Route 66- Exit 32- Jonah
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If there is one verse that sums up the book of Jonah best it would be Jonah 4:2. So lets stand together for the reading of God’s Word
2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
Have you ever noticed that when you do something you shouldn’t be doing, something always seems to go wrong
I remember skipping school in 10th grade
My best friend and I decided we were too tired for School and decided we would drive my car down 301 into Virginia
just across the Potomac river
we parked the car looking out at the bridge we had just crossed and we leaned the seats back and took a little nap
t-top off and windows down in the nice spring air
And wouldn’t you know it… when we wake up and try to start the car..... I turned the key and guess what?
nothing but a tic-tic-tic
I had left the lights on and the battery was dead
Well the Book of Jonah is about a prophet who didn’t go where he was supposed to go
took a nap
And when He woke up, realized things were not going as planned
Now when we think about the book of Jonah, what is the first thing we think about???
THE BIG FISH… RIGHT?
Thats why your route 66 road Trip Snack today is Gold Fish
But in all actuality the Big Fish is just a small part of the narrative in this book
In fact the fish is only mentioned in 3 verses
1:17, 2:1 and 2:10
So this book is not merely about a Big Fish
So what is this Book About???
Well ultimately this book is about what God is Like
Specifically as Jonah 4:2 says… that GOD IS....
Jonah 4:2 (NASB95)
2 ....a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
And therefore, ultimately we should conform our hearts to HIs
and Declare these things to all the world
Ultimately, my Hope for this morning’s message is not merely that you will know the story of the Book of Jonah
It is my hope that in Understanding this great book we will see our Need To....
Recommit Ourselves to the Mission God Has Called Us To!!!
Recommit Ourselves to the Mission God Has Called Us To!!!
And we will see this need in our own lives as we break this book up into two sections
In Chapters 1-2, We See A Ship Full of Sinners In The Sea Of God’s Salvation
In Chapter 3-4 We See A Penitent People And A Pouting Prophet
A Ship Full Of Sinners In The Sea Of God’s Salvation (Chapter 1-2)
A Ship Full Of Sinners In The Sea Of God’s Salvation (Chapter 1-2)
Notice first the ship full of Sinners...
We begin with Jonah Himself
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Now there are a few things we need to remember here
First is that Nineveh is the capitol city of Assyria who was one of Israel’s greatest adversaries
Second we know from 2 Kings that Jonah prophesied during king Jereboam II’s time
Which was about the early to mid 7th century BC
And third that the Prophet Amos also prophesied during this time that the Assyrians were going to destroys Israel
All that to say that Jonah has no love loss for the people of Nineveh
so it is somewhat surprising to read that Jonah ran from this calling to go “Cry against them for their wickedness”
In fact, in chapter 1 we never really know why Jonah runs...
But notice here his running is completely away from where God wanted him to go
Nineveh was eastward, but Tarshish was to the west...
In fact most scholars locate Tarshish all the way over on the Atlantic Coast of Spain
Jonah is running as far away from God that He could possibly go
He pays the fair to get on this boat from Joppa and says.... “See ya!!”
I am always amazed by the way how many people name their kids Jonah
as if Jonah is some sort of biblical hero or something
This guy literally was running from the LORD and His calling
But let us not be to hard on Ole’ Jonah here
Because i wonder how many of us here are running from the LORD’s calling on our life
Following the LORD’s calling on our life is not always easy
In a sense the Book of Joanh stands as God’s way of telling us
You can either do this the hard way, OR you can do it the harder way
Now Jonah was called to Go to Nineveh
But what are we all called to do?
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
My Brothers and Sisters… How faithful are we being to this calling from God??!!
I wonder How many of us are running from the mission God has given to us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people
Just to be clear some of us are not running from this
We’ve just grown complacent in it
Well Jonah here jumps aboard this ship and listen to what happens next
4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.
5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.
Notice First that it was the LORD who hurled this storm onto the sea
the word hurled is the same word used in verse 5 when they “Threw” the cargo overboard
Now this wasn’t a normal type of storm here
according to verse 4 it was so great that the ship about to break up
so great was the storm that these seasoned sailors were afraid
But where was Jonah???
