You know, I’m not sure about my colleagues out here… but for some pastors, like me… a lot of times when we come up here to deliver a message, sometimes this can be kind of like free therapy for us. We can come up here and speak our minds and talk about some issues and troubles that we might be having, in the hopes that maybe you’re sharing similar issues… and possibly take some solace in that fact and find some comfort and direction.
So, with that being said, the issues at work continue and have gotten a little bit worse.
• Last week – Levac walked off post in DeSoto / Worked a Double Shift
• The same day, Dark Post in Rockwall
• I got home after midnight
• Next Day – Rockwall Sup NCNS – 13 hours
• Saturday morning swim
• Tried to get a nap – 5pm call – 7pm call
• Sunday 6am – church – 10am CO
• 2pm to 6pm – finally fitful sleep
Now as I mentioned before… these are not complaints, this is a praise report!! I’m viewing the issues that I’m going through as growing pains, because God has something bigger and better in store for me. And I know that every trial and tribulation in my life, God has a greater meaning behind it. Although I do accept the fact, that some of these issues that I’m having, might be Satan trying to bring me down.
I received a phone call from Pastor this last week, and he knows how busy I’ve been and how I’ve been kind of struggling… and he reached out to me and asked if I was ready for this morning, to which I replied, “Nope… haven’t even written a single word… not even the title”. Pastor reassured me that he’d have a message ready to go as back up, just in case I wasn’t ready to deliver the message today.
Pastor went on to say that he understood how crazy things have been for me at work and he offered to let me take a break from preaching for a while… at least until things at work settled down. I was actually driving home from a particularly hectic day, and I considered his offer briefly… then I told him “No, I don’t want to do that… I’m not going to let Satan win”.
I’ve said many times before… if Satan wants to pick a fight with me, he’s in for a world of hurt. Now, I don’t know exactly why work has been so crazy lately… maybe it’s God’s blessing in disguise… maybe Satan’s attacks… maybe a little of both, I’m not sure. But one thing that I am absolutely sure of, no matter what it is… it shouldn’t stop me from doing what I’ve been called to do. God does not call the equipped… He equips those that He calls. And the Bible is FULL of examples of that!!
The main example that comes to mind is Jonah… every kid in Children’s church has learned the story of Jonah and the whale… but how many of us as adults have actually delved into the specifics of that story?
In Jonah 1:2, God told Jonah, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” God sent Jonah… one singular man to Ninevah and straighten them out!! The fact that Jonah receives a Word from God isn’t unique. What is unique though, is the content of this Word from God… Where it sends him… and what is asked of him.
Nineveh doesn’t mean much to us these days, but it sure would have meant something to Jonah. Nineveh was a great city of 120,000 people. Which for its time, in 8th century B.C., was massive. This city had reached its size, because it was the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
The Assyrians were known for their brutality… murdering and pillaging their way throughout the Middle East. They’d burn their enemies alive and decorate their walls and pyramids with their bodies —along with many other cruelties. So, Nineveh was basically the symbolic home of everything evil, hateful, and idolatrous. This is the equivalent of Azkaban in Harry Potter… or Mordor from the Lord of the Rings. Black smokestacks… and human sacrifices... It’s the last place that anybody would want to be sent to.
And to top it all off, Jonah’s people were some of their worst victims. The Assyrians ransacked both of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel… wiping out ten of the original twelve tribes. There’s a great Hebrew scholar and Bible translator by the name of Robert Alter… and he compares God sending Jonah to Nineveh… like sending a Jew to Nazi Germany, Berlin back in 1940, demanding repentance. It’s kind of an insane request... Nineveh was the last place anyone would want to go. And the Ninevites were the last people that any Jew would want to go to. It’s basically an impossible request.
I did a little research, and I found that one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. is Memphis, Tennessee!! I wasn’t expecting that one… I figured maybe Washington D.C. or New York or Chicago, but Memphis!! According to the website security.org, Memphis has a “violent crime rate” of 2,501 per 100,000 citizens… and a “property crime rate” of 6,899 per 100,000 citizens. That’s kind of appalling!! Jimmy… go to Memphis and tell them to knock it off and behave themselves!!
Crazy, right? Jonah thought so too… so much so, that he thought that he could run from God!! Jonah 1:3-4 says, “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.”
So, just to paint a mental picture for you… Jonah starts in Israel… God tells him to go to Nineveh (550 miles away to the East, which is in modern day Iraq), but he gets rebels and runs away to Tarshish (which is 2.500 miles away to the West, on the southern tip of Spain). That should be far enough away to run from God, right?
Just like Jonah… we all have our own impossible places of fear and darkness. Maybe it’s a buried trauma that’s too difficult to come to terms with. Maybe it’s someone who’s hurt us, caused us deep pain and grief who we can’t imagine ever forgiving. Or maybe it’s someone in our lives who needs to be confronted but we’re too scared to do it. Or maybe it’s something within ourselves that we’re too hesitant to face up to. Some sin… some fault… some failure that we hide from everyone else. Regardless of what it is, like Jonah, we’d much rather put all our energy into escape. For every Nineveh in our lives… there’s a ticket to from Joppa to Tarshish in our hand. It’s just what we do.
