Matthew 12:38-42 (NIV)  

³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!  But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.  ⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Jonah 1:1-3 (NIV)

¹ The Word of Yahweh 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 Yahweh and headed for Tarshish.

If we do not understand sin, Christianity won’t make sense intellectually.

What we consider to be excellent people, aren’t excellent when compared to God’s standards.  No one is good compared to our God.

Isaiah 6:5  No one dares to say, “I’m a good person” after standing in the infinite holiness of God for one moment.

The problem with the sort of god who just loves and does nothing else is that there is no power.  There isn’t power or motivation to change one’s life if the god you believe in only loves; never says anything is beyond the bounds of what a person should do, never disciplines or rebukes, that is a powerless deity they worship.

Today we will look at a great preacher, a man of God, a prophet, a righteous man who falls into sin.  His name is Jonah, an Old Testament prophet.  Let’s learn about Jonah’s adventures with God, he Creator of all things.

Jonah is told to go preach in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  These people were the baddest, most violent nation on earth at that time.

God is for the people, but against their sin.  God is for the people, but against the way they are living, which is against the way God created them to be.

Jonah runs in the opposite direction of Nineveh.  Jonah is not obeying God, which is man’s default way of thinking about God.

God sends Jonah to Nineveh to give those people a second chance because he loves them but is against their way of life.

Eve, in the Garden, has a similar experience with God; she is told to not eat a particular fruit.  The serpent tells Eve if you eat the fruit you become like God, that’s why God doesn’t want you to eat the fruit.  The serpent is saying if you obey, you will miss out.  So how can you trust God, does He really have your best interest at heart.  God cannot be trusted.  This is the sin underneath all sin; we don’t believe God has our best interest at heart.

Because we are made in God’s image, we want someone to love us simply for who we are.

Saying, ‘I’m in charge’ that is exactly what sin is.  That sin is behind every other disobedience, we don’t trust God, He is not for us.

Do you love this God who is everything, or do you just love everything He gives you?  Do you really know and believe that God loves you, individually and personally and intimately?  ~Francis Chan.

If we love God, anything He asks of us is what we desire most of all to do.

I’m not in a position to judge anyone, and I don’t have the larger picture of what God is doing in the world.  My prejudice against anyone is inappropriate.  God can reach anyone, anywhere, and Jonah, and I have been tasked with obedience rather than a position of judgement.  God says go, and Jonah was supposed to go.

Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions.  ~George W. Bush

Sinking and rising.  How does God help Jonah grow out of a flawed view of his relationship with God.  God sends a storm to help Jonah get clarity and see who he really is, and who he is disobeying.  Storms are always coming.  Storms in life and in our spiritual life reveal what someone’s foundation is.

A storm let’s us know who is God and who isn’t.  (You aren’t God.)  Consequences are natural, judgement is natural, grace is a miracle.  No matter where someone ends up, there is room for repentance.

In every storm God is trying to show us how we have built our lives on something other than Him, in that there is grace of breathing room to consider repenting.

While Jonah is in the belly of the fish, he figures out that God is both just, punishing the sinners on Nineveh, but also a God of love, who longs for them to repent.  And Jonah needs both God’s love and justice.

The men of Nineveh responded to Jonah’s preaching, and they will know in the future there will be One greater than Jonah (Jesus).

Jonah was thrown into the water, not the wrath of God, because later Jesus would be thrown into the wrath of God for all of us.

John Calvin said the more we understand who we are, the more we understand God.  That God’s love and grace will overcome the most persistent sinners, if they are willing to repent.  God bless, have a good week.