Jonah (Part 1)

Running from God

Jonah 1:1-17

Scripture

Jonah 1:1-17

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Pray

God reveal our hearts these next few weeks

Story 1

Story of being nervous of every time someone says “I need to talk with you”

Application 1

And I say that because as we start this new series tonight we’re going to be looking at a man who’s entire life changed because of a 2-sentence message from God.

For those of who are Christians, we talk a lot about wanting to hear the voice of God. We want to know what his plan for our future is, we want to know what we’re supposed to do with our lives, what decision to make, how things are going to work out. If I asked you “do you want to know what God’s plan is for your life tomorrow?” you’d say yes.

But the story we’re going to read tonight shows that hearing God’s voice is dangerous … because you never know what it might say.

And yet, having said that, I still could not be more excited for this series, because I have a feeling that – “if we’re not careful –there’s no telling where we could get swept off to.”

Notice that this is a story that starts with God speaking. There’s no even “can I tell you something?” God just jumps right in and speaks. And this isn’t a fun thing to hear:

Enemies of Israel: Nineveh – capital of Assyrian Empire. Hostile, war-like people conquering nations all over the place. There hadn’t been any direct conflict with Israel yet, but it was likely coming.

Book probably written well AFTER story of Jonah. Readers then would know that the Assyrians ended up conquering the northern kingdom.

Message – “announce my judgment against it …” When it says wicked it’s not meaning “they don’t go to church on Sunday.” Throughout OT God has prophets speak out against wickedness of surrounding kingdoms – slaughter of innocents, brutal treatment of countries it enslaves, prosperous and greedy. And God tells Jonah “go tell them I’m angry and my wrath is coming.”

like God telling one of us to go to Iran and say “America’s gonna come kick all your butts’”

So God’s voice comes and immediately pushes Jonah out of his comfort zone. And the truth is that this happens to us all the time, right?

For those of you who have been followers of Christ for any length of time, you know how this goes. We pray, read our Bible, go to church, but then in the middle of that God prompts us to do something we don’t want to do:

forgive that person we don’t want to forgive

tell someone about Jesus even though it means risking rejection

deal with that area of our life that isn’t God’s best for us.

And the question then becomes “when we hear God’s voice … what do we do?”

3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

Show map

God says “this way” … he says “sure … YIIIIP!”

It says “hoping to escape the LORD” … THEME OF THE CHAPTER

now this could mean literally, but any good Jewish person knew that God was everywhere.

Some people think “escape the prophetic voice of the LORD”

US: we go to church, worship, learn, sometimes we do this multiple times a week. But that sort of passion more or less ends once we leave the church walls: God’s presence goes here, but no farther.

Me after wednesdays’ message – I deal with this too!

MOSTLY TRUE WHEN IT COMES TO SHARING OUR FAITH WITH OTHERS

Story 2

Story of me watching Lord Of The Rings with my Dad

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Supporting Scripture

Luke 9:23-24

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

Application 2

Three Big Observations:

1) Jonah is absolutely committed to getting away from God.

- “throw me overboard” … there’s no reason to do that. He could just talk to God, repent, and go do what he was supposed to do.

- There’s always a boat willing to take you from God’s will

- Not every “open door” is from God

2) God uses Jonah anyway. Sailors become followers of God.

Whether we are living in obedience to God or not, God is going to use us.

I find this comforting: Tim telling me he sees Jesus in me.

But do we really want to be people who are always on the run, accidentally being used by God to make a marginal difference in the world around us?

Conclusion

Options for us

Bible study – people come, learn, sing, feel good and leave. Whatever impact occurs is internal, and may or may not have any impact on the world out there.

A church – a vibrant, alive community of believers who resolve NOT to be a group of people accidentally used to make a marginal difference in the world around us. Instead, we commit to being a Church, who hears the voice of God, says yes, and boldly moves wherever that takes us.

I want us to be a church where every single week we have stories of someone whose life was changed by the radical love of Jesus.

I want us to be a church that, if we disappeared tomorrow, The Community would FEEL our absence

I want us to be a church that loves people so well that we become legendary as a church that if you’re hurting, if you’re alone, if you need community, that’s the place you find it.

I want us to be a church that makes such a difference that people say “there’s no way THEY’RE the ones doing that. They’re God must be just that big!”

And there’s only one way that’s going to happen. If we, individually and collectively, say yes to God.

Each week of this series we’re going to talk more about where listening to the voice of God takes us, but tonight: will you be willing to say “yes”?

Pray

God help us to hear and Respond to Your Word