When God Calls and We Run
Notes
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Claim (of the passage): God will spread his grace through his people however reluctant they are.
Focus (of the sermon): Running from God’s call to evangelism is only going to make our lives harder.
Function (for the congregation): To be enthralled by the unrelenting grace of God so we are ready to accept the call to evangelism.
PRAY
Once upon a time there was a man called Jonah, son of Amittai. He lived around the time of 800BC, and the Word of the Lord came to him:
“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
jon 1 w-
Well, Jonah ‘s not exactly your typical OT prophet hero!
Bit of a muppet - running from God like that.
He calls himself a worshiper of God in v9 - yeah right.
I’ve known goldfish to show more loyalty to their masters than him!
He’s laughable.
There he is making his bed having got up and enjoyed a cup of tea, when...
“Jonah! - Go tell some people in Nineveh that they are doing wrong and need to repent!”
BANG - he’s out the front....
“no, no, no, no. no - this is worse than jury service!
I have to act on my beliefs!
I have to do something hard, awkard, potenitally dangerous, for God!
And What will they think of me if I tell them to repent!”
“you’ve got to be kidding, not me, not them,
...come on think, think, where’s the furthest place from God I can think of.....
yes, Tarshish, that’s it, come on,
this is what those Pilates classes were for,
so I can run like mad all the way to Joppa and get the first boat out of here.”
What a muppet,
what a coward,
what a terrible example
what a self-centred plonker..
We find out later in chapter 4,
that he basically didn’t want to tell the Ninevites about God
becasue of how it would make him look.
They might think he is laughable, stupid, mistaken.
You see Jonah didn’t like..
1 - The unacceptable grace of God
1 - The unacceptable grace of God
And that is what we’re calling this series in the book of Jonah.
And right out the starting gates - God’s grace is unacceptable to Jonah.
You’ve got them wrong God - don’t send me there.
They don’t deserve grace.
I don’t deserve to be ridiculed or made a fool of.
I do not want to have the inconvenience of this!
Once upon a time there was a man called Jonah.... and he was a terrible example to us.
He was as useless as a helicopter ejector seat,
Diet water
See through curtains
or the
The M6 Toll road.
PAUSE
Once upon a time, there was a man, or woman, called Christian. And the word of the Lord came to Christian by way of the bible in Mark 16v15.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers.
But Christian ran away from that responsibility.
Citing all sorts of excuses.
Christian ran away towards the 'City of comfort’.
It was the furthest place they knew from God.
With the benefit of their keep fit regime -
They ran all the way to the port of Pride,
and found a ship heading for ‘comfort’ and boarded it.
What luck, the hull of the boat was full of sand,
so when trouble and storms came,
Christian could just bury his or her head in the sand, and pretend the problem wasn’t there!
The unacceptable grace of God.
Do we really have to tell others about Jesus?
Does God really want to save even the worst of people.
What about murders or rapists.
What about Muslims.
Or traffic wardens.
What about my colleagues,
family,
neighbours.
Does God really want me to tell them about Jesus.
They’ll laugh at me,
ridicule me,
The unacceptable grace of God.
I think I prefer the far away city of ‘comfort’.
---
Let me park that thought with you for a moment.
We’re going to play a quick word association game.
I call out a word, and you respond instantly with the first thing that comes into your head.
So, if I say ‘Pizza’ you might say ‘pepperoni’
Here we go...
‘dead’
‘car’
beach
Jonah
Everybody knows something about Jonah!
He’s that guy who was supposedly swallowed by a huge fish!
The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah 5. Theology
“Men have been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to see the great God.”
But that is not the most important thing we are going to learn about from this book.
In fact, the bit about the fish takes up just 2 verses in the whole book
But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
.
This book is also not, believe it or not, about Jonah as such.
Of course he is the main character we follow.
And he will make plenty of mistakes for us to learn from.
We’ll be able to relate ourselves to him all too easily,
and that will be helpful.
But i want to put it to you, that the book of Jonah is actually all about God’s grace.
You see Jonah didn’t like the idea of God’s grace.
The Unacceptable Grace of God.
It was unacceptable to him,
that God would extend his grace in a way that put him out.
Make his life hard, or embarrassed him.
I don’t know exactly what it is that stops you from telling other’s about Jesus.
I wonder if we sometimes find God’s grace unacceptable.
might need to drive this home somehow.
