A world divided over worship

On Sunday from Genesis 4-11 we saw the consequences of sin worked out as the world divides over worship.

With Cain and Abel we see right and wrong worship. The big question in Gen4 is why does God approve of one offering and not the other? It’s in wrestling with these questions we will learn.

There is a clue in (3,4)Cain brings “some of the fruits of the soil” whereas Abel brings “fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock”. We are given an insight into their hearts and worship. There is another clue(7) in God’s warning to Cain to “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” The issue isn’t with the offering – it isn’t that God dislikes fruit and veg – but with the offerer.

Heb 11:4 makes that clear “By faith Abel brought a better offering that Cain did.” The offerer is not approved of because of the offering but the offering because of the offerer. Abel was righteous his offering was only part of his worship expressed as the activity of his life, whereas Cain’s heart and living was wrong so his offering was wrong.

The division between those who worship God rightly and those who don’t continues in rest rest of the Bible narrative. We see it in the genealogy(ch5) with a line who worship God and a line who don’t. We see it with Noah who worships God with a hammer, as he accepts God’s grace to him hears God’s word and lives his life in the light of it – his building of the Ark is an act of worship to God. Twice the account draws our attention to this by emphasising Noah’s obedience(6:22, 7:5). And as God judge’s humanity for their wrong worship Noah is saved by grace and worships God because of it.

This division over worship continues right down to today. There are two fundamental issues for us as God's worshipping creation; the first is that right worship is worship of God as he reveals himself in scripture, secondly that God determines how we worship him rightly. Both of these run counter to our culture which says any worship goes and what you worship doesn't matter.