3. A Severe Mercy
Notes
Transcript
Welcome, both in person and online to part three of our sermon series, Jonah—The Story of You.
When I was a kid, there was this strange competition we would engage in, it was called “Mercy”. Two guys would lock their hands together and then try and bend back the other person’s hands until they cried out, “Mercy!”
“Mercy” was the code word that they were giving up, the other person was stronger. Silly game, I know…but it’s one of many when it comes to boys trying to display their toughness. Here’s what’s interesting. The word “mercy”.
Here’s a simple definition:
Mercy - compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.
We understand this definition. When someone more powerful is seeking to bring harm or retribution, for whatever reason, they stop and show mercy…compassion or forgiveness.
In the Bible, the word mercy, especially when it’s used to describe God goes even deeper. First of all, one of the character traits of God is his mercy. His mercy is shown through his love, grace, goodness, and his steadfast love. What that means, is that those who have entered into a covenant with God have found themselves in a very special place. By entering into a covenant relationship with God, God is going to do whatever it takes to not only uphold his end of the bargain, but to also do whatever it takes to help you hold up your end of the bargain. So when we make a mistake, are disobedient, or even rebellious, God will show mercy and come after us to help restore the relationship. This is why God’s mercy is so different for those who have put their faith in him. He doesn’t want to let go of you no matter how hard you fight or run.
Here is where each of you here need to tune in to what we are about to study. I don’t know what’s going on in your life. I don’t know what obstacles you are facing. I don’t know if you are up or down. I don’t know if you are close to God or just barely handing on. But here is what Jonah is going to teach us today about our lives.
In our darkest of moments, God’s mercy, in the strangest of ways, offers us an opportunity to change. Jonah’s prayer in chapter demonstrates what I’m talking about.
If you have a Bible or device, find Jonah chapter two. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events, look for Iowa City Church and all of the sermon notes, scriptures and Bible reading plan will all be available for you to participate with.
God has called his prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, because they were wicked. Jonah wants nothing to do with these people because he despises them so much. Instead, Jonah decides to chart a course for his best life, and he gets on a boat headed for the farthest place he could go Tarshish.
God chases Jonah down with his amazing grace. First in the form of a violent storm. Then when Jonah determines that he would rather die then do what God wants, tells the sailors to throw him into the raging sea, where God’s grace, in the form of a giant fish swallows him.
Now, all of us would consider that the end of the story. A fish swallowing anyone is the end. But not in this story. What seems like the end is just the beginning.
Just a quick side note. For those of you hung up on a human being stuck in a fish’s belly for three days let me suggest a couple of things. First, is it plausible? Well consider the fact that your faith as a Christian is based upon a dead man coming back to life. If that is true, and I believe that it is, then a man surviving in the belly of a fish isn’t off the table. Secondly, Jesus refers to Jonah, and specifically this event on multiple occasions. So it’s important to study and understand because it’s pointing us to a spiritual truth, even if it’s hard to believe.
Here’s Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish.
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
Jonah has sunk to the deepest of depths, he likens it to the realm of the dead. The lowest and darkest of places. Not only that he is trapped inside of this giant fish. This is a hopeless situation and Jonah has nowhere left to turn so he cries out to the LORD.
Have you ever been in a situation like that? I have. I’ve even been with people while I was a chaplain in the hospital, or as a pastor ministering to some of you. I remember sitting with a family in the ER waiting to hear the news about their husband/father. Only to hear the bad news…he was gone. The crying, the pain and emotion. The crying out to God asking, “Why?!”
The pain of hitting rock bottom with addiction, and the ensuing fallout. The loss of relationships, job, and life. The crying out to God or whoever will listen. We all have had those moments just like what Jonah is experiencing. His choices, and actions have taken him to the worst place imaginable and their is seemingly no way out. He cries out to God.
Shockingly, God listens. He answers. It reminds us of Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
No matter the depth of your sin, hurt or brokenness…when you call out to God he is near.
Jonah continues.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
Who hurled Jonah into the sea? I thought the sailors did. Jonah says that Yahweh did. What’s going on here? Jonah is acknowledging the sovereignty of God. He is in charge, he has been calling the shots. Jonah is recognizing that whether it was the fierce storm, the sailors or the giant fish, it’s been God who has been chasing him down, trying to get his attention, and awaken him to life.
