Sermon Title: The Substance of Divine Relationship.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Genesis 4:1-4 reveals the three fundamental components that constitute the Substance of Divine Relationship.
Even after their banishment from the Garden of Eden, God remained close with Man.
The substance of divine relationship - Man’s relationship to God - is maintained in the immediate events following the Fall.
1. To live fully embracing God’s Created and Established Order.
Herein lies the first component found in the substance of divine relationship –
“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” (Genesis 4:1a)
Regardless of our iniquities, it is vital that we understand that this is a world that God created especially for us to live, and thrive, in.
Regardless of our sin, God’s Created Order, and for those who believe, and belong to Him, His Promises of Divine Presence, Purpose and Power remain immutable; unchanging.
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food. ... ... And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:27-31)
Mankind was created by God.
Mankind was blessed by God.
Though no longer in Eden, Adam and Eve lived in the reality of God’s Created and Established Order, and experienced the fulfillment of God’s Promises.
Do you?
Live fully in God’s Created and Established Order – and more importantly, in Christ, live fully in God’s Rest.
This must lead to the second component found in the substance of divine relationship –
2. To constantly acknowledge, and be grateful for, God’s Presence, Purpose and Power, in our lives.
Not only did Man live restfully – at that time - in God’s Created and Established Order; Eve revealed a deeper reality to their lives when “she said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”” (Genesis 4:1b)
To Eve, the idea of God’s help was neither abstract or conceptual, it was her reality.
Through her pregnancy and birthing process, God was physically present to her in her time of need.
But most importantly, Eve recognized that God is the ultimate source of life.
Acts 17:24 speaks to this reality:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.
Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
Are you grateful to God who gave you life?
Have you constantly acknowledged this reality?
Here’s actually how.
3. To conscientiously be found righteous through faith in the Salvation of GOD
“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 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” (Genesis 4:2b-5)
To be clear, God loved them both.
He loves us all.
But to Abel and his offering, He looked with favor.
And it was clear that “on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor.”
Why is that?
The difference is not in their vocations - which resulted in Cain bringing some fruits as an offering to the Lord, and Abel bringing fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
There is little doubt that ‘some’ of both Cain’s fruits and Abel’s flock indicates that they selected only the very best to be offered to the Lord.
The difference is what was revealed in their hearts – through the type of offerings – that unveiled how they perceived their respective relationship and standing with God.
In the bringing of gifts, the attitude and intention for the gift is actually more important than the gift itself.
Every gift is an expression of the giver’s attitude, intentions and feelings towards the recipient.
In the phrase, “fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” – the words “fat”, “firstborn”, and “flock” is deeply revealing of why God looked on Abel’s offering with favor.
Fat
“They shall remove all the fat, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:31)
To obtain fat, an innocent animal life must be sacrificed.
For the animal, this loss of life is symbolic of complete surrender – a necessary requirement of sacrifice and the act of atonement.
As the offering is burnt and it is the fat that enables the burning, just as it is the fat that produces the aroma that is pleasing to the Lord.
The burning of fat is an aroma pleasing to the Lord because He is pleased when we repent and ask for His forgiveness in the knowledge that He will.
Firstborn, Flock.
The firstborn of the flock represents a special and most memorable love - the love of God; because it brings us into a new reality that God truly fulfills His every Promise, especially His Promises of Life and Abundance.
Cain was Adam and Eve’s firstborn; the personification that God fulfills His Promises of blessings and increase.
For Abel, the “firstborn of his flock” offering is indicative that not only does he acknowledge that God is the source of all life; he knows and remembers - from Adam and Eve - his need for atonement - to be clothed not with coverings from fig leaves, but rather, with “garments of skin” (Genesis 1:21); in the divine recognition that everything – forgiveness and his flock – belongs, and comes from God alone.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
(Leviticus 17:11)
In the paradigm of divine atonement, God commanded that our tithe – the first tenth or first born of any harvest or animal herd - be devoted to Him in His Temple as a mark of our recognition, just as Abel did, of our foremost need for His love and merciful forgiveness (Ref: Deuteronomy 14:22, Leviticus 27:30, 2 Chronicles 31:5; Nehemiah 10:37, 12:44).
Most significantly, the first-born is a divine allusion to Christ, as “the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15), who is,“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and Supreme in power and authority - for “all things have been created through Him, and unto Him” (Col 1:16).
This is important.
The tithe represents our faith in Christ and His Salvific Work of Atonement that redeems us from death – unto everlasting life.
The tithe is the sacred, and necessary, token of your acknowledgement and faith that salvation comes from God, who gave you His First-Born Son, Jesus Christ, to make atonement for your life – and for the sins of the world.
In the acknowledge of His Salvation over your life, your obedience and willingness to bring the tithe to the Lord reflects your understanding and faith - that you are His child and steward; forgiven, and called to His Kingdom.
