A Case Study in Criticism

For the past 10 weeks, we have been walking through our series on Handling Criticism.

We have looked at lessons on how we might respond to others who are critical or even divisive and how we can address disagreements. These sermons might have been the easier ones to listen to they were designed to help to respond when the other person is the critical one…the lessons provided us with warnings and principles to help us respond in a God-pleasing manner even when the other person was being critical…

But what about when we flip that? How do I avoid becoming critical? This is why we spend the majority of our time speaking about understanding the Critic’s heart and seeing how criticism comes from a rebellious heart. We looked at complaining while also exploring the hypocrisy that we are demonstrating with a critical spirit. We even studied what it looks like to find victory for the Critical Heart…

Based on the volume you can see that the most important lessons we have been learning over the past 10 weeks are not in looking at building our defenses against someone else who is critical, but that we might go on the offensive to root out our own critical hearts.

This week it is time for A Case Study on Criticism so that we can assess ourselves and what we have been learning and look at how we are called to apply these lessons in the defense of our hearts so that we can be a servant above reproach and useful to our Savior.

For today’s case study, we are going to look at King Saul and what happened to cause him to be rejected by God as the King of Israel – These events are described in 1 Sam 15 – but we can just start there today.

When looking at a case study – simply air dropping into the situation tends to leave more questions than it answers and so, before we get to our text for the day, let’s begin with background to allow us to evaluate well.

Recall that the book of 1 Samuel shows us the narrative of the creation of the kingdom of Israel. After God rescued the people of Israel and lead them during their wilderness wanderings, God gave the promised land to the nation of Israel under the leadership of Joshua but even with God’s hand upon their armies and God’s victories over their enemies, the same grumbling heart remained in the people and as such they did not complete all God commanded them to do in taking possession of the land.

After Joshua died, Israel went through a series of cycles of choosing their own way and without God, their enemies gained victory over them to the point that they would cry out to God and in his mercy, he sent deliverer, a judge to save them and there would be peace for a time until they just did it all again.

The last of the judges, the prophet Samuel, had saved Israel from the Philistines and returned the Ark of the Lord and 1 Samuel 7 says he judged Israel all the days of his life.

This is where things in Israel begin to turn again – a critical heart is creeping back in.

1 Sam 8:4-6a Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.”

Why do you think that their statement to Samuel was displeasing to him – He is dealing with those who are being critical of leaders, just as Moses was when Miriam and Aaron grumbled against him – God certainly set them straight then, so we will need to see what God does now with their critical spirit

But first, we see what Samuel does – and watch, because we will want to pull this out in our case study – What does Samuel do…and how does God respond…

1 Sam 8:6b-9 And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

Samuel went to the Lord – and the Lord took action, a different action compared what we saw back in Numbers 12 when he confirmed Moses and gave Miriam leprosy.

But in 1 Samuel, God said they rejected me and as such, I will give them over to exactly what they asked for, a king to save them like all the other nations…

But as we look at Saul’s early reign, it was anything but peaceful.

1 Sam 14:47 tells us “Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, the sons of Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment.” And verse 52 says that “the war against the Philistines was severe all the says of Saul.” Israel had its king, and they may have been victorious in battle, but they were not finding peace…

As such, we will look to see what happens when the heart of the king, who was appointed by a critical hearted people, reveals it’s own critical nature and has to receive criticism for himself.

A Case Study on Criticism

For our case study today, we will be unpacking what happens in 1 Sam 15. Please open the word with me and read along. If you are using the Bibles in your chairs, please open to page ___.

READ portions of 1 Sam 15:1-35

As we look at this passage closely, we will be asking questions that will help us to learn

3 lessons from the life of Saul.

As we dissect our case study, I want us to learn not just from Saul, but also from Samuel and as a comparison, we will also be looking ahead to the next king of Israel David to see how he received criticism

The first lesson that we can take from our study here is that you must continually

I. Evaluate how you listen to God’s Word (1 Sam 15:1-9)

I say continually evaluate, because of the importance of seeing patterns in how we act.

Then to be more specific about the question we are asking…

Are you listening carefully?

1 Sam 15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

Think about Saul’s actions in response to God’s Command – did he listen carefully? Did he carry out the command which God gave him? No.

The next question to ask is why?

