False Worship Described
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Opening Illustration - No Toe: I love coaching my little girl’s soccer team. I have been their coach for I think four years now. Coaching little kids soccer, up until this point, has been a lesson in herding cats. I’m just trying to get them understand big concepts. There is one rule, on my team that is a deal breaker, and that is so hard for little kids to learn. You do not kick a soccer ball with your toe. “No toe!” as I like to scream! I’m tough on these little guys. One of them will make a great play, he’ll win the ball, dribble around a player, shoot and score. He’ll be celebrating in practice. And I’ll say, “Everything about that was awesome, except you used your toe.” They’ll say “Why? I can kick harder with my toe.” And I’ll say “Because it is the wrong way to kick a soccer ball. Not only will you eventually break your toe, but you’ll have no accuracy, and you won’t learn to really play soccer.” No toe!
Personal: There is a right and wrong way to kick a soccer ball. And there is a right and wrong way to worship God. We can have all the best intentions in the world, but if the worship we are offering God, is not in line with God’s instructions of how he expects to be worshiped, then it is false worship. God will be not be mocked by false worship.
Context: Today we are continuing our series in the book of Genesis. What we have seen is that Genesis is telling us about our identity, who we are, and who we are meant to be. Of course we are separated from the people we meet, not only by thousands of years, but also by living on the other side of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And so the worship we offer God is going to look a little different than the worship they offered God. Nevertheless principles are very applicable. The story of Cain and Abel is the story of two brothers, one who offered true worship, and the other who offered false worship. My aim today is simple. I am going to spend the first half of our time really understanding this story, and helping us to read between the lines. And then I’m going to spend the second half applying this text into our modern life. Let’s begin with the story.
EXPLICATION
EXPLICATION
I SETUP
Cain Name: The context of this story is vitally important to understanding this text. Adam and Eve have been kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And in the opening verse of our chapter, they give birth to their first son. The world’s population increases from two to three. This older son is named Cain, which in the Hebrew sounds a lot like the word that Eve uses in verse 1 when she says “I have gotten a man.” Adam and Eve are proud of this son. He gets a special name to celebrate the occasion.
Abel Name: Then they have another son, and the name given him is Abel. Abel in Hebrew means “vanity” or “emptiness” or “worthlessness.” This word is used in Ecclesiastes often when the preacher of Ecclesiastes speaks about the meaninglessness of so much of life.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
This dynamic must not be lost on us. Cain is the older, more beloved son. And he knows it. If at that point, inheritance rules had been established, Cain would received a double portion. But beyond that, he had a double portion of his father’s love. In fact verse 2 says that Cain took up the trade of his Dad and became a “worker of the ground”, while Abel a “keeper of sheep”
Brought an Offering: We are told in verse 3-4 that,
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 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,
This moment forms the background and backbone of this passage. Two brothers who go to bring an offering to the Lord. The first question we should ask is ‘where did they get the idea that they should bring an offering to the Lord?’ Did they just come up with idea out of thin air? I don’t think so.
II EVIDENCES
And I’m going to show you three lines of evidence, from this text as well as another verse in the Bible that references this text, that God had given explicit instructions to Cain and Abel that their offering had to contain blood. And that Cain and Abel knew this.
#1 Cherubim: First, the Cherubim of chapter three. If we go back just one verse to the end of Genesis 3 we read that after Adam and Eve sinned they were cast out of Eden
… and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
What is happening at the East side of the Garden of Eden. Cherubim are placed there. Cherubim are a class of angel that we meet a few other times in scripture. One is in Isaiah 6 in that famous throne room of God scene, where we discover there are Cherubim that hover around the throne of Christ in heaven.
The Ark: The other place we see them is on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. If you recall, the Ark of the Covenant is that chest that held the 10 Commandments of God. That chest was very important in Israel’s history. On the top of the chest were carved two cherubim with their wings spread out. Between the two cherubim was what was called “the Mercy Seat.” Once a year, in Israel’s history, the High Priest of Israel on Yom Kippur would enter the Holy of Holies (the most sacred part of the temple, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept). And he would enter with the blood of a sacrificial animal. And he would pour that blood on the Mercy Seat, between the cherubim. This was a signal to all Israel that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.
