Why It Is Reasonable to Apply the Bible to Modern Life - Part 2

This is Part 2 in my series discussing the Bible’s relevancy to Modern Life.  Here is Part 1.  Here is Part 3

To sum up, while our technology and circumstances may have changed since then, the basic motivations of life and human nature have not changed in spite of all our advancement.  Even our modern toys fulfill the same needs that they had then.

I realize that many people reject the Bible as an authority in their lives.  Many do so because they don’t really want that standard.  They want to be free from any accountability.  For these people, there will be no argument that will seem reasonable at all because their desire trumps logic.

Others reject the Bible under the belief that it is not reliable either in what it describes (our situation) or in the sense that the text we have today is not what was written then.

I believe that many people who question the Bible’s relevancy to modern life ultimately comes down to the issue of Reliability. 

Is the Bible we have today reliable?  Does the Bible accurately describe the human condition?  Is what we read today anything like what was originally written? 

I would argue that the text we have is reliable and that it does accurately describe the human condition.

First issue:  Does the Bible accurately describe the human condition?

Eastern religions tend to see this world as an illusion to various degrees and problems such as sickness, suffering and death are caused by our insistence that our lives are real and distinct from the divine or because of our attachment to things that ultimately are unreal.  These account for the situation of this world by ultimately denying its reality or significance. 

The dominant philosophical competition in America would be metaphysical naturalism—championed a generation ago by the likes of Carl Sagan and more recently by the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Samuel Harris.  They insist the material universe is all there is and life as we know it evolved.  Death, competition and disease have always been a part of existence and are merely mechanisms that serve as the driving force of evolution.  There is no divine being, no spiritual reality, no existence beyond physical death. 

This worldview, in my opinion, better accounts for the world as we know it than the eastern religions, but naturalism insists it has always been this way and will never change.  To suggest otherwise is merely wishful thinking.  Suffering, disease and death are realities and will always be a part of our lives.  There is no hope or expectation of changing this truth apart from advancement in knowledge and technology. 

The Bible describes in full color the depths of suffering in this world as we know it.  The Bible acknowledges that these issues are real and significant, not merely illusions, unreal or based on ignorance.  Where the Bible differs it insists that the world has not always been this way, it’s not the way the world is supposed to be, and not the way the world will end up. 

The Bible starts in Genesis with God’s ideal—human beings in a world free from corruption and sin… free from death and disease.  But anyone with half a brain can tell that’s not the world we live in now.  So the Bible then describes how everything got to be the way it is—why is there suffering, disease and death. 

Everything changes in Genesis 3 with the Fall.  In that moment of rebellion, sin corrupted not only our nature, but all of creation itself (see Romans 8:21-23). 

A biblical worldview at the point of describing reality is in general agreement with the naturalist—sin, disease, suffering and death are a part of our existence.  We merely disagree on the cause and what, if anything can be done about it.

Much of the Bible illustrates just how bad this fallen nature is—and it is not G rated.  But it offers hope in that it adds what God intends to do (or has done) about it.

The Bible describes people as fallen, damaged and broken.  This fallen nature manifests in the way we act and treat each other. 

We are by nature selfish.  Watch any group of toddlers with toys and you realize you don’t have to teach them to grab a toy out of one kid’s hands and run saying “MINE!!!”.  It takes great effort to teach them to share.  Greed comes naturally--as the reality show Hoarders or all the complaints about corporate executive salaries shows.  But the Bible says that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”.   Jesus taught us to be servants and to be willing to give up all that you have for the sake of the Gospel and serving others.

We are by nature liars.  Lying comes naturally and early in life as well; especially if we feel like we’re in trouble or don’t want to get caught.  Jesus said we should let our “yes be yes and your no, no”, that we should live lives of integrity and honesty.

We are by nature coveters.  We want what other people have and are willing to resort to taking and justifying it.  I’ve always wondered why this one was listed last among the 10 Commandments, last among those dealing with relationships between people (#5-10) and I finally figured it out—this one is an internal action while the others (murder, stealing, lying etc.) are external ones.  The more we control our desires, our coveting, the less likely we will violate the others.  Jesus said we must be willing to give up everything in order to follow Him, to deny ourself take up our cross and follow Him.

We are by nature killers.  No, not everyone kills someone else, something holds most of us back from that—but it wouldn’t take much to push us to that point.  People have been proven to kill for land, for money, for “love”.  Jesus elevated the bar by saying if you hate someone you have already committed murder in your heart.

