Genesis 4:3-5

Their worship was bringing an offering to the Lord. Cain, a worker of the field, brought fruit, and Abel, a keeper of sheep, brought from his flock. From this text, we see three principles of biblical worship. The first principle is worship is to the Lord. Worship is to the Lord. Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, the text says.

Since this is the first example of biblical worship after the fall, this communicates much new information about how God is to be worshiped. For Christians, this text is not abnormal. It makes sense to us. It fits into our category as well. But for a non-Christian, this text challenges many assumptions about God and worship.

Biblical worship is the way it is because the Lord is our God. Who the Lord is defines worship. The Lord is not a genie. We do not worship in order to ask Him for things we want. The Lord is good. We worship him because he richly provides everything to us to enjoy. Abel did not bring an offering to God so that his flock would increase. Abel is offering to the Lord because the Lord has blessed Abel with his flock. The least he could do was offer one little firstborn.

Next, the Lord is not a dumb idol. We do not worship carved idols in vain who cannot see or move. The Lord is the living God, the true God. Abel was not blindly offering, groping in the dark, hoping that he would be able to communicate with God, trying anything so that God would countenance him. No, our God sees him. For the Christian, God is not distant, absent, or out of reach. Lastly, the Lord is not a heathen God. He is not one of many gods. We do not have the option to worship Him over against other deities. He is the only God, the only Savior. We worship Him because He alone is worthy.

God is worthy of our worship. Cain and Abel brought an offering for this is right. God has given them their life, their success, their everything. The least they can offer to him is a portion of what he has given them. And since God is holy, not all worship is acceptable. We must worship in God's way. And this is the second principle we see in our text. Not all worship is acceptable. Not all worship is acceptable. For Cain and his offering, he had no regard. Cain and Abel offered to the Lord, and from the Lord they received a response. Their worship must be according to the will of God. So then, on what basis does God accept worship?

Specifically, why was Cain's offering accepted? We can look at certain details in the text to discern the difference between Cain and Abel. Why was Abel regarded, but not Cain? What was Cain's offering? Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. The text does not give us reason to think that because Cain brought fruit that it was not accepted.

But in contrast with Abel's offering, we see a reason for the distinction God makes between their offerings. Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. Notice the description of Abel's offering. He brought the firstborn and the fat portions. whereas it is not said that Cain brought the first fruits.

It seems that Cain's offering was not regarded because he failed to give God the best he had. God deserves the best, for he is the best. But this is an unsatisfying answer, and it is incomplete. Consider if the problem was with Cain's offering that he should have just offered his first fruits instead of just generic fruits. That would have been a grave sin, but that would not make sense of the text.

Would that cause Cain's great wrath and anger? If Cain failed to bring the first and best fruits, then what would we expect to see happen? What would Cain's response be? If Cain desired to worship and please God, and God was not pleased by his offering, surely he would seek to know what his error was and to reform his worship. He would plead for pardon and next bring his best and first fruits.

It could have been that Cain made a mistake or that he forgot God's requirements. But we read, so Cain was angry and his face fell. To know the intensity of this anger, we need only recall what happens next. As you remember, this was the very same wrath that drove him to kill his own brother. So the next question is, why is Cain angry?

The text draws a clear distinction that Abel brought an offering of the firstborn and fat portions, but Cain only brought generic fruits from the ground. But the text also tells us that the problem with Cain's offering is much deeper than this. So we have God rejects Cain's offering, Cain becomes very angry, and then what happens next?

God speaks to Cain in grace. He gives Cain a moment to reflect on his anger. God makes it obvious that he is not partial. What does he say? If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you offer a pleasing offering, it will be accepted. Cain is given the opportunity to repent, but instead of bringing the first fruits, the next thing we read is that Cain goes and murders his brother. In this, we see Cain's heart.

