/sermon/
Up until now we spoke about the garden of Eden. We said that
God created heaven and earth, He filled the heaven with lights and the earth he
filled with different forms of life. Then he created the people as a crown of
the creation and welcomed them in the circle of the Holy Trinity. God also
created the institution of marriage in order to drive away loneliness and
populate the earth through many families, consisting of a one woman and a one
man. Then last time Mike spoke about the Lost Heaven – how as a result of the
original sin Adam and Eve, together with us, lost our mortality and
righteousness.
But Jesus was deconstructed on the cross so that we could be
constructed. He was crucified naked, so that he could bear our shame so that we
can dress up with a clothing of righteousness. Our ancestors ate of the fruit
that broght death but Jesus welcomes us to take the fruit that gives life.
Today’s story of Moses talks about people who can be
described by the adjective “outcast”
like the immigrants in the Bulgarian novel with the same title by Ivan Vazov.
Today a lot of Bulgarians continue to wаnder feeling outcast
even in their own country. During communism we joked by saying that we live
east of Eden. By “EDEN” we understood the west.
Today’s passage from Genesis also describes events that
happened east of Eden. The action from
chapter 4 starts from the end of the 3rd chapter – outside of the garden of
Eden – east from heaven. This is a story of two brothers, a story about to ways
of living, a story of two types of worship, a story about life and death.
In the beginning we learn that Adam slept with Eve and she
gave birth to the first baby in human history. Being grateful, Eve says:
“"I have gotten a male child with the help of the LORD." Here we can
see a pun because the word “gotten” in Hebrew means “ Cain” According to Martin
Luther the right translation is: “ I have gotten a human – Lord.” It is
possible for Luther to be right and for Eve to have taught that she had given
birth to the promised Seed in chapter 3 verse 15 decadent. Thus she called him
with the covenantal name of the Lord – Yahweh, which is translated in our Bible
as “Lord”.
At least one thing is obvious: Eve looks at that child as a
gift of God. When one man and one woman leave their parents, cleave to each
other and become one flesh, God blesses them with children. And the children
are the result of the blessing: “be fruitful and multiply “ this is why we must
perceive them as a precious gift.
But today we look at marriage with neglect. We make it as
easy as possible for couples to divorce each other. We approve the murder of unborn
children in the womb of the mother. In the last 60 years in Bulgaria there have
been 6 million aborted children. Since 1980 up till now in the whole world 1.3
billion of unborn babies have been
murdered.
I came across a discussion in facebook about abortion, in
which discussion one woman wrote that abortion is a self-defensive reaction of
the woman and as such an action it is justified…
Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says: 9 The heart is deceitful
above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? Without Jesus
Christ people are servants of sin. They hate the real God and bow in front of
the god of themselves, materialism and lust. With what are we better from the
ancient pagans, who sacrificed their children to Moloch?
Eve said: “I have gotten a man child with the help of the
LORD." Afterward she gave birth to one more son – Abel. And the name Abel
means: “Breath, vapor, vanity” Eve could had named the boy Abel because she was
sad and lonely because of the absence of Adam who was working hard to make
their living. Or because of her disappointment of the hard to parent Cain.
Whatever the reason these words became a prophesy about the short life of Abel.
The two boys grew up under the care of their parents and like all boys loved
messing everything up. Adam decided to teach his first – born one a craft thus
Cain became a farmer. But someone had to look after the animals – and this
responsibility was given to Abel. Both professions a farmer and a shepherd are
in tune with God’s commandment for the people to rule over the rest of the
creation.
We read in Genesis 4: 3 and 4 : 3So it came about in the
course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the
ground. 4Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of
their fat portions.”
Cain and Abel are both blessed by God. Cain with big harvest
and Abel with a growing herd. After the harvest Cain and Abel sacrificed an
offering to God but God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice and wasn’t pleased
with Cain’s. Why was that so?
The reason for that is not that Cain sacrificed a bloodless
sacrifice. In the Old Testament there are examples of both sacrifices of
animals and harvest ones. So the answer we find in John one chapter 3 Verse 12
: Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.
And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s
were righteous.
Hebrews 11:4 says: By faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain.
We see that the New Testament proves that Cain’s sacrifice
was fake while Abel’s faith played a decisive role in the receiving of his own
gift.
You must also take into account that Abel also sacrifices a
sacrifice from the first-born animals of his herd but Cain just from the fruits
of the harvest. Abel chooses the best for the Lord but Cain just collects
something. Everything depends on the motivation and the attitude.
