Jonah: A Rather Fishy Story

Today's scripture is found in Jonah and is printed in your bulletin.

Please follow along as I read.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim it, the message I give to you.

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

Now, Nineveh was a very large city, and it took three days to go through it.

Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming,

Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.

The Ninevites believed God.

A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne,

took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust.

This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh.

By the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds or flocks,

taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth.

Let everyone call urgently on God.

Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

Who knows?

God may yet relent, and with compassion, turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.

When God saw what they did, and how they turned from their evil ways,

he relented, and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.

He prayed to the Lord,

Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home?

This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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.

Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.

But the Lord replied,

Is it right for you to be angry?

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city.

There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city.

Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head

and to ease his disappointment.

Oh, discomfort.

And Jonah was very happy with the plant.

But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.

When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind,

and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.

He wanted to die and said,

It would be better for me to die than to live.

But God said to Jonah,

Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?

It is, he said.

And I'm so angry, I wish I were dead.

But the Lord said,

You have been concerned about this plant,

though you did not tend it or make it grow.

It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh,

in which there are more than 120,000 people

who cannot tell their right hand from their left,

and also many animals?

This is the reading of God's Word.

You may be seated.

Well, good morning, Watermark.

For those of you who don't know me,

my name is Graham,

and I've been told I should introduce myself as a South African.

So that anyone needs translation into English,

then please sit next to another South African.

Today I'm going to be introducing a series to you,

which we're going to be covering over the summer.

It's a series on the prophets.

Now, prophets were ordinary people

with an extraordinary function,

and that was to speak on behalf of God.

And the first prophet we're going to encounter today is Jonah.

Now, you probably all know the story of Jonah and the whale.

Well, one day, a teacher in third grade

was teaching in her class about whales.

And she said,

It's impossible for a man to be swallowed by a whale,

because even though a whale is a very large animal,

it has a small throat,

and it can't swallow a man.

So there's this little girl in the class,

and she thinks about it,

and she sticks up her hand,

and she says,

But Miss Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

And the teacher looks at her and says,

It is impossible for a whale to swallow a man.

And the little girl's not really satisfied with the answer,

and she says,

Well, when I get to heaven,

I'll ask Jonah myself.

And the teacher says,

Well, what happens if Jonah went to hell?

And the little girl says,

Well, then you ask him.

Okay, I'll let that go.

Anyway.

Okay.

So.

Jonah.

Okay, I'm going to ask you to do something this morning.

I'm going to ask you to vote for me by raising your hand.

I'm going to ask you if you think Jonah is fact,

it was a true story,

it really happened,

real people,

real events,

or it's just a story.

Maybe it's got a good message behind it,

but it's just a story.

So can we do that?

Hands up if you think it's a true story,

it's fact.

Okay, good.

Hands up if you think it's fiction,

just a story.

Okay.

Hands up if you don't like putting your hands up in church.

Okay.

Good.

Actually, how we answer that question

shows us how we feel a little bit about God.

In a recent survey,

it said that 90% of people believe in God.

Now that is a meaningless statistic.

The real question we need to be asking is,

what kind of a God do you believe in?

Do you believe he is cruel or kind?

Does he care or is he indifferent?

Is he close or distant?

Is he weak or powerful?

Is he active in our world or is he just watching?

And Jonah shows us something of God's character.

I have a colleague at work,

and we were discussing a recent bit of news about,

it happened to be about a South African

who shot his girlfriend.

Now I just want to,

I don't know if you guys know the piece of news,

but I just want to make it clear,

not all South Africans shoot their girlfriends.

Okay, sorry.

Just,

but we were talking about,

and it's a rather depressing piece of news,

and we were talking about this,

and slowly we got on the topic of God.

And she said,

well, I'm a complete atheist.

And I said to her,

well, where is your hope?

And she thought about it,

and she said,

well, I guess it's really sad.

I don't have a hope.

I think my only hope is,

I can't wait until we wipe each other out,

and then the panda will be king.

That's what she said.

And I said,

well, actually,

you are a woman of faith.

And she said,

no, I'm not.

I just told you I'm an atheist.

And I said,

well,

I think it takes more faith to believe that something made itself out of nothing

than to believe someone made it and put it there.

And anyway,

so the conversation carried on.

