Announcements:

-Happy Mother’s Day to all mother’s (biological, adoptive, and spiritual)

-Double Nickels Ice Cream Social/Movie Night – Thursday, May 25th in HeBrews at 6:30 pm – saying good-bye to Ken and Laverne Brown – all are invited

-Men’s retreat next weekend – sign up and pay!

Dismiss kids for Kingdom Kids (4 yo-1st grade) and Club 3:16 (2nd-6th grade)

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word (congregational in red)

*1The 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.” 3But 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. *4Then the Lord sent such a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5All 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. *6The 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.” 7Then 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. *8So 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?”9He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”*10This 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.) 11The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12Pick 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.” *13Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14Then 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.” 15Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. *16At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. 17But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

Open in prayer

*1The 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.”

Jonah was a prophet from the tribe of Zebulun (northern kingdom of Israel) who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC).*The book of Jonah is one of the 12 “minor prophets” and is unique among the major and minor prophets because: 1) it does not record any of the oracles (messages) that Jonah preached other than “forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned (3:4). It is written as a narrative which explains its popularity as a children’s story over the years. 2) Jonah is the only true, biblical prophet who is not to be commended or followed as an example. We say, “Dare to be a Daniel” or “Stand for God even if you stand alone like Elijah did.” We do not say, “Be just like Jonah.”

The prophet Jonah receives a “word of the Lord” as he likely had many times before. *This time though, it is intended not for the people of Israel but for the Assyrians. The Assyrians were a world power from the 900s-600s B.C. and were ruthless. When they would conquer an enemy nation, they would often skin their victims alive, cut off body parts, make piles of skulls, and impale people on stakes in the ground. When you read through the books of 1 and 2 Kings, you see them pop up as adversaries of Israel. 30-40 years after the events of Jonah, Assyria was used by God as His chosen tool of judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel when Assyria conquered them and took them into exile.Ninevahwas the capital city of Assyria and was a huge, important city in that day. Jonah’s mission was to travel to Ninevah and announce God’s judgment on them because of their wickedness.

*3But 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.

Jonah rejected God’s command and went running in the opposite direction. Many people have speculated that Jonah ran away because he was scared of what the Assyrians might do to him. However, Jonah tells us his motivation for running in 4:2, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” Jonah wanted the Assyrians to be destroyed and did not want God to show them mercy so he ran away. He knew that God is a merciful God because Israel had seen His mercy over and over again throughout their history. *So Jonah tried to go as far away as possible and sail to Tarshish. Tarshish was in modern day Spain, 2500 miles from Joppa, and was at the end of the known world. Jonah decided to flee from God which we know is impossible. *Jonah had likely read Psalm 139:7-10 before which says, “7Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” We can often try the same thing, running physically from a call to a ministry or mission, or running by distracting ourselves so that we can’t hear God’s voice. We might fill up our lives with so much media, work, hobbies, children’s activities or sports, or alcohol/drugs so that we don’t hear God’s call. Fleeing from God is a foolish endeavor…

*4Then the Lord sent such a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5All 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. 6The 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.”

God wasn’t going to let Jonah run away because God cared for the people of Nineveh and He cared for Jonah. The storm was so bad that professional sailors were willing to dump their cargo (which they would have been paid to safely deliver) into the ocean to try to keep themselves alive. The pagan sailors were terrified, each calling out to their gods to save them and all the while Jonah was sleeping, fully aware that it was his God (the one, true God) who could deliver them.

*7Then 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. 8So 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?” 9He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10This 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.)

*Casting lots was a way of decision making that used random chance to determine something,like flipping a coin, drawing straws, or rolling a dice are used today. People believed that a deity would influence the outcome of the lots to reveal his/her will to mankind. There are instances in the Bible of God’s people casting lots to make decisions such as the dividing of the land of Canaan in Joshua 18:10 and the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:26. God used this method to implicate Jonah as the source of the trouble that they were in. Jonah tells the sailors that he worships Yahweh, the God who created everything which terrifies them. This is not some small god like they worshiped (explain polytheism) who is causing the storm but the Creator God.

