The God Who Brings Us To Our Knees

Jonah Series | 1:3-11 | Pastor Duane Smets

This an exegetical sermon of Jonah 1:3-11 looking at the motive, traits and experience of running from God. In addition, the might, justice and mercy of God are highlighted as Jonah demonstrates that both the Godless and Godfearers need salvation and the gospel is uniquely designed for it. This sermon was originally preached on March 6th, 2011 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
March 6th, 2011

The God Who Brings Us To Our Knees | 1:3-11
I. The Fleeing and the Hurling (1:3-5b)
  A. Running From Reality
  B. Meeting The Mighty
II. The Prophet and the Pagans (1:5c-11)
  A. The Fearless God-fearer
  B. The Fearful Godless

Introduction

Today is our second week into our new study going through the book of Jonah. Last week was sort of the preview to the entire book. This week we actually get into the story and its exciting stuff.

I don’t have any clever attention getter or hook for you this week to introduce the sermon. But I will say this for you. This week’s sermon from the portion of the story we’re going over today has this subtle yet strong way of really getting up in our face and challenging whether the God we believe in is really like this God and if so whether our response is going to be more like Jonah or more like the sailors.

So I guess if I’ve got any plea for you this morning, it’s to beg you for a hearing and for you to consider just for a few moments the possibility that perhaps, just maybe the God you believe in might just be, as J.B. Philips once said, “too small.” My prayer is that the Word of God in this text would do it’s work and truly bring us to a place of humility, worship, awe and crying out to our great God. Which is why I’ve titled my message this morning, “The God Who Brings Us To Our Knees.”

So let’s read the text, pray over it and get into the story. (read 1:1-11 and pray)

I. The Fleeing and the Hurling (1:3-5b)

A. Running From Reality

Alright. So to start off we’ve got two main big themes going on, the fleeing of Jonah and the hurling of God. What grabs our attention and throws us into the grip of the story is that God has asked Jonah to go preach to this great city Nineveh and Jonah’s not into it so he flees. It’s drama from the start.

Let’s check it out. First off, we get direct words from God in verse 2. “Arise” or get up and “go” to Nineveh that great city. If you’ve got an NIV, one of the things you’ll repeatedly find is they choose to not translate all the words God gave and this is one of those many cases because they leave out “arise”, which is significant.

Now if you were here and you remember from last week, what had Jonah been doing prior to this? We learned from 2 Kings 14 that he had been prophesying that God would enable Judah to push the Assyrians out of Israel and restore the border. So Jonah had been working to get the Assyrians out who had killed over 10,000 men in a bitter stroke and the great task was accomplished.

The picture here is Jonah is at rest. Then the Word of the Lord comes…get up. And what’s his instruction? To go to Nineveh, the great capital of Assyria and to go preach to them. So God wants Jonah to go to the same people he has been working and fighting against and now he wants Jonah to, verse 2 says “call out.” The Hebrew word here is actually the same word as “preach.”

And what’s Jonah supposed to preach? That their “evil has come up” before God. What’s that mean? It’s real simple. God wants Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them there is a God who sees and knows all things to whom everyone will have to give an account for their life before him.

Now this is no small thing. We’ll learn later in the book of Jonah his exact thoughts about why he didn’t like this assignment. Nineveh is a big city. It was in what is now northern Iraq. Excavations have shown that it had huge buildings and magnificent walls. So think big great city like New York, Tokyo or Paris.

But instead of going there to preach Jonah flees. Look at it with me. In verse three it says straight out, “But Jonah rose to flee.” So instead of rising to go, he rises to flee. Get the contrast. Word of God, get up and go. He gets up and flees. And then the story tells us how and there’s a progression in it, he works hard to flee.

First, there is motive and intent. Verse 3 gives us this categorical statement, he rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. Tarshish at the time would have been the furthest possible known place one could travel. The literal end of the world over 2,200 miles. Here’s a map (slide). You can see where Iraq is there. Tarshish is the opposite direction.

And what is Jonah doing, he’s fleeing “from the presence of the LORD.” What’s that mean? I’m not sure. He’s definitely flee from serving the LORD and especially for a prophet of God, you serve before the presence of God. Did Jonah think he could get away from God? Likely not, because as we’ll hear later in the story he knew God created everything and is everywhere as Psalm 139 says, “Where can I flee from your presence?” Everywhere I go He is there.

