Wrong Way (Jonah 1:1-3)-Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

We're going to Jonah today. We finished up our

sermon series through 1 Thessalonians. Now we

go into the Old Testament book of Jonah. You

can find Jonah amongst the minor prophets. And

when I say minor prophets, I don't mean minor

in importance, but usually people talk about

the minor prophets in terms of the length of

the book. Most of these books are rather short,

at least compared to the major prophets. You

know those ones being Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel

and Daniel. You can find Jonah though in the

minor prophets right kind of in the middle of

them. If you see Amos and Obadiah, you're on

the right track. If you get to Micah, you've

gone a little bit too far. This being somewhat

of an introduction to Jonah. We're just going

to look right now at the first three verses.

And so would you turn your attention to the reading

of God's holy word, Jonah chapter one, verses

one through three. This is God's word. Let's

pray. Father, we do thank you for this word.

We thank you for the gift that is the book of

Jonah. We thank you for the mercy that we see

in here, Father. I pray that as we study this

text, you would more and more show us your incredible

mercy in Christ Jesus. Open our hearts and our

minds to hear from you now. We pray in Jesus'

name, amen. When I was young, I had a children's

Bible that had a lot of pictures in it. Perhaps

you still have yours. Maybe your children have

these Bibles, have pictures in them. But I was

always fascinated by the picture that went with

the story of Jonah. It's a picture of a man sinking

deep down into the water. And he's kind of flailing

about trying to grab for something. There's seaweed

around him. There's schools of fish around him.

And in the background, there's a picture of a

ginormous fish. Some might even call it a whale.

A whale of a tail, it's been said. But it's not

a tail. It's not a tail. And the book of Jonah

is about so much more than a great fish. It's

really not even about Jonah. At its core, the

book of Jonah is about God. It's about God. And

it's about God's mercy. Now when it comes to

Jonah, we may know a thing or two about him,

even though the text doesn't tell us all that

much at the get -go. But in 2 Kings chapter 14

2 Kings 14:25

verse 25, we see a man, a prophet, who is called

Jonah. And so many think that this is the one

and the same Jonah. And if so, and I think it

probably is, then we recognize that Jonah was

a prophet. This was his job. Jonah's job was

to prophesy. Now, by way of illustration, if

you went onto a seminary campus today and you

were around the Master of Divinity students and

you asked the students there, hey, how would

you like to come and preach at our church sometime?

Probably most of those students would nod their

heads and say, yes, I would love to do that.

Why is that? Well, because that's what they're

training to do. That is, in some cases, what

they are already doing. Preachers preach. But

then we get to the book of Jonah, and we have

a prophet who doesn't want to prophesy. You can

see he receives the command to go, to go call

out against that evil city. Jonah has been doing

this work as a prophet before, but this we might

consider this is his call to the big leagues.

This would be what Jonah was known for. You're

telling me, God, to go to Nineveh, this evil,

wicked city? What does Jonah say? Not a word,

does he? Jonah doesn't say anything here. He

just runs the other way. Perhaps it would be

helpful to know what was going on at this time.

The history in Israel and Jonah was a prophet

in Israel. This would have been the time of King

Jeroboam the second. You might remember that

at this time Israel has been separated into a

northern kingdom. Israel's up here with the capital

city of Samaria. Down here this is southern kingdom

with its capital of Jerusalem. So two different

kingdoms here. This would have been around the

eighth century. And from the outside, looking

in, other countries looking at Israel, they would

have thought, wow, things are actually going

really well in Israel. In the eighth century,

the nation of Israel was expanding. It was growing.

But inside of Israel, things were not looking

so good. If you read these other minor prophets

like Hosea or Amos, you see that within Israel,

There were social and moral and religious problems.

And so what do you expect a prophet to do in

Israel? You expect a prophet to reach out, to

call out within its own country, to call out

within Israel or to call out within Judah and

urge repentance or announce judgment. This is

what we see the prophets do all the time. We

also see prophets Speaking about the atrocities

in the other countries, right? Do you know what

we do not see very often within the scriptures?

What we don't expect? A prophet being given the

message and being told to go to another country

with that message. And especially, especially

not a place like Nineveh, not a country like

Assyria. We can understand Jonah's position,

can't we? We wouldn't want to go there. My first

mission trip I ever went on was to the Bahamas.

