07.13.2014 Joshua 7 - Learn Confession - Don't be Achan

7-13-14 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Thank You that You are our redeemer – we stand in Your presence and we are part of Your community. We belong to You so we belong to one another – we are part of The Church – which You established thousands of years ago. We are of great value – You gave Your life for us – speak through us through Joshua today – give us light to understand who You are – that we might see You in this story and that our lives would be changed because of it – in Your name we pray, amen.
They had just conquered Jericho – and God said – give it all to me.
Joshua 7:
The narrator is letting us in on a secret – something that Joshua did not know about – we are in on the secret earlier. Israel had just won a miraculous victory – and they are on an all-time high – Lebron had just decided to come back – but something has gone horribly wrong.
Israel – the sons of Israel – acted unfaithfully – but it points to one man – Achan. Only one man has done something wrong. Look how it ends: The anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. This seems very unfair to us. If Achan alone did something wrong – why is God punishing the nation? How can God do that? What does it mean? I will give you a brief theological perspective on this.
First – they had a different perspective on individualism and community. The ancients viewed community as primary. The instructions of the Bible are first and primarily given to the community – and because of that, they are given to us as individuals. I think that is how the Bible is written. When Paul wrote “you” – it was not singular you – it might be better translated “you all!” – it is not that it is written to us as individuals and therefore applies to the community – it is the other way around.
Much of the Old Testament points to Jesus. In this situation – there is one who has sinned and all will pay for it – like Adam and Eve – it affected all of humanity. When we move to the New Testament – we have one man, who does not sin, who pays for the sin of all of humanity. Achan is a reverse-Jesus – and it leads us to understand what Jesus did for us, and it tells the story of the gospel, in reverse.
Joshua 7:2-5
Jericho had these great walls and army – Ai was a little town with no defense – pipsqueaks –
Became as water…
Joshua sent spies out again, of his own initiative. Each time spies are sent out, something goes wrong. First time – the spies gave a bad report – and it melted the hearts of the people. That generation had to die out before they could conquer the land. These spies are overconfident – they fail to wait on God. In the story of Jericho, we talked about the ark and how it led them. In the story of Ai, the ark is never mentioned – but they completely failed to wait on God and seek His presence – and they failed to recognize a problem in their midst. Victory and success can be a very dangerous thing. When we become over confident, we forget to wait on God and become overconfident and fail to recognize problems. I think this is true everywhere – even in spiritual leadership. The accolades we receive often lead to a person’s greatest failures.
1 Cor. 10:12 – let him who thinks he stand take heed, lest he fall.
When we think we’ve got it – marriage/job/whatever – you think you have the job-thing down – and the next day they give you the pink slip.
One solution to this – learn to acknowledge God for every victory and blessing – in our hearts first. In the story of the vine and the branches – “You can do nothing apart from Me” – there is nothing in us that can accomplish good if God is not our help. When good things happen – and they will, with God’s help – we need to acknowledge that. It is easy to do this with big things – but we need to do it daily with the small things –for it to be a habit of our lives – to say – God, You really worked there. Paul said – what do you have that you did not receive and if you received it, why do you act as if you didn’t?
We need to learn to acknowledge God in public – genuinely – not to draw attention to ourselves, because that is not good – not, ‘look at me because I am saying that God did it!’ –
When we have success – John Ortberg was saying this about Dallas Willard – they did a conference together – and Willard gave this amazing message – powerful and God used it. – and John was sharing – when you speak, you want to know how it went – how did it come across? John wanted to get into that with Willard – but Willard turned it to some other subject. He said Willard let it go like a helium balloon. We need to take our successes and blessings and let them go – it is not about us.
When we seek applause, recognition and accolades, we are in grave danger. Now it is good to give applause and accolades, but when we seek it for ourselves, we are in grave danger –
Joshua 7:8-9
What will you do for your great name?
10 Get up – why have you fallen on your face?!
Joshua, why are you praying? For me, it is like God often says, Mike, why aren’t you praying?! But He is saying to Joshua – as He has over and over – if you are faithful, you will succeed – and if you are not faithful, you will fail.
