Jonah Runs from God (Jonah 1:1-16)

Announcements

Emphasis on Evangelism and Outreach throughout the summer—as a church, our mission is to make mature believers of Jesus Christ. This mission has a heavy emphasis on two aspects of the Christian life—discipleship, which includes sanctification and evangelism, which includes outreach. So far, we’ve done a great job emphasizing discipleship and we’ve seen great spiritual growth amongst those that have attended regularly, but because of COVID, we weren’t really able to do much with evangelism and outreach. Now that the government has loosened restrictions in Pennsylvania, it’s time to start emphasizing evangelism and outreach.

We’ve already started doing this with our Farmer’s Market outreach (though this past week, we had a booth and no Farmer’s Market) and we’re looking to continue the booth every other week through the summer. (You can sign up to volunteer and help in the back of the room)

But in addition to that, Natalie and I have gone door-to-door through several neighborhoods in Philipsburg and we’d like to help you do that in your neighborhoods as well. I know that it can be awkward to do something like this (particularly if its your first time), so we want to help you do it. Come talk with us after the service, we’ll set up a day where we can meet you at your home, and we’ll go door-to-door with you to pass out flyers and pray for your neighborhood.

As always, the best way to evangelize and do outreach is to develop relationships with people. According to Barna, 47% of people in 2011 would come to church if a friend invited them to church. This means intentionally developing relationships and then inviting them to church is still the best way to bring people into the church. We just have to do it on purpose.

So, just a recap, we’re emphasizing outreach and evangelism this summer to continue fulfilling our mission to make mature believers of Jesus Christ.

As I’m sure some of you have noticed, two of our members have been unable to attend on Sunday mornings (and I’ll mention this again this coming Sunday so everyone knows). Shane and Chantelle Patterson, who are two of our charter members spoke to me about some issues that are occuring with their extended family that’s preventing them from being in the area during the weekends, which is preventing them from being with us in-person on Sunday mornings.

I am not at liberty to give details and I’d ask that you give them privacy as they work through the issue at hand, but they did want the church family to know that they aren’t leaving the church, they’re remaining members of the church and they’re still committed to our mission and vision; but until the issue at hand resolves, they will not be able to join us regularly on Sunday mornings. As soon as the issue resolves, they’ll be back.

In the meantime, they’re going to join us in-person as often as they can and they’ll view the services online when they can.

Because they’re uncertain of how soon they’ll be back in regular attendance, Shane has asked to resign as our treasurer.

Which means that we’re now in a position where we need to elect a new treasurer, which we’ll do at our next business meeting in July. Whoever we elect—needs to be comfortable with utilizing a computer to input giving data, needs to be willing to handle the church’s affairs with the bank, and needs to be a member in good standing with the church.

If you are interested or if you know someone who might be interested in serving in this capacity, please come and speak with me as soon as possible and I’ll give you more information.

And in the meantime, let me encourage you all to pray for them and their family and pray that they’ll be able to return to us in person sometime soon.

Lastly, as always, let me encourage you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. In order to help you in your giving, we have three ways for you to do so, (1) you can give in-person through the offering box in the back of the room with cash and check giving; or if you’d prefer to give via debit, credit, or ACH Transfers you can either (2) text 84321 with your $[amount] and follow the text prompts or (3) visit us online at www.graceandpeacepa.com and select “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything that you give is utilized for the building up of this local church and the spread of the Gospel throughout this area and beyond.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship

Our call to worship this morning is from Psalm 18. Like I mentioned last week, Psalm 18 is a bit long, so we’ve actually divided up the psalm so that we could intentionally focus on different aspects of the psalm. This morning’s section is from Vs. 20-30, which emphasizes the LORD’s goodness in dealing with those who seek to follow him and obey him. The psalmist expresses that God saves those who are willing to humble themselves, but the prideful who refuse to come to God will not be saved. This section ends with the psalmist affirming that God’s way is perfect and that the Word of the LORD is true.

Please join me in responsively reading Psalm 18:20-30 with me, I’ll read the even numbered verses, please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.

