Series Title: The Book of Jonah
Sermon Title: LIVING BY THE WORD
Sermon Text: Jonah 1:1 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying."
The word of the Lord isn’t something we nod our heads to or merely sound out A-men to. It is more important and vital to our life than the very air we breathe or the food we eat.
Jesus said, “Man shall not live [Jesus is talking about life here] by bread alone, but on [or by] every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3).
What bread is to our natural life, God’s word is to our LIFE.
• Without bread or food for our natural man, we die.
• Apart from the Word of the Lord, we have no LIFE.
The word of the Lord doesn’t merely sustain us or give us life, it also directs the course of our life, so that what we live is LIFE. When I use the word LIFE, I’m not referring to breathing in and out or a healthy body, but to a quality of LIFE that might be called eternal.
It is LIFE that is overflowing with…
• joy, and
• peace, and
• a jubilant sense of well being,
It is characterized by…
• a love for others that is ecstatic,
• a sense of being loved by God that is overwhelming,
• a deep sense of security, and
• confidence, and by
• the companionship of the Holy Spirit.
It has the ability to…
• endure adversity without complaining or caving in,
• to forgive your worst enemies with ease,
• to live carefree and faith filled.
I’m talking about the kind of LIFE that Jesus described when He said, “I am come that you might have LIFE and that more abundantly.”
Paul declared, “we walk [or live] by faith [a faith that is dependent upon and produced by the Word], not by sight” (2Cor. 5:7).
The Christian life should not be lived in reaction to circumstances and neither should it be based upon calculated attempts at engineering life. Such living, although applauded by the world and many in the Church, tends to circumvent the purpose and will of God.
Abraham was able to satisfy his desire for a son by his union with Hagar, but God did not accept Ishmael as the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham. Abraham merely wanted a son, God had His eye on the Son who was to come through Isaac.
We circumvent God’s best by devising plans that will produce the outcome we want.
Jacob was destined to be the son that God would use to bring about His purpose in the earth. But instead of trusting God and living life by the Word of the Lord, Rebekah and Jacob used deception to gain the blessing.
Now we may not use deception, but like Rebekah and Jacob, we devise and act upon plans that will give us what we want in life.
How many of us are so reliant upon God that we would give our youngest son the portion coming to him, all the while knowing that he will spend it on riotous living in the far country? How many of us are honest enough to admit that we are doing our best to keep the prodigal from leaving home, and that we are miserable with the results we are getting? They’re still at home, but they have no heart for God. In our reluctance to give up control, we’re headed for the storm of our life.
I admit that planning is not wrong, but it must be done with God’s counsel.
James offers a strong rebuke to those who make plans independent of God. He declares…
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow…Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16).
Solomon adds, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake for nothing” (Ps. 127:1).
Perhaps the idea of living by the Word of the Lord is disturbing to us because we’ve bought into the idea that we’re wise enough and educated enough to make rational decisions that will bring us the results we want.
• We consult E. F. Hutton and rely upon his advice before making financial investments.
• We consult a medical doctor and adhere to his advice when we’re sick.
• We consult an attorney when faced with legal issues.
But when it comes to life…
• We do our best and hope it works out.
• We absent ourselves from the gather of the saints where the world of the Lord is being proclaimed.
• We rely upon our limited understanding and intelligence, but we fail to consult God about His plan for our life.
Giving up control of our life and turning it over to God is one of the toughest things we’ll ever do.
Yet God’s word to us is this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).
When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at "the house of the dying" in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, "And what can I do for you?"
Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. "What do you want me to pray for?" she asked.
He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: "Pray that I have clarity."
She said firmly, "No, I will not do that."
When he asked her why, she said, "Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of."
When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."
Trusting God means that we realize we don’t have all the answers about our tomorrows. It means that we are willing to place our lives completely into the hands of God in the belief that “He will direct us.”
• What advantage is there is going to a medical doctor and then disregarding his diagnosis and prescribed treatment?
• What good is a word from the Lord if we refuse to act upon it; if we fail to give heed to it?
I can tell you that the biggest mistakes I’ve made in life have been the result of…
• not consulting God or
• of failing to act on His revealed counsel.
Jonah had a word from the Lord, but he acted in opposition to it. Instead of going directly to Nineveh, he bought a ticket that would take him more than 2000 miles in the opposite direction.
Some of us are headed for the storm of our life because we haven’t consulted God or because we’re not paying any attention to the word of the Lord.
Some of us are in the midst of a severe storm because we opted to go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh—God’s will for our life.
No matter where you find yourself, it’s not too late to turn from our way to Yahweh; to admit our foolishness and ask His forgiveness. God can negate our mistakes and get us on track again.
David Smallbone decided to promote Christian concerts in his homeland of Australia, where only 5 percent of the people believed in Christ. When too few fans filled his seats during one major tour, David took a $250,000 bath in red ink.
Creditors repossessed his home, and the father of six looked for work elsewhere. A top artist offered him a job in Nashville, so out of desperation the Smallbones sold their furniture and other possessions and purchased tickets to the United States.
A few weeks after they arrived, however, David was informed that his position was "no longer available." He literally could not get out of bed for several days. When he and his wife explained to their children what happened, [turning point] they all got on their knees and asked God to help them.
Interesting things began to happen. God provided bags of groceries, a minivan, and odd jobs. Then the biggest surprise of all—a recording contract for David’s oldest daughter, Rebecca, age 15. She recorded her first album using an old family name, St. James.
Flash forward to today. David promotes his own daughter’s sold-out concerts. Rebecca St. James has become one of the hottest Christian artists in America. Christianity Today magazine has named her one of the top 50 up-and-coming evangelical leaders under age 40.
I can guarantee you that you do not want to experience the product of your planning, but if that’s where you find yourself, it doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
Jonah’s advice to us would be, “The trip to Tarshish isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Do it right the first time! Do it God’s way and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble. If you find yourself in the storm of your life or worse yet, in the belly of a whale, turn to God. He’s waiting for you to acknowledge your need for Him and to get you back on track.”
There’s a message in the mess! God uses men and women who have been broken by their failures. He uses those who have been brought to their senses by boat rides that took them into life threatening storms.
"Until one knows the will of God he should keep his mouth shut. He should not exercise authority carelessly. . . . Persons with many opinions, ideas, and subjective thoughts are to be feared. They like to be counselors to all. They seize upon every opportunity to press their ideas on others. God can never use a person so full of opinions, ideas, and thoughts as the one to represent His authority. . . .
"Unless we are completely broken by the Lord we are not qualified to be God’s delegated authority. God calls us to REPRESENT His authority, not to SUBSTITUTE His authority. . .
"This is not to imply that before he can be used by God he must be reduced to having no opinion, no thought, and no judgment. Not at all. It merely means that the man must be truly broken; his cleverness and his opinions and his thoughts must all be broken. Those who are naturally talkative, opinionated, and self-conceited need a radical dealing, a basic bending. . . . Only after one is scourged by God does he begin to live in fear and trembling before Him. He dare not open his mouth inadvertently. In our much talking we will soon forget ourselves and expose the real self. How we need to be slain by God’s light. . . . Like Balaam in Numbers 22:25, we need to be pushed against the wall and to have our foot crushed. . . . Only by such painful experiences as this shall we be delivered from ourselves.
Perhaps the storm you’ve been experiencing has broken you and gifted you with the realization that there is no LIFE apart from living the word of the Lord!
Copyright 2004, by Louis Bartet...
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