Preaching: The story of Achan

I had the opportunity to preach while Jim and Kathi were away, Jim in the US teaching a course on missions, and Kathi in Poland visiting her daughter. At any rate, I was very nervous about the opportunity and wrestled with what to do. As my Thai is not quite up to par (at all), I had to use a translator. Jim and I have talked much about using the form of storytelling to communicate the message of God's Word to Thais. There's much to say about that. Namely, the fact that most of the Bible is written in story format should clue us in to perhaps using a story format to communicate those messages. Perhaps taking a story in the Bible and dissecting it into 3 points and a poem does just that. It dissects it. And dissected things are usually dead. Anyway, this isn't a polemic for narrative preaching. The truth is that I have been learning the power of a story, even in proclaiming God's word. Is it any curiosity that Jesus Himself used stories so many times to help people understand the sometimes confusing and seemingly paradoxical messages He brought to them? How would YOU explain something like the New Covenant to Jews in that day? To them, it seemed like a hostile attack on the law. So Jesus taught in stories.

All that to say, I gave a shot at it on January 20th, preaching out of Joshua 7 on the story of Achan. If I had to give the sermon a title, it would be "When you cannot rewind." Funny thing about the story of Achan, there's something that few people seem to have noticed. Of course, many know the story. Israel defeats Jericho and is so excited about God giving them victory, they just want to keep going. So Ai is next, at which 36 soldiers end up dead. A bit of a shock, as it indicates that God is not with them, leaving many asking "What is going on?" Including Joshua. He's on his face complaining to God that they were better off on the east side of Jordan, that now God's name is going to be run through the mud, and Israel looks abandoned. God's answer is classic and simple. "Get up". The fact was, nothing was being done about the problem, so God reveals that somebody took something from Jericho when it was supposed to be offered as a complete sacrifice to Him. Enter Achan. Apparently, he knew better than God and decided the expensive Babylonian coat and gold was better off in his tent than in the fire. So now 36 people are dead, 36 families are fatherless and husbandless. To put it frankly, Achan is looking like quite the selfish jerk here. And that is quite the truth! He's really the one responsible for all of this. So God tells Joshua to divide the people up by tribe, clan, and family, down to the heads of each individual family. It all funnels down to Achan. As Joshua stands in front of Achan though, he says something odd. He doesn't say, "You're in for it now" or "What were you thinking?" No, he says, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him." Hmmm, maybe not what I would have said. Here's the kicker, Achan does what Joshua says. And we know the rest of the story, it's not really a "happy ending". Achan confesses, they find the stuff, and burn it and himself as a punishment. By the way, in case that sounds overly harsh, think about it this way. The stuff that he stole was committed to be a sacrifice to the Lord, literally a burnt offering. When Achan stole that, he also took the fate of the items. He wanted connection to the goods? He got it, but he also got its destiny. Anyway, he is executed and Israel goes on to defeat Ai. So Achan's the bad guy, right? Yes. No.

See, what people don't realize is that Achan actually glorified God as a final act. The last thing that Achan does in his life is bring glory to God. And didn't he? Joshua asked him to do just that, and he DID. So what's the point? Even if it's the last thing you do on this earth, you can ALWAYS make a right choice, no matter how bad or how many wrong choices you have made. We are never resigned to just do wrong. This I presented as it is, a story. I asked some questions at the end and did my best to drive home the point that the story itself makes. I hope and pray it was a blessing and a challenge to the people, or even to you! No matter what you have done or might do, with the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we CAN always choose to do what is right.