I’m sure most of you have heard of the word scapegoat. But what does the word really mean? In the book of Leviticus, the scapegoat was the second of two goats raised to be presented before the Lord. One as an offering or sacrifice for sin and the other or the scapegoat, to be presented alive before the Lord as atonement. The scapegoat was then set free in the wilderness to carry the sins away.
You can read more about this in Leviticus 16: 7-32. The scapegoat then was an innocent goat guilty of nothing but offered as atonement for the sins of someone else. We typically misuse the term today. We typically do not punish anyone for the wrongs of someone else. In the scripture, they were happy to have a scapegoat. Today we point out how wrong it is for someone to be made a scapegoat.
None of this would matter to us today if we learned that the one thing that would keep us from ever being thought of as scapegoats by society is to learn to rule our sin not the men among us. We see this in the book of Genesis when God speaks to Cain about the nature of his offering to God.
Cain was angry with himself, with his brother, and with God because God did not respect Cain and his offering, but He did respect and accept Abel and his offering. Why did God do this? Because Abel did what God asked him to do in the way he was asked. But Cain did what Cain wanted to do and expected that to be accepted.
Genesis 4:7 says this was God’s reaction after learning that Cain was angry with God and with Abel because he believed neither God nor Abel liked who he was or what he did. God said to Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Cain didn’t listen. He went right out, and in his anger, he killed his brother Abel.
Cain failed to rule his sin; instead, he tried to rule man. Cain wanted to be respected and he wanted his actions to be accepted. But Cain did not want to do or be what made others accepted and respected. Cain wanted to rule over God, and he wanted to rule over man. Cain wanted respect and acceptance just as he was.
Does this sound anything like us today? Well, it should. Just like back then, God wants you and I to learn to rule over sin not men. I know some of us would like to say we are nothing like Cain. But if we want others to respect us and to accept our sins or our views on sin above God’s view, we are more like Cain than we are like God.
It’s important for us to learn that we are wired to want respect and acceptance from others. We may not think about this each day, but it is the nature of our being. Many people have been killed because they disrespected someone else. And many relationships have been broken because someone was not respected for a behavior that someone thought was no harm to anyone.
Respect is something that is given when it is earned. In a way, respect is the wages for the work you earn when you work on ruling your sin. Some people will respect you because they are great people. But most people give respect to others because others have earned that respect. When you learn to rule your sin and not men, you will come to earn the respect others will naturally give you.
Acceptance of what you do cannot be separated from respect from the person you are. Acceptance is more about who you are that leads to what you do. Because others know who you are they come to accept the things you do. When you learn to rule over sin more than men, you come to be respected and accepted.
A trustworthy person will do trustworthy things. Be trustworthy. A loving person will do loving things. Be loving. A caring person will do caring things. Be caring. A hard-working person will do hard-working things. Be hard-working. When you are any of these things, people will respect you and accept the things you do.
Likewise, a sloppy person will do sloppy things. Rule your sin. A lazy person will do lazy things. Rule your sin. A selfish person will do selfish things. A condemning or accusing person will condemn and accuse. Rule your sin. When you are any of these things, people will have a hard time accepting you or the things you do.
So, listen to what God said to Cain. It was life-saving advice back then and it is the same today. When you learn to rule your sin instead of ruling men, you don’t need to be a scapegoat, and you don’t need to have a scapegoat.
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