The Communal Effects of Sin

GETTING STARTED

One of my favorite concepts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the idea that we are all tied up in an inescapable network of mutuality. Like God, Dr. King cared about his people and cared about community. He saw humanity as one fabric, despite our many exclusionary efforts that range from segregation all the way to gated communities.

When you and I take individualism to an extreme, we end up tearing down our sense of “we.” When we disconnect ourselves from the body of Christ, we lose touch with how we affect the whole and have trouble remembering that our sin causes relational separation.

  • As you read, think how your sin might be affecting other people around you.

READ THE WORD: JOSHUA 7:6-15 (ESV)

6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. 15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’”

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

(Today’s questions focus on verses 10-15. Verses 6-9 were covered previously.)

  1. What reason did God give Joshua for Israel being routed by the people of Ai?
  2. What was Joshua’s responsibility before God in this situation and why?
  3. What process was used to find the individual(s) who acted in such an “outrageous” way?
  4. What character traits of God show up in this passage?
  5. When was the last time you felt singled out by God for your sin? How might sin be stunting you, both individually as well as your community?

RESPOND TO GOD

God is holy and relational, a difficult juxtaposition at times for us humans. Through this story, we get a sense that God cares about our sin and sees it affecting the whole group. This text shows what is often the consequence to sin; that it isn’t only the reparation of the specific sin that is demanded, but that many times, it is a loss of self or all we ever attained. How many times have you seen someone fall into sin and lose everything? Or, put in another way, how many times have you seen someone gain the world but lose their soul? These types of losses due to sin not only affect us as individuals, but us as a community. We are all tied together by our sin and our love. May our following of Jesus lead to lives that speak love into such sin. 

  • Pray through your struggles of sin.
  • Ask the Lord for courage to “get up,” confess, and dedicate yourself to him.