Jonah – Learning to Respond to God
Jonah 1:1 – 4:11
When God Commands, We should follow (1:1-3)
When God Corrects, We should listen (1:4-17)
When God Convicts, we should repent (3:10)
Where God is Concerned, we should be concerned (4:10-11)
Intro
Good morning.
I want to welcome our kids into the service today. I love when our youth team leads us in worship and our kids get to join us in the service. It is a great opportunity for our kids to learn by observing their parents and by participating with us.
Watching and doing is a great way to learn.
There are other ways that we can learn as well.
Sometimes we get to learn by seeing what someone else does and then not doing it that way. We learn from other people’s mistakes.
That is what I hope for today.
Today we are going to learn from the book of Jonah and hopefully, we will learn how to respond to God in a good way and not have to go through some of the things that Jonah went through.
If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to Jonah, chapter 1. We are going to going to learn some things from the entire story of Jonah today, though we won’t be reading all of it.
Now as you are turning there, I want to ask the kids here
Have your parents ever told you to do something that you did not want to do?
Maybe they told you to clean your room or some other place.
Maybe they told you to do your homework.
Maybe they told you to say sorry to your brother or sister or a friend, but you didn’t really feel sorry about what you did, because you felt they deserved it.
Well, this is a little bit how Jonah feels when God tells him to do something He doesn’t want to do.
Let’s read the first couple of verses in Jonah and see what is going on.
Slide
Jonah 1:1-3
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
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.
Ok, so let’s pause there a moment.
We see that God had a job for Jonah to do.
He told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell those people there I know all about the terrible things they are doing.
Nineveh = Big place with bullies
Now Nineveh was a big place where the Assyrians lived and the Assyrians were like the worlds bullies. They were always beating people up and especially the Jewish people which is what Jonah was. Jonah wanted them to face God’s judgment. Now Jonah thought that if God was sending him to Nineveh, they might change their ways and God would forgive them and Jonah didn’t want God to forgive them.
So Jonah didn’t want to go. So He didn’t go. Not only did he not go, he took off and went in the complete opposite direction of Nineveh.
Slide
God wanted him to go to the north east and Jonah heads due west!
Now let’s think about this a second. If there is something that we don’t want to do, any plan that gets us out of doing it would seem pretty good.
“I don’t want to go to Nineveh and if I get on this boat and head the other way, I won’t end up in Nineveh!”
But we also have to remember that it is the God of the universe speaking.
God doesn’t usually just tell us to do something for the fun of it. He has purpose and his ultimate purpose for us is our good.
He not only has purpose, but He is in complete control and He knows everything. So if we try to hide or run, He knows it and He can make it so we do follow.
So, one of the first things we need to learn about responding to God is that
When God commands, we should follow
Slide
We have got to learn that God is smarter than any one of us and smarter than all of us combined! God knows what He is doing.
So when He tells us something, we should do it.
Now, today, it isn’t too often that God speaks audibly to us.
How do we know the things that God wants us to do?
(By reading the Bible)
(By praying)
We know some things that God wants us to do or doesn’t want us to do by reading the Bible.
And Jesus has told us that 2 of the things that we should always do is
Love God
Love people
And it helps us to do those things when we recognize how much God has loved us.
He loved us so much that He paid for all the wrong things we have ever done by sending Jesus to die for us.
So it is important to know how much God loves and cares for us if we are going to be able to do what he wants.
Transition
But Jonah didn’t do what God wanted.
He does the opposite.
He runs from God to try and hide from him.
But it isn’t possible to run and hide from a God who loves us so much and knows absolutely everything about us and everything else! And He knows all the hiding spots anyway!
That is why the best way to go when God tell us to do something is to follow Him and do it.
Transition
But there are times we don’t.
There are times we forget how good a plan God has.
We forget that God knows everything.
So we don’t follow Him.
Well, let’s see what happens to Jonah.
Slides
Jonah 1:4-17
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, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
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.
When we don’t obey what God says, God will sometimes do things to help us follow Him. And sometimes, God knows the only way we will listen is to Him is if He sends a storm into our life.