I might loose my job is I speak too much of Jesus at work.
I’m worried that if I speak of my faith then my friends will think I’m weird.
But ultimately it’s going to have something todo with our misunderstanding of his grace.
I can’t give any more money to missions becasue the cat’s birthday is coming up.
Go overseas myself as a missionary! That’s for someone else. Not me.
If i invite my neighbour to church then it might be awkward if they so no.
Prison ministry! Are you kidding - they don’t deserve God’s forgiveness - they’ve made their bed - they can sleep in it.
Why would I pray for Islamic Extremists to find Jesus! They need judgement, not love!
I wonder if we sometimes find God’s grace unacceptable.
Whatever the reason...
I wonder if we sometimes find God’s grace unacceptable.
And when we do find God’s grace unaccpetable -
I wonder
What’s the destination of your boat - what are we living for?
Well, if you do, we need the next lesson in today’s passage.
Are you heading for ‘Comfort’?
Are you heading for
The City of Comfort’?
‘Riches Roundabout?’
Pleasure Island?
Power Tower?
Easy Street?
Family Fort?
Ironically, if we’re on any boat that isn’t to spread the grace of God
- then we are perhaps more undeserving of God’s grace than those we consider it unacceptable for God to show grace to!
Jonah may be a muppet,
but i wonder what the readers of our autobiography would think of us?
But remember - this book is not primarily about Jonah - It’s about God’s grace.
And our next point brings a whole lot of hope into the story.
2 - The Unescapable Grace of God
2 - The Unescapable Grace of God
What happens next to Jonah may not sound much like ‘grace’ at all!
but bare with me..
Good news for the reluctant
A massive storm erupts.
Good news for the idolaters
These are experienced and professional sailors.
Not weekenders to the south coast who are caught unaware.
They are terrified.
1 - The Unacceptable Grace of God
1 - The Unacceptable Grace of God
Overboard goes all the supplies and cargo.
Jonah could not stand to see the wicked given a chance to receive grace - so he runs!
Overboard go their livelihoods - but still they are in-trouble.
2 - The Unescapable Grace of God
2 - The Unescapable Grace of God
Where’s Jonah?
With his head in the sand!
Asleep below deck.
He doesn’t want to know.
Deep down he knows he can’t escape God,
but like a toddler playing hide and seek,
If I cover my eyes, then God can’t see me!
If I bury my head in my office work,
bury my head in looking busy
- then surely the terrible judgement and death that faces all those immediately around me will just ‘puff’ disappear!
Sorry God - I was a little busy to help save my friend from an eternal death.
I had my eyes closed, I didn’t notice!
The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”
Jon 1
Jonah must have known God was on his heels in the storm
- just like we know that God is on our heels when we refuse to tell the gospel to others.
Jonah knows what’s coming as they cast lots.
Straw for you, straw for you, stra
“Just give me a straw” shouts Jonah!
“Oh what a surprise - I’ve pulled the short one!”
He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
jon 1
I’m a good Christain, I read my bible
pray everyday, go to church almost every week!
I’m pretty much, a whole lot better than you guys, who are praying to your made up gods!
Are you Jonah? Are you better?
Are we Grace Chruch? Are we better than those around destined to perish?
As if we can run from God at sea.
As if we can bury our heads in work, or a relationship, or a hobby!
God made it all and is Lord of all!
Can you imagine the looks on the sailors faces!!...
You believe in God who is Lord over all things,
And you are ignoring him!!!!!
Do you see the irony in that!
Actions show our beliefs!
If you’re in the middle of the road and behind you you hear a huge truck heading your way - you move!
Simple!
What Jonah is showing is that he actually believes he knows better than God.
The sailors are stunned at the hypocrisy of Jonah.
The sailors show far more belief than Jonah now..
The sea was getting rougher and rougher. 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,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.
jon 1 11
The is no escape for Jonah.
Jonah was not too impressed that there is nowhere to run or hide from this God of grace - storms (physical or spiritual) will drive him back to obedience to the God of extravagant grace. Of course he doesn't know he will be saved (He hasn’t read the NT passage about never loosing faith) - but he’s not best pleased with God’s reach and sleeps and then chooses death!
3 - The Unrelenting Grace of God.
3 - The Unrelenting Grace of God.
He cannot hide from God.
Nor can we.
Whatever boat you are on - God will pursue you.
The irony again, is that Jonah thinks God’s grace is unacceptable.