We are by nature adulterers.  Much of our culture struggles with their sexuality in some way.  It is our natural tendency to sin sexually.  Yet that is not how the Bible calls us to live.  It actually calls us to live contrary to our natural desire—calls us to refrain from sex before marriage and then to remain faithful to one woman only in a life-long commitment.  Even more, Jesus elevates this calling by saying that a man who looks at a woman lustfully (covetously) has committed adultery in his heart.

In essence, we are self-indulgent narcissists who seek our own pleasure in life often at the expense of someone else.  Anyone who watches the news, watches TV for more than 10 minutes knows these are accurate descriptions.  And there are more.

The fact that we are this way is undeniable and not in dispute.  It’s the cause and cure that are.

This is exactly the kind of people the Bible says we are and the Bible is full of examples of people doing these very things… many of them the ones who are supposed to be close to God.  King David—a man after God’s own heart—was a liar, an adulterer and a murderer.  The Bible has many stories relating to killing for money, jealousy, revenge or women. 

The Bible is not a G rated book but describes our world exactly as it is—the Bible describes human nature accurately.  The Bible does not hide or excuse our sin but reveals it.   It merely assigns the cause of these behaviors to be spiritual—a spiritual failing and corruption.

Again, the Bible accurately describes the human condition, the primary difference it subscribes is the cause—a spiritual problem. 

Much of modern America wants you to believe that people back in the ancient world were just too ignorant to understand human behavior. 

The ancients did not have modern scientific methods, psychological assessment, medical and genetic models to draw from.  As a result of this lack of knowledge (and assumed superiority) the moral judgments of the ancients have no bearing.  In many instances, behaviors that at one time were understood as a moral/behavioral issue have been redefined to be morally neutral, a disease that requires treatment not condemnation.  Consider this statement concerning the role of a modern psychological therapist:

“the therapist will not impose or otherwise induce his personal values on the patient…The exploration and acquisition of more constructive and less neurotically determined values [is] conducted without ethical or moral pressure or suasions of any kind.”

In many instances this type of approach is very helpful and opens up new treatment possibilities.  But in other ways, it ignores the root problem and gives people an excuse to continue in the wrong and damaging behavior—alcoholism and sexuality being contemporary issues.

In contrast, Dietrich Bonhoeffer—who grew up as the son of a therapist, said this:

The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus. The greatest psychological insight, ability and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of man. And so it does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness.

Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. The psychiatrist must first search my heart and yet he never plumbs its ultimate depth. The Christian brother knows when I come to him: here is a sinner like myself, a godless man who wants to confess and yearns for God’s forgiveness. The psychiatrist views me as if there were no God. The brother views me as I am before the judging and merciful God in the Cross of Jesus Christ.

The Bible claims that the Word cuts through our motives, cuts through our excuses, cuts through our rationalizations and exposes our spiritual need. 

Hebrews 4:12—“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart”

At that point, the solution and “treatment” that God provides is laid out—repent (agree with God’s assessment of your sin and turn from it) & believe in the person of Jesus who provides the cure for our condition through the Cross and Resurrection.

To say that ancient cultures were ignorant and thus incapable of making a just assessment fails on two points.

First—those cultures had far fewer restraints of “proper behavior” than ours and thus witnessed far more of the depths that sinful behavior can sink to—sometimes in participation and blessing of their religious belief.  They saw a wider range of depravity due to the close proximity of multiple cultures, with invading armies moving through and pillaging, etc.  Religion in many of these cultures were highly sexualized, warfare and victory was often license to do anything with those captured.  I believe we take for granted the general restraint that exists in our society that prevents the kind of rampant behavior those cultures faced every year “in the spring when kings go off to war.”  This increased suffering and victimization.

They were far more familiar with death and disease.  Fewer and fewer of us even slaughter our own animals for food anymore, rather we (myself included) pick up a sanitary package at the local store.  We didn’t make the cuts or watch the creature die like they did.  Similarly, when people died then, preparation and burial rituals were very hands on by those closest to the deceased.  We let someone else do it and only show up after the person has been prepared, dressed and covered in make-up.  Most of our young men these days don’t have to serve in the military or defend their life on a bloody battlefield in hand to hand combat.  Those that did then and do now experience many traumas whether they are injured or not.  Many of the diseases they dealt with would be considered superficial or easily treated now—rashes, boils—but they had to endure them for extended periods and at close proximity.

