5 Lessons from Jonah
What happens when you run away from your calling?
More than ½ of UK now claims to have no religion.
An entire nation that only a generation past claimed to be more than 90% Christian now largely has left the Faith.
In the US, ½ of all catholics have left the church at some point.
Of those some have joined another Christian church, and a small portion return to the Church, but most of those who have left claim to have no religion.
In the West, people of the Faith are running away from God.
This is nothing new.
Jonah, a prophet of God, ran away.
Jonah 1 “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
Jonah ran away from the calling God placed on His life.
Jonah ran away from the LORD, and where did he go? He went down. Down to Joppa,
He went down into the ship.
On the ship he went down to the lowest part of the ship and then lay down to sleep.
During his prayer in chapter 2, he says we went down to the lowest parts of the earth. Down, down, down, down.
Lesson 1
Any time you walk away from God’s will you are taking a step down.
Lesson 2
Everyone around him was negatively impacted by his disobedience.
Jonah 1:4-13
Jonah was the one who was disobedient to God’s calling on his life, but everyone around him was negatively impacted.
Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili Was born 18 December 1878 to a Georgian family. His father was a pastor and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Ioseb also wanted to serve in the ministry, and when he made a choice of college, he went to Bible college to prepare. But something happened in college. He turned away from God. He dropped out of college, and changed the direction of his life. He even changed his name. The old Georgian name Joseb he decided was too parochial, so he changed it to Joseph. And his family name wasn’t strong enough. He wanted a name that meant hard-something strong. So he changed his name to rock-in Slavic that’s Stalin. Joseph Stalin started out to obey the call God had placed on his life, but he turned his back on God and His calling on his life, and we all know the terrible consequences. More than 15 million of his own people Stalin had massacred.
When we turn our back on God & try to run away from His calling, we have a negative impact on everyone around us.
Jonah turned his back on God and His will,
That was clearly a step down.
& everyone around him was negatively impacted by his disobedience;
But that’s not the end of the story.
Lesson 3
In his disobedience, God still used him.
Jonah 1:14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows . . . .
Jonah 4:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Jonah was running away from God, and yet God still used him. He used Jonah to bring the entire ship of sailors to faith in the Lord. He used Jonah to bring the entire city of Nineveh, over 600,000 people, to repentance and faith in the Lord.
Kathy Laurie (Greg Laurie’s wife) came to faith when she was a teenager. But within a few years she walked away from the Lord, and began hanging out & partying, using drugs, with her friends. She was walking with a friend one day with a friend & they saw someone walking with a Bible in hand. She mused to her friend, ridiculing Christians, and remembering how she had had such peace and joy when she was following Christ. Her friend said “I want what you had”. Kathy lead her friend to faith in Christ right there. Even though she was running away from God and His will, God used her to bring salvation to her friend. She committed herself again to the Lord’s will.
Lesson 1
Turning away from God’s will is always a step down.
Lesson 2
When you turn your back on God’s will everyone around everyone around you is negatively impacted by your disobedience;
But . .
Lesson 3
God can still use you to accomplish His purposes.
&
Lesson 4
God is the God of Second Chances (& 3rd & 4th)
Jonah 3 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.
Luke 15 The Prodigal Sons
We often think of the story of the Prodigal Son, but the son who stayed behind was also a prodigal.
The story is prompted by the Scribes & Pharisees who were angry at Jesus that He was hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus answered with the parable. In the story the Father is, of course God. The Prodigal is the sinners & tax collectors to whom Jesus was ministering. The son who remains behind was the Scribes and Pharisees, those who were angry about the Prodigals who were coming to God.
God’s words to the son who remained are so gracious. “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours . . .” Jesus is affirming the goodness of God’s relationship with the Jews, including the Scribes and Pharisees.
Peter expresses this powerfully on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2
This Jesus, whom you crucified, is both Kurios & Messiah-Lord & Christ.
Those in the audience were cut to the heart. They repented & came to faith in Christ. God had given them a second chance.
God gives us second chances
Hebrews 12 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
Lesson 1
Turning away from God’s will is always a step down.
Lesson 2
When you turn your back on God’s will everyone around everyone around you is negatively impacted by your disobedience;
But . .
Lesson 3
God can still use you to accomplish His purposes.
Lesson 4
God is the God of Second Chances (& 3rd & 4th)
&
Lesson 5
We Are His Witnesses-
Matthew 20:28
It’s the same commission God gave Jonah,
But where Jonah was sent only to one city, we are sent to all the world.
Go, make disciples of all nations, teaching them to do all that I’ve commanded you, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit, and Look, I’m with you always, even to the end of the age. . .
We can run away from Jesus’ call on our lives. But He’s with us wherever we run to.
Romans 10:14
How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
When we obey God’s call on our lives, even our feet become beautiful.
The problem is with Old Christians
80-90% of people who hear the Gospel from someone who has come to the Lord in 2 years or less.
It’s too easy for us to become like Jonah.
“This [Jonah] is a man who became more concerned with his own comfort than the souls of others.” -Greg Laurie
Our complacency is so different from the attitude in heaven. Jesus said there is Rejoicing in Heaven when 1 comes to faith.
Luke 15 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
There are 7 billion people on this planet. How many do you suppose are coming to Christ right now? The rejoicing in heaven must be non-stop.
But we can’t be complacent.
Otherwise we’ll need to hear the warning of the “Hornets Song”
When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to time,
And help His own people to win.
The hornets persuaded them that it was best,
To go quickly, and not to go slow;
God did not compel them to go 'gainst their will,
But He just made them willing to go.
When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright;
He never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed and ran off from the fight.
But God sent a big fish to swallow him up,
The story I'm sure you all know;
He did not compel him to go 'gainst his will,
But He just made him willing to go.
He does not compel us to go, No! No!
He does not compel us to go.
He does not compel us to go 'gainst our will
But He just makes us willing to go.
Lesson 1
Turning away from God’s will is always a step down.
Lesson 2
When you turn your back on God’s will everyone around everyone around you is negatively impacted by your disobedience;
But . .
Lesson 3
God can still use you to accomplish His purposes.
Lesson 4
God is the God of Second Chances (& 3rd & 4th)
&
Lesson 5
We Are His Witnesses-
He calls us to go, as He called Jonah.
Will we obey, or, like Jonah, try to escape our calling
