Bad Guys #3: Cain

Genesis 4:1-16 brings us the account of Cain and Abel, the first sons born to Adam and Eve. Cain, the older son, worked the fields while his younger brother Abel tended the animals.

They both brought a sacrifice or an offering to God. Cain's was some of the fruit of his crop and Abel brought the choice fat pieces from the first of the flock. God looked with favor on Abel's and not so with Cain. Cain got ticked off and pouted. God told him to straighten up and fly right. He then warned Cain that sin was crouching, that sin desired to have him. And God was right.

Cain lured Abel out to the field, attacked him and killed him. Then God found Cain and asked him what he did and where his brother Abel was. Cain remarked that he wasn't his brother's keeper. God said Abel's blood called out to him from the ground and that Cain would be banished from the land and his life wouldn't ever be the same. Cain freaked out in despair and said he would be separated from God and that the land wouldn't support him and that he would just be a wandering good-for-nothing and was mostly worried about someone seeking revenge for Abel upon Cain.

To calm those fears God marked Cain and said nobody would kill him.

This isn't a story about how to please God. It isn't about what makes our offerings pleasing to God. The Bible remains silent on why God chose Abel's offering to bless instead of Cain.

This IS a story about how God communicates to us about our sin. It is a story about our likelihood to sin. It is about how we all carry that dark, secret mark of Cain and how we are all capable of horrible ugliness in God's sight.

Don't ignore God's warning about sin. God provides us with some simple truths: sin is always just beyond us, waiting. In this story sin almost becomes a fourth character. It lurks. It crouches. It desires. It is just there, always. And God simply calls us to do what's right. But Cain ignored God's warning. He lured Abel out and killed him.

Then he had to answer God's questions afterwards about the sin. We'll all have to do the same. Sure, we may not hear the actual voice of God. But in our soul, in our spirit we will have to answer those questions. Where are you? What have you done? What has your sin done to others? When I see God ask Cain questions that he obviously has the answers to, I am reminded about the distance that Cain has allowed to come between him and God. There is no communion. God has to reconnect with Cain. And he asks those questions to point out that Cain was out on his own, away from God.

Where are you? When you commit that same sin over and over and over, where are you? Are you constantly in front of the computer screen? Are you in compromising places? Where are you when you find yourself stumbling?

What has your sin done to those close to you? Contrary to what we may think, our sin effects others. Even if we don't sin against other people, we still sin against God. And if that relationship is out of whack, no other relationship we have can be right.

What have you done? Stop justifying or even denying your sin. Admit it. And apologize for it. And not that horse-crap apology that starts with these three words: "I'm sorry if..."
"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." What a crock. If that is how you apologize, save the apology because you don't mean it. You are just disguising commentary that says "You seem to have thin skin and I wasn't intending to hurt you with my words and since the words did hurt you, it MUST be your problem and not mine." If I say something that hurts my brother's feelings, there is no IF about it. His feelings are hurt. I have to apologize for it. I can say "I never meant to hurt you. I am sorry." That works. But we have this attitude that we really don't ever do anything wrong. If someone has a problem, it has to be their fault. And that attitude prevails with our relationship with God. We justify or explain or even deny our sin. Be honest. What have you done? Answer that honestly. Own it. Accept it.

And because there was distance between Cain and God, Cain sinned and killed Abel. Cain wouldn't master the jealousy and anger that was rotting his insides to nothing. And in that dark, premeditated moment, he killed his own little brother. And God lays out the punishment. Cain complains but that doesn't change the fact that there are consequences about his sin. Same with us. Our sin carries a price. We must face, at the very least, the spiritual distance from God. And there can be other consequences too. Relationships can be hurt. Ended. Destroyed beyond repair. But remember this, God provides for sinners. He provided the mark of Cain to sort of remind him of the worst act of his life and also to protect him from death. And Cain carried that mark around forever. Always reminded of what he did to Abel. Always shouldering the memory. I don't know if he was guilty. I don't know how Cain had to deal with that thought of taking Abel's life with his own hands. But I know that some of us are walking around carrying that secret mark of sin. We carry an image or a memory of a moment in time where we absolutely blew it. And even though we turn the guilt over to God and humbly accept the punishment or the consequences our sin merits, we will cannot shake the memory. And sometimes that memory leads us back down the same dark path to that same place again and again and again.

God provides protection and has even made a new covenant with us that Cain was never able to appreciate and experience. God provided a mark to sort of protect Cain's life because of his sin. God provided Jesus for us, not to merely protect us but to save us, to deliver us from our sin. On the cross Jesus took care of our sin problem. Even in the midst of our sin, God communicates his love to us.

Sometimes the hardest person to live with is yourself. The guilt can be such a poison. The anger and the jealousy can destroy you. God wants to deal with that. He is communicating to you and me right now, asking us those age old questions. Where are you? What have you done? What has your sin done to others? Only with Jesus and the cross, we have peace that when we answer those questions honestly, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all of our sin.