Joshua 7

When We Stumble: Retrieving God’s Grace

Bible Passage: Joshua 7

Summary: Joshua 7 depicts the fallout from Israel's defeat at Ai after Achan disobeys God by taking prohibited spoils. It highlights how sin disrupts our relationship with God and reveals the importance of communal accountability in the faith community.

Application: This passage invites Christians to reflect on their personal and communal responsibilities. It emphasizes the need for honesty in our interactions and the importance of addressing sin within the church to maintain unity and a right standing with God.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that disobedience leads to consequences, but also that God’s grace is restorative. It urges believers to confront sin head-on and trust in God's mercy to bring healing to both the individual and the community.

How this passage could point to Christ: In this passage, we see the need for accountability and community, which is fulfilled in Christ. He provides forgiveness and restores our relationship with God, allowing us to overcome the failures represented by Achan’s sin.

Big Idea: God's grace is sufficient to restore us after our failures, encouraging us to seek reconciliation and accountability in our walk with Him and with one another.

Recommended Study: I suggest looking into the themes of corporate sin and its effects within the church, particularly through the lens of communal identity in Israelite culture. You could also research biblical examples of accountability and restoration, connecting them with New Testament teachings on grace and repentance—the resources in Logos might help you draw parallels between Joshua and the early church experiences.

1. Recognize the Repercussions

Joshua 7:1-5

Maybe it's time to Reflect on the fact that disobedience isolates us from God's blessings and leads to defeat, as the Israelites experienced due to Achan's sin. Acknowledge how personal sin can impact a community and that failure in one part affects the whole. This segment SUGGESTS examining everyday actions to ensure they align with God's commands, and it GUIDES believers to seek God's guidance before making decisions to avoid the pitfalls that led to Israel's defeat.

Achan’s first mistake was to look at these spoils a second time.

Warren W. Wiersbe

By keeping the goods for himself, then, Achan was putting his personal happiness above the glory of God and the welfare of God’s people.

Roger Ellsworth

2. Return Through Prayer

Joshua 7:6-9

You could examine Joshua's response of prayer and lamentation in the face of defeat as a model for seeking God's guidance after a stumble. Joshua brings the problem to God, showing an active and honest relationship. This section SUGGESTS about learning to bring our disappointments and failures before the Lord and trusting His wisdom rather than being paralyzed by fear or shame.

3. Resolve with Repentance

Joshua 7:10-15

Perhaps it’s crucial to understand that repentance requires action as exemplified by God's instructions to Joshua to address the sin within the camp. Achan's hidden sin was not merely a personal failure but a communal breach of covenant. This section ENCOURAGES examining areas in life that might be hiding unconfessed sin and seeking reconciliation as God calls us to account and purify the community.

4. Restore through Grace

Joshua 7:16-26

Maybe within the resolution of Achan’s sinful actions, you can SEE the restorative power of God’s grace. While there was a heavy consequence, the ultimate purpose was to bring Israel back to a place of favor with God. This reminds us that while sin is serious, God's desire is restoration and fellowship. This point ADVISES relying on Christ's ultimate sacrifice that provides forgiveness and restoration, urging believers to live in the freedom of grace.

Of course today Christians do not execute sinners, and the precise way in which Achan was killed is not a model for us. In a young community where idolatry would lead to the extermination of the nation it was necessary that Achan and his family pay a severe price for what he had done. It had to be severe surgery which cut out, at the very earliest opportunity, any willingness to compromise with idolatry, any willingness to steal what was forbidden. The lesson the Christian draws from the story is not exactly to make it a model but to learn how powerful sin is in blocking the progress of God’s kingdom, and how severely it must be cut out of our lives, and out of our churches, not by stones and fire but by the rock of God’s word and the fire of the Holy Spirit.