“3 POWERFUL PRAYERS – JONAH” Jonah 2
INTRO - A little girl was observed by her pastor standing outside the preschool Sunday School classroom between Sunday School and worship, waiting for her parents to come and pick her up for "big church." The pastor noticed that she clutched a big storybook under her arms with the obvious title, "Jonah and the Whale."
Feeling a little parsnickerous, he knelt down beside the little girl and began a conversation. "What’s that you have in your hand?", he asked. "This is my storybook about Jonah and the Whale," she answered.
"Tell me something, little girl," he continued, "do you believe that story about Jonah and that whale to be the truth?" The little girl implored, "Why of course I believe this story to be the truth!" He inquired further, "you really believe that a man can be swallowed up by a big whale, stay inside him all that time, and come out of there still alive and OK? You really believe all that can be true?" She declared, "Absolutely, this story is in the Bible and we studied about it in Sunday School today!"
Then the pastor asked, "Well, little girl, can you prove to me that this story is the truth?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, when I get to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonah." The pastor then asked, "Well, what if Jonah’s not in Heaven?" She then put her hands on her little hips and sternly declared, "Then YOU can ask him!" (www.sermonillustrator.org)
Today, we are going to look at Jonah. First of all, I want to say that I believe with all my heart that Jonah was real person who was swallowed by a real fish. He stayed inside that fish for 3 days before the fish spit him out on the beach. Why do I believe this? B/c the Bible says it this way. Some folks want to say that the story of Jonah was a parable written by an unknown author. They don’t believe that Jonah was an historical prophet who actually lived and ministered in the name of God sometime in the 8th century B.C. Kind of like the fellow in this story:
One Sunday, the Minister was giving a sermon on baptism and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating the fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not by immersion. He pointed out some instances in the Bible.
He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby. And again when it says in the Bible that Philip baptized the eunuch in the river, it didn’t mean in - it meant close to, round about, or nearby.
After the service, a man came up to the minister and told him it was a great sermon, one of the best he had ever heard, and that it had cleared up a great many mysteries he had encountered in the Bible.
"For instance," he said, "the story about Jonah getting swallowed by the whale has always bothered me. Now I know that Jonah wasn’t really in the whale, but close to, round about, or nearby, swimming in the water. Then there is the story about the three young Hebrew boys who were thrown into the furious furnace, but were not burned. Now I see that they were not really in the fire, just close to, round about, or nearby, just keeping warm.
But the hardest of all the stories for me to believe has always been the story of Daniel getting thrown into the lions" den. But now I see that he wasn’t really in the lions’ den, but close to, round about, or nearby, like at the zoo.
The revealing of these mysteries has been a real comfort me because I am a wicked man. Now I am gratified to know that I won’t be in Hell, but close to, round about, or nearby. And next Sunday, I won’t have to be in church, just close to, round about, or nearby. Thanks. You have really put my mind at ease.” (www.sermonillustrator.org)
The Scripture says, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai.” (1:1). There was a real person named Amittai who had a real son named Jonah who heard a real word from a very real Lord God – the same Lord God who is present with us today and has a real word for us, too!
If you could use one word to sum up the activity of Jonah’s life, it would be the word “running.” I like to run sometimes. Can’t run extremely long distances, but still like to run to try and keep myself in decent physical condition. Others can run much farther distances. Ford Wall has run marathons. Pres. Bush is one of the most physically fit presidents we’ve ever had. He’s a serious runner. I subscribe to Runner’s World magazine. It is filled with people who live to run. They run marathons in unbelievable times. But I have yet to find a single person who runs who doesn’t finally have to stop running. Even Forest Gump finally had to stop running! You simply cannot continue to run and run and run and never have to stop.
This is what we see in Jonah’s life. And it is what we see in our own lives many times. Reading the book of Jonah can be like looking in a mirror. And sometimes we don’t like what we see. Lloyd J. Ogilvie – “The book of Jonah is one of those accounts of a person’s encounter and struggle with God that is power-packed w/ theological truth and practical implications for people in every age.” (Communicator’s Commentary, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah; pg. 396) Let’s look at 3 stages of running in Jonah’s life and discover some of those practical implications for our lives today.
I. RUNNING FROM GOD.
A. The starting gun for Jonah’s run from God began in 1:1-2.
i. Clear command from God.
ii. Had a job for Jonah to do.
B. God wanted to use Jonah. Wanted to give him the exciting privilege of being a part of His plan, His work.
i. Imagine how excited Jonah must have been to receive a word from God, a personal message from Yahweh!
ii. But then that excitement turned to extreme disappointment and disbelief that God would call him to go to one of the most hated, most wicked cities in the region.
1. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians, the center of Israel’s worst Gentile enemy!
2. Not only that, but Jonah believed that Yahweh was the exclusive God of the Jews. Why in the world would He want to save these wicked, good for nothing Gentiles?
3. And what if they actually listened and repented of their wickedness and turned to God? Down deep, Jonah really wanted the Ninevites to get what was coming to them!
