Jonah God s Relentless Love God Never Gives Up Pastor Pat Damiani May 13, 2018

Transcription

1 Jnah Gd s Relentless Lve Gd Never Gives Up Pastr Pat Damiani May 13, 2018 Shw clip frm Taken. This gripping scene is frm the 2008 film Taken. In that mvie, retired CIA agent Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neesn, has nly 96 hurs t find his daughter, wh has been kidnapped. Early in the mvie we learn that Mills relatinship with his daughter hasn t always been great, due in large part t his wrk. But he decides t change his career path in rder t try and gain back sme f the time and trust he lst with his nly daughter. S Mills relentlessly pursues his daughter, vercming all kinds f bstacles alng the way. When he finally finds her n the yacht f a rich Arab businessman, where she had been sld int slavery, and saves her, she cllapses int the arms f her bldied and beaten father and says, Daddy yu came fr me. T which Mills replies quietly I tld yu I wuld. Fr the next fur weeks, we re ging t lk at the stry f anther Father wh lves his children s much that He is willing t relentlessly pursue them like that, even when they have rebelled against Him. Mst peple cnsider that stry t be the biggest fish stry ever tld. But it s nt a stry abut a fish, nr is it even a stry abut a fisherman. It is instead a stry abut Gd and His relentless lve fr all even thse we wuld nt expect. And secndarily it is a stry abut a reluctant prphet named Jnah wh is a lt mre like all f us that we wuld like t admit. My gal is t accmplish tw imprtant gals ver these next fur weeks: 1) I want us all t develp a greater appreciatin f the lve f a Gd wh cnstantly pursues us even when we run away frm Him, and 2) I want us all t develp a deeper lve fr thers, especially fr thse wh might seem far frm Gd r wh might be s much different frm us. The stry f Jnah is ne f the mst familiar in the entire Bible fr many f us. If we ve been arund the church fr any time at all, it s ne that mst f us learned as kids. The stry itself is nt all that lng. In my Bible it takes up less than tw pages. But I m pretty sure that we re ging t learn sme things frm that stry that we may nt have cnsidered befre. S g ahead and turn in yur Bibles t the bk f Jnah. If yu re nt sure where that is, it s between the bks f Obadiah and Micah. Hnestly, that might nt be a whle lt f help since Obadiah, which we ll be studying in July, is nly ne chapter lng. S there s n shame in using yur table f cntents t find it that s what it s there fr. Or, if yu re using the same Bible I m using, it begins n page 774. Befre I read the first chapter, I want t shw yu a brief vide that will give us an verview f the histry and structure f the bk. Shw Jnah vide frm The Bible Prject (thru 2:12). With that backgrund in mind, please fllw alng as I read the first chapter. [Read Jnah 1:1-17] In verse 1, we read that the wrd f the Lrd came t Jnah. That is a phrase that is used frequently in the Old Testament t indicate that smene is a prphet. Gd s directin t Jnah is very clear He is t g t Nineveh and preach the message that Gd will give him. Jnah wuld have been very familiar with Nineveh, which was lcated in Assyria. The Assyrians had been lng time enemies f Israel and the Ninevites were knwn fr being particularly brutal and vicius. They had been knwn t skin alive the men they had defeated in battle and then bury them in the sand t suffer a slw, cruel death. S it s nt hard t understand Jnah s reluctance t g there.