Asleep in the hold of the ship
And what we have described for us here is Ship full of Sinners
Jonah who is running from God
And the Sailors who are crying out to their false Gods
It would seem as though their is no hope for any of them
So look what happens next...
6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”
Now this is really the pivotal question in chapter 1
WOULD JONAH’S GOD SAVE THEM???
IS HE CONCERNED ABOUT THEM????
Why should He be???
They are a bunch of pagans and Jonah is a run away prophet!!
God doesn’t need Jonah
He could use someone else
Let see what happens...
7 Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”
This is crazy isn’t it!!!
first of all that Jonah would say that He Fears The LORD
But secondly that His theology is so right
Jonah’s God is the creator of all things
Heaven, Sea, and dry Land
So in saying this Jonah knows exactly why this storm is upon them and Who’s behind it
Lets keep reading
10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.
12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”
The Crew basically calls Jonah a fool..
How could you do this??
And what is most interesting is that not a single time do you see Jonah do what the rest of these pagans had done
HE NEVER CRIED OUT TO HIS GOD!!!
Not only that, look at what he tells them to do
Throw Him overboard
Jonah would rather die than repent and go to Nineveh like God had told Him
Not only that he left it up to the sailors to throw Him over board
If he knew that he was the cause, why didn’t he jump out of the boat Himself
Jonah was failing to demonstrate the compassionate care of God
But as it turns out, the sailers had more compassion than Jonah
13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.
The Words used here mean they were trying “Dig their way back to land”
This was some effort
they were trying their hardest not to thrown Jonah overboard
and is a great reminder that Salvation from God’s judgement never comes through Human effort
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And it is when they realized that they couldn’t save themselves that we now see that the Ship full Of Sinners were in the Sea of God’s Salvation
14 Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.”
15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
When they finally realize they cant save themselves they call on the LORD
I wonder by the way if you have done that
Do you realize that we are all in a ship full of sinners
and that this ship is going down
and our only Hope is to call upon the LORD for help
and that help only comes from Jesus
Notice that these me used the name of the LORD here
these pagan men call of the ONE TRUE GOD
And they beg Him fro mercy
Ands they recognize Him as the one in control
And When Jonah is thrown overboard the MEN BECOME BELIEVERS
God Saves The Pagan Sailers through the sacrifice of Jonah
This my friends points to one Who is greater than Jonah
To Christ, who siad...
18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
The sailors sacrificed Jonah overboard and were saved
Jesus sacrificed Himself and we are are saved
Interstingly enough we read in the Gospels about Jesus being in the hull of a ship sleeping in a storm
he doesnt need to be thrown in for the storm to stop
He just says, “Be Still” and the sea went calm
So the sailors are save in the Sea of God’s Salvation...
But what about Jonah
17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Now to many this Great fish might seem as though it is God’s judgement
But in actuality it is the LORD saving Jonah
Don’t over look the fact that verse 17 says that GOD “APPOINTED” the fish
And as a result of God’s great mercy Jonah cries out to God with thanksgiving
1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,
2 and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.
3 “For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
4 “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
7 “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.
8 “Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness,
9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.”
10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.
The Picture here is of Jonah being resurrected
He is given NEW LIFE!!!
SALVATION IS FROM THE LORD!!!!
The Question now is… WHAT WILL HE DO WITH HIS NEW LIFE
And that is the question for us…
The LORD has shown us great Mercy and compassion in giving us new life in Christ...
Will we now use that new LIFe for His Glory
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
My Friends, Let us RECOMMIT OUR LIVES TO THE MISSION GOD HAS CALLED US TO
Let Us Glorify God As We See Sinners Like Us transformed Into Christ Like Maturity
Let us proclaim the Gospel faithfully!!
Have you been running from this calling?
have you been avoiding it?
God here shows great compassion not only to the sailors but to Joanah
will we declare God’s Mercy and Compassion to a world that is sinking so that the sinners there in will be saved in the sea of God’s salvation?
