There is always somebody in the church who does not
think that God’s commands are serious.
There are always people in the church who think that they can sin, and they think
that this is their private problem- and not the church’s problem. In
this study we want to do some serious reflection upon
the effects of our
sin upon others. We
will learn that our private sins
always have public effects. It is true
that some of our sins will have less visible impact than others - but they will always have
an impact to a greater or lesser degree.
UNDERSTANDING THE
BACKGROUND
Chapter 7:1 starts on a solemn
and disturbing note. “Achan took some of the devoted things. And the
Lord’s anger burned against the people
of Israel“. This is the central
verse and concern of this chapter. There
is an individual sin … and there is God’s wrath on a nation.
What happened? The story is described in terms
of (i) A Cause (ii) A Cure (iii) A Consequence
(i) THE CAUSE (7:1-9)
One of the men of
Israel, Achan, did not take God’s
commandments seriously. He
disobeyed the explicit order
of 6:17 – 19 . The order could not have been clearer. But, there
is always someone who thinks that “no!” means, “try
your luck”.
Well, what happened? As
Israel was poised to take the next
city in the promised land, Ai,
they not only encountered stiff
resistance, not only were thirty six of
their men killed in the battle
for that town, but they were decisively beaten, “and their hearts melted and became
as water“ (7:5). Joshua’s
reaction in 7: 6 –
9 shows that he is utterly grieved and perplexed. You and I
have already been given a ‘sneak preview’ in 7:1
as to why this happened. But
Joshua has, as yet, no clue
as to what had caused this setback. As far as he was concerned nothing could go
wrong right now. The God of Israel had assured them of His presence [see Chapter 1: 3,5,6,9,11,13,15]. He had already caused the waters of the Jordan to dry up, so that they could walk
into the promised land on dry foot. God had already given Jericho into their hands. But notice too, that
the gift of the land is connected to
their obedience- see 1:7b - 8,17.
So, this defeat at Ai
is devastating! What on earth is
God doing? Can you appreciate Joshua’s despair in v.7? Joshua feels humiliated and mocked (7:9). “What
will the Canaanites think of us? What
will the Canaanites think of Israel’s God?“ The glory of God is at stake. Will
God now be humiliated before
the Amorites?
(ii) THE CURE (7:10-23)
Joshua’s desperate prayer
is heard by God (7:10-13).
Mourning over the fact will not do. “Get up!” The problem is not with God. It is within Israel! “Israel
has sinned; they have violated my covenant… they have taken some of the devoted things (referring to 6:18,19)! The reason is given why they cannot stand against their enemies. God says, “get
rid of that problem among you by
destroying it.”
God does not give
Joshua the name(s) of the offender(s). He simply says: “Assemble the people. Then you
take them one by one, and you question them. You’ll soon find the guilty party”. It doesn’t take long before the matter is in the open (7:20).
The anatomy and
progression of Achan’s sin
is powerfully displayed in
7:20-21, "I saw – I coveted- I took” (cf. James 1:14,15). Please note that seeing is no sin, but coveting and
taking (stealing) are both forbidden in the 10
commandments.
(iii) THE CONSEQUENCE (7: 23 -26)
Achan was judged guilty, and in consequence his family and all his belongings were destroyed. This is a very graphic illustration and severe application of Romans 6:23, “The
wages of sin is death”.
This judgement no doubt comes as a great shock to a 21st century reader of the Bible. Why did Achan’s family have to die with him? It doesn’t sit easy, does it? But that is
precisely what sine does. It produces pain, it produces grief because it produces death. Perhaps your
understanding grows somewhat more when
you understand what the selfish sin of
Achan had accomplished. 36 wives had perhaps lost their husbands and
many children would have lost their fathers
at the battle of Ai. But even
more significantly, the honour and the Name of God were
assaulted by a man who thought
that God did not mean what He said.
Private sins have consequences!
The penalty is so
severe because the sin is so serious!
The problem is that we
have such a poor understanding
of the nature of sin and what it does to God and man. We think that
it is a little thing to sin against God’s explicit commands! But it is no little
thing to sin against God. Perhaps you will now appreciate Jesus’ strong words in Matthew 5:29ff : “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out… if your right hand causes you to
sin , cut it off… it is better for you to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
We cannot treat
cancer with plasters or vitamin
pills - it requires radical surgery. Sin is a spiritual cancer. It needs radical
treatment.
APPLICATION
The primary lesson
from this text is that private sin has public consequences. Think through some biblical examples and then through some everyday
examples:
BIBLICAL EXAMPLES
- In Joshua
- The effects of Achan’s private sin on Israel: (i) Loss of life (ii) Loss of blessing (iii) Loss of courage (iv) Loss of protection
- In the rest of Scripture
(i) Adam’s ‘private sin’ caused
the whole human race to inherit
the ‘sin virus’ and be cut off from God.
(ii) David’s ‘private‘ sin with Batsheba (2 Samuel 11) caused the
death of her husband Uriah, and the
death of the baby born to him and Batsheba. It also ultimately cost him the kingdom.
(iii) David’s “private vanity” in 2 Samuel 24, where he calls for a headcount of all the fighting men,
causes the Lord to burn with anger. It caused the death of 70 000 people from Dan to Beersheba.
(iv)
King Herod’s private fears about
the announcement of a king to be born in Israel causes a baby boy
genocide (Matt. 2:16). Also, his loose private words and promises cause the death of John the
Baptist (Matt. 14: 1-12)
(v)
The private selfishness and
man-centeredness of the Corinthian church causes great divisions in the church.
(vi)
Supremely, your, mine and everyone else’s ‘private sin‘ took Christ to the cross. The
holy, sinless Son of God and Son of man
had to be destroyed by death. He had to die in our place, so that our sin could be forgiven.
EVERYDAY EXAMPLES
(i) A husband
cheats on his wife. Wife, children, family, friends suffer. If he is a church
member, the church also suffers.
(ii) The private “sex life” of people who pass on AIDS has horrifying upon our country (25-30 % infected?) Many children born in such relationships are affected. Families, employers, health care systems and economies are affected.
Your sin is no private affair.
Your sin does not happen in
isolation, just as little as cancer or
Aids manifests itself in isolation to the
rest of the body. The nature of cancer, AIDS or
flu for that matter is that it affects the whole body. It eventually kills the body. And the church is a body. And Israel is a
body.
Achan is part of Israel and
therefore Achan’s sin is her problem.
The
same is true for sin in the church.
Your
sin becomes the church’s problem.
The Holy Spirit is grieved. It hurts everyone to varying degrees.
The church
cannot advance with sin in her midst.
Subsequent Church discipline is always
painful. Sometimes people have to be cut off. It always leaves people grieving.
Think
about that!
