We don't have to look far in the Bible to find our first example.
One of the earliest Bible stories is about the obedience issue. Adam's
son Cain was a farmer. He loved tilling the ground and producing its
fruits. God had instructed all men to sacrifice a lamb for sin.
But Can wondered, "What does it matter, whether I sacrifice a lamb
to God, or my BEST fruit? So long as I give him the best my heart
has to offer - it's good enough." (See Genesis chapter 4)
Cain, feeling that a heartfelt, hard-earned, gift is more personally
meaningful; decided to disregard God's specific instructions regarding
a lamb's blood sacrifice. In place of the lamb, Cain offers his best
fruits. Indeed, his offering is generous.
1) Is God pleased by Cain's disregard for His specific commands? (
Genesis 4:1-7 (Living Bible))
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When God said the sacrifice had to be a lamb, there just wasn't
any substitute. Not even Cain's best fruit, so lovingly grown and
tended was acceptable to God. Actually, God had set up the command
to sacrifice lambs for a very special reason.
2) Who and what did the lamb represent? (
John 1:29)
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Cain "messed up" because he didn't fully comprehend God's reasoning
in specifying a lamb sacrifice. But whether or not Cain understood
God's reasons, he was STILL EXPECTED TO OBEY...
We have seen one example in the Bible, where God was certainly very
particular about obedience to His specific instructions. Another
example is found in 1 Samuel. Here God gives Israel's king, Saul
(through the prophet Samuel), explicit instructions. Saul is to
utterly destroy the people of Amalek.
God tells Saul to kill everyone, including women and children. Saul
is also told to destroy all of their possessions.
In the story, Saul DOES attack and destroy Amalek as instructed. But,
rather than destroying everything, as God had said, he saves the life
of their king, and some of their animals. Interestingly enough, Saul
DOESN'T SAVE THE ANIMALS SO THAT HE CAN BE RICHER! In fact, Saul has
a wonderful and "godly" motive for sparing them. He saves the animals
so that he can SACRIFICE THEM TO GOD - sort of a thankful-for-the-
victory, give-God-the-credit, celebration!
3) Surely this is a noble reason to preserve the animals - right?
Is God pleased with Saul? (
1 Samuel 15:1-22)
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In fact, God is FAR from pleased with Saul. Through Samuel, God tells
Saul that this disobedience will cause him to be REJECTED OF GOD.
Strong words!
4) What does God say (in verse 22) is BETTER than sacrificing
animals to God? (
1 Samuel 15:1-22)
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The sacrificial system is very important. It is what provided forgiveness
for sins. Yet God put OBEDIENCE to Him HIGHER than sacrificing to Him.
5) These are not just isolated incidents where God was unusually
picky about the whole obedience thing. There are MANY examples in the Bible
to show how particular God is. When He gives specific instructions, He
expects us to obey them. Is He any less particular about keeping one
of His ten commandments? What harsh label does God use to describe
someone who says they love Him, but does not obey Him? (
1 John 2:4)
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What is God saying here? If the truth is not in you, friend, you do not
truly have Jesus in your life. For He said, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH,
and the LIFE..." (John 14:6) That puts obedience pretty high up on the
list of things that are important to God.
Just for fun, let's examine the subject of obedience within the framework
of a marriage relationship. After all, since God calls His church His bride,
this isn't too much of a stretch.
If you had a row of ten people standing in front of you, and the one
at the end of the row happened to be your spouse, would it matter which
one you walked up and kissed? (If it were my spouse, it would certainly
make a difference!)
But the person at the head of the line was much cloer and handier. So,
why not just kiss this person, instead? After all, my spouse KNOWS of
my true devotion. Why should my ACTIONS make any particular difference?
Well, this may be a poor example, but the point is that we have a
special RELATIONSHIP with our spouse. When two people become married,
they are SET APART from mainstream dating. They honor each other in
ACT as well as love and devotion.
Our RELATIONSHIP with God is EVIDENCED by our obedience to Him (see
John 14:6 again). The Bible says that God, RESTED on the seventh-day,
God BLESSED the seventh day and God SANCTIFIED the seventh day.
6) What wording does the Bible use? Does it say "one day in seven",
"A seventh day" (implying you can pick any seventh day you choose), or
does it say God set apart "THE seventh day"?
Genesis 2:1-3
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