Themes of the Bible: Running (Jonah 1)

 

Themes of the Bible: Running (Jonah 1)

Before we get started, the homework for next week is to pre-read Nehemiah chapter 1. Now this week, if you were here last Sunday you know that we're in Jonah chapter 1.

If you did the reading or are familiar with the book of Jonah, maybe you have the same opinion as I do, and maybe not, but I will just start off by telling you that I don't really like the guy. I mean I wish that I could tell you something differently. I have read this account. I read the entire book just to make sure I was properly prepared for this message, and I think that I understand it and I still don't like him. I look at all of these figures in Scripture that are the heroes of Scripture and Jonah would come in at last of the guys that I would want to hang out with, or would want to spend time with.

Most people know what a stereotype is. A stereotype is where there's a general belief about a group of people. So, you take one of those individuals from that group of people and you believe the steryotype to be true of them even though you don't necessarily have any personal evidence regarding what is true about them in relation to the entire group. That's what a stereotype is, and I'll give you an example. I'll stick with my own family so nobody is offended.

I think my wife shatter stereotypes you're going to have. Think about the stereotypes for a preacher's wife, things that people think that a preacher's wife will be and the way that they will act? Some things we might assume is that a preacher’s wife will play the piano, teach the kid’s Sunday school, lead a ladies Bible study or prayer group. But the truth, when you get to know Christiana, you’ll see that she’s an amazing, wonderful woman, but she doesn’t do any of those things. 

That's what this chapter of Jonah and really the entire book of Jonah did for me. It shatters the stereotypes we have about prophets. Jonah is a prophet, and he does not act like a prophet. He isn’t anything like Isaiah. He's not anything like Jeremiah. He's not like Amos that we read about last week. He's nothing like these people, and I’ll give you a couple of reasons why he's not. First, when he actually preaches it's a short message and it's pretty much ‘you better repent.’ So, it's not his words, but his actions that God uses as prophecy, which is unlike the other prophets. And number two, Jonah never seems to repent. There are different theologians who will try to weave it in there and say well, I think here he might be repenting. I don’t really see that in the text.

Ok, let’s look into these two things. First, his prophecy is more his actions than his words. If you read the book of Hosea, Hosea is an Old Testament prophet, and Gomer is his wife, and she is very unfaithful to him repeatedly. And Hosea takes her back over and over and over despite her adultery, and God uses that as a prophetic example of Israel cheating on God. And yet God's ever lovingkindness that continues to accept them back. If you read the prophet Joel, he uses an example of a plague of locusts to describe to the Israelites what's going to happen. “This plague is going to be like the horns of soldiers that are going to come in because of your disobedience.” So, you have these different prophets, they use different things. But then Jonah comes along, and if you didn't pick up on this, it is Jonah himself. It's what Jonah is doing. That is a graphic representation of what Israel is doing. The rebellion that Jonah has against God is God's picture of what Israel is doing to Him. That's the whole concept of his prophecy.

Now, secondly, he doesn't really repent. You have a lot of Old Testament figures, and they're fallible, they're normal human beings who do bad things. Moses murdered a guy. Abraham sleeps with Hagar to have a baby because he doesn't want to wait on God’s promise to be fulfilled. Jacob steals his brother's birthright and his blessing. David has the whole thing with Bathsheba. So, you have Old Testament figures, God's champions, who are fallible men who do bad things, but they all repent, and they all grow in their faith. That's not Jonah. You do not see that in this text at all. You can read to the end of chapter 4, and I guarantee you, you're going to like him even less than you did in chapter one. The book itself has no resolution to Jonah’s rebellion. You know what that sounds like? To me? It sounds like the entirety of the Old Testament. If you compile the entire Old Testament, it's talking about the rebellion of man and the sin of man and all the things that man's doing wrong, and it's hinting at a resolution. But when Nehemiah and Malachi write, because they’re at the very end of the Old Testament era, when they each write their final words and then there's 400 years of silence, you're sitting there saying, what, where's the resolution? Well, the resolution comes when we get to John chapter 1, but you’ve got to wait for that.

