The Stubborn Evangelist Series

Note: The entire book of Jonah is read before I preach.

Today we launch a new four part series entitled Jonah: The Stubborn Evangelist. And it is coming at just the right time for our church (more on the timing in just a moment). Most only know it as an amusing story about a prophet and a “whale.” While others know the story of Jonah, a man on the run from God. But he is also a man on the run from his responsibility – to share the message of God’s mercy to others. And this is what Jonah is really about – first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy. And it’s just this reason why Jonah shows his stubbornness.

Jonah’s stubbornness did not arise because of his fear of traveling to distant places. As we’ll discover in the biographical story of Jonah, fear of traveling wasn’t the case for Jonah. For when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah travels a long way from home in the opposite direction to Tarshish. And while this short story is one where Jonah is in flight; it’s also one where God is in pursuit. Jonah’s life is really one of a boomerang for he ends up in the place that ran from in the beginning. For four chapters we’ll witness Jonah’s futile flight as well as God’s persistent pursuit. And in the end, it’s God’s pursuit that eventually extinguishes Jonah’s rebellion.

But I want to pause before pursuing the story of Jonah at great length and I want to talk about our church, you, and me. I want to talk about our rebellion and your stubbornness. As is often the case with biographies, we find ourselves and our own hearts mirrored in the experience of others. I want our church to sense an urgency in our desire to extend God’s mercy because we have experienced God’s mercy.

Your faith is designed to be public rather than private. There’s no such thing as an unsent Christian. I believe if we concentrate and work together God will accomplish remarkable things in our midst.

Jonah’s book is small in size as it is a mere forty-eight verses in length but it is sizeable in its impact. And its message is different from any of the other prophetic books in that we learn so much more about the prophet than we do his message. Every character is this short story is designed to teach us that God has grace to His enemies. What Jonah is really about – first experiencing God’s mercy and then extending God’s mercy.

Jonah: the Man

We read the words of verse one: “the word of the Lord came to Jonah” (Jonah 1:1). These words suggest the importance of God’s task. The words “the word of the Lord” appears seven times through the pages of Jonah. But these words appear over one hundred times through the pages of the Bible. These words meant that prophet was being drawn into God’s presence in order to see things from His perspective. There is a terse style found right from the start where we are introduced to Jonah (1:1), we are told that God has a special task for him (1:2), and lastly, we are told of Jonah’s failure to obey (1:3).

The opening pages of the book give us the impression that we are reading the continuation of a story that is already underway. Jonah has intrigued people for many centuries. Perhaps part of our intrigue comes from being swallowed by a big fish (the Bible doesn’t mention a whale). The fish is mentioned in only three verses in the book and serves similarly to the great wind that God “hurled” at the boat (Jonah 1:4). The fish plays an insignificant part in Jonah’s story for it is just one of the obstacles God places in Jonah’s path to lead Jonah back to God.

The intrigue of Jonah lies partly in the great fish but has more to do with the boomerang of His life. When we hear the words of this book, we realize that it not only traces out the path of his journey, but it also unravels the inner workings of Jonah’s heart. Here we sense his inner fears and motivations. We see a weak and inadequate vessel that God uses despite Jonah’s weakness. For Jonah runs from God only to have God pursue him. God is constantly placing obstacles in the path of Jonah from a strong wind, a great fish, or even a pagan ship’s captain who calls on Jonah to wake up in order to pray

While the book is entitled Jonah, it says more about the God who pursues him along than it does Jonah. God is mentioned thirty-eight times in the forty-eight verses of the book. You could say with accuracy that Jonah is in the background of the book with God filling as the main character of the story. Because despite any of Jonah’s intentions he ends up in just the spot God wanted him all along. So Jonah’s life is a boomerang.