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: “Rebellion and Worship” by Nick Jones
• Sermon: “Living a Life of Obedience” by Mark Howell

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

U10S3 Leader Training

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 3, Foolish Defiance, with the core passage of 1 Samuel 15:1-3, 7-13, and 22-23. And with the Key Concept of: No excuse justifies our disobedience against God.

Last week, we saw Saul, the first appointed king for Israel sinning, not taking responsibility for his actions, and thus losing the kingly dynasty. He took lightly the word of God and thought he could live by whatever he thought was right.

In today’s passage, we see Saul doing the same thing, disobeying and thinking partial obedience is the same as full obedience. He was wrong and suffered the consequences for it. Let’s dive in.

Through Samuel, the Lord told Saul specific instructions, and it actually started earlier than verse 3. In verse 1, Samuel told Saul to “listen to the words of the Lord.” Verse 3 then continues: “go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything.” If you scan the QR code on page 40 of the Leader Guide, you can watch a brief Bonus Content about why God was so harsh on the Amalekites. They were merciless, attacking the Israelites when they headed out of Egypt, and in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, the Lord told Moses to tell the people to blot out the memory of Amalek. And though God is patient and will wait for people to repent, like in the incident in Jonah, regarding the Ninevites, judgment will come when people’s hearts are hardened and continue in sin like the Amalekites.

How would you explain the concepts of sin and judgment to someone who is new to the faith? Remind your group that sin is missing the mark of God’s holiness and righteousness. It is doing anything contrary to a good, holy God. Like in today’s world, wrongdoing has consequences. Judgment comes when someone is convicted of burglary or felonies or murder. Jail time and capital punishment exists for a reason. People who have broken the law need to take a break from society and their relationships because they have broken trust and need to be held accountable for their actions. In a similar way, sin comes with judgment and our God is a righteous judge and will hold us accountable for our actions. And thankfully, though, we now have Jesus, who stands in our gap, who is our substitute and advocate. He took on our punishment and judgment when He died on the cross. And thus, we are rescued through our trust in Him.

Now back to this idea of destroying everything. We’ve seen this idea before, namely in the battle at Jericho in Joshua 6:21. The idea of destroying everything had the terminology of “put under a ban” or “consecrate to destruction” for the Lord. The Gospel Project Commentary tells us it’s the Hebrew word “herem” on page 35. Destroying everything is saying, this is all God’s treasure and not the Israelites to keep. Now verses 4-6, that we skipped, just tells of how Saul summoned the troops and spared the Kenites before battling the Amalekites.

In verses 7-9, then, we see King Saul striking down the Amalekites, but he only destroyed the “worthless and unwanted things.” Saul spared King Agag and the best things that they saw. “They were not willing to destroy them,” verse 9 says. You can imagine Saul and his soldiers seeing the livestock and valuable items and thinking, what a waste to destroy these. The world’s wisdom would be to save it for the Lord’s work, thinking you were thinking in a godly way; but even partially disobeying God’s direct commands is disobedience.

Now, what does Saul’s behavior tell us about the condition of his heart? Clearly, he hasn’t changed from last week’s narrative. He’s still acting on his own wisdom, thinking he has the power to choose to obey or disobey what God told him. He wasn’t listening fully to God. He is still prideful as king, like all the other nations, thinking his wishes are above God’s commands.

So, God told Samuel, “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” God regrets His decision, not in the same way humans do, it’s more in that He is grieved by Saul’s actions as stated on page 39 of The Gospel Project Commentary. If regret for humanity implies, “I shouldn’t have done that” or “I change my mind on how I would’ve done that,” that’s not what God is doing here. God is immutable, meaning He’s unchangeable, so when He uses words like regret, it means more how saddened or displeased He is at what happened. And why? Because Saul, “has turned away from following” Him and “has not carried out” His instructions. And thus, Samuel, too, became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.

And even worse, Samuel got up in the morning trying to find Saul and he finds out he went to Carmel to set up a monument “for himself” and then went to Gilgal in verse 12. The audacity of King Saul! He clearly was in his head and exalting himself above all things, clearly a king like all the other nations.

So when Samuel caught up to Saul, Saul stated, “May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” He didn’t even realize he had messed up. He thought he did what was right. The missing verses state how Samuel confronted Saul, but Saul couldn’t see the error of his ways. He told Samuel he destroyed the Amalekites, he only spared Agag. And he took the good livestock, only to sacrifice them to the Lord. But that’s not what the Lord told him to do. He told him to destroy everything, and Saul did not obey. He sinned and gave excuses. The Gospel Project Commentary, on p. 41, highlights James 2:10: “Whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.”

What kind of excuses might we use to allow sin to remain in our lives? Some of us might be living double lives. We might be doing the church thing but also sinning on the side. We might hold unforgiveness or hatred in our hearts against someone and still think we’re doing right by the Lord because we’re churchgoers or rationalize that the people we hate are those who aren’t churchgoers. But God tells us to love others, to love your neighbor, and Jesus made it clear that everyone around us are our neighbors. We excuse our sinful behavior by saying we are doing churchy things for the Lord. But clearly, God calls for full obedience.

Samuel responds to Saul’s excuses: “Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.” Samuel makes it pretty clear for us today that our churchy lifestyle is nothing compared to obedience. Saul’s intended sacrifices doesn’t cover over his lack of obedience. That’s the same for us. If we are not loving, forgiving, sharing the gospel, drawing near to God—direct commands from Scripture—but we still go to church and take communion and go to our bible study, we have not obeyed God fully. We are going through the motions and hiding our disobedience with the cover of Christian activities.

