Running From God

Introduction

ILLUST - Ignoring Phone calls

used to be that you took the handset off the hook.

- “Do not disturb” is great. It allows us to keep doing what we want to be doing without being distracted by annoying calls.

- It allows us to get to the call when we are good and ready.

- It puts us in control.

“Do not disturb” is a great new feature for our phones, but it is a horrible feature for our spiritual lives.

I’m convinced that many Christians today go through their lives today with the “Do not disturb” on.

They want to keep on doing what they want to do.

They will get to God when they are good and ready.

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 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.

God Calls. (1:1-2)

God speaks to his people.

“ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.”

“ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.”

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai

This idea of God speaking shows up seven times in the four chapters in Jonah.

This is perhaps one of the most important truths not only in Jonah, but of your life.

God speaks to people. He is not an impersonal force, God knows, sees, and involves himself in the world. You may feel he ignores you, your prayers, the sin and pain you see and feel, but God knows, sees, and acts.

*Where is the Word of the LORD in your life?

The fact that God speaks means two things:

God wants people to know him.

God wants to be involved in their lives.

The Word of the Lord is to be obeyed. There is nothing more authoritative than the word of the Lord.

God spoke everything into existence.

God spoke his words to his people through the prophets.

God sent Jesus who is called the Logos or the Word.

God left us with his word.

*What place does the Word of the LORD have in your life?

* Are you truly open to God’s call?

I am praying for God to call you to a land you never expected so that he can show up in ways you never imagined.

God calls his people to those who are not his people.

God calls to invite and involve us.

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city

It is important to point this out not because we don’t think that God COULD call people to those who do not yet know him, but because I believe many people in the church today don’t think God would call THEM to those who do not yet know God.

Imagine Jonah at this point:

God has already used him to prophesy to his own people - to give them good news - to “preach to the choir.”

Now God has asked him to give God’s message OUTSIDE of his normal boundaries.

It will almost seem as though Jonah never considered the possibility of taking God’s Word would have him leave his comfort zone.

To be like Jonah would be to limit where God would send you. Jonah was ok where it was comfortable, but he ran when it required more.

*Where are the limits you’ve placed on God’s will for your life? - the places you WON’T go, the things you WON’T do, the people you WON’T talk to, the stuff you WON’T give up.

To limit what God might do with your life is for God to not actually have your life. It all needs to be on the table.

God calls to invite and involve us.

Because, what Jonah is missing is that. . .

God calls to invite and involve us.

Sometimes God’s call is as much TO us as it is FOR us.

If you take the whole picture of Jonah what we see in these verses is that God is calling Jonah FOR a task, but what we will see in the end is that God was really calling Jonah TO himself.

What Jonah saw as a call that he believed would be harmful to himself actually turned out to be helpful.

God didn’t NEED Jonah - He could have sent his word to Nineveh from the sky, but he chose to invite and involve Jonah so that he could change Jonah.

Could it be that whatever it is that God is calling you to do that it could be as much for you as it is for those to whom he is calling you to reach?

ILLUST - Just Do It.

ILLUST - Adoption

God’s call may be costly.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

The authority of the call is not in the cost or lack thereof; the authority of the call is in the One who called.

If God is asking you to do something than simply do it.

You are always safer risking everything for what God has called you to do, than you are attempting to control everything for the hopes of safety.

Risk with God is always safer than running from God.

This means if God has called you to sell everything, and move your family to Iraq to share the gospel, you are ultimately safer there than you are running away from him anywhere else.

It is better to risk your job, that relationship, the money, your children, your life for God than to hold onto it for yourself.

*What cost is too great for you to not to do what God is calling you to do? What are you not willing to give up so that people who don’t know Jesus and are ravaged by sin can be saved?

I’m convinced that the church in America is too safe. We don’t know what it is like to risk for Jesus. The greatest risk we face is trying out a new small group or switching brands of coffee.

But what there was a group of believers who were truly willing to risk EVERYTHING for the sake of the gospel - even life and limb? What if we, as a church, were willing to risk: our budget, our building (give it away), our leaders, our children.

What if there were a bold, committed, sold-out group of Christians who made Jesus-first in everything in their lives - what could they NOT accomplish?

I long to be that committed.

I know many will say, “But God never asked me to do anything like that.” Have you ever asked? Have you ever offered everything to God? Maybe God has never called you to risk these things because he already knows the answer of your heart.

Think about the risk Jesus took in coming to Earth. He left heaven KNOWING the cost and still went through with it.

*What cost is too great for you to not to do what God is calling you to do? What are you not willing to give up so that people who don’t know Jesus and are ravaged by sin can be saved?

There is no greater cost to your spiritual life than when you attempt to stay safe apart form God.

Jonah shows us this because in verse three. . .

