Intro
BLUF:
Today I’m going to talk about two questions God poses to Adam & Eve and later on to Cain.
These two questions are Where are You? and Where’s Your Brother?
I’m going to weave in the concept of Fellowship within the story -
Question 1 is about our fellowship with God
Question 2 is about our fellowship with each other and how one affects the other.
It’s a question God asks us every morning - Where are you? and where’s your brother?
This past week I had to write a “Self-Verbatim” in addition to writing a sermon.
This is part of my training in healthcare chaplaincy. Verbatim is a document I write which is the interaction I have as a chaplain with a patient. I write what I said and what they said. In there I say what I was feeling while I interacted, my thoughts, why I said what I said, what I didn’t say.
Then I share it with my colleagues along with my supervisor. In this case, I was the chaplain to myself. I was the patient and the chaplain. I would talk to the chaplain and the chaplain would listen, reflect, ask questions, etc.
I shared my theological themes (where is God in this?) within the verbatim. I shared a song that I thought was related to my verbatim and other themes.
Since this was a made-up encounter I could write this in such a way that it would make me look like such a great chaplain and at the same time, the patient was so transparent and open (me).
After we all read out loud the “visit” they got to give me some feedback. It is amazing the things people pick up about us that we don’t even realize about ourselves.
One point that stood out, when talking about the feelings that stood out in the verbatim, one thing was missing from the chaplain… there weren’t any feeling words.
That was like a punch to the gut because I do use feeling words and expressions during real visits, but when it came to myself, I didn’t seem to be too sympathetic to my own story. Which probably means I’m not always sympathetic to other people’s stories.
OUCH!
But you know what? If I had shared this in a different context, where people had said the same thing I probably would have gotten defensive, put up my walls, and shut down.
But since I was in a group of people I trusted and we had covenanted to help each other grow, I knew that any feedback I received should be listened to, processed, and put into action.
That’s the clinical method of learning - ACTION, Reflection, New Action.
After reading each verbatim the first question asked is, so Pedro, what are feeling after hearing what you said to yourself - it’s like the question God asked Adam
Where are you?
This is one of two questions asked by God that will challenge us and I hope inspire us today.
The First Question - Where are you?
Adam & Eve had just had an encounter with the devil himself and they blew it. They rehearsed the story they heard. You won’t surely die. God doesn’t want you do have what he has, you’ll actually be like God. They went over and over how they got sucked in and then how it was so convincing that Eve convinced Adam.
So God shows up and asked them, “how are you feeling after hearing yourself and remembering the story?”
thank you God for loving me enough to come to my rescue.
So after blowing it, God takes the first step.
Point #1 - God approaches us when we fall short
God enters our space and brings us close to him - Fellowship (closeness with).
God takes the first step and doesn’t wait for us to go to him.
Since the Bible gives us examples of how live life better, god’s example here is something to consider. We see God taking the first step to restore fellowship with broken people. followers, imitators, we too bring others into fellowship - closeness with one another.
A life principle of being an initiator when it comes to bringing others close to God and closer to ourselves. We take the first step and we don’t wait for others to come to us.
We ask others “Where are you?” What are you feeling? What’s going on in your heart and mind?
Look at Adam's response -
I heard the sound of you and I was afraid.
What sound did he hear that would instill such a response? The sound of God getting close.
He didn't even see God and he ran. Does that sound familiar?
Their nakedness was a problem and they tried to fix it by “hiding” their nakedness with “fig leaves.”
Yet when God shows up they run away because they were naked. Does that make sense?
When we mess up, our natural instinct is to cover up our mistakes to give us some sense of “it’s going to be ok.”
Fear of being naked before God keeps us running and hiding.
Fear of being “naked” before others keeps us running and hiding.
Since fear of being naked becomes the thing that stops us from being open and vulnerable before God, then God says I will cover you so that we can have a relationship again. That is what God did for us with Jesus. Instead of hiding behind a tree, we hide behind Jesus.
Let’s think about that person… that friend, loved one, that knows every single thing about you. Your inner most secrets, thoughts, feelings, insecurities, ambitions, and still loves you. We would rather sometimes keep those things inside because we think that if those inner thoughts were to be voiced and expressed that we would be judged or condemned.
So with Jesus we have coverage - he knows our every thought, feeling, emotion, etc.
So why do I still run away if I have been covered?
That’s what fear does…
I would like to think that if God showed up right now I would run to him, but I wonder about just hearing him getting close to me through his Word, through a sermon, a song, someone I’m talking to, the Holy Spirit.
When I hear him getting close will I hide? Will my discomfort draw me towards him or away from him. That may depend on why I think God is showing up. If its too close to some sin or thing that I’m trying to cover up then that closeness can be uncomfortable.
Because close means being vulnerable, outside of our comfort zone. That’s why having a small community where we can share life is so valuable, and can be transformational. There’s something about the power of fellowship. What I won’t share with the crowd I may share in a safe place.
We're afraid of being hurt even more, we're afraid of the unknown and we think it means more suffering yet at the same time we know that closeness to God is the answer, but closeness means admitting our nakedness, our fear and our shame.
In our journey with Christ, we grow in how we respond to failures and messing up. Fear turns into faith when we remember that we have been covered and we don’t have to be afraid.
