Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Article: “Two Leadership Lessons from Saul” by James Jackson
• Sermon: “Faith and Unbelief” by Thomas Schreiner
• Sermon: “The Fall of Saul” by William Varner

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi, this is Y Bonesteele, Team Leader of The Gospel Project for Adults, welcome to another Leader Training podcast. Today we are in Unit 10, Session 2, Foolish Disobedience, with the core passage of 1 Samuel 13:6-14 and the key concept of, God’s commands are to be taken seriously. Let’s dive in.

The Context summary spells it out well. Israel demanded a king like the nations, so God gave them what they wanted. Saul became Israel’s first king at the age of 30 (1 Samuel 13:1) and he had the “look” of leadership but that wasn’t what he was at all. As the timeline on page 29 of the Leader Guide shows, Samuel anoints Saul as Israel’s first king, then Saul defeats the Ammonites, then Samuel challenges Israel to trust God alone, then we come to our present focal passage.

After being king, Saul defeated Nahash the Ammonite and in our passage today, he was set to go to battle against the Philistines. But in verse 5, the Philistines came back with a vengeance with a large army. This terrified the Israelites. The Gospel Project Commentary on page 25 makes a good point that during this time, the Israelites didn’t even have real weapons as the Philistines wouldn’t allow them to have blacksmiths (vv19-20). Only Saul and Jonathan had swords or spears ( v. 22). All they had were pitchforks and axes and the like.

So the soldiers “saw that they were in trouble” and they hid and fled. Now Saul’s demise starts in verse 8: “He waited seven days for the appointed time that Samuel had set, but Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the troops were deserting him.” We can assume it’s the seventh day and the day hadn’t ended yet. But Saul was afraid and impatient. All he saw were troops fleeing and a large Philistine army coming toward him. Instead of waiting for Samuel and, thus, waiting for the Lord, he was impulsive and didn’t follow instructions. He disobeyed.

How might our own emotions, such as fear, lead us to act foolishly instead of wisely? Many times, we are in a situation like Saul. He knew the Lord but a threat of something was on the horizon. Our emotions or fear can cause us to make rash actions, to follow the world’s way of doing things instead of God; it may cause us to resent God or think He’s not big enough to solve our problem or think suffering is too hard, so I’ll do anything to get rid of this problem. That’s when we haven’t trusted God. We don’t call on Him in prayer or continue to live generously or in service mode as life seems too hard. But God calls us to Himself in those moments. He wants us to trust Him and reach out to Him, even in the chaos. He wants us to be obedient and faithful.

Verse 9 shows Saul asking for the burnt offering and the fellowship offering and he offered the burnt offering. What he did wrong was, one, he was impatient and didn’t wait for Samuel; and two, he made an offering when that wasn’t his right to; and three, Saul thought that if he went through the motions of offering a sacrifice, victory would be his, as mentioned on p. 29 of The Gospel Project Commentary.

Well, the thing is, only priests could receive and prepare the burnt offering, but Saul took it upon himself to so do. And even if Samuel was late, Saul should have waited for Samuel, God’s prophet and priest, as it was a direct command. Instead, however, he acted on his own plan, probably because he thought as king now, he could do whatever he wanted, as a king like all the other nations. He thought perhaps he could manipulate the situation for his success. So just as he finished the burnt offering, not getting to the fellowship offering yet, Samuel arrived and rebuked him. “What have you done?” Saul answered like most narcissists do, by blaming others. “When I saw that the troops were deserting me,” blaming the troops; “and you didn’t come within the appointed days,” blaming Samuel; “and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash,” blaming the Philistines; “I thought, ‘The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal, and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor,’ “ trying to show himself as faithful when he was not; “So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering,” I didn’t want to do it but was forced to, as seen in verses 11 and 12. All Saul had were excuses, trying to show himself as the better person when clearly he had directly disobeyed God. He should have sought the Lord’s favor through prayer first instead of thinking by making the sacrifices and offerings, he would gain God’s favor, by doing, he would take that favor. But again, God looks at the heart. And doing or even obedience without a heart of faith becomes nothing. Saul disobeyed here, revealing his heart. He misunderstood “the doing of religion” for obedience and his heart was not in the right place and his faith was not in the right Person.

Why do we tend to make excuses when we disobey God’s clear commands? We don’t want to admit fault. We want others or our circumstances to be the blame, ultimately blaming God really. We want to be justified in our actions even though, in the end, we were the culprit all along.

The Gospel Connection on page 31 reminds us that God’s laws show us our need for a Savior. Disobeying in the slightest degree is sin and reveals our sinful nature. That’s why we need Jesus, who obeyed God perfectly, to be our substitute for the penalty of sin.

