Lessons from the Deep: Jonah
Lessons from the Deep • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 19 viewsIf we are not careful we can allow our personal preference to place us in opposition to the desires of God. God is sovereign and we are His servants. We must learn to be obedient to do what He ask of us. Eternity matters more than our preference.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
__________________________________________________________
Intro
This morning if you are a note taker, I have made available to you a document with fill in the blanks to go along with the message. It will capture the high points of the message, and give you some notes to study with at home this week.
Throughout the month of August we have been a series we have entitled Lessons from the Deep. This series is designed to help us reorient our perspective when we find ourselves in the deep places of life. Each week we are learning lessons from the deep by engaging the scripture through the stories of those who have faced hardship and difficult circumstances.
My prayer in this series is that we would meet God in the deep places, and that the result of those encounters would be faith, perseverance, and hope. If there is one thing I am certain of for our lives it is this. We can trust God with our lives. I know that He loves us, He is for us, He is truly working all things together for our good. We can trust His faithfulness!
Our Anchor for this series is Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”
This morning as we pick up in part 7 of our series lessons from the deep we are going to look at the story of Jonah. To save time let me give you a brief synopsis of the story of Jonah and its focus.
__________________________________________________________
Submit:
The Story of Jonah is a prophetic book focusing on the story of the prophet rather than on the prophet’s message. In the book Jonah he is commanded by God to go a place called Nineveh to cry out against it because of its wickedness, but instead of going he rebels against God’s instruction. His decision brings a crisis in his life that would eventually lead Jonah to fulfill the mission to go to Ninevah. A major emphasis in the story is Jonah’s rebellious attitude towards God’s instruction even after crisis.
Historical Context: Nineveh is the capital of Assyria. At the time of Jonah Nineveh had invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and taken it captive. (SLIDE 1)
At the peak of Nineveh’s prosperity, it was surrounded by a wall nearly eight miles in length. The people of Nineveh were everything opposite of what God’s people held dear. The Ninevites were known for their cruelty, killing men, raping women, ripping babies from wombs, and crushing children’s heads against rocks. They often skinned their victims and impaled their bodies, leaving them to die. They often forced parents to watch their children get burned alive before murdering the parents. They also buried victims up to their necks in sand and left them to die of hunger, thirst, or wild animal attack. Entire cities would commit suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Ninevites. So this is a brutal people with a culture of great wickedness.
In Jonah 1: Jonah is commanded by God to go to Nineveh and preach against it because their wickedness had come up before Him. However, instead of going to go to Nineveh in obedience Jonah boards a boat to sail to a place named Tarshish.
(SLIDE 2) Point out the location of Nineveh and Tarshish
Reference the slide: This is about as far from Nineveh you could get. Not only is he planning to not go to Nineveh, he is planning to go as far away from Nineveh as he can get.
During his voyage to Tarshish the vessel Jonah is in encounters a violent storm sent by God. The storm is so fierce that they believe they are going to lose their lives. The distress of the storm causes all of the men to cry out to their gods and cast lots (kind of like drawing straws). The Lot fell on Jonah and he reveals that he is the reason for the storm.
As they are unsure of what to do Jonah tells the men to throw him into the sea and it will be calm, but instead...
The sailors fought hard to row to land but could not reach it due to the fierceness of the storm sent by God. The final solution was to throw Jonah overboard. As they did the result was that the sea ceased from its raging.
As chapter 1 ends and chapter 2 begins God prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah. Three days and nights Jonah was in the belly of the fish. The experience causes Jonah to cry out to the Lord, and the result is the Lord speaks to the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.
In Jonah 3: Jonah is called for a second time to go to Nineveh to preach to it the message that God had for them. This time Jonah arose and went to Nineveh. For 3 days he walks through the full length of the city declaring the Word of the Lord. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
The response of the people of Nineveh is that they believed God, proclaimed a fast, and repented. The king heard of what was happening and proclaimed that every person would fast and turn from their wicked ways that perhaps God would relent in His plans for their destruction.
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
This is where the story really begins to focus on the attitude of Jonah. Jonah 4 : Highlights Jonah’s displeasure with the Mercy of God. Let’s read about it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
The chapter continues with Jonah building a shelter outside the city so that he might watch what would happen to Nineveh. While there God prepares a plant to grow up and provide relief from the sun. The next day God sends a worm to destroy the plant and it withers away. Jonah again asks God to kill him.
God again ask Jonah is right for you to be angry? Jonah’s response to God is that he feels justified in being angry, even to death.
Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?
Now after the last question from God the story ends abruptly. We don’t get to see Jonah’s response to God or any further dialogue.
The book of Jonah shows God’s concern and grace to all peoples. Repentance and forgiveness are significant themes. These come through in Jonah’s relationship with the Lord, in the repentance shown by those living in Nineveh, and in God’s response to their repentance.
