Living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus...

For the past week, we have been looking at the life of the very first king of the Jewish people, who was a man named Saul. Last week, we looked on as King Saul repeatedly attempted to play the blame game instead of owning up to his selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see Samuel’s response to Saul’s attempts to play the blame game in 1 Samuel 15:16:

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me  last night." And he said to him, "Speak!" Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel, and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said,  Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.'  "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"

Now the Lord's statement to King Saul here, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: "Do you not remember that, even though you viewed yourself as being insignificant, I was the One who viewed you as being significant and made you king over the entire nation? So, in light of the fact that I am the One who made you significant, why did you disobey my clear command that I gave you and greedily grab all of the possessions of those who hate Me for yourself?" We see Saul's response in verse 20:

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the   mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. "But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

Instead of taking responsibility for his clear disobedience, Saul continues to play the blame game. "But Samuel I did obey God's command. I went on the mission; I removed most of the Amalekites from the face of the earth. But the people who went with me, well they were the ones who greedily took some of the possessions of the Amalekites for themselves. It was the people who went with me who wanted to spare the best animals that were supposed to be destroyed to use to worship the Lord your God. This is not my fault; this is their fault”.

Did you notice what King Saul said there? “The people spared to sacrifice to the Lord your God, not the Lord our God .” You see, the reason why Saul had failed to represent God in a way that stood firm when it came to following and obeying God was because he was not living in relationship with God. We see Samuel’s respond to Saul’s continued attempts to play the blame game in verse 22:

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."

Samuel basically says to King Saul "Saul, do you really think that the Lord desires your worship more than your obedience? No Saul a desire to please God by obeying His commands is better that any animal that you could sacrifice in worship to God. And to rebel in disobedience to God's command is worse than looking for guidance and direction from a supernatural power other than God. And your arrogant willingness to disobediently place your desires above God's commands is no different than worshipping something other than God as God". 

Samuel then explains to Saul that his rejection of God's command in disobedience has resulted in God's rejection of him as king. While Saul's earlier selfishness and rebellion resulted in the lost opportunity for his future descendants to rule as king, Saul's present selfishness and rebellion would result in Saul himself losing the opportunity to rule as king. God was now taking the throne from Saul. And it is at this point, as the king was about to lose his kingdom, that we see King Saul come clean in verse 24:

Then  Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. "Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."         

Saul finally reveals the motives behind his selfish disobedience to God's command: “I feared the people and listened to their voice". Instead of living a life that was focused on pleasing and obeying God, Saul lived a life that was focused on pleasing people. Instead of being afraid of failing to please God, Saul was afraid of failing to please people. And that fear of failing to please other people led him to live a life that failed to please the Lord.

After finally opening up to the true motivation behind his selfishness and rebellion, Saul attempts to convince Samuel to accompany him back to Gilgal, where the rest of the Jewish people were awaiting his return. You see, Saul wanted Samuel to accompany him back to Gilgal in order to give the Jewish people the impression that Saul was still in good standing with God, even though he had been rejected by God.

Saul, who loved the approval of people, was afraid that he would fall out of favor with the people if the prophet Samuel, who was God's spokesman and well respected by the people, was not at his side. We see Samuel's response to Saul's request in verse 26:

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." Then he said, "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God." So Samuel went back     following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

As Samuel refuses to return with him to Gilgal, Saul clutches at his robe in desperation as he begs him to change his mind, tearing it in the process. Samuel uses his torn robe as a word picture to Saul to reinforce the reality that Saul has been removed from king and his throne given to another man who was a better man. And to hammer his point home Samuel states "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind." In other words, Samuel states to Saul " God has made His decision and is not going to change His mind about it".

However, Saul continued to beg Samuel. And as Saul continues to beg Samuel, his true motives are revealed: "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel,". You see, Saul was so afraid of failing to please people that he asks Samuel to honor him by accompanying him back to Gilgal in a way that made it look like he was following him as leader, even though God had already made it clear that He was removing Saul as the leader.

And while God doesn’t change His mind, Samuel who is a man, does and return with Saul. After returning with Saul, Samuel fulfilled the command that was given to Saul by the Lord to remove the Amalekites that Saul left alive from the face of the earth.

You see, Saul was acting in disobedience to the Lord because he did not worship the Lord. Instead Saul worshipped the approval of men. And it is in this event from history that we discover a timeless truth that has the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today in that living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus. Just as it was for King Saul; just as it has been for humanity throughout history, living in fear of failing to please others leads to a life that fails to please Jesus.

You see, when we live in fear of failing to please others, we will listen to the opinions of the people around us that we want to please instead of the message and teachings of Jesus. When we live in fear of failing to please others, we often make the decision that doing something that is disobedient to God is better than doing nothing, because at least that disobedience will please others. And when we live in fear of failing to please others, we will find ourselves listening and obeying the voice of others instead of listening and obeying the voice of Jesus.

However, the problem with living in fear of failing to please others is that you will never ever please everyone. The person who attempts to please everyone in the end will end up pleasing no one. And the reason why you will never ever please everyone is because human beings rarely agree on anything. The reason why you will never ever please anyone is because people often disagree at different times on different issues and often change their minds at different times on different issues. And as people disagree on different issues at different times, the person who lives in fear of failing to please others will end up continually changing their opinion in an attempt to please others. And as a result they will become trapped between their changing opinions and exposed for who they truly are.

You see, while living in fear of failing to please Jesus may not always result in a life that pleases others, it does result in a life that is lived consistently and in integrity before others, because Jesus does not change His mind or His opinion. And the consistently and integrity that comes from living a life that trusts in the Lord so as to follow the message and teachings of the Lord results in a life that is respected by others.

So, here is a question to consider: Who are you afraid to please when it comes to how you live out your day to day life? Is your day to day life marked by a fear of failing to please others? Failing to please friends? Or is your day to day life marked by a fear of failing to please Jesus?