Acceptable Worship: It smells like victory

For as long as men have been telling stories and putting them on the silver screen, one subject has been prominent—war: Spartacus, The Patriot, Saving Private Ryan—to name a few. Their structure is easily recognizable, the lines of engagement clearly defined. There are the good guys and the bad guys; allies and enemies. The good guys win in the end. But not all war blockbusters follow this normal pattern like Apocalypse Now. Victory was defined with a strange line:

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

It pleased the Lieutenant—the smell of gasoline. It meant that the enemy was vanquished, victory won. But the movie was based on a premise where the line of engagement was not as simple as victory and defeat, good guy-bad guy, but rather, brother against brother. A special-opts seal team had to go into the deepest, darkest jungles of Cambodia to take out one of their own—a special-opts member gone rogue. One of their own was the enemy. The battle lines were ambiguous. And ambiguity does not work well in war—nor in worship. It didn’t for two brothers—Cain and Abel—in their worship war. Only one was acceptable to God.

We need to know what is acceptable to God when it comes to worship so we won’t commit atrocities at odds with God. We see such a war in The Seed: The Greatest Story Ever Told.

What is acceptable worship in the eyes of God?

We will see in the first worship recorded in the Bible in Genesis 4 (and in other passages) what is acceptable worship with God. It will surprise you. There is no praise team, no fiery prayers, no hooping preaching. First, you need to have faith in God’s righteousness to live a righteous lifestyle to have acceptable worship. Second, you need to have faith to recognize the dangers of an unrighteous lifestyle that demonstrates worship unacceptable to God. Finally, you need faith in God’s grace that leads to forgiveness demonstrated in His acceptable worship. In the war of worship, the battle lines are clear. Worship is not just about praise, prayer and preaching. It’s honoring God with a lifestyle, not just a style, that moves God to say,

“It smells like victory.”

First, have faith in God’s righteousness to live a righteous lifestyle so that it is an acceptable worship to God. Abel’s worship was acceptable to God over his brother Cain’s.

3So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering (minchah) to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering… Gen. 4:3-4

Why was Abel’s worship acceptable? First you must understand why worship is the context of this passage. The first mention of worship in the bible is in Genesis 22: 5 when Abraham took his son Isaac up the mountain to make an offering:

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship (shachah) and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together. Gen. 22:5

Wherever offering is mentioned in the bible, there is worship. The first mention of offering is here, in Genesis 4, where these two brothers—Cain and Abel—went to war—worship war. Cain, a farmer, brought his worship offering—fruit from the ground. Abel, a shepherd, brought from the flock—an animal sacrifice. The acceptability by God was not about what was given, but how. Faith was the difference according to Hebrew 11:4:

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. Heb.11:4

Worship is about pleasing God. And pleasing God is about faith because without faith it is impossible to please God according to the Hebrews 11:6. And faith that pleases God is about living right. In four places, the scripture bears record that “the just or righteous shall live by faith”—Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:30. The primary citation is Habakkuk 2:4:

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4

God credits to us righteousness, not of our doing, but His righteousness through His Son-Seed promised in Gen. 3:15 in the greatest story ever told. Our faith in God and His Son is our righteousness. It should translate in how we live, what’s in our heart.

The bible doesn’t say what Abel did in his lifestyle to please God, but his lifestyle was not silent. It outlived him. It spoke from the grave. Will your lifestyle outlive you, be a testimony of your faith? Will it be acceptable like the lifestyle of the Glen Lake Minnesota Elementary School fifth graders who recognized that their playground was not accessible to many of their classmates who were physical disabled. So, they raised $300,000 to make it accessible. That kind of right living is faith living—acceptable worship to God.

Church, how is your lifestyle? Is it right with God? Being in concert with God’s love for your brother on a Monday supersedes whatever your praise and worship team does on Sunday.

Ephesian 5:2 says when we walk in love as Christ, the Seed, loved us, we are a sweet aroma to God.

In the war of worship, the battle lines are clear. Worship is not just about praise, prayer and preaching. It’s honoring God—by faith—with a righteous lifestyle. That’s acceptable worship. It has an aroma. It smells like victory to God.

Second, have faith to recognize the dangers of an unrighteous lifestyle that demonstrates worship unacceptable to God. Cain—a tiller of the soil, a presenter of the first fruit of the ground—failed to recognize the dangers of his unrighteous lifestyle—sin—seen in his response to God’s rejection of his offering. It wasn’t what he offered to God; it was how he lived that made his worship unpleasing to the Lord.

5but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7"If you do well, will not [your countenance] be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." 8Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Gen. 4:5-8

Cain’s lack of faith lifestyle to “do well” can be clearly seen in his reaction to God’s rejection. Opportunistic sin was at his door. It took advantage of that lack of faith to do right. Sin mastered him.

Anger mastered Cain. Cain was angry with God. In that anger Cain was saying to God, “I don’t believe you. How dare you say no to me I’m wrong.” It’s the same thing the Satan said to Eve. When you are angry with God you are saying likewise: “You are wrong, God.” And a wrong God is no god at all. How can you take my loved one? How can you deny me that promotion? How can you allow this illness?” The point is: Anger against God is a lack of faith.