Psalm 18:20–30 ESV

20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. 23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. 24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. 28 For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. 29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Congregational Singing

God the Uncreated One (King Forevermore)

O Great God

O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer

Scripture Reading

This morning’s Scripture reading finds its meaning in God’s gracious patience in the hope that more people repent and believe in him. Occasionally, people think that the Lord’s delay in returning is evidence for his nonexistence but in reality, his delay is so that more people can repent and believe in him. Which means that this current age that we live in is meant for those who have been commissioned by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28 to warn those who are perishing, in hopes that they repent.

In 2 Peter 3:1-13, Peter writes to all who believe that people will revile us for our belief that Jesus is going to return, but we have to remind ourselves that to the LORD, time is nonexistent and in reality he isn’t being slow to fulfill his promise, he’s being patient. The imminent return of Jesus Christ should compel us to live in holiness and godliness proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:1–13 ESV

1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Sermon

Introduction

As you’ve probably noticed by our posts on Facebook this week, we’re taking a break from our series on the Gospel according to John to start our summer series, Nineveh. This series covers two small books in the Old Testament written by prophets of Israel who prophesied against the city of Nineveh, and really the Assyrian Empire as a whole. We’re going to start this series in the book of Jonah because Jonah’s account was the first of two prophetic warnings to the Ninevites—and like usual, we’ll go verse-by-verse, thought-by-thought through the text. The second prophet that we’ll be studying is Nahum, who also prophesied against the Ninevites.

Both Jonah and Nahum are short books that were both warnings to the Ninevites about their sin. The difference is that in Jonah, which is the first of the two, the Ninevites hear Jonah’s preaching and they repent; but in Nahum, which occurs about 100 years after Jonah, they refuse to listen and they ultimately reject God and pay the consequence of their sins.

Now, I realize that many of you probably already know the basic idea of the story of Jonah—that he refused to obey God and that due to his disobedience, he was swallowed by a great fish. But, I’m fairly certain that if you’re like most people, that’s the extent of your knowledge of Jonah and if you’re like most people, the little bit of knowledge that you have from Jonah came from Sunday School or children’s church as a child and you don’t know anymore about Jonah than a big fish swallowing him. So, let me help you with some background information as we prepare to jump into Jonah and then Nahum later.

Jonah was a prophet who, according to 2 Kings 14:25, lived during the time of King Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). Occasionally people discredit the book of Jonah as a historical narrative because of the account of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish, but let me point to Matthew 12:39-41 and the statement in 2 Kings 14:25 as internal evidence to the historical veracity of Jonah. in Matthew 12, Jesus speaks of Jonah as if he literally existed and was literally swallowed by a giant fish. Which is evidence, since Jesus is God, that Jonah is a historical account.

Jonah is a unique prophet for two reasons, (1) he is one of only a handful that were prophets from Israel, but not to Israel. Meaning God sent him from Israel to another nation. (2) He’s unique because he refused to obey God due to his hatred towards the people that God had sent him. Jonah was sent to the Ninevites, which represented the people of Nineveh, a city in the Assyrian Empire and Jonah hated the people of Nineveh so much that he refused to go until God forced him to go.

Now, we don’t know exactly who actually wrote the book, but there really isn’t a reason to suggest that Jonah himself didn’t write it, especially when considering Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 would be something that someone other than Jonah simply wouldn’t know. Some key themes that are taught throughout the book include: repentance, unfulfilled prophecy, deliverance, and the Lord’s compassion for people other than the Israelites.

As we dig into Jonah over the next month or so, let me encourage you to do two things: (1) forget any preconceived ideas of Jonah that you might have from things like Sight & Sound’s production of Jonah and (2) take some time over the next few weeks to just read and re-read the text. Jonah is only four chapters long and can be read in under ten minutes, so please take some time to become familiar with the text.

Let’s read together Jonah 1:1-16.

