The Life of Sarah

And then, as Christians, we should find role models in the Bible. Obviously, there are many stories of different people, both good and bad. And we think about that. For instance, the story of Haman from Esther. He's a great example of hatred and violence. An example that we don't want to follow, but he shows us what not to be. Likewise, Nabal, Abigail's original husband, gives us an example of being rude and stupid, while his wife Abigail was an example of courage and tactfulness. And some characters are just primarily known for one trait, Job for patience, Thomas for doubting. While we're thinking about courage, Daniel is famous for his courage, of course, being willing to risk everything to follow the dietary laws and to worship God, even being thrown into a furnace. And also, he's known for diligence. I guess that came to mind because Connor has a book of Bible stories, and there's one where he was thrown to the lions den. And those other government officials wanted to get him in trouble, and they said, well, the only way we can get him is if we get something about his worship of God, because he's diligent in his work. He's very faithful and loyal as a government servant. And there are others. David is known for his courage, as well as his faith. It's easy to pick up vignettes if we want any particular trait. There's plenty of those. And there are a few people who, in Scripture, we can find enough story of their life to get various lessons, both good and bad. You know, I mentioned David is one of those, but I don't want to look at his life today. Because there's actually one passage in the Bible where we're specifically told to look to role models. That's in Isaiah 51. If you'll join me there for a first Scripture, Isaiah 51, beginning in verse 1. God actually lists a couple of role models and tells us that we should look to them as such. So this is where I wanted to key off of. It says, Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness. Well, we want to be those who follow after righteousness. You who seek the eternal. That should be us. What do we do then? Look to the rock from which you were human and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. I love that poetic imagery. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. I called him alone and blessed and increased him. As I said, that poetic imagery is exciting, but we know that it's not just the imagery. We're given clear instruction here. What we've learned from modern science about genetics tells us that it's not surprising that we can hope to share a lot of the traits of an ancestor even one that distance. Now, we look to and we cite Abraham's example many times, and we should. He was called the father of the faithful, the only man of whom in Scripture it says he was the friend of God.

And he's justly known as the father of the faithful. But here in Isaiah 51, God didn't say to look to Abraham alone. And I want to point that out. He said look to Abraham and to Sarah. Sarah is held up as one of two people that God specifically says look to them as your role models. So perhaps if Abraham is the father of the faithful, we can justly say that Sarah was the mother of the faithful.

I think that's not a stretch. And so those who are striving to follow righteousness, to seek God, can look to Sarah as a role model. And I want to do that today. Now, I purposely set out in the sermon to look at the life of Sarah and see some lessons we can learn. And I wanted to note that this isn't meant to be a sermon for women.

In the same way that women can learn lessons from great men, certainly men can learn lessons from the lives of great women. It goes both ways. If a person is worth looking at, it's worth looking at regardless of their gender. So please keep in mind, I'm not saying, well, this is for women, men too now. The other way around, men learn a great deal from women. And I could say, I learned a great deal from my mother and grandmother, just as I'm sure Isaac learned a great deal from Sarah directly.

And probably so did Jacob and Esau when they were young.

So let's look at the life of Sarah, our ancestor, the whole from which we were dug, so to speak.

Now, before I look at some of her traits, I think it's worth going a little further to make the case that she was special.

She was someone worth looking at as an individual. She wasn't just the woman who happened to get pregnant by Abraham. Let's go to Genesis 17.

And I'll warn you, we're going to go to other parts of the Bible and keep coming back to this area in Genesis. So if you want to stick a marker or something in here, it might be worthwhile. Although sometimes the exercise in your fingers is worthwhile, too. Genesis 17, beginning in verse 17.

We'll come back to look at this in another context later, but here, God had told Abraham that he was going to have a son. And Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said in his heart, shall a child be born to a man that's 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, well, all that Ishmael might live before you. But God wasn't happy with just any son of Abraham. He said, no, no, Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son. And you'll call his name Isaac.

So God wanted it to be Sarah.

Now, it's also in this chapter where we can read the account that God changed Abraham's name. We know him as Abraham, but of course, originally his name was Abram, which means Father. But God changed it to Abraham, which, as we see in verse 4, means something more. Abraham means Father of a multitude. So in verse 4, God is speaking to Abram, and he says, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You'll be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, your name shall be Abraham. For I've made you a father of many nations. I'll make you exceedingly fruitful. I'll make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

But it's worth noting the mother of many nations was also important. And because of that, that merited a name change. Across the page in verse 15, God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her also, or I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I'll bless her. She shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall come from her. That's something significant. Now, I was curious about the difference. I'd heard various things, so I checked my Hebrew lexicon to see what I could learn. It said the name Sarai was derived from a Hebrew word that means chief or head person. So that's already a pretty notable name. But when that small change was made, it renders the meaning Sarah to mean queen or princess. Which makes sense since it said kings would come from her. Now, when a country determines who is in line to inherit a throne, it's significant. It always, at least in any government that I'm aware of, where there's a monarchy, it follows the legitimate line of succession. Meaning, well, in Britain, of course, we have the queen on the throne and Prince Charles, her oldest son, is next in line. And then after him, his son William is next in line. But illegitimate children don't count. It has to be the child of the monarch and the lawful spouse. And that's what God was telling Abraham here. His wife Sarah, not as concubine Hagar, would be the mother of the faithful. God considered Abraham and Sarah as a unit together. It had to be something from both of them.

