Grace at the Bottom

Well, Dwight Schrute says that our world needs a spiritual revolution.

Dwight Schrute, of course, if you have seen the classic TV show The Office, is that nerdy,

quirky character at the paper company, Dunder Mifflin, who has all kinds of quirks and crazy

things that he does and that happened to him.

And Dwight Schrute is played by the actor Rainn Wilson.

And Rainn Wilson recently came out with a book this year called Soul Boom, Why We Need

a Spiritual Revolution.

And I read it recently, and in the intro, he describes his own spiritual journey from adolescence

into adulthood.

Growing up in Seattle in the 1960s and 70s, he says that his childhood was filled with

two things, art and spirituality.

His mom was an actress in experimental theater.

His dad was a painter of abstract art and an author of science fiction novels.

They were the classic hippie family in the 1960s and 70s.

His parents were also members of the Baha'i Faith.

The Baha'i Faith is a religion that incorporates practices and insights from all the different

world religions.

And so they would have these gatherings at their home in Seattle with Buddhists and Sikhs and

Muslims and Mormons and Christians.

And they would pray and meditate and study holy texts from all sorts of faith and spiritual

traditions.

And so Rainn Wilson says that he grew up with lots of influences of spirituality on his life.

But despite growing up with lots of spirituality in his life, he, as he became older, he walked

away from all of it.

He walked away from it for a time until later in his life as an adult, in his late 20s and

30s, when he says that he hit the bottom of his life.

He experienced a lot of pain and hardship and difficult things.

He experienced struggles with mental health and depression.

He experienced addictions to drugs and alcohol.

And it was being in that place in his life at the bottom that started his own spiritual

journey.

And it's part of what led him to write a number of books, including his most recent book,

Soul Boom.

And this is what he says in his book as he thinks about our culture.

He says,

Culture, rather than being political or economic or legislative, is primarily spiritual as well.

And perhaps the key to healing the world's chaos and pain lies on a spiritual path.

Perhaps there are spiritual tools and religious concepts out there that can help us on a societal

level as well in our own spiritual transformation.

And this insight from Dwight Schrute, also known as Rainn Wilson, lines up very well with our study of Jonah.

The world needs a spiritual revolution, and we need to experience spiritual transformation.

We are in a series where we're looking at the book of Jonah.

And last week, we looked at Jonah chapter 1, where we saw that God calls Jonah, a prophet in northern

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Israel, to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.

But what we see is that for a variety of reasons, Jonah runs from God in direct disobedience to him

in the complete opposite direction, and he finds himself headed west on a ship to Tarshish across the

Mediterranean Sea.

And as he's in the middle of the sea, God sends a storm into his life.

And it's in the middle of the storm that Jonah learned something about God and has an encounter

with his mercy and his grace.

At the beginning of chapter 1, we see Jonah running from God.

And at the end of chapter 2, which we just read, we see Jonah singing about God's love

and about his mercy.

And somewhere in the middle, somewhere between him running and him singing, something happened

in Jonah's heart.

He had some sort of experience with God that transformed him.

And so what happened in the belly of the fish?

And how did it happen?

And how can we experience the same thing?

How can we experience a spiritual transformation in our own lives?

And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning.

We're going to be looking at Jonah's transformation and our transformation.

But before we do, raise your hand if you are in elementary school.

Who here is in elementary school?

Awesome.

You should have received some papers and some colored pencils on the way in.

If you haven't, they're there for you in the back.

And so hopefully you have those, and you've got a few different things that you can do.

You can color some stuff in and draw some things.

And if you'd like to draw a picture, if you'd like to draw a picture on one of the pages,

I want to give you a picture to draw.

And I would encourage you to draw a picture of a large fish or a whale and draw a picture

of Jonah inside the whale.

But don't just draw Jonah.

Draw him praying a prayer to God.

So if you want to draw a picture, that's a picture to draw.

And if you do draw it, I want to see it after the service, okay?

So come show it to me.

All right.

So we're going to look at two things.

