God Pursues the Disobedient, 6 October 2019
God Pursues the Disobedient
Series—Jonah
Jonah 1:1-17
Series Big Idea: The prophet Jonah reveals God’s grace for all nations.
Big Idea: Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Today we celebrated Jesus as our Savior. He died on the cross and rose from the dead to demonstrate his power over sin and death. He not only conquered the grave, he offers forgiveness for all of our rebellion against God. I love that Jesus is our Savior! But he’s more than just Savior.
As our founder A.B. Simpson said in his four-fold gospel, Jesus is our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. We love that Jesus saves us. We love it when he brings healing. We look forward to the return of the King. But his role of sanctifier is a bit different. You might say sanctifier means through the power of the Holy Spirit if we submit to him and his lordship, Jesus is enabling us to become like himself. A disciple of Jesus is someone who looks and acts and thinks like Jesus. A disciple becomes like their mentor, their leader. Jesus is not looking for fans. He’s looking for disciples who make him Lord of their lives, master of their lives, people who will say, “Jesus, I give you my life.”
When you do that, you give up control. You surrender your preferences and rights. You let Jesus take the wheel while you jump in the back seat! If God were insecure or mean, this would be a frightening exercise, but I’m here to tell you
God is trustworthy.
God is love.
God has better plans for you than you could ever imagine.
God is not out to harm you.
God wants the very best for you.
And sometimes God’s will doesn’t make sense…at least in the moment.
It can be dangerous to use words like “always” and “never,” but the big idea today is:
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Jonah is one of the most well-known characters in the Bible. He’s mentioned in one, small, four-chapter book which bears his name—and briefly by Jesus—but his story is remarkable. It’s so remarkable, in fact, that many have questioned whether it describes real events or if it’s just a poetic analogy. I believe it’s real—especially since Jesus refers to him—and I believe his life can teach us a lot about our lives.
There are four chapters in the book of Jonah and we’ll cover each one of these four weeks in October. Written around the time of Hosea and Amos, many believe Jonah himself wrote this book between 793 BC and 753 BC. He was likely a part of a group of young prophets who were in training together. While you may find parts of the book familiar, I think you’ll be surprised at some new things we’ll discover together.
So let’s dive in…
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)
He was supposed to travel 500+ miles northeast, but instead, he headed in the other directions toward Tarshish. Maybe he thought God would choose someone else for the assignment if he was able to get away from Nineveh!
How does God speak?
God speaks through the Bible, through circumstances, through people, through dreams,…
How can you be sure it’s God?
Seek wise counsel. Fast and pray. Be still and listen. As far as I know, God won’t text you, but if you seek Him with all of your heart, I believe you will find Him and His will.
God gives Jonah a simple, clear assignment to go to the city of Nineveh and preach. Why does God care about these wicked people? He loves them. He created them. He wants them to repent, turning away from their sins and following Him. Today, He still desires for every man, woman, and child to know and worship Him. That’s why we’re so passionate about not only Toledo, but also the ends of the earth. We want everyone to know about Jesus, and today, even with the Internet and iPhone, there are billions of people who haven’t experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace. We’ve got work to do, family!
But 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 1:3)
One of the most tragic phrases in the entire Bible is, “But Jonah ran away from the LORD.” Why? Jonah’s narrow patriotism was greater than his theology. His disdain for another people group was stronger than his love for God.
It’s easy to criticize Jonah for this rejection of God. After all, we can read his entire story in a matter of minutes. We read of the consequences of his disobedience.
But don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we run from God sometimes? Don’t we sometimes pretend we didn’t read that in the Bible or fight what God is speaking to us?
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Why? Because He’s God and you’re not! He knows best. Really. He’s faithful. He’s trustworthy. He knows what He’s doing! He’s not out to get you or harm you. He loves you more than any mother or father or friend or spouse could ever love you.
Jonah’s headed away from Nineveh. He’s on his way to Tarshish. Did God see him? Yes!
Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 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. (Jonah 4-5a)
Here’s God’s prophet, Jonah, on a ship with pagan sailors who worship other gods. They’re afraid of sinking in this nasty storm. Obviously their false gods did nothing to help them!
Have you ever been in a boat during a storm? It can be scary!
Notice this storm was sent by the LORD. He controls everything, including the weather!
Warren Wiersbe wrote, "God was no longer speaking to Jonah through His Word; He was speaking to him through His works: the sea, the wind, the rain, the thunder, and even the great fish. Everything in nature obeyed God except His servant!"
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. Jonah 1:5b)
How in the world can he be sleeping during this storm? Perhaps he had lost sleep arguing with God about going to Nineveh. Maybe he was exhausted from running from God.
Hundreds of years later, Jesus would be sleeping on a boat during a big storm, too!
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 so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 1:6)
Evidently Jonah was willing to share his faith with the sailors, just not the Ninevites.