We all have our own Nineveh’s… we all have our zones of extreme discomfort!! And we all have our Tarshish… our preferred methods of escape or even avoidance. There’s some place that we know we need to go… something that we know we need to do… But we just can’t bring ourselves to go there or do it because it feels like an impossible task. So, we run away… literally or otherwise. Obviously, that doesn’t really work for us… and it didn’t work for Jonah either!! He went down to Joppa and hopped on a boat… he probably figured he was good… after all, what could go wrong on a sturdy ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea? Well, God tossed that ship around like it was an old busted down tennis shoe bouncing around in a clothes dryer.
Jonah 1:4-5 says, “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god.” So, this ship that Jonah boarded was filled with a crew that followed different faiths, because we see here that “each cried out to his own god.”
Jonah actually told these men that if they wanted to survive, they needed to throw him overboard… instead they tried to row back to dry land, but the storm got even worse. Finally, they accepted the fact that was their only option, and they threw him in the sea… immediately the waters went calm. These sailors were so surprised, that even though they each had different faiths, verse 16 tells us “the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.”
So, God took Jonah’s act of disobedience and turned it into an opportunity to show these sailors who the ONE true God is, and they offered a sacrifice and made vows to God. If God can do that with an act of disobedience… just imagine what God can do with an act of pure obedience!!
We already know the next section of this story… Verse 17 says,” The Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” And after three days and nights, I’m pretty sure that it took a long time to get that smell out of his clothes!!
He almost died on that ship out of Joppa… he probably saw his life flash before his eyes when they threw him overboard into the Mediterranean… next thing he knows, he sees this huge fish come at him with its gaping mouth wide open and swallows him whole… he’s truly surprised that he didn’t die from being eaten… so he’s just kicking back, chilling in the belly of this beast... and in the back of his mind, he’s thinking about how badly he wants to get out, but knowing that there’s a very real possibility that he might come out of the wrong end of this fish… so he starts desperately praying… begging and pleading with God to spare him for refusing to go to Ninevah. I can just picture him sitting on his knees on a beach after getting yakked back up, stinking to high heaven… thanking God profusely… and then God telling him, “You’re welcome… now to go to Ninevah.”
Needless to say, Jonah wasn’t foolish enough to defy God again… Chapter 3:3-6 says, “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.”
Jonah’s disobedience almost cost him his life… once while he was in the boat and again when he was swallowed by the big fish… but God still chose to use that situation to show those sailors who the One True God really was. Then, God used Jonah’s obedience to deliver a city from destruction… the entire city fasted and prayed for God to spare them from their evil ways. So, God used Jonah to deliver 120,000 people from facing the wrath of God… Jonah should have been throwing a party at that point, right?
Nope… instead Jonah decided to throw a little temper tantrum and pout like a little child. Here was an entire city of people that hated Jonah, because he was a Jew… and he most likely felt the same way in return. So, by Jonah refusing to go… it was partially because he was terrified of what they would possibly do to him, if he failed… but also because he didn’t want to be successful either, because he knows that God is merciful… and he didn’t feel like the Ninevites deserved God’s mercy.
Jonah 4:1-5 says, “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Why was Jonah so angry? Well, he was angry because he felt that the Ninevites deserved God’s punishment… and he knew that if God was sending him to Ninevah, it was because God intended to pardon them… after all, God doesn’t fail.
So, we see in Chapter 4, Verses 5 & 6, “Jonah had gone 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. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.”
So, Jonah was having a bit of an inner struggle. He travelled to this major metropolis… walked through the city for 3 days and witnessed to everyone that crossed his path… telling them that if they continued acting like fools… that the countdown had started!! They had 40 days to get their lives together, or God was going to put a stop to it Himself.
Once the 3 days was over, Jonah went to the east of the city and made himself comfy… and waited there “to see what would happen to the city”. So, to me, that says that Jonah was hoping that God would fail. He had so much contempt for these people that he WANTED to see them be wiped out… he didn’t want to see them saved. So, when he saw that they were indeed saved… he acted like a little baby that just dropped his ice cream cone on a hot sidewalk!!
God is MANY things!! He is the God of LOVE… Mercy… Compassion… Sympathy… Wrath… Understanding… Correction… and instruction!! And that’s what God did next!! God felt that it was time to teach Jonah a little lesson in humility.
Verse 6 tells us that, “the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.” So, Jonah was sitting there with his meager little shelter that he built… baking in the hot sun… and waiting to see if this city that he hated would be turned to cinder. And God made a leafy plant spring up overnight, which gave him some much-needed relief.