If we isolate just this event, we might convince ourselves that Saul just did not hear God accurately, he just made a mistake and there is a big difference between being mistaken and being sinfully critical because the critical heart will respond differently. We will get to that in a moment, but we still need to decide if Saul listened carefully.

Did Saul hear the message from God? Yes – Samuel spoke the word of the Lord.

Did Saul hear the whole message from God? Yes – verse 4 says “then Saul summoned the people” meaning that he heard the full message before he responded and later when he speaks of it he uses the same words to describe how he utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

Another data point to help us see a pattern in Saul comes from the battles leading up to this day…In the war with the Philistines as described in 1 Sam 13, Saul was to wait for Samuel so that Samuel could make an offering to the Lord, but when Samuel did not come in the time expected, Saul chose to take matters into his own hands, he chose to not listen to the Lord’s commandments and he offered the burnt offering, even though this was only allowed to be done by the priests of Israel.

Did he listen carefully, or did he hear only what he chose to hear?

Because Samuel is prominent in this case study – We can also look at his actions. Did he listen carefully? “Then Samuel said to Saul – Thus says the Lord of Hosts”?

How do we know what he said was accurate? We can know that Samuel has always chosen to listen carefully.

When Samuel was just a boy, 1 Sam 3 says that he was ministering to the Lord before Eli and there was little expectation for the Lord to speak to them – it says “word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.” Yet one night Samuel hears his name called and immediately responds – “Here I am.” Eli had heard nothing. Samuel hears his name again…”Here I am.” And he goes to Eli. Eli recognizes the call is from the Lord and tells him how to respond next time – “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel learned to listen carefully – and the Word says that Samuel grew and the Lord was with him…because he listened carefully.

What about us? – I am not expecting the Word of the Lord to come in the night for me. Why?

Because He has already spoken all that we need here in His Word

God has spoken…Are we listening carefully?

• Do you have time to hear God’s Word during your day?

• When you listen, Is God the only one you are listening to?

Case Study Application #1 – Evaluate how and where you listen to God’s Word and make the change that allows Him to be the only one speaking

The next question to ask about how we listen is to ask

Do you obey completely?

Back to our case study – we can ask…How did Saul do? First, we look at the command…

1 Sam 15:3 Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

And then we assess what was done

1 Sam 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Are we surprised that Saul chose only partial obedience? Saul is the choice of a people who have demonstrated a critical heart towards God for generations. Why would we expect their king to be any different?

The heart of Saul, and by comparison, the heart of man has demonstrated disobedience towards God from the beginning of time because we believe a lie that we might know better than God and so we choose to obey that which seems right to us and where we do not see eye to eye with God, we choose to do what is right in our own eyes, just as Israel did in the time of the Judges.

With Saul – He has chosen to listen to God – but then redefines the standard for what “utterly destroy” should mean…

For you and me, what does it mean to obey completely? Yes. We have to listen carefully, and then we need to acknowledge the authority of the voice speaking. If we are under their authority, then do we really have the option of picking and choosing…

Most every parent can relate to this issue with the tasks that we ask of our children.

As a parent – When we tell our children to “go and clean their room” it begins with an understanding by the parent that as a parent, I have the authority to give that command and I expect that it will be completed.

So what happens when our child remains in front of the TV – I will do it later…or if they get up right away, they are back in 2 minutes to report their room is clean…really…when I say clean and you say clean, are these the same things? Remember my stories about stacks, not gobs, why do you think those statements came about?

When we listen to God’s Word, do we acknowledge its authority in our lives and completely obey it?

To partially obey is to say that God’s Word only has limited authority in my life and to believe that statement is to deny the truth about God. John MacArthur describes this issue saying “in a biblical worldview, original and ultimate authority resides in God alone. He did not acquire authority through some cosmic struggle. It was not bestowed on him by something or someone in his creation. He has always possessed his authority unwaveringly by virtue of his essence as the almighty.”

As such, we must evaluate if we are obeying completely. God did not delegate the decisions about king Agag and the livestock to Saul. He commanded they be utterly destroyed, thus in his partial obedience to God, Saul demonstrated his complete disobedience saying to God. Saul attempted to steal the authority from God so that he could do what was right in his own eyes.

