Jonah: God calls Jonah...

Hello again and good morning…You know that I love to be here every single Sunday morning, and love that we get to worship together with so many people from all over. As a matter of fact, those of you that are joining us online, go ahead and comment with where you are joining us from. It is such an encouragement to be able to see and hear where everyone is from. We also send out a weekly email telling everyone about what is coming up this next week or month, if you do not receive that then go ahead and send a message and let us know that you would like to receive that weekly email. Of coarse, that offer is for those of you that are here in person as well. If you are not receiving the weekly emails, then please let Raina know and we will get you onto the proper email groups. You can also join us on Facebook and you will be able to stay the most up to date with all of our upcoming events and comments right there in the Leaf River Baptist Community group.

You know, community is so important. I know that becuase as a family we have been through a few hard times. Most of the time we have had a church family to connect with, however, there have been a few times when we did not have a church family to connect with and those times were the hardest times of our married life. I tell you this to remind you about the importance of a Spiritual family and what that means. Listen, as a church we are home to many spiritual orphans who are just trying to survive. I hope that LRBC is a soft place to land as you are seeking God and seeking to follow God with your life. However, you should know something about the way that we do things around here. You see, there are a few things that we believe and there are a few things that we actually put as a priority around here.

First of all, we actually believe that the Bible is literally true. That means that every single word that we will ever read in Scripture is a true thing that was said and written down. Now, there is nuance to what we read, that is that we have to understand what the context is. In other words, a parable that Jesus uses is not a real event, it is a story that Jesus is using to teach. A prophecy may have an impact on the immediate future as well as the distant future. Some things are written in a poetic form, and other things are written in a narrative or even in satire…kind of like the book of Jonah. Last week we talked about the fact that the book of Jonah is actually written in satire, but that doesn’t make it less true, it simply reveals the creativity of God the ultimate author, not just of this book, but of life.

Second, we actually believe that growing in our relationship with the Lord is a priority and that we have something to learn from every single thing that we read in Scripture. As a matter of fact, you will notice in the note sheet that every week there are two questions that are asked. The first question is “What did I learn about God?” That means that every single time I read Scripture I should be learning something about God. The second question is “What did I learn about myself?” That means that every time I read Scripture I should be learning something about myself, and maybe about how God interacts with me.

So, with that said, today we are going to continue our study into Jonah. Specifically today we are going to look at most of chapter one. Today we are going to see what exactly God told Jonah to do and what Jonah’s response to that was. So today, as we are going through this study I want to encourage you to answer these questions about what you learned about God and what you learned about yourself, and maybe ask yourself how you would have responded if you were in Jonah’s place. But first, lets look at...

God’s command—Jonah’s response...

Open up your Bible this morning to Jonah chapter 1. This will be on the Bible app with all of todays notes, or you can follow along on the screen. Listen, as always, if you are here this morning and you don’t have a Bible that you feel you can understand, then I want to invite you to take of of the Bibles that we have in the back as our gift to you. Ok, so let’s look at...

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.

Ok, so lets start off right in the beginning of this book as God is jumping right into the action here. You know it’s actually a bit interesting that we will see the phrase, “The word of the Lord” will appear in this book 7 different times. That is actually alot since this is a relatively short book. This phrase is used throughout the OT over 100 different times, so this is a pretty common way for God words to be recorded. Also, we know that when this phrase comes up God i typically following with some instructions for a prophet. Usually that is what message the prophet should be telling, sometimes it even includes specific instructions for the prophet, like it does here.

Right off the bat we see that God tells Jonah to get up and go to Nineveh. Now, there is somethings you should really know about Nineveh. First of all Nineveh is far away, about 500 miles away from where Jonah is in Samaria. Actually, today the ancient ruins of Nineveh are about 220 miles Northwest of Baghdad, in the Northern part of modern Iraq. For Jonah, this is not an easy trip. Remember, there is not planes, trains, or automobiles to get him there. This is largely walking, or maybe, if he is lucky, he will have a camel. The thing is that they way Jonah would need to travel would be north and then east, so the trip would be closer to about 600 miles.