As we study this passage, we’re going to take it in two pieces: (1) Jonah Flees from the Presence of the LORD (1-6), which gives us some background information about Jonah himself and the mission that God had given him, but ultimately recounts Jonah’s rejection of God’s mission for him. This first section starts off the section that most people are familiar with in Jonah, with Jonah rejecting God’s message and running to Tarshish by way of ship. (2) Jonah is Thrown into the Sea (7-16) tells us of the sailers questioning Jonah and realizing that the reason that the ship was in such a huge storm was because of Jonah, which results in them calling out to the LORD for forgiveness before hurling Jonah into the sea. These first two sections of the book will give us insight into the context of all that is occuring in the life of Jonah, the mission that God had given him, and it’ll give us quite a bit of insight into his heart—which should act as a warning against disobedience towards God and sin in general, but it should also encourage us to repent from sin and obey God.

Prayer for Illumination

Jonah Flees from the Presence of the LORD (1-6)

Jonah 1:1–6 ESV

1 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.” 3 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. 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. 5 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. 6 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.”

Vs. 1-3, gives us some additional background information that helps to set the context of what is occuring in the life of Jonah, which then sets the stage for the great fish to swallow him.

Vs. 1-2, “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.’”

The verse starts off by telling us that the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai.

Amittai, of course is Jonah’s father, but we don’t know anything else about Amittai whatsoever, he’s never mentioned again in Scripture and just like his father, we actually don’t know too much about Jonah himself.

Unlike Amos, in which the Bible specifically tells us that he was a herdsman and fig farmer, we don’t know what Jonah did prior to prophesying on behalf of God, which is probably done on purpose because the message isn’t about Jonah, it’s what God does despite Jonah.

Jonah hears the word of the LORD and he’s told to go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

When the Bible refers to “that great city,” it isn’t referring to the city as an excellent city or a distinguished city, it’s referring to the size of the city. Nineveh was a huge city! According to Jonah 4:11, there were at least 120,000 people that lived in Nineveh and according to Jonah 3:3, it would take three days to explore the entirety of the city.

And this large city was known for its wickedness. In fact, the Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was part of was known for their wickedness and their violence, so much so that in Jonah 3:8, the king of Nineveh admits that they were evil and violent and it is clear from both Jonah and Nahum, that both biblical authors believed that Nineveh was evil and deserved their punishment.

In fact, nearly every reference to Nineveh in the Bible is an indictment of how evil it was. Joan, Nahum, Zephaniah 2:13, and 2 Kings all describe the wickedness of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were ruthless.

And this great evil of the Assyrians grabbed the attention of the LORD for the purpose of destruction.

And thus, Jonah was to go and preach repentance to the Ninevites in preparation for the LORD’s destruction of the city.

In some ways, it should remind us of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra and really the global flood in Genesis 6-8.

Not that the people committed the same sins, but that they were all so exceedingly wicked that the LORD had to react in judgment.

But because of the goodness of God, he had Noah preach for 100 years about repentance and salvation, and he had Abram seek those who would believe in the LORD for salvation, and now he has Jonah being sent to Nineveh to preach repentance and salvation.

This is the setting for the book of Jonah—Jonah is called by God to go to the Ninevites to preach a message of repentance from sins and belief in Yahweh.

Because the exceedingly wicked people of Nineveh were facing impending judgment for their sins.

In many ways, Jonah is the last call for repentance before the end comes for the Ninevites.

Unfortunately, Jonah doesn’t like God’s plan. Vs. 3, “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. And this verse brings up two questions, (1) Where are Joppa and Tarshish and (2) why is Jonah fleeing?

The Bible tells us that after receiving God’s command, Jonah “rose to flee to Tarshish by way of Joppa.”

Joppa is a port city on the Mediterranean Sea just south west of Israel. Tarshish no longer exists, but several places have been suggested. We know that the Bible refers to Tarshish as being a port city on the Mediterranean Sea and it has been suggested through study of ancient shipping routes that Tarshish was on the southern coast of modern-day Spain.