To me, that makes very good sense. I'll make a reference here. If you remember in Matthew 19, Jesus was answering a question about divorce. And he said, siding from Genesis, in the beginning, God made man male and female. And he said, for this reason, a man shall be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

Now, that can refer to a physical union, but I think it's also God's way of saying, when a man and wife are married, they become a new entity. They're joined together. It's something they're both a part of, and it takes both of them. And I think that we see that throughout the story of Abraham's life, where it refers to Abraham, almost always Sarah is included. God saw them as a unit. Of course, they had their differences a couple of times. We'll see that later. But I think most of the places where we see them together, even, as I said, if Abraham's name is listed, Sarah was included in the plans or the directions and instructions. As a matter of fact, let's turn back to Genesis 5. I made a note of this. This is tangentially related, but I found it interesting while I'm talking about them together as one, and one name representing them. This is a repetition explaining the creation of man. In Genesis 5, verse 2, it says, He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called them mankind in the day they were created. Now, that's the new King James. But if any of you have the old King James, the authorized version in your lap, it says, He created the day He created them, and called their name Adam. And I kind of like, well, I like the old King James in a lot of ways anyways, because it often seems more poetic. But it's interesting, the name, the word Adam, is the one that's there in the Hebrew. Because, as Mr. Armstrong often taught, God tended to name things what they were. The word Adam is derived from the Hebrew word for red, because he was basically formed from the red clay of the earth. Adam was made from the dust of the earth. But here it says, when He made them male and female, He gave them both that one name.

Adam can be the word that means mankind or human, but it was given to Adam as a proper name. And here it says that name was given to both of them. And I bring this up. It occurred to me while I was working on the sermon, because it was when I was in college, for the first time someone pointed this out, I was discussing with girls about the modern practice of a lot of women getting married and not taking their husband's name. And someone said, oh no, it's in the Bible.

And I hadn't realized that this scripture is often used to point out that it says God made them male and female and called their name both of them their name Adam. And of course it's been our common practice in Western society for the woman to take the man's name anyways. It can be debated over whether that is what this scripture actually means with the Hebrew. And I'm wondering if I should have gone down this sidetrack, because a lot of you are looking at me like, what is he talking about?

But my point is that God did consider Abraham and Sarah together. And when he wanted to give them an heir that he would use to make a great nation, it wasn't Abraham and just any old woman, it was Abraham and Sarah.

They were meant to be together. And of course, while I'm talking about names, I'll mention, I gave a sermon not long ago on the names of God, mentioning that at the same time, that same chapter where God gave Abraham and Sarah new names, we could say God also took on him a new name. He had been known as the Almighty One. Later, he revealed his name as I Am That I Am, but he often introduced himself as the God of Abraham. And later, the God of Abraham and Isaac, and then the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It doesn't say that he was the God of Sarah, but he was the God of Sarah. And when he says Abraham, it includes the whole unit, we could say, he was the God of Abraham and Sarah together.

Well, I think of that as automatically implied, but I might say, well, what's the lesson for us? If we're looking for lessons from the life of Sarah, that's one of the first one I want to mention is, when we do commit to a marriage, we're committing to a new identity. We don't stop being individual people, of course, but we permanently engage, we become part of something that's new. And it should be to where if people think of one of you, they think of the other when you're married. And I see that in the church all the time. There are many people here that I would say that about. I think of one, I think of the two together. As I said, Kevin came up and I'm guessing Debbie must be sick, or... Yeah, there's a lot of people sick. Yeah, that's sad. Well, we had the same thing in Athens this morning. Jan Grounds has got the same thing in her throat, and George was there. And as I looked at it, I said, this congregation is not complete. Athens is a small congregation, and the heart of it is George and Jan Grounds. If no one else is there, they're there. I thought, I can't think of one of them without the other. And that's the way we want to be in our marriages.

Having spent a lot of time on that point, though, I want to sort of change up and let's look at some of Sarah's individual traits, though, that I think are worthwhile.

And we can start with the role she played, what she did day-to-day. Now, Sarah faced a lot of challenges in her life, but none of them included poverty. If we look at Genesis 13, let's see what we can see about their fiscal state, so to speak.

