Jonah: Is God Out to Get Me?

God Is For Us

WELCOME

Romans 8:31-32—What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

Welcome! (in-person/online)

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in Jonah. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 2 quick announcements

1) TableTalk (Sunday nights at 5:30 beginning May 30)

Four words: Flexible, Informal, Brief, Relational

Flexible—devotional sermons, studies on various topics, singing, prayer, testimonies, communion

Informal—tables not rows; loose structure

Brief—30 minutes tops; no childcare; stay as little or long as you like afterwards

Relational—goal is to spend time together. BYOD!

2) Don Frensley

First called pastor in June 1983

Led the church to build most of the buildings that are still blessing us today

Faithfully pastored PBC for fifteen years: from 1983-1993 and then from 1997-2002

Now direct your attention to Jonah 2 as Louise Bright comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Jonah 2)

Prayer of Praise (Louise Bright)

Behold He Comes

Rescuer

Prayer of Confession (Pride)

Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer

NCC#21 & Pastoral Prayer (Mike Klaassen)

SERMON

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” [1]

So began A.W. Tozer in his bestselling book, The Knowledge of the Holy.

He continues:

“For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like." [2]

What comes into your mind when you think about God? In your deep heart, what do you conceive God to be like?

Cosmic grandpa

Divine butler

In this room: more likely we perceive God to be a stern, harsh, judge with a cold, easily offended, brittle heart. If you’re honest, you often feel that God is out to get you.

This is why we attempt to bargain with God to alleviate our pain. “If I give God what He wants, He’ll be nice to me.”

This is often our first response when we suffer is “what did I do to deserve this?”

This is why we feel like we cannot approach God to confess our sin. “He’s too mad, I need to let Him cool off first!”

The message of Jonah teaches us that God isn’t out to get His children. He is determined to show His mercy to them and through them.

Turn to Jonah 1

SHOW TIMELINE

It’s around 760 B.C.

About 170 years earlier, the Kingdom of Israel was split into two kingdoms

Amos, the farmer from the southern kingdom of Judah is prophesying judgment against the northern kingdom

Around the same time, 2 Kings 14 tells us that the the northern kingdom’s boundaries expanded according to Jonah’s prophecy

Which prophet do you think was more popular? The southern farmer, Amos, who’s preaching judgment against the north? Or the local guy, Jonah, who prophesies and the northern kingdom gets bigger?

All of that happened before our story begins. By the time the story is over, Jonah has endured a storm, near drowning, three days in a fish’s belly, an annoying worm, a scorching east wind, and untold humiliation.

Perhaps even Jonah sometimes wondered if God was out to get him.

But God wasn’t out to get Jonah. He was determined to show His mercy to Jonah and through Jonah.

In the midst of everything bad that’s happening to Jonah in this book, I want you to notice. . .

Six Moments of Mercy:

1) God CALLS the Unlikely.

Jonah 1:1-2—Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

It was the most prominent city in Assyria, Israel’s neighbors to the Northeast

But Jonah was an unlikely missionary to send to Nineveh. . .

The Israelites hated the Assyrians

They were perennial enemies of the Jewish people

They were notoriously and brutally violent

They were pagans who worshiped the sun and a host of other gods

PICTURE OF JONAH AS A MOUSE

Think about the group of people that would be hardest for you to love, a group whose very existence poses a threat to our nation, our morals, and our religious sensibilities: Radical Islamic terrorism.

If God called you to take the Gospel to the Taliban, would it feel like mercy to you? Would it feel like God was out to get you?

One of the reasons we sometimes feel like God is out to get us is because we’re thinking too much about us.

How would it feel to the extremist who heard the Gospel and believed it? Would it seem like mercy to him?

Christian: God calls you to endure hardship so that others may be drawn to Himself! That’s mercy!

“But what if I don’t want to do what God wants me to do?”

God does’t give up. Consider the second moment of mercy in the book of Jonah.

2) God PURSUES the Unruly.

Of course, Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.

Sally Lloyd-Jones—buys a ticket to “not-Nineveh’”

Tarshish is thousands of miles in the wrong direction!!!

SHOW TARSHISH MAP

What is God going to do about it?

Jonah 1:4—But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

This storm is no coincidence, GOD sent the storm!