Which at that time, was as far west as most people have ever ventured and if you were to take a look at a map of the ancient near east, you would find that if Jonah was in Israel when he was called to go to Nineveh that Jonah went the exact opposite of the direction that God sent him.

Israel is on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Nineveh was on the Tigris River, which was approximately 500 miles northeast of Israel, away from the Mediterranean Sea.

To get to Joppa, Jonah would have gone West towards the Mediterranean and if scholars are correct that Tarshish was in modern-day Spain, Spain is 2,300 miles to the west of Israel; 2,700 miles away from Nineveh

Jonah wasn’t just disobeying God, he was going as far away from Nineveh, from Assyria, and really from God as he possibly could. So the question is why? Why is he doing this?

We already have a sense of just how evil and wicked the Ninevites and the Assyrians were and we find out in Jonah 4 that Jonah didn’t want to go to the Ninevites because he wanted them to be punished for their sins. Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? This 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.”

Jonah essentially states that the reason that he ran is because he thought the Ninevites and the Assyrians deserved the punishment that was coming to them. Jonah didn’t want them to be forgiven, but he knew that if the Ninevites repented, God would forgive them.

There are so many guesses as to why Jonah had this mindset about the Assyrians. Some have guessed that maybe the reason that we don’t know much about Jonah’s father is because the Assyrians killed him and that’s why Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites. Those who are more into the idea of the social gospel and what is considered progressive Christianity, would argue that Jonah is racist and that’s why he didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites.

But let me remind you that those are both guesses because the Bible doesn’t specifically tell us why Jonah felt this way towards the Ninevites

What we do know from Scripture, is that the Assyrians were exceedingly wicked and that the Ninevites were violent and evil; and I would argue that Jonah wasn’t racist and Jonah’s father doesn’t need to be killed off by the Assyrians for him to disdain them. The simple fact that the Assyrians were known as violent and wicked people would be in his mind justifiable reasons for them not to be saved by God.

And I can argue that point through experience—because Christians today have the same mindset towards criminals, political opponents, and people of other religious beliefs (particularly that of Islam).

Jonah didn’t want them to be forgiven because the Assyrians were wicked people so Jonah ran the complete opposite direction in hopes that he wouldn’t have to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites because he knew that if the Ninevites repented, God would forgive them.

Jonah hated the Ninevites and the Assyrians so much, that he was willing to run from the presence of the LORD in order for the Ninevites to face the judgment coming to them.

Jonah physically goes the complete opposite direction and the Bible tells us of this huge storm that threatened to destroy the ship and the fear of the sailors, which prompted the captain to come to Jonah to tell Jonah to pray for their safety. Vs. 4-5, “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.”

The fact that the men who were working on the ship were afraid tells us just how terrible the storm really was.

When you consider the fact that these were sailors who were seasoned in their jobs, the fact that they were afraid is significant.

The Bible tells us that they were hurling cargo into the sea—I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of this, with the exception of modern-day cruise ships that exist to be vacation destinations, the primary purpose of a civilian ship is to deliver goods and cargo. If they’re throwing the cargo off the ship, they’re losing money.

They were so afraid of the ship sinking that they essentially threw all their money off the ship, which means that they were more concerned about surviving than they were concerned about their own job.

The first part of Vs. 5, tells us that they were so afraid that they each cried out to their own gods while throwing the cargo off the ship—which tells us that these are all people who didn’t believe in Yahweh, but they were willing to cry out to something that they thought heard them for salvation.

This storm is so severe, that the captain of the ship wakes Jonah up to tell him to pray so that they don’t die. Vs. 5b-6, “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.’”

With as severe as the storm was, it’s sort of surprising to me that Jonah would still be sleeping—quite honestly, it reminds me of Jesus sleeping in the boat in the Sea of Galilee. While everyone else is panicking, Jonah’s taking a nap.

But the captain wakes him to get him to pray for their safety as well.