As we continue to see, Samuel rebuked Saul, telling him, “You have been foolish.” And he explains why. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you,” namely to follow God and His instructions through His law and His prophet Samuel. And Samuel gave Saul the consequences of his actions, “It was at this time that the Lord would have permanently established your reign over Israel, but now your reign will not endure.” Saul’s kingly line will not continue to reign, although he, himself, ruled 42 years (13:1). God would give the kingship to another, “The Lord has found a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.” God had already set in motion someone else to be king. He found someone after His own heart, unlike Saul. Saul’s rash, selfish actions resulted in negative actions. On page 32, the Leader’s Note is important to convey: not all negative consequences are a direct result of disobedience or sin. We all will go through suffering, sometimes because of sin in the world and sometimes because of our actions. But it is clear that our deliberate disobedience will have practical consequences.

How have you recently been faced with the choice to obey or disobey God’s Word? For some of us, it’s an action like reading God’s Word or praying; other’s it might be being honest on our taxes or paying the right amount even when a cashier gets it wrong. For others it might be restraining on anger or being more patient. It might be willing to let go of a dream for God’s purposes. The examples are endless.

Saul’s sin seems small but there are no such things as small or big sins. All sin is missing the mark; we have all fallen short of God’s glory. Samuel’s rebuke of Saul made it clear that he was responsible for his actions with the repeated “you” and “your” in Samuel’s speech. And notice after the speech, nothing happened. No sign of remorse or repentance. Samuel left and Saul was still in battle mode.

Today as believers, we will reap the natural consequences of our sin but because of Christ’s death on the cross, we can be forgiven and restored into right relationship with God. Confession and repentance are still needed but we can find comfort in the gospel when we are convicted of disobeying God because He is gracious and merciful and forgiving.

On to the Group Experience, began with the icebreaker at Arrival from page 34. Cover the Context and transition with the idea that we tend to depend on our own wisdom and not wait on God’s, especially when a threat is in our way. Recap by asking for a summary or retelling of the passage, filling in information when needed. Transition to the Group Activity about Missing the mark.  Point everyone to page 28 in their Personal Study Guide and have someone read 1 Samuel 13:6-9. Ask the group to identify and record Saul’s sin and the circumstances behind it in the Actions. Feel free to write on the left side and draw a line to Actions. Ask: What did Saul do that was wrong? Write down: Saul did not wait for Samuel. He asked for the burnt offering and fellowship offerings to be brought. He offered the burnt offering when he wasn’t a priest. Then ask, how does being motivated by fear cause us to disobey God? (This is similar to the question on p. 25 of the PSG and 31 of the LG.) Fear causes us to make rash decisions, sometimes not coming to God first. It makes us think of worldly solutions instead of God’s solutions and we act upon that. What might be some consequences of acting in fear rather than in faith in God? Consequences could be a range of things from the simple act of sinning and its consequences, like lies and broken relationships, fraud and jail time, hurtful words and loss of trust.

Then have someone read verses 10-12. Ask: What could have been some of Saul’s motivation for disobeying? Answers may include: fear of the Philistines, fear of his troops deserting, pride in his kingship thinking he could do whatever he wanted, impatience, feeling super spiritual, thinking he could do whatever Samuel could do. Then ask: How did Saul defend himself to Samuel? Saul blamed others, his troops fleeing, Samuel’s lateness, and the Philistines’ attacking. In what ways might we be tempted to blame our disobedience on someone or something else? It’s very easy to blame our disobedience if not on someone else, on our circumstances. In marriage or work, it’s the other person’s fault; their action caused my reaction. In life, we might say God dealt me a bad hand so I had to react. We can excuse our sin by saying our action is a reaction to someone or something else.

Have a third volunteer read verses 13-14 and write in the bulls-eye what Saul would have been given if he had trusted in the Lord. His obedience would have led to a long legacy of kingly descendants and a more fervent relationship with the Lord. But since he missed the mark, that would no longer happen. Today we all have missed the mark but because of Jesus, we can always renew our fellowship with God.

Summarize the lesson, hitting on the key concept, God’s commands are to be taken seriously. And head into the Head, Heart, Hands section, focusing on the Head question if time is limited. What are some reasons you might not delight in God’s Word and therefore choose not to obey the Lord? Some answers may include, busyness, apathy, feeling Scripture is boring, feeling like God’s Word isn’t relevant, feeling far from God.

In Next Steps, in the first two bullet points, look into Scripture to remind yourself of what God’s Word says. Also in the third bullet point, reflect on times you have depended on your own wisdom rather than on God’s. Consider steps you could take in the future to seek God’s wisdom, like having a prayer partner, or a mentor, or a daily Bible reading schedule, or a notebook of gratitude. Go through prayer requests and praises for your group and end praying through Psalm 33:20-22 if you have time, reminding us to wait on the Lord: 20 We wait for the Lord; he is our help and shield. 21 For our hearts rejoice in him because we trust in his holy name. 22 May your faithful love rest on us, Lord, for we put our hope in you.”

Hey thanks again for joining me on another Leader Training Podcast, reach out at [email protected] and have a great group time!