Jonah is before Amos begins his ministry preaching to Israel about their impending judgement from God via the Assyrians. Assyria their enemy is growing stronger and it's creeping closer. And that's the time that Jonah is there. Now the capital city of Assyria is Nineveh and Nineveh is full of pagan and corrupt people. They're gross. They're perverts. They're doing all kinds of nasty stuff that you would expect of ungodly people. And that's when you get to Jonah chapter 1. Look at verses 1 through 3. [Read Jonah 1:1-3]. Ok, there is nothing ambiguous, nothing confusing about what God said to do. Go and preach. That is a direct command of God. You can't read those words and say, I'm not exactly sure what God meant by this. No, he said it plainly: go preach repentance. Additionally, there's nothing ambiguous about what Jonah did. He engaged in disobedience.

Let's start here with the disobedience. Do you know why Jonah said no, you kind of have to read a little bit further, but actually Jonah tells you in this book, why he said no. Let me fast forward through chapter two. The big fish comes in, Jonah isn't happy in the belly of the fish and so it vomits him up on land. And then in Jonah chapter 3 God will say the exact same thing to Jonah that he just said in chapter 1. It's like a redo. It's like God has said, ‘alright, did you enjoy the fish? Let's try this again.’ So, Jonah gets it right this time and he begrudgingly goes to Nineveh, probably dragging his feet the whole time. So he gets there and he basically walks through the city of Nineveh saying, ‘you better repent, or you're going die.’ That's pretty much what his sermon is, and when he preaches that horrible message, the people repent. The city of Nineveh, these awful people, they are cut to the heart and convicted and they repent and when they repent, God relents against these people, and he forgives them. And it's at that moment in chapter 4 that this pouting prophet says exactly why he ran away in the first place. Here's what he says. [Read Jonah 4:1-3]. Okay, he's telling you, what has happened is exactly why I didn't go when you told me the first place. I told you this was going to happen, God. I knew what was going to happen. I knew that you are a gracious and a compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. I know who you are God, you just forgive people. You really enjoy giving people a second chance, and you don't understand, these people don't deserve a second chance. Now Lord, just take away my life. I don't want to live in a world where you forgive those people over there. I don't even want to be around because you love people too much.

Let’s be honest, Jonah is a racist. He is a prime example of a racist and a nationalist. He views the people of Nineveh as inferior to him. He is one of God's elect. He is one of God's chosen, God has shined his favor on him, not them. And over here in Nineveh, you have a different race of a different nation, a different nationality, and they don't belong to God, and they don’t deserve God's favor. That's exactly what is happening right here. He does not want these people to repent. He wants them to burn. That is why he got in the boat and he sailed away from God, because he had already cast judgment upon these people who are not worthy of the mercy, grace, and salvation of God. This is totally the polar opposite of what Jesus teaches. If you're reading this story, and you're sympathetic to Jonah, that should send some red flags up for you. You should not be sympathetic because this is totally opposite of what Jesus has taught us to be. “You've heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, Jesus says, Love your enemies.” Do we?

The people who are your political opposition, the people who have different views than you on serious, controversial issues. Do you love those people? And do you pray for those people? Scripture tells us to “Pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” If you only love those who love you, if you love those that believe like you, if you love those that look like you what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you're set apart, you're to be different. You aren't to react in the worldly ways of revenge and vengeance towards people that are different than you, either the way they look or the way they think. You're supposed to be different.

