Disobedience, Defeat, and Discipline
Text: Joshua 7
Several weeks ago I began a study in Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, drawing lessons for our own advance into the place of abundant blessing in the presence of God! Are you taking your promised land, moving into a life that is filled with the fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit, that is characterized by the abundance of love, joy, and peace promised by God?
Last time I spoke to you, we considered the story of Jericho, that stronghold that first confronted the Israeli people upon their entrance to the Promised Land. How did they conquer?
Here are the principles in review....
∙ Realistically assess the difficulties of the situation.
∙ Take hold of the promise of God regarding the situation.
∙ Commit yourself to a total willingness to obey God’s directives.
∙ Exercise the patience that is required for God to accomplish his purpose and plan.
∙ Honor the vows and commitments that you have made even when the battle is over and done!
Everybody likes the messages of conquest and promise and I like to preach them!
Today’s message is one of warning. It is a cautionary lesson from the Bible that I pray you will listen to very carefully with a mind and heart that is open to God’s Spirit. Though this is not a message of joy, it is one of great consequence for your future relationship to the Lord and this is a sobering lesson about our inter-connectedness - for good and evil - in life.
Americans are individualistic. We view life, for the most part, through a lens about ‘what is best for me’ or perhaps a bit more broadly, ‘what is best for my family.’ We speak of ‘personal responsibility’ forgetting that our lives are inter-connected, a web of relationships. The implication of those relationships come into focus in this message today as well.
Turn in your Bible to Joshua 7. In the Pew Bible the text is found on page 339
The Setup of the Offense - 7: 1
What was Achan’s sin? God had given clear, firm command to the Israelites that the none of the wealth of Jericho was to be personally taken by the warriors. The entire city was to be either destroyed or committed to the national treasury in God’s name.
Try to imagine the temptation that some of those soldiers felt as the battle waned that day in Jericho. These men had been refugees for more than 40 years. They had not had any opportunity to accumulate any wealth. Now as the smoke of the destroyed city swirls around them and they gather up gold, silver, and other wealth to deliver to Joshua, they see more wealth in a moment’s time than they have ever seen before! Their parents had told them stories of the wealth of Egypt and now they were seeing those things with their own eyes.
Maybe the scene developed a little like this-
"Hey, Samuel, wouldn’t the wife look like a million in this dress?"
*"Yeah, Achan, but throw it in the fire!"
"Sammy, look what this guy had in the back of the cupboard. I’ll bet this bag of gold would buy a great vacation
cruise on the Nile for Naomi and me on our anniversary!"
*"You’re right, Achan, but the boss said bring it all back for the temple treasury. This city is for God and God alone!"
"Look at this bar of silver, would you, Sammy?
This guy must have hit the lottery a year back. This loot would fix me up for a couple
of years."
*"Listen, Achan, you’ve got a problem! Just forget the stuff, ok?
It isn’t ours and if we take it, we’re stealing from the Lord"
Achan, the lead character of this drama, isn’t so very different from you and me. He was a person who appreciated the good life just as much as every man has since Adam. He made a terrible mistake, though, when he let the desire for the good life become his first priority, taking the lead over his obedience to the Lord.
His sin was stealing what belonged to God!
What does this mean to us? The Bible says that we belong to the Lord!
"You are not your own; you were bought with a price."
"You are a chosen people...a people belonging to God!"
Believer, when you seize control of your life, choosing to do as you please, you are stealing from God!
-when you use your time for selfish pursuits of the things of this world, you are stealing from God.
-when you waste your talents and gifts, you are stealing from God.
-when you ignore the cries of the needy around you, you are stealing from God.
-when you reject the urging of the Holy Spirit to change your ways and become more like Jesus,
you are stealing glory from God.
-when you use your tongue to tear down, criticize, and gossip, you are stealing honor from God precious people.
Know this: God is not just the Lord of 10% of our goods and 2 hours of our Sundays!
God does not work on a percentage commission basis with us, my friend.
We are totally His, or not His at all. There is no middle ground.
Judgment falls - 7:2-6
Israel went up to fight the little city of Ai filled with great confidence that this would be a walk over! Imagine the horror that they began to feel when the walk-over turned into a rout. The men of ai fought like men possessed and as the Israelites ran for cover, 36 men were dropped on the battle field, dead!
Why did it happen? We don’t have to guess.
Please take notice of God’s assessment of the problem in verse 11-12. [ r e a d ]
This passage is one the most sobering the Scripture for it outlines a principle that is still true in the church of God today; namely this...
When just one of God’s people chooses to disobey the expressed, clear directive of God, he can cause great distress, demoralization, and defeat among the entire congregation.
*ill.- the NT body-life principle- "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." (1 Corinthians 12:26, NIV)
You cannot sin and suffer the consequences alone!
No matter how carefully concealed your actions may be, ultimately the consequences will touch others as surely as a stone thrown into a pond causes the water’s surface to ripple all the way to the shore.
