Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: What does Jonah do? God says go, and Jonah says no. I’ve found that oftentimes when God has put a calling on your life, the question is: do you just say, "Yes, Lord, here am I, send me," like Isaiah the prophet? Or are you more of a Jonah? God says go and you say, "I don't want to do that."

Could it be that the Lord’s called you to do something that's a little out of your comfort zone? Sometimes it’s the fear that can thwart the ministry that God’s called you to do.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador and the story of a reluctant prophet and a pursuing God. The book of Jonah begins with a clear call from God and a clear refusal from his prophet. He was called out to preach to Nineveh, but Jonah runs in the opposite direction only to discover there’s no escape from God’s presence.

Coming up in today’s Word, Pastor Brett Meador invites us to examine where we may be fleeing God’s will and how faithfully He pursues us.

Kurt: Thank you for joining us on today's Word as we continue in this Minor Prophets series, which are the last 12 books of the Old Testament. This time, the book of Jonah. Pastor Brett, this is probably the most well-known of the Minor Prophets because of the story of Jonah and the big fish, or as some have called this story, Jonah and the whale. There’s actually more to Jonah’s life than just being swallowed by a big fish, isn’t there?

Brett Meador: Absolutely a lot more. While that’s the part everybody remembers, and I can see why—you don't see that every day—this half-digested Jonah walking into Nineveh, what was that all about? What really gets to the heart is it's a book about God's mercy and Jonah’s struggle with it. Jonah struggles with God’s mercy and grace that He wants to show a sinful city.

Jonah was the prophet called by God to go to Nineveh and preach to a wicked, violent city and warn them. Obviously, God says go and Jonah says no, "I'm not going," and tried to flee. That’s where the big fish comes into the story. The fish brought him back and barfed him on the beach. Then Jonah goes in and preaches.

But that’s where the depth of the story really comes in. Jonah wasn't just dealing with fear; he was actually wrestling with the grace of God. He didn't want to see his enemies forgiven. God uses Jonah’s story to reveal that God's mercy reaches farther than we often think it should.

That was Jonah’s problem. In Jonah 4:2, he says, "I know that thou art gracious God and you’re merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness." Jonah wasn't saying that like, "That's wonderful." He’s saying, "That's horrible," because you’re going to be gracious to these Assyrians.

I think that's so part of human nature. We don't want to see our enemies receive the mercy and grace of God, but that shows us how gracious and merciful God really is.

Kurt: He sure is merciful. Thank you, Brett, for that introduction. Let’s get started with this message in Jonah. Here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: Jonah chapter one. We have here a story of a man who is called by God to ministry. It’s an interesting thing because God had a purpose and a plan for Jonah. It reminds me—maybe some of you are old enough to remember—remember when Christians, especially the prosperity teachers of the television evangelists, it wasn't just them, but I think it’s part of the four spiritual laws. There was kind of a whole thing where people would walk up: "Do you know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?"

But the problem is, sometimes God's plan—we know that statement is true—but what they leave out if you walk up to some guy on the street and says, "Do you know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life?" The problem with that is that wonderful plan might include being swallowed by a big fish. It’s because of things you do wrong and go in the wrong direction, and there are troubles that the Christian has.

Even if you’re doing the right thing, which Jesus did everything right, didn't He? But man, Jesus went through all kinds of trouble, persecution, whipping, hanging on a cross, dying for the sins of the world. We know when Jesus was baptized, here is the Lord saying, "This is my beloved Son." The Lord loved Jesus, His Son, and yet He still suffered.

Sometimes we think that's a cheesy old saying, and I think it’s become that over the years: "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." People are like, "Yeah, right. What if I get in trouble or persecuted?" The Bible even talks about how you can end up being persecuted or going through trouble or difficulties.

One thing we have to be careful when we sell the gospel message, because that's what we're called to do is preach it, but we also have to be careful not to sell it wrongly. "Hey, if you become a Christian, everything in your life's going to go smoothly, and roses and petunias, and everything's going to be wonderful." No, that's not always the truth.

