Achan Tempted by So Little; Jesus Tempted by So Much

First Sunday in Lent

February 17, 2013

Achan Tempted by So Little;

Jesus Tempted by So Much

Joshua 7:16-26

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jericho had just been destroyed. The tribes of Israel had marched around the city walls of Jericho for seven days. On that seventh day the Lord had instructed their leader Joshua to have their trumpets blast and all the Israelites shout the war cry. Just before the walls came tumbling down, Joshua commanded the people,

“Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord … keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” (Joshua 6:16-19)

Then God miracled the walls to crumble and the Hebrews went on to easily destroy the city. But soon we're told that

the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. (Joshua 7:1)

This anger of the Lord became obvious when very soon a powerful force of 3,000 Israelites lost a battle to a tiny group of men at the city of Ai. The contrast terrified the Israelites—just a little while ago they (but of course God had done it) had destroyed the powerful fortress city of Jericho and now they had lost 36 men against tiny Ai with nothing to show for it. God was angry.

Joshua was scared along with all the people. He knew that word of this defeat would quickly spread and soon every heathen nation of the Promised Land would attack. Then God told Joshua to get up and told him what he needed to do.

“‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the Lord takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the Lord takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the Lord takes shall come forward man by man. He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!’” (Joshua 7:14-15)

Slowly the list of possible offenders was whittled down. These were chances for Achan to repent. Each time the Lord was urging Achan to confess his evil as Achan saw Joshua getting closer and closer. But he refused.

Only when he was completely caught out, did he speak the truth.

“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.” (Joshua 7:20-21)

He stole five pounds of silver and just over a pound of gold and a beautiful robe. The fact that he risked everything for so little shows the depth of the evil in his heart. We don't know if Achan died in faith or in unbelief, but his bad end is a powerful warning of how little successfully tempts us.

On the other hand, Jesus was tempted by so much. Above all the Devil was tempting Him with the promise that He could save the world without pain or suffering. The Devil promised to give the world to Jesus, if He bowed down and worshiped. But He said no … for us.

A delicious cake of bread might seems small, but after fasting for forty days, it'll become your whole world. Stop eating today and don't eat again until the end of next month. Then imagine the power of a nice piece of warm bread. But Jesus said no … for us. He perfectly resisted temptations we face daily so that by faith He could give us the credit for His perfect obedience to the will of the heavenly Father.

Jesus was tempted by so much. Achan stole some silver and gold. The Devil tempted Jesus with all the silver and gold of the entire world. And Jesus said no … for us.

Achan stole because he didn't trust the Lord's promise. Instead he allowed reason to guide his actions. Achan must have convinced himself that he wasn't stealing because the previous owners of the robe, gold, and silver where all dead. And we see this rationale in his confession, for when he says that he sinned, the Hebrew word used means goofed up, slipped up, made a mistake. Achan, when the whole nation was staring at him and even God Himself, refused to admit that he deliberately sinned and had made a choice to steal from God.

We steal, too. We do it because we don't think it'll hurt anybody or we think we deserve to have it. Some of us are actual thieves, but we all steal in the ways that are available to us. You never had a chance to steal one pound of gold, but still find ways to steal from others and from God.

Again and again we treat the things we have and the things of others and of God as though they belong to us. So again and again we turn to our Savior's forgiveness in Word, Water, Body, and Blood, the very Savior Jesus who again and again said no to the Devil's plan of painless salvation and said yes to His Father's plan of suffering and death for the forgiveness of our sin. Jesus didn't resist temptation to show you how; He resisted temptation to forgive you now.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.