Jonah 1:1-16
What does it mean for you to be engaged personally in the mission of God? God has a purpose for you. I want to look at this from the perspective of Jonah. God gave Jonah a mission. God has given you a mission. It is one thing to go to church and be apart of an audience but what does it mean for you to become part of the mission that God has for you?
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
So what do you know about the story of Jonah? Most people know that Jonah was told by God to go preach repentance to Nineveh. Jonah says no, Jonah gets swallowed up by a big fish and that’s it. Many people stop right here because they say, well this can’t be true. No one could survive three days in a whale. This has got to be a myth.
If this is your reaction let me help you. This is not a story about a big magical fish or how to survive if you get swallowed by one. This is a story about God. This honestly isn’t even one of the hardest things in Christianity to believe about the Bible. I mean how about Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created everything with just the word of His mouth…” How about Luke 2….God was born as a baby, then God grew up, lived a perfect life, did miracles, healed the sick, was crucified, and resurrected Himself back from the dead. Once you believe these things the rest of the Bible isn’t that hard to believe. The real question that you have to ask is “Is there a God?” and “Does He work in the world?”
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Verse 2 says that Nineveh is a great city. Nineveh was a political, economic, and educational hub. Nineveh was very large; Jonah is going to tell us that it took him three days to walk from one end to the other. Historians tell us that Nineveh’s walls were so thick that you could drive three chariots side by side across them at the same time. It had a lot of great architecture. It was a cultural hub like most big cities with all the best singers, actors, dancers, politicians. All of these would have been found in Nineveh. However in addition to that it was also a very wicked city. This is a lot of times true about big cities, lots of debauchery, crime rates are higher. People usually don’t go to big cities to find God but to live how they see fit. Historians tell us that Nineveh was one of the cruelest most vicious cities in the ancient world. Nineveh’s own histories tell us this. If you look at their hieroglyphics what they did when they would conquer another nation or city they would boast in their pictures they would skin alive a lot of the men, women, and children and spread out their skins over the walls of the city. They would take some of these people after they partially skinned them, they would bury them alive up to their necks in sand, take a stake pull out their tongue and drive the stake through their tongue into the ground. They would leave these people sitting their anguishing in pain and dying of thirst. These people were unspeakably cruel. They would rape women and kill them. They even boasted in their histories about raping and killing little girls. One account talks about how they would impale soldiers and leave them alive outside the city gates. They would behead other soldiers and pile their heads into a huge mountain over the city gate in order to send a message to anyone who would dare oppose Asyria. These are the kind of people that Jonah was told by God to go to. Israel was one of Asyria’s primary enemies. We are talking about Jonah going to a people who had done these kind of things and he knew it. We probably shouldn’t be so judgmental on Jonah. Many times I’ve heard people say “Well Jonah disobeyed God, getting swallowed by that whale, he just got what was coming to him.” I mean seriously, what would you have done if God had told you to go to those kind of people? Jonah has personal bitterness towards the Ninevites.
3 But Jonah arose 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 from the presence of the Lord.
Here begins Jonah’s rebellion against God. God told him to “Go” and Jonah clearly goes the other way. Some things we should notice about Jonah’s disobedience. 1. He was upstanding in every other way. 2 Kings 14:25 tells us that he was one of Israel’s primary religious leaders, at a time when Israel was at a height of their economic and spiritual power. Jonah had made some prophecies and they had come true. He was like their Billy Graham, he was their spiritual leader. Rebellion is simply saying “NO” to God. I know this seems like an obvious statement but we tend to compare how righteous we are by comparing our walk with God to others. We tend to think of it like a grading system, “Oh I go to church more often, I have better morals, I give a little more and as long as God grades on the curve I’ll be fine.” There is no grading system, its perfection or nothing. Its Christ righteousness or yours and yours means nothing. Lordship is one of those things though that if it is not absolute and total it is not real. You are never farther from God than when you are close to Him and say NO. There are a lot of Godly people who look like they are walking with God in every other way but in some area they are saying No to Him in. Maybe for you it is a relationship you know isn’t pleasing to God but you won’t quit it, every other part of your life is fine. Maybe there is a sacrifice God has put in your heart to make, whether it be your money, your time, your gifts or talents but you keep saying NO God I’m not letting you put your hand on that. You can’t obey God in that one area because its is what you put your hopes and security for a good life in. Maybe it’s a sin you need to confess. Maybe its exactly like Jonah, God is calling you to go somewhere, maybe somewhere uncomfortable, but you can’t go. Obeying God isn’t always easy but it is worth it.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
That’s the problem see with running from God is that God is already at the place you are running to.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
