SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2025

THE COST OF DISOBEDIENCE AND IRRESPONSIBILITY

Author: Pastor Chris Oyakhilome

KEY VERSE: “And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” (1 Samuel 15:15)

BIBLE READING: 1 Samuel 15:1-3, 7-15, 22-23 (KJV)

INTRODUCTION: THE VIRUS OF DEFECTION

The phrase “passing the buck” originates from the game of poker, where a marker (or “buck”) was passed to the next dealer to indicate whose turn it was to deal. When one refused to deal, they “passed the buck”—they refused responsibility. Today, it describes the pervasive human tendency to shift blame, deflect criticism, and avoid accountability for failure.

This deflection is not merely a psychological quirk; it is a virus of the soul, a spiritual malady inherited from the very beginning of human history. Our text today, the tragic account of King Saul’s disobedience, serves as a powerful, dramatic demonstration of how passing the buck costs more than any initial mistake. It cost the first king of Israel his entire kingdom.

Like the General Manager Salewa, who, when confronted with low cash deposits and depleted stock, immediately blamed the Senior Sales Executive, King Saul sought to blame his soldiers for his own colossal failure of leadership. Saul’s action reveals a foundational truth: Disobedience coupled with irresponsibility is the fastest route to divine rejection.

I. THE MANDATE AND THE COMPROMISE

To understand the gravity of Saul’s sin, we must first appreciate the clarity and solemnity of the command he received from God through Prophet Samuel.

A. The Clear Command of Consecration

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (1 Samuel 15:2-3).

This command was a Herem—a decree of holy consecration to destruction—designed to execute God’s judgment against the Amalekites for their cowardly, unprovoked attack on Israel’s weary stragglers during the Exodus (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). This was not a standard military conquest; it was a divine commission to enforce justice. The command was absolute: Utterly destroy everything. Spare nothing.

The instruction was clear, specific, and non-negotiable. Saul, freshly appointed and empowered by the Spirit, knew exactly what was required.

B. The Corruption of Compromise

Saul engaged the Amalekites and won a resounding victory. Yet, upon returning, he failed the core test of obedience. He preserved life and property, “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” (1 Samuel 15:9).

Saul’s compromise was not total failure; it was partial obedience. He destroyed the “vile and refuse,” giving himself a sense of false accomplishment. He kept the best, driven by human desires—perhaps for a triumphal parade, economic gain, or, as he claimed, religious piety.

This is the first layer of the sin: choosing the aesthetically pleasing over the divinely commanded. Many Christians today fall here, obeying the parts of the Word that are easy or profitable, while discarding the parts that require discomfort or total consecration.

II. THE ANATOMY OF BLAME-SHIFTING: SAUL’S DEFENSE

When Samuel, directed by a heartbroken God, finally confronted Saul, the king’s response was a masterpiece of deflection, denial, and displacement.

A. Denial and False Piety (1 Samuel 15:13-15)

When Samuel arrived, Saul greeted him with cheerful pretense: “Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (1 Samuel 15:13).

Saul’s immediate reaction was to deny the failure and claim success. But the evidence spoke louder than his words: “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (1 Samuel 15:14).

Confronted by the undeniable sound of the spared livestock, Saul pivoted immediately to the core sin of passing the buck, mixed with self-justification:

“And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” (1 Samuel 15:15)

Notice the deflection:

Displacement: Saul used the pronoun “They” (“They have brought them,” “the people spared”). Saul, the king, the commander, the one who received the word directly from God, shifted the responsibility for the breach of command onto his subordinates. A true leader accepts the ultimate responsibility; a weak one blames the team.

Rationalization: Saul then attempted to spin the disobedience into an act of piety. He claimed the animals were spared “to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.” This implies that his disobedience was not evil, but merely a different, perhaps better, way of honouring God. He attempted to barter the command (obedience) for a substitute (sacrifice).

Saul’s actions demonstrate that passing the buck is not just a lie; it is an attempt to create a morally acceptable narrative for an unacceptable action. It is the refusal to own the mistake, thereby denying oneself the opportunity for genuine repentance.

