Vale Community Church · Sunday 13 September 2026
The Struggle with Submission
1 Samuel 24:1–15
David's men were sure God had handed Saul over to him. David cut a corner off Saul's robe instead — and even that troubled his conscience. Is this just a story about being a good sport, or something deeper?
In a nutshell
What we heard on Sunday
David doesn't submit to Saul. His submission and surrender is to the Lord.
Alan Kerry began with a round of 'Only Connect': Luz Long and Jesse Owens, Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, Robbie Fowler and David Seaman, the Brownlee brothers. The connection was good sportsmanship. But Alan suggested 1 Samuel 24 goes deeper, to where personal and political faith meet. In a world of sin and evil, is a personal response enough, or should our faith move us to act?
Two recent headlines were on his mind: Pete Greig sharing a reluctant prophecy, 'prepare for war', and days later a self-styled army of 'Christian patriots' marching into Dover to block asylum seekers. The two aren't linked, Alan stressed, and he was clear that the marchers were wrong. But together they ask how Christians should live in a hostile world.
"This is the day"
In the cave, David's men are certain: "This is the day the Lord spoke of." But, Alan pointed out, we look in vain for where God ever said it. David has been anointed, the mood is shifting his way, and people are getting impatient. It's a familiar temptation: to dress up our impatience as God's will.
A conscience that has to be shaped
David cuts off a corner of Saul's robe, and then he is conscience-stricken: Saul is still the Lord's anointed. God is sovereign and gives us free will, but free will needs a sound conscience, and "sound conscience has to be shaped." When empathy is treated as weakness and 'love your neighbour as yourself' seems up for grabs, Alan wondered whether that is the war we need to prepare for: "a war on love."
Submission to the Lord
David waits for God to fulfil his anointing. That isn't passivity or resignation, but "a patient submission to God's will and his timing." Saul's change of heart soon fades, so was David's mercy wasted? "In God's economy … doing the right thing is always the right thing to do." David doesn't surrender to Saul; he surrenders to the Lord, and leaves the outcome in God's hands.
He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord."1 Samuel 24:6
In God's economy
Doing the right thing
is always the right thing to do.
Alan finished with a PS. He believes the church can be too individualistic and should take the political implications of the gospel seriously, and he cares deeply about freedom of conscience. Yet preparing this sermon taught him that both "must ultimately submit to the sovereignty of Christ." Saul and David, Caesar and Hitler come and go. God's kingdom of love and justice will endure.
Three things to try this week
The challenges from Sunday
- 1Wait patiently, not passively. Where you're impatient for change, ask what patient submission to God's timing would look like, without giving up.
- 2Do the right thing anyway. Show kindness to someone who has opposed you, and leave the outcome with God.
- 3Bring your convictions under Christ. Take a cause you feel strongly about and ask how it submits to the lordship of Jesus and his way of love.
For your own time with God, or your Life Group
Questions to reflect on
Don't try to answer all of these. Pick the ones that get under your skin. The ones marked Just you and God are meant to be private — a moment of quiet rather than a go-round-the-circle.
Getting started
- What's your favourite moment of good sportsmanship — from sport, or from your own life?
- When have you found it hardest to wait for something you were sure was coming?
Read 1 Samuel 24:1–15
Read it together, slowly. Then, before any of the questions below: what do you notice about David? About his men? About Saul? About God?
1 "This is the day"
- Look at verse 4. David's men are sure God has handed Saul over, but Alan pointed out we can't find where God said it. How do you tell the difference between what God has said and what we'd like him to have said?
- Alan's headlines were a call to 'prepare for war' and 'Christian patriots' marching on Dover. Why is it so easy for faith to be borrowed for causes that don't look like Jesus?
- Should our faith be a private, personal thing, or should it shape how we act in public life? Where do you land, and why?
- Jesus says, "See to it that you are not alarmed" (Matthew 24:6). What helps you not to be alarmed by the news?
- Where are you impatient for change right now — in the world, in church, or in your own life? What would it look like to bring that impatience to God this week?
2 A conscience that has to be shaped
- Read verses 5–6. David is troubled just by cutting a corner off a robe. What does that tell you about his conscience?
- "Sound conscience has to be shaped." What has shaped yours? What shapes it most now — Scripture, church, the news, social media, friends?
- Alan suggested that 'love your neighbour as yourself' is now 'up for grabs', and spoke of "a war on love." Where do you see empathy treated as weakness? What would it take to answer that well?
- Just you and GodIs there someone you've quietly stopped treating as your neighbour — because of their politics, their background, or what they've done to you?
3 Submission to the Lord
- Read verse 12. David says, "May the Lord judge between you and me." What would it look like to leave a conflict in God's hands without simply walking away from it?
- Alan said patience isn't "passivity or inactivity or resignation" but "a patient submission to God's will and his timing." What's the difference, in practice?
- Saul's change of heart doesn't last. 'No act of kindness is ever wasted,' or 'no good deed goes unpunished' — which do you believe, deep down?
- David doesn't submit to Saul; he submits to the Lord. Where might you be submitting to the wrong thing — fear, pressure, someone's approval — rather than to God?
- Just you and GodIn his PS, Alan said even his deepest convictions had to "submit to the sovereignty of Christ." Which of your strongest convictions do you need to hand back to Jesus?
Doing the right thing
- Read Proverbs 25:21–22. Alan admitted he isn't keen on the 'burning coals'. What do you make of it?
- "In God's economy … doing the right thing is always the right thing to do." When have you done the right thing and seen no reward? How did you keep going?
- Try it together: each think of one person who has opposed you, without naming them. Pray for them in silence, then decide one kindness you'll show this week, and leave the outcome with God.
Leave it with God
When you've chosen your one kindness, say yes to it here, and let go of how it turns out.
Praying together
- Pray for our nation and its leaders, and for asylum seekers arriving on our shores.
- Pray for patience without passivity, and for consciences shaped by love.
- Close together with Alan's line: "Saul and David and Caesar and Hitler will come and go, but his kingdom of love and justice will endure."
If you'd like to go deeper
A passage a day this week
A note for Life Group leaders
How to use this well
Fewer questions, deeper answers. One or two from each section is plenty for an evening. Let the conversation go where it needs to go.
Guard the private ones. The 'Just you and God' prompts aren't for going round the circle. Give people a quiet minute with them; anyone who wants to share can, and nobody has to.
Keep the politics kind. This message touches live issues — asylum, protest, leaders — and your group will hold different views. Alan was clear about where he stood on the Dover march, but the aim is to ask how Jesus shapes our conscience, not to settle party debates.
Don't skip the practice. Praying for someone who has opposed you is where this message gets real. Let it be quiet and unhurried.
Some people are waiting. Some in your group are waiting for justice, or for a situation to change, and 'be patient' can sound cheap. Don't fix it. Let them say how hard it is, and pray for them by name.
Vale Community Church · Marston Moretaine
The full message is on the VCC YouTube channel. Scripture quotations are from the NIV.