Do you obey or just sacrifice?

The prophet Samuel spoke God’s truth in 1 Samuel 15:22 when he told King Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” I’ve often wondered about these two: obedience and sacrifice. Why is one better than the other? Aren’t they both good? What makes obedience superior?

This is the same dilemma that C.S. Lewis presents at the beginning of his sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” When contemplating the highest virtue held by Christians of old and his contemporaries, he decides that “Love” had been replaced by “Unselfishness.” “You see what has happened?” he quips. “A negative term has been substituted for a positive.” Unselfishness suggests going without, “as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point.”

This is also true of obedience and sacrifice. Sacrifice suggests giving something up. The focus is on the giver. The focus of obedience is on the receiver. When we are obedient to God, our actions spotlight His will. When we sacrifice, our actions spotlight our own actions.

But didn’t Jesus sacrifice himself on the cross? Wasn’t that his greatest act for our greatest good? Yes, but I would argue that it was done out of obedience. Paul tells us that Jesus, despite being “in very nature God . . . humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6,8). Even Jesus, as he prayed in the garden, highlighted his obedience to his Father when he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). The focus was on his obedience to the Father. Jesus laid down his life in obedience.

Obedience is done out of a heart that wants to honor. This is exactly where Saul went wrong in 1 Samuel. The LORD had instructed Saul and the Israelites to totally destroy the Amalekites. Nothing was to be spared, not even their animals. But Saul did not do as the LORD instructed. He spared their king and the best of their cattle. When Samuel questioned Saul about not following directions, Saul told Samuel, “The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:21). Samuel responded with a question, an answer, and an analogy: “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. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry” (v.22).

Listen. God wants our hearts, not some outward sacrifice. Saul did some extravagant sacrifice that looked good from the outside, but in reality, it was total disobedience. His Freudian slip of the tongue when he said, “to sacrifice them to the LORD your God,” was a clear indication of what was wrong: Saul did not see the LORD as his God. The LORD was Samuel’s God. His heart was not for the LORD.

I’m sitting here wondering where I make the same mistake. Do I obey because I know the LORD is my God? Where do I give some half-hearted obedience? Where do I sacrifice instead of obey? I imagine that it is more often than I choose to admit. A little sacrifice of time because I feel obligated. A little sacrifice of money so I’ll look good. The sacrifice trap is easy to trip, and the worst part is that it makes you think that you’ve really done something good and important. It may look as if you’ve done it for God though you haven’t. But God knows the difference, and if Samuel were looking us in the face, he would call our hands on it, just the way he did to Saul. “To obey is better than sacrifice,” he would say. God wants our whole hearts. He wants our Love, not our Unselfishness, for with our hearts, with our love, we will give the sacrifice and be unselfish for the right reasons. We will do it for Him. Then all the praise and honor and glory will be His, just the way it should be.

Dear Lord, Help me to “rend my heart not my garments” to You. Help me to want You and not to just do things that look good. Help me to obey because I love You and want to honor You. Let this be from the inside out, for only then I will get it right. You are so worthy to be honored and glorified. Praise You! Thank You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.