It turns out Jonah was sleeping through the storm in the bottom of the ship. So the sailors wake him up and Jonah eventually admits that he’s running from God

Jonah 1:11-12—Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Jonah admits what the reader has already learned. God sent the storm. He’s pursuing His rebellious prophet.

Perhaps Jonah felt like God was out to get him. Often God’s pursuit doesn’t feel like mercy, but it is.

One popular TV preacher says this: “My friend, God is a gentleman, and He will never force you to move into a place you don’t want to be. Since He cares for you so much, He desires that you walk in complete liberty, and He respects your boundaries, even if that means that you don’t experience His best.” [3]

Imagine after the service you see your child running towards Wythe Creek Road with a tractor trailer oncoming. If you loved them you, would you be a gentleman?

One of the reasons we sometimes feel like God is out to get us is because we’re thinking too much about right now. Sometimes when God pursues us it hurts. We want the pain to be over. But what if He stopped pursuing us entirely? That would be hell.

C.S. Lewis—“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."

"So what should I do if I’ve been running from God?”

We see an answer in the third moment of mercy in the book of Jonah. . .

3) God HEARS the Undeserving.

Jonah is thrown overboard by the sailors and the sea calms down

But what about Jonah?

Jonah 1:17—And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Now I wonder if you were swallowed by a great fish if you would be tempted to think that God was out to get you.

Just imagine what it was like for Jonah. . .

He can feel the soft and slimy innards of the fish's belly

He can smell the putrefying scent of the fish's digestion

He can hear the muffled echoes of his own voice

He can feel the hunger pangs from his own stomach

But he can see nothing

This doesn’t feel like mercy, but it is!

Jonah recognizes this to be mercy in his prayer in chapter 2. . .

Jonah 2:1-2—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.

Here’s the amazing thing: God hears Jonah even though Jonah doesn’t deserve to be heard!

Your life might be a mess right now. And you know it’s your fault. And you tell yourself, “I can’t cry out to God for help. I deserve this.”

God is merciful! He rescues Jonah even though Jonah deserves to drown!

Maybe you say, “Well God isn’t helping me! I’ve tried asking for help and He’s done nothing!”

I know what that feels like. But remember, you can’t see the full picture!

God rescues in the nick of time

Jonah 2:7—When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.

God doesn’t send a fish to rescue Jonah right away. Jonah is blacking out! He’s drowning! Then at the nick of time God answers!!!

God rescues in stages

Surely Jonah didn’t pray for rescue by fish swallowing.

You probably don’t feel like what you’re experiencing is mercy. . . . yet. But your story isn’t over!

Mike Insley

His wife Gloria had been praying for decades that God would save him

Visited him once or twice

Easter 2018—“You almost got me today!”

A few months later, Mike was on his boat with his family when he dove in the water, hit the bottom and fractured his spine in three places

It was a miracle Mike’s body even survived that day. But God did more than that.

That night I walked into Riverside Pavilion to see Mike and the first thing he said to

"Maybe God can deliver me out of this mess that I’m in, but I can never be useful to Him again”

If you feel that way, consider the fourth moment of mercy in the book of Jonah. . .

4) God RESTORES the Unworthy.

Jonah 2:10-3:3—And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

God gives Jonah a second chance!!! Why?!?

God is a God who restores the unworthy. . .

Moses was once a murderer . . . yet God used him to deliver his people

Rahab was once a prostitute . . . yet God used her to protect his people

David was once an adulterer and a murderer . . . yet God promised him a kingdom that would never pass away

Mary Magdalene once had seven demons . . . yet she was one of the first to see Jesus

Peter was once an overconfident disciple who denied Jesus . . . yet God used him to save thousands and launch the first church

Paul was once a murderer who persecuted Christians . . . yet God used him to write most of the NT

Do you feel too far gone?

I did too once. At 12 felt called to be in ministry > went to Christian college to study for ministry > wasn’t living for the Lord > Brother died > ran further from God > totally new friend group > dove headfirst into sin > started listening to emo music > changed major from pastoral ministry (eventually) to business

God didn’t stop pursuing me. He didn’t give up on me. I wasn’t restored right away. But step by step He brought me to where I am today.

