Text: 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).

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate that God really takes seriously the attitudes by which our service is rendered.

In some films (The Godfather series, for example) it is clear that the members of the Mafia are not atheists. At least they go through the motions of their religion.

Do you think there is a temptation for all of us to be "Mafia-like" in the way we use religion?

It seems that such has been true from the beginning of time.

I. God does not look primarily on what we give, but on what we are.

We ask a great many questions about why one sacrifice was superior to the other. (In the letter to the Hebrews, the Greek word can be translated "better" or "greater.")

Were animal sacrifices more acceptable to God than the produce of the field?

Some Jewish commentators believe that they were.

Gunkel suggested that God prefers shepherds to gardeners. Would you agree? (see Genesis 2:8, 15).

Were animal sacrifices more expensive or more valuable and therefore more acceptable?

We should not look on the gifts but on the givers.

The Old Testament context makes this clear (Genesis 4:6-7). Cain's attitude toward God was sinful.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).

In effect, God pleaded with Cain to repent, to change his attitude, and not to fall victim to sin. Cain offered his gifts, but apparently with an evil heart.

If Cain gets mastery over the sin in his heart that threatens to destroy him, then God will accept his sacrifice as readily as He accepted Abel's.

The emphasis in Hebrews 11:4 is on Abel's faith.

The prophets insisted that sacrifice is acceptable to God, not for its material content, but as an expression of a devoted and obedient heart.

Abel's blood in Genesis is a cry for righteous vindication that he will receive in the judgment to come, but the blood of Jesus makes a far better cry for forgiveness (Hebrews 12:24 – to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel).

It is that faith that testifies to us across the centuries. Even after death, Abel encourages people to seek the Lord's approval by their faith and not only their gifts.