Not Like Cain

Have you ever noticed just how quickly things can go from bad to worse?

It took me a long time to learn this life lesson, but when I finally did, I stopped saying things like, “Well, it can’t get any worse.”

Because saying that is almost like a challenge, isn’t it? And what I’ve come to realize is that life doesn’t need me to challenge it to show me its worst. It’s probably going to do that anyway.

I remember the first newspaper where I held the title of Editor.

It was the Sussex-Surry Dispatch, a tiny little paper with an office in Wakefield at the time that served Sussex and Surry counties.

I had come there from The Tidewater News in Franklin, where I’d started my newspaper career as a reporter. In Franklin, I’d learned everything I knew about newspapers, everything I knew about reporting and photography and design.

But since I was the absolute low man on the totem pole there, I’d never led a staff, and I had no idea how to do so.

And so, I walked into this little office in Wakefield on my first day in the new job absolutely clueless as to the challenges of leading people.

I remember it vividly. I opened the door to the little lobby and was greeted by the receptionist. I introduced myself, and she called the rest of the staff in to meet me. The staff consisted of the receptionist, an ad manager, an ad rep, a reporter, and a part-time designer.

All of them were women. And I only make that observation because of what came next.

The ad manager came in, and I shook her hand and said, “I’m Res Spears, the new editor,” and she said, “Oh gosh, he’s a man. I don’t know if we can work with a man.”

And then, everybody laughed and laughed. Everybody but me. And I remember thinking, “Well, it can only get better from here.”

How wrong I was.

Within the first month that I was there, my regional manager revealed to me that he had received multiple calls asking for me to be replaced. Some days, I could actually FEEL just how much I was disliked.

And then, several months after my arrival, I showed up for work one morning to a surprise. It was deadline day, and it was my birthday, which also happens to be a great Hallmark holiday — National Bosses Day.

When I walked through the front door, the receptionist wasn’t there. Passing the ad manager’s office, I noticed it was empty. I put down my things and went into the composing room to find that the part-time composer was the only one in the building.

“Everybody else quit,” she said. On my birthday. On Bosses Day. Good grief.

Things can always get worse, and they can do so faster than you can imagine. This is one of the basic principles of life in this fallen world.

Today, we’re going to see how this principle played out very early in the history of the world, as we continue our study of the Book of 1 John.

As we’ve made our way through this series, Walking in Truth and Love, I’ve said the Apostle John gives us a sort of recipe for living in true fellowship with God in this letter.

In the passage we studied last week, he said we should live like children of God, rather than children of the devil. He said we should live as subjects of the righteous King, rather than subjects of the ruler of this world.

And he said we make our allegiance known by the things we do. We demonstrate we are children of God by practicing righteousness and by loving one another.

But when we sin — or when we fail to love one another — we demonstrate that we don’t value our status as children of God more than we value the things of this world.

For followers of Jesus, love should be the defining element of their character. Love should be the foundation of how we live as people who await the return of our King, who loved us so much that He gave His life for us.

This is the message we have heard from the beginning. This is the message Jesus taught. This is the message Jesus LIVED.

This is the message He proclaimed from the very cross upon which He was crucified. He loved us while we were yet sinners.

And so, in the passages we’ll study in the next few weeks, John talks about love. First, he talks about what love is not in verses 11-15 of chapter 3. Then, he talks about what love IS. And then, he talks about what love DOES for believers.

So, this week, let’s look at what love is not. Turn to 1 John, chapter 3. We’ll pick up with verse 11.

1 John 3:11–15 NASB95

11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples, and He taught them some of His most important lessons. And “love one another” was among the most important.

John 13:34–35 NASB95

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In reality, this wasn’t an entirely new commandment. God had commanded the people of Israel in the Old Testament to love others.

What Jesus did, though, was to add a qualifier to the commandment. “Even as I have loved you,” He said.

And He had loved the disciples sacrificially. Indeed, He would give His very life at the cross the following day as a demonstration of His love for them and for all mankind.

He who knew no sin would take upon Himself the sins of mankind — and their just punishment — so that all who follow Him in faith can be saved from the penalty of sin.

And so, “Love one another, even as I have loved you” put a new spin on the old commandment.

The new version suggests loving people who aren’t worthy of your love. It suggests loving people who have hurt you. It suggests loving people, even when it means setting aside your own supposed right to be indignant with them.

It’s interesting to me that John pivots here to a recounting of the story of Cain and Abel. We’ll take a look at that story in a moment, and we’ll spend some time talking about what it says about hatred.