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. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” (Jonah 1:7-8)
We often skip over this detail about casting lots, but it is one way people made decisions back in the day. In fact, Judas’ replacement among the twelve disciples was made by casting lots (Acts 1:26).
God speaks through the Bible, through circumstances, through people, through dreams,…but casting lots? It’s actually mentioned seventy times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. The practice was similar to us flipping a coin or rolling dice. Today, we can discern God’s word and will through the Bible and the Holy Spirit rather than casting lots.
Do you think Jonah was convicted when they asked about his occupation?
He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9)
This is one of many biblical mentions of creation, a bold declaration of Jonah’s faith in God…a God he is not willing to obey…a God he’s running from…a God who is functionally not a god at all in Jonah’s life as he rebels.
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.) (Jonah 1:10)
They were terrified, but at least they got to the root of their problem. Jonah’s disobedience affected others…and our disobedience usually does, too.
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?” (Jonah 1:11)
This strikes me as an odd question. If I knew a godly man was responsible for a calamity, I’d ask him to pray to his god to stop it. They ask, “What should we do to you?”
Jonah does not repent. He does not ask God to give him a second chance. Maybe he didn’t believe God was even capable of forgiving his disobedience. Maybe you feel God is incapable of forgiving your sins…if so, you’re very mistaken!
“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.” (Jonah 1:12)
Jonah knew he was to blame. It must’ve been a shocking admission of responsibility for him to claim his actions were the cause of the storm. I wonder if they really thought getting rid of Jonah would calm the storm. Clearly that wasn’t their first thought because the text continues…
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. (Jonah 1:13-16)
It took removing Jonah for God to calm the storm, resulting in new believers. The presence and preaching of prophets is supposed to lead to repentance, but in this case, the absence of the prophet led to spiritual awakening! God works in mysterious ways! First, the sailors were afraid of the storm, and now they greatly feared—they reverenced—God.
There’s one final verse in this chapter, a little “P.S.”
Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17)
It doesn’t say a whale, but a “huge fish” was “provided” by the LORD. I’m not sure if Jonah fully appreciated the fish during those three days and three nights, but it was the LORD’s provision.
So What?
I think the message is simple: Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
God can redeem anything. Here He even redeems Jonah’s disobedience to cause a revival among pagan sailors! But Jonah obviously suffered greatly for his rebellion against God.
I’ve told the story before, but years ago I was asked why I would leave a nice, comfortable job in Chicagoland to go to Ann Arbor and start a church from scratch. I often remarked, “God called me to plant a church and I don’t want to end up in the belly of a fish!” One time after speaking to a group about our plans for the new church, a man came up to me and said, “I’m Jonah and I’ve been in a fish for many years, running from God who wants me to move to Colorado!” I said, “What are you waiting for? Load up and go west, young man!”
We’ve all had moments when we’ve run from God. Sometimes the consequences are severe, other times we may not even be aware of our disobedience. The point remains:
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
This is a huge challenge in our culture today. We live in a consumeristic culture which says it’s all about us, our choices, our decisions, our control, our preferences. Some people have even been taught that if you follow Jesus, you’ll be happy, healthy, and wealthy…and they’re so surprised when they encounter the slightest bit of discomfort or, worse yet, pain and suffering.
Jesus did not come and die to make you happy. He came to make you holy.
You and I can save ourselves a lot of heartache if we just obey God the first time (spoiler alert: Jonah made it to Nineveh, but he took a smelly detour getting there!). You either trust God and make Him LORD or you don’t. But please don’t call yourself a Christian if you’re not going to follow and obey him!
I’m challenged by this chapter. Every day I make multiple decisions to follow or flee from God. What do I do with my money? What goes on my calendar? How do I treat people…including the annoying driver on the Trail! What will I do with my body? What will I put into my mind? And yes, with whom will I share the good news of Jesus?
As we were reminded this morning during communion, Jesus died for me. Will I live for him?
I want to ask you two simple yet profound questions. These questions are the primary tools I use in discipling people to become like Jesus.
What if He sends me to Africa…or Afghanistan…or Columbus?! What if He wants me to change my sexual behavior, my entertainment consumption, my loose tongue, or my laziness? Then again, what if He simply wants to sing over you, His precious child, and remind you of how much you are loved by Him? What if He wants you to indulge in sabbath rest or delight yourself in Him? Maybe He wants you to smell the roses, dance, sing, or just smile. Whatever it is,…
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
And also,
Always obey God, even when you do feel like it!
Jonah’s disobedience caused others to suffer. Likewise, our obedience may cause others to flourish, to be encouraged, to grow, to experience Jesus. We obey God first and foremost because He is God and because we love and trust Him, but obedience can also bless others.
Closing Challenge
What is God saying to you?
What are you going to do about it?