It was really difficult. This is no resort that

Jonah is being called to go to. Friends, this

is Nineveh. And Nineveh was one of Assyria, or

Assyria was one of... Israel's greatest enemies

for so long. And so this is very unique that

he would be told to go there. But let's think

about this for a second. If you know your minor

prophets well, you know that there is another

book after Jonah that almost acts as a sequel.

It's the book of Nahum. What happens in the book

of Nahum? This is the judgment upon Nineveh.

But in the meantime, and this is a spoiler alert

that the people of Nineveh will repent of sin.

But what happens in the meantime? What happens

between the time of them repenting and the book

of Nahum? We know that the nation of Assyria

comes and destroys and captures the Israelites.

And we know this from other texts that prophecy

of that truth. And so what Jonah is being told

to do is to go to Nineveh, tell them to repent,

and then Nineveh, a city of Assyria, is going

to come and capture Israel. Friends, this is

remarkable. And we can perhaps understand why

Jonah doesn't want to do that. And at the same

time as this is a book about God's mercy, we

also recognize this is a book about God's sovereignty.

Because He is in charge of every one of those

episodes, every episode we see in the scriptures.

Every time that someone came to wage war against

Israel or every time that he let those nations

win against Israel, this was all for Israel's

good. And so even as Jonah doesn't want to go,

we must understand that God has a perfect plan.

even when we don't understand it. This morning,

I want to look at the command of God and the

response of Jonah. Look in verse two. There's

urgency there. Arise, it says. The Hebrew word

is just simply up. Get up and go to Nineveh,

that great city. He's saying, get there, not

tomorrow, not when the weather changes, get there.

Now Nineveh was quite some distance away. It

was hundreds of miles to the northeast of Samaria.

It's in modern day Iraq. And so Jonah is supposed

to leave home for this great, wicked city. But

when the word in our English, when it says great

there, what does that mean? It could mean two

different things. It could be referring to the

size of Nineveh. We read in chapter three that

Jonah spends like three days getting across it,

preaching repentance. Some have called Nineveh

a metropolis. It's as if Jonah's being sent to

Atlanta or something. But it could also be referring

to the importance of Nineveh as a historical

city. You can read about Nineveh all the way

back in Genesis chapter 10. Jonah is called to

Genesis 10 · chapter mention

go there, to this great city, but we're not exactly

given right here why. We're not told exactly

how evil Nineveh really is, but we do know that

he is supposed to announce doom if there's no

repentance. And we know from the book of Nahum

that the people of Nineveh, they were violent.

That nation of Assyria is called bloodthirsty.

The people there were deceitful. They were lustful.

They committed atrocities. They committed idolatry

all over the place. Again, Jonah is not being

sent to a resort. But if Israel had all of these

problems at home, why is Jonah being sent to

a foreign nation like this with all these problems

in Israel? It's very much like people who say,

Why do we send missionaries abroad when there's

so much to be done right here? And the reason

for this that we're going to see is that God

doesn't restrict repentance just to Israel. Actually,

what's happening within this text, we are seeing

God's greater plan of bringing more into his

family. We are being shown the incredible mercy

and grace. God, we are seeing God's bigger plan,

but even as we see it here, it's not as though

this has been a secret. If you will, let me read

to you from Genesis chapter 12. This is the call

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

of Abraham. Listen for how this shows God's worldwide

mission. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from

your country and your kindred your father's house

to the land that I will show you and I will make

of you a great nation and I will bless you and

make your name great so that you will be a blessing

I will bless those who bless you and him who

dishonors you I will curse and in you all the

families of the earth shall be blessed again

God is showing incredible mercy that is to go

everywhere and friends if you are a believer

in Jesus Christ, you have received the very mercy

of God, and you are a child of Abraham. Listen

to this from Galatians chapter three, seven through

nine. Know then that it is those of faith who

are the sons of Abraham, and the scripture foreseeing

that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,

preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying

in you shall all the nations be blessed so then

those who are of faith are blessed along with

Abraham the man of faith you Christian have been

brought into the family of God you've been adopted

into his family God has reached out to you Not

the other way around perhaps, you know this passage

from first John 3 See what kind of love the father

has given to us that we should be called children

of God And so we are it is his love. It is his

mercy that saves us and Friends, I believe that

Jonah knew about the mercy of God He knew about

the mercy of God. I don't mean to give away the

entirety of the book but flip ahead to Jonah

Jonah 4:2

4, verse 2. Jonah 4, 2, there it reads, And he

prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is not this

what I said when I was yet in my country? That

is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for

I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful.

Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love

and relenting from disaster. Jonah knew this

about God, didn't he? Jonah just does not. He

cannot see himself going to this place of Nineveh.

And I don't believe that Jonah had a problem

with all Gentiles, because where does he want

to go? He wants to go to Tarshish. But he has

a problem with the cruelty of Nineveh. But ultimately,

he has a real problem with the mercy of God.

Friends, when I lived in Bulgaria, when I got

there, the mission team that I was a part of

said, we have a lot of needs here in Bulgaria.

You can essentially choose what you want to do.

Who do you want to minister to? Who do you believe

needs to hear the gospel. I spent a lot of time

in prayer and talking with others and thinking

and I thought you know who needs the gospel in

Eastern Europe and in Bulgaria. I thought it

was the Roma population, the gypsy population.

And so I told some friends this. I said I believe

the Lord needs to reach the people within these

gypsy communities and I want to be a part of

that. And this friend said to me, That's fine.

That's good. If you feel called to do that, great.

Take the gospel to the gypsies, but I'm not doing

it. I'm not doing that. I'm not going there.

Why? Well, quite honestly, the Roma population

are known for being thieves. They're known for

being drunkards. They're known for being lazy,

all of these things. And so you can understand

people don't want to go there. And there are

examples like this all over the world. People

that were like, I'd rather not. People that we

shun. People that we believe in our heart of

hearts don't. They shouldn't have the mercy of

God. I don't know who it is for you. I don't

know who it is that you're uncomfortable around.

Maybe it's the inmate who finishes up his prison

sentence. somebody who is looking for a church

home, looking for hope, looking for help, but

a lot of people would say that's for somebody

else. Maybe it's people who are just unlike you

in every single conceivable way, and you think,

I can't do that, Lord. I can't tell them the

gospel. Friends, if we keep looking for the person

who is exactly like us, with whom to share the

gospel, We will never share it. We will never

share it if we're looking for the person that

is just like us. And quite frankly, friends,

we were like that, weren't we? Before coming

to Christ, we were dead in our trespasses, right?

We were what some people might call a lost cause.

But friends, our God is the God of lost causes.

He takes people who are dead in their trespasses

and He brings them to life. This is our story.

God takes lost causes and sanctifies them. He

shows them mercy. And so to whom are you to take

God's message of repentance and salvation? We

are to be conduits of mercy, not with holders

of mercy. The church where we used to worship

at in Texas had a name. I've shared it with some

of you. Mercy Presbyterian Church. And our slogan

was this, mercy to us, mercy through us. And

this is who we should be as Christians, showing

the mercy of God. And so think today, who is

it that you know that needs the mercy of God?

Jonah as a prophet didn't want to go because

he knew that God would be merciful. And so what

does Jonah do? He goes in the complete opposite

direction. Look in verse 3. It's not just that

he's running from Nineveh, is it? The text says

he's running from the presence of the Lord. Now,

as a prophet, Jonah would have surely understood

God's omnipresence. And so I don't think that

this is a denial of that. He is thinking, if

I'm nowhere near Nineveh, I cannot possibly preach

to them. I cannot possibly fulfill God's command.

He wants to leave it all behind. Do you remember

that old Southwest Airlines commercial from years

ago? Want to get away? That's Jonah here. He

wants to get away, not just from his home. He

wants to get away from the calling that God is

placing on his life. It's like Jonah is handing

in his prophet card and saying, you are not the

God of the Tarshishites, if that's even a word.

