Fear or Rebellion
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Make a joke about Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor is the perfect song for today- Jonah needed an anchor in the middle of the storm, am I right?
WHY JONAH?
Don’t think of Jonah as a tall tale- it isn’t. Don’t think of Jonah as just something about a disobedient prophet. It isn’t. Don’t think of Jonah as just history, it isn’t!
JONAH IS A GREAT COMMISSION BOOK! WE CAN ALL RELATE TO JONAH BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GIVEN A MISSION BY GOD! ITS WHAT WE READ EVERY SUNDAY, ITS MATTHEW 28:18-20!
Similarity to Elijah- encounter death, fall into deep sleep, sit under tree and ask to die, 40 day activity, both disliked by Israel for what they were asked to do
Now, as we dive into Jonah, let’s establish some of the context of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, who was a king of the NORTHERN KINGDOM KNOWN AS ISRAEL.
When Israel split under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, the Southern part became known as Judah. Judah tended to walk closer to God. The northern kingdom, ISRAEL, quickly abandoned God and set up their capital in SAMARIA- which you may remember from the New Testament!
Jeroboam II reigned from 793 BC- 753 BC. His reign was marked by increased wealth and expansion, although Jeroboam was an evil king who REBELLED against God!
Jonah is first mentioned in 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14:23-27
In the fifteenth year of Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash, Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He did not turn away from all the sins Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
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. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter for both slaves and free people. There was no one to help Israel. The Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel under heaven, so he delivered them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.
Jonah brings good news to Jeroboam II!
Jonah would have been a loved prophet because he brings a promise of deliverance!
Jonah was the MAN in Israel! He was a prophet who unlike so many others brought GOOD NEWS!
This is important for our passage today. Jonah seemed to have bee comfortable with his role in Israel.
Now, let’s talk about Jonah as a book a little bit more.
Jonah is a part of the 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament.
These 12 prophets prophesied over the course of about 340 years, chronologically starting with Jonah and ending with Malachi.
The book of Jonah repeats words to add emphasis. Jude used lists, Jonah uses specific words that are repeated. There are two words that I want us to keep in mind as we study Jonah.
These are GADOL and RA!
Gadol means GREAT (SPELL GADOL) and Ra means Evil. (SPELL RA)
We’ll talk more about these as we go through the book, but these words are repeated many times and each time it is important.
The other way that Jonah is organized is around a cause-effect relationship.
Something happens and there is an effect, or something that happens in response!
Now, as we dive into Jonah, there’s a few themes that I want to point out for us to keep in mind.
God’s Heart, Power and Forgiveness
God’s Missional Nature
Rebellion against God’s commission is REBELLION AGAINST GOD!
Repentance
Identity
As we go through Jonah, we’ll see these 5 major themes! Jonah has such a strong focus on God and is also so applicable and challenging for us!
Now, before we dive into Jonah 1, let me remind us of our main point today. Today, our main point is:
“Jonah begins with open rebellion against God by refusing God’s mission. We each are called by God to be on a mission, just like Jonah was called.”
BODY
BODY
With that point in mind, join me as we look at Jonah 1:1-3
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” 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.
Jonah starts his book with something unique. In English it starts “The.” In Hebrew, it starts “AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JONAH.”
So why does that matter? It reminds us that Jonah’s book is part of the larger Biblical Narrative! Jonah is specifically a PROPHET! Now, Jonah’s message is different than most prophets, but just like the other prophets, THE WORD OF GOD comes to Jonah and he is TO OBEY!
This is the first and most important rule of being a prophet! God tells you to do something or to say something, or to GO SOMEWHERE, and you do or say it, OR GO THERE!
Keep that in mind here!
God talks to Jonah and tells him to GET UP and to GO!
He’s commanded to go to Nineveh.
Nineveh is the capital city for the Assyrian Empire.
The Assyrian empire was known for their cruelty and they were Israel’s chief enemies at the time. They were the dominant superpower in the world!
Nineveh was specifically known for two things.
First, it was a GREAT, or VAST city. This is the FIRST of 9 uses of GADOL. It was a city so large that an official visit would take 3 days- a day to arrive, a day to see it, and then a day to depart it!