We're going to look at Jonah's transformation, and we're going to look at our transformation.

Jonah's transformation starts with a storm.

And that's what we looked at last week, that Jonah's story shows us something really important,

that storms in our life are not always the result of sin and disobedience, but sometimes

they are.

In a fallen world, lots of people who love and trust and obey and worship God suffer greatly.

And it has nothing to do because of their sin or disobedience, but because they live, we

live in a fallen and broken world.

But if we are in a place in our lives where we are running from him, if we are living a

life in direct disobedience to him and to his word, sometimes the most loving and gracious

thing that God can do in our lives is to send a storm into our lives, to wake us up and

to help us to see our sin and to help us to see our need for him and his mercy.

And this is what happens to Jonah.

God sends a storm into his life, and as we looked at last week, he realizes the storm out

in the middle of the sea is because of him.

And so he decides to save the lives of the sailors, that he's going to plunge himself into

the heart of the sea so the storm can stop.

And Jonah is headed his way down into the bottom of the sea when God rescues him through a large

marine creature.

We don't know if it was a whale or some other really big fish, but he's rescued by a large

fish.

And he prays this prayer in Jonah chapter 2 in the belly of the fish.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2, verse 3,

For you cast me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas.

In the flood surrounded me all your waves and your billows passed over me.

The waters closed in over me to take my life.

The deep surrounded me.

The weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.

The way that people imagined in the ancient world, the way that people imagined Sheol or the land of the dead is they imagined it as a place that when you entered it, that the bars of the gates locked behind you.

And so therefore, the land of the dead was not a place that you could escape from or return from.

And Jonah says, that's where I was going.

That was where I was headed.

The bars of the gates were about to lock behind me.

And similar to Rainn Wilson's story, Jonah is at the lowest point in his life.

He's at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

Seaweed is wrapped around his body.

He knows he's about to die physically, and he also knows spiritually it's the farthest from God he's ever been.

He's experiencing the natural consequences of his sin and disobedience, separation from God.

And in that place of great need, Jonah turns to the Lord in prayer.

In verse 7, he says,

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you in your holy temple.

At the literal, spiritual, and physical bottom of his life, Jonah cries out to God.

And this is a turning point, not only in this story, but in Jonah's life.

Because in this moment, Jonah realizes that not only is he in need of rescue,

but that he can't rely on anyone or anything else.

He can't rely on wealth or status or success, not in being a good religious or moral person.

He can't rely on his race or nationality or culture.

That even he, a prophet from Israel, God's prophet, is in need of divine mercy.

And it's this realization that brings about spiritual renewal in Jonah's heart.

And we see that renewal happen throughout this prayer in Jonah chapter 2,

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

but we see it specifically in verses 8 and 9.

In verse 8, Jonah prays,

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

What's an idol?

Well, there's a lot that we could say.

In the ancient world, an idol was often a literal statue that people would bow down

and worship the God who was represented in the statue.

But we can also think about an idol as whatever is at the center of our lives,

whatever we put at the center of our lives as a functional savior,

as a functional savior.

A functional savior that gives us meaning, that gives us purpose, that gives us identity,

that gives us significance.

And it's also a functional savior that we turn to whenever we realize we're in need of rescue,

whenever we realize that we are in need of outside help.

It's whatever we turn to whenever we're trying to find comfort,

whenever we're trying to find relief, whenever we're trying to find escape,

wherever we're trying to find a way out.

That's what an idol is.

It's a functional savior.

And Jonah realizes that at the bottom of the sea, he realizes something about idols.

He says he realizes that his functional savior, his functional saviors,

can promise him a lot of things, but they rarely ever deliver.

Idols promise, but they can't deliver.

We might look to money or a career or success or even a marriage

to give us a sense of ultimate purpose and meaning.

We might look to things like food or alcohol

to help us find a sense of relief or comfort or escape.

But when you realize that you are at the rock bottom in your life,

when there is seaweed wrapped around your head,

you realize those things can't actually rescue you.

