Jonah 3:1-5 "Broken But Still Called"

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                I’ve spoken numerous times before about my call to gospel ministry and how those events unfolded, but for those of you who haven’t heard me do so before I will give a quick recap.  Amy and I were riding back from her parents’ house sometime around late 2005 and I started talking with her about my feeling called into gospel ministry.  All of this conversation ultimately ended with her asking me who I was running from.  Upon my acknowledging that I was running from God, she asked if I thought I could win, and the rest is history.  Now, that part you know.  The part that most of you in this room don’t know is that that was not the first conversation that I had had with someone about my entering into pastoral ministry.  You see, back in the summer of 2004, I went to the General Assembly meeting of the denomination that I was a part of at the time with a man named Dr. Morris Taylor.  We didn’t travel together, but while the events of this meeting were taking place, we spent pretty much the entirety of the four days of that meeting together.  During those four days, we talked about a lot of different subjects, one of which was my call to ministry.  Now, I will tell you that I never told Dr. Taylor anything about my feeling called to ministry prior to or during that trip.  However, it was as if he seemed to know without me even having to tell him.  I have often been puzzled at how he could have known something that I had never shared with him (or anyone else for that matter), and I fully believe that it was God’s working through him to speak clearly to me.  To sum up all of our conversations, Dr. Taylor basically told me that I needed to get over my resistance and get my butt in seminary after I was done with college that coming spring.  Now, to back the story up even further, 2004 wasn’t the first time that I had thought about seminary and vocational gospel ministry.  You see, there was a time around 2002 or 2003 where I really felt God doing something in my life that was different from most folks.  I witnessed God call a lot of folks into a relationship with Him, but there was something different about what God was doing in my life that I started to really wonder if my calling was different from that of what we might call the “everyday, average Christian disciple.”  

                Well, what does all of this have to do with the book of Jonah and particularly our text for today?  You see, I can identify a lot with Jonah in some aspects.  Now, I may not have had the ministry success that Jonah had prior to that first feeling of being called by God back in 2003, but I had seen some fruitful times in ministry working with kids at various camps/conferences ranging from third grade to graduating seniors.  I had seen myself be used by God to bring about change in the lives of some folks and to bring about their seeing the light from the midst of the darkness.  I may not have been a trained theologian like Jonah, but I did know without hesitation that God had called me and drawn me into an eternal relationship with Him.  That was something that I most definitely was sure of.  So, you might be asking, where’s the similarity that I see between myself and Jonah?  I mean, I can kind of see a similarity, but it’s a stretch.  Well, the real similarity is in what happened to both Jonah and myself the moment that we stopped trying to actively flee from God’s calling.  Back in 2003, God called me to ministry and I resisted.  Again, in 2004, God was calling me into ministry, this time through a very trusted friend and pastor, and I resisted.  Finally, in 2005, God called me into ministry again using the person whom I was (and still am) the most influenced by.  Finally, I stopped all of my resisting and gave in to what God was calling me to do with my life.  And do you know what the astonishing thing about all three of these calls to ministry is?  The message remained the same.  The feelings, the callings that I received in 2003, 2004, and 2005 all said one thing, “Tommy, go into pastoral ministry.”  There was no difference between the three messages despite the time difference, or despite my hesitance and resistance to the prior calls.  It wasn’t so much three separate calls to enter into pastoral ministry as it was one call that repeated until it was answered the way that God had ordained for it to be answered.  In other words, God’s command for me never changed, I just had to come around to it and wake up from my idiotic delusions that I could deny something of God.

                Our text for today opens up by saying, “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.’”  Now, if you feel like you’ve already heard that message be delivered to Jonah by God it’s because you have.  As a matter of fact, the book of Jonah opens up with the words, “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.’”  You may be asking yourself why this is of any interest to us, and that’s not an uncommon question.  The answer that I, and many other pastors and Bible nerds, would offer up to you is that it defies our natural tendencies.  If I were to give one of you in here the check to mail so that my monthly mortgage could be paid and you forgot or simply just didn’t do it, then there is a good chance that I probably wouldn’t ask you to mail that check for me in the future, especially not the next month or any time in the foreseeable future.  It would be an understandable thing (from our perspective) for God to remove Jonah from this place of privilege that he has occupied as a prophet of God.  It wouldn’t be difficult at all for us to understand if God wanted to say to Jonah, “Jonah, I’m thankful for your years of service.  I’m thankful that you’ve repented of your sins and I’m thankful for your prayer of confession and thanksgiving that you’ve offered up.  I know that you have a newfound desire for serving as a prophet and doing what I’ve commanded you after that fish spat you back onto dry land, but I just can’t trust you anymore.”  We wouldn’t bat an eye or give a second thought to it if God didn’t want Jonah carrying out this ministry to the people of Nineveh would we?  How do we know that he won’t try and run from his responsibilities again?  How do we know that this time will be any different than the last?  As I said, that’s the way that we would (and so often do) look at it.

