We are going to be walking through Jonah until Advent. Jonah is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. It’s nestled right in between Obadiah and Micah, so not the easiest book to find. I always say there is no shame in using the table of contents. The author of Jonah is unknown, but we can be fairly sure that the events of this book were spoken of by Jonah himself. The book of Jonah is a prophetic book, but it reads differently than any other book of a prophet. There is humor in this book, irony, and satire. And only one of the 48 verses in the book contains a clear prophetic word from Jonah himself. 

Unlike the other prophets where we have lots of prophecy and often little story, this book is a story. It’s what scholars call prophetic narrative. But, it’s not just a story, it’s a story we are supposed to learn something very specific from. It’s not a story about a storm. It’s not a story about a great fish. It’s not a story about Nineveh. And It’s not even a story about Jonah. It’s a story about God. About his compassion and grace to every type of person everywhere. But before we can see God’s compassion, we have to see Jonah’s sin. That’s what chapter one is about. 

I remember when my daughter, Ivey, was in first grade, I was standing next to her in this room on Sunday morning singing and I was about to go up and preach. I leaned over to her and said, “Ivey, I don’t feel very well. I might need you to go up and preach for me.” She looked at me and said, “I got this dad.” I smiled and said, “Thanks so much, I think I can power through.” And later I asked her, “What would you have said?” She looked at me without hesitating and said, “You’re all sinners and you need God!” I thought, well, that would actually preach. Might actually be better than 50% of the sermons in the country. 

Sin is a complex word, though, because different people hear different things. Some see sin as doing wrong things, although what ‘wrong’ is can change from person to person. Some see sin as whatever harms your emotional well-being or disrupts self-actualization. Some see sin purely through the lens of oppression and marginalization. Others see sin as denying your authentic self or conforming to external moral codes. Others yet see it as some antiquated word used to keep people in line. 

But, in Jonah we see the simplest and clearest definition of sin: Running from God. And this is something that we all do. And I would argue until we see that we do it and feel the pain of Jonah in this first chapter, we are never going to appreciate and feel God’s pursuit of us. If we don’t feel the pain of sin, we will never feel the love of God. And we see this through 1) Jonah’s flight and 2) God’s pursuit. 

1. Jonah’s flight

In the first verse we see that the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.” Other translations say to go “preach against it.” So, there are three aspects to what Jonah is called to do: Arise, go to Nineveh, and call out (or preach) against it. And what does Jonah do? Verse three.  3 But Jonah erose to flee to fTarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to gJoppa and found a ship going tofTarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them tofTarshish, haway from the presence of the LORD. - Jonah 1:3

Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah goes the exact opposite direction to Tarshish. Nineveh was 500 miles in one direction and Tarshish was 1000 miles in the opposite direction. Tarshish is mentioned three times in one verse to highlight that this was intentional. He wasn’t just catching the first ship to wherever, he was trying to go the farthest he could in the opposite direction. 

So why was Jonah so intentional to not go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. At this time, Nineveh was the biggest, meanest, most violent, imperialistic power that had ever risen up in history. They were conquering nations around them. They had wiped some out through genocide and made others slaves. They were a real threat to Israel. Assyria’s violence has come up. It has gotten full. That is the typical way that God talks about evil in the Old Testament. The best equivalent I can give would be if God had asked some American preacher in 1941 to go and preach against the evil in Berlin, Germany. 

Jonah had gotten the message loud and clear. And it’s not that he’s scared of what might happen to him. It’s that he knows the character of God. We see this in chapter four. 2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? zThat is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are aa gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and arelenting from disaster. - Jonah 4:2 Jonah knows that if God wants to bring judgment on Nineveh, He doesn’t need a prophet. He doesn’t need a preacher. God uses those for something different: to bring grace, mercy, and compassion. And Jonah wants no part of compassion going to Nineveh. Virtually every commentary and sermon I read this week agrees that Jonah’s problem was nationalistic at best and racist at worst. 

I was really drawn this week to this word ‘against.’ Go preach ‘against.’ I think Jonah knew that often when God sends someone to preach against what someone is doing, what God is doing is actually for the recipient of that message. Jonah knows this and realized that if he did go and preach, this would not only be bad for him, but bad for his family, and his country. So he decided to disobey God. 

I know we read this story and find it hard to identify with Jonah, but think about how many times in history someone has what we might call good motivations that lead them to do morally reprehensible things. Not a lot of people know this, but in the early 20th century, something started in the US called the Eugenics Movement. Eugenics just means ‘good births.’ The idea was to promote human flourishing by encouraging ‘fit’ people to reproduce and ‘unfit’ people not to. Many believed that it would reduce disease, poverty, and suffering. It gained tremendous support and more than 30 states passed laws to force sterilization on people with mental illness, disabilities, prisoners, poor people, immigrants, minorities, and promiscuous women. The Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes actually wrote, “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” Not only did this take off in the US with over 60,000 people being forcibly sterilized, but it caught the eyes of Nazi officials and paved the way to much of their atrocities as well. 

