What parent does not dread this awful experience? In your care is a small child. You turn your back for just an instant –to answer the phone, to get a drink of water – and when you come back to that child, she is coughing and choking, clutching at her throat. Those curious eyes saw something interesting, so those chubby fingers immediately carried it to the mouth. And now the child is in distress; there’s something in the throat that shouldn’t be there! What do you do?
In a panic, you grab the baby and you begin to try to shake loose whatever it is that’s in her mouth. You stick your finger in, but she pushes you away. You pat her on the back, but now she’s turning all different shades. Nothing is working! The child is choking! What do you do? How do you help? The Heimlich maneuver! Can you use that on an infant? What do you do?
Well, there are only two acceptable options, aren’t there? One of two things must happen. Either the child will swallow the object in her throat, or she will spew it out. If one of those two things doesn’t happen, she will suffocate and die. So you have to hope that whatever it is she’s got in her mouth she will either swallow up or spew out.
Now it’s tough enough trying to perform a Heimlich maneuver on a baby. Suppose you had to do the Heimlich on a fish –a really big fish. Suppose some fish had swallowed something it wasn’t supposed to swallow – and I’m sure some of you fishermen have just about decided that your baited hooks are among of the things most fish are never going to swallow – but suppose some fish had swallowed something very large, like a man? How would you Heimlich a great fish?
Well, God did it. According to the delightful little story of Jonah, God had to Heimlich a fish one day. God had to deal with one of His finny creatures who had swallowed the bait named Jonah.
Last week we met Jonah on shipboard. He was bound for Tarshish, a city just about as far away as he could get from where he was supposed to be. We met Jonah on that ship and not in Nineveh because Jonah didn’t want to go and do missions. We said that there were two reasons why Jonah didn’t want to go; do you remember? We said that there was an emotional, down-in-the-tummy reason and an intellectual, up-in-the-head reason. Do you remember?
The emotional reason Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh: he had a reaction to the people there. They were described as wicked, and Jonah didn’t like that. Jonah didn’t do wicked, remember? He likely felt superior. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he reacted to those different people over there.
And then there was the intellectual reason Jonah didn’t want to go, the up-in-his-head reason: Jonah was the victim of a bad theology. He believed you could run from God. The text takes great pains to point out that Jonah thought he would be able to get away from the presence of God. So, Jonah not only didn’t want to go to Nineveh, he thought he could just believe whatever he wanted to believe, never mind about the Bible, and just scoot away from God’s attention.
How wrong can you get! And we concluded last week that the costs of disobedience about doing missions included the loss of our church, the loss of our happiness, the loss of our community, and, most important, the loss of souls in eternity. A very high price to pay indeed.
Now this week, as we follow the story of Jonah, I want us to discover what God does to discipline us when we disobey. I want us to see that God will shape us, and it is likely to be uncomfortable. But in the end it will be for our good and for the good of the Kingdom.
I
One of the things that God can do with us when we are disobedient is to swallow us up. Like the great fish swallowed up Jonah and captured him in most unpleasant circumstances, some of us get swallowed. We are confined, because of our disobedience. We know what God’s vision for us is, but we do nothing about it, and even run from it. So God lets us get swallowed up.
Think with me about some of the ways Christians get swallowed up because they pursue the wrong goals and do not work for Kingdom causes. What swallows us up and captures us? Let me give you a couple of ideas and then we’ll see where you can go with this:
a
Some Christians get swallowed up in addictive life-styles. Instead of working for Kingdom causes, they allow themselves to get caught in time-killing, spirit-numbing, addictive things. Some get caught up in the entertainment scene and spend huge amounts of time on TV and movies and videos, and then wake up one day and realize that it’s all been fluff, but there’s nothing to show for it. Others get caught up in food or in sports or in work – nothing horrible in and of itself, but these things get control. They capture us. We get swallowed up in addictive lifestyles, we lose ourselves in them. And all because we are turned in on ourselves and we are not turned outward toward others. If we will not engage in Kingdom mission, then God lets us get swallowed up in addictive lifestyles.