                However, God doesn’t look at it the same way that we do.  God doesn’t look at things with begrudging eyes and prejudiced hearts.  God doesn’t hold past experiences and occurrences against us.  God doesn’t look upon us while keeping another eye upon our prior indiscretions.  No, God simply calls us in whatever state we are in to carry out His will.  We may be in a season of great spiritual nourishment and growth, or we could be wandering aimlessly in the wilderness.  Either way, God calls us into Christian service.  An African American Baptist pastor in Philadelphia named William Banks wrote a really wonderful commentary on Jonah in which we find these words in the section on these verses:  “We are moved to speak of Jonah’s God as the God of the Second Chance.  But honest sober reflection compels the saint to speak of Him as the God of the 999^th chance!  Such gracious mercy as was extended to Jonah here, and to David, and to the thief dying upon the cross, and to Peter—surely it has been granted to all believers through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.”  You see, if God were a God who only worked through those who completely and totally obey Him the very first time they are called, then the list of workers would be pretty short.  One of the only ones that comes to mind is Abraham.  After all, we are told in Genesis 12 of God’s simply calling Abraham to go in v.1, followed by his actual going in v. 4.  However, even Abraham had his moments of failure after his initial obedience to God.  We know well the lies that he spoke about his wife Sarah and his laying with Hagar and fathering Ishmael.  The truth of the matter is that there has only been one person, Jesus, who could be of any use to God if our sin/failure completely eliminated us from Christian service.

We had a presbytery meeting this past weekend in Mobile, AL.  One of the main things that we are tasked with as a presbytery is the examination and ordination of candidates for ministry, to become Teaching Elders in the Church.  As part of the examination process, the candidates are to give a brief testimony of their life and Christian experience.  To me, these are the places where I find out the most about a candidate and I probably focus more upon that part of the process than any of the questions that follow about their knowledge.  I bet I can count on one hand the number of testimonies I’ve heard in all my years of attending those meeting that didn’t contain some mention of a time when these pastors were fleeing from not only their call to ministry, but from God himself.  I’ve spoken with I don’t know how many people who have given me a similar testimony about their own wayward journeys that have found them not just distant from God, but actively fleeing from Him.  And all of these testimonies of pastors and laypersons end the same way, with God ultimately winning out and His purpose for their lives ultimately being accomplished.  You see, as the words from Rev. Banks pointed out earlier, God is a God who works through broken and fallen people, people who have already failed to fulfill the calling that God has placed upon them.  Jonah was just like us in that regard, yet God used him to accomplish his purpose and to bring about one of the greatest revivals the world has ever seen.  Don’t think that because you’ve messed up, made some mistakes, or don’t feel particularly qualified in a particular area that God can’t or won’t call you to a particular and specific ministry in order to bring about the glorification of His kingdom.

                Now, it’s worth pointing out one small difference that does exist between these two calls.  Some of you may have already noticed it, but the wording is a little different at the end of each of these two calls made to Jonah.  The initial call by God told Jonah to “call out against [Nineveh], for their evil has come up before me.”  In the second call, we find God saying, “call out against [Nineveh] the message that I tell you.”  And this difference in wording prompts the question about what the message might have been.  Now, there are countless theories out there as to what exactly is meant by “the message that I tell you.”  Was God referring to the call to repentance that we see in verse 4?  Was God talking about the message in a general sense like that that we mean when we speak of the Gospel?  Although, it is worth noting that the Gospel is actually a specific message about the good news of the resurrection of Christ and not just some general word about God.  Well, regardless of what we may take that message (or literally, the preaching that I preached unto you) to be exactly, the essence of what God is saying to Jonah is that he is to go to Nineveh and deliver to them what God wants him to deliver.  After all, what matters isn’t that Jonah’s message is all that great, but that the message of God is spoken through him, which is obvious given the type of message that comes out of Jonah’s mouth that we will look at in greater detail next Sunday.

                However, before we bring to a close our time for this morning, I want all of you to really think about Jonah and his story thus far.  We know that a revival and a mass repentance were coming and we will see that soon enough.  However, look at what we’ve seen.  We’ve seen a man who was specifically called by God to take a specific message of repentance to a specific people fail at what he was supposed to do.  He didn’t just fail to deliver on his assigned task, but actively tried to fail.  Ending up getting thrown overboard the ship and ending up in a fish’s stomach is one way to not deliver the message to Nineveh.  However, despite Jonah’s waywardness (which still isn’t completely over, mind you), God still calls Jonah to deliver that message to them.  I said a couple of weeks ago that we too have a call upon our lives like that of Jonah.  Our calling is to fulfill the Great Commission.  Our calling is to go forth out into the world, taking the good news of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ and sharing with all whom we come in contact with.  And do you know what?  We’ve failed in that mission.  At times, not only have we failed, but we’ve actively worked at failing.  However, that doesn’t mean that the calling that God has for us has in any way changed or diminished.  Our goal ought to still be to go out and deliver the message that God has revealed to us through His Son Jesus Christ.  We ought to go out and carry the story of the cross, the news of the resurrection, and the fact that Jesus lives this very day, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  It doesn’t matter how broken you are spiritually, physically, or mentally.  It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve tried running from your Christian duties.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past or what personality traits have to be overcome.  The bottom line is that if God has called you to deliver a message or witness to someone or do something for the sake of His kingdom, then He has given you everything you need in order to accomplish that task.  God uses broken people to do amazing things every day; He has too.   There is no other choice because there is no such thing as a perfect and unbroken person.  Don’t be discouraged to the point of failure by your brokenness, but seek diligently to preach the preaching that God has given unto you through His Son Jesus.

