God is NOT like me | Jonah PART 1

[Music] [Music] we've been cruising through the minor prophets on our sunday mornings and we'll we'll take a we're going to slow down in the book of jonah you can see my bias when we get to here because i'm going to take more time here but i'm excited about it uh we're gonna we're gonna look at this is a fascinating little book our our title for today if i try to give a title for every bible study this one is going to be this god is not like me now didn't say god doesn't like me make sure you catch that that's not what i said i said god is not like me if you leave here and say that what did you get out of the message that god doesn't like me you didn't hear me god is not like me and um if you don't know the story of jonah you are in for a treat if you do know the story of jonah pull back your your your your sunday school thought process we're gonna look at this a little bit different not different as in uh you know like a different message but maybe a different perspective than you're used to everybody will always say like if you say what's the book of jonah about they will say it's about a dude that got swallowed by a whale and then the really like christian people say well we don't know that it was a whale you just slap them with a fish because they deserve it okay they're gonna get all weird on you on that okay this is not the story listen this is so important if you want to understand the book of jonah and i want you to it is maybe one of the most relevant books in the days that we're living in if you want to understand it then you have to understand this is not the story about a dude that gets swallowed by a whale that's what happens but that's not the story now it's interesting because when the prophets wrote the minor prophets the 12 as we're calling them when they wrote they were most of the time they were speaking a message to [Music] people israel adam judah the philistines assyria so on so on but hosea was a little different hosea was a little bit about his own story and now when we get to the book of jonah the prophecies of jonah are not him speaking as much to people as much as his own story is the prophecy so jonah's life becomes the message here it's really important that you did because although jonah prophesies in here it's one of the worst messages recorded in scripture it's one of the smallest messages recorded in scripture it is almost irrelevant as a message but his whole life story in these four chapters is the prophecy now jonah was already considered a prophet amos was a shepherd jonah was actually considered a prophet in second kings chapter 14 you don't need to turn there jeroboam ii is the king of israel we've spoken a lot about him he was not a good dude but remember he was good for the nation the nation prospered the nation was succeeding things looked pretty up and up and so the jews the religious people within the country felt like wow this is so great you know god's blessing us because look at how great things are going and prophet after prophet kept coming and saying stop saying god is blessing you he's not blessing you it just so happens you're living in a decent season but it's going to end if you do not repent sure enough within about 40 years it ended and so we see that in the book of jonah jonah or excuse me in the in in second kings chapter 14 jonah prophesied to jeroboam now here's an interesting thing about the prophecy of jonah jonah made a prophecy unlike any of the other prophets of the time jonah said to the king your land is going to prosper and you're going to gain more land now amos in amos chapter 6 and we looked at it when we were in the book of amos but i want you to see the parallel amos prophesied and said no it's not going to happen that way you're going to lose all of that you're going to lose it all and so something was happening there whether jonah was prophesying and god was like i'm going to do this but then jeroboam didn't repent and so amos comes in and says nope or jonah was buying in to some of the there was this like there was this drive within the country of we're doing better we're doing better we're doing great we're doing great we're amazing and now our prophets are telling us how much better we're going to be doing things were not going well from god's perspective and so he prospered or excuse me he prophesied the prosperity of the nation in spite of the fact that the king was wicked and the people had turned away from god and god in this book is going to send the prophet who loved his country to a land that he hated with all of his guts every bit of him hated the assyrians or they were in that region but they're known as the ninevites god's gonna send jonah the man who prophesied the prosperity of israel to a land that he hated so much now before you draw conclusions we're going to look very detailed at what it was that makes jonah not want to go to nineveh we'll get there if you don't know what i'm talking about just stay tight we'll get there eventually not today so you can leave now no i'm just kidding but we will eventually get there jonah does not want to go to nineveh if you didn't know that about the book of jonah and now you do four chapters very unique chapter one and chapter three are jonah's story chapter two and chapter four are jonah's prayers and god's response so if you were to try to like if you're a literature buff or you're a literature teacher or whatnot if you were to define the literature of the book of jonah some people would say it's a narrative right it's a story but most would say this book is what we would call satire it's satire every character in the book of jonah does the exact opposite of what you thought they would do okay jonah's the prophet he's the man of god and yet he is the most rebellious terrible person in the whole book and then he's going to get on a ship with some sailors who are sailors they're they're they're crude they're crash they're pagan i love you navy people i'm not talking about y'all but unless it fits and that's fine okay so he's you know these sailors were so pagan but guess what in the book of jonah they're repentant they're