The Negotiation

Joshua | Joshua 7:1-26

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning again. Like I said before, I'm Andrew, I'm one of the pastors here, and we're grateful that you're here this morning. When um when my wife and I, when Melissa and I were engaged to be married, we um hung out with a couple of um couples that were a few steps ahead of us just to kind of pick their brain on what marriage looks like and maybe some things that we could expect or ways to avoid some conflict, all that good stuff. And there was a particular piece of advice that um has stuck with us that we've continued to try to implement um to varying degrees of success. One of and and this was the idea of agreed upon expectations. So there's this idea that um now they were very the the couple that uh talked to us about it were very regimented about it. They were like, every morning we get up and we get together and we agree upon our expectations for the day. So they'll actually like talk every morning and they would say, Well, here's here's what we're gonna do, here's what we're gonna do, here's what we're gonna do, and they would all like they would agree on it. Like, if you're expecting this, probably won't happen, and everybody like agree. And and it seems to, for them, their encouragement was there was a lot of conflict avoided because most of it is when our expect like conflict arises when expectations, maybe unsaid expectations aren't met. Pretty good piece of advice. And my wife and I have Melissa and I have tried to implement that in many ways, maybe not quite as rigidly as that, is like we can't leave the house until we agree upon our expectations together. But as we enter into things, she and I will sit down often and say, okay, what is this gonna look like? Are we all okay with this? And most we figure out and we go, now. One of the things that I was thinking about this week as we um read this portion, as we go through this portion of Joshua 7, is I think sometimes we take that idea of agreed-upon expectations that are probably a healthy thing for a marriage and maybe even for friendships and all that kind of stuff. We take that and we apply that to our relationship with Christ. Where we say, well, let's sit and talk about this, and as long as we agree, then we can move forward. And the truth is, it doesn't really work that way. We can't sit down with with Christ and start negotiating. Well, I know you said this, and that is your expectation of me as one of your children, but I'm not sure I really like that. So is there a middle ground maybe we can get to, Lord? Now, when I say it like that, everyone's kind of like, yeah, of course, that's kind of weird. But the truth is, I think we do this all the time. I think I do this all the time. And it isn't a sit-down like conversation like that where it's like, Lord, uh, you know, I don't really like what you said here, so maybe we can just try it this way. It's not like as overt as that, but the truth is, oftentimes when we sin, it is because we are taking God's word and thinking, ah, maybe I can negotiate him down. Maybe I can get him to a point where it's like, ah, this feels a little bit better for me. Feels okay to you. Yeah, let's move forward. I'm taking most of our silence to be like, yeah, he's kind of, he struck a nerve there. I can tell you that it struck a bit of a nerve for me. I started to realize, oh man, I negotiate with God about my life, about his word, about all these kinds of things. I do this more often than I care to admit. This morning, I think we're going to be in a text that that illuminates that in such a way that will be a bit unnerving. Um, that will illuminate this in such a way that uh might make us a little bit uncomfortable, and we're just gonna have to face it together. So this morning we are going to be in Joshua chapter 7. We are continuing in our series in Joshua. Um, and if you're gonna, if you don't have a Bible, there's one directly underneath the seat in front of you, and we're gonna be on page 171 if you want to grab that. But our text this morning comes right after this epic scene that happened in Jericho. Jericho had been scouted, the encounter and promise to Rahab to spare her and her family has happened. The Israelites had crossed over the Jordan, they'd been circumcised, they ate of the first Passover meal in the land. God had renewed his covenant with the second generation, and then Jericho falls as Joshua and Israel were obedient to the Lord, or so we think. And God said this about the destruction. So this is the end of chapter uh earlier on in chapter six, just to give us a little bit of a refresher. Uh the Lord said this, and the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab and the prostitute, uh Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live. But you, he says, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction. So whatever's left in that city, after it is in rubble, after it is in ruins, all of their belongings that were once Jericho's, they are devoted for destruction. So in other words, what God is saying is, those things are mine, they're not yours, and they are earmarked for destruction. They are to be set apart for destruction. God was very clear that these possessions were not anyone else's other than his. Okay. And it ends with, chapter 6 ends with, so the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. Again, on a pretty high note. They've crossed over and they have taken their first city, they've taken their first fortress, the land that he had promised them. They are entering into it and they are taking it, and God is using them as his judgment. Okay. Now the page turns to chapter 7, and we are given a piece of information in verse 1 that no one else in the story has. So you and I are going to be, we're going to have this kind of narrator omniscience a bit. The narrator that it's going to narrate this story for us gives us a piece of information that everyone else in the story does not have. So verse 1, let's jump in. 