Flee From The Way Of Cain!

Don’t give God what you choose to give; give Him what He asks you to give. Sometimes we say we have surrendered everything to God, but in reality, we have only surrendered what we were comfortable giving Him.

The story of Cain and Abel is not simply the story of two brothers who lived thousands of years ago. It is a story about the human heart—and about a path that can begin with something as small as disappointment and, if left unchecked, lead somewhere devastating.

Today, as we reflect on “Cain’s Way,” we are going to look beyond the murder of Abel and examine the journey that led Cain there. Because sometimes the greatest danger is not the action we eventually take, but the small decision we make beforehand—to hold onto the hurt, nurture the resentment, and refuse to surrender our hearts to God.

When Worship Is Offered Without Surrender

Jude 11

“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain…”

Cain Was More Than a Murderer.

When we hear the name Cain, our minds immediately go to one thing: murder. Cain killed his brother Abel.

But Scripture does not describe Cain merely as a murderer. Jude gives us something much deeper: “They have gone in the way of Cain.”

That means Cain represents a way.

A path.A pattern.A spiritual direction and a lifestyle.

Cain's greatest problem did not begin when he picked up the weapon to kill his brother.

It began much earlier—at the altar.

Before Cain became a murderer in the field, something had already gone wrong in his heart.

His hands eventually revealed what his heart had been cultivating.

And that is the warning of Cain:

You can be around God, bring something to God, speak about God, and yet be walking away from God.

Cain's example teaches us that the greatest danger is not always rebellion that looks rebellious.

The most dangerous rebellion is the form of religion without surrender.

The deeper question is:

‘Am I beginning to walk Cain’s way?’

And if we are, God's warning also reminds us that there is still a choice—to turn, to surrender, and to choose another way.

Can we look into this subject more closely?

1. THE WAY OF CAIN BEGINS WITH AN ALTAR

Genesis 4 tells us that both Cain and Abel brought offerings to God.

This is important. Cain was not an atheist. Cain believed in God.

Cain brought an offering.

Genesis 4:3–5 says:

“Cain brought off the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought…”

God accepted Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.

God did not merely accept the offering. He examined the giver.

That principle runs throughout Scripture.

God is not primarily looking at what is in your hand.

He is looking at what is in your heart.

Both have offered to God. But their offerings came from two different spiritual conditions.

Hebrews 11:4 tells us:

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…”

The difference was faith. Cain brought an offering. Abel brought an offering by faith.

God is not impressed by religious activity when the heart remains surrendered to self.

You can sing and still be bitter.

You can preach and still be proud.

You can give and still be greedy.

You can attend church and still refuse God's correction.

You can lift your hands while your heart refuses to bow.

Cain was rejected at the altar, but the deeper issue was not what Cain placed on the altar—it was what Cain carried in his heart.

And when Cain's offering was not accepted, his disappointment revealed what was already inside him. God warned him, “Sin is crouching at the door.” Cain had a choice: he could deal with his heart, or he could allow his heart to deal with him.

What is your response in heart when somebody else is blessed?

What is your response in heart when somebody else is chosen?

How do we react when our sacrifice goes unnoticed?

What happens when God says ‘wait’ instead of ‘yes’?

Because sometimes the real test isn't what we do when God accepts our offering. The real test is who we become when God doesn't respond the way we wanted.

In 1 Samuel 15:15, we read “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

Jesus said in Matthew 15:8:

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

-God looks at the heart

“The LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

-An offering can be right outwardly but wrong inwardly

Jesus gave a similar warning about religious giving.

“Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” (Matthew 6:1)

The action may look spiritual, but the motivation can be wrong.

Isaiah — Worship with hands full but hearts far away.

Isaiah 1:11–17

Israel was bringing sacrifices, offerings, incense, and observing religious gatherings. Outwardly, there was plenty of worship.

But God says:

“I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and of lambs…”

Why?

Because their lives contradicted their worship. God tells them to stop doing evil, seek justice, correct oppression, and care for the vulnerable.

Their hands were full of sacrifices, but their hearts and lives were not surrendered to God.

David — God wants truth in the inward being.

Psalm 51:16–17

After David's sin with Bathsheba, he said as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

“For you do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it…”

David understood that he couldn't simply bring a sacrifice to God and carry on unchanged.

He continues:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart…”

The physical sacrifice wasn't the substitute for repentance.

