The Way Of Cain

There are two kinds of people in this world and they rarely get along. 

Genesis 4:3-7 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought a gift--the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but He did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

6 "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked Cain. "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."

Jude 1:11 What sorrow awaits them! For they follow in the footsteps of Cain.

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If you are following my study through Genesis you should know by now that sin is the root cause of every breakdown on this planet. We like to think that the issues are very complex but God has made it crystal clear that every breakdown, every unrighteousness and every injustice is a direct result of sin.

The only reason the issues are complicated is because man is too arrogant to admit the problem and seek the help that we need from the only person that has the cure. We prefer to ignore God's rules and do things our own way.

When Adam and Eve sinned we see the shame and remorse that they had, they admitted their sin and they willingly accepted their punishment without arguing with God. But that is not true of every sinner. Their first born son wasn't concerned at all about what God thought about his sin.

Cain's attitude toward sin was self centered and indifferent to the ways of God. Cain was obsessed with what he thought was fair and just and he thought he should be able to be his own god and make his own rules. Cain may have thought: Why should Abel get God's favor? Doesn't God know what Abel did to me?

Cain was probably warned by his parents, surely the boys heard stories about the good old days back in the garden, the devastating consequences of their sin must have been talked about at home, especially when the boys were misbehaving.

Psalms 51:17 The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

God warned Cain that sin is powerful, it desires to have you, and it crouches down low so you won't know how big it is. Sin will stalk you and if you give it an opportunity it will not let you go without a struggle. The smallest little grudge wants to be murder if it isn't controlled.

God showed grace to Cain and let him know why he wasn't pleased with him, God could have been a harsh judge but he came in love. Cain hated God and he couldn't bear the thought that his brother had God's approval.

Cain deserved death but he didn't worry about God killing him, he was pretty sure that one of his relatives would try to get revenge for God, so God protected him from physical death but it was up to Cain to decide his spiritual condition.

Most of the sermons preached on Genesis four focus on murder, fake worship and the power of sin in Cain's life. All of those are great points but if you look at chapter four through seven as a whole there is a message that is even more important.

1 John 3:12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. 

Cain and Abel show us that there are only two kinds of people in our world, there are people that belong to God and all of the rest of mankind belong to Satan. We all decide for ourselves: Will I try to be God or will I be happy to be under God?

Cain is the prototype for everybody that does not belong to God, just look at his family tree in the next few chapters of Genesis. The list includes a lot of accomplished men that achieved great things and contributed to society and to culture but there isn't anything spiritual mentioned about the people in Cain's lineage.

1 John 3:12-13 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

It's only the beginning of God's book and already the ungodly seem to be in control, as quick as sin ruined Cain it also ruined the culture, we can see today very clearly where the mess all around us came from.

Cain and his ungodly offspring would defy God's definition of marriage and take more than one wife. They would be known as unforgiving and violent people. Sure, they were religious but they would like to make the rules and decide how God should be worshiped.

Man has made a quick mess of God's perfect creation, it looks bad, much like it does today but the promise remains. The promise that someone from the woman's offspring will strike the head of Satan. The plan to kill Abel was Satan's first attempt to prohibit the fulfillment of the promised Messiah.

God has a remnant in Seth's lineage, in the midst of a world full of ungodly people there are only eight people, Noah, his sons and their wives that God can use to fulfill his promise. Take note that the lineage of Seth doesn't have any cultural acclaim like Cain's offspring, the people of Seth were famous for what really mattered, they worshiped God correctly. (Genesis 4:26)

The Bible is quick to show us that there are two kinds of people in this world and they will have a hard time accepting each other. It seems like the problem is getting worse everyday as various groups of people attempt to change our values and force us to accept their deviation from God's original design.

The world will always be angry because God's children are favored, we must be careful that we don't join them and give them our anger, we need to be known for our amazing ability to show love to people that do not love us.

The most important message to learn from Cain is that he belonged to the evil one, Cain and his descendants never did love God and they all died in the flood. You can find favor with God and avoid judgement if you accept his offer of salvation.

God's Children Are Hated

Jesus prophesied that the world will hate his people.

John 15:18-20   “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.  19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.  20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’

John 16:1-3  "I have told you these things so that you won't abandon your faith.  2  For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.  3  This is because they have never known the Father or Me.

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Jesus has been preparing his disciples for his death by teaching them one more time, he has taught them to serve and love each other, he has assured them that he is in control of the events that are about to take place and he has attempted to strengthen their faith for the difficulties ahead. Now he talks to them about the hatred that they will soon experience.

Hate is a strong word, there probably are not very many people that I know that would say that they hate Jesus, they would point to his good deeds and morality and say nice things about him. If you asked the same group of people if they follow the devil they would probably say that they would never do that.

These people really are not followers of Jesus but they don't have any idea that they are actually following the devil. There are only two possible states that you can be in, Jesus doesn't give you the option to be neutral, he says that if you are not for him then you are against him and you either love the light or you love the dark. (Matthew 12:30 / John 3:19-21 / 1 Thessalonians 5:5)

Looking back at the history of the world it doesn't take long to realize that Jesus prophecy about the persecution of his followers would be proven to be true. The same persecution that killed Jesus begins in Acts 3 to come against Peter when he begins to preach the gospel and the persecution is not going to stop until he returns.

Why does the world hate us so much?

✔  Because we are not part of their system

"I chose you to come out of the world"

We do not blend in with the rest of society, we act different, we talk different and we refuse to be a part of things that don't please God. The ways of the world and the things that they accept are not acceptable to us.

In the Old Testament God had a people, their diet, clothes and religion were all different from the rest of the culture. In the church age God still has a people, they don't have to maintain the differences of his Old Testament people, but they are still different.