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, the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. Again, we have this information, they do not. Lord is very clear. For some reason, Achan thought maybe he could negotiate. Now, again, the author begins to explain that what God had previously said about the devoted things, they were not supposed to take them. They belonged to God. They were to keep them for him. That was an order that was not followed. So the author explains that the people broke faith. They violated the directive that was from God. But then we see it was actually just one man, but it's going to be applied to the whole nation. The sin of one man, Achan, was affecting the entire nation. That does not mean that every Israelite is equally guilty of Achan's particular sin, but it does mean that one person's rebellion introduced guilt and corruption into this covenant community. God is angry about this. It says, the Lord burned against the people of Israel. Again, we know this. The characters in this story do not know not yet. Verse 2. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is in Beth Haven, east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the land. And the men uh went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to them, Do you do not have to go up there? Not all the people need to go up, but about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there for uh, for they are just a few. No. So Joshua proceeds to kind of plot his next move. He sends these scouts. The scouts come back and be like, This actually is not going to be very hard work. We could just send two or three thousand of the millions of people that we have. We only need to send a few. We'll be able to take this one pretty easily. Verse 4. So about 3,000 men went up there from the people, and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai killed about 36 of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Sheberim and struck them at the descent, and the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Okay. 3,000 dudes go up there to take the city, which was supposed to be pretty easy, and 36 of them die, and they're like, ah, this is too much for me to bear, and just tucktail and run back home. And for us, our ears start to perk up. We're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 36 out of 3,000? I don't know, it kind of feels like you should expect that. Like, not everyone's gonna survive a war, like a battle, right? Now we do have to think about the fact that they did just fight a battle that they didn't actually fight. Like the Lord just said walk around this a few times, start shouting, and then everything just worked out. They didn't lose anybody. So the fact that they only took 3,000 to go up to take this easily taken city, and 36 of them died, were they like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I didn't think any of us were gonna die. And they tuck tail and they run. Now there's a lot of speculation as to why they lost this. There are some commentators who would say that they were overconfident. They shouldn't have been that confident. There are others that would say, well, they didn't actually ask the Lord if they should go do this or not. They didn't pray first. There might be some validity to that, but that is all speculation because verses two through five have to be read in light of verse one, of which we've already read. They don't know this, but we know this. That God's wrath is being poured out on them. He is angry with them for not following his rules, his directions. God is angry with Israel. He is burning with anger. He is a God of wrath, and he will not bless those who break his covenant. So when they go to this city, there are 3,000 men, but God is not in it with them. And before we move on to the next part, it's worth noting that Israel is described now as having melted hearts, which is something thus far in the story has only been attributed to Canaanites. But now it is being attributed to the covenant community of Israel. Now our next section is Joshua's reaction to the defeat. Remember, he knows nothing of Achan and the sin that he had committed. So Joshua, whether he was present at this battle or not, or is being reported back to, he has completely, he is completely confused. Verse 6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the 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, and Joshua says, 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? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from, cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? So he's basically like, wait, wait, wait. You brought us over the Jordan to conquer Jericho, and then all of my men are scared to fight Ai? There's a parable in there, isn't it? I didn't even have it. Interesting. He's in mourning, the tearing of the clothes, falling on his face. Joshua tears his clothes, falls flat on the ground before the ark. He and the elders of Israel engage in prayer for the entire day. And he first asks, why? Why would you bring us over the Jordan in the first place if only to have us be defeated? Joshua essentially goes on to say, I don't even know what to say. They just turned their backs and ran. Like I'm I'm shook. And in contrast to the renown of Joshua, he's actually concerned about God's name. How are we going to be perceived now by all the nations? How is your name going to be perceived now when we lose to these guys? Like, what happened? Why did this happen? God responds, verse 10. The Lord said to Joshua, get up, why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant and what I command them. They have taken some of the devoted things, they have stolen and lied and put them among their belongings. Therefore, the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turned their backs before their enemies because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not, I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. So essentially, by taking the devoted things, they have become devoted things themselves. Things devoted for destruction. So they're never going to win that battle because the Lord had now devoted them for destruction as the things were that were devoted for destruction that Achan took. Here, God lets Joshua know what we already know: that Israel sinned. They've broken the covenant. They have disobeyed God's commands. They took the devoted things. They've stolen. They've lied. They've rejected the covenant. And this is why they lost. As long as you keep what you have stolen from me and lied about stealing from me, I will consider you on par with the devoted things earmarked for destruction. The greatest threat to Israel was not the army of AI, it was losing the presence of God. But God's presence is not something Israel can manipulate or be presumed upon. His presence is gracious, but it is also holy, so Israel cannot claim God's promises while knowingly reject God's commands. Those things are mutually exclusive. Now, this is really heavy and strong language from God. We'll come back to unpack a little bit more of what that looks like, but then God gives marching orders in verse 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. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought near by your tribes and tribe, and the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come c near by clans. And the clan that takes uh 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, 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. And this is exactly what Joshua did. He tells everybody, get ready, the Lord He wants to speak with us. So he organizes everybody, he gets everybody, and it starts to be dwindled dwindled down exactly the way that God described. It comes to Achan. Verse 19. Then Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and give praise to him, and tell me how, tell me now what you have done, do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua, truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did. When I saw among the spoil of a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and I took them, and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with silver underneath. It's all boiled down. Achan, Tim, but he's the one that did it. Now everybody knows. And Joshua says, okay, come clean. Once and for all, stop messing around. What'd you do? Achan, no more lies and deceit, but he tells the truth. And this is what he does. He saw, he desired, he took, and then he hid. He saw the cloak, saw the money, the silver, the gold, and he wanted it, and so he took them and then he hid them. So the subtext is I was always going to keep them. I buried them in the ground. I didn't really feel bad about it. Even though I knew I was wrong. But I claimed them as mine. Now, does this sound familiar to anybody else? We spent the better part of ten months in the book of Genesis a bit ago. And in Genesis chapter 3, something happens. It's called the fall. And it happened exactly like this. It is repeating the pattern of sin of Adam and Eve in the garden. She saw, she desired, she took, and then when her eyes were opened, what did she do? What did they do? What they hid. I see something I want, even more I desire, and therefore I take it. The objects themselves, the beautiful garments, silver, gold, were not inherently evil. The problem was that God had forbidden Achan from taking them. They were his. They're not Achan's. They weren't for just anybody to take. And Achan, knowing that, goes, but I want it anyway. These are my things. And so I'm going to take them. And then so nobody knows I'm gonna hide them. These things were not merely things, they were devoted things. They were set apart for destruction. He didn't just take spoils from victory, he took something that got it declared, declared set apart. So what to do? Well, let's verify, and then let's place a verdict. Verse 22. