Follow God's Mission | Jonah | Pastor Ed Kang

Jan 07, 2024 | Senior Retreat | Pastor Ed Kang | Jonah

Jonah’s story exposes the danger of a disengaged, self-centered faith. But it also reveals a God who pursues, challenges, and calls His people back into His mission.

Transcript

Okay, so I'm going to cover the book of Jonah today. You know, Jonah and the big fish, and you guys all know the story. And Jonah is my favorite prophet, I think. He is one of the most distasteful characters in the Bible, and yet he's one of my favorites. And I think you'll know why some people name their kids Jonah, even though he's this kind of guy. And the book doesn't resolve either. 

So all of that's pretty interesting. Okay, so let's... Can we close that in the back? Yeah, people keep coming in and out of that back door, so the alert side of me needs to keep looking. Who is that? All right, so Jonah, we're going to look at the book of Jonah. 

All right. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. All right, so who is Jonah? Jonah, we know from 2 Kings. He is a successful prophet. Most prophets, like Jeremiah being one of them, he has one disciple, like one person listens to him. 

Jonah, he's very popular. He is a prophet during Jeroboam II, the most ascendant period in Israel. Because he's not a very spiritual person, you never really hear about Jeroboam II, but secular historians know Israel became even bigger than the Davidic kingdom. So Jonah is having fun, just preaching prosperity and triumphalism for God's people. That's Jonah. And this word comes in, arise and go to Nineveh. 

Nineveh is a capital city of Assyria. Assyria is a rising threat and could be considered an enemy country. Call out against it for their evil has come up before me. Most prophets, when God speaks to them, get sort of seized by God's word. And they don't have their own thoughts very much. But Jonah has his own ideas. 

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish. So he's going to flee from the Lord, from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, modern-day Joppa, seaside town, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So Joppa, Tarshish, Nineveh, I know these are names. You've got to keep these in your mind, okay? So he's supposed to go to Nineveh. 

He's going to Tarshish. Tarshish is left on a map. It's left of the Mediterranean, away from Nineveh. Nineveh is to the right, and he's going to go to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, into the boat, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. So he's running from the presence of the Lord. 

He's running from the call of the Lord. So here is the prophet, the first prophet in all of the Bible, to be told to go on foreign missions. the first prophet who was actually sent out of Israel to a Gentile territory, it could be a great privilege. It could be a great honor. And yet Jonah doesn't want to do this. We'll see why. 

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God, and they hurled a cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. but Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. 

So here's what happens to Jonah. He gets in on the ship and he immediately goes below deck and finds some nice little nook in between the cargoes of flour and grain or whatever. He just lays down and he goes to sleep. in the midst of a storm that is so bad that the mariners, the sailors are chucking the cargo at this point. He's sleeping away. Here's a picture of a man of God who is so out of touch with reality, who is so checked out, who is so disconnected from the plight of other people that while all of this is going on, he's able to sleep. 

Such selfishness, such cluelessness, such detachment, we might think. But there's obviously something more in this kind of sleep. Something about this level of disconnectedness with other people's plight that the scripture is trying to show you. This picture of Jonah in the belly of the ship while all of this is going on. Like disengaged with reality. I think it's a perfect portrait of somebody who is disconnected. 

from the call of God upon their life. There are some disobedience and they know it. They're running from God. And since you can't really run from God, he's everywhere. What do you need to do? You need to numb your senses. 

Captain finds him. How can you sleep? And probably Jonah's answer is, how can I not sleep? I'm trying to sleep. so that I can disconnect from what's going on. Guilty conscience, you know? 

Troubled conscience. Sleep is so nice. It's like a nice escape or other escapes that can numb you just as well as sleep, I suppose. So he wants to not be numb, dead in his senses so that he doesn't have to struggle with what he's doing, running away from God. So this is a portrait of what happens when you refuse God's call upon your life. Like when you know God's calling you to do something and you know you're disobeying and you know you're walking in the opposite direction from where God wants you to go. 

Like what does it look like? Yeah, this is a good picture of what it looks like. Whatever else you do, going to Tarshish, whatever else you do, instead of responding to God, turns out you can't really do it wholeheartedly. You know, you're sort of half-heartedly rebelling and half alive or half dead. You know, back when I used to speak at church retreats a lot, every now and then I would meet with somebody who's a little older, you know, maybe in their 30s. And I remember this one guy who said, you know, I remember you. 

He said, oh, you do? Yeah, I think I was like a senior when you were a freshman. And he says, I remember you being one of these fervent guys. And I remember being fervent myself. You know? And you're stirring. 

And it was kind of getting emotional. I didn't remember him, but he said, yeah, I remember those days. He was there just kind of as a chaperone for the college students that I was speaking to. And I was getting pretty disturbed. And I didn't know how much I should press into him. But, you know, like it was this sort of wistful, you know. 