But even in the midst of that storm, God is still there, in control of all things and He brings those storms to correct our course when we have gotten off course.
So the second thing we want to learn is
When God Corrects, we should listen
Slide
And here is where Jonah gets it right.
Jonah realizes that it is his fault that he has brought this devastation on to the crew of this ship. They end up throwing Jonah over board, but God is still with Jonah in the midst of this and sends a great fish to swallow Jonah. It is in the fish that Jonah realizes the Lord’s goodness and mercy and the Lord has the fish spit Jonah out on to the shore.
And so now Jonah listens to God’s correction.
Jonah 3:1-3
Slide
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
Jonah listens and obeys God.
He comes to the point of realizing that it is better to follow God than follow ourselves.
We need to realize that it is always better to follow God.
And during those times we don’t, God often gives us another opportunity to listen to him and obey.
So, Jonah goes and preaches to Nineveh
Jonah 3:4 - "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."
And you know what happens when Jonah preaches that message?
The people of Nineveh believe God and repent. What does repent mean?
It means to turn way from something we are doing.
If we are stealing, it means we stop doing that and take steps to avoid doing that.
If we are dishonoring our parents, we turn away from doing that.
We repent. The people of Nineveh repented.
So we need to learn that
When God Convicts, we should repent
Slide
That word convicts means we feel bad about something. God will help us to see what we are doing is wrong and when that happens, we need to repent, we need to turn away from doing those things.
The people of Nineveh saw that what they were doing was wrong and repented.
And you know what happened then?
It says that “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:10)
God is so good to us.
The Bible tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
When we turn from our sins, he has compassion on us and forgives us.
Maybe there are things that you have done that are wrong.
Maybe it is not you who has been bullied, but you have been the bully at school.
Maybe you have taken things that did not belong to you.
Maybe you have said things that haven’t helped build others up, as the Bible tells us to.
Whatever it is that we have done wrong, we can repent, and ask God’s forgiveness and He will have compassion on us and forgive us!
God helped Nineveh realize that what they did was wrong and they repented and received God’s forgiveness and compassion.
Transition
Jonah, however, did not like this. In fact this is exactly what he was afraid God would do, show compassion to a people that he did not like.
And it tells us in Chapter 4 that Jonah was angry with God.
Listen to what it says in Jonah 4:5-11after God forgave Nineveh
Slide
Jonah 4:5-11
5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
You see, Jonah was concerned with his desires and his comfort. He wasn’t concerned about the things God was concerned about.
The final thing we need to learn from Jonah is that
Where God is concerned, we should be concerned
Slide
God is concerned about people and their eternity.
Too often we are like Jonah, concerned only for ourselves and our comfort.
The problem with that is, that we can’t care for ourselves as good as God can.
If we would just follow after God, concerning ourselves with what He is concerned about, then God would take care of all of our needs.
That is basically what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 - But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Seeking His Kingdom and Righteousness means being concerned about the things God is concerned about.
But to truly have a heart for the things of God requires that our heart be changed.
That heart change comes when we trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 tell us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
It is then, when we have become that new creation, when God has changed our hearts, that we can keep our focus on Christ and be concerned about the things God is concerned about and seek His kingdom and righteousness and experience His complete care in our lives.
Conclusion
No matter who you are, a kid or an adult, recognize that it is God drawing you to him and he wants you to respond to Him.
And the first response we can make to God’s leading is by recognizing our need for Him.
Recognizing that we have sinned, that we have done wrong things and that we need Him.
Then realizing that Jesus is really who He said He was, that He is the Lord, God in the flesh, the Christ.
And believing what He did: He died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead!
The Bible tells us then that
Romans 10:9 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Wont’ you respond to God and receive Him as your Savior today, if you have not already.
Let’s pray.
We are going to close in worship singing “The Stand”
Listen to some of the lyrics
So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, Oh God
Completely to you
I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I’ll stand
My soul Lord to you surrendered
All I am is yours
Worship the Lord this morning by responding to Him and surrendering your will to His.
Let’s sing.
