Jump Start # 1200

Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

  Cain and Abel—brothers. Opposites. One honored God. One disobeyed God. The first murder in the world. The first human to die physically. The first funeral. There are layers of lessons about Cain and Abel. Abel heads the list of God’s hall of fame in Hebrews 11. And there is that mighty expression, “though he is dead, he still speaks.” He still speaks. He speaks about obedience and faith. He speaks about trusting the Lord. He speaks about doing what God says.

There are two thoughts to consider from this passage:

First, it says, “God testifying about his gifts.” It doesn’t say God testified about his character, but rather, his gifts. He offered to God an animal for sacrifice. This is what God wanted. That honored God. It was that gift, that sacrifice, that worship that God testified about. God was moved by that gift. God was impressed by that.

Doesn’t this remind us of how important our worship is to God? It was Abel’s worship that caught the eye of God. What happened long ago was brought up and mentioned by the Holy Spirit several times. It happened to Moses when he wrote Genesis. It happened again hundreds of years later when the book of Hebrews was written. The apostle John wrote about it. Jude wrote about it. God never forgot. He testified about this by telling the world for all generations. Abel was simply doing what he was supposed to do. Abel may never have thought that what he did was on that grand of a scale. It was to God.

We must be about honoring God by obeying Him as we worship. Being different, unique or pushing the envelope may be exciting to us, but it won’t catch God’s eyes like what Abel did. He simply did what God wanted. Reverent, devoted, sincere, humble, believing—those are the attributes that fill the heart of a worshipper of God. The center piece of worship is God. When that is changed, worship changes. Feelings take the place of obedience. Good times replace godliness. Pleasing the audience replaces honoring God. Abel got it right. God was impressed.

Second, he continues to speak though he is dead. This is true of most all of us. There are impressions, footprints, lessons and words that others will remember after we are gone. Most of us who have a parent that has past away can still remember many things that they said to us. There was a certain way that they wanted us to do things. Those thoughts are part of us now.

It is amazing how just doing what we ought to do, like Abel, can leave such a profound impression upon others. A person that was generous to you when you first started out on your own. A person that made you feel so special, when you realize you really weren’t. A person that shared their time and their heart with you when most didn’t pay you much mind. Those impressions, those lessons, they stay with us. These are the examples of Christianity in action that we remember and that prompts us to do the same. Bible doctrine is important. Those core beliefs define us and shape us, but it’s not doctrine that touches our hearts. It’s the kindness, the grace, the love, the goodness of others.

Earlier this year I had lunch with a preacher that has always been a big help to me. I grew up listening to him preach. He was a household hero in our home. As we ate, he pulled out a paper to show me. It was a crayon drawing of him preaching. One of my sons had drawn that more than twenty years ago. We had heard him preach and at the end of the service, my son gave that to him. I had long forgotten that. He didn’t. He kept it. All these years he had it. He presented it to me. I have since given it back to my son. He got a laugh at how terrible the drawing looked, but was amazed that all these years later, that preacher had kept it. Simple things like that, go a long way in expressing the love we have for one another.

My friend, who I wrote about yesterday, passed away. Her death touched my kids. They were young and grew up tasting the generosity, love and preciousness of this kind saint. She was a grandmother to them when we lived far away from their actual grandmothers. And what they remember is goodness, kindness and feeling so special by her. That’s the way JoAnn operated. She did that to everyone, not just the preacher’s kids. And now, though she is dead, she still speaks. The tributes are pouring in, many of them from young people who were influenced and helped by her. Never selfish. Never out of place. Never a loss for brightening up someone’s day. Her sparkle inside matched the sparkle on the outside. She was the original “bling-bling” queen. What she did, like Abel, was simply do what she was supposed to. Now she has left, but she will never leave all those hearts that she touched. Decades from now, if the Lord allows, some of these young people will remember, be touched and in their own ways model what she has done to them.

What a better kingdom this would be if all of us could do the same. Empty ourselves of self, and fill our time and our hearts with others. Make that small child feel like he is the most important person on earth. Lift the spirits up of that young preacher. Open your home to others. Be generous. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be thinking of what you can do for others. In this way, we all continue to speak, whether alive or dead. Generations from now, people will remember us. We may be that cranky old guy at church that they remember. We may be the one that they remembered that always looked mad or mean. Or, we may be the one that they remember that loved the Lord with all their heart. You may be the one, that generations later, someone still quotes, still imitates, still holds up as a model of what we should be like.

When Abel worshipped, God watched. When we worship, not only is God watching, but so are others. Filed away are impressions of you. We don’t think about it much at the time, but those impressions can make all the difference years later. I’m thankful that my kids were blessed to know godly servants, such as JoAnn, who made a lasting impression upon their hearts. They don’t realize, even now, at their ages, they are leaving impressions upon others around them. That’s just the way life works. Goodness is remembered and imitated. Badness scars and ruins.

Still speaking…that’s something to think about. You’ll be remembered at work by some. You’ll be remembered in the family by some. You’ll be remembered by those you worshipped with. Those impressions can be the very thing that keeps others going.

Still speaking…

Roger