Is Your Obedience Half Full or Half Empty?
There is a choice to be totally obedient or
partially obedient. But I believe that Scripture is clear that total obedience is God’s standard for His leaders. So can we find the answer to the question, "Does God Accept Partial Obedience?"
What is
the last command you had to obey? There is a choice to be totally obedient
or partially obedient. That choice comes up every time we are presented with obedience.
My
Dad always told me to check the oil. Every stop, every chance, always check the
oil. Maybe it was the fact that our cars were old and suspect to oil leaks,
maybe it was because oil was important. But the message was always the same.
Check the oil. So I did, sometimes, when I remembered.
Of course before any trip, I would
check the oil. One afternoon before my trip home for the weekend, when I
checked the oil, I didn’t really see oil on the dip stick, per se. This was the
first time I had encountered a dry dipstick. I knew that this was something
that my dad would have to deal with. I, however, had a to speak at a youth
rally back at my home church. The oil part would be dealt with later, I had to
get to the Lord’s house.
You can probably guess what happened.
My father’s 1979 Mercedes 240d at mile marker 142 on I80W gave up the ghost in
a series of violent screaches and a final screeching halt. (I did manage to get
it into neutral in time to coast to the side of the road. My relationship with my father has never
quite been the same since that weekend. Apparently just CHECKING the oil was
not enough, I had to follow through and get oil INTO the car. Checking was only
half the battle.
Doing
something halfway was, and still is not enough when it comes to oil in my car, but
what about God? He is a loving God, he looks at the heart, and after all,
halfway is still part way, isn’t it? Isn’t it the thought and the heart that
counts?
Scripture is not
silent in terms of God’s expectations, so we must look to scripture for the
answer to the question: Does God Accept Partial Obedience?
In I Samuel, God gives
us a very full picture of three key figures in the transition into the
transition of Israel to being a people with a king. The promised monarchy of
old, promised from Abraham forward was about to be instituted.
The three characters
of I and II Samuel are the key figures in this great transition. They are
Samuel, Saul, and David.
First God places
Samuel into the priesthood, and soon God is leading him to anoint Saul as the
first king of Israel. Saul, however would prove to be a failure, and by the
time we reach I Samuel 15, Saul has been nailing the last three nails into the
coffin of his kingship. In Chapters 13 and 14, he had shown himself to be
impatient and proud. In chapter 15, he would be given one more chance to past
the test of leadership; and in the process, he will discover if partial
obedience would count for anything when it came to God.
This Chapter contains four truths concerning his
standard of obedience.
The first truth we see, is that God communicates His
standards for obedience. Look at the first 3 verses of I Samuel chapter 15.
I.
God
Communicates His Standards for Obedience (I Sam 15:1-3)
Samuel
also said unto Saul, The Lord sent
me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore
hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
2 Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him
in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite
Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
One
of the great truths about Scripture and contained in Scripture is the truth
that God speaks to man. He is not silent, he communicated. We serve a God who
communicates with His children.
God
here, through Samuel, graciously reminds Saul of where he came from, and what
that implied. Saul had been anointed by God to be the king, and that meant he
was under God. going to use Saul to
punish Amalek. God wanted Saul to go, smite, and utterly destroy them.
How
could God make a command like this? He is God. The term for utterly destroy,
was the word for dedicating, or even sacrificing for the Lord. It was to be a
total destruction, as was commanded for a holy war, something only God could
command. God was specific. He did not need to clarify, but he did. The children
of Israel were to slay men, women, infants, sucklings, ox, and sheep, can all
the animals. This was God’s command, a complete removal of Amalek. God had used
Balaam to prophecy this in Numbers 24, when Balaam said in verse 20, “…Amalek
was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish
forever.”
This
kind of warfare, called ḥerem, was
practiced only against peoples who had come under the Lord’s severest judgment (e.g., Jericho). It
required the destruction of all people and possessions captured in battle. The
task was a solemn and holy one since those Israelites who carried it out
functioned as the Lord’s agents of judgment.[1]
God was about to use Saul as the instrument of destruction.
Not only did God
communicate His standards for obedience to Saul, he also provided the means for
obedience.
II.
God
Provides the Means for Obedience (I Sam 15:4-9)
How
exactly did God provide the MEANS for obedience? We see that first he provided
the resources for battle. Look at verses 4 and 5.
a.
Resources
for Battle - 4-5
4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered
them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And
Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley
Saul
gathered the people together. So this is obviously Saul’s doing, right? Well,
not really. Who’s people were these? They were the children of God. In verse 2
Samuel had called God the LORD of hosts. He is the God of armies. This army was
God’s army.
It
would have been very easy for Saul to think this was his army. Imagine standing
before an army of 210,000! The sights, the sounds, the war cries; all would
have awakened the warrior spirit in Saul. God provided a vast army to carry out
HIS command. To carry out His task of the destruction of Amalek.
Not only did God provide
the resources for battle, he provided the victory.
b.
