The Worst Sermon Ever
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel
If we haven’t met...
Sermon notes in the back...
Scripture
Prayer
Good morning, again!
One of the things we regularly say at Gateway Chapel is we are a church on mission to plant churches and make disciples who hear, love, and obey Jesus.
And one of the ways we live out that mission to plant churches is we are part of a network of churches called Acts29.
If you know your Bible you know the book of Acts has 28 chapters, so Acts29 is not some heretical extra biblical text but it’s basically saying the story of God’s kingdom expanding that we read about in Acts is still happening today.
To explain a bit more about Acts29, we have a 2 minute video to watch together.
Acts29 Sunday
Why are we watching this today?
Be encouraged to know you are a part of something so much bigger than this building. What we are a part of this morning is something that is so much bigger than Sumner, Bonney Lake, Lake Tapps, Auburn, Enumclaw. We are a part of the kingdom of God which is international and growing and expanding. Be encouraged to know that Gateway Chapel is partnering with other churches around the world to plant churches and make disciples who hear, love, and obey Jesus.
In 2021, Acts 29 welcomed 58 new churches into our diverse, global community—including 30 brand-new church plants! There are hundreds of church planters in our pipeline and expect our global network of churches to nearly double in size over the next few years!
I also want you to know that being a part of Acts29 means your church and church leadership are not on an island. One of the hardest parts of my first year being a pastor, was feeling like I was alone. I felt like if I opened up to other pastors they would see through me and say, “Yeah Chris, you’re not really cut out for this.” But guys in this area like Rob Mayer from Gospel Life church and Rob Steinbach from Seaside church and Chris Rich from Mercy Life and Adam Sinnett from Downtown Cornerstone have become encouraging friends and have fed my soul which allows me in turn to serve you.
While Gateway wasn’t planted by Acts29, many of you found out about Gateway Chapel through Acts29 and the folks who show up saying, “Yeah we heard about Gateway through Acts29 are people who have stepped into our community and blessed this family.”
Gateway gives 3% of our overall budget to Acts29, which means that when you give to Gateway you are helping plant churches around the world.
But we want to be more than checkbook Christians, we want to partner prayerfully with Acts29.
And so I’d like to ask that you join me in prayer this morning for all the churches in Acts29, but also specifically for those in the Puget Sound.
Mercy Fellowship - Marysville
Coram Deo Church - Bremerton
Seaside Church - Bremerton
Downtown Cornerstone - Seattle
Icon Church - Seattle
Trinity West - Seattle
Taproot Church - Burien
Soma Eastside Church - Issaquah
Gospel Life Church - Puyallup
Sufficient Grace Church - Puyallup
If you want more information, you can visit Acts29’s website or there are brochures in the back. Feel free to grab me too and ask any questions.
Jake read scripture
Who has seen the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? I’ll give you a pass to say you’ve watched an R Rated movie in church.
It’s a classic comedy with Steve Martin and John Candy. If you’ve never heard of it before your parents may have it at home on VHS. We’re going to watch a one-minute clip from that movie, a famous scene of the two main characters in a car on the freeway.
ROLL CLIP
Fantastic. The reason I showed that was what’s the message the couple is screaming? You’re going the wrong way! Turn around!
As Jake read in Jonah 3, which is our text this morning, Jonah’s message to the Ninevites is very similar. Turn around! You’re going the wrong way!
In Jonah 3, we find out how the Ninevites respond to this message, what it might mean for us today, and how this points us to Jesus.
Pray
If this is your first time here or it’s been a while, let me briefly catch us up to where we’re at today.
As a church family we’re calling 2022 the Year of Biblical Exploration. We’re walking through the story of the Bible from a 30,000 foot level to see how it’s all one big story that connects to Jesus.
We even have a working definition of the Bible, let’s read it out loud again together.
The Bible is a library of texts - both divine and human - with a unified story that leads to knowing Jesus and growing in Jesus.
The Bible is a library of texts - both divine and human - with a unified story that leads to knowing Jesus and growing in Jesus.
We recognize that reading the Bible is a weird activity. Your friends aren’t getting up early on the weekend to read ancient middle eastern religious documents. But we follow Jesus, we believe he is the savior of the world, and Jesus loved his Bible and viewed all of life through the lens of Scripture. The goal of Bible reading is not to get more Bible into my life (read 5 more minutes a day and think God loves me more) but to get more of my life into the Bible. How does my life fit into this story?
And so the last three weeks we’ve been talking about Jonah. Jonah is a prophet, and prophets make up a big portion of our Bibles. But Jonah is really unique in a couple ways.