Today all of us can ask ourselves: what is my motivation for
coming to church? Why do I give one tenth to the Lord? Do I do this with faith
and gratefulness? Or do I do this just cause I have to? Do I do this cause I am
striving to give the best to God or do I do that just to be noticed and praised
by God and be given a reservation for the Heavenly hotel? Do I do this because of love or I do this just
for it to seem done.
This raises the question what do I believe in? Do I believe
in the salvation by grace through faith or in the salvation through deeds
Cain tried to impress God with a quick and careless
collection of granary as a sacrifice. God looked the sacrifice and Cain’s heart
and did not receive the sacrifice. Thus Cain got cross with God.
Isn’t this reaction to God the same as many other people
today? We often say: If there is a God why doesn’t He care about me. Isn’t it
interesting that those who are least interested in God and don’t believe in Him
are cross with Him?
In the book “ East from Eden” which was inspired by our
passage, Steinbeck describes a conversation between his son Caleb and his
father Adam: "Son, I'd be happy if you'd give me something like your
brother's given me. Something honest and human and good. Don't be angry, Son.
If you want to give me a present, give me a good life.
That's something I could value."
God tells Cain, “Why
are you so angry?” “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you
do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is
crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its
master.”
Here God stresses two alternatives in front of Cain. If Cain
turns towards God with his whole heart and repents about his attitude, God is
going to receive his sacrifice and His face is going to beam.
If not something irrevocable will take place. Cain is going
to be ruled by sin. The sin is described as a lying in front of the door.
In Hebrew the word “lying” means the same as the
ancient Babylonian word which means a
mean demon that is lying in front of a building’s door in order to scare the
people inside the building. In the same way the sin is waiting for a good
moment to jump into Cain and rule him
It is also possible that Cain had already thought about the
murder of his brother. Because he goes to his brother and tells him: “ Let’s go
to the field” If it is so then the murder was planned carefully.
The first murder was done east from Eden. It was a terrible
crime – done against a brother and a good person. This is a striking
illustration of the terrible consequence of the sin.
Genesis 4:9 says:
Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? And this exact
question comes as an echo of the question Adam was asked by God “ where are
you” , the question God asks all of us today: “Where are you. Why are you
hiding from me?”
When I was a kid day while I was running at home I knocked
down the TV. It fell on the floor. And because of the big noise the falling of
the TV made I got hurt as if the TV had fallen on me. Both my granny and I
lifted the TV up and then very worried I turned it on but alas there was no
sound coming from it, no picture on the screen was showing up so when my dad
came back home from work I hid in my room and stood in complete darkness. I did
not want to come out of the room cause I was afraid, knowing I was in trouble.
“Where are you?” God asks Adam and Cain. “Where are you?”,
asks God each and every one of you today. This morning I want to ask you “
Where are you? Are you in God’s presence in the company of light or are you
hiding from God in the kingdom of darkness? This question is rhetorical. But
God asks it to make you come back to Him again.
Even after the murder God gave Cain an opportunity to repent
and go back to the Lord. Cain’s answer though was aggressive. He said: “I don’t
know, Am I my brother’s guardian?”
There was a huge difference in Adam’s answer which was: “I
heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” The disappointment
of the father is replaced by the son’s obscenity.
“Am I my brother’s guardian?” Abel was a shepherd, a
guardian of sheep. With other words Cain ironically asked God: Am I a guardian
of the guardian?
Of course every one of us is supposed to be looking after
himself on his own but the Cain’s irony was not put in the right place. God
wants us to be interested in the faith of others because we are all brothers
and sisters, children of Adam and Eve. Not only did Cain not have love toward
his neighbor but he also killed his own brother.
“ Am I a guardian of my brother?” Haven’t you caught
yourself thinking like that about someone? If we haven’t murdered with a gun
haven’t we murdered someone with words!
Jesus says to the people nowadays saying: “You have heard
that it was said to those of old, ‘You
shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say
to you that everyone who is angry with his brother3 will be liable to judgment;
whoever insults4 his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says,
‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5 :21,22) And this is
a warning for all of us as well!
There are various types of murders. According to Jesus we
kill with negativism, sarcasm, rage, rudeness, rumors.
