“Returning to God”
“On the Run”
Jonah 1:1-3
I read a story recently about a 5-year old who decided to run away. The lady who lived next door saw him go, as she was outside cutting her grass. She said that she watched him walk up and down the pavement, in front of her house, hauling his little suitcase behind him. He would disappear around the corner, and a few minutes later, he’d reappear and go past her again. After he had gone past the house several times, she finally asked: "What you doing?" He answered, "I’m running away from home!" “So” she said -- “why do you keep circling the block?" He answered, "Because mom and dad won’t allow me to cross the road by myself!!"
Have you ever wanted to run away? To be honest there have been times in my life when I have just wanted to run away, to run away from a problem or a situation or a person. We all probably have that feeling once in a while. We just want to get away. Sometimes it is even that way in the ministry. It is so hard trying to please so many people and such a strain feeling responsible for so many lives. Sometimes even the preacher can think that it might be better for everyone to let someone else try for a while. The point is that, whether you’re a Pastor, banker or a teacher, we all have fantasies of escaping from time to time.
What I’m saying is that we all have moments in life, moments when all we want to do is run, to get away, to escape. Don’t feel guilty about it, some of the greatest people who ever lived ran away: Adam and Eve in the garden after disobeying God ran away and hid from his presence. Moses ran away from Pharoah after he killed an Egyptian soldier. David who not only stood up against the giant but who also killed the giant ran away from King Saul. The disciples ran away from the Garden of Gethsemane and abandoned their Lord. The man we are going to be studying about this morning and for the next few Sunday mornings had such a desire to run away, his name is Jonah. This morning we are going to tag along and watch Jonah “Attempt to Run Away From God.”
Of all the supernatural occurrences recorded in the Bible perhaps none has received as much ridicule as the story of Jonah. To liberal scholars and skeptics, the account of “Jonah and the whale” is fit only for children and not for serious thinkers. In fact, I heard a story once about the little girl in elementary school who was in class one day studying about the ocean when the teacher told the class, “I don’t want any of you to ever be afraid of going into the sea because there are no sea creatures that can swallow you whole”. So this little girl raised her hand and said, “I learned in church that a great fish swallowed Jonah whole”. And the teacher scoffed at that and said, “That’s impossible that could never happen”. And the little girl said, “When I get to heaven I’ll ask Jonah myself and find out if it was true”. To which the teacher replied, “what if Jonah didn’t go to heaven?” The little girl said, “Then you can ask him.”
But the facts are that only three verses deal with the fish and the other forty five verses tell the real story of Jonah. It is story of someone very much like our selves. It is the story of struggles, a calling, disobedience, problems and prayer. Most of all it’s a story about second chances and returning to God and I believe that as individuals, churches and a nation we need to return to God and when we do He will give us another chance. There are three basic ways of interpreting the book of Jonah. First, we can view it as an allegory. An allegory is a long story with a hidden meaning, every character or event standing for some other character or event. The second method of interpreting the book of Jonah is to see it as a parable. A story which has one main point, Jonah as a parable would be the deliverance of Israel.
The third method of interpreting the book of Jonah is to view it as a historically accurate portrayal of real events, which is what I believe. The main reason I believe that the story of Jonah is historically accurate is that Jesus accepted it as such. When unbelieving scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove that what he said was true, Jesus replied in Matt 12:39-40, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. (40) "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jesus used the story of Jonah as a historical illustration of his own literal resurrection. If therefore, we are going to reject the historical story of Jonah we have to question the integrity of Jesus.
Before going on with the story of Jonah I just want to make the point that the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament Bible never calls the fish that swallowed Jonah a “whale” is simply called a “great fish.” Read Jonah 1:1-3. Today we are going to examine the passage and see that God wants us to listen to his commands and not run away and realize that we all have a call to answer.
I. God still speaks inviting us to join Him in His work.
V. 1a “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai,” Now let me just give you a little bit of background information about this story. Some later rabbinic traditions suggest that Jonah was the widow’s son brought back to life by Elijah in 1 Kings 17:17-24 but there is no concrete evidence for that. But we do know that Jonah was no novice – we know that he wasn’t an apprentice prophet – that this wasn’t a one time call from God. 2 Kings 14 tells us that Jonah is a prophet and a servant of the Lord. He lived in Israel and he served God as his prophet - as his mouthpiece. In fact his very name indicates that. Jonah means ’dove’ - which signifies a ’messenger’. And we’re told that he is Son of Ammitai - Son of ’truth’. He is a messenger of truth - God’s truth. In fact, it was by God’s word through Jonah that King Jeroboam extended the boundaries of Israel in 2 Kings 14:25. That was his job as a prophet of the most-high God. It was his job to listen to the word of God and then communicate it to the people.
