Big Cats & Small Dragons

This series called Bedrock is all about creating a solid foundation. You can’t build without a foundation. If you build a weak foundation, everything you put on top of it will be unstable.

I’ve seen all kinds of data about students who leave the church. I’ve seen some statistics that say that only 11% of students who grew up going to church will still be following Jesus by the time they graduate from college. That’s scary, but I don’t share that with you to try and scare you into following Jesus or coming to church on a Wednesday. I share that statistic to make the point that your foundation is key.

A strong foundation leads to a strong faith. But a weak foundation, a cracked and broken foundation, cannot lead to strong faith.

So I want to talk tonight about a crack in the foundation. Or rather, one way that might be able to avoid a crack in the foundation.

Here’s my big point tonight: BIG breaks start from small cracks.

We see this principal play out all around us, right?

Small things become big things over time.

Adults start as babies

oak trees start as acorns

a snowball starts small, and as it rolls through the wet snow, it grows

the tiny chip on the windshield splinters and cracks the whole windshield

Big breaks, start from small cracks.

Sin is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about a crack in the foundation.

Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law - resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation

-Tim Keller, New City Catechism

Sin is:

rejecting God

ignoring God

rebelling against God

Not being or doing what God requires

and it results in our death

I want to show you, in God’s Word what happens when you let sin crack your foundation.

Read Genesis 4:1-8

So let’s fix the small cracks before they become big breaks. Here’s three things for us to consider about our sin:

Religion Doesn’t Protect You From Sin

Both Cain and Abel brought sacrifices.

Essentially, they went to church. They showed up and offered God sacrifices.

Abel brought the firstborn, fat sheep from his flock. He brought God the best of what he had to offer.

Cain brought some of the produce from his field. But that phrase “in the course of time” in verse 3 could be translates as, “at the end of the season”

Cain waited to see if he’d have some extra left over at the end to give to God, Abel gave some off the top.

Hebrews 11:4 CSB

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.

It comes down to motivation. Abel was motivated to worship God out of faith. Cain just kinda showed up.

Cain thought that he was good just because he showed up.

Romans 14:23 CSB

But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.

Some of y’all been checking the box every week!

You are here every single week and you’re like, check, I’m good with God for another week.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.

Wednesday night keeps God happy with my life. (i tried to make it rhyme)

Cain does a good thing with the wrong motivation. Him checking the box didn’t make sin impossible in his life.

Just because you’re present doesn’t mean you’re protected.

Just because you are going through the right motions doesn’t mean you have the right motivation.

If Big breaks start with small cracks - then your motivation and heart behind coming to church might be a small crack in the foundation you’re building.

Sin Wants to Hide

So after Cain offers a sacrifice with motivations that do not come from faith he gets angry. My bible says furious and his face is downcast. He’s mad and he’s sad.

God starts asking Cain some questions:

Why are you mad?

Why are you sad?

And he gives Cain a warning:

“Sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it”

God says, BE CAREFUL

Crouching - cats of prey crouch

You know who crouches? Big cats crouch. Lions who are hunting a wildebeest crouch. They make themselves seem small so when the wildebeest looks over they’re like, oh that thing moving towards me in the grass is really small, probably not a threat... but then bam! the lion reveals itself to be big when it pounces

sin tries to make itself ignorable. It makes itself seem small so that you ignore it as a huge problem.

Sin tries to make you say, nah it’s not even real. I don’t have a problem. It’s not that bad. I can stop anytime i want to. Sound familiar?

But that sin that starts small, begins to grow when you let it hide out

I think that simple stories can lead us to profound truth, so I want to read a short story that illustrates my point

There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent

Read-Aloud. Photocopy the pictures onto slides?

Big breaks start with small cracks

Big sin struggles start with small sin that you ignore in your life.

God Loves You (Even When You Screw Up)

After God warns Cain about the sin crouching in his life, he warns him about the little crack ready to become a big break - Cain does the unthinkable.

He murders his little brother. Not figuratively. But literally kills his own brother.

This story of Cain killing Abel doesn’t end with a murder.

It continues on into God’s faithfulness.

Cain receives a punishment for his crime, but Cain’s biggest fear is that someone will come across Cain and kill him out of vengeance

But still loved Cain even after the small crack became a big break.

And there is the same love for you.

The same forgiveness for you.

We all have blood on our hands, we all have sinned, rebelled against God, broke his law, we have all tried to be the gods of our own lives and blood cries from the ground

but Hebrews 12:24 says that the blood of jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel

Hebrews 12:24 CSB

and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

The blood of Abel speaks a word of condemnation:

you messed up again

you’ll never be good enough

you’re worthless

you’ve failed God too many times

you’re unlovable

you’re too far gone

But the blood of Jesus speaks a better word:

you are loved

you are forgiven

you are God’s child

you’re not too far gone

there is hope for you

Conclusion

We want to build a foundation that is solid like bedrock

but small cracks in the foundation lead to big breaks if we don’t take care of them while they are small.

So maybe tonight you’re seeing some small cracks in your foundation

you’re looking at your motivation behind coming to church, reading your bible, praying, and you’re seeing a motivation that is something other than faith - you’ve just been checking the box...

or

you’re realizing that you’ve been flat out ignoring the sin in your life. pretending it doesn’t exist and it’s crouching like a big cat getting ready to pounce, or maybe you’ve seen it start to grow a little bit and then a little more

or maybe you came into tonight already knowing you have some BIG BREAKS ibn your foundation

no matter where you’re at right now, i want you to hang onto the promise in Hebrews 12:24, the blood of Jesus speaks a better word for you tonight.

There is forgiveness and hope and restoration for you tonight if you trust in Jesus.

If you have no idea what it would look like for you to trust Jesus, I’d love to talk with you and help you start that journey...