Raising My White Flag

Two collage roommates were lounging on the couch together in their dorm room watching their favorite television show. A little time past by and one of the roommate asked, “Hey, do we have anything to drink, maybe some pop?” Like most poor college students, the one roommate said, “Yeah, but there isn’t much left.” So both of them rushed over to the fridge, and pour an equal amount of pop into both cups. the two litter was drained of all it’s bubbly fluids. Then roommates starred into their cup. The thirsty roommate yelled in frustration, “This is ridiculous, my cup is already half-empty! How is this supposed to last me the entire episode?” The other roommate spoke softly and said, “You’re viewing it all wrong. Before you had nothing and now you have a drink. Your cup is half-full, now let’s go watch our show.”

What was the difference between the two college students? It is people’s perspective. And living in today’s American culture, we understand the vast amounts of opinions and perspectives out there. Turn on your local news channels and you’ll discover that the majority of Americans either have a left or right leaning perspective on the how the country is supposed to be run. People are clashing constantly because they can’t find eye-to-eye on a given topic and if we could see into their perspective and worldview, we could understand where they are coming from.

Your perspective influences everything you do because it’s the lens in which you view the world. As Christians we truly want to see the world not has secular humanist, or through a worldly political party, but desire

However, as I mentioned a couple weeks ago. Your perspective influences everything you do because it’s the lens in which you view and interpret the world. As Christ followers, we don’t want our perspective to resemble our secular humanist friends, or be dictated by our 21st century culture, or shaped by a worldly political party, but we desire our perspective to seen through a heavenly window. As the church, we desperately need to wear Jesus Christ’s glasses and then we can live our lives in accordance of God’s truth and wisdom.

Which In our current series called perspective, we are diving deep in Jonah’s sea to find God’s worldview, because Jonah a prophet of God is wearing the wrong speckles. His self-centeredness is causing him to run away from the presence of God and causing him much grief and affliction.

In our pursuit of wisdom and truth, we must have the proper lens or else known the a biblical perspective. In our current series, we are diving deep in Jonah’s sea to find God’s worldview of all creation.

In chapter one, Jonah is called out by the living God to go preach against the Ninevites. For the people in Nineveh were committing abomination against God which could of included sexual immortality, idolatry, and violence. Regarding to Jonah, he had a deep hatred for these people for they did not belong to his God and they lived unclean lifestyles. So Jonah ran! Rather than preaching a message that could of extended the mercy of God. Jonah wished for his enemies to perish.

In our current series, we are diving deep in Jonah’s sea to find God’s worldview of all creation.

Which brought Jonah into the city called Joppa, where Jonah jumped aboard and headed to a city called Tarshish. In hope of running away, God would give up on the Ninevites and he could have peace from God’s mission.

But Jonah was in for a treat. God was passionate about these outsider Gentiles. The Lord desired the Ninevites to hear about a message of repentance and receive a heart-transplant. The Lord, was not going to let Jonah live in his selfishness at the expense of his enemies lives. So God did what any good parent does when their children isn’t listening. He chases him down!

Following Jonah in the Mediterranean sea, God hurled a storm at the ship in which Jonah was in and eventually the mariners learned he was his fault for why the storm befell on them because Jonah was fleeing the presence of God. So in desperation of survival. The mariners threw Jonah off the boat into the deadly waters. Then watching Jonah swimming for his life, he nearly tasting death. The ravenous sea tried to consumed his body, but suddenly, the storm ceased and Jonah was swallow up.

With that being said, now you can open your bibles to the second chapter of Jonah and to hear from Jonah’s own lips of what he thinks about being consumed not by the waters, but by a fish.

Jonah 2:1–10 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah 2:1 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

Jonah 2:1–9 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah 2:1

Jonah

Jonah 2:1 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

Could you imagine praying inside another living thing? Just picture him in complete darkness, pressing his hands up along the walls of the fish’s acidic stomach. Gasping for air, so he can talk to God. Not like the time before, rather than ignoring a request to pray from the captain. Jonah begins to lift up his prayers to one who was pursing him all along. Jonah prays

Jonah 2:2–9 ESV

2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah 2:2–9 ESV

2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah’s heartfelt prayer

In the belly, Jonah spoke from his heart retelling how God saved his life. This prayer in a nutshell is a praise to Yaweh. As Jonah life was ebbing away from the waters and billows passing over him. The Lord out of his great loving kindness rescued Jonah by sending a large fish to consume him. Doesn't that sound like love? So if you need any ideas for valentine day, go ahead and buy a fish and throw it at them. Apparently that is how God shows his love to people. However, there are a few interesting thought that stick out from Jonah’s prayer which are

Jonah was hopelessly lost to the sea until he called out to God in prayer. Once he did, Jonah was not swallowed up by death, but by a fish that provided life. Even if it wasn’t the life Jonah really wanted.

