Sermon Jonah 1:4-16 "Running Away from God"
Presbyterian Church of Easton
July 4, 2021
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I am beginning today a four part series drawn from the Old Testament Book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet in the eighth century before Jesus Christ. He came from the region of Galilee and a village near Nazareth where Jesus would grow up eight hundred years later. So it is not surprising that Jesus grew up knowing the story of Jonah not only from the Hebrew Bible, but probably also from a community who remembered their own prophet from years before. Before we get to Jonah, let's pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Jonah is an unusual book. First, “Jonah” is a Hebrew word which means “dove”. This is a most unusual name for a prophet. Consider the prophet Elijah. His name means “Yahweh is God!” Calling a prophet “dove” is strange because it sounds a little passive and prophets are very active. Another thing that is strange about this book is that even though it is a prophetic work it doesn't sound like one. Most of the prophetic books are written something like this: “The word of the LORD came to Elisha ...” What follows is God speaking through the mouth of the prophet. But in the Book of Jonah there is no such pronouncement. Rather we have a story about Jonah. So we have to find the meaning of the book in the narrative.
In the verses you heard earlier the Prophet hears a command from God to go to the place he most wants to avoid, Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the hated Assyrians. God had promised to destroy the Assyrians because of their wickedness. So why would God want to send a prophet to these evil people? Could it be that God wanted to call them to repentance? Was it possible that God wanted to forgive them? Jonah was incapable of thinking in this way because he hated them so much. How could he proclaim God's redemption and love to the enemy?
So Jonah just refused to do it. Instead of traveling east toward Nineveh he went west to the Mediterranean and booked passage on a boat heading to the coast of Spain, the end of the known world, and as far away from Nineveh as Jonah could get. He was determined to flee from God as far as he could.
Don't we face the same thing. God tells us to evangelize our neighbors here in Easton and we find this command so difficult we run from God as fast as we can. When God asks us to do the impossible we always flee from Him going as far as we can to get away. God calls us, like he called Jonah, to reach out to sinners and bring them to Christ. But who among us wants to recruit child molesters, drug addicts, or adulterers and bring them into our church? Do we really believe that our God wants to redeem the most wicked people here in Easton? And if so what would our church look like if we did that?
These were the kind of questions that went through Jonah's mind, and he decided that he was just not going to proclaim God's word of salvation to the most depraved people on earth. That's why he fled, and we would run away too. And when Jonah fled from god he ran into a great storm.
Many years ago I was with a church group on a water ski weekend. I drove the boat that towed the skiers through the water. One day we were out on the water. The sun was out. The winds were calm. We were having a wonderful time. Suddenly black clouds appeared on the edge of the lake. The winds picked up. I said a quick prayer. I knew that I had to get everyone back to the shore before the storm started, but I had two people in the water. I stopped the engine and got everyone in the boat. Then I headed straight for home as fast as I could. We reached the shore just before the storm hit. God had protected us.
Let’s take a look at the storm God sent to Jonah.
Jonah 1:4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
Jonah had decided to run away from God in disobedience. God's reaction was to prevent Jonah from getting away, and to convince Jonah to obey Him. God did this with a violent storm and a test. The test was: which god would save them, one of the gods of the sailors, or Jonah's God? But Jonah was not up for the test. Unlike Elijah, who created a spectacular test on Mt. Carmel and proved that God was superior to Baal, Jonah remained silent. His faith was just not strong enough to proclaim the good news of a God who saves.
Are we willing to allow our faith to be put to a test? Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone and do what God wants us to do? Or like Jonah, do we roll over and fall asleep whenever God asks us to do something difficult? Do we lack the faith that God can use us to do things that ordinarily would be impossible for us to do?
The sailors on the boat with Jonah were desperate. They needed a God to save them. They needed a sacrifice for this God to appease him. What should they do?
Jonah 1:7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
So finally they knew that Jonah was the source of their problem. He had done something to bring this calamity upon them. They demanded some answers for their questions. And Jonah, reluctantly, answered their questions.
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
The sailors were terrified because the God that sent the storm was not some insignificant local god. Rather the storm was a result of the anger of the very creator of the world. Jonah had managed to anger the most powerful God of all, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Like the sailors we face storms in our lives. Our backs hurt. Our legs won’t move. Our speech is slurred. We are becoming forgetful. Our parents are unable to care for themselves. Storms rage all around us. But we have a savior who calms the storms. Listen to this wonderful story from the Gospel of Luke.
Luke 8:22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, 23 and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
Our savior, Jesus Christ, will calm our storms. Whatever we are going through our savior will be there with us, with healing and strength to get us through. We, who are going through so many storms in life, need our savior right now. That is why we gather on Wednesday nights for prayer. We ask the savior to calm our storms.
The sailors with Johah needed a savior too. So they asked Jonah where they could find one.
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
The sailors asked Jonah what to do to appease his God. John confessed his sin and told them, make me your sacrifice. Throw me overboard and you will be saved. Jonah was willing to sacrifice his own life for the needs of the sailors just as Jesus offered his life for us. But the sailors ignored the sacrifice idea and tried to deal with problems themselves.
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
This is what it is like whenever we ignore our savior and try to deal with our problems ourselves. We row harder and harder and harder but the head winds of life keep pushing us backwards. We get nowhere until we face certain death. The sailors, also facing certain death, did the only thing that was left for them to do. They prayed to Jonah’s God.
14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O 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 feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
When all appeared lost the sailors finally did the only thing that works. They prayed to Jonah’s God, the Lord God of Israel. And that is true for us too. When the storms of life overwhelm us, when everything seems to be out of control, we finally turn in prayer to the source of all power, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next week, July 12, 13 and 14 we will have a well known evangelist from Korea at our church. The Rev. John Sang Won has traveled the world bringing with him news of a savior who calms storms of life. Come join us and bring your friends. This will be a time of healing and wholeness. Prayers will be offered to Jesus to calm the storms we face. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we confess that we run away from your command to reach out to others and make them your disciples. We prefer the comfort of the church we are in to the church that could be. And we are suffering the storms of our complacency. Fill us with your Spirit and with faith so that we may go into the world, into our Nineveh, and make disciples for you. Amen.
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