2. Spiritual Sleepwalking

Welcome to Iowa City Church, both here in person and online. Today we roll into part two of this sermon series, Jonah, the story of you. If this is your first time with us, I would really encourage you to go back and check out the first sermon in this series. I think you will find it to be a helpful introduction to what we are going to cover today. With that being said, if you ever miss any of our Sunday morning teachings, you can find them at iowacitychurch.org or on your favorite podcast app, under Iowa City Church.

We all do weird things while we sleep. Some of us here snore. Some of us talk in our sleep. Some of you are violent sleepers, throwing the covers all over the place. I’m sure we have a few sleep walkers. Sleepwalking is a very strange phenomena, yet somewhat common.

Sleepwalking occurs when you get up from bed and walk around even though you are still asleep. It can also involve a series of other complex actions. Before walking, you might sit up in bed and look around in a confused manner. At other times, you may bolt from the bed and walk or run away. You may be frantic to escape from a threat that you dreamed or imagined.

You might talk or shout as you are walking. Your eyes are usually open and have a confused, “glassy” look to them. You might begin doing routine daily actions that are not normally done at night.

Sometimes, sleepwalking involves actions that are crude, strange, or in the wrong place. This might include urinating in a trash can, moving furniture around, or climbing out of a window. It can also result in hostile and violent behavior although this is rare.

In rare cases, a patient will get in the car and drive away. He or she might even go for a very long distance. Adults might dream or hallucinate while they sleepwalk. Some people will eat.

Here’s what’s so crazy about sleepwalking, you can potentially do all of this activity and yet not remember one single thing. Completely oblivious to what just happened. That can describe our faith in God as well. We can go through the religious routine, the motions and yet be completely oblivious to what God is not only doing in our life, but calling us to do in obedience. Spiritual sleepwalking is real and we have all experienced it and quite possibly your are currently spiritually sleepwalking as well. In fact, you may have just come to church, thinking you are going to go through your regular routine. Here’s the truth: God has something else in mind for you.

Remember, Jonah’s story is our story? Jonah is spiritually sleepwalking and God wants to come and wake him up…and he does it by sending Jonah a reminder of his amazing grace. It’s a lesson that God wants all of us to hear as well. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

If you have a Bible or device, find Jonah chapter one. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events, then look for Iowa City Church. All of the sermon notes and Scriptures will be found there.

Here’s some quick background. The book of Jonah is classified as a minor prophet. What’s odd is that all of the books of prophecy in the OT have the prophet speaking on behalf of God to a specific people group. Jonah is unique in that it’s a story about the life of a prophet. It’s as if this crazy episode in Jonah’s life is a prophetic message to the readers…and that’s the big take away for each of us. Jonah’s story in many ways is our story.

Here’s what we have learned so far. God has asked his prophet, Jonah, dove of faithfulness to go to the people of Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians, because they are living wicked lives. Jonah wants nothing to do with this mission, not because he is afraid of these violent, blood thirsty people, but because he knows that God is loving, compassionate and gracious towards these people. Essentially Jonah wants his enemies to be destroyed, he doesn’t want to be a part of a potential redemption story. So he runs, ironically to the edge of the known world.

Show Picture of Tarshish/Nineveh

So Jonah is on the run, running from God…running from life. Let’s look at verses 4-6:

Jonah 1:4–6 NIV

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Who sent the storm? Yahweh. It’s such a violent storm that the ship is deciding whether or not to break up. The sailors are terrified so they begin to cry out to their own gods. In these cultures, there were not just one or two gods, there were a plethora of gods that were worshiped for a variety of situations and occasions. Each of the sailors is going through their contacts making sure they cry out to every god the possibly might now. They are so desperate they throw the cargo over. In other words they are not concerned about making a profit, they are focused on survival.

Where is Jonah? Below deck sleeping! The captain is shocked that Jonah can sleep in such a violent storm. He begs Jonah to pray to his god to take notice so they won’t die.

What is Jonah doing? He’s spiritually sleepwalking! He’s disobeying God, literally running from him, convinced that he knows what is best for his life. Here’s the deal, whenever we disobey God we are what? Sinning. Jonah is sleepwalking to the point were he doesn’t even recognize his sin, but here’s the deal about sin…sin and it’s consequences don’t just impact us, they impact everyone around us.

The consequences of Jonah’s disobedience have found him, and it is impacting everyone around him…and yet he’s oblivious to it. That’s really how sin impacts us as well. Because of our individualistic culture, we think everything revolves around us, and that our actions only impact us. The truth is sin will impact everyone around you and sometimes, just like Jonah, we are the last person to realize it. Here are these sailors feeling the impact of Jonah’s sin.

