|
Pastor George’s Message... Sunday, January 29, 2012 |
|
Nov 13, 2011 “The Glorious Body of Christ” —1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Nov 20, 2011 Thanksgiving: “In All Things Give Thanks” —I Thess. 5:18 Nov 27, 2011 1st Sunday of Advent: STOP What You’re Doing Dec 4, 2011 2nd Sunday of Advent: PREPARE for Something New! Dec 11, 2011 3rd Sunday of Advent: EXECUTE the Plan! Dec 18, 2011 4th Sunday of Advent: RESUME with a fresh Understanding! Dec 25, 2011 Advent Sunday: WORSHIP in Spirit and Truth Jan 1, 2012 Jesus Says: I Will Build My Church –Matthew 16:13-20 Jan 8, 2012 Guest Speaker: --Cliff Black Jan 15, 2012 “Measurements of the Heart” 1 —2 Chronicles 16:1-10 Jan 22, 2012 “Measurements of the Heart” 2 —Matthew 6:19-21 Jan 29, 2012 GOD’S WILL: “Running From God’s Will” –Jonah 1 Feb 5, 2012 GOD’S WILL: “Surrendering to God’s Will” –Jonah 2 Feb 12, 2012 GUEST SPEAKER: Retreat Week Feb 19, 2012 GOD’S WILL: “Walking In God’s Will” –Jonah 3 Feb 26, 2012 GOD’S WILL: “Running Ahead of God’s Will” –Jonah 4 |
|
Pastor George’s Preaching Schedule... |
|
To contact us: |
|
GOD’S WILL “Running From God’s Will” Scripture Lesson: Jonah 1 NIV Introduction: The story of Jonah is a story that almost everyone knows. Even people, who are otherwise Biblically ignorant, have at least heard about Jonah and the “whale”. Of course those of us most familiar with the Bible know it wasn’t necessarily a “whale”; the Bible simply describes it as a “Great Fish”. In spite of the fact the story of Jonah is well know, we often miss the message behind the story. The story is more than a story of Jonah in a “whale of a belly”. The story of Jonah is a story about God’s love for all people, not just the Israelites --It’s a story about God’s patience. --It’s a story of a man, Jonah, struggling with God’s will for his life; --and who of us haven’t struggled with God’s will in our life? The book of Jonah is different from the other the prophetic books of the OT, because it gives only one sentence of what the prophet Jonah actually preached. Jonah’s message was 8 words: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” That maybe the Bible’s shortest sermon. The rest of the book of Jonah deals with the story of Jonah’s struggle to do God’s will. Jonah knew God’s will, but he didn’t want to do it. We’ve all wrestled with the question of God’s Will in our life… we’ve all wrestled with the decision: “Do I submit and obey God’s will and go to Nineveh?... or Do I run from God’s will and try to escape to Tharshish? Jonah was a faithful prophet as long as God wanted what Jonah wanted. But when God’s marching orders went contrary to Jonah’s nationalism and cultural prejudices, he would not do what he was told. There’s a Jonah who lurks in every one of us. As we look at the story of Jonah a question that might be good for us to look at is: “What is the command from God that I find most difficult to hear?”… “What instruction from God panics me and causes me to run in the other direction?”… What prompts me to say: “Anything but that Lord!”… “Any place but there Lord!”? As far as who wrote the book? When was it written? There a lot we don’t know. We don’t know who wrote the book, neither do we know exactly when the book was written. The closest we can come to the date of writing is to say that it was written between 400 and 200 BC. We know very little about Jonah himself, other than what is related in the story itself. The name “Jonah” means “Dove” or “Pigeon” which has little or no relevance to the story. We don’t know anything about his Father “Amittai”, who is mentioned here. The only other mention of Jonah in the OT is found in 2 Kings. 14:25 in connection with the Assyrians attacking Israel’s northern border. Jonah has prophesied that Jeroboam II would restore “the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of Arabah”; and Yahweh empowered Jeroboam to do just that, so Jonah’s words of prophesy had come true. We also know from the story itself here that Jonah was an ardent nationalist; --he was pro-Israeli all the way; --he was anti-foreign and particularly anything having to do with Assyria. For the next four weeks I want us to look at the story of Jonah and his struggle with God’s will. Each chapter describes a different attitude of Jonah toward God’s will. The first chapter shows Jonah running from God’s will. The second chapter shows him surrendering to God’s will. The third chapter shows him walking in God’s will. And the fourth chapter shows him running ahead of God’s will. This morning we’re going to look at Jonah “Running From God’s Will”. Go Preach Against Nineveh: (Jonah 1:1-4) We see here in this first chapter, that it says: Jonah 1:1-2 (NIV) 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." Nineveh was probably built by the Babylonians and it later became the capital of Assyria. It was located on the east bank of the Tigris River in what is now present day Iraq. (See Slide) Assyria was Israel arch enemy… it was by the hands of the Assyrians that Israel had suffered numerous serious disasters and attacks against their northern boarding cities. And particularly in the 8th and 9th centuries BC, the Assyrians invaded Palestine again and again, --burning and looting various cities, --laying waste to the countryside, --carrying off the people of Israel. To go and preach against the city of Nineveh, Israel’s arch enemy, you would have thought Jonah would have jumped at the chance. After all they were not only Israel’s worst enemies; the people of Nineveh were Gentiles. But the problem in Jonah’s mind was: They might repent. Later in the story Jonah relates what was going on in his mind: Jonah 4:2 (NIV) "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 gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he was afraid the people would respond to God’s word against them… and they would repent… and that God would have mercy on them and forgive them. And Jonah didn’t want them repenting… He wanted to see God destroy them. Maybe we should ask ourselves: What kinds of people are we willing