Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

1 Samuel 15:10-23

“Walk This Way”

Rev. Meagan Boozer

When Israel crossed the Red Sea and came out of Egypt to pass through the wilderness, the Amalekites attacked them. We read about it in Exodus 17:8-16. God gave the Israelites victory, but the evil was never forgotten. In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 God said, “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, I the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.”

Now, in our reading today, the Lord commands Saul, the first king of Israel, to execute the sentence against the Amalekites. The command is given in 1 Samuel 15:2-3, “Thus say the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do NOT spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

So Saul gathered his army and went against the city of Amalek. He warned the Kenites to clear out if they wanted to spare their lives. And then he destroyed the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, east of Egypt. But verse 9 describes the fatal disobedience of Saul, “Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, and the fatlings, and the lambs and all that was valuable, and would NOT utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless the utterly destroyed.” In other words, Saul decided on his own what was valuable and what was worthless. Now, let’s take a look at what happened next in verses 10-23. (please read)

God commanded, “Do NOT spare anything or anyone.” Saul did not heed God’s command. God told Samuel, “Saul had turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.” Saul must have made a conscious, or subconscious decision that he knew better than God. He made himself god. You want proof? Just look at verse 12, “Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself.”

Samuel, his mentor said to Saul (v. 18), “The Lord has sent you on a MISSION- why didn’t you do what God told you to do?” Saul answers, “I did obey God. I went on the mission, and I killed all the people except Agag, the king- and brought back the best animals to sacrifice them to the Lord.”

Let me ask you a question: Did Saul obey the Lord? Yes or no? No!

Then Samuel tries to turn this moment into one of those teachable moments we hear so much about. He asks Saul, (reading from The Message, vv. 22-23): “Do you think all God wants are sacrifices- empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging some lavish religious production.” Now from the NRSV, “For rebellion is no less a sin that divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.” (Divination is any practice that seeks supernatural knowledge and power from anything or anyone other than God, like fortune telling, tarot cards, horoscopes, ouija boards, channeling spirits, etc.)

God doesn’t want us to come to worship him together if the only reason we are doing so is for show. God wants us to draw close to him so the we can hear from him. He wants us to listen to him. Why? So that he can throw his weight around, and say, “Because I said so, that’s why!” NO! God wants us to listen to him because he alone knows how to make our lives count. He knows how to bring peace to our confused minds. He knows how to deliver joy where despair once reigned. God wants us to listen to him, fully and completely, because he has a Mission for us that will bring more people into a relationship with him, saving them from the darkness of their own god making.

At the Christian Ed. Meeting this past Monday, we watch a portion of a video presentation by a youth speaker, Ron Luce. Ron spoke on Saturday night at Creation 2005. His message was hard-hitting and far-reaching. He said that in this day and age, 35% of the adult population are evangelical, Bible-believing Christians. He also said that if the current trends continue, by the time the children and teens around us are in their 30’s and 40’s, only 4% of the adult population will be evangelical, Bible-believing Christians. 4%! That’s it. Well, you might ask, “What do you mean, evangelical, Bible-believing Christians?” I mean people who believe in the things we confess in the Apostles’ Creed- who really believe that Jesus, the Son of God, was born of the virgin Mary, that Jesus really was crucified, that he really, truly, bodily was raised from the dead, that the Holy Spirit is really, truly the One True God worthy of our worship and praise and obedience. I mean people who won’t take the hard stuff in the Bible, the stuff they really don’t care to pay attention to, and soften it up a bit. I mean people who won’t give in to what “everyone else is doing,” just because everyone else is doing it. People who know that sin is sin and that Jesus alone is the way out of sin. People who honor and respect their bodies and their sexuality, and who are intent on remaining pure until they are married and faithful in marriage. People who are willing to stand up and be counted for Jesus! People who won’t continue to go into more and more debt just so they can get more and more stuff. People who want to show their love for God and their love for others, instead of buying more for me, ME, ME! People who aren’t willing to saturate their lives with the immoral junk that’s on TV, in movies, books, and on the internet. People who want to saturate their lives with God- God’s truth, God’s peace, God’s mercy, God’s justice, God’s love, the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Ron Luce’s research tells him that 35% of adults right now are those kind of people. In less than 20 years, if we don’t do something, that number will drop to 4%. We think things are bad out there now? And often all we do is shake our heads and say, “When are they going to learn?” Listen, why are we surprised when the world is just being the world? Be we, as evangelical, Bible-believing Christians are called to impact the world. We are called to be the salt and the light in the world. What kind of future do we want for our kids- for our country?

Folks, it’s a black and white thing. It’s not, “I’m going to do part of what God says. I’m going to do the part I want to, or feel like doing now. I’ll get to the rest later.” I asked you if Saul obeyed the Lord. You said ‘no.’ That was correct, even though he did part of what God told him to do. It’s black or it’s white. For evangelical, Bible-believing Christians, gray does not exist. There IS an absolute Truth! There IS a right and a wrong way to live. We must listen to the voice of God in order to know the difference.