Jonah 2:1-10 "Sittin' in a Stomach"

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                I have to confess to you that getting started on writing this week’s sermon was actually quite difficult.  I don’t know if it was that I was distracted and just couldn’t focus or if the text was particularly difficult or what it was.  In all honesty, I’m thankful because I can probably count on one hand the number of times that that has happened to me; where I just haven’t been able to get started.  So, what I did was I sat and I tried to ponder what it must have felt like to be in the stomach of this large fish for three days.  One of my friends from college that I was talking to this week told me to go and sit at an all-you-can-eat catfish buffet and see if that helped.  I was about ready to go find one if something hadn’t gotten stirred within me.  However, as I sat and thought about the feelings that Jonah must have been experiencing, my mind wandered back to when I was about 9 or 10 years old.  You see, when I was that age, my nights were filled with baseball.  My parents and my friends’ parents would just drop us off at Phil Hardin Baseball Park, give us $5 for dinner, and come back when all the games were over.  We would go even on nights that none of us had games.  Obviously, it was a different time, but that’s how we spent many nights.  Now, alongside the park, there was this creek that I never really paid much attention to, until one day one of my friends thought that it would be fun to go down into the creek and see what we could find/catch.  So, we went down and spent a while seeing what was in there.  Now, this creek was covered on both sides by a few rows of pine trees that completely blocked out all of the light from the baseball fields.  And that wasn’t an issue during the day because the sun was out.  However, after the sky turned dark, that was a different story.  Also, none of us even thought about flashlights, not that we would have taken one if we had thought about it.  As the sun went away and this creek was full of nothing but water and darkness and random sounds, I found myself getting terrified.  I couldn’t even see my friends, much less a way out of there.  I found myself actually praying to God that if He led me out of there then I promised I would never go in that creek again.  I think we’ve all prayed something like that prayer at some point in our lives haven’t we?  Now eventually, after what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, we found a little sliver of light and made our way out of that creek and never returned unless there was plenty of light still available. 

                Jonah’s prayer here in chapter two of this book is often thought of as a prayer of desperation like that made of a 9 year old stuck in a creek.  A lot of folks think that the essence of Jonah’s prayer was “Lord if you’ll get me out of here then I’ll gladly go to Nineveh.”  However, that’s not really what Jonah’s prayer was about at all.  We’ll see next Sunday that he’s still not too keen on the idea of going to Nineveh and delivering a call to repentance.  You see, nowhere in this prayer does Jonah try and strike some deal where his delivery from this situation would result in a readjusted attitude towards the will of God.  I’ve probably read this prayer, this psalm, no less than 50 times this week trying to read it and meditate on it and prayer over it and the sentiment that I get is that it is primarily a psalm of recognition of God’s presence, God’s sovereignty, God’s providence, and God’s grace. (repeat)

                Now, it’s not known whether these exact words were spoken by Jonah inside the fish or whether they were recorded afterwards, and it really doesn’t matter.  From a few of the phrases about deliverance being spoken of as being in the past, we might be able to assume that it was recorded after the fact.  However, I don’t want to focus so much upon the exact wording that Jonah chooses to use here, but upon the sentiment and attitude that is behind his prayer as a whole.  If we look at the first words from Jonah we find his understanding of God’s presence.  “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.”  Now, when we see the word Sheol, that is a commonly used word in biblical poetry for the land of the dead.  Some English Bible translations substitute the word Hades for Sheol.  Either way, you get the point that Jonah knows that while he was in the fish’s stomach that he was as good as dead.  As Jonah continues on, we find, “For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.”  A little further, “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head…I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.”  These are the words of a man who seems to know that he has reached the end of his life, which wouldn’t be an unreasonable assumption given where Jonah currently was.  However, there is acknowledgment all the way back at the beginning that we read, “and you heard my voice.”  Jonah realized that there was no place that he can go that he was outside of God’s presence.  And I’m not just talking about his attempt at fleeing, but I’m talking about in this life or the next, upon this earth or in the heavens, there is nowhere that is outside of the presence and sovereignty of God.

                One of the things that is so impressive about Jonah’s prayer is that, as James Boice points out, there is an honesty to it that we don’t find very often.  Jonah isn’t chalking all of this up to a difficult situation and a freak storm.  He’s not trying to explain away the things that have happened to and around him.  Jonah knows that God delivered him to that very spot, on that very ship, so that he could be tossed overboard and swallowed up by that very fish (and that’s not even taking into account the conversion of those sailors that we looked at last Sunday).  Jonah knows that God’s providence and sovereignty are what have led him to that point in his life.  He understands that nothing that he had done the entire time in his attempt at fleeing from God’s presence was ever for even one millisecond outside of God’s control.  Jonah knows that there has never been a moment that he was outside of God’s power.  And with that comes the acknowledgement that God both delivered Jonah into that situation of hopelessness and despair, and that He delivered Jonah out of that situation as well.  “Yet you brought up my life form the pit, O Lord my God.  When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.”  Now, I know that I said that I wasn’t going to focus on specific wording today, but I lied.  But I promise this will be the only time this morning.  Notice that in those words that I just read that Jonah speaks of his remembering God, but not God’s remembering of him.  Why do you think that is?  Well, as we’ve really focused in on during our look at the account of Jonah, it is because there is no such time as that which God forgets or forsakes His children.  As I said at the outset of this book, while this is an account of a wayward prophet of God ultimately accomplishing God’s will, it is also a reminder to us that God’s will will always be accomplished regardless of our willingness to comply, and that we are forever in His sight.