Jonah had faith that he was going to be delivered from this horrible situation, because he expressed in his prayer as he is being pulled away under the water. He would see God’s temple again. Which means everything as Israelite. The temple in Jerusalem is where heaven touches earth, it was God’s dwelling place during the first covenant with the Israel. That’s why Jonah said later in his prayers that they are sent to God’s holy temple. Jonah believed deep within his heart that God could deliver him even when he was dying.

We find no evidence of confession or sin or a expression of repentance. However, we know his loyalty to not worshipping anything one else other than Yahweh. He praises God while from the belly of the fish and believes he will be delivered from the fish so he can sacrifice to God.

Now we have to ask ourselves, why do I care about Jonah’s prayer? We should care because we battle the same enemies as Jonah. Not the Ninevites, but death itself. The truth is everyone in this room will come face to face with death eventually. We cannot outrun it, hide from it, or delay it, eventually the enemy of death will hurl us underneath itself and try to consume us. Without God who has conquered our enemy, we are hopeless, lost to a water grave.

But what about the days when death is not knocking on our door? But it’

But about the days, when death is not fully attacking, but instead it’s brother - sin.

Most likely on a given day, it’s not going to be death knocking, but our other inconveniences that are going to set us back which are our trials and tribulations and failures. Possibility the trial of dealing with drama in the family, having stress from school or work, managing your household, and failures of choosing from right from wrong. When we are thrown off our course, we are truly sinking. What we learned is to imitate Jonah’s time in the great fish. We are to remember God and turn to him in prayer.

If we want to find freedom from our trials, tribulations and death, we first have to remember God. For he is the only person who can deliver us from any trial, distress, or problem. Everyone else will fail you, but God won’t.

But like I said before, when will delivered time arrive? As we find in the scriptures, deliverance happens when we go to God in prayer and with that statement I believe we our prayers should reflect Jonah’s.

What I mean by that is...

Our heartfelt prayers are

Scriptural

Scriptural

Our prayers are to be filled with the words of God and reciting our prayers with them in mind. (Aligning our hearts with God's will) In Jonah’s prayer we find 14 references to Psalms and Lamentations. So when Jonah is at his lowest point. He lifts up the words of God to God himself. When you memorize and quote scriptures your prayers will be more powerful, bold, and on point for what God wants for your life.

Psalm 3:8 ESV

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah

- the idea of blessing be on your people, which God was extending mercy to the Gentiles.

- the idea of blessing be on your people, which God was extending mercy to the Gentiles.

Psalm 3:8 ESV

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah

Psalm 31:6 ESV

6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.

- We will only trust in God.

- We will only trust in God.

- the idea of blessing be on your people, which God was extending mercy to the Gentiles.

Psalm 18:6 ESV

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

- Our voice reaches the ears of the Lord.

Psalm 31:6 ESV

6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.

- Our voice reaches the ears of the Lord.

- We will only trust in God.

- the idea of blessing be on your people, which God was extending mercy to the Gentiles.

Psalm 18:6 ESV

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

- We will only trust in God.

Our heartfelt prayers are

- Our voice reaches the ears of the Lord.

Filled with praises

We praise God for his steadfast love which is shown through the cross of Christ. Jonah wants to go to the temple of God, where heaven touched earth and offer a tribute to him because of steadfast love for his covenant. We are Christians have a better covenant and our prayers and praise reach to God in heaven. There is no need of an animal sacrifice like Jonah was thinking to offer, because Jesus is the slayed lamb of God. We are to offer of praise of thanksgiving and vow to worship to him because he died so we can live.

Continual

Authentic worshippers will continue to send prayers each day. We as followers of Christ are taught to be praying at least once a day, if not more. , Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and in that prayer. We are commanded to ask daily for our bread, which implies this is a daily occurrence. We don’t only call out in distress, but in all places in all times.

We do this because of what we’ve learn from Jonah’s story.

My deliverance will arrive when I remember God.

For Jonah his deliverance came when he remember God.

Jonah 2:10 ESV

10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

He had another chance, but it was only by God's grace he was saved. God is giving us another chance too. When we face trials, difficulties, and death. Instead of being swallowed alive in those. We can remember God and find salvation. When we remember God, we can find life.

But what about those who fail to remember God? The bible says they will be lost, but those who will be found are those who turn to Jesus Christ in faith and obey the gospel. The pattern of salvation that is found throughout the scriptures are believing, repenting, confession and being baptized into water, then continuing to live faithfully until coming of Christ.

God wants to save us everyday. He wants to redeem us from our sins and patterns of death that we battle. God love you infinitely and there is nothing that will make him hate or despise you. All he desires is you come to him and believe he is able. For we truly have a God that can save, but like I said.

Our deliverance will arrive when I remember God.

Prayer

Lord, I pray that Jonah's prayer becomes our own. Let us turn to you in time of desperation and distress. When death tries to swallow me to whole and consume my life, I pray for my spirit to awaken me and not remain where water and billows pass over me. God help us to remember that only in you is salvation. Everything else outside of your grace fails us, but your are able to redeem us during a moments trouble. God I pray we recognize our brokenness and lift our prayers to you who is able to deliver us from the bondage of death.