Now there’s some subtle things here that happen. Sin always begins with that first inclination in the heart to not want to do what God says. Then it’s starts giving birth to actions and a plan. So Jonah goes down to Joppa to fulfill his plan. The text here says he finds a ship going to Tarshish and pays a fare to go.

Here’s the thing. Ships didn’t normally just go to Tarshish from Joppa. Ships at this time could only go about 2-4 knots, at the most that’s about 4.5 miles per hour. So this is literally would have been a three year journey for the captain and his crew before they’d return. When we read that Jonah found a ship and paid the fare I know we all probably envision him just buying a ticket like he’s going for a cruise…you know like he’s going to go down to Cabo to party it up for a bit on a Carnival Cruise Ship…sun, senoritas, and margaritas.

What’s really happening here when it says Jonah found a ship and paid the fare is Jonah is hiring them. It would have cost a lot. Jonah probably sold his house and all his possessions to have enough money to enlist this ship and its crew. Jonah is intent and is leaving for good. And verse 3 says it again, he’s doing it to get “away from the presence of the LORD.”

Alright. Let’s stop here for a few minutes and talk. Now I know there are some bigger things going on in the book of Jonah and why God is wanting Jonah to go to Nineveh and what that all has to do with God’s covenant relationship with his people and his mission for the nations and all that. However, you can’t read this story and not have this sneaking suspicion that in a way it’s reading us, each of us individually and personally reading the story of every one of our lives.

Here’s what I mean. In every single one of us there is a sense deep down that the world is about something bigger than just us. Deep down everyone of us knows there is a God and that we are really meant to live in relationship with him. Dare we say “in his presence?” That we are meant to love, worship, serve and be in the peaceful shalom of God’s presence.

But each of us have run. As Isaiah 53:6 says, we each have turned to our own way. You see I think there is something more fundamental going on here with Jonah’s fleeing. It’s not just disobedience, that God asked him to do something and he doesn’t want to do it. There’s something more here. There is within each of us this fight, to do what we want or to do what God wants…because really, we want to call the shots. We want to be in control. We want to do what we want. We really want to be God. So we run in attempt to rule our own lives and not live under God’s rule.

Tullian Tchividijian, who recently wrote a book called “Surpised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels” he says “to flee from God is to rise up against God…if we obey God we must disobey ourselves…it is in this disobeying ourselves where the hardness of obeying God consists.”

For most of us the fleeing, like Jonah’s is progressive. It begins in the heart with a conflicting desire which goes against what we know God wants and expects. Then it gives birth to a plan and then we start to act on it in the decisions that we make. And before we know it we are headlong in all out rebellion against God and running from him.

Sometimes it just happens gradually, like the frog in the kettle. If you boil a thing of water and try and put a frog in it, it’ll freak out and go nuts. But if you put the frog in cold water and then turn on the stove and slowly heat it up, it won’t even realize it and before you know it the frog is dead.

Some of you today have been running from God and you know it. You’ve sort of taken a flight from reality because you haven’t wanted to actually deal with some stuff. You’re like the frog. You’ve been sitting in the kettle and the reality is you are actually in some pretty hot water with God. I believe that today, through our study of the book of Jonah, God is trying to get your attention. So open up your heart and listen and learn and receive and repent. May God grant us his grace in these moments.

Ask yourself right now. Just be real honest. Not necessarily with me, but with God. Are you running? Are you doing your own thing? Or are you obeying and following God?

B. Meeting The Mighty

Alright. Let’s move on, get back to the story and talk about “Meeting The Mighty.” What happens next in the story is some hurling. The sailors try to hurl some cargo to save themselves. But it’s no match for God’s mighty hurling. Here’s what happens.

Jonah’s fleeing. Or attempting to. Then verse 4, let’s re-read it. “But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”

This is an intense storm. This would have been one of the biggest and strongest ships of the day. These were experienced sailors. And they get afraid for their lives, desperate. We’ll talk about their spiritual response in a minute. But four different times, the story mentions their fear and goes through the drastic measures they take. This is no ordinary storm.

