1 Genesis 4: Preaching/Teaching
Genesis • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsEOT-Cain murders his brother because of his jealousy that his brother’s offering is accepted and his is not. EOS-Symptoms of unpleasing worship to God. DDS-that we would bring God the best of our TTT in a specific way this week
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Intro: We were created to worship.
Blaise Pascal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”
Whatever we put at the vacuum of our heart is what we worship. God alone is supposed to be there.
We were created to worship.
When God is not in that place we will all inevitably worship something lesser and put something in that God Vacuumed hole.
People will worship all kinds of things.
One example of saw of this was in Arkansas when I saw Bubba Hog.
ARKANSAS Razorback fan who worshipped the hogs.
Look him up on YOU TUBE Bubba Hog. Big guy who does a dance and takes his shirt off it is pretty funny.
If you are not a believer in Jesus you cannot properly worship God. Before I was a Christian I thought I was worshipping God, but I realized I could not worship the one who made me until I got right with the one who created me.
A believer-DEFINE THIS TERM-Is a person who has accepted Jesus payments for their sins so that they can be forgiven and have a relationship with God.
But if you are a believer there still is a way to worship God that is pleasing and a way to worship God that is unpleasing.
How is your worship to God right now?
Is your worship pleasing to God right now?
The amazing thing about God is that he looks at your heart. So at the end of the day only God knows if your heart is right in how you are worshipping him.
So far we have been in the book of Genesis
Ch. 1 and we have seen God as creator
Ch. 3-we saw man disobey God and sin
Today we are going to see a man murder his brother resulting sin multiplying throughout the human race.
As we do that I believe God is still looking for men and women who worship him with all their heart and all their soul.
If you are sick many times you will go to the doctor because you have different symptoms. These symptoms many times will help show what is really wrong with you.
Today I want to look at symptoms that may reveal that your worship may not be pleasing to God.
The first symptom of unpleasing worship is:
The first symptom of unpleasing worship is:
1. bringing God Leftovers(Cain verses Abel) (1-5)
1. bringing God Leftovers(Cain verses Abel) (1-5)
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
Interesting that this chapter begins with the Lord and it will end with worshipping the Lord.
Eve could either be thanking God for a kid or bragging that she has a kid here.
But finally Adam and Eve were being fruitful.
Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
It is always interesting how kids from the same family have so many differences and so many similarities.
One of the interesting things that I saw this week in my study is that neither of their occupations were good or evil but it does seem like Abel was more in line with God’s original purpose, Genesis 1:28 and Cain was more connected to the curse because he was working the ground Genesis 3.
Abel, however, seems to be lined up with man’s original purpose, to have dominion over life (cf. 1:28); he kept flocks. These coincidental descriptions are enhanced with their actions in worship.
Contrast between Cain and Abel:
notice they both brought an offering.
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.
Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;
Pleasing Offering (Abel):
Pleasing Offering (Abel):
He brought the firstlings (FAT).
Notice Moses mentions this for Abel and not for Cain.
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible 2. The murder of Abel 4:1–16
By offering the firstborn Abel signified that he recognized God as the Author and Owner of Life. In common with the rest of the ancient Near East, the Hebrews believed that the deity, or lord of the manor, was entitled to the first share of all produce. The firstfruits of plants and the firstborn of animals and man were his. . . .
He brought the FAT-In the Old Testament when they worshipped they would burn up the fat and it was a pleasing aroma to God. He brought God the good stuff.
Are you bringing the good stuff to God?
Pleasing Offering (Abel):
Pleasing Offering (Abel):
He brought it by faith.
We don’t have all the details about the offerings but we do know this. Abels offering was by faith.
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.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Application
Are you bringing God your best: What I love about our church is I know you guys want to bring God your best. I witnessed that this week first hand.
NANA-lip, now with COVID it takes hors to get into the doctor so we could not get the panels for Saturday, so on Friday we did not have them for Heather and Danni to Paint, so Danni watches Scarlett, Heather, Michael and I go to Home Depot to get the wood, then Heather and Danni paint them all Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday Kenny opens up his shop, so many of you showed up to serve all day, MC brings pizza and then when we are leaving Joy and Nicci come up to me and say we will be their in the morning to help you set up. I know this church wants to bring their best to God.
But I do want to ask how are you doing individually with your worship before God.
Time-God I don’t really have time for you. I have seen first hand our church bring God their time, one example yesterday.
Talent-I loved this week I was reminded of our talent.
Treasure-I have been in some churches where I have pastors guilt trip and manipulate people to give. But giving is really a form of worship. I know this church has been a giving church from the beginning but this is such a form of worship.
Honor the Lord from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Many give online, know that when you give that is a form of worship. But one of the ways we are going to make giving possible is Kenny is going to make me us a box and we are going to put it right there and it will be a way that you can worship God.
I could tell you a lot of reasons to be a giver: their are expenses, their is this and that but the greatest reason to be a giver is because it is a form of worship of the most high.
Abel brought the good part not the leftovers.
The second symptom of unpleasing worship is:
The second symptom of unpleasing worship is:
2. directly rejecting God’s word (5-8)
2. directly rejecting God’s word (5-8)
There are a lot of grey areas in Christianity and there are a lot of crystal clear areas.
God is about to speak directly to Cain.