Now as this storm is raging around them, they make the realization that someone on the ship had to have done something to cause such a horrid storm to occur to them. And let me remind you from our study in John, that this is usually too simplistic of a way to look at sin and consequences. Not every bad thing in life is because that person committed a sin. It just so happens that at this particular moment, Jonah was sinning against God in multiple ways, so the people on the ship were right in their assertion despite the fact that it’s simply not true that every bad thing in life is a result of direct sin.

In order to determine who caused this to happen to them, they utilize a unique way to determine who is responsible for the danger that they’re in, which ultimately results in them throwing Jonah overboard. Read with me Vs 7-16.

Jonah is Thrown into the Sea (7-16)

Jonah 1:7–16 ESV

7 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. 8 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?” 9 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.” 10 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. 11 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.” 13 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. 14 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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

The sailors utilize an ancient means to determine who is responsible for the great storm that’s afflicting them. Vs. 7-10, tells us of them realizing that the great evil that had come upon them was because of Jonah.

Vs. 7, tells us of them casting lots, which was something that people throughout the ancient world would do for various reasons. Since we don’t exactly cast lots today, let me explain what exactly casting lots in the Bible is:

Casting lots is sometimes thought of as simply gambling, which was true in certain cases in the New Testament. For instance, when the Roman soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ garments in Matthew 27:35, but there were other uses for casting lots.

In Joshua 14-21, the Israelites divided the land by casting lots, God instructed the Israelites in the book of Numbers to cast lots and occasionally, God told the Israelites to cast lots to determine his will for them.

Which let me make one brief statement, the New Testament does not instruct Christians today to utilize lot casting to make decisions. Now that we have the completed Word of God, as well as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is no reason for us to use games of chance to make decisions.

The Word, the Spirit, and prayer are sufficient for discerning God’s will today.

The practice of casting lots is mentioned around 77 times in the Bible, but despite the various mentions of it, we don’t know exactly what it is. They could have been something like each person drawing a stick of various lengths, it could have been rolling of dice, or it could be something like flipping a coin. We’re not really sure what exactly it looked like, but these examples provide ideas of what it could have been like.

So, drawing on them possibly each picking out a stick, Jonah drew the shortest stick and is then interrogated by the sailors in Vs. 8, “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 I want to clarify one thing, the statement “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us” makes it seem as if God is committed evil in this passage.

This one statement makes it seem as if God is responsible for evil in this case, which we know from James 1:13, that God cannot be tempted with evil and God doesn’t tempt people to commit evil.

Which means that we need to do a little digging to understand what the sailors mean. The Bible in this verse is utilizing a specific word that’s being translated as evil in the ESV and the KJV. It’s the Hebrew word ra-ah, which while it can be translated as evil, isn’t really used to refer to evil in the same manner that we think of evil today.

When we use the term evil today, we typically mean that someone is behaving in an evil manner, which according to Merriam-Webster means that they’re acting in a morally reprehensible, sinful, or wicked way

So, it makes sense that we would have a difficult time understanding this passage if the word ra-ah meant that God had done something morally reprehensible when we know that God is only, ever good.

But ra-ah isn’t just translated as evil, it could also be translated as calamity (NASB), or trouble (CSB, NIV). So while some of our translations use the term evil here, what the sailors are asking is for Jonah to “tell [them] on whose account this calamity has come upon us.”

Or as the NLT says, “Why has this awful storm come down on us?”

God is certainly responsible for the storm, we see that in Vs. 4, “But the LORD hurled a great wind . . . and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,” but he isn’t committing evil by causing the storm. He’s distressing them or he’s causing calamity for them because of Jonah and his sin; which tells us that sometimes, we’re weathering storms due to the consequences of someone else’s sin and occasionally due to our own sin.

They interrogate Jonah and in vs. 9, Jonah tells them that “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.”

After coming to the realization that they were suffering due to Jonah’s sin of running from the LORD, they posit this question in Vs. 11, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” The realization being that if Jonah is the reason for the whole storm, then they had to do something to satisfy God and cause the storm to die down.

Remember that this was a tumultuous storm that was destroying their ship and Vs. 11, tells us that the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. And Jonah really gives them the only option that he can think of in Vs. 12, “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.”