And she said to me,

well,

you don't really believe stories in the Bible like Noah's Ark and Jonah being swallowed by a whale.

And I said,

well,

actually,

I believe all eight nature miracles in the book of Jonah.

And my favorite one is not the whale.

It's the worm.

Because,

you know,

whales are intelligent animals.

Men can train whales to do things.

But it takes God to tell a worm what to do.

And at this,

she kind of said,

oh,

walk back to her desk.

And that was the end of the conversation.

But I'd like to give you a little brief overview of the book of Jonah.

And for me,

Jonah is one of those stories I just wish Hollywood would get hold of.

It's got everything.

It's got wild and reckless characters.

It's got,

you know,

special effects just waiting to happen.

But instead,

we get movies like World War Z.

Okay.

Anyway,

Melin,

that's for you.

Jonah would be better.

All right.

But here's Jonah.

He's a prophet.

And he gets a message from God.

And God says to him,

Jonah,

I want you to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them in 40 days,

they're going to be destroyed because of their wickedness.

Now you need to understand something a little bit about Nineveh.

It was the capital of Assyria.

And the Assyrians were notorious because of their wickedness and their cruelty.

They would go in and take over smaller little nations.

And they would be particularly cruel to those people.

They invented this method of torture of a stake.

And wherever they went in,

they would take the people and impale them on the stake and wait for them to die.

So these are the people Jonah is sent to.

And Jonah runs away.

He runs down.

He gets aboard a ship.

And he jumps on the ship.

And he's sailing out to sea.

And suddenly something happens.

This huge storm comes up.

Now I'm talking T8,

T10 kind of stuff,

right?

This is wild.

The waves are raging.

And the crew and the sailors are starting to get really panicky here.

And they start throwing the cargo overboard.

Now you must be really scared when you start throwing your cargo overboard.

But they were.

And then that's not working.

So they decide,

everybody pray.

Stop.

If you've got a guard,

pray to him.

Let's just do the shotgun approach.

Maybe one of us will get lucky.

Everyone pray.

And then the captain goes down deck.

And he finds Jonah asleep.

He's sleeping through the whole thing.

Jonah,

wake up.

What are you doing?

You've got to pray.

And then they cast lots to sea.

Because they're looking at the storm.

And it's just the most unnatural thing that they've experienced.

Now sailors have gone through many storms.

But this is just something unnatural.

So there must be a reason for it.

So they cast lots.

And the lot comes to Jonah.

Jonah,

who are you?

What have you done?

And then Jonah tells him.

He goes,

I'm a Hebrew.

I'm Jewish.

And I come from Israel.

And I serve the living God.

The maker of heaven and earth.

And they're like,

then they're scared, right?

And they know he's running away from God.

And they said,

Jonah,

what do we need to do?

And Jonah says,

you need to throw me overboard.

It's like,

Jonah,

have you got a death wish or something?

Have you seen the storm out there?

And he says,

you need to do it.

So they're not so keen on this idea.

It's kind of like murder in their eyes.

So they said,

God,

please hold us innocent.

Take Jonah.

They throw him overboard.

Jonah falls into the sea.

Waves are splashing around him.

And he starts to sink below the surface.

And at that moment,

the storm clears up.

Comes a beautiful day like it was this morning.

Sun comes out.

The wind stops.

Everything dies.

Now,

if you were one of those sailors on the boat,

you'd probably be freaked out a little bit,

right?

Probably a little bit scared.

And that's exactly how they were,

right?

The fear of God was on them.

This was weird.

But meanwhile,

Jonah is sinking down and down and down.

And it says he gets to the roots of the mountains.

And his head's wrapped in seaweed.

And then God provides a big fish or a whale

to come and pick him up.

And he's inside this whale for three days and three nights.

After three days and three nights,

Jonah prays.

And the whale vomits him out onto the land.

And then it says,

the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

Go to Nineveh.

Jonah was a little bit more obedient this time.

And he went.

And Nineveh was a big city,

right?

So it says it took three days to walk about it.

Jonah walks a day into the city.

And he's preaching.

In 40 days,

God will destroy you.

In 40 days,

God will destroy you.

In 40 days,

God will destroy you.

And an amazing thing happens.

These Assyrians listen to Jonah.