It is hard not to see a direct contrast between these two brothers.
but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
Contrasts how God responded to Cain’s offering.
Contrasts how God responded to Cain’s offering.
God had no regard for Cain’s offering.
His worship was unpleasing.
As a believer we are always positionally pleasing to God. But many times practically we act more like Cain than we do than Abel.
In the Old Testament the people of God got in trouble because they were supposed to bring their best animal to God. But they would start bringing the animals that were not the best to God. Over much of Covid instead of bringing my best to God I feel like I just went through the motions of religion.
Over Covid I felt like for much of the time I brought God lesser than my best offering.
What if as a follower of Jesus you lived a life that brought God un pleasing worship.
Over much of COVID especially when it started I was not brining God my best I was bringing him leftovers.
I was offering up a my smallest of cows. my cows that were not in the greatest of shape.
Bad worship put Cain in a state of depression.
Bad worship put Cain in a state of depression.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
Have you ever gotten so down that you could not hide it. God had just accepted your brothers offering and not yours.
Cain was throwing what my college coach would have called a pity party.
My coach would always say last time I threw a pity party no one showed up.
When our worship is out of line God is gracious reaches out to us.
When our worship is out of line God is gracious reaches out to us.
“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
God knows everything and he knows what is in Cain’s heart. He does not say this specifically but he says it. DON’T MURDER YOUR BROTHER. Okay your worship is not the best but that does not have to be the end of the story.
Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
The very next verse he kills him.
We have all either been that kid or had this moment in parenting: Son or daughter clean the room and they are making a bigger mess.
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible 2. The murder of Abel 4:1–16
“If you want to find out Cain’s condition of heart you will find it after the service which he pretended to render; you know a man best out of church . . .”
How we worship God is revealed in our daily lives.
Application:
There are different gray areas in scripture but their are some very clear things God makes clear to us.
Is there something that God is prompting you to do through his word through your spirit that you are directly disobeying right now.
Is there something specific that God is telling you to do and you are just not doing it? God is so gracious and just like Cain when our worship is off he reaches out to us and says do the right thing.
Take that step today
The last symptom of unpleasing worship is:
The last symptom of unpleasing worship is:
3. not loving our brother/sister well (9)
3. not loving our brother/sister well (9)
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
How would you answer this question if God was right here, right now.
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible 2. The murder of Abel 4:1–16
The Apostle John revealed the reason Cain killed Abel in 1 John 3:12: “. . . his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” Abel’s attitude of faith in God resulted in righteous works that produced guilt in Cain. The seriousness of Cain’s sin is clear from God’s repeated references to Abel as Cain’s “brother” (vv. 9, 10, 11).
Cain was Jealous!
We know that this was premeditation and by the fact that it took place in the field.
What becomes everyone’s responsibility becomes no one’s responsibility.
Am I my brother’s keeper?
This is a strange comment after a murder but it reveals he did not take serious he responsibility to love his brother.
Being God’s image bearers starts with our personal relationship with God, and then our family. If we can’t love our family that is on us. Sometimes family can be hard to love.
But if God asked you this question how would you answer it.
Notice how he worshipped God affected how he loved his very own brother.
Our worship affects how we love other.
Our worship affects how we love other.
Application:
How would you answer this question?
Am I my brothers keeper?
When people worship God and are willing to bring him their best they answer this with a resounding yes I am.
When we answer it like Cain because our worship is off we are just a bunch of religious people who are not taking seriously what God has created us to do.
There are 613 commands in the Old Testament but in the New Testament can be summed up into 3.
Love God-
Love Others-
Make Disciples-
David Livingston as a kid-
Sat in the offering plate because he did not have any money
It was a form of him saying I am giving you me
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.
The steps we took to plant RCC were steps where we said the same thing.
I want to be a church that brings God worship.
today I want to encourage you to read the rest of Genesis 4.
But more importantly I want to ask how is your worship today?
What do you need to bring to God today?
Comparing yourself to other people
Make excuses for loving people (Am I my brothers keeper)
A hard heart towards rejecting God
We are supposed to offer to God what we work with: Time, Treasure, Talents.
Don’t you love when God asks a question that he knows the answer to?
Cain was furious because his worship was not pleasing to God.
You could tell it on his face.
Have you ever been down to a point where you could not even hide it?
That’s how Cain was?
Do you want to have pleasing worship
Illustrations
When we came here is may have been my biggest faith step we had ever taken as a family.
Kids who puts his whole self in the worship
Kenny embodies what we have seen families who are willing to be all in for our vision-
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible 2. The murder of Abel 4:1–16
By offering the firstborn Abel signified that he recognized God as the Author and Owner of Life. In common with the rest of the ancient Near East, the Hebrews believed that the deity, or lord of the manor, was entitled to the first share of all produce. The firstfruits of plants and the firstborn of animals and man were his. . . .
What was wrong with Cain’s offering?
Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible 2. The murder of Abel 4:1–16
“Abel also offered the ‘fat’ which in the so-called ‘P’ [Priestly] material belonged to the Lord and was burned symbolically by the priests. This tastiest and best burning part of the offering represented the best. Abel’s sacrifice, the interlocutor aims to say, passed the test with flying colors. Cain’s sacrifice, however, lacks a parallel to ‘fat.’”