On The Run

A Sermon On:

PREPARED BY

KEN GEHRELS

PASTOR

CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

NEPEAN, ONTARIO

David - I said "No."
The little boy looked up at his mother, back to the shelf, back to mother, back to the shelf...... and went for it.
3 year-old hands darted out.
Grabbed hold of the item.
And ran.

Sandra experienced it while out with the gang.
Father had said that their destination was out of bounds.
He had explained why - and it even (for once) made sense.
But 20 minutes later, there they were.

The apprentice on the job.
Yes. He knew what the policy manual said for this particular situation. But, my goodness, ol' smarty thought he had a better way, and boldly plunged right into it. No one was going to restrict his creative industrial spirit.

All three of these people would, on some gut level be able to identify with the pathetic character painted in scriptural bold relief through the words we just read - Jonah, son of Amittai.
And not just them. All of us have a link to this pouting, proud protesting prophet. He's a historical figure, referred to in 2 Kings 14 as ministering during the reign of King Jereboam II. But the role he plays goes beyond the historical. The route he travels and the scenes he paints in 3-D form stand as God's billboard to us.

The message speaks, at its most foundational level, about rebellion. Spiritual rebellion. Something that has haunted humanity from the dawn of time. Adam and Eve hid in the garden to get away from God. Rebellion was on the lips of David in Psalm 139 when he said: "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"

In the text before us we have perhaps one of the most startling cases of rebellion in all of the Bible. A pathetic example which is easy for you and I to condemn. And yet......
As we do so, we stand beside King David wagging his finger in the face of the prophet Nathan as he condemns the wicked subject of Nathan's parable. We stand beside David as the prophet points right back and with a quiet firmness declares, "You are the man."

Jonah is commanded to preach forgiveness and offer mercy to the hated enemies of his people - like a Hutu being called to preach forgiveness to a Tutsi; or a Croat called to preach mercy to a Serb nationalist.
Don't hold it against him that instead of heading off 900 km to the northeast, he turns his sights some 3000 km to the west. Would we be much different?
And don't think that he does it easily - though that is what we often assume. The text says that he heads straight down into the hold of the ship and falls fast asleep. He's exhausted, probably physically AND emotionally spent; tired from the rebellion and the running.
And you may not realize this - but Hebrews hated the ocean. Open water made their skin crawl. If long haul shipping needed to be done, they'd contract that out. So for this prophet to hop a boat was a moment of terror and determined rebellion at the same time.

"What a fool" we often think, as we watch him head below. "Does he honestly think he can run from God? Does he honestly think God can't see?"

What do you think the angels think when they watch us in our more rebellious moments - when we act as though we've left God behind in church after Sunday worship and head home to treat our spouse in a most undignified manner; when we pretend His divine eyes can't see us flipping the channels across smutty late nite TV; or that His holy ears can't hear the words we use in the school hallway while trying to be one of the boys; or that His Spirit cannot feel the steely cold in our heart as we nurse resentment and unforgiveness against the one who crossed us?
What fools!

Or the times when we're faced with a most obvious divinely-created opportunity to share the gospel, and we clamp our jaw closed because we're afraid of our reputation.
Or the seasons when we think, "Awe, let someone else do it" as the call goes out for supporters to help protest the unjust taking of preborn life, or to help staff a soup kitchen, or to support financial kingdom needs, or.....

Yes - most of us have a Ninevah and a Tarshish.

Oh Jonah, what a fool you are. How obviously pathetic.
God isn't limited to geography.
Don't go behaving like some giggling two-year old who closes her eyes and honestly thinks that mommy can't see her.

Well, we know the story -
the storm,
the tongue lashing that the godless gentiles give to this supposed God-fearing Hebrew: "What have you done?!" (more an exclamation than a question)
the ironic ending where the prophet is chucked overboard and forgotten, while the gentiles bow before God in worship (v.16).

"I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." was Jonah's response.
Worship?
Did he? Oh, perhaps he attended ceremonies at the temple. Perhaps he engaged in prayer rituals on a regular basis and followed certain laws and regulations. But did he truly worship?
"To obey is better than sacrifice" says 1 Sam 15.22
Isa 29:13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

To worship - to declare the worth of someone.
What better way than through obedience service, through shaping and molding your life after His desire and will?

Which is something Jonah sees as his brain is cleared by a bath in gastric juices, leading him to declare (2.9):
"What I have vowed I will make good."

And God's mercy, that He was prepared to extend to the wicked Ninevites, is also extended to this wayward prophet. A big burp, one good sized wave and Jonah is spitting sand and blinking in the bright sun. Back from the dead, so to speak, after 3 days and 3 nights.

