Heroes of the Faith- Jonah, Denial and Trial

August 24, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You know, there's one thing that I love to do while I'm driving. I don't do it too often. I love to make U-turns. I know that sounds strange. Maybe it's just a guy thing. Maybe it's just a strange, quirky thing about me. Both are entirely possible. But I think it's kind of fun to make a U-turn. You kind of wait, you know, you pass where you're supposed to be or you realize you're going in the wrong direction; so you kind of wait for just that right moment where traffic sort of settles down, there's no one in sight. I don't think any of our officers in the congregation are in this service. You slide over to the far right lane, and you kind of make this wide swooping thing. All of a sudden, you're going the other way. Now a three-point, that doesn't count. No, you lose something when you have to stop and back up. No. I'm talking just a swooping U-turn. You were going north, now you're going south. You were going east, now you're going west. There's something fun about a U turn.

But there are some instances when you should not make a U-turn. For instance, if you're going down a one-way street, you should not make a U-turn. Now I know that seems obvious. Who in the world, if they're going down a one-way street, would make a U turn? But in reality, that's what Jonah does in the reading we had for this morning.

God had set him on a path to Nineveh. It was a one-way street. God was very clear that he wanted Jonah to go straight to Nineveh. Jonah decides he's not going to Nineveh. He does a U-turn, and he goes in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. He doesn't just stay where he's at. He doesn't just go over to Joppa and get a hotel room. No. He does a U turn and goes in the exact opposite direction that God is sending him. It's like doing a U-turn on a one-way street. He was bound to crash. Bad things were bound to happen. Because what Jonah discovered was that when you go in the opposite direction that God wants you to go in, there is nothing but trouble ahead. And it will take God to turn you back around and to send you in the right direction.

You see how quickly it happened in the Book of Jonah? Two quick verses. The first verse, God is extremely clear to Jonah. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, and He said, "Go to Nineveh and preach to them." Now God didn't say, "You know, I think it would be a pretty good idea, if you can fit it into your schedule maybe some time in the next year, that you would head off to Nineveh and possibly preach a little bit over there." God didn't say, "You know, I wonder if somebody should go to Nineveh." God was extremely clear. He said to Jonah, "You, Jonah, go to Nineveh." Jonah understood that. We can't sort of play around and say that no, maybe Jonah misunderstood because we know that he said to the sailors on the ship that he was running away from the Lord. Did you catch that in parentheses there? They already knew that he was running away from the Lord, because he told them that he was running away. In other words, Jonah sort of separates himself from other Old Testament people because he boldly, blatantly disobeys God. He doesn't do like some of the other prophets have done where they sort of banter back and forth with God. Maybe you recall Moses. Moses didn't want to go back to Egypt either, so he bantered back and forth with God, tried to reason with God, saying, "Well, God, you know, there are a whole lot of other people that should go. Shouldn't you send somebody else?" He even whined a little bit. Jonah doesn't do any of that. God says, "Go." He turns tail, and he runs. And he runs in the exact opposite direction.

I can't imagine, can you? I can't imagine God coming to me, telling me what to do, and then doing the exact opposite. That seems as foolish to me as doing a U-turn on a one way street. You know it's going to mean trouble. Well, what Jonah did boldly and blatantly, you and I do covertly. You and I do it subtly. Oh, it's so easy for us this morning, several thousand years out, to look back at Jonah, shake our heads in a condescending way saying, "Ah, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah. How could you do that?" Confident of yourself that if God would have clearly told you to go to Nineveh, you'd have been on the next ship to Nineveh and, as soon as you stepped off onto the deck, you'd be preaching to the Ninevites all that God wanted you to preach, positive that if God told you exactly what to do, then you would do it. Really? Really?

Do you honestly believe that when you have known clearly, positively what God has said to do that you've never done the opposite? Do you really believe that when you knew positively, absolutely that this is what God wanted you to do, this was the right thing to do, that you have never, with full knowledge, turned your back and done the exact opposite? Consider this. God has been very clear in His word on many things. He's been crystal clear in His word of His expectations and the things that He wants us to do, the way that He wants us to live. So consider this: God is very clear when He says that He doesn't want us to speak ill of anyone else. He doesn't want us to spread rumors. He doesn't want us to get involved in gossip. He wants us to speak well of other people to put the best construction possible on any and every situation, in fact, to go so far as to defend one another. Then why is it that I would guess all of us have said, "Well, I shouldn't say this but. . ."

We know what God says, full knowledge, but we do the opposite. We know that God says that we're not to harbor hate in our hearts. In fact, Jesus in the New Testament says, "You have heard that it is written 'Thou shall not commit murder' but I tell you this, if you hate somebody in your heart, you have committed murder." We know straightforward God is clear. We are not to have hatred in our heart. We are to love all people. Who of us can say that we have not said the words 'I hate you' or at least felt it in our hearts?

God is extremely clear when He says, "Thou shall not steal." God says that you are not to take something which belongs to somebody else. You're not to coerce them out of that. You're not to sort of manipulate them out of that. You're not to take it blatantly, bluntly from them. You are not to steal. Then explain to me what happened to $260,000. That's what's still missing. The Lewis truck this past week on the Interstate, the doors flew open, and $320,000 flew out. Only $60,000 has been returned. Do you mean to tell me that the people who reached down and picked up the bags of money didn't say, "Gee, somebody must have dropped it. I guess it's mine now." You think they didn't understand that what they were doing was wrong, that what they were doing was stealing? Yet, $260,000 is still out there someplace. Ah, you're saying to yourself right now, "Well, if I would have seen that, I would have returned it. I'd have picked that bag right up and marched over to the state trooper and, without even thinking about it, given him thousands of dollars." Well, maybe you would. How would you feel if the IRS decided to audit your last return? What do you do when you get too much change back when you go to the store? What happens when you make a major purchase and the clerk behind the desk rings it up $100 less than what it should be? God's crystal clear.

