The Easy Sin of
Achan
The
walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
Many of you know this great Old Testament story when the Israelites and
their leader Joshua came into the Promised Land for the very first time,
marched around this walled city for seven straight days, blowing trumpets and
shouting at the top of their lungs, and by the power and promise of the Lord,
the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
It is a unique story in the pages of Scripture, a story that even young
children learn in those Sunday school classrooms.
But
there’s an aftermath to that story that not everyone remembers. After the walls of Jericho came tumbling
down, the Israelites rushed in and destroyed everything in that city just as
the Lord had commanded. But in the
middle of the chaos, as people were dying and houses were burning, a man named
Achan did something he was not supposed to do - and he did it when no one else
was looking. Everyone had been directed
by God himself to destroy every single thing in the town of Jericho, taking
nothing for themselves. But Achan gave
in to temptation. He saw a few valuable
items in the rubble and instead of burning them he took them for himself and
hid them in his tent so that no one would know.
But someone did know: God knew. And
through a series of events God allowed Joshua, the leader of the people, to
find out who had broken one of God’s commands.
And so Joshua had Achan brought out in front of the Israelites. Then
Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and
give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned
against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the
plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a
wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are
hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to
the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver
underneath. They took the things from
the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out
before the Lord. Then Joshua, together
with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge,
his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he
had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua
said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on
you today.” Then all Israel stoned him,
and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of
rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger.
It was easy for Achan to do what
he did. No one was watching, there was
probably a little bit of confusion as the entire nation of Israel rushed into a
crumbling city, it wouldn’t hurt anyone to take the gold and the silver and the
robe, the people of Jericho certainly didn’t need them anymore, and no one
would ever have to find out. It was easy
to give in; it was a natural thought to have a simple thing to do. And so Achan gave in to the temptation.
Our “Easy” Sins
But sin
is almost always easy, isn’t it? It’s
natural; it’s instinctive; it’s even fun at times. Sin doesn’t have to be taught, it doesn’t
have to be learned, it doesn’t have to be worked at. Sin is simple because it’s right there in
front of us all the time and it’s easy to give in. Too easy, in fact. That’s why it’s so hard not to sin!
And when
we speak about the word “sin,” we aren’t just referring to those big nasty
things that other people might do
like going on a mass murdering spree at a middle school. “Sin” is anything you do, anything you say,
and even anything you think that is contrary to God’s will. Sin even includes those things you are
supposed to do but don’t! Sin is
breaking God’s law, whether knowingly or unknowingly, whether willingly or
reluctantly. Sin is anything that God
does not like or agree with. And so
there is a lot of sin in this world. And
it’s so easy!
Satan
sets before us a beautiful spread of sins.
And he makes sure that wherever we go and whatever we do and whomever we
see, another selection of sins is right there waiting for us. And they all look so tempting; they all look
so enjoyable; they all look so… easy. And
it’s not just the temptation to do something or say something, it’s the
temptation to think something as
well. Just as it was with Achan. “When
I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of
silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them…” Achan
“coveted” those things. That means he
wanted something he could not have. He
wanted something that God had told him to destroy. And even the thought was a sin! The thought that passed through Achan’s mind,
his desire to keep something that he could not have was a sin. And I’m sure it was easy! I’m sure it was natural! Because it’s easy and natural for us to have
the same kind of thoughts! “Why can’t I
have what that person has? Look what he
gets to enjoy! Look what she gets in her
life! I wish I had that. And I really want that over there. And I don’t know why I can’t have that over
here…” And of course those kinds of sinful
thoughts can lead to other sins like jealousy and envy, hatred and bitterness,
anger and discontent. Just like Achan’s
sin of coveting led to other sins of stealing and lying and deceit. But even when no other sins are attached,
even when there is just the sin of coveting and nothing else, even that is bad
enough. Because the Lord hates it. It doesn’t matter if it’s easy to give into
temptation. It doesn’t matter if it’s
simple to fall into the sin of coveting before you even know what you’re
doing. The Lord hates it. And he doesn’t just let it slide.
He
didn’t just let it slide for Achan, did he?
