Acceptable Sacrifice: Cain and Abel

Questions?

What is Worship? - Thanksgiving, with a context and humility

What is required for Worship?

Big Idea(s)

Worship can be acceptable or unacceptable to God

Our worship serves as a window into the condition of our heart

Wholehearted affection vs fulfilled obligation

Filled with Faith in God’s Word and Character vs Doubting

Faith in God’s truth vs trusting your opinion

God approached Cain about being accepted and asked him to repent

Worship is a Heavy thing, not to be taken lightly

Hearts properly connected to God will connect to the church family

Intro

The Weight of Honor

Proverbs 3:9–12 ESV

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; 10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. 11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Honor is most commonly translated as weight. Honoring God is a weighty thing. It is not to be taken lightly.

Have you ever taken something lightly?

Have you ever felt like someone was taking you lightly?

First semester of College, I took it lightly. I had to learn how to take it seriously or heavy!

Passage

A Quick Word About Eden

The whole world was not like Eden

Eden had a garden and also a mountain

Genesis 2:8 ESV

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Ezekiel 28:14 ESV

14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

Even after Adam and Eve would banished from Eden, God still had some form of relationship with them. God talked with their children Cain and Abel. More specifically, Abel, whose sacrifice was not pleasing.

Adam and Eve likely had an expectation about there offspring “crushing the head” of the serpent.

Main Passage

Genesis 4:1–7 ESV

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Before we dive in, there are a few more points I think are pretty interesting.

It appears that Cain and Abel voluntarily bring a sacrifice. We have no mention in the text that God required them to bring a sacrifice.

One commentator pointed out, that Cain is the first angry, dare we say, depressed person in recorded history.

After the fall, God let them know that they would experience death. Do you think they would expect death would come from within their family?

Genesis 3:19 ESV

19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Death had entered their world and they were cast out of the place where God dwelt.

Genesis 4:1 ESV

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Even though Adam and Eve have been cast of out Eden, they appear to return to their original purpose. Be fruitful and multiply. Gen 1:28 contains the original mandate to be fruitful and multiply. God original design was to have a family of human beings dwell with Him and fill the earth.

Also notice Eve’s response at having a son. The LORD has given me a son. She was looking for a promised male offspring. Why? In the aftermath of the fall, it was promised that the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the one that deceived Adam and Eve.

Eve had messed up. However, she was expectantly waiting on the LORD to provide the promised offspring.

Genesis 4:2 ESV

2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

She has a second son. Some scholars think they may have been twins. I don’t know. They both start working to provide for the family. Notice both of their jobs relate to the original mandate. Go subdue the earth and everything in it. However, they would do it in the context of the curse. There would be thorns and thistles. There would be difficulty in growing crops and raising livestock. Difficulty that was not part of God’s good design.

Genesis 4:3 ESV

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,

This goes on for a while, Cain and Abel work the land. We don’t know how long. But eventually, the brothers bring an offering to the LORD. It would be a long time until sin offerings are instituted in the Mosaic law.

We aren’t aware of any mandate that God had given at this point that sacrifices should be given. It is assumed that they simply wanted to express thankfulness to God. They wanted to give back. This was a voluntary thing.

I think that is important. In any relationship, do you want your friend or spouse to demand that you be thankful? At best, that is a parent teaching a child basic manners.

Please

Thank you

Sir and Ma’am

At worst, someone demanding that you thank them is a sign that the relationship is in trouble, likely even abusive and manipulative.

God didn’t command Cain and Abel to sacrifice. They had lived under the curse for a while. They experienced how difficult it cold be to grow crops and raise animals. While they were driven from the garden, God had not abandoned them. As we will see later, God talked with Cain and Abel. Actually, he talks the most with Abel, who would become a murderer.

It’s just my 2 cents, but I think , at least Abel, is genuine is his thankfulness for God’s help and whatever form of fellowship they had at that point.

Genesis 4:4–5 ESV

4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

God has regard for Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain’s.

Regard - to look at with favor

Have you ever had your spouse or your kids, or maybe a brother or sister do something spontaneous to surprise you?

Kids bringing good report card

Tracy making dinner and cleaning house right before I come home from a work trip

Theres a look that has a mindset of approval and closeness. This person knows me and cares about me. This person has done something that required lots of effort in order to please me or make me proud. In the case of my kids, they listened to my wife and I and did their schoolwork!

God looked at Abel’s sacrifice and it pleased him.

God looked and Cain;s sacrifice, and it did not please him.

Here’s the maddening part. Genesis never tells us why! It is maddening that it doesn;t say why and it is terrifying that a sacrifice could be deemed unacceptable by God.

Big Idea

Worship can be acceptable or unacceptable to God

Thankfully, there are other areas of scripture that help us understand the why. We will get to those in a bit.

Genesis 4:5 ESV

5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Cain has a predictable reaction. He is the first human in recorded history to be mad. Some scholars would even argue, he is the first person to be depressed. He was angry and saddened to have his sacrifice deemed as “having no regard”. God did not look on with approval.

So what does God do?

Does God cut Cain off forever?

God draws near to Cain and asks, what is going on? This is very similar to when Adam and Eve ate the apple.

God asks a bunch of questions that he knows the answer to.

God is expressing care for Cain.

Genesis 4:6 ESV

6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

God knows. But will Cain bring his issue to God?

Genesis 4:7 ESV

7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

God is concerned about Cain. He knows that his sacrifice being not being accepted, and his brother's being accepted, has hurt Cain. Cain has an opportunity to repent and try again. Cain is not rejected at this point. But God is trying to raise Cain’s attention to a matter within the heart.

Where is this anger coming from?

Rejection hurts. No matter the form. But God draws has shows concern for Cain. What does do in response to God drawing near? We are not told if he said anything. The conversation ends.

God knows that the rejection has stirred up anger. Cain rejects plan to deal with that anger.

Maybe the anger was rooted in sibling rivalry. Maybe Cain had a portion of anger toward the Lord and toward Abel. There certainly appears to be quite a bit of jealousy.

Cain would go on to murder his brother Abel. It appears to have been premeditated.

Notice Cain’s response to God when being questioned.

Genesis 4:9 ESV

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Cain’s heart hardens so quickly. He murdered his brother. And when questioned by God, he delivers a snarky remark implying God didn’t do his job of keeping watch over Abel.

Am I Abel’s keeper, I thought you were.

Abel’s heart has gone from bad to worse.

Way back at the sacrifice, something was off.

Big Idea

Our worship serves as a window into the condition of our heart

The book of Hebrews gives us a clue.

Hebrews 11:4 ESV

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel had faith in God. Cain did not.

Cain had faith in what God had said.

What we are told, Cain knew

They were under a curse

They were to be fruitful and multiply

They were to work the land

There was a promised offspring that would crush the head of the serpent

Abel had faith in what God had said. Abel was thankful for God’s help and provision. Cain was not.

There worship gave us a window into the condition of there hearts.

What are some marks are acceptable worship?

Wholehearted affection vs fulfilled obligation

Filled with Faith in God’s Word and Character vs Doubting

Faith in God’s truth vs trusting your opinion

God approached Cain about being accepted and asked him to repent

Worship is a Heavy thing, not to be taken lightly

Hearts properly connected to God will connect to the church family

How about you?

How is your heart?

Let’s close tonight bu looking at a fairly familiar story in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

May we all humble ourselves and draw near to our heavenly Father. Full of faith, let us draw near and offer an acceptable sacrifice of praise.