I am Jake--Jonah 1

Nobody likes a bully. You’re a school kid and this week the class bully, we will call him Jake, decides that you’re going to be his target. Day after day he terrorizes you. That Friday, you come home—exhausted—beat down—discouraged—feeling worthless—and already dreading school on Monday. As your parents pick you up they are grinning from ear to ear. Guess what, buddy? You know how we’ve been praying about adopting? We think God has given us someone…and we cannot wait to love this kid. I bet you’re going to be excited too…but we want to make sure you’re on board with this....it’s a kid from your class…do you happen to know Jake.

How do you feel if you’re that kid? How do you respond?

Think about what is happening here. Jake is going to be blessed by your awesome parents. He is finding favor. He will be loved. But that’s difficult because you know what that means. This adoption is going to mean that Jake is just as much a part of the family as you are now. And he is your enemy…he has been your bully. His rescue means a deep loss for you.

That might at least get us close to understanding emotionally what is happening in our text this morning in Jonah 1.

Jonah is likely set in the 8th century BC. And during this time things aren’t going so well for Israel. Stuff is actually looking pretty bad. The enemies are winning. And this isn’t just some minor thing, for the enemy to be winning it would mean at least in their minds that Yahweh—their God—was losing. That would cause a great deal of confusion. They were supposed to be the ones winning. God is the one in charge of everything—so how in the world can the evil and wicked nations be winning?

So what kind of message would you like to hear in such an environment? When your borders are shrinking, when it looks like promises from God aren’t being kept, when things in your land are just in a terrible and deplorable state? You want to hear a message that is comforting. You want to be told that everything is going to be okay. And if you were a prophet, I’m certain that this would be the type of word of the Lord you’d be ecstatic to bring. You’d want to encourage your countrymen to hang in there—that things are going to get better.

There is actually another prophecy of Jonah that we see in 2 Kings 14. Here Jonah gets to give the message that he probably wanted to give—a message to Jeroboam that Assyria—the enemy—was going to be pushed back a little bit. Your boarders are going to be extended! Now that’s the type of message that I’m sure Jonah was excited about getting to share. Salvation belongs to the Lord---and he is going to rescue (save) Israel from the hand of the enemies! We don’t read anything about him running away from this particular message. Most believe that happened before the events in our book of Jonah, but we don’t know for certain. Either way we do know that he was given a very different message in the book bearing his name.

Read Jonah 1:1-17

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

Sermon Introduction:

So you’re mom and dad. You’ve heard Jake’s story and your heart is moved with compassion. You want to love this kid. Now your task is to convince your child…what do you think? Should we take Jake in? How would you go about convincing him?

If you have a theology nerd trying to use his Bible knowledge to wiggle out of living a life that reflects the heart of God, how do you give him a set of eyes? When he knows that the Bible says that what God really desires is to “love God and love people”…and he has heard Jesus enough to know that what he means by that is “love your enemy”....and his response to these truths is to say…uhmmm, but “who is my neighbor”? What do you do to invite him into discipleship? What do you do to help him see rightly?

You tell a story about a traveler who gets beaten up by robbers…you put him in the ditch and have all of his buddies go past him and have him only rescued by a hated Samaritan. If he’s able to get in the ditch then he’s able to see, “I don’t care who my neighbor is....I just want someone to BE a neighbor and help me out of that ditch.”

I would argue that what Jesus does with the Good Samaritan is similar to what God is going to be doing here with Jonah—with the people of Israel…they are called to be a light to the nations…but they haven’t been. The Mission of God has been turned on it’s head. Not only have they been disobedient in their mission but they are not living at all the way that God calls them to live. They are not a people who love justice and mercy. They are a stiff-necked and self-focused people.

When God calls Jonah to this mission…love God, love Nineveh. He runs away. He’s a picture of the people. If the prophet doesn’t respond the people aren’t going to either. So how do you get them to do a 180?

You let him put himself in the ditch....and then you rescue him. That’s what we see here in the story of Jonah.

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WALK THROUGH JONAH

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The icy cold water splashes upon him. He’s drowning. Grasping for air. Do you think I should have pity upon Jonah? YES!!!! Mercy!!! Grace!!! Oh Lord save me from the depths!!!! Salvation belongs to the LORD… “Oh Lord, save me, cries Jonah!”

And what of Nineveh????

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Son…what do you think…should we adopt Jake?

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 4:4–6 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

I am Jake.