For Saul, the consequences were dire. Samuel continued in his rebuke in verse 23: “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Samuel called Saul’s actions rebellion and defiance. Saul didn’t do exactly as the Lord told him; he rebelliously and defiantly disobeyed. He rejected the word of the Lord. And his consequence? God rejected him as king.

Saul repeated his mistakes of disobedience. He did not learn or grow from his first mistake and sin. Unlike Saul, what are some ways we can grow in our desire to obey the Lord? Perhaps by reading the Word more, having a steady reading guide, and letting the Spirit teach and guide us in being more like Jesus. Having people in our lives to keep us accountable—close friends, mentors, and groups. Regularly communicating with the Lord in prayer. As we cultivate our relationship with Jesus, we will grow in our desire to obey Him more.

Now right after, in verse 24, Saul somewhat admitted his sin, he acknowledged his transgression, but then he kind of blamed the people: “Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.” He did ask for forgiveness and asked Samuel to return with him so he could worship and offer sacrifices, but it was a little too late. Saul had done this before and as king of God’s people, he should have known better. In verse 26, Samuel repeated himself: “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” And when Samuel turned to leave, Saul was still trying to plead with him. He grabbed a corner of Samuel’s robe and tore it. Samuel added a last prophetic message: “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind” seen in verses 28 and 29. God had made it clear—Saul was unsuitable as king. His dynasty was taken from him earlier and now his kingship would be taken from him. And God’s unchangeable nature was highlighted. He does not lie or change his mind. Though he was grieved by Saul’s actions, a plan was unfolding that God had already been working on. For it was from David’s line, not Saul’s, that the Messiah would come.

On to the Group Experience, have your group share about a time when they were younger and only partially obeyed something their parents told them to do. Or if this is hard to recollect, maybe ask some of the parents if they recall when their kids only partially obeyed. Maybe you told the kids to fold and put away their clothes, but they only folded them and left them on their bed. Maybe you told them to take the trash out and they took it to the back door and not completely to the trash can. Maybe when you were younger, you were told to do your homework, but you only did half of it. Then ask, “Why did you or your kids obey only part of the instructions?” Maybe you were tired or afraid of the dark or feeling lazy or simply didn’t like being told what to do. Reasons will vary.

Then move to the Context, providing the information needed to understand why the Amalekites needed to be destroyed. Transition with the question: How is partial obedience different from full obedience? In what ways do we miss the mark if we do not fully obey God’s commands? Partial obedience is sin; it’s not understanding how God expects us to obey His Word as spoken, not according to how we would want it. When someone does something partial, they are not only not completing what was expected but they’re also saying, I really don’t care what you say. I will do what I want to do.

In the Recap, ask for any clarifying questions. Be prepared to answer why God would want the complete destruction of the Amalekites, or what “regret” means in the passage. Also ask, “What did Saul and his army do right? What did they do wrong?” They went to war with the Amalekites, and they won which is right. What they did wrong was not kill King Agag and not destroy all the spoils. Then Transition into the Group Activity.

Have the chart drawn on the board. Then have someone read 1 Samuel 15:1-3. Write down God’s instructions: Samuel’s first instructions to Saul was to “listen to the words of the Lord.” Then it was: “Go,” and “attack the Amalekites,” and “completely destroy everything.” And if it wasn’t clear: “Do not spare them” and “Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Then ask: “How did Saul know exactly what God wanted him to do? God told Samuel and Samuel told him. How do we know specifically what God wants us to do or not do?” God has written it in Scripture, and the Holy Spirit reveals those truths to us as well.

Then have someone read verses 7-13. Write down Saul’s incomplete obedience: we can assume he didn’t listen as was asked of him. He struck down the Amalekites, but kept King Agag alive. He destroyed the rest of the people but kept the best of the livestock and everything else. Then ask, “Why do you think Saul insisted that he had obeyed the Lord?” Probably because he didn’t listen well and heard what he wanted. He probably heard, destroy what you think is best instead of destroy everything. Ask, “What excuses might we give to avoid fully obeying the Lord?” Excuses could include, but I pray and read the Bible, I’m a good Christian otherwise. Or, I thought I was doing the right thing. Or, this is what other people or other Christians do. Ask, “Why might we rather try to justify partial obedience than just fully obey God’s commands?” Because we’re not good listeners, because we get busy or lazy or just apathetic. We don’t always want to do what is right because we’re selfish.

Now have someone read verses 22-23. Write down the Lord’s rebuke of Saul. God was grieved that He made Saul king. God told Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. God rejected Saul as king.

In the Debrief then, ask, “In what ways are we tempted to offer God sacrifices rather than obedience?” It’s easy to get caught up in Christian activity but not obey God in character formation or loving others. “Why might it seem better or easier to give a sacrifice than to fully obey God?” We think God wants or needs our religious activity, our worship, our church attendance, our verse memorization in and of themselves. But we forget that these are just means to an end. The end is a growing closeness and resemblance to Jesus in our character and actions. He wants us to be followers of Christ, not just followers to a religion or a rhythm or our own righteousness.

Summarize, hitting the Key Concept—No excuse justifies our disobedience against God. And head into the Head, Heart, Hands section focusing on the Hands question if time is limited. What are some practical actions you can take regarding technology and media that can help you turn away from sin? Regulate your time on social media. Regulate your responses. Take a break if it’s affecting your mental state, whether from anger or fear or annoyance. Have others help keep you accountable on your intake and responses.

Go through Next Steps, ending with prayer requests and praises. And if time permits, highlight Psalm 36, contrasting the evilness of humanity’s hearts and God’s faithfulness. If desired, play Third Day’s song, “Your Love of Lord” (1999), that reflects these verses to close.

Hey, thanks again for joining me on another Leaders Training Podcast. Reach out at [email protected]. And hope you have a great group time!