Thanks be to God

In 1 Samuel 15 the newly anointed king Saul is given a difficult command. Here is the command from verses 2 and 3:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

The text makes it clear that Saul did not obey the command of God, verses 8 and 9 reveal that:

“He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”

In response to Saul’s actions God tells the prophet Samuel what Saul did and He sends Samuel to Saul to confront him with his disobedience. Saul does two things in response to Samuel’s rebuke. First Saul redefines obedience. In verse 15 he tells Samuel:

“They have brought them (the livestock) from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

He essentially tells Samuel that he had devised a better plan, a means of greater obedience, a plan in which the spoil of victory would be used to honor God. Saul is certainly pleased with his efforts and believes that God would be pleased as well. And thus with obedience redefined Saul then claims to have perfectly obeyed. In verses 13 Samuel meets Saul and Saul boldly and arrogantly declares:

“Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.”

Samuel answered Saul’s arrogance with sobering words. In verse 22 Samuel says:

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

God was not pleased and Saul had not obeyed. I believe there much that we can learn from this passage.

1. We have been given a difficult command. Two passages of Scripture perfectly summarize this command:

“…but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am Holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15, 16

“Teacher what is the great commandment in the Law? And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:36-39

God commands that we be perfect. God cannot turn a blind eye to our sin or settle for anything short of absolute perfection. As difficult as it was, Saul’s command seems simple by comparison.

2. We cannot obey God’s commands; we cannot be perfect. Scripture and experience clearly demonstrate this to be true.

3. It is tempting and easy to redefine obedience, the Pharisees are classic examples of this, and on that basis convince ourselves that we have in fact obeyed God. Man is very good at establishing a standard that he is able to keep and equating obedience to that standard with obedience to God. Self-justification is a deadly foe because it cannot be achieved but allows a man to convince himself that all is well.

4. We must embrace the fact that all of our best efforts fall woefully short of the mark. Romans 3 makes this point forcefully and repeatedly:

“There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”

5. We have one, Jesus Christ, who has both perfectly obeyed and made a perfect sacrifice for sin. The good news of the gospel is that His obedience has been credited to us and His sacrifice has taken away our sin. Here are just a few of the promises of Scripture to those who have faith in Christ:

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Galatians 2:20-21

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4

God has commanded that we be holy and in Christ He has made us holy. The very thing He commands He provides. This holiness is not according to our effort or good deeds; it is entirely due to the grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Let the words of Philippians 3:8-10 be our prayer:

“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which come from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”