Jonah realizes in a most powerful and personal way that God is not some powerless being that we can relegate to our own emergencies and needs. God is not some "buddy" that we can use for our own selfish purposes.
He is the omnipotent, loving, creative God who has placed us in the midst of his marvellous creation for his purpose.
His will is not some nice optional extra that we can take or leave.
It is a non-negotiable.
The bottom line.
What we like or prefer or enjoy has to be shaped around and built upon that holy bottom line ---- not the other way around.

When God says "No" it doesn't mean "maybe."
When He calls, it doesn't mean "think about it, if you have a moment."
Which is a hard message for you and I who are so used to living as the consumer-king, getting what we want, pampering our own desires and hitting the remote control if what we see or hear doesn't immediately suit our whim.

A powerful call, coming from a powerful all-present, all-seeing, all-knowing King.
A King with a will and plan for our lives -
As Jeremiah the prophet proclaimed:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to giv yo hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord." Jer 29.11-14

That will and that plan come with power - a divine power found in obedience.
When we walk in the will of God, His blessing flows with us. His power works for us. When we resist..... well.....
why are we continually surprised that things become frustratingly complex and go so poorly when we don't surround them in prayer;
when the primary question we ask is "what do I like?" rather than "what would please God?"
Why do we so often forget the prophetic poetry of Psalm 127 "unless the Lord builds the house".... or the church, or the career, or the relationship or..... "unless the Lord builds...... those who build it labour in vain."

Juan Carlos Ortiz tells of a time back in Argentina when he had an old car that had no power steering and no power brakes. He writes that he was happy it had an engine.

"Once an American missionary was with me as I tried to squeeze into a downtown parking slot," he writes. "I was grunting and sweating as I wrestled that steering wheel back and forth, trying to maneuver that big machine into a little space.
The missionary said, "Brother Ortiz, did you know that in America we have cars with power steering and power brakes?"
"Power steering?" I asked. "What is that?"
"You don't have to make any effort to turn the wheel," he said.
"No?" I said.
"The brakes too," he said. "No effort to stop the car, either."
"How can this be?"
"Well, the engine makes the effort for you."

I still didn't believe him. But I thought, this man's a missionary. Surely he's not lying. I didn't want to sound more ignorant than I already was, so I said nothing.
Still, I kept thinking. How does the engine know when I want to turn? Are Americans so technologically advanced that they have some remote sensor that enables the engine to know what you're thinking? But then what would happen if your attention drifts? The engine gets mixed signals; the car crashes. So much for fancy cars.
When I came to America a few years later, I drove a newer car. The first time I hit the brakes, my head hit the windshield. Then I understood that the missionary was right, only he had not explained it fully to me. I still had to make the decision to brake or to turn the wheel. The engine does the rest.

This is power. And this is how God's power works. We make a decision, we take a step, and God is faithful to kick in with us. If we choose the godly path, he is there with power to help us walk it.

So, I discovered power steering and power brakes. I also discovered that the automobile company did not put a switch on the dashboard enabling drivers to turn their power steering off and on. The auto makers knew that would be silly and more expensive, a big waste of design. The power is just there, waiting to be used. Most Christians will tell you they have the power of God, but then why don't they ever use it.

Ortiz is right!

One more thing - something huge for those of us who read Jonah and see ourselves, who hear the words, "You are the man."
It is seen in those 3 days and nights in the fish.
Something that Jonah wouldn't have understood, but that trumpets Calvary to us.

Another prophet called to proclaim mercy to godless humanity.
But this one willingly submitting.
Humbling himself, and becoming obedient, says Philippians 2,
even to death on a cross.

Facing an enormous storm of wrath - God's holy wrath against the sin and rebellion of humanity, including our rebellion.

Swallowed up -- not by a fish, but by a tomb for 3 days and nights.
And then - when the call of God sounded - released from that tomb.
Death was unable to hold him.

And what Jonah sang from the belly of the fish became perfect reality -
Salvation comes from the Lord (2.9).

Salvation in Jesus Christ - which allows hesitant and all too often servants of God today to come back in repentance and find healing, hope, another opportunity, and renewed power waiting to guide service and ministry.

It's what gives hope to me as a pastor in my most imperfect attempts to be the Lord's minister here at Calvin.
It's what allows our elders and deacons to meet tomorrow night, to make decisions and guide us as a community.
It's what allows you to head back to your homes and jobs and families.
And for all of us to do that with our head held high and our spirits refreshed. For though there is imperfection and rebellion, and though the great Tempter and Accuser of the Brethren will remind us of those, there is looming far greater than that the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ that separates us from our iniquity as far as east is from west (Ps 103); that fills and directs us with the Holy Counselling Spirit (John 14.26);
that welcomes us as a waiting Father welcoming home the prodigal
that says "Do you love me? Then feed my sheep."