Genesis 13, in verse 2, it tells us, Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Now, that doesn't sound bad. Across the page in verse 5, or further down the column, Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now, the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. So, Abram had herdsmen, probably servants, as they would call in that time. Nowadays, we might think of them as employees. And I thought, yeah, they had an operation that was comparable to a pretty good-sized business. Several people working for them with a lot of wealth. Is it likely that Sarah had nothing to do with what was going on, managing their affairs? That doesn't seem very realistic to me. We know that she had at least one particular servant devoted to her. That was Hagar, perhaps several others. How likely is it that Sarah sat around on the couch watching Oprah in the afternoon, and eating Doritos? You know, that doesn't make sense. I find that not believable. We know that God held up Sarah as an example for those who are seeking righteousness. So, it doesn't make sense to say that she would have been lazy or incompetent. Now, we can wonder about what Sarah did. What did she do? Well, I thought, well, the Bible doesn't tell us her day-to-day actions, but there is one section in Scripture where it tells us what a virtuous woman does. That's in Proverbs 31. So, let's go there and read some of what it says. Now, keeping in mind, if you still have something in Genesis, you might want to keep a finger or a tab there. And I say that, and I just lost my place. Well, let's start in Proverbs 31. The account begins in verse 10. Who can find a virtuous wife? And I believe the authorized version says a virtuous woman. Her worth is far above Ruby's. That certainly applied to Sarah. Her value was pretty high. She couldn't be replaced by anyone else. God insisted on her being the mother of Abraham's heir. Verse 11, the heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he'll have no lack of gain. A virtuous wife is basically a business partner with her husband. He trusts her. She can carry around the checkbook. She doesn't have to check with him. He trusts her. She's not going to lose things. Or squander their inheritance. We're reasoning sort of from lack of evidence, but there's no indication that Sarah ever caused him any great loss or anything like that. In verse 12, she does him good, not evil, all the days of her life. I wouldn't say Sarah never made any mistakes, but there's evidence that all she did was to try to help Abraham. We'll talk about some mistakes she did make later. In verse 13, she seeks wool and flax, willingly works with her hands. She's like a merchant ship. She brings in her food from afar. I find that an interesting point. Actually, if we can combine that down in verse 19, is where it says, she stretches out her hand to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle. Now, I couldn't tell you exactly what is... I know a spindle and a distaff. These are tools for spinning thread and making fabric.

And so that's important to think. That's what a woman who is a virtuous woman in ancient Israel would do. Well, we believe Sarah was a virtuous woman. I suspect that was one of the things she was engaged in doing. Probably spinning by yarn and thread and making cloth. And she was probably good at it. Just think. Abraham had all these flocks and herds. Boy, if it was common for women to make fabric, I might say, hey, I want to get involved and maybe oversee some of this selective breeding to make sure we've got some really high-quality wool. Maybe the best of the sheep. And I don't know, alpacas, there's something special about their wool. I know because I saw one the other day in the field. I said, is that a llama? Or I guess I'm getting distracted. But couldn't you picture Sarah having her own part of the herd that she oversees so that she can make the best cloth available? And maybe she traded with the nomads that they came in contact. They were on the move quite a bit. I see that as one of Sarah's roles. And of course it talks about her bringing her food in from afar. We do know that Sarah cooked. And I want to go back to Genesis 18 to look at this episode. There's one thing mentioned there that we often just gloss right over, but I think it's worth looking at. Genesis 18, of course, is when God had decided that it was time for Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed, but he wanted to visit Abram first, and they had a talk, and of course later sent the angels on to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But they appeared first to Abram, or Abraham. It says, Then the eternal appeared to him by the terribence trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men standing by him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground. So Abraham recognized them, probably because he talked to God before. And he said, My Lord, if I found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought. Wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tent. I'll bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts. And after that you may pass by, and as much as you've come to your servant. They said, Do as you've said. I find it interesting, and it might be part of the, still a Jewish trait for understatement. A morsel of bread, it makes it sound like he's going to break off a little piece of bread. Here you go.

But when we see the meal described, it wasn't just a morsel. Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, who, as we said, was she sitting on the couch watching TV? She was probably busy at work then, but he hurried in and said, Quickly, make ready three measures, a fine meal. Need it, and make cakes. Abraham ran to the herd and took a tender and a good calf, and gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took butter and milk and a calf, which he had prepared, and he set it before them, and stood by them under the tree as they ate. So it's interesting, Abraham himself, although he was a very rich man and important, he was acting as their waiter in Matra D, so to speak. But what we see there in verse 6, he hurried into the tent and told Sarah, You get some fine meal and make cakes. He didn't say, Go find a servant to cook something up. Sarah did it personally. I'm wondering, was it because she normally did the cooking? It could have been that, or maybe she was just the best at it. But whichever was the case, this noteworthy matron of a wealthy family wasn't above cooking for guests. As a matter of fact, she was the one person when he wanted it to be good that he had to go do it. Notice, Abraham didn't prepare the calf himself. I don't know if it's because he wasn't good at barbecuing or what, but he was glad to bring the food and stand by, but he had Sarah do that cooking. Now, I'm going to go back to Proverbs 31, but while we're here at this incident, I didn't want to let this pass by because there's something also interesting about Sarah that I think is very worth noting. If we continue in verse 9, it says, the one that we know is the Word and the angels were there, and they said to him, that is Abraham, Where is Sarah, your wife? Abraham knew exactly where she was. She's here in the tent. And he said, Well, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and I'm guessing that means in about nine months, and behold, Sarah, your wife, will have a son. It says, Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. Now, when I say that, I wonder, when I first read it, I thought, yeah, she's in there eavesdropping. You know, nosy Sarah, sticking her, you know. But is that really what it was? Let's look at an incident that says, maybe not. There's another way to consider that. Let's turn to Luke 10. Luke 10, verse 38. This is the case where Jesus is traveling, doing his ministry, and he has his disciples with him, and they're invited as guests into the house of people that we later will learn either were already good friends or became good friends. Luke 10, verse 38.

Yeah, tell her to get up off her rear end and come in here and help me with this stuff.