B. The Sin of the Throne

Saul was the king. The Herem command was given to him. He had the authority to stop the people from sparing anything, and his failure was a failure of leadership and personal conviction. He failed to enforce God’s absolute word because he likely desired the spoils and the people’s admiration for allowing them to keep the best. He chose popularity over principle.

The tragedy of the Salewa story echoes this: Salewa, the General Manager, chose to delegate accountability rather than ensuring the clear execution of the CEO’s instructions herself. When failure struck, she instantly blamed the SSE, refusing to acknowledge that the ultimate responsibility for the outcome lay with her, the leader.

III. THE BIBLICAL PRECEDENT: FROM EDEN TO THE EJECTED KING

Saul’s behavior is so common because it taps into the primal flaw introduced at the Fall of Man. Passing the buck is the Original Sin of Responsibility.

When God confronted Adam after he ate the forbidden fruit, Adam did not confess. He blamed his wife, and implicitly, God Himself: “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12).

When God confronted Eve, she did not confess. She blamed the serpent: “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13).

The spiritual pattern is clear:

The act of disobedience separates us from God.
The refusal to take responsibility hardens the heart and prevents repentance and restoration.

Saul simply continued this legacy. He was unable to admit, “I, Saul, the king, disobeyed You, LORD, because I wanted the prestige of the spoils.” His deflection was a spiritual rejection of accountability, echoing the very moment the human race chose separation from God.

IV. THE CRUX OF THE MATTER: OBEDIENCE VS. SACRIFICE

Saul’s attempts to use the spoils for a sacrifice provoked one of the most famous and definitive rebukes in Scripture. This passage is the spiritual climax of the entire episode.

“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

This statement cuts to the core of the covenant relationship. Saul thought he could compensate for his broken promise (disobedience) with a grand, religious gesture (sacrifice). He tried to buy back God’s favour with the very things God told him to destroy.

A. God Demands Priority

God is not impressed by substitutes. If He commands action A, performing action B (no matter how good B is) is still disobedience.

Obedience is the direct expression of a submitted heart—it shows trust in the Commander.
Sacrifice can be the expression of human effort and ritual—it can be a cover for an unsubmissive heart.

God demands priority. When we pass the buck, we are prioritizing our ego, our convenience, or our reputation over God’s clear instruction. We try to perform a spiritual “sacrifice”—like intensified church attendance, increased giving, or feverish activity—to cover the hole created by a specific, known act of disobedience. God rejects this transaction.

B. Rebellion and Idolatry

Samuel then intensified the rebuke, equating Saul’s sin with the worst spiritual crimes:

“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23)

Rebellion (Saul’s action) is compared to witchcraft (a reliance on spirits other than God).

Stubbornness (Saul’s insistence that he was right) is compared to idolatry (worshipping a false god).

Why? Because when Saul decided which parts of the command to keep and which to discard, and then stubbornly defended his choice, he was effectively making himself the ultimate authority, elevating his own judgment above God’s. This is the essence of idolatry—worshipping one’s own will.

V. THE SIN OF THE BUCK IN MODERN CHRISTIAN LIFE

The tragic story of Saul is not just an ancient history lesson; it is a mirror reflecting contemporary Christian life. The sin of passing the buck manifests in subtle, yet spiritually fatal, ways:

A. In Personal Spiritual Discipline

The Prayer Life: Blaming a lack of spiritual growth on a busy schedule, a demanding job, or a noisy household, rather than taking responsibility for the discipline required to carve out time for God.

The Word Study: Blaming the lack of time to read the Bible on social media distractions or exhaustion, rather than admitting the priority of the secular over the spiritual.

B. In Family and Relationships

Marital Conflict: Blaming the spouse for the failure of the relationship (“The woman/man I married…”) instead of taking responsibility for one’s own reactions, unhealed hurts, or lack of love.