As it turns out, we're a work in progress. We've talked about this a bunch of times here at Athey. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul the apostle says, "Man, we're His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." That word workmanship, well, it's a work of art, or the Greek word is *poiema*, where we get our word poem. We're sort of a work in progress, and the Lord is in progress.

It’s not something He’s done. Once you become a Christian, you don't just stop being God's workmanship. No, it’s going to be a work in progress, a work from the Creator. And so there's this life progress that, yeah, it's a wonderful plan and God’s got wonderful things for you in store, future. If you’re a Christian, heaven's in your future, so yes, it's a wonderful plan.

But at the same time, when you're making a—like in the Bible times, remember Jeremiah 18 where Jeremiah said we're like clay in the potter's hand, and the potter squishes the clay and spins it round and round? You think, "Well, I don't want to be spun around and round and feel the heat of the kiln and the pressure of life. What if I don't want that?" But the Lord's saying, "I'm the potter and I can do whatever I want to with the clay." But it's a work of art. It's part of this workmanship that God's doing.

I love Paul when he talked to the Philippians when he said about life, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Paul was the guy who when God said, "I want you to go," Paul would go with a vigor, with a zeal and an excitement. Paul's an example of the one who pressed forward and got excited and was glad when God gave him a calling.

One thing Paul did do, if you remember, is he really, really wanted to be the minister to the Jews. But God said, "No, Paul, you’re going to be the minister to the Gentiles." Even though Paul was zealous toward the things of God, he sometimes needed to be redirected. What happens when the Lord calls you to what He has for you? Are you more of a Paul who jumps to it?

We're created for a purpose, each one of us, and there's a prize at the end, Paul says. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." There's a prize that's coming. The problem is some people seem to sort of blow that off. Well, we have the perfect example of that here in the book of Jonah.

We're going to read this story and talk about this reluctant prophet, this guy that the Lord gives a very clear calling, but Jonah—well, let's read. Verse one of chapter one of Jonah. "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me."

There’s so much here just in the first couple verses. First of all, let's talk about this Jonah. His name means dove, interestingly enough. I'm not sure how that's going to apply to this story. But you can watch as we read this. His father Amittai, it means true or my truth. That's interesting. Jonah is going to declare truth. Is he going to be as wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove? Not really. So his namesake is an interesting one to me, the dove, Jonah. Does he really fulfill that?

But the word that God uses here is an interesting word in verse two: "Arise." Arise. It's an excitement, arise. It's an ambitious arise. The Hebrew word for this doesn't just mean stand up, but it means to rise with ambition, anticipation, expectation.

This is the word God employs speaking of Jonah, saying, "Arise, it's time to spring into action and let's get going." Ambition, anticipation, expectation. The Hebrew word *qum* or *kum*, to rise and to abide, to accomplish. It's full of meaning, but it's a positive let's go kind of thing. But Jonah, we're going to see his response to this peppy word "Arise."

We have to understand maybe some of the reasons why he wants to not go. There’s three main things we see here in verses one and two. We see first of all the call, then we see the crime, and then we see the cry. The first thing is the call, and we see that he's called to arise.

Interestingly, he lived two miles outside of Nazareth, Jonah did. In fact, we learn that from 2 Kings 14:25, speaking of Jonah, the son of Amittai the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. So we know exactly where he's from. And he's called to rise up from that place where he lived. But interestingly, he's not living in Joppa. That's something that people think. "Oh, he lived in Joppa," but no, that's where he went. We'll show you that in a second. So the call was to arise and let's get going from your place where you live.

The second part of this is we see the crime, and that is the Lord sees, it says here in our text, "the wickedness that is come up before me." Again, we've talked about how the Lord sees all what's going on there in Nineveh. Now Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian people, which is today in modern-day Iraq.

