Gospel Gossips

Jonah 3:1-10 - Jonah: Gospel Gossips Doug Partin - The Christian Church - Oct. 11, 2020 Last week, as we studied this same text, we discovered that Jonah was very successful in his outreach effort to Nineveh. We also discovered that it was not because of his passion, his leadership, his character, his talent, his methods, or his experience, or anything else. It certainly wasn't because of his communication skills. Jonah's "sermon" after all, was only 5 Hebrew words. We also learned that the call for change he proclaimed wasn't tempered with mercy. It was short, but not sweet. The only thing that Jonah had going for him the "second" time the word of the Lord came to him about going to Nineveh was obedience. And once God revealed His Word to Jonah, he was faithful in speaking it to the people. He, in the belly of the fish, learned to trust and obey, even if he wasn't too enthused about it. We also learned that the Ninevites believed, repented, and were hopeful that God might relent. But that is not all, we also learned that they spread the word that Jonah proclaimed. Like today, bad news traveled fast back then. And like a line of dominos set up, one Ninevite knocked into the next, gossiping about what they had heard, and in the end, they all fell down before God. We usually consider gossiping a bad thing. It is aptly defined by Webster as unconstrained conversation about other people than the ones conversing, and it typically involves details that are not confirmed as being true. It could be true, but it might not be true at all. But it is something that those conversing feel compelled to share with one another. Conversations, especially online ones through social media, are full of "Did you hear what soandso did or said or what happened to them? Well, you're not going to believe it." Such gossip has inspired others to create fact checking websites like "Snopes," but even they get it wrong. I want to remind you that the people of Nineveh didn't know Jonah before he arrived, nor His God. He would have been quite the conversation starter, but more than that, the words he spoke rang true to them. They knew all too well why Jonah's God would overthrow them, even if their own gods seemed to be okay with them. In hope that Jonah's God would relent, the King decreed that everyone repent of their "wicked" or as we learned in our previous study, "wandering" ways, and from the violence that was in their own hands. That is an interesting way to describe their character. "Wandering" we understand, but the word translated "violence," meant to do what was wrong, to lay something bare. It was used to describe those who were cruel, unjust, who violated others, and as a general description of those who were on their way to make war. And they weren't just thinking about acting that way, but were using their own hands to make it happen. They were not people of the golden rule. It is interesting that while the King knew about this wide spread problem, he hadn't done anything to confront them about it. But when Jonah came along preaching his 5 words, the people nor the King could ignore any longer. I think that they were tired of living that way, tired of hurting and being hurt. But simply didn't know any other way to live. Didn't know how to break the cycle. And as a result, they were good soil, prepared to receive God's word. The most amazing thing in this story, to me, is not that Jonah survived for 3 days in the belly of a fish, but that everyone in Nineveh repented. God knew that they were ready, and sent His messenger to them. When God saw what they did in response to His word which they were spreading among themselves like wildfire. He graced them. And He is still gracing people today when they respond to His word. When I heard Jane Fonda's name growing up, I didn't think well of her. She was infamous around my house because of her anti-war activism during Vietnam. Although she was a model, and became an academy award winning actress, she continued to advocate choices that we felt harmful. So, in preparing this sermon, I was glad to read her published regrets made years later for living that way and her open apology to veterans that her actions hurt. But there are some who feel that it was too little, too late. And to be honest, I still don't think well of her, and neither do a lot of other people, which is why it made national news when she disclosed that she had been attending worship services at a predominantly black Missionary Baptist Church. A lot of people had heard the rumor and were wondering whether it was true or not, and whether she had changed in any way or not. She went to that church because it was the one that her chauffeur attended, and he is the one who gossiped to her about Jesus. He did so at a time when she was trying to overcome an eating disorder, and realized in that struggle that she was missing something in her life. Although she was raised an atheist, she had considered the claims of Christ at a young age and was drawn to them, but later decided to walk away from them as she grew up. When she committed herself to Jesus at that church, she said that it not only gave her the strength to overcome her eating disorder, but that it gave her a new lease on life; but it also caused her divorce; for when her husband, Ted Turner, found out about it, and she wouldn't turn away from her faith, he wanted to have nothing to do with her. She confirmed her new-found faith during an Oprah interview, wrote a book about her life that included it, and continues to speak of it. She readily admits that she has a long way to go, that she is far from perfect, and that she struggles with certain teachings in the Bible, but claims that she is on the road of following Jesus and is better for it. However, her understanding of following Jesus has also led her to embrace some beliefs that she says, "lay outside of established religion." And she doesn't attend services anymore. Which might explain why in an interview this last week that she only spoke about her