Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Welcome to The Bible Guys. I’m just making stuff up. Wow. Yeah. Hey, my name is Chris. This is Jeff. And we want to welcome you, whether you’re joining us on a Tuesday or you’re back watching and binging. There you go. Yes. Or, you know, just back listening.

Jeff:
Just hoping Chris would sing to us this morning.

Chris:
Well, I made that up. It could be our new jingle to everything. I don’t think so. Okay. Well, hey, today we’re opening up with a segment called Mailbags. There you go. Mailbags! Mailbags! And today, Jason R. writes in, and Jason R. says this, we’ve seen both your musical sides. So my question is, if you started a band with five of your closest friends, What would the band’s name be? And what kind of songs would you sing? That is such an interesting question. Wow. First of all, thank you, Jason. Yeah.

Jeff:
Jason for caring. Well, I wonder what kind of band, what kind of band would we have?

Chris:
Yeah. First of all, five closest friends. Holy cow. Like, would you do like a rock band? Uh, I, I don’t know.

Jeff:
You’re probably a pop band. I mean, you’re a Taylor Swift fan.

Chris:
Okay, listen, that’s the thing that you remember because that’s the thing you want to make fun of me.

Jeff:
It’s either going to be a pop band, you and Taylor, or it’s going to be theater, like you’re going to have a theater troupe. the right.

Chris:
So you and you and you and Zach, listen, I like all sorts of music.

Jeff:
You know, when I lived in Atlanta, call your band, Zach Swift. Oh my, there you go. Oh my word. Taylor Efron.

Chris:
Oh, that’d be awesome. Or, or, or Zwift.

Jeff:
There you go.

Chris:
When I lived in Atlanta, um, I had no choice, but to like country music more.

Jeff:
I like those requirements. It’s like a law. It was you get fined. I had a pickup truck. If they pull you over and you listen to something besides country music, you get in trouble.

Chris:
Actually, country music by far was my favorite genre of music. And then I moved up here for some reason, it just wasn’t around me. And I’m not the kind of person that just seeks out music if it’s around me, right? So I, I don’t know that that’s a weird statement, but I don’t like, like play a lot of music. I don’t go out of my way to buy CDs back in the day or something like that. So, uh, you know, make a playlist today, those kinds of things. So I, so I just, I just sort of, you know, like listen to the stuff that’s sort of playing and I loved country music. And so, and so, yeah, I mean, one of my favorite artists today, right. You know, actually a lot of them still country music. So I would actually say I would shoot for country. And I would call the name of my band. What would you call it? I would call it, um, uh, uh, that’s hard. That’s hard. That’s a hard question, Jason.

Jeff:
Okay. So I just ran it through. I said, give me a cool rock band name. This is through chat GPT. Wow. Give me 10 cool rock band names for a lead singer named Jeff. They gave me some dumb ones, Jeff’s Electric Revival, Sonic Jeffscape, Jeff’s Orbit, right? So then I said 10 more aggressive names and it gave me Cataclysmic Jeff, Jeff’s Anarchy, but the best one, well, there’s Vengeance of Jeff. That’s kind of neat. Savage Jeff Uprising. There you go.

Chris:
Wow.

Jeff:
So there you go. Savage Jeff Uprising.

Chris:
Savage Jeff Uprising will be mine. Can you do me a favor? Can you do me a favor since you have it right there? A country band, With somebody named Chris.

Jeff:
Give me, give me a country band name.

Chris:
With a lead singer named Chris.

Jeff:
With a lead singer named Chris.

Chris:
Okay. Let’s see. Let’s see. This is good. This is good. For those who don’t use. This is Chet GPT’s best one. Yeah. Okay.

Jeff:
Chris and the Heartland Drifters. Ooh. Chris and the Heartland Drifters. That’s rough. You want more? No, no, no.

Chris:
How about five more?

Jeff:
It only gave you… I only asked it for one. Oh. Here we go. Here’s five more. Chris Canyon and the Ridge Riders. I like that one better. The Whiskey Hollow Boys with Chris. Oh, the Whiskey Hollow Boys. There you go. Chris Prairie and the Sunset Strummers. Oh, wow.

Chris:
That’s the winner. That’s the winner.

