Faithful Love or Sacrifice

Intro

This story is often attributed to Fiorello LaGuardia, who served as the Mayor of New York City during the Great Depression. Before becoming mayor, he was a famous, compassionate judge who would preside over night court in one of the city's poorest wards.

One bitterly cold night in January 1935, a small, tattered old woman was brought before Judge LaGuardia, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.

The woman explained that her husband had deserted her, her daughter was terribly sick, and her two small grandchildren were starving. She had no job and nowhere else to turn. The shopkeeper, however, refused to drop the charges. He insisted that she had to be punished, saying, "It's a bad neighborhood, Your Honor. She has to be taught a lesson, or all the neighbors will start stealing."

LaGuardia sighed. He looked down from the bench and said, "I have to punish you. The law makes no exceptions. The fine will be ten dollars, or ten days in jail."

Even as he pronounced the sentence, LaGuardia reached into his own wallet. He pulled out a ten-dollar bill and tossed it into his hat.

"Furthermore," the judge continued, looking out over the courtroom, "I am going to fine every single person in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat."

The bewildered people—the bailiff, the clerks, the police, and a few spectators—all reluctantly tossed fifty cents into the hat.

LaGuardia gathered the money, which totaled $47.50. He then handed the astonished old woman the $\$47.50$, saying, "Here is the ten-dollar fine which the court hereby remits, and here is an additional $\$37.50$. Go and tell your grandchildren that the court of New York is not entirely corrupt."

The Letter of the Law: The law was clear: the woman stole, and she had to be fined. The law of the tabernacle was clear: the Bread of the Presence was only for the priests.

The Principle of Mercy: Judge LaGuardia upheld the law by pronouncing the fine, but then fulfilled a higher purpose by paying it himself and moving beyond the ritual of punishment to address the desperate human need. Ahimelech, the priest, did the same. He recognized the desperate need for food outweighed the ritual restriction on the bread.

Jesus’ Commentary: Just as the judge demonstrated that the law's true purpose is to serve humanity, Jesus affirmed this principle when He said of the bread incident, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice"

Ahimelech and LaGuardia both understood that God's heart is always more concerned with the desperate cry of a hungry soul than with the rigid observance of an outward ritual.

Faithful love or Sacrifice. Can we see the protection of God on our lives in in the midst of suffering? God is faithful and will fulfill His promises (the death of the line of Eli) so what he wants is not just following the rules, but faithfully following Jesus. Do we miss the point when we just go through the motions without realizing what Jesus meant behind what he called us to do?

We can trust, God will lead us in the suffering, faithfully follow Him and spread His word.

In these two chapters we will see these two things, God desires mercy and not human traditions, and we can trusthim through the suffering because He will do as He promised.

In Chapter 21 it seems like some time has expired since the last time we read about David as he has a grouyp of men with Him. We meet David again talking to a priest in the city of Nob

1 Samuel 21:1 CSB

David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

So one thing that I find interesting is that Ahimelech is the the great grandsom of the priest Eli. If you remember, Eli had some sons that where not living for the Lord, they where becoming fat on the peoples sacrifices and the Lord promised that His family would be punished for their sin because of has lack of respect and reverance for their role as the priest. Ahimelech was also the brother of the kings chaplain, so David probably was not sure that he could be trusted.

But we start out with a lie. we have gone over this before, when is conscientious objection to the government okay and are we willing to stand behind our decisions even if it means our downfall. But we are not getting into that yet today.

1 Samuel 21:2 CSB

David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place.

There are people that say that secretly He was thinking of God as the king and following the mission that God had sent Him to do, that could be the case here but either way he was in disobedience to the king. Where it really gets interesting is what we read next

1 Samuel 21:4 CSB

The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”

David and his men where hungry, but the only bread that was available was the showbread. which we read about in Lev 24:9

Leviticus 24:9 ESV

And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

Saul had run into trouble when he didnt wait to sacrifice to tghe Lord and God condemned him because of it. David seemingly disobeyed the Lord God and nothing was done, but why? I want to read verse 6 before we get into this.

1 Samuel 21:6 CSB

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.

Ahimelech disobeyed the king, disobeyed the law of God and gave David the showbread that was meant for the priests. Granted it was not the fresh stuff, it was the stuff that had been replaced and was supposed to be consumed. In the midst of the suffering that we face, in the midst of life can we expect God to provide? How was this not bad of David? These are both questions that come out of this.

this is echoed in a few different places, what David and the priest did. Do we follow the letter of the law religiosly, do we follow man made versions of the law or misunderstood versions of the Law? in Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 CSB

For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

we read that I think we sometimes misunderstand what Gods plan for the law actually was. It was there to show man that they where sinful, it awakened sin in us knowing that what we were doing was wrong. It showed us that we have no hopes of measuring up to th standard of God and it gave them a temporary reprieve from the law of sin.

Ahimelech was in a bit of a pickle. Giving David and his men the old show bread would be breaking the law, but allowing them to starve would also be breaking the law as thyey where to love their neighbor as themselves.

