SERMON OUTLINE

Obedience is better than sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:10–23

Introduction

This is God speaking to Samuel, (1 Sam 15:11)

“I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my
command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night.”

“…Samuel replied, (I Sam 15:22)

“What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”

There are a lot of sermons preached about sacrifice. We are to give ourselves and to give of ourselves. We
are encouraged to make sacrifices for God and for others!

We may well respond by saying,

“I’m going to give up this, I’m going give up that!
“I’m going to do this or that!”
“I’m going to offer for missionary service!”

But there is something in God’s eyes that is more respected than any sacrifice that can be made… there is
something greater to God than sacrifice, according to the Bible.

Now it is not my intention to diminish the importance of sacrifice… and if what we give to God represents real
sacrifice, God smiles on that… but the Scripture lets us know that there is something more prized by God
than sacrifice and that is OBEDIENCE!

…Just simply obeying what God tells you to do!

Points to consider

1) “Brownie Point” Christianity

Doing the great stuff that gets noticed… earning “brownie points”!

As a kid I loved doing jobs for my mum! I loved the fact that it made me feel special to go the extra mile!

But there were those times, I remember, when I was told do something like tidy up after myself and I’d be put
out… I’d resist! There was something about the fact that I’d been asked and required to do something that
was less exciting… it was expected… it wasn’t extra special in my eyes. It didn’t give me the same buzz!

God isn’t impressed with “Brownie point” sacrifice

2) “I’ll make it up to you” Christianity

Doing stuff to make up for what you haven’t or won’t do.

We do this with people we love but sometimes take for granted!

What happens sometimes… we get a pang of guilt… because we haven’t done what we should do and we
panic and try to make up for it with extra credit and we try to buy what we’ve lost… Yes I’m working late
again… Yes I put the job first… No I’m not coming to church with you again this week… yes I’m too busy…

…BUT I’ll MAKE IT UP TO YOU!

God can’t be bought off

3) God wants our everyday obedience… Paul calls daily obedience to God offering Him yourself as
a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1-2 The Message (MSG)

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping,
eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your
culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the
inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture
around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops
well-formed maturity in you.”

God is not going to ask you to show him your brownie points… He’s going to judge you on your everyday life
obedience to him!

He’s not going to say show me all the big things that you did, all those extra special things! He’s going to say,

“You had this assignment to do and all this other stuff that other people get so excited about, well that
doesn’t matter to me… what matters is… have you done what I asked you to do? That consistent stuff? Have
you been “Holy” available?”

4) You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can try to fool yourself, but you can’t
fool God!

The Bible said that king Saul was given a direct order… an assignment from God! Go utterly destroy the
Amalekites and all of their animals.

King Saul took off… he started to do the assignment that he had been given to do… but then he started
thinking and he thought,

“You know, if I kill the king, then all the people back in Israel will not have a victory parade for me and if I kill
all his animals I want be able to make a big deal out of sacrificing them to God.”

And so Saul killed them all except for King Agag and he killed them all except for a few choice sheep and oxen
and rams and he brought them all back.

That night God said to Samuel, it over for Saul because he didn’t do what I told him to do.

Saul returns with sheep, oxen and the bound King Agag behind him. He says cheerily to Samuel the prophet,

“May the Lord bless you, I’ve carried out the Lord’s command”
And now I’m about to earn some brownie points, I’m going to offer all these sacrifices up to God… I’m going
to show him what a great King I am and those watching will be impressed!

He wanted to do something extra special, instead of just doing what God told him to do!

Samuel says, “Excuse me… do you think you’ve done all God told you to do?” and just at that moment,
behind Saul, the sheep go baaaa; just to prove his point! (vs14)

Don’t be fooled if you are disobeying God and denying it… one day the sheep will baaa and you will be found
out…

Your sheep will always bleat when you don’t want them too.

The word says... Numbers 32:23

“…if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you
out.”

God won’t be made a fool of!

Conclusion

Obedience is better than sacrifice!

Jesus told a story to show how different people obey what God has called them to do. In Jesus’ parable of the
two sons, the father asked both sons to go and work in his vineyard. One son answered, “No,” but then went
and worked. The other son answered “yes” but did not go.

In telling the story, Jesus wanted us to realize that what we do is more important than what we say we will
do. Jesus, when he says, “Follow me,” wants us to say, “Yes, I’ll follow you” but what he really wants is for us to
actually follow him!

He requires our obedience!

A Prayer

Lord, sometimes we say, “Yes,” but our actions say, “No.” Help us to be obedient, to do what you have called
us to be and do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.