Jeff:
Chris Lonesome and the High Plains. No, no, no. Read it again. Chris Crossroads and the Dusty Boots. Oh, wow. That’s pretty good, too. Uh, what did I say? Chris Prairie and the Sunset Strummers.

Chris:
Oh my word. Is that your name? It’s the Sunset Strummers. Are you kidding me? Chris Prairie and the Sunset Strummers. That is, that is so good. It’s so bad. It’s so good.

Jeff:
How about this? Uh, let me, let me do this. Oh my word. Give me a country band name, mixing Taylor Swift and Zac Efron for Chris Zarba. Why’d you say for Chris Zarba? Okay, here we go.

Chris:
It’s going to be crazy.

Jeff:
Those are three big- Chris Zarbon is Swift Horizons.

Chris:
Where’s Zach in there? I don’t know.

Jeff:
Poor Zach was left out. Nobody likes Zach Efron except you.

Chris:
Well, GPT doesn’t have a choice. It has to follow your instructions. Where’s Zach Efron? Are you kidding me?

Jeff:
My apologies for missing that detail. For a country band name that combines elements of Taylor Swift and Zac Efron, for Chris Sarbaugh, how about Chris Sarbaugh and the Swift Shorelines? It still didn’t do it. See? It’s just on purpose leaving out, hey, you should contact Zac Efron and let him know that Chet GPT’s on purpose ignoring you.

Chris:
I think actually he listens. Does he?

Jeff:
Yeah, he’s listening right now. I’d imagine. At least I think so.

Chris:
In my mind.

Jeff:
In your heart. In my heart. Your heart tells you. Your heart tells you.

Chris:
He’s listening.

Jeff:
Okay. If you’re a new listener, you’re probably wondering what the deal is. Very long time ago, we had a different podcast called HC Daily. And in it, I asked Chris, in the inevitable movie that’s made of your life, who would you have play Chris Arbaugh?

Chris:
And I chose Zac Efron. And he chose Zac Efron. And I have gotten grief ever since.

Jeff:
Ever since then, I haven’t been able to let it go. At least every six weeks I bring this back up.

Chris:
And it’s the same thing with the Taylor Swift thing. I just admitted that I liked Taylor Swift. That’s it. That you’re a Swifty. I said I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music.

Jeff:
I remember it something like you’re obsessed with Taylor Swift.

Chris:
She’s a national treasure.

Jeff:
Okay. So anyways, there you go. So hey, so we’re going to vote for yours then? Your band name is better than my band name.

Chris:
There’s no question that that’s my band name.

Jeff:
Chris Prairie and the Sunset Strummers.

Chris:
There’s no question. There’s no question. It’s so good. Okay. It’ll forever be my band name.

Jeff:
It’s so good. Okay. That’s fantastic. This is one of my favorite segments ever.

Chris:
Well, we, we sort of, you know, you sort of saved it, right? Because I couldn’t come up with anything. And then you pull that chat.

Jeff:
GPT makes everything better.

Chris:
Yes.

Jeff:
That makes everything better. That’s so funny.

Chris:
All right. So we’re, we’re actually entering in. How about this segue? We’re going to, we’re going to segue to murder.

Jeff:
Well, before that sex first.

Chris:
Sex. Oh yeah.

Jeff:
Well, I mean, they have to have, so this is a PG 13, uh, lesson today.

Chris:
That’s right. Yeah. PG 13. I would say, well, I guess whatever. That’s a parent’s discretion. Yes. What age shall we have the talk? Because chances are if you wait till 13, they already know.

Jeff:
I know. But when you say PG is 13, everybody goes, Oh, I know what you’re talking about. That’s true. If you say eight, they think you’re going to be talking about, you know, arguing with your mom and dad. There’s a big difference between that and… Right, right, right, right. Okay. Anyways, here we are. We are in Genesis chapter four, and we’re going to read one through 16. It says, now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant. And when she gave birth to Cain, she said, with the Lord’s help, I have produced a man. Later, she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. And when it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift, the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. And the Lord accepted Abel in his gift, but he did not accept Cain in his gift. And this made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. Why are you so angry? The Lord asked Cain. Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you, but you must subdue it and be its master. One day Cain suggested to his brother, let’s go out into the fields. And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Afterward, the Lord asked Cain, where’s your brother? Where’s Abel? I don’t know. Cain responded, am I my brother’s guardian? But the Lord said, What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are cursed and banished from the ground which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the ground yield crops for you. No matter how hard you work, from now on you’ll be a homeless wanderer on the earth. Cain replied to the Lord, My punishment is too great for me to bear. You’ve banished me from the land from your presence. You’ve made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me. The Lord replied, No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Mercy. Yes, that’s what he needs.