2 But in ne f the many twists that permeate the bk f Jnah, we re nt ging t find ut the real reasn that Jnah disbeys Gd until we get t chapter 4. S if yu want t find that ut, yu ll have t cme back in three weeks. Nw yu have t give it t Jnah, when he decides t disbey Gd, he sure desn t d it half-heartedly, des he? Instead f heading east abut 300 miles t g t Nineveh, he instead heads 2,500 miles in the ppsite directin twards Tarshish in Spain. [Shw map]. He begins his jurney by ging dwn t the seaprt in Jppa ntice that in this part f the stry Jnah is always ging dwn and there he finds a ship that is ready t sail fr his intended destinatin. He ges dwn int the ship and it sets sale twards Tarshish. Jnah ges dwn nce again int the inner part f the ship and falls asleep. And it was nt a little cat nap, but rather a deep sleep. In the meantime, a great strm cmes up ne that scares even the seasned mariners n bard. I think mst f the time when we read the stry f Jnah, we tend t pass right ver these sailrs. But they are actually a very integral part f the stry, especially here in chapter 1. These pagan men, wh had many gds, actually becme Jnah s very first cnverts n this trip even thugh that is certainly nt Jnah s intent. As the strm begins t rage arund them, they d what they have always dne in times f truble they cry ut t their many gds. But, as we wuld expect, that des abslutely n gd at all. S they began t thrw their carg verbard in rder t lighten the ship. But that still wasn t ding the trick. S, as a last resrt, they finally wake up Jnah and tell him t cry ut t his gd, figuring it can t hurt. When that desn t wrk either, they decide t cast lts and Jnah is identified as the culprit wh has caused this tremendus strm. They ask him a series f questins abut wh he is, where he is frm and his ccupatin. Jnah s answer in verse 9 is rather interesting. He desn t even answer ne f their questins and tell them that he is a prphet. But he des reveal that he is a Hebrew and that he fears the Lrd wh created the seas and dry land. That s rather irnic given that Jnah didn t fear Gd enugh t d what He had cmmanded him t d. It is als irnic here that the fear f Gd actually impacts these pagan mariners mre than it impacted the ne wh shuld have knwn better Jnah. S when Jnah tld the men t just thrw him verbard, they feared Gd enugh that they weren t abut t thrw the servant f this pwerful Gd verbard and risk even mre peril. S they rwed as hard as they culd t get back t shre, but t n avail. Sensing there was nthing else they culd d, they decided t d what Jnah had suggested and thrw him verbard. But befre they did that they cried ut t the Lrd and asked that they nt be held respnsible fr his impending death. The very mment that Jnah hits the water, the seas calmed. But thse sailrs still feared Gd enugh t wrship Him by making a sacrifice and making vws t Gd. We all knw what happens t Jnah next, but befre we talk abut that, let s pause fr a mment and identify the main theme which is ging t weave its way thrughut the bk f Jnah: Because f His relentless lve, Gd des nt give up n us even when we give up n Him We see that first with the mariners n the ship. Thse men gt n that ship headed fr Tarshish that day just like they had dne many times befre. But unbeknwnst t them, n that particular trip they had a divine appintment with the Lrd. And even thugh these independent, tugh men had never previusly had anything t d with the Lrd, thrugh His svereign cntrl ver His creatin and thrugh the testimny f a reluctant prphet, Gd gt their attentin. He drew them t Himself, s that nly a shrt time int their vyage, they had cme t the pint where they feared Gd enugh t pray t Him and t wrship Him.

