Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22

Sacrifice is good but obedience is better. Always. In this story King Saul is commanded to utterly destroy the Amalekites but instead of obeying God Saul chose to obey those closest to him. Saul kept the best of the flock and other choice items. Oftentimes when confronted with obedience to God we choose what is easiest for us to accomplish in His name. We choose sacrifice over obedience and wonder why we never experience breakthrough. I'm not talking finances here. When we hear breakthrough stuff pops into our heads that have nothing to do with Fruits Of The Spirit. Breakthrough is spiritual.  Saul thought that partially obeying God was good enough to establish his breakthrough (financially) and was generous enough in his error to offer Samuel some of his holdings to sacrifice to his God. Notice Saul doesn't claim God as his own but acknowledges God as the God of Samuel. That is what sacrifice does to a person who chooses it over obedience. It clouds the intellect to the point you fail to Trust God and acknowledge Him personally  in your life. You see God is God over all whether you acknowledge Him or not. Saul had to learn this the hard way.

When meditating on obedience versus sacrifice I am reminded of another Bible Story. The story of Mary and Martha.  Martha busied herself preparing a meal while Mary sat at Jesus feet to learn and worship Him. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen that one thing that was needed and Mary's choice was best.

Burnt offerings and sacrifice was never commanded by God. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice: Jeremiah 7:22.  Jeremiah 7:23 says:


But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:17:
 
Paul in his letter to the Romans says: beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. Romans 12:1.
 
 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.  To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Why is it that whenever Jesus commands not to do something Paul has a way to persuade his readers otherwise.  Godly sacrifices are broken spirits and contrite hearts not your body as a living sacrifice.  Paul makes another mockingly strange statement: That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:16. The only "offering up" ever needed was Jesus Christ on Calvary. Sacrifices are offered up. So, who is Paul offering up the sacrifice of the Gentiles to and why? As always Paul tells us why but only those free from eye scales can see.

It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Romans 15:20. The foundation is Jesus Christ. If the integrity of The Foundation Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ is not maintained we run the risk of falling to deception.

As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:9 Paul included.

Jesus despised traditions. Traditions are mentioned 14 times in The New Testament and is never mentioned in The Old Testament. Jesus spoke against traditions 8 times. Sacrifice is a tradition.

In Matthew 9:14-17   Jesus is confronted about ritual fasting. Ritual fasting like ritual of any sort is supposed to take place at certain times throughout the year. Any other sacrifice even fasting is not wrong just unneccessary.Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16“But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”  Jesus here is simply saying that He is the new tradition. That through Him everything is preserved the old (traditions) and the new freedom under Grace. In Hebrews 13:5.  Jesus says if we remain obedient to Him He would never leave or forsake us.  We are only commanded to observe  Holy Communion as a tradition in remembrance of Him.  But when and if you must fast remember Isaiah 58 and don't do it believing God will notice you but do it while feeding the hungry, visiting the shut-ins, the sick, those in jail, caring for widows and fatherless children. Fasting this way has a promise attached based on obedience to His Word.  Stay Blessed...

In His Service

Saved By Grace Through Faith : What About Obedience?

Popular theology has reduced the commandments of Christ and His Apostles to a practical nullity. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." Mark 7:13. Teaching Grace out of context apart from obedience  has totally obscured the principle of obedience as the basis of our acceptance with God in Christ, by its doctrine of "justification by faith alone," and that too, of the most momentary character in the hour of death. It is part of the modern restitution of primitive apostolic ways, to recognize distinctly, that while faith turns a sinner into a saint, obedience only will secure a saint's acceptance at the judgment seat of Christ; and that a disobedient saint will be rejected more decisively than even an unjustified sinner. The Bible says it this way:  When a righteous man disobeys he will not be saved just as the wicked man's wickedness will not cause him to fall if he repents. Ezekiel 33:12.


The rule or standard of obedience is to be found in the commandments of Christ. Christ speaks very plainly on this subject of obedience in relationship to being in His perfect Will.  Jesus  summed up the importance of obedience in this saying  - "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love."
Before we can keep his commandments, we must know them; and in order to know them to any purpose, we must remember them. This epitome is intended as a help to the memory. The commandments are picked out from the apostolic writings, and classified in a way convenient to remember, and printed in a form convenient for carrying about on the person daily, so that they may be often looked at, and imprinted on the mind. The references are supplied for the satisfaction of those who desire to be quite sure of their foundation. What excellent men and women are those who keep all these commandments! Where are they? Lord, increase their number.
wikipedia

In the most Holy name Jesus Christ Amen. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight Oh Lord my Strength and my Redeemer...

Ezekiel 33:12-19 is about the righteousness of the righteous and how they wrongly divide the word . Of mans' righteousness Isaiah likened to "filthy rags" Isaiah 64:4-9.

This people draw near with their words and honour me with their lips service, but they remove their heart far from me(Isa 29:13). 

The Lord says, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, take away from before my eyes the evil of your deeds. Cease to do evil, learn to do good" (Isa 1:16-17). The passage goes on to say that if the people do this willingly and obediently, they will be rewarded and blessed (Isa 1:18-20). But, the key here is that we must learn to do good.  We have to practice doing good.

Here’s another example: "Thus says the Lord, Preserve justice and do righteousness... How blessed is the man who does this..." (Isa 56:1-2).

So, here we are given the principle that we must "learn" in order "to do good". That principle is obedience. We must learn to be obedient. If being obedient was not a problem we would be through with sin. But, we all know that is not the case. This is exactly what Paul was saying back in Romans when he wrote this:

Romans 7:15-25 (New International Version)

¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
 ²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God's law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
      So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. James says a double minded man is unstable in all he does James 1:8.

All of the Commandments are subordinate to Love. But, for us obedience is paramount. Why? Glad you asked: How can any of us have any hope of Loving like Jesus if we are disobedient? Through Grace right? Wrong. If we are living ouitside the will of God as unbelievers  then we enjoy God's Mercy. Some would argue "common grace" is extended to all. This is a Calvinist argument. Calvin taught that there were levels of Grace. There is common, special and saving grace. This is an example of the "traditions of men that has caused Gods' Word to be null and void". Grace is reserved for disobedient believers and believers struggling with overwhelming issues period. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says:   But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.


My Grace is sufficient for you refers to Paul the believer, Paul who follows Jesus  by Faith, like us (modern believers). Paul received his understanding of Jesus through the Holy Spirit by Faith just as we do. We have to stop depending on Grace and focus our attention instead on being obedient to The Word of God. Grace is like a credit card. You are responsible how you use it...

As always: Seek ye first the Kingdom Of God and don't worry about the rest...