Chris:
Yeah, no doubt. And this is a crazy story. Yes, it’s crazy. And there’s a lot of indicators here, you know, principles that actually translate for us today, right? So obviously Adam and Eve had two kids. So that’s just pretty, that’s pretty normal. They grew up. And then it goes out of its way to say that Abel was the one that brought a gift, but it describes the gift. Yes. It says the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock, obviously because of God’s rebuke, we know that that was the thing that was right. Because he says, why are you dejected? And by the way, God’s question is very logical. He’s saying, I don’t understand why you’re angry because I’ve refused your gift. Because I’ve said that if you do what is right, then everything will be good. But if you do what is wrong, then watch out. Sin’s at the door. So, you know, don’t don’t give in to sin. I mean, that’s a very good answer. But again, they’re brand new at this. Right. I can only imagine. But, you know, here’s another crazy thought. So Adam and Eve lived to be what, 900 something? Yes. Right. So back then, and that’s a whole nother topic altogether. We won’t get into that.

Jeff:
Well, we’ll get to it eventually.

Chris:
We’ll get to it eventually. But, uh, so then the question is this, how old does Cain and Abel actually have to be in order to be grown adults to perform these kinds of things? Yeah. So, so, and you know, we think in our minds, Oh, 30 years. Uh, but who knows how long it could have been, could have been hundreds of years. Right. So we don’t know. But it says they grew up and then, you know, and then this happened. So either way, in my mind, I’m thinking Cain should know better. Cain’s been around the garden. This isn’t the first sacrifice that they’ve had. It didn’t say it was the very first. It just says when it came time for the harvest, which indicates seasons. Right. You know, so so anyway, it’s just It’s just pretty crazy how Cain was so angry when God’s rules were so clear to me.

Jeff:
I often wonder if there’s something missing in the story. It’s not like God’s just arbitrary and goes, I like you, I don’t like you. I just don’t believe that that’s what happened. I think that there’s an obedience, disobedience thing, or an intent issue here. Perhaps it was Abel brought the very best, and it does say that, the best of the firstborn lambs, whereas it says that Cain presented some of his crops.

Chris:
Right.

Jeff:
So there’s a sum of his crops idea. Oh, let me grab some pumpkins and some whatever.

Chris:
Hey, it’s time for the offering. Let me just find this loose change in my pocket.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris:
As opposed to intentionality.

Jeff:
Right. You know, he stopped off at CVS and bought some gift cards.

Chris:
Right. Right. Right. Did you go to the airport gift shop? Right.

Jeff:
Exactly, as opposed to, the Bible says that Abel brought the best of the firstborn lambs, so he brought the very best and Cain just brought some. And I think that there’s a significant difference in those two that the Bible is making on purpose. But I also wonder if the thing that’s missing is, did God already tell them, what I want is sacrifice?

Chris:
Oh, I mean, I’m just assuming that. Right. I’m assuming, I thought that was assumed because, because he says to Cain, uh, why are, why do you look so dejected? You’ll be accepted if you do what is right. Well, without, I mean, God can’t make, well, in my mind, the logic says that God is not going to make that statement without, uh, having already established, having already established what is right. Right. Yeah. The system that is set up because. Yeah.

Jeff:
But it could have been right heart. He brought me the best and you, you know, you didn’t.

Chris:
Oh, okay.

Jeff:
Right? So it didn’t have to be, in my mind, that statement. Like a rule. Right. That statement doesn’t necessarily say a perfect lamb. It’s true. The difference is, Abel brought me the very best, and you know that you didn’t. So it could have been that, or it could have been both. Yeah. Right? That God had already established, hey, when you bring an offering to me, bring me a perfect lamb. And so Abel does, and Cain doesn’t. And now we do know, coming out of this, all of the perfect offerings coming out of this are lambs.