There is an ironic situation going on here on the ship. The pagan sailors are all up on the deck in the midst of the storm having a theological debate about which of their gods is going to save them, meanwhile the man of the one true God is down in the belly of the ship sleeping. If you read this in Hebrew, which most of you haven’t there is a play on words here. The word down keeps getting repeated, Jonah went down to Joppa, down into the belly of the ship, down into a deep sleep. The passages here are trying to get you to envision the “downward” progression of sin in your life. It starts with small disobedience and it keeps gradually as we all know getting worse that leads to spiritual disaster.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So 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, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Point #1:Our disobedience affects others, it never affects only us. Even if you can’t see the effects of what your sin will do until years later. Your disobedience is causing you to be a bad father, to be an unfaithful wife, to be an unfaithful friend. There are people that God is trying to use you in their lives positively as a blessing but your disobedience is killing them. Your kids are becoming materialistic because you’re materialistic. You never sin in private. Our sin is killing some people eternally. The greatest effect you could have on someone’s life that you care about and love is your personal walk and obedience to God. If you’re married with kids think about how it affects your husband/ wife, your kids, your close family members. You should serve God for your own sake so that you come to know the Lord of all in an intimate way but whilst doing that you will be giving the best gift of all to the people you love and know personally.
Example: Think of it like this. You know those oxygen mask that drop out of the ceiling of the plane in case something goes wrong. They tell you to put yours on first before trying to help anyone else. Why? You are not help to anyone else if you are passed out from lack of oxygen. The same goes for your family. You are no help spiritually to your family or close loved ones when you are spiritually dead. This seems like common sense but most people think their kids are going to grow up loving God after watching their parents have a lackluster worship of God for 18 years.
Point #2: God sends storms to break His people from self-reliance. God sends storms into your life to get attention. One of two things will humble you, either your theology or a storm. Your theology should humble you, it should teach you the fact that you know you’re a sinner, you know you can’t save yourself, that rebellion is stupid., you know that you need God every hour, the fact that without God’s help you can’t live out the Christian life. But because most of us are hard hearted, what God usually does is He sends a storm of affliction, you are put flat on your back so that you are looking the right direction when you get up. He attacks your idols so that you learn how much you need God and how much you have to walk with Him.
Example: If you are slave to money then God attacks it, that’s happened to several people in the last couple years with the economy. If you are addicted to people’s approval then they will disappoint you. You’re proud and you never listen to anybody, so God allows you to fail. You’re the kind of person that feels like you don’t anybody to make things work out that you are awesome in and of yourself, so God allows you to face devastation. You’re self centered so God allows you marriage to crumble.
By the way I’m not saying that all affliction goes back to disobedience. Sometimes God allows affliction in our lives as a part of His plan in our lives but sometimes He puts those storms in our lives to wake us up in love and bring us back to Him. Don’t resist the storm but ask God why its there and what it is supposed to teach you. Jonah didn’t fight the storm, he knew. Submitting yourself to the storm with your eyes on God is the start of your salvation or repentance. Things end badly for Jonah because he got on the boat, imagine if he had repented before getting on the boat, no one we know would know about that whale. God uses the storms in your life not to pay you back but to bring you back, He already paid us back with Jesus on the cross.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.12 And 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 this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
I mean we have to give props to the pagan sailors, they at least don’t want Jonah to die. They try rowing out of the storm before giving up hope, which is more than we can say for Jonah about them. Sadly they are in a rowing contest against God.
14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
Concluding points we learn from the Book of Jonah.
1. The book of Jonah shows you what a real sinner is. Jonah is upstanding in every other way, he’s just not willing to do this. Jonah is in a real pickle here. God says “Go to Nineveh.” One of two things will happen when he gets there. Option A] He walks through their streets pronounces judgment from God, they don’t repent, how do you think that turns out for him, based on what you read earlier about the Ninevites. Option B] they do repent, Jonah’s enemies find salvation, a people who have done unspeakable cruelties against his own people. As a side note if Nineveh prospers guess who that hurts, Jonah’s people, Israel. Jonah is willing to obey God until it comes to losing his life or losing what he loves which is being the spiritual leader of a country he loves. I would say this is a very good picture of us, religious people, you are probably pleasing God in most areas of your life but then comes a point when God ask you to obey in something that takes something very precious from you. This is when you become Jonah, you won’t obey when it actually touches your sense of identity. Up until this point in Jonah’s life he had always been able to have God’s pleasure and the things that he loved. It was only when these two things diverged onto separate roads that Jonah stuck with what he loved, even if he had to run away from God. This is what obedience is always about, would you be willing to give up everything you cherish to only have the presence and relationship with God in your life. Would you rather go into the unbelievably hard circumstances that God has called you to with Jesus or live a life of comfort without Him.
