The great debate:'which one is better between obedience and sacrifice?'

Let us have a good quizz buzzing among most believers: 'Which one is better between obedience and sacrifice?' In 1 Samuel 15, the LORD commands King Saul, through the prophet Samuel, to completely destroy the Amalekites and everything that belongs to them. Later on, King Saul goes on to war and eventually wins but spares the Amalekite King and the best of their sheep and cattle. Saul decided to offer some of the sheep and cattle as a burnt offering to the LORD. Following Saul's battle,the LORD spoke to the prophet Samuel and said:

“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” (1 Samuel 15:11) Later on, the prophet Samuel traveled to meet Saul on the war field but as he arrived, the soldiers told Samuel that Saul had gone to Carmel to set up a monument in his own glory and then he went down to Gilgal in order to offer sacrifices to the LORD. So Samuel joined Saul in Gilgal to announce him the terrible news from the LORD. *************** A bit of an explainer: King Saul was told to destroy everything completely but he spared the King and decided to offer the best sheep to the LORD as a burnt offering. Yet, the LORD rejected him as King. This example shows that God values obedience above sacrifices in all forms (gifts, tithes, charitable actions,church offerings...). We sometimes get confused to think that our offerings constitute some sort of licence to disobey but that reasoning is a real deception. Most prosperity preachers have successfully applied their rhetoric to convince their followers that their (financial) sacrifices are everything. In the midst of that thinking, we have been convinced that God needs our money all the time like some sort of poor broke dude in debt trying to find a way out. God has everything already. Do not get me wrong, offerings are important BUT obedience has more value in the eyes of the LORD. There is no point at making so many sacrifices and yet living in disobedient manner. And finally, this short story teaches us that sacrifice and obedience are two different things and we should not confuse them. It is interesting that Jesus values 'right living' above sacrifice in Matthew 5:23-24: 'Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.' **************** When we keep reading the text from 1 Samuel 15:12-34, we realize a few important things: 1. Saul, not only disobeys, but also erects a monument in his own glory (1 Samuel 15:12). It shows that disobedience is strongly linked to a desire of 'self glory seeking' that results in doing things in our own way rather than following the LORD's ways. 2. Secondly, Saul is strongly convinced that he has done the will of the Lord. God is very strict about His will. In the Kingdom of God, similarity does not equate to the original plan. Saul's victory gets close to the original instruction but any good mathematician knows that 0,8 does not equate to 1. 3. When we value sacrifice (tithing, charity work, church offering...) above obedience, we fall into the trap of thinking that we are doing the will of God even when we disobey. Note what Saul tells Samuel: '...I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” (1 Samuel 15:13) The amount of sacrifice made Saul believe that it was okay to not carry the instructions completely.And even after the prophet Samuel explains to Saul the reason behind God's anger, Saul still argues by remaining adamant about doing the will of God ( reference 1 Samuel 15:20-21). It is exactly the trap we fall into when we value sacrifice above obedience: 4. The prophet Samuel offers a strong definition of what evil is in the eyes of the LORD. Note that in this case, the evil Saul committed consisted in 'pouncing the plunder'. All too often we classify as 'evil' those well known immoral behaviors but in the LORD's eyes evil consists of anything or any behavior disregarding His will. 5. We cannot buy God (period). Nobody can give anything as to render God in debt as Paul wrote: "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" (Romans 11:35) Notice that in 1 Samuel 15:15, Saul tries to justify his sacrifice as being the best gift spared for the LORD and in his justification he adds:'...but we destroyed everything.' The last part of his statement reveals that Saul was fully aware of God's will and yet he did not respect it. As a proof that God can not be bought, right after Saul statement, the prophet Samuel confirms God's rejection of Saul. Even the best sheep and cattle could not keep God's anger at bay. We cannot buy God with our sacrifices. Everything was created by Him and for Him, those sacrifices are made of stuff that belonged to Him at the first place (reference Romans 11:36). There are many reasons as to why we offer in church or to humans BUT 'buying God' is not part of those reasons. 6. The prophet Samuel states to Saul: ' Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:23) Rejecting the word (instructions) of the LORD can create our demise from our purpose. King Saul got rejected from his throne for simply refusing the instructions of the LORD. 7. To complete the great 'quizz debate' among believers, the prophet Samuel declares: 'To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.' (1 Samuel 15:22) The word 'heed' means paying attention. In this case, Saul should have paid careful attention to the LORD's instructions. 8. Notice what Saul tells the prophet Samuel: “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.' ( 1 Samuel 15:24) Saul sinned because he was afraid of his people. Disobedience to God is strongly linked to the fear of men. Saul was more interested in the opinions of his soldiers than following the instructions of God. All too often, believers fall for the trap of disobedience out of fear for the world. As a result they choose what is popular, or world conform. They rather value the opinion of a BFF above God's instructions. ***************** What is divination? In his rebuke to King Saul, Samuel states: 'For rebellion is like the sin of divination...' (1 Samuel 15:23) Divination is defined as the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means through consultation. Divination is often practiced by consultation with a medium (a medium is an intermediary agent that serves as a bridge of communication between evil spirits and a fortune seeker). Rebellion (disobedience) is elevated to the rank of 'divination' because before disobeying to God instructions, a person has to consult another source to get convinced into rebellion. That source could be a BFF,a family member, a friend and even 'self'. In this text study, Saul consulted himself and his men before disobeying. Here is a fictive example: God confirms to a lady called Lebo that Jodash is her future husband. Though she clearly heard God's opinion, Lebo goes and consult her pastor who tells her not follow that instruction. Out of fear for the pastor and because she cares so much about her pastor's opinion, Lebo end up marrying Pilly (a guy that her pastor pretty much likes). In this case, Lebo has committed 'text book' divination by marrying the wrong guy (I am not being mean, I am just saying the truth...). ***************** Just to close the debate:'sacrifices are important and we should keep the practice of charity/ tithing/offerings...but let us not fall into the trap of thinking that they have more value than obedience.' Obedience does not equate to sacrifice. Obedience is different than/and above sacrifice.