Sermon for November 11th, 2012

Genesis 4:1-7

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ 2Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’

Abel's Sacrifice: Putting First Things First

Sacrifice is a concept quite familiar to all those who have served in the military, and who we celebrate today on Veteran's day. Soldiers who have served in the armed forces make all kinds of sacrifices, large and small: In basic training they sacrifice their individuality; in deployment overseas they sacrifice time spent with family; in combat situations they sacrifice comfort, safety, and sometimes even their lives, so that others may live and enjoy comfort and safety. We give them our thanks and gratitude, all year round, but especially today.

This language of sacrifice should also sound familiar to us as Christians--our faith is centered on Jesus Christ, who made the greatest sacrifice we could possibly know, willingly giving up his perfect, innocent life in exchange for our broken and flawed ones, so that we might have not just safety and freedom, but eternal life in God's Kingdom.

Jesus'sacrifice was followed by many others in the early days of the church, when Christians were persecuted and martyred, but still many willingly sacrificed their possessions, their freedoms, and their lives in order to live out this new faith, this "Christianity." There are fewer today who are called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice for their faith, although there are still some, particularly in countries where Christianity is not allowed. And thought most of us are never called upon to sacrifice our lives for our faith, I believe we are often called upon to make smaller sacrifices for what we believe--sacrifices of our time, our resources, and occasionally even some of our relationships.

But sacrifice is older even than Christianity. The Old Testament is full of sacrifice, and there was even a highly intricate sacrificial system that is reflected in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Today, we're going to take a look at the very first sacrifices ever made in the Bible -- the sacrifices of the two brothers, Cain and Abel. If you know the story, you know that Abel ends up sacrificing more than just a burnt offering. Abel is murdered by his brother Cain out of jealousy, in the process making Abel the first person to sacrifice his life as a direct result of his worship of God.

But rather than me telling you a story that you've probably heard many times over...I'd like for Abel to tell his story today...

Hi. My name is Abel. I live in the land of Nod, down that way just East of Eden. You've heard of Eden, haven't you? Yeah, it's a pretty nice neighborhood. My parents used to live there before my brother and I were born. They got into some kind of trouble with the church in Eden, and got asked to leave. I've always wondered what that was about, but they don't like to talk about it much. Nod's kind of rough, but it's home.

You know, my parents aren't exactly outstanding members of the church here in Nod, either. They're what people in the church usually refer to as "sponges" -- they soak up all the resources of the church (all the programs, classes, worship, and the pastor's time) and never really give anything back. Don't get me wrong -- they've been in leadership positions. Back in Eden, they were on the nominating committee. You know, like, "I nominate you to be a horse...I nominate you to be a lemon tree...I nominate you to be a furry tree sloth..." I think they had fun being on the nominating committee, at least until they nominated that snake.