The Lord’s Message:  The Faith of Abel

The Lord’s Message:  The Faith of Abel
Date:  January 26, 2025
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Hebrews 11:1-4

            We are starting a new sermon series, Hall of Faith.  We are going to studying the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, which is found on page 1874 in the Pew Bible.   This chapter looks at the Old Testament people and their faith in God.  We, Believers in Christ, can learn how our lives should be lived in faith to God. 

            Let us pray.

            The first person of faith after the fall of Humanity found in the Bible is Abel.  What do you know about Abel?  Abel was killed by his older brother Cain.  Abel was the second boy born to Adam and Eve after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  Abel is a shepherd.  God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.  All of these are important for us to understand the Faith of Abel.

             In order for us to understand the Faith of Abel, we need to define and understand what Faith is.  In verse 1, we are told that faith is a certainty of God working in our lives even though we can not see God at work.  Faith has two elements, constancy and reliability.  God is constantly at work in this world and in all believers in Christ.  The Holy Spirit is inside of us showing us how we need to live our lives in obedience with the will of God.  Reliability involves trusting God with everything that we possess, all our relationships, our time, and our very lives to Him. 

            Let us turn to page 6 in our Pew Bibles, to Genesis 4, for the story of Abel.  This story takes place after the Fall of Humanity, where Adam and Eve disobeyed God.  They ate fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God told them in Genesis 2:16-17, not to eat the fruit from this tree.  After they had eaten and God found out about it, God pronounced their sentence on them.  They would not be immortal.  Meaning, they would die at the end of their life.  The woman’s pain would be increased in childbirth.  The man would have to toil hard to work the land for plants to be able to grow.  No longer would they be able to pick the abundant fruit from the trees.  The other pronouncement was that they would be banished from the Garden of Eden. 

            Adam and Eve are now not immortal, they are living off the land far from Eden, but they have not turned their backs on God and God has not forgotten them.  They are still worshipping God.    Now, you may be saying, how do I know this. 

            We know this by the actions of their sons, Cain and Abel.  It says in Genesis 4:3, “in the course of time.” God has set a time and a place to worship Him.  If you continue reading, God has also determined how He should be worshipped.  Let us finish reading this verse and on to verse 5.  Two offerings are brought to God.  God accepts Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s.  Why?  There are many commentaries on the subject of why God accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s.  I do not think that there was any problem in what was offered.  I think that the problem is a heart matter. 

            Both of these boys were raised by their parents to know God and to have a relationship with Him.  Both of these boys were told how to worship God.  The problem is their heart. 

            Let me ask you a question.  Has there ever been a time in your life when you knew that you should do something, but you really did not want to do it?  Your heart is not in doing it.  You are simply going through the motions.  You are not putting your best into it.  You are simply going through the motions.  I think this is the problem with Cain’s offering.  God requires an offering; I will give Him some offering.  The heart is the problem.  God knows our heart.  In Samuel 16:7, Samuel comes to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse to look for a new king, because Saul’s heart was not in following God.  Starting with the oldest, whom Samuel thinks that God is going to anoint as the new king, going down the line, even though they look like a king, God knows their heart is not in following Him.  After all the sons of Jesse have been rejected, then Samuel inquires of Jesse do you have any more sons.  Jesse tells him the youngest is out in the fields taking care of the sheep.  Samuel tells Jesse to send for him.  In verses 12-13.  God choose David because He knows David’s heart.  God knows our heart. 

            God knew the heart of Abel.  God chose Abel’s offering because Abel had put forth the very best for God.  Cain simply went through the motions because his heart was not into worshipping God.  How about us?

            In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells us that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind.  Do we give our heart fully and completely to God?  It shows in our offering.  Do we give God our best?  It is not the amount that is important, but the spirit in which we give.  In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus used the example of the widow who gave everything that she had.  When we give an offering to God, it is not only about money, but also about our prayers, our time, our talents, and our witness. 

            How often do you pray to God?  Paul tells us that we should pray to God all the time, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.   Prayer is our communication channel with God.  If we are not in prayer, how are we going to know the will of God for our lives?

            How do we use our time?  Do we spend time reading God’s word?  Do we spend the time helping others?  Or are we indulged in what we want to do, what is best for us?

            How do we use our talents? Do we use our talents for God?  Do we use them to help others?

            Do we witness to others about Jesus and God?  We do not need to stand on a street corner and shout “The world is going to come to an end, are you prepared?”  Our life should show to others that we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  What we do and what we say should confirm this.  Does our spouse, children or friends know that we are a Christian or are we hiding our belief from them?  Sadly, I know of people that have tried to hide their Christianity from family and friends, because they do not want to cause trouble in their relationship with them.  Our life should show to others that we are Christians.  The words that we say, and our actions should show that we believe in Jesus.  We should be like Abel and fully commit ourselves to our relationship with God and not be like Cain who simply went through the motions. 

             Matthew West’s song, The Motions, explains it like this.

 “This might hurt, it’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change.

  I don’t care if I break.

 At least I’ll be feeling something.

 ‘Cause just okay is not enough.

 Help me fight through the nothingness of life.

 I don’t wanna go through the motions.

 I don’t wanna go one more day.

 Without Your all-consuming passion inside of me

 I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking. 

What if I had given everything

 Instead of going through the motions? 

No regrets, not this time.

 I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind.

Let Your love makes me whole.

 I think I’m finally feeling something.

 ‘Cause just okay is not enough.

Help me fight through the nothingness of this life.

‘Cause I don’t wanna go through the motions.

 I don’t wanna go one more day. 

Without Your all-consuming passion inside of me. 

I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking.

What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions? 

Take me all the way (Take me all the way) 

‘Cause I don’t wanna go through the motions (Take me all the way)

 Lord, I’m finally feeling something real (Take me all the way)”

We must read the Bible, live the Bible and Be the Bible for others to see.  Let us not simply go through the motions but let us have the faith of Abel and passionately worship God.  Amen.