The Sin of Cain
Genesis • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
The spreading effects of sin
Spreading in degree: selfishness, pride, anger, murder
Spreading in the family: Adam and Eve to Cain
The chain of sinful actions: theology (how we think about God), worship (how we approach or don’t approach God), ethics (how we act towards God and towards others)
This is the pattern we see in this first homicide and fractricide in the Bible.
There are two important perspectives in the Cain and Abel. The first is the sin of Cain and the second is the blood of Abel. Tonight we will focus on Cain’s sin and next week we will look at the blood of Abel.
In considering the sin of Cain, I want to look at three aspects: 1) Cain’s attitude towards God, 2) Cain’s offering, and 3) Cains response.
Cain’s attitude toward God
Cain’s attitude toward God
Moses gives us very little insight into Cain’s thought pattern. He speaks only twice in the entire narrative yet each time he speaks he shows us his heart.
El hombre bueno, del buen tesoro de su corazón saca lo bueno; y el hombre malo, del mal tesoro de su corazón saca lo malo; porque de la abundancia del corazón habla la boca.
After Cain commits his atrocious offense, the LORD asks him where his brother is. Cain’s response is telling:
Y Jehová dijo a Caín: ¿Dónde está Abel tu hermano? Y él respondió: No sé. ¿Soy yo acaso guarda de mi hermano?
The question reveals Cain’s rebellion towards God. If you like Abel so much, why don’t you look after him. Am I my brother’s keeper? The word keeper used by Cain here is the same word the narrator uses to describe Abel as a “keeper” of sheep. Thus it is not just rebellion against God but also resentment toward God that Cain displays.
Rebellion and resentment are two significant attitudes toward God. It is a theology. We rebel against God when we turn our backs on His Word and when we try to change the meaning of His Word. Theologians are famous for doing this. Liberal theology.
Resentment is also a theological outlook. Resentment occurs when we recognize God’s Word but reject it. Theology also does this. Post-modern theology speaks of the Biblical narrative as Divine Child Abuse.
But it is not only academic theologians who rebel against God and resent Him. We also do it in our own lives. We turn away from the Scripture and we resent God for what the Scripture says.
He aquí me echas hoy de la tierra, y de tu presencia me esconderé, y seré errante y extranjero en la tierra; y sucederá que cualquiera que me hallare, me matará.
Rebellion and resentment have one and only one outcome - to depart from God. This is what we see in Cain as well. Cain hides himself from God the same way that Adam and Eve did. To hide from God is to rebel against Him. To hide from God is to resent Him.
Si bien hicieres, ¿no serás enaltecido? y si no hicieres bien, el pecado está a la puerta; con todo esto, a ti será su deseo, y tú te enseñorearás de él.
Cain’s theological outlook of rebellion, resentment and hiding from God is named by God in Genesis 4:7. Sin is crouching at the door. A faulty theology always makes us sin’s target.
Todo lo contrario, cada uno es tentado cuando sus propios malos deseos lo arrastran y seducen. Luego, cuando el deseo ha concebido, engendra el pecado; y el pecado, una vez que ha sido consumado, da a luz la muerte.
So, what is your view of God this afternoon? Do you cleave to the Scripture to know more about God and to love Him more? Or do you rebel against the Word and resent what it says? Your disposition to God’s Word is your disposition toward God. And as you get further and further away from God’s Word, sin and its desires get closer and closer to your door.
Cain’s Worship
Cain’s Worship
The story of Cain and Abel is a story of two seeds (Genesis 3:15), a story of two brothers, and a story of two offerings.
Cain’s problem was not just his attitude toward God it was also his approach to God in worship. Philosopher Jaime K. A. Smith argues that worship is the outward manifestation of what we love. In our modern culture, people love fame, glamour, and physical attractiveness and it is therefore no surprise that Sunday football has become the contemporary worship gathering and that malls and fashion outlets have become the contemporary temples.
It is our view of God that shapes and substantiates our worship. The way we worship is the way we think about God.
Y aconteció andando el tiempo, que Caín trajo del fruto de la tierra una ofrenda a Jehová.Y Abel trajo también de los primogénitos de sus ovejas, de lo más gordo de ellas. Y miró Jehová con agrado a Abel y a su ofrenda;pero no miró con agrado a Caín y a la ofrenda suya. Y se ensañó Caín en gran manera, y decayó su semblante.
Both Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord in worship. Abel approached the Lord in faith:
Por la fe Abel ofreció a Dios más excelente sacrificio que Caín, por lo cual alcanzó testimonio de que era justo, dando Dios testimonio de sus ofrendas; y muerto, aún habla por ella.
But Cain approached God differently.
Some commentators say the difference was that while Abel brought a bloody offering. Cain brought a bloodless offering. This is not an adequate distinction. The LORD accepted both animal and grain offerings.