to “write-off” and wish that God would destroy?... Who are our arch enemies?... Nineveh represents the Al-Qaeda and radical Islamist of our day. The story says in (vs. 3) “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.” Nineveh was located East NE of Israel. Tarshish, the one he probably headed toward, was located West of Israel. (See Slide) The name “Tarshish” describes or refers to a smelting plant or refinery. There were several places which bore this name, including Paul’s home town of Tarsus. However, the Tarshish that is referred to here is probably one of the most remote places of Mediterranean commerce in the OT times, namely Tartessus in southern Spain. This Tarshish was so far out that Herodotus declared it to be beyond the “Pillars of Hercules”. You have to remember that the people in those days, believed the earth was flat like a table and that there were pillars, “The Pillars of Hercules” holding up the sky. The Pillars of Hercules were thought to be right at the edge of the world, just before you dropped off the face the earth. The Tarshish to which Jonah was headed was, if not at the end of the world, it was right next to it. I.E. Jonah tries to get as far away from God and Nineveh as he could. But Jonah finds out an interesting thing, you can’t get away from God. You can run as far away from God as it humanly possible, and God is still there. You can go until your drop off the edge of the world, but God is still there. How many times have you or I tried to run away from God?... --we’ve tried run away from what we know He is wanting us to do?... --we’ve tried to run away from doing His will, but we never get away?... The truth is: There is no place where God is not… God is everywhere. We may think that we can escape God’s will and his laws, but we can’t. There are many ways we try to avoid doing God’s will. Jonah got on a ship that was headed the complete opposite direction and he went to sleep. Store: Jonah reminds me of a kid I knew in College; he was in my dorm. Lynn, every time things started getting tight, such as papers due or a test to study for and take, he simply would go to his room and sleep for two or three days straight… sometimes sleeping right through the time he was suppose to be taking his test… or when the paper was due. (Now that I know what I know now, he probably was suffering some serious clinical depression.) Lynn’s way of escaping was sleeping; the only problem was when he woke up, he still had the papers to do and the tests to take or make up for. Jonah went down into the hold of the ship and went to sleep. He knew God’s will. God’s will for him was clear. He avoided it by going to sleep. In the Church we often have a wonderful way of escaping responsibility for God’s will and mission; it’s usually one of two ways: 1) We assign it to a committee to study or 2) We hire a professional. We know God’s will for the Church. We know what God has called each of us to do personally. So we assign it to a Mission board or committee to study it and we wait for them to tell us what to do, and it never gets done. Or we hire a professional to do our witnessing and our disciple-making for us. Sooner or later we are made to face the reality of God’s Call and God’s will for our lives and for the Church. Running Against the Wind: (vs. 4-7) In Jonah 1:4 (NIV) the story goes on to say: 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. The phrase “sent a great wind” is much too mild for the Hebrew word (hetil) that is used here… a better translation might be: “threw” or “hurled”… like “throwing or hurling” a javelin (1 Sam. 18:11). “The wind the Lord threw on the sea caused it to rage violently. The sea became tumultuous with white-capped, turbulent waves breaking over the ship.” Story: My Dad who was a World War II veteran crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, going to war Europe and coming home… and both times crossing the Atlantic Ocean, he never got Sea-sick. The only time my Dad ever got sea-sick was on the Mediterranean crossing from Algeria, Africa to the Island of Sicilia. The Mediterranean Sea can become very boisterous. No sooner had Jonah gotten to sleep and the Lord caused this storm to blow-up on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken. We learn here that when we go against God’s will, we go against everything that is God’s, including the sea and the wind. God gives us as human beings the freedom to choose; but those choices we make have consequences. When we choose to disobey God’s will, but there are always consequences that follow. And now matter how far and how hard we may try to run from God’s will, the consequences will always follow. Story of Dave: I had a close friend in college who tried to run away from God’s will for his life. Dave, like myself, had felt God’s call upon his life in High School. In college Dave had become the President of the Student Ministers on campus. Of all the Student Ministers Dave was one of the one’s who was most excited about getting into ministry. But then something happened in Dave’s life that changed all of that. Dave’s father became terminally ill. Dave prayed fervently… the whole campus prayed fervently for his Father’s healing, but his Father died anyway. Dave became extremely angry at God for not healing his Father. Dave dropped out of college; he left his wife and new baby; he quiet the church (he was a Youth Leader at Lents-Gilbert Church where I attended); he messed around and lived with another woman for a while; he started drinking heavenly and smoking; we was into drugs for awhile. He went from one job to another. For several years I lost track of Dave, but generally during that time Dave’s life was miserable and messed up. All because he was running from God’s will. Dave ran from God for almost 10 years before he finally came back to God and surrendered to God’s will, was reconciled to his wife, and re-entered the ministry. Even though Jonah was running from God’s will, he could not escape God’s will or escape or sleep through the consequences of running from God’s will. In Jonah 1:5-6 (NIV) 5 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. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 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, and we will not perish." Why Are You Running: (vs. 7-17) At this point we learn something else from the story of Jonah. Not only was Jonah responsible for the consequences of his choices, but the consequences of his choices also affected those around him. Jonah 1:7-10 (NIV) 7 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. 8 So 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?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 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.) When we go against God’s will, we are not only affected, but so are all those around us. The whole ship was about to break-up; everyone’s life was in jeopardy. The truth is: There are very few things, if any, we can do in life, which only effect ourselves and do not affect someone else. As the ship is about to break-up the captain finds the defecting missionary trying to anesthetize himself with sleep in the bottom of the ship. And he demands of Jonah: Jonah 1:6 (NIV) 6 "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." The only person who knew Yahweh, the Creator and Lord over the wind and the sea was fast asleep. I wonder how many times are we as Christians and the church fast asleep in the hull of the church, while there are souls about to perish because we haven’t told them the name of the God who can rescue them from their storms of life. And while they are about to perish, we too, as the church are about to perish along with them, because we are running from God’s will and the mission He has called us to. Meanwhile, the sailors cast lots to find out who was the guilty person on board, who was the cause of the storm: Jonah 1:7 (NIV)7 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. The idea behind this was that it was obvious that some god or gods were angry about someone on the ship, and they all were being punished because of him. Jonah admitted he was “running from God”; and so they question him more: Jonah 1:8-10 (NIV) "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?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 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.) John Lloyd Ogilvie in comment on this passage says: “A contemporary wording of the sailor’s response (vs. 10) might be, “With a God like you have described, why would you want to do that?” … The bottom line is: When God calls us, there is no escaping God’s will… not matter how far you run!” And the refusal to follow God’s will, put us out of commission spiritually… when we refuse to follow God’s will, we lose our witness and our spiritual intergrity. There’s an interesting contrast between Jonah’s missed opportunity here to witness to these sailors and a similar occasion in Paul’s life when he’s on a ship floundering in a storm off the coast of Malta: Acts 27:22-25 (NIV) 22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Courage and words like Paul’s comes from a man who is in God’s will… who is in consistent communion with God. The same thing that Jonah lacked because of his disobedience. Jonah 1:11 says: 11 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’s answer to the situation is: (vs. 12) 12 "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 was so prejudice against Nineveh… Jonah was in such deep rebellion against God’s will that he was willing to die, rather than go and preach and warn the Ninahvites of their sin. According to Jonah 1:13 (NIV) is says: 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. When it became obvious they had to throw Jonah over board, the sailors cry out to the Lord: Jonah 1:14-16 (NIV) 14 "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." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. I find it interesting that God was able to use Jonah’s rebellion as a witness to who He was… the Sailors recognized God for who he was and verse 16 says: “At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.” If this was the first time you heard the story, at this point, you might guess this would be the end of the story… but it’s not. The last verse of this chapter says: Jonah 1:17 (NIV) 17 But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. Next week we’ll look at Jonah as he “Surrenders to God’s Will”. Jonah goes on a “spiritual retreat”. Conclusion: Most of us have our own Nineveh and Tarshish. One is the city of faithfulness and obedience… the other is a place of escape, evasion and may outright rebellion. Our Ninevehs are those places and times God gives us a clear revelation of his will. Our Nineveh may simply be the Lord urging us to change a behavior or attitude. Our Nineveh may be God telling us to go across the street or to the next cubical and give a word of encouragement or witness. Whatever else, our Nineveh is the call of God sounding in our hearts to put Him first and for most… to be His person… to accept our vocation to be his servant to others. Our running off to Tarshish can sometimes happen in our souls long before we physically head for Joppa and board a ship for Spain. Some of us run away from God without ever leaving our geographical location… our hearts leave him before our bodies leave Him. Sometimes we run away by so filling our lives with activities, maybe even good religious activities, that we don’t have time for God or ministry to his peoples. Some of us are running off in all directions, but not under God’s direction. John Oxenham has put our choice between Tarshish or Nineveh into poetic but penetrating words: To every man there openeth A way, and ways and a way And the high soul climbs the highway And the low soul gropes the low And in between, on the misty flats The rest drift to and fro But to every man there openeth A high way and a low And every man decideth The way his soul shall go
|
|
Called By God To Be A Multicultural Church Reaching... Loving... Caring... in Jesus' Name |
|
Tillman Road Church of God Fort Wayne, IN |