Parenting Failure: Blaming a child’s poor behavior entirely on peers or the school system, refusing to admit parental inconsistency or failure to establish proper spiritual training.

C. In Church Ministry and Work

Ministry Failure: Blaming the lack of church growth on the “difficult neighbourhood” or the “lazy members,” instead of accepting the ultimate responsibility for vision, fervent prayer, and leadership effectiveness.

The Salewa Syndrome: Refusing to accept that responsibility climbs up the organizational chart, never down. The buck always stops with the person in charge.

VI. THE COST OF IRRESPONSIBILITY

Saul’s kingship was not revoked merely because he spared a few animals; it was revoked because his refusal to repent and his act of deflection revealed a fundamental flaw in his character—a lack of integrity and submission. The consequences of passing the buck are severe:

Loss of Favor (The King is Rejected): Saul lost his position. The highest cost of irresponsibility is the rejection of divine favour and anointing. Saul was removed because he could not be trusted to administer God’s absolute Word.

Stalled Spiritual Growth: When you blame others, you isolate yourself from the opportunity to change. True spiritual growth begins the moment you say, “I am responsible.” Blame-shifting ensures you repeat the same mistake endlessly.

Destruction of Integrity: Saul’s constant lying to Samuel destroyed his reputation and character. A person who habitually passes the buck is a person who cannot be relied upon, either by men or by God.

Marring of Conscience: Each time we rationalize a wrong action, we sear our conscience (1 Timothy 4:2), making it harder to discern right from wrong and easier to live in denial.

VII. THE PATH TO REDEMPTION: ACCEPTING THE CROSS

The ultimate antidote to the sin of passing the buck is found in the perfect example of Jesus Christ. Saul refused to take responsibility for his own sin and blamed others. Jesus Christ, though sinless, accepted responsibility for every sin of humanity.

When Christ went to the cross, He did not deflect or complain. He said, “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11). He accepted the ultimate, non-negotiable consequence of human disobedience so that the punishment would stop with Him.

As believers, we are called to embody this Christ-like posture:

Immediate Confession: When confronted with our bleating oxen (the evidence of our compromise), we must immediately confess: “I have sinned against the LORD.” (1 Samuel 15:24).
Willing Repentance: Repentance must involve restitution where necessary (as seen in our text yesterday). If your irresponsibility hurt another, you must seek to repair it.
Total Surrender: We must declare, with Samuel’s conviction, that obedience is better than sacrifice. We surrender our own will, our own desires, and our own reputation to the supremacy of God’s Word.

Be accountable to God, be accountable to your leaders, and be accountable to your family. Do not let the virus of deflection take root in your life.

CONCLUSION

The warning from the life of King Saul is eternal: The buck stops with you. You, and you alone, are responsible for the decisions you make under the direction of the Holy Spirit. God is not looking for excuses or sacrifices; He is looking for a heart that says, “I hear the word, and I will do it completely.”

Today, recognize the consequences of disobedience and the danger of rationalizing wrong actions. When was the last time you refused to take responsibility for your actions and instead passed the buck? Let today be the day you humble yourself, confess your sin of deflection, and choose the path of absolute, joyous obedience. The mantle of God’s favour is reserved for those who accept the weight of responsibility.

PRAYER:

Merciful God, grant me the grace to accept responsibility for my actions and inactions, and show me mercy when I fail. I confess every instance of passing the buck and choosing my will over Yours. I repent of rebellion and stubbornness. Help me, by Your Spirit, to walk in continuous, total obedience, knowing that obedience is better than sacrifice, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

PRAYER FOR MINISTRY

Lord, help me to understand what You are doing now, so that I can have breakthrough in the Spirit.

CONTACT:

To speak to a Pastor for Prayers & Counselling, please call, text or WhatsApp chat the phone numbers: +2348160525695, +2348034920168

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

Ezekiel 29-31; James 5

DAILY BIBLE READING PLAN:

1 Year Plan: 1 Chronicles 27-29 & Romans 5
2 Year Plan: John 17:1-19 & 2 Chronicles 7