past sexual adventures as if they were the best time of her life, and didn't mention her faith at all. If all you had to go on was her version of the gospel, I don't know if you'd end up repenting of your wicked ways and throwing yourself on the mercy of God, as did the Ninevites. Only God's truth brings about that kind of reaction. And when we share God's truth, as did her chauffeur, we don't usually call it gossiping, but preaching or witnessing or sharing our testimony. We just need to make sure, as did Jonah, that we are faithful in speaking what God has said. There are well-known Christians who do, like Kurt Warner, former NFL quarterback of the St. Louis Rams. He printed his own trading cards to give to his fans. No. He want' on an ego trip, the backside of the cards had his testimony on it. He wanted to give something more meaningful than his autograph to those who asked for it. In an interview after throwing the game winning touchdown in Superbowl 34; he was asked, "Kurt, first things first - tell me about the final touchdown pass to Isaac." And Kurt Warner said, "Well, first things first, I've got to thank my Lord and Savior up above - thank you, Jesus!" Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to their franchise's first ever Super Bowl berth by winning the national league championship, Warner's response was similar. Terry Bradshaw was the interviewer this time. And he said, "You're not going to like this, but you're the third oldest quarterback to ever play in the Super Bowl. How does that make you feel?" Kurt Warner said, "Everybody's going to be tired of hearing this, but I never get tired of saying it. There's one reason that I'm standing up on this stage today. That's because of my Lord up above. I've got to say thanks to Jesus; you knew I was going to say that, but I've got to say it. ..." I still have a comic book called, "Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys." It was distributed by Spire Comics, and was used to share the gospel with those who were interested in football, and particularly the Dallas Cowboys. And as a result of it being spread around many people started thinking about their relationship with God, and some, like the Ninevites, repented. Unfortunately, what a lot of the professional sports personalities are advocating today, is not the gospel. But there are still some who do, like Sam Coonrod, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, who stood tall on the opening night ceremonies at Dodger Stadium this year as all his teammates took a knee. The right-handed fast-baller said he chose not to kneel in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) because of his faith. He said in an interview, afterwards, "I meant no ill will by it. I don't think I'm better than anyone. I'm a Christian. I just believe I can't kneel before anything besides God - Jesus Christ. I feel that if I did kneel, I would be a hypocrite, and I don't want to be a hypocrite." And there are other players who are following his example, but they are the few and far between, and sometimes the only one standing up for Jesus on their team. But it wasn't just one person, but a whole city that responded in faith to God's Word in Nineveh. But Nineveh is not the only place where a whole city turned to the Lord. God's own people had done so (more than once). Which also implies that they had wandered away from Him more than once as well. One of those times was when Solomon had just finished building the Temple and was getting ready to dedicate it to God. Solomon was told by God that the Temple would be to Him a house of sacrifice, a place where His people could come to repent. He told Solomon that He might still have to remind His people, on occasion, that they needed to do so by withholding the rain, or causing locust to devour the land, or some other sort of pestilence. But He would only do that sort of thing in hope that His people, who are called by His name, would humble themselves, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. And if they did, He promised to hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. When that word spread, God's people flocked to the Temple to repent. They were ready to do so. But as coming to the Temple became a requirement, and making sacrifices became a ritualized duty, the heart-felt response to God's Word gave way to an obedient form worship that was devoid of any real repentance. God would often have to remind His own people that He did not desire "burnt offerings" but for them to "do justice, love mercy, and live humbly with Him." (Mic. 6:8) And it was Jesus who said that He would destroy the Temple and "rebuild" it in three days. That is, He, because of His death, burial and resurrection, would become the place where people could come to repent and be forgiven. How great it would be if the word of the Lord spread through our nation, or even our city, like gossip, and that those who heard it would believe God and turn from their wicked ways, and the violence in their hands, and be forgiven. I pray for that day to come, but until it does, I will keep sharing God's word around here as I have opportunity. I will, like one who can't keep from sharing a juicy bit of gossip, share how God changed my life. How I deserved His judgement, but received His mercy. And not just way back when, but for those recent times when I have been less than perfect. If you knew that God was going to bring about His judgement in 40 days. Would it compel you to share God's word more fervently? Jesus said that we will never know the day, nor the hour, when God's final judgement will come, so we are to act as if we only have today. So every day is a good day to share with someone the word of the Lord. I'm looking forward to hearing how it went. How someone you shared God's word with turned to Him and was forgiven. That sort of news spreads quickly too. I hope to hear a lot of it. Prayer: Lord, help us faithfully proclaim your word to the people around us whom you love and have prepared to hear your word.