By the grace of God, what we shall be talking about today is “IF YOU DO WELL.” Last week, we talked about “TAKE IT OFF”

Doing well is where many people are lacking behind today, but yet we still want to be accepted in the midst of not doing well. We want gifts and accolades for not doing well. Sometimes we put on the spirit of Cain, bringing a deficient attitude before the Lord, but yet we want God to receive us. But be cheerful, for God will make this message to be a blessing to you and me this morning.

By the grace of God, we will focus more on the offering of Cain and Abel and most especially Cain.

The book of Genesis did not explain how the practice of sacrificial worship began. However, the first readers of the book understood it well because they had been instructed in full by God through Moses what it meant to give sacrificially.

And some people also assume that Cain’s sacrifice of fruit was deficient because it did not involve the shedding of blood, which God required for forgiveness of sins, but nothing in this chapter indicates Cain and Abel came to God for forgiveness.

In other words, their sacrifices were acts of worship. In the later sacrificial system of Israel, God blessed the presentation of grain offerings alongside the sacrifices of animals as we see in Leviticus 6:14-23.

A farmer presented a portion of his produce just as a herdsman presented a sample of his flock. So that said, the reason for the acceptance of Abel’s offering and the rejection of Cain’s offering is not because of the lack of animal in what Cain brought before the Lord.

And this is where obeisance stepped in. As we all know, our God is not a sufferer, a hungry God, a God who depends on us before He could survive, but He is the God and the owner of cattle on a thousand hills, which literally means that what God was looking forward to was not vividly a blood sacrifice of animal at this point but rather wants these two folks to be obedient enough to bring what is worthy before Him.

On a good day, even in this world we find ourselves, no one goes before the king without being ready to pay obeisance as soon as he entered the palace, let alone when he sees the king face to face with your quality gifts in your hands, right?

You do not go before the king battered, with rags, without being in your best clothing and also your best behavior because the presence of the one you are going to is not an ordinary presence.

And even much more than that was the expectation God was looking forward to receiving from Cain. God expected him to understand much better that he could not come before Him with the worst choices of sacrifice to Him, and no wonder God told him he did not do well.

He did not do well because he did not acknowledge enough to bring along the best of what he has to the Lord God Almighty.

Our God is not a dirty God and not a begging God. He is rich in mercy, rich in resources, and He owns it all. So it is lack of respect when we bring crumbs, deficient worship, deficient praise, deficient heart, deficient offering and gifts to the Lord.

Beloved, what we present and how we present ourselves before the Lord really matters a lot, really goes a long way, could give us a quicker response to our supplications and prayer. Hence the reason we must learn what it means to show obeisance to God in all that we do so that we won’t end up as Cain.

Cain’s sacrifice was deficient because Cain did not do well and not because the sacrifice was the fruit of the ground. However, Abel’s sacrifice was the best that he had to offer, the firstborn and their fat.

So there were no descriptive words for Cain’s sacrifice. That is, Cain brought a token of his produce to the Lord, but Abel brought the very best, and God respected or looked with favor first upon the person, then on the sacrifice.

No wonder the Bible says in 1 Samuel 2:30: “Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.'” 

God doesn’t acknowledge tokens but can only acknowledge a token if that is what you’re worth, but we cannot be comfortable dishonoring God by bringing leftovers of praise into His presence. Some will do a big party honoring the devil but will come with a 10-minute thanksgiving before the Lord. That is not what God is asking for, beloved.

We must know that whenever we want to call the name of Jesus, give praise, worship the Lord and the like, we are in other words coming into the palace of the King of all kings. We must not come unprepared. We must not come with disrespect. We must not come with a deficient heart of praise and worship, but rather put on our best appearance of praise and thanksgiving.

Let God know that you are there with the best choices of gift to eulogize, to bless, to show your obeisance, and see Him accepting your sacrifice like that of Abel.

Just like Jesus did to the widow with two mites who was recognized above the rest who were dipping into their pockets and giving from what they have.

Many are not doing well today. We don’t know we are in the presence of the Master of the Universe. That is why we do what we like. We act like Jesus is not in His church. We talk like we do not care that we are in God’s presence. We behave like Cain when God asked for our time, for our praise, for our thanksgiving, and whatnot.

Our attitude says it all. We have this deficiency in attitude towards our Maker, but this is the twist: in the midst of all these, we still expect God to accept us and our sacrifice. That is disrespect right there.

If we do not give Him the best, how do we expect to receive the best from the One who, through our disrespect, we could not give Him the best?

If you do well, will you not be accepted? So let us do well, so that we can be accepted. Let us give the best of praise when we are coming into His presence. Come with a heart that is ready to receive. When we are coming into His presence, come in your best behavior and attitude so that God may accept you efficiently and not in deficiency.