To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice
7/13/06
1 Sam. 15:22 Does
the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and
to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Good intentions are not good
enough! Being well meaning is not
sufficient!
2 Cor. 9:13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,
men will praise God for the
obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with
them and with everyone else.
Do we serve Jesus Christ out
of convenience or obedience?
Jo.
14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father
will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He
who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my
own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Read 2 Sam. 6:1-10. David attempts to bring the Ark to
Jerusalem.
To build the impact of this
we have to start years earlier--1 Sam. 1 through 7:2.
Now, go back to 2 Sam.
6:11ff.
We see that David had
regained his confidence before the Lord and again shows great praise and honor
to God as he brings up the Ark to Jerusalem.
The question is--what
changed?
Read 1 Chr. 15. David had deeply sought the Lord and
realized it was not God’s fault that it happened the way it did, it was not
done in the proper way.
Obedience is the only way to
keep our relationship with God open.
True
freedom is not doing anything you want, true freedom is to be free from the
bondages of disobedience.
Obeying God, even when we
don’t understand, is true freedom.
King
David could have stayed bitter and disillusioned but he chose to seek God and
find out why things went the way they did.
You cannot have peace without
obedience.
Obedience is challenged by
difficulties.
It's
easy to obey when it's not difficult!
Ex.
5:4-5 (Living Bible) “Who do you think you are,” Pharaoh shouted, “distracting
the people from their work? Get back to your jobs!” 6That same day
Pharaoh sent this order to the taskmasters and officers he had set over the
people of Israel: 7-8“Don’t give the people any more straw for
making bricks! However, don’t reduce their production quotas by a single brick,
for they obviously don’t have enough to do or else they wouldn’t be talking
about going out into the wilderness and sacrificing to their God. 9Load
them with work and make them sweat; that will teach them to listen to Moses’ and
Aaron’s lies!”
Obedience challenges us to go
beyond mere understanding.
Jo.
6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just
as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who
feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came
down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this
bread will live forever.” 59He said this while teaching in the
synagogue in Capernaum.
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a
hard teaching. Who can accept it?”........
66From this time many of his disciples turned back and
no longer followed him.
67“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked
the Twelve.
68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you
are the Holy One of God.”
Obedience challenges us to go
against the current!