And they start repenting.

They start putting on sackcloth and ashes

and change their ways.

And it starts with these people.

And it slowly works its way up to the king.

And the king repents.

And he says,

listen,

we all need to fast.

And maybe God will relent.

God sees them.

And he does.

Now,

you would think Jonah would probably be a happy man,

right?

He wasn't.

He was a grumpy,

sulky little man.

He sees it.

I'm not happy with this.

And he goes up onto this hill.

And he's looking down on the city of Nineveh

to see what will happen.

And he's watching it.

And God provides a vine,

a leafy plant to grow up overnight.

And in the morning,

Jonah wakes up.

And he's got this beautiful shade of this plant.

But then he sends the worm,

which is my favorite part in the story.

This little worm comes along,

eats the vine.

And of course,

the vine dies.

And then it's scorching hot.

And the wind blows this vine away.

And now Jonah's sweating.

And he's so angry.

And God says to him,

Jonah,

do you have a right to be angry?

I'm so angry I could die.

He is seriously miffed.

He's not a happy man.

He says,

Jonah,

why?

Why?

You know,

and he is concerned

because he doesn't have shade anymore.

That's his big concern.

That's why Jonah is really mad.

And he says,

Jonah,

don't you see?

Don't I have a right to be concerned

about the people in Nineveh?

They have 120,000 children in that city.

That's what it means, right?

People who don't know the left hand from the right.

These weren't dumb adults who didn't know the left.

They were children.

120,000 children.

So imagine how big that city was.

And the animals,

Jonah.

Don't I have a right to be concerned about it?

Now,

like my colleague,

the scholars have two big objections

to the book of Jonah.

They say,

one,

it's impossible for a man to be swallowed by a whale

and survive for three days.

And two,

they say,

it's highly improbable

that a whole city will change its ways

from one man's preaching.

So let's look at this,

all right?

Swallowed by a whale

or a big fish.

In 1921,

there was a whaling ship

working off the Falkland Islands.

And a whale came up underneath the ship

and it knocked the ship

and four sailors went overboard.

And three of them,

they managed to rescue

and bring back.

But there was one,

a certain James Bartlett,

who wasn't ever recovered.

And the captain wrote in his logbook,

he said,

James Bartlett swept overboard,

presumed dead.

A few days later,

they managed to catch the whale

that had knocked their ship

and they brought it up on deck

and they were cutting it up.

And inside their belly,

they saw something moving.

They quickly cut it open

and there was James Bartlett.

Deep in a coma,

but still breathing

and still very much alive.

So they took him out,

they took him into the captain's cabin,

wrapped him in blankets,

gave him water.

Two days later,

James Bartlett came out of his coma,

but he was delirious.

He was totally crazy.

And anyway,

they continued to look after him.

After five days,

James Bartlett was back to his usual self

and he resumed his duties

with the rest of the crew

on board the ship.

And for the rest of his life,

he lived pretty normally,

except for one thing.

Wherever he didn't wear clothes,

the clothing didn't cover his body,

his skin had been bleached white

from the whale's digestive juices.

So is it possible

that a man

can be swallowed

by a whale

and survive?

Well,

we have a modern day story

that tells it is.

But I want to look at something

a bit deeper.

But let's look at Jonah.

Was he dead

or alive

in that whale?

Okay,

I always think

in Sunday school,

they've always got these pictures

of Jonah

being thrown overboard

and the whales

like waiting for him,

right?

Have you seen that?

That's like,

they're just waiting

to catch him.

But actually,

it's not that way.

It says he was thrown overboard,

the waves came over him

and he sank

to the roots

of the mountain.

Now that means

the sea floor.

It takes about

a minute and a half

to two minutes

to drown.

It takes a lot longer

than that

to sink

to the ocean floor.

But there's another clue there.

It says,

Jonah prayed

from Sheol.

This is all in chapter two.

The place

of the departed spirits.

It's a Hebrew word.

It means the place

of the dead.

Jonah was dead.

And after three days

and three nights,

he was spat out again

and his spirit

was reunited

with his body.

Now can you think

of anyone else

that was dead

for three days

and three nights

and was resurrected again?

Okay.

This is a beautiful picture

of the resurrection.

In Jonah.

Okay.

