When Cain Went to Church!

"So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground" (Genesis 4:3)

The setting was somewhere outside the Garden of Eden. The issue was worship and the emotion was rage. Something was about to break wide open. God had accepted the younger brother's offering while rejecting that of the older. Note precisely what it had been that Abel had offered unto God:

"And Abel, on his part had brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard" (Genesis 4:4-5a)

The question that has long puzzled many, beloved, is why God accepted Abel's offering of worship while rejecting his brother's? Had it not been as sincerely given as that of the younger son? Did it not represent the fruit of his fields as Abel's had been the fruit of his flock? I believe that the key to understanding what took place on that occasion can be found in the term "in the course of time." The Hebrew phrase literally means "at the end of days" and suggests strongly that both men had been offering acceptable sacrifices unto God for some time. Cain had no doubt also brought the acceptable offering of the unblemished lamb which he had procured from Abel's flock. Remember that at this early point in man's history, beloved, meat was not yet eaten! The flock was kept for clothing and for sacrifice. Apparently Cain finally grew weary with the ordeal of preparing for worship - selection of a spotless animal, slaying and dressing it, building the altar fire - and had decided that the grains and produce from his own fields would make a worthy substitute. And it was at that particular point of departure from God's instructions to them that God rejected what Cain had so offhandedly offered to Him on that occasion.

What possible lesson could we as Christians today gain from this ancient story from Scripture, beloved? A very important one, I sincerely believe! You see, the offerings brought by Cain and Abel were acts of worship before God, their "going to church," if you will. You and I today bring unto God in worship a sacrifice of righteousness, or at least that is what we are supposed to do. The lesson that we gain from Cain's mistake is that he came to the point where he no longer felt that God needed or deserved his whole heart. He decided that he would "substitute" a lesser sacrifice, a more convenient offering unto the Lord. He would throw some grain into a bushel basket and shove it before God. Worship would be simpler and likely much shorter! Then Cain would be free to go about doing what it was that he wanted to do.

How often today do we sit in a service of worship with our bodies in the right place and our hearts somewhere else? How often do we endure the tedium of what comes between the prelude and the postlude and then scurry away from the altar of God back to those things which are to us more tantalizing? When and if we do so, we are demonstrating unto God "the heart of Cain" and He wants no more to do with such acts of worship than He did when it was offered to Him by Cain so long ago.

Ah, but what an example for us Abel is! Not only did he bring to God that day the prescribed sacrifice of blood that was shed and fat portions that were laid upon the altar of genuine worship, but he did so with a humble and obedient heart. For Abel, it was God who was worthy of worship and God who was the focus of his heart. When Cain when to church, it was all about Cain and what he wanted for himself. But when Abel went to church, it was all about God and the glory and praise he sought for his Creator. What sacrifices are you bringing to God today, beloved? What is worship like when you go to church? Let me leave you with a gentle reminder from God's Word about the offering with which He will always be pleased:

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17)

Ron