Sermon 1 of 4: Game Series
Twisted…or Playing Twister? (Running from God’s Word)
Written By: Captain Tim Gardner
Introduction:
(Ask for participants to come forward and play a small game of Twister. Ask them how they felt as they were twisting their bodies. Ask the crowd how they felt while watching them. Talk about their reactions.)
“Twister was the subject of a huge publicity campaign when it was introduced in 1966. After Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor hooked themselves together in front of millions of viewers on the "Tonight" show in May of that year, the rush was on to buy the game. Considering the simplicity of its design (the vinyl sheet was the greatest expense of the package), Twister has been a profit-making dream for Milton Bradley. In 1987, a record-breaking 4,160 contestants tied themselves up in knots playing a Twister marathon at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The goal of Twister was to outlast opponents by stretching and entwining your body like a human pretzel around a large vinyl sheet emblazoned with multicolored circles, without falling down. With more than two players, the vinyl sheet got so crowded that the results were often hilarious, and sometimes downright lewd.” (Asakawa, 1992)
It’s easy to see why. By a show of hands how many have ever played the game before? Twister is just downright fun to play and sometimes even more fun to watch. But imagine life being the same way. Imagine having to twist around in order to meet the rules of life. Isn’t this what we already do? The boss asks us to redo an assignment that we worked so hard on, left foot to the red dot. The teacher states that we need to stay after class in order to make-up for the bad test we took right arm to the green spot. The neighbor asks if you can baby-sit on your only night of relaxation, right foot, blue spot; the bill collector calls about the car payment, left hand, yellow spot; bad dentist appointment, right hand; speeding ticket, left foot; a death in the family, right foot, and so on. When it all comes to a small pause we find ourselves twisted in a sense sometimes wondering how to get back to the right shape. Jonah was dealing with life in a very similar way. As a matter a fact I believe Jonah played the very first game of Twister, or at least he got all twisted up in an attempt to get away from God’s command. Today we are going to discuss how Jonah Aborted God’s Word, Ignored God’s Word, and even tried to End God’s Word. Turn to Jonah chapter 1. Let’s pray.
I. Jonah Aborted God’s Word (v. 3)
“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.” (NIV)
A. Jonah hits the ticket booth
Here we have Jonah; poor old faithful Jonah, the first person to ever play the game Twister. He was such a great prophet and upright man of God. As a matter of fact many theologians believed Jonah was one of the most astounding prophets in his time. One commentary writer states: “Jonah was “mirabilis homo”, or an “amazing man”. He was the strangest, oddest, and most out of the way man, for a good man and a prophet, as one shall ever hear or read of.” (Gill) So what happened? Why is Jonah all of a sudden willing to be unwilling to God’s plan on his life? Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been willing to be unwilling to God’s plan in your life?
Jonah, this well known prophet from God has just been asked to go and preach a message from God to the Ninevites. Instead of practicing his normal habit of following orders, he twists. He argues with God a little, then like a wanted man he is quickly running away without notice the opposite direction, and the furthest place he could go in that direction. This is so true in our own lives. We walk around showing how incredibly Christian we are by the way we talk, and quote, and wear our smile and our “holy” outfit or jewelry, but in an instant we are gone when God asks us to do something we are not comfortable with at all. Do you agree with this statement? By a show of hands how many have bailed when God said go? Or when God started making you feel uncomfortable? Jonah was uncomfortable. He bailed when God said go.
What’s really interesting is that ships did not require payment until the end of the journey back in those times. This is interesting because Jonah paid for his ticket before he entered the ship. I guess he wanted to make a point that he was ready to get as far away as possible as fast as possible, no questions asked!
B. The ship hits the sea
While we are not sure what kind of ship this was Jonah boarded we might be certain that it was large, large enough to haul people and cargo for a long trip to Tarshish. This wasn’t your ordinary fairy ride. This ship was headed the furthest away from where it was docked. Tarshish is believed to be located in Spain. Some Bible scholars agree with this, while others disagree. However, they all seem to agree that Jonah was going very far away. It doesn’t really matter though, because the ship didn’t get very far at all.
Imagine yourself in Jonah’s sandals. You just bought a ticket to the longest cruise available on one of the largest ships at the dock. You find your cabin and get cozy real fast. Relaxation is here and good times are to follow. This is going to be the best vacation ever. You lie in your cozy room with a cheap smile on your face. Your eyes begin to sag and your eye lids become nice and heavy. You think, “Yes, a nap would be the best thing ever to start this journey of mine.” Now you begin to dose off. You feel the tug of the ship as it sets sail. Everything is perfect. Everything is so serene. Everything seems to be going your way, then a voice… “HEY!!!” “WAKE UP!!!” “THE SHIP IS TAKING ON WATER!!!” “WAKE UP!!!”