The ancient Assyrians go down in history as truly one of the most brutal people of all ancient people. And if you’re a history buff, you know there's some brutal people that have lived throughout the ages, whether you want to talk about Genghis Khan or some of the way that some of these battles were fought in ancient times. There was some real trouble.

But the Assyrians might go down as the most brutal people, and it's at this peak of their brutality the Lord says, "I see their wickedness." By the way, biblical archaeological society did a whole work on the grisly Assyrian record of torture and death. It's kind of a brutal document by Erika Bleibtreu. Let me just read one little excerpt. I didn't choose the grossest just for you queasy people. But this is just some of the things archaeological discoveries and writings and cylinders and all the things that they've found talk about the people of Nineveh.

They say, "The Assyrians were famous for their brutality. Archaeological discoveries show the heinous, barbarous treatment inflicted on prisoners of war, as well of some of its citizens. They were gruesome. Some would have their arm and legs spread out, staked on burning sand. Some would have their eyelids cut off and were made to stare at the sun until blind. Others were skinned alive and their skin wrapped around building pillars to dry out for drums and furniture upholstery. Eyes were gouged out, ears were cut off, legs and hands and other extremities were chopped off, and many had their tongues torn out by their roots."

This is just one of the hundreds of descriptions of horrible things that the Assyrian people would do and their enemies. The stories go on and on. If anybody even slightly rebelled or rose up and said, "We're not going for the Assyrian way," then they'd take the leaders out in front of their people and skin them alive and fly them as flags in the city. It was just a horrible, horrible group.

You gotta understand this because how would you like the Lord to call you: "Hey, I want you to go to Nineveh." There’s no place equivalent of that today. There’s no place where you think, "Man, I could get skinned alive if I go to this place." This was almost a done deal if you’re Jonah. You're thinking, "You want me to go where? Nineveh? That's like the worst place on the planet I could ever imagine going." Brutal people, godless people, but a powerful people. This isn't really the place you and I want to go visit or go on vacation. If you're Jonah, he's like, "I don't know about this."

So you've got the call to go to arise, and the crime, well, that's the Ninevites were wicked and the Lord saw their wickedness. But that then brings us to the cry, Jonah’s message that he was supposed to bring. He was going to go preach. He was supposed to go and preach. It says there, "and cry against it." What would Jonah’s cry be?

If we fast forward and read in Jonah chapter three at the end, we hear what his cry is. It's eight words. His whole message was eight words. It’s this: "And Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." That's his whole message.

The book of Obadiah, we heard the whole message of Obadiah in the book of Obadiah and it was like a really solid message. The book of Jonah, or the prophet Jonah, doesn't really get a book of his message because his message had eight words. That's all he's going to say right here: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The end. Not even "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" or "be saved" or "follow the God of Jonah." Nope, just this simple, powerful cry, and that's what the Lord calls him to do. "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me."

So that's the cry that Jonah’s going to make. Only eight words. Sometimes I wonder if some preaching the Lord actually wants us to speak less. I think there's an old saying Christians should be seen and not heard. Not always true because the Bible says that we're supposed to go out and preach the gospel.

But sometimes I think we use too many words to try to explain away everything when really a simple, powerful message might be just what the Lord desires. That's the case with Jonah. Eight words would be his cry, and he ends up with a very simple message.

Well, verse three. It says, "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."

Interesting. What does Jonah do? God says go, and Jonah says no. I'm not going. And I’ve found that oftentimes you’re one of these two kinds of people when God has put a calling on your life, and the question is: do you just say, "Yes, Lord, here am I, send me," like Isaiah the prophet? Or are you more of a Jonah? God says go and you say, "I don't want to do that."

And what forces us to kind of start thinking about this is why does Jonah so boldly just say no? God says go. He doesn't even argue. He just turns and goes the opposite direction. It’s interesting, we ask the question, why did Jonah disobey God on this? Some of this is speculation, but there is one answer that I think is fairly certain.

