The prophet Jonah was the ultimate self-righteous, legalistic follower of God. We know from his story that he ran from the mission God have him, not because he was afraid of failure, but because he was afraid of success. He was fine with recieving the mercy of God, but everyone else could literally go to hell.

Last Sunday’s big idea was this:

Self-righteous, legalistic Christians always present an inaccurate, dangerous view of God.

This was certainly the case with Jonah and the sailors. When they found out that the tempest was brought about by God because of Jonah’s flight they were terrified. They didn’t realize this storm was God’s merciful intervention. For all they knew, Jonah’s God was an angry, ticked off deity that needed to be appeased.

What’s ironic is that Jonah basically confirms their fears. By telling the men to throw him overboard he’s telling them, “You’re right guys–my God is angry and vengeful and needs to be appeased.” By the way, when Jonah asked to be thrown overboard, he wasn’t being a hero. He would rather die than preach to the people of Ninevah.

So, my question for you is what kind of a view of God are you presenting to others? Could it be that like these sailors, people that you come in contact with don’t think God can be trusted because of how you are presenting Him?

If you do run from God, He is committed to making you miserable. Jonah found that out firsthand. That may sound shocking to our modern ears, but contrary to popular belief, our happiness is not God’s ultimate goal. When we, like Jonah, determine to get away from the presence of the Lord, God will bring storms. God is never subtle in his pursuit of sinners (the ultimate example of this is of course, Jesus).

There is a fascinating word seen over and over again in Jonah chapter one. The word, “down” is seen more than once in this short chapter (it’s even more pronounced in the Hebrew).

“But Jonah went DOWN to Joppa” (vr 3)

“But Jonah had went DOWN to the inner part of the ship” (vr 5)

“And had laid DOWN and was fast asleep” (vr 5)

This is a Hebrew, literary device intentionally written by the author to illustrate an important truth. When you run from God there is only one place to go–down, down, down…

A week ago we started a new sermon series called, I Am Jonah.  This Old Testament minor prophet is a short read, but it packs a powerful punch. It’s fast becoming my favorite book of the Bible. There are lots of places in the Bible where the Gospel is presented systematically, but what you see in the book of Jonah is the gospel presented in story form. Contrary to popular belief, the point of the book isn’t that a big fish swallowed a man. The story is about a self-righteous, follower of God that didn’t want his enemies to recieve the mercy of God.

You know the story–God called Jonah to preach against the city of Ninevah. Jonah flat out said no and began his flight from God. Some would argue that Jonah said no to God because he was afraid of failure. But we know, that wasn’t the case. Jonah said no and ran from God because he was afriad of success. He knew that if he preached to the people of Ninevah, they would repent and God would show them mercy. Jonah was fine recieving God’s mercy, but the last thing he wanted was for his enemies to recieve it.

There’s an interesting phrase in chapter 1, verse 3. It says that Jonah fled for the city of Tarshish, to get

“away from the presence of the LORD.”

Now, a prophet of God should have known that it’s impossible to get away from God’s presence. But, Jonah foolishly ran anyways.

Jonah bought into the lie that many today have fallen for. That is, that true joy, comfort and peace can’t be found in a relationship with God, but away from God. Jonah would find out very soon that when you run from God He is committed to bringing storms in your life and making you miserable.

I’ve got Christmas on my mind. That’s why I’ve been listening to Andrew Peterson’s fantastic album, “Behold the Lamb”. It really doesn’t get much better than this. He’s coming to New Milford for a Christmas concert on December 6. You can bet I’ll be there. Here’s the info:

Let me give you another Thomas Wilcox gem from the little booklet, “Honey out of the Rock.” Wilcox talks about the struggle that we all have with sin and the frustration and depression that can produce in our life. How many times have you been ready to throw in the towel because you continue to fail over and over again? In regards to that, Wilcox says,

Look more at justification than sanctification.

Justification is the legal act whereby we are made right with God through Jesus’ death. Sanctification is the process where we grow more to be like Jesus. Often times we wrongly think that it’s our sanctification that justifies us before God. In other words, what makes us right with God is how often we resist sin, read our Bibles, pray, etc. This is a legalistic, performance based lie that can leave us utterly miserable.  When you are hopeless because your sanctification is not where it should be, look and meditate on your justification with God. Our justification was a one time act that has profound daily implications. Because of the gospel, God looks at us, “just as though we’ve never sinned” and, “just as though we’ve always obeyed.” Let sin break your heart, but not your hope in the gospel!

In talking about the wound and sore that sin has formed in each one of our lives, Wilcox said this,

Apply what you will besides the blood of Christ, it will poison the sore. 

In other words, there are many ways people try and deal with the sin and effects of sin that have been wrought in their lives. But if you aren’t looking at Jesus crucified and what that means for your life, you’ll be far worse off.

Our conversation ended with my promise to email him a list known as the “10 Cannots”, written in 1916 by minister and outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker. Here they are:

1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.
6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Alas, my neighbor changed all the “cannots” to “cans” and sent this list back to me saying “sounds great!”

While I’m disappointed in his response, I am grateful for the cordial discussion as well as my neighbor’s willingness to continue the ‘debate’, especially as it pertained to things spiritual …

America is mad for liberty. Ours is a free country. We enjoy freedom of speech and of religion, the freedom of the press, and the freedom to bear arms. And rightly so. But though Americans love freedom, many of them have forgotten what it means.

A good reminder for Christians living in America …