Jonah

Jonah’s active rebellion

You know what I love about this story

Jonah is just like each and everyone of us

First off let me ask a question

How many of us have ever rebelled?

How many of us have ever just said no something

You know what the right thing is

You know what the consequences are

But you say screw it,

I’m not doing that

How many of you have ever done that.

You know as a child I think I did this a lot

How many of you can relate

You knew exactly what your mom or your dad was gonna do

You knew the exact punishment that was coming

Yet you didn’t care

You did it anyways.

Let me tell you a story real quick

So for those of you that don’t know,

My dad is a pastor as well

We have any pastors kids out here?

Am I the only one?

Well lets just say that as a PK

We are expected to behave in a certain way

We are supposed to be the

good

Decent

Model citizens

that fear the word of the Lord

and obey God with all of our might

Never happens that way.

You know as a PK you know when you’re about to get whooped

When you’re sitting in church

When your dad is up there preaching

And you you and your brothers are acting up

You’re sitting in the back row

Trying to be quiet but of course you’re not

Then your dad says those fatal words

Now boys you calm down and pay attention.

Right in the middle of the service

Boy I knew I was gonna get it when I got home

Or how about the time

I was specifically told

Do not throw snow balls at your cousin

Of course what do I do

Throw snow balls at my cousin

The catch here is that I launched a snow ball

I mean I launched this sucker

This snow ball goes flying

I mean it was beautiful

Perfectly round

Perfect arch to the throw

Perfect speed

Everything was perfect

Except where it landed

So there was a car passing by and he just happened to have his window open

The snow ball went right into some passing guys car

He was so angry he stopped immediately

Got out of his car

and started screaming at my dad

Lets just say that act of rebellion

Didn’t go over to well when I got home.

But thats what I love about the story of Jonah

Because Jonah didn’t just rebel

This dude literally went about as far as you can take it

Turn with me to the book of Jonah

And we are going to read the first chapter.

Now for those of you that don’t know where thats at

Its between Obadiah and Micah

In the Old Testament

Before we read these verses how many are familiar with this story?

Jonah being swallowed by a whale?

In this whale for three days.

Well its the details that truly get ya here

Now pay attention

Ok so

Jonah 1:1–17 NLT

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. “Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?” Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Prayer,

Running away from God,

You know being a chaplain

I can tell you right now

I know each and everyone of us

Have run away from God at one point in our lives

Maybe its a call to a clean way of living

Maybe its a call to give up a bad habit

Maybe its a call to spend more time a lone with God

But I guarantee each and everyone of us have failed at one point in this mission

In this command

We know what the right thing to do is

But we don’t do it

Instead we run from God,

Try to pretend He doesn’t exist

Maybe ignore Him for a while

But then one day the stuff hits the fan

We end up back on our knees begging God

Please correct the right that has gone wrong

Some of us even make promises

Some of us even negotiate with God

Maybe even get angry

or even bargain with God

Know what I mean?

Look God if you fix this problem

I promise I’ll start going to church again

I promise I won’t yell at my wife again

I promise I won’t drink again.

But low and behold

We fail

Like I said before this is why I love this story

See Jonah didn’t just run

This man literally

Traveled 2500 miles

To get away from God

Yes from the port of Joppa to Tarshish

2500 miles

As a comparison thats like the same distance

New York to Los angeles

By boat

on foot

by horse

whatever, he didn’t have a plane

or a train

or a car

This dude just went

I mean he was determined to disobey God

Does it feel that way sometimes in your life?

How many of you feel like you’ve been running

for 2500 miles

just to get away from the commands of God

You know the right thing to do

You act as if you don’t

So that you can trick your mind

Into thinking maybe God won’t hold you accountable

But you and I both know that’s not going to work

But where the rubber truly meets the road here

The reason why Jonah was running

As I began to study this story

I began to understand Jonah’s mindset

Let me just ask

For comparison sake

Any of us in here,

Don’t raise your hand

But any of us in here know that certain someone?

That one person?

maybe several people

that you’d be ok with

if you never saw them again?

You know maybe you never truly prayed for their salvation

You’re 100% that person would never become a Christian

Doesn’t deserve the mercy of God

That’s exactly what Jonah is going through here.