The second thing that Nineveh was known for was it’s EVIL!
This is the first usage of the word RA.
Ra could be translated as “Bad, wicked, evil, or even NO GOOD.”
That’s Nineveh!
Nineveh wasn’t just a foreign land, it was an BAD, WICKED, EVIL, NO GOOD PLACE TO GO!
I don’t want to spend too long talking about the evil of Nineveh, but let me give a few examples.
These come from writings about Ashurnasirpal II who reigned about 60 years before Jonah was sent to Nineveh.
Listen to what the OFFICIAL acounts of the battles say, “I felled 50 of their fighting men with the sword, burnt 200 captives from them, [and] defeated in a battle on the plain 332 troops…” then in another battle “I captured many troops alive: I cut off of some their arms [and] hands; I cut off of others their noses, ears, [and] extremities. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I made one pile of the living [and] one of heads. I hung their heads on trees around the city.”
I know those are gruesome, but that’s the Assyrians!
And Jonah is told- GO! BRING MY WORD TO THEM! PREACH AGAINST THEM!
So Jonah responds. Now, what is the first rule of being a prophet? It’s doing what GOD TELLS YOU TO DO!
What does Jonah do?
HE DOES THE OPPOSITE!
He goes to Joppa in Phoenicia, which was a neighboring country to the South known for their trade and sailing and finds a ship going to Tarshish which is in Southern Spain and is by Gibraltar and Morocco!
HE GOES AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE!
This journey would have stretched close to 3,000 miles! This was the furthest away destination for him!
He goes the opposite way!
He hears God’s mission and he RUNS!
Check this out with me. We are three verses into Jonah and it already hits me hard with an application!
HOW OFTEN DO I RUN FROM WHAT GOD TELLS ME TO DO?
Maybe it’s talking to that neighbor who I know needs Jesus, maybe it’s avoiding making disciples because of the cost!
When I do that, when WE do that, we are doing the same thing as Jonah!
We are taking God’s mission and we are RUNNING FROM IT
Because what is God’s mission? It’s what we read together EVERY SINGLE WEEK as we end service. (Can we put Matthew 28:19 up on the screen?)
God’s mission is: Matthew 28:19-20
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That’s God’s mission! It was God’s mission for Jonah- go and proclaim truth to them! And it is God’s mission for us today!
The mission for Jonah, and the challenge for us is clear- WILL WE OBEY GOD AND LIVE OUT GOD’S MISSION?
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. 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.
THE LORD, YAHWEH, THE CREATOR OF ALL, GOD OF ALL, OUR PERSONAL GOD, throws a great storm down on Jonah and the Phoenician sailers.
The word here for great is GADOL, the same word used to describe Nineveh.
Gadol is not just used in Jonah. It is also used to describe Cain’s punishment in Genesis 4 David’s victory over Goliath, the return of God’s people in Jeremiah 31, and it is used throughout Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy to describe GOD’S HAND OF PUNISHMENT AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS AND THE CANAANITES.
In all, it is used over 520 times in the Old Testament!
This word describes mountains, victories in battle, God’s power and here it describes the storm that JONAH IS IN!
THIS IS A HUGE STORM!
But it isn’t just that.
The sailors are scared and they call out to their gods.
I love this. The author shows that they are idols. He uses a word that here that is used typically for Baal and Molech, idols of the Canaanites.
They are crying out to the gods of the Canaanites, just like the priests of Baal did when Elijah challenged them.
Yet, there is no RESPONSE!
GOD HAS SHOWN HIMSELF THOUGH!
GOD IS VERY REAL UNLIKE THESE idols.
In fear, these Phoenician sailors start throwing the cargo over the ship.
Phoenician sailors were considered the BEST sailors in the world. Now they are so desperate to lighten the ship that they throw away their cargo which is the ONLY way they will make money on this journey!
Meanwhile, Jonah is asleep. Jonah is sleeping in the bottom of the boat.
In some ways, this might remind us of another situation where someone falls asleep during a storm. That would be JESUS!
Jesus falls asleep while crossing the Sea of Galilee and his disciples think that they will die!
But what does Jesus do?