And then he says, but I've got a mortgage and I've got kids. I just, you know, it wasn't very well articulated, but he was, you know, like involved enough, right, to have shown up to a college retreat as an adult chaperone. But there's a sense in which, wait, my life wasn't supposed to be like this. You know, this sort of burdened and tied down with a lot of things. Well, at least there's somebody who was actually sort of feeling the pain of it. And a lot of people, they successfully numb themselves. 

And they're so beyond the day when they were responsive, when God spoke to them. They've sort of outgrown that time. They remember the campfire times. And they said, you know, no reserve. No regret, you know. And then they grow up. 

You know, is that growing up? I think they live like sort of ghost-like shells of their once upon a time devotion. And, you know, maybe some of your parents are like that. And because it was a phase for them, they're convinced it's only going to be a phase for you. Rather than going back to first love and repenting of what happened. And seeing that they responded to just the program and the coding that the world provided for them. 

Then they didn't know any better. They didn't have friends. Maybe they scattered and they didn't have any support and they looked around and this is what everybody's doing. So I guess this is growing up. It wasn't very intentional. It wasn't very biblical. 

All right, so let's go back to what Jonah is running from. What's Jonah running from? Like is he running from a God who's scary and who's wrathful? I'm going to run away from that kind of God. I don't want to mess with God. I want to avoid him. 

What's he running from? What is Jonah running from? Is it because God is bad? Or is it because God is good? You know, what is your hesitance when you think about, like, really embracing God's heart? God, I want to be your instrument. 

Pour out your spirit. Pour out your heart. Where you send me, I'll go. When you're thinking about opening up to God like that, is the fear that God is a slave master and he says, good, and he's going to grab you and he's going to put you in the dungeons to work at grinding some big mill? What is Jonah running from? He's running from God who is too loving. 

Right? God is too loving. God's fear of concern includes the Ninevites after all. Like Jonah wanted a God who was just for him. Like I want a God for my country. I want a God for my family. 

I want a God that is going to give me fuel to achieve the American dream and the things that I'm after. I want God to make me happy and joyful so that I'll be a better employee. I'll be a better dad, better mom, so that my life will thrive. Okay? Jesus, good shepherd, come to give me life abundant, and I'll be able to manage my sins and my addictions and actually be like a loving husband, a loving mom, a mature person. Wow, all of that sounds like I'm going to have a good life. 

And I like that. Thank you, Jesus. You delivered me from all of that, And now I am this kind of flourishing individual. And I can be a good friend and a good mom and a good dad. But God, that's all I want. And when you realize that, wait, God loves everyone. 

God wants everyone found. He wants his lost children found. you know like Rick Warren said yeah God's love is expensive God loves too much and Jonah doesn't want to get too close to a God like that because if you get too close to a God like that and you've got like one piece of bread and there's somebody with you he's probably want you to break it and share it right like it means that he'd want me to care about other people's needs and not hold on to my autonomy and my schedule and my money and my freedom so much. Maybe I need to give up on my dreams of world travel or whatever it is. Whatever your tarshish is that you want to go to. And it's not because he's against you and your desires. 

It's because he loves too many people. That's God's problem. That's why you don't want to get too close to God. because he's liable to share his heart with you for other people and send you to that person. It means you're going to have to surrender all of these things above all. Above all, it means you're going to have to be emotionally vulnerable. 

You're going to have to be emotionally vulnerable. It's not like volunteering a couple of hours a week that you can manage. It's to have your heart open to anguish. So I think we can relate to Jonah running away from God. A lot of us can't trust God not because we doubt his goodness. We can't trust God because of his goodness. 

Let's get that clear. It's his goodness that threatens us. So what are you afraid that God will ask you to do? What are you afraid? that he might ask you to do that would entail you giving up on some of your dreams? Yeah, what might that be? 

And sometimes it's trivial things. I remember Andy talking about the the X2 starter kit. I remember, I remember talking to somebody. A long time ago when I used to do office hours with him. And, you know, we're talking about, you know, discipleship and following Jesus. And I remember the transition was sudden. 

He said, I'm not going to buy a minivan and live in Alameda. And I said, wow, that's the hill you want to die on, you know. It's like, yeah, well, I guess so. I mean, you don't have to buy a minivan. You can buy an SUV. You can buy an SUV and live in Albany instead of Alameda. 

I mean, you know, it's a little funny, but what we're afraid of, it's very different. What we're afraid of is very different. You know, some of us, we're sort of reckless, and we're not planners, and you say, oh, man, yeah. I want to go on an adventure with Jesus, you know. but emotional pain is really hard for you let's say you know you'll work hard but you don't want to be relationally connected because ultimately there's like a high wall and you're pretty isolated behind it and yeah so it might be it might be all different and it's something that as you're a senior and you know like if you're a freshman like what's required of you you know show up get dragged to fun trips you know and then eventually like all right all right i'll do like daily devotion or something like that and you don't really make a whole lot of decisions i mean yeah you you do you do uh in terms of moral decisions and um but sort of um decisions that really start to build momentum. In other words, getting on a ship to Tarshish. 

