IT TAKES FAITH (part two)
Hebrews 11:4
INTRODUCTION: In continuing our series on Hebrews 11, we come to what happened between Cain and Abel. Today we'll see why Abel made a better sacrifice than Cain did.
1) It takes faith to make a right sacrifice.
Hebrews 11:4, "By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."
The writer of Hebrews highlights the fact that Abel's sacrifice was better than his brother's. And because of that, God commended him as a righteous man. We see that his righteousness was preceded by his faith. And we see that the sacrifice he made was out of his faith. So we can conclude that although Abel made a sacrifice unto God by faith, Cain did not. So what happened? How did this story play out? Let's see how Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain did.
Gen. 4:1-5, "Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought 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."
So we see that Cain made a sacrifice. But then there's a but. But Abel's sacrifice includes the descriptive words, 'fat portions' and 'first-fruits'. These indicate that Abel brought the best he had while Cain did not.
We will be tempted to hold back on God, like Cain did. Abel's faith caused him to think more about his God than his goods. Cain brought a sacrifice of fruits but not the first-fruits. That's the difference. Able brought the best while Cain brought the rest. Able brought the first to the one who was first. Cain brought second-hand fruits to the one who came in second (and you can guess who came in first in Cain's world).
Abel did what was honorable but Cain did not. Prov. 3:9, "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first-fruits of all your crops." Bringing the Lord the best of what we have is honorable. To honor is to respect and admire. There's a saying that goes, "give God what is right; not what is left". Faith enables us to respect, admire and honor the Lord.
In Malachi chapter three, when God told his people they were robbing him he told them to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. They were bringing some but not all. They were making a sacrifice but not a right sacrifice. They, like Cain, brought what they considered to be good enough but yet it wasn't; it was unacceptable to God. it's not enough to bring a sacrifice; it needs to be a right sacrifice-a sacrifice that's driven by our faith. Faith allows me to offer the best of what I have. Faith enables me to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.
2) It takes the right heart to make a right sacrifice.
Making the right sacrifice isn't just about money or material goods; it's talking about ourselves. Rom. 12:1 says we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice; holy and pleasing to God-this is our spiritual act of worship. Able committed his spiritual act of worship; he gave the sacrifice that was holy and pleasing to God. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. So, we don't just give God some of us; we give him all of us.
One school of thought as to why Cain's sacrifice was rejected was that it had less to do with the sacrifice itself and more to do with the heart of the person bringing it. Warren Wiersbe said, “Cain wasn’t rejected because of his offering, but his offering was rejected because of Cain: his heart wasn’t right with God.”
I can see both issue happening here. Cain's offering wasn't accepted because his heart wasn't right. It wasn't a right sacrifice because it wasn't given with a right heart.
2nd Cor. 9:7 says that we should give what we have decided in our heart; not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Here Paul is challenging the status of our heart. Is the love of the Lord there? Is the faith and trust in the Lord there? Or are we just going through the motions? Are we just giving obligatory offerings?
Cain's sacrifice was out of a sense of duty but faith wasn't attached to it. It was out of compulsion; not joy. If God is first then we'll be devoted to him first. It doesn't mean we're perfect at it but it does mean we're all in; fully committed. There are areas of our lives we may struggle with but if we have the willingness to turn them over instead of having a stubborn refusal to give him full control then we are on the right track.
It's when we try to change the rules and try to get God to compromise on his standard that we are in trouble. Who are we to tell God how it's going to be? What is wrong with us when we try to convince ourselves that God is okay with me giving him half-hearted devotion? How arrogant are we when we conclude that God should be satisfied with whatever I give him?
I believe this was Cain's attitude. He didn't care that much about what God wanted. I guarantee he knew what God expected from him. God wouldn't have rejected his sacrifice had Cain not known what was expected. So the thing that was missing was a willingness to honor God. The thing that was missing was devotion. The thing that was missing from Cain's sacrifice was faith. The thing that was missing from Cain's heart was love. Making a right sacrifice involves having a right heart.
3) The consequences of a wrong sacrifice.
Cain's attitude only got worse. He was angry and downcast so the Lord confronted him about it. Gen. 4:6-7, "Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 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 master it.”
So Cain was upset at his brother when he should've been upset at himself. Cain was envious and jealous even though God made it clear that he was no respecter of persons. "If you do what is right will not your sacrifice be accepted?" I believe God is giving Cain a chance to right the wrong. He said, "If you do what is right" not, "If you had done what is right". It's like God is saying, "You still have the opportunity to make a right sacrifice and we can put all this behind us."
