Civilization

Reading - Genesis 4:16-26; Hebrews 12:22-29

This chapter records the origin of secular and sacred society.
We live in a world of dizzying technological progress.
As Christians, we are called to live in this changing and advancing world and to use the things of the world, wisely and well. To often the story of mankind’s progress has been regress because advances have been used to advance sin. For instance the internet it was hoped would make precious knowledge accessible but it has also been perverted to spread pornography.
Progress without God’s truth to channel it, will lead to more problems to solve, and more sophisticated crime. In Genesis 4:16-26 we see, in Cain’s descendants, the world caught up with progress without God.
But at the end of the chapter there is a glimmer of hope in the descendants of Seth, a remnant of people who call upon God.
These two strands of people write human history. There are only two families in the world today - there's the secular family, and there's the sacred family. And that's the way it's always been. Cain models for us the secular and material culture, Seth models for us the sacred family and spiritual society.
[I] THE START OF SECULAR SOCIETY 17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
After murdering his brother, Cain refused God’s call to repent. Instead, Cain turned his back on God and was sentenced by God to restlessly wander the earth. No one could kill him, but he would live forever with his guilty conscience, never feeling at home, never feeling entirely safe. He cannot work the ground and he will not die for a long time. What will he do? Where will he go?
These verses tell about Cain and the civilization that flowed from him. Here is the beginning of secular society—that is, society lived apart from God and his guidance. As we think about the marks of secular society, here are four “C” words that help us remember.
A] Construction marks Secular society
First, Cain constructs a family.
Sometimes people wonder, where did Cain get his wife? With regard to Cain’s wife, Genesis 5:4 states that during Adam’s long life, he and Eve had many sons and daughters besides those named in these chapters. So obviously Cain would have had no trouble finding a suitable wife from somewhere within his extended family. And since this occurred early in human history, the gene pool could still be clean and relatively free from pollution. Later on, God would forbid marriage between close relatives. But at this early date, there were no mutant genes in the genetic system and no sin was involved. Cain had to marry someone from his own extended family since there was no one else to choose from.
Second, Cain constructs a city. "City" means, a fenced-in complex of dwellings; it could be any size, large or small. He was trying to erect a place to settle in. The indication is that he couldn't succeed at it and called the name of the city "Enoch," after the name of his son. Here is the beginning of urbanization.
This 21c is the age of the city and skyscraper, the world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities. In the developing world people are moving to enormous growing cities everywhere.
Cities can deliver education, work, health care and other services more efficiently. Tim Keller - We are entering a globalised, urbanised and post-secular world. This means that we are going to be more like the Roman Empire than anything seen in centuries. Cities are multi-ethnic and international in unprecedented ways. It is a fragmented, pluralistic world again, with have traditional, secular, and pagan world-views living side by side.
Where did all the people come from to populate a city? We know from Genesis 5 that people lived hundreds of years back then. Adam lived for 930 years and we can presume Eve lived at least as long. So how many children do you think they had?
Someone very conservatively calculated that Adam would have lived to see a million descendants.
The rapid growth in population helps us understand Cain’s need to build a city. In some ways, this is a self-protection measure since he lived in fear” that someone might harm him in spite of God’s “mark.
No doubt also Cain stayed busy to cover up the emptiness of his soul and forget his guilt. He wanted a bustling city to compensate for what he lost—his hope and happiness and direction in life. The same is true for many people today.
Cities are fun and exciting, especially when compared with the slow pace of country life. They call Las Vegas the city that never sleeps, but that could be said about any large city. There is a pulsating power in a big city that draws people.
The city has buzz, music and action 24/7. Go to any large city and there you will find the best that modern life has to offer: restaurants of every variety, entertainment galore, sports, universities, large stores, transport, waterways and parks, the latest fashions, the seat of government, the largest churches, the biggest banks, and the extremes of life.
Millions of people move to the city hoping things will change for the better.
But often it doesn’t work. The loneliest and the saddest are city people. For all its glamour, there is also a seamy side to every big city. Where the masses gather, there you find sadness, heartache, crime, corruption and enormous human pain.
Cain built a city and focused on the secular advantages it gave but it is not a permanent home, it does not mean we will be settled and at peace in our hearts and minds. Spiritual wholeness does not come from the buzz of a secular life but a mind at peace with God.