Now there’s just two things I want to talk about here. One, that God causes storms and two, that he does so justly.

First God causes storms. That’s not how we normally think of storms. What do we call storms when there is flooding, tornados, tidal waves, earthquakes, forest fires and famine? What do we call them? “Natural disasters” right? This is a sneaky illusion we have bought into, that there are some things that are just natural and there are some things which are supernatural and the world is divided up like that.

Now what we get here in the book of Jonah in verse 4 is the universal view of the Bible regarding all storms and “natural disasters” and the view is that nothing is just “natural” but all happens under the governance, council, rule and power of God.

I’ll just give you a brief sampling.

Psalm 148:8 “Fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind (are) fulfilling his (God’s) word!”

Amos 3:6 “Does disaster come…unless the Lord has done it?”

Isaiah 45:7 “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

You see the Bible does not see anything happening in the word apart from the all powerful and ever sustaining action of God. He rules over ALL THINGS! When the rain falls and when the sun shines that is God at work sustaining his creation. You can call it “laws of nature” but it is really God who is ever at work enabling those “laws” to function.

For some of you, your God has been too small. He’s more like the Winnie the Pooh god, who is detached and uninvolved, all lovey and dopey with honey up in the sky. That God is too small. The real God is a mighty God and is a force to be reckoned with.

Now here’s the second thing. Storms are not natural, not just because it’s ultimately God who sends them but also because unleashing calamity upon the earth is not part of the way God created things to be. God didn’t create the world with a natural destructive quality. While it’s true the Bible’s view is of all calamities coming from the hand and will of God, it is also true that his destruction comes as a just response to sin.

Romans 1:18 says “The wrath of God is (that is currently, ongoing) revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth.”

Now I know. Some of you might be squirming here because you wonder how that kind of God could be good or loving. I’ll just say this. If disobeying God, suppressing the truth about him is really not just a running from God but a rising up against him to try and take his rule…then that is no small thing. God is not a good God if he lets such heinous rebellion and wrongdoing go unpunished.

The good news is that there is grace, which is why God’s just and right unleashing of wrath against sin does not mean he isn’t loving. You notice in our story, this storm doesn’t kill ‘em. Death is deserved. But often God grant grace and opportunity to see and know his love. It’s what makes his love so great, that he doesn’t give us what we know we deserve.

You see I think it often works like this. John Calvin says, “God sharply pricks us with danger so as to constrain us to tremble.” Often times when destruction strikes, it has the ability of waking us up and snapping us our of our flight from reality. Calvin continues, “When calamity happens it is the duty of every man to examine himself and his whole life.”

The truth is I think we all test God and secretly deep down wonder what will happen…if we’ll get away with ignoring him or disobeying him. And the truth is we won’t. A storm is coming. Better to repent now than risk him simply making an end of us.

Is your God too small? Are you banking on God just being loving and thinking he’ll just let it go with no consequence? Are you afraid of God? You should be. It’s the main thing that ends up separating Jonah from the sailors. God is meant to be feared. Like Psalm 2:11 says, “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.”

II. The Prophet and the Pagans (1:5c-11)

A. The Fearless God-fearer

Okay, let’s move on, go back to the story and see how it compares Jonah the prophet and these pagan sailors..

Alright, so God hurls this storm. Picturesque isn’t it? What’s Jonah doing? Sleeping. The Jewish Septuagint actually adds that he was snoring. Mid verse 5 to 6. “But Jonah had gone down to the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, ‘What do you mean you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god!”

This crazy storm is going on. The boat is undoubtedly rocking, tossed back and forth. The crew is trying to fight God’s hurling by hurling cargo off in order to save the ship. And what’s Jonah doing? Hiding…down in the hull of the ship sleeping.

There’s strong double entendre here. He’s physically and spiritually asleep. Likely in a depression here, just trying to avoid life. Have you ever been depressed and you didn’t want to get out of bed? Been in a place where you just wanted to sleep the world away so you didn’t have to deal with any of your problems? That’s Jonah here. All out avoiding. He doesn’t want to think about anything, he cares for nothing any more and is no longer anxious for anything. The storm doesn’t even arouse him.

