Family

There was once a fisherman he and his wife were blessed with twin sons. They loved the children very much, but couldn’t think of what to name them.

Finally, after a few days, the fisherman said, “Let’s not decide on names right now. If we wait a little while, the names might come to us.”

Many weeks passed, the fisherman and his wife noticed something strange. When they were alone, one of the boys would turn toward the ocean, while the other boy would turn away.

It didn’t matter which way the parents positioned the children, the same child always faced the same direction.

One faced toward the ocean and the other faced away.

“That’s it,” said the fisherman. “Let’s name the boys Towards and Away since one boy is always looking TOWARDS the sea and the other is always looking AWAY.” His wife agreed, and from that point on, the boys were simply known as TOWARDS and AWAY.

The boys grew up and the day came when the fisherman said to his sons, “Boys, it is time that you learned how to make a living from the sea.” So they got everything ready, and away they went.

But something happened. Three whole years passed by. The fisherman’s wife feared that all three of her men had been lost at sea. One day, however, the grieving woman saw a lone man walking toward her house. She recognized him as her husband.

“My goodness! What has happened to my darling boys?” she cried.

The ragged fisherman began to tell his story:

“We were just barely one whole day out to sea when Towards hooked into a great fish. Towards fought long and hard, but the fish was more than his equal. For a whole week they wrestled upon the waves without either of them letting up. Eventually the great fish started to win the battle, and Towards was pulled over the side of our ship. He was swallowed whole, and we never saw either of them again.”

“Oh dear, that must have been terrible!” said his wife. “What a huge fish that must of been!”

“Yes, it was,” said the fisherman, “but you should have seen the one that GOT AWAY. . . .”

Now I know that’s a big joke, and a big investment of time for a little payoff, but it really does relate to my sermon today.

I want to talk to you about family and a great big fish!

Last week, I told you that this year we are going to focus on being a church where people can find a home, family, and acceptance.

Ephesians 2:19–22 CEV

19 You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. 20 You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. 21 Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord. 22 And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God’s own Spirit to live.

You see, we all were once lost. We were strangers and foreigners to God. But now, we have been made right with God through faith in Christ and have found a home, a family, and acceptance.

Home means a place a permanent place in Christ, it’s a dwelling place of God’s spirit in us, and it’s a resting place for us to feel safe and secure.

When we accept the gift of God in Christ then we find a home. But we also find a family.

A family is a group of people that are related by blood or marriage. We have been added to the family of God by the blood of Jesus.

Our church here in Eudora should look at our community as lost family members who need to be found. The truth is that it would be easy to keep our church small and enjoy each other just how it is now, but God is merciful and wants to add more to this family.

We all have a responsibility to reach out in love to let other people know that they have a home here, they are part of a family, and that we accept them just as they are.

This brings me to the scripture we are going to study today. It’s familiar because it’s being taught in Sunday school classes all across the world right now. It’s a popular story and it captures the imagination.

I’m talking about the story of Jonah.

God came to a man named Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh, a wicked city, and “preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me.” In other words, his assigned task was to proclaim God’s judgment on Nineveh’s sins.

But Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the historic enemy of Israel.

In the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., the Assyrians plundered Palestine, looted and burned its cities and deported its inhabitants. In 722-721 B.C., it was Assyria that destroyed the Northern Kingdom.

Jonah hated the Assyrians, and so when God came to him and told him to preach to the people of Nineveh, Jonah went in the opposite direction.

He boarded a ship traveling westward, bound for Tarshish on the coast of Spain, at the opposite end of the known world.

He was fleeing from his calling; he was fleeing from the Lord. Of course, Jonah did not understand that Jehovah is a universal God from whom there is no escape.

God has a purpose for us once we join His family.

We can’t Run from God

You have probably heard sermons before from the book of Jonah on the futility of running from God.

Yet we all do it at some time in our lives. We don’t board right ships. We think God’s plans are for someone else.

We do it with our minds and hearts. We tune God out. We ignore the voice that calls us to serve our neighbor, serve our church, serve our God.

I am convinced we can all benefit from evaluating the will of God in our lives.

Have you discovered your calling from God? I’m not saying you have to have some epiphany type of moment where you hear angels singing. It could be that you’re reading Matthew 6 and recognize that you aren’t seeking the kingdom of God first in life.

It’s hard to find contentment in life until you are doing what God created you to do!

Well, Jonah tried to flee from his calling and from God. But what happened?

You know the story. The ship that he was on encountered a vicious storm and was tossed about on the waves like a toy. The winds and the waves were so fierce that seasoned sailors begged to their gods for mercy.

Finally they cast lots in order to determine who the gods were angry with. “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?” they prayed.

The lot, of course, fell upon Jonah. Jonah confessed that he had displeased his God by seeking to flee from God’s presence. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” Jonah replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come.”

To their credit, these men did not want to throw Jonah overboard. They did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.

Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.”

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.

And the Bible tells us that the Lord appointed a big ol’ fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of that fish for three days and three nights.

Now you say, how can a big fish swallow up a whole man?

Well, I say keep in mind that Jonah was one of the minor prophets! Bad Joke.

Ask this question: What’s my Motivation?

Do you remember that Jesus once talked about the story of Jonah?

Remember how Jesus told skeptics that the only sign that they would receive would be the sign of Jonah?

Christ would emerge from the ground on the third day after his crucifixion just as Jonah had emerged from the belly of the fish.

Jonah was disobedient and proud, Jesus was obedient and humble. Whereas Jonah preached because he had to, Jesus preached because he loved the world. Jesus is a compassionate missionary.

What motivated Christ should motivate us: Love and the desire to add people to the family.

Both were sent to preach repentance (Jonah 3: 1; Matthew 4: 17).