humble they're seeking god satire there's a king who is the king of the most wicked nation in the world at that time but he's not the most wicked king he doesn't respond that way no it's satirical guess how he responds he's humble he's repentant he's thoughtful even cows are going to repent by the way in this book and if you don't know what i'm talking about you're like what did he mean to say that i did you have to stay to the end of the book it's crazy but of all the people that we would expect to have been the hero he was a total zero jonah and by the way let me remind you and i'll just ask it out loud who wrote the book of jonah who do you think jonah jonah writes it but now listen if i wrote the book of phil i would look good i would be like six two my hair would be black there'd be certain elements to my story jonah wrote the book of jonah that has to speak to us that has to his enemies did not write this book he did we must learn the lessons that jonah wants us to learn he wrote it this way so that we would not make the same mistakes that he made we must learn from this book the book of jonah starts as we'd expect it but it does not finish that way we're used to the stories of a hero who is sent on a quest just like this book starts god sends jonah on a quest to enemy territory but it will not finish the way that you would have expected and that's why it's such an important book for you and me today this is the story about a man who loves his country and he prophesies its prosperity but god sends him to a foreign land that is one of the worst in human history because god wants to redeem people and jonah stands out as the one who's not interested it's interesting is that we have to remember that not only did he write this book but it doesn't end with any like you know there's no the end to the book of jonah it's left for you and me to kind of it's it's like a mirror gets turned jonah tells his story tells his prayers tells what god was speaking to him and then he turns like a mirror towards us and he says now look in the mirror and ask yourself who am i and that's what this book is going to force us to do so i want to read verses 1 through 3 of jonah chapter 1. now the word of the lord came to jonah the son of amitai saying arise go to nineveh the great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me but jonah arose to flee to tarshish from the presence of the lord he went down to joppa and he found a ship going to tarshish so he paid the fare and he went down into it to go with them to tarshish from the presence of the lord there's a lot of geography mentioned here that i'm just going to make it really simple nineveh was to the east and north and tarshish was to the south and west in other words god said go in this direction if you're listening i'm pointing to the right and then jonah's like okay cool lord thank you and he went the exact opposite direction god said go this way and jonah's like i'm gonna go like what is the exact opposite where could i go that would be in the like not near there but completely in the opposite direction that's what's happening in the book of jonah and this book as i said is a story in and of itself not just a story of a narrative but a story of a message and that message for you and me as christians today is this it's about the gospel it's about the what happens to a human being when they let the love of god take over their lives and their hearts how they become free from the need to prove themselves when they become free from the need to have to force their will and their way and even as we will see in the book of jonah it will fight down barriers of ethnicity and race and religion it'll cut through all of it when we let the love of god permeate into our lives jonah did not do that that's why he wrote this book for you and me this is like a what not to do you ever watched like a you ever seen those and i showed you those like pinterest fail videos you know you tried to make a cake and then it came out like a something else you know or like you you you got the ikea you know uh thing and then you're like you have three screws left over at the end and you're like i don't i just throw them away they don't matter obviously you know uh that's kind of how the book of jonah is in a sense the book of jonah is like he like i did it all the way i thought you were supposed to do it and then i was left over with a whole bunch of stuff and i was wrong that's the book of jonah and so we can learn from his lessons it is about the gospel that we need to let the work of god go deeper into our lives so that it can have impact in the world around us it's a storied presentation of the gospel we should never get sick of the gospel if you're like oh i've been a christian a long time i don't need this isn't about like you need to be become a christian this is about you need to let the work of the cross go deeper and deeper into your life the bible presents the gospel in many different ways in the in the in the psalms it's presented poetically it's presented historically or prophetically the apostle paul why i think we all like his presentation so well it was just very straightforward he just straight out said it here's what it is here's the gospel we see it over and over throughout the scriptures it's not the story of a man getting swallowed by a whale it's a story of a man learning what the grace and love and forgiveness of god really looks like in the world not in a church building but in the real world and that's where god wants to take our understanding of the gospel beyond the pews and beyond the buildings and beyond all and into our lives we will see the disparity of man and then we will see the heights of the grace of god there's two things i want you to consider as we look at this book and i'll put them up here they're so important number one there's a tribal nature to the heart of jonah jonah is very tribal and i'll explain what i mean by that but on the other hand god has this heart that is very missionary minded let me explain what i mean by that if you consider any like any tribe or any i'll even use like a local church as an example every church