Jonah (Intro stuff)

For the past several months I have been studying the book of Jonah. It has been an eye-opening and heart-warming (to use some Wesleyan terminology) experience. There is the Jonah I remember learning about in Sunday School and now the Jonah I'm re-learning. For the most part what I remember of the story of Jonah still stands true, but what I've discovered about the person Jonah is a whole new story. He is quite a character. I always thought Jonah was running away from the LORD because he didn't want to accept his call to preach, turns out he didn't like the people God called him to go and preach to.

Anyways, I've created a profile for the book to help me remember its context. Here it is:

Basic info
- The book of Jonah falls into the category of the Minor Prophets. There are 12 of them. 8 of the prophets prophesied before Israel went into captivity, 1 while they were in captivity, and 3 when they returned to their land under the Persian king Cyrus.
- The book of Jonah falls in with the 8 that were before Israel was captured and taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

Background
- When God called Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh, things were going very well politically for the northern kingdom of Israel. There was a lot of political zeal in the land. Their leader, Jeroboam II helped restore the land to what it was under King Solomon. So, many of the Israelites at this time were a happy group of people. They were proud to be Israelites. Who knows? They may have even had a great health care plan that everyone was happy about. It was good!

- However, things were not going well spiritually for them. Underneath all the patriotism the poor were being oppressed and betrayed by their own government. 2 Kings 14:24 says Jeroboam II did “evil in the sight of the LORD”. It also says he didn’t repent of the sins of their former leader (Jeroboam I), which was idolatry and abandoning God. Jeroboam II oppressed the poor and hoarded wealth for himself. His government was corrupt. So, it was not a good situation for every Israelite living in the northern kingdom of Israel during this time. It was a really dark time in Israel’s history. That usually happens in a country when you have no one seeking God and people worshiping idols.

- And it just so happens that during all of this the Israelites enemies, the Assyrians (which is who the Ninevites are), were loosing some of their power and beginning to fall apart and unravel. This was a big encouragement to the Israelites. It was all very good and wonderful to them that their enemies were losing ground and falling apart. It’s during this low point in the Assyrian Empire, and also the low point spiritually in the northern kingdom, that God calls Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh (this key city in the Assyrian Empire), which is right smack dab in the middle of the Assyrian Empire.

Book Outline
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Jonah here is the story of Jonah in a nutshell. If you are familiar consider this a refresher.

Chapter 1 – God’s call to Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh and Jonah’s response. His response was to run away from the LORD and not go to Nineveh because he didn’t like them. These are Assyrians and the Israelites don’t like Assyrians. He tries running away from God by boarding a ship bound for Tarshish and ends up being tossed overboard and swallowed up by a great fish.

Chapter 2 – Jonah is inside the great fish and we find him praying to God Chapter 2 is his prayer to God and ends with the fish vomiting Jonah onto dry ground.

Chapter 3 – God’s call to Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh and Jonah’s response. This time he listens and goes to the great Assyrian city of Nineveh and they listen to his message and repent. As a result, God relents from destroying them.

Chapter 4 –Jonah becomes angry because God had compassion on them. God rebukes Jonah for being angry with Him for sparing the Ninevites.

Any additional thoughts or comments about this introduction stuff is welcome!

Prayer & Times of Trouble

Here's part 2 of what Jonah learned about prayer while in the belly of the fish.

What do we do when we find ourselves in troubling situations? How do we respond? Do we pray? Why is it that in times of trouble we find it easy to pray?

Read Jonah 2:1-7.

This leads to the second thing Jonah discovered about prayer:

Times of troube are great times to pray

In his time of trouble Jonah called (or prayed) to the LORD (v.1). I think he learned that times of trouble present us with great opportunities to draw near to God.

I was thinking about our situation in America right now with so many people being out of a job and/or laid-off of work. These are times of trouble. We are in a belly of the fish moment. Could it be that God has allowed this to happen (He hasn’t caused it) because He wants us to seek Him out in prayer? He knows that if we are in times of trouble, or in the belly of a fish, we will hit our knees in prayer. We have become so busy (with our work and activities) that we just haven’t had time to seek first the kingdom of God, so He has allowed us to be swallowed by a great fish. Like Jonah, He is allowing and giving us time (Jonah had 3 days of solitude in the belly of the fish) to spend seeking Him through prayer. The question is will we take advantage of it? Will we let these times of trouble drive us to our knees or drive us further away from God? I hope we will respond like Jonah and seek God in prayer.

Sometimes I think we feel guilty because we only pray in times of trouble. We use God like a band-aid. We only turn to Him when in trouble. I’m not saying we should continue to live like that because we miss out on so much, but I think God lets us use Him in that way to draw us near to Him and help us see that He can be trusted. That He is a good God. He has our best interests in mind.

Times of trouble are great times to pray. I hope and pray that during those times you can discover what the psalmist of Psalm 139 discovered.

Read Psalm 139:7-12.

Re-cap of what Jonah learned about prayer from his time in the belly of the great fish.

1. No matter where we are God hears our prayers.

2. Times of trouble are great times to pray.

The Belly of the Fish as a House of Prayer

I'm preaching today at a local nursing home on Jonah chapter 2 (I also preached this message last Sunday night at my local church). Here's part one of this message, I hope to post part 2 next week.

What Jonah Learned About Prayer in the Belly of the Fish

Opening: I want to focus in on what Jonah learned about prayer when he was tossed overboard into the sea and swallowed by the great fish that the Lord provided. Read Jonah 2:1-10. The first thing Jonah learned about prayer was that…

1. No matter where we are God hears our prayers.

Read Jonah 2:2. The Lord heard Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the great fish under the sea. Jonah thought he was getting away from the Lord. (cf. 1:3). Imagine his surprise to find out God could hear him from inside the fish?

