Tawa Baptist

Doves

Scripture: Luke 3:21-22

Video Link: https://youtu.be/jlZNgPtC1rk

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Doves in the Old Testament
  • Doves in the New Testament
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Scientists estimate there are somewhere between ten and eleven thousand different species of birds in the world today. In total there are thought be at least 50 billion wild birds on the planet, perhaps more. Which means that birds outnumber human beings by six to one. That could be a worry if birds ever got organized. 

The Bible mentions around 25 different species of birds, including various types of owls, the eagle, sparrows, ravens, roosters, the ostrich, the hawk and so on. In fact, birds are referred to over 300 times in the Bible, which seems like quite a lot.

Today we begin a new sermon series called, ‘Birds of the Bible’. I don’t think we will try to cover all 25 species of birds, much less every verse that talks about a bird. But it might be interesting to consider what some of the bird references reveal about the character of God. After all, birds were God’s idea. We start our series this morning with the Dove.

Doves in the Old Testament:

One of the first references to a dove in the Bible is found in Genesis 8, which tells the story of Noah and the great flood. While Noah and his family and all the animals and birds were still floating in the ark, Noah sent out a dove to see if the water had receded. The dove came back because it couldn’t find a place to rest.

Verse 9 of Genesis 8, adds a rather beautiful detail saying, “Noah reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back into the ark”.

Not many birds would land on a man’s hand like that. That speaks to me of a certain closeness and trust between Noah and the dove.

Noah waited seven days before sending the dove out again. This time it returned with an olive branch in its beak, indicating the waters were receding. After another week, Noah sent the dove out once more but this time it did not return so Noah knew it was safe to leave the ark.

The image of a dove over the waters reminds us of the Holy Spirit hovering over the primordial waters, when God created the cosmos. It speaks of a new creation. It also speaks of peace after the storm. A fresh start.

Doves were used by the ancient Israelites as a sacrifice. In particular, they were the sacrifice of the poor. If someone needed to make atonement for something, but could not afford to offer a lamb or a goat, then they could offer two doves instead.

We read for example, in Luke 2, how Mary & Joseph presented the baby Jesus to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem and offered two doves in keeping with the Law.

So, as well as signifying peace and new beginnings, doves point to God’s consideration for the poor. God does not want people to be excluded from worship by a lack of finances.

Doves often mate for life. They are loyal, not promiscuous and so doves are associated with love and devotion. Also beauty. They are a pretty bird.

Perhaps the most intimate book in the Bible is a love poem called the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs refers to doves as a metaphor for beauty…

How beautiful you are, my darling. Your eyes are doves. (1:15)

My lover is knocking: Open to me, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. (5:2)

My dove, my perfect one, is unique. (6:9)

Some think the Song of Songs is an allegory of God’s love for his people or of Christ’s love for the church, a love that is reciprocated. Whichever way you might read it, there is a palpable tenderness and intimacy in the language.

As beautiful as they are, the cooing of doves sounds sad, like crying or moaning.

In the 1980’s the musician, Prince, wrote a song titled, When Doves Cry. It was a song of lament. ‘How can you just leave me standing, alone in a world that’s so cold… Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry.’

The crying doves in the song are a metaphor for two lovers mourning the loss of their relationship.

In Isaiah 38 we read how king Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. When he cried out to the Lord in tears, God healed him and added another 15 years to his life. Afterwards, Hezekiah wrote a song remembering his ordeal. In verse 14 of Isaiah 38 we read…

I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid.

Moaning like a dove, in sadness and regret, was also used to describe those who survived the fall of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 7 we read…

All who survive and escape will be in the mountains, moaning like doves…, each because of his sins.

So doves, in the Bible, are associated with mourning and grief. This fits with the idea that doves represent a new beginning. “Every new beginning starts with some other beginning’s end.” I imagine Noah and his family felt some grief after the flood, thinking of all that had been lost, much like the Jewish survivors after the fall of Jerusalem. 

Many of you will be familiar with the story of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet who ran away from God. He was swallowed by a huge fish and then spewed up on a beach. Jonah ran away because God wanted him to preach a message of repentance to his enemies the Assyrians.

Eventually, after three days in a fish, Jonah did what God asked him. He told the people of Nineveh that God was going to destroy their city. No sugar coating it. The people of Nineveh believed Jonah’s message and repented in dust and ashes, so God had mercy and spared the city.

Jonah was not happy with this. He wanted God to smote his enemies but the Lord had mercy saying: Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?

You might be thinking, ‘Yea, I know the story but what has that got to do with doves?’ Well, as it happens, Jonah’s name in Hebrew means ‘Dove’. So when we think of doves we think of the story of Jonah and the God of mercy who gives second chances.

The Lord gave Jonah a second chance and he gave Nineveh a second chance too. Just as he gives each of us a second and third and fourth chance. The Lord is slow to anger and rich in love.

Doves in the New Testament:

Today is Trinity Sunday, a week after Pentecost. One of the traditional readings for Trinity Sunday is the account of Jesus’ baptism. From Luke 3 we read…

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Many people see the Trinity (Father, Son & Spirit) depicted in this narrative, with the voice from heaven being that of God the Father.

We might also see in this passage a picture of heaven coming to earth, a kind of glimpse of the future, when God’s kingdom is realized in its fullness. As the Lord taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The other thing that is happening in Christ’s baptism is that Jesus is representing the human race. You see, Jesus is without sin and so he does not need to be baptized for himself. Jesus is being baptized for us. He is identifying with human beings and representing humanity to God.

This means the baptism of Jesus is not only a picture of the communion of the Father, Son & Spirit; it is also a picture of the communion (or holy intimacy) that we (who belong to Christ) will enjoy with God, when Jesus returns and heaven comes to earth.

In other words, the Trinity are not having their own private huddle in Luke 3. At Jesus’ baptism, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are having an intimate moment with humanity, in Christ. In and through Jesus, humanity gets to participate in the Trinity.

When the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, he was also descending on all those who are in Christ. Likewise, when we are baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we become God’s sons and daughters, his family. The Father loves you and is pleased with you.

It is a curious thing that Luke only allows two verses to describe Jesus’ baptism. Given the importance of the event we might have expected a whole chapter at least. But we get just a brief glimpse. Sometimes less is more.

The Holy Spirit could have descended on Jesus in any form. A bear, a lion, a stag, a waterfall, tongues of fire or some kind of mysterious symbol. Yet the Spirit chose the form of a dove on this occasion. Why? Because the dove is like a master key unlocking the meaning of what Jesus came to do.  

For those who are familiar with the Old Testament, the mention of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove, immediately evokes all the images we might associate with doves from the rest of the Bible.

To begin with, Jesus is like Noah. Or more accurately, Noah points to Christ. Noah and Jesus were both carpenters. Noah and Jesus were both righteous. Noah and Jesus were both instrumental in the salvation of the world.

To be ‘in Christ’ is like being in the ark of salvation that Jesus built. In and through Jesus, God is bringing about a new creation, a fresh start for everything God made, not just human beings.

Although Noah points to Christ, Jesus is greater than Noah. Jesus brings peace between God and humankind. Jesus calms the storm of judgement. Something Noah could not do.

Remember the way the dove landed on Noah’s hand. That speaks of the closeness and trust which characterizes our relationship with God through Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to trust Jesus and be close to him.

As we have heard, the meaning of the dove has even greater riches to share. Just as the dove was the chosen sacrifice of the poor, so too Jesus is our atoning sacrifice restoring our relationship with God. Jesus is good news to rich and poor alike, because Jesus takes away the sin of the world.

The picture of the dove descending on Jesus, together with heavenly words of love and affection, reminds us too of the Song of Songs, the greatest love song ever written. Jesus is the word of God. He is God’s love song to the world.

How beautiful you are, my darling. Your eyes are doves. My dove, my perfect one, is unique. When Jesus looks at you, he sees your beauty, he sees the best in you. You might focus on your own flaws and imperfections. Jesus sees that too but not with the look of disdain or contempt. Jesus understands you are a work in progress and he sees you as you will be one day, flawless, perfect, unique.  

Then there is the image of doves crying, moaning and mourning. Jesus is the man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and he wept over Jerusalem. Jesus weeps for the world today too. He understands your pain, your loss, your loneliness.

The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  

Jonah, whose name means dove, points to Jesus. Both Jonah and Jesus slept in a boat during a storm. Jonah was three days in the belly of a fish, while Jesus was three days in the tomb. And both were prophets sent with a message of repentance to a world in need of God’s mercy.

Jonah is not like Jesus in every way though. Jesus was quicker to obey God.

Not that Jesus’ obedience came easy. Jesus struggled in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood as he reconciled himself to God’s will in going to the cross. Not my will, Father, but your will be done.

There is one other connection with the dove that we haven’t mentioned yet. Sometime after his baptism, in Matthew 10, Jesus says to his disciples…

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.

A dove is innocent in the sense that it is harmless. A dove is not a violent bird. It is not a bird which preys on other animals in order to survive. Therefore, in the context of Matthew 10, the followers of Jesus are to be like doves and do no harm, just as Jesus did no harm.

But in the context of Luke 3, where Jesus is representing the human race and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove, the message is twofold…

Firstly, God means us no harm. God intends good for us. The Lord, the holy one, comes gently and without violence, like a dove.

Secondly, Jesus is innocent, not guilty of sin. Which means that all those who are in Christ, are also innocent.   

Conclusion:

Love, beauty, peace, a new creation, a fresh start, sacrifice, the calm after the storm, the pain of mourning, a second chance, mercy and innocence. These are what the Bible associates with doves and these are fulfilled in Christ.

May the Spirit of Jesus fill you and guide you. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Do you like birds? If so, what is it you like about them? If not, what don’t you like? What is your favourite bird and why? What is your least favourite bird and why?
  • Before hearing this sermon, what did you associate with doves?
  • Discuss / reflect on each of the various images associated with doves in the Old Testament. For example, peace after the storm, sacrifice, love, beauty, Jonah, new creation, etc. Which of these images / ideas speaks most strongly to you? 
  • Thinking of Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22, what light does the dove imagery shed on Jesus’ purpose/mission?
  • Why did Jesus get baptised? What is the significance of Jesus’ baptism for those who are in Christ?
Tawa Baptist

Power

Scripture: Jonah

Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/sermon-recording-24-jan-2021

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Patient & Omnipotent
  • Wise & Equitable
  • Redemptive
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard the saying: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…’

This phrase was coined by Lord Acton, who was a British historian and politician during the 1800’s. He wrote this in a letter to an Anglican bishop. Whatever Lord Acton’s reason for writing about power in this way, it has stuck. It resonates with people. Generally speaking, we human beings are suspicious of power and reluctant to trust those who hold it.