You will be defeated – and Joshua put two and two together – you have been defeated because of unfaithfulness…
Josh 7:11-13
Consecrate yourself –
They draw lots, and it comes down to Achan as the one who has done wrong –
Josh 7:19-21
This is not a story about stealing gold and silver – it is about taking stuff that belongs to God. Everything in Jericho belonged to God – they weren’t to touch it – but Achan stole from GOD and lied to God. It is like the story of Ananias and Saphira – who gave money to God – but lied about how much it was – Peter said – why do you lie to the Holy Spirit – and boom – they died – just like Achan and his family. The issue – they have publicly rejected God and His authority – Achan has brought a corrupting influence into this community – bringing what belonged to God – like bringing a virus into the community – a virus that would spread – idolatry – that would infest the people – it belonged to God – and having it in Israel would bring Israel into idolatry.
We would be quick to judge Achan – but anyone’s name could be put there – not long after, they worship the gods of the Canaanites – so God is dealing with this.
We don’t understand the effect our lives have on the world – but if you are like me – you would tend to feel guilt and shame – this is not about someone who struggles with something and when things go wrong to blame yourself – global warming! The state of the church! This is about bringing corrupting influences into the community to lead the community astray. Do not look at this through the eyes of guild. But what does Achan do? He confesses – I have sinned! I saw and have coveted – it looked good and I ate it – and we think – well, he has confessed and acknowledged it – so what should happen? He is killed – he and his whole family – and we think – that doesn’t seem right – but that should help us to say, thank You lord, for Jesus – because it demonstrates that Jesus makes a world of difference – there are a lot of things that are different bin the Old Testament because of Jesus not having come yet.
They all experienced the sin of Adam – and we have another Adam – who, in doing what is right – have made us right with God.
1 John 1:7
Our sins are forgiven – we are not like Achan – we have been cleansed, washed, clean.
If we say we have not sin – we are deceiving ourselves and the truth Is not in us.
1 John 1:9
Unlike Achan – all we need to do is confess. When we blow it and then turn to God – and say, God, I blew it – He cleanses us completely clean.
The takeaway – learn to practice Biblical confession. Develop a habit and practice of Biblical confession – there are two mistakes people make –
We think when we sin – bad things will happen until we confess – so we want to be quick – we are guilty and anxious – and that is improper thinking – we are forgiven – washed because of what Christ has done for us – even after we do something wrong.
The point of confessing – to restore the relationship that has been broken and to have us experience deeper forgiveness.
On the other side – we look at those who use confession as a guilt tool and as a work – and we say – our sins have been forgiven – so we don’t need to – but there is a balance – learn to confess your sins to God – and you’ll experience forgiveness.
We need to learn to confess to others as well – “I did the wrong thing here – thank You for forgiving me”
James 5:16 – Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another – the prayer of a righteous person is effective.
This does not mean you have to confess to someone else before you are forgiven – but there is something about confessing to others that brings healing and transformation – there is something about acknowledging our sins – as much as we are afraid and ashamed to do it – there is a healing and transformation that takes place.
If you have a struggle in your marriage relationship because of something about you – anger/bitterness/selfishness – whatever it is – maybe it is a problem in your relationship with your children – I think it is an unbelievable to benefit to talk to someone about that – to have someone to say – you know, here is my problem – I get angry at my children/spouse/at work – and that person as a good Christian – and not the bad kind – will accept/forgive/have compassion/pray/support/not look down/not feel or act superior – and it is in that process that transformation takes place inside of us – we are changed.
The story ends with these words –
Josh 7:25
They piles a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day –
Joshua 6:25 – She lives in Israel to this very day – the same words – Rahab – the Harlot/Canaanite/prostitute – we know who she is –
Achan is from Judah – from the core of Israel – like a Washington or Kennedy – he was as Israel as Israel could possibly be – if anyone deserves a spot in Israel, it is Achan – and if anyone does not deserve a spot in Israel, it is Rahab – and she is there to this very day. And you know – that is how the church is. The church is filled with Rahabs – people who don’t deserve to be in.
We are not Achan – we are Rahab. If you have come to the mercy of God – you have identified with Rahab.