either thinks of itself as a tribe or as a mission and there's a difference between those two mindsets the highest goal of the tribal community is self-protection tribalism is self-protection my goal is to protect you to to warn you that becomes the highest goal of tribalism it is to hone in our tribe when you think of any part of the world where tribes still exist we hone in our tribe we bring them in we teach them the ways of this is how our tribe operates anybody outside of that is a risk but a missionary mindset says it's self-sacrificing a missionary-minded community is not about self-protection but self-sacrifice why because the missionary-minded community understands that god already paid the ultimate sacrifice we don't have to nobody's asking you to jesus already paid the ultimate sacrifice you know it's not a coincidence that we we remember a day when many people paid a terrible sacrifice but if they were here to speak they would say i wish i didn't have to pay that which would be normal you don't you nobody's gonna be like oh i wish i had done i wish that i died that's not their story but friends this is what makes the gospel so important and it must grab our attentions jesus chose to die for you there was no accident it wasn't like it was like oh this just happened and now this is the way things are that's what we're selling that's what we're remembering this weekend but it's not the story of the gospel and that's a powerful thing that's a humbling thing god chose to become one of us and give his life for all of us and for all of eternity that will be his story it'll never it'll have never changed when you've been with the lord for ten thousand years as the song the amazing grace song says he'll still be the one who'd paid a price for our sin it's so important to be mission minded and not tribal-minded tribalism creates fear and it leads on fear you should be afraid you should hate you should but mission minded says this god absorbed all of that so that we could be free he absorbed all of that there's no one that i have to hate today because jesus paid the pray he extinguished the wrath of god was paid for on the cross of jesus christ what will my wrath accomplish if his wrath has already been paid for it i will accomplish nothing in the in the in the world by just by leading in anger and fear and frustration look at the the the contrast between these two i'll put up a little slide here jonah runs from his enemies god runs towards his enemies jonah will be on a miss a mission of revenge but god is on a mission of rescue jonah and we'll see this is racially exclusive you'll see it and god is inclusive jonah is all about self-protection and the lord has and will always be about self-sacrifice probably not going to like what i'm going to say but i'm saying this to me so don't get all you know don't get mad at me ready we're all pretty self-righteous not me thank you proved it we all got it in us and i'm saying this because i want to help you and me to know how to read and understand the book of jonah you see if we read the book of jonah be like jonah was such a loser and distance ourselves from jonah like look at that guy i would have never done that yeah right there's a reason god chose jonah jonah represented the best of israel he represented the best of israel and the best of israel failed to express the heart of god guys don't forget it i mean moses failed to represent the heart of god too the best you could read about in the scriptures failed to represent the heart of god so a little self-reflection and a little humility is going to really help us to understand the book of jonah you know you don't need to have a degree in understanding bible languages to get the book of jonah you need to have a degree in humility it's all it's going to take to really grasp the value of this book we all think that if everybody viewed life and interpreted reality like we do the world would be a better place it's a part of our self-righteousness like if you just saw what i saw if you agreed with me life would be better if you could just agree with me life would be so much better and yet we see that god has created a world where people do think and see life very different than you and i do and self-righteousness is our heart's default mode we go back to self-righteousness we all do it's a part of a sin nature that is christianized you see i don't go back to the sins i used to do before i was a christian i create a whole new group of sins that i do now that i am a christian i don't go back to like you know oh i'm going to do these things it's like if you were to tempt me with those things i would be like not really that tempted but self-righteousness is so appealing phil you're better you're so great you're so much better than tell me more tell me how amazing i am i mean i know it but i want to hear it some more this is what happens for all of us for our mindset to change we need to be we need to get a bear hug in the gospel gripped in the gospel i want to mention a couple areas of significance for this book that i believe are so important and we looked at it here in jonah chapter one verses one two and three god says arise and go to nineveh but jonah jonah flees and there's a couple points that i want you to consider as we start the book of jonah number one if god is calling you you cannot outrun him it's like a major life lesson in the book of jonah now when i say that you might be thinking yeah i know the story jonah runs from god and god catches him that's not the part that i'm talking about this is really important because i know that right now probably in this room if not in this room those that are watching if not watching now they will of people who are disappointed because they feel like they've been going after like they're they're trying to get god's attention and he's not responding i'm trying to get god's attention and he's not responding to me and man if if if god did to me what he did to jonah then i would definitely have a deeper relationship with god i would definitely love him more and there's this kind of hurt that i know many people have right now because they feel like god