Sermon Archive

This weekend we're continuing our look at one of the most familiar fish stories of all time. The story of Jonah and the Great Fish. We're looking at this story throughout this month of June, and as I was thinking about that, I realized that just about everybody has a FISH STORY. So I thought I'd start by asking you what is Your Most Memorable Fish Story?

Even if you've never been fishing, you've probably got a fish story. That's why I phrased this question NOT "What is your most memorable FISHING story" because we're not all fishermen or fisherwomen, but instead, "What is your most memorable FISH story"? I want to give you some latitude here, I'm talking about any story involving a fish. Maybe it was the time your cat mistook your child's goldfish for catnip, and you had to explain to your little one why the bowl where goldie lived was now empty. Maybe it was a negative experience you had at Sea World or the time you got some bad Sushi? Maybe it's the biggest fish you ever caught, or the one that got away, or, or, or...

One of my favorite FISH STORIES is one that was told on the TV series SEINFELD. This fish story was told by George Costanza. The episode begins with Kramer (the tall guy with the "crazy" hair) using the beach as his driving range. He has somehow acquired 600 Titleist golf balls from a driving range and decides to practice his driving skills by hitting them off of a beach into the ocean, rather than hitting them off a tee at a driving range.

At another point in that episode, Jerry runs into this girl that he and George knew in college and she expresses an interest in the perpetually under-achieving George, and she asks Jerry what George is doing these days. And Jerry, not wanting to throw George under the bus by letting her know what a loser he is, instead of lies and tells her that George became a MARINE BIOLOGIST. So, she eventually goes out with George, and at one point she and George are walking down the beach, she sees a crowd of people and someone says that there is a WHALE IN DISTRESS in the shallow water, and someone else begins shouting "Is anyone here a Marine Biologist?" And she says "GEORGE!!!!" And let me let George tell you what happens next. Seinfeld Marine Biologist Video Clip

That's a great fish story! It would be hard to top that. But there's one guy in the Bible who can. His name is Jonah, and it's his story we're looking at this month. When we last left Jonah, he was RUNNING FROM GOD. Jonah, Chapter 1 tells us that God spoke to Jonah and gave him an assignment.

Jonah 1:1 tells us... "The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh." Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are; But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord; Jonah didn't want to go and preach in Nineveh because Jonah was a Jew, a proud Jew. And Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and Assyria was a pagan nation - the great enemy of the Jewish people And Jonah knew that if he went there and preached the gospel, it would be just like the Lord to save that city. And when God saves somebody he blesses them and Jonah was happy for God to bless Israel...

But he didn't want the Assyrians to be blessed by God, and so he came up with his own plan. Jonah found a boat; Jonah booked his passage; Jonah hopped on board that boat and started a journey that he hoped would take him far away from the place where God was trying to send him as he could possibly get. But, Jonah soon discovered that when you are running from God it's not always smooth sailing. . . In the first chapter of Jonah's story, as Jonah ran from God we saw The Price He Paid For His Disobedience.

We saw that in the form of a storm came upon the boat on which he was sailing, a storm the likes of which the sailors had never seen before. And strangely enough, while the sailors are throwing cargo overboard, and fighting for their lives against the storm. Jonah, the one who had caused the whole thing, is sound asleep below deck. The sailors realized that the storm that had come upon them had something to do with Jonah, and so they asked him what they needed to do to make the storm stop Jonah told them that what they needed to do was throw him overboard. They didn't want to do that, But then, when nothing else would work they finally did.

At the end of Chapter 1, we're told that "...the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights."

If you know the story of Jonah, then you know that the storm that came upon him was not some random meteorological occurrence, but rather it came about because of his unwillingness to obey the Lord. And while we may not be able to relate to his specific set of circumstances, in that we've most likely never been in the belly of a fish - we can relate to his experience in another sense. Most of us know what it's like to find ourselves suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the middle of a storm - a crisis.

For years our life can be going along calmly, smooth sailing, and one day peacefully leading to another. God is in his heaven, and all is right with the world, and then suddenly without warning -- it happens -- our world is turned upside down. Maybe it's a FINANCIAL REVERSAL or a FAMILY PROBLEM. Sometimes it's an ISSUE WITH OUR HEALTH or a DIFFICULTY WITH OUR JOB. Maybe it's the LOSS OF A LOVED ONE. Whatever it is, it affects everything else in our life. It colors everything It robs us of our joy.