Let’s re-commit ourselves to the mission He has given us
Well that Brings us to the next half of the Book where we now see...
A Penitent People And A Pouting Prophet (Chapters 3-4)
A Penitent People And A Pouting Prophet (Chapters 3-4)
Having rescued Jonah from the sea through the miraculous actions of a Great fish now look what happens
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”
Jonah gets a second chance to obey God
I wonder too at this point if Jonah is going to do this out of duty or delight
we are not yet told though
Does Jonah’s obedience here stem from the fact that God has shown him mercy and compassion
Or does he just trying to avoid the big fish
So lets see what happens..
3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.
4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Eight words!!!
That was all that Jonah proclaimed
and notice how these words lacked any call to repentance and announcement of God’s Grace
Seems to me Jonah is just doing the minimum requirement of His calling
And Why didn’t Jonah just do this in the first place?
It may not have been easy but He knew He could run from God
Well Jonah seems to half heartedly obey God here and look what happened
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.
6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.
7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.
9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
They Believed God
They mourned their sin
They repented
And the LORD SHOWED MERCY!!!
And God this was accomplished through a half-hearted approach to proclaiming God’s message
My friends if your avoiding telling others about Jesus because you dont thihk you can do it... know this
God’s ability to Save is not dependent upon the effectiveness of His messenger
He has sent us in order to show His power not our ability to communicate
Jonah’s preaching was a great success....
Man I would be thrilled and amazed, and praising God if the entire town of Berlin Did this!!!
Wouldn’t you
Well the truth of the matter is that many would… if we would just tell them
36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Let us re -Commit ourselves to the Mission God has Called us to...
Let us not be like Jonah
Because look what happens next
1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.
2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
3 “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”
WOW!!! What hate Jonah had for these people
He would rather die than God save the Ninevites
Jonah was thankful when God saved Him
But angry when God saves the Ninevites
Like the ungrateful slave who’s master forgave him his debt but then went and demanded his fellow slave repay Him
Jesus says this...
33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’
So we have a Penitent people in the Ninevites
But we have a pouting prophet in Jonah
4 The Lord said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”
5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.
He is Just hoping to see the LORD destroy them like Sodom and Gomorrah
And as he sat and waited look what God did...
6 So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.
That is twice now that we read about God Appointing something for Jonah and Jonah being pleased
The Big Fish and now this Plant
And aren’t we all happy when the LORD delivers us
Well look at how the LORD confronts Jonah now
7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.
8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”
Notice again this is all the LORD’s doing
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
So as Jonah pouts about the Ninevites and now this plant that has died look at God’s response
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”
10 Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.
11 “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
Let us now turn the tables back on us...
God has shown such great compassion on us in Christ
Should we not seek to share that Compassion with ALL PEOPLE!
I think that is one of the greatest lessons from the Book of Jonah
and it is a lesson that JESUS emphasizes
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Let us abandon all racism
Let us show compassion and care to our political opponents
In our actions both online and in person let us practice Ephesians 4:29-32
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
LET US NOT FORGET OUR MISSION IS NOT TO TEAR DOWN OUR OPPONENTS
OUR MISSION IS “TO GLORIFY GOD AS WE SEE SINNERS LIKE US TRANSFORMED INTO CHRISTLIKE MATURITY”
The Great Commission is about “Making disciples of “ALL NATIONS”
CONCLUSION
AND THAT IS THE CHALLNEGE FOR US TODAY
to re-commit to this mission
And let me challenge you even this week to seek to share the gospel with someone each day
And when you say “Im not sure i can do that”
recognize that Jonah said the same thing
Lets pray
Communion
As we join together in taking of the LORD’s table this morning let me once again read the great commission and focus specifically on the last part
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
As we are going, Jesus is with us
Baptism- Is the picture of our entrance into union Christ
Communion- is the picture of our continued Union with Christ
16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
As we remember our unity and oneness with Christ through his sacrifice on the cross, let it be a rmeinder that we have joined ourselvers to His mission as well
and that is Christ who empowers us through His Spirit to accomplish the task