Ironically, I think he is right!
But the twist is that he is the one benefiting from the unacceptable grace!
If we were reading the story for the first time - then right now we would think Jonah has got what he deserves!
He’s run from God, so God has brought him to a watery grave!
But far from God bringing judgement upon Jonah - he’s bringing grace.
God will not allow one of His people,
however stuborn,
however reluctant,
however hard they try,
He will not let them escape his grace.
Jonah is being brought back to God.
Jonah is receiving the
Becasue, as we know, he doesn’t drown in the sea - he is saved by a huge fish, and as we’ll see next week, he is brought to repentance, and back into God’s grace.
So, if you’re a Christian, but you’re not living an obediently evangelistic life,
then see that the boat you are on to ‘comfort city’, or ‘pleasure island’ will not save you.
You will find it sinking - maybe not today - but one day it will.
But do not dispair.
Do not bury your head in the sand.
do not resign yourself to failure as Jonah seems todo.
Throw yourself overboard trusting that the unescapable grace of Jesus will restore you again.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
He
Stop fleeing a life dedicated to evangelism - becasue God will keep bringing you back into his grace.
We can’t escape his love.
We can’t remove the power of Jesus’s death and resurection for us!
Get on board the evangelism train.
--
Did God need Jonah specifically to tell of his grace to the Ninevites?
No, I don’t think so -
So why pursue him?
Becasue Jonah was precious and significant in God’s eyes.
He was chosen and dearly loved.
Despite his running.
And it’s the same with us.
Turn back to the God who pursues his loved ones to the ends of the earth.
Enjoy the most glorious ride - and learn to shout about the unacceptable grace of God.
He will sa
Remembering that it is chiefly you and me,
that has benefitted from God’s grace.
You are the one who is unacceptable - and yet he gives you grace none the less!
No, I don’t think so.
And so, finally, there is one more aspect of grace that I think this chapters speaks to us about.
3 - The Unrelenting Grace of God.
3 - The Unrelenting Grace of God.
It’s easy, to read about Jonah,
Feel guilty about how our lives don’t reflect obedience and evangelism.
No, I don’t think so -
To feel guilty about the fact we see others as unworthy of God’s grace
- or at-least unworthy of our sacrifice and effort to tell them about Jesus.
To feel guilty, even when we repent and return to a renewed commitment.
But, there is something else bigger going on.
You see, in Jonah’s rebellion and running,
God brings more and more glory to himself is demonstrating his unrelenting grace.
He just can’t help it! It is God’s nature to show grace!
Of course to Jonah - one of God’s own.
And for Jonah, what a joy he will one day have
- when he realises that God’s grace pursued him relentlessly.
It was not Jonah’s work or efforts, but God’s.
But even more relentless than God’s grace pursuing Jonah,
is to see the relentless outpouring of God’s grace wherever he is mentioned in this book.
It starts with God’s desire for the Ninevites to repent and turn to him.
It continues as God’s grace persues Jonah to the end of the earth
to show him that his grace in unescapeable.
But did you see that even in Jonah’s rebelion - God - uses Jonah to bring God’s grace to others.
Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
jon 1 14-
God is so unrelenting in his grace -
that even in our rebellion and disobedience,
he will use those situations to his glory.
Jonah wouldn’t have known they made sacrifices and vows to the Lord.
He was spluttering in the sea at this point.
We may not see how our rebellion and running is used for the glory of God and the spreading of his relentless grace.
But we can be sure God will.
It’s by no means a reason to run from evangelism!
I trust that is obvious to us all!
But it does mean that as we repent,
turn back to obedience,
enjoy the ride of evangelism,
that we do not need to worry in guilt - as if we may have thwarted God’s plans to save.
No - God will be relentless with his grace
- when we do our best, and when we run away our hardest.
And so we conclude.
So why pursue him?
God’s grace is unacceptable!
It is unescapbale
It is relentless!
And as a result - we cry ‘Glory to God, and we praise his name alone.’
Applic… - Enjoy God’s call, don’t make it hard on yourself - god tell about Jesus!
Applic… - Enjoy God’s call, don’t make it hard on yourself - god tell about Jesus!
Who is Jonah
If you don’t consider yourself a Christian today,
and you’ve listened today as if on the sideline looking in,
then whatever brought you here today,
was a result of God’s relentless grace reaching out to you.
Talk to me afterwards if that’s you.
PRAY