Certainly we can think of many people throughout history who have abused power but really the problem is not power itself, the problem is with the human heart. Power simply reveals the contents of a person’s character. 

Sadly, a negative attitude to power tends to taint our faith in God. By definition God is the most powerful being there is and if we think that power corrupts then we may struggle to trust God.

We need to understand that God’s heart and character are quite different from that of a human being. This morning we are looking at five aspects of God’s character through the story of Jonah. That is, God’s patience, God’s omnipotence, God’s wisdom, God’s equity (or fairness) and God’s redemption. Firstly, let’s consider God’s patience and omnipotence.

Patient & Omnipotent:

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been fortunate enough to spend some time walking on the beach. The ocean is both powerful and patient. A beach is created over thousands of years as the surf gradually pounds stone and shell into sand. The work of the ocean points to the power and patience of God in transforming the human heart.

Patience is the ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without losing your temper. Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you have been waiting ages or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don’t get it.

In Corinthians 13, when Paul writes about love, patience is the very first descriptor he uses. “Love is patient, love is kind…”

Patience, therefore, is an expression of love. 

Omnipotence simply means ‘all powerful’. Omni means ‘all’ or ‘everything’ and potence refers to ‘power’. Power is the ability to do something. To say that God is omnipotent, therefore, is to say that God can do all things; there is nothing beyond God’s ability or reach.

In the book of Jeremiah 32:27 the Lord says to the prophet, “Is anything too difficult for me?” It is a rhetorical question. The answer is clearly, ‘No, nothing is too difficult for the Lord’. God is omnipotent – all powerful.   

We see God’s patience and power in the story of Jonah…

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Ninevehand preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

You see, Jonah was an Israelite and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the headquarters of Israel’s enemies. Most of the time when God told his prophets to preach a message against Israel’s enemies the prophets had the luxury of doing so from the relative comfort and safety of home. But God wanted Jonah to physically go to Nineveh and tell the Assyrians how bad they were.

Talk about a hospital pass. Jonah knew it was a bad assignment and so he got on a ship headed in the opposite direction. It was not that Jonah doubted God’s power. Jonah was quite convinced God could make the mission successful. And that was precisely the problem. Jonah did not want to be involved with saving his enemies. That would feel like a betrayal of his own people.

But God was patient with Jonah. In truth, God’s omnipotence (his power) is tempered or controlled by his patience. God waited for the ship to get out to sea and then he sent a storm. The storm was a frightening display of God’s omnipotence.

The pagan sailors did everything they could to save the ship but the storm just got worse. Meanwhile Jonah was asleep below deck. When the sailors woke him up he explained that he was running away from the Lord of heaven and earth, who made the land and sea. Their best chance of survival was to throw him overboard.

The sailors were honourable men and did not want to do this but eventually Jonah persuaded them and as soon as the prophet hit the water the storm stopped. Once again God’s omnipotence was on display, this time to bring a great calm.     

God’s omnipotence is not limited to the weather though. God has power over all things. God sent a giant fish to swallow Jonah whole. The incredible thing here is not that Jonah was eaten by a fish. The truly incredible thing is that Jonah was able to remain alive inside the fish. 

This may seem impossible to some of us but that is precisely the point: God is omnipotent, nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Not only that but God is in control, not Jonah and not us, which is just as well.

A giant fish that can swallow a man whole, without digesting him, is a symbol of God’s patient omnipotence. The Lord has the power to destroy Jonah but instead God uses the very same power to save his messenger.   

God’s omnipotence and patience go together. God did not get frustrated with Jonah. God did not use his power to kill Jonah. Nor did God use his power to overthrow Jonah’s will. It may have been much easier and quicker for God to find someone else to go. But God’s ways are not our ways.

God waits for Jonah and his patience is rewarded. After Jonah had repented from the belly of the fish, the fish spat him out on dry land and Jonah went to Nineveh in obedience to God. 

God’s patience (his fuse) is very long indeed. When the nation of Israel turned away from him, the Lord patiently waited for them to return for a couple of hundred years.

And he waits patiently for the world to turn to him again. As we read in 2nd Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.     

God’s omnipotence is tempered by his patience. What’s more, God is wise and equitable in his dealings with creation.

Wise & Equitable:

We live in a democracy but the Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The Kingdom of God is a theocracy, which means it is ruled by God. Heaven is a place where God’s will is done. This is not to imply that God is a dictator. No. Dictators are closed to the voice of the people and tend to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them. By contrast, God is secure enough within himself to be open to what his subjects have to say. God listens to people and takes our thoughts and feelings into account when making his decisions. That is one of the reasons we pray.

When Jonah finally made it to Nineveh his preaching was simple. “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” At first that sounds like a very closed message. There is no hope in it. No call to repentance. No nuance. No clever illustrations. No compassion. No redemption. No PR. No subtle maneuvering of the media. Just doom and destruction.

Nevertheless, Jonah’s message was wise and fair. While God is patient, he is no one’s fool. God’s omnipotence includes the capacity to destroy. God must be worshipped. If we do not put God first (if we worship something else in God’s place) then God is well within his rights to exercise his power either to destroy the things we worship or to destroy us.

God gave Jonah that message for Nineveh because the people’s behavior was very bad. They were incredibly violent and ruthless. God’s sentence on the people may have seemed harsh but it was wise and equitable, it was fair. God could not, in good conscience, allow the Assyrians to run amuck oppressing other people groups. That would not be kind or just. 

Jesus said the measure we use for others is the measure God will use for us. If we are generous with others, God will be generous with us and vice versa. The Assyrians were violent in their treatment of others so God gave them fair warning, he would destroy them.    

We can see God’s wisdom in sending Jonah. While Jonah’s preaching was incredibly blunt, it was also without pretense or guile. He did not disguise his contempt for the Assyrians and this (paradoxically) made his message all the more believable. Had God sent a diplomat to speak smooth words, the people of Nineveh probably would not have believed the message.

In response the people of Nineveh decided that everyone should fast, which means go without food. And everyone from the least to the greatest was to put on sackcloth to show they had repented.

The king of Nineveh issued a decree that all people must pray earnestly to God and must give up their evil ways. Perhaps God will change his mind and we will not die, they thought. 

God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.      

The people were open to change their ways and so God was open to give them another chance. 

As much as it grated with Jonah to preach to his enemies, actually, it was in Israel’s interests. Having their enemies bow to Yahweh was a victory of sorts. From a political point of view, Nineveh’s repentance meant some respite for Israel.

Not only that but God’s mercy with the Assyrians offered hope to Israel when they strayed from God’s path. If God relented with the Assyrians, then how much more when Israel repented.

God is patient and omnipotent. He is also wise and equitable. Ultimately though, the Lord’s patience & power, wisdom & justice, all serve the purpose of redemption.

Redemption:

As I mentioned earlier, we were fortunate enough to walk the beach during our holiday. The beaches between Pekapeka and Paekakariki collect quite a bit of drift wood. As a consequence, you see these wooden structures at regular intervals along the beach. People have redeemed the drift wood and detritus for a creative and useful purpose. Human beings seem to have this insatiable urge to build shelters with whatever is at hand. 

I wonder if this urge to build and create and redeem reflects something of the residue of God’s image in us. It is interesting that when God became a man (in the person of Jesus) he chose to apprentice himself to a carpenter, a builder.

In any building or renovation project there is usually some demolition involved. But this demolition serves the ultimate purpose of creating and constructing something new and better.      

To redeem something is to reclaim it, to save it or restore it. God’s heart, his preference, is to redeem whatever he can. The story of Jonah is full of God’s redemption. Let me touch briefly on three examples.

First there is the way God redeems Jonah’s running away. God used Jonah’s disobedience to inspire the sailors’ worship.

I said before that the sailors were honourable men. They may have been pagans but they were good pagans. They had a moral compass and wanted to do the right thing. At the height of the storm, just before they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard, the sailors cried out to the Lord saying…   

14 “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man,for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly fearedthe Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vowsto him.

If Jonah had not done a runner, the sailors would not have encountered the Lord in the way they did. The sailors’ prayer shows us they believed the God of Israel to be powerful, just and wise. Jonah’s attempt to get away from the Lord actually resulted in the sailors getting closer to the Lord. That is the power of God’s redemption.

The second main act of redemption is seen when God changes his mind and decides not to destroy Nineveh. The people of Nineveh are similar to the pagan sailors in that they recognize the power and justice of God and submit themselves to the Lord in fear and hope.

The Assyrians’ redemption is not unconditional or automatic. Their redemption hinges on their response to Jonah, their enemy. Paradoxically they are saved by trusting the word of their enemy. Sort of like in the second Terminator movie when Sarah Connor is confronted by a Terminator who she thinks is out to kill her. But the Terminator (played by Arnie) says, ‘Come with me if you want to live’. The people of Nineveh were helped by their enemy. This shows God’s wise redemption.

But the one who is offered more redemption than anyone else is Jonah himself. At the beginning of the story Jonah is like the younger prodigal son who has run away from home. But God redeems Jonah and puts him on the right path again using a storm and a sea monster. 

By the end of the story though, after God relented and saved Nineveh, Jonah is more like the older son in Jesus’ parable (in Luke 15). Just as the older son stood outside the party refusing to celebrate the return of his younger prodigal brother, so too Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh refusing to celebrate the Assyrians’ repentance and salvation. In chapter 4 of the book of Jonah we read,

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knewthat you are a graciousand compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life,for it is better for me to diethan to live.”

Jonah acknowledges that it is God’s heart and character to redeem but strangely this makes Jonah depressed. He’s had enough and wants it to be over.

There are any number of reasons why someone might become depressed, human beings are complex. But the cause of Jonah’s depression is related to his anger. If you hold onto your anger and resentment, if you bury it deep inside, the in-rage you feel will eventually result in depression.

This is not to suggest that all depression is caused by repressed anger. But we know it was the case for Jonah because God says to the prophet, “Is it right for you to be angry?”   

This is another rhetorical question. We all know it was not right for Jonah to be angry but Jonah has to arrive at that conclusion himself. Even though God is omnipotent he does not click his fingers and resolve the issue for Jonah. He makes Jonah do some inner (soul) work.

