Jelous Worship

You know it is amazing how Jelousy can creep into our lives

Because I do not think of myself as a jealous person

And I might have shared this aa few year years ago, but I remember it was in college and I recently had gotten a new car and it was a Honda Civic.

And it was this super nice car, and we loved it and we probably would have kept it if we did not out grow it.

But I remember a few months after I had a friend buy a car and this car was the same but it was the next model up.

And I remember him coming in and we were talking about the car, and he goes so does your car have the sun roof?

And I went no

And then he goes well does yours have the leather seats.

And I said no I did not need those

And then finally he said does yours have the sports mode.

And I don’t know why but sports mode was the thing that made me go wow, I need the next level up.

I do not even know what it does, but how cool does a sports mode sound.

But with all seriusness it was a moment where I was so blessed with the car I had, but for some reason there is a discontent about my car because of the car my friend had.

And I think if we are honest even if you do not view yourself as a jelous person its not hard to look at other peoples lives and go wow, that looks nice.

Their house is amazing

Their family is beautiful

Their job

And often times jealousy creeps in where it may not even be us saying wow I want that exact thing, but I think it looks a lot like us being discontent, with our current life that is in the will of God (or where God has called us).

And so today what we are doing is we will be looking at a story of Jealousy and its actually the first one we find in the Bible because it is in Genesis 4:1-16

And just to give background God has just created Adam and Eve and sin has crept in and so we the world start to look different, from just a couple chapters back.

And Adam and Eve have left the Garden of Eden have now given birth to 2 sons Cain and Able.

And let me just read the first 5 verses it says this:

Genesis 4:1–5 NIV

1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

So we see these two brothers Cain and Able

And you probably saw this but Cain worked the soil, meaning he was a farmer

And then able kept flocks meaning he was a shepherd,

And so they go to make a sacrifice to God and we are told Cain brings his fruit and then Able brings some of his first born from the flock.

And what we are told is God looks at Ables offering with favor and not Cains.

And there are two beliefs on why this happens.

The first is some scholors look at this and go I dont know.

Because the fruit offering would have been aan acceptable offering because that what Cain did.

And their is a question that comes up here of “what do we do when God acts differently than what we think He should?”

And I think thats a really good question that we should sit in

But let me give the second beliefs that scholars have, because you will notice that with Cain the language is Cain brought “some fruit”

But then with Able it says he brings the first born of the flock which was the best.

And so a lot of scholors believe its almost as if you seen Able going heres the best, and then Cain goes well heres somthing.

You should be happy with this.

Its almost like you know how you will make dinner and your family eats almost all of it but a lot of times you have that weird small amount left that was kind of like the parts that were either a little burned or for whatever reason no one wanted it.

Typically you dont save that part right?

But what happens is a lot of times you give it to the dog.

And you feel good becaue your going wow my dog loves me, because at least I gave them a little bit right?

And this is a really hard truth but I think a lot of times in our life whether it is our comfort, finances, time or anything else we start with giving ourselves the best and then we go but here God heres this part that I didn’t really need or want.

And we catch ourselves having the same posture towrds God as our Dog.

Here are my leftovers, you should be happy you get them.

And lets go to this next part because Cain is upset with God, because Gods not showing favor and this is really where the jelousy part happens. Look at verses 6-7. It says:

Genesis 4:6–7 (NIV)

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

So God goes why are you angry, and not just angry, but you start to see Cain getting jelous.

And I love that last part of what we just read because God gives a warning, and he goes the jelousy and anger your feeling, pay really close attention to it, because “sin is crouching at your door… Do not let it rule over you”

You know when we find ourselves in places of jealousy and anger it is really easy for those emotions to cause us to make some really poor choices.

And God is going you want to stay away from this and do what is right because you are opening a door to destruction in your life.

Its almost like how Liam and Finn love to help me grill.

And really it jut looks like them helping me carry things out to the grill. (and sometimess I even regret that)

But I make sure that they stay away from the grill because I recognize letting your kid play with a grill isn’t smart.

And in this passage God is going you are playing with a grill and its only a matter of time until you touch the hot part.

And lets look at this next part verses 8-12:

Genesis 4:8–12 NIV

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

So theres a slippery slope that happens because all of the sudden these Cain has this jealousy in his life, and it brings his life to a place where I am sure he never thought it would go.

And he takes the life of his brother.

And it would be easy to go well Brendan I am a little Jelous and I do not think I am going to murder anyone anytime soon.

And you are probably right, but I want you to notice what this jelousy does:

Because Jealousy separates Cain and Able and when we are jealous it separates us from the people around us.

But it does not just stop there because God comes to cain and goes “where Able?”

And Cain lie and he goes “I don’t know! Am I my brothers keeper?”

So now jelousy and really sin, does not just seperate us from the people around us, but it begins to seperate us from God.

And look at verse 12 that we read because God goes “now you will be restless and wander the earth”

And so it seperates us from God and others, but also we wander, and do not find rest.

And there re a few beliefs on what that means, but I believe when we feel jealousy, we are often times chasing things that will never fill us.

And what happens is we wander from thing to thing, going maybe this will do it, maybe this will, but the truth is none of it fills our life.

Because there is always someone who has more.

I love this 60 minutes interview that came out with Tom Brady years ago, because at the time he won 3 superbowls was already known as the best quarterback in the leauge and he says this:

There’s times where I’m not the person that I want to be. Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is.” I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think: God, it’s gotta be more than this. I mean this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be. I mean I’ve done it. I’m 27. And what else is there for me?

We can search the world but to often the things we chase will not fill us.

The only one that can fill us is the one that made us, redeemed us and fills us.

And let me just read this last part of the passage because it says this in verses 13-16:

Genesis 4:13–16 (NIV)

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

So Cain goes this punishment is to much to bear.

And whats crazy is God does not go well thats to bad, but he actually shows grace towrds cain, and he give him the mark to protect him.

And there are a few things we could get here, but what I want us to understand is that even when Cain deserved anything but grace, God gave it to Him.

And we actually see God doing this throughout the entire Old Testement where God people run, but God pursues.

And we see it colmunated with Jesus coming as fully God and fully man dying on the cross and resurrecting.

And not just stoping their but Hid presence filling us.

And I guess as we close, have we leaned into that? And not just that but are we allowing him to fill those empty places?

Because the truth is when we experiance jelousy is can cause damage, and maybe some of us are in the aftermath of that, maybe some of us feel disconent with life right now.

But the beautiful thing is God is extending Grace, even now.

And He is ready to fill us.

What would it look like for us to find healing this morning and contentment

What would it look like to instead of going well “why does this person get that”

to sit and go God I am following you and if I am in Your will, I am filled.

Lets pray.