The Opportunity of a Lifetime - 1 Samuel 15

Introduction

Most days are ordinary. They’re the same routine of waking up, brushing your teeth, going to work, and coming home. But, every now and then, there are a few life-altering moments that come your way. Most people can look back over their lives to just a handful of moments and the decisions that they made in those moments to explain to you how they ended up where they did. For some, they look back to a defining moment that changed their lives for the good. I read this week about Toni Braxton who was pumping gas in Annapolis, MD in the late 80’s. She looked up, and the gas station attendant was standing and staring. He asked her if she was the one he’d heard sing at an event a few nights earlier. The attendant turned out to be William Pettaway who was about to make it big as a music producer. Toni Braxton has went on to sale more than 40 million albums and is one of the most successful female artists of all time, and it began with her pumping $3 worth of gas.

But, for many other whose stories remain anonymous, you think to these moments not with thankfulness, but regret. You think not so much of opportunities seized as you do opportunities missed. You remember these defining moments as being turning points that kept you from being able to have the life you aspired to have, and your regret travels with you as a wound that just won’t heal.

God’s Word

Last week, we saw Saul seemingly chosen out of obscurity by God to be the king of his people. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. It was the opportunity to have a life of real significance and real lasting impact. The question that we’re left asking is: What will he do with the opportunity? Will he seize it as an opportunity to unify the people and call them to deep devotion to God? Will he see this as a means by which he might be able to show how great the God of Israel is that he would work through a person like himself? Or, will this opportunity end in regret?

Chapters 15 and 16 are laid side-by-side for contrast. So, this week, we’re going to be left hanging a bit until we’re able to get to chapter 16 next week. This week, we’ll see How We Operate: (Headline), and next week, we’ll see how God operates.

We “listen to the wrong “voices.”

There’s nothing talked about more often in my house than listening. 90% of the disciplinary issues in our home relate to just a lack of listening. Sometimes, in my deepest moments of sleep, I drift off to a dream world where everyone listens. And, it’s really such a happy place. It seems so simple, doesn’t it? Of course, we listen about as good as our children do, and this forms a major theme in the 1 Sam 15.

Themes: What’s talked about first? 15:1 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.

What’s talked about most? A form of “listen” shows up 6 times. “Voice”, which of course implies listening, pops up 5 times.

The point is clear enough. Saul’s success as king was going to be directly linked with his ability to listen. Leadership is always like that. One’s ability to lead will never surpass their ability to listen. But, this was especially the case for Saul. He wasn’t a ruler so much as a steward. He was responsible for being a type of incarnation of God’s leadership. God would speak, and Saul would listen. That’s how the people would be led. So, Sam is reminding him of this before he tells what the LORD has said.

The command that’s given couldn’t be clearer. Everything was placed under a ban. This was a type of sacrifice offered to the LORD because of the particular wickedness of those people. It comes to a point where God says enough. Very rare. God’s justice + God’s protection. It is awfully arrogant of us, and even indicative of this very passage, if we believe we as sinful, corrupt people can impugn the justice and character of God. Nonetheless, this will not be a case of unstated expectations. God is extremely clear.

Saul thought he knew a better way.

1 Samuel 15:8-9 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

So, of course, Saul “listened” and did exactly what God told him to do, right? Nope. Saul thought he knew a better way, a way which wouldn’t be so needlessly wasteful. Saul must’ve wondered: Why would anyone destroy such a treasure? So, improvised. He attempted to improve upon the plan of God. Agag would be spared, not out of mercy, but to parade down the streets. The best of the herds would be spared to offer as sacrifice, after all, doesn’t God deserve the best? Surely, this was a better way than annihilation. He was listening, but not to the LORD. He was listening to himself.

Saul heard God’s plan and didn’t think it made sense. Saul was of a different opinion than God was. It’s common for us to do the same. We hear what God has spoken, and it’s not that He hasn’t spoken clearly. It’s just that we’re of a different opinion. We’ve heard what He’s said about marriage and divorce and sex and money. And, these things aren’t unclear. It’s just that we believe that we can improve upon them. We believe that we know a better way.

Saul heard a louder voice.

15:20-21 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

15:24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

And, not only did Saul think that he knew a better way, but he heard a louder voice. The LORD had spoken clearly, but the people had spoken loudly. The LORD had spoken once, but the people had spoken continually. He wanted to save face. He wanted high approval ratings. They wanted to profit from their victory, after all, that’s what armies did. They profited from the peoples they conquered. But, they weren’t supposed to prosper the way everyone else did.

Wanting to please the crowd, Saul forsook the LORD. You can’t listen to the crowd and to the LORD at the same time. You can’t honor the LORD and make everyone else happy too. You have to decide where your joy comes from. You have to decide where your hope is found. You have to decide upon whose opinion your identity will be found. For every instruction the LORD offers, the world offers dozens of alternatives.

“The LORD regretted”

15:11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

And, that’s why there’s a refrain throughout this chapter that the LORD regretted making Saul king. What does that mean? God doesn’t regret in the sense that He’s caught off guard or that He made a mistake. God regrets the way a dad does when he regrets disciplining his child for his own good. It’s a way to express that God is in a real relationship with people so that He himself is saddened.

