Message for THE LORD'S DAY EVENING, June 8, 2014 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, NC by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister TOPIC: Christian Living The Futility of Trying To Run From God Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV) Our scripture text this evening comes from The Book of Jonah, chapter one. And let's read verses 1-3. Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV) P R A Y E R 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. ********************************** Introduction There is something about our human nature that makes us run away from things we don't want to do. *We run away from unpleasant people we don't want to be around. *We run away from appointments we don't want to keep. *We run away from certain chores we don't want to do by finding a million other things to do instead.
Have you ever tried to run away from GOD? In tonight's scripture text we meet a man who tried to do just that only to discover The Futility of Running From God. His name was Jonah. First of all, I would have you to notice... I. Jonah's Defiance vs. 1,2 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me. 1. Jonah was a prophet in Israel during a period of time when Israel herself was in a state of rebellion against God; so in that regard Joseph's rebellious actions were a reflection of the Jews as a whole. 2. The Book of Jonah is different than all the other prophetic books in the Old Testament, because it doesn't contain prophecies made by Jonah, rather the book is about the life of the prophet himself. Very little attention is given to anything Jonah said. Instead the attention is focused on his actions. 3. In these opening verses God issues a call to Jonah. Rather than calling him to prophesy to the rebellious Israelites, God calls him to prophesy to Israel's enemy to the northeast, the Assyrians. More specifically, God sent Jonah to the capitol city of Assyria, the city of Ninevah. 4. The Assyrians were notoriously brutal people One of the trademarks of the Assyrian army was to decapitate their victims then write graffiti in their victim's blood on the walls of the cities they destroyed so everyone would know the Assyrians had been there. 5. Well God has commanded Jonah to go preach in the capitol city of these bloodthirsty, ruthless people. This poses two problems for Jonah:
On the one hand, Jonah is thinking, If I preach to the people in Ninevah and they repent, God is going to spare their city from destruction, and I will have helped save the arch enemy of my people. But then on the other hand, Jonah is thinking, If I preach to the people in Ninevah and they don't repent, they are going cut my head off and use my blood to write graffiti on the walls. 6. Seeing this is a lose/lose proposition, Jonah decides to DEFY GOD'S COMMAND and run away. 7. As we look at VERSE 3 we see three tough lessons Jonah learned about DEFYING GOD. (A) First of all, Jonah learned that DEFYING GOD is EXHAUSTING. v. 3a But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. Now let me draw you a little mental map. Here's Israel (right hand) Ninevah is up here about 550 miles northeast of Israel. (left hand) But Jonah isn't heading towards Ninevah is he? No, he is on a boat headed towards the city of Tarshish. Tarshish is wa-a-a-a-a-a-y over here west of Israel about 2,500-3,000 miles away near what is today known as the Rock of Gibraltor, just south of modern-day Spain. Do you get the picture here? Rather than going 550 miles in God's will, Jonah is willing to defiantly run almost 3,000 miles OUTSIDE OF GOD'S WILL. Had Jonah gone to Ninevah, God's blessings would have been on him as he made his journey. But by willfully defying God by running in the opposite direction, God's blessings weren't on Jonah. He was on his own.