Now, considering that this plant sprang up overnight, and that it was given by God… I would imagine that this was no ordinary plant!! This was probably the equivalent of one of those big cabana umbrellas that you’d see at a 5-star hotel resort!! I might be wrong, but I imagine something so big that it completely covered him… there was probably not a single inch of his body that had to be exposed to the scorching sunlight. That had to feel good… and he just kicked back and enjoyed the shade and waited for the destruction of Ninevah that he was hoping for!!
Now comes the hard part of the lesson… in verses 7-9 it says, “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 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.” But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
And the tantrum continues… Jonah felt relief from the heat for one day!! What God gives… He can also take away!! And God chose a worm… one lowly little worm… to come along and chew on the plant to make it wither away. And Jonah’s response is, “I wish I were dead”. Jonah’s gratitude for the relief that he received from that leafy plant was very short lived!! As soon as it was gone, it was all “Woe is me” again!!
Verse 10 & 11 says, “But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left.”
Jonah’s gratitude for the relief that he got from the plant was very short lived!! God gave Jonah a blessing in that plant, but Jonah didn’t do anything to take care of that blessing… the scripture says that God told him “You didn’t tend it or make it grow”. God is in the gift giving business… but once you receive the gift, it’s up to you what you do with it.
How are you going to feel, if you give me a little potted plant, as a gift… and then when you come over to my house, you see this nasty little, shriveled shrub sitting in a dark corner? That’s kind of an insult, right? If I don’t take care of your gift…, why did you bother to give me that gift in the first place? What are you doing with the blessings that God places in your life?
And I tell you… the biggest blessings in my life are sitting right there!! My beautiful wife and my 6 kids… and there is NOTHING that I wouldn’t do for them!! Including suffering from major lack of sleep and the stress levels of my job, to make sure that I’m providing for my family!!
The other major blessing in my life is standing right here and letting God speak through me. I’ve been serving here for almost 13 years!! I was ordained and licensed right here in this church on September 30th, 2012. I’ve had my ups and downs, but I’m still here!!
Every kid has dreams about what they’re going to be when they grow up… policeman… fireman… astronaut… cowboy, etc. When I was a kid, I never told people, “I’m going to be a Pastor when I grow up”. I didn’t want to do this!! Being a Pastor means talking to people… I don’t like people!! If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife… I tell her that all the time!!
When I first started doing this 13 years ago, I felt MAJOR anxiety almost every single time that I stood at this pulpit. There were some Sundays when it felt like I should’ve shoved paper towels in my arm pits, because I was sweating so badly. But I powered through it, and over time it got better. I’m not here for pay… I’m not on the Church’s salary!! I’m not here for prestige… because prestige means that I’m putting too much emphasis on what other people think about me!! You either like me, or you don’t, I’m not going to lose sleep either way!! I’m not here for a title… I’m not the Senior Pastor… I’m not the Associate Pastor… I’m one of the Assistant Pastors!! Titles are great, but I’m not here for a title… I’m here to serve GOD!!
Yes… work is still crazy… but I’m here to serve the Lord, MY GOD!! I’m not here doing this job because I dreamed of doing this as a kid… I’m here doing this job, because God didn’t give up on me when I wasn’t even worth saving!! I was not a nice person back in my day… I might as well have been like one of the Ninevites. This is my service!! I may be sitting at my laptop late on a Saturday afternoon, throwing these messages together at the last minute (fueled by 3 hours of sleep and a lot of coffee). But I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing!! Not because it’s my dream… not because I want to do this… I do this because I NEED to do this!!
I’ll tell you… as they say, you get frequent complaints, but few compliments… and that is one of the greatest highs for a Pastor. From time to time, Pastors feel insignificant… occasionally we are not sure if we’re doing any good at all. Am I just the filler in between some awesome Gospel Music and your afternoon lunch and subsequent nap on the couch?
But every once in a while, we’ll get confirmation. I won’t mention anyone specifically. But there’s someone that I’ve been praying for a lot lately… someone that I care for, who’s having a hard time finding their way. And during my last message up here, I received a message that this person logged in and watched the sermon online and said that it was exactly what they needed to hear. That is why I do this!! I was called to do this… I am here to open myself up and deliver the message that I feel God wants to be heard… and when I hear those types of things, it all feels worth it!! I said that to my son this last week… you know it takes several hours to put together a message, praying for inspiration, doing the research, planning out what needs to be said, putting together my slides for Donny that he loves so much!! Several hours of work… just to stand here and talk to you for 20-30 minutes. So, if ANY message from ANY Pastor reaches you on a deeper level… let them know!! You have just made their day… and you have just made their service to the Lord worth every second!!
I apologize for that little rant there… but just like Jonah, we get so caught up, in the things of this world, that we forget that God is in charge… and at any time, He can send you a reminder of where you would be without Him. Something as small as a worm could take over your whole life, if you let it.
2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” There’s a little Jonah in all of us, and that sea monster, that’s the world swallowing you up and spitting you out, but our God is a God of promise, “Patient and not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”
