by Pastor Fred G. Zaspel

King Saul was commanded to take no spoil from the Amalekites and to destroy everything, including even the animals. But when the prophet Samuel discovered the many animals Saul had kept for his own use he roundly condemned him for his disobedience. King Saul attempted to justify his actions by saying he had kept the best of the animals in order to use them for sacrifice offerings to God. Unimpressed, Samuel speaks for God: “To obey is better than sacrifice.” And as a result of Saul’s “rejection” of God, God rejected Saul — his throne was taken away and given to another.
But note Samuel’s words — “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Now of course on one level, thinking on this with the fuller revelation of the New Testament, we realize that if there is no sacrifice for sin we have nothing at all. In that respect nothing is more important than sacrifice.
But that is not what Samuel has in mind. Saul has offered sacrifice to the Lord — and that is a good thing! But in this instance God refuses the sacrifice. Saul’s worship was unacceptable. Why? Because Saul’s disobedience to God’s command showed his “worship” to be a sham. God will not accept the worship of the disobedient.
Two major points of application arise from this. First, God expects us to obey him, and he holds us accountable accordingly. God does not offer suggestions. He gives commands. And we, his creatures, are bound to obey. We must not pick and choose — we must obey.
Second, we must not pretend to worship God if we will not obey his commands. We may go through the motions — go to church, give our money, sing the songs, pray — but if we are otherwise disobedient, our worship will not be acceptable.
This is a much needed corrective to our thinking. When we sin — disobey God’s Word — our tendency, rather than repent, is to justify that sin by involving ourselves more heavily in worship. We make sure that we go to church. We sing the songs heartily. We give extra money in the offering plate. And perhaps subconsciously we want to think in it all that we have compensated for the sin, that our acts of worship will make up for our disobedience. But we may be sure that God is not so easily fooled. Nor is he so easily bought off.
That is to say, God expects sincerity in worship. We cannot trifle with him. We cannot pick and choose what laws we will obey. And having disobeyed him we dare not pretend to worship him. God demands sincerity in worship.