The Storm Sending Savior and His Sinful Servant

Introduction

In our lives as humans, there are some people that we encounter who are simply difficult to love. For some this is a rival classmate or a co-worker, for others its someone who is full of themselves, for others its someone who supports a different team or country than we do. We all have people who are difficult for us to get along with and love and we love to justify ourselves and the reason that we have for not getting along with these types of people. Growing up in Ozark it was easy to do this with Nixa athletes and people in general. We were arch rivals in everything. We disliked them and always wanted to beat them and they felt the same way about us in Ozark! You could say that we were enemies and Salem, by the sounds of things at the high school football field, has its fair share of rivals and enemies as well. We have people that we don’t always like because we have differences - we think differently, we live differently, we act differently.

Now imagine the person or group that you don’t like for whatever reason is genuinely wicked and behaving in a way that God hates according to His Word. Not only do you not like them because of where they’re from, but now you might feel justified in disliking them because they’re living in unrepentant sin against God and His Word! This is the situation that Jonah finds himself in. Jonah and the people of Israel hate the Assyrians. The Assyrians are evil, wicked people. They are mean people. They are rivals to the Israelites. It was easy for an Israelite to hate an Assyrian. What’s so shocking in the book of Jonah, though, is that God calls Jonah to go to his enemies and call them to repent and get their act together! Now, it can be hard for us as Christians to call a friend or family member whom we love dearly to get their life right with the Lord… can you imagine going to your most bitter enemy and telling them to straighten up? Why on earth would you go and do this? Why on earth are we supposed to go and take the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of our neighbors and the nations? Because that’s what God calls us to do! See, God commands us to share the Gospel and call others to repent because God has a world-wide plan… The God of the Bible isn’t just interested in one nation, He never has been! He’s always had a worldwide message and a worldwide people.

Jonah was called by God to go and call people towards repentance. This isn’t an “easy” thing by any means, as we’ve established. Now if you add in the fact of “where” he was supposed to go and share this message you see all the more reason for him to be a little concerned and eventually to disobey. As is the case today, though, whenever someone disobey’s there is a consequence. Our passage tonight introduces us to the prophet Jonah and how he disobeys a direct command by God and experiences some consequences as a result.

As we begin this new study that will take us through the end of 2022, a couple quick things to keep in mind.

Contrary to what some might say, we believe that this is a true story as it is said to be in Scripture. Jesus refers to this story in Matthew 12:40 in reference Jonah being in the belly of the fish for 3 days to His death and resurrection.

Not only do we believe that this is a true story, we see in this true story that we are able to relate to it. While we haven’t been in the belly of a large fish, we have all rebelled against God’s Word and we have experienced His forgiveness and grace - as the people of Nineveh experience in this book.

You can’t out run God, regardless of how fast you are. He will find you!

Jonah 1:1–6 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. 4 But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep. 6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”

The Call of Jonah (1-2)

The opening few verses introduce us to 3 key things, who Jonah was, what God wanted him to do and what Jonah’s response was. Let’s examine the first two by looking at Jonah’s call in verses 1-2. The “word of the Lord” came to Jonah. Before we look at anything further, we have to examine what this means. We see references in the New Testament to the “word” being Jesus Christ. John talks about this in John 1

John 1:14 CSB

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Does this mean that the preincarnate Christ came to Jonah and told him this? Perhaps, but scholars note that God relayed his message to prophets through a variety of ways. He spoke through dreams, through a still small voice and sometimes through violent disasters like an earthquake. The point here is simply that Jonah received a message from God that we see clearly in verse 2. But first, who is Jonah? We see absolutely nothing about him in this opening section other than the fact that he is the son of Amittai. Is this all there is to know about this mysterious prophet? 2 Kings 14:25 gives us more information

2 Kings 14:25 CSB

25 He restored Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word the Lord, the God of Israel, had spoken through his servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher.

The king talked about in 2 Kings 14:25 is Jeroboam II, the king of Israel from 782-753 BC. Jonah was alive and active during the reign of this king meaning that the events in this book took place in the first half of the 8th century, BC. This also lets us see that Jonah was a contemporary of other prophets like Amos and Hosea. Now that we know a little bit about this person, what did God call him to do? Go to Nineveh.

Nineveh was well known for its wickedness and torture of others. Sargon II, the leader of the Assyrian army that conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, had a great grandson who tore off the lips and hands of his victims. Another king flayed victims alive. This was nothing new, this was their culture for literally thousands of years! Nineveh was a mighty city and it was well known for its violence and wickedness. Yet, God is aware of their wickedness.

Have you ever encountered someone who says that God doesn’t seem to care about what is going on in our world today? I know that I’ve met people who say things like this. They think that God is simply ignoring us and doesn’t care. We know that God cares for and loves us. We also know that God hates sin. Jonah knew about the power of God. He had experienced it. God called him to simply go and share that this rebellious nation must repent. This is a simple message, but we can definitely understand why Jonah might have been concerned, right?