Example: Is God valuable enough that you would stay in the midst of an unfulfilling marriage? Notice God never says one time in the Bible that being unhappy is viable criteria for getting divorced. Is God valuable enough that you would go if He sent you to a place where you are uncomfortable.
Until God takes on that kind of weight in your life you will never really obey Him. What God did was show Jonah, you look like everyone else around you, you look godly, but I’m still not your God, these things are your God, not me. It shows you what a real sinner is.
2. We are Jonah. In the Jewish synagogue they have a tradition where the entire book of Jonah is read and they all stand up at the end and say in unison “I am Jonah.” I think this is great because we struggle with this everyday when we battle the urge to disobey God, when it’s personal to us, when its deep, and when its costly.
3. The book of Jonah shows us who the real Savior is. At the beginning of Jonah there is a contrast being set up about how Jonah feels about the Ninevites and how God feels about them. Jonah wants to see them destroyed, God wants to see them forgiven. Yes the Ninevites sin against Jonah was terrible but the Ninevites sin against God was even greater. Jonah wants vengeance, God wants mercy. Jonah is actually giving us a picture of the real Savior who would come for the Ninevites. In Matthew 12 Jesus would say that He was going to be a prophet like Jonah, His death and resurrection would be a fulfillment of the sign given through Jonah.
a. Jonah was cast out into the sea, the sea became calm. Then he was swallowed by a whale for three days then spit out on dry land again so that he could preach repentance and life to Ninevites. Jesus was cast out into the sea of God’s wrath and that sea became calm. Jesus was then taken into the heart of the earth for three days and brought back to life so He could preach repentance and salvation.
b. The difference? Jonah went through all of this involuntarily because of his disobedience but Jesus went through all of it because of our disobedience.
c. Jonah ran from his enemies, Jesus ran toward them. Jonah was a on mission of revenge because he hated the Ninevites, Jesus was on a mission of rescue because He loved us. Jonah was all about his own self preservation, Jesus poured Himself out willing in self sacrifice.
d. When Jonah sees this about God he resents it. Many people cry out about how the God of the Bible is so judgmental. This means that they have never really tasted the depth of evil. When Jonah had tasted the depth of evil by the Ninevites he cried out for their destruction, God cried out for their mercy. Our sin against God was greater than the sin of the Ninevites against Jonah and Israel. Our sin crucified Jesus, God’s Son instead of crying out for vengeance cried out for forgiveness on our behalf. We are not only Jonah, but we are also Nineveh.
e. The gospel: When you see how god came after you like He did Niveveh to restore you from the evil you had committed against Him, it is going to transform your heart from hardness to flesh, from stone to clay. You no longer cry for vengeance for others but for the mercy and grace to them that was shown to you.
4. Three possible responses to God’s call:
a. Flat out rebellion, “No God, I hear you but I’m just not doing it”
b. Submitting with resistance: only because you fear God’s judgment. “Ok God, I will because I don’t want to end up in the belly of a whale or worse.”
c. Gospel transformed obedience: This the obedience God is looking for. You begin to obey because you love like God loves. You begin to do because you begin to think like God would have you think. How does this happen? Through a profound sense of captivating GRACE. When you truly understand how much God went through to bring you to Himself after all you have done it transforms how you look at the Ninevites. God is not just after obedience, but a whole new kind of obedience. Not a bare knuckled I’m going to do this but I hate it obedience where I’m going to do this because I’m afraid of God but an obedience that flows out of you heart naturally because it has become like the heart of God.
Diagnosis:
Yeah you are obedient to God but your not passionate about God, you worship apathetically. You don’t naturally want to give your life to tell people about Jesus. You are stingy with your money, you might tithe but you are not generous. Do you want to know why….because you have never had a profound experience of grace. God can threaten you all day with the belly of the whale and how it is going to swallow you up and that might be true but what God really wants us to understand is “WE ARE NINEVEH!” When we come to understand this it will create in us the same kind of heart that he has for Nineveh. You will find yourself giving like Jesus gave.
