Week 2: Jonah Prays (Jonah 2) Discussion Questions

Transcription

1 Week 2: Jonah Prays (Jonah 2) Discussion Questions! 1. Have you ever faced a challenging (even dire time) in which you called to the Lord to be saved? Read Jonah 2: How does Jonah describe his situation at sea? How dire is it? 3. What is at the heart of Jonah s cry for help? (Hint: it isn t just because he faces death there is a bigger implication.) Read Jonah 2: To whom does Jonah direct his cry? 5. Why is it only the Lord who can satisfy Jonah s request (see v.8 and v.9)? 6. Why is it so important that we understand both our need for forgiveness (i.e., due to our sinfulness) and the immense breadth of God s love (Salvation comes from the Lord)? What happens if you deny either of these aspects? 7. How can we help people better understand these two things? 8. What is the definition of grace? How is it both unmerited and unobligated? 9. Do you know someone who demonstrates God s grace? Please share an example if you can. 10. How might we show grace in the places we visit, work, study, or play everyday? 11. Do you think there might be something radical and costly that God might be asking of us as we take part in God s mission in Noosa? How will growing in grace enable us to be more obedient? Read Matthew 3: How can we tell that Jonah has changed in someway? 13. What is the difference between 2:1-3 and 3:1-3? 14. What really has changed in Jonah between 2:1-3 and 3:1-3 that now enables him to obey God s call? What can we learn about this? 15. How can we as a church and individuals come to know God s grace more? The Anglican Church of Noosa

2 Talk 2/4 (Jonah 2): 7/7/13 Jonah Prays by the Rev d Adam Lowe Jonah Prays (A Psalm of Thanksgiving) Introduction - Content and Setting of the Psalm One of my favourite parts of lecturing in the New Testament is helping students understand the setting of the Gospels. Well, I think it is fair to say that Jonah 2 has perhaps the most intriguing setting of them all - it s a psalm of thanksgiving broadcasted from the belly of a fish. Now, I ve never been swallowed by a fish, but I think I can say at least one thing with confidence: If you were to be swallowed by a fish, you d have a lot of time to think. And how Jonah needed some time to think. So often in our busyness - one of the enduring characteristics of our culture - we are so busy, our lives and our minds so crowded with stuff - that we have little opportunity to reflect upon the question: what is God calling us to do. Jonah had been called by God, given a mission, but he took off. His life up to this point was probably on track, he was serving God, his nation was going quite well - everything was good. Yet when into that situation God called him to do something that didn t quite fit the existing mould of his life, Jonah couldn t rise to the occasion. Going to Nineveh meant going to a big and powerful enemy - part of Assyria that could rival Israel - and telling them to repent. We explored the possibility that Jonah could have been afraid, but even more he was recalcitrant. He ultimately didn t want them to repent because he didn t want them to be shown God s compassion. If they were wiped out, then they would be no threat to Jonah s nation. He couldn t handle God s call, so he ran off. And actually - in order to step up to what God was calling him - Jonah needed a breakthrough - God needed to move him to a new level so that he could accept this call upon his life. And that s exactly what happens and we see this dramatic shift in Jonah. You ll remember the call in verse 1-2: 1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. But then, two chapters later we see something remarkable. 1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you. 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. That s quite a turn around! Quite the backflip... We poke our politicians about this - they sometimes do backflips on things they ve said, but how amazing it is when someone does a backflip for the better. Turning from stubbornness to openness, or hold a grudge to forgiveness, or from hate to love. The Rev d Adam Lowe 1

3 Well Jonah has done a giant backflip but notice that God s call did not change, but Jonah s readiness to obey it did. What a breakthrough! What has happened between Chapter 1 and Chapter 3? Well we know there was a storm, a man overboard, a big fish - but there s something happening at a far deeper level. [blank] Jonah now has a bigger understanding of grace. That s why at the heart of this book is Jonah s phenomenal realisation: Salvation comes from the Lord. As we follow God and as we think about what what is he calling us to do, it might involve us moving from a comfortable place to something that will unsettle us. And if we re going to breakthrough, we of course need to be listening to God, but if we don t grow in our understanding of grace, we ll never have the capacity to respond to God s call. God wants us to keep growing in our understanding of his grace, to learn about, to love it, and to live it. Jonah already knew of the grace of God, but he didn t understand it like he does now... And so the new situation that he ran away from, he can handle now. And so this prayer in chapter 2 - sandwiched between the first call and the second call - really helps us to understand more about this spiritual breakthrough going on in Jonah s life. A. The HEART of Jonah s Cry for Help So we first look at the HEART of Jonah s cry for help. And I think I can sum it up in two words: pretty bad. But there s two elements at the heart of his cry. Life in Danger The first is pretty obvious, it s that his life is in danger... He s been thrown into the sea during a storm... Look at some of the descriptors... In my distress I called to the Lord... v.2 From the depths of the grave... v.2 You hurled me into the deep... v.3 all your waves and breakers swept over me... v.3 engulfing waters threatened me... v.5 earth beneath barred me in forever... v.6 life ebbing away... v.7 This isn t Jonah exaggerating and using flowery language. This is a gritty and raw description of a man who has been just within a whisker of death, in the clutch of peril. He feels trapped (seaweed around the head), he s dying, there s a lack of air, and he s within a moment of being dragged under his lungs full of water and sinking into the depths from which he cannot return. So it s pretty bad! But you know what else is happening in his despair? That it s within this situation that he realises that he s turned from his God and they ve been separated. Separated from God I said, I have been banished from your sight (v.4) The Rev d Adam Lowe 2