b
Another example. Some Christians get swallowed up in churchianity. Is that a word you know? Churchianity? Not in Christianity, but in churchianity. Some of us get so caught up in the institutional details, the policies, the mechanics, of church, that it takes all of our energies and all of our attention, and we ignore the very reason there is a church. We ignore our mission to the world, too busy doing church. We ignore our witness because we’re behind the stained glass windows. Have you ever said you couldn’t go visit somebody to tell him about Christ, because you had a committee meeting to attend? That’s being swallowed up in churchianity. Have you decided that you couldn’t go to the hospital to pray with a sick person because you needed to go to the meeting to discuss why we have too many meetings? That’s getting swallowed up in churchianity. Some of us get swallowed up in church, this great fish, when we could be fishers of men. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have said, in just the last month, “I need a church administrator here.” I often feel swallowed up in churchianity. I often feel captured us because instead of going to Nineveh and do missions, I’ve stayed here. Swallowed up.
c
Got the idea? Now you try it. What are some other ways Christians get swallowed up when they pursue the wrong goals and do not work for Kingdom causes? What swallows us up, captures us, holds us back from being where God wants us to be?
[Sheer busy-ness – maintaining the house, the job, the car, and the children. No time left, no money left, no energy left.]
[Controversy and argument – Southern Baptist Convention, I’ve stayed out of it – keeps us from keeping the main thing in front of us]
Swallowed up. You see, God puts a discipline on us when we are disobedient. When we turn inward rather than loving the world the way He wants us to love it – when we run away from His assignments – then God lets us get swallowed up in something. He lets us stay there until we find it so distasteful and so frustrating that we know we have to do something. Something has to change. We just can’t stay swallowed up in the great fish forever. Like Jonah, we know we have to do something different.
II
But there is something else God does with us when we are disobedient. There is another course of action God takes when we are not ready to do what He wants us to do. God can spew us out. God can spit us out of His mouth, He can eject us from comfort. God can spew us out and just make us swim for ourselves. And in the stormy seas, that can be rough.
Maybe you remember that passage in the Book of Revelation, the Seven Churches of Asia. The Lord says to the church at Laodicea,
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Neither cold nor hot, so I will spew thee out of my mouth. Some Christians are just too bland for the Lord to use! Some of us refuse to get excited about anything! Some Christians are disobedient just by being blah, nowhere, dullsville. Some disobey God by refusing ever to have an original thought, standing pat against change of any sort. As one wit put it, “Our fathers have been churchmen for a hundred years or so, and to every new proposal they have always answered, ’No’” When we deaden our spirits and refuse to look for anything new, God spews us out of His mouth until we find some passion. Until we get a fire built under us and get up and get with the program!
What are some examples of Christians who have been spewed out and set aside to wait for energy to return? Again, let me try a couple of examples, and then we’ll see what you have to suggest.
a
Some Christians have been spewed out and set aside as useless because they didn’t equip themselves. They never studied the Scriptures; they never understood Christian doctrine. When the church offered Bible studies or discipleship courses, they said, Ho-hum. I just don’t have the energy for that. And so now, like Jonah, they’re out there in the storms of life, and they don’t have a clue. They are spewed out, they are useless, waiting for energy to come back because they were not equipped.
b
Here’s another example. Some Christians have been spewed out and set aside as useless, powerless because they didn’t receive what others had to give. They didn’t let themselves receive encouragement from their brothers and sisters. I tell you, if you do not reach out to others, you will dry up yourself. If you do not invest your heart in others’ needs, your own heart will shrivel. Dr. King spoke often of the “beloved community”. For him, the church of Jesus Christ was a place where you got encouragement to be out on those mean streets. The Montgomery bus boycott didn’t take off just because of a courageous lady named Rosa Parks; it took off because people gather to pray and to encourage one another. The Selma march didn’t happen just because somebody thought it would be a neat thing to do; it happened because folks knew that in encouragement there was strength. Dr. King demonstrated that if you do not invest in the beloved community, if you do not receive encouragement, you will be powerless. There are thousands upon countless thousands who feel spewed out, useless, set aside, without passion – and I tell you that this is what God does to discipline us when we do not take seriously the fellowship of kindred minds. He takes away the joy, and you end up on some dry dusty shore, wondering why when the choir sings you can’t shout and when the preacher preaches the “Amen” sticks in your throat. You’ve tried to go it alone. If you don’t receive encouragement from your brothers and your sisters, you will be spewed out, set aside, no passion.
c
Now, are there other suggestions from you? What are some other examples of Christians who have been spewed out and set aside? There’s no excitement, no passion? Why?