DEFYING GOD IS EXHAUSTING! (B) Secondly, Jonah learned that DEFYING GOD IS COSTLY. v.3b He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, (now listen carefully) so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. If Jonah had gone to Ninevah like God told him to, GOD would have picked up the tab for the trip. But because he defied God, he had to pay his own fare. That is true of us also. When you or I defy God we will pay EMOTIONALLY...MENTALLY...PHYSICALLY...and SPIRITUALLY. Any time a child of GOD decides to run away from God and do as he or she pleases, there will be a hefty price to pay. Any journey we make that takes us out of God's will is a costly journey. DEFYING GOD IS EXHAUSTING! DEFYING GOD IS COSTLY! (C) And Jonah also learned, DEFYING GOD IS DANGEROUS. vs. 4,5 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. Now get the picture here: Jonah is out there sailing the open waters of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. A brisk breeze is blowing his hair and as he closes his eyes he's
thinking, I'm home free. God will get someone else! But all the sudden the skies grow dark. The wind speed has increased dramatically and the ship is being pounded by waves crashing over the bow. The sailors on this ship were likely delivering cargo to Tarshish. Its how they made their livelihood to feed their families. If that cargo didn't arrive in Tarshish, they wouldn't get paid, and if they didn't get paid, their family wouldn't eat. So when God sent this violent storm upon the sea, the fearful sailors started throwing their valuable cargo overboard to try to gain control of their ship. In reality, they were throwing their own paychecks into the sea. You see, by his DEFIANCE OF GOD, Jonah not only put his own life in danger, he endangered the lives of everyone close to him. The same is true of you and me. Before you decide to REBEL AGAINST GOD AND DEFY HIS AUTHORITY OVER YOUR LIFE, you'd better think long and hard, because your defiance will have a negative effect on your mate, your kids, your friends, and even your fellow Church members. DEFYING GOD IS VERY DANGEROUS! DEFIANCE IS EXHAUSTING! DEFIANCE IS COSTLY! AND DEFIANCE IS DANGEROUS!
From JONAH'S DEFIANCE, let's move on to... II. Jonah's DILEMMA Jonah 1:15-2:1 (NKJV) 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. 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. 2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish s belly. 1. It is interesting how CHAPTER 2 begins... Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his GOD from the fish's belly. 2. Jonah wasn't praying to God when he got on that cargo ship headed towards Tarshish, was he? And Jonah wasn't praying to God when there was smooth sailing out on the open sea, was he? Jonah wasn't even praying to GOD in the midst of the violent storm, was he? HE didn't start praying until he got completely swallowed up. 3. But not only did JONAH start praying as though his life depended on it, he started making all kinds of PROMISES to GOD about what he would do if GOD would spare his life. Verse 9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I
have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 4. Don't we do the same thing? When we run from God, when we defy God, and start doing things we know are not His will, we stop praying like we should, we stop reading our Bible like we should, we may even stop going to Church like we should. And for a time we may not notice any ill-effects of our rebellion. But then we get swallowed up by a whale of a situation that is too big for us to handle, and we start praying as though our very lives depended upon it. And we start making all kinds of promises to GOD. *Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do, just let me live...or let my loved one live. *Or Lord, I promise I will do anything you ask me to do, please just don't let my marriage fall apart. WE HAVE LOOKED AT JONAH'S DEFIANCE WE HAVE LOOKED AT JONAH'S DILEMMA Thirdly, let's consider... III. Jonah's DELIVERANCE (2:10-3:3a) Jonah 2:10-3:3a So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.
1. It is interesting that the scripture simply tells us the fish vomited Jonah onto dry ground. Because Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days, commentators believe the fish traveled all the way back to the beach at Joppa and spit Jonah out right at the very spot where his journey of defiance began. 2. This time Jonah got headed in the right direction. He went to Ninevah and began preaching the message of repentance to the Ninevite people. Here we see a wonderful act of God's grace toward Jonah. If it had been up to you and me, we might have let Jonah drown in the sea or let him rot in the belly of that big fish. 3. But God showed Jonah grace by giving him a second chance. And because God gave grace to Jonah, through Jonah's preaching God gave grace to the wicked people of Ninevah. In verses 5-10 we read the account of one of the greatest Revivals in history. READ: Jonah 3:5-10 NKJV ************************************************************ C O N C L U S I O N Are you running from God? God isn't asking you and me to go to Ninevah. But He may be asking us to go to that lost family member or that lost friend or that lost neighbor or co-worker. He may be asking us to lead just one solitary person to Christ. Perhaps you have been putting off what GOD has called you to do for years, and you thought it would just go away. But it hasn't gone away has it. We have learned tonight that Running from GOD is futile. Tonight God is calling you to Rise up and go to that loved one. Rise up and go that friend, that neighbor, that co-worker and tell them about Jesus!