C. The word came to Jonah and he was faced with a decision – respond in obedience or run? As he stepped out of his house at Gath-hepher, 3 miles north of what is now Nazareth, he had a choice:
i. If he turned one way, it was about 500 miles northeast to Nineveh, that wretched place filled with the enemies of Israel.
ii. Or he could turn in the other direction, head west for Joppa on the Mediterranean coast and catch a ship going to the farthest place from Nineveh he could imagine – and from the Lord.
D. We all know what his decision was – he headed for Joppa and began his journey to Tarshish and his mad dash away from God.
i. Probably asked, “What’s the next ship to the farthest place you sail?”
ii. When he learned that there was one headed to a little fishing village in Spain, didn’t matter to him what price of ticket was. Didn’t matter how long trip took – over a year to get to Tarshish with stops at ports of call along the way.
iii. None of this mattered. He was running from God and from the responsibilities that God had given him.
E. We all have our Nineveh and Tarshish.
i. Our Ninevehs are those clear revelations of God’s will for our lives.
1. Go witness to that friend, co-worker.
2. Change some behavior in your life.
3. Repent of some known sin.
4. Yield your life to Christ as your Savior and Lord.
5. “Whatever else, Nineveh is the call of God sounding in our hearts to put Him first, be His person, and accept our vocation to be servants in mission.” (Ogilvie, pg. 404)
ii. But we run to Tarshish.
1. May not go anywhere physically, but in our soul, we begin to move away from God’s call on our lives.
2. Fill our lives w/ activity.
3. Erect our barriers and defense mechanisms.
II. RUNNING INTO GOD.
A. God sometimes has to go to drastic measures to get our attention.
i. He’s got good plans for our lives – Jer. 29:11-13
ii. He’s got a place for us in His family and in His work.
iii. But we’re hardheaded and hardhearted, running to our Tarshish.
B. B/c He loves us, and b/c He loves those to whom we need to minister, He sometimes steps right in front of us.
i. Ever seen a wide receiver running full speed, looking back toward the quarterback and the football that is being passed to him. He never sees that safety coming across the field at full speed.
C. God stepped right in front of Jonah as he ran to Tarshish.
i. Sent the storm.
ii. Didn’t stop him from running, but let him know that he was out of fellowship with Him and that there would be consequences.
iii. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, b/c the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Prov. 3:11-12)
D. Disobedience to God’s call upon our lives brings serious consequences.
i. Jonah’s disobedience threatened his life. But it also threatened the lives of the other men on the ship.
ii. The consequences of sin always have ripple effects that reach farther and farther and affect more and more people.
E. God’s discipline of His children who are running from Him is a difficult and painful experience.
i. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:11)
F. A traveler noticed a Syrian shepherd carrying food to a sheep with a broken leg. He asked the shepherd how it happened. “Did it fall into a hole or was it attacked by some animal?” Shepherd replied, “No, I broke it.” Surprised, traveler asked, “You broke it?” “Yes, this was a wayward sheep. It wouldn’t stay with the flock. Was always running off. Sometimes it led other sheep astray. Wouldn’t let me come near, so I had to break its leg, so it would allow me to feed it. In doing this, it will get to know me as its shepherd, trust me as its guide, and stay with the rest of the flock.” (www.sermonillustrator.org)
i. Sometimes when we run into God and experience His discipline, we walk away limping a little bit broken. But b/c He loves us, we can trust that we will be broken in the right places.
III. RUNNING BACK TO GOD.
A. 2:1 – Being in the belly of a whale gives a man plenty of time to do some serious soul-searching! That’s exactly what we see Jonah doing.
i. He had tried to run away from God. In the process, he ran into God in the storm at sea. And now, he runs back to God in prayer.
B. We all know those times when we have made a huge mess of our lives.
i. We’ve tripped and fallen flat on our faces in disobedience and sin.
ii. Life begins to tumble in on us like the WTC towers on 9/11.
iii. The Lord from whom we have been running becomes our only hope.
C. It’s time to run back to God. It’s time to repent!
i. That’s what Jonah does here in these verses. Read these with me again:
1. Verses 1-6 – He relives his experiences of disobedience.
a. The causes
b. The consequences
2. Verse 7 – He remembers God.
a. His goodness.
b. His faithfulness.
c. His forgiveness.
3. Verse 8-9 – He repents and runs back to God.
a. What is repentance? Let me illustrate with this story: Little Mary was at her first wedding. She gaped at the entire ceremony. After it was over, she asked her mother, “Mommy, why did the bride change her mind?” “What do you mean, dear?” “Well, she went down the aisle with one man and back up the aisle with another.”
b. Changing our mind is not always a bad thing. Def. of repentance – “A change of mind leading to a change of life.” (www.sermonillustrator.org)
c. Before we can experience change in our life, we must have a change of our mind about what we’ve done.
4. Verses 10 – God returns him to service.
a. A little smelly and tired from his running, but still able to serve.
CONCLUSION – Are you running from God right now? Has He clearly spoken to you, commanded you to do something, to change something, to obey Him in some area of you life? What has been your response to Him?
Maybe you’re running into Him right now. He has stopped you dead in your tracks and pierced your heart with His truth.
Now is the time to run back to Him. It’s time to repent and let Him return you to service!