And, God’s regret leads to Saul’s regret. Saul would be deposed and left begging that he might save face once more before the elders. The text is saying, “If only you had listened Saul. If only you’d listened to me, instead of your own opinions and everyone else’s shouts.” Living by what you think is best and trying to please everyone else forms two paths to the same destination: regret. To whom are you listening?

We “pride” ourselves on “half-measures”.

15:12-13 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”

Devastated over the news he’s just received from the LORD, Sam goes to find Saul. And, there’s almost some humor in what plays out. It’s like when I told GK to clear her room up, one time. The instructions were crystal clear. I went to her room, and she’s watching a movie and eating popcorn. She just smiled at me really big, and said, “Got my room cleaned up dad!” Meanwhile, the bed was lifted off of the ground with all the stuff she’d packed under there, and her closet door opened like an avalanche. Saul doesn’t know that Sam knows anything. So, Sam shows up, and Saul’s standing in the shadows of a statue he’s had built for himself, and he smiles, “Mission accomplished, Sam! I did what God asked!” And, don’t miss this, Sam says, “Let’s listen since obviously you’re not very good at it.” What do I hear? I hear your disobedience bleating in the distance!”

Saul was proud of his half-hearted obedience.

“I’m awesome! I half-obeyed!” He’s like the dad who grills hotdogs one night out of 30 and wants a pat on the back for it. Saul defeated the Amalekites because God told him to and by God’s power. Then, he cowered to his people and didn’t destroy the Bentleys when he was ransacking the Camrys. And, he’s like, “I’m throwing me a parade!”

It’s amazing how proud we can be of half-hearted obedience. “I read my Bible last Tuesday morning, and it was on taming my tongue. I got up early to read it, too. Well, I did gossip at lunch and again when my boss upset me. I blew up on my kids, too. But, I deserve some credit for reading it! Somebody throw me a parade!”

Partial obedience is full rebellion.

15:19-20 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

Sam was teaching Saul what we must learn: To obey at 90 percent is to rebel at 100 percent. Where are you pulling up short of full obedience? Where are you being 90 percent obedient? Because what 90 percent obedience reveals is a heart that wants to get away with as much unfaithfulness as God can stand. It reveals a disruption in your heart that pulls up short of loving God with all of you heart, mind, and strength. So, the question isn’t, “How am I so faithful?” Rather, it’s “Why will my heart not fully commit? Why do I not love God fully?”

A Radical Example: Samuel

15:33 And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

Sam cuts Agag to pieces as an example of the radical, blood obedience the God requires. Points forward to Jesus’ blood, radical obedience. The cross is the proof that our God is not a God of half-measures.

How committed should you be? You should be as committed to obeying the LORD as Jesus was committed to going to the cross?

We “disguise” disobedience with “religion.”

15:20-21 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Baptized Disobedience

It’s important that we not just see that Saul disobeyed God, but how he tried to camouflage it. Because he disguised his disobedience the same way many of us do — by describing it with religious language and covering it with religious ceremony. “I did it so that I could offer it to the LORD!” Crazy thing is that it was this was the purpose of the ban to begin with! It was already to supposed to have been offered to the LORD! He’s baptizing his disobedience so that it doesn’t sound as bad.

In the South, we’re experts at baptizing our disobedience. We make lying sound like kindness. We make our unfaithfulness to church sound like a spiritual awakening of personal religion. We make sleeping with our girlfriend sound like an expression of love. We make pornography sound like an outlet to save our marriages. That is, we have spiritual excuses built-in to justify our disobedience.

God wants the heart, not religious activity.

15:22-23 And Samuel said, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

God wants the heart, not religious activity. You can’t make up for a disobedient heart with religious exercises. We want to know how many ‘hail mary’s’ until we’re absolved, but that’s not what God is after. He wants a heart that loves him and is grieved by him so that sin is hated, not excused.

Oh, we run ourselves ragged trying to make up for the things that we’ve done. We like to think, “I got myself into this mess, and I’ve got to get myself out.” But, praying with your boyfriend doesn’t make up for sleeping with him. Giving to your church doesn’t make up for stealing on your taxes. Memorizing your Bible doesn’t make up for your porn addiction. You can be filled with religious activity to the point of misery and exhaustion and all you’ve done is continually declare to God that you don’t need him.

Don’t make-up, bow down

Disobedience requires heart born repentance not guilt-driven religious exercises. Y’all, we try to cover-up our sin and then make-up for our sin. But, we don’t need to cover-up and make-up, we need to bow down.

15:30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.”

Saul could’ve obeyed. Then, he could’ve repented. But, he just wanted to save face. Aren’t you tired of that? Aren’t you tired of saving face?

That’s the good news about Jesus. He was a King who came and actually incarnated the presence and kindness of the Living God. And, do you know what He said, “Sinner, come to me just as you are. Don’t try to make up for it. Don’t try to bury your sin in religious exercises. Come to me so that I can unburden you. Come to me so that I can make you new. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, friend. Come to him.