So it’s no surprise when we read in Jonah Chapter 1 and verse 1 that the word of the Lord came to Jonah, Son of Ammitai - it was his job to answer the call. But instead of obeying, instead of doing what God called him to do – Jonah ran away. I don’t know how the Lord chose to speak to Jonah. He may have spoken to him audibly as he did to Adam and Abraham. He could have spoken to him in a vision has he did to Ezekiel. He could have spoken to him in a dream as he did Joseph. He may have simply left an impression on his heart as he often does with us today. We don’t know HOW God chose to speak to Jonah but we DO know He Did! The point that I want to make is that God still speaks to us today and his call is just as personal today as it was then. God can speak to us in many ways. He has spoken to me through songs, sermons, scripture, and words of wisdom by others and through my kids. I’m telling you today that if we will just open our ears we will still hear the voice of God inviting us to join Him in His work and when He does invite us we need to get on board.
II. We’re not always going to like what God tells us to do!
V. 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." The Living Bible paraphrases the last part of verse two to read, “the wickedness of Nineveh was such that it … smelled to high heaven.” In other words, God called Jonah to take a message of judgment to Nineveh. Nineveh was an up-and-coming world power in Jonah’s day, the most important city in Assyria. Within 50 years, Nineveh would become the capital of the vast Assyrian empire. Nineveh was a great city of the ancient world. Nineveh was located on the Tigris River in what is now Mosul, Iraq. Nineveh had a population of upwards of 600,000. Its streets were twenty miles long and its walls were one hundred feet tall and wide enough for three chariots to be driven side by side across the top of them. This is the last place on earth that Jonah thought God would send him; why would God send Jonah to preach to his enemies?
Nineveh was not a nice place; in fact it had a reputation of being nasty and cruel. It was the Assyrian policy to never keep their prisoners of war alive. They gloated over their victims and enjoyed every atrocity. They would hold down their victims and cut out their tongues, they would skin their victims alive. They built pyramids of human skulls outside every conquered city. Their cruelty was known throughout the world. These were definitely not nice people and to put it frankly, Jonah hated them as revealed in Jonah 4:2.
Have you ever been given a job to do that you really didn’t want to do? Well today I summit to you, you acted like Jonah. We all have that feeling some time or another. Jonah was given a job to do by God. But, he didn’t want to do it. Good told Jonah to go down to Ninevah and preach to those people but, Jonah had a problem. Why? I am glad that you asked. It’s because he was being selfish. You see Jonah didn’t think the people in Ninevah deserved to be saved, because of their wickedness. So, he decided that he wasn’t going to deliver the message that God told him to. He was going to do his own thing. Jonah is an example of an attempt to evade God’s call. Jonah was sent on a mission. Jonah is told to go. I want to compare that with the great commission that’s found in Matthew 28:19. It reads: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.” So you see God Commanded Jonah as he is still commanding us today.
Jonah had to go to Ninevah to deliver the news. The news wasn’t all bad. It was good news too. Jonah had to let the people know that they would be destroyed if they didn’t obey the Lord’s words. The good new was God would allow them to repent form their sins. God wanted to save the people of Ninevah, just as he wishes to save the people we come in contact with. Jonah however, had his own agenda. You know, kind of like us. God tells us to minister to people, and we don’t want to do it. We say things like they’re too dirty, they drink, they stink, they cuss, they’re weird, they’ve done me wrong they this they that. They shouldn’t be saved. But that’s not our decision to make. What if God refused to save us? What if he thought we were too dirty to be saved? That’s a scary thought to ponder isn’t it church?
Jonah was not interested in going to Ninevah, so what did he do? He disobeyed God and went somewhere else. And that’s when his trouble started. Jonah found himself running from God. He got on a ship headed to Tarshish. The opposite of where God told him to go. Why do you think that he did what he did? Some would say that perhaps he was scared/ maybe he didn’t think he would be successful. Maybe he thought the people would laugh at him. Let me tell you the truth of why he did what he did. The truth of the matter is that Ninevah was a horrible place. Jonah hated them and he didn’t want to see them blessed. He didn’t think that they deserved to hear God’s words and be a recipient of God’s grace and mercy.
And you know what? Jonah isn’t by himself. Has something ever happened to one of your enemies, and you heard about it and found yourself rejoicing? Please don’t raise your hand. If that’s true you’re no better than Jonah. Jonah had no desire to see these people turn from their sin. He wanted them to receive a very harsh punishment. Perhaps you have known someone headed in the wrong direction, and God told you to witness to that person and you refused: Well, you’re just like Jonah. You see Jonah was willing to do God’s work only if it suited his purpose. He wanted the easy way out.
The point is that Sometimes, God tells us to do things that we don’t want to do. And we feel like turning around and running in the opposite direction. Do you realize that most Christians come into contact with the lost world in at least three areas, in their neighborhoods, at work and in their leisure activities? When we read that Jonah was commissioned by God to go to Nineveh, it ought to remind us of our commission to take the gospel to those around us. So yes, God still speaks to us but sometimes we’re not going to like what He tells us to do!