The dishes can wait, you know, while we take care of that. Looking back at Genesis 18, we could say Sarah had chosen that good part. They got the meal, and then she said, I'm not going to worry about the dishes or cleaning up. I'm going to sit here and listen to what they have to say, because, you know, that's God out there, and, you know, coming in the flesh, talking to my husband.

You know, maybe it's not my place to be at the table, just as, you know, Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, but she wanted to be there to listen. That was the good part, and that's what Sarah did. Now, what would any of us be doing in a situation like that? Now, after having read this, we would all say, well, I'm going to sit down and listen, of course.

But if you're like me, if the event actually happens, you might, you know, my tendency is if there's a job to be done, I feel more comfortable up getting things like that done, not just sitting there and listening. You know, that was one of the difficult transitions from being a deacon to an elder, is not being responsible for as much of the doing. You know, and the doing still needs to be done.

But, you know, how many times... I guess there's a lesson in the life of Sarah for us to say, know when the times are that you need to save the serving for later and sit and listen. You know, like I said, I'm telling myself that. It's not talking down to any of you. It's a trait that I have. And Sarah was a good example for us. Let's go back to Proverbs 31.

I'd like to think that Sarah exemplified all the really positive traits that we can read here in this section. Now, there are several we can't be certain about. There's one in verse 16. It says, She considers a field and buys it and plants a vineyard. Well, we know Sarah didn't do that because she and Abraham were not allowed to own land. They were sojourners in pilgrims, wandering around the Promised Land, knowing that it wouldn't be until generations later that their children would inherit it. But, as I said, we could see she was probably busy, and she probably did make cloth, as we discussed.

And when Abraham rushed in to have Sarah do some cooking, he knew right where she was in the tent. So she must have had a routine that she followed, and he knew where to find her. And what about us? I think Sarah must have been profitably engaged in making the good use of her time. And that's an example for all of us. Nowadays, in our current society, it's easy to waste time.

And I have to catch myself. I've admitted to you all before I like to watch TV, and it'd be tempting to sit and watch it all day long, but we can't. And Sarah is a good example, probably, of balancing. I'm sure she did have some leisure time, because human beings will go crazy if we don't have some recreation leisure. And that's another important thing for balance, which we don't see in Sarah's life, but I'm sure it was there.

Let's read in verse 23. It says, Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. Now, I'm going to come right back here, so I'm going to put my hand in Proverbs 31, but I want to turn back to Genesis 23.

Matter of fact, I'm going to go back and forth between these two chapters, so we can turn back and forth here a couple of scriptures. But there were, it says, Her husband is known in the gates. We're going to see an example where that was true of Abraham. Genesis 23, verse 3, it says, Abraham stood up from before his dead and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, I'm a foreigner and 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 they said back to him, I think, is revealing. The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying, Hear us, my Lord, you are a mighty prince among us. You're a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead. So they honored Abraham, even though he was a sojourner. They called him a mighty prince. That equates well to her husband being known well in the gates. But I think there's something more, of course, and I purposely didn't read the first part of this chapter. The reason Abraham wanted to buy a burial plot is that his wife Sarah had died.

I wonder if the tone of voice that the sons of Heth had with Abraham was not only because they respected him so much, they probably knew Sarah. And they were probably mourning and thinking, that she had lost a great person, a person of note and renown, and they wanted to honor her as well as Abraham. She probably was known and well-respected and loved. Back in Proverbs 31, we've got my hand there, in verse 28, along with saying, her husband is known, it says, her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. So this virtuous woman, she's well-known and respected and loved.

We can see that back in verse 23, the verse I didn't read. Genesis 23 and verse 2 says, So Sarah died in Kergotharba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. He mourned and wept for her. Now, we don't know for sure how long they'd been married, but I did some calculations. A good guess, it seemed that they were probably married about a hundred years.

And I stopped and said, wow, now of course they lived a long time then, but we make a big deal out of 25-year anniversaries, and we should, and 50-year anniversaries, imagine a hundred years. And when she was gone, he didn't go, whoo, boy!

No, he wasn't glad to be rid of her or relieved. He was, you know, he grieved and mourned. They would become one in a way that probably we can only imagine. And later on, of course, let's go to the next chapter, because it's not just Abraham. She had the one son, and apparently they were very close. Let's see Genesis 24 and verse 67. Now, I'm skipping past the long story of that chapter, as of course Abraham decides he wants to get a wife for Isaac and doesn't want him to marry one of the Canaanite women, so he sends a servant back to Haran, to the land of his people, to take a wife from among them. And there's the story about how the servant prays to God, leads him to Rebekah, who is just the right person, and he brings her back, and we'll pick up here in verse 67. Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. I see a couple of important things. One is, Isaac was now comforted after his mother's death. He'd been mourning, in some sense, all this time. We don't know how long it had been, but even if Abraham sent a servant right away, there was some time before Rebekah showed up. And also, I wonder, some people might think it's kind of a carve that he took her to his mother's tent, but I would see more the opposite. He was seeing this as probably the highest honor he could show Rebekah. I'm going to give you my mother's place. I respect you that much. This was her tent. I want to install you now. She was the chief lady in this household. Now I'm going to let you have that honor. And, of course, it shows how much he wanted to honor Rebekah, but also what he thought of his mother, I think.