When you're drowning, it doesn't matter how much money is in your bank account

or what your resume says.

Idols, like money and success and comfort, are great motivators.

They can get you to work hard and do lots of things,

but they're terrible saviors.

They're terrible saviors.

Verse 8, Jonah prays, those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.

Now, this word, steadfast love, is a big word in the Old Testament.

It's the Hebrew word, hesed.

And this Hebrew word, hesed, is this rich, multifaceted word

that we see all over the Old Testament.

It can refer to a number of things.

It can refer to acts of kindness towards someone who's in need.

It can refer to the spousal love between a husband and a wife.

And both of these things refer to God's covenant love,

his covenant loyalty to his people and his faithfulness

to love his people and to keep the promises that he has made to them.

This is God's steadfast love, his hesed.

Perhaps one of the best descriptions of God's steadfast love

comes from the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

And in the Jesus Storybook Bible,

she describes God's steadfast love

as his never stopping,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever love.

It's God's never stopping,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever love.

It's the kind of love that we all long for

because it's the kind of love that we were made for.

And it's at the bottom of the sea

that Jonah's spiritual sight becomes crystal clear.

He realizes it's not just that all of my idols

and functional saviors can't rescue me from the bottom of life.

It's also that they can't fulfill the deepest longings of my heart.

The deepest longings of my heart

for the steadfast love of the Lord,

his never stopping,

his never giving up,

his unbreaking,

his always and forever love.

And Jonah ends his prayer in verse 9

with a shout of praise.

And he says,

salvation belongs to the Lord.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

And this prayer is Jonah's journey of repentance.

Repentance.

Repentance involves turning from our sin,

our disobedience,

but also turning from our functional saviors

that we look to to fill our hearts,

to fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts.

And so repentance involves

turning from our functional saviors

and turning to putting all of our hope

and all of our trust

in the steadfast love of the Lord.

And this is what produces

spiritual transformation in Jonah's life.

It's repentance.

It's not new insights

about what he can do to find salvation.

But it's the realization

that salvation has come and found him.

That salvation has come and found him.

And this is the central message

of the whole Bible.

That salvation belongs to the Lord.

That though we have all run from God

in direct disobedience to him

and are eternally separated from him,

that in Jesus Christ,

God has come running after us

in steadfast love

and done everything necessary

to reconcile us back to him.

Salvation is not 50% things that we do

and 50% things that God does.

It's 100% all from him.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

That's the gospel.

It's the central message of the Bible.

It's the heart of our faith.

And this is what Jonah realizes

in the belly of the fish.

And so he, after three days and three nights,

he comes out onto dry land.

And you have to imagine

that those first few breaths

of fresh air that he breathed

were incredibly sweet.

After being three days and three nights

in the belly of a large fish,

he comes out onto dry land

with a mind that's renewed

with fresh insight about God.

He comes out with a heart

that is renewed through repentance

and worship towards God.

And his will is renewed

in love and obedience towards God.

And this transformation in Jonah's life

is the journey of spiritual transformation

through death and resurrection.

Through death and resurrection,

the storm takes Jonah down

to the place of spiritual and literal death.

And at the bottom,

he comes to the end of himself.

He acknowledges his need.

He cries out to the Lord in repentance.

And the Lord rescues him

and the Lord renews him.

Down in death and up in resurrection.

Down in death, up in resurrection.

And that's the key

to Jonah's spiritual transformation.

And that is the key

to our spiritual transformation.

So that's what we're gonna look at.

Secondly, is our transformation.

How do we experience the kind of renewal

and the kind of transformation

that Jonah experienced in his life?

How can we experience God's grace

in a way that causes us

to pray and to sing Jonah 2 prayers?

Well, we experience it

by experiencing death and resurrection

in our lives.

Author Paul Miller wrote a great book on this

called The J Curve.

And if you can imagine the shape of a J,

the shape of a J goes down and goes up.

The J starts here and it goes up.

