Lighthouse scribes

Matthew 21:28-32

Although this passage can be understood as an allegory that shows the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and priests, who were avowed to serve God and the genuine repentance of ‘public sinners’. For the first time since I started to study and write about the parables of Jesus, I’m inclined to completely focus on one lesson in the story, because that’s what the Holy Spirit drew my focus to. Please read the text, hear what Jesus is saying, and let God speak to you.

Obedience is better than Sacrifice. 💯

Proverbs 21:3 NLT
[3] The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.
Thousands of years ago, during the Israelites’ exodus, the Amalekites launched an unprovoked attack to prevent them from entering Canaan. Israel won that war, but God also made a promise on that day to annihilate the Amalekites. So, some hundreds of years later, Saul was king and God said it was time for judgement. So, like the man who had two sons, God through Samuel gave Saul this task.

1 Samuel 15:3 ICB
[3] Now go, attack the Amalekites. Destroy everything that belongs to them as an offering to the Lord. Don’t let anything live. Put to death men and women, children and small babies. Kill the cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Like the second son, Saul also answered, ‘I will, sir’. Okay, we don’t see that written in the Bible, what we see is that straightaway, he mobilizes an army of 210K men, and they completely destroy everything— unless they found it useful and of good quality. Saul, against God’s instruction, spared the life of king Agag and anything else he deemed worthy of value.

God grieved. Saul had shown himself irredeemable (read 1 Samuel 13), and this act of disobedience was the final straw.

1 Samuel 15:22-23 NLT
[22] But Samuel replied, “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. [23] Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

Obedience is better than the sacrifice of repentance.
What trumps true repentance? Obeying in the first instance. Complying with God’s instruction with a determination to fully obey him, always is better than our half-hearted commitments and resulting repentance, which many times can be insincere. I’m not discouraging anyone from repenting when they’ve fallen off the wheel. No. But, repentance isn’t simply about fessing up, it’s about turning away from the wrong way to the right way. It’s exemplified in the son, who defied his father, but later changed his mind and went to the vineyard to work.

Obedience is better than the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

A devotion to Christian practices does not please God if we are living in disobedience. Every time Samuel accosted Saul, his response was, ‘we spared the best to sacrifice to your God.’ Saul was ecstatic, in his eyes he was bringing all the spoils of war to offer as a sacrifice to God, and that was everything. God cannot be bribed. Not with offerings, tithes and first fruits, not with a form of godliness or devotion that doesn’t change us from the inward. Our sacrifices are a sweet smelling savour when we are living in obedience.

Obedience for love and duty.
There have been days I have obeyed God even if I didn’t feel like it, as an act of duty because my father is God. I didn’t love God less on those days, but in those instances, I wasn’t exactly cheery about what I needed to do.
When we read the stories of our forerunners, we see men and women who weren’t always perfect in obedience but who consistently desired and submitted to doing God’s will. In the parable of the two sons, the father had placed a duty on each son, and in like manner God does so with us daily. Sometimes his instructions in the word are those that bring us into maturity, but there are many times when he gives us specific tasks, asking us to be a channel of blessing, that in our obedience, others can be blessed. We are not required to fully understand God’s plans to obey him. Abraham didn’t even know where He was going, when he packed up everything and followed God. Obedience may come from duty, love, submission, trust. Yet, as Christians, obedience should not be legalistic to earn God’s favours. We obey because we love him. It is good to get things from our father, and to look forward to enjoying the good things our father gives, but it’s legalistic when we begin to think we can earn them by good works.

May this word that has come, correct us, instruct us and abide in us all. Amen.

Love,

Osi