We come this morning to what is by far the longest chapter in the book of Genesis. It's well beyond, well, it's twice the length of the entire account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. And, you know, you might wonder about that kind of disproportion. Obviously, there's no direct correlation between the length of a biblical text and its theological freight. I'm not implying that this passage, because it's twice as long, is twice as important as creation. In fact, it is intriguing to think about these features in Scripture. The fact that our Lord was pleased to inscriptureate his word in a form that didn't just simply consist of monotonous theological propositions or commandments. But rather, he adorned the truth with beauty. He inscripturated his word in a literary form. He delights in poetry. He makes it all together lovely, embedding his truth in plot and narrative and repetition and other artful features that make it a resting and enthralling memorable to us. The New Testament assures us all Scripture is God-breed and is useful for teaching, rebuke and correcting and training and righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And that applied in the original instance, particularly to the Old Testament, that Paul was enjoining Timothy to read for the congregations that he was serving. So we can be assured there's practical lessons here. And yet, I have to admit, when I first read Genesis 24 and preparations for this text, this message and perhaps you sitting in the pews listening to it, what struck me most was how seemingly implicable all of this is. How totally irrelevant it appears to the concerns of the 21st century or to my life. It just seems to be a complete disconnect at almost every level. Obviously, one of the main lessons of this text has to do with the exemplary behavior of that servant, that slave of Abraham. Older commentaries point this out how diligent he was, resourceful, faithful, trustworthy Abraham was ready to give him all the wealth of his house to oversee and how dependent on the Lord he was in fulfilling his responsibilities. But all of this is inspiring as it may be, seems implicable to us because we don't have slavery anymore. There are any slaves here that are thinking, oh yeah, this is for me. There seems to be a gap of application that's difficult for us to breach, to get this to directly apply to our lives. Of course, the New Testament, in fact, assures us it will be applicable because you and I are slaves. The Scripture tells us you're not your own, you are bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4, men ought to regard us as slaves of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. And now it is required that those who have been given a trust that they must prove faithful. And so you see, actually through the back door, it turns out that even though our whole social structure is entirely dissimilar to the Old Testament situation, in fact, we are slaves and so this is an example for us and everything we do is slaves of Christ. Of course, we do as unto him even the most mundane things, Paul writes in Colossians whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. And not for men, that includes your studies for that economic exam or it includes mowing the grass, washing the dishes, whatever it is, we do it for Christ, where his slaves, we want to follow the example of this faithful servant. Another lesson, which also at first glance seems hopelessly irrelevant to us, has to do with this business of arranged marriage. I admit as the father of three very handsome, unmarried sons, I would just love to deduce from this passage that what God wants for me is to take a little initiative in the matchmaking department. And what he wants for my sons is a little more less spirit of acquiescence so that they will accept the next blind date that I set up as from the Lord. It's interesting, arranged marriage has always seemed like such a great idea to parents and such an abysmal idea to children. But nevertheless, you might wonder, well, isn't this a problem? How could the passage speak to any of us? We don't observe, at least in this part of the world, the business of arranged marriage. You'll be relieved or maybe disappointed to discover that in fact the Bible does not mandate the practice of arranged marriage in spite of this intriguing example. There is no explicit biblical text anywhere that says you've got to do it this way with arranged marriage. It doesn't say that anywhere in the Bible. And in fact, we have counter examples, supremely the paradigm example of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve in the very nature of the case, though a paradigm marriage for all of us in the nature of the case didn't have parental involvement. In fact, the point is the text, God is the one who was the matchmaker. That's what we want, isn't it? God is the one. In fact, that's how Jesus understands it. He speaks of the example of Adam and Eve and then he applies it to all of us. Every last one of us who are married, he says, those whom God had joined together, let not man put a sunder. So God is personally invested in bringing husbands and wives together, apparently according to the master, according to Jesus of Nazareth. And we can find many other examples in the Bible, supremely the example of the paradigm of God's marriage to Israel in Ezekiel 16. It's, of course, a metaphor, but in the nature of the case, again, the ultimate marriage is not one that's arranged except by God. And so I conclude there's no need to suddenly abandon our modern practice and endorse the biblical, at least, Old Testament practice of arranged marriage. It's not necessary. There are many passages in the Bible that speak to us as individuals and assume that it's your choice, whom you should marry. Although the word of God will govern that choice in one difficult passage to be sure, but First Thessalonians chapter four says, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you refrain from immorality, that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God. And we can look at