Living Without Regret Series

Sermon title: LIVING WITH NO REGRETS

Sermon text: Jonah chapter 1

Introduction

Last week for school our 7 year old daughter Lilia had to write an answer to the question

“What will you be like when you are 100 years old”?

Lilia wrote

“When I am 100 years old I guess I’ll live in a nursing home. I’ll have white hair with bald spots. I will sleep with my eyes open. I will not have any teeth. I hope that people will visit me.”

What will we be like if we live to be a 100 years old is really a great question.

We might have no control over where we live. We might have no control over what we look like. But one thing we do have control over is this:

When we are 100 years old will we be living with regrets or will we be living with no regrets

I'm beginning today a sermon series from the book of Jonah called LIVING WITH NO REGRETS

Living with no regrets depends on only one thing!

What do we do when the word of the Lord comes to us?

What we do when the word of God comes to us determines whether we live with regret or whether we live with no regret

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah…” (1:1)

There are 2 kinds of words found in the Bible that come from the Lord

The first kind of word found in the Bible that comes from the Lord is

1.A verse(s) of scripture that tells us what God wants to do for us

We call these kinds of words from the Lord- promises from God. The Bible is full of those kinds of words from God.No doubt many of us have our favorite promises from God.“I will never leave you or forsake you” or “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

It’s always very exciting to get these kinds of words from the Lord.

We underline them in our Bibles. We write them down.We memorize them. We share them with others.

But there is 2nd kind of word that comes from the Lord

This second kind of word from the Lord is the one that determines if we live with regret or not

It’s a verse(s) of scripture that tell us what God wants us to do for him.

nWe call these kinds of words from the Lord - commands from the Lord

This is the kind of the word from the Lord that Jonah receives (v2)

2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

When I read this word from the Lord I can’t help thinking that’s a hard and dangerous thing God is asking of Jonah

2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

But it’s only hard and dangerous because I’m not Jonah.God never asks us to do something we can’t do successfully! I remind us of this because we might think differently

Example: Moses

God’s command: “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses concern: But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

God’s confidence: And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who has sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt you will worship God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:10-12)

What will Jonah do with the word from the Lord? Will he do something he won’t regret or will he do something he will regret?

3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Jonah runs away from the word of the Lord? God said go east but Jonah goes west. Jonah is running away from a life of no regrets

Jonah didn’t run away from God because the word was hard and dangerous. Jonah ran away from God because he didn’t like what God was asking him to do.

“But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah 4:1-2

At least Jonah is honest!If we are honest we don’t always like what God is asking us to do. Remember God cares more about our holiness than about our happiness.