Jonah was angry and depressed but God did not give Jonah a pill or counselling or a support group or cognitive behavioural therapy, as helpful as some of those things may be. God patiently sought to redeem Jonah by giving him a parable. 

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. [I imagine this shelter was similar to what one might see on the beach along the Kapiti Coast.] The Lord God provideda leafy plantand made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concernfor the great city of Nineveh,in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

And that is how the story of Jonah ends. God has the last word.

The Lord’s message to Jonah seems to be that Jonah is the one who is not being fair and equitable.

If it was up to Jonah the city of Nineveh would be destroyed but God’s power (his omnipotence) is different from the way human beings exercise power. God’s power is tempered with patience, guided by wisdom and equity and used to serve his redemptive purpose.  

Conclusion:

God is free to use his power as he wishes. Sometimes that will disappoint us and make us angry, as it did with Jonah. We do not control God and we cannot leverage his power for our own ends. We have to make peace with the fact that we are not in the place of God. We are not omnipotent. We have to embrace our powerlessness and let God be God. Or, as Jesus put it, we must pick up our cross and follow him.

Like Jesus’ parable of the two sons in, Luke 15, we don’t know how the story of Jonah ends. We don’t know whether the older son let go of his anger and joined the party. Nor do we know how Jonah responded. Did he sit with his resentment or did he find redemption?

This is not a rhetorical question. It is not an abstract theoretical debate about a man who lived thousands of years ago. It is a very real existential question that we must all face. If it hasn’t happened already it is just a matter of time before you will feel disappointed by God. When that day comes (and I expect for many of us here it has already arrived) I pray that we will be able to forgive.

Forgiveness is the greatest power available to us. It is the pathway to redemption.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  • What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  • How does God’s power make you feel? In what ways is God’s power different from the way human beings exercise power?
  • In what ways do we see God’s patience and power at work in the story of Jonah? In what ways are you aware of God’s patience and power at work in your own life?  
  • In what ways do we see God’s wisdom and equity (fairness) in the story of Jonah?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various aspects of God’s redemption in Jonah. For example, how does God redeem Jonah’s running away? How has God redeemed your mistakes?      
  • The people of Nineveh were saved by believing the word of Jonah, their enemy. Can you think of a time in your own life when God has used an enemy to help or save you?
  • Why does Jonah want his life to end? How does God help Jonah? What does Jonah need to do to find redemption? Have you ever felt disappointed by God, like Jonah? If so, how did you find redemption from resentment?
Tawa Baptist

Power

Scripture: Jonah

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Patient & Omnipotent
  • Wise & Equitable
  • Redemptive
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard the saying: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…’

This phrase was coined by Lord Acton, who was a British historian and politician during the 1800’s. He wrote this in a letter to an Anglican bishop. Whatever Lord Acton’s reason for writing about power in this way, it has stuck. It resonates with people. Generally speaking, we human beings are suspicious of power and reluctant to trust those who hold it.

Certainly we can think of many people throughout history who have abused power but really the problem is not power itself, the problem is with the human heart. Power simply reveals the contents of a person’s character. 

Sadly, a negative attitude to power tends to taint our faith in God. By definition God is the most powerful being there is and if we think that power corrupts then we may struggle to trust God.

We need to understand that God’s heart and character are quite different from that of a human being. This morning we are looking at five aspects of God’s character through the story of Jonah. That is, God’s patience, God’s omnipotence, God’s wisdom, God’s equity (or fairness) and God’s redemption. Firstly, let’s consider God’s patience and omnipotence.

Patient & Omnipotent:

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been fortunate enough to spend some time walking on the beach. The ocean is both powerful and patient. A beach is created over thousands of years as the surf gradually pounds stone and shell into sand. The work of the ocean points to the power and patience of God in transforming the human heart.

Patience is the ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without losing your temper. Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you have been waiting ages or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don’t get it.

In Corinthians 13, when Paul writes about love, patience is the very first descriptor he uses. “Love is patient, love is kind…”

Patience, therefore, is an expression of love. 

Omnipotence simply means ‘all powerful’. Omni means ‘all’ or ‘everything’ and potence refers to ‘power’. Power is the ability to do something. To say that God is omnipotent, therefore, is to say that God can do all things; there is nothing beyond God’s ability or reach.

In the book of Jeremiah 32:27 the Lord says to the prophet, “Is anything too difficult for me?” It is a rhetorical question. The answer is clearly, ‘No, nothing is too difficult for the Lord’. God is omnipotent – all powerful.   

We see God’s patience and power in the story of Jonah…

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Ninevehand preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

You see, Jonah was an Israelite and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the headquarters of Israel’s enemies. Most of the time when God told his prophets to preach a message against Israel’s enemies the prophets had the luxury of doing so from the relative comfort and safety of home. But God wanted Jonah to physically go to Nineveh and tell the Assyrians how bad they were.

Talk about a hospital pass. Jonah knew it was a bad assignment and so he got on a ship headed in the opposite direction. It was not that Jonah doubted God’s power. Jonah was quite convinced God could make the mission successful. And that was precisely the problem. Jonah did not want to be involved with saving his enemies. That would feel like a betrayal of his own people.

But God was patient with Jonah. In truth, God’s omnipotence (his power) is tempered or controlled by his patience. God waited for the ship to get out to sea and then he sent a storm. The storm was a frightening display of God’s omnipotence.

The pagan sailors did everything they could to save the ship but the storm just got worse. Meanwhile Jonah was asleep below deck. When the sailors woke him up he explained that he was running away from the Lord of heaven and earth, who made the land and sea. Their best chance of survival was to throw him overboard.

The sailors were honourable men and did not want to do this but eventually Jonah persuaded them and as soon as the prophet hit the water the storm stopped. Once again God’s omnipotence was on display, this time to bring a great calm.     

God’s omnipotence is not limited to the weather though. God has power over all things. God sent a giant fish to swallow Jonah whole. The incredible thing here is not that Jonah was eaten by a fish. The truly incredible thing is that Jonah was able to remain alive inside the fish. 

This may seem impossible to some of us but that is precisely the point: God is omnipotent, nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Not only that but God is in control, not Jonah and not us, which is just as well.

A giant fish that can swallow a man whole, without digesting him, is a symbol of God’s patient omnipotence. The Lord has the power to destroy Jonah but instead God uses the very same power to save his messenger.   

God’s omnipotence and patience go together. God did not get frustrated with Jonah. God did not use his power to kill Jonah. Nor did God use his power to overthrow Jonah’s will. It may have been much easier and quicker for God to find someone else to go. But God’s ways are not our ways.

God waits for Jonah and his patience is rewarded. After Jonah had repented from the belly of the fish, the fish spat him out on dry land and Jonah went to Nineveh in obedience to God. 

God’s patience (his fuse) is very long indeed. When the nation of Israel turned away from him, the Lord patiently waited for them to return for a couple of hundred years.

And he waits patiently for the world to turn to him again. As we read in 2nd Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.     

God’s omnipotence is tempered by his patience. What’s more, God is wise and equitable in his dealings with creation.

Wise & Equitable:

We live in a democracy but the Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The Kingdom of God is a theocracy, which means it is ruled by God. Heaven is a place where God’s will is done. This is not to imply that God is a dictator. No. Dictators are closed to the voice of the people and tend to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them. By contrast, God is secure enough within himself to be open to what his subjects have to say. God listens to people and takes our thoughts and feelings into account when making his decisions. That is one of the reasons we pray.

When Jonah finally made it to Nineveh his preaching was simple. “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” At first that sounds like a very closed message. There is no hope in it. No call to repentance. No nuance. No clever illustrations. No compassion. No redemption. No PR. No subtle maneuvering of the media. Just doom and destruction.

Nevertheless, Jonah’s message was wise and fair. While God is patient, he is no one’s fool. God’s omnipotence includes the capacity to destroy. God must be worshipped. If we do not put God first (if we worship something else in God’s place) then God is well within his rights to exercise his power either to destroy the things we worship or to destroy us.

God gave Jonah that message for Nineveh because the people’s behavior was very bad. They were incredibly violent and ruthless. God’s sentence on the people may have seemed harsh but it was wise and equitable, it was fair. God could not, in good conscience, allow the Assyrians to run amuck oppressing other people groups. That would not be kind or just. 

Jesus said the measure we use for others is the measure God will use for us. If we are generous with others, God will be generous with us and vice versa. The Assyrians were violent in their treatment of others so God gave them fair warning, he would destroy them.    

We can see God’s wisdom in sending Jonah. While Jonah’s preaching was incredibly blunt, it was also without pretense or guile. He did not disguise his contempt for the Assyrians and this (paradoxically) made his message all the more believable. Had God sent a diplomat to speak smooth words, the people of Nineveh probably would not have believed the message.

In response the people of Nineveh decided that everyone should fast, which means go without food. And everyone from the least to the greatest was to put on sackcloth to show they had repented.

The king of Nineveh issued a decree that all people must pray earnestly to God and must give up their evil ways. Perhaps God will change his mind and we will not die, they thought. 

God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.      

The people were open to change their ways and so God was open to give them another chance. 

As much as it grated with Jonah to preach to his enemies, actually, it was in Israel’s interests. Having their enemies bow to Yahweh was a victory of sorts. From a political point of view, Nineveh’s repentance meant some respite for Israel.

Not only that but God’s mercy with the Assyrians offered hope to Israel when they strayed from God’s path. If God relented with the Assyrians, then how much more when Israel repented.

God is patient and omnipotent. He is also wise and equitable. Ultimately though, the Lord’s patience & power, wisdom & justice, all serve the purpose of redemption.

Redemption:

As I mentioned earlier, we were fortunate enough to walk the beach during our holiday. The beaches between Pekapeka and Paekakariki collect quite a bit of drift wood. As a consequence, you see these wooden structures at regular intervals along the beach. People have redeemed the drift wood and detritus for a creative and useful purpose. Human beings seem to have this insatiable urge to build shelters with whatever is at hand. 

I wonder if this urge to build and create and redeem reflects something of the residue of God’s image in us. It is interesting that when God became a man (in the person of Jesus) he chose to apprentice himself to a carpenter, a builder.

In any building or renovation project there is usually some demolition involved. But this demolition serves the ultimate purpose of creating and constructing something new and better.      

To redeem something is to reclaim it, to save it or restore it. God’s heart, his preference, is to redeem whatever he can. The story of Jonah is full of God’s redemption. Let me touch briefly on three examples.

