I Am Jonah
Part 1: You Can Run But You Can’t Hide
Pastor Ryan Akers
Jonah 1
There are certain stories in the Bible that if you attended church as a kid you tend to have grown up with. Samson, David and Goliath, Moses and ten commandments, Daniel and the Lions Den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego, Abraham and Isaac, Noah and the Ark and of course one of the most famous ones Jonah. We typically associate these stories with children and for some reason continue to think of them as children stories but when you really dig into the truths behind the story you realize just how grown up these stories are. They’re not just kids stories but as adults we can relate even more to them because we can see the bigger picture of what God was trying to teach us through the story in a greater way than a child typically understands.
As kids Jonah was the story of this guy who disobeys God and so a big fish swallows him up and spits him out and then he obeys. That’s about the extent of what we get out of it as kids but the story is so much more than that. The more I read it the more I relate to it. Jonah is a man running from the will of God. He’s a prophet choosing to live in willful disobedience to God. In many ways we are just like Jonah and my hope over the next 4 weeks is to teach you just how much we are like Jonah in how we so much more often run from God rather than to God as well as reveal to you just how merciful and full of grace God is not just to us who fail him because of our sin but also to those who we would never consider worthy of saving.
Like Jonah we spend a lot of our time running from God and His will for our lives. For some the idea of admitting sin, seeking forgiveness and believing that Jesus saves them scares them. They don’t like the idea of losing control of their lives even though they’ve never had control of their life to begin with. They run.
Even those of us who believe in Jesus run. When the Lord prompts us to do something that’s outside our comfort zone we get nervous, we make excuses and we run. When the opportunity to take a big step of faith comes our way we would much rather take the safe way out rather than believe God will provide. Rather than confess that we’ve failed, we’ve sinned and seek forgiveness and redemption we run by pretending everything is fine and that what you’ve done is no big deal and no one should judge you. Or that it’s not you that’s the problem it’s the other guy. Like many of us, Jonah is a perfect example of a follower of God, a strong believer that runs from God when he is called to minister to a people that Jonah despises. He lives in disobedience. He refuses to do what God wants and because of that God has to get his attention using some drastic measures.
READ JONAH 1:1-17 Jonah has a rebellious spirit. Many of us if asked would like to believe there is nothing we wouldn’t do for God. I am sure Jonah would have said the same thing, but it is always interesting to me how much easier it is to follow God when he isn’t asking us to do something we don’t want to do. Or how much easier it is to follow God when there aren’t major problems happening in our lives. It’s when God challenges us or when we go through a hardship or tragedy that we truly find out just how much of a rebellious spirit we really have towards him and how much faith we put in Him.
Now Jonah is called a prophet. A prophet is simply one that speaks God’s word. They preached the truth. Jonah’s name actually translates into dove which signifies a messenger and the scripture says he was the son of Amittai which means truth. So Jonah was a messenger of Truth. So it shouldn’t be shocking when the scripture said that the Word of the Lord came to Jonah because that was common for a prophet especially a messenger of truth. He recieved the word of the Lord and told others God’s truth. We also receive the Word of the Lord today when we read Scripture, God reveals truth to us. When you listen to a sermon God is revealing truth to you. When you pray God reveals truth. The word of the lord is being revealed to us in the same way today.
But Jonah is put in a situation that He doesn’t like. He is told by God to warn a wicked people to repent or die. In these first 17 verses we see 7 stages that Jonah goes through in his calling by God. These stages are many times the same stages you and I go through when God calls us to do a specific ministry for Him. And as we read this I want you to remember the phrase you can run but you can’t hide.
The first stage is….
I. Commission (vs. 1-2)
Jonah is given his mission in that he is to “go” to Ninevah and warn them of their wickedness. God wants to give them a chance to repent and turn to God before he destroys it. Ninevah was a significant place at this time because it was probably the largest city in the world (3 days walk in circumference). Had walls 100 ft. high and so wide that three chariots could ride side by side on the wall with room to spare. Population estimates range from 600,000 to 2.5 million. It was also the capital city of Assyria which was the most powerful empire on earth at this time. So all Jonah (one man) had to do was to go to this city and tell people that God was going to destroy them if they did not repent and turn back to God. It seems like a simple enough message and Jonah understood his mission and message which is the second stage…
II. Comprehension (vs 3)
You can run but you can’t hide. Jonah absolutely understood the mission and the message but did not want to do it so he runs in the opposite direction of Ninevah maybe hoping that God would call someone else to do the job. Ninevah was 500 miles east of Jerusalem. Jonah decides that in order to get away he needs needs to sail about 2000 miles west of Jerusalem down to Joppa and then down to Tarshish which may have been the farthest point known to him. Tarshish was a Phoenician outpost in southwest Spain, at the very edge of the Mediterranean world. One commentary said it may have taken him up to a year to travel that far. So why does Jonah run away from God’s mission and message? Maybe he was afraid of the reaction he might get. Maybe he was afraid he would be made fun of or rejected or even killed. Wouldn’t you would be scared? One person up against hundreds of thousands? In reality Jonah just plain hated Ninevah. In fact Ninevah was one of Israel’s greatest enemies. Nahum 3:1-4 describes Ninevah. It says,
What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims. 2 Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly. 3 See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies—so many bodies that people stumble over them. 4 All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere.