Cain hates God. He has no regard for God. He does not care for how God is to be worshiped. So instead of just reforming his worship, he kills Abel, for he cannot kill God. The Lord does not regard Cain or his offering because Cain is evil and has a wicked heart. Notice in the text, It is written, for Cain and his offering, God had no regard. Cain's offering was not accepted because Cain was not accepted before God. Now, if Cain hates God, why did Cain bring an offering to the Lord at all? Consider, Cain is laboring under the curse. He is a worker of the ground. The ground is cursed. In pain, he eats its fruits.

Why would selfish Cain give anything to the Lord, who he despises? The possible explanations are not different than reasons for false worship today. Why do some people who are not truly Christians come to church? There are hypocrites who worship for the praise of man, for acceptance from man, and those who desire to get something from God. Perhaps Cain was bringing an offering in order to be accepted by his family. Cain being among, basically just his family's alive at this point, right? So he's among very few humans alive. He would be dependent on his family. He lives in a dangerous world, a world where he is exposed and in need of food and clothing. He would be dependent on others to help supply this need.

For example, Abel was a keeper of sheep, and these sheep would be used for clothes, and Cain would be dependent on Abel for these clothes. And Cain lives among a religious people. Adam, Eve, and Abel worship God. Perhaps for their favor and acceptance, he performs these external acts of piety. As man sees, Cain's offering might have been acceptable. How could they know the fruit he brought was not the first fruits? How could they distinguish that?

But as God sees, Cain's offering was an abomination. As man sees, Cain and Abel might have both alike seemed to have been truly worshiping God. As man sees, some people that pray or attend church may appear to be truly worshiping God. But just as with Cain, God sees their worship as evil and wicked.

You cannot say, I am a Christian because I go to church. I am a Christian because of my outward obedience. As with Cain, your acceptance before God depends on your heart. Do you have a renewed heart? Do you love God? If you are not a Christian, consider this. You are not accepted, and no striving or effort will make you acceptable before God. came before the eyes of God was a sinner, and so are we. Sinners have no part with God. There is a great chasm between you and God. The Lord Jesus is your only hope. He offered himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God. In Christ, you can be accepted. In him, God sees you as a saint, as holy and righteous.

Now, the wrath of Cain and his rejected worship is attention-grabbing, and it should be on account of the horror and profound evil of it. But the thing that should really seize us here is the subtle words in the fourth verse. Notice the phrase, the Lord has regard for Abel and his offering. In our text, there is a clear emphasis on the rejected worship of Cain, and that our worship can be rejected. This is evident in the detail of Cain's anger and even murder of his brother Abel. But that is what we should expect.

If you read from the beginning of Genesis, through chapters one, two, and three, up to this current passage, we would have had the context of the glorious creation, man's sinful rebellion, God's curse, and God's gracious promise. We would see that the world and all that is in it is subjected to futility, and man forfeited the glory of God in the garden. In the wilderness, they now lived as workers of evil.

With this context, of course, a sinful man like Cain should never be accepted by God. Cain is not worthy. But notice that our text says that Abel and his offering are worthy to be accepted by God. The better question is not why was Cain's offering not accepted, but why was Abel's offering accepted? And this is the third principle. Our worship is accepted. Our worship is accepted. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. The question is, how is it that the Lord would accept offerings from men so impure and ungodly?

Even if we suppose that Abel was a very godly man, we know he sinned. If someone took a glass of water and poured just a little bit of sewer water in it, you would never drink that in your right mind. The water has been tainted. Much less will our holy God accept worship that is from someone tainted with the least sin.

So then there's the question now of why was Abel accepted? Recall the reason why Abel's offering was better than Cain's. He brought the firstborn and the fat. Yes, this may have been pleasing to God, but in the same way that Cain's true problem was his heart, The acceptance of Abel has to do with his heart as well. The scripture confirms this.

It is written in Hebrews 11, verse 4, Abel's offering was more excellent because he offered it by faith. Now what does it mean that Abel offered it by faith? First, what is his faith in? Abel had faith in the promise of God. In the third chapter of Genesis, God promises his salvation and his Redeemer. Abel knew of the promise that God made, and his trust is in that promise and the serpent crusher.