“For you do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it…”

David understood that he couldn't simply bring a sacrifice to God and carry on unchanged.

He continues:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart…”

The physical sacrifice wasn't the substitute for repentance.

Cain's greatest problem was what happened after the rejection.

This is where the story becomes very deep.

God says to Cain:

“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” (Genesis 4:6).

God was giving Cain an opportunity to examine himself.

Then He says:

“If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:7).

But Cain allowed disappointment to become anger, anger to become jealousy, and jealousy eventually became murder.

God even warned him:

“Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7).

The problem was that Cain was allowing anger to remain in his heart.

He was feeding what God told him to master.

Sometimes God allows us to experience disappointment because what comes out of us in disappointment reveals what is already inside us.

-Compare Cain with Abel.

Hebrews gives us another important reference:

“By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.” (Hebrews 11:4).

“faith is the substance (confidence) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

The issue wasn't merely that Abel brought something and Cain brought something else. Abel's offering came from faith.

This connects with what we read in Hebrews 11:6.

“Without faith it is impossible to please him.”

We can give God our time without faith.

We can serve without faith.

We can sing without faith.

We can preach without faith.

We can give financially without faith.

But God wants the heart that trusts Him.

The altar is the place of surrender.

In the ancient Temple of Israel, an altar (mizbeah) was a sacred raised structure used for making animal and grain sacrifices, burning incense, and offering prayers to God. It acted as the physical meeting point between the holy divine and humanity.

Paul writes:

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1).

The ultimate offering is not simply:

'Lord, here's what I have.’

It's:

‘Lord, here I am.’

THE WAY OF CAIN WANTS THE BLESSING WITHOUT BROKENNESS.

Cain wanted God's acceptance. But he did not want God's correction.

This is a profound contradiction.

We want God to bless us. But we don't always want Him to break us.

Jesus said:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)/Luke 9:23/ Mark 8:34/Luke 14:27/Matthew 10:38).

2. THE WAY OF CAIN IS GIVING GOD WHAT YOU CHOOSE.

Religiosity is a deception. God is not looking for religious people but He is looking for spiritual people.

Religiosity is external but spirituality is internal.

Religiosity is all about doing the rituals externally but spirituality is about the life we are living privately.

We can be good externally according to the commandments of God to impress people around us, at the same time living an evil life privately in thoughts and motives when no one is watching us.

We read in Genesis 4:4-5,

“And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.”

Notice the order: God accepted Abel, and then his offering; God rejected Cain, and then his offering.

That tells us something profound: God was looking at the person before He looked at the offering.

1. God rejected Cain—and therefore rejected his offering.

Genesis doesn't simply say, ‘Cain brought the wrong offering.’

It says:

“Unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.”

The rejection begins with Cain himself, and then extends to his offering.

This is important because Cain could not separate his worship from his character.

He brought something to God, but his heart was not right before God.

Later, God said to Cain:

“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” — Genesis 4:7

God was giving Cain an opportunity to correct the problem.

The issue wasn't merely the physical gift.

God wanted Cain himself.

2. Abel was accepted—and then his offering

Hebrews gives us additional insight:

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain...” (Hebrews 11:4)

This tells us something Genesis doesn't explicitly say:

Abel's offering was offered in faith.

Abel wasn't simply performing a religious ceremony.

He believed in God.

He trusted God.

He approached God according to faith.

Cain brought “the fruit of the ground.”

Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and the fat thereof.

There is intentionality in Abel's offering.

He gives God the best.

Cain appears to give God something from what he produced.

This exposes another danger:

We can attempt to worship God on our own terms.

Cain may have said, in effect:

“This is what I have decided to give God.”

But a true worshiper asks:

‘Lord, what do You desire?’

There is a difference between offering God something and offering God what God requires.

DON’T GIVE GOD YOUR LEFTOVERS

Malachi 1:8

“When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty."

Many people want a God they can worship without obeying.

They want forgiveness without repentance.

Blessing without submission. 

Promises without obedience.

Heaven without holiness.

A crown without a cross.

But God does not negotiate His Lordship.

Don’t Give God What You Choose

Sometimes we say we have surrendered everything to God, but in reality, we have only surrendered what we were comfortable giving Him. We give Him our Sundays, our prayers when we are in trouble, and the parts of our lives that don’t interfere with our plans. But God is not asking for the pieces we choose to hand over—He desires our whole heart.