Victory
in Battle - 6-9
6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you
down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed
kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the
Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul smote
the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against
Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and
utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But
Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not
utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they
destroyed utterly
After
fulfilling a promise concerning the Kenites, who we understand from Judges
1:16, were the desendents of Jethro, Saulattacks and smites the Amalekites from
Havilah to Shur, against Egypt.
Saul’s
attack extended “all the way from Havilah to Shur” (v. 7), an expression
apparently referring to the entire geographic extent of Ishmaelite territory
(cf. Gen 25:18), a distance stretching from Arabia to Egypt. Such a widespread
attack would have been technically possible due to the large numbers of
Israelite troops mustered. This massive, sweeping attack was successful, and
since no prisoners were to be taken, “all” Amalekites who were caught were
“totally destroyed with the sword” (v. 8)—all, that is, except Agag, the
Amalekite king (v. 9).[2]
Saul
was victorious! The battle belonged to HIM! Right? Saul was in charge of these
mighty men. No, every victory and every defeat is of the Lord. In just two
chapters, we would see young David proclaiming,
“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle [is] the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.” (I Sam 17:47)
Verse Nine, however gives us a second problem to be dealt with. Saul had achieved, by the Lord of hosts, a great victory. He was an instrument of God! BUT…Agag and the best were spared. He WOULD NOT utterly destroy them. How would God respond?
We do not have to wait for the response. It becomes clear that God rejects partial obedience.
“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle [is] the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.” (I Sam 17:47)
Verse Nine, however gives us a second problem to be dealt with. Saul had achieved, by the Lord of hosts, a great victory. He was an instrument of God! BUT…Agag and the best were spared. He WOULD NOT utterly destroy them. How would God respond?
We do not have to wait for the response. It becomes clear that God rejects partial obedience.
III.
God
Rejects Partial Obedience (I Sam
15:10-31)
a.
God
Responds - 10-12
Look
at verses 10-12.
10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me
that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me,
and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried
unto the Lord all night. 12 And
when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying,
Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and
passed on, and gone down to Gilgal
THEN came the word of the Lord to Samuel. God repented. The only other occasion in Scripture where the Lord stated that he was “grieved” (from nḥm) over peoples’ actions was when he observed the wickedness of humanity that led to the universal flood[3]
Gen 6:7 “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.[4]”
What was the cause of this
repenting? Saul had not performed God’s commandments. Now, Saul HAD performed
SOME of God’s commandments, but those are not mentioned. It is as if partial
obedience was the same as no obedience at all.
Samuel, however, did not show the same
emotional response. The text says it grieved Samuel, but this is the only time
we see this word used lie this. Every other time it is used to describe anger,
with words used in the KJV such as ‘hot, wroth, angry, incensed, and burning.’
We could rightfully say, Samuel was hot, and he brought it to the Lord all
night. But a lack of a good night’s sleep did not keep Samuel from doing what
needed to be done. Much like Abraham to sacrifice his son of promise, Samuel
got up early to proclaim the end of the kingship of Saul. But Samuel had to do a bit of wandering to
find him. Saul was not where the prophet had expected to find him. Instead the
king had set out on a journey that took him initially deep into the Negev to
Carmel (Khirbet ’el-Kirmil, seven miles south of Hebron), where he “set up a
monument in his own honor” (v. 12) commemorating the recent victory he had
achieved in the area. Yet Saul had not remained there; instead, he had gone
“down to Gilgal,” an important military staging site that was also of great
religious significance at this time (cf. 1:15; 7:16; 10:8; 13:4–15). The
sequencing of Saul’s actions—performing acts of self-interest prior to those of
devotion to God—was reflective of his entire life.[5]
Finally, Samuel finds Saul, and the
fireworks begin.
b.
Accusation
and Excuses - 13-15
13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him,
Blessed be thou of the Lord: I
have performed the commandment of the Lord.
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep
in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And
Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared
the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have
utterly destroyed.
Explanation and Argumentation
I love this scene…when Samuel
finally reaches of Saul’s location, he has a , and as we will learn, fateful,
final confrontation with the errant king. As on the earlier occasion (13:10),
Saul initiated the dialogue with a blessing.[6]
But wait, what is that noise? Oh,
well, THEY brought them. Yet in verse 9 we saw that Saul and the people had
brought them. And, it was ok, the disobedience had good intentions. The rest
were destroyed. We had a BETTER plan!
Samuel would bring all this into
perspective for Saul
c.
Explanation
and Obedience Claim - 16-21
16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee
what the Lord hath said to me this
night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17 And Samuel said, When
thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes
of Israel, and the Lord anointed
thee king over Israel? 18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly
destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be
consumed. 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of
the Lord, but didst fly upon the
spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of
the Lord, and have gone the way
which the Lord sent me, and have
brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But
the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which
should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal
Explanation and Argumentation
“Saul”, Samuel said, “you went from
being little in your eyes to big in your eyes.” And when who sent Saul out? The
Lord. He set the standards, and you did not meet that standard, and did what?
