I am Jonah
Jonah 1:1-3
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
09-01-19
You Think you Know Jonah?
If you have grown up in church at all, you know the story of Jonah. It’s probably the best know prophetic book of the Old Testament. Or you think you do. Even if you didn’t grow up in church, you still know something about Jonah.
Jonah and…the whale.
But over the next few weeks, we are going to dive deep (pun intended) into the book of Jonah and you will see that there is a lot that your Sunday school teacher left off the flannel board.
Let me pause here and let you know how I approach what I am preaching. I want to give you a balanced diet of the Word. The are four categories in my preaching plans - Old Testament, New Testament, Topical, and Theology.
We walked through, verse by verse, Revelation 1-3 and studying what Jesus had to say to the seven churches. Now, we begin a study of the Old Testament book of Jonah. Next, we will be studying the five Solas of the Reformation:
Our authority is Scripture alone and through it we learn that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
Then we will focus in on our Christmas series.
Turn with me to the book of Jonah. It’s nestled in-between Obadiah and Micah. If you need to look in the table of contents, do not be embarrassed.
Prayer.
Let’s Set the Stage
Jonah was a real person. This book is not an allegory or a myth. It doesn’t begin with “Once upon a time.” It reads as history because it is.
Jonah, whose name means “dove,” was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II in the middle of the 8th century B.C. (see 2 Kings 14). He was from a little town called Gath Hepher, four miles from Nazareth.
He counseled the king against Syrian threat and prophesied his expansion of Israel to its former borders.
He ministered in a time of great economic prosperity. But it also a time of incredible moral poverty - idolatry, greed, ritual religion.
If you want to read want God thought of their spiritual state at this time take a few minutes this week and read the book of Amos.
Jonah was a real person and this is a real historical account probably written by the prophet himself.
It’s interesting that although this is a prophetic book, it contains no prophecies and Jonah is never actually called a “prophet.”
It’s a small book. It only contains 48 verses (1,300 words) and can be read in less than 15 minutes.
It might be small but it contains the biggest revival in human history!
It’s a strange book. We will see freak storms, big fish, cows in sackcloth, and a worm.
It’s a structured book. Chapters 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 are parallels.
What’s the BIG IDEA of the book?
God is a God of extravagant grace, especially to the ones who seem less deserving of His grace.
So we see that Jonah is a real person and this book is a real historical account.
Let’s dive in.
God Calls!
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get a text message or an email from God with His instructions? Maybe. It all depends on what He wants us to do!
It was not uncommon for a prophet to receive a “word from the Lord.” But this call was completely different from any other mission that any other prophet had been called to attempt.
Most prophets were called to prophesy to the southern or northern kingdoms or to other nations while staying in Israel.
But Jonah was called to leave Israel and travel 550 miles NE to the great city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Its ruins are near modern day Mosul, Iraq.
What made Nineveh “great?”
Its size. It was a huge metropolitan city located on the banks of the Tigris River, near modern day Baghdad, Iraq.
The walls were so thick that it was said that you could hold chariot races on top of them with three chariots across.
Its strength. Assyria was the world power of the day. They ruled the known world for over 1,700 years.
Its sin. We learned about the Assyrians brutality when we studied Habakkuk together but let me remind you.
These people made ISIS look like Mr. Rogers. They skinned people alive and then would hang the skins on the wall. They buried people alive up to their necks and then drove a stake through their tongue. They cut off both legs and one arm so they could shake their hand as they died.
What was Jonah called to do? In the Hebrew, it’s a double imperative - arise and go! It points to an urgent call. Why?
“because Nineveh’s wickedness has come up before me.”
Jonah was to “preach against Nineveh.” He is being called to go to Nineveh and proclaim the judgement of the Lord. This was not “Your Best Life Now.”
Jonah, God’s dove, is to be His peace agent to Nineveh.
God said Go. Jonah said NO!
Jonah Runs!
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.
Jonah heard the call of the Lord. He understood his mission. And he went the completely opposite way!
When Isaiah heard the call of the Lord, he said, “Here am I, send me.” When Jonah hears the call of the Lord, he says,”Here am I, send anyone but me!
He made the 35 mile trip down to the port at Joppa and found a ship headed to Tarshish.
Tarshish was 2,500 miles east, at the southern tip of Spain! It’s basically as far in the opposite direction that he could go.
