Achan Breaking Heart
Christ in the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good morning. Thansk for the opportunity to share with you this morning.
Looking for Jesus in the Old Testament is a fun process. I know when I first started thinking about this task a few years ago I was thinking something other than what it is becoming.
I had thought I was going to be finding Christophanies, which is when Jesus appears bodily before his incarnation. I had thought I would find prophecies of the Son. I thought I would find People who were pictures of Jesus.
And I have found all these. One thing I didn’t really think I’d find was Jesus in the dirt. What do I mean by that?
Let me illustrate. Imagine you are working in a garden and while you are working, you reach in to dig around the dirt and you feel a sharp pain. you pull your hand back and there is a very small cut. Not even half an inch, not even deep.
Garden small cut
Garden small cut
You find that you have cut your self on a small nail that likely fell into the garden years ago when you were residing your house. It’s rusty and gross.
You throw the nail away and keep on working.
You finish the gardening and go inside. You wash up quick and notice the cut is a little red. No big deal, it’s not a big cut. A few days later the wound is all but forgotten. It’s healed, but still sore.
A week later you wake up stiff an sore. It’s hard to even get out of bed. You go about your day, but it’s really hard. Pain killers do nothing and the you get more stiff. The next few days are even worse. You start having muscle spasms and your can’t more your jaw.
Maybe all you need is a few days rest. it’ll go away.
It doesn’t go away. In fact, you end up in the hospital for several days. The spasms continue and you even break a few ribs from them.
Eventually, after several days in hospital, you begin to see some positive changes. The spams are less and you can eat food again. Recovery is VERY long, but you’re going to be okay.
Where did this person go wrong?
Well, the person could have washed the cut better. But before that, wearing gloves while gardening or getting a tetanus shot would have saved a great deal.
You see even something really small can become a big problem if not dealt with properly.
Preventative steps are the best, but you can’t prevent everything.
What I mean by finding Jesus in the dirt here is that when we are at a place in our life, our walk with him, we might do something that seems minor. A little thing that doesn’t REALLY hurt anyone, but then we leave it and it just grows. And in all that Jesus is there holding out his hands with grace and mercy, watching you sink in the dirt deeper and deeper.
Today’s passage has a big scope, because we’ve just seen the walls of Jericho fall and instructions given.
18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.
How important are the rules in the home?
Many of us had rules in our households growing up. And if one broke the rules then there were consequences. Whether it was a grounding, or more chores, or cutting your own switch.
Did anyone ever have to cut your own switch? (image)
I never did, but just thinking about it, I think that was more of a punishment than the actual whipping with the stick.
Regardless, I bet no one ever had death as a consequence for disobedience. But the promise of this verse is telling the people of Israel. THe stuff in Jericho is not for you. It will lead only to destruction, or in other words. Death.
While God is merciful and very patient, he doesn’t sugar coat his rules. If you break God’s rules, the consequence is death. Now, if there is genuine repentance, confession, a desire to make things right, the sentence is relieved.
For example, when I was a kid I found a grease gun in my garage. Long story short, I blamed a friend and my dad said I couldn’t hang out with the friend for a while. I think there might have been a parent phone call, because my friend didn’t talk to me for a while.
I did confess it years later, but the damage was already done.
A separate incident. I was in the living room and saw someone through the window. I tapped the glass to get there attention, tapped too hard and put a hole in the glass. Knowing the consequences for breaking glass we a lot worse than grease on a garage floor, I decided to just get it over with. My dad was in the garage and I went and told him what happened.
Short story shorter. He said, thanks for telling me. I’ll fix it tomorrow.
That’s it. No punishment. Because I was honest and genuinely repentant. While my dad brought up my faults a lot through my life, he never brought up the ones like the pane of glass I broke. It was like he forgot the ones I owned.
That’s like God. when we come to him genuinely repentant. He forgives.
Are there sometimes still consequences even when we repent? Yes, but I can promise that it is always better to confess and be honest.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But back to Joshua. God said do not take anything the was devoted to destruction or you will be devoted to destruction.
Think of the Israelites after Jericho. How great their faith must have been. Walking around a wall and it just falls. They are likely on cloud nine at this point. But something was wrong.
(Someone good with names)
1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
The most common treatment for many cancers is chemotherapy. Which is a chemical injected into your body to kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, it also kills a lot of other things in your body. So, sometimes, to get rid of the cancer, the rest has to suffer.
Israel, on the tails of Jericho is going up against the smaller city of Ai. So small, in fact, advisors tell Joshua that only a few are needed. But there is disobedience in the camp. And the few thousand that go to take Ai are chased off and 36 are killed.
Joshua and the nation are distraught.
10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.
12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
There’s a lot of parents here in the room. Question. Was there ever a time when something bad happened in the house. And YOU knew who did it. Because you know your kids. But they play the protect game and you know, but don’t have evidence. So you just punish all the kids.
It might not be 100% fair, but it is just as the kids knew, but were protecting.
But here the LORD is punishing the whole nation for one man’s action. God knows, and more than likely others know too, but not everyone. But everyone is paying for it.
Remember, Israel is God’s chosen people, they are meant to be God’s mouth piece to the world. To share God with everyone. So when something is wrong with a small part of Israel, then something is wrong with Israel. They can’t work to their full potential if something doesn’t work right.
