Saturday, August 28, 2010

Obedience Greater Than Sacrifice?

1Samuel 15:22 - 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.

I awoke at 1:49 this morning with this question on my mind. For some reason I needed to think on this...now. So at 1:52 I was up. Hmmm, I wondered, What is God asking in this scripture? Isn't obedience a form of sacrifice?

Saul was king over Israel. He was sent by God to destroy their enemy, the Amalekites. The LORD expressly told him through Samuel, the priest, to not spare anyone or anything, man, woman nor beast. Saul went out and attacked them but did not heed God's word. They spared the king and took the best of all their animals to use as a sacrifice to God. It says "they were unwilling to utterly destroy them" (vs 9). Saul disobeyed. 

Ouch.

This could be a very hard word for us too. Imagine the disappointment when we choose not to obey His Word. Let me see if I can wrap my head around this somehow. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is Jesus....and we are to come to Him, we are to listen to Him, we are to be obedient to the Word.

The priests and people made literal sacrifices to God. It was their way of being atoned for various sins. So here they thought they were doing a good thing by taking the best of the animals that they might sacrifice them...that weren't even theirs in the first place. True they captured them from their enemy but God didn't want them... He was more interested in obedience. In his own mind Saul thought he had done right. God was upset and called his act evil. 

I was talking with a woman the other night. I can't remember how we got to this subject but she said this: I think believing in God and being a good person is what it's (whatever it is) all about. I sensed a bit of unsurety in her as she said this, almost as if she wondered if that was true. It was too late to get into a deeper discussion and I said we should pick this up again when time permitted.

I'm reminded of the words that tell us that we cannot work to receive our salvation. It's so we cannot boast over an accomplishment (Ephesians 2:9). If the Word tells us that there is none righteous (Romans 3:10), I believe that's a good argument against this "good person" thing. We are only good through Jesus's work for us, His sacrifice, not ours, our obedience to receive His work.

Hosea 6:6 tells us: For I desire goodness and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. There you have it! The knowledge of Jesus is way more important. This is that personal relationship issue. We cannot work to receive it; we accept it as a free gift. It is an inward form of worship (from the heart) rather than the outward (from our works). Oh, we still do good deeds, but now they come from a heart that has first chosen to know Jesus, to be in relationship with Him. God doesn't want our works, He wants us. He wants our hearts. He needs nothing from us except that relationship.

We are all called to obey the voice of Jesus. He is the Shepherd who calls us into relationship with Him. ...the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:3). We hear the words and we obey. That's the most important thing. Jesus became the final sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27). And it's He that we are to know first and foremost. We show Him He is our heart's desire...and then the sacrifice comes in our devotion to Him. Psalm 40:6-8 tells us Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart."

Does this make sense? He wants our thankful praises for His work of salvation for us. We are to come with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. These God will not despise (Psalm 51:17). To come to Him with our works is boastful. To think He will recognize those good deeds before knowing Him personally will not work. 

This concluding scripture shows us that "by Him" the sacrifice was made. We no longer need to make a "works" sacrifice. He is our sacrifice. We receive Him, we give thanks for His sacrifice. That is obedience.

Hebrews 13:15 - Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

No comments:

Post a Comment