3 But that was nly the beginning f this stry. Gd hadn t given up n Jnah, either. In verse 17, we learn that Gd had appinted a great fish t swallw up Jnah. This is the first f three times in the bk where we will see that Gd uses His svereign cntrl ver His creatin t intervene in Jnah s life in rder t shw his relentless lve fr Jnah and t teach Jnah abut His relentless lve fr all peple. Earlier I pinted ut that we are a lt mre like Jnah than we wuld care t admit. S let s see what we can learn frm Jnah that will hpefully prevent us frm making sme f the same mistakes he did. IMPORTANT LIFE LESSONS FROM JONAH 1. Gd still speaks The wrd f the Lrd came t Jnah and it will cme t yu, t. We ve talked abut this idea befre, but it is s imprtant that we need t be reminded f this again. Althugh Gd prbably wn t cme and speak t us audibly, He des still speak t us in a variety f ways. I can t pssibly cver all the ways that Gd speaks, but let me pint ut a few f the mst imprtant. Thrugh His creatin. We see this in Rmans 1 where Paul writes these wrds: Fr what can be knwn abut Gd is plain t them, because Gd has shwn it t them. Fr his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal pwer and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creatin f the wrld, in the things that have been made. S they are withut excuse. (Rmans 1:19 20 ESV) This is what is ften referred t as general revelatin. We can learn a lt abut the nature f Gd just frm bserving His creatin. We see that Gd is a creative Gd, a Gd f beauty and rder, a Gd that lves us s much that He has created a beautiful place fr us t live. Thrugh circumstances. This is ne that, as we ll see mre fully in a few minutes. We need t be careful with because Satan can als use circumstances t try and influence us. But certainly Gd used circumstances t speak t the sailrs n the ship that Jnah barded when he was fleeing frm Gd. Thrugh His Hly Spirit. Thse f yu wh are disciples f Jesus have the Hly Spirit living inside f yu. This is an area that certainly requires mre than just a few minutes t understand fully, but the Bible des teach us that Gd cmmunicates with ur spirits thrugh the Hly Spirit. Jesus prmised that when the Hly Spirit came, He wuld guide us int truth. Paul reminds us that the Hly Spirit prays n ur behalf when we dn t knw what t pray. The Hly Spirit uses ur cnscience t guide us. The primary way that Gd speaks t us is thrugh the Bible. As we talked abut in much mre detail six weeks ag, the Bible is the inspired Wrd f Gd that is prfitable fr teaching, fr reprf, fr crrectin and fr training. Many peple say they want t hear Gd speak, but the best test f whether that is really true in my life is whether I am spending time in Gd s Wrd n a regular basis. In fact, I wuld g s far as t say this: If yu re nt reading, studying, meditating n, and memrizing the Bible n a regular basis, then I wuld have t questin whether yu really want t hear Gd speak. I think ne f the reasns that sme f us are reluctant t really hear Gd speak is that, just like Jnah, we knw that 2. When Gd speaks, I must make a chice Once the wrd f the Lrd came t Jnah, he had t make a chice abut what he was ging t d with that. And Jnah had basically the same three ptins that we have nce we hear Gd speak. I can chse my way

4 When Gd speaks, He ften will ask us t d sme things we really dn t want t d. And the reasn that we dn t want t d thse things always bils dwn t the fact that we cnvince urselves that we knw what is best better than Gd des. That is exactly what Jnah did here. As I said, yu re ging t have t wait until week 4 t fully understand what Jnah was thinking, but even here in chapter 1, it s bvius that he desn t want t d what Gd is calling him t d because he thinks there is a better way. And s he runs frm Gd. And what is really fascinating t me here is that as sn as he decides t chse his wn way, there is a ship there waiting fr him, ready t take him in the wrng directin. And the same thing is usually true fr us. If I chse t fllw my wn way when Gd speaks, there is almst always a ship ready t sail and take me in the wrng directin. That s why I cautined yu earlier abut trying t hear Gd speak nly thrugh circumstances. I can t tell yu hw many times I ve seen this played ut in the lives f peple wh claim t lve Jesus. There are times where they are ding smething that clearly vilates what Gd has revealed, and they bard that ship that is taking them far frm Gd. I ve knwn peple wh say things like I m just nt happy in my marriage. And I really believe that Gd wants me t be happy. S when I met this ther persn wh really seemed t care abut me... And befre they knw it that ship has sailed. I ve knwn peple wh chse their wn way when it cmes t their finances. They excuse the fact that they dn t give Gd the tp prtin f their incme by claiming that tithing is an Old Testament principle that n lnger applies. But then when a great deal cmes alng n smething that they want t buy, they will claim that the deal is just t gd t pass up even if they have t brrw mney t buy it. And befre they knw it that ship has sailed. I ve knwn peple wh chse their wn way when it cmes t their wrk. They vilate the principle f Sabbath rest and wrk lng hurs seven days a week, claiming that they are just ding that t prvide fr their family. But eventually that ship sails, t