So let's look

at the other thing.

It's improbable

that a city

would repent.

Now Jonah

was successful,

right?

And he preached

to these people

and it says

the whole city

repented.

And the skeptics

listen to that

and they say,

yeah,

come on,

go on.

Pull the other one.

You know,

it's kind of like

a little man

from Beijing

comes to Hong Kong

and he preaches

and the whole city

of Hong Kong

sort of changes

its evil ways

and listen to it.

Okay,

exactly what you're thinking.

You're thinking

no ways,

right?

That's just

probably wouldn't happen.

That's what the skeptics say.

But I want to give you

five reasons

why it was very probable

that the people

of Nineveh

did repent.

And hopefully

it gives us

a little bit of insight

into why

some people

respond to God

and others don't.

Have you ever wondered

why two people

can hear the same message

and one responds to God

and the other doesn't?

Well,

hopefully this gives

a little bit of insight.

Number one,

the Ninevites

were a religious

and superstitious

people.

They had an idea

that there was something

greater than them,

right?

There was a little bit

of the fear of God

in them.

They knew there was

something bigger than them

and they weren't really sure

what it was

so they were very superstitious

and did certain things

to please that God

that they didn't really know

who it was.

And I find it's the same today,

right?

It's much easier

to speak to people

who have some idea

about God,

have something of the fear

of God in their lives

already.

And number two,

the Ninevites were guilty.

They knew they were

bad people,

right?

They knew that they did wrong.

The only thing

that stopped them

was that they were

so big and powerful

no other nation

had stopped them

until God steps

into the scene

and he says,

I will destroy you.

So they knew

they were guilty

and guilt makes cowards

of us all,

right?

Unless we own up to it,

unless we confront it.

All right.

Number four,

this revival

started with

the common people.

Now you,

it's very difficult

to fool the common people,

right?

But it started

with the common people

and it worked its way up

and even reached the king.

This wasn't a situation

where the religious powers

were forcing it down

on the people.

This was the people responding.

And number four,

this one is a little bit

of a,

it can be argued

either way,

but I just want you

to think with me

what we know

about James Bartlett.

Now imagine

Jonah arrived

in the city

and his skin

had been bleached

white as well

from being inside

this whale.

And he says,

guys,

I've been dead

for three days

and three nights.

I think we'd probably

listen to him,

right?

There's the sign

of Jonah.

Okay,

number five,

this is the most

important thing

of it all

is that God

was behind it.

When God is behind

something,

things happen.

But you know,

all this is

not the main story

of Jonah.

We can become

so bogged down

and, you know,

is it possible

for a whale

to swallow a man?

Could the whole city

repent?

And we miss

the main story

of Jonah.

We miss the main point.

The real question

we have to ask ourselves

is why did

Jonah run away?

Why did he run away?

Jonah was

very successful.

Any evangelist today

you told him

you're going to go

in a city

and you're going

to preach

and everyone's

going to repent,

they would love that.

They would be

absolutely thrilled.

But not

Jonah.

And actually

there are three

reasons for it.

One of them

is good

and two of them

are not so good.

but we actually

need to know

a little bit

about Jonah

before

because the first

time we hear

about Jonah

is not actually

in the book

of Jonah.

It's in the book

of 2 Kings

in chapter 14.

Jonah gets

this message

for the king

of Israel,

a king called

King Jeroboam II.

He was an evil king.

It says he did

evil in the sight

of the Lord.

And Jonah

gets a message

for him

to go to

this king

and tell him

that God's

going to bless him.

God's going

to increase

his boundary.

He's going

to increase

his wealth.

He's going

to increase

his reputation.

Jonah does this.

Now,

do you think

King Jeroboam

became better

because of this?

He didn't.

He just got worse

and worse

and worse.

And Jonah

remembers this.

And he's saying,

God,

I don't want

people to take

advantage of

your mercy again

because I'm jealous

for your name.

That's a good thing,

right?

I'm jealous for you.

I don't want to see

people take advantage

of your mercy

like King Jeroboam did.

And I think

there's something

inside each one of us.

We also feel that way

when you see people

take advantage

of God's mercy.

Like,

they treat it

like it's pocket change.

Just,

oh,

thanks God.

Oh,

yeah,

thanks.