Back to Cherubim: So in Genesis 3, we have cherubim guarding the way “to the tree of life.” I think, along with many others, that is a bit of play on words. Yes, they are forbidden from entering Eden and eating of the Tree of Life. But God in his mercy has placed a type of Mercy Seat on the East Side of the garden, surrounded by Cherubim. Those Cherubim were guarding the only way that sinful men like Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel could still have access to eternal life.. I believe that a type of altar was set up by God on the East side of Eden. Though the text does not explicitly say it, I think God instructed them exactly how to offer sacrifices there, which is why we find Cain and Abel offering sacrifices in the first place. God’s instructions, is that on that Mercy Seat, blood would need to be shed.
#2 NT Abel: Second, what the NT tells us about Abel. The New Testament tells us a bit about Abel’s heart in this moment
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…
It says that Abel had faith! Faith in what? The Bible says that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). This is not just a general faith that God exists. Cain had that too. No, it is a specific faith in the promises of God that one day a Savior would come who would defeat sin and death. And his faith was of the kind, that until that day came, he would demonstrate his faith by worshipping God the way God had said to be worshiped, by pouring the blood of animal on the mercy seat, which would be a symbol that indeed the consequences of sin is death, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.
Cain’s Perspective: Cain, has an entirely different perspective. He also knows of God’s instructions because he is bringing a sacrifice. The difference with the sacrifices, Cain’s has no blood. Cain is worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience. He hears God’s Word, but he feels God’s way is too restrictive, perhaps too icky, and so he modifies God’s instructions. He worships God the way he wants to worship God.
#3 God’s Reponse: Third is God’s response. And we’re told that God responds in two ways. First, we are told that God
Genesis 4:4–5 “…had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”
This simply means that God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, and he did not accept Cain’s. Cain reveals his heart condition and gets angry, and then God says.
Genesis 4:6–7 “The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 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.””
“If You Do Well”: He says “If you do well…” What does that mean? I think that means, “If you offer sacrifices the way I have commanded you… If you offer blood”
Accepted: You will be accepted. That word accepted means pardoned from your guilt. “Cain, you and your brother have inherited a sinful, morally corrupt nature, from your father Adam. The consequences are exactly as I said to Adam, death. But there is a still you can have eternal life. The blood of a sacrifice will pardon you of your guilt.”
Cain Hates the Blood: To summarize. There was a right way to worship God. Cain explicitly ignored God’s instructions. We’re told that Cain, immediately becomes angry about this. Why? For the same reason the world today is angry at the exlusivity of the blood of Jesus Christ, who is the final sacrifice for sin. The natural man, in his sin, hates the idea that the wages of sin is death. And they hate the idea that another can die in our place. Their pride tells them their condition is different than God says.
III CONSEQUENCES
Cain Fears Losing Rights: But alongside this, all of Cain’s sin is flairing up. He’s walking away from his sacrifice, and his lowly brother “Abel” was received and he wasn’t. Would he lose his status with his Dad. Would he lose his inheritance rights (if those were existant). Well if he was fearing suddenly becoming the lesser loved of the two brothers, one way to solve that real quickly, is by getting rid of Abel. Truly “sin is crouching at the door of all of us.”
God Confronts Cain: God confronts Cain, much like the way God confronted Adam in the Garden.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
Notice the contempt he has for God. God comes towards him in kindness. I believe that even here, God would have forgiven him, if he would only repent. See the kindness in God. But Cain’s heart is so dead, that he points the finger back at God “Who do you think I am?”
You Can’t Hide from God: But of course, nothing is hidden from God. Cain could no more hide from God in that field, than Adam could hide from God among the trees in Genesis 3. Cain’s sin found him out. The blood of Abel called out to God from the very ground.
Cain’s Dialogue: And it is very interesting what happens throughout the rest of the dialogue between Cain and God. Cain does give a slight impression that he recognizes the consequences of his sin.
Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Away from God: When Cain says “you have driven me away from your face,” I think he is speaking of the Mercy Seat that God had established on the East side of Eden. That place where God and man met. He’s beginning to feel the full consequence of being cast away from the one place where God could be met.