isn't going after them like we see here in the book of jonah god has already gone after you and he is still going after you it's called the gospel and we're going to talk about that over and over and over friends what god would never happen to anybody in human history before the cross is your story god is going after you with his love you know one writer uh it's kind of famous francis thompson he was famous for referring to the grace of god he called it the hound of heaven he said the hound of heaven is hot on your trail when i say that if you if god calls you you cannot outrun god i'm not talking about god sending a fish or a whale or whatever was to swallow jonah i'm talking about something more something deeper something more something more real that isn't true for every single one of our lives if god and i know god is calling you because you're here god wants you to have a relationship with him god wants you to have a relationship with him god wants you and he's going after you he is willing to do whatever it takes to get your attention oh if god would swallow really you want to be swallowed by a don't want that you'll see in a little bit it's really not that great god goes after every single one of our lives many of us feel like if we could only distance ourselves from god then we would be free i've heard people say that to me like if i could get away from like god then i could be really free but then on the other hand i know so many people that are just disappointed in life because they've they're like i'm trying to run from god hoping that he would go after me and i don't feel like he's going after me and i'm going to remind you he's been going after you every single moment of every single day it's the message of the cross there is no way for god to love you more than he already has he can't there's nothing he's going to do that's going to be more than what he's already done he swallowed jonah but for you and me he took up all of our sin on the cross he swallowed all of our guilt all of our shame all that was paid for on a cross oh well i didn't see it it's true but it doesn't mean it didn't happen so many of us misunderstand what it really means to be free in christ it's not about your rights it's about your opportunities you are free from the bondage of sin to have a real relationship with god now some of you maybe you grew up in the church so you don't really you're like you're tempted by those things because you're like man i never really got a chance to enjoy those things friends i would want to encourage you let the grace of god do a deeper work into your life and you'll realize you didn't miss out on anything you missed out on a lot of hurt a lot of suffering a lot of loneliness a lot of pain and we're going to see over and over and over again the definition of freedom being turned upside down god did not come to strip your freedom but to strip your slavery from you to remove the slavery so that you could be truly free if god is calling you i'm not talking about to go be a missionary somewhere if god is calling you into a relationship with him and he is then you must know this you will not because you cannot outrun him number two it is possible to run from god this is important in our obedience as well as in our disobedience it's possible to run from god in our obedience as well as in our disobedience do you remember the story of a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery by the pharisees in the gospel of john chapter 8. they brought this woman before jesus they interrupted he was teaching a message they interrupted him and they and they said you know tell us what should be done for this woman she was running from god in her disobedience but the very people that brought her to jesus they were running from god through their supposed obedience their false morality their false religious convictions they were just as far as god as this woman was she was in disobedience they thought they were being obedient though they were absolutely and utterly i mean it was completely false and totally wrong what they were doing you can be completely on the wrong side of the lord's gracious hand even in your false or your supposed moral ideas when jonah obeys like so finally in the in the in the um third chapter of the book of jonah jonah is going to obey god he's going to finally listen to god we'll get there it's not a spoiler alert and he goes in and he obeys god but he does it in the most like wretched terrible way possible he's like you're all going to hell later and then he walks away and he's like god i did what you said god's like really i mean i don't know i feel like that's not exactly what i said but okay i obeyed you god i did what you want yeah but and we learned something so important about the heart of god and the work of god in the will of god and just god himself the action alone isn't enough because you can be ticked off and do the right thing we've all done it honey can you take out the trash fine can you do this can you do that or don't do this or don't do that anger frustration jonah obeys but he was disobedient in the process you can run from god breaking all kinds of rules or by trying to keep all the rules because immorality says i'm going to get away from god by doing all the wrong things but a a a morality that is separated from the gospel says i'm going to do everything i'm supposed to exactly i'm supposed to and nothing more and if you're not doing what i'm doing then something's wrong with you that's morality before we were christians we thought freedom was in doing whatever we wanted oh i can break the rules i can do whatever i want a form of independence but then we get saved and honestly we still struggle with trying to now we try to keep new rules okay now i'm a christian i should do these things i should not do these things and there's truth in all of that but we're going to see that it is very easy to run from god by hiding in well i'm kind of doing the right thing i'm kind of doing the right thing you don't know my heart right as long as i sing the songs as long as i as long as i'm around as long as i show up nobody will ever suspect