And Jonah

is jealous

for God's name.

Now,

that's the good reason.

And unfortunately,

there are two other reasons

which are not so good.

And the other one

is that

Jonah

is really saying,

God,

I don't want you

to be like this.

I want you to be

like how I want you

to respond.

God,

God,

I want you

to judge them,

right?

That's what really

Jonah wants,

right?

He doesn't want them

to repent.

He wants them

to be destroyed.

Jonah says,

you know,

for me,

I can run away.

I don't have to listen

to you,

and I want mercy.

You ask me to do something,

I run away,

I want mercy.

But for that city

of Nineveh,

I want judgment,

I want justice.

And it's the same

for us,

right?

Have you ever done that?

You want mercy

for yourself,

but judgment

for others?

I'm like that.

A few months ago,

this was quite a while ago,

I was talking

to a friend of mine

who loves cycling.

And we were talking

about Lance Armstrong.

Now,

you guys know

the story

of Lance Armstrong.

He was a Texan,

those dodgy Texans,

right?

So he was a Texan.

He rode in seven

tours de France's

and he cheated,

he deceived people,

and he became

very wealthy

because,

and we were talking

about this,

and my friend

is a passionate,

he's passionate

about cycling.

I don't know why,

but he is,

okay?

And he was so

devastated by this.

He was the type

of guy who supported

Lance Armstrong

when everyone else

was accusing him

of cheating.

He was saying,

no ways,

he didn't do it,

you know,

he's an honest sportsman.

And then when he came

out with a confession,

my friend was,

he was just totally

devastated.

And he was like saying,

you know,

we should just lock

Armstrong away

and throw away the key.

He's that evil,

that wicked.

And we were talking

and I said,

you know,

we all kind of cheat

in some way or another.

And he said,

yeah,

but it's different

because it was

Lance Armstrong's job.

I said,

no,

no,

no,

well,

do you cheat

in your job

sometimes,

do we?

Like,

do you take a sick day

which isn't really

a sick day?

Do you help yourself

to things

which you shouldn't

really help yourself to?

And then he looks

and he goes,

oh,

but it's different.

Lance Armstrong

was very rich.

He didn't need to cheat.

Okay,

so let's think this through.

If you're very rich,

then you don't need

to cheat,

right?

So I'm going

to start cheating.

But it depends.

Where do you define

that line?

We're like,

am I rich

or am I not rich?

That kind of thing.

But it's still

this essence

of judgment

for them,

mercy for me,

right?

When they do it,

it's really bad

and they should be punished.

They should have justice.

When I do it,

it's actually not so bad.

Give me mercy.

And,

you know,

we can think about Hong Kong.

You know,

there was a story

about our chief executive

just before the elections

where he did some

illegal structures

to his home

and I know

a lot of people

in Hong Kong

that have lots

of illegal structures

and things that they do

to their homes

that they shouldn't really do.

But he does it

and it's terrible.

We can't elect that man.

He's not honest.

He's not right.

But we do the same thing.

Oh, well,

that's mercy for me,

right?

That's Jonah.

And the friend,

this conversation

I had with my friend,

it ended,

he said,

we ended up talking

about God

and he said,

well,

why doesn't God

just get rid

of all the bad people

and then

we can be okay?

You know,

there's an assumption

in that question.

Which side do you think

he put himself on,

right?

Let's get rid

of all the bad people.

But we think of ourselves,

we're the good people

and they're the bad people.

Then there's a third reason

and this

is the most

important one.

you see,

Jonah was looking

and he was making God

how he wanted him to be

and that's idolatry,

right?

Like,

we might not be physically

making an idol

out of wood

and stone,

a little idol

that cannot move,

cannot think,

cannot talk.

If you want to go anywhere,

you have to pick it up

and take it with you.

We might not be doing that,

but we might be creating

a mental image

of how we want God to be

and it happens

all the time.

It happens when people

start a sentence

with things like this.

I don't think God

is like this.

I don't think God

would send anyone to hell.

If I were God,

I wouldn't allow that to happen.

It's kind of like saying,

you know,

if I would do a better job

of being God

than God is doing right now.

And you hear it like,

there can't be a God.

If there was a God,

He wouldn't allow earthquakes.

He wouldn't allow tsunamis.