Now you’d be right to argue that the way we do things decreases disease and death, but it also removes our general familiarity with it.  For them, it was all day, every day, every year.

They would argue that we, in general, are ignorant—of how rampant and debased humanity can be, of firsthand experience of the horrors and victimization of war, of the messiness of disease and death.

Second—the assertion that their ignorance and lack of modern knowledge prevents us from taking what they say with any authority assumes that there is no God who can and might speak to a people and reveal His opinion.

Those who make this argument, whether they intend to or not, are saying that the Bible is more a reflection of the human author’s opinions and culture than it is of God’s opinion.  They argue that IF God did speak (which is suspect), then what we have has been so distorted or corrupted by human copyists or translators that what it says cannot be trusted.

This leads to the Second Issue: which I will take up in Part 3

Is the biblical text we have reliable or has it been corrupted beyond trust?

The Death of Bin Laden and the Spirit of Celebration

I remember where I was on 9/11.  My family and I had driven to Mt. Home, AR for my grandmother-in-law’s birthday.  It was a tiring drive into the late night.  That morning, I was in bed.  My wife came in and told me that a plane had crashed into the first tower.  My thought was, something like a Cessna—single engine plane.  Not good, but not really worth getting out of bed for—I turned over and tried to go back to sleep.  A frustratingly few minutes later (when you’re tired constant interruptions make you irritable) she came back in loud and fast.  A second plane flew into the other tower, “We’re under attack!”   That cleared the cobwebs and I jumped up quickly.  We spent the rest of the day in the room watching the news.  My son, then 1 yr old, kept trying to get us to play and not many of us adults were in the mood for it.

Like many of you, I’ve long wondered why it was taking so long to catch Bin Laden.  I’ve wondered what kind of help he’d been getting, where he would be hiding, and wondering if he died would we ever know.

I looked forward to the idea of justice catching up to him at the hands of the US Military.  Now that Bin Laden has been killed in an assault by our military, I must say I have mixed feelings.  There is a great relief and satisfaction that a guilty person (self-confessed) who is responsible for killing thousands of Americans and even Muslims around the world has not escaped. 

The Bible is full of moments in Psalms and Proverbs of the people of God calling out for Justice, calling out for the evildoers to be held accountable.  There are numerous questions why the wicked go unpunished or even prosper and then the pleading with God to set things right.  There is relief and a sense of joy at the thought (Proverbs 21:15 "When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." & Proverbs 11:10 "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy."—these are observations more than commands).

I also experience a sense of sadness in the sense that by all evidence, Bin Laden is now in a Christ-less eternity where he will have no Advocate on his behalf before an Almighty & Holy God.  Because even a monster like Bin Laden also bears the Image of God and Hell was not created for him but for Satan and his demons.  The way Satan hurts the heart of God is by deceiving those whom God loves and died for and keeping them from a saving faith.  The wages of sin is death, and death has found him.  God does not want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance.

As much as Bin Laden was an enemy to America and to believers in Jesus (and even his own faith), he was a pawn for our true enemy.  Jesus died even to save murderers like him.  Is not the Blood of Christ powerful enough to Atone and cover over sins as great as Bin Laden’s?  Scripture says yes, but this power is a gift that must be received.  The Blood of Christ is Available for all, even if not taken advantage of.  I truly believe there is no sin too powerful to overpower the Blood of Jesus—rejection of that saving power is the cause of that.

It is always tragic when a sinner dies in their sin, no matter who it is.  That does not mean the person is not deserving, nor that justice or death is not warranted.

When someone is a killer and sheds the blood of men, Genesis says by men his blood will be shed.  I’ve read somewhere recently that the idea of the death penalty within a deliberate system of justice does not diminish the image of God in humanity, it defends and upholds it.  The New Testament in Romans 13 reminds us that the government does not bear the sword for nothing.  As imperfect as human governments can be, they are instituted by God to be a calming influence on the human population and also at times as an instrument of God’s judgment.

What has disturbed me (and others) in the whole death of Bin Laden affair has been the celebratory attitude many of us have exhibited.  I was similarly disturbed when after coming out of a movie (Transformers 2--the movie was bad enough) I heard people rejoicing at the news of Michael Jackson’s death.