First there is the way God redeems Jonah’s running away. God used Jonah’s disobedience to inspire the sailors’ worship.

I said before that the sailors were honourable men. They may have been pagans but they were good pagans. They had a moral compass and wanted to do the right thing. At the height of the storm, just before they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard, the sailors cried out to the Lord saying…   

14 “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man,for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly fearedthe Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vowsto him.

If Jonah had not done a runner, the sailors would not have encountered the Lord in the way they did. The sailors’ prayer shows us they believed the God of Israel to be powerful, just and wise. Jonah’s attempt to get away from the Lord actually resulted in the sailors getting closer to the Lord. That is the power of God’s redemption.

The second main act of redemption is seen when God changes his mind and decides not to destroy Nineveh. The people of Nineveh are similar to the pagan sailors in that they recognize the power and justice of God and submit themselves to the Lord in fear and hope.

The Assyrians’ redemption is not unconditional or automatic. Their redemption hinges on their response to Jonah, their enemy. Paradoxically they are saved by trusting the word of their enemy. Sort of like in the second Terminator movie when Sarah Connor is confronted by a Terminator who she thinks is out to kill her. But the Terminator (played by Arnie) says, ‘Come with me if you want to live’. The people of Nineveh were helped by their enemy. This shows God’s wise redemption.

But the one who is offered more redemption than anyone else is Jonah himself. At the beginning of the story Jonah is like the younger prodigal son who has run away from home. But God redeems Jonah and puts him on the right path again using a storm and a sea monster. 

By the end of the story though, after God relented and saved Nineveh, Jonah is more like the older son in Jesus’ parable (in Luke 15). Just as the older son stood outside the party refusing to celebrate the return of his younger prodigal brother, so too Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh refusing to celebrate the Assyrians’ repentance and salvation. In chapter 4 of the book of Jonah we read,

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knewthat you are a graciousand compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life,for it is better for me to diethan to live.”

Jonah acknowledges that it is God’s heart and character to redeem but strangely this makes Jonah depressed. He’s had enough and wants it to be over.

There are any number of reasons why someone might become depressed, human beings are complex. But the cause of Jonah’s depression is related to his anger. If you hold onto your anger and resentment, if you bury it deep inside, the in-rage you feel will eventually result in depression.

This is not to suggest that all depression is caused by repressed anger. But we know it was the case for Jonah because God says to the prophet, “Is it right for you to be angry?”   

This is another rhetorical question. We all know it was not right for Jonah to be angry but Jonah has to arrive at that conclusion himself. Even though God is omnipotent he does not click his fingers and resolve the issue for Jonah. He makes Jonah do some inner (soul) work.

Jonah was angry and depressed but God did not give Jonah a pill or counselling or a support group or cognitive behavioural therapy, as helpful as some of those things may be. God patiently sought to redeem Jonah by giving him a parable. 

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. [I imagine this shelter was similar to what one might see on the beach along the Kapiti Coast.] The Lord God provideda leafy plantand made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concernfor the great city of Nineveh,in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

And that is how the story of Jonah ends. God has the last word.

The Lord’s message to Jonah seems to be that Jonah is the one who is not being fair and equitable.

If it was up to Jonah the city of Nineveh would be destroyed but God’s power (his omnipotence) is different from the way human beings exercise power. God’s power is tempered with patience, guided by wisdom and equity and used to serve his redemptive purpose.  

Conclusion:

God is free to use his power as he wishes. Sometimes that will disappoint us and make us angry, as it did with Jonah. We do not control God and we cannot leverage his power for our own ends. We have to make peace with the fact that we are not in the place of God. We are not omnipotent. We have to embrace our powerlessness and let God be God. Or, as Jesus put it, we must pick up our cross and follow him.

Like Jesus’ parable of the two sons in, Luke 15, we don’t know how the story of Jonah ends. We don’t know whether the older son let go of his anger and joined the party. Nor do we know how Jonah responded. Did he sit with his resentment or did he find redemption?

This is not a rhetorical question. It is not an abstract theoretical debate about a man who lived thousands of years ago. It is a very real existential question that we must all face. If it hasn’t happened already it is just a matter of time before you will feel disappointed by God. When that day comes (and I expect for many of us here it has already arrived) I pray that we will be able to forgive.

Forgiveness is the greatest power available to us. It is the pathway to redemption.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  • What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  • How does God’s power make you feel? In what ways is God’s power different from the way human beings exercise power?
  • In what ways do we see God’s patience and power at work in the story of Jonah? In what ways are you aware of God’s patience and power at work in your own life?  
  • In what ways do we see God’s wisdom and equity (fairness) in the story of Jonah?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various aspects of God’s redemption in Jonah. For example, how does God redeem Jonah’s running away? How has God redeemed your mistakes?      
  • The people of Nineveh were saved by believing the word of Jonah, their enemy. Can you think of a time in your own life when God has used an enemy to help or save you?
  • Why does Jonah want his life to end? How does God help Jonah? What does Jonah need to do to find redemption? Have you ever felt disappointed by God, like Jonah? If so, how did you find redemption from resentment?
Tawa Baptist

Does God care about these people?

Scripture: Jonah

Title: Does God care about these people?

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jonah 1
  • Jonah 3
  • Jonah 4
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Are you a glass half empty or a glass half full person?

–         For a long time I was a glass half empty sort of person

 

Forgive me, I’m forgetting my manners – allow me to introduce myself…

–         My name is Jonah, son of Amittai – you may have heard about me in Sunday school

–         I was born nearly 800 years before Christ, which makes me about 2,800 years old now

–         I know what you’re thinking – I look good for my age

–         Some of you may be wondering, ‘Why is he wearing that outfit?’

–         Well, I’m a prophet – this is what the future looks like baby

–         I’m just kidding – I wear it because it’s comfortable

–         Although, when you’ve lived as long as I have, you notice fashion does keep going around in circles

 

Anyway, as I was saying, I used to be a glass half empty person – in fact my wife would say I was a bit grumpy and cantankerous, on a good day

–         All I wanted was the quiet life – to be left in peace with my work, to ignore my neighbours and make an appearance at the synagogue just often enough to avoid a visit from the local Rabbi

–         As you can see, by the way I’m dressed, I don’t like to draw attention to myself – I have no interest in public speaking either

–         God knew this of course – he knew how much I valued my privacy and yet he completely disregarded all that and called me to be a missionary prophet

 

Sounds a bit grand, even wonderful, to say ‘I am a missionary prophet’ but I can tell you the reality is far from it

–         Being a prophet is an incredibly lonely life

–         It makes you famous & poor, which is a combination you want to avoid

–         The messages God gives are usually unpopular – warnings of judgement if you don’t change your wicked ways

–         In a society like yours where people are always bowing down to the idol of individualism and your media insists personal freedom be worshipped, no one likes to be criticised for the way they live their life

–         And on those rare occasions when I do get to bring a message of hope, people are usually so despondent they refuse to believe it

–         It takes a great deal of courage to risk hope when you’ve lost nearly everything

 

Jonah 1

That’s why I did a runner when the Word of the Lord came to me

–         Don’t ask me how I knew it was God speaking – some things you just know to be true in the core of your being

–         God said to me, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

 

My first reaction was to ignore God, pretend like I didn’t hear

–         But there is an inevitability about God’s Word – it gets under your skin – the more you try to ignore it the more it irritates you

–         It becomes an itch that just has to be scratched

–         I tried distracting myself by keeping busy but that didn’t work so, even though God was leading me to Nineveh, I set off in the opposite direction for Spain – that’s how much I didn’t want to do this

 

What you need to understand is that Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, which you probably know as northern Iraq

–         The Assyrians were our enemies – I won’t go into it all but they did some terrible things to our people

–         And God wanted me to go to them as a missionary prophet, when I wasn’t even prepared to cross the street to give them the time of day

 

Now you might be thinking, ‘Surely Jonah you would jump at the chance to tell your enemies how rotten they are’

–         Well, you’re wrong. I knew God well enough to know his true motivation

–         God was sending me to Nineveh because deep down he really cares about them – why else would he give them a warning?

–         God likes to give people second and third and fourth chances – it’s just the way he is

–         I know this about God because he has been giving my people (Israel) hundreds of second chances for centuries

–         God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love

–         He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants everyone to be saved

–         Which is a real pain in the backside – because it means mugs like me get sent on a fool’s errand

–         I knew how it was going to turn out and that’s why I ran away

I guess I thought I would get away with it – I reasoned that if I didn’t go God would send someone else

–         I mean it’s not like I was anyone special – there were plenty of people more capable, more eloquent, more sociable, more charming than me

–         The Lord could use one of them

–         For a moment there I managed to convince myself that I was actually doing God a favour – I would probably stuff it up anyway

–         It never occurred to me that he would interfere with the weather

 

There I was, below deck, sleeping like a baby, while all hell was breaking loose above me

–         The men on board were seasoned sailors and they were scared for their lives, which tells you just how bad it was

–         As soon as they woke me I knew I was to blame

–         At that moment the psalmist’s words returned to me,

–         Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

–         Still I wasn’t ready to give in – I thought, ‘God cares about these men, he isn’t going to let them drown because of me.’