Rootlessness is the basic ingredient all secular cultures. Simone Weil, a brilliant French writer who lived in London during the war and died there in 1943, wrote a book entitled The Need for Roots. She concluded that the only cure is a rediscovery of the human being as God’s creature and of God himself as the source of those basic elements without which a proper civilization cannot function: order, liberty, obedience, responsibility, and equality, the right to express one’s opinion, security, private property, truth, and others.
Weil is right. Our roots are in God; and if we will not have God, we are condemned to be rootless.
[B] Corruption marks Secular society 19“Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah”
The second feature of civilization without God is corruption. Lamech just did what he felt like doing. He decided to marry two women. He became the first polygamist, instead of one man with one woman for life. The names of his wives suggest that he was motivated by sensual impulses. Adah means “beauty” and Zillah means something like “tinkling.” The name of the daughter, Naamah, means “lovely. The emphasis was on outward beauty, not on the inner character.
Like no culture in history, we are bombarded with sensual appeals to the flesh. Today, this moral cancer is portrayed as progress: People say we’ve freed ourselves from Victorian ideas of sexual purity. We’re free from restrictive divorce laws which kept people bound in unhappy marriages.” And so we have cast off God’s plan for moral purity, for marriage and the family under the guise of progress. Now people in general are no longer are shocked by these things. Society tolerates all kinds of sexual relationships; people now freely pursue the fulfilment of their own fleshly desires. But God is not mocked, He sees our rebellion, there is a price to pay both in time and in coming judgement.
[C] Culture marks Secular society 20“Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah. These verses remind us of the positive progress of human culture in the line of Cain. These two wives gave Lamech at least four children. And the boys took society to the next level.
Jabal, was the first into animal husbandry, breeding and training for human use.
Jubal was father of music, the first artist, inventing and making stringed and wind instruments. There would be the need to invent a scale; understand the tones, arrange the music and design instruments to play it.
Tubal-cain, from the other wife, Zillah, was the founder of technology, metal work and tools. Metallurgy is a skill of great science, mining, smelting, and shaping.
If people are creative now, what were they like then? How refined could art and craftsmanship become with a pristine mind, living hundreds of years in a congenial earth, which provided all of the resources.
These folks were no grunting, snorting cavemen, chewing raw flesh. Mankind was more wonderful, capable; stronger, healthier, wiser, more skilled and more experienced than any man we've ever met.
The world has benefited by modern agriculture, by the arts and by technology.
These things are possible because even sinful men and women still possess the image of God that allows them to think, to create, to grow, to develop, to experiment and to explore new territory.
As Christians, we ought to be thankful to live in a world with many creature comforts. And in enjoying the good things, we ought also to give thanks to the Lord who gave man the ability to make it all possible.
However in our culture, inventions which could benefit mankind are twisted to promote destruction. Without Christ we go backwards. The arts and music, which can be a wholesome expression of human creativity, are trivialised, perverted and degrade people made in the image of God, music is used to spread a message of anarchy and meaninglessness.
Technological knowledge is used to develop weapons to kill and main, to make gambling easier, to encourage promiscuity. Understanding of creatures is used to ill-treat them and train them to fight– mark the great increase in dog fights and cruelty highlighted this week. Taking us back two centuries.
[D] Crime marks Secular society 23-24 “Lamech said to his wives, ‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times’.
This is the oldest song in the Bible. Lamech wrote some lyrics for a song celebrating violence. It has been called ‘The Sword Song’ a “macho” song of the world’s first Rambo boasting in his strength. He calls his wives together and tells them how hard he is. The words may mean that he has already killed a youngster who provoked him, or a threat that if anyone messes with him, he will kill them. There is total disdain for human life.
Moreover he is boasting against God. He is saying that he can take care of himself far better than God took care of Cain-- seventy-sevenfold! This shows that he knew of God, but exalts himself above God. What blasphemy! He is the epitome of the self-sufficient man. He can take care of himself. He does not need God. But what is his attitude toward other human beings? Parallel with his exaltation of himself is a lowering of his sense of the value of others, for he is ready to wipe them out for as small an offense as wounding himself. Like a thug, he thinks revenge is the way to live and no one dare bring him to justice.
When a society or individuals start boasting about sin, it has hit the bottom. The spiritual and moral failure of this early civilization is seen in their defiance of God and in their pride.
Removing the fear of God from our culture, why should we be surprised at the drunkenness, the violence, and the bloodshed around us? When there is no fear of God or of authority, no Father figures in the home, should we be surprised that kids with guns are murdering other kids.