With Bin Laden, many are throwing a party, in essence “dancing on his grave”.  I can understand on some levels, but it reminds me too much of how I was offended at seeing the celebrations in the Middle East when the tower fell.  To me, the people celebrating exemplify a spirit of vengeance and not a spirit of justice.  Justice is necessary because it means that something terrible has happened.    But justice does not take pleasure in it.  Vengeance revels and takes pleasure from the suffering of the person in question especially when they are guilty. 

This difference between vengeance and justice is especially dangerous for the victims of heinous crimes, and yes we as Americans, as a people, were victims of this man to some degree, some more than others.   But when we cross the line into vengeance and take pleasure in the suffering of the perpetrator—we become more like them.  We become more capable of doing something heinous because our own sense of pleasure has been corrupted by enjoying someone else suffer.

That is why one of the signs of psychopathic behavior is the mutilating of animals.  It can be seen as a cry for intervention in children at a young age.  It is a symptom of a greater problem—a lack of empathy for the suffering of others. 

I am afraid that Bin Laden’s death reveals the lack of our humanity.  When we are corrupted by sin inflicted on us—the more it corrupts us and we give in to vengeance, the more influence over our heart, mind and spirit we really give to the perpetrator—in essence increasing our victimhood.

The power of forgiveness breaks the power of our victimhood—breaks the power of the evil done to us and prevents that person from continuing to inflict hurt upon us.

Make no mistake what I’m saying—justice was served—as best as we could make it.  In some sense I would have preferred a capture and trial, but I can understand the mess that would be and the years that would drag on (especially considering how the lawyers got involved with prisoners in Guantanamo—can you imagine the anguish and fighting going on over people who would want to give O.B.L our Constitutional rights?).

But let us remember several verses from the Bible on such issues:

Proverbs 24:17-18 "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them."

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!

Ezekiel 18:23 "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"

Ezekiel 18:32 "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"

All of these passages speak to the desire of God for even the wicked to repent.  He does not shy away from Judgment of sin, but He would rather see them turn, would rather give Grace.

Remember: Justice is getting what we Deserve.  Mercy is not getting what we deserve.  Grace is getting above and beyond what you don’t deserve.

When Jesus approached Jerusalem, He looked over the city and wept, knowing full well there were wicked people in the city, some people who would kill him just a few days later.  He wept because people were unwilling to come to Him.  He longed to gather them together under His wings, but their unbelief and hard hearts would keep them from doing so.  It broke his heart.

Bin Laden was similarly unwilling.  And though we may think BL was undeserving of God’s grace, it still breaks His heart that OBL held out to the end in the deception of the enemy. 

God is OBL’s judge, let us leave that to Him.  Let us also follow His leadership and not rejoice over the death of the wicked let us through the power of the Holy Spirit, love our enemies and pray for them above what they deserve.  Because that says more about us.

Sermon 8-26-07--NO Excuses!

I've been hesitant to post this week's sermon because in actuality, I didn't preach it. I woke up Sunday morning with the Preacher's worst feeling--"I'm not supposed to preach this message this morning" So for the next few hours, I was trying to figure out what exactly I was supposed to do in it's place, all the while still finishing the powerpoint for this one. Part of it was stubbornness, part of it was fear b/c I don't like preaching without some kind of notes, usually a manuscript. I had all kinds of excuses as to why I intended to just do the one I had prepared. Sadly, the sermon deals a lot with Excuses or Rationalization of our sin. It was a life lesson for me. Am I going to follow the leading of God or am I going to give a good reason why I won't .

I realized later that there are some things I appreciate very small children for, like my daughter Moriah who is almost 3. Largely b/c she does not have the vocabulary and the maturity yet to give excuses or reasons, she confidently expresses her opinion to something by saying, "I don't want to". At least she's honest. Later, as she grows, she'll naturally learn to say something else, to give a reason, an excuse to avoid doing what I or Vicky have told her to do. We adults usually don't even think about our excuses anymore, they just come out when in reality, we're really feeling, "I don't want to."

So anyway, the service was going along, and I knew I was supposed to do something different, I still didn't know what. Then, thanks to a powerful testimony and special music by Angie Bailey, I finally heard what I was supposed to do. It was a slightly different take, angle and main point to the message and passage I had already developed. Points needed to be swapped around and some left out, but it was basically there. I was still however, flying off the cuff, but I really had no excuses considering the testimony of the Word and of Angie.