Chris:
Right. And the first born, or the first fruit, the very best, without blemish, without spot.

Jeff:
Yeah, you know that first fruits idea, which we’ll get to eventually, but the Bible talks about bringing the first fruits of your increase. That may be it. This is the best versus leftovers. I think about that with regard to, my wife and I were just talking recently about, we’ve had some adjustments in our income and so we need to readjust our tithes. And I said, hey, you know, we were trying to figure out which check did we bring it out of? We only get paid twice a month. Which check do we tithe out of? I said, it’ll be a little bit more of a struggle for us to give our tithe off the first check rather than the second check in the month. I said, let’s do that. Let’s give from that one, let’s make sure that we’re establishing it from the front end that it’s on purpose, that we’re giving the first and the best. And it’s this principle. I always want to be thinking, am I giving the best or am I just giving the leftovers? A lot of people tip God and God is not working for tips. He wants the very best of what we have. And so I think that every time we sit there thinking about an offering, every time we’re thinking about what does God want me to do? God wants nothing short of our very best and he deserves it because that’s what he did for us.

Chris:
And then another thing that is not mentioned by word, but is the word jealousy here. Oh my goodness. I mean, think about, think about this idea. So there’s no indication whatsoever that Cain or excuse me, that Abel did anything wrong. You know, remember how like later on, we’re going to talk about Joseph and how his brothers wanted to murder him. But it also talks about his arrogance a little bit. You know, it talks about, you know, you can sort of see that he bragged and you could almost read between the lines and, you know, all these sorts of things. But in this case, there’s a direct connect between Abel’s offering between, get this, him and God. It has nothing to do with Cain. Nothing. It has everything to do with Abel’s righteousness, his relationship with his heavenly father, and yet somebody’s jealous of that. And so it’s interesting how, you know, it doesn’t mention it. I wish it would have actually, but we obviously are reading between the lines, or actually it’s there in the lines, that Abel did nothing wrong and yet Cain killed him for it. And it’s because he coveted the relationship that Abel had with God because of his offering. Right. And so now, again, that connects to a lot of different things. There’s a couple of sermons in there. Cain’s desire ultimately was acceptance from God. Cain’s desire ultimately was to be loved by God the way that Abel was loved by God for his offering. So it’s interesting, isn’t it? So he has this jealousy, but in the end, his desire was to connect with God. That’s what he was jealous of, which again, points to how we are made. So, you know, a lot of times we’ll make fun of Christians or, you know, people, you know, I’m not saying we, I’m saying the world will make fun of Christians and, uh, and, and put them down. But at the, on the inside, they admire, their conviction, they admire their faith, they say, wow, I wish I could believe in something like that. You know, because there’s something in all of us that wants a relationship with our Creator.

Jeff:
Yeah, and he may not even realize that was his primary motive. Right. Right. But he was just overcome with jealousy. And it’s interesting, God calls him to change. Right? God does invite him and say, hey, listen, this isn’t the end. You made a mistake. This isn’t the end of the world here. Just go do the right thing. And you know, God always invites us before we get in too deep. God always invites us just to go make things right. And if he’d made things right, you know, I just was in a conversation with somebody here recently that needed a little bit of correction. And this guy is a good leader. He’s a good man. But you never know when you come in. It was, you know, in a situation where I’m a leader over him, and I thought this could go one of two ways. If he’s a humble person, he’s going to accept it. If he’s a prideful person, this is going to expose it, and it could have just blown it up, you know. Come in, And this guy’s reaction was almost flawless. Not quite, because we’re all sinners. Right. Man, this guy. There’s an Indian proverb that says, when somebody shovels dung on you, keep your mouth shut. Right? Which is such a great phrase.

Chris:
That’s an Indian proverb. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Isn’t that a great phrase?