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series—Jonah
Jonah 1:1-17
Series Big Idea: The prophet Jonah reveals God’s grace for all nations.
Big Idea: Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Today we celebrated Jesus as our Savior. He died on the cross and rose from the dead to demonstrate his power over sin and death. He not only conquered the grave, he offers forgiveness for all of our rebellion against God. I love that Jesus is our Savior! But he’s more than just Savior.
As our founder A.B. Simpson said in his four-fold gospel, Jesus is our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. We love that Jesus saves us. We love it when he brings healing. We look forward to the return of the King. But his role of sanctifier is a bit different. You might say sanctifier means through the power of the Holy Spirit if we submit to him and his lordship, Jesus is enabling us to become like himself. A disciple of Jesus is someone who looks and acts and thinks like Jesus. A disciple becomes like their mentor, their leader. Jesus is not looking for fans. He’s looking for disciples who make him Lord of their lives, master of their lives, people who will say, “Jesus, I give you my life.”
When you do that, you give up control. You surrender your preferences and rights. You let Jesus take the wheel while you jump in the back seat! If God were insecure or mean, this would be a frightening exercise, but I’m here to tell you
God is trustworthy.
God is love.
God has better plans for you than you could ever imagine.
God is not out to harm you.
God wants the very best for you.
And sometimes God’s will doesn’t make sense…at least in the moment.
It can be dangerous to use words like “always” and “never,” but the big idea today is:
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Jonah is one of the most well-known characters in the Bible. He’s mentioned in one, small, four-chapter book which bears his name—and briefly by Jesus—but his story is remarkable. It’s so remarkable, in fact, that many have questioned whether it describes real events or if it’s just a poetic analogy. I believe it’s real—especially since Jesus refers to him—and I believe his life can teach us a lot about our lives.
There are four chapters in the book of Jonah and we’ll cover each one of these four weeks in October. Written around the time of Hosea and Amos, many believe Jonah himself wrote this book between 793 BC and 753 BC. He was likely a part of a group of young prophets who were in training together. While you may find parts of the book familiar, I think you’ll be surprised at some new things we’ll discover together.
So let’s dive in…
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)
He was supposed to travel 500+ miles northeast, but instead, he headed in the other directions toward Tarshish. Maybe he thought God would choose someone else for the assignment if he was able to get away from Nineveh!
How does God speak?
God speaks through the Bible, through circumstances, through people, through dreams,…
How can you be sure it’s God?
Seek wise counsel. Fast and pray. Be still and listen. As far as I know, God won’t text you, but if you seek Him with all of your heart, I believe you will find Him and His will.
God gives Jonah a simple, clear assignment to go to the city of Nineveh and preach. Why does God care about these wicked people? He loves them. He created them. He wants them to repent, turning away from their sins and following Him. Today, He still desires for every man, woman, and child to know and worship Him. That’s why we’re so passionate about not only Toledo, but also the ends of the earth. We want everyone to know about Jesus, and today, even with the Internet and iPhone, there are billions of people who haven’t experienced God’s love, mercy, and grace. We’ve got work to do, family!
But 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 1:3)
One of the most tragic phrases in the entire Bible is, “But Jonah ran away from the LORD.” Why? Jonah’s narrow patriotism was greater than his theology. His disdain for another people group was stronger than his love for God.
It’s easy to criticize Jonah for this rejection of God. After all, we can read his entire story in a matter of minutes. We read of the consequences of his disobedience.
But don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we run from God sometimes? Don’t we sometimes pretend we didn’t read that in the Bible or fight what God is speaking to us?
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
Why? Because He’s God and you’re not! He knows best. Really. He’s faithful. He’s trustworthy. He knows what He’s doing! He’s not out to get you or harm you. He loves you more than any mother or father or friend or spouse could ever love you.
Jonah’s headed away from Nineveh. He’s on his way to Tarshish. Did God see him? Yes!
Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 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. (Jonah 4-5a)
Here’s God’s prophet, Jonah, on a ship with pagan sailors who worship other gods. They’re afraid of sinking in this nasty storm. Obviously their false gods did nothing to help them!
Have you ever been in a boat during a storm? It can be scary!
Notice this storm was sent by the LORD. He controls everything, including the weather!
Warren Wiersbe wrote, "God was no longer speaking to Jonah through His Word; He was speaking to him through His works: the sea, the wind, the rain, the thunder, and even the great fish. Everything in nature obeyed God except His servant!"
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. Jonah 1:5b)
How in the world can he be sleeping during this storm? Perhaps he had lost sleep arguing with God about going to Nineveh. Maybe he was exhausted from running from God.
Hundreds of years later, Jesus would be sleeping on a boat during a big storm, too!
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 so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 1:6)
Evidently Jonah was willing to share his faith with the sailors, just not the Ninevites.
