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INTRODUCTION:
If you have a Bible we’re going to be in the book of Jonah this morning.
The theme that I was assigned for this chapel message is the theme of Detours.
Detours are inevitable in this life.
You can be going along just fine and BAM God throws throws you a curve ball and confronts you with a choice.
If you’re hoping to end up there, then you’re going to have to go through here.
If you want to get to your desired destination - this road is no longer an option.
If you’re a follower of Jesus you might think of those moments as a crisis of faith.
You’re confronted with a binary choice: no nuance or grey.
You can either do what God wants or you can do what YOU want.
Obedience or disobedience.
Faith or unbelief.
God or self.
Intro to Jonah
Jonah was confronted with that kind of a choice.
Most people, if they grew up in church, hear Jonah and think what? - The whale! (although it’s not a whale - it’s a great fish).
But Jonah is not a story about a fish (only gets 3 verses)
Jonah is a story about a great God, a rebellious prophet and God’s amazing grace towards undeserving people.
For those of you who like to take notes my message today falls under four headings:
God calls.
Jonah runs.
God pursues.
Jonah surrenders.
What I hope to show you through Jonah’s life is that disobedience is a detour.
Running from God’s will puts you on a detour to God’s blessing.
It doesn’t matter what area of life we’re talking about: relationships, your education, money, power, your career.
For EVERYTHING under the sun God has a design.
He has shown us what is good.
When we decide to reject that design and go our own way we cut of ourselves off from the blessing he wants to give.
God Calls
Lets pick it up in Jonah 1:1-2 with the call of God on Jonah’s life.
Jonah 1:1–2 (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.”
Let me set the scene here for just a few minutes.
Verse 1 says the “Word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai...” That phrase, “the word of the Lord came to...” is the same phrase that is used of ALL the prophets.
You might think of Jonah like you’d think of Isaiah or Jeremiah or any of the other OT prophets.
His job description is to hear from God and tell other people what God says.
Today - Jonah would’ve been like a Billy Graham.
Well known.
Respected.
Politically influential.
The works.
In this instance, God tells Jonah to get up and “go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.”
So we can see two things about Nineveh from this passage.
It was a very large city.
It was a very wicked city.
A Challenging Request
First, it was very large.
It was a capital city for the Assyrian empire pack in the day.
(just east of the Tigris river opposite modern day Mosul, Iraq).
It had these huge fortified walls…so thick that three chariots could run parallel across it.
(it would take Jonah three whole days just to travel from one side to the next) In other words, we’re talking about an Austin, TX not an Abilene, TX.
It was also very wicked.
Historians have discovered evidence that the people of Nineveh were some cruelest people of the ancient world.
Skinning enemies alive, fly skins like flags over walls.
Pull out tongues, nail them to ground, languishing in thirst.
Rape women & children and empale enemies on sticks outside gates.
They weren’t the biggest army in the world so they had to persuade people not to mess with them by their utter brutality.
“This is what happens when you oppose the Assyrians.”
The hatred was mutual.
THESE were the people Jonah was being asked to preach against.
Jonah - a Jew from Israel who just happened to be an enemy combatant on their southern border.
A Compelling Reason
This would’ve been equivalent to asking Ben Shapiro to walk into the middle of Afganistan and give a speech about the glories of American capitalism.
There was THAT level of hostility and prejudice between Jonah and the Ninevites.
But the Lord was actually inviting Jonah into something amazing.
Yes scary.
Yes at odds with where his heart was at emotionally speaking.
But he was about to change history for the city of Nineveh and he wanted Jonah to play apart.
He was inviting Jonah into something HARD but it was also an invitation into something GOOD.
Jonah Runs
So what does Jonah Do?
We find out in Jonah 1:3
Jonah 1:3 (CSB)
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.
Notice the play on words here.
The word of the Lord comes to Jonah and says “Get up and go to Nineveh!”
Verse three says, “Jonah got up to flee TO TARSHISH - away from the Lord’s presence.”
And when it says Tarshish was “away” from the Lord’s presence it doesn’t mean kinda sorta away.
It was 180 degrees in the opposite direction as far as Jonah could get.
(I wish I would’ve sent in a graphic to show you this)
Jonah went DOWN to Joppa (a few miles south located on coast of Mediterranean sea) and boarded a ship to sail 2,500 miles WEST in the opposite direction of Nineveh.
Jonah is not confused.
This is not an accident.
God says go EAST and Jonah goes WEST.
And in going West he choses to go AWAY from the Lord’s presence.
God calls.
Jonah runs.
Everybody Runs
Here’s what I know.
Jonah’s not the only person who hears God’s call and decides to run in the opposite direction.
I’ve run from God.
I bet there’s been at least a recent season in your life that YOU’VE run from God (if you’re not actively running from God right now.)
It’s part of what it means to be human.
There’s something wrong and broken in our hearts.
I’m sure, in Jonah’s case, he was justifying his rebellion against God all the way down to Joppa.
These Ninevites are brutal.
I’m Jewish.
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