2019.01.26 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 4:1-7

Read Genesis 4:1-7

Questions for Littles: What did Adam do to Eve in v1? What did she do? What does she say? What does she name the second son (v2)? What does he do? What job does Cain do? How long does Cain take to bring an offering (v3)? How long does it take Abel to bring his offering (v4)? Which offering does he bring? What does Yahweh think of Abel and Abel’s offering? What did Yahweh think of Cain and Cain’s offering (v5)? How does Cain respond? What does Yahweh ask Cain in v6? What does He promise Cain in v7? What does He warn Cain that his sin wants to do to him? What does He command Cain that he must do to his sin?

In the Scripture for tomorrow’s sermon, worship takes center stage.

By the Lord’s grace to them, Adam and Eve are getting along. The consequences of their fall into sin were not the final word on their marriage. In fact, Adam knows his wife so well that it results in their having a baby!

Eve is so excited about the baby that she declares that with Yahweh, she has acquired the child. In fact, the same Hebrew letters that make the preposition “with” can also just be the sign of the direct object. It’s possible that she actually thinks that the baby she has just borne is somehow connected to Yahweh Himself.

This isn’t too far-fetched. We know the incarnation is now a reality and that it wasn’t plan B—God planned this from before time began (Rom 8:28-29). If she knew that she was going to bear someone who could crush the serpent, perhaps the Lord blessed her to understand that He Himself would be one of Her descendants. So there’s worship in her childbearing.

And there’s worship in the boys’ work. Of course, there’s a timing difference. Cain brings an offering “at the end of days.” Offering to the Lord is the last thing on his mind. Abel is exactly the opposite. He brings the first part and the  best part.

Third, there is worship in mortification. That’s a big word that means the process by which the Lord enables us to kill sin. Here, we see him giving Cain instruction and urging him that he would indeed be accepted if he repented.

But there is more here than the “if you do well.” There is also the warning about what sin is like. It is such a ruthless oppressor and hunter that if we are not actively killing our sin, then our sin will be actively killing us. The Lord presents this tension in such a manner to communicate that these really are the only two options.

How do you worship the Lord in your family relationships? In your work? In killing sin?

Suggested Songs: ARP1 “How Blessed the Man” or TPH130A “Lord, from the Depths to You I Cry!”