But let me just go through some of the possibilities. The reason I want to go through this, why did Jonah disobey God, is because some of these might be our excuses. Maybe, just number one, perhaps Jonah just wanted to do something else. "You know what? I'm really happy living near Nazareth in my little town. I don't want to do something uncomfortable or weird. Your call on my life, maybe I just don't want to do that."

Could it be that the Lord’s called you to do something that's a little out of your comfort zone or something that you kind of don't even really want to do or think about doing? I love it when I see people answer the call of God and even if it is uncomfortable.

There’s some people that have done that even in our congregation, who’ve made big moves and started ministering, helping the homeless or trying to run for school board or political office or going on the mission field or helping with pregnant unwed mothers. We've got people that are part of really amazing ministries. And that's what the church should be.

The church shouldn't be the ones that organize. The church is the hospital where everybody comes. And this is where we get restored, refreshed, revived, and encouraged. But then we're supposed to go out from this. Somewhere along the way, I think when Jesus said, "I'll make you fishers of men" to Peter, the church thought that the fishing was happening here in the church building. No, this is the aquarium, and you and I are supposed to go out into all the world and preach the gospel.

I think sometimes people get confused what the church's job is to do. The church role is very clear as far as the structure of the church and what we're called to do. Acts chapter 2, verse 42. They continued in the apostles' doctrine, which was teaching. Not necessarily helping the homeless. That wasn't their continued steadfastly in helping the homeless. Nope.

But they continued in the apostle doctrine, breaking of bread, which is communion, prayer, and fellowship, fellowship one with another. That's what the church was all about. And they did it in the greater temple with thousands of people. And they also did it from house to house in smaller groups. That's what the church is called to do. Then those people that are involved with the church, they go out and do stuff and they're called to those things.

I always find it interesting when people say, "Brett, I think you guys need to start a group that does this." And I always like to say, "Why don't you start that?" You’re dubbed the official starter of that ministry, because the Lord's put that on your heart. Don't wait for me.

"Well, Brett, what about the church resources? I'd like to have..." It's funny, people think, "Well, the church should support it." Well, what happens with Athey Creek is if we see you start something and the Lord seems to bless it, we don't just assume that you're going to be blessed in that. You kind of look for fruit of that ministry and make sure that it's on the right track.

And then that's when Athey Creek we like to get behind ministries that really are doing really amazing work. And sometimes you have to start something before things really become a part of what the greater church is doing. Like one of the things we love to get behind at Athey is Samaritan's Purse. You see we do a bunch of trips with Samaritan's Purse, we give to Samaritan's Purse, we do the Christmas boxes and stuff, because we feel like that's an organization just doing really great work.

They're not just about helping communities after Hurricane Katrina. They do that. But they're also about bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever they go. We're not into just fixing homes, but we're into fixing homes as long as we can also fix hearts and encourage people to be saved. And I love Samaritan's Purse for that. So there's all kinds of those kinds of ministries that Athey Creek we do get behind and we send teams out and stuff like that. It's pretty cool.

That's the way it works. Read your Bible, see what the church is supposed to do, but you'll find that's kind of the way it should roll. So the question is when God tells you to go and do something, sometimes God just says go. And instead of like Jonah saying no, maybe you should do it and you say, "Well, Brett, I'd rather just sit comfortably and let Athey Creek do all the hard work." I'm not really sure I want to do that.

Well, that could be one reason, just Jonah saying, "I'm not into going to Nineveh." Nineveh, by the way, is about five hundred and something miles northeast of where he lived. That's a little bit of a jog going to Nineveh through hostile territory. So you can't really blame him on one hand when he says no, I'm not going, and he doesn't even talk to the Lord, just goes the other way. I always think of a cartoon. Remember in the cartoons when a person runs, it's like they get up in the air, their legs go *whoosh-whoosh-whoosh*, and then a little puff of air or smoke? That's Jonah. God says go to Nineveh. *Whoosh*, the other way. That's what he does.

