Video and notes of a sermon preached at St Andrew’s Eaton (Norwich) on Sunday 2nd June 2024.

‘Spiritual failure is more often a slow leak than a burst tyre.’

So it was with King Saul.  He looked every inch a king.  But deep character flaws led to rash decisions and foolish choices.

To mention just one: Saul made his troops swear, on pain of death, that they would not eat any food until they had won a certain battle.  Saul’s son Jonathan had not heard about this oath, and he helped himself to a mouthful of wild honey.  His father would have killed him there and then if the soldiers themselves had not protested. (1 Sam 14)

What happens in this chapter is the last nail in the coffin of Saul’s kingship.

The ‘elephant in the room’ – What sort of God would command the utter destruction of these Amalekites?

From their first appearance in the book of Exodus, to their last mention in the book of Esther, the Amalekites were bent on obliterating God’s people and thus thwarting God’s purposes for blessing all the nations of the world.

God says, through Samuel: “Enough is enough.”  The entire tribe of Amalekites is to be destroyed.  Saul is to take no prisoners; his soldiers are not to help themselves to any of the spoils of war: v3 – “Destroy everything that they have.”

But Saul didn’t do that.  He did things his own way, not God’s way.

(i) He is selectively obedient.  V3 – ‘You shall not spare any of them’.  V13 – “I have carried out the command of the LORD.”  Bleating of sheep, mooing of cattle – how did Saul think he was going to get away with it?

What’s the point of claiming: ‘I’m mostly faithful to my wife.’  ‘I often tell the truth.’  ‘I only occasionally pinch money from the till.’

(ii) He tries to shift the blame.  V15, 21 ‘The people’ made me do it.  V24 – ‘I feared the people and obeyed their voice’.  This is as old as time: Adam and Eve, Gen 3 – ‘The woman you gave me – she made me do it!’

Blame-shifting today: ‘I didn’t mean to abuse her, but she led me on.’  ‘I didn’t plan to steal the money, but my boss just left it lying around.’  ‘It’s him; it’s her; it’s them; it’s it – but it’s never me!’

(iii) He seeks to preserve his reputation, v12 – ‘setting up a monument for himself’.  V30 ‘Honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel’.  Make me look good.  Jesus has a description for those who look good on the outside, but are full of deceit and dishonesty and disobedience on the inside: he calls them ‘whitewashed sepulchres’.

(iv) He offers a fake apology.  V30 – “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.”  He is more concerned about his reputation before his people than his standing before God.

Recognise the following?  Not ‘I’m sorry’, but ‘I’m sorry I got caught’; ‘I’m sorry you feel upset;’ ‘I’m sorry, but my words were taken out of context.’  Schoolboy fire extinguisher.  Contrast with David: his sin was more serious; but his repentance was more real.

(v) He has the form, but not the power, of godliness.  Three times Saul speaks to Samuel in the same way (vv15, 21, 30): v15 – ‘Let’s offer sacrifices to the Lord your God’; v21 – ‘We kept the best back to sacrifice to the Lord your God’; v30 – ‘Come with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’

Luther: ‘The life of Christianity consists in possessive pronouns.’

But,v 22,‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’

Verdict: v23 – “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Saul’s reign is effectively over.  The crown will be given to another.

Turning to the New Testament

One vital difference: there is no place for violence in Christ’s kingdom.  Jn 18:36 – “My kingdom is not from this world. If it were, my followers would be fighting.”

Eph 6:12 – ‘Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.’

‘Fight valiantly against sin, the world and the devil’.

One essential similarity: obedience to God’s commands is just as important for us as it was for Saul

• It’s good to attend church services: but according to our Lord Jesus, we cannot expect our worship to be acceptable to God while we remain unreconciled to our brother or sister, Mt 5:23.
• It’s good to confess our sins: but our Savour teaches that we cannot expect to receive God’s forgiveness unless we are willing to extend forgiveness to others, Mt 6:14f.
• It’s good to recite the creed: but St James writes we cannot claim to have true faith unless this is worked out in care for the vulnerable and needy, James 1:27; 2:8.
• It’s good to say our prayers: but St Peter says that we cannot expect our prayers to be effective if we treat our life partner with disrespect, 1 Pet 3:7

No surprise, then, that our Saviour agrees that, ‘to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’  Mk 12:29-31.

What shall we say then?  That we need to achieve perfect obedience to Christ’s commands in order to be accepted by God?

No!  Trying to be good enough for God is an exercise in futility.

In the Christian life:

acceptance with God is grace, pure and simple;

obedience to God is gratitude, from beginning to end.

Eph 1:8-10  ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith…not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.’

Savior, Thy dying love
Thou gavest me,
Nor should I aught withhold,
Dear Lord, from Thee:
In love my soul would bow,
My heart fulfill its vow,
Some off’ring bring Thee now,
Something for Thee.

‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.’