                As Jonah sits in the stomach of that great fish, he has a lot of time to reflect upon things.  You would be amazed, for those of you who don’t do this very often, at the work/self-reflection that you can get done simply by sitting in silence, without any distractions.  As Jonah was sitting in the fish’s stomach without anything to distract him, he was left with only his thoughts.  He seems to think back upon his recent experiences, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.”  No doubt this is a reference to the sailors crying out to their individual gods, pleading with them to stop the mighty tempest from destroying their ship and taking their lives.  What a wondrous work we saw God do in transforming the hearts of these sailors from ones who looked to vain idols to ones who professed faith in God alone.  Jonah cries out a message of thanksgiving for the newfound faith of the sailors.  He cries out a message of thanksgiving for himself, that he is found in God despite his deserving to be placed outside of God’s covenant promises for all that he had done in his straying from God’s will.  “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation belongs to the Lord!”  John Owen, the famous Puritan, was fond of saying “that it's one thing to know the truth; it's another thing to know the power of that truth.”  It's one thing to say as a kind of motto or catechism, “Salvation is of the Lord”; it's another thing to know that in the depths of our hearts and to stake our very lives upon it.  Sometimes we need to experience something in order for it to really become truthful to us and for us.  Sometimes we need to go through the trials and see the real power of God’s promises before it becomes much more than just mere words to us.  I love teaching my children The Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Confession of Faith.  It's an extraordinary blessing; it's one that I never had as a child simply because my church didn’t teach it.  Now, it’s not like we have study sessions revolving around the WSC, but Amy and I do like to teach them The Catechisms whenever we can.  It's much more difficult learning a catechism when you’re an adult than it is when you’re a child, as many of you know.  And what we’ve really noticed within our children is that it’s one thing for them to be able to respond to our question as to what our primary purpose is, but it is something altogether different for them to really know and live out that we are here to glorify God and enjoy Him always.

Well, what does it mean to say “Salvation is of the Lord”?  What do you think that Jonah meant with these concluding words to his psalm?  Does it mean that we contribute nothing to our salvation?   I mean, yes, we do need to exercise faith and we need to engage in repentance, but these don’t contribute to our salvation.  Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end.  If God doesn't save us, then we're not saved.  That's what Jonah learned in the belly of this fish, that salvation is all of God from beginning to end.  Although it may not be that he learned it for the first time as much as it is that he remembered something that he already knew quite well.  However, even though he knew it, he needed to be taught it in the crucible of trial and suffering.  What Jonah came to have a deeper and more fruitful understanding of was the grace of God.  Saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.  Now, obviously Jonah hadn’t gotten to the Christ part of that statement of the reformation, but you get the idea.  Jonah had realized that all of the good works, the keeping of the law, all of it wasn’t about our earning our salvation.  It was a right response to the gift of salvation that God grants to us ever so graciously.  In just a minute we’re going to sing the wonderful hymn Rock of Ages.  To me, the most convicting and truthful line in that entire hymn is found at the end of the second verse.  “In my hand no price I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling.”  Jonah had realized that his salvation wasn’t based on him, but on God, and he was thankful for that.  We stand today just as, if not more, thankful than Jonah.  We might be more thankful because we’ve seen what it took for God to achieve our salvation for us.  We’ve seen the cross.  We’ve seen the crucifixion.  We’ve read the words of Jesus as he was nailed to the cross.  We know that the price that should have been ours to pay to satisfy the wrath of God was paid and paid in full by Christ and Christ alone.  We too are confronted with the presence of God, the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, and the grace of God.

Our text closes by telling us of Jonah’s being vomited or spat back onto dry land.  We see that even this was a work of God.  “And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”  Charles Haddon Spurgeon said this fish was an Arminian fish, “As soon as Jonah said ‘Salvation is of the Lord’ he spat him out!”  For those of you who understand that little quip.  However, what I want all of us to see as we now find Jonah put back upon the course that God had planned for him is the knowledge of God that he gleaned through his experience in the fish’s stomach; how he came to feel God’s presence, sovereignty, providence, and grace.  We could say that all four of those were in play with his deliverance from the fish’s stomach back to dry land.  But, as we’ll see next Sunday, Jonah’s heart still remains blinded by sin in terms of what he must do.  For you see, to paraphrase John Owen’s words that I read earlier, it’s one thing to know something, but an entirely different thing to live it out.  It’s one thing to say salvation is of the Lord, but it’s an entirely different thing to really mean it and put it into action.  I want to challenge all of you this week to not only know the truth of God, the power of God, and the grace of God, but to live your lives as shining examples of the glorious and wonderful privilege that it is to be found in Christ Jesus.  I want to challenge all of you to not just make God’s Word something that gives you comfort, but something that spurs you into action for the sake of the kingdom; seek first the righteousness of the kingdom of God.

