Acceptable

Genesis 4:2
... and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

Until this morning, I always wondered to myself, “What was wrong with Cain’s offering?”. Cain tilled the ground; he grew produce, and brought a portion of it to the Lord as a sacrifice.  How was that any different from what Abel did?  How is that any different from what we do today?

Even though the Bible doesn’t say how much Cain brought to the Lord, we always assume, in our interpretation, that it wasn’t enough, or else it wasn’t the firstfruits of his crop.  The truth, however, is that God’s rejection of Cain’s offering had absolutely nothing to do with the amount or quality that he brought; God’s rejection had nothing to do with Cain.  God’s rejection of the offering and the offerer had everything to do with where the offering came from.

When the fall occurred, that is, when man sinned, God cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17).  Cain could have brought his entire harvest to the Lord and He still would have found fault with it because it was borne out of a curse.  Abel’s offering, however, involved the shedding of blood.  In that, there is the remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

This is why Isaiah tells us that all of our righteousness are like filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6).  Our inability to fulfill the holy requirements of God’s perfect law makes it impossible for us to bring a sacrifice He can accept.  Our lack of perfection in living into God’s standards brings about the curse in our lives (Deuteronomy 28).  That being the case, anything we bring to God is brought out of a curse.  This puts our “offerings” in the same arena as Cain’s: unacceptable.

There is Good News, though!  Jesus became our curse when He died at Calvary.  He bore our iniquities, our infirmities, and all of our unrighteousness in His perfect body.  Since He redeemed us from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13), our offerings are no longer borne of curses and are therefore acceptable, by His blood, to God.

We are no longer tillers of the ground, that is to say, workers in what God has cursed.  We are now joint heirs to the throne of Heaven (Romans 8:17).  Everything that we bring to God, whether a monetary gift, a worship gift, or a sacrificial gift, is accepted, not because of our work, but by the finished work of Christ.  It is Jesus who sits at the right hand of God, living to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).  He marks all of our gifts and offerings with His perfection and makes everything we bring to God holy and acceptable.

Friends, don’t be worried that your offering isn’t going to be accepted by God.  Don’t be misled by fear and Lawyers (those who teach the Law) that you’re not bringing an acceptable sacrifice to God.  Those who are in Christ have brought the ultimate sacrifice to God: His Son.  When we remind God that our faith for redemption rests in the finished work of Jesus Christ we are accepted.  Furthermore, it is Jesus Himself who takes everything we bring, erases the imperfections, and presents it to God, perfect by Him from us!