He paid his fare, boarded the ship, and began his attempt to flee from the Lord. It literally reads that he was running from the “face of the Lord.”
Tim Keller writes, “Called to go east, he went west. Directed to travel overland, he went to the sea. Sent to the big city, he bought a one-way ticket to the end of the world.”
He wanted nothing to do with this mission. Why?
Most likely because he was terrified. This probably was going to be a suicide mission. Assyria is the sworn enemy of the Jews. What’s going to happen when he shows up and starts preaching judgement? They are probably going to cut his head off.
Imagine an orthodox Jewish rabbi setting up on a little corner in Berlin in in 1941. How long do you think his preaching would have lasted?
But there was another reason. He simply didn’t want the Ninevites to receive mercy. He knew how brutal they were and could have known people that were killed or enslaved by them. He wanted them to fry.
But he knew that God was a God of mercy and he didn’t want any part of a Ninevite revival.
Simply put - Jonah was a racist. God’s word and love were for the Israelites and everyone else could go to hell, especially the Assyrians.
He wanted God to be consistent -destroy the violently wicked and prosper the righteous.
This was a risk to God’s reputation and glory. Sparing the Ninevites wouldn’t be fair to their victims.
By the way, let me just say here that racism has no place in the Kingdom of God.
Growing up in Memphis and living in North Carolina and Mississippi, I understand racism.
In Mississippi, I was asked to preach at a very special service. It was the first ever combined meeting of the white pastors association and the black pastors association. It was the late 90s and they still met separately.
As I looked out over the group that night, I turned to Revelation 7:9:
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” (Revelation 7:9)
Do you want to hear a confession? I’m a lot like Jonah and I suspect so are many of you.
When I was in Philadelphia with my brother, I visited a place that I’ve been reading about for 20 years - Independence Hall. I stood in the room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was signed. I was nearly in tears.
When we were going through security, I noticed a Muslim family in full Islamic dress. Truthfully, just for an instant, I thought, “Wonder why they are here?” And I even decided to keep an eye on them.
Do you know why they were there? The same reason I was there. They were so excited to see where this nation got its start and stand in the room where the giants of the American Revolution stood.
I felt a wave of shame wash over me. I had judged them unfairly simply based on the color of their skin and their style of dress.
Jonah didn’t like the mission, so he ran away from God.
Let’s stop there and let me ask you is it possible to run away from God?
One of God’s attributes is omnipresence - which means He is everywhere.
David wrote about this in Psalm 139:
?
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139:7-12)
Jonah knew this but he tried to run from God anyway. So God pursues him. We will pick this up Lord willing next week.
What are some lessons that we can learn from these beginning verses of Jonah?
Saying no to God is a dangerous proposition
Sometimes it’s okay to say no. I need to say no to the fourth oatmeal butterscotch cookies. We need to say no to watching the entire show on Netflix in one sitting.
This week, Andrew Luck shocked the world and walked away from the NFL. He said he was just tired. So he said no to more pain, more injuries, more surgeries. He also said no to maybe a half a billion dollars in salaries he would have earned over the next ten years. But in saying no to football, he was saying yes to his family.
The nation of Hong Kong is saying no to China’s autocratic rule over them and the church is leading the way.
?Sometimes it’s healthy to say no. But not when it comes to God.
Jonah looked like he had it all together. He was a popular prophet. He looked good on the outside but there were dirty little secrets on the inside of his heart.
He was selfish and prejudiced and had no interest in God’s mission of mercy to people who were not like him and his people.
So he said, “no way.”
J.D. Greear writes, “You are never farther from God than when you close to God and say no to Him.”
Saying no to God is really about not trusting His goodness toward us.
Keller in his book , The Prodigal Prophet writes:
“…all sin against God is grounded in a refusal to believe that God is more dedicated to our good, and more aware of what that is than we are, We distrust God because we assume he is not truly for use that if we give complete control, we will miserable…Sin always begins with character assassination of God.”
Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did, they would die. [What’s die?]
When the serpent comes to test Eve, he actually questions God’s motivation:
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:4-5)
In other words, God cannot be trusted. He doesn’t have your best interests at heart. He’s holding out on you.
That’s really what happens when we sin. We are saying, “God, I really don’t trust You. I don’t think that You love me and wants what’s best for me.”