We have become our own gods and those who live by the Lord’s truth are derided as narrow-minded, old-fashioned, exclusive, and intolerant.
Yes, the line of Cain produces great cultural benefits. Yet it is marred by self-indulgence, vanity and unrestrained violence. Cain and his descendants gave us secular society and secular society gave us Noah’s Flood.
The world tries to fill the emptiness of life without God with all these good gifts which God has given for the human race. But each of them can turn into a nightmare without God.
Children can become brazen murderers, like Cain or Lamech.
Cities can become hopeless jungles of loneliness, poverty and violence.
Culture, music, literature, and films--can be used to glorify perversion.
Careers can be used to further selfish ambition.
Inventions have brought us to the brink of destroying the human race.
The problem isn’t in these cultural and technological advances. The problem is when these things are done apart from God’s principals and His ethical guidelines. Progress without God is only illusory.
[2] THE START OF A SPIRITUAL SOCIETY 25 ¶ Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD. - Progress with God is true progress.
These two verses of our passage offer a short view of the spiritual line. When the godless seem to rule the world, what can the righteous do? How do we maintain our faith and pass it along to the next generation when the majority culture moves in another direction? There are two ways we can resist the existing tide.
[A] By Maintaining Spiritual Families 25“Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him’”.
Adam and Eve recognized Seth as the replacement for Abel, not for Cain. Eve knew that God could not use Cain to fulfil His promise. And her faith was rewarded, in the fullness of time the promised Seed the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a woman whose genealogy is traced through Seth to Adam Luke 3:38.
The name Seth means “appointed.” They saw him as a gift from God, a new beginning after the murder of Abel. They wanted children to pass on the knowledge of God. Prior to this one had believe done had not now again they hoped and prayed for another who would love God and prayer was answered.
In biblical times, names were important. Seth named his son Enosh, which means “mortal.” Instead of boasting about his strength, as Lamech did, Seth readily acknowledged his weakness by naming his son, “Frail One
The faith of Adam and Eve now passes to their son and grandson. That’s our desire and prayer as well.
[B] By Maintaining Spiritual Worship “Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD”
Seth and his family confessed their need of God. The Hebrew concept of “calling on the name” of the Lord has two parts. It can mean to call on the Lord in prayer. So people came to God in prayer and worship.
The word “call” means to proclaim publicly. This was beginning of public worship. The “name” refers to all that God had revealed about Himself. While the significance of the name “Yahweh” was not revealed to God’s people until Moses Exod. 3:13-15, God’s character as the personal covenant God was known. Seth’s descendants began to call upon God as the personal, caring God, trusting fully in Him.
The crowd was going the other direction, but a group of people openly said, “We belong to the Lord. They were not ashamed to be called the people of the God.
They openly confessed their faith while Lamech boasted of sin, and others followed physical pursuits, and while society began to spiral morally downward.
Luther saw this as the formation of “a small church … in which Adam, rules everything by the Word and sound doctrine.” Calvin saw it as “a restoration of religion” such as had happened in his day.
The believers of these days did constitute a small church, and it was a miracle.
Compared with building cities, founding cultural enterprises, and launching industries, “calling on the name of the Lord” doesn’t sound much like progress.
#1l Remember, God never leaves himself without a witness. Believers around the world can make a huge difference. Never will the culture be entirely Christian but without the Christian influence, it will always deteriorate. Society will always be a strange combination of good and evil centred in the great cities of the world.
#2] Remember, we have no reason to envy the ungodly. They have the power but lack the wisdom to use it wisely. They can manage their world but not their own lives. Those whose names are not written in heaven must work desperately to leave a legacy on the earth. The greatest treasures of earth are no match for the pleasures of knowing God. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all [things] are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's, 1 Cor 3:21-23.
#3] Remember, we must not make the world all-important. Enjoy the world but don’t fall in love with it. And don’t measure your success by the standards of the world. You are doomed to unhappiness if you do. Even advanced culture, however refined and beautiful, has no redeeming power. Earth has nothing to offer in substitute for God.: “And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever” I John 2:17.
Hebrews says that Abraham "looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God," Heb 11:10. Heaven is all the good that a city can offer without all the evil that ruins it. Its focus is not man but God.
How about you? are you putting your energy into progress in the things of this world, or into true progress with God at the centre of your life.
There are only two ways to live. There is the broad way, which leads to destruction; and the narrow way, that leads to life, as God intended it to be lived.