*I want to pause for a moment to talk about why Lord is in all caps throughout the book of Jonah. This was the personal name of God which is used over 6500 times in the Old Testament.[1]This is the name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:15, “God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”The word that is translated “God” in Exodus 3:15 and in Jonah 1:9 is “Elohim” which is a more generic word that means “God.” When you see “Lord” in the OT, the Hebrew word is “Adonai” and its literal meaning is lord. Elohim and Adonai are titles of God. To further explain, you may have titles that you are called (mom, dad, sir, ma’am, boss, doctor, etc.) I answer to several titles (Dad, Pastor, and Coach). But my personal name is Benjamin Michael Hall. Yahweh is God’s personal name that He revealed to Israel (and us) and when you see Lord in all caps in the OT, that is the name that is being given.[2][3]

Returning to Jonah, he tells the sailors that he is running away from Yahweh and this is the cause of the storm so they ask him, “What have you done?” They ask him the questions that we would likely ask him, “Why would you do such a thing? Why would you think you could get away from a God who is everywhere?”

*11The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 12Pick 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.”

This is the first time that Jonah shows any indication of repentance for his sin of disobedience to God. He recognized that it was his fault the sailors were in danger of losing their lives and he is willing to submit himself to the just punishment of his sin. It is interesting to note that Jonah does not jump into the ocean but he tells the sailors to throw him in. Because his sin had harmed them, they were to be the judges to fulfill his sentence.

*13Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14Then 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.”

The irony of this story is that the pagan sailors had a greater concern for life and sense of morality than God’s prophet, Jonah, did. These men who did not know or worship God wanted to preserve Jonah’s life and did not want him to perish while Jonah wanted the people of Nineveh to perish rather than being saved. The sailors tried to row back to land rather than throwing Jonah overboard. In finally realizing they had no other choice, they felt guilt at what they assumed would kill Jonah and asked Yahweh to be acquitted of any wrongdoing.

*As believers, we are called to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe...” (Philippians 2:12-15) What a tragedy it is when the people of this world look at those who claim to be followers of God and can legitimately say, “I am a better person than they are. They are rude, selfish, and uncompassionate.”We know that no one can be saved through being good enough or moral enough. However, the lifestyle of the believer should reflect the inner transformation that God has accomplished in us and we should be blameless and pure and stand out from the world around us like stars in the dark night sky.

*15Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.16At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

As they threw Jonah into the Mediterranean Sea, the storm ceased. This miraculous display of Yahweh’s power caused the sailors to fear God. Imagine being in that boat, the storm raging, the seas churning, the wind whipping, and then Jonah is thrown into the water and the sea calms immediately.The sailors were convinced that Yahweh is powerful and should be worshiped above any of the gods they had been worshiping. They worship the Lord; we may see these sailors in heaven because of God’s power demonstrated in the midst of Jonah’s disobedience and repentance. Jonah recognized that he had done wrong and rather than trying to justify himself, he accepted God’s discipline. Had he remained stubbornly opposed to God, the entire crew would have drowned. But Jonah repented which we will see in more detail in the following chapter next week.

*17But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

We will talk more about God’s provision of the great fish and Jonah’s time in its belly next week as chapter 2 zooms in on that. *Today, though, we are going to examine one of the prevailing themes that we will see throughout the book of Jonah: God is a God of mercy. If I was to sum up the book of Jonah in one sentence, it would be this: God gives mercy to those who do not deserve it. God’s mercy is evident here as Jonah deserved death for his blatant sin and rebellion against the LORD. But God, rescued Jonah and gives him a second chance. The sailors deserved God’s judgment because of their idolatry. But God spared their lives.

Each of us deserves death for our blatant rebellion against God. We tell God, “I want to be in charge of my life. I want to do it my way. I want to be my own god.” *Ephesians 2:1-5 says, “1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the desires of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” By our very nature, we chase after sinful things. We are objects of wrath. But God, in His great mercy, offered us grace through Jesus Christ. All who would believe are made alive with Christ and are saved. God gives mercy to the undeserving and each of us falls into that category. Only through repenting of our sin and turning to Christ in faith can we be saved.

*In closing today, I want to challenge you:

-If you have not turned from your sin to Jesus Christ, I encourage you to do that. You are dead in your transgressions and sins and under God’s righteous wrath because of your sin nature. But God, who is rich in mercy, has already made a way for you to be saved from that wrath. Through believing in Jesus Christ and following Him as Lord you can be rescued from the certain hell that awaits those who reject Jesus. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and the only way to be reconciled with God who loves you and created you. His mercy demands a faith response on your part.