many other passages that are even perhaps clearer if anything about our responsibility for arranging our own marriage. Nevertheless, I think there are some very useful lessons out of our passage applicable in a transcultural way on the subject of marriage and we ought to give heed to them. One of them is to recognize that though the Bible does not mandate arranged marriage, I think we've got to concede that there's nothing inherently wrong with arranged marriage. There's nothing wrong with your roommate praying that you might find a spouse of God's choosing or perhaps even taking some more initiative to arrange a date of some kind or parents praying for their children or in cultures where arranged marriage is routinely practiced, there's nothing wrong with it. So long as we pay heed to what are the constraints indicated in our own text, and what are those? Well, there's the indispensable prerequisite of the consent of the bride and the groom. Even if you are coming to Park Street Church out of a culture that observes arranged marriage, if you're going to allow the scriptures to govern your practice, you may not have to abandon arranged marriage, but you must honor the principle that we see exhibited here. The servant asked him what if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to the Lamb, and likewise at the end the brother and mother say, let's call the girl and ask her about it. So they call Rebecca and ask her, will you go with this man? I will go, she said. An indispensable prerequisite is the consent of the bride and the groom, and the second lesson I'd want to take away from the passage applicable to all cultures is that the paramount concern is that whether you practice arranged marriage or not, that your marriage be arranged by the ultimate matchmaker, that God be the one arranging it. Leibin and Bethool answered, this is from the Lord, Genesis 24, verse 50. We can say nothing to you one way or another. Here is Rebecca, take her and go and let her become the wife of your master's son as the Lord has directed. Some of you are aware Christians in southern India where arranged marriage is still frequently practiced. In fact, members of this church, dear friends of mine, whose marriage was arranged, when the wedding announcement is published, very often will pick up on this very phrase. The marriage was arranged by Christian parents. They will then announce the marriage and say, this is from the Lord, quoting from verse 50, you see. I think one couple here, some of you may remember the Edwin's who apparently were given exactly 30 minutes to meet each other after the arrangement said made in order to decide whether, yes, whether they were in agreement with the decision. She was an English professor at a very prestigious university and he an engineer and both wonderful believers in Christ. I have often just dying to know, what would you talk about in a half an hour? Just imagine that conversation, what would you ask? Of course, as they recall the conversation, there was actually a certain amount of this business. They misunderstood each other but at least they got enough information out to discover that the other really was a believer and not just the nominal Christian and that was their main desire. Well, is it the case, whether you observed a range marriage or not, that your marriage was arranged by the Lord? How do you know if you're in the process of considering finding a life made? That this is the one, Rebecca, let's say, or should Isaac wait for another? How do you know it's from the Lord? How can you determine God's will? Of course, this is exactly the rub, isn't it? Here's the problem that we endlessly struggle with as believers. I mean, it's simple when it's involving fundamentals of the faith in terms of the Lord's norms and precepts. If I'm struggling trying to decide whether to rob Fleet Bank, for example. And I noticed today it didn't look very well guarded. And I'm praying about it, trying to decide, is this Lord what I should do? And maybe right after the service, we're having a little problem with the finances at Park Street Church. So I take that as further confirmation that this is it. You know, all you have to do is read the eighth commandment, bow, shout, not steal, and that's the end of it. God's will is don't do it. But what do we, what do we do when it comes to these other matters in our lives, like deciding whether or not to go to college or what subject to major in or what career to adopt? Or whether or not I should marry this potential spouse or that? How does God lead us there? You know, you just can't turn to a page in the Bible and have it answer it. And so there's an endless interest in seminars, Bible studies, tons of books that have been published with steps to discerning God's will. And at the end we really have an insatiable appetite to learn more because it never quite makes sense. A part of the problem is with our own sinful proclivity. This is the toughest part about becoming a Christian. Before you were a believer, you took pride in the fact that you were your own boss. Nobody tells you what to do. You know, you'll accept suggestions for consideration from your parents or whatever. But no one tells you what to do. And suddenly you come to Christ and now you surrendered your life to another. So no wonder we're having trouble with it. This is the essence of our Christian faith. Jesus did not invite those who would come to him to just simply admire him or agree with him. He said, you must follow him. He demands that we surrender our will to his and live for him. Remember, he said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. So no wonder we're all having trouble with the will of God. It runs counter to our rebellious nature. When it comes to the particulars of governing our lives by God's leading and guidance, I think there are two equal and opposite errors in our passage can help address. It's not going to exhaustively deal with these things, but two equal and opposite errors, I think of which we need to be aware. In the first era, when we first become Christians particularly, is