Luke 5:30-31—The Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at [Jesus’] disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

You’re not too far gone! Repent and be restored!

"But what about holiness? Doesn’t God have expectations for us?”

The fact that God is a God of second chances does nothing to tarnish His holiness. We see that in the fifth mercy moment in the book of Jonah. . .

5) God CONFRONTS the Uncaring.

Harvey Dent—"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Most children’s Bibles end with chapter 3. Jonah preaches in Nineveh and the people repent! Happy ending!!!

The Bible is far too honest and realistic for that.

The book of Jonah doesn’t allow Jonah to die a hero. It lasts long enough for him to become an even darker villain.

Jonah 3:10-4:3—When God saw what [the Ninevites] did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 

Jonah wants mercy for him, but not mercy for them

He’d rather die than live in a world where Nineveh lives

Do you ever feel like that, Christian? Do you ever want people to suffer because they’ve hurt you?

God refuses to let Jonah (or us) remain in our miserable, uncaring state. In His mercy He confronts Jonah. . .

Jonah 4:4-10—And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

Spilling the meatballs > “It’s okay daddy.” > “Maybe God is trying to teach you a lesson.” > “That’s nice of him” > “Do you do well to be angry for the meatballs?” > Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!”

“Why is God so determined to do this? What if I’m comfortable how I am?” Remember, God is determined to show His mercy to you and through you. We see that in the final mercy moment. . .

6) God LOVES the Unable.

Jonah 4:10-11—And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Debate on the 120,000

Could be children, mentally handicapped people

Could be talking about people who are spiritual state of the Ninevites—they don’t know right from left. They’re clueless spiritually!

Either way, what does this show us about the heart of God?!? He is bent to show mercy!!!

Dane Ortlund—“God is unswervingly just. But what is his disposition? What is he on the edge of his seat eager to do? If you catch me off guard, what will leap out of me before I have time to regain composure will likely be grouchiness. If you catch God off guard, what leaps out most freely is blessing. The impulse to do good. The desire to swallow us up in joy."

How can God be so merciful to us?

He's not weak. The book of Jonah teaches us that He controls storms, dice, fish, plants, winds, worms, and the hearts of man.

God can be gracious because almost 800 years after Jonah preached in Nineveh, the Bible tells us about another Missionary, the One that the story of Jonah is ultimately pointing to. . .

Like Jonah, this Missionary was sent to a wicked people.

But unlike Jonah, He obeyed willingly.

Like Jonah, this Missionary once fell asleep in a boat in the middle of a storm.

But unlike Jonah, His sleep was not the sleep of disobedient indifference, but the sleep of obedient exhaustion.

Like Jonah, the sailors awoke this Missionary and said, "We're going to die! Don't you care?"

But unlike Jonah, that Missionary was not a hypocrite. He did care for His people.

Like Jonah the sea was miraculously calmed. Jonah told the sailors, "If I perish, you will survive. If I die, you will live. Throw me in and the storm will be calm."

But unlike Jonah, this greater Missionary calmed the storm with His voice.

We all know that Jesus didn’t calm the storm by getting thrown overboard . . . or did He?

One day, another storm would come. One day, an ultimate storm would cover the earth.

The storm of the wrath of an almighty God.

Our sins—and the sins of Jonah—had to be punished.

The storm of eternal justice brewed for thousands of years until One day that Great Missionary, Jesus Christ, told the world: "If I perish, you will survive. If I die, you will live. Throw me in and the storm will be calm."

And Christ was crucified. He died so we might live.

And Jesus tells us that just like Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish until finally that beast could hold him no longer, Jesus spent three days in the belly of the earth until the grave could hold Him no longer.

That's how God can be so merciful to us!!!

Not a Christian: He's not out to get you. He’s determined to show His mercy to you, if you will but repent and believe.

"God I’m sorry. I’ve sinned. I deserve your wrath. Forgive me. But I believe Jesus lived the life I should’ve lived. And died the death I should’ve died. And rose from death in my place. I give Him my life. Save me!

If you pray something like that, go to the white flag

Christian: He’s not out to get you. He’s determined to show His mercy through you, so if you’ve been loved like this love like this.

His Mercy Is More

Benediction (Romans 8:38-39)