What began with love of humanity, but without the love of God, lost sight of what makes people human. It tried to eliminate suffering by eliminating sufferers. So how does this connect to Jonah? He’s motivated by protecting his people and he’s doing it by preventing thousands from hearing God’s word and receiving his love. At the end of the day, Jonah, like the Eugenics Project, is motivated by fear and the result is that he ran from God. 

And you have to think that Jonah knew Psalm 139. 7  xWhere shall I go from your  Spirit? Or where yshall I flee from your presence? 8  zIf I ascend to heaven, you are there! aIf I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! - Psalm 139:7,8 You can’t flee the presence of God. It makes me think about playing hide and seek with my kids when they were little. They would go to the same hiding spot. They would giggle behind the curtain. Collins once said from behind the chair, “Collins is not behind the chair!” The more they tried to hide the more futile it was. That’s what Jonah is doing and that’s what we do as well. 

What’s so interesting is that the word ‘down’ is mentioned six times. This is no coincidence. Often in Scripture (as in Psalm 139) up is good and down is bad. Up to heaven, down to hell. Jonah went down to Joppa,down into the ship where he laid down, and down into the sea. We are supposed to hear and feel how bad it is that Jonah is running from God. 

I think Jonah has a general desire to do right by God, but only so far as it gets him what he wants most. But, when he doesn’t think it is going to get him what he wants most, he runs. That is what sin is and that is what we all do. His relationship with God is based on fear, not love. Imagine a wife asking a husband why he loves her and he says, “Because you have such a great body” or “Because you make really good money” or “ Because we have really good sex together.” How do you think she would feel? Horrible. Because what that idiot husband is saying isn’t I love you for who you are, he’s saying I love you for your body, for your money, and for your sex. That’s not love. But, that is how Jonah and all of us interact with God at least at times. 

Jonah is the type of person that is good with God when things are going well, but not when things get challenging because he feels like he knows better than God. Jonah is willing to serve God as long as it serves his national interests. And, man, is there a message for so many politicians here. But, there is a message to us as well. Everyone has an ‘until.’ I will serve God ‘until’...serving Him means I might not get promoted at work…until serving him means I might not get this client…until serving Him I might not be seen as cool at school…until it means that I might not get this woman or this man…or…until it means that my kids might not be able to do all the sports activities they want. 

I think the average age of our church is somewhere around 11. We have more young families than any other demographic. And through our research in The Great Dechurching, we know that one of the reasons people return to church is because they have kids. Some return because they realize the gravity of bringing a life into the world and have a renewed sense of awe and they want God to lead them as they lead their families. That’s good. But, others come back because they want God and the church to help them raise up healthy successful kids who will make the right friends and make the right decisions in life. That’s bad. They will follow God ‘until’ He doesn’t give them the kids they want. 

We all have a point where we say ‘until.’ And that is when we can see that we are serving God not because we love Him, but because of what He can give us. Do you know what that makes us? Idolaters. We are using God to get what we really worship. And all of us do it. The question is whether we see it. 

But, there is another kind of ‘until.’ The kind we see in the sailors. Jonah and the ship sail for Tarshish and the wind hurls upon the sea and the waves become so violent that the ship threatens to break apart. The sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. Then, they woke Jonah up and figured out what was going on and cried out to Jonah’s God and threw him overboard in hopes of appeasing Him. 

The sailors had the opposite kind of ‘until.’ They don’t serve God ‘until’ things get hard, they ignore God until things get hard. And maybe you’re here today and you haven’t been to church in a long time or maybe ever at all, but something has happened in your life and out of a sense of desperation, you’ve decided to turn to God. And, if that is you, I want you to know that I’m so glad you’re here and I’m so glad you are turning to God, but I want you to see that you are in the same spot as all of us. The sailors, just like Jonah, are serving God not because they love Him, but because of what He can give them. And whether until leads you toward God or away, until we see it’s an until, we won’t see that our motivations are not love, but selfishness. It’s not a relationship, but a transaction. 

And the more we allow our ‘untils’ to dictate our walk with God, the more seared our consciences become. The more numb our souls become. And this is why Jonah can sleep through the storm. He has drawn his line. He has made his decision and he isn’t losing any sleep over it. And there is only one greater numbness than being at peace as you run away from God. To prefer to die rather than repent. 