–         It was like I was playing chicken with God and the lives of everyone on the ship – that’s how reckless I had become

 

Eventually they caste lots (which is like throwing dice or drawing straws) and my number came up

–         That’s one of the differences between you people today and the ancients

–         They didn’t believe in chance like you do

–         Nothing was random to them – everything had a purpose and a meaning

–         The spiritual realm was everywhere – the hands of the gods were directing fate. Nothing happened by accident

–         You call it superstition or luck and your post enlightenment, hyper-rational mind-set rules out the possibility of divine involvement

–         People today close their eyes to what they don’t want to see

–         No wonder you are starved for meaning

–         Your society may be rich, in material terms, but it’s spiritually poor

 

Anyway, enough about you, let’s get back to me – as I was saying, my number came up and I had to fess up

–         The storm was caused by my God – the same God who made the land and the sea – a God far more powerful than any other

–         And the Lord was doing this because I was running away from him

–         I told the sailors it was my fault and that if they picked me up and threw me into the sea it will become calm again

–         But they didn’t want to do it – they tried to save me by rowing to shore

–         There was I, a son of Abraham, one of God’s chosen people

–         I had grown up being taught the ways of the one true, living God, and I took my Godly heritage for granted, despised it even

–         These sailors didn’t even know the Lord – and yet they were risking their lives to save mine

–         Their religion was based on a lie (they worshipped idols) but their humanity was true

–         They loved me like a brother and they hardly knew me

–         I can’t tell you how much their actions touched me – as lonely as I was

 

When the storm got even worse, and they realised I was right, they reluctantly threw me overboard. The water became dead flat in an instant

–         Jesus did the same thing on a lake in Galilee 800 years later

–         People these days have no idea how powerful the Lord is – if you did you would show him more respect than you do

 

As providence would have it I met one of those sailors years later and he explained how profound his conversion experience was at the moment the waters became still

–         It occurred to him just how gracious and wise God is, turning my failure, my disobedience, into their salvation

–         If I hadn’t run away those sailors may never have known the power of God’s goodness

–         The old sailor’s eyes misted up when he told me that and I was humbled to silence

Of course that humility came years later with the benefit of hindsight – at the moment of being thrown overboard and hitting the water I was terrified

–         You New Zealanders are surrounded by the sea – you love going to the beach and swimming in the waves – but I’m a Hebrew, a land-lover

–         The sea reminds you of summertime and holidays but for me the sea represents chaos and death

 

I hadn’t been thrashing around in the ocean for long when a huge fish swallowed me up

–         Now I know that many people today struggle to believe this

–         Your culture holds up this ideal of being broad minded & inclusive and yet your imagination is too small to include this possibility

–         I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you – arguments about the fish are a distraction

 

The point is: God is sovereign – he is in control of the outcome

–         He is able to work all things for good

–         I thought I was a gonna when that fish swam up

–         Funny how sometimes the things we fear most, the things we think will destroy us, actually turn out to be our salvation

–         It’s like that famous hymn writer William Cowper said…

–         God moves in a Mysterious way, His Wonders to perform,
He plants his Footsteps in the Sea, and rides upon the Storm.

–         Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.   

–         I knew William Cowper – he was a glass half empty person, like me

–         During his lifetime he never really grasped how deeply God cared for him

–         But I’m not sure any of us do

 

I was three days and three nights in that fish and, after I had calmed down from the initial shock, it gave me time to think

–         I wrote a song of my own, which didn’t make it into the charts but did make it into the Bible.  Suffering is the mid-wife of art

 

Jonah 3

After the fish had spat me out on the beach the Word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

–         So this time I obeyed the Word of the Lord and went to Nineveh

–         Now, getting to Nineveh is not easy – it’s a journey of hundreds of miles on foot. There were no cars or aeroplanes 2,800 years ago

–         It actually took me weeks to get there, and I had to rely on the kindness of strangers the whole way

 

Naturally I thought a lot about what had happened to me

–         How God had given me a second chance and persevered with me despite my stubbornness

–         How he didn’t trade me in for a more reliable, lower maintenance missionary prophet

–         How his Word to me the second time was different from the first time

–         The first time he told me to ‘preach against the city’, but now his message was more open ended, more flexible – simply: ‘Proclaim the message I give you’ – which could be anything

–         I wondered what he might ask me to say – I guess that’s faith isn’t it, walking in trust, not knowing what the future holds

–         Which doesn’t suit me at all – I want to know beforehand, I want to be prepared

 

When I finally arrived in Nineveh it was as bad as I had imagined – domestic violence, child abuse, women treated shamelessly, bribery and corruption in the justice system, a huge gap between rich & poor and an economy fuelled by war mongering – How can people live like that?

 

The message God gave me was simple: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”

–         It had to be simple really – I spoke a different language to them and, as I said before, I don’t enjoy public speaking. None of that mattered though

–         Even though I must have looked a pitiful picture to them the people believed my message – don’t ask me how

–         I guess some things you just know to be true in the core of your being.

–         The people believed God and showed remorse for their wrong doing by fasting and wearing sackcloth

Fasting is when you go without food – it is an act of self-denial

–         Fasting is the opposite of celebrating

–         When you fast you have more time to pray and listen to God

–         Wearing sack cloth is a way of putting appearances aside

–         When someone puts on sackcloth they are saying I am spiritually poor and I’m not going to hide my poverty

The people of Nineveh were serious about their repentance – the king even issued a proclamation telling everyone to call on God for mercy and give up their violent ways. And the people did

–         When God saw they had turned away from evil, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened

 

Jonah 4

And they all lived happily ever after – except for me – I was not happy

–         Like I said before, I knew God was sending me to Nineveh because he really cares about them

–         It was God’s hope all along that the Assyrians would repent

–         God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love

–         He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants everyone to be saved

–         God will jump at the chance to let people off the hook, if they are genuinely sorry

 

I was so gutted I said, “Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

–         I did tell you I was a ‘glass half empty’ kind of person – but at that moment it seemed to me like the glass was completely empty

–         Not only did I have to live with the indignity of having my prediction unfulfilled (God didn’t make my words come true) – I just couldn’t face returning to my family and community

–         I knew people personally who had family members killed, crops destroyed and their homes burned to the ground by the Assyrians

–         How could I live with the shame of having helped my enemies

–         It was too much to bear – I felt like a traitor

And you know what God said to me?

–         “[Jonah], have you any right to be angry?”

 

Sullen and brooding I decided to give God the silent treatment

–         I wanted to put some distance between myself and the city, and between myself and God, so I walked East, even further away from the temple in Jerusalem

–         Have I any right to be angry? How could he ask that? Of course I do

–         Grace is fine when it’s for me and the people I care about, but mercy for the people of Nineveh, after all the suffering they had caused?

–         Where was the Lord’s sense of justice?

–         Cleary he cared about them but he didn’t seem to care about Israel, or about me.  I felt betrayed by God – whose side was he on?

 

God has a way of getting us to talk, even when we don’t want to

–         The Lord caused a vine, a leafy plant, to grow up beside me – it was incredible, sprang up overnight

–         The plant gave me shade from the sun – it was a comfort to me, my only comfort actually

–         Next day though God provides a worm to kill the plant

–         So that was my reward for obedience

–         I felt like Job – the Lord gives and takes away

–         The wind and sun was particularly bad that day – and I knew it was Him who was doing it

By this stage I could see the plant had been a real and living parable

–         You know you’re in trouble when God gives you a parable

–         Parables irritate you, they get under your skin and become an itch that has to be scratched – so I broke my silence and said again,

–         “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

–         I didn’t really want to die – I just didn’t want to be in pain anymore

–         I wanted to get off this nightmare carnival ride I was on

–         I wanted to get out of my head and feel good again

–         I wanted my cup to be full to overflowing

–         So God said to me, really softy and gently, “[Jonah], do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

–         He was trying to help me feel better but I couldn’t see that yet. I replied,

–         “I do have a right to be angry. I am angry enough to die.”

–         I wanted God to feel my pain, to understand

–         He sits on his throne in heaven, makes his plans, gives his orders and expects us to carry them out, but does he know how difficult this life is, how hard it is to be human?

 

The Lord said to me: “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

It was an argument from the lesser to the greater

–         I cared about that plant, even though I had done nothing to create it or look after it – how much more then should God care about 120,000 people (and their livestock) who he did create and who are far more valuable than a single vine

–         There was nothing I could say in reply to that – God had the last word

 

Conclusion:

Will asked me to preach today because my story fits with the theme of your self-denial campaign: ‘Where God leads’

–         Well, God led me hundreds of miles away from home to preach a message of repentance to my enemies

–         And why did he do that?

–         Because his purpose (his mission) is not all about me – and it’s not all about Israel either

–         God cares about my enemies (and yours)

–         Think about the person you care the least for in this world – God loves them – their life is precious to him

–         In fact he cares for all of his creation – not just human life

 

I said before that I wanted God to feel my pain, to understand, to know how hard it is to be human

–         Well, 800 years after I was born, he did just that

–         God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth

–         And he suffered terribly – he felt my pain alright, and then some

–         His cup was emptied completely and after he had tasted death, his cup was filled to overflowing with eternal life

Jesus’ experience was my experience

–         I used to be a glass half empty sort of person – then the Lord emptied me completely, but only so he could fill me again with something far better

–         Jesus’ coming fulfilled the purpose of my life

–         He can fill your glass too but first he’ll probably want to empty it and make you wait – and that’s the hard part

–         Hold on to God through the emptying and the waiting – it’s worth it in the end

 

Where is God leading you?

–         Maybe overseas but more likely just over the fence to your neighbour or to someone in your own family

–         Peace be with you.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Are you a glass half empty or a glass half full person?

3.)    Why did God call Jonah to preach against the city of Nineveh?

–         Why do you think Jonah ran away?

4.)    Has God ever asked you to do something you really didn’t want to?

–         What happened?

5.)    How did God work Jonah’s disobedience for good?

6.)    Why do you think Jonah was angry after God relented from destroying Nineveh?

–         How did God handle Jonah’s anger?

7.)    Think of someone you don’t like or don’t care about

–         Take some time to imagine God’s love and care for the one(s) you don’t like

–         Ask God to bless your enemies

8.)    In what ways does Jonah’s story point to Jesus?

9.)    Where is God leading you?

 

Tawa Baptist

Jonah thanks God

Scripture:

Jonah 1:17 – 2:10

 

Title:

Jonah thanks God

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jonah’s thanksgiving
  • Jonah’s hope
  • Jonah’s blindness
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on the city of Nineveh

 

In today’s terms Nineveh is located in Northern Iraq and in ancient times was one of the strongholds of the Assyrian empire – Israel’s enemies

–         The two books of the Bible which have the most to say about Nineveh are the prophets Jonah & Nahum

 

A couple of weeks ago we started looking at Jonah

–         We heard how God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach against its violence and wickedness

–         Jonah, who believed strongly in justice, didn’t think Nineveh should be given a chance to repent and be forgiven

–         So he got aboard a ship and sailed away in the opposite direction

–         But the Lord didn’t give up on Nineveh or on Jonah

–         God sent a powerful storm and, long story short, the sailors threw Jonah overboard

 

Today we pick up the threads from the end of chapter 1

–         Please turn with me to Jonah 1, verse 17 – page 897 in your pew Bibles

–         At this point Jonah is in the water, no land in sight and no life jacket – things are looking a bit grim for the prophet

–         From verse 17 to the end of chapter 2 we read…

 

17 At the Lord‘s command a large fish swallowed Jonah, and he was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

2 From deep inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God:

2 “In my distress, O Lord, I called to you,     and you answered me. From deep in the world of the dead     I cried for help, and you heard me. 3 You threw me down into the depths,     to the very bottom of the sea,     where the waters were all around me,     and all your mighty waves rolled over me. 4 I thought I had been banished from your presence     and would never see your holy Temple again. 5 The water came over me and choked me;     the sea covered me completely,     and seaweed wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the very roots of the mountains,     into the land whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God,     brought me back from the depths alive. 7 When I felt my life slipping away,     then, O Lord, I prayed to you,     and in your holy Temple you heard me. 8 Those who worship worthless idols     have abandoned their loyalty to you. 9 But I will sing praises to you;     I will offer you a sacrifice     and do what I have promised. Salvation comes from the Lord!”

