Running Man

Hide and Seek

We invented this game in my house. We call it: hide and seek.

I am the worst at the game. Not because I am bad at hiding. When we play at youth group I do pretty well.

Because in our house, we have this cheater. Vin.

No matter where I go, no matter where I hide, she gives me away. She follows me, sniffs me out, checks in between where I am and where the seeker is.

Even if I put her outside first, the cheater kids know, and they let her in to go find me.

There’s no use running away from Vin.

Any guesses who our next prophet is?

Jonah!

Jonah

Love this movie, well worth a rewatch, or a first watch if you haven’t seen it. Who’s up for church movie afternoon!

A few decades after Elisha, maybe 50 years, a few sinful kings who were worse than those before… the prophet Jonah arrives on the scene.

2 Kings 14:25 ESV

25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

Jonah was kind of a big deal! He prophesied the restoration of Israel’s borders… and now it was happening. Wealth and prosperity and the Kingdom is growing!

Ninevah, built by the “great hunter” Nimrod mentioned in Genesis. It would later become the capital city of Assyria but was already a major city.

Beyond the Biblical text, archaeology confirms the “wickedness” of the Assyrians. Ashurbanipal was famous for tearing off the lips and hands of his victims. Tiglath-Pileser flayed victims alive and made great piles of their skulls.

This is “Murder City” of the ancient world.

God takes sin seriously, even the sin of people who don’t acknowledge his name… or even maybe know his name. He is King of all the earth, and this city “stinks to high heaven” (as one paraphrase puts it).

Jonah 1:1–2 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.”

“The word of the Lord” spoke, as it says 7 times here in the book of Jonah.

Jonah knows where he’s supposed to go and why.

Jonah 1:3 ESV

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.

So… Assyria is to the East and North. Jonah tries to run to the “opposite ends of the earth” from his perspective. Pretty much the bottom end of Spain, and 10 times further West than he has been asked to go East.

You want me to go to 700 miles East. Like from here to Chicago.

I’ll go 3000 miles West. That’s from here to Hawaii. 3000 miles West.

And it’s a Mediterranean Cruise. Nice! And every bit as expensive as that might imply.

And he is “fleeing from the presence of the LORD.”

Ummm… dumb.

This guy’s a prophet of YHWH, right? He should know better. And I think he does know better at some level… that part just isn’t in charge.

He tries to flee from the presence of the Lord. That’s worse than trying to hide from my dog. And… God’s not too happy about it.

This wasn’t a volunteer mission. This was “the word of the LORD” said and now you, Jonah, go. “Arise and go” which means “go right now!”

What happens when the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the storm wants to show you that you are heading in the wrong direction?

Jonah 1:4 ESV

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.

Jonah 1:5–7 ESV

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.” 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.

Jonah’s just been keeping quiet. He had to know! But the dice called him out.

Jonah 1:8–11 ESV

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.

Jonah knew he done messed up.

He has some level of honesty and responsibility here. This is my fault. I’m the dummy trying to flee from the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient being. If God wants my life, my life is his.

Or… more cynical, maybe Jonah would rather die than go to Nineveh.

Either way: “Toss me over.”

Jonah 1:12 ESV

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.”

That would be it for me. “Okay, bye!” They try harder first.

Jonah 1:13–14 ESV

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.”

Jonah 1:15 ESV

15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

And Jonah just about drowned.

Oh… but also:

Jonah 1:17 ESV

17 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.

(More about the fish next week. But… gross. And… ouch. And… really? And… gross)

Running Away from God

Jonah knows where he is supposed to go and why, and he runs the other way. Spoiler alert: it doesn't go well. Running away from an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent being is the definition of foolishness... and yet everyone of us has been on a ship to Tarshish.

You can’t run from God, can you?

Answer: You can’t run from God.

And yet we try, don’t we?

Where is Tarshish?

How are you running away from God?

When we don’t like what God is saying, we run away.

Maybe literally, physically, on a boat.

But at least mentally. Emotionally. Like a kid trying to hide behind a curtain. Maybe if I pretend I can’t see God than God won’t see me.

Distraction/Escapism

It can be as “innocent” as escapism. I’ll read a book, watch tv., pursue work or hobbies so hard that I can busy myself and make “life” loud enough that I drown out the voice of God. That’s a strategy that most of our world seems to be pursuing as hard as it can.

Sleeping, like Jonah in the boat. Satan will help that if he can, the demonic lullaby, keep the Christians asleep on the boat heading the wrong way.

Welcome to Nineveh.

Sin

We can run away into sin. God can’t see me so I’ll do what I want… or at least pretend that He doesn’t care. Or maybe pretend that He doesn’t exist just long enough that I can do what I want.

Or maybe we aren’t “really” running away, we’re just delaying, procrastinating our obeying. At least I’m not buying a ticket to Tarshish… but I’m also not heading to Nineveh.

However you’re running, or delaying… spoiler alert. It’s not going to work.

Willful Disobedience

About so many things in your life, you already know what God is saying.

You know what God is saying about your dating life.

Your sex life.

Your money, your finances.

Your addictions.

You know what God is saying about where He is calling you to serve Him:

Radical love for others.

Bold witness.

And maybe more detailed than that.

Call it sin. Call it stupid. Call it sleepiness. Call it deafness.

We “run from God” when we know His Will, His Word, and we do something / anything else! We are His, We and all Creation.

Stop running away! It is useless, fruitless, and you are going to hurt yourself and others.

How is God getting your attention?

God is infinitely creative in the ways He calls us back.

Sometimes it is a storm. That’s God shouting at you, turn around! Sometimes God is in the storm.

God speaks through the storms of life.

Did you notice something funny with Jonah. Did the storm get his attention? No, he was sleeping!!!

It was the sailors, God used a friend, a temporary acquaintance, really, as his messengers. He got there attention to get Jonah’s attention.

God speaks through people.

Wise Christians, yes, or random sailors with their eyes open.

And before all of that, all the way to verse 1:

God speaks through His Word.

That’s kind of obvious, tautological… the “Word of the LORD came to Jonah.” He knew what God was saying to him. He knew what God was asking of him. The problem was never “what is God saying” but “I don’t like it.”

God is calling you back. Do you hear him?

Do you hear him in the storm? Do you hear him in the voice of your friends, your neighbors? Do you hear him now, right now, speaking through His word, speaking through me?

God is calling you back.

And here is the most beautiful thing. There is always a way back.

Repent and be forgiven, the Kingdom of God is near, the King is near.

Repent and be made new.

Jesus invites you to stop running away… and to start running towards him. And look, he is already here to meet you.