I preached this sermon on 4/11/2010. When I think about it now, I realize that I like to preach on the Old Testament more than the New. It’s no doubt that preaching on the Old Testament is a bit harder than the New because there are a lot more materials to be covered.
Generally speaking, people don’t know much about the Old Testament, especially in context. We know about different stories in the Old Testament, but we don’t find any coherence in its overall narrative. We miss out a lot if we don’t see how each micro-story fits into the marco-narrative. Each micro-story gives us a point of view about God. It gives us a partial truth. But it’s fragmented. It lacks continuity. God’s story is not fragmented. From the beginning to the end, God has a perfect Story in mind. In the Old Testament narrative, He unfolds His mind and plan gradually in different epochs. Theologically, we call this progressive revelation. He unveils His saving plan to restore and recreate the world according to His divine pleasure. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, etc… are God’s chosen, redemptive agents in the overall redemptive story. Christ, the Agent, is the apex of this Story. Thus, when we merely understand various micro-events apart from the marco-Event, we fail to see its progression. We miss God’s progressive revelation.
This is one of the main reasons why I covered the Old Testament systematically in Sunday school. I wish I did a similar thing on pulpit. However, I found it too difficult to keep on preaching the Old Testament every week. I remember I preached on the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew from the beginning to the end. If I have a chance in the future, I’ll select a book from the Old Testament and preach on it. I will first select one of the books in the Pentateuch.
The Story of Christianity can be captured by six “C” words:[1]
1. Creation
2. Catastrophe
3. Covenant
4. Christ
5. Church
6. Consummation
This six-act drama outlines the story of the Bible in a way that it’s easy for us to understand the flow of the overall narrative of God’s redemptive Story.
Scripture: Genesis 4:1-7
Topic: Something less than the best
When I was in college, I took a course called Creative Writing. It was a 300-level course. I took the 100-level course before. All I needed was a 200-level course. But I wanted to learn how to write creatively. So, I registered for that course. A week after I handed in my first writing assignment, the professor said that he needed to talk to me in private. In his office, he nicely said to me that “Wing, I can’t let you stay in the class. Due to your writing skill, it may be difficult for you to pass my course. Even if you try hard, I may not let you pass. It’s better for you to withdraw and register for another class.” After hearing that, I wasn’t offended. But I was disappointed by myself. Then I cut classes and walked aimlessly on the street. While walking on the street, I dialogued with myself, saying “Your writing ability is below average. You have to accept that. What the professor said to you is nothing personal. He just let you see the harsh reality. English is not your first language. You need to accept that. You need to know where you are at, then move on. Read more newspaper and books. Pay more attention to how people write. Make progress at your own pace.” This is what I said to myself I was in college. I got rejected. I faced the reality. The reality helped me take a deep look at myself and my limitation. In order to improve and grow, we must face a reality, for God only meets us in reality.
Sacrifice was a crucial aspect to Old Testament worship. To worship God, people must be in his presence. But it’s not easy to be in God’s presence. People are sinners—law breakers, covenant breakers. Whoever dares to come near to God’s presence would face God’s judgment. In other words, worship without sacrifice is judgment. Thus, when the people in the Old Testament came before God, they brought their sacrifices to atone for their sins. Worship and sacrifice go hand in hand in the Old Testament. That’s why the Old Testament said that we must not worship the Lord with empty hands.
The story of Cain and Abel is the first story about sacrifice in the Bible. Gen. 4:1-2—“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.” Cain, the older brother, was a farmer; Abel, the younger brother, was a shepherd.
In Gen. 4:3-5a, it said, “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.” Now we see Cain and Abel bringing sacrifices to the Lord. We see two different individuals coming to worship God with their own sacrifices and yet with opposite results.
It has often been asked why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice and accepted Abel’s. Some say that Cain’s offering was not accepted because it was not a blood sacrifice; Abel’s offering was a blood sacrifice. The narrative doesn’t tell us why God rejected Cain’s and accepted Abel’s explicitly. But definitely, the issue is not a matter of a blood versus a non-blood sacrifice. Rather, the key is to be found in the adjectives used in this account.