Self-Preservation: And yet that doesn’t seem to be the main driver in his motivation. He’s far more concerned with self-preservation, that someone is going to find him in a field and kill him (exactly what he did to Abel). The story ends with Cain, away from God, as a wanderer. There is an ironic twist in this ending. The brother whose name meant “meaningless (Abel)” found stability and his way back to the tree of life (life everlasting). The brother who’s name boasted in the accomplishment, became a meaningless wanderer.
Application
Application
That is the text, and what I believe is a faithful telling of that story. The question becomes what are we to do with it. We who are so far removed from Cain and Abel; we who are Christians looking to serve Christ with more faithfulness and more clarity. What do we take away from this text? I want to offer four very direct applications.
I TRUE WORSHIP MUST GO THROUGH THE BLOOD OF LAMB
First, true worship must go through the blood of the lamb. in this story we have two brothers who go to bring their acts of worship to God. One brother, brings the appropriate sacrifice of a sheep, of the blood of a lamb that would be poured out on the altar. The other brother brings a sacrifice simply of grain. It is only the sacrifice of the blood of the lamb that is received by God. That is the proper way to approach God, through the blood.
The Blood Lamb of God: That lamb that was sacrificed by Abel was a foreshadow of the ultimate lamb that was slain for the forgiveness of sins. It was a placeholder that was to cause Abel to look forward to the day when the final lamb would be slain. Those who came after Abel, the people of God in the Old Testament had an elaborate sacrificial system that involved the sacrifice of animals. The blood of those animals was placed on an altar between the carvings of the cherubim. And those sacrifices were a placeholder to cause the people of God to look forward to the final lamb that would be slain, to the ultimate blood that would be shed for the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus is the Lamb: When Jesus Christ entered the scene in Israel in the first century, the prophet John the Baptist looked at him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Likewise, the Apostle Peter explicitly tells us that we were
…ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Christ is the lamb whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins. Worship that is offered to God is only received if it comes through the blood of the lamb.
Plurality: Friends, we live in a world that claims to celebrate “pluralism.” The idea that any and every idea should be accepted as good and true. If you have any idea about God, good for you. What’s important is that you worship God as you want to worship God. The worst thing you can say to our modern world, is something exclusive about God. As soon as you put exclusivity around the nature of God and the claims of God and the requirements of God, you become canceled in our modern culture.
Bible Over Pluralism: But against this modern spirit of pluralism stands the God’s Word. God’s Word says that Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted. God’s Word says that only worship offered through the blood of the lamb will be accepted.
II TRUE WORSHIP BEGINS IN THE HEART BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO THE HEART
The second application is that true worship flows from the heart, but it is not limited just to the heart. When Cain and Abel each went to make their sacrifices to God, Abel’s heart was already right with God. He saw his need of a Savior. He understood the story his parents had told him about the curse, and the promised Savior to come. And as a result, his heart worshiped God and his actions of offering the right sacrifice followed the right heart. Cain on the other hand, his heart was off even as he was making the sacrifice. The fact that he brought a self-assumed sacrifice is evidence of this. The fact that he grew angry instead of repentant is evidence of this. And the fact that he ulimately murdered his brother is evidence of this.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
God requires our “heart” to be saturated in God. But he also requires that we “walk in all his ways.” We cannot disconnect the two of those things.
Thought Experiment: Let’s go through a few thought experiments here.
Cain: Let’s begin with Cain, and then we’ll look at Abel. Let’s say that Cain on that day actually brought the correct sacrifices, but his heart was all wrong. In his heart he was the same Cain, he didn’t really love God. He didn’t really love his brother. He was just doing the sacrifice because he knew was supposed to. Would that worship be received by God. No! Because true worship begins in the heart. In our modern day, this is all too often what passes as Christianity. It is possible to come to church week in and week out, and never have your heart ravished by God’s love. And a worship that does all the right things, but doesn’t have its heart beat for God, its affections stirred by Christ’s love poured out for you on the cross, is not worship.
Abel: What about the other side. We’ll pick on Abel. Let’s say that Abel had a genuine feeling in his heart of real worship of God. He sensed his sin. He sensed his unworthiness. He longed for God in his heart. But let’s say that Abel believed that as long as his heart felt that he loved God, he didn’t need to bring the sacrifice. Just imagine Abel stayed home, and worshiped at home instead of at the altar. Would that have been received by God? No. Because true worship begins in the heart but is not limited to the heart. If our heart really loves God, then we offer worship according to the ways God has instructed.
