Gen 4 - Youth Talk

Big Idea

Within a broken world, God desires that we give proper worship to Him.

One of the reasons why I like that video is that it kinda hits a nerve for me that I have been guilty of. It’s the idea that, ultimately, we are the ones at the centre of all things. The big lie is that this book, the Bible, is all about us - when in reality it is all about God. And because we go around thinking it is all about us, we use God like a vending machine. We go to him with our demands and requests expecting those to be his. We tell God what he wants.

Back in the ancient world other religions believed that the God’s were really in our image, not the other way round and needed to be fed and sustained by our offerings. So people would bring God some snacks. Like that makes sense.

But in our broken, sinful world, that is what things are like. We ignore God’s will for our own. We replace God as king over our lives with ourselves. Just like in , we take God’s word of truth that He is good and is guiding us in goodness and we replace it with a lie. We suffer from the same problem as Adam and Eve in the sense that we believe that going our own way and not listening to God is actually going to work out ok. And its not - it ends with death because that is what sin deserves. Death.

At the end of we hear that God is gracious enough to let humanity live on a little longer and instead of killing them instantly curse them outside the garden. Adam and Eve come together, have sex and have their first born child Cain - whom Eve correctly thanks God for. Following Cain, they are later also blessed with Abel.

Both boys grow up. Abel the shepherd who took care of the meat. Cain the farmer who took care of the corn. Verses 3 and 4 are where the story takes a turn. Lets have a look.

Genesis 4:3–5 NIV

In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 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, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

What is the difference in what the two offered? I mean - is God just being a child here and not eating his vegetables? “Ewww, broccoli!” I mean - I love lamb over veggies any day, but I’m not sure that is the issue. Look how it is described.

Cain brought “some of the fruits of the soil” and Abel also brought an offering which was the “fat portions of some of the firstborn of his flock.” These are the best and juiciest bits of the cut. The verse first born as well. This is a rick because if the others are no good you are stuck with the crappy lambs, but the first born - now that is of significant value.

God looks at, not the offering, but the heart here and sees that Abel has offered to God his very best. He didn’t look at all he had and thought - “Ooo - I think this is good enough for God”. No - he looked down and said - this is the very best I have. Not because he is earning browny points, but because God is of infinite value. God provides the rain for the grass to grow and feed his sheep and therefore deserves all praise and honour. In his worship of God Abel thinks of the very best he can give.

Cain, however, well he is more choosey. He looks at God as someone who he can determine the value of. God is the one who provides for Him, but ultimately Cain looks at God as one looks at a vending machine. You can walk up to a vending machine and see the cost can’t you. You can figure out what you want and therefore what money you want to hold onto.

The problem illustrated between these two brothers is the problem we all share in the sense that our value of God is often too small and as a result we only live part of our lives to God. We live our Christian lives as if it was like going to school. We can put our Christian uniform on and off again and it doesn’t really matter because outside of school hours we are not really the school’s responsibility.

But God, well he created and sustains us. So it doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor, the offering we give to God is of our hearts and lives. When we have this expectation of God that we come to him and he gives us just what we want, well we can put a price tag on what we give to God. We can go through the motions of coming to church and youth and simply tick the box and expect that God will give us everything we desire.

And when we don’t get what we want - well we kick the crap out of that vending machine don’t we? We act out like Cain and suffer the consequences - of which here are a magnification of the curses dished out in .

If would have a lasting impact on GY it points us to reconsider what we think is really important about the Christian life. If we take this seriously, we hear the call of Jesus, who repeats the Deuteronomy , and love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our minds ().