To go fast go alone, to go far go together. - a popular Rwandan parable

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Leo Hamilton
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1 Ignite Men s Retreat 2011 To go fast go alone, to go far go together. - a popular Rwandan parable

2 Going far together is hard Genesis 4, The story of Cain & Abel

3 As men we struggle with all kinds of different things like the Man-Cold.

5 Or home ownership...

6 In Genesis not too long after we learn that we are made for meaning, made for relationship, we also encounter the first Man-Fight. (Read Genesis 4, the story of Cain & Abel)

7 The story of Cain & Abel Genesis 4

8 Cain & Abel s relationship begins on shaky ground. Unlike their parents their relationship begins East of Eden.

9 The Place: East of Eden = a broken world 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis

10 Living East of Eden is a constant theme in Genesis The first eleven chapters of Genesis depict a growing rebellion in the human community. Each story presents the reader with a new form of sin, and many such stories culminate in an act of dispersion. Adam and Eve are exiled to a place just east of Eden; Cain, in turn, must remove himself from the vicinity of Adam and Eve (a similar fate will greet the survivors of the flood); and the proud generation that set to work on the tower of Babel is dispersed across the face of the earth. Gary A. Anderson

11 To be East of Eden means Cain & Abel w i l l f a c e m a n y challenges in their relationship.

12 Today we face a host of challenges in our relationships, East of Eden : P R I D E INSECURITIES TIME T R U S T COMPATIBILITY vocational STATURE

13 In your notes write down some challenges or difficulties you have faced in a few of your relationships.

14 How can we face these challenges and overcome them?

15 One way is by getting into a Men s Fraternity Group

16 Cain & Abel faced more than just a challenge of place or situation, they faced tensions brought on by a difference in vocational stature.

Genesis 4.2-4 2 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.

17 Genesis Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.

18 Abel was a shepherd & Cain was a farmer vocational lifestyles that always encroached upon one another.

These two rival vocational lifestyles involved two ways of producing food that often come into conflict with one another [in the agrarian setting of the Ancient Near East].

19 These two rival vocational lifestyles involved two ways of producing food that often come into conflict with one another [in the agrarian setting of the Ancient Near East]. The inhabitants of Canaan were well-acquainted with this conflict, for semi-nomadic tribes with an economy dependent on sheep and goats often encroached on their farmland. - Donald E. Gowan

20 Cain & Abel s relationship in addition to facing situational and vocational challenges also faced the social realities of approval & rejection. What they did with their lives was measured.

21 Aren t these similar to the challenges we face in our relationships... WHERE WE LIVE CAN DEFINE OUR SOCIAL RHYTHMS WHAT WE DO AND MAKE CAN DEFINE OUR PERCEIVED COMPATIBILITIES WHO GIVES US ATTENTION CAN DETERMINE WHO WE DECIDE TO TRUST

22 A L L O F T H E S E CHALLENGES CAN BRING INTO OUR R E L A T I O N S H I P S QUESTIONS THAT AT T I M E S G E T L E F T UNANSWERED.

23 The story of Cain & Abel s relationship is a l s o f i l l e d w i t h questions that don t necessarily get answered.

24 4b The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, Let s go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? I don t know, he replied. Am I my brother s keeper? Genesis 4.4b-9

A few of the many questions left less than answered in this story Why had one brother s sacrifice been favored by God and the other s not - are not all offerings acceptable to God?

25 A few of the many questions left less than answered in this story Why had one brother s sacrifice been favored by God and the other s not - are not all offerings acceptable to God? And what was it that lead Cain to murder Abel - should not his anger have been directed against God rather than his innocent sibling? How was the murder accomplished, and with what weapon? And what was the real nature of Cain s punishment? - James L. Kugel

26 Why did Cain murder Abel?

27 The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. Genesis 4.4b-7

John H. Sailhamer The author s purpose is apparently to use the story of Cain and Abel to teach a lesson on the kind of worship that is pleasing to God.

28 John H. Sailhamer The author s purpose is apparently to use the story of Cain and Abel to teach a lesson on the kind of worship that is pleasing to God. Worship that pleases God is that which springs from a pure heart. How does the story teach a lesson about a pure heart? It does so by allowing the reader to see, behind the scenes, the response of Cain to God s rejection. In that response, we see the heart that lay behind the unacceptable offering...

29 Behind divided worship lies a broken man 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his b r o t h e r s w e r e righteous. 1 John 3.12

30 We are all BROKEN MEN

31 The two greatest barriers we face in going far in life together are: Our broken sinful state & Our divided worship: God and self

32 How can we get beyond these barriers so we can live meaningful lives together? (NEXT SESSION: Cain & Abel is not the only male relationship in Scripture)

33 Going far in life means going to the CROSS Philippians , special emphasis 6-11

34 Ignite Men s Retreat 2011 To go fast go alone, to go far go together. - a popular Rwandan parable

Bible Story 3-High School CAIN & ABEL GENESIS 4:1-17

Bible Study Name: Bible Story 3-High School CAIN & ABEL GENESIS 4:1-17 MEMORY VERSE: "And Yahweh had respect to Abel and to his offering: but to Cain and to his offering: but to Cain and to his offering