the land of promise what grief can you take to Jesus today what sorrow can you take to Jesus today and in exchange he gives you joy not because he will fulfill your promise but because your promise will be fulfilled in eternity through him and what he did on the cross that allows you to tolerate to fight to survive through the mundane through the pain just imagine for a second with me that we believed in an eternity that actually exists a garden city where there is no pain tears separation anxiety and fear imagine with me if we lived for that day today

[50:26]  Jesus we come to you you who designed and built a city a kingdom that has no end that holds justice and love and grace and truth hand in hand where the rivers flow we sit in a moment of grief now knowing that we are not there yet but whilst we sit in the already and not yet we pray that you would give us the wisdom on how to navigate this dark world when sometimes the gloves are off sometimes there is ridicule sometimes there is pain and persecution help us to live as faithful followers pursuing eternity with integrity help us to be in this world but not of this world help us to bring the land of promise into this land of exile we worship you the beginning and the end the alpha and omega the ancient of days may