10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah up on the beach, and it did.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Jonah’s thanksgiving:

In an address to the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast in 1994 Mother Theresa told this story…

–         “One evening we went out, and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition.

–         I told the sisters, “You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worst.”

–         So I did for her all that my love could do.

–         I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face.

–         She took hold of my hand as she said two words only:

–         “Thank you.” Then she died.

 

I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked:

–         What would I say if I were in her place?

–         And my answer was very simple.

–         I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself.

–         I would have said, “I am hungry, I am dying, I am in pain,” or something.

–         But she gave me much more; she gave me her grateful love.

–         And she died with a smile on her face.

–         Gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift.”

 

Even though Jonah is in a dark and terrifying place

–         As close to death as one can come

–         He does not offer a prayer of complaint

–         Or even a prayer of confession

–         He offers a prayer of thanksgiving

 

It may not be immediately obvious to us that Jonah’s prayer is a thanksgiving because we don’t explicitly read the words, “Thank you God”

–         But we know it was a prayer of thanksgiving because it follows the same pattern as other Jewish thanksgiving psalms

 

Typically with Hebrew psalms of thanksgiving there is a retelling of the crisis in retrospect

–         That is, a looking back at the near death experience and an acknowledgment of Yahweh’s deliverance

–         And there is a promise or a vow to praise the Lord and offer sacrifices to him – as a practical way of saying thankyou

–         If someone does something nice for us then we might acknowledge that by sending them a thank you card

–         What we read in Jonah chapter 2 is the prophet’s ‘thank you card’ to God, for saving him from drowning

 

The first thing we note about Jonah’s prayer of thanksgiving is that it was composed in the belly of a large fish

–         I imagine the belly of the fish was cramped, dark, slimy and smelly

–         It’s not like Jonah had a pen and paper with a desk and chair and lamp to sit down and write

–         Which means that Jonah would have composed the psalm in his head (drawing on other psalms of thanksgiving with which he was familiar) and then spoken or even sung it out loud to God

 

Some people these days have a difficulty with a large fish swallowing a man whole and then vomiting him out 3 days later

–         They think if something is miraculous then it’s not historical

–         And so they explain the story of Jonah as a parable which, although made up, nevertheless communicates some very profound truths

 

Well, that’s one theory, but personally I have no problem with the miraculous

–         I think God could easily make a fish large enough to swallow a man – no problems with that

–         In fact it seems to me to be exactly the sort of practical joke God might play on someone like Jonah

–         It’s totally fits with God’s whacky sense of humour

–         Anyone who has experienced God’s sense of humour for themselves will understand what I’m saying

 

Where the story becomes difficult to believe is in the next chapter – in Jonah 3 – where the entire city listen to Jonah’s message and repent

–         That really stretches the imagination – but we’ll get to that next week

 

In Mother Teresa’s story, which I mentioned before, the dying woman simply said ‘thank you’ – she didn’t draw any attention to herself

–         By contrast Jonah attracts a lot of attention to himself

–         One of the striking things about Jonah’s psalm of thanksgiving is it’s self-centered-ness

–         Most of the psalm focuses on Jonah’s crisis – it’s I, I, I, me, me, me, most of the way through

–         I called, I cried, I thought, I went down, I felt, I prayed, I will sing, I will offer – and so on

–         With all this I, I, I, me, me, me, talk it’s little wonder Jonah gave the fish a belly ache and was vomited up

 

We don’t want to be too hard on Jonah though

–         After all he has been through a tough time and nearly died

–         In fact it is at the very cusp of death – at his lowest ebb – that Jonah finally prays to God. Verse 7…

–         “When I felt my life slipping away, then, O Lord, I prayed to you”

 

You may remember from a couple of weeks ago that Jonah did not pray when the storm hit

–         The pagan sailors were all praying and even called Jonah to prayer, but Jonah refused to talk to God

–         It’s only when he hits rock bottom that Jonah breaks his silence

–         And it’s only when he prays that God sends the fish to rescue him

 

It’s not like the sailors threw Jonah overboard and the fish swallowed him up straight away – No

–         God waits for Jonah to pray before he sends the fish

 

Sometimes we might be tempted to think,

–         ‘What’s the point in praying? God already knows what I’m thinking – he knows what’s in my heart.

–         Why bother saying it out loud?’

–         Well perhaps it’s because we need to own it

 

We’ve been watching that mini-series on Sir Edmund Hillary on Sunday nights – quite enjoying it so far

–         Sir Ed is depicted as a fairly quiet character

–         Kind of a classic kiwi bloke – holds it all in

–         Doesn’t really say how he’s feeling

–         At the end of last week’s episode the girl that Ed fancies is about to head off to Australia for 3 years

–         This girl knows that Ed likes her, but she (quite rightly) doesn’t want to do all the work in the relationship

–         Even though she knows that Ed likes her, Ed still has to be the one to say it out loud – she can’t say it for him

–         When Ed realizes that he may not see the girl of his dreams again for a long time he says,

–         “I wish I had found the courage to ask you out”

–         And that’s enough for him to get a kiss

 

It’s a similar thing with prayer

–         Yes, God knows what we are thinking but we must still say it out loud – he can’t say it for us

 

So Jonah finally prays and God saves him

–         But Jonah’s salvation is not yet complete because he is still in the belly of the fish and he won’t be able to survive there for long

 

Jonah’s hope:

In some ways this is Jonah’s finest moment – thanking and praising God (from the belly of the fish) before his deliverance is fully realized

–         It shows us that Jonah’s faith & hope in the Lord is strong

 

A team of child psychologists wanted to observe how different children respond to negative circumstances

–         So they filled a room with horse manure

–         And put a child in the room to see how he might react

–         The boy whined and cried and despaired that he was in a room full of smelly horse poo

 

Then the psychologists put another child in the room

–         The little girl immediately started tearing around and digging in the manure with an excitement that baffled the on-lookers

–         After a few minutes of watching this, they asked the child why she was so excited

–         And she replied, “With all this manure in the room, there’s got to be a pony somewhere”

 

The reaction of the second child is a picture of hope

–         Even though the little girl could not see a pony

–         She could see the signs of one

–         Her hope of finding a pony was strong because of the manure

 

What was it the Apostle Paul said?

–         For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

Paul’s point here is that hope is often strongest when things appear worst

–         Not when life is at its best

 

Jonah’s situation was significantly more life threatening than being in a room full of horse manure

–         Most of his prayer describes the horror of his situation

 

Generally speaking the people of Israel were not a seafaring people

–         They were afraid of the sea and other large bodies of water

–         For them the sea was a symbol of chaos as well as a symbol of deliverance by trial

 

Noah had to pass through the chaotic flood waters (in the ark) in order to save his family and the animals from death

–         The people of Israel had to pass through the Red Sea in order to be delivered from slavery in Egypt

–         And they had to pass through the river Jordan in order to enter the promised land

 

I expect Jonah was conscious of these stories of deliverance through threatening waters, during his 3 days & nights inside the fish

–         And I expect these stories of deliverance strengthened his hope

–         I imagine the smelly inside of the fish and sea all around were for Jonah like the manure was for the little girl

–         Where there is manure there must be a pony

–         Where there is a great body of water there must be deliverance

 

So Jonah’s faith & hope in the Lord was strong – he praises God for his deliverance even before that deliverance is fully realized

 

One of the implications here is that God’s salvation of us is normally a process – it happens in stages, not all at once

–         God didn’t magically transport Jonah to dry land or back to the temple (like in Star Trek when they say, ‘Beam me up Scotty’)

 

The first step of salvation for Jonah was God sending a violent storm

–         The second step was Jonah being thrown in the sea and nearly drowning before he finally cried out to God for help

–         The third step was being saved from drowning by a huge fish

–         Jonah could see where this was going – eventually God would return him to dry land

–         And so while Jonah was waiting for the next phase, he praised God

 

One of the things we do each Sunday is to come together to sing songs of praise to God

–         Some weeks singing songs of praise is easier than others

–         If things are going well and we are aware of God’s goodness in our lives, then no problems singing

–         But if we have had a hard week and we are struggling to see God’s goodness or we feel like we aren’t quite out of the woods yet, then it can be more of a struggle to sing about how great God is

–         This life is not perfect – there are times when God seems absent and we shouldn’t try to deny or ignore the feelings this raises for us

–         But it doesn’t help to dwell too long on those feelings either

–         While we are waiting for God to complete our salvation we can still offer thanks & praise to him in anticipation of what he will do

 

So if you feel like you’re wading through a lot of poo at the moment – just think, there must be a pony somewhere

 

Jonah’s blindness:

Having celebrated Jonah’s strength of hope from the belly of the fish we also need to acknowledge the fundamental contradiction we find in Jonah

–         Yes, Jonah is a thankful believer in Yahweh, but he is also a disobedient believer

–         And to make matters worse, Jonah is unrepentant

 

Once when the famous preacher and evangelist, Billy Graham, was driving through a small town in the southern states of America

–         He was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.

–         Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

 

The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?”

–         When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied…

–         “That’ll be ten dollars – a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”

–         Then the judge suddenly recognized the famous minister.

–         “You have violated the law,” the judge said.

–         “The fine must be paid – but I am going to pay it for you.”

–         He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

 

“That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”

 

Many of us have heard that message before – that God forgives and pays the debt for repentant sinners

–         (For those who admit their guilt and try to change their ways)

–         So we are not surprised or impressed by Billy Graham’s story

 

What would make the story more interesting is if the judge still paid the fine even though Billy Graham did not admit his wrong doing and was not sorry for speeding

–         This is basically what God does for Jonah – which is what makes his story so interesting

–         God saves Jonah, even though Jonah is not repentant

 

Nowhere in his psalm does Jonah say, “Woops, sorry Lord. I was wrong, you were right. Will you forgive me?”

