October 25, 2020 Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Joshua and the people of Israel had just come off a high point. They had just seen God defeat an entire city for them. The walls simply had fallen down after they yelled at them! It was likely one of the easiest military victories ever fought.
Taking out the city of Jericho would have been a lot like driving to the city of Indianapolis and thinking you can take an army in there and take it over. Moving on from Indianapolis you would shortly get to a town the size of Brazil Indiana. By comparison, it’s nowhere near as difficult to capture. By all standards it seemed like Ai, the next town after Jericho would be easy picking.
And so anticipating an easy victory in a little town Joshua sends out some spies. And here is what happens.
The Surprise Defeat
The Surprise Defeat
2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.”
4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai,
5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
The Israelites had just defeated Jericho without a single life lost. Now they faced defeat at the hands of a dramatically weaker enemy.
From a military perspective this wasn’t a horrible defeat. The country could certainly fight back from this. From a psychological perspective this was devastating. They had every reason to assume that God would continue to fight on their behalf and yet this defeat happens.
Joshua responds to the defeat
Joshua responds to the defeat
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.
7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!
8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
Did you catch what Joshua said there? “Why have you brought us over the Jordan at all…would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan.”
Joshua (3) Joshua’s Lament (7:6–9)
For both the Israelites and Joshua, the certainty of the past was preferable to the difficulties of the present and the uncertainty of the future.
Joshua and the rest of the Israelites were constantly making choices that we make today. We know what the past looked like even with it’s problems. We forget thought that the problems of the past were why we changed into who we are now. We forget that God is bringing and changing us into someone He can work through in the future.
The truth is Joshua was selectively remembering this one moment and forgetting the many moments God proved Himself faithful. Joshua forgot God’s promises.
Joshua (3) Joshua’s Lament (7:6–9)
He concluded that God intended to destroy Israel, and he did not consider the possibility that there might be sin in the camp.
Did you catch that there? Joshua did not consider that sin might be in the camp.
I wonder how often in our lives we miss the truth that Joshua missed? I wonder if we suffer a defeat or a setback and we think God failed? What if we assumed God will not fail? What if we first took a deep look at our own lives and considered how we could live differently or repentantly.
God explains the defeat
God explains the defeat
Let’s look back and see what happened back in verse 1 that helps us see this from God’s perspective.
And the end of chapter 6 following the defeat of Jericho, Joshua was famous throughout the land because God was with him.
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
This changed with the action of one man
Remember what Joshua commanded at the order of the Lord?
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.
19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”
God wanted Jericho to be set aside as special. God wanted to Israel to remember that at the gateway to the land God was the One who let them in.
God also warned that if they disobeyed the command of God, that action would make the entire camp of Israel a “thing for destruction” God would judge the whole camp for an individual sin.
I like what one commentator wrote:
Opening Up Joshua The Lord’s Explanation of the Defeat (vv. 1, 10–12)
By holding the nation accountable for individual actions, God showed that the Israelites were part of something much bigger than themselves
There would be plenty of other cities to take spoils from.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”
And so when Achan walked into the city and took some of the spoils of war for himself it was a big deal.
Let’s read what happened if you haven’t read it already.
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.
Achan had a choice, he could either take the goods to Joshua as had been commanded by God. He could make a choice which he knew would benefit the whole nation of Israel. Or Achan could make a choice that would serve himself and bring him happiness.
By keeping these things Achan was putting his happiness above the good of the people and the Glory of God.
But really it was more than just happiness. Achan sinned by worshipping comfort and money more than God. You could say he violated the first commandment.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
The crazy thing is that Achan would almost certainly not have put it this way himself. Perhaps he would have shrugged off the size of his sin wondering what a small cache of goods would do to affect the entire country.
How often do we excuse little sins as “not that big of a deal” ?
Lets take a look at the consequences of Achan’s sin
Achan’s Judgement
Achan’s Judgement
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.
15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’ ”
16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
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.
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.
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.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath.
23 And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord.
24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.
26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.
One of the first things I want to see here is that God is not open to double standards. He judges the Canaanite nations for their sins. He also judges the Israelite nation for their sin.
joshua demonstrates his role as a leader in how he refers to achan
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.”
did you see the process that Achan went through?
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.”
Achan
Saw the cloak, silver and bar
Coveted the things he didn’t own.