1 - He’s really bad at his job. The whole book of Jonah is a kind of comedy. Much like Homer Simpson, Michael Scott, or Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes Trains and Automobiles, Jonah does the exactly opposite of what you expect. And we’ve talked about how we’re like Jonah…comedically rebellious but also dearly loved by God, because Jonah’s name means “Dove” or “My Beloved.”
2 - Jonah is really well known in America. Veggie Tales, the “whale” which the Bible actually says fish as we learned. But we think the story of Jonah is just a story about morals. David and Goliath is a story about bravery…be brave and you’ll win your battles! And Jonah is a story about being a nice person…and if you don’t, God will chase you down with a fish!
But as we read in our definition, the Old Testament is more than a divine rule book, it’s a unified story that points ahead to the kind of prophet we really need, Jesus.
So let’s keep reexamining the story of Jonah together this morning, and read verses 1-3 together.
Jonah’s second chance
Jonah’s second chance
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.
Jonah has come out of the fish, and has a new lease on life. This is his second chance!
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.
So in chapter 1, God’s word comes to Jonah the son of Amittai - which in Hebrew means “My Beloved, the son of Truth” - and this beloved son of truth RUNS from God to Tarshish. And yet even despite himself, he saves a boat full of Gentiles without doing anything right.
But in chapter 3, Jonah is now a man reborn. He’s gone through his own baptism into the belly of the fish, and we think, “Maybe he’s a new man! Now he’ll obey God!” And so far, it looks like that is the case. He doesn’t go to Tarshish, he takes the nearly 600 mile journey from Joppa to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.
Notice the main driving force in this story…the word of the LORD, the most powerful force in the universe.
And this is setting us up for what feels like a real American story. Failure to success. Rags to riches. In the words of your favorite band Chubba Wumba, Jonah got knocked down, but he’s getting up again, you’re never gonna keep him down.
He’s fixed! Right?
What is this message that God wants Jonah to preach to the Ninevites?
Jonah’s five word sermon
Jonah’s five word sermon
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Pause real fast.
Nineveh is a great city. How big is it? A 3 days journey.
How far does Jonah go? One day.
It’s like when you sign up for something and they say, “Please read the Terms and Conditions” and it’s 16 pages and we all scroll just one page, and click “Yep, I read it all!”
I wonder if the author is telling us that while Jonah chose to follow God this time…there might be some disobedience still in his heart. He’s not ready to go the full distance just yet.
Again, we are Jonah! You may have been saved and baptized…but we are not perfect yet.
*Then read second half of the verse.
How many of you know the sandwich board guy at the Mariners or Seahawks games telling you if you don’t repent you’re going to hell?
I think that mode of communication is far less acceptable today, than it was back then. Jonah walking into this city, preaching this strange sermon seems offensive to us, but actually in the Ancient Near East this wasn’t terribly uncommon. Having a messenger from another land talking about the various deities was just a part of the landscape.
Still, Jonah’s sermon is strange.
He doesn’t say anything about God.
He doesn’t tell the people to TURN.
He doesn’t say God will forgive them if they TURN.
He doesn’t specify what he means by ‘overthrown.’
And as a prophet, he offers no intercession. In the Bible, Abraham begged for Lot’s life in Genesis, Moses begged God to forgive the Israelites after the Golden Calf and even said, “Kill me instead!”
Jonah says, “Next month, y’all gonna die!”
In Hebrew, it’s a five word sermon.
There’s also a chance, God is playing a trick on Jonah. As you may recall, Jonah is an Israelite, and the Ninevites are his enemy. It’s likely that Jonah is thrilled to preach a fire and brimstone message. And if you know the story of Jonah, we find out in chapter 4 that Jonah is none too pleased that the Ninevites repent.
But, Jonah says, “Nineveh will be overthrown.” That word overthrown is actually vague. It could mean, ‘destroyed’ like God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, but it could also mean transformed.
The same word is used in Exodus 7:15
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.
So it’s possible Jonah thinks he’s pronouncing punishment, destruction, desolation…and the Ninevites will hear it that way too, but God could also be snickering (remember Jonah is a comedy) saying, “Watch what I really mean by overthrow.”
God has a sense of humor!
How will the Ninevites respond to this message?
The Ninevites respond
The Ninevites respond
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
Just like the sailors in chapter 1, the Gentile Ninevites trust God despite the pretty poor sermon from Jonah.
What does Abraham do in Genesis that so pleases God? He believes. He trusts. Even when he isn’t given much to go on.