Are there people around calling out to you to wake up? Are you frustrated in your marriage? Family? Work situation? Have you considered that maybe it’s the effects of your sin? Being a pastor for as long as I have been, I’ve seen the ripple effect of sin…it never just effects you. Your family, your relationships your entire life is impacted when you are spiritually sleepwalking.

Let’s keep reading.

Jonah 1:7–10 NIV

Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

The sailors decide to cast lots, or throw some time of dice to determine who the culprit is, who was the one who ticked off the ocean god. Of course the lot fell to Jonah, so they ask for all the details. So he tells them that he is a Hebrew, as that he worships, some of your translations read, fear the LORD or Yahweh, and then he describes Yahweh, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

Do the sailors believe that Jonah worships Yahweh? No, in fact they are terrified because they want to know what he has done…because it’s NOT worship!!!!

When we are spiritually sleepwalking, more then likely it will be the non-Christians who call us out? Sometimes as Christians, it’s hard to see our fellow Christians in their sleepwalking, however non-Christians…well they can see our hypocrisy a mile away. “I follow Jesus!” Non-Christians are like: “No you don’t!”

Jonah 1:11–12 NIV

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

One would think of this as a noble gesture from Jonah. If he really wanted the storm to stop why didn’t he just pray out to God that he would indeed go to Nineveh? Why didn’t Jonah repent? What is the one, most certain way to not go to Nineveh? Die. Just kill me, but you must do it…you sailors, through me over…kill me. Jonah is still running from God.

Jonah 1:13–16 NIV

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

These pagan sailors are turning into the heroes! They are not about ready to kill a man, however their attempts to row ashore are going nowhere. So they ask for forgiveness to who? Yahweh! These men, unlike Jonah are fearing Yahweh. So they pick up Jonah and threw him into the raging sea, and immediately the waters calm. It should remind you of Matthew 8, when Jesus calms the storm. They worship or fear Yahweh.

These sailors then go ashore and offer sacrifices to Yahweh…and made vows…they become followers and worshipers of Yahweh. God continues to be on the move even in the midst of Jonah’s disobedience. So what happens? The bad guys become good guys and the good guy…well he’s acting like a bad guy…because he continues to be spiritually sleep walking.

But that’s not the end of Jonah’s story. Look at verse 17.

Jonah 1:17 NIV

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

If you were swallowed by a fish would that be a good thing or a bad thing? If you were swallowed by a fish would that be the end of the story or the beginning of a new chapter? In any other story, this is the end, this is Jonah’s demise. However, in God’s story, storms or big fish can be labeled “Grace”. God is being so loving and compassionate to Jonah. He sent a storm, and when that didn’t work he sent a fish. God is a God of grace.

For you and me to awaken from our spiritual sleepwalking, we need to be reminded of God’s amazing grace.

What does God’s grace look like? Sometimes God’s grace looks like a storm. Are you in the middle of a storm? Bills are pilling up because of your poor spending habits? A relationship is in shambles because of some lies that you told. Maybe it’s just the pressures of trying to live the life the culture says is life. Maybe it’s trying to live life on your terms and it just feels like one storm after another keeps pounding your life. That just might be God’s grace reminding you to wake up to him.

Sometimes God’s grace looks like a giant fish ready to consume you. You feel like our life is falling apart. Your addiction has gone too far and it feels like your world is sinking. The diagnosis is not good. The habit it too debilitating. The fear or anxiety is too much. In the midst of our darkest moments, God’s grace has a way of reaching out and reminding us that he there. I’ve taken a lot of phone calls from people who have reached rock bottom, and they have nowhere else to turn, it’s then and sometimes only then that they are finally awakened to God’s amazing grace.

Thankfully, sometimes God’s grace doesn’t hit us like a storm or a big fish. Sometimes God’s grace hits us when we are reminded about the gospel. You see Jesus is grace personified. When Jesus started his ministry, he came as a representative of his people. The problem was that his people, the Jewish people were sleep walking spiritually. They were so asleep at the wheel they couldn’t recognize who Jesus was and what he was up to. During his ministry, the religious leaders kept asking Jesus for a sign to prove who he was. Here is what Jesus told them:

Matthew 12:40 NIV

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Just like the fish was moment of grace for Jonah, Jesus is telling the religious sleep walkers that his death and burial is a moment of grace for them. The willingness of Jesus, the perfect human, to atone for our sin is an amazing act of grace that should awaken each and everyone of us.

Here’s what Jonah and Jesus teach each of us: God will do whatever it takes to chase you down with his amazing grace. However, this question remains: Will it wake you up?