Case study application #2 – When you face criticism from another – do not measure your obedience based on your own standards – clean your whole room – and measure your obedience under God’s authority to define what is right and wrong.

As you take the time to listen carefully to God’s Word, choose to listen to the whole of God’s Word.

Do you have a reading plan that includes all of God’s Word, or just the books that you like to read?

When you get to the commands of God that challenge you, do you slow down enough to listen carefully and look to the whole of God’s word that you might be completely obedient?

And before I move to the next lessons – just a quick reminder on why we listen carefully and obey completely – not because God promises a reward for a good grade on the case study, but we choose to come under his authority and obey his commands because He demonstrated His complete love for us first, on the cross, just as he had demonstrated his love for Israel first by bringing them out of Egypt and giving them the promised land. Samuel saw that and responded with obedience, Saul did not…Will you?

A second lesson to be learned from the life of Saul should cause us to

II. Consider your response to confrontation from God’s Word (1 Sam 15:10-24)

Our case study again shows us two different responses to being confronted by God’s Word.

Then the Word of the Lord came to Samuel to show the disobedience in Israel.

Samuel’s response…he was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night. Samuel who has listened carefully and obeyed completed was broken-hearted that Saul had been disobedient and he responded immediately again – he rose early and was obedient to Go to Saul and confront his sin.

Saul on the other hand, was looking for ways that he could avoid even being confronted by God’s Word.

When Saul saw Samuel coming – did he say, “here is the feedback I desperately want from God so that I can grow in my obedience”?

No. Scripture says that he was looking to exalt himself. When looking for Saul, Samuel heard that

1 Sam 15:12b-13 “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.” Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.”

So after the battle with the Amalekites, Saul starts by telling everyone how wonderful he is setting us a monument and then it is the first thing out of his mouth to Samuel – I have carried out the command of the Lord – Mission accomplished – Hooray Me!

But Samuel already knew the problem

1 Sam 15:14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

When confronted by criticism, are you ready to receive the feedback?

There were no shortages of inspections when it came to operating a submarine and with every inspection came a multi-page report filled with the lists of things that I had done wrong and required attention.

But even before getting the report, I was actually a lot like Saul. I just wanted to tell everyone about the amazing things that went well. I wanted to paint a picture about how amazing I was.

Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord…

But I could hear the bleating of the sheep as well – so as soon as I got the report, I was preparing my defense for how I had actually done everything right or that it was not my fault.

When you consider your response to confrontation from the Word of God,

Are you minimizing personal responsibility?

1 Sam 15:15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

It is really not that bad, because the rest we utterly destroyed and I wasn’t the only one there, so the responsibility belongs to them. I know that I am the King – but it was my soldiers, it was my army – they are the ones who brought them from the Amalekites.

Application question #3 – Apply the gospel to your thinking. Even if I think my sin is small, remember that the wages of sin is death, all sin, and the answer always rests in the work of Christ…

Even if I don’t minimize, do I shift to defense? Do we point to the sin of others to try and deflect the attention away from our own responsibility?

Samuel had a response to that tactic by Saul…and this wasn’t Samuel’s thoughts – Let me tell you what the Lord said.

Interestingly – to Saul’s credit – he said “Speak” I think it is more likely that Saul knew he couldn’t avoid the Lord’s criticism, so he gave in… “speak.”

Samuel then reminded Saul – you yourself said you were just a little man from a small tribe, but is it not true that you were made the head of the nation? And is it not true that God commanded you to utterly destroy the Amalekites? Why didn’t you do it?

Saul’s response – I did…but the people…I obeyed…the problems are not my fault

How easy is it to excuse sin…

Are you justifying your sin or blaming others

1 Sam 15:20-21 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.”

Saul started his excuses by trying to deflect and said

Look what I have done – I may have spared Agag, but I destroyed everything else. In effect, Saul is saying Partial obedience is enough

• I may have blown up in anger at my spouse this morning on the way here – but I am still here am I not? I am at church!

• Yes, I looked at soft porn on the computer, but it was just a quick glance and I didn’t look at anything worse

He also said – “look at everyone else…”Saul points to what his soldiers have done, in essence saying “don’t single me out.” The fact that others sin, is not a justification for sin.

• When caught for shoplifting - You cannot say lots of other people steal stuff from stores, some even use guns so they are way worse than me.