God has given Jonah a direct command

To go and preach

Go and warn

To show mercy

on the city of Nineveh.

But you have to ask

Why is this so hard for him

Why is he so determined not to follow God’s command here

And here is where context is key

One commentator says this

The Bible Knowledge Commentary The City of Nineveh

Nineveh was the capital of one of the cruelest, vilest, most powerful, and most idolatrous empires in the world. For example, writing of one of his conquests, Ashurnaṣirpal II (883–859) boasted, “I stormed the mountain peaks and took them. In the midst of the mighty mountain I slaughtered them; with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool.… The heads of their warriors I cut off, and I formed them into a pillar over against their city; their young men and their maidens I burned in the fire” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 1:148). Regarding one captured leader, he wrote, “I flayed [him], his skin I spread upon the wall of the city …” (ibid., 1:146). He also wrote of mutilating the bodies of live captives and stacking their corpses in piles.

Another commentator said of another king

The Bible Knowledge Commentary The City of Nineveh

Shalmaneser II (859–824) boasted of his cruelties after one of his campaigns: “A pyramid of heads I reared in front of his city. Their youths and their maidens I burnt up in the flames” (ibid., 1:213). Sennacherib (705–681) wrote of his enemies, “I cut their throats like lambs. I cut off their precious lives [as one cuts] a string. Like the many waters of a storm I made [the contents of] their gullets and entrails run down upon the wide earth.… Their hands I cut off”

Let’s not forget

Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire

Was originally created by Nimrod

One of the most evil men in history

Genesis 10… who build the tower of Babel

Don’t forget this is

The Army that comes and destroys

The northern ten tribes of Israel later on

Lets just say Jonah wanted nothing to do with giving mercy to these people

Arguably I would say Jonah

wanted these people to suffer

But thats just it isn’t

thats the key to the story

We act as if we are in charge

When God is in control

God will do what he want

He will give mercy on whom ever He wants

He doesn’t need your permission

And that’s good news

How many of us feel as though we don’t deserve the mercy of God

How many of us feel as though He didn’t die for you

That your sins are to great

Your sins are too many

Let me ask you, is anything too hard for the LORD?

What sins have you committed that He doesn’t already know about?

What have you done in your life

That He was shocked by...

Hebrews 4:13 NKJV

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done

It doesn’t matter how evil you think you are

Christ’s death satisfied the requirement for you salvation

Romans 5:8 NKJV

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the good news

And thats the beauty of this story

God’s mercy is for all

What does the most famous verse in the Bible say?

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That’s powerful

I know some of you here today don’t feel worthy

But I am here today to tell you

If God would force a man like Jonah

To preach a message of warning

a message of repentance

A message of love

To a city like Nineveh,

Then you can be saved to

And thats the beauty of the cross

Thats the beauty of Jesus

The reality that your sin

That your depravity

Won’t be counted against you because of what Jesus did for you

Thats good news guys

But this leads to my final point

Which is

Jonah’s attitude toward the lost

Turn with me to

Jonah 3:10 NLT

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

But then heres the switch

heres the lesson,

The next verse

Jonah 4:1 NKJV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

And I get it

Jonah feels they don’t deserve God’s mercy

And in reality He is disgusted with what He has just done

I mean to give you some context

Imagine a jew

Preaching a message like Jonah did

To the Nazi’s

They just killed 6 million of your people

God gives you a command

So that He can have mercy on the Nazi’s

Jonah is not to happy with himself

But what Jonah is missing

What he is not getting

What is he not understanding

You know I kinda of feel for the man

I truly feel

that this something that many of us don’t get today

God is in charge

God has purposes and plans

That you don’t understand

That you may not even agree with

But your job

Your position here

Is to follow the command

To do what matters most

To be that obedient servant

To trust in his purpose

To trust that He knows best

I know its hard guys

I know there are times in our lives when its easier to run

I know there are times when it easier to abandon the things

He’s called us to

But you have a chance

You have a golden opportunity to be used by God

To do something that matters

To participate in eternity

1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

As we leave Poland,

Let me encourage you

Don’t run from the purpose of God

Get out there

Share your faith

Preach the Gospel

Share the Love of God with others

There are so many in our world that need it

Let’s close in prayer.