4 What is Jonah saying? He s saying that having turned his back on God, he knows that death is what he deserves. And with death there is finality after which he will no longer be able to turn back to God. He ll no longer be able to offer worship and praise. And being separated from God terrifies him. Why? Because ultimately, being with his God is his fundamental need. B. The DIRECTION of Jonah s Cry for Help And I love what happens - because he is aware of his sin, but also aware of God s love, he cries out and orientates his whole self to God. To God In my distress I called to the Lord... v.1 yet I will look again toward your holy temple. v.4 my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. v.7 But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. Jonah know that there s only one try place to look... in a situation like this, there s only one true helper. And now, he s re-orientating his life towards the Lord. He had - at this point - an appropriate estimate of his sin and also a proper understanding of God s love. So often when I speak to people about God, I see four types of responses when it comes to an understanding of sin and an understanding of God s love. Underestimate Need for Forgiveness Understand Need for Forgiveness Underestimate God s Love #1 I have no need for forgiveness and I have no need for God s love. #3 I am desperately in need of forgiveness, but I m too messed up for God. Understand God s Love #2 God loves me just as I am, I m completely okay. #4 I am desperate need of forgiveness and God loves me immensely. Friends, only one of those responses will suffice. Jonah gets it. He knows that he deserves death, but he also knows that God is a God of grace. [blank] What is grace? What is grace? Normally will hear: a free, unmerited gift by an unobligated giver. Three scenarios: The Rev d Adam Lowe 3

5 1. Parent and child. Child really has gone off the rails done a lot of naughty things and say they ve done a lot of damage to a house they were renting. So the parent comes along pays for that damage - it s a completely unmerited/undeserved gift, but you re the parent, you re obligated to help. 2. Teacher. A teacher of one of you re children has just been doing an amazing job. They put in hours and hours of extra work, they love the children immensely, and have significantly contributed to your child s growth. So all the parents of that class get together and put in money and buy that teacher something really special to say thanks. That s a merited gift by unobligated givers. 3. Neighbour. A really bad neighbour. They hold parties late at night, all night long, completely no regard for you or anyone else. But if you play a little bit of music at a reasonable hour they re on the phone and they call the police. But that neighbour, they get really, gravely ill. So you day-byday go around to their house - you clean it, cook their meals, pay their medical bills. That s a unmerited and unobligated gift. If you want to understand grace, we ve got to understand scenario three. That s the scenario that we re in, and that s the scenario Jonah was in. We have turned our back on God, but his love is so immense that he offers us this gift - unmerited and unobligated. Jonah gets the gravity of this, we see it in verse 8: Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. He knows that nothing else will suffice, nothing else can satisfy when it comes to be being relieved of sin. And the tragedy is that by making other things the god of our life, we reject the grace that God offers us for free. So the direction of Jonah s cry, is appropriately to God. Why? Because salvation comes from the Lord alone. C. The CHARACTER of Jonah s Cry for Help But we also see that with Jonah s cry for salvation to God, that his character is being changed. He becomes obedient. Not just words... He s going to go to Nineveh and actually act like he s a recipient of grace. The fear that was there, that seems to be gone. The refusal to do what God asked of him, that s gone too. The bigotry is eroded, because he wants the people (at least for a moment) whom he despised to know God s grace. Verse 8 is fascinating not just because it highlights that only the Lord God is sufficient, but also when we ponder who is Jonah talking about. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. The Rev d Adam Lowe 4

6 Those who cling to worthless idols must be referring to the sailors and the people of Nineveh, yet here, quite extraordinarily Jonah is acknowledging that God s covenant love is as much theirs as it is his, and if they don t turn to God then they re forfeiting the greatest gift of all time - grace. Jonah has a new understanding of grace. Of how far it can reach. And how he s not much different from the sailors or even the people of Nineveh. They all fall short of God - but grace is within their reach. CONCLUSION [BLANK] As this chapter draws to end, I love the abrupt and graphic finish to this saga of Jonah fleeing, being thrown into the sea, and then rescued in the fish. 10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. I love it because it reminds us to acknowledge something so critical - It was God who called Jonah, God who sent the storm, God who sent the fish, God who calls again, and God who sets Jonah on solid ground. Jonah is now free to take part in God s mission. We re free to part in God s mission. I m so excited to think about, dream about, what God might ask of us. I m thrilled yet full of trepidation of the radical acts of grace - unmerited and unobligated - that God might move us to demonstrate all over Noosa. Even to people who might threaten us. Friends God wants us to keep moving forward. He wants us to keep proclaiming his name all over Noosa, that people might know his compassion, love, and salvation. But if we re going to keep doing that, we need to grow in God s grace. Admitting that we need help as much as anyone else. Turning our whole lives towards God. Being obedient to whatever he asks of us. That s what Jonah did, and what was the fruit? Grace flowed. The Rev d Adam Lowe 5