We can feel concerned about sharing the Gospel message with others. We can feel as though not qualified or even that we are afraid of possibly being persecuted for our faith! These thoughts are fine, but friends we must not respond like Jonah did.

The Rebellion of Jonah (3)

Verse 3 tells us that Jonah did not deal with this call in a successful manner. In fact, you could make the case that Jonah did the exact opposite thing that God called him to do. Rather than going east towards Nineveh, he went west towards Tarshish. He disobeyed and went south to Joppa, a southern seaport in Israel. He was seeking to disobey God. Why would Jonah do such a thing? The answer given by the majority of scholars boils down to 1 thing: fear. Jonah refused to go to Nineveh initially because of fear. Have you ever refused to do something because you were afraid? We can all think of examples of this! I’m reminded of the very first time I went cliff jumping with my friends on Table Rock Lake. I was probably in 5th grade and we were out on the boat with some friends and we came to some cliffs and there were lots of people jumping to the lake below. My friends who were used to this were extremely excited to climb up to the tallest point that people were jumping from. Because there had been a little drought lately the water was down and this jump was close to 30 feet! Because this was my first time doing something like this, I was not a big fan of jumping to the lake nearly 30 feet below me! I was afraid. I climbed down to a shorter cliff and jumped from that point.

I was afraid of something bad happening from this top cliff. Either I would slip and land on the rocks or I would jump and land awkwardly on my head. The difference, that we see in Jonah 4:2, is that Jonah was not afraid for his own safety. He was afraid that the people of Nineveh would repent and not be punished.

Because Jonah did not want Nineveh to experience the chance of grace and forgiveness, he was willing to travel the opposite direction in order to “flee from the presence of the Lord.” How foolish could Jonah be? We know that we cannot flee the presence of the Lord because He see’s everything and He knows everything! Jonah, the prophet of God, disobeyed God’s Word. He hated this nation so much that he would do anything to keep the love and grace of God from them.

God cares about us, doesn’t he? If we are called to be Christlike, what should we care about? We should care about sharing the hope of the Gospel message with others! This means that we tell other people about the importance of repenting and following God. Ask yourself, who do I need to share the Gospel message with? Where do I need to go in order to do this?

The Response of God (4)

As we know, the story does not stop with Jonah’s disobedience. God is in control and God knows what Jonah is doing. I love what Billy Smith says in his commentary on this passage, “The plans of a sovereign God are not so easily thwarted by the stubborn will of a puny prophet.” Sometimes we think that we can fool God, don’t we? Maybe we don’t say those exact words but it’s what we think in our minds. Sinful disobedience is a serious issue! Eric Redmond says this, “God is prepared to break up this ship, drown Jonah, and let all of these idol-worshiping sailors perish, all in response to Jonah’s rebellious actions.” God hates sin because God is holy. Whenever there is sin, we should expect there to be righteous punishment.

Because of Jonah’s sin, God sends forth a great wind and a storm. The Mediterranean Sea was notorious for having severe storms especially in the winter months. These sailors likely were merchants who were pagans but they would have been experienced at sailing in this part of the world. They likely would have had experienced storms in the past but this storm was unique in that it was the Lord who sent this great storm in order to bring about His divine plan of bringing Jonah to Nineveh.

As we talked about this morning, sometimes God moves in mysterious ways to bring about His plans! This is one of those moments and it would have been avoided had Jonah simply gone to Nineveh immediately whenever the Lord called him to do so. Why do you think that we often react like Jonah whenever God calls us to do something?

The Hopelessness of the Crew (5-6)

Whenever you’re not a Christian and you deny the existence of God, you’re going up a creek without a paddle. You have no hope and no sense of direction. These men, who are experienced sailors, are terrified/afraid, they start to throw the cargo, their livelihood, overboard and they begin to pray to their various gods. Do we know another story kind of similar to this one where something happens and there are people acting crazy and praying to a false god? In 1 Kings 18 we see the story of the prophet Elijah going toe to toe with the prophets of Ba’al. These prophets danced for hours and they cut themselves hoping to wake their god up so that he would show up. Do you hear that same desperation here in Jonah from these sailors? I certainly do. We see in the book of Acts in chapter 27 that Paul was shipwrecked en route to Rome and they began to throw their cargo overboard in order to lighten the ship. This was the smart thing to do in such a crazy situation. They did the right thing, they were praying to their gods, yet nothing was happening! Friends, this is how it is for people in our world today! They can do the right thing and they can pray to whatever god they believe in but if it’s not the God of the Bible then they are without hope and they are praying to a god of their own creation!