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. “At harvest time Cain brought to the Lord a gift of his farm produce, while Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock.” (Gen. 4:3-4a NLT) Cain’s sacrifice is described very plainly; Abel’s sacrifice is described as “choice” and “the best of his flock”. Cain worshipped God by offering the “fruits of the soil.” Abel worshipped God by offering the “first-fruits” of the offerings. Their offerings tell us their different attitudes toward worship. Cain was careless; Abel, careful. Cain offered something less than the best. Abel offered the best of the bests.
God is not pleased by our offerings. God is rather pleased by our offerings with right attitude and carefulness. Someone said, “Right from the beginning we can see godless individuals trying to get away with something less than the best.” Anything that is less than the best is not biblical worship.
I think Cain’s problem is that he did not pay attention to what he was doing. He might even think that God couldn’t tell the difference between fruits and first-fruits. You and I know that God is not so picky about offering itself. But He is concerned about our attitudes when we approach him. I also think that God accepted Abel’s offering because, before giving to the Lord, Abel asked a few questions, “My God, will you be pleased with this?”, “How do you feel?”, “What is your thought about my choice?”, or “What do you have to say about my choice?” Don’t think that God can’t tell the difference. I believe that all of us come here to worship, we want to please the Lord. We are here to give Him the attention and honor that He deserves. But worship is more than just being here in our presence and with our presents. For sure, we don’t come empty-handed. We come with offerings. We offer something to him. But to Him we don’t offer something less than the best. To Him, we offer our “choice” to him. To him, we offer with care.
There is a fundamental difference between religious activity and worship. We are pleased in religious activity; in worship, however, we learn to please Him. In other words, religious activity is human-centered; worship is God-centered. Cain fulfilled his religious activity; Abel pursued God-centered worship.
Two attitudes toward worship; two attitudes toward worshippers
Gen. 4:5b—“So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” God rejected him and his offering; he was dejected. Then, God said to him, “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…” (4:7a). What God said to Cain implies that Cain knew what was right and wrong in terms of what to offer and what not to offer. He chose to offer the fruits of the soil, not the first-fruits of the soil. He still offered with his choice, not the best choice. God said, “Why are you angry? Why do you look so dejected?” God is saying that don’t you see your problem? Do you see that I rejected you with a reason? Do you see that you look dejected without a reason?
“Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:7b). After the fall (Genesis 3), we humans are still responsible for what we do. We still have the responsibility to control and master: our tendency not to offer our best to the Giver who gave us all things in the first place.
When we pay close attention to Gen. 4:4-5. It said that God had regard for Abel and his offering, but God had no regard for Cain and his offering. Not only was Cain’s offering not right, but also as a worshiper, as a person, he was not right. If Cain, as a worshiper, is not right, how can his offering be right in God’s sight? When God rejected him, he didn’t accept the fact that he wasn’t right with God as a worshipper. When God rejected his offering, he didn’t admit that he offered something less than the best to God. To offer something less than the best to God is a sin. His refusal to admit that he offered something less than the best to God is a greater sin, which is crouching at the door. “It desires to have you, but you allow it to master you.” Cain allowed his problem to control him. His refusal to admit allowed sin to take control of him.
As I said in the beginning, sacrifice was a crucial aspect to Old Testament worship. And obedience is always an underlying theme in the sacrificial system in the Old Testament. Sacrifice is an outward sign of an inward reality, which is obedience of the heart.
In Here and Now: Living in the Spirit, Henri Nouwen said that in Latin, the word obedience means to listen with great attentiveness. Without listening attentively, we become ‘deaf’ to the voice of love. To obey is to listen attentively. God said something to Cain, but he didn’t listen attentively. Cain didn’t listen to God attentively. He didn’t listen to himself attentively. He became ‘deaf’ to the voice of God as well as to his own voice deep down in his heart. (pp. 21-22) Later on in the story, his action of attacking and killing Abel tells us that he didn’t listen at all. He didn’t obey. Cain’s unwillingness to listen attentively is another main reason why God rejected him. He rejected the person as well as the offering. He rejected the worshipper and the sacrifice. This is the first story about sacrifice. This is the first story about acceptable worship. This is the first story about acceptable worshipper.
Unacceptable worship is that when God says something to us through his word and his people, we are pissed and even angry at once without putting it into consideration. We look so dejected. Acceptable worship is that when God says something to us through his word and his people, we’re open to what God has to say to us. We learn to “be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” (James 1:19).
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”
[1] Adam C. English, Theology Remixed: Christianity as Story, Game, Language, Culture (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010), pp. 31-76.
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