Now, this is not only an example, of course, for sons to honor their mothers, but it shows how much of a loving mother Sarah probably was. I mean, she'd waited so long to have a son. Certainly, she was very attached. And, you know, so for Isaac to want to honor her so much, I think that was important. That was a goal for all of us to strive for. And I think of that, and I shared this morning in Athens. I don't want to embarrass Sue, but I... She's just got an alarmed look on her face. No, it's not that bad, but when my mother passed away several years ago, you know, my sister and I were going through her things, and she had something special that she kept in her bedroom, it was a music box, that my uncle, her brother, had given her. He purchased in Japan when he was over there in the army, and she always kept that there. And so we were, you know, packing up her things. I said, I'm going to take that. And I said, I'm going to set that aside, and it's going to be for my wife. And I had no idea who my wife would be at the time. I was only, you know, like 22 years old. And so it sat in a box for years and years, and on our wedding day, you know, that night I gave it to Sue as a gift, and she started trying to think... I was going to say she started crying. But, you know, I guess to me, as I said, that's a small compared to saying, I'm going to give you the place of my mother, and we had this big estate with all these servants. But, you know, that's why I interpret what Isaac did as an honor to his mother and to his new wife.

Oh, okay. I left Proverbs 31, and I did have one more thing I wanted to read there. I should have known. I kept a finger there all this time. One more thing in Proverbs 31.

And you might guess we're coming down to the end of the chapter. In verse 29, Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. And as I said, I think this probably could fit Sarah. And it says, Charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the eternal, she shall be praised. Now, and we can say, Sarah did fear God, and she was praised even by him. As I said, that's what I would take from the meaning of the scripture we read in Isaiah 51, where he said, look to your ancestors, you know, if you want to seek God. So, you know, she was known for that, but she at the same time was very beautiful. Now, she didn't, you know, it's not like you ever get a choice. Hey, you can be a good person or good-looking. Usually, you get the good-looking or you don't when you're born. But let's go back to Genesis and take a look at just how good-looking she was. Genesis 12 and verse 11. Of course, she didn't have any control over that, but she did have control over how she acted because of it. Genesis 12, 11. It came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt, and this is Abraham. He said to Sarai his wife, Indeed, I know you're a woman of beautiful countenance. Well, it's common. Of course, a husband is going to say to his wife, Well, I think you're beautiful. But let's look in verse 14. So it was when Abram came to Egypt, all the Egyptians saw the woman that she was very beautiful. They said, Boy, this woman's a knockout. She was so good-looking, Abraham was afraid they were going to kill him to get to her. But in this case, of course, beauty was not fleeting. And of course, as I said, they lived a long time. We're guessing she was probably 60-some years old at that time. But the same thing happened again in Genesis 20. And I'm not going to turn there, but Genesis 20, perhaps 15 or 20 years later, Sarah's in her 70s or 80s, and she's so good-looking that the leader of the land who can have any woman he wants says, I want her. So, you know, Sarah was, you know, she was a knockout. She was drop-dead gorgeous, to use a proper term. Not proper term, a common term. I don't think that's necessarily the proper etiquette term. But what I want to point out from this is, there's no indication that Sarah was vain or conceited about her looks. And think of it, in today's society especially, where there's so much emphasis on that, you've probably all known someone or heard about someone who's good-looking, and this happens especially when they're teenagers, and we can talk about them getting by on their looks. And I've seen this, well, because I know what teenage guys are like. I know a teenage girl who's good-looking can get just about anything she wants. Now, they often don't if they're good people, but what I'm saying is, you can make a choice. You don't have a choice over whether you're good-looking or not. You can make a choice how you act about it. And there's where Sarah sets an example. There doesn't seem to be any record of her trading on her looks or trying to get preeminence or things like that. Let's turn to 1 Peter, chapter 3. I got ahead of where I was, and I know it's 1 Peter 3 and verse 6.

Here's another case of the apostle Peter pointing out Sarah as an example. And it's interesting, because further earlier in this chapter, Peter talks about adornment and good-looking. Verse 3 says, Don't let your adornment be merely outward, ranging the hair and wearing gold or putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden person of the heart. And he gives the example of that in verse 6. As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not afraid of any terror. He said, Ladies, you want to follow an example of what you should do, be like Sarah. And it's interesting, earlier he was saying, Don't worry about your looks. And here Sarah was incredibly good-looking, but she singled out, not for that here, but for her character. Because that's what mattered. Which is good to say, there's no exclusion. If you are good-looking, you can still have great character. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. As I said, it's what you do about it. And apparently, she was also content with not being the leader of the family. Of course, Abraham was in charge, and she supported him, and they worked together. Now, let's change gears. I finally reached the end of Proverbs 31. I began this message making a case that if Abraham was the father of the faithful, Sarah could be called the mother of the faithful. Did she really exercise that much faith? No, I think so. Obviously, I'm making that case. But I want to acknowledge, there is a counter-argument. Some could say, well, you know, it was a male-dominated society, and she just had to do whatever she was told. She didn't have a choice.

But I think we could argue against that. For one thing, look at what Sarah did do. And did she have an opportunity to do otherwise? I mean, just think when they were first called out. Can you imagine, ladies today, if your husband walked in and said, Honey, I just talked to God. And he wants us to pick up all of our belongings and wander off thousands of miles from here and be homeless for the rest of our lives. You'd probably go, yeah, right. I'll see you later, you know, when you come back.