[Out there finding reasons to criticize brothers and sisters – playing game of “Let’s you and him fight” – intentionally creating friction. Intentionally playing the race card, “you know how those people are”]
So – what have we said? We’ve said that God disciplines the disobedient. We’ve said that disobedience is being turned in on ourselves, instead of doing Kingdom mission, and that God disciplines that by letting us get swallowed up until we are miserable enough to change.
And we’ve also said that God disciplines the disobedient who just turn off their energies, the disobedient who won’t prepare, who won’t embrace their brothers and sisters. God disciplines that kind of disobedience by spewing us out, leaving us tasteless, blah, and setting us aside until we get our grooves back. Disciplined, swallowed up and spewed out.
III
Ah, but Jonah. Watch the sign of Jonah. See what happened to Jonah and why. For Jonah was both swallowed up and spewed out. He got a double barrel. He was thoroughly disciplined but was finally made useful. Three nights and three days in the belly of the fish, and Jonah turned to prayer. Jonah saw that the issue was his relationship to God. Jonah saw that the first order of business was to cry out in the depth of his soul to the one from whom he could never run. Jonah found out, at the end of the day, that when you have experienced both swallowing up and spewing out, you are finally ready for what God has in mind.
a
Jonah got desperate, and cried out to the Lord.
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called to the LORD out of my distress.
That’s good. It’s not altogether bad to feel distress. Out of feeling desperate some great things have come. A people bound in slavery felt desperate, felt swallowed up and spewed out, but out of their cries of desperation came movements for the abolition of slavery and for civil rights. It would be good for some of us to feel desperate about some things. Jonah cried out in distress. Thank God for distress!
b
Further, Jonah became aware that he could die, and offered up his prayer.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God. As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Jonah remembered that he could die. It wouldn’t hurt for some of us to remember that our days are numbered and that there may not be much time for us to get with what God wants done. As optimistic as I am about our church; as pleased as I am with many things we are doing; as hopeful as I feel about the many talented people who are a part of this household of faith – nonetheless I remember that this church is only a few hundred heartbeats away from death, and that indeed it may die if we do not continue, day after day, to pray out our vision and to pursue it with all our hearts. I notice that Jonah prayed about the temple of the Lord. We’d better be praying in and for this temple of the Lord, or it’s gone. Thank God for our knowing that we could die!
c
And after Jonah’s discipline, swallowed up and spewed out, Jonah decided that the only course of action that made any sense at all was to be obedient. All that all that he had, all that he was, all he ever hoped to be must be given to the Lord’s service. Jonah resolved the issue,
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the LORD!
Oh, yes, Jonah. You discovered it. In the belly of the fish you discovered it. You found that you can run from God but you can’t hide. You found that you can disobey God and indulge yourself, but you’ll be miserably swallowed up. You found that you can disobey God’s call to mission and resist change and turn off passion, but you’ll end up dry and dusty, tasteless and useless, spewed out.
But thank you, Jonah, for praying it through. Thank you, Jonah, for showing us that when you and the Lord got close again, there was a new power in your life. Three days in the belly of the fish, swallowed up and spewed out, and you got power again. Thank you, Jonah.
But I want you to know that a greater than Jonah is here. I want you to know that the sign of Jonah is given to us.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth …and see, something greater than Jonah is here!
Jesus the Christ, Calvary and the empty tomb. Three days of defeat … and then victory. Three days of death … and then life. Three days of despair … and then hope. Swallowed up? Spewed out? In Jesus Christ, even death is swallowed up in victory! Thanks be to God. We have good news to share, we have excitement to offer!
“I will make you fishers of men … if you’ll follow me.”