I imagine that when Jonah first got on this ship, heading west, he went to the bow and looked out over the horizon and all he saw the openness, the options, the freedom to do what he wanted. In his terms, he was living his life, he was charting the course for his life. Then everything quickly changed and before he new it, he was going down…down…down into the belly of a fish. Strange how things change.
A think a lot of people view God like he is a genie in a bottle. His job is to pop out and grant us our wishes so that our life can be happy, easy or comfortable. You see, most people, maybe even you assume that God’s purpose in your life is to help you reach your desired destination. God’s purpose is to help you become the doctor, or happily married, with great kids, and a great job and dog.
Listen, God cares more about your character then your comfort. God is calling people to himself, so that he can mold them and shape them into his character…to partner with him on his mission. Jonah is recognizing that God is dealing him a severe mercy. (I picked this up from Tim Mackey of Bible Project). The waves crashing in, the guts of the fish are a severe mercy from God. Mercy? This doesn’t sound like mercy? This definitely doesn’t feel like mercy!
Remember, Jonah was God’s prophet. Jonah was in a covenant relationship with God. God cares about Jonah, and his character…so he shows him a severe compassion.
This is love, severe love. This is forgiveness, severe forgiveness. It hurts, it’s painful, but it gets Jonah’s attention and he looks towards the temple. Obviously impossible to do, but it’s a metaphor or turning to God’s presence. For you and me, when life is falling apart, and we feel like God has abandoned us, and our hopes and dreams, if we can recognize the severe mercy in the moment…as an opportunity to be shaped and conformed to God…in this case, be turning and conforming our lives to Jesus.
Let’s keep reading.
The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
The description of going down, down, down into the depths, the roots of the mountain or a pit. It’s a powerfully depressing image, isn’t it?
However, for Jonah, he is recognizing that his pursuit of defining and discovering life on his own terms has lead him to the pit. But here is the key moment for Jonah, when he recognizes the mercy God is giving him…and that only God can bring him up out of the pit.
This a great reminder that when we have lost our way, when we have reached rock bottom and forgotten who we are, it’s God who gives us life.
A lot of people in our culture have lost their way and have found themselves in a pit of depression because they have tried to find their own life. People in our culture have tried to find life through relationships, sexuality, gender, career, money, likes on social media. Maybe you’ve sought life through approval, success or accolades, but all of those paths leads to rock bottom. Jonah has rediscovered his identity is found in God. For you and me, we remember that our identity is found in Jesus.
Jonah continues his prayer.
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
It’s feeling like the end for Jonah. He acknowledges that all he has is God…and he thinks of the temple, the place where he would recognize the presence of God. Essentially, Jonah is saying is that in these final moments God, all I have is you.
Anyone here who has had surgery, you kind of recognize this feeling. When you go into surgery, you leave your family and loved ones behind, and it’s just you on that bed, while there is all this activity around. As they are putting you under, you realize it’s just you…you and you alone are going on this journey. It’s in that moment we are very aware of our dependence on God, he is everything. He is all that matters. It’s amazing our the valley of the shadow of death refocuses our lives on God.
Jonah concludes his prayer with this:
“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”
How worthless are all the things we cling to that we think are so important. The new truck. Our favorite team. Our illustrious career. Our trophies. Our bank accounts. In the end, worthless.
So what happens to Jonah in this moment of severe mercy? Repentance. This is an admittance of wrong doing, and a desire to be faithful. This isn’t just feeling sorrow for himself. This is a change of heart. What I have vowed, I will make good.
Jonah recognizes God’s severe mercy and changes his heart.
In the chorus of one of my favorite hymns, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, there is this line:
Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see,
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Every day, God is sending his mercies to his. When you open your eyes and you are gifted a new day, that’s his mercy. When you step outside and see the amazing sun rise or the beautiful changing colors of the leaves, that’s God’s mercy. When you open your Bible and read Scripture, that’s God’s mercy.
I’ve heard people talk about how losing the dream job was God’s mercy because it drew them closer to him. I’ve heard people talk about how the divorce, the cancer, the loss was so painful, yet it awakened them to God’s mercy. I don’t always understand it, and it doesn’t lessen the pain, but God’s mercy is always there, ready to shape us, change us.
As Jonah finished his prayer, here is what happened next.
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
People who say the Bible is boring, have never read the Bible! Can you imagine the experience of being vomited out of a fish! Talk about a severe mercy!
Here is what we all can take away from Jonah’s experience:
There is no sin beyond God’s redemptive reach. His mercy is always available to shape us into His glorious image.
Here are some obedience challenges I want to leave you with:
1.