Storms of Disobedience

Transcription

1 Storms of Disobedience Jonah Chapters 1 and 2 Wednesday, January 18, 2017 Jonah 1:1 3 (NKJV) 1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me. 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. The Lord spoke to Jonah. How we are not sure, but one thing was for sure, Jonah knew that the LORD Himself had called him to do two things 1) to leave his home in Israel and go the Assyrian capital, which was the largest city in the world at that time, and 2) call them out for their wickedness. Also, becomes evident that he was to call them to repentance. Since you more than likely already know something of the book and actions of Jonah, let me put this call of God in perspective. It would be like the Lord calling you to go to Tokyo today. The seventh largest city in the world right now is New York; the first largest is Tokyo. That might help you wrap your head around this calling of God on his life. Here he is a Jew, called to go to - not just a pagan city - but the largest pagan city there is and call them to repentance. Let s look at this sleepy little villa that he s been called to. Jump back to Nahum, chapter 3 for a minute. Nahum 3:1 4 (NKJV) 1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. 2 The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots! 3 Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses They stumble over the corpses 4 Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries. Why did Jonah disobey God and go the opposite direction? Nineveh was about 600 miles northeast on the Assyrian Peninsula. Tarshish was 3-4 times that distance by way of the Mediterranean Sea to the south of Spain. I ve heard it said that Jonah didn t want them to repent because then God would have mercy on them. I guess if he had been living during WW II and was called to Berlin, Germany to call them to repentance, he might have been reluctant also. Then when we read just how dangerous it must have been there in Nineveh, we can clearly understand another reason to feel uneasy about this call on his life. Page 1 of 6

2 Yet, instead of speculating why Jonah was disobedient, let s turn to the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and read Matthew 28:19 20 (NKJV) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Maybe, if we are holding tickets to Tarshish right now, we should ask ourselves Jonah 1:4 9 (NKJV) 4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish. 7 And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? 9 So he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. If Jonah had been calculating the dangers of obeying God and surviving Nineveh, he certainly miscalculated the dangers of disobeying the Lord. When we rely on human reasoning that leads us to run away from God s leading, His calling, His revealed will through the Word, we will always miscalculate the inevitable price that we will pay. Another thing to quickly look at for a moment is the concept that I often hear. I m not hurting anybody else! Jonah s sin has now affected everybody else on the ship. Adam s sin has affected everyone who has followed after him since. These people didn t even know Jonah, yet the ship, the cargo, the crew and everyone on board were now about to be destroyed - all because of Jonah s disobedience. Sometimes God doesn t call you to Nineveh, but He calls you to stay in a difficult marriage. Sometimes He doesn t call you to Nineveh, but to your next door neighbor. And tickets to Tarshish are always on sale at what looks like a great discount, but the real price will come later. Page 2 of 6

3 v.4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea" ~ Sometimes the storms of life are brought on by our rationalizing what God has really called us to do. Before Jesus said Go in Matthew 28, He said - Matthew 28:18 20 (NKJV) 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Jonah 1:8 10 (NKJV) 8 Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? 9 So he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Jonah: I fear the Lord = I worship the Lord Who dwells in heaven and who created the sea and the dry land. I serve the Lord. I have fled from the Lord. I am disobeying the Lord. Sometimes our testimony and claims are contradictory. Why have you done this? These pagan unbelievers are rightfully rebuking Jonah. Do you hear yourself man? You say you fear the Lord but look at you. What a hypocrite! Jonah 1:11 16 (NKJV) 11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You. 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. Ok, so what should we do since you are a traitor to the God you claim to serve? Throw me in the sea! Oh, no! If your God gets this mad for running away, I can t imagine how mad He might get if we drown you. Pick up your oars fellows - row - row - row The storm gets worse Ok, we ll throw you in. Page 3 of 6

4 Why did Jonah tell them to toss him overboard? Maybe because of his compassion for those whom he knew were innocent bystanders, and who were tossed into the consequences of his sin Maybe because he felt like he just deserved it, poor me. OR - Just Maybe godly sorrow had set in, the kind that leads to true repentance. Someone will undoubtedly look at the outcome of the sailors and say well if Jonah hadn't gotten into that boat those guys would have never worshipped God. Yes, you could be right - there is a great outcome for those sailors, but God could have reached them anyway. Yet even considering those crew members, that doesn t condone Jonah s disobedience. The Lord was focused on the 120,000 who lived in Nineveh at the time. We rejoice over the 12 or so who were on board that vessel, but God had a far greater harvest in mind. Perhaps while running from God s call on your life you can tell one or two people about Him, but by answering the call, you may wind up telling literally thousands. Jonah 1:17 (NKJV) 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. We ve all heard about Jonah and the whale - then comes the argument. Well, we deserve the argument when we don t represent what the Word of God actually says - the Lord had prepared a great fish for the purpose of swallowing Jonah Do I actually believe this? I must! I not only read it here but I hear Jesus say Matthew 12:40 (NKJV) 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah 2:1 10 (NKJV) 1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish s belly. 2 And he said: I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple. 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. 7 When my soul fainted within Page 4 of 6

5 me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Three days and three nights of waiting to die. I don t believe anything really happened during that time other than Jonah waiting for the ultimate punishment that he deserved - death God could have sent the Coast Guard out to pick up Jonah bobbing in the sea, another vessel, debris that he could have clung to. But none of those would have had the same effect on Jonah s life, his heart, as this experience. It was after he was deposited upon the shore, safe and alive and of all places right back where he started so he could make the trip to Nineveh, that he prayed. Lord, I will never forget how you saved me. Vs. 7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. Vs. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Not to say that there were not any prayers while in the belly of the great fish, v.1 tells that there were. The content of this prayer seems to be after those three days though. Every once in awhile we face a storm in life and that storm is caused by the consequences of our actions, often times in rebellion and disobedience to God. So the next time you feel like the Lord has called you to do something and you re trying to weasel out of it, and you know you are, go back and reread these four short chapters in the tiny little Old Testament Book of Jonah. You ll never be able to calculate how much it will cost you to turn away, ever, but it will always cost you more than had you been obedient in the first place. And if you re running right now, let s be smart enough never to go back again. The godly sorrow that leads to repentance also leads to restoration. Quit thinking about the past Think about the now, the present and the future, because God wants to make your latter days greater than your former. That s in His word. Start answering His call and you ll discover just how much greater your latter days can be. Page 5 of 6

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