The Carpenter's Apprentice Archives

Volume 6, Number 2                                                                                                                     February 2005

Sin In The Camp

So the LORD said to Joshua, ARise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, AConsecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, >There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.=@ Joshua 7:10-13

When it comes to doing battle, there is little worse than thinking you are invincible and discovering too late there was a fatal flaw in your plan. The verses above, which provide the context for God=s instruction to Joshua, are probably very familiar to you. Yet, we tend to be complacent toward their implications for living in our day. A history of success in battle tends to breed a spirit of invincibility, and this country has not escaped the problems fostered by that attitude. Israel had been successful in battle because God blessed them. In their arrogance, they thought they could do as they pleased and still have that blessing. They were wrong, and we should pay attention.

A country which depends on God cannot afford to have citizens who ignore His laws. We=ve previously considered the Ableating of sheep@ incident under King Saul which involved a number of people conspiring to ignore God=s commands. The consequences were tragic for Saul and Israel. Is it possible that the sin of one man could have serious implications for the the entire nation? The story of Achan provides a resounding, AYes!@ The conquest at Jericho had given the people confidence in the power of God. Their next test came at Ai and demonstrated their Afair weather faith.@

Joshua sent spies to assess the situation and they confidently reported they could easily take the city with two or three thousand men. The didn=t know Achan had violated God=s command not to take from the spoils of Jericho and had caused them to lose God=s blessing. It was tragic enough that 36 men were killed in the retreat but the real tragedy was A...the hearts of the people melted and became as water@ (vs. 5). Joshua himself was distraught and, tearing his clothes, fell on his face before God asking the question which brought the response above.

You know the rest of the story. The families of Israel were brought forward until the Lord zeroed in on Achan. Achan confessed his sin, but judgment was swift. He and his family, together with all their belongings were taken into the valley of Achor (trouble) and stoned until a pile of stones was raised which still stood when the book of Joshua was written. That may seem to be a harsh judgment from our perspective today, but it should be a powerful witness to the importance of God=s people not defiling themselves with the affairs of pagan culture.

Sadly, the testimony it provides is often ignored. There have been times I ignored it in my walk and I suspect most of you have done the same. We are indeed blessed to live in the grace of Jesus, but the call on our lives is to abandon such presumptuous living. God=s will comes first and He will have His way. The main question to be answered is, AWill I be found standing faithfully on the ground He has given me?@

Achan sinned and the people of Israel suffered for it. God=s remedy was to remove the sin from the camp. If the stoning of Achan and his family got the attention of the people of Israel, how much more should the death of our sinless Lord call us to obedience?

I am not among those who believe that America is God=s Israel today. In fact, I think that is a dangerous view to hold. Nevertheless, we were founded to be a country which honors God and His law. True patriots and faithful citizens desire to submit themselves to the law of liberty and they are loathe to make license of that liberty so as to encroach upon the liberty of others. We=re not perfect, but we should desire for our behavior to be conformed to what God has ordained.

It as a reproach upon this country (especially Christians) that we are given to desiring and taking for ourselves the spoils of the pagan culture which now surrounds us. It matters not if we do it in ignorance, the consequences are the same. There are among my dear Christian friends those who express Apolitical@ differences. That confuses me, because all I desire is that this country (its people and their government) obey the law, our Constitution.

What could be a more obvious duty for the Christian than to obey just law? There was a time when, in ignorance and apathy, I shared their perspective on most things. However, study yielded important information and brought conviction which forced me to abandon the compromises I once made. I=m not surprised when I find people ignorant of our government and its law, but I am astounded that those who have been taught and give lip service to upholding the law, then support the very people who violate the law. It is obvious than knowledge does not always lead to conviction of conscience.

However, if this country is to endure it must! We cannot look at candidates and select one because he pledges to violate the law in our favor, rather than some other special interest group. Most of you wouldn=t dream of coming into my home and taking money out of my wallet. But some (perhaps many) of you have no problem with the government, acting as your agent, to do just that. Whether it=s a farm subsidy, welfare, earned income credit or a variety of other unlawful government giveaways, it is theft intended to redistribute wealth.