Now, there's no way Jonah writing this book could have known what was going to happen in the New Testament. Do you know who Jonah is if we’re looking for New Testament parallels? Let me set the stage and see if you can figure it out. Okay, you've got one who is faithfully serving the Father, and you've got another who goes and he squanders everything and wild living and perversion and all of that stuff. And then that one that has been perverted and squandering everything that belonged to the Father, he repents, and he turns back to the Father, and the father forgives in his great compassion. You seen the story of Jonah here, and what does that one do back at home? You know what I'm talking about now? Yes, the prodigal son. Jonah is the prodigal’s brother. The prodigal son comes home and the brother is sitting there saying, ‘What are you doing, Dad? He doesn't deserve your compassion. I've been faithfully serving. I'm one of yours and he's been out there doing all those nasty things, and you're going to forgive him?” That is a perfect parallel of what is happening here. Jonah is the prodigal son’s brother.

Alright, let’s pick it back up with verse 4. [Read Jonah 4:4-9]. These verses, 4 through 9. We could do weeks on those little verses because they’re so packed full of lessons and teachings and insights. But let’s start in verse 4. God sends the storm. Now these guys that he's paid the fare to, are professional sailors. They are used to the open seas. So, the fact that we have this storm that has them all freaked out to the point of chucking their cargo This must have been one crazy storm. And look at what they do, in verse 5. These are pagan, ungodly men yet they see all of this as a religious issue. What's the first thing that they do? They cry out to their gods. Now they're not praying out to the right God, but they are obviously aware that the first thing they need to do is to consult a higher power. Do you remember when we were in the book of Daniel and I talked about how Daniel’s life was characterized by prayer? If I believe that what God thinks matters most, and I do, then I should be consulting God about what he thinks about issues. So, whenever there's a controversial issue or something I'm dealing with, the first thing I should do is consult God and His Word to find out what God thinks about this.

Now these guys don't know the same God as Daniel, but they're reacting in the same way. I want you to pause and contrast the reaction of the sailors with Jonah here. The prophet of God has ignored the omnipresence of God and thought he could escape from God. But these sailors, they don't know for one true living God, but they are acknowledging that whatever is out there is intricately involved in the affairs of man and we need to reach out to Him. How embarrassing that is that a prophet of God is being humiliated by the faithfulness of pagans. Look at verse 6. [Read Jonah 4:6]. They asked him to pray. Unbelievable. A heathen sea captain is commanding a prophet of the one true God to pray. That's how this all unfolds. And by the way, we don't know that Jonah actually did pray. I would contend that he probably doesn't. Because what is he going to say? He's in rebellion to God. He's running away from God. So how is he going to appeal to God? And if he does, God clearly wasn't listening. So, in verse 7, the men say, we don't know what else to do. So, they cast lots of game of chance. Let's figure out who's responsible. Let's play this game of chance and see if we can figure it out and the lot falls on Jonah. And even after it falls on him, they show compassion and a reluctance to do him any harm. It's amazing to me to watch this.

If you can't tell, I'm very impressed with the sailors in the story. They are more central to me in this story than this rebellious prophet. I want you to skip verses 8 and 9 for just a second. I want to finish the sermon with those verses because it ties into next week. But look, starting in verse 10 through 15 at what unfolds. [Read Jonah 4:10-15]. Can you imagine how freaky that would be? You have this massive hurricane like storm, and Jonah says, ‘I've upset God. Throw me into the water and it'll be fine.’ You exhaust all other options, so you toss him in and the storm is immediately gone. I mean, can you imagine being those sailors for just a second? First of all, let's go back and look at their responses. How could you do this? How could you defy your god like this? We have a prophet of God who is so rebellious that even the pagans are amazed. Then, look at what these pagan guys do. They make another effort to save his life and understand they're risking their own. There's all kinds of rocky shores and these hidden reefs. They're risking their own lives to save this man's life, who has endangered theirs by his disobedience. Only with all other options exhausted, they offer a prayer, then toss him overboard. See that? Who are they calling out to in verse 14? We can see that this storm has caused the sailors to forsake their idols, their false gods and they are now calling on the name of the Lord and when they toss Jonah in, and he sinks below the water and the sea becomes calm, they realize that God is God. And what happens? Look at verse 16, [Read Jonah 4:16].