But then again, I also wonder, I envision Abraham coming in and saying, I was told this, but remember the account we read earlier where Sarah was in the tent door listening. Maybe he didn't have to tell Sarah I've been talking to God. Maybe she was right there and heard everything. And that's speculative. I don't know, but we can understand that she went along with it. She believed. She had faith also to go and wander without a home.

And we can see some evidence from what happened. I don't think Abraham had to force her into these things. Let's go back to Genesis, Chapter 20. I mentioned this is a second case. Well, I want to look at both. Because we often cite Abraham's probably greatest lapse of his own faith was when they came into a territory and he was afraid that the men of the territory would kill him to get his wife because she was so good-looking.

But it's interesting when he talked to her about what he proposed to do. And as I said, this was a lapse on his part. He shouldn't have done it. But when he asked her to participate, he didn't give her orders or commands. Let's read in Genesis 20, verse 13. Abraham said, well, it...

Oh, I'm sorry. Back in... This isn't when he's talking to Sarah. This is afterwards when Abimelech is asking Abraham, what in the world did you have in mind when you did this? And he says, well, it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house. I said to her, so this is what he said to her then, this is your kindness that you should do for me in every place, wherever we go. Say, he is my brother.

So he didn't say, okay, come here, woman, this is what we're going to do. He said, this is the kindness. He's asking her as a favor to him, to show kindness. That doesn't sound like a tyrant imposing his will. And we'll see similarly in chapter 12. Chapter 12 and verse 12. I was going to say a parallel account. It's a similar situation. Here they're getting ready to go into Egypt, and Abraham tells Sarah, therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they'll say, well, this is his wife, and they'll kill me, but they'll let you live. So please, say you're my sister, that it may be well with me, for your sake, and I may live because of you.

That's a very powerful word. You know, I spent some time, I've worked man to counter in a fast food place, and when I was in Pasadena, I worked in the walks lines answering the phone, and that word, please, is a powerful one. Not one that tyrants usually use. If someone's just given orders to someone.

But Abraham, when he talked to Sarah, he said, please. He said he wasn't forcing her or giving her no choice. But I thought, let's imagine if Sarah really had not wanted to follow Abraham. She could have just ignored what he said. The Egyptians come along and they said, oh, is this your husband?

She could have said, yeah, he's my husband. Do me a favor and kill him. You know, I don't want to wander around anymore. Or when she was brought into Pharaoh's house, you know, if she didn't want to wander and be with Abraham, she goes, hey, this is a lack of luxury. I'm staying here. You know, I'm guessing Pharaoh's house is pretty nice. But, you know, she didn't want a part of that. She wanted to be with Abraham, I believe. And I think that took an exercise of faith. I don't want to sound sexist, although I'm wondering how much I come across that way in the sermon.

But I think it's typically, I mean, more than men, women typically want to have a home in a place they stay. Wandering around homeless is not something that appeals to most women, not to most men either. But I think men are more apt to be careless about that kind of thing. Sarah, she went, and I think it took a lot of faith on her part. And I think of that when I got the call from the home office offering to hire, say, me and Sue into the ministry.

It was something that was a difficult choice. Sue was hesitant, and I was hesitant, of course, and we fasted and prayed. But, you know, it was a big act of faith on both parts. And that's why I would say with Sarah, you know, when Abraham, you could say, figuratively, got a phone call saying, I want you to go out for this work. You know, I'm sure Sarah didn't jump up and down for joy and say, I can't wait to go. She was making a sacrifice to do what was God's will.

Now, I do have a note here before I leave this story. One other thing I do want to add, because I'm presenting this because I want to counter the argument that might say, well, Sarah didn't have to exercise faith. But it could make it seem as though all the power was in Sarah's hands. And she did have a certain amount of power. I mean, if she didn't... I'm trying to word this carefully. She didn't exploit her good looks, but she could have. And I'm saying she exercised the power not to. But I don't want to overlook the fact that neither Sarah nor Abraham got themselves out of this mess when Pharaoh came and took her.

God intervened. And so I've been not looking at that particular part of it because I wanted to make a point. But it is a point that we should make. Abraham and Sarah made a mistake by lying about being married, and they had a problem that came up with it, and God intervened to save them. When it came to Pharaoh, God caused plagues. Later, when it happened with the bimlech, God came and talked to him in a dream and delivered them.

So it is worth noting, as I said, Sarah and Abraham made a mistake, and God was merciful and forgiving and got them out of it. But in that case, I'd say if Sarah made a mistake, it was that and having the same mistake as Abraham. So it didn't show her having either any more or less faith than Abraham in that case. I probably ought to just leave that point. I'm talking to myself in circles. But let's look in Galatians 4. There are a couple New Testament scriptures I want to look at before we leave discussing that Sarah was a faithful person, and acted on faith.

Galatians 4, verse 22. To remind you here, it says, It is written, and this is an allegory that Paul makes with Abraham and Sarah and Hagar. It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born according to the flesh, he of the free woman, through promise, which two things are symbolic. These are the two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, and he goes on to show the other one from Jerusalem above.