and they end up lsing the family they claimed they were wrking fr. Or hw abut thse wh refuse t frgive thers? They end up hlding a grudge, smetimes fr the rest f their life. And when that ship sails it brings bitterness and anger and regret. I can delay Smetimes when Gd speaks, we ll think, OK, I ll d that. But I can t really get t it nw s I ll d it later. Essentially that is what happens with Jnah. He des, after Gd intervenes in a miraculus way, eventually d what Gd called him t d. Unfrtunately, we smetimes perpetuate this idea f delayed bedience by the way we parent dn t we? Sn, yu need t clean yur rm. As sn as I m dne with this game. N, I want yu t d it right nw. Just a minute. Lk, I tld yu t d this nw. Dn t make me cme ver there. I m almst dne. One, tw, tw and a half, tw and three quarters, tw and seven eighths What are we teaching ur kids when we d that? We re teaching them that delayed bedience is OK. But as we ve talked abut befre, delayed bedience is disbedience. Pastr and authr Erwin McManus says that the mark f Christian maturity is what he calls time lag. He says that yu can tell the level f maturity in a disciple f Jesus based n the time lag between the cmmand f Gd and the bedience. The lnger the time lag, the less mature the persn is. I think he is right and that is a great test t apply t each f ur wn lives. I can bey Mary and I really enjy snrkeling. And there have been several ccasins where we have gtten in what seems like really calm, clear water and we get s caught up in lking at all the beautiful marine life that we re seeing that when we finally get ready t head back t the shre we lk up and find that we re a lng way frm where we entered the water because the unseen currents have caused us t drift.

5 If we re nt careful, the same thing can happen in ur bedience t Gd. We bey when it cmes t the really big things in ur lives. But in sme f the areas that seem less significant, maybe we just dn t seek Gd s guidance r ther times maybe we think it wn t hurt t disbey Gd just this nce. But after a while we find that we re a lt further away frm Gd that we thught we were because we ve drifted away frm Him.. We really can t be sure that is what happened in Jnah s life. We just dn t have enugh infrmatin in the text t be sure abut that. But there is a hint in the accunt in 2 Kings 14, that perhaps Jnah had been guilty f telling the king what he wanted t hear rather than what Gd wanted t tell him. It s hard fr me t believe that ne day Jnah wke up and just decided that fr the first time in his life, he was ging t disbey Gd. S it s imprtant fr us t bey Gd in every area f ur lives nt just in thse things that we cnsider t be the mst significant. 3. My sin always impacts thers Jnah s sin didn t just affect him. It certainly had an impact n his shipmates. And had he nt later beyed Gd and gne t Nineveh, it wuld have impacted an entire city. Our sin is never cmpletely private. Even if yu can t see it n the surface, yur sin, n matter hw secret yu might think it is, affects thers. And usually the effects are felt mst by thse wh are clsest t us ur spuses, ur children, ur c-wrkers and ur friends. Frtunately fr us, Gd is in the business f straightening that which we have made crked. And in the case f the sailrs n that ship, Gd tk the impacts f Jnah s sin and turned it arund fr the gd f thse men. He used the tremendus strm and the testimny f Jnah t bring them t the place where they feared and wrshiped Him. But just because He can d that desn t mean that He always will. We certainly see that in the life f David. After his adultery with Bathsheba, he repents f that sin. But in spite f the fact that Gd frgives David, He desn t remve the cnsequences f his sin and the baby that resulted frm that adulterus relatinship dies in spite f David s repeated prayers. If yu chse t be unfaithful t yur spuse, it desn t just impact the tw f yu it will impact yur children and every ther member f all the families invlved. If yu chse t sin in the way yu handle yur finances, it may impact yur entire family as well as yur church family. If yur wrk is nt dne accrding t biblical principles, it will affect yur c-wrkers, yur bss, the sharehlders and even their families. Yur sin never just impacts yu persnally. 4. Smetimes my wrst nightmare is exactly what I need Sme peple have claimed that the accunt f Jnah can t pssibly be true. S they either write it ff as a fairy tale r claim that it s nly an allegry. But the bk f Jnah des nt begin with the wrds nce upn a time. And Jesus certainly viewed this as being an histrical accunt when He talked abut Jnah s three days in the belly f the fish being a picture f the three days He wuld be in the grave. Obviusly thse wh want t disprve the Bible say this is nthing mre than a fisherman s tale that can t pssibly be true. There certainly have been sme reprts ver the years f men being swallwed whle by large sea creatures such as whales, sharks, r large fish and surviving there fr sme perid f time. But t be real hnest, there are sme valid reasns t questin sme f thse accunts. But I dn t have any prblem believing that the Gd wh created the seas, the animals in the seas and Jnah culd have caused this great fish t swallw Jnah and that Jnah remained alive in the belly f that fish, either thrugh natural r supernatural means.