Jonah 1:4-17 "The Power of God"

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                As we continue our journey through the book of Jonah, actually making it passed the third verse, many of you are probably thankful that we’ve finally begun to get somewhere in the unfolding of this narrative.  You’re thankful because we’re finally getting to the point in the narrative that you’re more familiar with and that comes to mind when you think about the book of Jonah.  However, don’t forget the things that we’ve dealt with the last two weeks in preparation for our really diving into the events contained in this book.  And I’ll do my best to recap all of that in as few words as possible.  First, remember that Jonah is a prophet of God.  Remember that he is someone who has a pretty vast knowledge about God and about Scripture, and that he’s seen God work before.  Also, he was a man who had audibly heard the voice of God, yet was still seeking to run away from Him.  And as we said last Sunday, remember that God allowed Jonah to get on that ship.  Had God not wanted Jonah to get on that ship or if Jonah’s getting on that ship bound for Tarshish would have been in any way in opposition to God’s ultimate plan then Jonah wouldn’t have had any success in his efforts to run from God.  Now, as we read in our text just a moment ago, Jonah didn’t really have success in his attempt at fleeing, but only the momentarily illusion that he had somehow gotten his wish without any repercussions.  It’s kind of like when I catch one of my kids doing something they’re not supposed to; how they think that they have gotten away with it until they turn around and see that I’ve been watching them the entire time.

                In our text for today, we see that after the ship that Jonah boarded in Joppa was in open waters that a violent storm came about.  We’re told in our text that this storm isn’t just some natural occurrence, but that it came directly from God.  “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.”  Now, for those of you who don’t know what a tempest is, it is a violent wind storm.  This tempest, or storm, was apparently so severe that the people on board were tossing cargo over the sides, praying (crying out) to their gods, and thinking that this was the end.  Mind you, these weren’t some inexperienced sailors.  These were men who spent most of their lives on ships sailing across the Mediterranean.  They were used to storms, but this was something unlike anything they had ever seen or experienced before.  Think if you will about how it’s one thing to experience a violent windstorm, but a totally different thing to be present in the midst of a tornado or hurricane.  These sailors, despite their experience with storms out on the sea, were terrified.

So, as these hardened sailors, men of the sea, were above deck frantically doing all they could to save their ship and their lives, what was Jonah doing?  Well, Jonah had gone below the deck and was taking a nap.  Now, at first glance we may think that his being able to sleep was because of his trust that God would deliver him through this storm.  However, remember that Jonah was running from God.  God doesn’t bless us for our disobedience.  He wasn’t going to reward Jonah for his denial of God’s command by granting him safe travels.  So, how could Jonah sleep?  Well, it’s commonly thought that after the mental and emotional strain that Jonah was under in his efforts to run from God that he just simply couldn’t keep going.  I don’t know if you’ve ever stayed awake for so long that you literally passed out, but if you have then you understand the physical state of exhaustion that Jonah was in here.  It is yet another example of why our attempts at running away from God and fleeing His presence are useless; we can’t do it.  We will simply wear down while God won’t.  We’re told in verse 6 that the captain of the ship “came and said to him, ‘What do you mean, you sleeper?’”  It’s commonly thought (and I don’t really know why this is so) that the captain found Jonah in the midst of this chaos because his snoring was even louder than the crashing of the waves and the driving winds.  Whatever caused the captain to stumble upon Jonah, he told him to “arise, call out to your god!  Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”  The captain calls on Jonah to cry out to his god just as the other men aboard the ship were doing.  Now, something that I’m going to mention here and then address in just a moment; don’t you think that it’s a little odd for all of these folks to be asking each other to cry out to their gods?  Doesn’t it show a complete lack of faith and conviction on their part that they would worship someone whom they don’t 100% trust is in control.  As I said, we’ll deal with that fact in just a few moments.

So, moving along in our text, we see that the next idea that the sailors had was to cast lots as a means of identifying the reason for the storm.  In other words, they knew that this wasn’t some common storm and they were certain that it was happening because of someone that was onboard that ship.  Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the practice of casting lots, let’s just say that it’s very similar to drawing straws.  On first thought, this wouldn’t seem like a very trustworthy way of getting to the truth, but we do see that at times the casting of lots was used to decide God’s will.  Most famously is the casting of lots in Acts 1 when it comes to replacing Judas as one of the twelve.  However, there are other examples in Scripture, and we must remember that God is in control of lots as well.  Would it be any surprise that with God’s causing of the storm and all the other events that had and would take place that God acted to have the lot fall on Jonah?  Of course not!

Now, as the lot fell on Jonah, the men onboard that ship just unloaded a barrage of questions on him.  “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.  What is your occupation?  What is your country?  And of what people are you from?”  They were trying to find out all that they could about Jonah and what he might have done so that they could work at correcting it so that their lives might be saved.  Jonah responded to their questions by saying, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”  I love what O. Palmer Robertson says about this statement made by Jonah.  “Talk about a shocker to the sailors!  They were trying to find out which local deity they had offended.  But Jonah tells them it is the big One, one true God of gods that every man knows by the testimony of his heart.  Heaven, sea and land Jonah mentions.  See that howling heavens swirling about you?  My God made them, he says.  Feel the sea heaving under your feet?  My God made it.  Sense the presence of the rocky coast ahead, where you soon may crash?  My God made it.”  Now, while I will credit Jonah for his expounding upon who God was, so as to leave no doubt about which god he was referring to; did you notice anything missing from his answer?  One of the first questions asked of Jonah was about his occupation, yet we find nowhere in his answer does he tell them that he was a prophet.  It’s as if he’s hiding that fact from them or that he’s ashamed and thinks that they won’t believe him.  Again, we see in this omission that even the most dedicated and devout men of God can be driven from Him by the power of sin.  Well, at least temporarily driven away that is.