What have you been saying no to God about?
relationship that you know isn’t right?
Sacrifice of some kind?
Sin?
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once wisely said, “God will not let His children sin successfully.
If you play with fire, you will get burned.
How about Arise and Go?
What or who is God calling to you?
Is there somebody or some group of somebodies that you would rather see in hell than share God’s love with them?
Who would you not want to share the Gospel with? The Taliban? Boko Haram, ISIS, your neighbor who is a jerk?
I think part of the problem is that we truly don’t see the Goodness of the Good News. And conversely, we don’t really understand the bad news at all.
Acts 1:8 is not a suggestion:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
This week, the terrorist group Boko Haram raided a mostly Christian town in Cameroon, kidnapped several women and cut off one of their ears.
Does God love the people that belong to Book Harem? Who will go to them with the good news?
World Missions as already answered that call. They are distributing solar powered audio Bibles to the group and got word that two of the group listened to it and committed their lives to Christ!
Ray Pritchard writes,
“Nineveh is the place where God calls and you don’t want to go.”
If this is you today, I just want to challenging you to say yes to God.
If Jesus is not Lord over all of your life, He’s not Lord at all in your life.
2. If you want to disobey God, there will always be a ship waiting for you.
Isn’t it amazing that there just happened to be a ship that was in the port and was bound for the outer reaches of the world?
Satan opened all the doors for Jonah’s disobedience. And he will do that for you as well.
Yes, we have an enemy whose main purpose is to derail us from accomplishing the mission that God give us.
You wouldn’t believe how many times as a pastor and a counselor I’ve heard husbands say, “I was unhappy in my marriage and then, all of a sudden, there was this other woman.” I always say that it’s easier to catch a rat with cheese.
Satan will lay the trap for you. He loves to have you forge your own chains!
He will provide you the transportation to run away from the face of God.
Challenge: Don’t get on the boat! Some of you need to STOP right now.
3. When you run from the presence of God, sin will take you down.
We never look back on sin and say, “Well that was worth it.” When you run away from God, you never get to where you are going and you ended up paying your own way.
It’s been said that “sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.”
There are several words that are repeated throughout the book of Jonah and one of those words is “down.”
Jonah went down to Joppa, down to the port, and then he went down into the boat, he lies down and sleeps. He eventually goes down into the water. When you run from God, the only place to go is down.
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:13-15)
Vincent Furnier just turned 71. He grew up in a pastor’s family and ministered with his dad and grandfather sharing Christ with Apache Indians.
But as he grew, he ran away from God’s call and all that his family had taught him.
He became a successful musician. That’s an understatement. He is a member of the Rock and Roll hall of fame.
He was rich beyond his wildest dreams - money, cars, everything. And he said his life was still empty.
In the 1980s, he woke and began throwing up blood. The drugs and, especially the alcohol, was killing him. He thought he was going up. But his lifestyle was taking him down.
It was at that time that he re-committed his life to the Lord. He’s been married 41 years to another PK and is now known more for his golf game than his gory concerts. He’s gotten to share the Gospel to people and in places we could never go, including giving a Bible to Marilyn Manson.
Vincent Furnier is better known as Alice Cooper.
Challenge: Repent! Who can save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.
4. Jonah shows us what a sinner looks like. It also shows what Savior looks like.
Throughout this book, we will watch Jonah be selfish, pitch temper tantrums, pout, and disobey God.
The book of Jonah would be read in its entirety in the synagogue and the people would respond together, “I am Jonah.”
I’d like us to do that right now.
Jonah wanted to see the Assyrians destroyed. He wanted to see God exact vengeance on them.
But God wanted to extend mercy to them and this was just too much for Jonah’s proud hard heart could take.
He was a sinner but we also we see a picture of a great Savior. Did you know that Jonah is the only minor prophet that Jesus quotes?
In response to a request for a sign from the Pharisees, Jesus points to Jonah:
“He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:38-41)
We are getting a little ahead of ourselves, but Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of a big fish because of his disobedience.
Jesus said that was a foreshadowing of his three days and nights in the “heart of the earth.”
Jonah’s time in the fish was because of His disobedience. Jesus’s death on the cross and burial in the grave was because of our disobedience.
Jonah wanted vengeance. Jesus gave us mercy.
We are Nineveh!
Communion