Then the captain comes. And guess what he says? “Arise!” The same exact thing God said to Jonah when he told him to go to Nineveh. Arise and go.

But does it effect Jonah? No. I mean the captain, who’s this guy who doesn’t even know God tells Jonah to pray. Funny how sometimes God speaks truth to us through some of the most unlikely people. But no response from Jonah. He’s keeping his lips sealed.

The captain and the crew in their desire to blame someone, like we always want to do, decide to cast lots in order to figure it out. But we see God use that to draw out truth in this circumstance.

Basically casting lots worked like this. You had two dice, with two colors one them, one light and one dark. So you throw the dice, two light sides up meant yes, two dark sides up meant no, and one of each meant roll again. They go through the crew and when it’s Jonah’s turn to roll he rolls two dark sides up. And immediately the crew interrogates him with a barrage of questions.

Jonah has been caught and found out. So he finally fesses up. Look what he says, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land.” We’ll talk about the impact of him saying this on the sailors in a minute but first did you catch where he says, “I fear the LORD.”

Some translations say, “Worship the LORD.” In Hebrew the word is fear. And it’s odd. It sort of sticks out because Jonah has been afraid all along. It’s been the pagan sailors who are gripped with fear. Jonah had been asleep. Avoiding the issue. Forced to cast lots. And then he finally fesses up.

Jonah is the one who is supposed to fear God but even the storm hasn’t got his attention yet. It’s not until he’s directly confronted that he realizes and admits his sin and guilt. Verse 10 tells us he admits he was “fleeing from the presence of the LORD.”

Well, let’s sort of put Jonah as the fearless God-fearer on the shelf for a minute and let’s look at the sailors and then we’ll come back and compare the two.

B. The Fearful Godless

“The Fearful Godless” these pagan sailors. What do we know about them? First, Jonah hired them for this journey. Then back up to verse 5, when the storm hits they are afraid and respond both spiritually and practically. Verse 5, “Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.”

So right away, when we’re introduced to them, we’re clued in on that they’re spiritual people. They each cry out to their god. You see this idea of there being many different gods and paths and all of them being universally good and true is not a new idea. It’s been around for thousands of years.

Their gods could have been Asherah or Baal or one of the other ancient near east deities. They figure someone must have done something to upset one of the gods and that’s why this storm is happening. You see the view of ancient deities was that they got cranky, easily offended and were rash and reactive.

Now I could be wrong but I think there part of us who hear that and think, “that’s so ridiculous” and the assumption is that people back then were just not as smart and sophisticated as us and that’s why they had these barbaric beliefs.

But we’re no different. We may not have little idols or images of our gods, at least in the western world. But we’ve got our gods for sure. The god of luck, where good fortune hopefully comes our way. The god of karma, where if we do good things good things will happen to us. The god of work, where if we work hard enough or long enough things will be good. The god of science, that we can figure out how everything works and use it to our advantage. You see we just don’t call them gods but we have ‘em and they’re the things we trust in.

But deep down we know none of them are really gods at all. There’s a hint of that in the sailors. The story emphasizes their belief in these gods. When the captain goes to wake Jonah up, he says to him, “call our to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” Apparently the captain thinks that his god is ignoring him and there’s even the suggestion here that his god may not even be the real god but maybe Jonah’s is?

Interestingly, the sailors know instinctually, like all of us wrong doing or evil deserves a just response. In verse 8 they say, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.”

When Jonah finally fesses up he preaches the truth about God to them. We looked at it earlier but let’s look at it one more time. Verse 9, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Two things here. One he tells them God’s name for himself that God gave to Moses when he asked God “Who are you?” That’s what you see here as “LORD” in all capital letters and as I’ve told you before whenever you see LORD in all capitals that means it’s God’s given name Yahweh, behind it in the Hebrew. And Yahweh simply means, “I Am.” I am the one and only true God who has always been and always will be.

In order to further elucidate who Yahweh is, Jonah says he is the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. This is what’s known as a merism, a figure of speech to say “he’s the supreme God over all who made everything.”

Upon hearing that the sailors are struck with even greater fear. It says they were then “exceedingly afraid” and they get mad at Jonah saying “what have you done!” There’s one true God who rules over everything and you’ve wronged him! What’s wrong with you!

Then they cry out, “What shall we do?”

