In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering from the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. (Genesis 4:3-5)
Jesus told a parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt…a Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men….I fast twice a week and give tithes of all that I get.”
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” I tell you, this man, Jesus says, went down to his house justified. (Luke 18)
“We good?”
Do you know people who say this?
“We good?”
I said it a lot growing up. Usually after I said or did something hurtful to someone I cared about
To which I hoped they would reply, “yah, we good.”
Our stories have us considering that today. We ask God, “we good?”
Our stories are chalked full of that question –
Cain and Abel both offer God something,
A Pharisee and a tax collector are both speaking to God,
And all 4 of them are asking God this question, “Hey, we good?”
And to two, Cain and the Pharisee, God replies, “No we’re not good.”
And to two, Abel and the tax collector, God replies, “Yah, we’re good.”
Or to be a little more to the text, God accepts Abel and his offering, and this tax collector went down to his house justified.
We’ll start with our friend the Pharisee. He presents his case to God about why he and God should be good. It’s pretty easy to follow. It’s two parts. 1.) I’m better than others and 2.) I do some pretty good things. So, we good, right?
“No,” God says. “We’re not.”
Our friend the tax collector present his case to God and it’s pretty simple too.
God, I know we shouldn’t be good.
I don’t deserve to look your way.
I don’t deserve to come near you.
I’m not good starting in here (my heart).
But I trust you and your heart toward me
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Cain and Abel are the exact same story, and the rest of the Scriptures help us see this.
God is not good with Cain but is good with Abel.
The author of Hebrews helps us see a little clearer what is in the story of Cain and Abel.
It’s certainly not about the type of sacrifice – sheep and grain offerings, the Lord accepts both.
Perhaps it is in the quality of the sacrifice – Abel does offer his firstborn. He doesn’t seem to hold anything back. The book of Jude indicates that Cain offered a greedy sacrifice, holding something back from God, perhaps because he believed like his mom and dad, Adam and Eve, that God was holding something back from him.
But the author of Hebrews for sure says it is this: By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain…
A little later in the same chapter, the author of the Hebrews says, Without faith it is impossible to please God.
God and you are not good apart from faith.
Abel had faith. Cain did not have faith.
The text is surprisingly clear after hearing this:
The Lord had regard for Abel (!) and his offering…but for Cain (!) and his offering he had no regard.
It’s about the person first, then the work.
God is not good with whatever you do, however you are, whatever you are thinking, saying, and doing – the Pharisee is not good in God’s eyes even though he is going wads of good things –
He’s not stealing, he’s a hard worker, honest guy. His company would be saying constantly, “we good.”
He’s not an adulterer. He shields his eyes and heart from pornography. He’s good and kind and loving to his wife. His wife would be constantly saying, “we good.”
He tithes and is so generous to his church. His pastor and fellow members would be thanking God for him because he is supporting them and if it’s only about money for them and not his soul, they would be tempted to constantly be turning a blind eye to the fact that he trusted in himself and despised others and say, “we good.”
Those are things we ought be doing. Good things commanded by God out of love for neighbor and support of His Church.
But God is not good with the Pharisee because the Pharisee had faith in himself, that he was righteous.
But it’s not first about the works. It’s about the person.
Cain offers his offering without faith.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Good works offered to God apart from faith in God’s goodness and mercy are given either
because we think we can manipulate God into blessing us. We do some good, he does some good for us.
Or are offered as a payment for our badness and fear of punishment. I’ve been bad, so here’s some good God. Maybe you won’t be so mad, now.
Every religion except the Christian religion offer God things out of fear of punishment or out of desire for reward.
The Christian religion gives God offerings out of thanks that God looks at us, us bad sinners in thought, word, and deed, us sinners who don’t deserve to be near Him or look to Him, us sinners who sin from out of here my (heart) and says this amazing thing, “For the sake of the blood of Jesus Christ, we good.”
God and you are good.
You go home justified. And you go to work justified. And you came justified. And you go to heaven justified. You die justified and you are called to do some good as one who is justified.
God and you are good because the sacrifice of sacrifices that pleases God has been made on your behalf of Jesus on the cross.
Abel had faith – faith in the promise given to Adam and Eve that God would send one born of woman that would crush the head of the devil.
We have faith – faith in the promise that we are righteous and holy and blameless, declared good, because Jesus took on a heart and shed blood out of the heart out of His heart and cleanses our heart, even creating in us a clean heart.
A heart that is clean because we know, we don’t have to guess or get angry or try something new or differerent or despise others or think we are righteous because of what we do or get jealous of what God gives others,
a heart that knows no matter what is happening in our bodies or in our families or in this world, God and we are good and will be.
His mercy endures forever and the blood of Jesus still speaks a good word for us.
So, we begin to want to do good like Abel.
And God, because He accepts us, He also accepts the things we do.
I’ll end this sermon with a promise and a warning from Cain and Abel.
Abel did what was right and got murdered for it.
Dear saints, God and you are good no matter what the world thinks.
Do good even if the world hates you.
Be just to everyone, even if the world wants you to love some and despise others.
Be an honest and hard worker, even if the world doesn’t give you a promotion.
Love marriage between one man and one woman and defend with all your might, even if the world calls you a bigot and hateful.
Love the unborn, the very young, the very old, and the very sick and disabled, even if the world some deserve life while others don’t.
Stand up to the bully, even if you’re all alone.
Tell the truth from God’s Word, even if no one is bold enough to says the emperor has no clothes.
Say authority is good, even if the world rebels against all authority because of the abuse of some.
Be generous and give of your time, talents, and treasures, even if the world tells you to be greedy and selfish. God did not hold back.
You are your brother’s keeper, even if the world says you should be looking out for numero uno first and only.
You may not get patted on the back.
You may even be despised or worse.
Abel was murded.
Jesus was crucified.
What should we expect?
But the blood of Jesus is still speaking a better than the blood of Abel. And Jesus through that blood is reminding us to confess:
If God is for us, if God justifies us, if God is merciful, is, is, is, then we good.
And we thank Him and we offer ourselves to Him and others. And God is good with that, too.