What does it mean for you to be engaged personally in the mission of God? God has a purpose for you. I want to look at this from the perspective of Jonah. God gave Jonah a mission. God has given you a mission. It is one thing to go to church and be apart of an audience but what does it mean for you to become part of the mission that God has for you?
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
So what do you know about the story of Jonah? Most people know that Jonah was told by God to go preach repentance to Nineveh. Jonah says no, Jonah gets swallowed up by a big fish and that’s it. Many people stop right here because they say, well this can’t be true. No one could survive three days in a whale. This has got to be a myth.
If this is your reaction let me help you. This is not a story about a big magical fish or how to survive if you get swallowed by one. This is a story about God. This honestly isn’t even one of the hardest things in Christianity to believe about the Bible. I mean how about Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created everything with just the word of His mouth…” How about Luke 2….God was born as a baby, then God grew up, lived a perfect life, did miracles, healed the sick, was crucified, and resurrected Himself back from the dead. Once you believe these things the rest of the Bible isn’t that hard to believe. The real question that you have to ask is “Is there a God?” and “Does He work in the world?”
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Verse 2 says that Nineveh is a great city. Nineveh was a political, economic, and educational hub. Nineveh was very large; Jonah is going to tell us that it took him three days to walk from one end to the other. Historians tell us that Nineveh’s walls were so thick that you could drive three chariots side by side across them at the same time. It had a lot of great architecture. It was a cultural hub like most big cities with all the best singers, actors, dancers, politicians. All of these would have been found in Nineveh. However in addition to that it was also a very wicked city. This is a lot of times true about big cities, lots of debauchery, crime rates are higher. People usually don’t go to big cities to find God but to live how they see fit. Historians tell us that Nineveh was one of the cruelest most vicious cities in the ancient world. Nineveh’s own histories tell us this. If you look at their hieroglyphics what they did when they would conquer another nation or city they would boast in their pictures they would skin alive a lot of the men, women, and children and spread out their skins over the walls of the city. They would take some of these people after they partially skinned them, they would bury them alive up to their necks in sand, take a stake pull out their tongue and drive the stake through their tongue into the ground. They would leave these people sitting their anguishing in pain and dying of thirst. These people were unspeakably cruel. They would rape women and kill them. They even boasted in their histories about raping and killing little girls. One account talks about how they would impale soldiers and leave them alive outside the city gates. They would behead other soldiers and pile their heads into a huge mountain over the city gate in order to send a message to anyone who would dare oppose Asyria. These are the kind of people that Jonah was told by God to go to. Israel was one of Asyria’s primary enemies. We are talking about Jonah going to a people who had done these kind of things and he knew it. We probably shouldn’t be so judgmental on Jonah. Many times I’ve heard people say “Well Jonah disobeyed God, getting swallowed by that whale, he just got what was coming to him.” I mean seriously, what would you have done if God had told you to go to those kind of people? Jonah has personal bitterness towards the Ninevites.
3 But Jonah arose 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 from the presence of the Lord.
Here begins Jonah’s rebellion against God. God told him to “Go” and Jonah clearly goes the other way. Some things we should notice about Jonah’s disobedience. 1. He was upstanding in every other way. 2 Kings 14:25 tells us that he was one of Israel’s primary religious leaders, at a time when Israel was at a height of their economic and spiritual power. Jonah had made some prophecies and they had come true. He was like their Billy Graham, he was their spiritual leader. Rebellion is simply saying “NO” to God. I know this seems like an obvious statement but we tend to compare how righteous we are by comparing our walk with God to others. We tend to think of it like a grading system, “Oh I go to church more often, I have better morals, I give a little more and as long as God grades on the curve I’ll be fine.” There is no grading system, its perfection or nothing. Its Christ righteousness or yours and yours means nothing. Lordship is one of those things though that if it is not absolute and total it is not real. You are never farther from God than when you are close to Him and say NO. There are a lot of Godly people who look like they are walking with God in every other way but in some area they are saying No to Him in. Maybe for you it is a relationship you know isn’t pleasing to God but you won’t quit it, every other part of your life is fine. Maybe there is a sacrifice God has put in your heart to make, whether it be your money, your time, your gifts or talents but you keep saying NO God I’m not letting you put your hand on that. You can’t obey God in that one area because its is what you put your hopes and security for a good life in. Maybe it’s a sin you need to confess. Maybe its exactly like Jonah, God is calling you to go somewhere, maybe somewhere uncomfortable, but you can’t go. Obeying God isn’t always easy but it is worth it.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
That’s the problem see with running from God is that God is already at the place you are running to.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