God wants Cain to understand he has no one to blame but himself. God tried to warn him that his anger would get the best of him if he didn't get it under control. But Cain didn't want to listen to God. Instead, Cain did what he had already done before-go with his own thinking; go his own way. And it didn't turn out very well for him.
Gen. 4:8-9, "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know, ” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
So Cain tries to plead 'not guilty' but of course God knows. Interesting that he thinks he can lie to God and be successful. But, such as it is with sin: one leads to another which leads to another. Cain makes a wrong sacrifice. Then he responds to that by developing bitterness and hatred. Then murder. Then lying about it. Sin upon sin.
It would've been interesting to see what would've happened if Cain had confessed and repented in godly sorrow. But, that didn't happen because Cain had murder in his heart. And he had murder in his heart because evil was in his heart. 1st John 3:12, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous."
And because of that God renders his judgment and enacts Cain's consequence. Gen. 4:9-12, "The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain paid for his unwillingness to give God what was due him. When we don't give God what is due him we will pay for it. Part of Cain's punishment was that the ground would not produce. If we don't want to honor the Lord with what he's blessed us with he may very well get in the way and frustrate our efforts so that they amount to nothing. Cain was to be a restless wanderer; never settled anywhere. When we don't listen to God and sacrifice our will for his we will be spiritually restless and unsettled. Making a wrong sacrifice has its consequences.
4) A faith sacrifice is honored by God.
In all this it shows that Abel had faith where Cain didn't. Abel had the faith to trust that if he gave God his best God would honor that. But wait? Abel's faith didn't remove him from trouble. Abel was the one who did the right thing but he ends up getting killed. What's up with that? Shouldn't it have been the other way around? How is that honoring his sacrifice? I believe what Cain got was worse.
Genesis 4:13-15, "Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him."
I'm sure Cain didn't like the fact that his efforts would be fruitless and that he would never be settled anywhere but I believe the true reason Cain felt his punishment was unbearable was because he would be hidden from the Lord's presence. To be away from God's provision and protection; to live a life void of the presence of God is unbearable to the one who once had the blessing of being in his presence. I don't think Cain was afraid that someone might kill him; I think Cain was hoping that someone would come along and kill him and end his misery. But God was like, "oh, no; you're not getting off that easy".
Sometimes it doesn't seem as if the righteous are honored for their sacrifices but they are; if by none other than God himself. There may be suffering, there may be persecutions but God sees them and when our faith prevails despite our trials and tribulations he honors and rewards it. Abel is honored because he gave the ultimate sacrifice; his life. He died for his faith.
When you read Hebrews 11:36-38 you read about those who were persecuted and killed for their faith. People today die for the faith. There are plenty of people out there acting in accordance with the spirit of Cain. And when they go after all the Abels the Abels are being honored for their sacrifice. They are being admired for their undying faith and courage. They motivate millions to live out their faith in response to seeing an Abel who didn't back down.
What's interesting is that there's not one recorded word from Abel in the bible yet his faith speaks volumes. As Heb. 11:4 states, "And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead." His sacrifice is honored by the legacy of faith he left for us to see. How much does our faith speak? Are our lives an honorable sacrifice? A right sacrifice of faith is an honorable sacrifice.
Cain didn't have the faith that trusted God. He didn't trust that God would honor only the right sacrifice. His level of faith provided a mistrust of God. He mistrusted in the sense of thinking God wouldn't have a problem with compromising on his command and he mistrusted in the sense of not being willing to give God back the best of what he already gave him. Since Cain didn't want to bless the blesser; he would not be blessed anymore.
Perhaps Cain was also arrogant, thinking that the produce was brought about by his own skill in farming along with perhaps attributing the crops to things like sun and rain and rich soil without really acknowledging the God who controlled it all. Perhaps he looked at God as just a taker of what he worked for. "Why should I give God the best of my crops; he didn't work hard for it-I did".
Our failure to acknowledge God in giving us the strength and ability and in bringing about the rain and the sun and everything needed to produce a good harvest will result in God teaching us a lesson-proving to us he is behind it all and we are just unworthy participants of his grace.
Faith enables me to realize all that. Faith recognizes God's hand in everything. Faith allows me to respond appropriately to God's generosity.
Cain wanted a relationship with God on his terms. That's not going to cut it. When we make the rules and when we are expecting God to make compromises we are developing a God of our own making. We have faith but it's not saving faith; it's dead faith A faith that doesn't produce right actions is not a right faith. It takes the right faith to make a right sacrifice.