anything and sometimes the person that stands out the most is the one that god's ready like he wants to grab them right now oh none of us want to stand out none of us and then we wonder why we don't ever experience some real rush and move of god in our lives we're so afraid we're so full of fear it's a tribalistic perspective the ninevites were a very pagan group of people and the prophet jonah was supposed to be god's man but both of their hearts were in opposite directions from god for different reasons but both of them were separate from god and they both needed to be grabbed by the grace of god again that's the condition of the people in matthew chapter 7 verse 21. you don't need to turn there who thought they knew god but he said i don't know you oh didn't we do this in your name didn't we do this in your name you know all these things and the lord says i did not even know you it's possible and we see it in the old and we see it in the new testament to run from god in both our disobedience and also in our perceived obedience and so what i would ask you to consider today is this in what direction are you trying to run from god oh i'm not trying to run from god [Music] our default mode is movement away from god the work of christ by the holy spirit in us is a move towards the lord but it's only through christ and it's only by his spirit my heart is inclined towards carnality my heart is inclined towards self-righteousness i'm not putting you down and i'm not just saying i'm a terrible guy i'm saying this is the reality for all of us that when we gave our lives to christ we became a new creation in christ jesus old things passed away behold all things are becoming new but then paul would also say this to every single one of us therefore keep killing the works of your flesh wait i thought i'm a new creation everything's yeah keep keep dying i thought i already died and was crucified with christ yeah keep dying that doesn't make sense to me and paul would say i know you just need to keep dying just catch that part if you don't get the rest of it get that part keep dying keep dying to yourself keep dying why would i ever do that why would anyone ever do that we should be fighting for our protections we should be fighting for ourselves we should be honing ourselves in and protecting ourselves from an evil world and and the lord would say no no no no no hold on hold on hold on i love them i love the world i want to reach the world just like i reached you now i'm going to use you as dynamite in the world to to reach other people to grab hold of their hearts many years after jonah many years after jonah hundreds and hundreds of years after jonah god would send another messenger and he would come and he wouldn't just shout out a you're all going to hell peace out message but he would live among the people he would gather disciples to himself he would live here he would make this his home he would teach and do miracles and he did all of that but the goal and jesus said it himself i didn't come to be served but to serve and to lay down my life friends our faith our if you want to use the word religion if you don't mind me using the word in this context is about a god who became one of us and laid his life down do you think it would be any different for us why would i ever make any sacrifice at all in my life why would i do that because i am so safe in the eternal arms of god whatever happens here it doesn't matter i'm going to heaven with jesus i'm free to love i'm free to be patient i'm free to be forgiving when i don't want to be because i'm forgiven and i'm loved like jonah jesus would spend three days in darkness and then he would conquer death and he would rise again and today he lives the bible says forevermore making intercession for you and for me so as we begin the book of jonah and as we take time and i want this to not just be sunday morning thought process but let it be a part of your weekly process let the message of the love of god go deeper and just bear hug you in new ways let it grab hold of you and hold you in from our flailing ideas oh what about this and what about this and what about this just let god pull you and you know i got to see a new little a newborn less than a week old this week man they're little they're so cute and she was all wrapped up she was just like mummified she was all wrapped up and she felt so safe and so you know and it's as we get older that we start like lazarus let him out of that thing you know we get all angsty and fighty what about if you and i could just rest in the grip of god who loves you don't fight him you will not win that battle he loves you too much father thank you for your word and i pray that it would have great value in each one of our hearts and lives today this week as we look at this book of jonah that we would be redeemed from so much of our own false ideas of what it means to be a christian i want this so bad lord especially especially on a weekend that we we remember what sacrifice is we remember what pain and loss are we also celebrate heroism and so today we as as your people we celebrate you our one and true hero who when you could have gone in a different direction you chose to go in our direction when you could have escaped the cross you laid down your life when you could have done what was best for you you chose what was best for me it's humbling and we thank you for that lord we worship you in jesus name thank you so much for joining us whether online or in person we pray that the ministry of calvary san diego is encouraging you and your faith if you would like to follow along with what we are doing or hear more teachings you can do so by downloading the calvary sd mobile or tv app also if you would like to partner with us and worship through giving you can do so at calvarysd.com give thanks for tuning in [Music]

Channel: Calvary San Diego

Views: 26

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Chapel, San Diego, Pastor, Jesus, Lord, Church, faith, Christian, Christianity, Bible, Study of Bible, Phil, Metzger

Id: FaPr8h93TRM

Length: 36min 46sec (2206 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021