Then, too, know this. You may say, “I am only hurting myself!" Not so, friend! The man who chooses to involve himself in an adulterous affair is not only hurting himself. He is hurting his wife, his children, and the woman with whom he is involved. The person who chooses to walk away from the Lord is not just affecting his own life. His action will certainly reflect on others who look to him for example. The young teen who begins to dabble in drugs and finds herself an addict, not only destroys her life. Her actions bring terrible pain to her parents, dismay to her siblings and friends.
John Donne, the sage of another century, observes this principle with a great phrase: No man is an island.
Even well hidden sins have far-flung consequences, my friend. Remember that, won’t you? Judgment Day is not always the following Friday! Sin can be like a timed bomb. The consequence of our disobedience to the will of God may not be felt for years, but it will be felt. Moses warned the Israelites that our actions will dog us like a bloodhound. When we ignore God’s way, he says, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out!" Num. 32:23
The story of Achan is a double tragedy.
Not only did he ultimately pay the penalty with his life; he also never got to enjoy, even for a moment, his ill-gotten wealth! What irony. What a picture of sin in our lives today! Believer, Satan would like nothing more than to en-trap you with sin and a guilty conscience! He cares little for your pleasure. He does not have a bit of concern whether you enjoy your sin. He is only concerned with destruction of your relationship to the Heavenly Father, and he has discovered that a guilty conscience is the best way to alienate a Christian from his lord, his friends, and his church!
The Terrible Consequence - 7:14, 18-21; 24-26
Achan’s sin was so costly. Let me outline what taking a robe, a wedge of gold, and a bar silver really cost!
It cost his own life, the lives of his family, and the lives of 36 Israelite soldiers.
It cost time from the conquest,
anguish in the heart of Joshua,
discouragement of the people at a critical time in their history, and the
disgrace of a defeat that reflected on Israel’s God!
Please hear me this morning. Sin is a serious thing.
Deliberate disobedience to the will of God is no trifling matter. Let’s get serious with ourselves and stop excusing away our disobedience as no big deal! That’s not to say that your choices about life are un-important. They are! Today’s actions become tomorrow’s habit. Tomorrow’s habit becomes a way of life. God calls us this principle of sowing and reaping, and makes this promise which is both positive and negative:
No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.
Let’s tell ourselves the truth - acknowledging that today’s actions are NOT neutral. We are either actively moving towards the Lord or we are moving away from Him. Nothing is static, nothing is without some significance in that process.
The question I am asked so often with regard to disobedience is “if I do it, will I go to Hell?” Can you understand that is totally the wrong question. That’s a little like asking, “If I eat this extra donut will become morbidly obese? Or if I smoke this one cigarette will I die of lung cancer?” Of course not, but you’re taking a step that could become a pattern. Better not to even start!
One sin will not cost you your life or your salvation, but it rob you of close fellowship with the Holy Spirit! That’s the meaning of being ‘saved by grace, not by works.’ It is better to look at today as part of a continuum, part of a life that is always moving towards or away from God.
Will sin cost your life? Probably not! But remember this, it did cost Jesus his!
That’s right, your sin, my sin- they cost Jesus the anguish of Calvary, the separation from his father, the agony of crucifixion. The Devil jumped with glee that day that Jesus died, thinking that he had defeated the holy one of heaven. But his victory celebration was short-lived.
When Jesus burst from the grave, he was the living testimony that sin’s power to kill us was broken. Because he lives, you and I will live also. Physical life, no! Spiritual life, lived as unto the Lord.
Close-
What really concerns me, friend, is the frog in the frying pan syndrome! I am told if you put a frog in a pan with cool water and then turn the heat on real low, the water will heat up so slowly that the frog will cook to death, without ever realizing his danger. If he did, he would easily jump out, but he does not sense the growing heat that is destroying his life.
IF we are not intentional about staying close to God, to listening for His voice, to regularly practicing the disciplines of the Spirit - we may well become de-sensitized to our own sinfulness! We live is such a wicked world, surrounded by ungodliness. Now the wrong response is to get pre-occupied with perfecting ourselves or trying to stamp out all the sin around us. Instead, we must love God intensely and stay fully alive in His Spirit, who guide us in ‘paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.’
Achan was no more wicked than any other Israelite! He was just an ordinary soldier who forgot what was important and took his focus off of the Lord for a few moments. In that lapse, his spiritual vision was clouded by a nice suit, some shiny gold, and some silver coins!
Being a Christian does not mean that you or I will live above being tempted by selfishness, lust, greed, or dishonesty. But it does mean that there is One who is in us who is always speaking, calling us higher. Let’s resolve to hear Him, to create a habit of obedience so that in the moment of the BIG test, we will not fail God, our church, our family, and ourselves.
Here’s the wisdom of God’s word-
"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." (Jude 20-26, NIV)
