Four Questions For Jonah

Four Questions for Jonah!

Jonah 1:1-17 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: [2] "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." [3] But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. [4] Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. [5] All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. [6] The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." [7] Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. [8] So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" [9] He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." [10] This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) [11] The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" [12] "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." [13] Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. [14] Then they cried to the Lord, "O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased." [15] Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. [16] At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. [17] But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

I. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

a. What are You doing?

b. Running away from God.

c. It is related that one fearfully stormy night a boat was wrecked. As the dawn came, many were seen out in the icy waters, holding on to anything that would prevent them from sinking. Ed and Will Spencer came to the scene. Ed was a fine swimmer. He swam out and out again until he had rescued many, and was almost exhausted. He saw a woman holding on to a piece of board and crying for help. They said, "Ed, you’d better not go." But it was too much for him. He swam out into the icy waters and brought her to shore. Then he swooned. He was taken to the hospital. After some hours, he became conscious and said to his brother Will, "How many were drowned?" Will replied, "I do not know." Then he said, "How many did I save?" Will replied, "Ed, you saved seventeen." But Ed sadly said, "Did I do my best?" He would become unconscious, and every time ask the same question when he would revive. "Will, did I do my best?" Have we done our best? We fear we are playing at religion and soul winning.

d. Some time ago, I was visiting with a man who consults with some of the largest U.S. companies about their quality control. Because ministry is a form of human quality control, I thought I’d ask him for some insights. He said, "In quality control, we are not concerned about the product." I was surprised. But then he went on to say, "We are concerned about the process. If the process is right, the product is guaranteed." How relevant to our Christianity. We tend to be more oriented to the "product" of our faith than the process. As American Christians, we tend to desire and demand products of righteousness, but give little attention to the process.

II. WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?