Notice the reaction of the sailors upon hearing Jonah identify who he was running from.  “Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’”  They were afraid.  They couldn’t believe that Jonah had put them in this position of being punished for something that he had done.  What wonderful news, what delightful words coming from these sailors.  You see, in order to be afraid of God, there has to be some understanding of who He is.  You’re not afraid of something you know nothing about.  For those of you who have kids, think back to when your kids were around the ages of mine:  2, 5, or 6.  Basically, your entire job as a parent feels like it is simply to keep them from hurting or killing themselves until they’re able to assume that responsibility for themselves.  They’ll play with fire and snakes and anything else because they don’t have any clue about the danger that can come from them.  It’s only once there is an understanding of the danger that exists that there is even the slightest reason to fear those things.  While it may not feel like a celebratory moment in the life of these sailors as they were feeling the urgency of the situation, it is the most celebratory moment that they could ever have.  We’ll see a little later on that it doesn’t take long for this sliver of understanding of God to turn into a full out profession of faith.

However, there is still the issue of the aforementioned urgency of the situation and the jagged rocks upon the shore.  As the sailors are looking around and trying to figure out what to do, Jonah realizes and acknowledges that this was all happening because of his running from God.  He told the men to throw him overboard and that that would cause the winds and waves to subdue.  Now, instead of taking this opportunity to cast Jonah off of the ship in the hopes of saving themselves, the men don’t give up on Jonah.  They try with all their might to row the boat ashore without having to fulfill Jonah’s instructions.  Alas, it is no use.  With each thrust and pull of the ores, the strength of the winds and waves seems to combat their efforts.  Then, and this is the most amazing part of this whole series of events, the sailors call out to God.  Verse 14 says, “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.’”  Did you see what happened there?  These men went from each having their own gods that they looked to, to all acknowledging the one true God who is and was and forever will be.  They profess that God Almighty is the God who rules over all of creation.  Before these events there in the midst of the storm out on the waters of the Mediterranean the name of God was foreign to them and now they are professing faith in Him.  Even in Jonah’s waywardness, God used his life to bring others into a saving knowledge of Him (a theme that will continue throughout the rest of this book).

Finally, our text concludes, “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.”  Now, we’re going to look at Jonah’s time spent in the stomach of the great fish next Sunday.  So, I’m not going to get into any of that this morning, but instead, I want to use the little remaining time that we have and just reflect upon the transformation that we see in these previously heathen sailors.

Not only did they move from a simple acknowledgement of God to professing Him as the one true God, but they became obedient as well.  They didn’t want to toss Jonah into the sea, but they wanted to be obedient to God.  Even though Jonah might have been in the midst of running from God, he was still His prophet.  God’s prophet, Jonah, had told them that they needed to toss him overboard, so they did.  The argument could be made that these men who had only in that last several minutes come to know God were actually more obedient to God’s commands than His prophet was.  They also seem to have an even more appropriate fear of God than Jonah does at this point in time.  Now, that’s not to say that Jonah didn’t fear God; in fact he did.  What I’m talking about here is more along the lines of why we spent the first few weeks dealing with sin’s effects upon Jonah’s heart, blinding him to a truth that he already knew.  Had Jonah’s fear of the Lord been properly aligned in his life, then he never would have considered running from God regardless of what people group or nation God called him to.

Getting back to these sailors, not only do they believe, profess, obey, and fear, but they offered sacrifices and made vows.  You know, it’s funny when you think about it.  Jonah had tried to run to the opposite end of the earth in order to not work at converting sinners to believers.  Yet, as I said a second ago, that’s exactly what happened in his fleeing.  You see, God’s will is going to be accomplished.  His commands are always going to be fulfilled.  The question simply remains as to whether we’re going to willingly be an instrument used by God or not.  You see, there isn’t a person who can resist the call of God upon their life.  In theology we call it the Irresistible Grace of God.  It’s one of the five major points of Calvinism.  Basically, and this is in overly simple terms, it means exactly what you would think it means.  God’s grace, His calling out to someone and drawing them into a relationship with Him, is ultimately irresistible for anyone.  Sure, we may run from it for a while.  We may have success for years and years; even a majority of our life.  However, eventually, we will be confronted with the power of God.  We will be like those sailors on that ship.  We will be left with no other options but to cry out to God and profess Him as Lord.  Even those of us who are Christians already aren’t immune to this running and straying.  However, God draws us back to Him too, this is what is known as perseverance of the saints.  Once we’re in God then we will never fall away.  So, whether we’re Jonah or the sailors, whether we’re already in a relationship with God or not, when God wants to claim us then we’re as good as His, and we’re His forever.  In a world where there’s bad news and tragedy seemingly lurking around every corner.  Let us take comfort and relief in knowing that our God is a god who is in control of all things, and that His will never goes unfulfilled. 