We can actually go to God “boldly approaching the throne.” Boldly means confidently, without fear.
Church, we can get close to God, we can approach God, by his grace.
Where are you now? No need to be afraid, your nakedness is covered. Now tell me, really, honestly, where are you today?
Where’s Your Brother?
First Question - where are You?
Second Question - where is your brother, your sister?
Again, God’s question is not because he doesn’t know, it’s because he is inviting Cain into a closeness, and fellowship.
This time, The question is not “Where are you?”
This time God shows up.
Apparently, Human sensitivities had already been dulled to not even hear the sound of God approaching. God stands before Cain and asks for the whereabouts of his brother.
The Response: “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Do you hear some sarcasm in these words? I know I do. It’s like a child telling a parent, “How should I know?”
But the question runs deeper than just I need to know where he is, do you care enough for your brother to have him by your side instead of left for dead? Fellowship between brothers had been broken, and Cain’s fellowship with God was uncertain.
God came over to see where Cain was and to see where Cain thought Abel was.
Did Cain actually think that his response would get him off the hook? If you’ve ever watched crime shows you know that you never get away with the crime. Saying “I don’t know” isn’t much of a defense and saying “am I my brother’s keeper” is like something a guilty person might say.
Where is your brother? A question asked to a 2nd generation human.
“I don’t know” isn’t good enough and adding, “Am I my brother's keeper,” is more of a coverup.
Just like his mom and dad hid behind a tree, Cain hid behind the excuse of “he’s not my problem.”
I have enough problems of my own to be worrying about someone else’s.
I don’t have the time to keep track of my brother/sister.
The damage has been done, Abel is dead. God shows up and once again takes the initiative to approach one of his children, this time after murdering his own brother.
Most people don’t ask where’s your brother after a brother dies. People answer the question for them.
“Oh, your brother is in such-and-such a place.”
God - Oh, Cain my heart aches for Abel and my heart aches for you. You cared more for your crops, the fruit of your hands, you cared more about your work than your own brother.
Yes, your brother is dead, he didn’t die of old age, he died at the hands of his own brother because of jealousy and his blood cries out.
Cain has destabilized his life and society even more by introducing death at the hands of another human.
God says he will wander the earth like a fugitive and eventually settle in the land of Nod (Gen 4:16), but he will live as a fugitive in his mind and in his heart.
Yet God puts a mark on him to protect him from being killed himself.
It was a serious matter to not have his brother’s back and to protect him.
I don’t know how much we can transfer these consequences to our present reality, but the disruption of fellowship with God and with our brother/sister has societal consequences.
It leaves others vulnerable, unstable, unprotected. But why didn’t got protect Abel? My best answer is because Cain, as the older brother, had a responsibility to protect his brother and we as God’s children are like the older sibling too.
There is a correlation between how we respond to “where are you?” with how we respond to “where’s your brother?”
Adam & Eve were tough on themselves
Cain was tough on Abel because he was tough on himself
I can be tough on myself without realizing it and that spills over how I am tough with others.
Think about how tough you are on yourself. Is God that kind of tough on you and how tough are you on others?
If I evade the question about my standing with God, I will evade the question of my standing with my brother.
This is part of our spiritual growth and faith maturity. To get to the place where hiding is not our first response, even when we fall, we go to Jesus to lift us back up.
I get to the place where we are so closely connected to one another, where we are our brother’s keepers, where like the body
This is Fellowship.
Living life together, sharing life together, not just when we get together in this building, but sharing life outside of these walls, as a family of faith, knowing where we are and knowing where others are in their lives.
Why is this important? Because we need each other. Individual responsibility doesn’t cancel fellowship. Many yearn to be heard, noticed and included.
Jesus called twelve men to be with him, to share life. Jesus poured himself into their lives, and in turn these disciples poured their lives into others.
Jesus left a legacy of fellowship. Part of Jesus’ mission was to show us what fellowship looked like. Sometimes we lean more on the teachings of Jesus, the sermons, the healings, the big gatherings, but the power of Jesus’ ministry was when the crowds were gone, and it was just him and the twelve. When they were on the boat alone, it was there that Jesus had precious moments with his brothers.
Jesus, anticipating the Father’s question “Where are your brothers?” Jesus tells his Father in a prayer. Imagine this is your prayer to God after asking you, “Where is your brother?”
John 17:6–19 (NRSV)
6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. 13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
There is so much satisfaction in seeing someone God put in our path, grow in faith, thrive, and spiritually mature.
Where do we go from here? There is a place to grow and thrive where people share life and spiritually encourage one another. That is when we get together during the week, in someone’s home, at the park, at the coffee shop, where we open up the Scriptures, pray for one another, but it’s not only that.
It’s the sharing of life and inviting others to join us in this journey of discovery and growth. Where we share joyful occasions and life’s challenges and everything in between.
Prayer:
God, today you have walked into this room and we have heard you walking towards us. You have confronted us with a question that on the surface seems mundane, yet we sit here in your presence considering the answer to that question - where am I God?
You love us enough to ask us this question and you love our brother too and you have confronted us with this question too. Where’s your brother. Sometimes we have neglected one at the expense of the other, but we are reminded that they go hand in hand.
Fellowship with you and fellowship with each other. Amen.
Blessing - 2 Cor 13:14