Why Do Storms Come Upon Us? Let me give you four reasons. Some of the storms that come upon us are...

1) CONSEQUENCES OF OUR CHOICES

That's what happened to Jonah, and it happens to us as well. If we're honest we have to admit that. Often we have no one to blame for the storms we're in but ourselves. A man chooses to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day from the time he is fifteen for the next 30 years, and he gets lung cancer, and then he shakes his fist at God and says -- "How could you?"

A stock trader gets greedy and goes for the big kill in the market and the market catches him the wrong way, he loses tens of thousands of dollars and says "God, how could you? I tithe. . . I pray. . . how could you do this to me, Lord?"

A married couple chooses to ignore all of what God's Word says about what it takes to build a solid marriage. Their relationship disintegrates -- A divorce is the result and in the middle of it they say "God, how could you?"

Parents neglect their children during the impressionable years. They fail to do the tough work of love and discipline because they are so busy building careers that there's not enough listening...Not enough nurturing... Not enough love. Rebellion sets in. Waywardness sets in. Resentment sets in. There is a family crisis and they say, "God, how could you?"

A person drives too fast or someone drinks and gets behind the wheel, and an accident happens, and grieving people at the funeral say "God, how could you?"

People can be so busy blaming God, that they never stop to consider the fact that if the truth of the matter were known, many of the crises that come upon us are the inevitable consequences of the choices we've made.

Then there are storms that come upon us simply as a result of ...

2) FALLOUT FROM THE FALL

These have been referred to over the years as ACTS OF GOD. It's a strange term when you stop to think that there is no record in scripture of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, or tornados in the Garden of Eden before the fall. None of these represent God's best intentions for the world, but because of Adam and Eve's abuse of freedom, their disobedience to God, and their defiance of his laws, one of the consequences of their sin was the infiltration of evil into the natural order. Fallout from the fall.

There is a THIRD TYPE of storm that can come upon us and these are...

3) SENT BY SATAN

The Bible makes no secret about the fact that we're in spiritual warfare against a real enemy and it lets us know what his agenda is. John 10:10 (Jesus said) "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy."

I Peter 5:8 says "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."

Some of the crises that come upon us are CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR CHOICES, some are just FALLOUT FROM THE FALL, some are SENT specifically by SATAN himself.

And others are...

4) GIFTS FROM GOD

Although it may sound strange, the reality is that any of the above three can be turned around and transformed by God into something good, if we turn it over to him.

Do you remember the story of Joseph, back in the Book of Genesis? He had suffered misunderstanding and mistreatment, false imprisonment, He'd been forgotten by his friends, and it all began when his jealous brothers threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave.

So it's understandable that many years later when Joseph is in a position of power and authority that his brothers are scared to death of what he is going to do to them to pay them back for all the wrongs that they had done to him. And yet what did he say?

"Don't be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good." - Genesis 50:19-20

Joseph through all of the storms that he weathered, never lost sight of God's hand, and as a result, at the end, he could say, "You meant it for evil, but God turned it into something good."

Although Jonah isn't there yet, he will eventually get to that point as well. The great fish which was initially a consequence of his own choice to disobey God would ultimately become his own PERSONAL UBER to get him exactly where God wants him to be. God ARRANGED for a great fish to swallow Jonah. As we mentioned last week, a lot of people have a problem with this part of the story, but understand, what is being described here is not something natural, it's something supernatural. It's miraculous.

Some people have a hard time believing it. But if you believe the first words of the Bible. That "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Everything that comes after is easy. We're talking about the one who SPOKE the universe into existence and so God dials up "Enterprise Rent-a-Fish" And God says, "Hey Fish..." The fish says, "Yes, Lord?" God says, "Go pick up Jonah. I'll give you the GPS coordinates, and I'll provide additional instructions as needed, but FISH, this detail is important. When you pick up Jonah, make sure you Swallow, DON'T CHEW. I'll tell you where to drop him off." The fish says, "Okay, Lord. You Got it" God appoints this fish and he swallows Jonah.