Jesus commands the storm to stop and it does!
As we approach the next section of our passage, let’s see what Jonah does.
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 captain comes to Jonah and wakes him up!
The captain wants Jonah to PRAY so that maybe they will be saved! The sailors are trying everything they can and they feel hopeless.
“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business, and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”
He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
The sailors panic continues so they cast lots.
Lots were basically just a way of trying to divine God’s will. It could be drawing straws for instance.
Whatever their specific way of doing lots on this boat, the lot comes up as Jonah’s.
Jonah is responsible!
And so they ask WHERE HE IS FROM, AND WHO HE IS!
They want to know WHO JONAH IS! This is AN IDENTITY QUESTION!
Jonah then says that he’s a Hebrew who worships, YAHWEH who made the heavens, the sea and the dry land. But Jonah is just stating facts. Something is off with how he answers this. He’s trying to run FROM GOD. So he’s not much of a witness here!
Friends, Jonah has dropped the ball! As we’ll find out in verse 10, Jonah has already admitted that he is fleeing from GOD!
That’s not exactly your standard prophet behavior.
Jonah is far from the perfect prophet. And that’s exactly where I think it is so easy for US to relate to Jonah! We aren’t perfect either! We fail, we fall short! Yet do you want to hear the great news? GOD USED JONAH, despite his imperfections, and GOD CAN AND WILL USE US!
Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence because he had told them. So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.
The sailors are terrified understandably. Notice the word great- that’s GADOL again!
The sailors ask what he’s done. They aren’t so much confused on WHAT HE’S ACTUALLY DOING, it’s more “WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN?!?!? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”
They know after all that he is fleeing from YAHWEH’S presence. Here’s what Jonah seems to have forgotten. You can go anywhere in the world, but you can never FLEE from GOD’S PRESENCE!
Jonah is in complete disobedience against God! He’s in open and total rebellion.
When we rebel against God and we fix our eyes on something completely against God like Jonah is doing, we will make bad decisions! That’s what Jonah does in fleeing to TARSHISH!
The sailors then ask him what they should do to Jonah so that the sea will calm down.
He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more.
Jonah gives a clear answer. Throw me into the sea and the sea will calm down.
The men don’t want to do it though! They try to reach shore! They don’t want to be seen as murderers, so they try to make land!
Eventually, as they fight against the sea, they realize that they will not make it back to dry land.
So they called out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. The men were seized by great fear of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
As the men admit defeat, they call out to God.
All passage long they have been talking to their gods, likely Phoenician and Canaanite gods like Baal! NOTICE THOUGH, THE WRITER OF JONAH DOESN’T RECORD THESE IDOLS NAMES!
But now these men TURN AND THEY CALL TO YAHWEH! AND THE AUTHOR RECORDS THAT HOLY NAME! The idols aren’t worth mentioning, but our GOD? GOD IS ALWAYS WORTH TALKING ABOUT AND GIVING GLORY TO!
They plead with God asking that their lives are spared even as they prepare to throw Jonah overboard.
These sailors call out to the SAME GOD THAT WE ARE HERE WORSHIPPING TODAY!
Look at this! Even as Jonah has sinned and rebelled, GOD HAS BEEN BROUGHT MORE GLORY!
God has taken Jonah’s rebellion and has used it!
These sailors meanwhile are worried they will be held responsible as murderers. After all, they see NO CHANCE that Jonah makes it to shore safely.
So, they ask God to forgive them.
Look at their wording! (REREAD)! THEY UNDERSTAND GOD MORE THAN JONAH THE PROPHET DOES! These pagan sailors understand that THE LORD DOES WHAT THE LORD PLEASES!
Then, they pick Jonah up and throw him into the sea.
The sea then quiets down just as Jonah said would happen.
Let’s be clear on something- Jonah knows that he messed up by running. Just as we know when we mess up by sinning, Jonah knows that he’s messed up in Jonah 1!
His rebellion against God is highlighted in the text and he’s well aware at this point of how badly he has failed. Being thrown into the sea from his perspective is the right punishment for his rebellion.
I don’t know what Jonah thought, but I doubt that he expected to survive being thrown into the sea.