Took action to take and hide His sin.
Really Achan wasn’t creative at all. Remember back in Genesis?
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Saw
desired
Took
Just like Adam and Eve, Achan tried to hide his sin from God.
Just like Adam and Eve, Achan was found out and judged.
Doesn’t sin play this same role in our lives?
We see an edgy inappropriate movie.
We covet the opportunity to be entertained by the amazing actors and action scenes.
So we take the opportunity to watch a movie with junk in it.
We see someone have a nicer car or house than us.
We covet what they have.
We don’t steal the house but we react in envy and bitterness.
Or perhaps more insidiously we see financially successful people.
We envy the vacations or retirement they have.
We make the making of money our main goal and it becomes a God..
Or maybe it’s our easily besetting sin.
Or maybe it’s our addicting sin.
We see the tempting thing that is sin.
We covet that thing or the pleasure it gives us.
We take action.
In each of these examples and more whenever we think we can hide our sins we discover we are wrong. God sees and disciplines us for our sin.
Going back to the story of Achan we see the terrible consequences of His sin.
His entire family was judged for the actions he took.
Friends, if we do not take sin in the quiet areas of our lives seriously it will come back to haunt us. If we do not take sin seriously the consequences will cascade throughout our family. Sin and it’s consequences are frequently not things you can control.
So many times we think that we’ll dabble in something and have all the time in the world to get out before we get in serious trouble. But the reality of sin throughout the Bible and life experience is the consequences surprise us. Often we don’t have a choice of how our consequences work out.
Now look again at how that passage ended
26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.
After stoning and burning, the nation made a pile of stones to stand as a reminder of the cost of sin. They understood remembering the past.
Remember another pile just a couple chapters earlier?
9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.
Joshua also ordered stones piled in the middle of the river. What did that pile symbolize?
That pile showed the people that if they would follow God He would provide in amazing ways. Another powerful reminder. How can we remind ourselves of this truth?
Several Lessons from Achan
Several Lessons from Achan
We still struggle with Achan’s mentality
We still struggle with Achan’s mentality
One of the hallmark beliefs of our age is that personal happiness trumps everything. Our culture holds that being true to yourself and how you feel is most important.
Marriages are collapsing as spouses put themselves first. Men and women are losing themselves in addictions endlessly pursuing pleasure. People are making life altering decisions simply based on their feelings. People are choosing to serve themselves instead of investing in community.
Some of you watching are choosing the comfort of streaming church from home when you really could safely be present and loving on your brothers and sisters in Christ.
God calls us to love Him and love others with all we have. God freed us from being slaves to sin so we can live for Him. We don’t live for our feelings and desires alone. We live for a higher calling.
What should our mentality be in the church?
What should our mentality be in the church?
Achan put himself in front of the community. And that cost the lives of nearly 40 men and his entire family. God call us today to prize His community. He calls us to see ourselves as part of something larger than ourselves. He calls us to serve and look out for others in the church.
Opening Up Joshua A Lesson about Expectations
Any time we let our own desires and happiness crowd out obedience to God, we have donned Achan’s Babylonian garment and pocketed his Canaanite shekels.
Sundays are great days for rest. Our family spends the majority of Sunday afternoons just relaxing. It’s also a great day for sleeping in. Many of you have schedules that demand you get up early every day.
But where does spending time with God’s people fit in?
Are we worshipping our pursuit of happiness?
People often make the argument, “Doesn’t God want me to be happy?”
Opening Up Joshua A Lesson about Expectations
The great flaw in that reasoning is that we believe we know what makes us happy and God must, therefore, simply acquiesce and let us do our thing. Yes, we do know what gives us momentary pleasure, but God, on the other hand, is interested in our eternal happiness, not just what gives us pleasure for the moment.
Children make this mistake all the time.
When we instead look to God and follow Him he gives us true and lasting joy and happiness.
Judgement
Judgement
No, God doesn’t always judge those who sin against him in this life. Instead, as you and the Bible know some great sinners prosper greatly.
Yet God does and will judge. We can trust this truth.
We can find lasting happiness and joy in obeying God and trusting Him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
because of Achan’s sin, Israel had now become like the Canaanites, alone, without any true god to protect them, and melting away with fear.
David M. Howard Jr., Joshua, vol. 5, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 190.
Conclusion
Conclusion