6-24-07 PM - The Need to be Of One Mind

6-24-07

PM Service

Of one body

Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

Numbers 13: 26 -14:30 Records the report of the 12 spies; the 10 evil report - and Joshua and Caleb’s good report

The children of Israel had wandered the desert for 40 years. All of the unfaithful and unwilling to possess the land at Kadesh Barnea had passed away. Moses because of sin also had gone on to glory.

Joshua must have felt a bit overwhelmed in the flesh,  as many of his mentors were gone now., but he was clearly living by faith and knew that it didn’t matter who wast with them anymore- it mattered who was- He Had God with him,

Joshua 5:13-15
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15 And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

Joshua 7:1-26
1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. 14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man. 15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. 16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

Remember- back IN Joshua 6: 18-19- The Warning –don’t take anything- gold and silver for the treasury of the Lord.

18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

1. Sin in the midst of the congregation- Achan
1. Later we see potentially a sin of presumption- doing things in their own strength- don’t need God. (we must be careful about our mortgage –if we get down to X –amount- of our mortgage debt then we can handle that much ourselves. It is never the right time to stop depending upon God –to cease trusting in God. Leaning on our own known ability is sin
2. Notice the question Joshua asked the stranger : “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?”
1. A better person to ask that question would have been Achan. If you are robbing from God – are you for our people (God’s people) or against us?
2. How do we rob God? Malachi 3- say sin tithes and offerings. How about in our personal time- not giving to God what he deserves?
3. This indeed asks the right question- but the question should be God-centered: Are you for the Lord or are you For His adversary?

                                                              i.      It can be answered by deteriming what you are serving. Are you serving the Lord?

1. Joshua was attempting to know if the man (The Lord) was an enemy or on their side. Why? It is important that we are all for the same cause! Oterhwise we can do great damage to the success of the whole body.
2. Romans 15:6 -6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Unity of purpose is commanded and is important.  

The sin of Achan teaches a very important great truth of oneness of the people of God.

àThe whole cause of Christ can be injured by the sin or neglector unspirituality of one person.

1. ONENESS – There is a very visible oneness of nature to the Christ’s body.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.

1 Corinthians 12:24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

2.ONE’s SIN IMPACTS OTHERS.

A. What did the sin of Achan, one man do?

àAchan caused the defeat at Ai. His actions caused a blemish on the whole nation of God –so that God could not. Thirty six men died. 

à Achan caused his whole immediate family to perish.

Why? Weren’t the children innocent? No one can know the mind of God. Perhaps they were tainted by his sin. That is the point.

                        B. How about the sin of David in : Numbering the people?

2 Samuel 24:10-16 10 And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

3. THE TESTIMONY OF THE WHOLE FLOCK – May be hurt or ruined by one person’s sin.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2; 6-7; 13  -1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

4. THE REPUTATION OF THE WHOLE FLOCK NAY BE RUINED OR TAINTED BY ONE PERSONS FOOLISHNESS

Ecclesiastes 10:1 -  Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

Jude 10 - 10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

12 spots … love feasts. See note on 2 Pet. 2:13. “Spots” can be taken as “hidden rocks” or “reefs” or as “stains” (see marginal note). These apostates were dirt spots, filth on the garment of the church; or more likely, what God intended for the church as smooth sailing, they turned into a potential shipwreck through their presence. “Love feasts” were the regular gathering of the early church to partake of the bread and cup, plus share a common meal[1]

2 Peter 2:13 –13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

spots and blemishes. Cf. Jude 10. That is, dirt spots and scabs. They are opposite to the character of Christ (1 Pet. 1:19). The church should be like her Lord (Eph. 5:27)[2]

Please be careful not to blame others for our mortgage situation. But I believe it is important for us to be faithful and consistent. We need unity and we need cooperation

When we do things as a church unto the Lord –what percent of the whole body should be involved? 100!

In the Cambridge, Minn., Star: "Isanti County Commissioner Tom Pagel has 100-percent support from his family, not 10 percent, as was stated in last week's article on Pagel's announcement to seek re-election." Reader's Digest.

Philippians 2:2 -  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[sumpsuchos /soom·psoo·khos/]1 of one mind, of one accord. Additional Information: This word is made up of two words “sun” (together with) and psuchos (soul, self, inner life, or the seat of the feelings, desires, affections).

So the word refers to being united in spirit or harmonious (A&G). Paul desired the Philippians to be united in their affections—one in Christ in all desires! Used only here in the NT. —Wayne Steury.

Acts 1:14 -  These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

            How many attended the prayer meeting? All of them!

Ekklessia- means called together ones!

            When:

We face a major wall as a church body- we should ALL be together and pray and face it together.

When there is a church debt we should all give together

When we meet as a church to worship-we should worship together

We should be of one accord.

I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field. John Wesley.

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[1]MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997, S. Jud 12

[2]MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997, S. 2 Pe 2:13