The entire community stoned Achan and his whole family! They then burned everything that had belonged
to Achan because God takes sin seriously.
He does not let it go unpunished.
And he does not let our sins go unpunished either.
Jesus’
Hard-Fought Salvation
Which is
why salvation is so hard. “Salvation”
means you are “saved” from the punishments of sin. And so if sin is easy, then salvation is
hard. It’s difficult not to fall into
sin in the first place, let alone be saved from it. But that’s where Jesus comes into the picture.
The
picture we have from Jesus in Luke chapter four this morning is Jesus out in
the middle of the desert all alone. And
while he was out there for 40 days, the devil came and tempted him. “If you’re the Son of God, prove it! Turn these stones into bread if you’re
hungry!” “Don’t you trust in the
promises of your Father? He said that he
will send his angels to guard you so that your foot won’t touch a stone. So throw yourself off of the highest point of
the temple and show that you trust him!”
“Do you see this world, Jesus?
This is the world you came to save and I am willing to give it to you if
you just bow down and pretend to worship me!
You don’t even have to mean it!
I’ll hand it over to you and won’t even put up a fight. You can avoid all of the pain and suffering
and the torture that you know you’re going to have to go through! I’ll make it easy for you!” Do you think it was easy for Jesus to stand
there and face the onslaught of temptations that the devil through at him for
over a month? Do you think it was easy
for Jesus to endure all of the attacks of Satan that he undoubtedly experienced
for the 33 years of his life on this earth?
I’m sure the devil pulled out all the stops and brought as many evil
angels as he could with him to pound Jesus with temptation after temptation
after temptation. It couldn’t have been
easy for him. But salvation wasn’t
supposed to be easy.
Of
course, since Jesus did go through all of those temptations and win, because
Jesus did stand up to the devil and win, because Jesus did stare death in the
face and win, “we do not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has
been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus was tempted just like we are - just like we are! - and yet came out
just as pure as he was going into it.
And not only was he able to accomplish what we could not, he accomplished
it for us! He held off temptations for
us. He turned his back on what was easy
for us. He resolutely continued toward
what was hard and difficult and terrifying for us. He was not going to take the easy way
out. He was not going to put his comfort
over our salvation. And so into the
desert he went and in the middle of his enemies he sat and in front of those
who hated him he stood and up on the cross he hung. And it was hard. It was difficult. But he did it. And he did it for you. He did
it for you! So that now you will not
be punished for your sins because Jesus already has been. It’s that simple. Not easy but simple. The only one who didn’t deserve punishment
was punished and those who deserve punish get heaven. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? It doesn’t seem fair at all. But that is God’s plan of salvation. That is God’s love for you.
Our Reward for
Jesus’ Work
I wonder
if Achan is in heaven. He did come clean
in the end and admitted that he had sinned.
And if he believed that God forgave him through the coming Savior, then
he is in heaven. But regardless of where
Achan ended up, the rest of the Israelites were left standing there, with
nothing else to do but continue on with their lives. And you can be sure that they had to go
through plenty of temptations themselves while they lived on this earth,
because everyone does.
You will
continue to be confronted with temptations in this life too. Especially in this country, the temptation to
covet will be extremely difficult to avoid.
Because there is so much out there and so much other people have and so
much that you can’t have, that coveting will be something you’ll have to watch
out for. But whenever you find yourself
in a situation where you are tempted to want something you cannot have, go to
your Lord. Pray to him for strength and
search his Word for guidance. Because
he’s gone through those temptations already!
He knows how difficult they can be!
He knows how tricky the devil is!
And he knows what to do to see you through.
And if,
by chance, you give into sin - even if it’s only a thought in your mind - go to
your Lord again. Admit your sin and ask
him to forgive you. And know that he
does. He does not withhold forgiveness,
he does not put you on probation until you prove yourself worthy. He always forgives you instantly because
that’s what his perfect life, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from
the dead won for you a full and free forgiveness that is yours for every sin
every time. It wasn’t easy for him to
win it, but it’s easy for him to give it.
Because he loves to give you his forgiveness that he worked so hard to
win. And he loves to give it to you.
Amen.
“Praise be to the
Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the
Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
- Psalm 68:19-20
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