God says to us that we are not to look at another person lustfully. In fact, Jesus says that if you look at another person with lustful eyes, you've committed adultery against that person. Then you explain to me all the ads on TV, the ads in newspapers and magazines, and the movies that splatter across our screen. Why do they have the content that they do? It wouldn't be there unless someone else was looking, and it must be everyone else besides us, right?

God is very clear in His word. God says that everything that you have is a gift from Him. The very life that you have, every breath that you take, is a gift from God, which means that everything that I own is really not mine but is God's gift to me. God has given me the ability to work. God has given me the ability to make a living. Therefore, God has really given me my house, my clothes, my car. Everything that I have is a gift from God, and we know God is clear. He says we are to give a portion of that back to the work of His kingdom. He's abundantly clear that we're to take a portion of our income and give it back to God so that His ministry can continue, so that His gospel message can be spread to those who do not know Him. We know that. It's clear. Then why is it that every congregation in America is suffering right now because giving is so far down? How many people are stretching their dollars by stealing from God?

We know what God says and we boldly, blatantly go the opposite direction. I could continue on, but all I would do is depress you and depress me because I would convict you and I would convict myself. Scripture says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us has boldly, intentionally, with full knowledge of what is right, done what is wrong. We've made a U-turn on a one-way street, and there's nothing but trouble ahead. And that's what Jonah had to discover.

Jonah had to discover that he could not run away from God. He couldn't simply say no to God, to disobey God and then run away and escape all the consequences of doing that. He tried it, and it didn't work. He boarded the ship, and he was off on his way to Tarshish in the opposite direction, running away from God, running away from his guilt, running away from his sin; but it didn't work. Because he was going the wrong way on a one way street. And what Jonah didn't realize is that it involved more than just him, that the consequences of his disobedience weren't limited just to Jonah. It was a whole shipload of people who were put in peril, who were put in harm's way because the storm came up and threatened to sink all of them. Why? Because of Jonah. He didn't realize the consequences of his actions were so far reaching, and I'm convinced neither do we.

We think that our actions only affect us. They don't affect anyone else. Two men got picked up on the highway shortly after the Lewis truck had dumped all the money. They were arrested. They're probably going to jail. Do you really believe that the only people affected by that are those two men? What about their family? What about their friends? What about their employer? The consequences of our disobedience are more far-reaching than we want to know. And sometimes God has to come in and show us that so that He can turn us back around and put us in the right direction.

Jonah realized that. When the storm was coming up, when it looked like all of them were going die, God was reaching down rattling Jonah's cage saying, "This is what happens when you go the wrong way on a one-way street." And so Jonah, realizing his sin, confessed it to the sailors there and he confessed it to God. He said to the sailors, "You know what, this is all my fault. It's because I'm running away from God, because I'm disobeying God. I'm not doing what God asked me to do." He confessed that to the ship, and he confessed that to God. Now maybe Jonah was expecting that God would come down with punishment on just him. Maybe he was expecting God's wrath and God's anger, but you know what Jonah got? Jonah got God's grace. And instead of punishment, he received forgiveness. Jonah became delivered from what was a sure and certain death. God provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah. Now, in normal circumstances, I wouldn't say being swallowed by a large fish is a good thing; but, in this circumstance, it is. Because otherwise Jonah is going to drown. But God in His mercy, not His wrath, God in His grace, not His judgment, provided a giant fish to swallow up Jonah so that he would live. What was Jonah's response? Did you catch it in his prayer? He said, "In my distress, I called to the Lord." And almost amazed he says, "He answered me. He didn't come back with anger. He didn't come back with punishment. The Lord answered me. From the depth of the grave, I called for help and you listened." Or then he goes on to say, "Those who cling to worthless idols, they forfeit the grace that could be theirs." "Salvation," he says, "comes from the Lord."

Jonah experienced God's grace when he made another U-turn, a U-turn from going away from God in disobedience and he turned himself around and got back in line with God's will and God's command. And God greeted him with grace and love and mercy and forgiveness.

God wants to greet you with that same grace. He wants you to experience His mercy. He wants you to know His forgiveness and His love. Jesus Himself said of Jonah in Matthew Chapter 12, "As Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days and then came out, so the Son of Man will be in the depths of the ground for three days and then come out." Jesus was saying as God had provided a whale as a deliverance for Jonah, God the Father had now provided His Son Jesus as a deliverance for all mankind, that Jesus would hang upon the cross and all of our disobedience and all the punishment that should come upon us and all the guilt that should harbor in our hearts, it was laid upon Him. And then He died up there for it. And He went down into the grave for three days, three days to prove that God really was merciful. Because on the third day, He came out of that grave. He showed Himself to be the Son of God so that when the Son of God says, "You are forgiven," you can believe it. When scripture says that God is not an angry and a wrathful God, you can believe it. You can experience His grace and His mercy. What I'm saying is you don't have to run away from God anymore. And I wonder if some of you are running away from God. Maybe even though you're sitting here in God's house, you're running away from God. Maybe you've been convicted in your heart. You know that God wants you to go on this path and you're heading down the opposite direction. Maybe you think that God's going to greet you with anger and punishment, but He's not. You can stop running. Stop running and make a U-turn. Let God turn you back around and put you on His path. He won't greet you with punishment but with forgiveness. You won't be greeted with anger but grace and mercy.

Make a U-turn, won't you? Start going the right way on the one-way street. Amen.

Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church