Which of course, sounds absurd to the sailors and they don’t actually listen to him at first—Vs. 13, “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.”

The men initially just try to row back to land, but as they did this the sea grew more and more dangerous against them.

And here’s the interesting part of this, when they realized that they couldn’t row back to land, they cry out to Yahweh instead of their own gods. Vs. 14-15 “‘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.”

Remember with me as we first started studying the various miracles in the Gospel according to John. I gave you a specific definition of what a biblical miracle was: I explained that biblical miracles are works of God, sometimes through a human intermediary, but not always, that defied the normal processes of life and defied common expectations of behavior with the primary intended purpose being that miracles confirm the message of God or simply reveal his glory to the people.

Both the cause of the storm and the eventual end of the storm were both miraculous—God performed the storm and God ended the storm. So the question is, what were the purposes of the miracles?

It’s really two-fold:

God impressed upon Jonah the fact that God truly wanted him to go to the Ninevites and preach repentance to them—it confirmed what he was meant to do, though arguably, Jonah never doubted what he was to do, he simply didn’t want to.

But secondly, both the storm and the end of the storm made it abundantly clear to the sailors on the ship that Yahweh is God and that he controls the winds and the waves.

The second statement is so impressed upon the sailors that as soon as they toss Jonah overboard and the sea ceased from its raging. Vs. 16, “Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.”

Even in the midst of Jonah’s disobedience and his sins and even in the midst of God’s punishment for Jonah, God is able to utilize what happened to draw these former idolators who worshiped false gods into worship of God. Which again, stresses the theme of God’s compassion on all people and the themes of repentance and belief in God.

So far in the historical account of Jonah, we’ve seen him commissioned by God to go to the evil and wicked Ninevites to preach a message of repentance and we’ve seen Jonah utterly reject that commission and attempt to go as far away from God as possible. We’ve read how Jonah paid to leave Israel and travel as far west as possible and how God causes a storm to prevent Jonah from continuing in his journey. And we’ve seen how God utilizes the storm and the subsequent ending of that storm to bring the sailors to worship him. The question now is, how do we apply this to our lives today?

Application

Jonah Flees from the Presence of the LORD (1-6)—Right off the bat, the book of Jonah starts with a God’s command to Jonah to go to the wicked, violent, and evil Ninevites of the Assyrian Empire and preach a message of repentance from sin. In hindsight and from Jonah 4, we know that Jonah didn’t want to go to the Assyrian people because he didn’t want God to forgive them for their sins. He wanted them to be judged for their evil deeds.

God wants everyone to repent and believe in him, regardless of what evil deeds they had done in the past. (1-2)

Occasionally, we see the atrocities committed by certain people and we refuse to believe that God could redeem that person or we make the judgment that God wouldn’t save a certain person. As finite, human beings, we’ve created different tiers for our sins—so we can justify when we lie because lying isn’t as bad as cheating; or we justify cheating because cheating isn’t as bad as murder.

But the issue is, God doesn’t view sin on different tiers or different levels. Any sin makes you guilty of breaking the whole law. James 2:10-11, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

Jonah looked at what the Assyrian people and the Ninevites had done and didn’t want them to experience salvation because he thought that their sins were so much more atrocious than what he had done, but in reality God looks at all sins the same and he wants all sinners to repent from their sins and believe in him.

So, let’s look at this application in two different ways: perhaps you’re like the Assyrians who had committed previous sins—the message of Jonah is the same to you as it was to the Assyrians. Judgment is coming, repent and believe in God.

But maybe you’re like Jonah and you’re looking at the people around you and you don’t think they deserve salvation because of how evil they are—this part of Jonah is calling you to repentance as well. Judgment is coming and you are just as guilty of sin as those who you think are worse sinners than you. Repent and believe in God.

Every sinner needs to repent and believe in God. Which also means, that as believers who are to make disciples, we cannot pick and choose who we proclaim the Gospel to.

Jonah sinned by not obeying God in order for the Ninevites to not hear the truth.