That’s not the only thing to think about Nineveh though. You see, Nineveh has a particular reputation and that reputation is not one of peace. No, Nineveh has a violent reputation. Actually Nineveh was founded by a man named Nimrod who is the great grandson of Noah. Nimrod was known as a great hunter and has also been linked to the Tower of Babel, and was known as a king that was rebellious against God. Nimrod was the leader of Nineveh and led to a violent history within that city. Nineveh became an increasingly important city in the region and even became the capital of Assyria for a time and was strongly fortified to protect against invaders. Now, there may have been invaders, but besides the walls and physical fortifications, there was also the torture of enemies that would keep away those wishing to invade. You see, the wickedness of Assyrians is confirmed through archeology as there have been remains showing the brutality of this civilization. One leader of Nineveh was accustomed to tearing the lips and hands off of his enemies and another would skin their victims alive and create giant piles of their skulls. So, you see, Jonah has some pretty good excuse for what he is about to do if we are being honest...

The thing is though that God saw the evil of Nineveh. His instructions to Jonah were to have him preach against the evil of Nineveh becuase he has seen their evil. In other words, their evil has gotten bad enough that it was time for something to happen here. I love what theologian Billy Smith says,

“...it is sufficient to say that the evil of the city incensed the Lord; and he commanded his servant Jonah to proclaim a message of judgment against it.”...“While all sin is abhorrent to God, in some instances a specific group of people had become so wicked that God issued a special call of localized judgment” —Billy Smith

You know what this really shows us, there are so many people in the world today that ignore God and assume that he also ignores them. Many believe that God set the world into motion and allows it to continue along unnoticed. This book shows us though that God is a God who notices, as a God who is active, and as a God who takes sin very seriously.

So what did Jonah do? Well, Jonah fled and hid…Ok, so you and I all know that we cannot exactly hide from God, and I believe that Jonah knew that as well, but the reality is that when you are running to hide, you don’t always think about the outcome or the potential of success…you are just running.

Ok, so I have to be honest about a time in my life as I was a kid. Maybe you can relate to this, I don’t know…Ok, I did something, I don’t remember what, but I did something that was wrong and I was going to get a paddling from my dad. Now, my dad did not typically use a belt, or a switch like my mom did, no my dad had a big chunk of wood that he would use to spank us. Well, there was this one time that I did something and I was going to get licks, well my dad so calmly walked into my room to take care of business and I started running…I ran and ran…in circles around my bed. Im not exactly sure what I was thinking I was going to accomplish, but I didn’t accomplish anything other than more swats for running. But you know, that just goes to show you that we don’t always think when we get scared, we just run, right?

Well, that is what Jonah did here…he just ran in the opposite direction hoping that either God would forget about him, or that he could outrun God, or something…maybe he wasn’t thinking at all and it was just the initial reaction of being scared…but he ran. He ran so hard and so long that he even invested money to be able to get on a boat going to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. So, Jonah didn’t just run in circles around the bed, he was running as far as the known world was in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Maybe he hoped that he would be able to be so far away that God would choose to use someone else to go to the great city of Nineveh. He would run far away from the presence of the Lord… Well that’s not the end of the story this morning becuase God is not a God that we can hide from, no, in this case, God bring an...

Amazing storm...

Let’s take a look at this next little section in verses 4-6

Jonah 1:4–6 ESV

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. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Ok, so to start off with did you catch the first part of vs. 4? The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. The Lord hurled. That word that is translated as hurled, is typically used as the verb attached to throwing something like a spear of a stone. It might be better translated as the Lord violently threw a great wind, or a strong wind. This is not some little squall that has appeared upon the sea that sailers would be accustomed to dealing with. No, this is something more than that.

Ok, so I do want you to think about how absurd this is for Jonah. Jonah knows who God is, and after the initial moment of fleeing, you would think that Jonah would realize that he cannot actually run from God, right? I mean Jonah is not new to being a prophet, he knows how God works and he knows the power of God. He knows that God created the sea and everything in it…So, when the initial reaction of fear leaves him, he should simply respond appropriately and stop running away.

You know I can think of an example of a time that I reacted one way, but then when reality set in, I had to respond appropriately. I was in I think 7th grade and I went on a mission trip. It was so much fun, actually we went to Idaho I believe. Anyway, on the trip we went whitewater rafting and on this particular river there were some level 5 rapids, which means you need to hang on. However, they did teach us what to do if we were to fall off the raft so that we could get back safely. Well, we went through quite a few sections of rapids and I was having a blast with everyone. Then we hit the next section and I went flying out of the raft straight up in the air and landed back down at the beginning of the rapids. This was a bit of a longer section so I was in a bad position. Well, initially I know that I did not want to die, and I figured I would just hang on tot eh rock where I was and they would come back for me. Well…that is until I realized that it was not possible for them to come back for me. Either, I let go of the rock and rode the rapids down to the end, or I died there holding onto that rock, those were my options…So, when I realized that I made the decision to let go and I made it to the bottom and got back into the raft and continued on with the trip.

