Once again please feel free to use any or all of this sermon
Power points available
I write like I preach so---
People relating to God—part 2
East of Eden
Genesis 4
Rebel
I had a dog for many years that I truly loved
His name was Rebel
My Patti and my youngest son Jacob
Brought him home for me as a gift
At that time in my life I was a very “dedicated” duck hunter
And rebel was a perfect picture of a black lab puppy
As he grew his appearance began changing
One day his left ear would stand up like a shepherd
The next day the right
Needless to say when he got just a bit older and both ears were sticking up
We knew that Rebel was not the lab puppy that we had brought home
That being said
I loved him and he was smart
Very early in his life he learned to retrieve ducks and he was good at it
Most of the time
But
There is always a but, Right
Rebel had a weakness’
He hated --I mean hated Nutrias
Those fuzzy beavers with skinny tails--Those oversized rats
He despised them- I don’t know if one had said something about his momma at one time
As he aged him could not help but kill them
I can’t tell you all the days that I screamed at that dog
Disciplined that dog
But I could not change his mind on how he felt and had little luck at changing how he acted
Until
One day
A particularly slow duck day
Rebel took off after a furball
I could not stop him no matter how loud I yelled
This time he caught one and killed it
He had killed lots of these critters before but this day he did something unusual
He retrieved his prize
Brought it right back to me
I won’t go into the details
But I removed the critters fur coat
Tied rebel up
And disciplined him with the pelt
It worked
Rebel never once chased Nutria but He would always look longing at them and then catch himself looking and look away
He got control of his mind and he was able to control his actions
That is the topic of today’s study
Getting control of our minds
We left off last week with Adam and Eve
Being removed from the garden
They were now east of Eden
East of paradise
And this new place was much different than where they started
As we continue our study of people relating to God this morning
I think it is important to build as we go
Last week in our Round pens we studied about Adam and Eve
Their creation
Their purpose
Their bad decision
Their altered steps
Their curse
And
God’s punishment and protection
In the first of our sermons on Genesis
We looked hard at Old Slicks
Evil plan to derail us
And prayerfully how we can avoid his trap by keeping our focus on God
This morning we began studying Cain and Able
Their sacrifices and the results of yet another bad decision
As I have already said my intent is to build upon each lesson
Prayerfully helping you and I become stronger in our knowledge of God
Closer in our walk with Jesus
And
More attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives
Learning how to use these words in our lives
And how to live as Christians
Let me quickly recap and paraphrase this morning’s lesson
Then we can dig in a bit deeper
Let’s start with Adam and Eve
God created them
God loved them
He gave them one order—don’t eat that fruit
They made a bad choice
They sinned
God called them on it the passed the buck/refused to accept the responsibility of their actions
God punished them
But
Then he protected them
And
He showed us as well as them his plan of redemption through the blood
WE pick up in chapter 4 with Adam and Eve outside of paradise and giving birth to a son
Let’s read Genesis 4
Now Adam[a] had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced[b] a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 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 portions 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.”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[c] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
9 Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 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.”
13 Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment[d] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 The LORD replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the LORD’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[e] east of Eden.
They called him Cain—their first born son
Not much later in God’s word
Eve gives birth again
Another Son
This one they name Able
No mention is made as to the difference in years between these two brothers
Nor do we know their ages when the murder of Able happened
But we do know that they were adults as the bible says
When they grew up they became
A farmer
And a shepherd a rancher
Different vocations
But just one of many differences between these two brothers
We focused this morning in our bible study on the sacrifices of each of these men
Verses 3-5
3 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 portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift.
We talked in depth about why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted
Why Cain’ was rejected
Just a few possibilities are
The condition of the givers heart
The type of sacrifice
Then
We took a hard look at Cain’s deliberate disobedience
And
The consequences of his action
But for this morning
I want to concentrate our study on a couple of key verses
Let’s look again in Genesis 4
Verses 4-6
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.”
I want to spend more time this morning focusing on the cause of Cain’s sin
More than on the sin itself
I want to focus this morning on how Cain was able to go from
Angry to Murderer
Cain gave his gift to God with the wrong heart
He gave with the wrong motive
He gave for the wrong reason
So
God rejected his sacrifice
And he got mad
I can just imagine
Actually I can put myself in his shoes
If you are honest with yourself
I believe most of us can
Both boys brought a gift to God
But
God rejects one
Accepts the other
And the one whose gift is rejected losses his cool
He loses his composure
He gets mad
Maybe first at himself—man I should have brought a lamb
Then at God –I gave—God I gave--- Look at me God
But
Then he directs his anger elsewhere
We often have had these same feelings
Ever been passed over for a job that you felt you deserved
Ever been skipped for a promotion that you worked for
How about when you desired a relationship with someone and they chose someone else
How did that make you feel?