Except for 18 things in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has no authority to tax me for anything and even the legitimate taxes are to be collected lawfully. It doesn=t matter what your special interest group is, the government has no authority to give anyone funds taken from other people. Are you enjoying the spoils of the plundering of American=s by their own government? Know this, it is ill-gotten gain and you cannot receive it and escape the consequences of doing so. It is ironic that so many who view themselves as patriotic participate in, and benefit from, the very machine which has destroyed our liberty. We cannot expect God=s aid when we so ignore justice; when in fact we have what Ed Vieira calls Agangster government.@ Justice is hardly served when one group uses the government as its hit man to take from another group to further their own agenda.

Unless we learn that lesson well, we have the certain word of scripture, AYou cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." As much as it is in your power to do so, I beg you to pay attention to what is happening in our day and cease any support you give to those who are a reproach to the great principles of justice on which this country was founded.

If you spend any time at all discussing last days themes with contemporary Christians, it won=t be long until attention is turned to the identity of Babylon. Depending on who you talk to, Babylon is identified as a restored Rome, the Catholic Church, China and various other countries, even Hollywood! That Christians have questions about this subject is clear evidence little time has been spent in God=s word to se what it says.

The most direct proof, it seems to me, is found in 1 Peter. Writing to believers of dispersed Israel, Peter closes the his letter with, AShe who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings....@ He is writing from Jerusalem and he refers to the believers there as being in Babylon. This is no small matter. When Judah lost the city before, the people were persecuted by Babylon. Now, the city itself had become worse than Babylon. It is not surprising faithful believers would make such a connection in describing the depths to which the people had sunk. I suppose one could argue Peter is just using the term in a general sense such as one might refer to some contemporary city as Sodom.

However, the context of the letter reveals that to be grasping at straws. Peter is encouraging his audience to faithfulness in the fiery ordeal which has come upon them. Abraham was Alooking for a city@ and so were they: a heavenly city. The description of the impending judgment given by John in The Revelation culminates in that city Acoming down out of heaven.@ Peter is emphatic, AIt is THE APPOINTED TIME for THE judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?@ (1 Peter 4:17) Jesus said He was sent only for the lost sheep of the household of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Some obeyed, others did not. The unbelieving, like Babylon of old, became the enemy of true Israel. It is fitting, therefore, for Peter to refer to Jerusalem this way. Once we apply this meaning to Babylon in The Revelation, much of the seeming mystery regarding the apocalypse begins to evaporate.

I=m not proud to say it but my attitude toward school, prior to college, was characterized by just doing enough to get by. It would be easy to point to a lot of external factors which contributed to that mentality but ultimately, I just didn=t want to make the effort necessary because it would have meant less time to do the things I really wanted to do, like play. In short, I was content to be average academically. Fortunately that changed once I was in college but the lack of attention earlier made college studies all the more difficult.

AAverage@ is what the failures claim to be when their family and friends ask them why they are not more successful?

AAverage@ is the top of the bottom, the best of the worst, the bottom of the top, the worst of the best. Which of these are you?

AAverage@ means being run-of-the-mill, mediocre, insignificant, an also-ran, a nonentity.

Being Aaverage@ is the lazy person's cop-out; it's lacking the guts to take a stand in life; it's living by default.

Being Aaverage@ is to take up space for no purpose; to take the trip through life, but never to pay the fare; to return no interest for God's investment in you.

Being Aaverage@ is to pass one's life away with time, rather than to pass one's time away with life; it's to kill time, rather than to work it to death.

To be Aaverage@ is to be forgotten once you pass from this life. The successful are remembered for their contributions; the failures are remembered because they tried; but the Aaverage,@ the silent majority, is just forgotten.

