Series on Book of
Jonah #1
"RUNNING AWAY FROM GOD!"
-or‑
"Going Overboard Sounds Fishy ... Even if you have a
Whale of a good time!"
TEXT:
Jonah 1:1-17
INTRO:
There are 2
kinds of people who run away from God!
a. Unbelievers
b.
Believers!
There are usually 2 basic
reasons why people run away from God!
a. They are frightened and fearful of loss - they think God will control them, or cost them too much.
b. They are afraid of God doing
too much good! Some Christians fall
into this category, they are fine with God blessing their own life; but aren't
crazy about God blessings others that they don't think deserve it as much as
they do!
Sometimes both reasons
are at work ... the Christian who is running from God might be confused and
fearful over losing something, but they might also be afraid that God might do
something good that they don't want to happen ... and then they would have to
accept it and act responsibly!
Jonah is a good example of the believer who is trying to run away from God because he knows God is good ... and the answer God wants to bring to sinful people isn't one that he likes! But this kind of wayward running usually ends in a dead end!
ILLUS: It is said that Dr. Mortimer Adler suddenly
left a discussion group at a tea quite disgusted, slamming the door after
him. One person trying to relieve
the tension, remarked, "Well, he's gone."
To this the hostess replied, "No, he isn't. That's a closet!" We share the same
plight when we attempt to rush from God's presence. We are confined to
ourselves. --
Myron S. Augsburger, When Reason Fails.
Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no.
9.
PROP. SENT: Running from God
will never make your life easier ... it will only add additional heartache to it
... God is merciful but the trip back might be rougher than you hoped for! ...
best thing to do is not sail away!
I. RUNNING AWAY! Jonah
1:1-3
A. Orders
Received! Jonah
1:1-2
1. There were few prophets available
at this time, Hosea, Amos and Jonah were about the only 3 men prophesying to all
a. At this time the
b.
c. Because of this quiet
affluence there was no war, but also the people of God had become lax in their
worship of God.
2. In their lax attitudes toward God in prosperity and peace God decides to talk to both nations.
a. Amos came from the Southern
kingdom and prophesied to the
b. Hosea was a native son to the
c. Jonah who also came from the
3. God desired to speak to His
people, even if they weren't anxious to hear!
a. The 3 prophets each had the same message ... but different styles because of their context:
b. Amos spoke harshly against
the
c. Hosea wept over the Northern
Kingdoms indifference, his tone was much softer for he identified with the
d. Jonah was popular and had
gained a good reputation among the Hebrews for his word had come true about the
expanded kingdom and prosperity ... They were God's privileged people and they
liked this special status, prosperity, and peace!
4. Now you can understand why Jonah wasn't thrilled with God's orders ... although it concerned a harsh word against a huge enemy Gentile city (Nineveh) ... Jonah knew God was loving and forgiving and the last thing he wanted to see was a bunch of Gentiles get in on the kingdom blessings by repenting of their sins!
ILLUS: A farmer asked his neighbor if he might
borrow a rope.
"Sorry," said the neighbor, "I'm using the rope to tie up my
milk."
"Milk?" exclaimed the first farmer. "Rope can't tie up
milk."
"I know," replied the neighbor, "but when a man doesn't want to do
something, one reason is as good as another." -- James S. Hewett,
Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p.
183.
a. Jonah understood that these
wicked enemies of
b. would make Jonah as a prophet look bad to his own people who loved him for his good and favorable words of prosperity and peace.
B. Organized Resistance! Jonah
1:3
1. Jonah probably thought, if I get
out of the PROMISE land, the
2. He pays a boat fare, the
destination is the farthest point known in the world at that time in the
opposite direction from
a. He carefully plans his opposition and running from God!
b. Travels to nearby Joppa on the coast.
c. Purchases a boat ticket.
d. Hops on board and justifies his actions all the way! EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW BETTER! How many times do we Christians do this?
e. The irony here is that to
prevent God from savings hundreds of thousands of Gentiles Jonah gets on board a
Gentile ship! He doesn't mind using them... when he should
have been saving them!