It's from inside the belly of the fish that we see. . . The Choice That Jonah Made When we're going through a storm we need to remember that in time that storm will pass, but the results of the choices we make as we weather the storm can go on to affect us long after. When we're experiencing a storm...

WE CAN EITHER RUN TO GOD OR WE CAN RUN FROM HIM.

The crises we go through can make us better or they can make us bitter. We can increase in faith, or we can decrease in faith. We see a situation like that in the story of Jonah. We've been looking at his life over the past two weeks and we've seen that he was a man who was running away from God - when he tripped and fell.

And his fall took him to the very depths of the sea. Now it's hard to imagine how a person can sink much lower than Jonah - finding yourself inside the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea, but even Jonah - in the depths of despair. Even in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea still had options. He could reach out to God or he could keep on running away from God.

The second chapter of this book of Jonah records the story of two miracles. There is the one for which this book is most famous. Jonah being swallowed by a large fish. But there is also a second and no less amazing miracle that takes place in Jonah.

And we see that one through...

3. The Prayer He Prayed On the surface there may not seem to be anything miraculous about a prophet who prays, but you need to remember Jonah was a prophet on the run, and he was a prayer-less prophet. He had stopped praying, much like a lot of people who call themselves believers. They claim to believe in God, and yet, have virtually no prayer life, whatsoever.

I like the story of a small-town church. The pastor was very upset because a bar was opening up in this town, which up till this time had been a dry town - a town where no alcohol was served. The pastor of the church said, "We're not gonna stand for this. We're going to pray them out of business," and so the church held prayer vigils, and for 24 hours at a time, the people would meet and they would pray. . . "God, please, run them out of business. Get rid of this bar," And wouldn't you know it, after quite some time of praying, the building that was being built to hold the bar was struck by lightning and the bar burned to the ground.

Well, the bar owner sued the church, claiming they were responsible for his loss. The church hired an attorney claiming they weren't responsible. The judge said, “No matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear: the bar owner believes in prayer, and the church members do not.” Jonah was a prophet who should have believed in the power of prayer. . . But we don't see him praying during the storm, Or even when he's thrown into the sea. The first prayer we see from Jonah comes from deep inside the belly of the fish.

Take a look at what happens there in Jonah 2, verses 1 and 2 . . . "Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, 'I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!" Jonah hits bottom. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Jonah had gone a long time without praying to God, and the first prayer that he prays in this book is from the belly of a fish.

The Word of God came to Jonah telling him to "Go to Nineveh" Jonah doesn't pray about going to Nineveh He just took off in the opposite direction and got on a ship for Tarshish. He doesn't pray about the ship. A storm threatens to destroy the ship. Jonah doesn't pray about the storm. Now, he's in the belly of a fish and he prays. Why? Well, what else are you going to do from the belly of a fish? I doubt he had his iPad with him. And even if he had, I've got the feeling that there's not very good wifi at the bottom of the sea.

One of the reasons that I think a lot of us have a hard time praying is because we have so many other things we can do. But think about it. What is there that you can do from the belly of a fish? Not much, and so in his distress, Jonah prayed, and God heard him and he hears us.

To Whom did Jonah pray? Verse 1 told us. "To the Lord his God" Jonah prayed to God directly. Personally. . . . He didn't have to go through another person - - Even though Jonah rebelled, he was still in a covenant relationship with God. He had a personal God. It was HIS GOD to whom he prayed.

You can't come to God and call him "Our Father" if you have never been born into his family.

John 1:12 talks about Jesus and it says "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." It's true that we are all God's creation, but only those who trust in Christ become his children. Jonah could pray to his God - can you? Jonah had run a long way from God but he even though Jonah forsook the Lord, the Lord never forsook Jonah. God was still his Father.

Reminds me of what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:13 "Even If we are faithless, God remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." Jonah was honest in his prayer. He came clean. Again, look at what he prayed beginning in verse 2, "He said, 'I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!' You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.' "Then I said, 'O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple'. I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head; I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone."

