Intro: What-chu-gaht! The dangerous life of comparisons.
How do you shop?
For me I’d rather go to the appropriate store for the appropriate item - I prefer BJ’s or Sam’s Club for meat because I can get it cheaper in bulk have the butchers cut it up and package it so that I can freeze it when I get home. For fruits and vegetables I plan to eat within a day I’ll go to Krogers, but if I want to have good quality produce, I’ll either go to the farmer’s market, or Harris Teeter. If I want to get sodas, chips, and crackers for the best price, I’ll go to Food Lion. If I want to get the mere-chino cherries that my wife likes to eat right out the jar, I’ll know I need to go get the Kroger brand glass jarred cherries. I prefer to go to the bakery surplus store to get breads and pastries
Well comparison shopping is nice, but when you spend more time, gas, and resources to get to the best deals so that you are actually causing more waste than gain it’s a problem.
I could go to the bakery, but it’s on the other side of town causing me more gas to get there. And it’s not like can just call to see what’s left; I actually have to go there and look. And if I need hamburger buns, and breakfast pastries, but they only have hot dog buns then I’ve wasted resources. And if I buy 20 bags of bread but can’t get through them all within the next week, they mold and resources are wasted.
So comparison can be both a good thing and a problem in the grocery world;
it can be both a good thing and a bad thing in the church, too.
Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival.
One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?"
The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"
We’ve got really serious problems when it’s easier to show sympathy and "weep with those who weep" than it is to show joy and "rejoice with those who rejoice." (Steven Kellett)
What’s really sad is that when it comes to the game of life it can become very easy to compare:
The clothes we wear
The shoes or sneakers we wear
The car we drive
The place we live
The job we have
The education we have; the titles we wear
Our age compared to someone else
The school our children go to
... let’s get a little closer to home, because church folks don’t do those things
The length of time we’ve been “saved”
The number of Bible verses we’ve memorized
The position we have at church
The number of years we’ve been going to a particular church
How close we are to certain members of the church
How much I give in tithes and offerings to church
How much I attend church events
How many committees I am a part of at church
How many church meetings and conferences I attend
How many Sunday morning services I come to
... but don’t think you are alone, because pastors do it too
How many members our church may have
How large a building our church has
How many facilities our church has
How much money our church brings in
How large a salary our pastor gets
How many radio and tv programs our pastor is heard on
I hang onto Reggie’s words so much - let’s not say that we are different; let’s just be who God wants us to be! And not even just in terms of just using the word “different” but let’s be concerned even in terms of phrases and terms: “new”, “better”, “fresh”, “contemporary”, “modern” ... words that may seem “different” at first but if we are caught up in too much can become a way of us comparing ourselves to others in a way in which destruction can come about.
Which brings us to our text ...
2 Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer. 3-5 Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn’t get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
It’s easy to compare the two:
Cain was the firstborn, Abel was the second
Cain was the oldest, Abel was the youngest (anyone in either of those 2 dynamics can relate)
Cain was a farmer, Abel was a rancher (Ranchers are cowboys, farmers are ... farmers)
Cain picks weeds, Abel shovels dung (which one is tougher)
Cain gathers fruits and vegetables, Abel has to birth animals (which one is more intense)
Cain smiles when the rain shows up, Abel has to go outside and make sure the animals are secure (OK, so even if it hadn’t rained yet, you can still get the point.)
So it becomes easy to then say that Cain’s offering wasn’t acceptable because:
Abel had to work harder than Cain
Abel had to endure more than Cain
Abel offered meat and blood and Cain had some fruit
Cain was the first born son of Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3:15 “ I’m declaring war [enmity] between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He’ll wound your head, you’ll wound his heel.” (The Message)
There is going to be war, but God is going to send a deliverer who will crush the head of Satan. We today know about Jesus, but for Adam and Eve, they were thinking of their next son. So when he is born they name him Cain, which means “God”!
You see, Adam and Eve were certain that this son of theirs was the child who would eventually crush Satan’s head. Can you imagine the hope and the optimism that came with his birth. Adam and Eve must have looked forward to the day when the one who had deceived them would be destroyed. They must have longed for the fellowship and peace they knew in the Garden, and now they believed they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
It wasn’t long, however, before the hope and optimism began to dwindle. In fact, you can see their disillusionment. By the time their second son was born, they called him “Abel.”
“Abel” by the way means; “emptiness.” It is the same word that Solomon uses in the book of Ecclesiastes when he says, “Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity.”
