Abel – He Gave God What He Wanted

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4)

Worship has always been the foundational relationship between God and man. When Adam and Eve were taken out of the Garden of Eden, sin reigned over humanity. The appeasement of man’s condition could only be measured by his worship and obedience to the word of God. After the birth of Cain and Abel, Moses reveals that worship was an integral part of how man could be justified before the Lord. Both sons brought an offering of worship to the Lord from the things they had prospered. Cain was a tiller of the ground and brought his best for sacrifice. Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat. God respected one sacrifice and refused the other.

Cain and Abel understood the value of a proper sacrifice. It was not the fruit of the ground or the firstborn of a flock that was the issue with God. Both of these sacrifices were acceptable to God. Under the Law of Moses, sacrifices of the fruit of the ground were required, as well as blood sacrifices. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice to God because of his motive toward worship. By faith, the sacrifice of Abel was presented to worship and glorify the Lord. Cain had an evil heart. He was a wicked man trying to justify himself through acts of worship, but God refused him.

Abel was a righteous man, and his gift to the Lord came with the blessing of God. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that worship to the Father must be done in spirit and truth. False worship can be according to the pattern of truth, but without the proper spirit; it is vain and useless. Abel gave God what He wanted because his heart worshipped in the proper spirit. God saw the heart of Cain and refused his sacrifice. Through jealousy and envy, Cain hated his brother and killed him. That is not what God wanted. The Lord warned Cain that sin was at the door, but Cain’s evil heart would not listen.

Jesus became the Mediator of a new covenant because He fully obeyed the will of His Father. The blood of Jesus is a greater testimony than Abel’s because it was sinless. God wants His children to see that righteousness in worship is more important than the offering of the fruit of the ground or the firstborn of a flock. The regulation of worship is not determined solely by whether the right thing is being done in the right way with the proper authority. True worship comes from a broken and contrite heart. The sacrifice of a broken heart is what draws a man near God. A contrite heart saves a man’s soul.

Paul reminds the church at Corinth of the importance of worship in spirit and truth. Taking the Lord’s Supper is not just eating bread and drinking juice. Anyone can do that, but if one takes the supper in an unworthy manner, one is guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Singing and praying can be done in the right manner with an evil heart of unbelief. This is vain worship. Abel was righteous because his worship was right. Offering worship to God that is vain will not receive the blessing of God.

The story of Cain and Abel is the story of man’s struggle to understand God, who is not impressed with the superficial nature of man’s worship. God will not accept worship if it does not come from the deepest recesses of the heart that is broken over the nature of sin. Jesus did not die to impress His Father. He died to save men from sin. Worship does not impress God because His existence does not depend on the worship of men. The purpose of worship is to show man that he is in desperate need of God’s grace and that God is to be glorified and praised because of His mercy. Abel understood that from the beginning of time. Our worship must begin with, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Then, we become like Abel.