the assumption that the creator of the universe, frankly, just is not likely to be concerned about leading me to do anything in particular. I mean, fine, he's given us the ten commandments, but after that, I'm on my own. After all, it's easy to imagine how he would have been concerned to govern the life of Abraham. Abraham is called by Paul, the father of all those who believe. It's not surprising that at that crucial moment, the heavens opened up the age of the Lord spoke out of heaven. Abraham, Abraham, here I am, he replied, do not lay a hand on the boy who said, do not do anything to him. We're not surprised that there would be special revelation for someone of the stature of Abraham at such a crucial point in his life. But when we look at our own lives, we think, wait a minute, I'm not even a blip on the screen. In my concerns are trivial by comparison. I mean, perhaps I ought to pray about, you know, things like alleviation of world poverty and hunger and end of disease, peace. But, you know, should I be praying and getting all worked up or bothering the creator of the universe with what I'm going to do this afternoon, and whether I should ask that fellow or that girl out for a cup of coffee. It seems so minuscule. I think there are two answers to this problem that come right out of our passage, and they have come out of it through the centuries for God's people struggled with this matter. And the first is, there are no little people in the eyes of their heavenly father. This servant, he's nameless as far as the text is concerned, has no name. You can identify with him. You may have problems identifying with Abraham. You can identify with this servant. This servant who has no name is yet nevertheless the object of God's providential guidance and care. We may be as nothing in our eyes, but we are special because we're special to him. We're like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 who prayed, oh, Lord, God Almighty, if you'll only look upon your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I'll give him back to the Lord all the days of his life. We're special because we're special to him. And so the Bible invites us to cast all your cares on him because he cares for you, all your cares, even the little ones. Don't just wait until you're dying of cancer to ask for prayer or to have it in the bulletin. It's fine if you're just lonely and looking for a life mate to ask others for prayer. All our cares on him, free cares for you. Do not be anxious about anything, Paul writes, but in everything, by prayer and petition, in everything, you see, not just big things, everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God in the piece of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds and Christ Jesus. So the first response is we're not little people and we're not, our concerns are not unimportant to the creator and redeemer of your soul. The second thing is that marriage is not a trivial matter to God. He has a tremendous interest in marriage, a lot of scripture. This is something of special interest to him. Proverbs 19, houses in wealth are inherited from parents, but an understanding wife is from the Lord. Proverbs 18, he who finds a wife, finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. A God is very much concerned with our marriage and the prospect of marriage. And so I think we can, with confidence, bring those in every other such need to the Lord. A second error, an opposite error, it seems to me, is letting the pendulum swing to the other side and allowing ourselves to become superstitious and obsessive with respect to discerning God's will in our lives. Ignatius of Loyola is probably the one who is wittingly or not responsible for I think what is a profound misunderstanding of many Christians on this matter. He taught that God has a perfect will for your life, for every individual, a perfect will, and the way it's at least been translated through the centuries of Christian spirituality. You're to imagine your life as like a spiritual tightrope and you take one misstep. Now we're not talking about robbing a bank. We're talking about just doing something God didn't intend for you to do. You take one misstep and you will have cataclysmic results that you'll have to deal with from then on. And so of course the result is to play into our tendency already to have a kind of superstitious relationship based on fear rather than a trusting relationship based on faith in our walking with God. Of course, minor decisions can often have profound influence on our lives. Can't they? The decision to cross the road at one moment rather than another may result in a fatal accident. Minor decisions have cataclysmic results. So then do we now have to play God and determine whether he wants you to leave by this exit this morning or this exit? You know, maybe on this exit you'll bump into your future life mate. But on this one you'll miss it. Put yourself in the position of Rebecca. You know, we think of the servant. But what about Rebecca? What got her to the well that evening? Do you imagine that she was at home praying, Lord, should I go to the well? I know we're all dying of thirst. It's been a hot day. But you know, is this your will for my life? When in fact the text says it's just the customary chore of women to do this? I suppose if she's a teenager we can well imagine she might have been at home complaining that her life is boring. Why should she be the one who always has to go and fetch the water? Nothing ever happens at the well. You never meet anyone there. Well, I think the text implies you just live a faithful life and God will take care of the rest. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge Him and heal direct your past. You don't have to wait until he tells you which door to leave by. He'll take care of that. Many are the plans in a man's heart. But it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 1921, you can count in the God of heaven and earth to direct you in all those ways. All you need to worry about is just what's in your heart's desire. The normal rule is whatever your hand finds to do. Do it with all your might. Verse Samuel, chapter 10, verse 7. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10. Just do it as unto the Lord. Well, you say this sounds great, you can burger, but what about the servant? His approach to determining God's will does look a little more superstitious, doesn't it? It's a little more fishy. If you want to know God's will follow that servant's example, you start with God. He starts with prayer. He ends with prayer. When there's further confirmation, he falls down before the Lord. You want God's will in your life, then begin with God. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Don't complain. You don't know what God's will is. If you don't start with prayer, even as this servant starts with prayer and even ends with prayer. Notice that he also determines God's will, not in violation of his revealed norms, but entirely in keeping with them. God will never lead you in a way that contradicts that which he has revealed in his word. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. And so the first point is, is the woman available? If God had led him to a married woman, that doesn't count. You see, she's a marriageable age and she is yet unmarried. And that is critical. The text goes out of its way to describe her, the girl who is very beautiful, a virgin, one with whom no man had ever laid. She's the one who comes down to the spring. She's available. Secondly, the other criterion, objective from scripture, is the determination of her spirituality. This is the whole point of not marrying a canonite. The Bible is not concerned about interracial marriage, you understand. Moses married a black woman, a cushite woman, an interracial marriage that the Lord blessed and approved and he defended Moses against the criticism of his sister on this very point, the numbers chapter 12. If it's not interracial marriage, that's the problem, or racial mis origination, it's interfaith marriage, that's the problem. To marry someone who has the same Lord of their life, that's what God's concerned, marrying in the Lord. And Deuteronomy 7 makes the point, you marry a canonite, and the danger is that woman will pull your heart away from loyalty to God. The Apostle Paul, the New Testament reaffirms this point. A woman, this woman in 1 Corinthians 739 is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord, 1 Corinthians 739. Or likewise, 2 Corinthians 614, do not be yoked together with an unbeliever. Of course, if you're already married to an unbeliever, that's fine. Now God's will for you is to love that husband or that wife into the kingdom. 1 Peter chapter 3 exhorts such wives, believing wives, to win their husbands by their excellent example, and what a wonderful way in which to receive the gospel from someone who loves you, like they love their own soul. But nevertheless, in terms of the norms of Scripture, you can't marry someone who's already married, 1, and secondly, you can't marry someone who is not in the Lord. And after that, all the bets are off. It can be someone who is older or younger, blonde, brunette, all the rest doesn't matter. We say, well, there is yet another issue going on here. He does pray for a sign. What about that? Then he prayed, oh, Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and show kindness to my master Abraham, see I'm standing beside the spring and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, please let down your jar that I may have a drink, and she says drink and I'll water your camels to let her be the one you've chosen for your servant Isaac. I think it's important to see that this sign is not just superstition here, it's another case of where when you are being spiritual, that's when you're being practical. And when you're being practical, that's when you're being spiritual, because God is the God of the universe, that's the way he made the universe. So the more practical you are, the more spiritual you are, the more practical you are, this is not just an arbitrary sign. The servant doesn't care about the exact words. In fact, if you read the text, you'll discover she doesn't say it exactly the way he said it. It's not like he has kind of coach her along and make it exactly the, in fact she goes out of the way, adds a few things, mentions the word and calls him Lord, my Lord, drink my Lord, until they have finished drinking, she promises to provide water for the camels and so on, that's no problem. What he's after is the spirituality, the godly character that will be revealed by her response. Apostle Paul says, may you be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This servant shows wisdom. One, he's standing by the spring, that's where he prays. If you're looking for a potential bride in the ancient world, they didn't have Parkstreet Cafe. They didn't have Parkstreet Common. What they had was a well and that's where the single women came out. And so this is not presumption. There are some people who are praying for a life mate and then they wall themselves off, they get a job in a nursing home, they never meet anybody within a hundred years of their age. At the walls down, if you're asking God to answer such a prayer, Jacob later on meets Rachel at a well, Moses meets his wife, Zipra at a well. This is the place to do it at a well. Secondly, not only do we have an example of him praying exactly, well some people have accused him of fishing in a bucket, praying at a well but also notice. He's not unwilling to take the initiative. See, I'm standing beside the spring. May it be when I say to a girl, please let down your jar. He's not expecting her to read his mind. He's not just staying there praying, waiting for her to come and say, excuse me sir, are you looking for a date? He takes the initiative in response to his own prayer and asks God's blessing on it. Thirdly, I think it's important to recognize in the actual offer of astonishingly lavish hospitality, generous provision. What he is really looking for is not compatibility, but what I would call conformability. I just want to take a moment and say, you know, in