Genesis 4:1ff

This is the first year we have celebrated Children’s Day.  As a child, I remember every year our church would celebrate the children.  It’s not even on any calendars.  It may be because everyday seems like children are the focus.

           But we have revived it because we believe that children are important.  One of the hardest tasks for many parents is realizing how precious and how valuable their children are.  When you are worn down by the whining, the laundry, the constant discipline, the fatigue, the running around and other things you do, it can be easy to lose perspective.

           The message today, however, is not for the parents, but for the children.  I want to look at the first children born in this world.  Their names are Cain, Abel and Seth.

           When you were named, your parents had different reasons for naming you.  Some just like the sound of the name.  When they read your name in a baby book, it just sounded right.  Others named you to honor someone important to them.  You might have your grandmother or father’s name.  You might be named after an uncle or an aunt.  If your father liked baseball you could be given the name of a famous player.  I have a great-nephew whose name is Nolan and his middle name Ryan after Nolan Ryan, the great pitcher.  Sometimes someone will be a Junior. 

           In Biblical times, the names were given to highlight some characteristic of the person.  Edom or Esau meant “red”, the color Esau was when born.  Or his brother, Jacob, was called supplanter, because he had a hold of Esau’s heel when they were born as though he was trying to get born first.

           The names that Eve gave her children are also interesting.  Cain means “possession.”  This has a double meaning as we will se when we read Genesis 4.

           1 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Ge 4:1-12).

           First, notice that Eve named Cain “Cain”.  He was her possession.  We hear mothers say all the time, “That’s my baby!”   The first child is often held tighter and the ones who come after.   Your mother often tried to do it right with you.  You are the testing ground.  The children born after you are sometimes treated different because your parents were just learning when you were born.  And because they loved you, they would often try extra hard to get it right.  You were their “cain”, their “little baby”, their “possession.”

           But notice how Cain grew up.  He was the gardener in the family.  It appears that he did very well.  He loved gardening.  It was his life and his joy. 

           How do you know, you ask?  Notice verse 11 and 12.  When God wanted to punish Cain for his sin, part of that punishment was that the ground would no longer yield its crops for you.   It might for others, but not for Cain.   Cain loved his garden and took great pride in them.

           On the surface, Cain looked like a good guy.  But inside was a different picture.  Two things we learn about Cain that put a real black mark on him.

           First,  Cain did not follow God.

           But, you say, didn’t he bring an offering to God?  Wasn’t he a religious man?  I will tell you that Cain was religious, but his religion was all wrong.  Cain gave God what he wanted to give God, he didn’t give God what God wanted him to give. 

           We can tell who is in control because the one who is in control gives the orders.  In the home, God wants the parents to be in control.  They are the ones who give the orders.  In the military, we want the generals to be in control.  Among children, we often fight to see who will be in control.

           We can always tell who isn’t in control.  They are the ones who accuse the other of being bossy.  What is the root word of bossy?  Boss!  The boss is the one in control.

           Cain did not let God be in control.  When God came to him and said, “I won’t accept your offering...”  Cain should have said, “Ok, what do you want me to bring?”  There would have been no hassle, no stress, no problems.   

           6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

           But Cain was not willing to do that.  He was not willing to do what was right.  He didn’t see sin crouching at his door.  He did not realize that there was a bigger battle going on.  He just thought his brother was a bad guy.  Why should his sacrifice be accepted and not his?  He didn’t blame God, he blamed Abel.  Abel did what was right and it made Cain mad.

           So he hit him.  He killed him. 

           This is the second black mark.  The first was that he didn’t follow God.  The second black mark was his uncontrolable anger. 

           People who are mad all the time are not pretty people.  This anger exploded until he killed his brother.  He tried to hide what he did by burying his brother.  But God knew where Abel was and he knew what Cain did.

           When we don’t follow God and when we can’t control our anger, we often have to face tough consequences.  Cain is kicked out.   Some children find that for the rest of their lives, their family won’t have anything to do with them because of what they did to them. 

           The only way to change that is to follow God.  When we follow God, we take responsibility for our actions.  We go to our brothers or sisters and apologize for what we did.  We do what we can to make things right.  Cain didn’t get that chance because Abel was no longer alive.  Many of us can.  We need to and we should.

