Sixth Sunday After Trinity (B C P). Series

Psalm 90:12-17, Genesis 4:2-15, Romans 6:3-11, Matthew 5:20-26.

A). APPLICATION OF THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE BREVITY OF LIFE.

Psalm 90:12-17.

Psalm 90:12. When we do reverence the LORD, we will want Him to teach us to make a right application of the truth about the brevity of our lives. We need to know ourselves sinners, and to be aware that death is “the wages of sin” (Romans 6:23). And knowing this, our wisdom is to repent.

Psalm 90:13. When we do repent and turn from our sins, we may ask God to turn from His judgement which had seemed against us. We have in God’s compassion a sure and certain hope of a better prospect. By faith in Jesus Christ we are God’s servants, and no longer the slaves of sin.

Psalm 90:14. The repentant pray for the satisfaction of experiencing God’s merciful love. “Early” is never too soon (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Then we have all the more days to rejoice and be glad in Him whilst we are on this earth.

Psalm 90:15. It is a daring prayer of faith that goes on to ask for gladness in proportion to our wrath-induced afflictions. Romans 8:18 weighs our present sufferings against the glory that awaits us. 2 Corinthians 4:17 also balances our “momentary” affliction with our “eternal” glory.

Psalm 90:16. The believer prays for God’s work to be manifested in our own lives. We also pray for His glory to be revealed in our children. God’s covenant grace out-balances His great wrath against our sins.

Psalm 90:17. We may look for His favour. Death’s hold upon us has been vanquished (1 Corinthians 15:55-58). With the Psalmist, we may boldly pray for God’s blessing upon the work of our hands.

B). CAIN AND ABEL.

Genesis 4:2-15.

The acceptance of Abel’s offering as opposed to Cain’s is often explained in terms of THE NATURE OF THE SACRIFICE.

We are reminded that ‘almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood, there is no remission’ (cf. Hebrews 9:22). Yet the qualifier: ‘almost’ - points to an exception (cf. Leviticus 5:11-13): so Cain might have been pleading the poverty that led to this concession. We must, in any case, question the validity of reading back the minutiae of the law (which had not been written yet) into the life of Cain.

In fact the difference lay not so much in the type of offering as in THE NATURE OF THE MAN.

Abel was a man of FAITH (cf. Hebrews 11:4). Jesus referred to him as ‘RIGHTEOUS Abel’ (cf. Matthew 23:35). Abel had a sacrificial spirit (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:14), and made the ultimate sacrifice by yielding his own life as the first of the martyrs.

Cain’s nature, by contrast, is linked with WICKEDNESS and EVIL (cf. 1 John 3:12). It is also evident that Cain already had the seeds of MURDER within him. God’s judgement against Cain was proved correct by subsequent events.

I am reminded of the ideal attitude which lay behind the offering of the first-fruits during the feast of unleavened bread. A sheaf of barley was ‘waved’ before the LORD in token of the fact that all our offerings come from Him (cf. Leviticus 23:10-12). Cain may not have known these details, but THE LORD KNEW HIS HEART, and rejected his offering.

Perhaps the difference between Cain and those who later made the bloodless offering of Leviticus 2 was that they were already ‘covered’ by the blood. But what is important is the ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE in which the offering was made (cf. Psalm 96:8).

The LORD began to reason with Cain. This seems to echo His approach to Adam after the Fall: “Where are you?” (cf. Genesis 3:9). ‘Why are you so angry and depressed?’ (GENESIS 4:6).

GENESIS 4:7 is hard to translate. Either the LORD was warning Cain that he would fall deeper into sin if his attitude did not change - ‘repent now before sin overcomes you.’ Or He was advising him that there was a ‘sin-offering’ near at hand if he would only avail himself of it!

Whatever this may have meant to Cain, its New Testament application is evident. John wrote to Christian believers: ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins…’ (cf. 1 John 2:1-2).

The tragedy is that, even after the LORD’s warning, Cain still had his heart set against his brother. Cain walked away from the altar, from his conversation with the LORD, and spoke with Abel his brother in the field, and rose up and slew him there (GENESIS 4:8). This was blatant premeditated murder!

Perhaps Cain mistakenly thought that he could escape the watchful eye of the LORD, but it soon became evident that the LORD is in all places, not just at the altar. Asked, “Where is Abel thy brother?” there was a touch of irony in Cain’s impertinent reply, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (GENESIS 4:9). Abel was “a keeper of sheep” (GENESIS 4:2), and was Cain now the “keeper” of the keeper of sheep?