Ninevah was a cruel city. The Assyrians had a law that said captives could never be kept alive. Sometimes when it was rumored that the Assyrians were going to be attacking, a whole town of people would commit suicide because they felt that was better than what would happen to them. The Assryians would rape women and children then kill them. They would take the men and skin them alive then bury them with their head sticking out of the ground until they died of bleeding and dehydration. Then they would cut the deads heads off and create pyramids of human skulls in front of the cities they had conquerored. It was a disgusting people who many would rightly feel deserved to be destroyed. And maybe after hearing just a tiny bit about the cruelty they caused you can understand why Jonah would rather run and hide then go and give the Assyrians an opportunity to repent. Jonah didn’t care if they were destroyed and honestly would we either? Aren’t we also quick to judge those who rape and murder? Aren’t we also quick to say, “line them up and shoot them.” “They don’t deserve a second chance after what they’ve done.” Yes we are. But, like Jonah we have no real understanding of god’s grace.
That no matter how bad somebody is no matter what kind of sins they commit God’s grace is there for those people just like it was there for you and me. And God wanted Jonah to understand that. Romans 3 Paul gets it right when he says, “Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? (Obviously Jonah felt he was better than the Ninevites.) No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.” Humans only want to dish out grace and mercy to those who we deem worthy to receive it. (oh you lied, okay here you go, oh you disobeyed your parents okay here you go, oh you committed homosexual acts no way go to hell. You murdered nope. You cheated on your taxes that’s okay here you go) That’s what we do. But God sees it differently. God knows that none of us, no one, nobody in this room, nobody in your families, in my family, in my home deserve grace and mercy. We all fall short, but God in his infinite mercy forgives those who repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Doesn’t matter if you told a lie or if you murdered 50 people the same grace is extended to all. Jonah didn’t understand that and neither do we which is why we too are just like Jonah in that we are quick to refuse grace to people who we don’t deem worthy of it. Is it hard to be gracious to those who are exceedingly wicked? Absolutely. Jonah’s reaction to God’s mission for him has been described this way…
“…calling Jonah to go to the Ninevites was like asking a Jew in 1942 to go from New York to Hitler, and tell him that God loved him, and that everything he did would be forgiven if he would repent. So the Jew got on a train, all right, and went to San Francisco; then got on a ship to Antarctica! He wanted nothing to do with it.”
Jonah was willing to do the work of God as long as he agreed with the mission God called him to go on. Jonah had limited Grace for people. Maybe God has called you to witness to someone or pray for someone or forgive someone that you just couldn’t do it because maybe you felt they didn’t deserve it or you just couldn’t forgive them for something they had done. And so maybe you have hoped bad would come to them. I hope you haven’t wished them dead but maybe there have been people that when bad things have happened to them you secretly are happy.
Because Jonah wouldn’t follow God’s will the third stage comes
III. Calamity (vs 4-7)
You can run but you can’t hide. God refuses to let Jonah get off so easily. Jonah is sailing 2000 miles away from Ninevah and then even tries to hide at the bottom of the boat, but I guess he doesn’t realize that God can see through wood. God sends an amazing storm that threatens to destroy the ship if Jonah doesn’t do something about it. The men were afraid and cried out to their own god. They would have prayed to Asherad, Baal-shamin, and Baal-tyre who were considered the gods of the sea, the sky and the mariners. But their prayers weren’t working. Finally they notice that Jonah Is not there praying to his god so they go looking for him and they find him asleep. How someone could sleep through a storm that is about to tear your ship apart is beyond me but there he was sleeping and they tell him to get up and pray to his God. Jonah is awakened to learn that his choices have put others in danger.
Because of his disobedience others are in danger of getting hurt. When we disobey God there are always going to be consequences. Not because god wants to hurt us but because we are his children and he is our father and we are to obey him like your children should obey you. When our children don’t obey we discipline them. When we don’t obey God disciplines us. Not because he is now mad at us or hates us but because he wants to get our attention. He wants to help us stay on the right path that leads to righteousness rather than the path we would choose for ourselves which leads to sin. And because our disobedience hurts others. Jonah’s blantant disobedience put the lives of these men in danger. Disobedience is an act of selfishness. The person only thinks about themselves and never how their actions will effect others. When we disobey it doesn’t just hurt us it hurts a lot of other people as well.
The men decide to get to the bottom of the problem and they cast lots or draw straws to see who is responsible. And of course the lot fell on Jonah. Jonah finally recognizes and openly admits that he is responsible for this storm and for putting these men in danger. Which leads us to the 4th stage.