And the J curve is a picture

of how the New Testament talks

about how our relationship with Jesus

not only rescues us,

but transforms us.

And we see this all over the New Testament.

But we see it in places like Philippians 3.10.

So in Philippians 3.10, Paul says,

I want to know Christ.

What does it mean to know Christ?

To know the power of his resurrection

and participation in his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death,

and so somehow attaining

the resurrection from the dead.

Did you see the J curve?

He says, I want to know Christ.

And knowing Christ takes me down in suffering,

down in death,

and up through resurrection.

That's the J curve.

Paul's logic is,

if Jesus rescued me

through his death and resurrection,

then that is also how Jesus changes me,

by his spirit.

Through his death and resurrection,

as I participate by the Holy Spirit,

by grace through faith,

in his death and resurrection in the present.

That's the Christian life.

Another way to say it

is that the same grace that rescues us

is also the grace that transforms us.

The same grace that rescues us

is also the grace that transforms us.

So what does this,

what does that practically look like in our lives?

Well, I think there's a thousand different ways

in our lives

to experience spiritual transformation

through death and resurrection,

to follow the J curve in our lives.

There's a million opportunities

every week to experience that.

But we're gonna look,

I just wanna look at one.

And I wanna look at one example

that we're all familiar with.

Conflict.

Conflict.

And you're like,

can we use a different example?

Can we use,

I don't wanna talk about conflict right now,

because I'm in the middle of one.

No, we're gonna talk about it,

because here's,

if you can figure out

how to apply the grace of the gospel

in the middle of conflict,

I think you can learn to apply it

in virtually every aspect of your life.

Because conflict is such a difficult thing.

A situation,

a conversation happens at work,

or at home,

or at church,

or on social media,

God forbid.

There's disagreements.

We're at odds with someone.

Emotions are rising.

There's tension.

There's anxiety.

Maybe even there's anger.

What's happening?

I'll tell you what's happening.

Death.

Death is happening.

And for many of us,

including myself,

conflict feels like death,

doesn't it?

Especially for those

who are conflict avoiders.

And I'm a conflict avoider.

Conflict feels like death.

Why is that?

Because it's a storm.

And the storm of conflict

is taking you down to the bottom.

It's taking you down

to the bottom of the J-curve.

And it's at the bottom of the J-curve

that many of us freak out.

We freak out because it doesn't feel good,

because it feels like death.

But we shouldn't freak out.

We shouldn't freak out

because it's at the bottom

of the J-curve.

It's in the middle of death

that we are transformed

and where we experience God's grace.

Because at the bottom,

we have a choice to make.

Does salvation belong to me?

Does salvation exist

in one of my functional saviors?

Or does salvation belong to the Lord?

And here is where the rubber meets the road

in the Christian life.

Even though many of us

would say salvation belongs to the Lord.

Even though many of us would say,

Jesus Christ has saved me from my sins.

We've trusted Him

for eternal salvation.

Even though many of us would say

salvation belongs to the Lord,

there are still parts of our hearts,

there are still blind spots

where the reality of grace

has yet to sink in.

At the bottom of the J-curve,

we're all tempted to say,

salvation belongs to me.

And to turn to strategies,

turn to functional saviors in our life.

And in my own life,

when it comes to conflict,

some of the functional saviors

that I have been tempted to turn to

are the idols of power and control.

If I can just control the outcome,

if I can be in charge,

if I can win the argument,

then the tension will end

and then I'll have escape.

And the idols,

the functional saviors of power and control,

seem to offer a way out.

They seem to offer a way of salvation.

But turning to our functional saviors

of power and control

can lead us to do lots of crazy things.

They can lead us to defensiveness

and criticism of the other person.

They can lead us to lie

and distort the truth.

They can even lead us to manipulate

or even dominate other people.

And all of these things

can become embedded patterns

in our lives

that end up being the way,

the default way

that we relate to other people.

Now, if you approach conflict like this

in your life,

it may benefit you at first.

It may offer some rewards

and benefits at first.