But what I want you to notice is what’s suggested by John’s phrasing in verse 12 of today’s passage: “not as Cain.”

He’s just said, “we should love one another.” And then, immediately, he adds, “not as Cain.” In other words, not like Cain did.

Well, you know the story, even if you don’t know all the details. What did Cain do to his brother, Abel?

He killed him! Does that sound like a loving way to treat your brother, whom you love? Of course not! But the way John phrases this suggests that Cain LOVED Abel.

So, what gives? Well, things can always get worse, especially when we give in to sin in our lives. And they can get worse much more quickly than we could have imagined.

Let’s look at the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis, chapter 4. And let’s see how Cain discovered this principle of life in a fallen world.

As you’re turning there, let me remind you that Genesis, chapter 3 is the account of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.

When they ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were essentially saying that they wanted for themselves the right to declare what was good and what was evil.

They were attempting to take for themselves the authority that only God has. And only God has this authority, because only God is completely righteous, completely holy, completely just.

And so, having sinned against God, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden. They would now have to make their way in a world into which they had introduced sin and death. A world in which things were already getting worse.

Look at verse 1 of chapter 4.

Genesis 4:1–2 NASB95

1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

So, Cain came along first, and then Abel. And we can see that they were probably being raised to trust in God by the fact that Eve gives God praise for Cain’s birth.

In fact, she probably thought — or at least hoped — that this would be the seed God had promised her in Gen 3:15 who would crush Satan under his heel.

When God made that promise, He was talking about Jesus, but Eve had no way to know that this promised redeemer would not come for thousands of years.

She had no way to know the depths of sin that the world would fall into before He came, although she was soon to get a taste of it.

But it seems that she had learned a lesson about trusting God in the time after she’d been expelled from the Garden of Eden.

And so, the family was making its way in a world that was now fallen. One son, Abel, kept the flocks. And another son, Cain, was raising crops. And both were worthy and necessary occupations.

Look at verse 3.

Genesis 4:3–5 NASB95

3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Both sons brought offerings to God from the fruit of their labors. Again, this suggests that they were being raised to trust and worship God.

But there was something different about the two offerings, something that probably went deeper than the difference between WHAT was offered.

And the difference caused God to look upon Abel’s offering with regard — in other words, to validate it, to respect it — whereas He “had no regard” for Cain’s offering.

Now there are many interpretations about this, and I don’t have time this morning to cover them all. Let me just point out that Abel’s offering is described differently than Cain’s offering is described.

Do you see it? Abel brought an offering “of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.” In other words, he brought the first of his flock and gave the best portions of them to God as a sacrifice.

But the description of Cain’s offering doesn’t include such qualifiers. When he wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses didn’t write that Cain brought the firstfruits of his crops. And I believe the omission of that word “firstfruits” is significant.

I think what it tells us is that Cain made his offering without faith that the God who had provided the crops so far would continue to do so.

In the great chapter on faith in the Book of Hebrews, the author tells us that Abel’s sacrifice was better because he made it in faith. And God accounted Abel’s faith as righteousness.

Abel came with his offering in love for God. But Cain came with his offering out of a sense of duty.

And there’s a great lesson for us when we understand this.

Whatever it is that we do for the Lord — whether it’s attending church or serving in the mission field or anything else — if we’re doing it out of a sense of duty, then it will not be an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord.

God wants us to demonstrate our love for Him by showing Him that we trust Him. That’s what it means when I talk about turning your life over to Jesus.

It means loving Him enough to trust Him with every part of your life. Loving Him enough to trust that whatever His plan is for you, it’s the very best plan. Loving Him enough to give Him the first and very best of everything you have.

But it seems that Cain didn’t love God this way. And when God essentially called his bluff, disregarding the offering he’d made out of a sense of duty rather than love, Cain’s attitude about God became clear. He became angry at God.

But God is good, and God gave Him a chance to repent for this sin. And God warned Cain that if he gave into sin, things would get a lot worse. Look at verse 6.

Genesis 4:6–8 NASB95

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Do you see that? “If you do well” — if your deeds are righteous and not evil, if you come before Me with a sacrifice of love and trust — then you’ll be lifted up. You’ll be happy and content.

But if you don’t, then sin is crouching at the door, and it desires to master you. If you give in to your sin, it will take control, and things will get much worse.

And so, Cain goes and tells Abel what the Lord had said to him. I suspect they had some discussion about it, and I think Cain must have been even angrier at the end of that discussion than he’d been at the beginning.

I think he must have felt shame, and jealousy, and guilt when he compared the righteousness of his brother to his own unrighteousness and lack of faith.