II. Jonah Ignored God’s Word (vs. 4-7)
“4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, and let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.” (NIV)
A. The ship hits a storm
Winds come out of nowhere. The waves are massive. The thunder crashes and lightning snaps at the water like a life guard snapping a wet towel at my leg. Everyone mans their stations. There cannot be room for mistake here. “We have to get through this storm!” says the captain. “But the waves are too strong!” replies the crew. Every effort made is a total failure. The cargo is thrown in to help level the ship against the massive waves. The heathen captain finally yells, “Pray to your God’s! One of them surely will help us!” Winds blowing. Waves crashing. Lightning snapping. Ship cracking. People screaming. So much confusion! But where is Jonah?
B. Jonah hits a knap
Charles Spurgeon, an amazing evangelist in his time writes:
“Jonah was asleep amid all that confusion and noise; and, O Christian man, for you to be indifferent to all that is going on in such a world as this, for you to be negligent of God’s work in such a time as this is just as strange. The devil alone is making noise enough to wake all the Jonahs if they only want to awake . . . All around us there is tumult and storm, yet some professing Christians are able, like Jonah, to go to sleep in the sides of the ship.” (Spurgeon)
It hurts to think of ourselves like Jonah, doesn’t it? But how true is Spurgeons statement? We twist our belief when things start moving out of our comfort zone. We fall asleep and nap all life long. George Scott Railton once said, “How can you sit idly by knowing that souls are doomed to die?” (Railton)
So Jonah is woken up by the captain and instructed to pray to his God as well. Did he?
III. Jonah Tried to End God’s Word (9-17)
“9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.” (NIV)
A. The dice hit the deck
Nowhere in the chapter does it say that Jonah prays to God while on the ship. So it can be safely assumed that he did not, which is the reason for the casting of lots by the crew. This was an easy way to decipher why things were happening.
“The practice of casting lots is mentioned 70 times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. In spite of the many references to casting lots in the Old Testament, nothing is known about the actual lots themselves. They could have been sticks of various lengths, flat stones like coins, or some kind of dice. The closest modern practice to casting lots is likely flipping a coin…God allowed the Israelites to cast lots in order to determine His will for a given situation. Various offices and functions in the Temple were also determined by lot. The 11 Apostles cast lots to determine who would replace Judas.” (www.gotquestions.org)
The crew came together along with Jonah and cast lots to find out who brought this storm to being. When the lot falls on Jonah, he becomes an open book. He spills the beans. We’re not sure all the details of his story to them, but what we do know is that Jonah is now ready to quit playing his game of Twister. He says “Pick me up and throw me into the sea…I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. What a way to end it all! First Jonah bails on God, then he tries to ignore God, now he is ready to just simply throw in the towel.
Do you ever feel this way? Ready to throw your hands up and say, “Lord, take me home now.”? It’s a normal feeling when things are so out of whack in our lives much like Jonah is going through. But don’t we do it to ourselves? Don’t we make the decision to stop following God and instead follow our own way of thinking? Don’t we make the decision to ignore God and listen to our own heart and our own feelings? Don’t we make the decision to allow our lives to become so twisted that it would take a miracle to get us back to normal? But what do we do about it?
B. Jonah hits the water
The crew responds (probably with much pondering on Jonahs idea) by trying to row the ship one more time. I am not sure why this is. Most Bible scholars are not sure either. Maybe it was because they simply did not want to kill a man, which is the reason for their prayer before throwing Jonah overboard. Maybe it was because they thought he was crazy for coming up with such an unrealistic idea. I mean who would believe that a massive sea storm would calm after you through someone into the water? That’s just plain crazy talk! Or maybe it was because the storm began to calm as Jonah was admitting his wrong doings and the crew thought they could row through it at that breaking moment. But we know what happens. The storm becomes even fiercer! So the crew prays (who wouldn’t at a time like this) to Jonah’s God, not their own like they were doing before. Then one comes to Jonah from behind and grabs under his arms and a couple others grab his feet. And it’s a one, two, three swing before he is off into the sea. He did not jump off, but he was thrown. The storm calms and Jonah is gone. Jonah may have been thinking at this very moment that he still won. He was going to drown; therefore God’s message to the Ninevites will not be heard by him. Is this how you think of your life? Do you think that if you keep running from God’s Word for so long that He will stop calling? That’s what Jonah could have been thinking. We aren’t truly sure.
Conclusion:
All we know is that Jonah tried aborting God’s Word. Jonah tried Ignoring God’s Word. Jonah seemed to have tried ending God’s Word. You might be trying to do the same things in your life. You might be the one aborting God. You might be ignoring God. Or maybe you are the one under water even right now thinking that you have ended God’s plan for your life. You think you’re out of God’s thoughts just because you aborted, ignored and tried to end God’s Word? Look around while you are holding your breath. Do you notice the water starting to move again? Look closer. Can you see it? Focus your eyes it’s God! And this time He has got you right where He wants you, live bait for His big fish!