This whole scene is quite amazing. It’s literally pandemonium aboard the ship and in the midst of it all there are some profound truths being revealed about the nature of man and his great need of salvation.

You see the whole story seems backwards. Jonah is a prophet. He’s the one who’s got the real God. He’s supposed to be one of the good guys. But he’s not. He’s got no fear, he’s fleeing, and doesn’t repent until he’s forced to by these Godless pagans.

But then you’ve got the pagans sailors too. They’re just lost in a sea of spiritualism with no directions as to who or what is true. But they’ve got fear and they’re seeking and searching and when they hear of Yahweh, they respond.

Really, what’s going on here is we’re being shown a picture of two types of people. And all of us fall into one of these two camps at one point or another.

You’ve got the religious people who think they’re right. The Christians. They’ve got the right God. They’re on the good team. The one’s with the good moral lives. But they’re proud and think they’re better than others because of it. And in their pride is rebellion. An attempt to use God, to live life apart from an ongoing dependance on him and his presence.

This subtle disobedience in the heart gets dismissed or spiritualized as being something that’s right or good. You see, Christians like Jonah, need saving.

Then there’s the other camp. The irreligious who think it doesn’t really matter what you believe. They don’t have the right God. Their lives are full of just doing whatever they want in whatever makes them happy. And in that is a rebellion against the God who made them because they have turned themselves into their own personal rulers of their lives and they live life apart from an ongoing dependance on God and his presence.

This not so subtle disobedience in the heart gets passed as being insignificant and inconsequential. And those who are not Christians, need saving.

Now I know I’m cutting off the story at a height. Right in the middle of a climax where we wonder what’s going to happen. But I wanted to end here today because I think it’s striking how both the prophet and the pagans are brought to their knees to acknowledge and cry out to the God of the universe.

Conclusion

Here’s how I want to conclude. When I read in verse 11, “What shall we do?” I hear the desperation, I hear the heartfelt appeal, I hear another place in the Bible where almost the exact same thing is said. It’s on the Pentecost day that was Christians very first church service.

In it the apostle Peter preached a sermon not unlike Jonah about how both religious and irreligious people were both jacked up and need to be saved. In response, Acts 2:37 says they were cut to the heart and said, “What must we do?” Just like the sailors, “What shall we do?”

On that day Peter responded by telling them about the good news that there was forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. He had told them about a day when there was a storm.

It was a storm unlike any other. Darkness covered the land and the ground shook in a mighty earthquake. And God unleashed the full wrath of hell on his only son Jesus who hung on a cross as a stand in for sinners.

You see Jesus was a prophet like Jonah who had orders from God the Father to go preach but unlike Jonah Jesus never fled but fully obeyed God’s command and preached the gospel to undeserving sinners. Then Jesus, who did not need nor deserve a storm, willingly went to the cross to take it on so that sinners might be forgiven.

Unlike the sailors there’s no crying from Jesus to stop the storm instead absorbs the storm in his body so that both the religious and irreligious might be welcomed into the presence and peace of God. You see the truth is there are no good guys and bad guys. We’re all bad guys in need of grace. In the cross both the judgment of God and the mercy of God are expressed.

The sailors asked, “What are shall we do?” The answer is there is nothing we can do, but Jesus has done it for us. Our response then is simply to turn from our sin and trust him.

We’re going to receive the Lord’s supper here in a minute. As you come today, remember the mighty storm of God’s wrath that Jesus bore on the cross for you.

If you’ve got pride, disobedience and rebellion to repent of then do that, know Jesus paid it all and there is forgiveness and grace. Turn from sin to the savior.

If you’ve realized today, you’re God is just way too small, be brought to your knees. Come in humble fear, reverence and awe at the work of the savior. Worship at his feet. He is a mighty and worthy God.

If you’ve felt detached and distance from God, come and draw near. God freely welcomes us to his to the intimate table of his presence by the work of his Son. Allow him to love on you and call you his own.

If you know you’ve been running. Stop. You will get caught. If there is something you’ve been avoiding or ignoring don’t any longer. Just run back now and have Jesus receive you with open arms.

Whatever your need is today, come. Come and worship. Come and receive. Come and adore.

Let’s pray.