Today, bringing the tenth of our income – our harvest - is an act of worship unto God in reverence and gratitude for His Salvation and in declaration that He alone is the source of all life and providence.
In Christ, you are sanctified and blessed; and your tithe unto the Lord is recognition of your need for atonement through Christ; and when you are obedient to do so, the rest of the harvest becomes sanctified and blessed.
The reason for God’s favor upon Abel was simply because Abel correctly understood his relationship and standing before God.
Through bringing fat portions of the best of the firstborn of his flock, Abel’s faith in the Lord became incarnational – a spiritual reality made flesh; and God was pleased with him and commended him as righteous.
In fact, because he was willing and obedient to incarnate his faith, Abel is alive to God today.
Hebrews 11:4 tells us:
“By faith Abel brought God a better offering (the tithe) than Cain did.
By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.
And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”
In your life, what is it that you do, that truly represents your utter need for God’s Salvation through Christ?
What is the self-evidence that reveals to you that your faith in Christ is true?
When you faithfully bring your tithe to the Lord’s Temple.
1 John 3:12 warns us clearly:
“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.”
Always bear this in your heart.
The Lord is not after your money; He is after your heart.
He loves you; and desires for you to rest in the assurance of His Love and enter His eternal Kingdom.
Know that your tithe is the manifestation of your desire to please God – through obedience and trust - and the recognition that everything comes from Him, belongs to Him; and most significantly, it is your faith acknowledgement that God’s firstborn Son – Jesus Christ – has made complete atonement for your sins.
The three fundamental components that constitute the Substance of Divine Relationship must necessarily be found in the life of every child of the living God; every true disciple of Jesus Christ and every empowered vessel of the Holy Spirit.
In Christ, consistently R.E.S.T. – through utter trust and obedience unto God – in His Created and Established Order.
For Christ, constantly acknowledge and be grateful for His Presence, and Power in your life.
Through Christ, conscientiously be found righteous through faith in God’s Salvation – reflected through faithfully tithing unto the Lord.
Now you know.
Live in divine relationship with God, today and forevermore.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I pray that my very life would be pleasing to You; and I desire that You look upon me, and my offering, with favor.
In utter obedience and trust, help me rest in You – and live fully in Your Created and Establish Order.
In profound gratitude, may my life acknowledge and declare Your Presence and Power.
And may I bring my tithe before You faithfully – in the fullest recognition that I have been made righteous through Christ’s finished work of atonement on the Cross.
Lord, thank You for making me Your child; and blessing me with a life of divine relationship with You, now and forevermore.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Genesis 4:1-4 reveals the three fundamental components that constitute the Substance of Divine Relationship.
Even after their banishment from the Garden of Eden, God remained close with Man.
The substance of divine relationship - Man’s relationship to God - is maintained in the immediate events following the Fall.
1. To live fully embracing God’s Created and Established Order.
Herein lies the first component found in the substance of divine relationship –
“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” (Genesis 4:1a)
Regardless of our iniquities, it is vital that we understand that this is a world that God created especially for us to live, and thrive, in.
Regardless of our sin, God’s Created Order, and for those who believe, and belong to Him, His Promises of Divine Presence, Purpose and Power remain immutable; unchanging.
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food. ... ... And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:27-31)
Mankind was created by God.
Mankind was blessed by God.
Though no longer in Eden, Adam and Eve lived in the reality of God’s Created and Established Order, and experienced the fulfillment of God’s Promises.
Do you?
Live fully in God’s Created and Established Order – and more importantly, in Christ, live fully in God’s Rest.
This must lead to the second component found in the substance of divine relationship –
2. To constantly acknowledge, and be grateful for, God’s Presence, Purpose and Power, in our lives.
Not only did Man live restfully – at that time - in God’s Created and Established Order; Eve revealed a deeper reality to their lives when “she said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”” (Genesis 4:1b)
To Eve, the idea of God’s help was neither abstract or conceptual, it was her reality.
Through her pregnancy and birthing process, God was physically present to her in her time of need.
But most importantly, Eve recognized that God is the ultimate source of life.
Acts 17:24 speaks to this reality:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.
Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
Are you grateful to God who gave you life?
Have you constantly acknowledged this reality?
Here’s actually how.
3. To conscientiously be found righteous through faith in the Salvation of GOD
“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 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.” (Genesis 4:2b-5)
To be clear, God loved them both.
He loves us all.
But to Abel and his offering, He looked with favor.
And it was clear that “on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor.”
Why is that?
The difference is not in their vocations - which resulted in Cain bringing some fruits as an offering to the Lord, and Abel bringing fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
There is little doubt that ‘some’ of both Cain’s fruits and Abel’s flock indicates that they selected only the very best to be offered to the Lord.
The difference is what was revealed in their hearts – through the type of offerings – that unveiled how they perceived their respective relationship and standing with God.
In the bringing of gifts, the attitude and intention for the gift is actually more important than the gift itself.