That is was should have happened to Jonah. He should have ran, and then come to the point of realizing that he cannot actually run away from God and finally settle in to do what God had told him to do. However, that’s not really what happened is it? No, Jonah gets on this boat and God violently hurls this mighty wind at the boat, this wind was so strong that the boat considered falling apart. Yeah, you heard me right. The author personifies the boat here to communicate how bad this storm really was. You see, while Jonah is running from the Lord, as a disobedient prophet, the wind, sea and even the ship were obedient to the Lord’s purposes.

Immediately the sailors all start praying to their gods, however, as we all know that was completely useless wasn’t it. Jonah could have told them that if he cared at all, but nope…Jonah is a little to self involved at the moment. Now, I do want to point out just how violent this storm really is. You see, this is a crew of experienced sailors. They would typically just do what they needed to do in order to secure the boat. However, this is a storm like they have never seen before which would explain their unusual religious response of everyone praying to their own god. They could see that this storm was not like a typical storm, no this storm had divine power behind it.

Now, Jonah’s spiritual decline is seen in parallel with the descriptions of his response to God’s call. God said, “Get up” to go to Nineveh, but instead he “went down to Joppa”, “went down” to the ship and finally went down into the lowest part of this vessel. That is where the captain found Jonah and called him out for being asleep in such a horrifying time for the crew. Now, the crew has prayed to their gods, they have dumped over their cargo, which means that they have dumped their livelihoods, and now they find Jonah asleep, so the captain yells at Jonah to get up and start praying to his god. You see, the ancient world would have prayed to a number of different gods, and so they were not competing with each other, they simply believed in many gods that could protect them. at this stage they are hoping that maybe Jonah worships a god that they haven’t heard of and so if Jonah will pray to his god, maybe all will be ok. Here is the problem…Jonah doesn’t need to pray to his God becuase he already nows what is going on. Lets take a look at...

Jonah’s revelation...

Let’s read

Jonah 1:7–10 ESV

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

So, Jonah is honest about what is going on, after he is basically backed into a corner, right? I mean look the sailers have thrown everything overboard, found Jonah asleep in the lower decks and then asked him to pray to his God. Then, the next thing they do is cast lots to determine what the cause of this great evil really is. Did you see that. Even now, Jonah could have come clean, but he is holding onto this false sense of hope that he will get away with it after all. Well, finally he was faced with having to answer to these sailors. He acknowledges who he is, only after they demand he tell them where he is from and what he does for a living. Do you want to know what is really crazy here?

What we have here is a heathen sea captain, pleading with a Hebrew prophet to pray to God. Here we have what would be considered a non-believer begging for the spiritual action, the spiritual guidance of a believer. You see, the unbeliever saw they reality of this of this situation while the Prophet of the Lord slept…It is a pretty sad day when those who are committed to the truth of God’s word have to be encouraged by a lost world to step into spiritual activity. That is exactly what is going on here as this captain is telling Jonah to begin to pray to his God. Jonah’s response then terrifies the captain and all of the sailors. You see, to run away from a god was foolish; but to run from “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land” was suicidal. The question they raised, “What have you done?” was not a question about the nature of Jonah’s sin but an exclamation of horror. They were frightened to the depths of their beings that Jonah has run from the God that created the sea and the land...

Here is the thing though, Jonah is actually worshiping a false god here. I know, you say no he isn’t becuase he acknowledges that he is a Hebrew and that he fears, or in other words worships, the God of heaven who made the seas and dry land. That doesn’t sound like he is worshiping an idol, does it? Well, Im not talking about what Jonah said. Take a look at everything that Jonah has done so far…What has Jonah done, in this story that would show that he is worshiping God? Nothing…Actually this continues as Jonah sacrifices to the god that he is actually worshiping, lets take a look at...

Jonah’s sacrifice???

Let’s continue and finish our section this morning.

Jonah 1:11–16 ESV

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. 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.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Ok, so now all of our questions have been answered right? I mean we see here that Jonah has sinned against God and now Jonah has admitted that to these sailors and Jonah has told them how they can experience peace in their lives again. This is a great and beautiful ending. Well, that is until you look a little deeper into what is going on here. You see, Jonah recieved a call from God and immediately responded in fear or hatred or maybe it was laziness. So, as a result Jonah ran away. Then he continued running hoping that God would just leave him alone and allow him to retire on a beach somewhere. Well, that is until we see that God is not in fact going to leave Jonah alone. So, Jonah repents and allows himself to be sacrificed in order to appease God and save these innocent sailors. That is a beautiful story…To bad that is not what seems to have happened here...

