Genesis 4: 1-6

Note: This is the outline that Tom used in his Summer Series presentation of Characters of the Old Testament.

Raising Cain

·        First son … first brother.  Hard enough having Adam and Eve as mom and dad … how about having God looking over your shoulder?

·        Not so normal childhood … not many kids to play with … not much extended family. 

·        I was the FIRST SON … the eldest … so I tilled the land.  And I was pretty good at it.  Figs, olive trees, watermelon, grain, avocados, artichokes …

·        Abel, my little brother, tended the flocks … sheep, goats, cattle, zebras, camels, geese.

·        Even back then before there were churches, we were expected to worship God.  We did it a little differently back then … didn’t know any better.  They didn’t pass the plate … I mean there were only the four of us  - Mom and dad and Abel and me…

·        We were expected to bring an offering to God.  One time it was some sort of SPECIAL day and we were supposed to bring a “special” offering to God… something from Abel’s flocks and my fields …

·        So, I go and get some melons, and figs and grain I had laying around and brought them to offer to God

·        Abel, the goodie goodie two shoes/sandals that he is, gets the best of his flock … I mean the top shelve.  And he offers that to God.  Made me look bad

·        God doesn’t need the best … I mean what is he going to do with it anyway?  He doesn’t eat like we do! 

·        So what happens?  God smiles at Abel and gives me the ol’ stink eye.  Let me tell you … it really fried my bacon!  I was angry.  Angry at Abel for always trying to suck up to God and angry at God for disregarding what I brought.

·        Then God says to me … “What’s with the anger, Cain? Why are you mopin’ around?  All you have to do is do what is right … and you will be accepted.”

·        That made me even madder … it was like I was being treated like a 5 year old. 

·        But God wasn’t finished yet, “You have a choice here and there is temptation to screw this up.  I’m giving you another chance … Don’t let your anger/frustration/pettiness get in the way. You can be bigger than that.”

·        I wasn’t going to have any of it.  Blah, blah, blah … that’s all I heard.  I was angry and I was going to get my little brother … but good!

·        So… I invited Abel to join me in my field … I told him we should let bygones be bygones.  Abel always was so gullible, so trusting.

·        When we got out into field I was just going to give him a little beating … teach him a lesson … but then he started lecturing me about how I should listen to God … that God was giving me a second chance – a second chance I probably didn’t deserve.

·        Ever heard of the INCREDIBLE HULK? Whenever got angry, eyes turn green, transformed into big, green hulking monster

·        Would save you if you were in need

·        If he was mad at you, look out, pick you up and throw you to the other side of the room or worse

·        Well, I have a little bit of the IH in me … okay a lot in me.

·        I lost it and turned around when Abel had his back to me I clobbered him but good … so good that he didn’t move … he was dead.

·        When I got back to the house … it was late afternoon … my folks were out somewhere … but I wasn’t alone.

·        God speaks to me … “Where is your brother Abel?”

·        “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”  That line came right off the top of my head.  If I had known that it was going to be such a memorable line – I might have copywrited it and made a mint …

·        God would have none of it.  I should have known.  God is omniscient … all knowing … of course he wouldn’t buy my feeble excuse.  And to add insult to injury God cursed me.

·        Said I when I worked the ground, nothing would come of it.  And that I would wander the land for the rest of my life. 

·        Great! Now I will not be able to make a living and since we all live hundreds and hundreds of years … as people are born and as they grow up and find out what I have done – I will be a marked man.  Thanks God!

·        And that’s exactly what I told God.  He was being downright mean.  And I whined! Not only was I being exiled … I was not going to win any popularity contests.

·        So God assured me that I wouldn’t be killed – anyone who did so would be in BIG TROUBLE with God.  And he even marked me so that people would know it was me. 

·        And out of my home, left God’s presence and went and settled in the land of Nod…

·        I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on what happened back then. 1000’s of years actually … and maybe I am a little wiser now. Let me share a couple of insights with you.

·        I was thinking about why God rejected my offering.

·        Abel had faith and showed it by giving God his best. I did not

·        It made me think … was I really appreciative of what God had done in my life?  Obviously not … I only gave him the left overs.

·        Point is today: are you appreciative?  How attached are you to the best things in life?  The first fruits?  When we give our offering is it off the top, or what we have leftover???

·        Then when God rejects me and my offering I got mad.  I guess I could have done things differently. 

·        How do you respond when God says no? Do you seek to make things right? To you go humbly back to God?

·        I chose to turn from God.  God gave me another chance but I chose to turn from him.

·        Then there is this thing about the MARK that God gave me.  I kind of chuckled at how theologians have argued with one another about what it could be.

·        The word in Hebrew can be translated as a sign, omen, warning, or remembrance.

·        Judiasm says the mark is not a punishment but a sign of God’s mercy – to keep him from being killed … if God showed him grace, why???

·        In order to give me time to think and repent.

·        Nobody today really knows whether it was some physical mark, some sign in his body, which indicated that he was god’s property …

·        And if I told you – I’d have to kill you … anyway it is not important. It showed God’s compassion.

·        So what can we learn from my little temper tantrum?

·        One - Anger and jealousy can be very destructive.

·        Violence is the result of misdirected anger. The secret of human violence is the inability to take responsibility for one’s actions.

·        That is what Jesus was pointing to in Matthew 5 where he says hating your brother is really the same as murder.

·        Whatever type the anger is, we need to get control of it and deal with it.

·        Uncontrolled anger and jealousy resulted in Abel’s death and destroyed my life too.

·        Secondly – We learn something important about God and our relationship with him. 

·        Mercy before judgment. No matter what you have done … God wants a relationship with you. 

·        No sin too big for God

·        If I had only known that God’s love is not limited.

·        God is saying to me and to us: “My child, I love you as if you were the only child in the world, and yet I love all the children of the world. 

·        God wants to be in relationship with you. No sin is too big for God to handle.  It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past – God is still for you. God still loves you.  You are not beyond God’s grace!