The world cannot stand it! You don't love what they love, you don't live for pleasures, achievements and possessions and you have been moved to a new kingdom. (Colossians 1:13-14 / 1 John 2:15-16)

✔  Because they hated our leader

"They will do all this to you because of Me"

Jesus made it clear that the world is going to treat us like they treated him, from the time he was born and the king set out to get him by killing every baby, to the day he was tortured to death. Christians are the most loved of all people by God and they are the most hated of all people by Satan.

His followers in the early church made huge sacrifices because of their faith. In the United States we have been blessed with the best treatment that a followers of Jesus has ever enjoyed. While Christian brothers and sisters around the world are persecuted we live with comfort and pleasures that are unthinkable to them.

It is very tempting to stay away from persecution by telling people the stuff about our faith that doesn't offend, prayer and faith are okay but if you cross the line and talk about the reality of death, and judgment, and hell then the ability to be friends with the world starts to fade.

✔  Because they don't know God

"they have rejected the one who sent me" 

Think about the audience that Jesus was speaking to when he said that they do not know God. The religious leaders were paid professionals that should have known God better than anyone.

They should have known God, they had the Torah, the teachings of the Rabbis and the prophets but with all of that evidence God still wasn't well known. (John 7:28-29, 8:19, 54-55, 16:3, 17:25 / 1 John 2:3-4)

Overcome The Hate
John 15:26-27  “But I will send you the Advocate, the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.

All of this bad news was difficult to handle, the disciples had abandoned all for Jesus, he didn't want to leave them without hope. If they decided to give up and walk away from everything that Jesus had taught them then the Christian faith wouldn't get beyond Ancient Palestine.

He tells them that he will not leave them as orphans but instead he would send them help that would be through his power living inside of each of them so that they could endure the hate that they would face.

How to treat your enemy

(Exodus 23:4-5 / 2 Kings 6:22 / Proverbs 25:21-22 / Luke 6:27-28, 6:34-35, 23:34 / Acts 7:60 / 1 Corinthians 4:12-13, 13:4-8 / 1 Peter 2:23, 3:9)

Romans 12:17-21  Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.  18  Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.  19  Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, "I will take revenge; I will pay them back," says the LORD.  20  Instead, "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads."  21  Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

The Bible has a lot to say about treating our enemies much better than they deserve. We were all enemies of the King but God so loved the world that he came to love us anyway. The extravagant love of Jesus demands that I treat people the same way and the Holy Spirit is my help so that I can do it.

The Holy Spirit will always be with us helping us through this evil world, the promise that we have is that we will never be alone, the Holy Spirit will be with us even when our faith and obedience takes us to places that are not safe to love people that are not very lovable by the world's standards.

I need to be ready to follow Jesus anywhere he ask me to go, beyond where it is safe and easy, I need to be ready to forgive, pray for and do good to anyone that wants to treat me wrongly because of my faith.

Dear Jesus, I pray for believers around the world that are taking a stand for you, I pray that they will stand strong, I pray that you will change the hearts of those that are persecuting them and I pray that the gospel will continue to spread.

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church - November 6, 2016

God's Children Love Differently

The way that they love is proof that they are God's children.

1 John 3:10-11 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.  11  This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:15-18  Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.

16  We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.  17  If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion--how can God's love be in that person?  18  Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

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There are two test to validate a persons claim to be a child of God. Anybody can make the claim that they are saved and on their way to heaven but if the fruit in their life doesn't prove it then something is wrong.

The first test is how they live, in the previous post we learned that "God's Children Behave Differently," they cannot live like the rest of the world without God pursuing them. John tells us that "Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning."

The second test is how well they love, if someone claims to be a Christian, if they claim to be a child of God, then we will be able to know it by their love. John already mentioned this in chapter two when he taught us about living in the light:

1 John 2:9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.

Christians belong to the new age of light, the eternal kingdom where God’s values rule and his will is done. We are not to love the world's values and what it thinks is important or pleasing. The only thing that we should love in this world is our Savior and our neighbor.

Characteristics of people that do not love (aka the devil's children):

✔ Murders (1 John 3:12-13) - A lack of love is a very dangerous thing. In it's extreme form it is murder and it can make a religious person want to get rid of somebody they don't like by taking their life. There have been a lot of murders in world history because of a lack of love. It wasn't atheists who screamed for Jesus blood and demanded that the Romans crucify Him.

✔ Haters (1 John 3:14-15) - The only difference between murder and hate is the act, John says that the attitude is the same, that's a scary thought. The popular phrase "haters are going to hate" is very true. The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us to "Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, and watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up." (Hebrews 12:14-15)

✔ Indifference (1 John 3:18-20) - Genuine love calls you to action when you see an unmet need. It's the message that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples in the parable of the Good Samaritan. If we love as we should we will not be able to step to the other side of the road and pretend that they are not there.

Ephesians 5:1-2, 10  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children. 2  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. 10  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Just as children follow the example of their parents, as Christians we must follow the example of our heavenly Father. We cannot just talk about our love but we have to go out to the world and show them a self-sacrificing love that puts others first. We should not clain that love is a part of our theology and not have it be a part of our daily life.

Theology, Bible study, and the pursuit of understanding God are all important but these things exist to inspire us to apply it to our life. Our beliefs should inspire us to emulate Christ and love others selflessly and sacrificially. My theology isn't going to make the world a better place if I use it to criticize and attack people that don't agree with me.

Christ followers have the same difficulties with doubt, fear, and bigotry that has divided the church for two-thousand years. Thankfully the appeal of Christianity is still alive despite the mistakes of imperfect followers of Jesus but imagine how appealing Christianity would be if we did a better job of imitating him.