Both preached the Word to the Gentiles (John 4: 1-45).

Both spent three days and three nights in the belly of a beast.

Both Jonah and Jesus are “signs” to their generations and ours as well.

Jonah fled from his calling to preach repentance. Jesus did not but He purposely sought to preach repentance (Matthew 4:17), and He sent the Apostles to do the same ( Luke 24: 47)

Jonah fled from the Presence of the LORD, Jesus always sought the Presence of His Father (Matthew 14:23; Matthew 26:36; Luke 2:49).

Jonah was thrown into the deeps of the sea to save the sailors on that ship (Jonah 1); Jesus was thrown into the depths by us all; forgiving us all and so saving all those who by faith believe on His Name (John 1:12-14)

When we look at the direct comparisons we can’t help but see the differences in motivation.

It might be wise to compare OUR motivations as well. Are we motivated by love and grace, or by our own desires and feelings?

Now we all should know the story up to this point.

The big fish can no longer stomach Jonah after three days and coughs him up on dry land alive and well, and probably pretty much happy to be alive.

At this point the Lord came to Jonah a second time and told him again to go preach to Nineveh. And this time Jonah was in no mood to argue. So he went to Nineveh and preached like he had never preached before. He didn’t want to be fish bait again!

“Forty days,” he cried, “and the Lord will destroy this city. Forty days is all you have to repent.” And something amazing occurred.

Says the scripture, “The people of Nineveh believed God.” They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth all of them, from the greatest to the least.

Even the king of Nineveh repented. He dressed in sackcloth and issued a decree of total surrender to the will of God.

The revival was an astounding success. Every sinner repented. Every heart was changed.

That’s enough to make any preacher excited! But not Jonah.

And then the very thing Jonah feared most occurred. God changed His mind and decided not to destroy Nineveh.

Then we come to some of the most fascinating sentences in all of the Bible:

Jonah 4:1–2 CEV

1 Jonah was really upset and angry. 2 So he prayed: Our Lord, I knew from the very beginning that you wouldn’t destroy Nineveh. That’s why I left my own country and headed for Spain. You are a kind and merciful God, and you are very patient. You always show love, and you don’t like to punish anyone, not even foreigners.

Can you believe that?

Jonah had preached to the Ninevites. They had repented. Because they had repented, God had changed His mind about destroying them.

Us Four and...MORE!

Jonah should have been thrilled. Instead Jonah was so upset that God had changed his mind about destroying these people he was so angry that he asked God to take his life.

You know, family isn’t always easy to deal with. It’s easy to get the idea that we should keep others out to keep the good thing we’ve got going. But God is merciful and full of grace. He is looking for more and more people to come home and join the family.

Our hearts need to desire more people to come to Him. The truth is that reaching the lost is difficult, it’s messy, and it’s like raising kids.

Would we be happy or angry is God added to this family? What if next week someone was sitting in our favorite chair?

Jonah was so angry that he literally wanted to die.

Then Jonah went out on a hill overlooking the city to see what would happen to Nineveh to see if God would acknowledge Jonah’s displeasure. And, at this point, God decides to have a little fun with His cranky old prophet.

God makes a plant grow up near Jonah to shade him while he sits and pouts. And the plant made Jonah really happy.

It’s one thing to have a temper tantrum. It’s another thing to sit all day in the hot sun. If he’s going to sit there until he dies, at least he will do it in comfort.

But then dawn comes the next morning and the Lord sends a worm to attack the plant that is shading Jonah so that it withers and dies. Then God sends a hot east wind, and the sun beats down on Jonah’s head.

The heat is so intense Jonah faints. The heat makes Jonah so uncomfortable and so angry that again he asks God to let him die.

But then God speaks to Jonah. God asks Jonah if he is angry over the plant dying. Jonah answered that of course he is, angry enough to die.

And then God teaches Jonah a lesson which, if we are wise, would teach us a lesson.

Jonah 4:10–11 CEV

10 But the Lord said: You are concerned about a vine that you did not plant or take care of, a vine that grew up in one night and died the next. 11 In that city of Nineveh there are more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot tell right from wrong, and many cattle are also there. Don’t you think I should be concerned about that big city?

And that is how the book of Jonah ends. One scholar suggests that the figure “120,000 persons who do not know right from wrong” is referring to young children in the city which suggests a total population of 1 million or more.

God wants people to find a family in Him. He wants us to invite them in. No matter who comes through those doors, we need to accept them as our family.

God’s love is a universal love. God’s love is as certain for the people of Nineveh as it is for the people of Jerusalem or New York or San Francisco or Phoenix or Birmingham or Eudora - Maybe even Lawrence!

God does not respect nations or races or even religions. God loves all people of all color, rich people, poor people, old people, young people God isn’t interested in labels, professions or even philosophies.

God is only interested in people.

John 3:16–17 CEV

16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!

It doesn’t say, God so loved North America, or English speaking people, or capitalists, or liberals, or anything like that. “God so loved the world” that’s the gospel.

We have to learn to live together. We must learn to respect each other as members of a single family of God.

I mean really, this is what the book of Jonah is about. God loves everybody: Jews and gentiles, Arabs and Africans, the people of Nineveh and the people of Israel.

There is no place in the kingdom of God for any kind of hatred racial, religious, or national. We all belong to one great family, and Christ died for everyone’s sins. Your sins, my sins, but also the sins of our worst enemies.

God has a purpose for you. You’re valuable in the kingdom of God. Sometimes God even allows us to fulfill our purpose even though we aren’t perfected.

Our purpose will always include loving people. I have a challenge for all of us this week. Let’s pray about who God wants us to reach out to in love, and then do it!

Or else you might just find yourself in the belly of a BIG OL’ Fish!