Title Genesis 04:1-7 Restoring Holy Worship
Contents
The first son of Adam and Eve was Cain, and the second was Abel. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. Years later, Cain and Abel each offered a sacrifice to God. Because Cain was a farmer, he sacrificed from the produce of the land, and Abel was a shepherd, so he sacrificed with the firstborn of sheep and their fat. But God did not accept Cain's offering, but only Abel's.
Then why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's? Any believer will have doubts. The reason can be found in the text. It is said that Abel gave the firstborn of the sheep and the fat. The firstborn was set apart from among the many sheep. In ancient times, oil was very precious. Therefore, it can be said that Abel set apart precious things.
However, Cain did not distinguish among his own and just gave some of it. To set apart is the theological term for ‘holy’. Abel offered a holy sacrifice.
In Leviticus, sacrifices to be offered to God are referred to differently depending on the level of wealth or status. In this way, the offerings differed from person to person, but there was a common aspect to all offerings, which was that they had to be 'without blemish'.
Why does God want a sacrifice without blemish? Even though God was rich in this world, He asked for a sacrifice without blemish, not because he was interested in the sacrifice itself, but because he was interested in the person offering it. This is because the offerer looks at the attitude of giving differently, not the attitude of offering anything. What sets apart is holiness. The reason God spoke of a holy sacrifice was because He wanted holy worshipers. Because God is holy, he also requires us to be holy.
Today's verse says, "Sin desires you." That we have sin in us. I have a tendency to want to sin. For such us not to sin, rather than avoiding sin, we are actively doing good. When we do good, we can turn away from sin. You can control sin. If we do not control sin, sin will control us. We become slaves to sin.
So what does it mean to do good? It is a message to live a life worthy of worship. A holy sacrifice means that the person offering the sacrifice is holy. Being holy means that your life should be like holy worship. It means that worship and life must coincide. When our lives become worship-like through worship, we control our sins.
Dear Lord, now is the time to restore worship. Whether in the spirit of an individual, in the home, or in the church. True worship means looking to God. No matter what the current situation is, I want you to look to God even more because it is difficult. Just as we can overcome evil with good, we hope to overcome the present difficulties by looking only at God through the restoration of holy worship. We hope that God's grace and answers will overflow in our lives to those who are imitating God's holiness through worship.