III. Running from God means you’re going in the wrong direction.
V. 3 “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Instead of being thankful and setting out to serve God, Jonah decided to run. The person that attempts to “flee the presence of the Lord” is one that is refusing to serve God in the task that he or she knows that God has called them to do. We need to understand that Jonah made a conscious decision not to heed the call of God. Nineveh is to the East. Tarshish is to the West. Tarshish is believed by some archaeologist to be located in what is now southern Spain. If this is correct, Jonah set sail for a destination 2,000 miles in the opposite direction from God’s command.
Because God has given us a free will we can tell God No when He calls us and guess what? God will let us go our own way, but you’re going to find yourself miserable because you’re not in the middle of God’s will. We need to realize that we will only find peace when we are in the middle of God’s will. So quit running and trying to hide like Jonah. It’s pointless to hide because God knows where you’re hiding. The Psalmist reminds us (139:7-10), “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (8) If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, (10) Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.” You might be able to run from God but we can’t hide from God. You see he is everywhere and knows everything. It is pointless to try to hide from him. We can hide from the Pastor, we can hide from our spouses, we can hide from our children, and we can hide from our bosses, but, we can’t hide from God.
Remember when we were children we used to play the game hide n seek, and the object was to hide where no one can find you. Well, you can’t play that game with God, because he is everywhere, in fact he’s knows your secrets better than you do. You see Jonah tried to play hide and seek with God, but it didn’t work. Jonah had a job to do that he didn’t’/t want to do. By running He pretty much said “I quit! I don’t’ want to be a prophet any more.” So he ran and he tried to hide from God, and he got himself into a world of trouble. The same thing will happen to us if we continue to go in the wrong the direction.
IV. When running from God, Satan’s happy to provide transportation. V. 3b “… He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish” The Bible says that he went down to Joppa. He found a ship and he bought a ticket. This was a calculated decision. This may surprise you but, anytime we fall away from the Lord it is always a calculated decision. We make plans to do wrong and then we follow through on our plans. Jonah knew where God had called him and decided he was going his own way.
The Bible says Jonah, “found a ship.” Sometimes we justify our actions by saying, “But I found an open door.” It is a dangerous thing to try to justify our actions simply because things seem to fall into place. Some people seem to think that a course of action is alright because they found a ship.
The truth is, anytime we want to run away from God, we’re going to be able to find a ship. In fact, the devil will make sure that we find the ship and that it is sailing on time. Satan will always make sure that transportation is provided for those who are running away from the will of God. Satan will do anything to help us be disobedient to the will of God!
V. Running away from God leads to a downward spiral.
V. 3c “… so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Any path that leads you away from God is downhill. Sometimes people who are doing what they know is wrong try to justify it by saying, they are improving their lives, but it is downhill nevertheless. Once we step on the pathway of disobedience, the road keeps spiraling downward. Note Jonah’s ongoing downward digression. It is characterized in the New King James Version by the words, down, down, down. He went down to Joppa (v. 3a). He went down into the ship (v. 3b). He went down in sleep (v. 5).
Sometimes someone will leave the life of serving the Lord for a life of sin and seek to justify it by saying, “But look how happy I am! Things are going great!” Ultimately they will find out that although their ship was ready and sailed on time, if they are headed for Tarshish when God has called them to go to Nineveh they’re sailing into a storm, which means that eventually being out of the will of God will catch up with you and you will find your life going into a downward spiral and you will find yourself in the midst of a storm being miserable.
As we close, I want to ask the question. Are you running from God? Can I ask you this morning where or what is your Ninevah? Has God called you to do something and you won’t answer his call? Has God asked you to witness to someone you don’t want to witness to? Are you running from something that you know God wants you to do? Maybe you’re afraid that there won’t be enough money. Or that you’ll lose some friends. Maybe you’re worried that God might make you go someplace where you don’t want to go. Maybe you’re thinking, "Lord, you can send me anywhere. But don’t send me to….’ Maybe God is calling you to a ministry within this church, but you’re content to let others who are not called, fill the position for you. We all have our Ninevahs that scare us right down to our bones. But my prayer is that we become more like Isaiah’s than Jonahs – that we say ‘Lord here I am, send me, use me’. Won’t you return to God? Listen God gives us second chances and third chances and so on. God doesn’t give up on us. We give up on God. It is time for us to quit running and return to God.
“Returning to God”
“On the Run”
Jonah 1:1-3
I. God still _______ inviting us to join Him in His work.
II. We’re not always going to ______ what God tells us to do!
III. Running from God means you’re going in the wrong __________.
IV. When running from God, Satan’s happy to provide ___________.
V. Running away from God leads to a downward _________.
