Jonah fleeing from the call of God
Last week we began a series of messages on the book of Jonah, and for the next several weeks we will continue in this great book and here are the topics we will be dealing with:
Fleeing from the call of God
Fleeing from Presence of God
Floatin: Dealing with storms that you didn't cause, sometimes the greatest of sufferers are not the greatest of sinners.
Getting rid of the Jonah in your boat that cause storms. We are in the boat with Jonah
Fessin: Getting right with God
Frettin - letting go of deep rooted problems.
Fleeing from the call of God.
A small girl was asked to pray over the family meal, and it was her first time ever, trying to emulate how her parents prayed, this is how she prayed:
"Thank you Lord, for this meal you have REPAIRED for us."
Jonah spit up out of the fish, is the meal repaired for the people of Nineveh.
Let's Read Jonah chapter 1:
Our main text for today is verse 3:
Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
When we are told he is fleeing from the presence of the Lord, I think He is doing that, but perhaps more specifically He is fleeing from the presence of God in others. Show clip.
Video 1, scene rip from The Princess Bride where Max the Miracle man is refusing to listen to his wife. Quote: "I'm not listening."
Why did he want to go to Tarshish he could just as easily backslid in his living room?
No backsliders want to get away from every way the Lord speaks. The radio, friends, the church.
We think if we ignore what we have done, if we can get our minds off it, then God will also forget about it and we can just move on.
God will always bring you back to the place where you left the road.
Jonah got in the boat, and attempted to flee from God, which is an impossibility, but the thing he could do, was flee from God's voice. There are places you can go where, from outward appearances, you are not very likely to hear from God. Groups of unsaved people, bars.
Jonah winds up finding out that his plan wasn't working, because here come the unsaved sailors, rebuking him for not praying!
The apostle Paul, once in prison, remarked the Word of God cannot be imprisoned.
People who run from the voice of God, will find that the voice of God will show up in the most unlikely of places, in the worst hell holes on earth.
Passing a joint an unsaved person may remark, "aren't you a Christian?"
At a bar someone might ask, "I thought you were married."
I think he had made a decision to leave God. He found out that it doesn't mean God will leave you. Even if we are faithless, yet He cannot deny Himself.
This week we are going to look at Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord, in regards to this aspect: Jonah was attempting to flee the calling of God. We will look at it from a different direction next week.
Jonah was attempting to flee from the call of God on his life.
What does God call people to?:
1. Salvation is a calling, some are fleeing from that. Drawn of the Father.
2. To return to the Lord, Rev. 3:20, some are fleeing from that.
3. A specific act of obedience. Jonah 1:2 - Go to Nineveh.
4. To stop a specific act of disobedience.
5. A specific life direction. Go to Nineveh and preach.
Your response to the call of God:
Preparing
Walking in it
Seeking
Serving
Avoiding it
Running from
Why did Jonah run?
First lets contextualize what God was asking him to do.
Jonah had to go to Iraq and preach judgment.
Imagine the reception a Jew on the streets of Iraq, or Iran, or Saudi Arabia would get from preaching that they were about to be judged by God. What do you think his expected lifespan would be, if he went to Tehran and said, "40 days and you are going to get wiped out?"
The first thing Jonah teaches us about the call of God is that it is not always a very easy thing to do.
Jonah had to go 550 miles to get there. An almost 30 day trip. 30 days through the deserts of the Mid-East. Food and water problems, highway robbers, fatigue and a not very receptive audience awaiting.
Did Jonah have a family to take care of? Did he have a business to keep running? What language is it they speak over there in Assyria?
Some of you are not running from the call of God per se, you are just excusing your way out of it. Truth is you are running from it, because it is often difficult. Excuses are just an attempt by the flesh to legitimize rebellion from the will of God.
Myth: if God has called you to do something, he will make your "want to," want to.
God will make you want to go, yeah but not in the way you think it.
When you get out of the fishes belly, you will be glad for the opportunity to go to Nineveh.
Jonah may have been trained in the school of the prophets under Elisha, the time frame is right. I believe one of the things that Elisha would have taught him is that God tells you to do something you do it, liking it or wanting to do it has nothing to do with it.
1Ki 19:15 And the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram;
1Ki 19:16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
2Ki 8:8 And the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"
2Ki 8:9 So Hazael went to meet him and took a gift in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, forty camels' loads; and he came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'"
2Ki 8:10 Then Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You shall surely recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die."
2Ki 8:11 And he fixed his gaze steadily [on him] until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept.
2Ki 8:12 And Hazael said, "Why does my lord weep?" Then he answered, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up."
2Ki 8:13 Then Hazael said, "But what is your servant, [who is but] a dog, that he should do this great thing?" And Elisha answered, "The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram."
2Ki 8:14 So he departed from Elisha and returned to his master, who said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he answered, "He told me that you would surely recover."
2Ki 8:15 And it came about on the morrow, that he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazael became king in his place.
Elijah had to anoint Hazael king of Aram, but he never did it. Probably because he knew the evil that man would do to Israel. Elisha winds up doing it, but hates every moment of that experience. Doing God's will is not always something your flesh will want to do.
So Jonah may have been taught about being called to do things that you really don't like to do.
Go ye therefore into all the world. They didn't a persecution came.
The Jews have always struggled with God telling them to do things they didn't want to do.
Why didn't Jonah go to Nineveh: short answer: he didn't want to.
Let me ask you this question. Do you do only those things you want to do?
Lu 9:23 And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
I want to end this message on a good note, I don't want to leave Jonah in rebellion.
Jonah 3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
God wants to speak to you again.
God wants you to hear his voice again.
God wants to restore Jonah in his calling.
You may have run from God like Jonah, God wants you to hear Him speak to you again. He doesn't want to cut off, but to restore. Praise God!