I love the advice that one preacher gave years ago, “Pray like everything depends on prayer and work like everything depends upon work.” Why do many people wait until a crisis to start praying? This is true of all of us to an extent, isn’t it? Whenever we hit rock bottom or we find ourselves in a serious situation then we will pray and ask God for help but other times we are not as likely to ask God for help. Why are we this way? We, as humans, are sinners and part of being a sinner means that we often think that we know best. This was certainly the case for Jonah.

Verse 5 tells us that Jonah was asleep. He was taking a nap while this storm was wrecking havoc above. Scholars are divided about when Jonah went down to take a nap. Some speculate that he had been sleeping before the storm hit due to exhaustion due to running away from God. Others, though, say that Jonah was aware of the storm initially and sought to run away further and retreat to sleep. While all of these fellow sailors were praying to their false gods, Jonah knew the Living God and could have been sharing this hope with others. He had a great opportunity to evangelize yet he chose to sleep.

I love sleep, but we must not spiritually go to sleep while people around us are at risk of dying without Christ as Lord. We must pray to be alert and aware of the spiritual condition of those around us and that we would faithfully share our faith and hope with them in seasons of uncertainty. As 1 Thessalonians 5:6 shares with us

1 Thessalonians 5:6 CSB

6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled.

Let us be alert and let us share this good news with others, especially those who do not have any hope.

Why Does Jonah’s Story Matter Today?

The story of Jonah is a popular one for many churchgoers. We all know this story and the biggest takeaway for many people is the ongoing debate focusing on the animal that swallowed Jonah. Some say it was a whale. Others say it was a fish. The story of Jonah and his running away from God and eventual going to Nineveh to call them to repent is an extremely timely message for us today. While we likely will not ever be swallowed by a fish, we do know that there are consequences associated with running away from what God is calling us to do. Nothing will satisfy us like doing what God is calling us to do in our lives.

My father felt a call to ministry as a teenager but he suppressed this call for years because of a bad experience with a pastor in Oklahoma City. After he married my mom and moved to Springfield, he began searching for a career he was passionate about. He trained to be an EMT for a while but he refused to give mouth to mouth to a live female in the final stage of his training, because of this he did not pass this training. He then began working at a local ice cream store in Springfield. He became the manager quickly and the store was having their highest sales quarter in history! One day, out of the blue, the owner called him to his office and told him that they were closing all the Springfield stores and that he didn’t have a job anymore. He kept on trying to find something else to put his time and effort into rather than doing what God had called him to do 6-7 years before! After this, he finally submitted to God’s calling and went to SBU to get a degree in ministry. Whenever he submitted to God’s plan, positive things started happening. FBC Springfield had a position they offered him. A member of FBC Springfield paid for his first year’s tuition.

I say all of this to say this: Whenever we follow God’s will and plan for our lives, things go so smoothly. Whenever we fight God’s plan for our lives, nothing we do will work out the way we think that it should.

Let us be people who work on the offense of God’s plan rather than playing reactionary defense - so often we wait until an opportunity presents itself or we wait for someone to ask us a question about Jesus Christ before we react… That’s like playing basketball with a blindfold! Sometimes you’ll be in the right place at the right time, but how much more effective will you be if you go on the offensive? Instead of waiting for God to move on our terms, let’s take our blindfolds off and present the truth of Jesus with others before they ask us about it.

Tony Merida shares that whenever someone asks you what you did over the weekend, talk about something you learned at church on Sunday and give a Gospel presentation. They asked you in the first place!

Finally, let’s invite people to worship our Savior with us each and every week!

Nineveh was a city that was lost and hundreds of thousands of people lived each day with no knowledge of the power and goodness of the God of the Bible. Jonah was called to go and call these people to repent. Jonah was to go and tell these people some bad news - they had acted wickedly against God - and some good news - God wants them to repent and turn from their wickedness.

We live in a community where 2/3 of people don’t come to church on a regular basis. We live in a society that is growing in its godlessness by the day. What is the cure? It’s not hoping that they’d stop acting that way by a miracle… it’s by giving them the hope and truth of the Gospel! We must use actions and words to communicate the message of the Gospel. We must tell others the good news that Jesus alone saves sinners! We must tell people the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:21 as Paul writes

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Our message to others should be to repent, trust in Jesus and live for Him.

There are thousands of people in our city who need to respond to this message today and maybe that person tonight is you… Maybe that person is someone that you know and love… Or, like Jonah, maybe that person is someone that you don’t like all that much. We see an example from our Savior to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. There is no one in our lives who should be “off limits” when it comes to sharing the Gospel with them. There is no one too far gone for the good news of Jesus Christ and there is no one who has wronged us so much that we should desire that they spend eternity separated from God! That should break our heart and we must get to work in sharing the hope of salvation with those God has put around us.