So that's where I'm going. Additionally, If we

look in Isaiah 66, we see that Tarshish at that

time was a place that had not seen God's fame,

had not seen God's glory. And so Jonah is in

effect saying, you haven't called me there. You

apparently haven't called anyone there. And so

that's where I'm going. But first you see he

has to go to the place of Joppa. This is a place

where he could board a ship. He boards a ship

then. And he's going to go to Tarshish. But our

question then is, where is Tarshish? A couple

of possibilities. It could be a point on the

Mediterranean, like Carthage, which would be

quite far away. But it could also be southern

Spain. And that's probably the most common location

that scholars point at, southern Spain. That

is really, really far away. And so if it's southern

Spain, God is not. or Jonah's not messing around

here. If it's Spain, it's as if Jonah is saying,

I'm going as far away as I possibly can from

Nineveh. I like how James Montgomery Boyce puts

it. Listen to this quote. He says, we can understand

the geography and Jonah's motives if we can imagine

the word of the Lord coming to a Jew who lived

in New York during World War II. and telling

him to go to Berlin to preach to Nazi Germany.

And instead of this, he goes to San Francisco

and then boards a boat for Hong Kong. He is getting

as far away as he possibly can. Tarshish might

be the furthest place that he has ever heard

of. And that's where he's trying to go. But I

also want us to see something else. This is not

just geographics here. If you see within the

text that first word there of arise, there is

kind of a picture going on with these words of

going up and then going down for just as it says

arise, then we also see twice that it says that

he goes down. He goes down to Joppa. He's going

down into the ship. Jonah is on a downward spiritual

spiral. He's running from the presence of God,

as if to say, God is not the God of Tarshish.

I'm going there. And he's running so much so

that when he buys fare for the trip, scholars

like to point out, this seems like he doesn't

buy a seat on a boat. It's not like he went on

Travelocity and got a window seat. No, in Jewish

tradition, Jonah rents the entire boat. and pays

for the crew to get in there. Jonah, if these

scholars are correct, charters the whole boat

and has them attempt to get him all the way to

southern Spain. Can you imagine how much it would

cost to charter a cargo ship, which is probably

what it was, charter a cargo ship with a crew

and get you all the way to southern Spain, friends?

This is costly disobedience, isn't it? He's not

simply saying, I don't want to do this. This

is disobedience at all costs. One commentator

says, everything about Jonah's action is diametrically

opposed to Yahweh's commission. Yahweh says up,

Jonah goes down. Yahweh says go to Nineveh, Jonah

leaves in the opposite direction. The Lord tells

Jonah what to say, and we get no words from Jonah.

Friends, this is costly disobedience. But wouldn't

we also say that all disobedience is costly?

Disobedience is what led Christ to the cross.

The story of Scripture is Christ making right

what people get wrong. You remember the story

of Adam and Eve. There's a whole garden there.

God's provided for them. He says, don't eat of

that one tree. And what do we see in the next

moment? They're chomping away on the fruit. Disobedience

and costly disobedience. But friends, there's

good news in that story. In that same exact chapter

of Genesis three, we see the promise of the Redeemer,

don't we? God promises Christ. And there's example

after example in scripture to see that. All sin

is disobedience. No one is immune. We all have

original sin, and we all commit our own sins.

And the prophet Jonah is probably more acquainted

than most with the glory of God and His mercy,

and yet Jonah wants nothing to do with obedience

and sharing that mercy. Friends, you may know

this about yourself. We're all like Jonah a little

bit, aren't we? We are all a little bit like

Jonah. But friends, there is good news. Christ

gets right what we get wrong. Why was Christ

incarnate? To make things right. And it's not

just that Jesus died for you, which he absolutely

did. And that's a critical point. But we also

must recognize that Christ lived the life for

us. That he lived... Without sin, he was in perfect

submission to the Father, and so Jesus does not

flee from the command of the Father. He signs

up for it. Jonah fled from announcing salvation,

but this was Jesus' message, and he embodied

it. Jesus was tempted to sin as we are, but he

never did. And ultimately, Jesus, when he came,

he knew what was ahead for him, didn't he? you

read in the book of Matthew you see that three

different times Jesus talks about the cross before

the cross is ever in the picture and Jesus knew

that Isaiah 53 was written about him that says

the chastisement that brought us peace was upon

him and by his wounds we are healed why why do

we receive that mercy because that's who God

is God is slow to anger and he's abounding in

steadfast love. Friends, I want you to know the

reason that Jonah is so upset is the reason that

Christ came. The reason Jonah is so upset is

the reason Christ came. Christ gets right what

we get wrong.