Imagine a villain whose evil deeds resulted in the defeat of his nation’s military, the death of 36 innocent soldiers and then death of his entire family. Now imagine if one of the most clear and useful lessons on a vastly important topic could be learned from this villain. Would you be willing to learn from them in spite of all the carnage they produced? Could you value their lesson and not be tempted to let your perceived moral superiority prevent you from acknowledging the truth of their words? Let’s find out.
In the book of Joshua chapter seven, we learn about a man named Achan who rebelled against God and brought about great calamity on the nation of Israel and his family. If you go back to the preceding chapter, you will read the very familiar story of the fall of Jericho. After the walls crashed down, the people of Israel were told to go in and destroy everything in the city – people, livestock and material goods – everything. However, Achan kept and hid some of the valuables, and in the seventh chapter we read about how God withheld His favor from the whole nation of Israel because of Achan’s sin, causing them to be defeated by the people of the town of Ai. When they lost the battle to this inferior army and fear gripped the nation – including their leader, Joshua, who had been commanded multiple times by God to “be strong and courageous” – they knew something was amiss. There was sin in the camp.
Rightly, the leaders of Israel beseeched the Lord to help them, and God commanded them to bring all the people before Him the following day at which time He would reveal to them the guilty party. Achan was singled out as the culprit, and his response, even in light of the sure punishment he was to receive, was worth studying – and imitating.
When we acknowledge our sin, however it was revealed to us – either by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, reading God’s Word, or by means of a brother or sister confronting us (or any combination thereof) – we need to confess it. Although Achan is the villain of the story in Joshua chapter seven, we can certainly learn from his confession. Look at verses 20-21 where it says, “And Achan answered Joshua, ‘Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’”
We see here his confession is rightly-oriented, specific and complete and included four main points.
1. Acknowledgement of transgression against God. Although Achan “sinned against” other people in that he disobeyed his leadership and caused others to die, his foremost sin was against the Lord. This was also true for David when he stole Uriah’s wife and had him killed. In Psalm 51:4, David says to God, “Against You, You only, have I sinned.” This is certainly not to diminish the impact of our sin on others, nor does it absolve us of the responsibility to confess our sin to one another and seek forgiveness from those we’ve sinned against. The point is that sin is first a vertical issue (between us and God) and then a horizontal issue (between us and others).
2. Acknowledgement of specific actions, thoughts or words. In the story above, Achan didn’t just say, “I did something bad” or even “I disobeyed God.” Rather, he is very specific, down to the number of coins and weight of the gold he took. I know from my own experience it’s easy to want to obfuscate, downplay or even deceive when it comes to confessing sin. No one enjoys laying all their dirty laundry out for God or anyone else to see. It’s easier to say, “I struggled with lust today,” especially to a spouse or accountability partner. It’s much harder to say, “I gave into the lust of my flesh and committed sexual immorality today by looking at pornography.” Or saying, “I might have accidentally had a little too much to drink last night,” instead of “I demonstrated a complete lack of self-control and became intoxicated last night.” The soft confession is easier, but much less effective at getting to the root of the issue (see the next point), and when we fail to expose the full ugliness of our sin, it eventually callouses our hearts and makes it easier for us to fall into sin rather than to kill it for the hideous beast that it is.
3. Acknowledgement of motivation. Achan could have just said, “I took x,y and z,” but rather he followed it up by addressing the root sin of covetousness. For us, this is not just saying, “Yeah, I did that bad thing,” but digging into our hearts and being able to add “and this is why I did it.” This is important because identifying root causes of sin can lead to us recognize, confess and kill even more sin, as well as to know how to pray and confess more specifically. Often times root sins manifest themselves in other more visible sins. If I steal something, that’s a sin; but why did I steal it? Did I lack faith in God’s provision? Did I covet what I didn’t have? Do I have a greedy, unbelieving heart? When we confess we should dig down to the next level, and even more levels after that if necessary, to get to the root sin.
4. Acknowledgement in spite of consequences. The whole down-selection process of God revealing to Joshua the guilty party was very public, and there was no question what it was all about or what the consequences would be. Yet, Achan was bold and clear in his confession. In the same way, we need to be willing to confess sin in spite of the ramifications. I know I’ve been reluctant to confess sin because of embarrassment, the potential impact on relationships, and other reasons. This is really tough, but the longer we let sin fester, the worse it gets and, often times, the more we end up sinning. The fallout of sin, even “small” sins, can be devastating, and almost always the pain extends to others; but we need to value holiness over whatever pain or consequences may come from confession. We also need to trust in God and His people to extend grace and forgiveness when genuine confession and repentance takes place. This is where the beauty of the Gospel really shines – when a sinner confesses their sin before God, and then – as necessary and appropriate – to others, and receives grace, forgiveness, reconciliation and hope that is made possible through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is how the confession of a villain can help us today as we seek to kill sin in our lives and live more pleasing to the Lord: acknowledge our transgressions against God; acknowledge our specific actions, thoughts or words; acknowledge our motivations; and do it in spite of consequences, trusting that the power of the Gospel will prevail and reconciliation with both God and other people will be the end result, to the glory of God.
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