–         Jonah may be thankful that God saved him but he’s not sorry for running away

–         Jonah is, in a sense, blind to some aspects of himself

 

The psychologist Carl Jung came up with a term he called the shadow side

–         For many years I mistakenly thought our shadow side was that part of us which was like the dark side of the force – the bad in us

–         But actually our shadow is more simply those aspects of our personality (both good & bad) that we are not aware of and can’t see easily or won’t acknowledge

–         So our shadow side is really our blind spot

 

Now the fact is we all have a shadow-side or a blind spot, including people of outstanding integrity and faith like Jonah

 

In verse 8 Jonah says, rather revoltingly…

–         “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But, with a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you”

–         This is a clearer translation than what we have in our pew Bibles

 

It’s sort of like Jonah is saying here,

–         “I’m not like those scum bag idol worshippers. I’m better than them. You can count on me to make good on my promises”

 

What Jonah doesn’t realize is that after he was thrown overboard those pagan idol worshipping sailors became worshippers of Jonah’s God, Yahweh

–         And they did exactly the same thing that Jonah promised to do

–         They made vows and offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to Yahweh

–         So Jonah isn’t all that different to the pagan sailors

–         He just has the advantage of knowing more about God than they do

 

But there is an even deeper blindness in Jonah here because actually he is guilty of idolatry as well [1]

–         While Jonah may not literally bow down to images of wood or stone he has attempted to make God in his own image

–         He has tried to make God conform to his way of thinking

 

Whenever we put God in a box or reduce God so that he is smaller, more domesticated, more controllable and less free (as Jonah did) then we are guilty of idolatry

–         As we talked about last time the great Kauri tree of justice is so large in Jonah’s forest of belief that the small Sapling of mercy has no light to grow

–         In Jonah’s mind God is not free to forgive the people of Nineveh

–         Jonah has tried to make God conform to his way of thinking – and that’s basically idolatry

 

Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament had a lot to say about faith

–         And that’s because faith is fundamental to a relationship with God

–         We, finite beings, can’t be in a relationship with the infinite God without trust

–         Faith (trust) doesn’t try to control God – faith let’s God be free

 

Conclusion:

Jonah is a complex character isn’t he

–         He is sincerely thankful and genuinely hopeful but ultimately unrepentant

–         Nevertheless God in his grace breaks with our expectations and saves Jonah anyway

–         Salvation really does belong to the Lord

 

I’m not saying here that God is bound to save us even if we remain unrepentant – far from it

–         God may be patient but he’s no fool, so we shouldn’t push our luck

–         The point is: Deliverance belongs to the Lord

–         That means God is free – free to show mercy to whomever he wants, but also free to withhold his mercy

 

Like all the prophets of the Old Testament, Jonah points to Jesus

–         In Matthew 12, Jesus is asked to perform a sign or a miracle to prove his credentials but Jesus refuses saying…

 

“No! The only miracle (or sign) you will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth”  

 

Jonah may not have been perfect but God still used him to point to Jesus – in particular Jesus’ death and resurrection

 

It is Jesus’ death & resurrection we remember today as we gather around the Lord’s Table

–         The musicians will come now to lead us in sung praise as we prepare for communion…

 

 

Out Takes:

Another thing we notice about Jonah’s prayer is that the Lord’s temple features a couple of times

–         Verse 4, “…I thought I would never see your holy temple again”

–         And verse 7, “…I prayed to you [from the depths of the ocean] and in your holy temple you heard me.”

 

God designed the temple to be a safe, peaceful and ordered space

–         In the temple there is a place for everything and everything in its place

–         The sea (or the ocean) is the complete opposite to the temple

–         The sea is dangerous, messy and chaotic

 

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone – pave paradise, put up a parking lot.

–         It’s often when we lose stuff, when we are cut off from the people and places we love that we truly realize just how much we value them

–         Jonah had been running away from God and from the temple but when faced with the prospect of never being able to return he suddenly realized what he had

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/4-sep-2016-jonah-says-thanks

[1] Refer Terence Fretheim, ‘The Message of Jonah’, page 103, for more on this

Tawa Baptist

Jonah’s Justice

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-16

 

Title: Jonah’s Justice

 

Structure:

  • Introduction – Nineveh
  • Jonah and God (vv. 1-4)
  • Jonah and the sailors (vv. 5-16)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Today we begin a new sermon series on the city of Nineveh

–         According to Genesis, Nineveh was founded by Nimrod (the great grandson of Noah and a mighty warrior & hunter) [1]

–         Archaeologists have found pottery at the site of Nineveh which dates back to 3000 BC – so Nineveh was a very ancient city indeed

In Old Testament times Nineveh was located in the Assyrian Empire – what we today would call Northern Iraq (about 220 miles north of Baghdad)

–         The Assyrian Empire doesn’t exist anymore but back in the day the people of Nineveh were Israel’s enemies

–         At the height of their powers (during the 7th Century BC) the Assyrians controlled a vast area – reaching down through Palestine into Egypt

–         The residents of Nineveh had a reputation for cruelty and violence

–         Consequently the city of Nineveh was considered an evil place – sort of like Sodom & Gomorrah or Babylon

 

The two books of the Bible which have the most to say about Nineveh are the prophets Jonah & Nahum

–         We are going to start our series on Nineveh by looking at the book of Jonah and, depending on how that goes, we may look at the book of Nahum later in the year

Jonah was a prophet who lived in Galilee (that’s the northern part of Israel)

–         We read about Jonah in 2 Kings chapter 14 – where he successfully predicted king Jeroboam II would recapture some of the lands of Israel to restore its former borders

–         In other words, Jonah gave the king of Israel confidence to fight and reclaim lost territory for Israel

–         This was a good message to bring – a patriotic message

 

It also tells us Jonah lived and prophesied in the 8th Century BC, so he came after Elijah & Elisha, but before Jeremiah

–         Jonah was a contemporary of Amos & Hosea

Please turn with me to Jonah chapter 1 – page 895 in your pew Bibles

–         We can’t be certain but the story of Jonah is probably set about 750 years before Jesus when the Assyrians were on the rise – just before they became a super power

–         From Jonah chapter 1, verses 1-16 we read…

 

One day the Lord spoke to Jonah son of Amittai. 2 He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are.” 3 Jonah, however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the Lord.

 

4 But the Lord sent a strong wind on the sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up. 5 The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship’s hold, sound asleep.

6 The captain found him there and said to him, “What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”

 

7 The sailors said to each other, “Let’s draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger.” They did so, and Jonah’s name was drawn. 8 So they said to him, “Now, then, tell us! Who is to blame for this? What are you doing here? What country do you come from? What is your nationality?”

9 “I am a Hebrew,” Jonah answered. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made land and sea.” 10 Jonah went on to tell them that he was running away from the Lord.

 

The sailors were terrified, and said to him, “That was an awful thing to do!” 11 The storm was getting worse all the time, so the sailors asked him, “What should we do to you to stop the storm?”

 

12 Jonah answered, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm.”

 

13 Instead, the sailors tried to get the ship to shore, rowing with all their might. But the storm was becoming worse and worse, and they got nowhere. 14 So they cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, we pray, don’t punish us with death for taking this man’s life! You, O Lord, are responsible for all this; it is your doing.”

 

15 Then they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and it calmed down at once. 16 This made the sailors so afraid of the Lord that they offered a sacrifice and promised to serve him.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

Irony - polar bear

Jonah & God:

Here we have a road sign saying, ‘Watch for ice’, with a polar bear slipping over in the background – this is a picture of irony

 

Irony, in this sense, is when the situation seems to reverse normal expectations

–         We wouldn’t expect a polar bear to fall over on the ice, so it is ironic

–         The book of Jonah is full of irony – especially chapter 1

 

The story begins with God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh to speak against it because of its wickedness

–         This is not what Jonah expected

–         Normally in the Old Testament when prophets were asked to speak against foreign nations they simply did it from the relative safety of Israel

–         But in this situation, God actually wants Jonah to go to Nineveh in person

 

The difference is this…

 

If you preach against your enemies at home, then people will applaud you

–         They will take heart and gain hope from your message

–         Not only that but your enemies are unlikely to hear your message and therefore even less likely to change their ways and be forgiven

 

But if you go to your enemies and preach to them, then you are putting yourself at great risk

–         It would be like God saying, ‘Go to ISIS controlled territory (in Iraq) and preach against their violence’

–         You would expect to be killed

–         Having said that, there is an outside chance they will listen, change their ways and be forgiven – after all, you wouldn’t expect God to send you unless he thought there was some possibility of success

 

Jonah doesn’t like what God is asking him to do so he lodges a protest with God

–         The opening chapter doesn’t record Jonah’s protest – it presents Jonah as silent on the matter

–         But chapter 4 makes it clear that Jonah had words with God before going

–         As we shall see, Jonah was not afraid of dying

–         Jonah was afraid he would be successful – that the people of Nineveh would be conscience stricken by his message, repent and be forgiven

 

This also is ironic – a prophet who doesn’t want his message to be successful

–         Jonah didn’t think God should forgive the Assyrians

–         Jonah believed in justice and forgiveness isn’t fair

–         Just as there was no room for Jesus in Bethlehem – there is no room for forgiveness in Jonah’s heart

Instead of obeying God, Jonah goes to Joppa, pays his fare and gets on a boat bound for Tarshish – in Spain

–         Now Tarshish is in the opposite direction from Nineveh

–         In Jonah’s day Tarshish was considered to be on the edge of the known world

–         The point is, Jonah was trying to get as far away from Nineveh (and from the presence of the Lord) as he possibly could

 

Now when it says that Jonah was wanting to flee from the Lord, it doesn’t mean that Jonah somehow thought he could outrun God or go somewhere that God wasn’t

–         As a prophet Jonah knew that God was present everywhere in the world

–         Jonah ran away from Israel because Israel reminded him of the Lord and he didn’t want to be reminded of what the Lord wanted him to do

 

The band U2 have a song, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’

–         The words go like this…

 

I want to run, I want to hide

I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside

I want to reach out and touch the flame

Where the streets have no name

 

‘The walls that hold me inside’ are the things that restrain us and make us feel trapped on the inside

–         And I interpret ‘Where the streets have no name’ to be a place that is unfamiliar to you – a place you don’t know at all