6 When he asked the sailrs t thrw him verbard, I have little dubt that Jnah figured that he wuld just die and that all his prblems here n earth wuld be ver. S when that fish swallwed him and he had t live in the belly f that fish fr three days, it had t have been his wrst nightmare. I ve cleaned plenty f fish befre sme nly slightly smaller than the ne that swallwed Jnah OK they were a lt smaller than that. But what I can tell yu frm my experience, is that the belly f a fish wuld have t be ne f the nastiest places anyne culd ever be in even fr a few mments, alne fr three days. But Jnah s wrst nightmare was exactly what he needed. Gd used that experience t prve t Jnah that because f His relentless lve, He had nt given up n Jnah, even thugh Jnah had given up n Him. Maybe yu are ging thrugh what yu cnsider t be yur wrst nightmare right nw. Several weeks ag we talked abut suffering and we made the pint then that nt all suffering is a means f discipline r fr Gd t get ur attentin. But smetimes it is. S if yu re ging thrugh a difficult situatin right nw, yu need t at least cnsider the pssibility that Gd is using that in yur life because He lves yu and He knws that is what yu need in rder t draw yu back t Him after yu ve drifted away frm Him. Because f His relentless lve, Gd des nt give up n us even when we give up n Him Like Bryan Mills, he is willing and able t relentlessly pursue us t the ends f the earth because He lves us s much. In fact, He lves every ne f us s much that He was willing t sacrifice His wn Sn, Jesus t prve His lve fr us. But He will never frce us t accept that lve. Like He did with Jnah, He gives each ne f the freedm t either accept that lve by putting ur faith in Jesus r t reject that lve by chsing ur wn way. S as we clse tday, I want t encurage all f yu t cnsider taking sme cncrete steps t respnd t what yu ve learned. 1. Thank Gd fr His relentless lve. In just a mment I m ging t give yu a few minutes t spend sme time in prayer with Gd and I encurage yu t give thanks t Gd fr pursuing yu even when yu weren t pursuing Him. I m cnfident that is smething all f us can d. 2. Accept Gd s lve by putting my trust in Jesus. We haven t talked a lt abut this tday, but Gd has prescribed the way fr us t accept His lve. And the nly way we can d that is by entrusting ur lives t Jesus and making Him bth ur Savir and ur Lrd. If yu have sme questins abut exactly what that means r hw t d that, we d lve t talk t yu mre abut that. 3. Cnfess any disbedience in my life. Perhaps as I ve been speaking this mrning, Gd has been pinting ut sme areas in yur life where yu have chsen yur wn way instead f His. Or perhaps yur delayed bedience r yur disbedience in same areas f yur life that yu ve cnsidered t be insignificant have caused yu t drift away frm Gd, Will yu cnfess that t Him this mrning and ask Him t help yu bey Him frm this pint frward?