To be Aaverage@ is to commit the greatest crime one can against one's self, humanity, and one's God. The saddest epitaph is this, AHere lies Mr. and Ms. Average -- here lies the remains of what might have been, except for their belief that they were only >average.=@

For one who was once content to be Aaverage@ in many ways, those are pretty convicting words. Much of our culture needs to be convicted in this regard, especially the Christian community. Scripture uses a word for Aaverage@ we=d rather not embrace: lukewarm. AAverage A is a lot more palatable don=t you think? God has no intention of His children being average. We have a high calling in Christ and demeaning it by mediocre living is to presume upon God=s grace. Most of us are guilty at one time or another, but we should not take comfort in that knowledge. Instead, we need to repent and rededicate ourselves to living God=s best in whatever field he places us. To be sure, we can=t make everything in life our highest priority but it is imperative for us to realize what is important and give it our greatest attention. It is not enough to merely give it a good effort. Highest priorities demand sacrificial efforts. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way, AWhen God calls a man, He bids him come and die.@ He wasn=t necessarily speaking of physical death, but it can certainly enter the picture. As we consider our priorities, it is a good exercise to contemplate what we are willing to lay down our lives. Such sacrifices may be just matters of inconvenience or making concessions to others. It may be easy to imagine ourselves making the tough choice in a critical situation which might result in our own injury or death. Nevertheless, the truth for most of us is that we struggle with making the seemingly easier decision to defer to another in love.

Christ gave us the example for living God=s best. If we would walk Ain His steps,@ we must abandon any inkling of contentment with being average in our Christian walk.

The fourth annual Preterist Pilgrim Weekend will be held in Ardmore, Oklahoma July 15-17th. Don Preston has announced the guest speakers scheduled are Jack Scott and William Bell. The theme is APutting the Pieces Of The Puzzle Together@ and will be a great opportunity for those new to the study of covenant eschatology. The events start late Saturday afternoon so those of you within driving distance will only need to spend one night away. Things wrap up mid-afternoon on Sunday. There is no charge for the weekend but you must register.

I=ve been studying the book of Joshua lately. Every time I revisit a text, I amazed at the things which capture my attention that previously did not. My present reading of the conquest of the promised land has been no exception. God promised the Hebrews the land, but He also commanded them to fight for it. Prior to crossing the Jordan, He instructed the people to utterly destroy the people who were nearby. They could offer terms of peace (and servitude) to distant enemies, but no one near them was to be left alive.

In the ninth chapter, we read the story of the Gibeonites. Like the other peoples in the region, they heard about what happened in Egypt, Jericho and elsewhere, but they devised a plan to escape with their lives. They sent a delegation to meet with Joshua which claimed to be from a far country. They put on worn out clothes and shoes, and took dry bread and worn out wineskins to make their claim seem credible. Joshua was suspicious but believed them even though they dodged his question about where they were from. Believing them to be from afar, he made a covenant with them making their people his servants and sparing their lives. The ninth chapter goes on to record the conquest and just three days away from Gilgal, the Hebrews encounter the Gibeonites. The people complain about their leaders agreeing to spare them, but they honor the covenant and later find themselves defending the very people God had commanded them to utterly destroy. Ultimately, Saul=s family killed the Gibeonites and David was forced to give them seven men from the family to be hanged because they transgressed the covenant. I=m running out of space so I=ll leave it to you to read the details.

Application: Don=t make covenants with those you don=t know. Specific application: Many Christians have made at least an informal covenant with those they don=t really know in the political arena. They put on the right clothes to win the approval of those who are not diligent. I know, I was for years persuaded by their fabrications. Now I know better.

If you=ve bought into the old wineskins and dry bread routine of the entrenched political establishment, I urge you to 1) re-educate yourself about our duty as the rulers in this country and 2) seriously investigate those to whom you give your vote. It is way past time for Christians to quit making covenants with those who, unknown to them, are really their enemies and the enemies of God.

The Apprentice=s Journal

I=m really late this month so I appreciate your patience. After 20+ years of self-employment and a couple of years of unemployment, God has provided a job for me at least through the tax season. I was raised with a strong work ethic and it is so good to be working again. I praise God for the opportunity and am so thankful for the graciousness of the friends through whom it was provided. At the same time, it has been no small challenge to do the things which I previously did with the time unemployment made available. This newsletter is one of those things! I=m slowly getting the pieces re-arranged and hope to do better next month. Now, if it will ever quit raining maybe I can make the time to get the yard back in shape! Like recent years, the garden is still out of the question. It is just too wet. Maybe I=ll dig it out and just plant rice.(

©Copyright 2005 ~ Permission to reprint for personal, non-profit use is hereby granted, providing that the context of the quote is maintained and credit is given to The Carpenter's Apprentice.

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