But eventually,

if this becomes the default pattern

in your life,

it'll bring chaos.

It'll cause breakdown

in your relationships.

It will lead you to burn bridges.

It'll lead you to be hard and cynical.

It'll lead you away

from relationships of love.

Why?

Because the idols of power

and control

can promise,

but they can't deliver.

They can promise,

but they can't deliver.

They're functional saviors.

They're terrible saviors.

They can't actually rescue you.

So what's the alternative?

The alternative

is to say,

salvation doesn't belong to me,

but salvation belongs to the Lord.

The alternative is repentance.

Repentance involves

turning from our functional saviors

and believing

at the bottom of the J-curve

that salvation belongs to the Lord.

Even though part of us

wants to win.

Even though part of us

wants to have control.

What do we do?

We look at Jesus

and we see

that the one

who has

all authority

and power

in heaven and on earth

laid all of it

down.

We see in places

like Philippians 2

that though

he was God,

he did not consider

equality with God

something to be grasped.

But he emptied himself.

He emptied himself

of power and authority.

He became a servant

and he experienced

utter powerlessness

through death on the cross.

And it was through that death,

it was through that humility,

it was through that powerlessness

that salvation

came into the world

and into you and me.

And Philippians 2 says

that God exalted him

to the right hand

of the Father.

That in the name of Jesus

every tongue shall confess

that Jesus is Lord

to the glory of God

the Father

and that in Jesus Christ

and in his

exalted resurrection

we ourselves

share

in his power

and glory

and authority

over sin

and death

and evil.

That's the gospel.

And so because

therefore

salvation belongs

to the Lord

and because we share

in Christ's authority

and power

we can afford

to give earthly power away.

We can afford

when we're in the middle

of conflict

to give control

away

because in Jesus

we have access

to all of the power

that we could ever

long for.

And so repentance

means

turning away

from seeking salvation

in ourself

and turning towards

seeing salvation

in the Lord.

And we can

give power away,

we can

approach the other person

with humility,

we can be open

to receiving feedback,

even criticism

and critique,

we can approach

the situation

not trying to control

or manipulate

the other person,

but by seeking

the good

of the other person,

by putting

the other person's good

in front of our own,

by seeking to love,

by seeking to reflect

and even experience

ourselves

the steadfast love

of the Lord.

And if we do that,

we can,

maybe not instantaneously,

but through a process,

we can,

by the power

of the Spirit,

experience

a real-time resurrection.

We can experience growth,

we can experience change,

we can even experience

a deeper,

closer relationship

with that other person.

But it's at that bottom,

it's at the bottom

of the J-curve

that we learn

to pray

Jonah 2 prayers.

When a storm

comes into our life

and we cry out

and we acknowledge

our rescue

and we wrestle

through our own temptations

and we wrestle

through our own tendencies

to pursue functional saviors.

But in prayer,

we seek salvation

not in them,

but we seek salvation

in the Lord

because salvation

belongs to Him.

And in Jesus,

we already have access

to everything

that we long for

and need.

And we trust Him

by the power

of His Spirit

to bring about

a real-time transformation,

a real-time resurrection

in our lives

and in our relationships.

And I think it's important

to clarify,

this is not a technique,

this is not a recipe,

this is not a formula,

but this is

a sovereign work

of God's Spirit

in us.

But it's through prayer

and it's through

spiritual disciplines

that we open up ourselves

to that sovereign work

of God's Spirit

in us,

to change us

and transform us

through death

and resurrection.

The same grace

that rescues us

is also the grace

that transforms us.

And somebody

who experienced that

was a man named

John Newton

who is famous

for writing the hymn

that many of us know

called Amazing Grace

who, like Jonah,

had an encounter

with God's grace

while on a ship

in a storm at sea.

And this version

of John Newton's story

comes from the website

of Geneva College.

Following in his father's footsteps,

John Newton

began his career

by joining

the British Royal Navy.

And as a Navy sailor,

Newton became known

for his arrogance

and his immorality

and his insubordinate

behavior

as a sailor.