And I want to make the point that Sarah represented freedom in the promise. Someone who's bound as Hagar was can't be exercising faith because they have to do what they're told. So for Sarah to represent the freedom, you have to have a choice in the matter. And exercising the right choices involves an exercise of faith. And that's what we'll see further if we turn to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, and we'll read in verse 11.

I could have gone here first, but it would have made my sermon considerably shorter. Hebrews 11, 11 says, and that's the promise. That's God. So Sarah acted from faith, and she was able to have a child miraculously as an exercise of faith.

That leads me to conclude that many of the statements about Abraham's faith could apply to Sarah just as well. There's one, if we're going to go back to Genesis, Genesis 15, verses 5 and 6. I warned you we'd be going back here, but back and forth a bit. Genesis 15, this is one of the several times that God appeared to Abraham and made promises that he could look forward to.

And here, he, which is God, brought him, Abraham, outside and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to them, So shall your descendants be. And he, that is Abraham, believed in the eternal, and he, God, accounted it to him for righteousness. I wanted to point out, because we know from what we read in Hebrews that Sarah also believed.

Abraham believed, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Well, Sarah believed. I believe it was probably accounted to her for righteousness also. Again, that's why she's held up in Isaiah 51 along with Abraham as someone that we should look to as a role model and an example.

And of course, she was an example not only of faith, but of patience. So perhaps as the example for us, we should believe God, exercise faith, and it could be accounted to us for righteousness also. Especially when our faith translates into action. As we read in James where it says, Faith without works is dead. We have faith, and then we do what we believe in. We do what God's law tells us to do, just like Abraham and Sarah did.

Now, there is one case. Well, I'll just mention this in passing because some people said, Well, did Sarah really have that much faith? Because back there in Genesis 18 when they said she was going to have a baby, she laughed. And then she tried to cover it up. And I've addressed that before where I think it's a good example of God's humor. You know, because if you read the account, it says, well, she laughed within herself. And God said, Well, what's Sarah laughing for? Is anything too hard for God? And she said, Well, I didn't laugh. And actually, she didn't laugh out loud, so she wasn't lying. But God can read minds. And he knew in her mind she was laughing. But Sarah wasn't... I don't think that was a lack of faith on her part, because she'd only done what we already read Abraham did. Remember, we read in verse 17 where God told Abraham, You're going to have a son. And it says, Abraham fell down laughing. So Abraham and Sarah both had that reaction. But not because they lacked faith, but because I think they had a sense of humor. He said, Abraham, how old are you? A hundred? Time to have a kid. And I see it that way because... And I've told you all this many times, I think with Sue and I, after the doctors had already said, you're not going to be able to have children. And then Sue started having some of the symptoms of pregnancy, and finally said, Well, maybe we better take a test. And she describes it. She looked at the strip as that blue line started to appear, and said, Are you kidding me? Now? You know, with that chuckle, and I'm sure that's what it was for Sarah and Abraham. Not a lack of faith, but the same way we do. Have you ever prayed to God for something? It's like, God, I don't know how you're going to get me out of this. But please do. We can see the humor of the situations we get ourselves into, and I'm sure God does, too. So I think it's okay to laugh when we talk to God. It's not necessarily a lack of faith. Sometimes it's an example of faith, because we're thinking, There's just no way this can happen apart from a miracle. And we believe in miracles.

Now, looking back, what we read there in Hebrews 11, it indicates that Sarah's greatest test of faith was when God told her, You're going to have a baby. Well, I don't know if she had a lot of choice when she was pregnant. She went through with it. But we do know Abraham had one greater one. I just wanted to bring this up as a point of speculation, and it's something I wonder about. We know the greatest test for Abraham was when Isaac got to be, you know, either a boy or a young teenager, God appeared to him and said, Okay, now that you've got this son, take him over to that mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. And Scripture tells us Abraham got up the next morning and left. What a test for Abraham. But in Hebrews 11, the Scripture tells us that he fully expected that God would resurrect him. So Abraham had that faith. In his mind, Abraham or Isaac was as good as dead, but also as good as raised from the dead because Abraham had that faith. But what I wonder is, did he tell Sarah? And I don't have an answer. I mean, I could see it a couple of ways. You know, perhaps, as I said, Sarah was listening. Perhaps she knew all along. And if so, what a test of faith for her as well. You know? And I think even if she didn't, I... Well, I see. If I told Sue, you know, Connor and I are going to go off and hike in the woods for a week, and we'll see you later, that would be a strong test of faith to just let us go away, not knowing what was going to happen. And there, I guess I wonder, because I think if I were in Abraham's position, I probably wouldn't tell Sarah until afterwards. Because God's going to resurrect him anyways. I'll tell her, by the way, honey, guess what happened while we were gone? So, like I said, I'm speculating, but as I said, I think, you know, Abraham's greatest test, he shared with Sarah one way or another, sooner or later, and she benefited from it as well. And of course, so did all of we indirectly. But, you know, great tests. Now, with all we've seen so far, I think it's not tough to see examples of righteousness and good traits, but we know Abraham and Sarah were not without fault. And, you know, they made mistakes. We've already mentioned one of them. But I think Sarah's biggest mistake seems to have come with a lapse of faith about ten years in. Let's go look at Genesis 16. In Genesis 16, of course she knew the promises. And Sarah, Abraham's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarah, I said this, Abram, see now the eternal has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. So then Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. So he took a second wife, which we know God doesn't approve of, and that was going to cause problems.