Don’t give God what you choose; give God what He asks.

True surrender means allowing God to have a say in our relationships, our ambitions, our finances, our time, our dreams, and even the things we are afraid to let go of. It means trusting Him when His direction doesn't match our preference. Sometimes God will ask us to release something we love, change a direction we had planned, forgive someone we wanted to hold against, or wait when we desperately want to move forward.

The difficult part of surrender is that we often want God to bless our decisions rather than allowing Him to direct them.

Our attitude is ‘God, bless what I have decided.’

Genesis 19:17-18

Abraham asked God to bless Ishmael rather than believing in God’s promises of a son through his own wife Sarah.

In Genesis 15 God promised him an heir.

In Genesis 16, we see Abraham taking another step listening to Sarah which was not God’s way. Ishmael was born out of their own plans.

But a true surrender says, ‘God, I will follow what You have decided.’

Jesus demonstrated this kind of surrender in the garden when He prayed, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” That is the heart of true surrender. It is not about getting God to agree with our plans; it is about trusting God enough to place our plans in His hands.

God does not want leftovers. He doesn't want a carefully selected portion of our obedience while we keep control of everything else.

He wants our trust, our obedience, and our willingness to say, ‘Lord, whatever You ask of me, I am willing.’

Because sometimes the very thing we refuse to surrender is the thing standing between us and what God wants to do in our lives.

So today, ask yourself:

Am I giving God what He wants, or only what I am willing to give?

Surrender is not losing control—it is finally trusting the One who knows where your life is meant to go.

2 Corinthians 9:7

"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (ESV)

In the King James Version, it reads: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

When we are in a true relationship we will initiate the other person to ask us what he likes rather than we give whatever we like.

Ananias & Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11

Notice, all who were giving there were giving all that they had. In other words, they gave in full. Ananias pretended that he was giving all in full, whereas, he was holding back a portion for himself. It was hypocrisy. 

There is a difference between giving God something and surrendering everything to God.

Many of us have learned how to give God what we choose. We give Him our time when it is convenient. We give Him our finances when we have enough left over. We give Him our obedience when His instructions agree with our plans.

Abraham Shows Us What Surrender Looks Like.

Genesis 22:1-18

Consider Abraham.

God asked Abraham to offer Isaac.

Isaac was not just a son.

Isaac represented the promise God had given Abraham.

Yet Abraham was willing to place even the promise back into God's hands.

God ultimately provided a ram, but Abraham had already demonstrated something profound:

He was willing to give God what was most precious to him.

Sometimes God tests us, not because He needs what we have, but because He wants to reveal whether what we have has become more important to us than Him.

There is nothing wrong with loving your family.

There is nothing wrong with having ambitions.

There is nothing wrong with having possessions.

There is nothing wrong with having dreams.

But none of those things should become our god.

We must be able to say:

‘Lord, everything I have belongs to You.’

Nadab and Abihu — worshipping God their own way.

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu offered ‘strange fire’ before the LORD—something He had not commanded them to offer.

They were priests. They were serving in God's tabernacle. They were offering something religious.

But they introduced their own choice into something God had specifically instructed.

The problem wasn't that they offered nothing to God. The problem was that they gave God something He had not asked for.

That is a powerful distinction.

Doing God's Work God's Way Requires God's Power.

Jesus told His disciples:

“Without me you can do nothing.” ( John 15:5).

We cannot accomplish spiritual work using merely natural strength.

The work of God requires the power of God.

The early church did not begin with clever marketing.

It began with prayer.

They waited for the Holy Spirit.

Then they preached Christ.

Acts 1–2

The church grew because God's people worked in dependence upon God.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD.” ( Zechariah 4:6)

We need God's methods because we need God's power.

Jesus Did the Father's Work the Father's Way.

Jesus is our greatest example.

He said:

“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” (John 4:34).

Jesus didn't simply come to accomplish a good mission.

He came to do the Father's will.

In Gethsemane, He prayed:

“Not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

God's Way May Be Slower, But It Is Safer

Good Intentions Do Not Make Disobedience Right.

David and the ark — a good intention, wrong method

2 Samuel 6:1–7; 1 Chronicles 15:11–15. 

David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem. His intention was good. But the Ark was transported on a new cart, rather than being carried according to God's instructions. 

When Uzzah reached out to steady it, he died.

Later David recognized that they had not handled the Ark according to God's prescribed order.