The basic change was that our excuses keep us living in defeat when our obedience can keep us living in Victory--coming from the account of Achan and his sin just after the Battle of Jericho.

Well, all that to say, here is the sermon I was going preach that God told me to change. If you want to hear the "Live" version, I'm sure it will be up on the church's website soon.

www.ubcfellowship.com

Here it goes.

The past couple of months, we’ve been looking at the life of Joshua and how God was moving him and the people of Israel to Victory. Last week, looking at the battle for the city of Jericho, we looked at how in many ways it was a great rescue mission for the prostitute Rahab. The victory at Jericho set her free.

But it didn’t take long for the Victory to be dealt a setback. And the defeat’s cause could be summed up in one word—Rationalization.

All parents have heard all kinds of excuses for bad behavior. When I was a kid, I had what I thought were good ones. “They did it first”, “I didn’t know it was wrong”, “Mark’s parents said it was OK”, “everybody was doing it”. What are some of your favorites? Does anyone else have an example?

Unfortunately, giving excuses doesn’t really stop when we become adults. Some that I’ve been hearing even more in our society lately are: “it’s OK so long as I don’t get caught”, or “this is a Victimless Crime—it’s not hurting anyone else”, “we’re consenting adults and it’s in our homes, it’s nobody else’s business” or, “It makes me happy, how can it be wrong?”. It’s amazing all the ways we try to excuse and justify our bad behavior. We can be fully convinced in our own minds—we call that Rationalization.

When it comes to the sin in our lives, we play this game all the time. Except we’re not trying to fool just our parents, our friends, family, our spouse— we’re expecting an all-knowing, all-seeing, holy, perfect and righteous God to buy and believe our excuses.

If they seem pretty weak and lame to us, imagine how they sound to the ears of God!

One of the main reasons we are so quick to rationalize our bad behavior is b/c we have a tendency to not take sin very seriously. Joshua was reminded just how serious sin can be shortly after God’s victory over Jericho. In order for us to see victory in our lives, in our church—to see walls come down around us—we must be careful because sin can easily put up another wall—another impediment to victory. All our best excuses and rationalizations are hollow.

But it wasn’t even sin in Joshua’s own life that was the big problem, it was in someone else’s.

Turn to Joshua 6 & 7.

During the Victory over Jericho, Joshua and the Israelites had received a

Command to Devote

6:17-19

Joshua was commanded to devote everything from Jericho to the LORD as First Fruits of the Victory and Inheritance of the Promise of God. Everything was supposed to be devoted to God, the silver, gold, bronze, iron, even people and animals were to be given over to God. Nothing was to be taken as plunder by the Israelites.

We are called to devote our lives to Him—all that we are belongs to Him. Does God need our money or our resources or our efforts? No,

but the way in which we deny those things when He asks them of us is an indication of our overall dedication & faithfulness to Him. If we hold back, God is going to seek a way to draw us closer.

Being fully dedicated to God is a sign of spiritual maturity. Joshua did his best to see that all the people understood and followed through with this, because Joshua knew there would be consequences.

V. 18 also held a warning—“Keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction…[and the whole] camp of Israel [would be] liable to destruction.” The whole people of Israel would be troubled if even one person failed to devote everything to God. Joshua tried to make sure everyone knew the Command to Devote and the Consequences. But not everyone followed Joshua’s instructions. And so trouble was brought upon the people.

Rationalization Leads to Defeat—7:1-6

First, Achan acted unfaithfully—he took some things that were supposed to be devoted to God. We see Achan’s mind in 7:21—“when I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver (about 5 lbs.) and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels (not quite 1.5 lbs.), I coveted them and took them.”

Standing there looking at these things, he knew the command, but like all of us are prone to do—he was able to think of a reason why he was exempt. He rationalized an excuse why it would be OK. Can you think of one for Achan? “it’s not much, no one will notice”

“You know all about the corruption of leadership—Joshua is probably going to horde it for himself.” “What does it matter, it’s not like God really needs the money anyway.”

Achan was not the only one rationalizing that day.

Joshua was so confident after the tremendous victory at Jericho that he forgot the very first lesson he learned in the Bible. He forgot that the Battle Belongs to the Lord. He rationalized that things were going so well, there’s no need to bother God with a town like Ai.

