Worship, My Way

Worship, My Way

Genesis 4: 1-7

Play YouTube video of My Way by Frank Sinatra. First 45 seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7GHgE8fylQ

Intro: How many of you remember that song? Some of you may know it as a song that Elvis Presley sang and had great success with it. What you just heard was the original. Frank Sinatra co-wrote this song and had a huge hit with it long before Elvis. It kind of became his theme song. The lyrics of this song mirror how Sinatra lived his life. He lived it his way and no one was ever going to tell him what to do. Look at the words to the opening verse again.

. “And now, the end is here And so I face the final curtain/ My friend, I’ll say it clear I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain/ I’ve lived a life that’s full I traveled each and ev’ry highway / And more, much more than this, I did it my way.”

. My way, that is the story of human nature.

. From infancy, I want to do it my way.

. Once a baby gets old enough to hold a spoon and communicate, the child no longer wants you to feed them do they?

. They want to take the spoon and I have heard many say “me”

. They want to do it themselves.

. We don’t get any better when we get older.

. We want to do it our way don’t we?

. The same is true for our worship many times also.

. We want to worship and serve God on our terms, not his.

. This morning we are going to look at the first worship service and see what God has to say about worship our way instead of his.

. We are back in Genesis this morning and we are finally out of chapter 3.

. God has held Adam and Eve accountable for their sin of disobedience and has banished them from the Garden of Eden. Instead of just taking care of the animals in the garden, man and woman must now make their own way in the world.

. This is where our story picks up.

. Genesis 4: 1-7

. 1Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!”

2Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.

3When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

4Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,

5but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6“Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?

7You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

. These passages of scripture tell us many things but this morning I want us to understand what they have to say about worship.

. In this we see Acceptable Worship.

. Look with me at verse 4 again.

. 4Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,

. It was time to worship, time to give thanks to God for the great harvest and growth in the flocks.

. Cain and Able understood that worship is hollow and empty without giving.

. The boys were grown men now. The story jumps from birth to adulthood for the two boys.

. I’m sure that Adam and Eve had taught their sons about God and his power and his majesty.

. I’m sure that the boys understood what worship and sacrifice was meant to be.

. The first man and woman had obviously flourished.

. Think about it, Adam and Eve had started with basically nothing. Now their sons were tending the fields and taking care of the flock of lambs.

. When Able went to worship God, he took with him the very best that he had.

. Scripture says that he took the best of the first born from the flock.

. I can picture Abel walking around and looking through the herd. Grabbing one of the lambs and looking at it and thinking no, not you. You have a defect . I can only give to God the best that I have. Then another and another until he had inspected all the first born and selected the best that he had.