 

I’m not sure what Bono meant by those words but they speak to me of a person (like Jonah) who is wanting to run away from something but feels trapped

–         If you’ve lived in the same place for a while then you build up this library of memories – some of them good and some of them bad

–         And those memories are attached to places – to streets with names

–         So every time you go down a particular street it reminds you of something – perhaps a failure or a regret or even worse, something good that you’ve lost

 

My grandfather used to take me fishing when I was kid

–         We had some great times in this little aluminium dingy of his

–         He was good to me – we were close

–         When he died I inherited the dingy

–         Funny thing is I never took it out on the water again

–         I can’t really explain it but perhaps it reminded me of my loss

–         Fishing without my grandfather just wouldn’t be the same

 

I reckon Jonah wanted to go somewhere completely new where the street names didn’t have any memories attached to them – where he wouldn’t be constantly haunted by what God wanted him to do or by what he had lost

–         For Jonah, Spain was a place where the streets had no name

–         A place where he wouldn’t be reminded of the Lord

–         Of course, Jonah’s action in running away from God was like playing with fire – reaching out and touching the flame – he would get burned

 

Now at this point God has a choice

–         He can either replace Jonah – cut him loose and ask someone else to go to Nineveh in his place

–         Or, God can go after Jonah and turn him around

 

We’ve just completed a series on the 23rd Psalm and have learned that the Lord is not inclined to cut his sheep loose

–         If a sheep wanders off and gets lost then the Lord (who is a good shepherd) goes looking for that sheep in order to restore it to the flock

–         This is exactly what God does with Jonah

–         God, in his goodness, pursues Jonah – he doesn’t give up on him

 

Verse 4 tells us how God sent a wind on the sea that was so violent the ship was in danger of breaking up

 

Jonah & the sailors:

It must have been a pretty bad storm because the sailors, who were used to high seas, were terrified

–         The fact they threw cargo overboard tells us this was a serious situation

 

But throwing cargo overboard is not the first thing the sailors do

–         These sailors are not atheists – they are pagans

–         They don’t know about Yahweh, the God of Israel, and yet they are still religious in their own way

–         Their first response is to pray – each to his own god

–         Their gods are not real and have no control over the elements but the sailors don’t know that

 

What makes this scene highly ironic is that Jonah (the prophet) is fast asleep while the pagan sailors are praying

–         We would expect Jonah to be leading the prayer meeting, not sleeping through it

 

That Jonah is able to sleep so soundly through such a violent storm tells us that his conscience is not disturbed

–         We would expect Jonah to be feeling some degree of guilt or shame and therefore not to be sleeping well – but apparently he is comfortable with the decision he has made

 

Why is that?

–         Well some people might say it’s because Jonah has hardened his heart

–         But I don’t think so – that doesn’t fit with Jonah’s character

–         He’s actually a fairly sensitive bloke

 

I reckon Jonah is able to sleep easy because, in his mind, he is acting with integrity

 

Jonah’s belief in justice – that people should get what they deserve – is so strong that it allows no room for God’s grace or forgiveness

 

You know how in a forest the larger trees overshadow the smaller saplings

–         So the light doesn’t get through and those smaller plants don’t ever get a chance to grow

–         Well it’s a bit like that with Jonah

 

In Jonah’s heart and mind justice is the really big, dominant tree in the forest – and mercy or forgiveness is the sapling that just doesn’t get a chance to grow

–         Jonah believes the people of Nineveh should not be given an opportunity to repent and be forgiven

–         In his mind that wouldn’t be fair, not after what they’ve done

–         God has to prune the trees of justice in Jonah’s mind to let the light of his grace through and allow the saplings of forgiveness to grow

 

Any guilt that Jonah may feel as a consequence of disobeying God is absolved by his self-imposed exile

–         Jonah is consistent – if he doesn’t obey God’s word then he doesn’t deserve to live among God’s people

–         Which may be part of the reason he takes himself off to Spain

 

Unfortunately, acting with integrity doesn’t guarantee that you are right

–         It is possible to be perfectly consistent and yet still be wrong

 

It seems to me that Jonah has confused justice with God

–         While it is true to say that ‘God is just’

–         It does not automatically follow that ‘justice is God’

–         God is free – both free to punish and free to forgive – that’s what makes him God

–         If God had to submit to Jonah’s idea of justice then he wouldn’t be God

 

The captain has to go and wake Jonah

–         “What are you doing asleep”, he asks, “Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”

 

Irony again

–         The pagan captain is basically saying to Jonah, “Pray for mercy”

–         This is what Jonah should be saying to the people of Nineveh

–         But Jonah doesn’t believe in mercy – he believes in justice

–         Despite the captain’s call to prayer Jonah doesn’t pray at this point – he is giving God the silent treatment

 

The sailors draw lots to find out who is to blame

–         We can’t be sure, from this distance in history, what ‘drawing (or casting) lots’ involved, but it was something like throwing dice

–         If your number came up then you were it

–         Surprise, surprise, Jonah’s number comes up

 

The sailors ask Jonah a series of quick fire questions and Jonah responds…

–         I am a Hebrew

–         I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven who made land and sea

–         And, I’m running away from the Lord

 

Now the sailors are even more afraid

–         But their fear this time is different

–         At first they were simply afraid of dying

–         Now they’re afraid because they have become aware they are in the presence of such a great and powerful God

–         It’s that sense of wo-oh – this is for real

–         We are not alone, we are in the presence of someone or something that we do not understand and cannot control

 

The sailors are absolutely shocked that anyone would disrespect their God like that – especially a God so powerful

 

The waves were getting worse so the mariners ask Jonah, “What should we do to stop the storm”,

–         And Jonah replies, “Throw me into the sea and it will calm down”

 

Now this is a brave and interesting move by Jonah

–         There was more than one way to stop the storm

–         Jonah could have cried out to God for mercy and forgiveness

–         The Lord would have stilled the waves and the sailors could return Jonah to Joppa

 

But Jonah doesn’t do this – sadly his integrity gets in the way

–         Jonah wouldn’t ask for forgiveness and mercy for himself all the while expecting justice and judgement for the people of Nineveh

–         No – if they deserve justice, then so does he

–         Jonah may be wrong but at least he is consistent

–         Jonah would rather be thrown in the sea and die than ask the Lord for forgiveness – that’s how tight his integrity is

 

As Terence Fretheim points out…

–         “Jonah admits that he is guilty, yet he will not repent. And so he will satisfy God’s justice. He will take upon himself what he deserves…

–         In a clever move Jonah has here succeeded in throwing the ball back into God’s court. He will show God how to act justly” [2]

 

We the audience are left wondering, ‘How will the Lord respond?’

 

That Jonah is willing to sacrifice himself to save the pagan sailors also shows us that Jonah wasn’t against Gentiles (or non-Jews)

–         Jonah’s resistance in going to Nineveh wasn’t a racial thing – it was a justice thing

 

Like Jonah, the sailors have integrity too

–         They are not about to throw Jonah overboard if they can help it

–         Ironically, they try to repent on Jonah’s behalf – they try to row back to shore

–         But it’s no use – you can’t repent for someone else, they must do it for themselves

 

The wind and waves just get worse

–         In the end they realise there is nothing else for it

–         The sailors pray to Jonah’s God – to Yahweh – asking for mercy,

–         “O Lord, don’t punish us with death for taking this man’s life”

 

Yet again we see the irony…

–         Jonah won’t pray to the Lord (he won’t ask God for mercy, even though he knows he’ll get it)

–         But the pagan sailors do ask, even though they’re not sure of the outcome

 

As soon as they throw Jonah in the drink, the sea goes calm

–         At this the sailors fear the Lord

 

The Hebrew word for fear (yara) is the same as for worship

–         So to fear the Lord (in this context) is to worship the Lord

 

The sailors have been pretty consistent through all of this

–         They have been afraid the whole way along

–         But the nature of their fear has changed

–         In the beginning, when the storm started, they were afraid of dying

–         But in the end, when the stormed ceased, they feared God

 

Two quite different types of fear

–         When you are afraid of dying then you tend to do stupid things

–         But when you fear the Lord, you make better choices

–         The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

–         The sailors’ fear of the Lord led them to offer sacrifices to him and promise to serve him

 

Again there is this beautiful irony

–         Jonah’s disobedience to God results in the sailors’ conversion

–         God doesn’t waste anything, especially not our mistakes

–         If Jonah hadn’t got on that boat to Spain the sailors would never have come to know the Lord

–         They would never have experienced the reality of God’s power like they did in that storm and the calming of the storm

–         Nor would they have met a prophet like Jonah to interpret God’s power for them

 

And that’s the fascinating thing right there

–         God’s power in and of itself was not enough to change the sailors

–         The storm is inarticulate – it doesn’t make sense

–         God’s power by itself just makes the sailors more afraid of dying

–         The sailors need Jonah to articulate God’s purpose in the storm

–         When Jonah interprets the events for them then the sailors’ fear is transformed from soul destroying appeasement to life giving worship

 

We might think the part we play in God’s plan of salvation is unimportant

–         And while it doesn’t depend on us entirely God does give us a vital role

–         Like Jonah we may be called upon to interpret God’s power

–         The wonderfully ironic thing is that it’s through his weakness that Jonah interprets God’s power

–         It is when Jonah confesses his wrong doing that the sailors come to know God’s grace

 

Conclusion:

Some Biblical commentators are pretty hard on Jonah

–         They think the moral of the story is, “don’t be like Jonah”

–         But I don’t think that’s point at all

–         I like Jonah – he is honest and he is brave

–         And most importantly he points to Jesus

 

The name ‘Jonah’ means dove

–         Doves were used by the poor, in ancient Israel, as a sacrifice to the Lord

–         If you couldn’t afford a lamb or a goat then you sacrificed pigeons or doves instead

–         Jonah (the dove) sacrificed himself – he put himself at risk – for the sake of those who did not know the Lord

–         Remind you of anyone?  (That’s right – Jesus)

 

Jesus had integrity – he believed in justice, but not at the expense of grace and mercy

–         God is free – free of our expectations

–         We must have a belief system (a theology) which is spacious enough to allow room for both justice & mercy

–         We don’t want to let the tree of justice grow so large that the sapling of forgiveness has no light to grow

 

Let us pray…

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/21-aug-2016-jonahs-justice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Genesis 10:8-11

[2] Terence Fretheim, ‘The Message of Jonah’, page 88-89.