He neglected to seek God’s guidance when they began approaching the fort of Ai; a much smaller and less intimidating challenge than Jericho one before. He trusted in his men and his tactics. He was thinking more of their R&R than of God and His support. “not all the people will have to go” he was told, “do not weary all the people” he was told. In other words, this was going to be a cakewalk, let’s not get too worked up over this, we’ll just go in, defeat the enemy and be back home by lunch.

Aren’t we still like this? We experience a breakthrough with God and begin to get over confident in our abilities, then immediately fall back on our faces. Self-confidence can easily lead us to think that we don’t need God. Don’t bother God with that, don’t bother to pray about this, it’s no big deal. But so often, the smaller matter, the insignificant enemy or sin can trip up even the greatest man or woman of God, can derail Victory for an entire church.

If Joshua had sought God’s guidance, he would have known there was a problem within Israel. God would have told him He was angry because someone had acted unfaithfully toward the devoted things.

One person who was unfaithful to the covenant of God made the whole people guilty, made God angry at them all. The sin of one man caused Israel to be defeated by a much inferior foe.

I don’t know about you, but this account bothers my sense of American individualism. I’m bothered that God would deal with a large group by the behavior and actions of only one person.

How many of you are glad that we don’t live under that standard? That God blesses or disciplines this church, thus each of us, can be influenced by the actions of only one member.

A better question is…are you sure that we don’t live under that standard? Does God believe and practice American Individualism? They are God’s chosen people (Plural) not just God’s chosen persons.

We are a community that has united in our own devotion to God. The health of our church is dependent on the health of every member.

Sin leads to defeat, not just for yourself, but your whole family or whole people, whole church. No one lives in a vacuum. No one’s life, good or bad, fails to impact others around them.

I do not believe if you don’t get caught, it’s not wrong. Something is wrong, whether or not you get caught.

I do not believe in so-called Victimless Crimes like home drug use, prostitution, or gambling.

One person’s sins will affect others around them. There are so many accounts of wives who have great, loving and caring husbands so long as they are sober.

There are so many accounts of the sins of one drunk driver forever changing a family of 6 while he himself walks away virtually unhurt.

An adulterous spouse brings home suffering to the one who has been faithful all the years of their marriage.

A family goes without food because an irresponsible parent spends most of the paycheck on booze, on cigarettes, gambling or lottery tickets.

Look again how it started in Achan’s life in 7:20-21. He followed the classic pattern from Genesis 3:6.

· First he saw with his eyes. The eyes are the window into the soul. And many of our temptations in life come and start with what we see.

· Then Achan desired and coveted in his heart. What he saw translated to his thoughts and passions. He fantasized about what he did not have.

· Then he put those desires into action and took things he knew he should not, things he even knew the consequences for.

· Lastly, Achan tried to hide and deceive what he had done, even under his own family’s noses.

Tell me, how many affairs do you think start exactly the same way. How many addictions start this way. How many robberies, how many murders, how many lies. Insert any sinful situation in life, and you could trace it back to this pattern.

What you see, you think about, then you act upon, then you try to hide. That’s what makes pornography so dangerous—what makes looking at the advertisements in the paper even dangerous, or the frosted brownies on the counter. Sin doesn’t have to be a “big deal” to be a big deal.

Eve went through the same process when the serpent tempted her with the fruit.

Gen. 3:6—“when the woman SAW that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her.”

James said much the same in James 1:14-15—“but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”

Sin is also knowing the good we should be doing and not doing it. Husbands, you know to love your wives and not ignore them—are you rationalizing reasons to avoid them? Children, you know to obey your parents is it easy to come up with reasons not to?

Are we too busy to pray, are we too overcommitted that we won’t read or study our Bible?

Knowing the pattern of sin is not enough, because we all will fall—“all have sinned and fallen -ert of the glory of God”. We’ve got to have:

Courage to Discover our sin.

This is the hard part. When you experience defeat in life, you’d better be willing to take a spiritual inventory.

To examine the parts of your life to determine whether any of them have contributed to a failure to hear God’s Voice. And when you discover that thing, you must get rid of it, you must destroy it.

One of the pictures that the men’s study, Downpour, uses is that of going to the doctor. When you’re sick you don’t want a doctor to downplay and sugar coat his diagnosis. Find the problem—propose a treatment. For example, if you are diagnosed with cancer and the treatment calls for surgical removal—I hope you want a doctor who intends to all he can and not be content with getting most of it.

