The Cost of Disobedience

In the student ministry the past few weeks we have been looking at the book of Joshua, one of my favorite books in the bible. This evening, we will be in chapter seven. Here, we find them coming off a huge victory from Jerico and gearing up for an attack on the smaller city of Ai. The spies come back with the report that AI should be an easy defeat. What they find is the exact opposite. Here in this chapter, we see a clear picture of the cost of disobedience.

 I find it interesting that off a huge conquest and defeat of the fortified city of Jerico the Hebrews face disobedience. I can relate! Often when I have stepped out in faith and followed God in ways that I am uncomfortable, conquering my fear, and gaining new perspective in my victory through him I wind up in some temptation or situation that is designed to limit my momentum. It is as if the enemy notices when we take those steps of faith and responds with some kind of counterattack to hinder us.

 It is in these circumstances we find the Hebrews. When the army of Ai is able to defeat the Hebrew army Joshua has a melt down! He falls on his face and cries out to the Lord. God’s response is a bit unexpected in that he asks Joshua why he is face down crying out. It is implied that God expected Joshua to understand something was wrong in the camp!
After the revelation that Achan had taken some of the “devoted things” from Jerico we are able to see how devastating one decision can be. This one decision of one man costed thirty-six soldiers' lives. Not only that but it costed the lives of his entire family. The story is difficult to read but provides us some insight into how serious disobedience is.

There are four points to this story I want to highlight:

• God is concerned about the “devoted things” in our lives! Achan took for himself three things. He took a Babylonian robe, some silver, and a bar of gold. All of this was to be offered to the Lord! Why was it such a big deal? Well first of all it shows Achan’s heart. He did not trust in the Lord and his provision. He believed he could take care of himself with the riches he gained from God’s defeat of Jerico. Jesus later speaks in Matthew 6 of what the love of material things will get you? He confirms that you cannot serve both God and materialistic gain. If you are working to become rich and you have placed all your hope in your wealth, then you have forsaken God and received your treasure here on earth!

Also, the coat, and money could be Achan’s way of obtaining an image and status among the people. He wanted to not only be wealthy, but he wanted to appear wealthy also! Sometimes we sacrifice so much to be liked and accepted by others. Some of us sacrifice everything we are for the praise and attention of other people. We see this all the time in mainstream media. Celebrities who have everything the world has to offer and still cannot seem to satisfy the desire for attention, and the need to be accepted. This often leads them into extremes, and they end up losing everything when Jesus tells us to seek His kingdom first and all these things will come eventually.

• The second thing here is our actions have consequences! Not only did Achan’s actions affect him, but it caused the whole nation to suffer defeat. Do we ever consider this before we choose to do anything? Do we think of all the people we hurt by driving the car under the influence? What about the life we destroy by offering something to someone like drugs or any other addiction. We want them to join us in it, but we in turn just destroyed someone else’s live to help us feel better about our addictions. What about flirting with someone’s spouse? That is just a harmless game, right? NO! That kind of stuff destroys families for generations!

Achan’s sin literally killed thirty-six soldiers and his entire family. Would knowing that one disobedient act could actually kill someone you love change your eagerness to do it?

• Third we get a glimpse of how destructive covetousness is. We see how Achan’s desire to have something which was not his to have destroys! It was by him wanting something that wasn’t his all these people died. That is deep when you think about it. In our culture of me, me, me and the idea that I exist to make myself happy our whole environment is setting us up for destruction! We play right into the enemy's hand.

What is the opposite of covetousness? Contentment! Paul gives us this example in Philippians 4:13. We often misquote this verse, but Paul is saying that his everything is found in Christ. No matter if he is starving or the most wealth person on the planet Christ is the true treasure! As long as we have Jesus we should be satisfied!

• The last thing I want to highlight is the severity of the punishment. Not only did they stone Achan, but they stoned his whole family! I would say that was a bit excessive, but is it? We see the seriousness of the crime by the judges sentencing. If you steal something worth a couple dollars you get community service. If you murder someone you spend your life in prison. The severity of sin is so great that Romans says the only way to atone for it is through death. This is why Jesus suffered the crucifixion. Crucifixion will always be the worst way to die. The Romans perfected it as a deterrent for crime. Jesus took upon himself the punishment of our sin!

Do you think Achan would have rather found forgiveness in Jesus than suffer stoning? I am sure he would have! We are offered this in Christ, and so many of us choose not to accept it. I think it comes down to the fact that we can’t look into the future and see the consequences of our sin. If we could, would we still choose to make the decisions we choose?

I am thankful for Jesus standing in my place accepting my punishment of death! It is from that thankfulness that I desire to live a life holy and pleasing to Him!