Cain's Offering

Ok, so in modern worship circles, I’ve often heard the quote, “There is no wrong way to worship God.” Having spent 17 years as a worship leader, I may have even used this phrase at some point in the past. My question is this. If there is no wrong way (except for the obvious sinful practices of the wicked), how do we explain the goings-on of Genesis chapter 4? In Genesis 4:1-7, we read, “1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”(KJV)
I should note I used the King James Version simply because it is not copy written, thus requires no royalty to use. Anyway, here Cain and Abel both offer sacrifices to the Lord, from their respective professions. As a herdsman, Abel brings an animal sacrifice of the firstborn, while Cain the farmer offers fruits and vegetables. Abel’s is accepted and Cain’s is rejected. Why and why does it matter? Well, as to the why, there are two major theories I’ll look at. As to why it matters, we’ll get to that in a moment.

Theory of animal sacrifice
One of the prevailing theories of God’s rejection is that of Cain’s offering being unacceptable due to the fact that God required an animal sacrifice. While you will find no mention of instructions on sacrifice prior to Genesis 4, it is somewhat implied in Chapter 3 after the discovery of sin, Genesis 3:21 states, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” The use of animal skin as opposed to the fig leaves that they had, implies that animals were sacrificed to cover their sin. Now assuming Adam passed this information onto his sons, Cain would have known that animal sacrifice was required, and his fruit offering would be unacceptable. This, of course, would contribute to the obvious lack of faith referred to in Hebrews 11:4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts…. If Cain willfully disobeyed then his offering was rejected for obvious reasons.

Attitude Condition
The other major theory refers to Cain’s heart condition concerning his offering. The idea is that Cain offered his sacrifice with pride and arrogance that prohibited his offering from being accepted. Again, this would explain the Hebrews 11 reference, and also give insight to his fall again to sin later.

The Problem
The problem, at least from the perspective of proper worship, hinges on which of these is true. If Cain’s sin was one of attitude alone, then the gift was not the problem, meaning God would have accepted, and more importantly will accept, different types of offerings. If, however, Cain’s sin was that he offered the wrong type of offering, is it not conceivable that God requires from us a certain offering of worship? Now please hear me, I am in no way implying or referencing a style of worship is preferred by the Lord, but rather our worship itself. If God was so particular that He rejected Cain’s offering, and is the same yesterday, today, and forever, does He require a specific offering from us?

What’s Your Point?
I know, so where am I going with this. Too often the church today (that’s the people not the building) is passing more and more things off as acts of worship. Both our public and private worship is becoming increasingly more self-serving in its nature. I know that we are under grace as opposed to the law, but Jesus did not do away with the law, but rather fulfilled it. This is not dealing with sacrifice as a means of salvation, but rather worship. I do not intend this to set some new precedence in worship, but rather to challenge the true worshippers to evaluate their offerings in light of scripture. If we as worship leaders do not question ourselves, rest assured others will.