_____________________________________________________________________
Apply
As we consider the story of Jonah there are some powerful lessons and truths to learn from.
One lesson being this: It is possible to know God and His ways, and yet be completely out of step with His heart for people.
The story of Jonah is less about the people of Nineveh and more about Jonah’s heart and desires being in direct conflict with what God wanted.
God wanted to reveal his goodness by offering mercy to the people of Nineveh when they didn’t deserve it. Jonah wanted judgment and annihilation. He wanted restitution for the nation of Israel for being conquered. He didn’t want to serve the purposes of God in this story.
A little more historical context for you. In the book of Nahum God speaks through the prophet and decrees judgment and destruction on Nineveh because they returned back to their evil ways. Resulting in Nineveh being destroyed.
In this it is important to see that it is possible to have relationship with God, declare the name of Christ, be acquainted with His ways, and yet be in opposition to Him. In Jonah 1:9 he knows what to say when the men question him on the boat.
So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Think about his statement. I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Do you think Jonah was living in the fear of the Lord? In this instance certainly not!
Not only was he not living in the fear of the Lord, but if you read the full story you will see that in His prayer and deliverance Jonah never repents of His attitude. He is certainly overwhelmed by his situation, but he doesn’t really have a change of heart.
God’s purpose and plan is what saved Jonah. It was God who prepared a fish to swallow Jonah and give Him a free ride back in the direction he was supposed to Go (God was doing uber before uber existed). God’s plan was for Jonah to go to Nineveh and declare what God has said.
Whats amazing to me is after all that Jonah experienced both in judgement and adversity. Then being swallowed by a fish, and receiving deliverance Jonah is still angry at God.
As we consider this truth we will find our lesson from the deep. The fear of the Lord is only demonstrated through obedience to His word.
Psalm 86:11 (NKJV)
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
The ways of God reveal the truth of God. If we choose to unite our heart with the truth His instruction will yoke our hearts with the fear of the Lord. Uniting our heart to His ways will cause us to have reverence for who He is. This reverence is what we call the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is demonstrated through obedience.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 gives 5 expressions of reverence to God. To fear Him, walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve, and Keep is His commandments.
If we don’t walk in the fear of the Lord we like Jonah can allow our personal preference or perspective to outweigh or even nullify the plan of God.
let me give you a few examples to help me illustrate what I mean. Slide 3- Trump-Biden, Slide 4- BLM vs. Blue Lives Matter, Slide 5- Democrats vs. Republicans.
Just the sight of images like these cause anger, frustration, opposition to one another, hate.
Depending on our level of engagement with the subjects it is possible for our personal preference or perspective to diminish or eliminate our kingdom impact.
If were not mindful of the Spirit we can allow our differences of perspectives and preference to cause us to become enemies with each-other. This opposition mindset is not of the Kingdom and it will limit our ability to advance God’s purposes.
Can I remind us all today that we are created to live for God’s purposes. In this story today Jonah did not want Gods purpose for Nineveh. He wanted his purpose. God wanted mercy, Jonah wanted destruction. God wanted to reveal himself to the people of Nineveh. Jonah wanted them to stay in their ways so they would see destruction.
_____________________________________________________________________
Closing
As believers we must walk in the fear of the Lord. Not being a people who are controlled by personal preference. Our aim is to live according to the word of God. We are to seek His face, and listen for His instruction. Once He gives instruction we are to carry it out in obedience.
At times our heart felt perspective or prejudice’s can be in opposition to the purposes of God. If we do not take control over things and submit them to God we may work against the Kingdom.
In Matthew 20 Jesus in the parable of the workers of the Vineyard reveals the hearts of the laborers. A master went to marketplace to find laborers to work in His vineyard. They agreed on a wage and went to work. Many times throughout the day the master continues to go and hire workers even until the last hour of the day. At the time of payment the master pays all the workers the same amount.
The ones who worked longer are angry thinking they deserve more. The masters response is this: is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Their perspective was that they felt entitled to more, but that wasn’t the perspective of the master.
Let me give you a final example from our current culture. With so much division in our nation a person can easily feel justified in their hate or opposition to others with opposing view points. Even so much that the person could want the others destruction because they are wicked godless people.
Yet the word says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that servants of God have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
We must establish that we are ambassadors of Christ. We are to carry His heart, nature, and anointing to the world. If He is extending mercy and grace we must do the same. If He is reaching to seek and save the lost, we must also. God will judge the wickedness of the earth in His timing and according to His Sovereign wisdom. I pray that our hearts desire is to become obedient to His word above all else.
Don’t follow the lead of Jonah. Refrain from anger with God when you don’t understand His ways. He knows what He is doing. Trust Him with your life.
We must live in the fear of the Lord. Carrying out His desires. In complete submission to His ways. So that we might become a people of reconciliation. Walking as our Father walks.
LETS PRAY!
Salvation
Surrender- next step baptisms
Study
Obey