Now you know
Maybe just a little how Cain felt
He was mad at himself-discouraged- rejected-dejected
He was mad at God- frustrated-confused
But
He let his anger shift to his brother—he looked for an out for his anger
This is so common with us as well
We get hurt by someone
Maybe our boss and take it out on our coworkers or customers
We get hurt by our spouse and take it out on the kids
We feel rejected by God and we often take it out on ourselves or on the church or our spouse
So
Cain
Let’s his anger build
He can’t get it out of his mind
It blinds him
Soon it consumes him
He tries to think of something else but can’t
Tries to concentrated on his work
He can’t
He maybe even admitts at first
“it was my fault”
“I should have brought the right gift”
“I should have looked at my heart” “my intentions”
Maybe he even admitted that his brother had done it right
But
He his brain won’t accept that
So
He lets a thought
A feeling----emotion
Cloud his vision
Control his thinking
Consume his mind
And he lets a thought start the wheels turning on a machine he is unable to stop
You see
All sin starts in the mind
Disappointment turns to Anger
Anger turns to rage
Rage turns to hate
Hate turns to murder
All sin begins with a thought
Cain’s first sin
And his first step at murder was to think it********
He let down his guard
He weakened his defenses
And a little seed of anger grew into a nasty tree of murder
It grew into deceit
It grew into lies
It grew into a great tree of disobediance
It grew and grew
Until as we will see next week that
This hate
This disobedience
This defiance against God
Corrupted him and his offspring
It corrupted society to the point that God made a decision to hit restart after a few generations
You see
Cain let his emotions
Guide his actions
Cain let feelings
Cancel common sense
Cain let opinions
Cancel teachings
Cain let his selfish desires
Cancel his morals/ethics
He let his pent up feelings ruin his life
So
How does this apply to us?
Preacher how do I – personally put this into use
Think about those feelings I mentioned earlier
Skipped over for a job or a promotion
Rejected by someone
Feelings of inadequacy
Feelings of hurt
This is how Cain started
I think the first seed that began to grow in his mind was that of doubt
Doubt led to disappointment
This led to a feeling of rejection
“I am not good enough”
“I am not worthy”
“I am not -----“
But for most of us
Cain included
We can’t live in this state of rejection
As humans we have such a hard time with rejection
Most people have a hard time
Taking blame or responsibility
For their own actions
So
We tend to shift the blame
Shift the direction of our feelings
In this case
The seed turned into something else
Anger reared its head
Discouragement morphed into something much uglier
Anger
First at Himself
But he could not keep it there
Then at God
But even Cain knew that was unacceptable
So he directed his anger at his brother
Able
To the best of our knowledge
Able only did what was right
But Cain could not take the rejection
Nor could he take his brother’s acceptance by God
He could not stand to see his brother get blessed
He could not stand and look at his brother without seeing red
So as we know
He lured Able out to a field and killed him
Verse 8
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[c] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
In this passage of scripture we have the first recorded birth and the first recorded death
It is sad that that first recorded death was a Homicide
Cain then follows the lead of his Mom and Dad
When confronted with his actions by God
He shifts the blame
He lies
He tries to cover it
Verse 9
9 Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
I wonder where he learned to do that.
Cain needed to get control of his thoughts
You see when we
Get control of the mind
We
Get control of our actions
Cain’s sin started in his mind
He had a thought
He acted on a feeling
And
He allowed Satan- Old slick- the serpent- the snake
To water that seed
He allowed himself to put all of his effort into growing it
Cain felt rejected, disappointed—hurt- abused- neglected
All common emotions
But Cain let them take control
All emotions we share with Cain sometimes
And
We all have a bit of Cain in us
So
How are we to handle these types of situations in our own lives?
First we must know that even though our works may be rejected by God
We ourselves will not be rejected- God says he will never leave us or forsake us
But
Our works
Our sacrifices
Our deeds
Will be judged
The bible says that they will be tested by fire
And
Many will be burned up
Like chaff
Filthy rags
You see
For our sacrifices to be accepted
They must come from our hearts
When we serve it must be for his glory
When we give it must be to honor him
And
We must give him our best
With a glad and willing heart
Our actions and thoughts must be pleasing to God
Or our actions deeds sacrifices will not be pleasing to God
But
He is not disappointed in you
God loves you
He understands you /even when you don’t understand yourself
He created you for a relationship with him
And
He knew we would mess it up
So he sent his Son Jesus to clean up the messes we make of our lives
The feeling of rejection led Cain to get mad
And
To paraphrase
Anger never produces righteousness
Anger is like a cancer growing inside of us
And when watered and nurtured
Just like a cancer it can consume us
Like the army worms that are plaguing East Texas right now
Marching through the fields of our lives
Consuming everything in their path
Few of us have committed murder but I can assure you that of us a just as guilty as Cain
Has anger overtaken you at some point in your life?
Has anger controlled you?
Is it still consuming you?
Pray to God to help you with your anger
Pray for those you are angry at
It is very hard to stay mad at someone that you are praying for
Ask them for forgiveness for your anger
Forgive them for what they have done to you
Forgive yourself
Ask God to deliver you from your feelings
Refocus your thoughts
Refocus your life
On Christ
Cain made a mistake
A big mistake
But
God gave him a chance to make it right
God asked him what happened
God already knew
What he wanted was for Cain to accept responsibility
He wanted Cain to admit his sin
He wanted him to repent
He wanted to restore him
But
Cain
Chose to go his own way and it destroyed him
When we mess up
That is what God wants from us as well
He wants us
To admit that we made a mistake
Admit that we have sinned
He wants us to repent
To make amends
To take responsibility
And then he will restore us
Just as he desired to do with Cain
Rejection
Discouragement
Anger
Hostility
Each a sin
All sins
All sins we have in common with Cain
All part of our nature
But
God has a better plan
The first commandment is to love God with all of you heart – mind and soul
And Jesus says the next is to love your neighbor as yourself
It is impossible to stay made at someone you love
You can get mad
But you can’t stay mad
Don’t go the way of Cain
Control your mind
And you will control your sin
Philippians 4:8
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Fix your eyes on what is true- God and his word
Fix your eyes on what right--- God is and his word
Fix your eyes on what is pure—you see a pattern here
Fix your eyes on what is lovely and admirable
Fix your eyes on Jesus
Focus your thoughts on Jesus
And
He will deliver you from sin
Close from the heart
Pray