EVIL. What is partial obedience? Evil.
Saul tries to explain and tries to
make excuses. I obeyed, I went the right path, He TECHNICALLY didn’t say
anything about kings…and the PEOPLE took the spoil. We did it for HIM! For the
LORD thy God in Gilgal. (I won’t even get to the significance of the use of the
Lord THY God.)
The response, like
before is swift and clear.
d.
God’s
Response and Overview- 22-23
22 And
Samuel said,
Hath the Lord
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the
voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice,
And to hearken
than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord,
He hath also
rejected thee from being king.
Obedience is BETTER
than sacrifice, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. (a sin which Saul WOULD
commit later, as seen in Chapter 28). Stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry
(another sin that Saul would be connected with, when we read chapter 19), you
set yourself up as above God. Partial obedience is REJECTION of the word of the
LORD Jehovah, and REJECTION of Jehovah results in rejection BY Jehovah.
Saul,
here cries out as he comprehends the consequences.
e.
Saul’s
Cries – 24-31
i.
For Forgiveness – 24-26
24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have
transgressed the commandment of the Lord,
and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now
therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may
worship the Lord. 26 And
Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the
word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king
over Israel.
ii.
For Honor – 27-31
27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold
upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28 And Samuel said
unto him, The Lord hath rent the
kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine,
that is better than thou. 29 And also the Strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30 Then
he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my
people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. 31 So
Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.
Explanation and Argumentation
Saul
cries for forgiveness, and for the presence of the Lord through the presence of
Samuel. Saul knew what was about to happen; Samuel would leave. And Saul was
right, Samuel would leave as the Lord had rejected Saul as king. But first
Samuel make a striking statement…the Strength of Israel – the ETERNAL one of
Israel, nēṣaḥ,
“the Everlasting One” (NIV “the Glory”) will not lie nor repent…he should not
repent. Basically, he is saying that God
should not have to do with anyone what He had to do because of Saul.
Saul
GRABS Samuel as Samuel turns to go. And the Illustration goes into effect. Saul
BEGS for one last honor, and something happens, that we miss sometimes. In
mercy, Samuel turns again, and after this declaration as to the irrevocable
character of the determination of God to reject Saul, Samuel yielded to the
renewed entreaty of Saul, that he would honour him by his presence before the
elders and the people, and remained whilst Saul worshipped, not merely “for the
purpose of preserving the outward order until a new king should take his place”
(O. v. Gerlach),
IV.
God
Finds Someone Else Committed to Obedience (I Sam 15:32-35)
a.
Samuel
Executes Agag – 32,33
32 Then said Samuel, Bring you hither to me Agag the king
of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the
bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, As thy sword
hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And
Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord
in Gilgal.
Explanation& Argumentation
Oh the wonder of scripture. From,
“Bring me Agag” to “Agag spoke to him delicately.” Samuel was still a man of
emotion, and conviction. One of my favorite statements in the Bible from my
teenage years, “Samuel hewed, or hacked, or divided up, Agag to pieces.”
How did he do it? Before the Lord in
Gilgal. Obedience is to be done before the Lord.
And the relationship
was over, Samuel, at this point, separates from Saul.
b.
Samuel
Separates from Saul – 34,35
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his
house to Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul
until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king
over Israel.
Explanation& Argumentation
TRANSITION: So what can we learn from this story?
Narrative Conclusion: God
rejects partial obedience
There are a four
things that help us understand what God expects out of us in terms of obedience.
First,
1. God Communicates His
Standards for Leaders
a. Application
– He Demands Full Obedience
God
clearly spells out his demands in leadership. It is found all throughout
scripture in narratives, directives, and even specific leadership standards for
the offices of the local church.
b. Illustration
- God makes His standards clear to us. All Christian leaders are ‘under God’
just as Saul was.
2. God Provides the Means
to Meet His Standards for Leaders
a. Application
– He Provides for Full Obedience
b. Illustration
– God has given us all things we need. He supplies our needs, he gives us
Scripture, the HS, a way of escape from temptation.
We are not to do it on our own. We come
to Him for grace and mercy daily.
3. God Rejects Partially
Standards for Leaders
a. Application
– He Rejects Anything other than Full Obedience
b. Illustration
– Like stated in the intro, halfway was not enough
4. God Replaces Those who
do not meet His Standards for Leaders
a. Application
– He Finds Someone who will display Full Obedience
b. Illustration
– Neither my father or I ever used that 1979 Mercedes 240d again. It had to be
replaced, it was disqualified for use do to the internal damage done…
Conclusion:
Who would do the work
of God now?
I Sam 16:1 - And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt
thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill
thine horn with oil, and go, I will
send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his
sons[8]
God would provide a
king, just like he would in our eternal king, King Jesus.
TOTAL Obedience is God’s Standard for His Leaders