But as I said, Sarah had a failing, and then Abram went along with it, so it was his mistake as well. And so he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. That means Hagar got pregnant, and she looked at Sarah different from then on. She didn't respect Sarah in the same way. And perhaps, you know, there might have been a question. They don't have any kids. We don't know which one of them is not able. Now the question settled.

Abram's able to have kids. So Hagar might have looked at Sarah and said, Oh, I can do something. You can't. I mean, we don't know all the dynamics, but it was difficult. And she started, I guess, not being very submissive, you know, being perhaps sassy. So Sarah, I said to Abram, My wrong be upon you. I gave my maid into your embrace, and when she saw that she'd conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The eternal judge between you and me. I sometimes pondered over it. What does it mean, my wrong be upon you? I looked at it in various different translations, and some of them say, Sarah basically came to Abraham and said, I'm having problems, or I'm miserable, and it's your fault.

Which I think was another one, you know. Abram probably said, Wait a minute, how is this my fault? Wasn't this your idea? But he didn't. Actually, he said, Sarah, well, your maid is in your hand.

Do to her as you please. So Abram passed the buck back to Sarah. And she dealt harshly with her, and Hagar fled. As I said, all of this is part of, you know, Sarah, it's easier to say Sarah than Sarai, if that's how it was pronounced. But, you know, she had this lapse, and things weren't going so well. And the story goes on, of course, Hagar fled, and then God sent an angel to talk to her and bring her back.

And that's what I wanted to focus on, because, you know, the lessons of Hagar will be good for another day. They're important lessons there. But we don't have any record of Hagar's return. It doesn't say specifically what happened. And I wonder, did Sarah apologize? You know, did she say, we're going to make things better?

I mean, I don't, we don't know for sure. But my guess is that there must have been some type of reconciliation, because that's what people that are good examples do. I mean, Sarah's looked at as, you know, the mother of the faithful. She did these good things. Somehow they must have worked it out where Sarah stopped being so harsh, and Hagar must have, you know, changed her attitude towards her.

But in that event, I mean, assuming that Sarah came to some repentance, it did not remove the result of the sin. You know, Ishmael was still there, and he grew into young adulthood. Eventually he was sent out. But, you know, it probably was a source of tension, and also a reminder for Sarah and Abraham, Hey, you know, you didn't trust God, you tried to take matters in your own hands, and now you've got to deal with the results. As I said, assuming they were repentant, and I believe they were, God forgave them.

But he also said, but now you've got to deal with this. And that's an example for all of us. We can make mistakes for which God forgives us, but we still have to deal with the results. And that can happen, you know, sometimes the results might be an injury or a sickness. There's lots of things that can happen. But if that happens, of course we should follow Sarah's example.

She continued on and changed her ways, and things worked out in the end. Even though there was, you know, there was a, I don't want to say suffering, because having a baby is not a bad thing, but it's an extra thing you have to deal with when it's inconvenient. Not only a baby, but the baby's mother, who Sarah had to live with.

And as I said, it's interesting, boy, it just crossed my mind, it could make an interesting thesis for a sitcom, but probably it would be really dumb and get canceled after a couple episodes. I'm maybe making too much point of this. And I said, Sarah, you know, this wasn't Sarah's normal pattern of life.

That's one of the things I want to make up. She wasn't always making big mistakes and suffering from it. There's a record of one, and it's not hidden, and I think that's important. Just as David had one major sin that's there in the Bible for all of us to look at and learn, and learn from his repentance, I think the same is true for Sarah and Abraham.

There is that example of them making a couple mistakes and then picking up and moving on. And we can follow that example. We can repent and make things better. And the record of Sarah's life is mostly one of being an honorable person, a person of faith. And we've seen it quite a bit in the life of Sarah. But you might have noticed in covering it, I've jumped back and forth a lot. And I warned you we were going to turn scriptures a lot.

And I think that leaves us something valuable to moving ahead, because I wanted to look at incidents and themes and go back and forth, but I didn't cover a chronological look at her life. That leaves something that you can do. I'm sure all of you have read of her life before. But it could make an interesting study, especially with the things we've discussed, maybe with that in the back of your mind. Sarah's story runs from Genesis 12 through Genesis 23, even though her name pops up in other places.

Sometime if you're wondering what Bible study do I want to do now, that could be a good one. As I said, we have role models we're told to look to, and Sarah is one of them. As a matter of fact, I'd like to wrap up by going back to Isaiah. Isaiah 51, I want to read this one more time, and if you trust me, I'll just read it to you. But it's one of those scriptures that makes a bit of an impression on me.

As I said, when God says, I want you to look to this person. If he looked down here in this room and said, you know, look to him and her, I'd start paying attention to what he and she were doing from now on. And that's what he said here. Listen to me, you who follow righteous after righteousness, you who seek the eternal. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.

Look to Abraham your father, and look to Sarah who bore you. Now, we've got a good example to follow in Sarah, and as I said, I think we can call her the mother of the faith one, an example for us all.