That was his only grounds by which he could stand before God. And there's really something remarkable here. Abel did not witness the fall, but he is well aware of the great fall which had happened and caused the impoverished state of the man he knew. He is one who tastes the effect of the fall. His parents knew the felicity and delight of life with God.

Abel is aware that man rebelled against God, that they have been banished from his presence, and then now he has to think, how then can we be so bold to approach God to try to give him an offering? Cain, the hypocrite, approached God with a bold face. It is grace that he was not destroyed immediately. Abel, the saint, approached God through Christ by faith. Cain considers that he would be accepted by God for his own merits.

Abel, however, steps out only in faith. He goes to offer in faith. Abel knows he can only stand before God because of the promise. On his own, he has no access to God. He is not near to God, there is no way for him to please God, and he has no right to come before God. But by faith in God, Abel takes courage to make his offering. For the sake of the Redeemer, Abel is accepted before God.

God has made him an acceptable person. He is one of God's people. Now, why do Cain and Abel approach God to worship at all? We saw that Cain had some motivations to give an offering to the Lord, right? Perhaps it was to get something from God, perhaps it was for the favor of man. But Abel had the motivation to worship God. He is accepted before God. He is one of God's people. This is the basis of biblical worship.

Even from the beginning, there was never a striving for acceptance. From the beginning of scripture, we don't see saints striving to be accepted by God. The pattern has always been we are accepted and so we worship. Christian, consider this. You are accepted. We spend so much of our life in various ways trying to be accepted. It's tiring, frustrating, and fruitless trying to be accepted in our work, in our school, to be accepted by friends, to be accepted by our family. But God just accepts you. He accepts you.

It is good to strive to be pleasing to God, to be more like Christ, but if you are striving to be accepted before God, to somehow make yourself presentable before him, to gain his favor, you must repent of this. Christian, the Lord Jesus has qualified you and has made you acceptable before him. Do not despise the blood of the Lord Jesus and think it is insufficient to present you as holy and blameless before God.

Christian, if you know that you are accepted before God, are you grateful that your worship is acceptable? You know the cost of your acceptance, and yet we take this for granted. We think it is not an amazing and wonderful thing that we are accepted by God, or we begin to think that we can approach God by our own merit. When you are worshiping, do you delight in the fact that your worship is acceptable to God, that He accepts it and that He is pleased by it?

Your offering, sacrifice, worship, is acceptable. Cain and Abel needed to be told by some means whether their offering was acceptable, a sign from heaven or something. Maybe not fire from heaven, but they needed a confirmation that it was accepted. You never need to wonder if your worship is accepted. You don't need a sign from heaven. It is. Oh, but my heart is cold, you say. I don't feel like it, you say. I'm so distracted, you say. I have sinned. I dare not go to God, you say.

Still, your worship is a pleasing aroma before the Lord. God sees the least good of it and is pleased. Was Abel's offering perfect? Surely his sinful heart corrupted his offering, but God accepted it for the sake of the Lord Jesus, and God will make your worship pleasing to Him. How will you worship in a more pleasing way unless you practice? Think about what it means that God has regard for your worship. It is not just that God approves of your worship, but that he delights in your worship. He cherishes your worship and has it written in his book.

All that was pure and lovely about it. Think of a child who draws a painting, really not that great, and he gives it to his father. And his father takes it, puts it in a frame, and hangs it up so that he can always see it and delight in it. Much more, our Heavenly Father is pleased by our worship and frames it so that he can always remember it.

So then, we ought to worship. We ought to be stirred up by this, to worship our great God. God is pleased by it. Do you want to please God? Then we should go and worship. Go to church, go to church prayer, sing the hymns, pray, read scripture, and know God is pleased. Learn what is pleasing to God and do it. Reform your worship because you are pleasing to Him.

We no longer have to strive. We can just rest in being accepted. Will you please pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your scriptures. We thank you that you have qualified us for the inheritance of the saints. We thank you that our worship is accepted by you, and that we can always trust that you are pleased. We pray that we would walk in a way that's more and more pleasing to you, and that we would do this knowing that you love us. In Jesus' name, amen.