• Our standards don’t change based on what other people do or how culture thinks…we must hold to the Word of God.

Saul also tries to make excuses that to keep the best of the flock was the logical choice. It would be a waste to destroy them when we could do something better.

Then to put some icing on that – Saul justifies by saying “I did it for you God.” My motives were “good.” Were they? What was your real motive?

• Did you break the speed limit coming to church in order to honor God? Or to cover up the sin that caused you to be late in the first place?

• As a Christian – have you ever exaggerated your testimony to because you wanted to make God sound more impressive – but actualy, you only puffed yourself up?

Even though we may say we are sinning “for God,” we must remember that ALL SIN is against God.

Then for Saul when all the other excuses were not working with Samuel, he finally admitted –

1 Sam 15:24 I feared the people and listened to their voice.

Application #4 – When I respond to criticism – remove others from your thinking and consider only your involvement – What is the Log in your eye as we studied from Matthew 7.

Justifying our sin is never God’s desire. Ultimately, when we are confronted with God’s Word, He is looking for only one response –

1. Are you genuinely repentant?

In our case study – we see the consequences for Saul that God will tear the kingdom away from him. There was no forgiveness here, no grace extended in this case…

But Saul said – I have sinned…he said it in v 24 when he said “I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words.” And then again in verse 30, “I have sinned.”

When we are confronted by God’s Word, when we acknowledge our sin, God’s desire for us to show a repentant heart, and Saul’s is not a genuinely repentant heart. How do we know?

Observe Saul’s next statements that follow his admission of sin

I have sinned because I feared the people and listened to their voice…It was not my fault

I have sinned but I don’t need to be called out or punished – He asks Samuel to accompany him back to the elders and the people for the purpose of exhalting Saul. I have sinned, but you don’t need to hold me accountable…Saul is only worried about his reputation…

Do you want to see a truly repentant King?

Let’s look at King David – in response to the prophet Nathan calling him out for his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover up David’s sin

2 Sam 12:12-13 Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.

David humbly acknowledges the sin. He does not ask for it to be brushed under the rug because he is the king and he does not blame Bathsheba…

Genuine repentance takes ownership for your actions including the sinful ones, including the ones that make you look bad in front of others and neither provides excuses or blames others.

The last proof of Saul’s failure to repent was that he did not seek to address the problem right before him. Agag still lived.

From this, we find our final lesson from Saul’s kingship - that when we have been confronted with God’s Word and we are truly repentant, will we

II. Take Appropriate Action in the face of God’s Consequences

When we are confronted with our sin, our failure to follow God’s command – is there an immediate opportunity to be obedient and show a heart that is turning towards God instead of turning away.

Is there an opportunity to be obedient?

Saul had the opportunity, but it took Samuel to make things right…

1 Sam 15:32 Then Samuel said bring me Agag…

If Saul wouldn’t take action – Samuel did…and he completed God’s command that they be utterly destroyed.

When you have sinned and have the opportunity –

• If you are found to be lying, don’t just stop lying, go and tell the truth to those to who you lied to…

• If you have stolen from another, you are to do more than just stop stealing. Restore what you have taken and be obedient to God’s word by now laboring with your own hands so that you now have something to share

• If you have responded to those around you with bitterness, wrath, and anger…go back to Alfonso’s sermon and show kindness, tenderheartedness and be forgiving.

Application #5: Identify if there are issues of sin that call you to take an action to be obedient. Then do it…

Lastly, when you face the consequences of your sinful action –

Choose to humbly accept God’s discipline.

Saul did not want to be held accountable and so the kingdom was torn from him, and the Spirit of the Lord would depart him. If you continue reading 1 Samuel, you find that Saul’s remaining time as king was filled with anxiety, bitterness, and hate. There was no peace for the king.

We must do differently and choose to receive the discipline of the Lord

Heb 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Knowing that his purpose is for our redemption and for our good.

I am thankful for the lessons that we can apply to our own lives from what we see in the lives of men like Samuel, Saul and David. Join me as we pray for the application of these lessons in our lives…

PRAY

• Listening to God’s Word

• Listening Carefully

• Obeying Completely

• Not to minimize

• Not to justify/blame

• Seek Genuine Repentance

• Turning to God for our Hope