Every gift is an expression of the giver’s attitude, intentions and feelings towards the recipient.
In the phrase, “fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” – the words “fat”, “firstborn”, and “flock” is deeply revealing of why God looked on Abel’s offering with favor.
Fat
“They shall remove all the fat, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:31)
To obtain fat, an innocent animal life must be sacrificed.
For the animal, this loss of life is symbolic of complete surrender – a necessary requirement of sacrifice and the act of atonement.
As the offering is burnt and it is the fat that enables the burning, just as it is the fat that produces the aroma that is pleasing to the Lord.
The burning of fat is an aroma pleasing to the Lord because He is pleased when we repent and ask for His forgiveness in the knowledge that He will.
Firstborn, Flock.
The firstborn of the flock represents a special and most memorable love - the love of God; because it brings us into a new reality that God truly fulfills His every Promise, especially His Promises of Life and Abundance.
Cain was Adam and Eve’s firstborn; the personification that God fulfills His Promises of blessings and increase.
For Abel, the “firstborn of his flock” offering is indicative that not only does he acknowledge that God is the source of all life; he knows and remembers - from Adam and Eve - his need for atonement - to be clothed not with coverings from fig leaves, but rather, with “garments of skin” (Genesis 1:21); in the divine recognition that everything – forgiveness and his flock – belongs, and comes from God alone.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
(Leviticus 17:11)
In the paradigm of divine atonement, God commanded that our tithe – the first tenth or first born of any harvest or animal herd - be devoted to Him in His Temple as a mark of our recognition, just as Abel did, of our foremost need for His love and merciful forgiveness (Ref: Deuteronomy 14:22, Leviticus 27:30, 2 Chronicles 31:5; Nehemiah 10:37, 12:44).
Most significantly, the first-born is a divine allusion to Christ, as “the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15), who is,“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and Supreme in power and authority - for “all things have been created through Him, and unto Him” (Col 1:16).
This is important.
The tithe represents our faith in Christ and His Salvific Work of Atonement that redeems us from death – unto everlasting life.
The tithe is the sacred, and necessary, token of your acknowledgement and faith that salvation comes from God, who gave you His First-Born Son, Jesus Christ, to make atonement for your life – and for the sins of the world.
In the acknowledge of His Salvation over your life, your obedience and willingness to bring the tithe to the Lord reflects your understanding and faith - that you are His child and steward; forgiven, and called to His Kingdom.
Today, bringing the tenth of our income – our harvest - is an act of worship unto God in reverence and gratitude for His Salvation and in declaration that He alone is the source of all life and providence.
In Christ, you are sanctified and blessed; and your tithe unto the Lord is recognition of your need for atonement through Christ; and when you are obedient to do so, the rest of the harvest becomes sanctified and blessed.
The reason for God’s favor upon Abel was simply because Abel correctly understood his relationship and standing before God.
Through bringing fat portions of the best of the firstborn of his flock, Abel’s faith in the Lord became incarnational – a spiritual reality made flesh; and God was pleased with him and commended him as righteous.
In fact, because he was willing and obedient to incarnate his faith, Abel is alive to God today.
Hebrews 11:4 tells us:
“By faith Abel brought God a better offering (the tithe) than Cain did.
By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.
And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”
In your life, what is it that you do, that truly represents your utter need for God’s Salvation through Christ?
What is the self-evidence that reveals to you that your faith in Christ is true?
When you faithfully bring your tithe to the Lord’s Temple.
1 John 3:12 warns us clearly:
“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.”
Always bear this in your heart.
The Lord is not after your money; He is after your heart.
He loves you; and desires for you to rest in the assurance of His Love and enter His eternal Kingdom.
Know that your tithe is the manifestation of your desire to please God – through obedience and trust - and the recognition that everything comes from Him, belongs to Him; and most significantly, it is your faith acknowledgement that God’s firstborn Son – Jesus Christ – has made complete atonement for your sins.
The three fundamental components that constitute the Substance of Divine Relationship must necessarily be found in the life of every child of the living God; every true disciple of Jesus Christ and every empowered vessel of the Holy Spirit.
In Christ, consistently R.E.S.T. – through utter trust and obedience unto God – in His Created and Established Order.
For Christ, constantly acknowledge and be grateful for His Presence, and Power in your life.
Through Christ, conscientiously be found righteous through faith in God’s Salvation – reflected through faithfully tithing unto the Lord.
Now you know.
Live in divine relationship with God, today and forevermore.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I pray that my very life would be pleasing to You; and I desire that You look upon me, and my offering, with favor.
In utter obedience and trust, help me rest in You – and live fully in Your Created and Establish Order.
In profound gratitude, may my life acknowledge and declare Your Presence and Power.
And may I bring my tithe before You faithfully – in the fullest recognition that I have been made righteous through Christ’s finished work of atonement on the Cross.
Lord, thank You for making me Your child; and blessing me with a life of divine relationship with You, now and forevermore.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.