But, that is exactly what Jonah chooses. He asks the sailors to throw him overboard. One more ‘down.’ Down into the abyss. This is a dramatic and vivid illustration of where our hearts will lead us. But, praise God, even when we are fleeing, sleeping, or preferring death over repentance, He is pursuing. 

1. God’s Pursuit

If we have eyes to see it, God is all over this story. And God wants us to see that He is all over this story. We see God’s pursuit in five ways. First, we see it in the storm. This was no natural storm. It came out of nowhere. God isn’t an agent of evil, but He will use many kinds of storms to wake us up. We have talked a lot recently about storms that come on even the most committed Christians and that is just a part of living life in a fallen world. But, there is a different kind of storm that God is using to open our eyes. God isn’t going to passively wait for our conscience to realize that we need Him. That won’t happen. Our consciences are the problem. If your life’s motto is ‘follow your conscience,’ that will lead you to some very dangerous places. Jeffery Dahmer followed his conscience. Hitler followed his conscience. No, God is not going to wait for our conscience to change, He brings the storms and changes our consciences. 

If you worship money, God sends storms of financial failure. If you worship family, God sends storms of strife and isolation. If you worship notoriety, God will send storms of humiliation. And He’s doing this to show us the futility of our idols and open our eyes to Him. He’s showing us that He is better than anything we think we can or should get from Him. He’s bringing us out of a transactional relationship and into a loving relationship with Him. Jonah didn’t want to preach against the Ninevites because he knew that meant God was working a miracle for them. Now God brings the storm against Jonah, but He does this to work a miracle for him. 

Then, secondly, we see God’s pursuit through the pagan sailors. In verse six, this pagan captain calls sleeping Jonah to ‘arise.’ Sound familiar? Then the captain beckons Jonah to cry out to His God. Seriously? All the things Jonah already knew he should do, the pagan sailors are now telling him to do. The captain asks him about his occupation which would only remind him of his failure as a prophet. The captain asks him about his origins which would only remind him of the God he was running from. There is nothing God won’t or can’t use to bring His children back to Him. 

Then, thirdly, we see God’s pursuit through the casting of lots. Casting lots was a legitimate way in the Old Covenant to seek God’s will. Proverbs 16:33 says 33  kThe lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is lfrom the LORD. The Old Covenant was external, but the New Covenant is internal. There is no recorded instance of casting lots in the Bible after Pentecost. But, we can see the humor in this if we imagine how it went down. “Let’s cast lots. Is it Jonah? Yes.” “Ok, how about we do this one more time? Is it Jonah? Yes.” “Ok, just to be super sure, one more time. Is it Jonah? Yes.” “Ok, it’s probably Jonah.” 

Fourth, we see God’s pursuit through the fish. The sailors decide to throw Jonah and immediately the sea becomes calm. Yet another sign that the storm was from God. And this is where we get to verse 17 17 3 And the LORD appointed4 a great fish to swallow up Jonah. wAnd Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. - Jonah 1:17 The Lord appointed that the fish would swallow Jonah and be in its belly for three days. The Lord appointed. 

And it’s in the belly of the fish that Jonah gets some breathing room. Figuratively and literally. I’m not going to jump forward to chapter two today, but I think we can see that even in the fiercest of storms, God is going to give His people some breathing room for repentance. And maybe for you that is this morning in this service. 

It’s funny that I have spent so much time helping people who like a merciful God understand why they should also like a just God. But, here is the opposite. Jonah likes a just God for the Ninevites and not a merciful God. But, now he gets a glimpse of the mercy he needs. I think it is in the belly of the fish that he realizes that if God isn’t just, there is no hope for the world. But, if he is just, there is no hope for him. Or us because we are all idolators, all sinners. Jonah can either have a just God who kills the Ninevites and Jonah or a merciful God who lets them both go. 

But, God is showing Jonah and us that He is both. Here is where we see the fifth and final pursuit of God in Jonah one. We see it in Jesus. In Matthew 12, the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that He was the Messiah. And Jesus said,  x“An evil and yadulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For zjust as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, aso will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:39,40 

In the same way that Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish and was miraculously presented alive, so Jesus will spend three days in a tomb and be miraculously resurrected. The reason Jonah could be thrown into the water and not the wrath of God is because Jesus was thrown into the wrath of God on the cross. The storm of water and wind did not take Jonah because Jesus took the storm of God’s wrath. It wasn’t waves of water that went over Jesus, it was the eternal justice of God. Only when we see that we deserve to be thrown into the water like Jonah can we see the reason we don’t. 

And only then can we see that we aren’t the hero of our stories, Jesus is. That’s why this is a story about God. The storms will still come. This life will not be easy. But God has pursued us and given us enough breathing room to repent and turn to Jesus to make the most violent storm any of us will ever face as calm as the glassy sea.