I think we’ve all done it at least one. We get up just a short while before the Sunday morning service, rush to get our clothes on, and zoom out the door we go. Many of you with children know how time consuming just getting the children ready to head out the door can be. I can note many times when I left from my house near Anadarko, Oklahoma with just 15 minutes to spare to make it to the church. I would make it just in time to sit down before the organist began to play the first hymn. I barely had time to dress back then much less read the scripture for the sermon or the day’s lesson. I came assuming that through the service I would grow deeper and have a better worship experience.
“Lowell Ogden tells the story of a little boy who lived out in the country. He had never seen a traveling circus, and one was coming to his town on Saturday. With his Saturday chores finished, the little boy asked his father for some money to go to the circus. His dad reached down in his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill, the most money the boy had ever seen at one time. Off the little wide-eyed fellow went. As he approached the town, he saw people lining the streets. Peering through the line at one point, he got his first glimpse of the parade. There were animals in cages and marching bands. Finally, a clown was seen bringing up the rear of the parade. The little boy was so excited that when the clown passed, he reached in his pocket and handed him the precious dollar bill. Thinking he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade, the little boy turned around and went home.”
Just like the little boy, I came to church looking for worship and instead found a parade of “hymns, prayers, and preaching.” As I look back now, the problem wasn’t the worship service. It was my heart. I thought I was worshipping because I was in God’s house. I missed the entire point of coming to church; to whole-heartedly give thanks and praise to our Almighty God. I missed so many blessing and so much growth because my focus was on myself and not on God. My heart was not prepared to give him praise.
This brings us to the text today and the story of Cain and Abel. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 4:1-7. Here we read about the very first worship service ever recorded in the Bible. Eve’s two boys have grown up and it is about time they go to “church” so to speak. (READ SCRIPTURE). Wow, not only did God reject Cain’s offering but he also rejected Cain himself. However, according to Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” From the very beginning, it was the heart that mattered. Abel brought the right sacrifice with proper motives. His heart was prepared to worship God. He gave his very best in sacrifice and of his own life to God. Maybe we can take a hint from God’s acceptance of Abel and rejection of Cain. We also must give our very best when we worship God. In John 4 Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that God will require those under the new covenant to worship in spirit and truth because God is spirit. But how, how can we be prepared for worshipping God in spirit and in truth? Let’s examine closely what it means to worship in spirit and truth.
Spiritual – “What you bring?” –
Romans 12:1 says that “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” A good way of thinking about the spiritual part of worship is by asking the question, what are you bringing to offer God? Paul tells the people of Rome that they must bring their pure unadulterated lives and give them to God. However, since the men and women of the Old Testament did not have Jesus Christ as their sacrifice, they had to bring something else. Cain did give an offering of the crops he had planted. Isn’t that good enough? Apparently God doesn’t think so!
The God who knows the hearts of men knew Cain wasn’t bringing the proper offering. Throughout the entire Bible, God has expected men to shed blood to cover their sins. We don’t know what rules God had laid down for the earliest people but we do know that he has required blood to cover sins from the moment he had someone write the rules down. There seems to be a qualitative difference between the offerings of Cain and Abel. Cain may have even given the best carrots he had but Abel sacrificed the life of an animal. A common joke on the matter comes in the form of a conversation between a chicken and a pig. The chicken sees a sign for donations for a ham and eggs breakfast. When she sees the pig she says that they should go and donate. The pig replies candidly, “That’s just a donation for you, for me it’s a sacrifice.”
Men, tell me what would happen in the following scenario. It’s Valentines Day and you know that your wife is expecting something. You don’t have time to think about it when you leave for work but you know you had better get her something on the way home or else. Later that day you leave from work and about 100 feet from your house it hits you, “I forgot to pick up something.” You quickly turn around looking for the nearest florist and buy the last batch of roses they have. Then run and grab some takeout so that she won’t have to make dinner. By the time you get home, you start to realize the flowers are wilted and the food smells kind of funny. You walk in the door and hand the last minute gifts to your wife. What happens next? Uh huh, somebody is sleeping on the couch tonight. You really did have the best intentions but honestly you really didn’t put much thought into the gift you were trying to give. You did it because you were supposed to do it not because you truly desired to buy your wife a gift on Valentines Day. Maybe you do better on other days like your anniversary. Either way, what was brought was unacceptable. We have standards for what we ourselves will accept from others and so does God.
When you come to church every Sunday morning and take your place in the pews, you have come to a time of worship. You come not to a sermon or song service but to a worship service dedicated to God Almighty. You aren’t coming to get into the mood of worship but to worship when you get here. According to Hebrews 11:4 “by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous…” Abel came to God with his offering prepared and ready to be given to God. His offering pleased God. Our spiritual act of worship consists of presenting our lives to God ready and pure to do his work. That’s what Romans 12:1 tells us. “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.” This is what we are to give. Yet, we rush out of the door in a hurry just to make it to church. How can we possible stand at the altar of God and honestly offer ourselves to him even though we know very well we aren’t ready. This was Cain’s mistake. His offering wasn’t pleasing to God. We must give our very best to God. We must prepare our spiritual offering so that we can worship during the worship service.