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hidden in the tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the people of Israel, and they laid them before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel took him with him, took Achan, the son of Zarah, and 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 he brought them to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, verse 25, Joshua said, Why did you bring this 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, and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. And the Lord placed, and then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achilles. Laid bare before everybody, including the Lord. What was once hidden is no longer hidden. And the truth is it was never hidden from God in the first place. Joshua brings Achan and the stolen items, his family, his livestock, his tent, and all that he possessed to the valley of Achar. And this is by far the toughest part of this passage. The text presents the judgment as comprehensive because Achan's rebellion had contaminated his household and brought covenant guilt into the camp. Everything associated with the offense is removed from the covenant community, just as like all Jericho was destroyed. So are the devoted things, as they should have already been. And also the culprit, along with his household. It is a brutal and severe scene. Truly. Now there's a couple things that I do think are worth considering when we look at this, because we look at this and we're like, ooh, okay. One is it is plausible, there are those that would make this argument, that his family knew about the devoted things. The items were in the tent or buried beneath it. It'd be tough to not know of like, oh, new coat, huh? Wonder where you got that. It's very pretty. Where's all this money from? Like it's it's possible, if not probable, that they knew about it. And so, therefore, then participated in the cover-up potentially. Now, again, the text doesn't say that. So I don't think we should bank on that, but it is possible that they knew and that they participated in it. It is possible. Second thing, it is worth highlighting that there is differences in understanding of a household from then into our modern Western idea of a household structure. It was more corporate then than it is today. The household shared identity, security, property, and consequences. Now, again, this does not erase individual responsibility, but it may help explain why Achan's sin is treated as a household and covenantal crisis rather than just him. Third, the livestock and all of his possessions are destroyed because they are morally and ceremonially guilty with him. So Achan had taken what was under judgment, and in doing so, he placed himself and his household under judgment. And as the judgment had taken place, stoning and burning, we were told that the Lord turned from his burning anger. It was done, and the Lord was no longer angry, his justice had been satisfied. Okay. It is a truly difficult story. You know, Joshua's shocked full of these. It's difficult to fully understand in some ways, especially as we read it through our 21st century goggles. Where do we go from here? What what do we take? What do we understand? What does this mean for us? This passage is bookended by two things. It's book it's beginning and end. Beginning, the Lord, the anger of the Lord burned against the house of Israel and ends with the Lord turned from his burning anger. So he starts incredibly angry and he ends not being angry at all. It is the central crisis of this chapter. God is burning with anger, and then by the end, he is turned from his anger. So I do think it's worth investigating that a bit. Now, one of us, maybe me, some of us, might ask this question. Why can't God just control his irritation? Or what's the deal with his divine moodiness? Maybe some of us might ask. It is tempting to do that. It's tempting to be like, wow, that seems really harsh. Okay. But it is a fundamental misunderstanding of God and his nature that I want to dive into just for a minute today. Joshua 7, we are faced with the reality that God is holy. Set apart, different, other. J.I. Packer says that the word holy signifies everything about God that sets him apart from us and makes him an object of awe, adoration, and dread. Every facet of God's nature and every aspect of his character may be properly spoken of as holy. The core of the concept is God's purity, which cannot tolerate any form of sin. And there are many aspects to this. Justice means doing in all circumstances things that are right, and his wrath is active judicial hostility to sin, and it is wholly just in its manifestations. So when we question the harshness of what we see here today, we must remember that God is holy, pure, cannot be around or tolerate sin, and he requires justice for sin. And he calls his covenant people to holiness as well. So here's the truth: God is holy, and his word is not up for negotiation. God is holy, and his word, his commands, they're not up for negotiation. Where my wife and I sit down and we talk about agreed-upon expectations and we kind of negotiate, and like, well, maybe that doesn't work, so let's all just like let's get together and let's figure this all out. Let's negotiate and kind of make sure that we're all on the same page so that we avoid any conflict. And I think oftentimes we bring this inadvertently, maybe even to our relationship with God, to our relationship with Christ, where we say, but did you really mean that? Maybe it's something