Jealousy mastered Cain. He was envious of God’s favor of his brother Abel, that the blessing he received was due to him. Like anger, jealousy is statement of a lack of faith, that God got this blessing wrong. “I deserve this, not him.” It was written all over Cain’s face. This coveting—wanting what another has—can lead to doing whatever you must do to get what another has. That is why “NC” (no coveting) made God’s Commandgram—His Ten Commandments message that some things are not pleasing to God and detrimental to man’s relationship with Him.

Finally, disobedience mastered Cain. God clearly warned Cain that the opportunity to sin was present, crouching like a roaring lion, positioned to seize the moment of Cain “not doing well.” Cain submitted to what he was feeling. The anger against his brother overwhelmed him. So, he intentionally lured Abel out into the field and killed him. Cain’s lack of faith was evident in his disregard for God’s warning of opportunistic sin. In doing so, Cain had no regard for his brother’s life either.

It was then, that God asked the reflective question that needed to be asked at this dramatic point of the story:

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. Gen.4:9

It wasn’t that God didn’t know where Abel was, but rather God wanted Cain to reflect on a deeper question. Like God asked Adam in the garden, “Where are you?” when Adam let sin master him, God was asking a relationship question: “Where are you, Cain, with your brother? That is significant because so goes your relationship with your brother, so goes your relationship with God. It reflects the two greatest laws of the galaxy, according to Christ: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. You can’t have one without the other.

Our lack of faith in God to do the right thing and obey God’s command reflects a sin-mastered lifestyle—a worship unacceptable.

God is asking you today: “What is your relationship with your brother? I cannot accept your worship if your relationship is not right with your brother.”

In the courtroom—does your lifestyle represent justice for your brothers? As the first worship was about honoring God by honoring your brother fairly, the second question arising from the Cain and Abel war is one to be asked— “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Currently America leads the world in keeping his brother behind bars to the tune of 4.6 million. That means the US holds 21.0% of the world's prisoners, even though the US represented only 4.4 % of the world's population. Is that acceptable worship—over incarceration?

In the boardroom—does your lifestyle represent equity for your brother? Can we price drugs to maximize profit or price them so everyone can afford them? Recently, one “Big Pharma” brought the rights to a diabetes drug and raised the price from $800 for a 90-day supply to over $10,000. Is that acceptable worship—profit over people?

Closer to home, at the border crossings, does our lifestyle represent compassion for our brother? The first thing out of many mouths is border security. The first thing out of fewer mouths is compassionate immigration reform. Both are possible at the same time if we are so inclined. Let me ask you another question: What was the first reaction of the good Samaritan—take his brother to the nearest shelter or put him on a bus and ship him across the country? What was the first action of Mary and Joseph to give their young Seed-son a hope and a future—cross the desert and migrate to Egypt or abandon their faith that God will provide and remain in dangerous Palestine?

All those questions are embedded in Cain’s response: Am I my brother’s keeper?

Church, the answer is yes. The blood of your brother cries out from the ground: Are you my keeper or my killer? Is your lifestyle acceptable worship or an opportunity for sin because of a lack of faith. Worship is not just about praise, prayer and preaching. It’s honoring God with a lifestyle, not just a style that moves God to say, “It smells like victory over crouching sin.

Finally, have faith in God’s grace that leads to forgiveness demonstrated in His acceptable worship. God punished Cain for his unrighteous lifestyle—anger, envy, murder. But God also provided Cain grace—an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.

13 Then Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure! 14 Look! You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

God gave Cain a mark of grace, a sign of forgiveness, of God accepting his repentance. God’s worship has always been a place of grace marked by the blood. Like the mark of blood of the Passover, like the mark of the blood on the cross, so is the mark of grace at the Table. It is at the Table where God asks you: Where is the Cain in you?

• At the table of grace, your anger—the Cain in you—is covered by the mark of the blood. You are forgiven.

• At the table of grace, your jealousy—the Cain in you—is covered by the mark of blood. You are forgiven.

• At the table of grace, your disobedience—the Cain in you—is covered by the mark of the blood. You are forgiven.

As God has forgiven you, bring that spirit of forgiveness to the table for your brother so your worship will be acceptable to God according to Matthew 5:24. Before you break bread and partake of the cup of forgiveness, go and reconcile with your Cain.

Church, have faith in God’s grace that leads to forgiveness demonstrated at His Table—His acceptable worship. Make grace a part of your worship so it will be an acceptable worship.

CONCLUSION

Worship that is acceptable to God requires faith in God’s righteousness to live a righteous lifestyle. Second have faith to listen to God’s warning that an unfaithful lifestyle—mastered by sin is unacceptable as worship. And finally, have faith in God’s grace that leads to forgiveness demonstrated in His acceptable worship.

In the war of worship, the battle lines are clear. Worship is not just about praise, prayer and preaching. Our acceptable worship is the Seed promised in Genesis 3:15 in—The Seed: The Greatest Story Ever Told. Make this story your story as a Son of the Seed. Worship is more than praise, preaching and prayer. It is first honoring God with a lifestyle, not just a style, -- not mastered by sin -- that moves God to say, “It smells like victory.”