And that shame and jealousy and guilt produced rage in him. “In essence, Cain murdered his brother Abel because the wicked person hates righteousness.” [Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 155.]

Cain might’ve loved Abel, but he loved his own unrighteousness more. And that’s true in the world today, too.

As one commentator puts it: “Godlessness is disturbed by the condemning presence of righteousness in its midst, and it would remove the cause of its discomfort if it could.” [Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 155, quoting D. Burdick.]

That’s John’s point in verse 13 of today’s focus passage. Don’t be surprised if the world hates you as a follower of Jesus.

All the way back to Cain, the lost world has has been fine with love as long as it doesn’t involve turning away from sin. The lost world is fine with love as long as it isn’t shamed by love that is coupled with righteousness.

The lost world is fine with love as long as it doesn’t require any real sacrifice, any real setting aside of our own rights for the benefit of others.

But what John warns in this passage is that there’s a short path from failing to love as Jesus commanded and falling into the sin of hatred.

We who have followed Jesus in faith have been made alive in Him. We have passed beyond the control of sin and death and into the realm of eternal life — life in the presence of and in fellowship with God Himself.

But when we fail to love one another sacrificially — “even as I have loved you,” Jesus said — we are returning to the realm of the devil, the realm of death. We are opening the door to the sin that crouches on the other side, waiting to control us.

And under sin’s control, we’re subject to jealousy and rage — the very things that turned Cain’s love for Abel to hatred and murder.

Maybe we don’t respond by bashing someone’s head in with a rock, the way he did. But in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus equated these very things with murder itself.

And John’s point here is that these emotions aren’t characteristics of the Christian who is walking in true fellowship with God.

“Love one another, even as I have loved you” means coming to God in trust that He is good and that He has a special love for those who trust Him.

It means trusting that He is a righteous judge who knows the hearts of all who come before Him. It means setting aside our own supposed right to revenge wrongs done to us and dealing, instead, with our own wrong attitudes about others and about Him.

You can be a Christian and hate others. But you can’t be in fellowship with God in Christ while you’re hating others.

If you’re under the control of Him who IS eternal life, you won’t be controlled by sin and death. Hatred will not characterize you.

Instead, your life will be characterized by the kind of love Jesus showed His disciples, by the kind of love He showed at the cross. By a love that’s willing to sacrifice even for those who have wronged us.

This kind of love might very well cause the world to hate you, but your response MUST be to love them even more. That’s how you love like Jesus and not like Cain.

Sin was crouching at Cain’s door, waiting to take control of him. Indeed, sin was crouching at Jesus’ door. The difference is that one of them opened that door, and the other did not.

Do you want to love the way Jesus loved? It starts with keeping that door closed. When you open it, things get worse, and they can get worse quicker than you could’ve imagined. So, control your sin; don’t let your sin control you.

Let’s pray.

Now, today is Lord’s Supper Sunday. This observance is important to the fellowship of the church. This observance brings us together in a unique way and reminds us that we belong to one another in Christ Jesus.

It reminds us of the love that He has for us and the love we are called to have for one another.

Jesus commanded that we observe the Lord’s Supper as an act of obedience to Him, as a way of proclaiming that we who follow Him in faith belong to Him, and as a way of reminding us of what He did for us.

The Lord’s Supper reminds us that our hope for salvation rests entirely on the sacrifice that He made on our behalf at the cross. It reminds us that our life is in Him.

And the fact that we share bread from one loaf reminds us that we are, together, the body of Christ. It reminds us that we are called to unity of faith, unity of purpose, and unity of love.

And it reminds us that just as He gave up the glory that He had in heaven to come and live a sinless life as a man and give Himself as a substitute for us at the cross, we who have followed Him in faith are called to give up any claims we might think we have to our own lives and follow Him.

If you are a baptized believer who is walking in obedience to Christ, I would like to invite you to join us today as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Now, this sacred meal dates all the way back to when Jesus shared it with His disciples at the Last Supper on the night before He was crucified.

The conditions during the Last Supper were different than the conditions we have here today, but the significance was the same as it is today.

Jesus told His disciples that the bread represented His body, which would be broken for our transgressions.

Let us pray.

Matthew 26:26 NASB95

26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

As Jesus suffered and died on that cross, his blood poured out with His life. This was always God’s plan to reconcile mankind to Himself.

“In [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”

Let us pray.

Matthew 26:27–28 NASB95

27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Take and drink.

“Now, as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Maranatha! Lord, come!

Here at Liberty Spring, we have a tradition following our commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.

Please gather around in a circle, and let us sing together “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”