Y que cada año traeríamos a la casa de Jehová las primicias de nuestra tierra, y las primicias del fruto de todo árbol. Asimismo los primogénitos de nuestros hijos y de nuestros ganados, como está escrito en la ley; y que traeríamos los primogénitos de nuestras vacas y de nuestras ovejas a la casa de nuestro Dios, a los sacerdotes que ministran en la casa de nuestro Dios; que traeríamos también las primicias de nuestras masas, y nuestras ofrendas, y del fruto de todo árbol, y del vino y del aceite, para los sacerdotes, a las cámaras de la casa de nuestro Dios, y el diezmo de nuestra tierra para los levitas; y que los levitas recibirían las décimas de nuestras labores en todas las ciudades;
Other commentators contend that the difference was the quality of the offering. While Abel brought the best, Cain may have brought the unwanted fruits of the field. However, the text gives us no reason to think that Cain’s offering was qualitatively different from Abel’s. In fact, the word “also” suggests that the offerings were qualitatively similar.
The main difference is to be found in the way the narrator describes God’s response to both offerings:
Y Abel trajo también de los primogénitos de sus ovejas, de lo más gordo de ellas. Y miró Jehová con agrado a Abel y a su ofrenda;pero no miró con agrado a Caín y a la ofrenda suya. Y se ensañó Caín en gran manera, y decayó su semblante.
It is not just the offering that God sees but he also sees the offerer. In fact, the offerer has priority of place - Abel and his offering and Cain and his offering.
The problem with Cain’s offering is a problem with Cain’s heart. Cain approaches God on his own terms. Abel approaches God on God’s terms.
Mas la hora viene, y ahora es, cuando los verdaderos adoradores adorarán al Padre en espíritu y en verdad; porque también el Padre tales adoradores busca que le adoren.
How do you worship God? On your own terms or on God’s terms? Is worship about you or is it about God?
Cain’s response
Cain’s response
Cain’s response to God’s acceptance of his offering was one of anger and disappointment.
pero a Caín y su ofrenda no miró con agrado. Y Caín se enojó mucho y su semblante se demudó.
Anger and disappointment reflect Cain’s disposition towards God. He is angry with God because God did not accept what he offered. I did my best. I was sincere. How can God be so unjust?
God tells us what He wants from us.
¿Se agradará Jehová de millares de carneros, o de diez mil arroyos de aceite? ¿Daré mi primogénito por mi rebelión, el fruto de mis entrañas por el pecado de mi alma?Oh hombre, él te ha declarado lo que es bueno, y qué pide Jehová de ti: solamente hacer justicia, y amar misericordia, y humillarte ante tu Dios.
Even so, when we go our own way and do what we want to do, we become angry. Angry with God and angry with others. John describes Cain’s anger as follows:
No como Caín, que era del maligno y mató a su hermano. ¿Y por qué causa le mató? Porque sus obras eran malas, y las de su hermano justas.
Anger and disappointment with God spreads and becomes anger and disappointment with others. And this is what led to Cain’s crime.
Notice that the way of Cain is selfishness fundamentally. Jude says:
¡Ay de ellos! porque han seguido el camino de Caín, y se lanzaron por lucro en el error de Balaam, y perecieron en la contradicción de Coré.
The real tragedy of the story is the way that Cain’s sin, the sin of that one who had been brought forth “with the help of the LORD” drove himself into enmity with his brother and out of the presence of the LORD.
The unbreakable chain
The unbreakable chain
And so brothers and sisters, there is an unbreakable chain that links our theology, to our worship, to our ethics. Everything traces back to our view and attitude toward God. We see division and strife in the church - envy, calumny, and gossip. And this is connected with a worship that is carried out on our terms - in terms of what is attractive, what draws people in. And this is connected to our view of God and to our perspective on His Word. If we start with a right view of God and a right view of what He requires of us, we will be prepared to worship Him on His terms and not on our own terms. And if we worship God on His terms, then we will be nurtured and nourished to live out that worship in our daily lives both inside the church and outside of it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So, what is your view of God? What is your view of His Word? Do you doubt the Word? Do you rebel against its demands on your life? Are you resentful about what God is requiring of you?
And, how do you worship? What is your disposition this afternoon as you come to church or even as you decide to skip this one? What is in your heart? Are you here to follow a tradition? To feel good about yourself? To make your pastor feel good? Or are you here because you love God and because your heart’s desire is to hear His Word for you?
And finally, how your relationships with those in the church and those outside the church? Do you feel jealousy and envy towards that colleague at work who got a promotion? Are you angry that the other sister is getting more attention from the pastor’s wife than you are? Those ethical dispositions are not demons and spirits that attack because you are doing right, they are a consequence of what you are doing wrong.
So, beloved congregation and people of God, let us consider the God who has graciously revealed Himself to us, let us come near to Him with boldness because of the price He paid for us, and let us
Así que, hermanos, os ruego por las misericordias de Dios, que presentéis vuestros cuerpos en sacrificio vivo, santo, agradable a Dios, que es vuestro culto racional.No os conforméis a este siglo, sino transformaos por medio de la renovación de vuestro entendimiento, para que comprobéis cuál sea la buena voluntad de Dios, agradable y perfecta.