The command to make disciples is to all who claim to believe in Jesus and the command is to go to every nation—so regardless of ethnicity, political affiliation, age, sex, or anything else you can think of to divide people up, you are to preach the gospel to all of them because God wants everyone to repent from their sins and believe in him.

Repent from sins and preach the Gospel to all people regardless of what they have done.

Like Jonah, we too can make terrible decisions. And just like Jonah in Jonah 1, we can make foolish decisions as a result of our sin; because sin deceives us into making foolish decisions (3-6) And in Jonah 1, there’s two primary examples of how this works out:

Sin convinces us that our plans are better than God’s plans—Jonah is so convinced that his plan is better than God’s plan that he really doesn’t give any second thought to anything that he does in chapter 1. He doesn’t stop to consider what the repercussions for disobeying God would be, he doesn’t even really stop to consider the fact that he’s really acting out of hatred when he should be acting in love for these people. Why is that? It’s because his sinful mindset against the Ninevites had already convinced him that what he wanted was better than what God wanted. Likewise, when we allow sin to fester in our hearts, sin causes us to think that our plans are better than God’s plan. That’s because sin tricks us into believing that to continue sinning would bring more reward than doing what God plans. In reality, we should be repentant for our sins, but sin tricks us into believing that our sins aren’t that bad, they don’t hurt anyone, or that God wouldn’t really notice—all of which are lies.

The issue is that the moment that we start being lax on sin, sin deceives us into thinking that we want to be out of God’s presence—In Jonah’s case, he determines that it would be better for him to go as far away from Nineveh as possible and in making that decision the Bible says multiple times that he is intentionally trying to get away from the presence of the LORD. Likewise, when we’re in sin, the last place that we want to be is anywhere where God’s presence is. We’d rather be at home than at church; or alone than with other believers.

So the application here is to constantly check our hearts to be sure that we respond to our sin with repentance rather than respond to our sin by falling deeper into sin. Don’t allow one sin to cause us to fall into more sin. Repent and rely on Jesus Christ.

Jonah is Thrown into the Sea (7-16)—in the second section of the passage, we see the sailors realize that the reason for their distress is Jonah. And Jonah tells them to throw him off the boat, which they initially don’t do, but end up doing after praying that God wouldn’t hold them accountable for it. After throwing Jonah in the sea, the storm ends and the men respond by fearing the LORD and worshiping him.

Probably the primary application that this teaches us is that God can still accomplish his plans and his will despite our sin. Occasionally when we sin we tend to think that we’ve messed everything up or that God can no longer use us because of our sin but nothing could be further from the truth.

God can utilize our sinful behavior for good—which let me be clear, doesn’t give us license to keep sinning, it just gives us hope that when we do sin, we haven’t frustrated God’s plan to the extent that he can’t use us. Which means that if you find yourself in a position in life when you’ve sinned, which let’s be honest, can sometimes feel like a daily issue—don’t allow that to stop you from seeking Christ and don’t allow it to prevent you from continuing to do the work of ministry. God will utilize your sin for good even if for nothing else than to be a cautionary tale like Jonah. The application then is to not beat yourself up for your sins. If you’ve sinned and you’ve repented from your sin, then move on and let Jesus utilize what has happened to grow you and encourage other people.

In addition, what the text shows us is that whenever we see God’s work (for the sailors it was the storm and the miraculous end of the storm), the proper response to seeing God work is to worship him. If you’ve sinned and you’ve repented, Jesus has already done an amazing work within you. The proper response is to worship him.

Don’t allow your sin to cause you to react in depression and disdain for yourself. Repent from your sin, and allow Jesus to utilize it to grow you and encourage others. And then simply worship him.

Put simply, Jonah 1 teaches us that God wants everyone to repent from their sins including us but including those that we don’t think deserve forgiveness, which means that you should (1) repent from your sins, (2) proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in hopes that people repent, (3) allow God to utilize everything that has happened in your life to grow you and encourage others, and (4) simply worship him.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

As the Deer