our age you've got to realize people have been sold a bill of goods. They often think that what's required to determine God's choice of a life mate is compatibility. I think that's Bunkham. Compatibility will mislead you every time because you see when we're looking for compatibility you're not looking for moral qualities. It's not like you say, well, you know, he's a pathological liar but I'm an inveterate truth teller so we're not compatible. That's not usually what it is. He's a slob and I'm a neatnik. He would drive me nuts. And so we assume we're not compatible, but don't you see the problem with that kind of thinking is that before you're married being a slob is perfectly fine. There's nothing sinful about it. And being a neatnik is perfectly fine. There's nothing sinful about that. But once you're married then something changes. Now your slovenliness is a sin against your spouse. It's being inconsiderate of their feelings and your neatness and obsessiveness and critical spirit is a sin against your spouse. And now you can count on the Holy Spirit doing marriage counseling and bringing the two of you together into a couple that is ever more in love. In fact, you'll notice in our text, love is not what comes before the marriage oddly enough in this case. It's what comes after the marriage. And in fact, those who have Christ-centered marriages, as we experience this, the love gets deeper and deeper as compatibility is ever increased under the Holy Spirit's efforts. So it's not compatibility. That's not even an issue. It's conformability. When she says this and then she says, and let me take care of the camels, may it be that one. In fact, the text tells us she said, I will draw water for your camels to until they have finished drinking. Do you realize that a camel, after a trek as we are speaking up, will need 25 gallons of water in order to replenish the water lost in a trek. And you know how long it takes them to drink 25 gallons? 10 minutes. We're talking about 10 camels who are thirsty. She didn't need to say this. All she need to do is just do the hospitable and considerate thing and leave it at that. But no, she goes down, those hundred steps down in the spring, brings back more water, more water, more water. What we have here is an astonishingly giving woman, a woman of God. A woman of God who in this case is really the embodiment of the woman, the wife celebrated in Proverbs 31, who is so hard working and diligent. You see, the Lord using then reasonable wise way of judging that spiritualality is what is driving this man to his confidence. But that doesn't settle it. He doesn't tell her, oh by the way God told us now that you've got to marry Isaac. The sense of God's leading has got to be confirmed by the receptivity of the bride and corroborated by those who love her. The parents and the brother, the Christian community in our case, they've got to agree it's of the Lord. And that's why the text has that big long boring addition, where it's just repeating everything so that they can see for themselves, yes this thing is of the Lord. And of course God's coincidence is also key to seeing his handiwork. We see this a lot of times in our church. I'm sure there are many in our congregation have a similar testimony. Yesterday I was privileged to solemnize a marriage between a man who was born in Venezuela and a woman who was born in Germany, two separate continents and how God brought them together meeting here at a third continent. I mean think of the improbability of it and causing them to fall hopelessly in love with one another. There are other stories, a wonderful one. I just heard about James Momma and Cindy Bostic. Apparently James in January was going to have a Super Bowl party here at church. He normally tends the evening service, but this meant he couldn't attend the night service. So he decided to come to the 11 o'clock service that one Sunday. Meanwhile Cindy had been complaining to her friend that she wasn't meeting any decent guys in the Sunday night service for some reason. I'm not making unfavorable comparisons here. I have another story when I preach this at night by the way. So there James was in the balcony, one Sunday. She, somebody apparently told her that if you're tired of not meeting anyone, come to the morning service. There are more mature men at Sunday morning. I have no idea what that's about. So he, apparently bored by the sermon, was looking down and saw her in his heart was smitten. He saw which exit she went out and he went after her. Met her, invited, you know, just some conversation and so on. Later on they bumped into each other again across the Boston common and that was it and Chris Sherwood is marrying them on May 13th. You say, well that's a ridiculous thing. Why didn't they, you know, how do they know? How did they know? How did this, how did Isaac know? Did they check out Tremont Temple and all the girls at Newton Presbyterian or Grace Chapel? Well you see, this is the whole point. We're not superstitious. We are believing in a God who sovereign over all those things. There is no such thing as chance with him. The Heidelberg Catechism in question 27 says, what do you understand by the providence of God? The answer, the Almighty and ever-present power of God whereby He still upholds as it were by His own hand, heaven and earth. Together with all creatures and rules in such a way that leaves and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and unproofful years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty and everything else, including life mates, come to us not by chance but by His fatherly hand. May it be so for us this our confidence. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your example of leading this humble servant of yours by the hand of providence, not through a special word of prophecy, not by a special vision or dream, but just by your excellent providence, guiding, leading surely to the end that you choose. We thank you, Lord, that you are the Lord of our lives. May it be our great comfort. May we trust in you in all things in the Savior's name. Amen.