The Church: Now that Christ has come, there are no more sacrifices to be made on altars. The Old Covenant of Israel has been fulfilled, and we are living in the Church age. Yet today, the same things can happen, and does often. Many folks who call themselves Christians say they love Jesus but they don’t care much for the church. They never take the time to find a Bible preaching church and seriously commit their heart and life to it. In fact, I speak to many often who have disdain for the church, and actively seek to stay away from it. This is the same problem as Cain. The Church is Christ’s bride. To love Christ, is to love his church and worship through his church. To not be a part of a church, is something akin to Cain offering his own kind of worship.
According to God’s Word, true worship “will not forsake to gather together regularly.” (Hebrews 10:25). That means coming together as a local assembly of Christians for worship.
According to God’s Word, true worship will joyfully submit to the eldership of a local church. (Hebrews 13:17). They will see God’s structure in the church, flawed as every individual may be, as God’s structure, and therefore to be delighted in.
According to God’s Word, true worship will eagerly anticipate the preaching of God’s Word on the Lord’s Day. Sermons are not simply one way among many of learning God’s Word. The preached Word of God is the primary means of sanctification given for the church. (1 Corinthians 15:1-2)
According to God’s Word, true worship will prepare properly to take the Lord’s Supper together as a symbol of Christ’s death on the cross for us. (1 Corinthians 11).
So, true worship begins in the heart, but then it flows into following God’s instructions for how to worship him.
Hear the Lord’s Grace: Perhaps you’re in here today, and you feel a bit uncomfortable right now, because you’re realizing that I’m describing you. If that’s you, then hear the gracious words of God towards you who have been offering false worship,
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.”
Christ stands ever ready to forgive. Christ stands ever ready to help you reform your life, and bring into alignment with God’s Word, and his explicit instructions.
III THERE ARE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES FOR HOW WE WORSHIP
Third and finally, there are eteranl consequences for how we worship here. We learn this from both and Cain and Abel.
Cain: But there is another path. It is the path of Cain, and many are on it. That path also leads to an eternal consequence. Cain recognized the severity of his punishment when he cried out
“My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Indeed, the consequences of refusing Christ, will be more than anyone can bear. Hell is real. And hell is eternal. And like Cain who we are told was cast away from the presence of the Lord, that is precisly what Hell is. In Hell there is no access to God, and because of that there is great suffering in such a way that every person in Hell will cry out regularly “my punishment is greater than I can bear.”
That Need Not Be You: But that need not be you today. The option is before you. As it was before Cain.
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.”
“If you do well…” If you worship God the way God your creator has told you to worship. If you repent of your sin, and believe on Christ, you will be saved. Don’t put this off. Don’t delay another hour. To delay is to say, like Cain, “I think I’d rather do it my own way.” The life that is truly life, is only found in Christ.
Abel: Yours, if your faith is in Christ, is the path of Abel, so long as you persist.
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.
It is interesting to note that Abel was the very first Christian martyr, who died for his faith. He was killed by his brother because of his faith in Christ. This passage in Hebrews tells us that though Abel was killed in this world, he lives forever. Each and every one of us will stand before God, and we will give an account for our life. God will see our corrupt natures that we have inherited from Adam who sinned by eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree. And God will see our corrupt choices we made over the course of our life. He will see the false worship of our hearts. But, if like Abel—who looked forward to the final sacrifice that would be made by the Christ that was promised back in Genesis 3—we put our faith in that Christ who has come and who has offered himself on the cross as the final penalty for sin, then we like Abel will live forever with God. Though we die, we will rise from the grave victoriously with Christ. The worship we offered him in this life, will continue eternally in the next. That will be a life of joy everlasting, of nearness with God, of meaning and substance and friendship. That will be a life of satisfaction.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Today we have explored the theme of true worship vs. false worship. And as I plead with each person here, to examine yourself. What kind of worship do you offer God? May your worship be in alignment with God’s design and desire. May your worship, as weak as it may be, be acceptable in Christ’s eyes, because it was offered in a heart that truly loved God, and with a will in alignment with God’s instructions.