Jeff:
It’s a great phrase. And he did. So here he’s getting some bad news. He’s getting some stuff he doesn’t want to hear. And he just sat there. He looked at the table for a minute and then he looked up and he said, okay, I’m going to accept that. And he didn’t like any of it. Now we’ve had hours of conversations since, but in the confrontation, in that moment, it was this humility that went, okay. And we just talked, we sat and talked for a little while. There was three of us sitting there and we sat and talked, Hey, we all have blind spots. That’s all. It’s just a blind spot. Here’s an opportunity to maybe make things better. And he did. That’s what God does with Cain. God says, Hey, listen, there’s a blind spot here. That’s all. Why are you upset? Just go do the right thing. And instead, Cain let this jealousy turn into bitterness, and this bitterness turns into rage, and he actually—it’s the first murder, right? The first murder in human history is a result of something that was so easily fixable. But he took it personal. I think that we tend to take corrections so personal. I’m a farmer, I’m not a shepherd. Right? You take what I gave you. And a lot of times we want to do that with God. We want to worship God the way we want to worship him rather than the way that God has already prescribed to be worshiped. Right? And then we go, Oh, you give me this correction. It’s a personal thing. It’s a personal assault. I mean, it’s not personal. I just want you to be better. Right? So, so go fix it and then everything will be fine. And instead he’s full of bitterness and this bitterness eventually ruins not only his life, but his brother’s life. And then he’s cursed for the rest of his existence on the planet.

Chris:
Yeah. I’m reading this little note in the Life Application Study Bible that talks about Abel a little bit, and it says his strengths and accomplishments, and it lists three things. And it’s definitely noteworthy. It says, number one, he’s mentioned in the Hall of Faith, or what is known as the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11. So when the writer of Hebrews was talking about the Old Testament characters, how they were known for their faith and how their actions prove their faith, it’s interesting how Abel is not ascribed very many, very many verses here, right? I mean, Abel comes and goes, right? He’s mentioned in a few verses. We don’t really know much about him. We just know he’s faithful and we know he’s dead. That’s really it. That’s it. And yet he’s mentioned in the Hall of Faith, which is pretty incredible. And then he’s also the very first shepherd. Now think about the significance of how Jesus used the symbolism of shepherd, right? That’s pretty cool. And yet Abel is the very first shepherd. And then he’s the first martyr for truth. And it references Matthew 23, 35. I don’t know what that is. But I think I’m going to look it up while I hand it over back to you, because that’s pretty cool.

Jeff:
So there’s a big application here and it’s this mentioned here in the Life Application Study Bible. Adam and Eve’s disobedience brought sin into the human race. They may have thought that their sin, eating a piece of fruit, wasn’t very bad. But notice how quickly their sinful nature developed into their children. Simple disobedience quickly degenerated into outright murder. Adam and Eve acted only against God, but Cain acted against both God and other people. A small sin has a way of growing out of control. So let God help you with your little sins before they turn into tragedies. What a great application. Right? Hey, we think that that little lie, we think that that little flirt, we think that that little second drink, we think we can go on and on. All these little sins we don’t think are a big deal. But ultimately, it was one generation later, a piece of fruit leads to murder. Right? And that’s what happens. Sin unchecked will always lead to tragedy.

Chris:
like a snowball rolling down the hill. That’s right. That’s right. That gets bigger and bigger as it goes down. By the way, that reference that I referenced there, Matthew 23, 35, it’s actually just referring to when Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees and he was talking about, hey, you’ve killed the prophets. And he said, just like Abel was murdered, you will kill some by crucifixion. He was really referring to himself. And that’s interesting, isn’t it?

Jeff:
So he’s referring, he was saying that Abel died for truth.

Chris:
Yes. He died for good. Here, I’ll just read it to you. It says, as a result, he’s talking to them, you’ll be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time, from the murder of the righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah, whom you killed in the temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. Wow. And he’s including himself, obviously, Jesus.

Jeff:
Because the verse before that talks about acknowledging that Abel’s the first martyr.

Chris:
That’s right. That’s right. And in the New Testament, Stephen is the first martyr in Acts chapter 7.

Jeff:
First Christian martyr.

Chris:
First Christian martyr, that’s right, in the New Testament. So, interesting. So, hey, that’s a lot, and I’m sure that we, did we cover everything?

Jeff:
Oh yeah, we just hit the surface. Yeah, we really did. So, hey, address those little things before they get out of control and turn into a tragedy.

Chris:
That’s great. Well, that’s a good closing thought, and we will see you next time, hopefully, on The Bible Guys.