A monk (Cassiodorus) from the 5th Century said this about Jonah’s predicament (being in the belly of a great fish). “The great fish was a house of prayer for the prophet, a harbor fro him when shipwrecked, a home amid the waves, a happy resource at a desperate time. He was not swallowed for sustenance but to gain rest.”

I wonder how many times we end up in the belly of a fish, a bad place, but a place that has potential to become a house of prayer if we let it but we don’t realize it? Our house of prayer could be a hospital bed. A wheel chair. An empty room. A waiting room. A long car ride alone. Jonah’s situation, being in the fish’s belly, teaches us that all of these places can become a house of prayer if we let them. Are we willing to let them? The secret is that no matter where we are, our prayers reach God’s ears.

I’m reminded of the children of Israel and their captivity in slavery to the Egyptians. In Exodus 2:23-25 it talks about them praying and God hearing their prayers. The next chapter in Exodus is about God calling Moses from the burning bush. God hears our prayers. There are Christians right now, around the world, which are in dungeons, holes in the ground, and prisons, whose prayers are being heard by God.

A Roman senator (Paulinus of Nola) and Christian poet who lived during the 4th Century wrote this about Jonah’s time in the fish, “His body was constrained by the great body of the fish, but the bonds of earth did not constrain the flight of his mind. Though enclosed in that belly, he broke out of his prison by prayer and reached God’s ears.”

Some places (like my church’s prayer room) can be better suited for prayer, but the truth of the matter is God can hear us anywhere.

The Early Christians (Acts 2:42d) understood you could be heard by God anywhere. They were no doubt familiar with the story of Israel in captivity and how God heard His people's prayers and the story of Jonah's prayer from inside the fish. I love the story in Acts 16. Re-cap some of the events leading up to this story. Paul and Silas are thrown into the inner cell of prison and what do we find them doing in verse 25? Praying. We know God heard their prayers because there was an earthquake and a jailbreak.

God hears us anywhere we are. Do not forget that. If you do, go and read Jonah 2:1-10.

Jonah

Wasn't able to post last week due to District Assembly, sorry. I'm back this week.

I had a chance today to preach at one of our area nursing homes. We had a great crowd present and a wonderful sing-a-long. That's right, a sing-a-long. We played the good old stuff! I preached a short message on the book of Jonah. Here's a shortened version of my message:

We discussed two big problems Jonah had. The first was that…

1. God’s plan of salvation was too big.

Jonah 1:1-3
Jonah ran from God because He knew God would allow the Ninevites (which are Assyrians) to live if they listened to His message and repented. Jonah couldn’t understand why God would want to save them and include them in His plan of salvation. Israel was God’s treasured possession and the Assyrians were always knuckle to knuckle with God’s treasured possession.

As a matter of fact, the Assyrians in just a few short years after Jonah sweep down into Israel and completely wipe out the Northern Kingdom of Israel (which is where Jonah is from).
However, you have to keep in mind (and this just amazes me!) that God wanted to reach other nations through Israel (Genesis 12:3). This was God’s message to Abraham a few years back. Jonah had a hard time understanding God wants to bless others through Israel. Jonah struggled with that and how big God’s saving arm stretched. Even up until the end (Jonah 4:5) Jonah was hoping God would destroy the Ninevites.

It’s like God telling us he is going to completely destroy Iran/North Korea unless one of us goes and preaches to them. So, we think that if we don’t go, if they don’t hear God's message, God will wipe them off the face of the earth (and of course that would be good in our minds!).

That was what Jonah was thinking when he headed for Tarshish. He was thinking that if he didn’t go to Nineveh God would just go ahead and destroy them. To Jonah that was great! The Assyrians were enemies to the Israelites and this would be one less threat to them.

The second problem Jonah had was that...

2. God's love was too different.
What do I mean by too different?
Jonah 3:10
Jonah couldn’t understand how God could love and show mercy to the Assyrians and decide not to destroy them. This is just what Jonah feared would happen if he came and preached at Nineveh.

The Assyrians were a pretty ruthless people. They were heartless and liked to fight. They were known to impale their foes alive on large wooden stakes. So, you can see why Jonah was so confused as to how God could look at them and love them? Because from a human point of view, it just wasn’t possible. Jonah discovered in all of this that God’s love is different than mere human love. There is a difference between Godly love and human love. Apparently God can love His enemies. God can love those who intend Him harm. How does He do that?

To see God's love we can look at Jesus. In Luke chapter 5 Jesus calls a tax collector to come and follow him. These individuals were not liked very well, especially by their own people. They were the bottom of the barrel. Jesus takes one of these individuals and makes him one of His 12 disciples. After He calls him He is found partying and eating with Levi at his house. The Pharisees couldn’t understand why Jesus would associate with people like this. It’s because He really loves them!

Another story is found in Luke 7. Jesus enters another tax collector’s home and is sharing a meal with him and his guests and a sinful woman comes and anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. Instead of rebuking her and kicking her away, He lets her worship Him. Why? Because He loves her. He even goes so far as to tell this woman that her sins are forgiven. Why? Because He loves her.

Jonah learned a little about God’s love during his journey to Nineveh. It was not an easy lesson for him either.
Jonah 4:2 (Exodus 34:6-7), 11
God is full of compassion/or love and that was a tough lesson for Jonah to learn.
Has that been a tough lesson for you to learn? I encourage you to continue on in God’s love. We are never too old to show someone God’s love. I am so thankful we have Jesus Christ as an example. The ultimate expression of His love was His willingness to die for us on a cross. Aren’t you thankful for that?