Why is all of this important? Well, I believe that it tells us an awful lot about the person Cain. What a disappointment he must have been. So much so, that when his little brother is born, his parents would lament, “Oh no, not another worthless child.”
And when we feel disappointment, and don’t live up to the expectations we have, we start to compare, and resent, etc.
Think about it. They had hoped that their first would be the deliverer. Instead they got a person who was selfish, prideful, and egocentric. His every thought seemed to focus on his wants, his needs, his fulfillment. He wasn’t about to deliver the human race from their sins, because he was the epitome of a sinful person.
Do you see the irony in the names these boys received? Cain – which means “of God,” turns out to be worthless. Abel – which means “worthless” – turns out to be the righteous one.
Cain will have problems with his brother
Isaac with Haggar’s children
Jacob with Esau
Joseph with his brothers
If our hearts are not accepted ...
I don’t think that this was an isolated event. People (in general) don’t just snap independently from singular events - they usually snap in a “this is the last straw” kind of circumstance”.
1 John 3
For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
The problem was not in “what” he was offering, but in Cain’s heart. 1 John says “Cain was evil,” and “his deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteousness.” There was a problem with Cain’s heart. I can’t claim to know “exactly” what Cain was thinking or “exactly” was his heart was about, but chances are some kind of comparison story was on the blocks. And so instead of approaching God with a truthful, sincere heart based offering something else is given. His heart is filled with evil. Maybe his offering is more of an attempt to out perform Abel than an act of faith and worship.
It reminds me so much of the Christianity that we see practiced today. In our world today, most people think that Christianity is practiced on Sunday morning from 10:00 to noon. A person goes to church every Sunday, hoping that this sacrifice will appease God. Then, from noon of Sunday till 10:00 the next Sunday, they live their lives the way they want. With no regards to a holy and just God, we practice all kinds of selfishness. We are filled with ego and pride. We live from day to day filling our lives with things that offend our Lord. We give no regard to our neighbors, to the hurting, to the needy. We have very little time for devotions, prayer, or Bible study. About the only time that we remember God is when we want something else from Him.
What we do within these four walls every Sunday morning beginning at 10:30 is not Christianity. It is worship. It is our offering to God. Christianity is what we do when we leave the confines of this sanctuary. God can only accept our worship on Sunday morning if our lives demonstrate our faith the rest of the week. That is where Cain failed. He believed that his worship would appease God and that the rest of his life wouldn’t matter. When he discovered that his worship was not acceptable to God, he became angry. (Steven Kellett)
It’s like the guy you may have seen, that acts like a gentleman, sweet and loving, taking a lady out to a nice dinner, and a romantic evening, only so he can get “something” out of the deal. Instead of doing all these things out of the sincerity of his heart, he’s really just putting out some money so he can get what he wants. And he gets mad and throws a temper - an often times destructive temper resulting in violence - because he didn’t get what he wanted. He’s trying to pay for “services rendered” - last time I checked that’s called prostitution.
This is gonna be a tough question, but are we trying to prostitute our worship, our prayer, our time in fellowship, our participation in church, or even our tithes and offerings - paying for services with our time, our talents, and our treasures- just to get something back?
Our offerings are not accepted ...
God doesn’t reject Cains offering because of the offering but because of Cain. However, the reality is that if Cain is not accepted, how can his gifts be accepted?
We get mad at God when we don’t do our part
but Cain and his offering didn’t get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
& we become angry and depressed
Truth is blurred , envy arises
6-7 God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it."
Words happen
8 Cain had words with his brother.
And no one is protected - Death and Destruction happens “on site”
Death happens on site
They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.
Relationships with each other are destroyed
9 God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
Relationships with God are destroyed
10-12 God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother’s blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you’ll get nothing but curses from this ground; you’ll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You’ll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You’ll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."
13-14 Cain said to God, "My punishment is too much. I can’t take it! You’ve thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I’m a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.
16 Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man’s-Land, east of Eden.
When our hearts are not accepted, and our offering is rejected:
people stop listening to us
we become just another bad Christian experience on someone else’s heart
we become yet another “church hurt” in someone’s life
It’s in the house, in the sanctuary ...
Let me say right now - publicly and truthfully - if I have ever said something that may have sound as if I was comparing myself to anyone in a way that caused you to feel as if I was placing myself above you, I ask for forgiveness.
