Well, welcome back again. And this going to take the podcast will take a little different turn. over the next few weeks because we're going to actually string together some thoughts and some conversations that will tie together. I hate to use the word series, but it'll be like a just a few week where we're going to they're going to build on one another and it's going to it's going to come out of one of the confusing servants of God to me. I think you can find many servants of God listed in scripture. You can certainly look at current life and see there's confusion about how did God use that person?
That's the question. And one of those people for me in the Old Testament was a prophet by the name of Jonah. there's the Sunday school version of Jonah, which it makes it great for Flannelraph. For those of you who are younger, check out what Flannelraph is all about.
Nobody's
Well, no, but some people remember flannel. I do.
No, now it's flannel sheets.
Okay.
But no, no graphs.
No graphs. Anyway, there's the Sunday school version of Jonah where it's just this nice little story where Jonah gets mad at God, runs away, gets thrown into the sea, gets swallowed by a great fish, gets spit up on dry land, and preaches and there's a great revival in the city of Nineveh.
but it really isn't the whole story. And to me, to understand the story, at least the beginning part of what we're going to look at, is we've got to go to the beginning, which is where Jonah was. He was a spokesperson for God. He was a prophet, and he was prophesying in the northern kingdom of Israel. Prophesying under a man who was the ruler at that time, the king at that time of the northern kingdom, Jerobo Jeroboam II, who were told in 2 Kings 14 did evil in the sight of God. So Jeroboam's not a good ruler. In fact, there never was a good ruler in the northern kingdom. There were some in the southern kingdom and never in the northern kingdom. But one of the things that Jeroboam does is he recovers the territories of Israel between Lebanon and the Dead Sea. just as the Lord God of Israel had promised. Now listen, here it comes through Jonah. So Jonah prophesied in this in the kingdom and it's an evil ruler, but that Israel is going to grow its borders and they do. So if you put that into context, Jonah's a hero because he's got this great even though it's under a ruler who doesn't honor God and there again that's confusing because he's not honoring God and yet God promises him to expand the border. And it's through the prophet Jonah. So when you get to the book of Jonah, you've got to understand that Jonah has had what I would say a popular message back in Israel. And why would I want to leave a place where I'm popular?
Well, absolutely. He's I mean, he's got I'm sure people were congratulating him on his message. He saw success. kind of like today, many ministries today, they're seeing success, large numbers. That obviously means let's stay here. Why would we go anywhere else? This is a great place to minister.
Right? And so in that context, with that as the backdrop, now Jonah is told by God, he remember he's God's spokesperson. He's told by God to go to Nineveh. Well, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian nation. And the Assyrian nation was the hated enemies of God. And he's supposed to go to them to give them a chance to repent. So, not only is he leaving a very popular ministry that he had going there in Israel. Now, he's going to go to their sworn enemy to bring them a chance to repent and to be spared. and that's what we find in the beginning of the book of Jonah, the confusing sometimes the confusing ways of God. And Jonah is thrust right into the middle of it and he's told to do something on behalf of God.
I'm going to let you do so much of the talking today because I'm sitting here kind of mesmerized by I might interject here and there but go for it. I
don't want you to because I value I don't like fish and I don't like the ocean.
Well, it is coming in the story. I hate to tell you. So
So the story of Jonah begins in that first chapter where Jonah doesn't like the assignment that God's given him. And I again if I'm going to bring that into our world today, there are times when I don't know that we like the assignment God's given to us. But the assignment here is regardless of the Ninevites, regardless of their culture or anything else, God wants to extend his grace and his mercy and his forgiveness and the word that we would use his salvation to them.
Can I ask you a quick question? So when God tells Jonah that what he's to do, God expected for Jonah to be obedient,
right? Wait a second. Here we go. Did Jonah have like No, this is because this gets this is on my mind a lot. Did Jonah
have to have like a warm fuzzy like, "Oh, this is exactly what God's will is for me." Was it more about obedience than Jonah feeling like that's what he should do?
Well, yeah. I think it's obedience. certainly because that's that is what God expects of us. I we've turned everything in our culture into I my feelings. Well, I don't feel doing that or I don't feel like extending grace. I don't feel like loving that person because that person has treated me poorly. Well, when God calls us to obedience, there's no exception clauses. And so, what God said to again, he is God's spokesperson.
he is the prophet who's speaking on behalf of God. And God says, "You're I want you to go to Nineveh. I have compassion on the Ninovites. And we won't find this out. We'll talk more about it later, but we'll find out more later. Why did Jonah run? and I believe the reason he ran was because he knew God was going to do what he said he was going to do and he knew that God was full of compassion and he knew that God would pardon them if they repented. So, he runs to Tarsus which is 180 degrees in the opposite direction. So, if Nineveh is up north and to the east, Tarsus is down south and to the west.