3. Why would God send Noah to
ILLUS: Sign on the desk of an airline executive in
a. This was jealously at work with the Hebrews enjoying the blessings of God as a special people; they didn't want anyone else to cash in on it ... especially not Gentiles!
b. Yet this had been God's plan all along ... once they were secure and strong they were supposed to be doing missionary work and taking God's message to the nations of the world!
c. Jonah refuses
to be the missionary to the Gentiles, but using them and riding on their boats
is ok!
II. RECKLESS ATTITUDE Jonah
1:4-11
A. Operation Rescue! Jonah
1:4-5
1. You know you can't really run away from God!
2. Sure enough God knows exactly where Jonah is ... and sends him a message via the air and water! THINGS GET REAL STORMY when we run from God!
3. While Jonah lay sound asleep in the
belly of the boat caring nothing for the Gentiles he was riding with, they are
battling the storm, trying to save not only their own lives, BUT HIS! They cared more for him than he was showing
toward them!
a. Why the bottom of the boat
... because when you run from God you like to
hide!
ILLUS: I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. -- Wilbur Rees, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.
b. What a contrast to the time
when Jesus was sound asleep in the belly of a boat during a storm! His sleep was sweet, Jonah's was
escape!
4. What Jonah didn't know was that running away from God by hiding in the belly of the boat would cost him a return ticket in the belly of a great fish where he would confront God anyway!
5. The men sacrificed everything they owned to
try and save their lives and Jonah's ... while Jonah wouldn't sacrifice anything
to see 100,000's of lives saved!
B. Ornery
Rider! Jonah
1:6
1. "How can you sleep" ... a question I've asked many a backslider!
2. All these Gentiles ask is for Jonah to call upon whatever God he served ... the least he could do at a moment like this for them!
3. Still he refuses and acts indifferent! They had a real problem on their hands ... an ornery believer! Nothing could be worse!
ILLUS: A summer visitor was asking a local farmer
how to get off
a. Instead of helping them, he continues to just be ornery and obnoxious.
b. They came to Jonah for help, they didn't mind asking a Jew for help as Gentiles; but he being Jewish he had no interest in helping them as Gentiles ... after all, he didn't care about the 100,000's of Gentiles in Nineveh either!
C. Obvious Reason Jonah
1:7-11
1. Having exhausted every logical approach to the storm they assume this is not just some odd accident of nature ... someone has brought this upon them!
2. As Jonah watched, they cast lots to find out who was the reason for the angry gods or god! Guess who the lot fell to -- JONAH!
3. Even
unbelievers can be disgusted with miserable saints who are trying to run from
God!
a. Quickly they ask all the logical
questions:
(1. "Who is responsible for this trouble...?"
(2. "What do you do?"
(3. "Where do you come from?"
(4. "What is your country?"
(5. "Who are your
people?"
b. IRONICALLY he states to them that he belongs to the people of the one true God and that he is a worshipper! * How interesting ... he can brag about his membership, but be out on the boat running from God while his brethren are worshipping!
c. They immediately made the
connections, and they were terrified ... Jonah had told them already that he was
running from God, but now they realized that this might be the ONE REAL GOD
since all their appeals had failed to their false
gods!
4. What this meant was that their safety was in the hands of a stranger ... one that didn't seem to care a whole lot about them or others!
5. The final obvious question was, "WHAT CAN WE DO
TO YOU TO MAKE THIS STORM CALM DOWN?" Jonah 1:11
III. REPENTANCE ACCEPTED Jonah
1:12-17
A. Overboard Results! Jonah
1:12-16
1. Jonah's answer was simple and
honest! "Throw me
overboard!"
a. This quick answer demonstrates the state of mind he was in ... while he acknowledges his sin he seeks to play the role of a martyr in the end!
b. Martyrdom using the means of going overboard!
ILLUS: Between two farms near Valleyview, Alberta,
you can find two parallel fences, only two feet apart, running for a half
mile. Why are there two fences when
one would do? Two farmers, Paul and
Oscar, had a disagreement that erupted into a feud. Paul wanted to build a fence
between their land and split the cost, but Oscar was unwilling to contribute.
Since he wanted to keep cattle on his land, Paul went ahead and built the fence
anyway.
After the fence was completed, Oscar said to Paul, "I see we have a
fence." "What do you mean 'we'?"