           Cain did this, because as his name implies, he was more concerned about his possession, his garden, his things, than he was about follow God who gave him those things.

           Abel’s name also has a meaning.  It means ‘breath.”  It can also mean “empty” or “vain”. 

           I am speculating at this point.  But was there anxiety at his birth?  Did he have problems breathing?  Could it be that when he did breath, that they were so excited they called him “Abel” or “breath.”

           We certainly know that his life was just a breath.  It didn’t last long.  We don’t know exactly how old Abel was.  Adam was 130 years when Seth was born.  This was not old in early Bible times.  Methuselah lived to be 969 years, so 130 year old was still a young man.   Adam and Eve were created as adults.  How long they were in the garden is uncertain.  But Cain and Abel could not have been any older than 129 years, which was young in those days.

           No matter how long our days, they are short.  Young people, look at the grey and white-haired people in our church.  Look at the people who are showing all the signs of age.  Within those bodies are brains that remember events from their childhood as though it was yesterday.  Life can seem so long until you have lived it.  Then it can seem so short.  Live is but a breath.

           What is impressive about Abel was not how long his life was, but how he used it, what he did with it.  Hebrews portrays Abel as a man of faith.  His faith was seen in the sacrifice he gave to God.  In this passage, Abel brought the right sacrifice and his sacrifice was accepted by God.  He is remembered thousands of years later for this.

           Abel died young.  It seems tragic and people might ask why he died so young.  The simple answer is sin.  No one wants to blame sin anymore.  They want to blame God, society, parents and everything but sin.  If we would identify sin as sin and work as hard to eradicate sin, we would be a lot further ahead than we are today.  I may be wrong on this, but if our government was to spend as much money and serious energy on promoting marriage and working to keep families together as they do on promoting safe-sex and tolerance education,  I believe we could make a huge dent in the aids problem, the abortion issue, the poverty issue (which stems in large part from single parent homes),  and improve the quality of life for many.

           Why did Abel die?  Because Cain sinned against him.  Let’s blame Cain for Abel’s death.  But, you ask, “Why did God allow Cain to kill Abel? Isn’t God to blame?”  The interesting answer is that God does take responsibility for giving us freedom to make choices.  But imagine the alternative!

           In Abel’s short life on earth, his faith earned him a place in God’s hall of fame and his faith allowed him to experience eternal life.

           In that short life, not only was Abel a man of faith, but he did what was right in the eyes of God.  Young people, we cannot encourage you enough to do what is right.  You don’t have to do what is wrong, you can do what is right.  If you believe in Jesus, he is just as much in you as he is in me or anyone else in the church.  Jesus wants you to follow him just as much as he wants any of the rest of us to follow him.  He wants you to love Him and love others just as much as he does any of the rest of us.

           Step up to the plate and be counted for God.

           Then there was Seth.  The word “Seth” means “compensation.”  After losing Abel and Cain, Seth in a real sense replaced both of them.  The memory and the love never diminished.  But Seth became the focus of their attention.

           Nothing much is said about Seth except for one small thing.  He had a child named “Enoch.”  It says about Seth and Enoch that 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD. (Ge 4:26).

           At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord!  What does this mean?

           Does it mean that they began to pray?  I don’t think so.  From what we have seen already, Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel had contact with and brought sacrifices to God.  If prayer is “talking to God” then this verse is not talking about prayer.  If so, what does it refer to?

           The phrase “call on the name of the Lord” does indicate prayer, but prayer as the center of worship.  We all pray during the week. But if we were to say, “I am going to call upon the name of the Lord” we might picture, if we were Hebrews, a gathering together of people, or a time of worship.  It was when Enoch was born that people began to worship.

           Why did they do this?  I infer from the passage that Seth and Enoch had something to do with this.  I don’t know what, but the connection was there.

           This is a step forward.  From offering a sacrifice to offering the right sacrifice to the worship of God. As people began to worship God, I can see Adam and Eve feeling a little pay back, a little compensation for the tough years they had with Cain and Abel.