20 Apr Responsibility to Others?
The story of Cain & Abel is a story of competition, pride, jealousy, and ultimately about true motivations towards God and others.
Abel had a good motivation towards God, made a true sacrifice, and God considered him righteous. Jesus said so in Matthew 23:35. But Cain was warned by God, he didn’t listen and his sacrifice was rejected. He then went out and killed his brother.
When God asked Cain where Abel was, his response was ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ The insinuation is, I’m not responsible for him. To put the question another way, what responsibility do we have to our brother?
On the one hand, you cannot be held responsible for things that someone else does, especially if they won’t listen and are independent. So in that way, you are not responsible.
But are you responsible to care? Should your brother matter to you? The answer if you ask it like that is yes.
This question is quite often thought about in terms of a local church. The brother or the sister are those you go to church with, but it is not often considered in light of the Body of Christ. Are those Catholics your brother? Are those Presbyterians your brother? Are those Pentecostals your brother? Do you have a responsibility to care for them?
It seems clear to me that we do.
But how do you care for people that can be different to you, and sometimes be rude and unwilling to listen. Here is how. You care by praying. You care by taking the time to be mindful of the whole Body of Christ.
Sometimes people come to a new town or place saying ‘God has sent me here to plant a church.’ But their behaviour shows they have no regard for any other pre-existing Christian. It is as if they are the only one who is important, and only their view of theology, or their view of Christian service is correct. Everyone else either doesn’t exist, or is a second-class citizen. When believers treat other believers as being non-entities, or second-class entities, they are following the way of Cain.
In the Epistle of Jude, the Lord’s brother wrote about people like this. These people ‘slipped in among you.’ In other words they look like believers, but they have a heart with no regard for their fellow believer. They are ‘clouds without rain,’ and ‘ungodly people.’ Jude wrote: ‘Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.’ Jude 1:11
While we cannot control what other believers do, we can care, and we can certainly be mindful of them, considerate of them, and pray for them. In that regards, yes we have a responsibility to our brother.
This video talks about many topics related to Genesis 4, including Cain & Abel.
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