Habits of Effective Disciples: Obedience

Disciples choose to obey God completely. Partial obedience or conditional obedience is disobedience. God expects our wholehearted commitment to Him and His commands.

In both the Old & New Testaments we discover that God expects His people to obey Him completely.

HEARING AND HEEDING GOD'S COMMAND

1st Samuel 15:1-35

Here we find one of the most tragic stories of disobedience in the story of Israel's first king. For all its history before Israel had been led by prophets and priests, men and women who had a personal relationship with Yahweh and chose to obey Him. From the time of Abraham and the earliest origins of the Hebrew people, they never had a king.

Moses, the man of God, was followed by Joshua. After a time Israel was led by a series of local leaders raised up by God to deliver His people in their times of disobedience. These leaders were known as the judges. Israel's king had always been God,

When Eli's spiritual leadership failed the people, Yahweh raised up a spiritual leader in answer to a young woman's prayer for a child. God had closed Hanna's womb and as a result of her submission to'Him in prayer caused her to bear a boy child she named Samuel and she kept her promise and dedicated him to the Temple service. Samuel grew up there and learned to hear and listen to God's voice.

When the people called for a king, Samuel was obedient to God and anointed Saul as Israel's first king. Saul was an impressive man, taller than most men, and strong, but his character did not match his appearance.

Saul refused to wait upon Samuel to make an offering to the Lord before his first battle against the Philistines and Samuel told him his haste and disregard was to be punished greatly. In I" Samuel 13:14 we are told that God chose another leader, named David, who became a man after God's own heart.

Saul's army turned on him in disregard when he threatened the life of his own son. Afterward God gave Saul one more chance at redemption in battle against the hated Amalekites. These people had attacked the Hebrews when they had first escaped Egypt and had shown them no mercy.

God's command, through His prophet Samuel, was for Saul to destroy every breathing thing, human and animal, leaving nothing alive. Although this seems very harsh to us, the Lord knew any people left alive would spend generations trying to gain revenge against Israel.

First Saul warned the Kenites before he attacked. These were a fringe group of nomads and metal workers, descended from Cain.

Next, Saul disobeyed the Lord's command, leaving the king of the Amalekites, Agag, alive and also took livestock with him after the battle. So there was partial obedience but not full obedience.

Before we look downward on Saul for his partial obedience we should remember that we ourselves have not obeyed the Great Commission causing people to die without God to face eternity and damnation.

In the New Testament we discover again and again that it is not enough to hear God's command. We must actually heed it, being not just a hearer but a doer of His Word. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, contrasted the one who hears His Word with the one who actually put the Word into practice (Matthew 7:24-27).

In the New Testament when Ananias obeys God and goes to Saul to restore his sight and to deliver the Holy Spirit; Saul then gets the chance to obey (Acts 9:10-18). As a result the greatest evangelist of the first century was unleashed upon a dark world to spread the light of Jesus everywhere he went. Paul left us great teachings to lead us to Jesus and to teach us to walk with Him with one profound thought:

You will not obey Him if you do not believe Him and trust Him.

You cannot believe Him if you do not love Him.

You cannot love Him unless you know Him, and are born again unto Him.

EXCUSES AND A MESSAGE FROM GOD

Even if nobody else knows our sin, God does.

Yahweh was grieved by Saul's choice to disobey. Saul turned away from God by his disobedience. Not only was God grieved, but so was Samuel, God's holy one.

Samuel quickly found Saul and confronted him: Saul blamed the livestock left alive on the people (his soldiers) claiming they were kept for sacrifice. Samuel did two things. First he gave Saul the powerful command we still try to keep true today. It is better to obey than to sacrifice. Next Samuel himself had the captured king brought to him and personally cut him to pieces.

The lesson was ( and still is) that there is no excuse for disobedience to God. Excuses are an attempt to justify disobedience.

LOSS OF THE KINGDOM

Saul failed because he wanted the favor of the people instead of God. He feared their disfavor more than the disfavor of his creator.

Saul later died in battle for his sinful disobedience. The Lord turned away from him and even went further to display His disfavor toward Saul.

1 Samuel 16:14-15

"But .the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee".

Saul knew that this spirit was upon him and he sought out a witch to give him advice (Pt Samuel 28) and she brought up the spirit of the now dead Samuel from the land of the dead to tell Saul that he would himself would die in a losing battle the next day.

The end of Saul is best described for us in i sr.Chronicles 10:13-14:

"So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; And enquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse".

There may be no greater example for each of us to keep in our hearts when we are tempted to disobey God. The consequences of disobedience are most serious.

Obedience is the mark of a disciple.