Abel Still Speaks - Treasures of Faith - Week 2 Day 3

TODAY'S TREASURE

Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.

Genesis 4:6–7

Transcript

Abel Still Speaks

Chuck and Sharon Betters

Today’s Treasure

Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.

Genesis 4:6–7

Cain did not repent of his anger, he did not listen to God. Instead, Cain pretended friendship with Abel. “Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out into the field’ ” (v. 8a). There, Cain brutally murdered his brother: “and while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (v. 8b).

Cain’s actions confirmed God’s initial judgment of his sacrifice. Cain had demonstrated an ego-driven worship that accurately reflected his own enmity against God. Throughout this passage in Genesis, Cain talks to God, argues with God, and even sacrifices to God. Cain clearly believes that God exists, but Cain’s actions indicate he isn’t willing to actually trust God. Cain dramatically reveals his unbelief in God’s authority when, in effect, he defiantly shakes his fist in God’s face and declares, “I hear you and I know you and I will not repent.” Cain’s subsequent actions only confirmed God’s initial judgment of his sacrifice.

ABEL STILL SPEAKS

Though the focus of Genesis 4 is the downward spiral of sin as evidenced by Cain’s actions, the writer of Hebrews focuses not on Cain but on Abel.

Like all of us, Abel lived in a family afflicted with selfishness, jealousy, and anger—in a word: sin. Backbreaking labor, pain in childbearing, and marital discord were the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin. The enmity and jealousy that result from sin spilled over into the relationship between their two sons. Cain’s refusal to obey God and do “what is right” reveals the blot on Cain’s soul that eventually poisoned his relationship with Abel. The Bible underscores the heinous nature of Cain’s murderous hatred by constantly noting that Abel was Cain’s brother (Genesis 4:8–12). Thus, in the midst of a family setting such as this, Abel’s faith, as expressed here through his worship, must have provided an oasis of comfort and peace for him.

Hebrews 11:4 tells us that this man, this dead man, this first murder victim, still speaks to us, the people of faith. What is he saying?

WORSHIP IS A PRIORITY 

Abel worshiped with his family despite his older brother’s hatred. The threat of persecution was enough reason for some people in the Hebrew congregation to give up worshiping with their covenant community. Yet people often give up on worshiping together with far less justification, such as when life gets hard or relationships prove disappointing, or they don’t like the music, preacher, or fellow worshipers. Or, perhaps, when they knowingly choose sin over obedience. God, however, tells us that the church is the very place we should go when life is hard. David Saadeh, the young man whose story begins this week’s devotions, refused to give up meeting with other believers for worship, though common sense might have indicated he had every reason to stay home. He was unable to walk or even move his body; he could not see. But David believed spiritual strength and God’s comfort could be found within the covenant community. Similarly, Abel’s love for God did not allow him to use Cain’s hatred, of which he was undoubtedly aware, as an excuse to give up on worship.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

Worship is not, however, limited to what we do on Sunday mornings. Though Scripture only gives us one look at Abel’s worship, we can be sure that he did not merely relegate his worship to set times. God commended Abel as a “righteous man” (Hebrews 11:4). The Greek word for “righteous” is dikaios, and it means “equitable in character or in act.” By implication, it means “innocent or holy.” Worship is not separate from everyday life. All aspects of our lives as believers are sacred. We worship God by the way we drive our cars, the way we speak to one another, the way we work at our jobs and interact with our employees or employers, the way we raise our children, the way we treat our spouses, the way we respond to a call to repentance and the way we show God’s love in our communities. Worship is a reflection of our commitment to God through all the twists and turns of our day-to-day lives. Friends, in this moment, consider if your life reflects worship of our Father in heaven. Are your actions an overflow of His grace? When He warns you of sin in your life, is your response repentance – a form of worship? Have you given up on corporate worship because of personal sin or the sin of others? May Abel’s life speak to us from the grave!

PRAYER

Father, thank you for Abel, for though You don’t give us many details of his everyday life, we can imagine the stress of doing life with a brother who hates us. In the middle of such horrible conflict, You call him “righteous”. In spite of or maybe because of his life circumstances, he worships You. May we go and do likewise.

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Adapted from Treasures of Faith by Chuck and Sharon Betters with permission from P&R Publishing

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