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. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” (Jonah 1:7-8)
We often skip over this detail about casting lots, but it is one way people made decisions back in the day. In fact, Judas’ replacement among the twelve disciples was made by casting lots (Acts 1:26).
God speaks through the Bible, through circumstances, through people, through dreams,…but casting lots? It’s actually mentioned seventy times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. The practice was similar to us flipping a coin or rolling dice. Today, we can discern God’s word and will through the Bible and the Holy Spirit rather than casting lots.
Do you think Jonah was convicted when they asked about his occupation?
He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9)
This is one of many biblical mentions of creation, a bold declaration of Jonah’s faith in God…a God he is not willing to obey…a God he’s running from…a God who is functionally not a god at all in Jonah’s life as he rebels.
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.) (Jonah 1:10)
They were terrified, but at least they got to the root of their problem. Jonah’s disobedience affected others…and our disobedience usually does, too.
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?” (Jonah 1:11)
This strikes me as an odd question. If I knew a godly man was responsible for a calamity, I’d ask him to pray to his god to stop it. They ask, “What should we do to you?”
Jonah does not repent. He does not ask God to give him a second chance. Maybe he didn’t believe God was even capable of forgiving his disobedience. Maybe you feel God is incapable of forgiving your sins…if so, you’re very mistaken!
“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.” (Jonah 1:12)
Jonah knew he was to blame. It must’ve been a shocking admission of responsibility for him to claim his actions were the cause of the storm. I wonder if they really thought getting rid of Jonah would calm the storm. Clearly that wasn’t their first thought because the text continues…
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. (Jonah 1:13-16)
It took removing Jonah for God to calm the storm, resulting in new believers. The presence and preaching of prophets is supposed to lead to repentance, but in this case, the absence of the prophet led to spiritual awakening! God works in mysterious ways! First, the sailors were afraid of the storm, and now they greatly feared—they reverenced—God.
There’s one final verse in this chapter, a little “P.S.”
Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17)
It doesn’t say a whale, but a “huge fish” was “provided” by the LORD. I’m not sure if Jonah fully appreciated the fish during those three days and three nights, but it was the LORD’s provision.
So What?
I think the message is simple: Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
God can redeem anything. Here He even redeems Jonah’s disobedience to cause a revival among pagan sailors! But Jonah obviously suffered greatly for his rebellion against God.
I’ve told the story before, but years ago I was asked why I would leave a nice, comfortable job in Chicagoland to go to Ann Arbor and start a church from scratch. I often remarked, “God called me to plant a church and I don’t want to end up in the belly of a fish!” One time after speaking to a group about our plans for the new church, a man came up to me and said, “I’m Jonah and I’ve been in a fish for many years, running from God who wants me to move to Colorado!” I said, “What are you waiting for? Load up and go west, young man!”
We’ve all had moments when we’ve run from God. Sometimes the consequences are severe, other times we may not even be aware of our disobedience. The point remains:
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
This is a huge challenge in our culture today. We live in a consumeristic culture which says it’s all about us, our choices, our decisions, our control, our preferences. Some people have even been taught that if you follow Jesus, you’ll be happy, healthy, and wealthy…and they’re so surprised when they encounter the slightest bit of discomfort or, worse yet, pain and suffering.
Jesus did not come and die to make you happy. He came to make you holy.
You and I can save ourselves a lot of heartache if we just obey God the first time (spoiler alert: Jonah made it to Nineveh, but he took a smelly detour getting there!). You either trust God and make Him LORD or you don’t. But please don’t call yourself a Christian if you’re not going to follow and obey him!
I’m challenged by this chapter. Every day I make multiple decisions to follow or flee from God. What do I do with my money? What goes on my calendar? How do I treat people…including the annoying driver on the Trail! What will I do with my body? What will I put into my mind? And yes, with whom will I share the good news of Jesus?
As we were reminded this morning during communion, Jesus died for me. Will I live for him?
I want to ask you two simple yet profound questions. These questions are the primary tools I use in discipling people to become like Jesus.
- 1. What is God saying to you?
- 2. What are you going to do about it?
What if He sends me to Africa…or Afghanistan…or Columbus?! What if He wants me to change my sexual behavior, my entertainment consumption, my loose tongue, or my laziness? Then again, what if He simply wants to sing over you, His precious child, and remind you of how much you are loved by Him? What if He wants you to indulge in sabbath rest or delight yourself in Him? Maybe He wants you to smell the roses, dance, sing, or just smile. Whatever it is,…
Always obey God, even when you don’t feel like it!
And also,
Always obey God, even when you do feel like it!
Jonah’s disobedience caused others to suffer. Likewise, our obedience may cause others to flourish, to be encouraged, to grow, to experience Jesus. We obey God first and foremost because He is God and because we love and trust Him, but obedience can also bless others.
Closing Challenge
What is God saying to you?
What are you going to do about it?