In the same way, these Ninevites - without any theological training or background - simply believe.
How in the world can the worst sermon from the worst prophet be so effective?
The impact of Jonah’s sermon grows.
The king responds
The king responds
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
This unknown Assyrian king - likely guilty of enough murder to make Putin blush - acts in remarkable faith.
Where in the Bible have we read about a really rich character who hears of tragedy, arises, puts on sackcloth, sits in ashes, and cries to God?
Job! The king of Nineveh is being compared to Job, one of the most righteous characters in the Bible.
The king is so impacted by five words from this comedic prophet, he removes himself from his throne, acting as if he is no longer king, acting as if he were essentially dead.
The impact goes even further.
The King’s edict
The King’s edict
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
Does this sound familiar?
What did the captain of the ship say back in Jonah 1?
6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
Just like the captain in chapter 1, this king cries out in desperation to save his people.
Let’s not do some ordinary fast, let’s pull out all the stops. Why? Because we are in grave danger!
Don’t just not eat. Don’t taste anything! And don’t stop there, DON’T DRINK WATER! And don’t stop there, make sure you put clothes on your animals, too!!
I think we’re supposed to kind of laugh...
It’s like if a kid hears about Jesus and then says, “Man, I gotta tell my dog about this!”
There’s this comedic juxtaposition between the tiny message of Jonah and the HUGE response from the Ninevites and their king.
So what’s going to happen next?
God responds
God responds
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Does God change his mind?
Did God say, “Hey Siri remind me 40 days after Jonah’s sermon to send Babylon to evicerate Nineveh.” And then he sees Nineveh respond, and goes, “Oh wow! Siri, cancel my reminder about the Nineveh apocalypse.
It’s a much bigger conversation, but I know the Bible teaches God is not fickle. He does not think like we do. And he values partnership with humans. Our actions matter. And he’s also just…and is fully capable of acting out justice against people who act against his goodness and use their power to hurt others. But…he loves when people turn to him. And as we’ll see next week he is eternally overflowing in mercy and love.
What’s the joke of Jonah 3? A giant metropolis of people who we think HATE Israel (because we know in 722 BC Assyria will wipe the northern tribes of Israel off the map) hear five words that make no mention of Israel’s God, what to do, or anything, and they respond in faith. And Jonah - God’s own prophet, a representative of the people of Israel, a people who are given much more than five words, they’re given the ten commandments, they’re given the entire Torah, they are given the very presence of God himself - seems to be having a hard time obeying the word of the LORD.
What do we make of this?
The word of the LORD is the most powerful force in the universe.
The word of the LORD is the most powerful force in the universe.
EVERYTHING started because God spoke. Let there be light, and there was light.
Language is God’s chosen means of making things happen.
Which is funny because language is messy. What did Jonah mean by ‘overthrown’? So many problems in our world are because we misinterpret things and we got lost in translation.
Eugene Peterson in his book, “Eat this Book” about the Bible says something to the effect of “Why did God use words of all things to make the universe? He could’ve been a lot more straightforward if he used say, math. But you can’t use Algebra to say “I love you.”
God doesn’t need many words to get his point across, because the word of the LORD is the most powerful force in the universe.
I remember a high school summer camp back in the day, where I got away outside for a little while, and I just asked God, “Is there something you want me to hear?”
And I’ve prayed that prayer many times before and never heard much, but this time, I got just about as close to an audible answer as I’ve ever heard. Three words.
“I love you.”
That’s all I needed.
Think about the story of Paul in the New Testament…he’s assassinating Christians and then he meets Jesus and what does Jesus say to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Five words.
We’re supposed to read Jonah and laugh, “Five words! Five words to upend an entire world power?” Yes, because the word of the LORD is the most powerful force in the universe, even in the hands of an incompetent prophet.
What might God be saying to you today? Is he saying, “You’re going the wrong way. Turn around.” Is he simply saying, “I love you.” Is he saying, “Hang in there. I’m with you.”
And also remember, it really matters that you’re hear. As Christians, we are people who believe just like that King of Nineveh, that more important than food, more important than shelter, more important than money, more important than drinking water today…it’s more important that we hear from God’s word. And that’s why we have sermons at church. To hear in the flesh from someone who cares about you speaking to you from God’s word. It matters.
Turn to Jesus.
Turn to Jesus.
The painful irony of Jonah 3, is that it only took five words from a minor league prophet to have them turn to God, but Jonah’s own people who were given the very words of God (10 commandments, the Old Testament) failed to turn themselves.
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
And what happened? Israel would be destroyed by Assyria.