We could go through that prayer and deconstruct it line by line, phrase by phrase, but we won't Instead, I want to ask you just to focus on the last verse of the prayer. How did Jonah pray? He prayed with songs of praise. If Jonah could offer a sacrifice of praise from the belly of a fish, then most likely we can offer it from whatever storm we find ourselves going through.

Interesting to note that Jonah didn't ask to be delivered - he simply started praising God in a difficult situation and giving thanks. More often than not, when we praise God, it's associated with the good things He has done in our lives. Yet, Jonah learned an important lesson in the belly of that fish, Jonah learned that praise brings liberation. Jonah sang a song in the dark and God delivered him. JOB did the same thing when he was stripped of his health, wealth, and family, he responded by saying "though he slay me, yet will I trust him." And if you know his story, then you know that God restored to Job twice what he had before.

It was the same with Paul and Silas in a Philippian Jail cell. Chained to prison guards at midnight - these two men sang a song that opened prison doors. Would have been so easy for them to have cried out about the unfairness of their punishment. They hadn't done anything to warrant it. They had left their homes for the sake of the gospel and sacrificed much. They could easily have slipped into resentment. But they didn't.

The Bible says "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains came loose:" - Acts 16:26

Praise and Thanksgiving are the keys that unlock the door and set us free. You DON'T HAVE ANYTHING to praise God about?

Praise him NOT FOR WHAT HE GIVES YOU but for WHO HE IS.

If Paul and Silas had been like a lot of modern-day disciples we would have read that "At midnight Paul and Silas WHINED, AND WHIMPERED, AND QUESTIONED God." But instead, like Jonah, they praised the Lord in the middle of the storm and God set them free.

The Bible says - "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

We are to give thanks in all circumstances. That doesn't necessarily mean we are to thank God for the fish's belly, but rather to thank God from the fish's belly. Thanksgiving is THE PROOF OF THE REALITY OF OUR FAITH. It's the DIFFERENCE BETWEEN those who WALK BY FAITH and those who WALK BY SIGHT. Those who walk by sight can sing songs of praise and thanksgiving only when deliverance comes. That's not hard to do. We get a new job and we give thanks. We get a good report from a doctor, and we give thanks. But those who live by faith make the choice to live in thanksgiving even in the midst of adversity. Jonah had to hit bottom before he looked up.

There is an important little phrase in verse 9, and if you're not careful it's easy to overlook, Jonah said "Salvation comes from the Lord." He realized that it's God who delivers. As long a there are still a few strings left for us to pull, we can trace our deliverance out of storms to our own efforts. The truth is we're not saved because we deserve to be, or because we're good, or because we are moral, or because we are intelligent, or because we are American.

Salvation comes from the Lord. Jonah finally realized that. Inside the belly of that fish, he said "It's out of my hands - there is nothing I can do." He knew that if deliverance was going to come it would have to be from the Lord. God has a special way of bringing each of us to that point. He has a way, when we are rebellious, of getting us to the point where we finally have to say "Lord, it's out of my hands, there is nothing more I can do. Deliverance has to come from you."

I love this story because it has a happy ending. "Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach." - Jonah 2:10

Notice, Jonah did not get dropped off by an angel. The fish vomited. He lost his lunch, he tossed his cookies, he took a ride on the regurgitron... Okay? Got it? And there is Jonah on the beach, covered in Shrimp Cocktail or whatever the fish had eaten, ready for whatever God has for him. And my favorite part of this second chapter is actually the FIRST verse of the THIRD chapter...

"Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time."

That's where we'll pick up the story next week. Two things I hope you'll take from this story, particularly if you're going through a storm, and maybe that storm is something you brought on yourself.

Number one: God is a God of Second Chances

Number two: When God disciplines us, it's not to PAY us BACK, but to BRING us BACK.

Even when we're FAITHLESS he remains FAITHFUL. He loves us too much to ever let us go. Let's pray.

More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "See Jonah Run"

The story of Jonah is really all of our stories. Each of us can look back at some point in our lives where we have attempted to run from God. And what many of us runners have discovered is while we can run from God, we can’t outrun God! In this series, we will rediscover the amazing grace of God for each of our lives.

Sermon Notes