Ache in (Achan's) Sin

Are We Overreacting?

I Mean look at some of these pictures:

what do you think?

Obviously some of these are not very effective, but we don’t want to make light of the danger of this Pandemic either.

NO judgement to pass here, but out of curiosity, give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down in the live feed if you agree with or disagree with wearing masks when you go out in public.

I don’t know if Masks will be required when we come back to church; but, I suspect it will be recommended. I guess, if that’s what it takes to get things going, I’m willing.

- I just want to see everyone.

I need the encouragement of being around my church family

I enjoy hearing you sing and praise God - i enjoy being together

I’ve been wading through the regulations put out this last week and what we need to do. Some of it seems silly and very impractical.

- how far do we need to go to protect and be safe?

- How many rules and guidelines do we need to follow?

- and then, ----- Is it really going to make a difference?

These are all questions we ask our leaders. But, no matter the answer, someone is going to disagree and say they will do what they want to do.

this is our Right as citizens in America

We get to question our leaders, challenge their decisions and voice our opinions

But, too often we treat God the same way.

I have heard several messages during the pandemic - on hope and perseverance in getting through our struggles over the past few weeks. These are certainly timely messages for us; however, sometimes we need a swift kick in the pants as well.

- Sometimes, We need to be called out and prodded / Spurred on - instead of patted on the back.

We need to be called to maturity instead of patronized in our selfishness

We can not Presume things will all work out - that it doesn’t matter what we do. Nor can we resign ourselves to think “whatever will happen - will happen.”

What we do, matters!

It matters in this pandemic - and even more-so, it matters in your walk with God.

Don’t ASSUME that you are good enough and won’t make mistakes. It’s dangerous to stop pursuing righteousness. People like Water - flow down hill.

Don’t Assume that you are just good enough. Someone told me what happens when you ASSUME. (if you don’t know, then I can’t explain here, cause my mamma would spank my butt for saying it.)

But don’t ASSUME little sins won’t make a difference.

There is absolutely no Biblical basis for believing there is any such thing as a “little” sin.

If we are going to THRIVE and not just SURVIVE - then we need to understand the condition God placed each time in his Covenant Agreement with Israel.

Joshua 1:7–8 NIV84

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

OBEY - Then you will be Prosperous and Successful!

When you don’t obey ---- disaster strikes.

Let’s consider the follow-up story to Joshua’s Victory over Jericho.

Joshua has led the army to march around Jericho for a week, the walls fell and Israel went straight in to conquer the city. Everything at Jericho was dedicated to the Lord. All the gold and valuables were to be given to be used in the tabernacle worship, all the animals sacrificed. Everything was devoted to God.

The people that night would celebrate - praising God and worshipping Him. ?For what other God could do such incredible things? What other god acted in such incredible, undeniable ways for His people? The mood of the camp was jubilant - the faith of the people was palpable. They knew God was with them - nothing could stop them.

Especially the little town of Ai, the next city to attack. The spies advised that the whole army wasn’t going to be necessary. So, a smaller regiment was sent to attack, while most stayed back. The regiment was confident of victory, only to be shocked as their enemy struck deep, killing 36 men - sending the Israelites to retreat.

Hope was dashed - “why did this happen?” Joshua cried out to God. The people were perplexed. Such a great victory, then a dismaying defeat.

Crying face down, Joshua questioned God, “Why did you bring us across the river?”

Then, Almost as if God is surprised that Joshua is surprised, he speaks,

“Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied,

The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Jos 7:10–11). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Joshua had to be shocked! - Surely in seeing the walls just crumble, the people would obey and listen. God had done such an amazing act - demonstrating his destructive power. Why would they lie and steal? Why would they jeopardize this relationship?

Because, too often, we presume our Sin is no big deal.

God declared that until the devoted things were removed, they would not be able to stand against their enemies. So, they prepared themselves to come before the Lord.

Can you imagine the trepidation, the mounting fear as God narrowed his sights on the guilty party.

- Tribe by tribe they came until Judah was chosen.

- Clan by clan until the Zerahites were chosen.

- Then Family by Family until Zimri was chosen.

Then man by man making their way

We got stopped at a check point about two hours into Mexico as we were headed to Saltillo for mission work. They had all of us step out of the vans we were riding in - all of our luggage had to be unloaded and opened on the tables while soldiers with assault rifles stood watch as others searched through our bags, one by one - his trusty drug sniffing dog rifling through our belongings. Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, the fear mounted, what if the dog likes the smell of the burger a dropped on my shirt at dinner last night. Anxiety hit as they reached my bag and stepped back, saying something in spanish I didn’t understand. They began motioning to find out who the bag belonged to. I had to step forward, my heart pounding, tongue swelled in my mouth. Now two armed soldiers stepped forward with assault rifles gripped. He pointed to the bag, but wouldn’t touch it. I stepped on forward to see what he was pointing at. Relief came as I recognized that my new digital alarm clock built into a plastic carabiner clipped on the zipper pull of my bag had a unique and honestly somewhat ominous look to it. I tried to explain it’s a watch (pointing to my wrist) - Not speaking the same language was a huge barrier. I tried to smile, but didn’t know if I should step up to remove it or if I would get shot. Fortunately, my charades skills paid off, they understood. I had done nothing wrong.

But as Achan, approached he wasn’t so innocent.