IV. Culpability (8-11)
Jonah believes he has no choice but to take responsibility for what he has done. Jonah is bold in saying that he worships the Lord since his running from God doesn’t show much worshipping. I think we can relate to that. How many people say they worship the lord or that they’re Christians but their actions don’t back that up? You don’t see fruit from their faith. I guess the question for us is why do you think you are saved? What makes you believe you are truly saved? How does the way you live your life and the things you put your faith in prove you are saved and a follower of Jesus? In other words what kind of fruit has come and is coming from your life because of how Christ is changing you? Are you truly any different today than you were two years ago? Something for us all to think about.
Don’t say you worship God and that you’re a Christian but then live a life that screams the opposite and you know it. That’s what Jonah is doing here. He might believe but his current actions are anything but worship and he knows it. The scripture says the men knew he was running from God because Jonah told them he was so they knew Jonah was the one who knew how to calm the storm.
I think Jonah surprises the men by his answer on how to calm the storm. Which is the fifth stage in that Jonah accepts his…
V. Condemnation (vs. 12-15)
Jonah sees his only way out of this is death. This is where I am get surprised. Here you have a man who claims to be a worshipper and prophet of God but would rather die than do what God had called him to do. Not only that but he was willing to die to save these men’s lives but was unwilling to preach to the Ninevites. Again, this is what we do. We make sacrifices for those we deem worthy. For some reason Ninevah deserves death but these pagans deserve life. Jonah should have said take me back to Joppa so I can travel to Ninevah and finish the mission God gave me, but instead he says kill me. I would be happier drowning than giving a message of grace to an evil people.
Jonah doesn’t pray, doesn’t ask God to forgive him, doesn’t ask the men to forgive him for his rebellious actions he just says kill me. But the sailors didn’t want to do this. They tried their hardest to sail back to land, but we have to learn that when we are disobeying God nothing and no one can help us. These men realized that they could not get to land and they were forced to throw Jonah overboard if they wanted to live.
This must have been strange that as soon as Jonah was thrown overboard the storm stopped. And it brought a conviction to these men.
VI. Conviction (16)
This was a healthy fear. Even through Jonah’s disobedience God was at work saving the lost. These men saw that God was not one to mess with and they worship and sacrificed and made vows to Him. Through Jonah’s failure God still brought glory to himself. God could have easily let Jonah go into the sea and die. But even at the highest point of his rebellion God continued to show his grace and mercy to Jonah which leads to the final stage…
VII. Care (17)
Mercifully God provided a way for Jonah to survive. He brought a great fish to save his life. When Jonah was done with God God wasn’t even close to being done with Jonah. For three days and nights God would teach Jonah in the belly of a great fish about repentance, grace and obedience. But that’s for next week.
If we can learn anything from this story today it’s that first, we cannot escape God. No matter how hard we try God is always going to be there. God is constantly pursuing us wanting, desiring to show his unconditional love to us. Desiring us to repent and believe, to obey and to walk down a path that pleases him. For some of you you’ve been running from God for so long you don’t know any other way. Maybe God’s been working on for a long time to come to a repentant heart and finally take that step of salvation asking Jesus to come into your heart and asking for forgivness of your sins. I pray that today is the day you’d stop running from God and instead find rest in God. God isn’t trying to hurt us. He’s trying to save us.
Some might be running from God because he is asking you to get uncomfortable. He is calling you to be part of a ministry in the church, or witness to a friend, coworker, family member and you don’t want to do it for whatever reason. Maybe God is calling you into full time ministry. Maybe he wants you to step out in faith and quit your job or start trusting him with your finances and tithe. If that’s you then I would beg you to quit running from God and find rest in God. Ask him to forgive you for running and start trusting that His promises found in the scriptures will be true for your life. He will protect you, provide for you, deliver you, supply your needs, give you strength through hard times, grant you faith in order to endure pain and difficulty and love you regardless of how much you mess up. When we confess God always restores.
Remember we can run but we can’t hide. God will be wherever we try to hide. He will never give up. He desires to have a personal relationship with everyone of us. He won’t force you to follow him because forced obedience is tyranny not love but he will persue you until the end. He does this not because he wants to be like an annoying little brother that won’t leave you alone but rather because he loves us to much to leave us the way we are.
Who we are now is not worthy, but He makes us worthy. We’re not righteous but he makes us righteous. We’re not loving but he loves us unconditionally. We’re not gracious but he grants us grace and makes us gracious. He makes us who we want to be but have no hope of becoming as long as we remain slaves to the sins that tempt us everyday in this fallen world. You can run but you can’t hide. I pray today that whether you are running from a saving relationship with God or from living in obedience to the will of God that you will stop running and instead find hope and rest in the god who loves us so much that he would go to incredible measures like sending a storm or keeping us alive in a big fish or sending his own son to die to prove his love for us.