So to recap, he was having a successful ministry,
right?
And God tells him, "I want you to go to Nineveh and because I have compassion and love for these people, and Jonah doesn't want to go,
right?"
Well, who would want to go?
Well, again, it would be take it into current a current time frame. It would be if God said, "I want you to go preach the gospel. And I want you to go to and, you know, pick a sworn enemy of the United States. or anybody who's, you know, let's say, a faith that was out to destroy Christ and the gospel and everything and God said, "I want you to go to them.", and I would think I for me it would be like, "Well, I don't feel like doing that." I remember having a conversation with a guy a few years ago and he was U we were talking and he was most upset. This was probably not long after 9/11 and he said I just don't I you know his hatred for Muslim terrorists for extremists was just intense. And I part of me understands that. But then I said to him I said you do realize that Christ died on the cross for them. And his response to me I'll never forget it was I find that hard to believe.
Wow.
And I think that's the same thing that many people feel for those who are out to get them. And we know fast forward, Assyria does overrun the nation of Israel
at one point in time. So Jonah to go to them would be me acknowledging that God died on the cross for terrorists who fly planes into buildings and who blow up schools. And you can see it all over the place. I mean, it would been if I had been alive in Rwanda back when the civil war of Rwanda, so many people were just slaughtered between tribal warfare. It would be telling one of the Hitu people to go to the Tootsie people and bring them the gospel. That would be that type of situation. And so Jonah takes off. So what we see in this confusing, again, back to the kind of the theme of what these next few weeks will be about, this confusing idea of serving God and who God uses to serve him is a man who had a popular ministry in his own nation, probably seen and he probably never had to buy a meal
because everybody was going to buy it for him,
being told by God to go to a sworn enemy to bring them the chance to repent. And that's going to be what we're going to trace through over the next few weeks as we look at Jonah.
Can I just conclude us with a practical story of one that you and I experienced a number of years ago.
Sure.
one of our daughters had kind of made some choices that were really difficult and she was hanging out with some people that were not our choice. Let's put it that way. My view of them being made in the image of God was not nowhere to be found. And one of the young men that she had been dating at the time started coming to church and I remember how much it ticked me off that this guy was in our church and my first thought was, well, he's here because he wants to get back with our daughter,
but he came to church and something had happened prior to that. I think he'd been in an accident and babe, I think he'd been called to the police station. I don't remember exactly, but anyway,
so I remember the Sunday, one of the Sundays he was there, cuz he came several Sundays, and I went down and I was flaming mad that he was in the church. Yes, I was a pastor's wife for 42 years.
And that was really because we didn't want him in our daughter's life.
Right. Right. But it was that thing where I knew, I mean, he was in church, so regardless of what he was there for, there he was hearing the gospel. So, I remember walking down to him and I think the accident had been the night before. And I looked at him and I started kind of giving him a little lecture. And one of the things I said to him was, you know, you need Jesus. And he looked at me and said, I know. And I go, no, no. No, no, you don't understand. You need Jesus. And he goes, I know. And I said, you need to accept Jesus as your savior and repent of your sin. And he said, I know. I want to do that right now. And all I can remember, some of you have heard this story, is just this anger that washed over me. And I looked across the sanctuary to get Jimmy's your attention
because I was like, "Oh, for crying out loud, this guy wants to know Jesus. This really ticks me off." And the whole time, I mean, there's this battle in me of course, I want this kid to know Jesus, but no, not this kid because he wants a relationship with my daughter, it looked like. So, I was just confusing. And yet, God kept, you know, pounding, pounding on me. This kid needs to know me, needs to know me. So, I remember you and I brought him back to this room
behind the sanctu the platform, and we were very honest and talked to him that he needed to know Christ, that he needed to accept him and repent of his sins. And he kept saying, "I know, I want to much. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this kid wants to know Jesus. That means he'll be one of us." And he prayed.
Mhm.
And asked Jesus into his heart.
Yeah.
But God used that moment in my life, I'll speak for myself, to remind me that no one is too far. No one. And I thought this kid was one of the worst of the worst, but he was made in God's image and he needed to know Jesus.
Yeah. And that's the story of Jonah as it will unfold, as we'll look at it, I think we're going to see that sense of the reluctance of bringing the good news of God to people who we don't like.
Yes.
CS Lewis said he was the most reluctant convert in all of England. We were probably the most reluctant ambassadors of God that morning. But my point is,
stay with us over these next few weeks as we look at Jonah and see how God weaves who he is and the message of his story into the story of the life of this Prophet, have a great day.