Flight Jonah 1:1-6

Everybody loves a good fish story. Whatever kind of fishing you do, you probably have a story. The best parts of the story really aren’t about the fish; they’re about the people you were with, what you were doing, and probably are related to the time you spent out in God’s creation. Some of you have fish tales that you’ve told so often that you’ve forgotten the point of the story, why it was so important or even the punchline of the joke. I believe that the story of Jonah is like that, so this week we are going to take a look at a fish tale.

It is foolishness to flee the calling of God

I. The Foolishness of Obedience vv. 1-2

In our passage this week, we are looking at a very familiar story, the story of Jonah. We are going to find out that it is a story of the character and calling of God

God speaks: He calls Jonah the son of Amittai

It will require him to leave his home and go to an unfamiliar place

He is going to a wicked city, filled with evil

He is going to call out against it with a message of judgment

This is a hard calling, but we must understand that when God calls us it is likely to be costly

This is part of the struggle for any person who pursues a life of faith

We have an enemy that is always working to make obedience feel foolish

Obedience leaves behind comfort- you are unsure of the difficulties that lie ahead

Obedience leaves behind certainty- you are unsure of how things will turn out

Obedience leaves behind clarity- you are unsure how to measure success

However, there is wisdom that is found in the foolishness of obedience!

1 Corinthians 1:26–29

[26] For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (ESV)

II. The Foolishness of Disobedience v. 3

Jonah responds with a greater foolishness: the foolishness of disobedience

Jonah:

Flees from the Lord’s presence

Attempts to work out of his own strength and capability

Opposes the Lord’s purpose

Is there ever any way that this can be good?

You can not run from God

You are not stronger than God

You ought not oppose God

We must be certain of this: God does not allow neutrality as an option!

The foolishness of disobedience is two-fold:

There is the cost of discipline: whatever God has to do to restore you to His intent

There is the cost of disappointment: whatever you missed when you ran from Him

Matthew 7:26–27

[26] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. [27] And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (ESV)

III. The Full Attention of God vv. 4-6

How will God respond to His wayward child?

God pursues Jonah:

With a mighty wind that He throws across the sea at Jonah

In a way that catches the sailors’ attention while Jonah sleeps

It’s a sad business!

Jonah tries to flee God’s mission of making HIm known among the nations and God brings the mission to Jonah

But notice that the people are perishing and the prophet is asleep; in a world that is dying for answers, the church has developed a stutter

Think about the irony of this situation:

God is giving Jonah HIs full attention

A bunch of pagan sailors understand that Jonah has a God who he should reach out to

Jonah is satisfied to try to ignore God

God is paying attention and that is either good news or bad news, depending on your perspective!

Job 7:16–20

[16] I loathe my life; I would not live forever.

Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

[17] What is man, that you make so much of him,

and that you set your heart on him,

[18] visit him every morning

and test him every moment?

[19] How long will you not look away from me,

nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

[20] If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?

Why have you made me your mark?

Why have I become a burden to you? (ESV)

Psalm 8:1–6

How Majestic Is Your Name

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

[1] O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

[2] Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

[3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

[4] what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

[5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

[6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet, (ESV)

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ

And He shows me His plan for me;

The plan of my life as it might have been

Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here and I checked Him there

And I would not yield my will,

Shall I see grief in my Savior's eyes;

Grief though He loves me still?

Oh, He'd have me rich, and I stand there poor,

Stripped of all but His grace,

While my memory runs like a hunted thing

Down the paths I can't retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break

With tears that I cannot shed.

I'll cover my face with my empty hands

And bow my uncrowned head.

No. Lord of the years that are left to me

I yield them to Thy hand.

Take me, make me, mold me

To the pattern Thou hast planned.