So maybe it was he'd rather do something else. Perhaps he had more fear than faith. That's something I’ve seen in my own self or even in our lives when the Lord calls us to something. Sometimes it’s the fear that can thwart the ministry that God’s called you to do. And one of the things we have to remember is we've been given a very specific calling.

I like to remind you speaking of disaster relief and the things churches do, that's all good. But that's not really what Jesus told us that we should be all about. I feel like lately the Lord's been putting this on my heart to remind us a little bit over and over of this. It's the Great Commission, not the great suggestion.

This is the Great Commission. Matthew 28, after Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose from the grave, then He said this: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

"Well, Brett, that's your job. You’re supposed to preach the gospel." And I do, and I teach, and we baptize people here at Athey Creek. So we're doing this. But one of the mistakes congregants make is they think, "Well, that's the church's job." But not really. Do you understand there's places you can go that they'd never even let me in the door?

Some of you have jobs where you work with people that are very far from knowing the Lord, and you've got a calling to preach the gospel and to share the word. But I wonder if maybe even though you might be called to preach, maybe like Jonah is it fear that kind of drives you, that you kind of say, "I'm not saying anything"?

Have you ever had that moment at work where that person sort of reaches out to you for some weird reason? They start talking about their marriage and their struggles in life and how they're lonely, and you just sense the Lord's just saying, "He's teed it up for you. Okay, here you go. Here's a chance for you to totally give the gospel message." And your heart starts beating and you're like, "Oh no." And for whatever reason, you don't do it.

Why? Well, maybe it's the fear of man. Maybe you’re afraid if you work at Intel that you talk about Jesus, you’ll be fired because Intel's not super friendly toward you talking to somebody. But there's ways to do that, maybe after work. You say, "Hey, let's go get some coffee after work and let's talk about this." And then just share the gospel. What you need is Jesus Christ and the saving work from the cross, and to not be afraid or lacking in boldness.

The Bible says the wicked flee when no one's chasing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. We need some boldness in Christians today. And the world is saying, "Christians, shut your mouths. We don't want to hear what you have to say or we'll cancel you or whatever." But is that going to drive our fear?

So I think sometimes it's more fear than faith, and that could be part of Jonah’s problem, possibly. We're called to go and teach and preach. But Jonah, he goes the opposite direction, complete change. And it might have been fear. Let me show you a little bit about this.

He goes to Joppa. Now Joppa's a place I took our group a few years back. They call it Jaffa in Israel today, but it's the same as Joppa in the Bible. But it's this seaport village that's kind of a really amazing little place. But this is where Jonah gets on his boat and goes. And he finds a boat with a ticket. He gets a ticket, gets on the boat. It's amazing that that day he just goes and finds—there's a phrase in our text that says he found a boat there, found a ship going to Tarshish. Oh, what a coincidence.

Now some of you might be saying, "Well, where's Tarshish?" Well, first let's talk about Joppa. Jaffa or Joppa is this little town not too far from Tel Aviv. But it's also where the house of Simon the Tanner was. You remember that story where Peter was on the roof, saw the sheet? "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." Then Peter was the one who's going to bring the Gentiles into the church. And Peter goes from there north to Caesarea and Cornelius. Great story.

But this is the town where Peter first gets the message that God's saying, "This isn't just for Jews." He says, "It's not just for the Jews, it's for the Gentiles as well." So this little town has a few biblical significant places. But one of the significances of this is that this is where Jonah runs to.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador, just at the beginning of the story of Jonah and his futile attempt to escape God’s call. And there’s so much more to come in our verse-by-verse study of Jonah next time in Today’s Word. And for those of you who don’t know Brett Meador, he’s the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon.

Our vision on Today’s Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you’ve missed any portion of this study, you’ll find all of Pastor Brett’s messages online at todayswordradio.com.

Well, that’s all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett Meador will continue our look at the prophet Jonah, and we’ll see how he attempts to set sail in the distance, only to find himself in a life-threatening storm at sea. Today’s Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.