They were saved. It's the master chess player again. Can you imagine Satan for a second? Satan thinks that Nineveh is about to get destroyed. He’s probably thinking, ‘I've corrupted the people of Nineveh, they're corrupt, they're going to be destroyed. And then then you've got God calling on his prophet Jonah to go and try to save them. And I've corrupted Jonah to the point and now he's rebellious.’ Satan was probably loving it. Nineveh is going to get wiped out, God’s prophet is going to go down in this storm. Satan probably thinks that’s awesome. And what does God do? Jonah ran away from preaching to the pagan Ninevites, and God uses his rebellion, his actions to testify to pagan sailors that leads them to salvation. I mean, at some point, you know, Satan just flips the desk up. ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ The pagan sailors I didn't even see that coming. That's exactly what's happening here. Think about these guys and where their lives would have ended up had God not shown us Jonah's rebellion. See, you can try to outsmart God and you can try to be rebellious but he's going to work things to His glory. Why not join his team? Why not be part of the cause instead of trying futilely to rebel against it?

I had always thought that somehow Jonah was the hero of the story, and I wasn't sure how, but he had to be the hero of the story. Well, after all, Christians name their kids Jonah, right? So, Jonah has got to be the hero, but he's not. First of all, God is the hero of the story. And the sailors are so much more of what God wants us to be. Think about it. The sailors fought to live, while Jonah said, ‘just let me die. I'm not getting what I want. Just kill me.’ The sailors work to uncover the sin. They’re trying to figure out what went wrong. Jonah is on the boat because he's completely content to persist in his sin. The sailors know so little, and yet their obedience with the little bit they actually know is powerful. The sailors pray but Jonah doesn't. The sailors are actively trying to save the ship and Jonah is asleep at the bottom of the boat. The sailors have compassion on Jonah, and Jonah had no compassion for the people God called him to minister too. Stop and think about that. The sailors are trying to save the life of a man who has brought near death upon them and calamity upon them, but they're still trying to save him. Contrast that with Jonah, the Ninevites have done nothing to him, but he just hated them. So, he would not go and try to save them. While Jonah was totally indifferent to the whole thing, the sailors demonstrated a growing fear and reverence of God. It's pretty clear who our example is in this passage and it's not Jonah.

Now, I want to go back and look at verses 8 and 9 as we wrap this thing up, and we'll tie it in a little bit with last week. [Read Jonah 4:8-9]. Notice those questions that are asked. These are worldly questions from worldly minds. It's what men care about. Where are you from? Who are your people? What's your ethnicity? And what do you do for a living? What's your occupation? Look at these questions, what is it that matters to man? How does man identify other human beings? How do we judge other human beings on that basis? What do you do and where are you from? That's what the world looks at. That's what the world asks about and formulates opinions on. Your worth is contained in those things right there in the eyes of the world. And Jonah, he's a lot like other Israelites, who love their ethnic origin. They became proud of their ancestry, being descendants of Abraham and God's chosen people. But chapter 1 is teaching us that these questions that men care so much about, God doesn't care about at all. God is not interested in those questions of man. The questions that God cares about have always been the same: Do you love me, and do you love your fellow man? Over and over throughout the pages of Scripture, those are the two questions that God is asking.

The whole point of Jonah is reinforcing this; love God and love your fellow man, which Jonah didn’t. Unsurprisingly, you get to the New Testament, and the religious leaders that Jesus has conflicts with are doing the exact same thing. They don't care about their fellow man. They care about their own position. So, Jonah is the prophetic embodiment of who these religious leaders would be. Jonah chapter 1 is teaching us that God is not concerned about your race or your origins or your occupation. He's not concerned about that. He's concerned that you are doing what He has commanded you to do. Jonah knew the law, but we see here that it is obeying the law that matters. And that’s the message of Jonah chapter 1.

Let’s pray.