Jonah 1:1-3 "You're Never Standing Still"

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                One of my favorite movies of all time is The Usual Suspects starring Kevin Spacey.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a crime drama centered around a murder investigation with an amazing plot twist at the end.  In the movie, Spacey’s character (Roger Kint), has a line that goes, “The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”  Now, this quote is taken from one originally made by a French poet named Charles Baudelaire, and unfortunately the accuracy of this quote is spot on.  However, if I were to add to it, I would say that the second greatest trick that the devil has ever pulled is convincing people that you can be indifferent to God.  In other words, that you can hear the gospel and simply think, “Well, that’s nice, but it’s not really for me and remain unmoved in any direction in your relationship with the Lord.”  You see, there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to the gospel.  John Calvin famous said that “preaching has a twofold effect.  It can either soften or harden the heart.  It can either save or condemn the hearer.  ‘The Gospel is never preached in vain, but has invariably an effect, either for life or death.’  ‘As the Word is efficacious for the salvation of believers, so it is abundantly efficacious for the condemning of the wicked.’”  To simplify Calvin’s words here, each and every time you hear the proclamation of God’s Word, you are either being drawn closer to him or moving farther away from him.  It may not be something that you are consciously aware of, but it is happening.

                In the account of Jonah, the prophet is faced with a choice.  God had spoken audibly to him and told him that he was to go to Nineveh and call them to repentance.  However, for some reason, Jonah didn’t want the city of Nineveh to even have the opportunity to repent; he simply wanted them to be punished for their wickedness.  He knew that if this group of people were confronted with the power of God that they would fall on their faces and repent of their sins (which they did) and that God would withhold His wrath from them (which He did).  So, Jonah ran in the opposite direction.  He didn’t tell God that he wouldn’t do it, but he just didn’t go in the direction that God had called him to.  However, we can’t mistake the lack of an outright denial of God’s commands to be an indifference to Him.  Make no mistake about it, Jonah was running from God; which, as we said last Sunday, was a peculiar thing since he was an experienced prophet of God at this point in his life.

                You know, I think that we can identify greatly with Jonah in this situation.  You see, I know that there are people groups out there that many of us would just assume be wiped off the face of the earth.  There are some cultures and religious groups that we simply say that their absence would make the world a better place; addition by subtraction.  In all honesty, many would rather see them consummated instead of converted.  If God were to give us a sense of call to go and minister to these people, we may not say no, but we might take our time in getting there.  Now, obviously there is a great difference that exists between our feeling lead to go and evangelize amongst another people group and Jonah’s audible call to go to Nineveh, but I think that this comparison helps us to see where Jonah’s mindset might have been as he was deciding whether or not to follow through with God’s command or run from what God had called him to do.  Understanding that Jonah’s selfish desire to see a corrupt people be punished instead of saved is something that greatly blinded his heart to the truth of God’s Word; just as our selfish desires blind us to the power and glory of the gospel in our lives today.  It may not be over reaching out to different people groups, but we too allow our own sinfulness to dictate far too often the things that we want to see happen in this world and the things that we are okay with.

                How many times do you stay silent in the interest of civility?  Right now Amy’s answering for me and saying “not enough.”  How often do we see someone in our lives, either a friend or a family member, living in conflict with God commands for how we are to live and say nothing to them?  We tell ourselves that we don’t want to offend them and risk alienating them or losing them from our lives completely.  We rationalize it by telling ourselves that by keeping the relationship on good terms, we’re keeping the door open to witness to them later on.  However, the problem is that we never get around to the witnessing part.  Look, I know that it’s a difficult thing.  I don’t want to lose any friends or family either.  However, if there was ever anything worth losing them over it would be the gospel.  Make no mistake about it, the gospel is offensive.  Just think about it from the perspective of the one who is living their life contrary to God’s commands.  You’re telling them that their entire life needs to be changed and reshaped, centered around something (more accurately someone) much greater than themselves.  However, we do an incredible disservice to ourselves, our loved one, and most importantly God when we neglect even the slightest of commands that He has placed upon the lives of His creations.

                One of the astounding things about the account of Jonah is that it happened.  Now, I know that that sounds odd, but stay with me for just a moment.  God told Jonah to go to Nineveh.  Jonah didn’t want to, so he tried to make other plans.  We’re told that “He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.  So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”  Now, just think about all that happened and all that had to come about for Jonah to get onboard that ship.  Jonah had to travel to Joppa from wherever he currently was.  We can assume that he wasn’t there since our text tells us that “he went down to Joppa”.  Once there, he had to find a ship that was sailing to Tarshish, which was at the complete opposite end of the Mediterranean Sea from Joppa, roughly 2,500 miles away.  Also, Tarshish, according to some resources on the history of the area, wasn’t exactly what we would call a thriving port at that point in history.  One author compared a ship sailing from Joppa to Tarshish to being as rare as a direct flight to Juno, Alaska.  Then, to make it even better, Jonah had enough money to pay the fare that was required to get on the ship.  That may not seem very significant, but it wasn’t uncommon for prophets to go about their ministry without having much wealth.  The chances of Jonah having the necessary funds readily available for paying the ships fare without having to borrow it was not a foregone conclusion.