One man was speaking badly of one of his acquaintances. Soon
he felt remorses and went to see his acquaintance. He said he was sorry and asked the man whether he could redeem
himself for having spoken badly about him. The other man gave him a pillow and
asked his friend to go and climb up a windy and high hill, tear the pillow and
shed the plumage. The other man was surprised by what he asked him to do but
agreed anyhow and fulfilled his acquaintance’s wish. And when he returned from
his mission the other man told him: One more thing now I want you to go back to
the windy hill and collect the plumage. The other man said: Are you crazy, this
is impossible. How am I supposed to do that? Then the other man answered: Well
then how am I supposed to repair all the damage you made by speaking badly
about me?
We read in Genesis 4:10 : “But the Lord said, “What have you
done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!” Nobody can
hide away his sins from God. Abel’s blood spoke about his faith even after his
own death. In a way we can say that Abel became a prophet.
After the flood God was going to give Noah a promise to
never again: Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in
the image of God made he man.. But her
God asks Cain a question in order to give him one more chance to repent for his
sin.
Cain, literally speaking, is still with blood on his hands.
God curses him so then it should be logical for Cain to repent.
Genesis 4:11, 12 says: Now you are cursed and banished from
the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the
ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you
will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.” Homeless and a wanderer. An outcast.
Cain does not repent though. He does not say: “You are right
I deserve to be punished!” No. The man who does not believe in God continues to think only for himself, because
he is his own god. Outside Eden, outcast from God’s kingdom, east from heaven.
The man thinks he is enough up until he sees that a danger is chasing him.
Standing in front of a dangerous situation, a danger of him
being killed, he starts moaning: "My punishment is too great to bear!
He is afraid that he is going to be wandering all his life
being an outcast.
But God shows him mercy one more time: verse 15 So the LORD
said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him
sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding
him would slay him. As if God is telling Cain: “ Revenge is mine”. Cain
deserves death but he does not receive it. And this is mercy to receive
something you do not deserve.
In this life both who are righteous and sinful receive
undeserving blessings from God. He is the one who makes the Sun to rise above
the evil and the good, he sends rain
over to the righteous and the sinful.
But the day when Jesus is going to come from heaven in order
to judge both the death and the living is coming soon. And this is going to be
a terrible revenge for everyone who walk alongside Cain. Those who as Cain make
themselves a god thus the will be outcast east from heaven in the kingdom of
the everlasting darkness and the gnashing of teeth.
But everyone like Abel, those who have gave themselves to
the mercy of our loving God, that day is going to be a glorious and blessed
one.
God put a mark on Cain.
Genesis 3:16 says: So Cain left the Lord’s presence and
settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. The word “Nod” means “wandering”. And
as Adam and Eve were outcast from Eden, Cain was also made to go away from
God’s presence and become an immigrant and a wanderer in the land of wander. An
outcast, east from Eden.
It’s the same with life outside of Eden. Life outside
heaven. Today most of the people are wandering being outcasts, looking for
happiness but looking for it in the wrong place. Just like Cain.
Up until now we talked more about Cain rather than Abel.
Abel was a shepherd. He gave the best sacrifice to God and
God received it thus Abel was labeled for righteous. Abel was hated by his brother without having
done anything to him. His blood was spilled because of envy. His blood was
spilled on the earth and from there it was calling for God.
Abel is like Jesus. Jesus was the best shepherd. He gave his
best – his own life. His sacrifice was received because he was holy and
righteous. He was hated by his Hebrew brothers without a reason. His blood was
shed on Golgotha because of the envy of the Hebrew Pharisees.
But Abel and Jesus are also different in many ways. The
sinless Jesus was perfect in obedience and holiness.
Abel’s life was taken away by force. Jesus’ life was given
voluntarily.
Abel’s blood was stained with Cain’s mark of sin and guilt.
But Jesus’ blood cleanses every sin.
Abel sacrificed the first born of his herd. Christ
sacrificed Himself the one and only God’s son.
Hebrews 12:24 says that Jesus’ spilled blood speaks better
than Abel’s one. Abel’s blood was shouting to God wanting justice and punishment for the sin.
Jesus’ blood said that justice was already served and that the punishment for
the sin was completely paid.
Have you already came to believe in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Are you sprinkled with his precious blood? Are you baptized
in the death of Christ and are you resurrected from the dead in order to live
life with Him?
Today you can find yourself being east of Eden. You may find
yourself walking on the path on which Cain walked, you may be carrying his
curse. You may be feeling as if you are wandering being an outcast, always
waiting to find danger on his way.
But Jesus wants you to come back to Him again. He wants you
to go to the cross He wants you to stop wandering like an outcast. He wants you
not to be like Cain.
Lets pray.
Translation from Bulgarian: Monika Trifonova