He wouldn't allow murderers.

He wouldn't allow liars.

Oh wait,

I'm a liar.

Okay,

He would allow liars.

See how our mind works?

But the biggest part of Jonah

is that he just misses

God's compassion

and mercy.

Jonah is upset

over his success.

You know,

he doesn't see

that God

is concerned with people,

that God has compassion

on people.

You know,

he says it.

He says it.

In the words,

he says,

God,

I knew you like this.

I know that you are full

of grace and mercy,

abounding in love.

You relent from bringing calamity.

Slow to anger.

It's like,

I know you like this,

but I just miss the point

of it, right?

I miss the fact

that you care

about people.

You care about them.

You're concerned about them.

You're even concerned

about the animals.

It just misses

the heart of God.

We can do that,

right?

Now,

Martin Luther

once famously said,

he said,

if I were God,

I would have kicked

the world to pieces

long ago.

Well,

thank God

Martin Luther

wasn't God,

but,

you know,

we don't understand

the patience

and the long

suffering

of God.

We miss it.

We can be like

Martin Luther.

We just want to kick

the world to pieces.

We miss the fact

that God is patient,

wanting people

to come to him,

wanting people

to turn to him,

and he's waiting

patiently.

Now,

that doesn't mean

that God

is not

just.

See,

unfortunately,

today,

there's a lot of people

we just want God

to be

all mercy,

all mercy,

no justice,

no judgment,

just all mercy,

and we kind of want

Santa Claus

rather than Jesus Christ.

You know,

we want to live

how we want to live.

We want to treat him

how we want to treat him.

We ignore him

until there's a problem,

and then we say,

God,

come,

I need your help.

Quickly,

I'll say my prayer.

All right,

now help me.

All right,

now bye-bye,

and I'll go off,

and I'll live exactly

how I want to live

again,

and all the while,

we just want God

to be with us,

pat us on the head

and say,

now,

now,

there,

there,

boys will be boys,

and that's it.

And we just want God

to be all mercy,

and we forget

that he is a God

of justice

and righteousness,

and that makes

him holy,

even in the city

of Nineveh,

because in Nineveh,

150 years later,

God sent another prophet,

a prophet called Nahum.

I hope you hear about Nahum

over the summer,

and Nahum said,

enough is enough,

150 years of mercy

and compassion,

and they didn't change.

It didn't last,

and eventually,

God says,

enough is enough.

It's time for justice,

and today,

there is nothing left

of Nineveh.

It's a bunch of rubble

and ruins.

Let's go back to Jonah.

He ran away

because of his past experience.

Jonah had been burnt.

Okay?

He had been burnt.

Also,

he thought he knew

God's business

better than God.

And third one

could have been

that Jonah was

scared to go,

right?

He probably knew

the reputation

of the Assyrians,

and he was scared to go,

but this is the same guy

that said,

throw me overboard.

So,

I don't know

if he was scared or not,

but he could have been scared.

But the real question

we have to ask ourselves

today is,

why are you

running away from God?

Now,

we might not physically

be running away from God,

but what is it

that God

has asked you to do?

What is it

that God

has asked you

to change?

What is it

that God

has asked you

to be

that you're

running away from?

Now,

there might be

some people here

today

who

don't yet

believe

or don't yet

trust Jesus,

and he's calling you.

You know

he's calling you,

and yet

you're running,

and you're thinking,

not now,

not now,

okay?

Or,

what will people

think of me

if I follow this man

called Jesus Christ?

Or,

maybe it can wait

until I'm older

when I'm not

so busy,

but the truth is

we're just

running.

At the beginning

of the sermon,

I asked you

if you believed

if Jonah was

fact

or fiction,

but I'm really

asking a much

deeper question.

What do you

think God

is like?

Is he good?

Is he strong?

Can he be trusted?

Is he worth it?

Is he worth

your life?

Is he really

God

in your life?

I have a ball here,

okay?

It's a squash ball.

Okay,

I like to play squash.

I'm not very good,

but I once played

with an American

friend of mine

and he played

racquetball beforehand

and we played squash

in the same sort

of small room

and he got in

and he took the ball

and said,

all right,

let's go

and he took the ball

and he just dropped it

and if you know

anything about a squash ball,

it just doesn't bounce.