Cain’s offering wasn’t right with God. God refused to accept what he had brought to worship. In the same way we also must have our offering prepared for God when we come to Him. Our spiritual act of worship is to bring ourselves prepared and ready for his service. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that not only will his followers worship in spirit but they will also worship in truth. It’s not just about what you bring but also how you bring it.
Truth – How am I bringing it? –
In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us that we are to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling’ one lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” This in a nutshell is the truth of God. This one statement encompasses not only how we are to handle ourselves as Christians but also contains the fundamental doctrines of our faith.
Paul gives a crash course on Christianity to the Ephesians. Although Cain may not have had a guidebook telling him how he ought to live and how he was to bring God an offering, God indicates that Cain understood the requirements. Cain knew he could do well also in God’s eyes if only he would follow God’s rules. According to 1 John 3:11-12, Cain had even more problems; “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not 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.” No wonder God not only rejected Cain’s offering but also rejected Cain himself. Cain’s heart was filled with evil intent. It seems that Cain’s heart itself was corrupted and because of that, God would not accept his offering. How he brought his offering was just as unacceptable as what he brought.
When I tutored back during my high school years, I spent most of my hours at a moderate sized middle school called Elementary. During the two years I did after school programs some of the children became attached to me and honestly enough I became attached to them. Even though the little buggers drove me nuts sometimes, I still loved to teach them and take care of them. I remember one girl in particular name Jerika who would be at my side every single second she could. The last day I was at the school, they had a craft day. Little did I know that most of the kids were making me “going-away” presents. At the end of the day as I put them on their buses to go home, they handed me many different gifts; Picasso type drawings and random art that I couldn’t identify. You could tell most of them had just been slopped together. Little Jerika walked up and handed me a braided keychain. She had placed colored beads on it and everything. It was very obvious to me almost two years later that she had put her whole heart and soul into that little keychain. Not only did she give me something nice but she gave me part of herself as well. I will never forget the little girl with a heart of gold.
I understand that little kids get totally infatuated with those much older than them but I believe that Christ himself said that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like a child. Jerika put her whole heart and soul into what she gave me. I can imagine that it goes the same way for you and your marriages. Let’s revisit the illustration about Valentines Day. This time you are ready and have already reserved her favorite flowers and have a surprise dinner planned at her favorite restaurant. Everything is perfect. You pick up the flowers and the card and head home after a long day of work. This time you walk in with a bouquet of roses and a mushy card. Her eyes light up and then you open your mouth. You say “Here take this. I am really tired so could you get me a drink. Oh and by the way we are going to your favorite restaurant. You’re welcome.” If you manage to live through saying all that before she burns you down with the evil stare, you will again find yourself sleeping on the couch without dinner.
Presentation definitely makes an impact on whether or not our gifts will be received. Matthew 5:23 & 24 tell us that If we are presenting our offering and something is wrong with our relationships, we must go and correct that problem before we finish our offering. 1 Corinthians 11:27ff says that before we partake of communion we are to examine our lives to make sure we are taking communion for the right purpose. Psalm 15:5 says that a man who can stand before God must not give out his money and expect more than he gave in return. We cannot come before a holy God and give him our offering and expect him to turn around and bless beyond comparison.
When you come to church and take your seat in the pew, you are sitting in a worship service. When Cain came before God with his offering, he knew the life he was supposed to be living. He knew how he was to present himself. Abel chose to present himself in faith to God. They had to be living the life they were professing by going to the altar of God. “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” This refers to when taking communion in 1 Corinthians 11. You cannot mix the holy body and blood of Christ, even a representation of it, with your own sinfulness. Make sure you come prepared to worship by repenting of your sins so that you may partake in the presence of Jesus Christ.
God refused to accept not only Cain’s offering but Cain himself. His first and only recorded offering failed and he never tried again as far as we know. His heart was tainted and yet he still expected to be received just because he was offering it to God. Maybe you rush to church on Sunday mornings hoping to find something you need or just hoping it will put you in the mood to worship. Those can happen but worship is about God and not you and I. Let’s not be like the little boy who missed the circus. Let’s not be satisfied with just coming and getting what we can. Our musicians and tech people do a great job. You can judge how well I preach on your own. However, ultimately it comes down to your heart. You must bring your very best before God. Don’t give him leftover scraps. To worship in spirit and truth, ask yourself two questions; what am I bringing and how am I bringing it. If you can say you are doing your very best, take some time aside and prepare your life to be offered to God and prepare your heart to lovingly and willingly give it.
--Lowell Ogden, www.autoillustrator.com, “worship” – modified for length--
