Bible Stories: Corruption (Genesis 4:1-5:32; 6:3, 5-6)

Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC 

The First Murder: Cain Kills His Brother, Abel

Corruption (Gen 4:1-5:32; 6:3, 5-6)

Adam was walking with his two sons, Cain and Abel, when they passed by the flaming sword of the cherubim guarding the entrance to Eden. The boys ask, “what’s that?” Adam says, “Oh. That’s where your mother ate us out of house and home!”

How long did Cain hate his brother? As long as he was Abel.

We continue the story of the Fall of Humankind. Genesis 2 showed us what life was meant to be like in a paradise-like relationship with God. Adam had purpose serving God and watching over the things of God. God gave Adam and Eve peace and plenty. But they listened to the serpent and ate what God forbade. Paradise was lost.

Today we learn what life is like outside of the Garden: hard work on a cursed ground, painful toil, just to eat. And sin corrupts everything. Cain murders his brother in jealous resentment. And the long life given to Adam diminishes through the generations.

Cain was a farmer, working the dirt. Abel was a herdsman, watching over the livestock. Cain and Abel bring offerings to God. Abel brings the firstborn from his flocks and herds. He gave fatty portions of sacrificed animals as a burnt offering. This practice became covenant law.

The priest shall turn these into smoke on the altar as a food offering by fire for a pleasing odor. “All fat is the Lord’s. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.” (Lev 3:16-17)

When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, the Angel of Death took all the firstborn of Egypt, except the Hebrews. The Lord said to Moses,

“All the firstborn are mine; when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both human and animal; they shall be mine.” (Num 3:13)

Abel is living in the way that pleases God. The Lord smiled upon Abel.

But with Cain’s offering of some of the fruit of the fields, God was not pleased. God turn his face away from Cain’s offering. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? The Proverbs say,

Honor the Lord with your substance

    and with the first fruits of all your produce; (Prv 3:9)

God rejected Cain’s offering because it was not firstfruits. Cain did not give God the first and best of the harvest. Instead, Cain offered God lesser quality fruit and grain. He gave leftovers and the least, after taking the best for himself.

Cain serves as a warning much like Judas Iscariot. The apostle John wrote,

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (1Jn 3:12)

God’s acceptance of Abel is the beginning of a biblical theme. God subverts the customary by choosing the underdog. Cain was firstborn, but God chose Abel his younger brother. God chose Isaac over his older brother Ishmael. God chose Jacob over the firstborn Esau. God chose the children of Abraham, wandering shepherds and slaves, to be His holy nation. And Jesus chose us to bear fruit that brings glory to God.

Cain was angry and downcast because God had turned away from his sacrifice. God tries to reason with Cain. If you do what is right and pleasing, won’t you be elevated? But Cain harbored jealous resentment against his brother and killed him.

The first murder illustrates how sin works. Sin is a power that seeks to dominate our lives. Cain held onto his anger and resentment against Abel out of jealousy. I can imagine the sort of things Cain said to himself. “Who does Abel think he is? Does he think he’s better than me? The brown-nosed suck-up! He deserves to be taken down a notch or two! I’ll show him!” That’s sin talking. That’s the serpent’s voice twisting truths and feeding us lies.

The apostle James wrote,

“each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (Jms 1:14-15)

Cain worked his anger into a fever pitch, until he acted upon it with murderous violence.

God confronted Cain. “What have you done?” Cain retorted, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Irony. Yes! Of course, we are called to love one another.

God announced the consequence for his heinous act. Cain will be driven from the land and become a restless wanderer. The weight of his guilt will drive him away from the blessings of God. He will become a staggering, tottering, grieved, and bemoaning aimless man, hiding from the face of God.

My toddler grandson is unable to say he’s sorry. Rather than admit when he’s done wrong, he tries to hide from facing the truth and its consequences. Cain is like a toddler, running from God and hiding from the guilt of his sin.