If Vladimir Putin clearly heard five words from God, he would turn.
If the Proud Boys clearly heard five words from God, they would turn.
Jesus references this event in Luke 11.
32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Jesus came preaching his own short sermon, his was seven words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And the Jewish people rejected him. And Jesus says, you know what’s strange, this is just like that story in Jonah. You who have they very words of God, do not turn to him when he shows up. But the unlikeliest of people hear me and turn to me.
Paul says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 3 about the Jewish people.
14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
How do we turn to Jesus?
Believe
Believe
What do the Ninevites do? Believe. No theological training required. Do you believe Jesus is the one God sent to save the world, and that he now is King of the Universe and is Lord of your life?
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Do you believe?
The second thing we must do is
Confess
Confess
The people of Nineveh turn from their wicked way.
Turning to Jesus means turning away from something else.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If you trust Jesus and confess your sin to him, your sins past, present, and future, are forgiven. But this ongoing practice of confession aligns us with God and helps us to walk in the light with him.
I think our Catholic brothers and sisters may be wrong on some stuff, but the practice of going to a priest for confession is not all bad. Do you need a go-between to talk to Jesus? No. But is it helpful to say to a safe person, “Hey, I just need to let you know, I drank way too much this week.” And to hear that person say, “I forgive you, and Jesus forgives you.” “Hey, I just need to confess that I was harboring horrible thoughts towards my spouse this week.” “I forgive you, and Jesus forgives you.”
In order to turn from our sin, we must confess it to God and to each other.
This is the value of community. Do you have someone you regularly talk with who you can safely confess sin to and remind you that God has turned from his wrath and now offers you his love and grace?
I just want to offer one more suggestion based on our text.
Fasting
Fasting
The Ninevites react in a very Israelite way by fasting upon hearing God’s impending judgment.
Fasting is a way to act out the reality that we are nothing without God. It is a way to say to God, “There is nothing more important than you.”
I only recently started this practice. If I was taught how to fast, I never listened. And frankly, it’s a hard thing to do. Sure, hearing from God is important…but so is breakfast!
And I’m still very early on, and many days when I fast I don’t experience any major spiritual experience. But on the days I fast I find myself more often than I do other days saying, “Jesus, I need you.”
Hear me clearly, God will not love you any more if you fast for 40 days and 40 nights, but, is there a chance that by fasting - maybe even just skipping lunch one day this week and intentionally praying, confessing your sin, talking with Jesus.
Again, when we read Jonah 3, the joke is on us. If that’s how the Ninevites responded…if that’s how Isis would respond to God’s word…how then might we respond? What would it look like if Gateway Chapel turned to Jesus regularly in prayer and fasting?
The beauty of the gospel is that the word of the LORD is not just a force, it is a person. The Bible says the word of God became flesh and entered humanity as Jesus. God loves his creation so much that he went to even greater lengths than sending a fish to eat a prophet, he sent his very own son to enter the water depths of the grave on our behalf. And Jesus came out the other side and was risen to new life. Something greater than Jonah is here, and now the most important thing in our life is figuring out how will we respond to the word of the LORD.
Communion
Before we go and I leave you with a blessing, if you want to get more connected at Gateway, please fill out one of those cards. If you do not get the Gateway Weekly email, please let me know and we can get you on that it’s really helpful for information about events, community groups, what’s going on in the church.
One announcement today before we go. Cathy Loden has faithfully served as our Children’s Ministry Coordinator for the last two years. She started in March of 2020 which means in her two years she has been doing a variety of different things. She was there in our previous building at Auburn Riverside, then she was driving door to door dropping off kids activities when we were doing Facebook Live Church, she was setting things up at Mike and Annmarie’s backyard when we were doing church outside, and she’s been figuring out how to serve and love our kiddos for a year in this brand new space. Cathy has done a fantastic job and has helped make disciples in this role.
Cathy would like to pass the baton off to a new coordinator by the beginning of the fall school year, so early September. And so we’re opening this position up of Children’s Ministry Coordinator to all of you to say, would you be interested in this role? It’s a paid, part time position, and if you have a heart for helping kids hear, love, and obey Jesus, we’d love to talk to you. Get a hold of me if you’re interested. We will post the job on the website this week, and send an email out to everyone as well. But please pray about potentially stepping in to this role.
There may be a few of you who are interested, most of you are probably not, however. And so I have actually have a job for you. And that’s please, please, please, tell Cathy thank you. Bless her in return for all the ways she has blessed us as a church family. Honor her as our sister in Christ!
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.