Giving By Faith Series

God desires us to give our best. This is called giving the first fruits. This means the first agricultural produce of a season, especially when given as an offering to God. It applies to more than agriculture but giving our first and best to God.

The idea that God wants us to give Him our best runs through Scripture. When we look at the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi we see this. When we do not give our best to God, he says we are robbing him. That is a heavy message that God’s people are robbing God.

Now we will be looking at the first book of the Old Testament to see what Adam and Eves sons, Cain and Able to see the first recorded time God’s people bring gifts to God and what it teaches us about giving.

We get a famous expression from this story. That expression is, am I my brother’s keeper? The Bible says Adam and Eve had two son’s Cain and Able. Obviously, they had daughters too. You may ask where Cain got his wife. The humorous reply is. I can’t tell you because I am not Able.

The prohibition to marry family members came in Leviticus 18:19. This was much after the time of Cain and Able. At first it was unavoidable to have a family member as a spouse because all came from the original couple.

In the musical Oklahoma there is a song the farmer and the rancher must be friends.

Cain was a farmer.

Able was a rancher.

Cain worked the soil.

Able kept flocks.

Cain brought the fruits of the soil of the Lord.

Able brought fat portions of some of the firstborn of his flocks.

The Lord did not look with favor on Cain's offering.

The Lord looked with favor on Able's offering.

Able becomes angry and his face downcast.

There is a lesson here in acceptable gifts and unacceptable gifts. Giving is more than financing the Lord’s work. Our giving, when in the right attitude brings us closer to God. We worship when we give our gifts to God, and we give our tithes and offerings to the Lord.

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. (Genesis 4:3-5)

We should be aware of why some gifts God finds pleasing and other gifts bring his displeasure. Because we want to please God we should study to understand this. One consideration of why Able's gift was pleasing and Cain's was not could be what was offered. We do know from Hebrews 9:22 that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.

So, Cain's offering was an agricultural offering without shedding of blood. Able's offering was an animal offering that there was the shedding of blood. But there must be something else going on here because later there were specifically instructed grain offerings to the Lord like is outlined in Leviticus 2:1. “’When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it. (Leviticus 2:1)

It is not what was offered but how it was offered. When Able's offering was brought, it was mentioned verse 4 as he brought the best. When Cain brought his offering, he merely brought something verse 3. If we give our first fruits and our very best to God, it is the indicator of our total dependence on God. It represents our indebtedness to God for everything.

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. (Hebrews 11:4)

Now we git a better glimpse of what is happening here from this Hebrews passage. The difference is how the gifts were offered. Able gave in faith. Faith pleases God. When we give our first and best we express faith that pleases God.

Let’s look at Cain’s jealousy toward Able.

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.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:6-8)