God warned Cain, and thereby warns us! Sin is lying in wait at the door to your heart. Sin desires to have control over you, but you must learn to master it. We all must learn to recognize the voice of the serpent in our mind and quickly turn away and seek the voice of God. Knowing the scriptures is the best way to discern the voice of sin, for the Bible reveals what pleases God and what offends God. The Bible exposes the human heart in all its weakness and wonder.

Cain protested that his punishment was too great to carry. He thought that others would want to kill him. But God showed mercy. He marked Cain with a sign to protect him and to warn would-be killers of sevenfold vengeance. And so Cain remained in the land of Nod east of Eden. Nod means wandering. The word for east can also mean in front of. A figurative way to understand what happens to Cain is that he remains stuck in a pattern of aimless wandering with the closed entrance to paradise before his eyes.

Sin separates us from God and the life we were meant for. The special relationship with God is closed off as we wander through life aimlessly chasing our tails, following our cravings, and doing as the rest of the lost do. Some never find their way back to the right path.

Jesus preached in his Sermon on the Mount,

“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mat 7:13-14)

The story continues with the lineage of Cain. Questions about where Cain got his wife can be filed under, “Not important to the Purpose of this Story.” One can assume God made other humans outside of Eden, those mentioned on the 6^th day of creation in Genesis 1:27. Listen to the meanings of Cain’s lineage.

Enoch means dedicated or trained up.

Irad is related to a word meaning wild donkey

Mehujael means blotted out by God

Methushael means Man of God or Man of Power

Lamech means Powerful.

They built cities, communities that breed sin and trouble like Sodom and Gomorrah. They learned to make weapons of iron. They became wandering herdsman. They were the first musicians, something associated with drunken frivolity. All this leads to a vengeful man named Lamech who swears 77 times the consequence for any who may harm him.

You can see how sin has ruined humans. The harsh work from a cursed ground beyond Eden yielded cruel men and suffering.

But the good news is that God kept a remnant for himself through the line of Seth, Eve’s 3^rd son, her compensation for the loss of Abel. If you look at the line of Seth you will see, for the most part, declining lifespans. Adam lives to be 930. Nine generations later, Lamech the father of Noah lives to be 777. Skip ahead to the lineage of Noah after the Great Flood and lifespans diminish more severely.

Noah’s son, Shem, lived 600 years, his son 438, his son 239, declining to 148 years for Nahor, the grandfather of Abraham. The point is that sin diminishes life. Sin separates us from God, the Life-giver, Sustainer and Redeemer.

Sin corrupts relationships, spoils nature, and cuts our lives short. But in the midst of these sad statistics, there is hope. 7 generations after Adam, Enoch walked with God. He followed the righteous path that leads to life. Enoch did not die. He was taken up to heaven never tasting death. His son Methuselah was blessed with the longest lifespan at 969 years, evidence of God’s blessing upon those who walk the righteous path. And in the 10^th generation, a man named Noah walked blamelessly before God. Through Noah, humankind will be given a fresh start on a renewed earth.

The choice is ours, whether to take the easy road to destruction or the narrow gate that leads to life. God has marked the path clearly. There’s never been a time in humanity when the holy scriptures are so abundantly available. And yet, we are in a time of severe neglect of the word of God. Only 20% of Americans are active in houses of worship. 11% of Americans read their Bibles daily. About half read the Bible 3-4 times in a year. 30% don’t even bother.

Sin is crouching at the door. It wants to own you. If you’re not reading the word of God, will you even know the voice of sin when it’s whispering lies and twisted truths in your ear?

Thanks be to God that we have the road that leads to life mapped out for us. Love God with your whole self. Love your neighbor. Love your enemies. Pray for those who mistreat you. Forgive those who have wronged you. Love one another.

Love does no harm. Love seeks to build others up, not tear them down. Love seeks to give God glory in everything. Love is the road that leads to life. For Jesus has paved the way for us, all the way to paradise.