So we have the rebellious prophet, but then we have something else with the sailors!
They see God’s actions and then they are seized with a GREAT- notice that word- it’s GADOL AGAIN, fear of what?
Not of the storm, but of the LORD!
Then, they offer a sacrifice thanking God for saving their lives!
And as all of this goes on above the water, we read Jonah 1:17
The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
This is probably the most famous verse of Jonah. God sends a great fish- notice the word AGAIN!
It’s a GADOL fish, just like it was a GADOL storm and a GADOL fear of the LORD!
This fish swallows Jonah and Jonah spends three days and 3 nights in its belly.
There’s some foreshadowing here I believe.
Someone else spends 3 days and 3 nights in a dark “tomb.”
GOSPEL!
APPLICATION:
APPLICATION:
Today as we begin Jonah, I have three applications for us. Remember, our main point was: Jonah begins with open rebellion against God by refusing God’s mission. We each are called by God to be on a mission, just like Jonah was called.
Our three applications today are:
1. What am I running from?
2. Who am I?
3. Will I obey God’s mission?
What am I running from?
Jonah 1 deals heavily with the idea of rebellion. And Jonah’s rebellion is seen as he literally RUNS AWAY from God! God tells him to go to Nineveh and Jonah RUNS AWAY!
Jonah refuses to obey.
Yet at the same time, this isn’t just an issue that Jonah faces!
We see this at other places in scripture like with Barak and Gideon in Judges and if we are honest, there are many times that we want to run, or DO run from what God is calling us to do.
So today I want to challenge us to identify, WHAT AM I RUNNING FROM?
Is there something specifically that God has placed on your heart that you are deep down trying to avoid? It’s not a fun question, but it’s an honest question.
WHO AM I?
Jonah wrestles with something as he runs from God. It can be easy to miss it, but Jonah is wrestling with his identity.
We can wrestle with our identity too! In fact, this is one of the growing trends in society!
WHO AM I? WHO MADE ME? WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?
People want AND NEED answers to these questions. Jonah wasn’t sure who he was!
We all can wrestle with this question too.
Fortunately for us, if we have placed our faith in Jesus, then we know where our identity is!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
WE HAVE A NEW IDENTITY!
Our identity is found not in man, but in CHRIST!
Our identity is not found in our work, our nationality, our personality. Our identity is found IN CHRIST!
WE ARE MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE, AND WE HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST! THAT IS OUR IDENTITY!
Friends, I’m preaching this to myself! It is so easy for us to lose sight of WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST!
We can define ourselves through our family, or our jobs, or our hobbies, or what we dream of! But listen, the only thing, AND I MEAN THIS, the ONLY THING that will never let us down is JESUS!
So let me encourage you- take some time this week and practically reflect- HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF?
Will I obey God’s mission?
I can’t think of a better application from Jonah 1 than this simple question.
Just as God gave Jonah a mission, God has given us a mission. We are to go and to MAKE DISCIPLES as we GO!
So my question for us today is 2-fold. First, will I obey? Secondly, if I’m hesitant, what is holding me back?
Sometimes we feel hesitant to obey God because we don’t feel prepared. Sometimes it’s because, like Jonah, we don’t really want to reach THAT person.
Can I give us each a challenge?
If you feel hesitant because you feel unprepared, reach out and let myself or your community group leader know!
I’d love nothing more than to walk with you and to help you grow more comfortable with discipling someone!
Discipleship can sound really intimidating. But let me give you some encouragement. Do you know what the best place to start is in discipleship? SHARE YOUR LIFE! Discipleship can be as simple as inviting someone to follow God as you do! (Paul’s challenge- live as I live!)
On the other hand, if you are struggling with not wanting to reach THAT person, can I challenge you to go to the Lord in prayer about it?
Jonah heard God’s challenge and ran! Let me encourage us to hear God’s challenge and to draw NEAR to God!
Practically this week, let me highlight our 1+1 prayer challenge. (Explain it and highlight how that requires that we GO AND OBEY GOD’S MISSION!)
Let me pray for us.
(Pray) would you stand with us as we worship God together?
Happy Anniversary to Gene and Doris- 62nd!