God wants to save our kids. He has a plan to do so. We must not do as Saul did- and only do the part we choose to do, or the part we’re comfortable doing. To fall into the “we’ve always done it this way” pattern, is making an idol of what WE have always done before. God doesn’t really care if it worked before, if it’s not working now we must walk a new way. What God cares about is the lost. He weeps for the lost children. He’s weeping now for them. Can’t you hear his voice? It sounds a lot like my voice right now- and I do not say that lightly or arrogantly. I am speaking God’s heart to you today. This I know. And I believe that you know it, too.

“Go,” he says. “Get the children.” “Get the teenagers.” “I’ll show you how,” God says, “but you have to be willing to completely obey my instructions. I alone know what is a worthless way to do it, and what is a valuable way to do it.”

In the nursery during Sunday school, Emma Baker regularly has 2-3 children. In the K-4^th grade class, Kriste Parker regularly has 0-2 children. In Wanda Harry’s 5-8^th grade class, only 1 student would be considered a regular attender. Nancy Coons regularly teaches 3-5 students in grades 9-12.

Where are the rest of the children? Do their parent not care enough to bring them? Do their parents not think that learning God’s Word, and knowing Jesus Christ, and being saved for eternal life with God is more important than sleeping in or playing a sport on Sunday mornings, or sleeping overnight somewhere else on a Saturday night? Have we (the church) raised parents who are so concerned with being friends to their kids that they are not willing to upset their children by requiring them to sit under the teaching of the Bible? I’ve heard people my age who don’t go to church say something like this: “My parents forced me to go to Sunday school and church every Sunday when I was you. As soon as I didn’t have to go, I didn’t go, and I’ve never gone back. I don’t want my kids to have the same experience I had.” Oh boy, does that ever beg another question:

Who has a greater chance of living God’s abundant life here on earth and eternal life in heaven- the kid who’s been “forced” to come to church, or the kid who has never been here because of the hands off attitude of their parents when it comes to a relationship with God?

Maybe we’ve raised parents who don’t really believe the Bible is absolute truth, and so they don’t believe there is a place called heaven and a place called hell. Maybe they do believe, but they think all you have to do to get to heaven is “be nice.” Maybe we’ve raised parents, who are so upset or disappointed with the church as an institution that they are willing to reject it, (because all they hear about is the negative stuff- the gossip, the in-fighting, the power games, instead of hearing how the Lord is changing lives). They seem to be willing to reject the church, even though God tells us that the church is his body, his hands, his feet, his eyes, his ears, his heart, here on earth? Are we doing such a poor job of picking curriculum and or teaching the Bible that the kids just aren’t interested? Are we missing something the Lord is saying to us?

I think we are. And the only thing I know to do is listen. Is it possible the days of Sunday school for kids are over? Is it possible we might need to offer another way, another time in the week to bring God’s truth to the children and youth of the valley and put our resources into that? I don’t know. The only thing I do know is that we must listen.

God told Saul to save no one. Our instructions are just as clear and completely the opposite. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus. God desires that none would be lost, because all are valuable in his sight. We are commanded to be part of saving everyone- Sparing nothing in order to seek and save the lost.

As I get older my hearing is getting worse. I often have to ask someone to repeat something they’ve said to me. As frustrated as my kids and John might get with me when I ask them to repeat something, they eventually do repeat it so that I can hear what they have to say.

God will repeat what he has to say as often as it needs to be repeated. Our problem, most often however, is not that we are hard of hearing, it’s that we are too busy to hear, or too stubborn to listen. We must listen to the voice of the Lord. He is telling us which way to walk. He’s telling us what must be done to save the generations that come after us. He has spoken to 11 0f us, telling us to head on a mission trip today. A trip with 6 adults and 5 youth. Why? Because God tells us to “Go.” He tells us to teach the young the way of the Lord. He wants all of us to be givers and not primarily takers. He wants us to trust him, to sacrifice ourselves for him, to obey what he is calling us to do. Part of why we go on a trip like we’re taking this week is to teach our youth how to be obedient- knowing that in obedience is joy beyond compare. The prophet Isaiah tells us, “When you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying “This is the way; walk in it.” (Is. 30:21)

May the Lord help us do just that, in a way that turns 4% warning into a distant memory of what might have been, had we not listened and obeyed beginning right here, right now. Let us pray: Almighty God, you want the hearts of all people. You want all people to come to know, love, and serve you without hesitation or barrier. Father, you alone know where all the children and youth of this valley are this morning. You see them. You see their parents. You know why they are where they are. Speak to us, Lord. Show us how to reach them so they may be saved for the abundant life here, and the eternal life there. Help us listen. Help us obey. Help us not make excuses to justify repeated failures. Send us out to do what must be done to seek and save the lost. Speak Lord, for your servants are listening. This we pray in Jesus’ name and for his sake, Amen.

7-17-2005