There is an ironic situation going on here on the ship. The pagan sailors are all up on the deck in the midst of the storm having a theological debate about which of their gods is going to save them, meanwhile the man of the one true God is down in the belly of the ship sleeping. If you read this in Hebrew, which most of you haven’t there is a play on words here. The word down keeps getting repeated, Jonah went down to Joppa, down into the belly of the ship, down into a deep sleep. The passages here are trying to get you to envision the “downward” progression of sin in your life. It starts with small disobedience and it keeps gradually as we all know getting worse that leads to spiritual disaster.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So 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, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Point #1:Our disobedience affects others, it never affects only us. Even if you can’t see the effects of what your sin will do until years later. Your disobedience is causing you to be a bad father, to be an unfaithful wife, to be an unfaithful friend. There are people that God is trying to use you in their lives positively as a blessing but your disobedience is killing them. Your kids are becoming materialistic because you’re materialistic. You never sin in private. Our sin is killing some people eternally. The greatest effect you could have on someone’s life that you care about and love is your personal walk and obedience to God. If you’re married with kids think about how it affects your husband/ wife, your kids, your close family members. You should serve God for your own sake so that you come to know the Lord of all in an intimate way but whilst doing that you will be giving the best gift of all to the people you love and know personally.
Example: Think of it like this. You know those oxygen mask that drop out of the ceiling of the plane in case something goes wrong. They tell you to put yours on first before trying to help anyone else. Why? You are not help to anyone else if you are passed out from lack of oxygen. The same goes for your family. You are no help spiritually to your family or close loved ones when you are spiritually dead. This seems like common sense but most people think their kids are going to grow up loving God after watching their parents have a lackluster worship of God for 18 years.
Point #2: God sends storms to break His people from self-reliance. God sends storms into your life to get attention. One of two things will humble you, either your theology or a storm. Your theology should humble you, it should teach you the fact that you know you’re a sinner, you know you can’t save yourself, that rebellion is stupid., you know that you need God every hour, the fact that without God’s help you can’t live out the Christian life. But because most of us are hard hearted, what God usually does is He sends a storm of affliction, you are put flat on your back so that you are looking the right direction when you get up. He attacks your idols so that you learn how much you need God and how much you have to walk with Him.
Example: If you are slave to money then God attacks it, that’s happened to several people in the last couple years with the economy. If you are addicted to people’s approval then they will disappoint you. You’re proud and you never listen to anybody, so God allows you to fail. You’re the kind of person that feels like you don’t anybody to make things work out that you are awesome in and of yourself, so God allows you to face devastation. You’re self centered so God allows you marriage to crumble.
By the way I’m not saying that all affliction goes back to disobedience. Sometimes God allows affliction in our lives as a part of His plan in our lives but sometimes He puts those storms in our lives to wake us up in love and bring us back to Him. Don’t resist the storm but ask God why its there and what it is supposed to teach you. Jonah didn’t fight the storm, he knew. Submitting yourself to the storm with your eyes on God is the start of your salvation or repentance. Things end badly for Jonah because he got on the boat, imagine if he had repented before getting on the boat, no one we know would know about that whale. God uses the storms in your life not to pay you back but to bring you back, He already paid us back with Jesus on the cross.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.12 And 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 this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
I mean we have to give props to the pagan sailors, they at least don’t want Jonah to die. They try rowing out of the storm before giving up hope, which is more than we can say for Jonah about them. Sadly they are in a rowing contest against God.
14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
Concluding points we learn from the Book of Jonah.
1. The book of Jonah shows you what a real sinner is. Jonah is upstanding in every other way, he’s just not willing to do this. Jonah is in a real pickle here. God says “Go to Nineveh.” One of two things will happen when he gets there. Option A] He walks through their streets pronounces judgment from God, they don’t repent, how do you think that turns out for him, based on what you read earlier about the Ninevites. Option B] they do repent, Jonah’s enemies find salvation, a people who have done unspeakable cruelties against his own people. As a side note if Nineveh prospers guess who that hurts, Jonah’s people, Israel. Jonah is willing to obey God until it comes to losing his life or losing what he loves which is being the spiritual leader of a country he loves. I would say this is a very good picture of us, religious people, you are probably pleasing God in most areas of your life but then comes a point when God ask you to obey in something that takes something very precious from you. This is when you become Jonah, you won’t obey when it actually touches your sense of identity. Up until this point in Jonah’s life he had always been able to have God’s pleasure and the things that he loved. It was only when these two things diverged onto separate roads that Jonah stuck with what he loved, even if he had to run away from God. This is what obedience is always about, would you be willing to give up everything you cherish to only have the presence and relationship with God in your life. Would you rather go into the unbelievably hard circumstances that God has called you to with Jesus or live a life of comfort without Him.