Paul replied. "I got the property line surveyed and built the fence two feet
into my land. That means some of my land is outside the fence. And if any of
your cows sets foot on my land, I'll shoot it." Oscar knew Paul wasn't joking, so when
he eventually decided to use the land adjoining Paul's for pasture, he was
forced to build another fence, two feet away. Oscar and Paul are both gone now, but
their double fence stands as a monument to the high price we pay for
stubbornness. -- Daren Wride Valleyview,
2. Though he repents of sorts ... he
at least assumes his death will mean that the capital city of the Assyrian
empire,
3. Ironically again, the men refuse
this harsh treatment and continue to do everything humanely possible to save
Jonah as well as themselves!
a. They were more
compassionate towards him than he to
them!
b. If he really was sorry for his sin,
he could have just offered to jump without their help of throwing him overboard
... but he doesn't offer to simply jump himself, he wants them to throw him
overboard!
c. They realize human effort won't
work ... so the PRAY TO THE GOD OF
JONAH!
(1. They ask for God's forgiveness before they act!
(2. They acknowledge the innocent blood they would be spilling!
(3. They
acknowledge the Sovereignty of God in the
process!
d. Then they threw Jonah overboard ...
and the sea immediately calmed down!
(1. This brought a great sense of conviction on them about God!
(2. Jonah's rebellion would save
even these few Gentiles ... they sought for God by making sacrifices for their
sins ... and making vows before the true God!
4. Would Jonah have been mad if he knew that these Gentiles had gotten saved in the process of his rebellion? Now he has several Gentile converts on his conscious!
a. Poor Jonah, he couldn't even disobey God without someone getting saved!
b. How ironic is God's love that
even our worst actions can sometimes lead to other people's
redemption!
B. Ocean
Ride! Jonah
1:17
1. But Jonah had an even bigger
surprise waiting for him! As he
fell overboard thinking, "at least
2. He couldn't run away from God like he
thought!
a. Now, he who rode in the belly of a comfortable ship ...
b. He would now return in the
belly of a smelly fish!
3. The ride back to God can sometimes be uncomfortable... but it is better than never returning!
4. Had Jonah originally gone to
a. What did he gain by trying to
run from God!?
(1. Bitterness
(2. Storming climate
(3. Cost an entire crew their earthly supplies!
(4. A ride in the belly of a huge
fish, slop and all! (if you think
handling a fish makes you smell, try living in one for 3
days)!
b. How much better if he had
obeyed God in the first place and not run!
5. God got the first word and the last
... He always does you know! Jonah
bought a one way ticket, and got a free return trip ... God doesn't let go of us
very easily but that doesn't mean the return trip is always
smooth!
ILLUS:
The captain of the ship
looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he
told his signalman to send a message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received:
"Alter your course 10 degrees north."
The
captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your
course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message was received:
"Alter your course 10 degrees north -- I am a seaman third class
Jones."
Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would
evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south -- I am a battleship." Then the reply came: "Alter your course
10 degrees north -- I am a lighthouse."
In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are
shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our
lives. Out of the darkness, one
voice signals something quite opposite to the rest -- something almost
absurd. But the voice happens to be
the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our peril. -- Paul Aiello, Jr., Leadership, Vol.
4, no. 2.
6. Why fight
it? Why run away from
God?
a. Usually it is because we are bitter against God ... so we think we are going to get even with Him, imagine that!
b. Sometimes we are running away because we are afraid God might do something wonderful and then we have to adjust our hearts toward this miracle. It seems easier to run away! Sometimes we hope God won't answer because then we might have to accept something we don't really want ... so we run hoping we won't have to be responsible or so it won't happen!
c. God might let you run a
certain distance, but remember that return trip ... the longer you're running
away the more time spent in the belly of the fish on the return
trip!
CONCLUSION: In reality it is hard to run away from a
God who is everywhere ... even when you're running away from Him you are sure to
run into Him! While you might get
some satisfaction out of running away, just remember the return trip might be
more uncomfortable than you would like to have ... just ask Jonah about his
return trip! Running away NEVER
gains you anything except a big fish story! It is far better to run to God than to
try running from God! SO IF YOU
RUNNING AWAY ... GIVE IT UP
ALREADY!