A good intention does not automatically make an act acceptable to God.

We can sincerely say:

‘But I was doing it for God!’

The biblical question remains:

‘Was I doing it God's way?’

David had not followed God's prescribed way of carrying the Ark.

The Ark was not supposed to be transported on a cart.

It was to be carried by the appointed Levites using the poles provided for that purpose.

David had the right object.

He had the right destination.

He had the right enthusiasm.

But he did not have the right method.

There is a lesson here for the church.

We cannot simply say:

‘The work is for God, therefore any method must be acceptable.’

God cares about the way His work is done.

David Borrowed a Method from the World

The Philistines had previously transported the Ark on a new cart.

1 Samuel 6:7–8

Is it God's way?”

Not everything that produces a crowd produces God's presence.

Not everything that is popular is biblical.

Not everything that appears successful is pleasing to God.

The Danger of Selective Obedience

Saul did not completely reject God.

That is what makes his story so dangerous.

He obeyed partially.

And partial obedience can be more deceptive than open rebellion because we can convince ourselves that we are doing well. 

We can point to the things we have obeyed while ignoring the things we have refused.

We might say:

‘Look what I have done for God.’

But God may be asking:

‘Have you done what I have asked you to do?’

God told Moses to speak to the rock.

Numbers 20:7-8

But Moses became frustrated with the people.

Instead of speaking to the rock as God commanded, Moses struck it twice.

Water still came out.

Think about that.

It worked.

The people got water.

The immediate result looked successful.

But God was displeased with Moses' disobedience.

This teaches us something profound:

A result does not automatically prove that God approved the method.

The rich young ruler — giving God what costs us least

Mark 10:17–22

The young man had kept many commandments and came asking Jesus what he needed to do.

Jesus told him to sell what he had, give to the poor, and follow Him.

He went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.

This illustrates the difference between:

‘What am I willing to give God?’

and

‘What does God want from me?’

Micah 6:8

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’.

God Wants More Than Our Sacrifice—He Wants Our Hearts

Romans 12:1 calls us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

God is not merely interested in what we put on the altar.

He wants us to become the sacrifice.

He wants our minds, hearts, decisions, relationships, finances, private lives, public lives, ambitions.

He wants all of us.

The danger is not that we give God too much.

The danger is that we give Him only what we are comfortable giving.

CAIN'S GREATEST LOSS WAS NOT HIS HOME — IT WAS GOD'S PRESENCE 

Imagine having a mobile phone with every feature you need.

Camera.Internet.Apps.Storage.

But no signal.

You have a powerful device, but you have lost connection.

Some Christians are trying to preserve the benefits of Christianity while losing connection with Christ.

They want:

God's blessing without God's presence.

God's promises without God's lordship.

God's gifts without God's government.

God's power without God's holiness.

But Christianity is not primarily about receiving things from God.

It is about knowing God.

TWO WAYS STAND BEFORE US TO CHOOSE BETWEEN!

The Bible gives us a contrast.

There is the way of Cain.

And there is the way of Christ.

Which way would you choose? 

By Pastor Renji George

Scriptures: 1 Chronicles 15:11, 1 Chronicles 15:11-15, 1 John 3:11-12, 1 Samuel 15:15, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Samuel 6:7, 2 Corinthians 9:7, 2 Samuel 6:1, 2 Samuel 6:1-7, Acts 1, Acts 5:1-11, Genesis 15, Genesis 16, Genesis 17:17-18, Genesis 19:17-18, Genesis 22:1-18, Genesis 4:16, Genesis 4:3, Genesis 4:6, Genesis 4:7, Genesis 4:1-16, Genesis 4:4-5, Genesis 4, Hebrews 11:4, Hebrews 11:6, Isaiah 1:11, Isaiah 1:11-17, John 15:5, John 4:34, Jude 1:11, Jude 11, Leviticus 10:1, Leviticus 10:1-3, Luke 14:27, Luke 22:42, Luke 9:23, Malachi 1:8, Mark 10:17, Mark 8:34, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 15:8, Matthew 16:24, Matthew 6:1, Micah 6:8, Numbers 20:7-8, Proverbs 14:12, Psalm 51:16, Psalms 51:16-17, Romans 12:1, Zechariah 4:6

Sermon Topics: Cain, Abel's Offering, First Brothers, Cain's Religion, Cain's Worship, First Worship