Now, the sailors know who is to blame for this situation, but they do not get immediately mad at Jonah, they simply ask him how to fix it. What needs to happen in order for this God to remove the storm. What do we need to do? Jonah tells him that they need to sacrifice him to the sea in order for the storm to stop. Is this a revelation from God and Jonah being obedient, or is this Jonah continuing to run from God and try to avoid doing what God has called him to do? That is the question that we really have to come to terms with. Since everything that Jonah has been doing so far, has been to bless him, I would expect that this is no different. As a matter of fact, think about the fact that Jonah only gave this as an option after the sailors basically forced him to give them guidance. If this had been a moment of selfless sacrifice, don’t you think that he would have offered up some information prior to being begged?

No, it seems that Jonah is still looking out for himself here…Actually, I mentioned earlier that Jonah was worshiping a false god…another way to say that is the Jonah is worshiping an idol. But, what idol is Jonah worshiping? In order to answer that question you have to define the term idol. We are going to go with the definition of idol used by Brad Bigney. Brad is a pastor in Kentucky.

An idol is ANYTHING or anyone that begins to CAPTURE our HEARTS and MINDS and AFFECTIONS more than God. —Brad Bigney

Author David Powlison says that,

“Idolatry is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures…the relevance of massive chunks of Scripture hangs on our understanding of idolatry.”—David Powlison

You see, we actually do see throughout Scripture direct teaching about idol worship. However, here we seem to have a practical example of idol worship. You see, Jonah is worshiping the idol of pride here. He knows better than God, actually we are going to see that in the coming weeks, but for now I want to you realize that everything that Jonah has done has actually been for himself. Even the offer to the sailors to throw him overboard into the sea is an effort for Jonah to get away from God, either by death or by the potential of swimming to dry land somehow.

Think about what response Jonah could have had in order to repent and follow God’s command. Jonah could have told the sailors that they needed to turn around and take him back to Joppa where he got on so that he can fulfill the command of the Lord. Instead Jonah selfishly offers to have these sailors kill him at sea by throwing him overboard leaving these men to deal with the fact that they killed someone at sea. Even though these were not god worshiping sailors, they were quite religious and they would not have taken murder lightly. That doesn’t matter to Jonah, what matters to Jonah, is Jonah…That is called selfishness, which is a manifestation of pride…thinking of yourself most.

Now, there does seem to be something good that comes from this situation potentially. You see, Jonah, in the process of trying to get away from God, told these sailors about God and they were able to see for themselves the power of the God of heaven who created the land and the sea. They were able to see the power of the Lord as they removed Jonah from their own boat. They immediately worshiped the Lord. Well, the language that is used here is that they fear the Lord, and while that language is used, context shows us the difference in the fear that they experienced at the onset of this storm, and the fear, or worship that they are experiencing now. The way that we see the name of the Lord, YHWH being used here in vs 16 twice, shows us that these sailors are now aware of God’s identity. Just as Jonah made them away of his identity, YHWH made them aware of his identity as well. So, in spite of Jonah’s disobedience, they acknowledge his God as their own, offering sacrifice and making vows, bringing to mind

Psalm 116:17–18 ESV

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,

While Jonah acts selfishly in the face of a group of nonbelievers, God still works through his pride in their lives. This is encouraging as a believer isn’t it. It tells me that even though there are times when maybe I get in the way of the Gospel through my own pride, that God is so much stronger than the idol of my own pride and he will reveal himself to the masses in spite of my own failures. In other words…God is sovereign

So this morning I am going to leave you with the reality that God is sovereign, but you are still responsible for your own actions…your own pride…your own idol worship. I want to encourage you to not be like Jonah and run away from what God is commanding you to do, I can tell you from personal experience it will not end well. At the same time I want to encourage you to be like the sailors who, when faced with the reality of the Lord, chose to worship the Lord. Look, each and every one of us here or online is being faced with the reality of the Lord this morning. No, there is not some crazy storm that God has just stopped, but you have been faced with the reality of his word and the reality of your response. Are you running, or are you worshiping…that is your choice this morning…

—Prayer—