0 8-01-21 “The one that almost got away”

Scripture       Jonah 1:1-4-11

DRAMA: Enter with a sign that says, “Turn or Burn!” and “The End is Near”

Ps 7:11-13  God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.

JOKE: “Repaint and thin no more”

ACT 1

Scene 1  -  Jonah is commissioned by God to go to Nineveh and preach against it because of its great wickedness. Jonah lived in Gath-Hepher and was told to go to Nineveh, the largest city in the world and the capital of Assyria (in modern day Iraq). It was representative of the entire pagan world.

Scene 2 – Jonah ran away to head for Tarshish. He found a boat in Joppa (where Peter raised a dead girl to life and stayed at the home of Simon the tanner) heading for Tarshish and paid for his ticket and got on board. Tarshish, believed to be in Spain 2500 miles in the opposite direction – or in Jonah’s mind – the end of the world where God would not find him.

Scene 3  -  Jonah told the people on board about God calling him to a task and how he didn’t want to do it so he decided to run away and this boat was the best and fasted way to run away and hide from God. NOTE: He did not want to witness to the pagans in Nineveh, and ended up on a ship full of sailors who were what? PAGANS/sailors who travel all over the world – another representation of who needs to have a personal relationship with the one true God who Jonah is supposed to serve.

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          (PAUSE) Had anyone else done that before? Genesis 3:8-13 (MSG)  When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.

God called to the Man: "Where are you?"

He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."

God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"

The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."

God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"

"The serpent seduced me, and I ate."

          Do you know anyone else who has run away and tried to hide from what God has called them to do? Either because they are willfully disobedient or because they have become complacent with God’s call on our lives?

          Most of the stories we have looked at are like a what? A window to see who God is. This story is absolutely a mirror in which God wants us to see ourselves. Let’s continue to see HIStory:

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Scene 4  -  God sends a great wind causing a violent storm, the ship is about to break apart in the middle of an open sea where they will all surely die. The sailors are screaming for help from their many different gods while throwing all cargo over board.

Scene 4A  -  While that is happening on deck, Jonah is asleep in a cabin below deck. (makes us think of Jesus asleep in a boat with terrified disciples who were facing the same fate until Jesus woke up and calmed the storm.) The captain found Jonah and woke him saying, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god. Maybe he will take notice of us, and we won’t all die.”

Scene 5  -  The sailors cast lots to see whose god was responsible for the storm, the lot fell on Jonah. They asked him “who is responsible for this?” and “who are you, where are you from, what do you do?” Jonah said, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the God of heaven who made the sea and the land.”

Scene 5A  -  “What can be done to make this storm (getting worse by the minute) stop?” “God is mad with me, throw me into the sea and it will stop.” “No!” They rowed as hard as they could but the storm became more wild. So, these pagan sailors prayed a preemptive prayer of forgiveness to Jonah’s God. "O God! Don't let us drown because of this man's life, and don't blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best."

          They threw him over and the storm calmed down, assuming that he had drowned in the sea. Jonah 1:16  At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Jonah 1:17  But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

Scene 6  -  Jonah prayed a prayer of repentance and hope in God. After 3 days in the belly of the fish God caused the fish to vomit and Jonah was spewed out onto dry land.

ACT 2

Scene 1  -  (Chapter 3) The word of the Lord came to Jonah a 2^nd time.  Go to Niniveh with the message I told you. He obeyed and gave a dire warning. The king and all the people relented and put on sackcloth and ashes and believed in the one true God.

Scene 2  -  God forgave the Ninevites and brought no harm to them.

Scene 3  -  Jonah was miffed and prayed, Jonah 4:2-3  "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."    But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

Scene 4  -  Jonah went outside the city and sat down to pout. God grew a plant to give him shade and Jonah was pleased. In the morning God sent a worm to destroy the plant and Jonah was furious because the sun was extremely hot.

Scene 5  -  Jonah 4:9-11  But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"   "I do, I am angry enough to die."  But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Scene 6  -  You and I are scene 6. We do not find out how Jonah responded, so we have to ask how we respond. The biblical mirror is staring us right in the face and asking the question, Will you be my witness, even to your enemies, will you trust me with your life and theirs? Will you stop running and hiding from what I am calling you to do and on the boat or dry ground will you tell others that there is a God who is building His kingdom and he wants everyone to be a part of that glorious kingdom here and in eternity?

SING:  “BUILD YOUR KINGDOM HERE”