Okay,

so it just went

like a little piece

of blue tack

on the floor.

So,

it's a very

insignificant

little ball

but I want you

to think of this

as our home,

all right,

our little planet

and I want you

to find yourself

on there,

okay?

There's Hong Kong

and kind of picture

yourself on there

and I kind of see

myself on this

tiny little ball

and sometimes

I just think,

you know,

my life

and my career

and my family

and my children's education,

I need to hold on to them,

I need to control them,

I kind of,

you know what I'm doing?

I'm making God

even a smaller speck

than me,

this tiny little thing

and I'm making him

very,

very,

very small

and the whole time

I can just imagine

God,

he's sitting there

and he's,

Graham,

what are you doing?

Now,

what are you doing?

Just look at me,

look at me.

Now,

suddenly,

God is so big,

we forget

his power,

we forget his size,

we forget that

he is God

almighty

and instead

we make him

a smaller speck

than he is

and we don't trust him

and also,

we forget about

God's grace,

we forget the fact

that God said

the word came

to Jonah

a second time.

Okay,

now Jonah,

God could have

looked at Jonah

and said,

alright,

you want to run away

and do your thing,

that's fine,

I'll find someone else

who does want to go,

who does want to do the thing.

God wasn't like that,

God pursued Jonah.

It says,

the word of the Lord

came to Jonah

a second time.

You know when things

changed for Jonah?

Jonah,

was when he prayed.

In humility,

he just cried out

to God

and he prayed.

He didn't

go to a monastery

and spend

seven years

up there

just meditating

and stuff

before he was right

before God,

he just

prayed

and he connected

with his God again.

in humility,

he cried out

to God.

Because in Jonah,

we see Jesus.

Jonah said,

you need to kill me,

you need to throw me

overboard,

that the righteous

anger of God

will be turned away,

that the sea

will become calm

and that you

will be saved.

saved.

In Jesus,

we see the Son

of God

saying to the Father,

I will be

the pure,

innocent sacrifice.

I will sacrifice

in order to turn away

the righteous

anger

of God

that many

will be saved.

Whoever believes

will be saved.

In Jonah,

we see a man

who was dead

for three days

and three nights

in a whale

and after three days

and three nights

was reunited

body and spirit,

his old body

and his spirit.

In Jesus,

we see the Son of God

after three days

and three nights

being raised

from the dead

but this time

with a new body.

That is our hope.

That is our hope.

Jesus has been raised.

In Jonah,

we see a whole city

rejoicing

because of Jonah's obedience.

We see a whole city

that was saved

from calamity.

In Jesus,

we see nations,

we see the multitudes

rejoicing

in the fact

that he was obedient

to his Father.

Do you believe

Jonah

is fact

or fiction?

Do you believe

God resurrected

Jonah from the dead?

Do you believe

God raised

his only Son

to eternal life?

Do you believe

one day

you

will be raised

from the dead

and I

will be raised

from the dead?

Do you believe

one day

you will stand

before God?

Do you believe

he is

almighty God,

a God who saves?

Do you believe

he is good?

Watermark,

if there's anything

you leave with today,

I want you to see

that God is good.

God can be trusted.

And as much

as you're running

away from God,

God is running

after you.

He's pursuing you.

He's calling to you.

My plea with you

is that

he's good

and he's gracious.

Instead of running

away from him,

let's run to him.

Let's run with him.

Can I pray

for you guys?

Can we stand?

Father God,

we come before you

this morning

as your people.

We come

to praise you

as the Holy One,

as the King of Kings

and the Lord of Lords,

the God

of all

creation.

We praise you

and we thank you

for your mercy,

Lord God.

We thank you

that you are a God

who is rich

in mercy,

who's slow

to anger.

And Lord,

we thank you

for your justice

and we trust

in that,

Lord God.

Father,

I pray for us

as a church

and as a people

that as we go out

into the world

that we might be

a people

that your mercy

flows through us

like electricity

into this world.

I pray for us

that we will see you

for who you really are.

We will see you

as almighty God,

big God

who can be trusted

and loved

and served.

Father,

thank you

that we're this

tiny,

tiny,

tiny speck

and yet you make

much of us

and yet you care

for us

and yet you love us

and you are concerned

about us.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.