Joshua questioned him,

The New International Version (1984) Achan’s Sin

“My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Joshua sent men to his tent and they found the robe, silver and gold just as confessed. The value of those goods was about a years wages. But the cost would be much higher. The people then took Achan, his family and all that he owned and stoned them in the valley of Achor (which means Trouble).

I’m sure to Achan, there was so much plunder in Jericho, what was a small amount of silver, gold and a robe. No one was going to be hurt if he kept it instead of destroying it. I mean, what’s the big deal. It seems like a steep penalty for such a small Sin. But,

God Hates Sin!

HATE seems like a strong word!

Many people want to tell us, “God is love.” And He is. But he loves us so much that he HATES sin - He hates sin because of what it does to us, To our Relationships, to our World.

Deuteronomy 6:22 tells us God hates Idolatry

Psalm 45:7 - that he hates wickedness

Proverbs 6:16–19 NIV84

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

All of these sins affect our Relationships. God hates sin because of what it destroys: Our relationship with him, as well as our relationships with each other.

Achan sin, didn’t just affect him! It affected his family.

Sins of parents can affect their children for generations. We see how abuse and neglect leave scars on children that can be passed on. Reputations can be a hard thing to live down. Expectations of attitudes and family dynamics shape people.

I see how sinful choices of parents impact their children’s marriages. It’s not all sinful choices, but just methods of handling things. Most marriages struggle as they work through unexpected expectations of these methods in dealing with issues, or not dealing with issues.

I laughed at my son-in-law the other night as I listened to my daughter make plans just like Rhoda would have, and proceed to tell him what he needed to do. (I laughed because it was something I warned him before they got married. It took me years to understand - all their advise and directions weren’t to boss me around, but are intended to help because they love you and want to things to go easily for you. But when I warned him, Kimberly is alot like her mom, He said, “Kimberly doesn’t really do stuff like that.” I just nodded - So the other night, I smiled and said - “I told you she’d be more like her momma then you thought.”

What our family has done, affects the way we do things - Good and Bad!

It affects what people will expect from us too.

Have you ever been treated differently because of a teacher who had your older sibling in class? Sometimes it opens doors, other times you just hope they don’t make the family connection.

Here we see it - Achan’s sin - our Sin - impacts more than just ourselves.

Sin usually affects others as well:

Achan’s sin directly impacted 36 Families who lost husband and fathers and sons.

Too many families have been impacted by other people’s sinful decisions with alcohol, drugs, and greed.

The sin of GREED impacts people all around the world. And it isn’t new. I fear sometimes that in America we are guilty of the sins Ezekiel called out Sodom for: Eze. 16:49

Ezekiel 16:49 NIV84

“ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

We are one of the most generous countries in the world, with what we give to support other nations, but when we buy our good imported from factories that pay pennies on the hour for labor - we aren’t helping the poor and needy - We are taking advantage of others.

I don’t know how to fix that world issue, but I don’t’ want us to become Haughty and Arrogant and unconcerned about any sin.

That is the danger we face in thinking our Sin is just a “Little” thing.

Thinking - We aren’t that bad - We are good people

We are blessed by God

No doubt, God has blessed us. But don’t think it is because we are somehow good or deserving.

Prosperity can lead us to feel secure in who we are and our goodness, but Moses even told the nation of Israel before they went into the promised land, “

It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; … for you are a stiff necked people.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Dt 9:5–6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

It wasn’t because they were good, but because of God’s plan. They shouldn’t think too highly of themselves.

Times like this pandemic can help us stop and evaluate - Are We who we ought to be?

We need to look at ourselves and compare ourselves - not to other people - but to what God has called us to be.

Jesus was being questioned by Pharisees one day; they were hoping to catch him encouraging people to go against the government and not pay taxes. But Jesus answered so wisely, Luke 20:24-25

Luke 20:24–25 NIV84

“Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

We are made in the Image of God - and we need to aspire to represent God well.

We can only do so by a sober evaluation of ourselves and our lifestyle.

Achan’s sin was evident

When confronted, he confessed - he didn’t have the opportunity to sin again

there were immediate consequences for his sin, but there is no reason to believe that he wasn’t forgiven before God and his sin covered by the blood of Jesus

Confessing and repenting of Sin is one of the easiest things to do. We just have to admit our failure. We generally recognize and see our battle. We know the challenge and it may be a great struggle, but Jesus understand and sympathizes in our weakness. The great news is, Jesus has fully paid the price of our sin. God’s Grace can turn our failure into victory.

Committed Sin is really pretty easy to confront, if we will humble ourselves and admit it.

On the other hand, the most difficult Sins to deal with in life are not the sins we commit, the Sins of Commission - but the Sins of Omission.

Sins of Omission are all the things we ought to do, but don’t. James says,

James 4:17 NIV84

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

That’s harsh. There are so many things I ought to do.

Paul encourages us in Romans 12 to be Living Sacrifices - That our lives, every action, should benefit God’s Kingdom in service as we use our gifts.

We often focus more on the sins we’ve committed because It is easier though to recognize the wrong things we need to stop, then to put forth the effort to do what God asks.

Romans 12:3–5 NIV84

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

I want to close with these verses today.

Please see and understand as you confront sin in your life - that

Walking with God is not regret about what you shouldn’t have done, but JOY in fulfilling what God has called you to DO.

Prayer...