And later in his life,

reflecting on his early days

as a young man,

Newton would say

about himself,

I sinned with a high hand

and I made it my study

to tempt

and seduce

others.

And this became

a pattern

in his life

and he would eventually

try to escape

his military duty.

He would eventually

try to escape

his post

as a sailor,

but he was eventually

caught by Navy officers

and he was caught

for being a deserter

and he was arrested

and flogged

and put in irons

and he was chained

to the deck

of a Navy ship.

But chained

to the deck

of a Navy ship,

Newton convinced

his commanding officers

to let him go

by assigning him

to be a captain

of a slave ship.

And he would spend years

sailing up and down

the African coast

searching for slaves

to capture

and eventually to sell

for profit.

And on one journey,

one of these journeys,

Newton and his crew

encountered a storm

that swept some

of his men overboard

and left others

with the likelihood

of drowning.

And at first,

Newton was convinced

that he was too great

of a sinner,

that he had sinned

too greatly for God

to rescue him

and save him.

And yet,

as the storm

kept raging,

he thought he was

going to die.

And he finally

gave in to believing

what he had heard

in the Bible

as a young child,

that God saves sinners,

even sinners like him.

And with both hands

fastened onto the wheel

of the boat,

Newton cried out to God

saying,

Lord, have mercy on us.

And after 11 hours

of steering the ship

and bailing water,

the crew found safety

when the storm

finally died down.

And it was in this moment

that Newton's heart

was changed,

that he was converted

by God's grace.

And it was a moment

that he would later

refer back to,

it was a moment

that would later

inspire him to write

the famous hymn

that we all know.

And while Newton's views

on slavery

didn't change overnight,

eventually he became

convinced that to be

saved by God's grace

meant to be against

the slave trade.

Newton was eventually

ordained as an Anglican

pastor and he began

to lead his own church

and he started writing

and publishing essays

and books

against the slave trade.

And one of the people

who read his works

was a young member

of Parliament

named William Wilberforce

who led the legal fight

against slavery in England.

And years later

as Parliament

was debating this issue,

one of the people

who stood on the floor

of Parliament

to testify about

the horrors

and the evils of slavery

was John Newton

who testified about it

firsthand.

God changed him

from a man

who was the captain

of a slave ship

to a man

who was actively

working towards

abolishing slavery.

And as he got older

Newton began

to lose his memory

and although his thoughts

were limited

Newton said he could

always remember

two things.

That I am a great sinner

and that Christ

is a great savior.

The same grace

that rescued John Newton

and converted him

was also the grace

that transformed him.

It was the grace found

not on the mountaintop.

It was grace found

at the bottom.

Dwight Schrute says

our world needs

a spiritual revolution.

Do you want to experience

spiritual transformation

in your life?

Do you want to experience

greater depths

of God's grace?

The place where you can

experience it

is at the bottom

in death

and resurrection.

And the good news

for us

is though sometimes

it does take

hitting rock bottom

for us to experience that.

We don't all have to wait

to hit rock bottom.

We don't all have to wait

to face a storm

like Jonah did.

We don't all have to wait

to face a storm

like John Newton did

in order to experience

the depths of God's grace.

Why?

Because there's all sorts

of mini storms

that come into our life

on a daily basis.

Like conflict.

Like failure.

Like criticism.

Like anger.

Like suffering.

That can take us

down into death

and up in resurrection.

Because it's there

where we see

that salvation

belongs

to the Lord.

The one who died

and the one who was raised

for us.

Let's pray.

Our God and Father

thank you for

the grace

that transformed

Jonah

at the bottom

of the ocean.

Thank you for the grace

that transformed

John Newton.

Thank you that the grace

that rescues us

is also the grace

that transforms us.

Lord, I pray that you would

help us

in the middle

of the storms

in our life

to follow you

on the path

to death

and repentance

and resurrection.

Would you do

that sovereign

work of your spirit

in us?

Would you teach us

to pray

at the bottom?

In the name

of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.