You may be saying to yourself, “Why is any of that important to understanding the book of Jonah?”  Well, I say all of these things to point out the fact that somewhere along the way, God could have intervened.  We pray all the time when beginning an endeavor that if it isn’t God’s will that the door be shut rather quickly.  We ask that if God doesn’t want us to do something that He would cause whatever it is to come to an abrupt halt.  If God hadn’t wanted Jonah to get on that ship and head for Tarshish, then He could have caused any one of these events to go in a different direction.  Travel issues, no ships leaving, not enough money; any of these would have stopped Jonah dead in his tracks.  However, God allowed them to happen as Jonah wanted them to.  What Jonah wanted was to try and run from the “presence of the Lord” as our text says; which, if we really think about it, is a pretty foolish thing for a prophet to think that he can accomplish.  Jonah was a prophet of God.  He more than likely knew the words that follow our call to worship from Psalm 139:  “Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”  There is no place that we can go to on this earth or away from this earth that is outside of God’s control.  For anyone who believes that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe to think that they can hide from God is ridiculous.  I’ve told y’all the story of my surrendering to the call to gospel ministry coming when my wife asked me if I really thought I could outrun God.  I knew better, Jonah knew better, we all know better; however, that doesn’t stop us from trying.  That doesn’t stop us from running from God.  But just know that the more and more that we try and run from Him, that’s simply our resisting God drawing us closer to Him.  That’s the sinfulness of our hearts that I talked about earlier blinding us to the reality that we already know but don’t want to face. 

                Now, we’re going to examine next Sunday the beginning of God’s turning around Jonah physically, followed by his turning him back around spiritually.  God’s work in Jonah’s heart is still not done.  In fact, it isn’t until the final verses of this book that we find that God’s point is finally made with Jonah.  All throughout this account, we’re going to see the reluctance of even this most privileged man of God submitting wholly to the will of God.  So, why have I chosen to spend the first few weeks of our series on the book of Jonah talking about the prophet himself and his mindset in turning from God without really getting into the narrative yet?  Well, while the book of Jonah is a specific historical account of one of God’s prophets running from God’s call upon his life, it is also our story as well.  As we said last Sunday, Jonah was a prophet who had enjoyed a pretty lengthy tenure as a spokesman for God.  He was a man who was well aware of God’s word and had seen and heard of God’s faithfulness in the lives of His children.  However, despite all of his privileges and knowledge, even Jonah wasn’t immune to sin’s affects upon his heart.  Even Jonah didn’t always respond automatically to God’s command with complete and total agreement and obedience.  Even the most devoted and devout Christians don’t always respond in complete unison with God’s will.  However, we need not be discouraged in the fact that our faith and obedience to God’s will look more like an EKG reading or a seismograph during an earthquake.  We should actually expect that because we’re sinful, we’re fallen; our first inclination is to try and pull ourselves away from God.  Now, I’m not saying that we should be ok with it or that we should be proud of it, but that we should be encouraged by it.  We should be encouraged because it shows us both the lengths to which God will go to redeem us and that He indeed does draw us closer to Him.  And that fact is never more apparent than or as costly to Him as it is through the sacrifice of His Son upon the cross.

                Another reason for us to be encouraged through the example of Jonah is we know that our trials and hardships can bring us closer to God.  Now, it’s doubtful that any of us have ever had to spend three days in the stomach of a fish in order to see God’s hand at work, but we have spent three days or three weeks or three months or three years in turmoil trying to run from or ignore God.  We’ve been drawn closer to God only to have something else happen in our lives that caused us to try and run again.  As I said just a second ago, our faith and obedience to God rarely looks like a flat line and more like a roller coaster.  We say that we are drawn closer to God through our trials and sufferings; notice that both of those words are plural.  It’s rare to hear of someone who endured only one hardship in their life, was drawn close to God, and then remained in tune with His will for the remainder of their life.  Know that during your times of suffering and hardship, that you’re not enduring them because you’ve been forgotten or forsaken by God.  Instead, try and see if you’re being drawn closer to God by them.  I’ve had my most impactful moments of Christian growth during those times of hardship and suffering.  Sure, I may not have seen what God was doing in the moment, but as I’ve looked back upon them I have been amazed at how God was working through them and in my heart the entire time to draw me to a closer and deeper relationship with Him.

                So, as we continue our walk through the book of Jonah, I want all of us to see how Jonah’s heart changes (both for the good and the bad).  I want all of us to see how God doesn’t always spare us from every unpleasant experience in our lives.  I want all of us to see how God’s will will always be accomplished, whether we decide to comply or not.  But most importantly, I want all of us to see the power of God on full display.  I want us to come to understand that the gospel isn’t about what we want, but what God has planned.  It’s about God’s plan, not our desires, opinions, or experiences.  God has already revealed much of that plan through the person and work of Christ.  Now, the task falls to us, to proclaim the cross of Christ until the Son returns.  You see, we are exactly like Jonah in that God has called us to a specific task through the Great Commission to go to “all nations” and proclaim the gospel.  The question now becomes whether we are going to follow Jonah’s example and try and run, or if we are going to obey the will of God.