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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

Jonah Runs. (1:3)

Jonah, the great prophet, the national hero, the super-religious guy hears from God and . . . runs.

God called him to “Arise and go,” and Jonah “Rose and fled.” The exact opposite.

(It’s crazy how Jonah heard God, dropped the mic, and ran away!)

Hearing God is not the same as obeying God.

(It’s crazy how Jonah heard God, dropped the mic, and ran away!)

There are many people who will “Amen” a sermon but not amend their life.

Just because you hear from God does not mean you will automatically obey him.

There was a close relationship of hearing to obedience in the Jewish culture of the Old Testament. In the Hebrew language, to “hear” implied “to hear and obey.”

Ex. - the Shema - “Hear, O Israel. . .”

The word, שׁמע, can be translated as “obey.”

ILLUST - Patrick Vu - 2-3 yo - knew three different languages but none of them well. He would listen to what you said, he would not, smile, and not obey. Why?

Jonah here is demonstrating what I believe many in the church today suffer from where they hear from God - they sit under preaching, they read their devotional, they check off their Bible reading plan, but when it actually comes to their lives, they drop their mic and walk away.

I know this is the case, because in many cases the people of God do not look peculiarly different from the rest of the world. So either they are not hearing the word of the Lord or they are not obeying the word of the Lord.

Running from God shows a lack of faith.

There are lots of reasons we run from God, but honestly, if we are running from God than it is ultimately from a lack of faith because it shows we believe God is not able to provide for or protect us in what he called us to do.

I imagine all of these to some extent played into why Jonah ran, and I believe these all are at work when we run from God.

We run from God when we feel inadequate.

Imagine God asks you to go to Mosul, Iraq and tell the ISIS jihadists that God is not happy with them and he will soon judge them. Are you up for the task? You ready to go?

The original language hints that what God was calling Jonah to do was not a quick thing. It was not a parachute in and out. Jonah would need to stay for some time to declare God’s Word.

If God is omnipotent and can do anything, then it is always the case that whatever I believe I cannot do is based on my perceived limitation and not any actual limitation of God.

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

This is not a verse about winning a football game or opening a can of spaghetti sauce.

Look at

Philippians 4:11–14 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

P

The context of this verse is actually God’s provision through difficulty while following the call to spread of the gospel.

We run from God when we feel prideful / privileged.

Strangely, we will find out later that this is probably the primary reason Jonah ran - He didn’t think the Ninevites deserved God’s mercy. He believed his race, his country, his church, cornered the market on God.

He believed he deserved God’s grace while they did not.

The same grace saves you as that which saves the worst terrorist or mass murder.

We run from God when we fear the cost.

Following God may cost you (your “perfect” life, YOUR dreams, your prosperity) However, running from him will cost far more.

Further in , Paul mentions how the Philippian church helped him when others hadn’t, and in describing their partnership for the gospel:

Philippians 4:19 ESV

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

If God has called you to it, he will supply you for it.

ILLUST - seminary - dad asking how God will provide

Whenever we run from God we display a lack of faith. . .

Running from God’s call requires running from God’s presence.

God’s presence.

What a horrible thing to run from the presence of God.

You cannot be in a good relationship with God and not do what he says.

Tarshish is stated three times to underscore that Jonah is NOT following God’s call.

Nineveh was about 500 mi East

Tarshish was about 2000 mi West

The phrase here is literally, “Jonah fled from the face of the Lord.” When we run from God we are running from his face. However, we can never run from his presence because. . .

Running from God is futile.

Running from God is futile.

I love how Jonah thinks he can run from the presence of the omnipresent God.

Psalm 139:8 ESV

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalm 139:7–8 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

ILLUST - Playing Hide and Seek with my children.

When you run from God, you can only run from his face, not his presence. His face is the place of blessing.

- “The LORD make his face to shine upon you” = place of blessing.

God turned his back on Jesus showing the curse of God

It is a very good thing that we cannot run from the complete presence of God.

Running from God is futile because of the relentless pursuit of a merciful God.

Conclusion

Conclusion

Jonah was the “Son of Amittai” which literally means, “Son of my faithfulness.” Even on the run, Jonah is marked by God’s faithfulness, and that faithfulness will catch up with Jonah and will ultimately save Jonah.

If you are a Christ-follower than you are marked by God’s faithfulness through Jesus. God wants to and will catch you and save you - you just need to stop running.

Maybe you’re here and running from God in a different way. You’ve never given yourself completely to him - you have the “Do not disturb” on. You’ll get into this “Jesus thing” when you are good and ready. God is calling - don’t run.

Are you positioning yourself to hear from God?

Do you really want to hear from him - or do you have limits?

Will you or are you running from his call right now?

PRAY - asking God to speak to you. If you’re running - stop.

Ask God what he would want to call you to if he had all of you - if you held nothing back.

Ask him to reveal to you what it is that you are holding back.