But the whole time God told them that he desired faithful love and not sacrifice. He was not being contradictory but rather showing them what He really expected of them, the Law was there to give them a way to have a relationship with God, he desired real heart change not just going through the motions. God doesnt want sacrifices from people that are not merciful and have hearts set on Him. Sacrifice is important but so is mercy and a heart following God. You see Jesus said the same thing.

Matthew 12:3–4 CSB

He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry: how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?

Matthew 12:5–8 CSB

Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees thought that Jesus was leading the people away from the Law of God, he referenced what David did, quoted from the law and the book of Hosea and told them they had it all wrong.

We are told that God’s purpose in the law was not just compliance, though that was part of it but to bring good to those that where children of God.

At the time that this was written, Jesus was walking on the Sabbath with His disciples and the disciples where picking grain from a field and eating it. Strictly according to the letter of the lwas this was not allowed and the pharisees pounced on them saying that they where breaking the law of God.

The OT was clear, working on the Sabbath was breaking the law of God but how observing the sabbath looked in practical ways they missed. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and has the right to dictate what it looks like and what the original intention of the law was.

Jesus’ intention in his appeal to this Old Testament incident and its relationship to the charge against Jesus’ disciples has been understood variously.5 Apparently Ahimelech understood that as God’s anointed, David was serving God and was thus entitled to the bread at his time of need. The significance of Ahimelech’s action in giving the bread to David becomes clear later, when Saul ordered Ahimelech and the others of the family of priests to be put to death because he aided David, the future king, and his men (cf. 1 Sam. 22:9–23). Ahimelech served God’s purposes by feeding the fleeing David. The intent of the law is to serve God’s people, not for God’s people to serve the law. The next two responses clarify this point.

Is sometimes human need more important the priestly customs? Human traditions are never more important the God’s word itself. It is the mercy of God that caused David not to be struck down upon technically breaking the Law. Jesus tells us that the sabbath was not observed by scrupulous observances to the law of God but realizing that the Sabbath and the law was made for man to lead them to God.

The priests are from the Line of Eli, was prophesied that they would not live to old age or would die violently. Did they sin in helping David? no but their shortened lives where a result of sin and the sovereignty of God. Just as certainly as God fulfilled His word to Eli so will he fulfill his word to Saul and David.

So What?

We are told that God desires faithful loive, a heart after Him more then sacrifice. Not that the laws of God are bad, not that way each church does things is wrong but it all goes back to the word of God. God desires hearts that are committed to Him, God desires mercy and discipleship. So then what does that mean for our own lives?

We can trust God in the midst of suffering

Though I have not touched on this to much it is still there. David and his mean where on deaths door it would seem like yet God provided for them in an unlikely way. What would seem like breaking God’s own law, they got some food but through it we realize the intention behind God’s law, that is was meant to draw man to God. God showed mercy to men that were following Him, following the will and the plan of God. So one thing that we can learn from this is God will provide for us, sometimes in unexpected ways for the Lord loves us. But we must make sure that we are following Him In all that we do.

God is faithful to save those who turn to Him in faith. We just have to remember it always looks forward to God’s ultimate saving in the end times.

Are we faithfully following Jesus

Next I want to look at some ways that this is practically lived out in our lives. If we are faithfully serving God with our whole hearts then what will that look like.

When it comes to that idea of mercy and not sacrifice it makes us wonder what do we stand on and what hills do we relax on. Choose carefully which hills you are willing to die on. in our mission of growing the kingdom of heaven where do you stand and where do you show mercy. As some people put it we must “Major on the majors”. There are certain things that we must be willing to stand and die on, and othe things that we can let slide that do not matter as much. Not every hill that we face is one worth dying over. Some are important, we do need to all push in the same direction, but in showing mercy we need to pray about where God wants us to take a stand on some of the minor issues

while we are faithfully following Jesus doing this we also must learn to give ourselves to others. The world needs to see how we give ourselves for the sake of Jesus. If we are faithfully serving Jesus in mercy trusting him to provide then we will be giving ourselves to others. as we continue this journey of what faithful love and not sacrifice means we look again to how Jesus lived His life. Jesus came to give to thers so that they may live. So must we, again this comes to the mercy that we are to show those around us.

Ask most people why they want to get married, and they will usually describe their reasons in terms of getting: “I will become more fulfilled in marriage”; “I have always wanted to have a husband and children and a home of my own.” These motivations are not necessarily bad, but marriage as God intended it is a relationship of giving ourselves to another for their enrichment. Spouses who are so consumed with having their own needs met by their partner often cannot get their eyes off their own needs long enough to care for another’s needs, and the relationship becomes parasitic. The tug-of-war of needs between people demands that we continually take in order to have our needs met.

There is so much that we can learn about this, but the last one I want to mention is be praying for the heart of God for the Lost, to see the lost and the people of God as He does. Remember, God desires a heart that follows Him. he desired real heart change not just going through the motions. God doesnt want sacrifices from people that are not merciful and have hearts set on Him. Sacrifice is important but so is mercy and a heart following God. You see Jesus said the same thing.