Jesus said something radical to teach how seriously we are to take sin—that if our eye causes us to sin, we should pluck it out. Or if our right hand causes us to sin, we should be willing to cut it off and live life maimed rather than risk our eternity.

Joshua had to be willing to lead the people to discover the sin in their midst. V. 6 tells us that Joshua tore his robes and lay facedown before the Ark of the Covenant as did the elders of Israel. They knew defeat would not come without reason.

Defeat should Drive us to God

Seeking Him again—and they weren’t in for just a quick fix—Joshua remained there until evening.

Then he listed off the Common Complaints—vs. 7-9—today we should never have tried this—we should just be content with what we’ve always done and what we’ve always had—we should not have gotten our hopes up.

Joshua Confronted all Israel with her sin and cause of their defeat—v. 10-12. Now that they knew what the sin was, the only question remaining was WHO. In the following verses, God, in His sovereignty, begins to narrow it down.

Israel was to consecrate themselves and present themselves before God Tribe by Tribe, then clan by clan, family by family, man by man. After they went through this process, God singled out the one responsible, He commands in v. 15—“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!”

He and his whole family and all he possessed was destroyed because of a robe and some money. What he rationalized would make his life better, what he was willing to violate the covenant with God over, what he was willing to sell out his integrity for cost him his life and everything that was really important to him.

You’ve got to have the courage to discover the sin in your life, then confess it—not just because you’ve been caught, like Achan, but because your relationship with your spouse, your children, and most importantly with Christ has been damaged. Only when you have destroyed the sin in your life can you truly experience Victory again.

Joshua led the people to cleanse the sin from among them and as a result, the small little town of Ai was defeated.

The point of God confronting Joshua and the people with sin is so that they will not remain separated from Him in a state of defeat—they physical defeat was symptomatic of spiritual defeat.

God wanted to move them from defeat and back into victory. When God confronts you and me with our sin—He wants us to Turn away from it—to remove it from our lives so we may similarly leave a state of defeat and reenter usefulness in His Victory for the Kingdom. The seriousness we take the call to repentance is the key to resuming Victory.

We as Christians have been called to devote our entire lives to God and not hold anything back. That means we are to devote our Jobs, our marriages, our homes, our salaries, our children—all of it must be devoted.

Yet we see things in the world around us and we covet those things more than our relationship with God. We store up treasures on earth that will be destroyed.

We take them for momentary pleasure, momentary gain and hurt the most important relationship we have; our relationship with God who loves us, who is waiting to give us the blessing of Victory. He is waiting to forgive sin, He is waiting to heal your marriage, He is waiting to bless us with Victory.

God restores relationship in order to continue the victory. Joshua 8:1—

We as a church need to have our lives confronted and dealt with otherwise we won’t have Victory either. If you have unconfessed, unrepentant sin in your life, so does our church. All of us are at least indirectly affected. That’s what 1 John 1:9 is all about—“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”God demonstrates His care for us by calling us back to Victory. If He didn’t care, He wouldn’t discipline.

Time Share Tomb

Time Share Tomb

Do you know how a time-share vacation home works? Several people, maybe up to 5, I don't really know, buy a property or vacation house and pay for the right to stay there at various times of the year, maybe 2 weeks.

In the Bible, 3 people bought a timeshare together and signed the contract. The vacation spot was the Tomb on the beaches of Death. Sounds like a popular spot doesn't it?

Ø Satan was the first signee—he gave the least to the project—He gave lies and deception. He is allowed to live in the tomb most of all because he is the one who “holds the power of death”—Hebrews 2:14

Ø Sin promised the most but delivered very little—he earns time on the beach and could stay as much as he wants for those are his wages. But instead, he leads people to the Tomb on even more promises (the wages of sin is death—Rom. 6:23, James 1: 14-15). Sin immediately leaves his “guests” at the Tomb in order to bring more guests to the “party”. Lots of people get in on the vacation spot this way.

Ø Jesus—wanted this time-share the least, but He gave the most for it and agreed to the shortest stay—3 Days. Of course, after His stay, He gained sole possession of the property, quickly condemned it and put up warning signs that the property would be closed and demolished as soon as the proper permission was granted by the governing Authority