I don't know. Every time we knowingly disobey God, we are not merely breaking a rule, we are treating his word as though it were open to revision. And this is what Achan does. God has spoken clearly, but Achan decides that there should be an exception for him. He does not deny God's word out loud, he quietly edits it with his actions. God says, do not take, but Achan lives as though God had said, do not take unless it is especially appealing, unless no one else sees, or unless you think you can get away with it. And this is how we often negotiate with God. We rarely say God is wrong. Instead, we soften what he has said to add our own conditions. God says to forgive, but we say not after what he did. God says tell the truth, but we say, not when it costs me. God says flee sexual immorality, and we ask, but how close can I get? God says to love our enemies, but we decide some people are beyond that. God says, be generous, but we delay until it feels comfortable. God says, do not neglect gathering, but we treat church as optional. And that is why sin is ultimately about worship. Who defines what is good? Who directs my life? Who sits on the throne, God or me? Achan trusted his own judgment more than God's commands. He believed that the treasure was better than the obedience. He did not just choose an object, he chose a rival authority. We do the same whenever we obey only after God's word passes our own approval. If we obey only when it makes sense or feels right, then God's word is not our authority. We are. Because faithful obedience begins when we stop negotiating. God is holy, wise, and worthy of our trust. His commands are not invitations to debate, but the words of God who knows what leads to life. And here's the truth, as we continue to even dive further into this story, Achan's sin did not remain his own private matter. Thirty-six men died. Families grieved. Israel lost courage. God's name was placed at risk before the nations. One man's hidden disobedience brought trouble upon the whole community. Again, that does not mean that every Israelite committed Achan's act, but it does mean that his sin reached farther than he imagined. And the same principle remains true in the church even today. We are not ancient Israel, and the church does not carry out the civil judgments of Joshua 7, but we are one body. Our sin does affect one another. Hidden bitterness changes how we love. Hidden lust changes how we see people. Hidden greed changes how we give. Hidden pride changes how we serve. Sin may be in secret, but it never remains contained beneath one tent, so to speak. This is why, in many ways, the New Testament gives us Ananias and Sapphira. Like Achan, they secretly kept what they had claimed was fully devoted to God. They wanted the appearance of surrender without the reality of honesty. And at the very beginning of the church's life in Acts, God made clear that his grace must never be confused with indifference towards hypocrisy. And the truth is, Joshua has already shown us another way here in this book. Rahab and Achan stand as opposites. Rahab was a Canaanite who heard about the Lord, believed his word, and placed herself under his mercy. And Achan was an Israelite who heard the Lord's command, rejected it, and brought the greed of Canaan into Israel's camp. Rahab hid God's servants because of faith, and Achan hid God's treasure because of unbelief. Rahab, the outsider, was brought in. Achan, the insider, was put out. Rahab remains, reminds us that no outsider is beyond the mercy of God. And Achan reminds us that no insider should presume upon that mercy while clinging to rebellion. So what do we do? Where are you still negotiating with God? Where has God spoken clearly? Yet you delay hoping for a different answer. Where do we do this? We need to stop negotiating. Stop adding the conditions. I'll forgive when they apologize. I'll give when I feel secure. I'll confess when I have to, I'll serve when life slows down. I'll quit when I'm stronger. Delayed obedience is just disobedience. And the question isn't do I like what God said? It's do I trust him? Do I trust the one that said it? So we stop hiding. We bring our sin into the light. We confess it to God and where it is necessary to the people who can help us walk in repentance. We stop asking how much secrecy can preserve and begin, uh persevere and begin asking what obedience requires. We can take decisive action, not because grace is weak, but because grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness. The gospel calls us out of hiding, and ultimately we look to Christ. We look to Jesus. Achan was a guilty man taken outside the camp to bear the judgment he deserved. And Jesus was the innocent man taken outside the city to bear the judgment we deserved. Achan brought trouble upon God's people. Jesus entered our trouble to bring us peace. Achan took what belonged to God for himself, and Jesus gave himself entirely to the Father for us. And at the cross, God's holiness is not compromised, and his anger against sin is not ignored. Judgment falls, but it falls upon Christ, our willing substitute. Gospel, therefore, gives us no reason to minimize sin, but it also gives us no reason to hide it. Our sin is more serious than we want to admit, but Christ is more sufficient than we have dared to believe. God is holy and his word is not up for negotiation.