Genesis 4-5 - Life outside the garden…

Intro

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Over the last few weeks, as we’ve kicked off this series through Genesis, we’ve found not just a true story but one that’s equally gripping… Though perhaps with our familiarity we’ve lost some of that edge of the seat wonder that comes with this account.

Change into to a ‘tipping point’ decision moment. why do we tell stories? What about that moment when your teaching a kid to ride a bike, they’re struggling, moment where they could crack it and give up forever, or embrace and get it through…

We’ve seen the marvel of God creating something out of nothing, that throgh words God formed the earth, the sea and the sky and everything in it. And at it’s centre God created mankind, male and female, in his image… and that things were very good!

But then came the shocking twist, that Adam and Eve turned their backs on God, they had paradise but, ruined it… By entering into sin, nothing would be the same again, the earth became cursed.

And so we come to chapter four where we’ll see what it looks like to live life outside the garden, for most of us we have some sense of where the story is heading, but it’s good to put yourself in the shoes of a first time reader, to realise just what a key moment this is… And how significantly it contributes to the story of the world we live today.

To unpack this story, we’re going to start by seeing the hope that this story opens with, we’ll then go on to see the tipping point moment, before we see the devastating turn that Cain’s choice takes things in and finally we’ll see how things spiral from there.

Finally we’ll ask how it all affects our own stories here and now…

change structure to a ‘journey’

The great hope

The tipping point

Cain’s choice

the spiral down

Point 1 - The Great Hope…

I think one of the tricky aspects of this story is that our view of things tends to be so caught up in what we know is coming…

Being that most are so familiar with the story, as we read the opening words, we know how hopelessly things will turn out…

Perhaps it’s a bit like watching the star wars prequels…

Now i recognise that we now live in a time where there’s people not familiar with star wars, my dear wife being one of them, so for the uniformed, the original star wars came out in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and told a rather complete and dare i say wonderful story, of the classic kind, good vs evil and all that.

People my age, watched them and watched them again and again…

Fast forward 20 or so years, and then they decided to release the prequels, this was a new concept back then, where they told the story before the story, in particular how the bad guy ended up bad.

And so as you watched those prequels, it lost something, because you knew how it would end, the cute kid wasn’t so cute, cause you knew what he’d become...

Dial up the hope? Connection from ch3-4 ditch star wars Make much of a fresh start?

For many of us, it’s easy to skip over the hope that this story of Cain and Abel opens with, because we know what comes next… but I want to show us that there is hope there in these first couple of verses, have a look with me at verses 1 & 2 of chapter 4…

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.

Adam and Eve have been cast out of the Garden, because of their sin, they’ve been cut off from the tree of life and will now face death, tragedy… but what comes next?

Eve gives birth to a son!

New life comes… And notice what Eve proclaims, she says - “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”, that’s a wonderful turn around isn’t, after Adam & Eve had broken their relationship with God, we didn’t know what to expect, would they never relate positively with God again? Would they turn bitter and resentful to God?

But here we see, that though the relationship is broken, Eve is still acknowledging God as the provider who has made this new life possible. She began the process of the command that God had given man and woman to fill the earth…

Can you imagine the moment that Cain was born?

When Brooklyn, my first child was born, it was an unbelievable moment for Kirst and I, and lots of people tried to describe to us how amazing it would be, but despite hearing the experiences of people who’d been there before me you can’t quite picture how amazing it is, to lay your eyes on your own new born child…

What would it of been like for Eve? no one told he what would happen… there was no one preparing her for it… what an incredible moment, the birth of not just their first child, but the first ever child!

But i think there’s even more wrapped up in these verses…

Because i think there’s a built in expectation, that comes with the birth of Cain… Remember built into the curses that God gave to Satan, Adam and Eve was a promise of what would come along with Eve’s offspring…

3:15 says…

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring  and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

And here is Cain, the very first offspring of Eve… And with him comes the question… is this the one?

Is this the offspring who will crush the head of the snake? Can humanity now recover from it’s grave mistake in the garden?

Well we don’t wait long to find the answer… A few verses later we read of a devastating turn things take, rather than a saviour we find that Cain is a murderer… How did things take such a turn…

2. The tipping point

Let’s read on to see the moment it goes bad the tipping point… (genesis 4:2b-7)

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.

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.”

Two brothers and each brings an offering to God, which tells us that God had given some instruction on what it looked like to interact with Him. Verse 7 shows us that Cain knew what was right, and didn’t act on it…

And so we read that their offerings were not equal… We’re not told why Abel’s offering was acceptable and Cain’s wasn’t, though it’s clear it wasn’t about God preferring meat over veges, even though that’s probably how it would work for me.

We’re not told the reason, but God telling him if he does what’s right he’ll be accepted, means that somehow in the offering he makes he’s not doing what’s right.

The best guess we have at the problem is in the little extra detail that we’re given that Abel’s offering is the fat portions from the firstborn of his flock, which shows us Abel has picked out the best. For Cain on the other hand we’re not given that same indication that he’s chosen the best… Perhaps he’s given the the B-grade stuff, the bits he didn’t want.

So what went wrong here? I think this is the Bible’s first recorded case of empty religion…

What do I mean by that… Here is Cain looking to tick the boxes…

change ticking the boxes, to ‘on my terms’ - flesh out verse 7 - can knew what is right but reinterpreted

He thinks the offering is all about ticking a box for God, and so when he ticks the box, and God doesn’t accept it, how does he respond? With anger…

He’s angry because he believes he’s done what’s required, and so it’s not just box, ticked, rather God owes him, he has given to God, and so God is now in his debt.