I’m not a car guy, but if I have a V6 engine and I just take out a spark plug or two is the vehicle going to run at it’s very best?
Probably not. And if I keep driving without all the spark plugs, I’m guessing there will be other consequences for the car.
That’s Israel, something isn’t right, and if it’s not fixed there are going to be problems.
13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man.
Because this is a public sin against the whole land of Israel, it’s going to be dealt with publically.
If you are interested in how to deal with sin on an individual to individual basis look up Matthew 18:15-20 in your spare time. Because it is different. In an individual to individual situation things start private to protect those involved.
But here this is a public sin and will be dealt with publically.
And the neat thing here is, we see God’s love and mercy playing right here.
As the person reading this after the fact, we know who did the sin. God knows, and maybe Achan’s family knows, we’re not 100% sure on that.
But the whole nation is told. Somebody took something they weren’t supposed to. And tomorrow we are going to expose them.
This is Achan’s first big chance for repentance. He could have gone straight to Joshua, confessed and gotten rid of what he took. But that didn’t happen.
When you walk into a room with a kid and a broken dish. And you ask the kid what happened, what is the most common answer in the world?
I don’t know.
People who do wrong often justify it in some way. I imagine Achan was thinking, “I’m sure it was someone else, I only took a few things.”
Do we sometimes justify a sin because it’s small and doesn’t hurt anybody?
Like the kid who steals another’s toy. “Not a big deal, they have more.”
Adults aren’t immune either. We had a bit of vandalism on the church site several weeks ago. There was no damage and the clean up was small. But in the eyes of the law, it was a hate crime. If we had reported it, and the person was found, they would have gone to jail.
Sin is sin to God. Even if we think it is small, to God it is straight up division.
But because God is merciful and patient, Achan is given opportunity to come forward.
But that night Achan did not come
But check out God’s patience
16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
Another chance. Everyone is there. The masses don’t know it’s Achan, he just has to step forward.
17 And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.
Three chances here. A whole tribe selected. Of which Achan is a member. He might be sweating at this point, but he still doesn’t come forward.
18 And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
I guess winning the lottery is fun, but this lottery was one Achan was hoping to lose.
He may have thought he was safe. He may have thought, surely others took more than me. He may have thought that God didn’t see or care.
He had every chance to come forward until his name was called. Now, check it out.
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did:
21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
So, a nice cloak and converting weights about a pound of gold and 5 pounds of silver. Of all the people who went through Jericho, only Achan took what he wasn’t supposed to and it caused the death of 36 people and a dramatic drop of moral with the whole land of Israel.
Achan told the truth, but he waited until it was too late. And his sorry may have been more, “I’m sorry I got caught,” than genuine repentance.
ANd the consequence was severe. His whole household is held accountable. I can only think that is because they knew and were in on it, but I can’t be 100% sure on that. But because his household held items devoted to destruction, then Achan’s household was devoted to destruction.
Achan was part of God’s chosen people, he saw the walls of Jericho fall, we walked across the Jordan on dry sand. He saw the pillar of the presence of the LORD; all this and more, yet he did not believe God when he said don’t touch.
Why is it hard to confess, even when we are given countless chances?
There is a remedy for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. God is not less merciful on his children than he is to the unsaved. The verse we read from 1 John 1:9 is true
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If there is a sin in our hearts. Maybe something we’ve been hiding, maybe you’re sure the person you’ve wronged will never even know or find out. confession is the best.
Confess, call the evil by it’s name, recognize it in God’s light; don’t excuse it or minimize it, but bring it out into God’s holiness and abandon it. The blood of Jesus will wash it away and restore to a better place of fellowship.
And while we don’t see Jesus as clearly in this passage as we have in other places I know he was there, giving Achan every chance, even knowing he would fail. Because we too are to be like Jesus. Giving those that sin against us every chance to come forward and turn away from their sin.
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Jesus knows what’s in your heart. Even if we don’t. And he tells you to put it in the light, so that whatever is wrong and sinful can be destroyed.
And what I really love about Jesus’ words here are the last three verses about the sparrows fold for a penny. God says he knows each and every hair on your head. Mine admittedly is not too hard. And he says you are of more value than many sparrows.
You matter to God. Each and every one of you. You matter, you are loved. You are cherished. Isn’t that amazing?
How could Achan not see that? How can we.
Sometimes confession is hard. I know. But it is a command for our own good. Not for harm. It is for restoration. And it doesn’t have to be extremely public, sometimes it gets there, but it doesn’t have to.
If you’ve wronged someone, sinned against them. Go to apologize. If for some reason you feel it’s hard, grab a friend, tell them and go together.
It will only make thinks better for you. And that’s not a promise from me, but from God. Hiding it away, pretending it’s not an issue, only makes things worse. I know that from personal experience. I’m not a confrontational guy, so it’s really hard for me to go to someone and say, “I’m sorry”, but when I do, it gets better.
Joshua was able to go forward and continue to take the land God had given them. ANd next week we’ll talk about Joshua 9 and 10 and how people who decided to trust God and Joshua quickly learned that being a friend of God is better than being his enemy.
Let’s pray