Example: Is God valuable enough that you would stay in the midst of an unfulfilling marriage? Notice God never says one time in the Bible that being unhappy is viable criteria for getting divorced. Is God valuable enough that you would go if He sent you to a place where you are uncomfortable.
Until God takes on that kind of weight in your life you will never really obey Him. What God did was show Jonah, you look like everyone else around you, you look godly, but I’m still not your God, these things are your God, not me. It shows you what a real sinner is.
2. We are Jonah. In the Jewish synagogue they have a tradition where the entire book of Jonah is read and they all stand up at the end and say in unison “I am Jonah.” I think this is great because we struggle with this everyday when we battle the urge to disobey God, when it’s personal to us, when its deep, and when its costly.
3. The book of Jonah shows us who the real Savior is. At the beginning of Jonah there is a contrast being set up about how Jonah feels about the Ninevites and how God feels about them. Jonah wants to see them destroyed, God wants to see them forgiven. Yes the Ninevites sin against Jonah was terrible but the Ninevites sin against God was even greater. Jonah wants vengeance, God wants mercy. Jonah is actually giving us a picture of the real Savior who would come for the Ninevites. In Matthew 12 Jesus would say that He was going to be a prophet like Jonah, His death and resurrection would be a fulfillment of the sign given through Jonah.
a. Jonah was cast out into the sea, the sea became calm. Then he was swallowed by a whale for three days then spit out on dry land again so that he could preach repentance and life to Ninevites. Jesus was cast out into the sea of God’s wrath and that sea became calm. Jesus was then taken into the heart of the earth for three days and brought back to life so He could preach repentance and salvation.
b. The difference? Jonah went through all of this involuntarily because of his disobedience but Jesus went through all of it because of our disobedience.
c. Jonah ran from his enemies, Jesus ran toward them. Jonah was a on mission of revenge because he hated the Ninevites, Jesus was on a mission of rescue because He loved us. Jonah was all about his own self preservation, Jesus poured Himself out willing in self sacrifice.
d. When Jonah sees this about God he resents it. Many people cry out about how the God of the Bible is so judgmental. This means that they have never really tasted the depth of evil. When Jonah had tasted the depth of evil by the Ninevites he cried out for their destruction, God cried out for their mercy. Our sin against God was greater than the sin of the Ninevites against Jonah and Israel. Our sin crucified Jesus, God’s Son instead of crying out for vengeance cried out for forgiveness on our behalf. We are not only Jonah, but we are also Nineveh.
e. The gospel: When you see how god came after you like He did Niveveh to restore you from the evil you had committed against Him, it is going to transform your heart from hardness to flesh, from stone to clay. You no longer cry for vengeance for others but for the mercy and grace to them that was shown to you.
4. Three possible responses to God’s call:
a. Flat out rebellion, “No God, I hear you but I’m just not doing it”
b. Submitting with resistance: only because you fear God’s judgment. “Ok God, I will because I don’t want to end up in the belly of a whale or worse.”
c. Gospel transformed obedience: This the obedience God is looking for. You begin to obey because you love like God loves. You begin to do because you begin to think like God would have you think. How does this happen? Through a profound sense of captivating GRACE. When you truly understand how much God went through to bring you to Himself after all you have done it transforms how you look at the Ninevites. God is not just after obedience, but a whole new kind of obedience. Not a bare knuckled I’m going to do this but I hate it obedience where I’m going to do this because I’m afraid of God but an obedience that flows out of you heart naturally because it has become like the heart of God.
Diagnosis:
Yeah you are obedient to God but your not passionate about God, you worship apathetically. You don’t naturally want to give your life to tell people about Jesus. You are stingy with your money, you might tithe but you are not generous. Do you want to know why….because you have never had a profound experience of grace. God can threaten you all day with the belly of the whale and how it is going to swallow you up and that might be true but what God really wants us to understand is “WE ARE NINEVEH!” When we come to understand this it will create in us the same kind of heart that he has for Nineveh. You will find yourself giving like Jesus gave.