That tends to be how a religion without faith works doesn’t it… My first ministry experience was in an Anglican church in Sydney… And it was quite common for people to come to the church asking for their kids to be baptised, the minister would alway respond by inviting them to meet up with him over a number of weeks to talk through what Baptism was so he could explain the gospel to them…

But lots of people would refuse, and quite boldly say something like, I don’t want to come here, I just want to get my kid their ticket to heaven.

It’s a really sad thing isn’t it, they’ve fundamentally, misunderstood what it means to believe in God. They thought if they do the action, in this case get a a sprinkle of water on their kid, then God would be in their debt, that he’d owe them, in this case that he’d owe their kid a spot heaven.

What’s the alternative to religion? Abel shows us it’s faith…

We’re not given a look at Abel’s motivations, we don’t even get to hear any of his words, but the book of Hebrews gives us insight into what was going on for Abel on this day… (Hebrews 11:4)

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Faith is the act of putting your trust in God and putting that trust into action… That’s what Abel does, in his great trust in God, he gives him the best part of his flock, and he’s commended for his righteousness.

The story of Cain and Abel holds out two paths… the first is to try and earn it ourselves, to think we can put God in our debt… that is the path of religion, the path of Cain… The second is the path of faith, Abel’s path, to put our trust in God and to let that trust shape our actions, no matter what it costs…

God himself shows Cain that reality…

And so Cain has a moment to respond, and God shows him his choices… look again at verse 7…

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.”

At this moment there’s still hope for Cain isn’t there? It’s a disturbing image isn’t it, sin is crouching at the door, it desires to have you… It’s a menacing picture isn’t it!

One of the unexpected quirks of getting married was the discovery that my wonderful wife, has system for which side of the bed i’m allowed to sleep in… And much to my confusion, i’m not always on the right or on the left, my side of the bed changes according to whichever side is the closest to the door…

Why you ask? It’s because she’s in perpetual fear that a masked intruder would break into our home, and so i need to be a barrier in between her and the door…

Though it is possible she played a very clever long game so that when kids came along, i’d be their first stop… but i’m pretty sure it’s the intruder she’s worried about…

God personifies sin as an intruder crouching and ready to attack, ready to consume him…

The book of James paints a similar picture, as we saw last week… James 1:14-15

14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

more connecting the dots here

Given a chance sin will consume to the point of death.

And so God gives Cain a chance to choose his path, and we have a tipping point, a moment where things could go either way, Cain could repent, and do what is right, or he could give in to sin, and let it consume him…

Which is our third point… Cain’s choice… and this is the moment this story becomes a tragedy…

3. Cain’s Choice

Cain gives into temptation, God has shown him the danger of sin, and Cain ignores him…

And so he takes him out to a field and kills him…

In many ways I think we’re supposed to see a parallel here with the sin of Adam & Eve…

Both ignore the command of God, both think they know better, both are found out, and both are given consequences…

But it’s good to recognise as well how things have escalated…

Notice the difference in response…

When Adam and Eve sin, they respond with guilt and shame…

When God asks Eve what they’ve done, though both she and the man are quick to blame others but they do admit to what they’ve done…

But Cain’s different isn’t he… his response is indifferent, he says

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

There’s no remorse there is there… He still seems to think he’s the one who’s wronged, that he had every right to do what he did…

There’s no concern here for his own brother who he’s slain in his jealousy…

Which shows us another escalation, in this next sin out of the garden. That his broken relationship with God, leads to a broken relationship with those around him…

Cain asks the rhetorical question ‘am I my brother’s keeper’, assuming that the answer is no. But that’s not how we see things unfold throughout the Bible, as God gives shapes of what it means to live as he intends, two dominate themes come out. So much so that when we come to the new testament, Jesus tells us that all of the law and commands of the Old testament can be summed up into two simple commands…

To love God and to love other people…

So the answer to Cain’s question, am i my brothers keeper, is yes! yes he is! But Cain doesn’t see it, all he sees it how things impact him…

Even as we read on, as God’ curses him, there’s no sense of getting what he deserves, only a lament that the punishment is too much for him…

We find the curse he receives from verse 10

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.”

Where God cursed the ground because of Adam, now Cain himself has been cursed… for Adam it would produce, though only with painful toil, but for Cain, it will no longer produce, he’ll no longer be a worker of the ground but instead he’ll be a restless wanderer, driven out of the land… and his great fear is that on account of his murder of Abel, whoever finds him will kill him.

And so God once again steps in with grace…

explain mark of Cain…

cain deserves grace but instead gets life

you’d think that’d lead to repentance but instead…

- Cain’s choices, impact humanity significantly don’t they… that’s our final point, the spiral down…

look at genealogy…

the mess of lamech…

what hope is there for humanity…

but there is some - Seth represents new hope… the hope of a different line, look how ch4 finishes… And we’re once again called to look forward to the one who would crush the head of the serpent…

For us

2 lines, two paths, two choices…

Faith or Religion

Will I trust God or will I try to go my own way? my terms or God’s terms? - how do we see that expressed - am i my brothers keeper? - YES - watch for the alarm bell, how are we treating others? -Lamech shows us -bra boys illustration, trying to be Abels but end up as Cains…?

Really a question of heart…

The woman in the red dress?

We all have that moment, in fact many moments where sin is crouching at our door…