Like you're at one of those inflection points in your life. And so now, things will get stirred up. And as things get stirred up, pay attention to them. Pay attention to them. What is this that's disturbing me? rather than be in denial or defensive or just shut it away and don't think, pay attention to them. 

What do you think you're going to miss out on? Like world travel? You can do world travel. You can go serve in Bangkok. You can go serve in Jakarta. That's world travel. 

Or just whatever it is. It's sort of this ethos, right? Like stuff you see on Instagram, I suppose. things that new college grads are supposed to sort of fill their lives with, you know? Sampling the experiences appropriate to that season of life and appropriate defined by our culture. What are you afraid of that God would ask you to do? 

Field you bought, five yokes of oxen, marriage. God's inviting Jonah to join him, right? From God's perspective, it's like a real honor. You know, from God's perspective, like, man, I'm asking you to do something that's really kind of glorious. And you and I, we're going to get close through this. Like your heavenly father, God of the universe, says, hey Jonah you do this I'll be with you I want to we're going to build something together we're going to go through something together and you'll experience my presence you know there's another in the fire like you don't go into the fire you won't experience that it's another in the water holding back the seas like I want to do this with you Jonah and Jonah's like ah When God invites Jonah to go to Nineveh, I think what he's saying is he's sort of treating Jonah as part of his crew. 

Part of his crew. Imagine your shipwrecked and a Coast Guard boat comes, and there are just a lot of people just hanging on to debris all over the night. you know, tossing waves and somebody throws a rope and you grab it and you're rescued. It's like, wow. But there's a lot of other people in the water. So as soon as you get rescued, the crew starts shouting at you, you know, hey, pick this up, go over there, pull on that rope and whatever. 

And you're like, why are you shouting at me? You know, I want some hot chocolate and warm clothes. Or take another example. Let's say you walk into like a restaurant. You know? You walk into Waffle House or something. 

And you sit down and say, can I see the menu? And then the owner just starts shouting at you, hey, get in here. We need a couple of extra hands on the griddle. And you just, just because they shouted at you, you walk into the kitchen and throw you an apron and thrust a spatula in your hand. And everybody's working hard. And so are you a customer? 

You know, like looking for a corner table? Or are you part of the kitchen crew? What's a Christian? Christian is part of the kitchen crew. And the problem with Christianity today is so many people think they're the customers. And they look up and down the menu and they look at the quality of service and they're like, I don't think I'm going to come back here anymore. 

I think I'll go to Denny's next time. It's like, no, you're in the kitchen. Who's having more fun, more camaraderie, a greater sense of purpose? Who's growing in capacity, skills, fellowship, connections? The customer or the crew? It's the crew. 

So as we're sort of inviting you to respond to God's call upon your life, we're trying to show you that the world's view, that the customer in the corner table is like where you want to be. We're trying to show you, no, no, no, you don't want to be that guy. That's a miserable life. It's way better to be part of the crew. Especially if it's not a kitchen crew, it's a crew of the Coast Guard ship, and you're on a Coast Guard cutter rescuing lives. All that we do as co-vocational ministers, is it too much? 

Is it too much? You know, like all us oldies, you know? We don't need any of you. Like, what do you contribute, you know? Like, you probably eat more than you're offering, right? And we could be so happy without you. 

All of us. We have decades, and we just, like, you know, we enjoy God's word together. As long as I have James, I can worship God. Me and James, we probably led together. It's like, I don't know, it's like Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea. It's like at least 100 retreats. 

At least 100 retreats. And I think I've sat through thousands of James' songs. And James has sat through hundreds of my messages. Because, you know, each message is just one message. Whereas he can inflict six songs on me on a given plenary session, you know. Yeah, we'd be happy, man. 

If all we're trying to do is have a nice dining room for ourselves, you know? Can you imagine a restaurant where there's no customers and just a kitchen crew? And it's all chefs, and it's all walk-in freezer, and just like all that commercial gear. And we just cook it all up and eat it ourselves. And we say, mm-mm, the Lord is good. Yeah, in other words, if all we're trying to do is create a nice little Christian village to promote a healthy lifestyle, a God-honoring, holy lifestyle, set apart like the Amish or something, yeah, that'd be one thing. 

No shade on the Amish. Much respect for them. But there are eternal stakes involved. And I think somebody should go to the Amish and say, hey, man, you should read the book of Jonah. some of your amazing dedication should go to go to some other places rather than to your own children um yeah so for the staff to you know stay a a whole you know week away from their kids to be with you guys and this has been our life and do we do we begrudge it do we think we're so sad just you know stay clear stay away from god man because if you if you get close to god when you're young he'll enslave you and he'll take you away from your children and he'll make you like minister to icky college students. It's too late for us, but you run away, run away while you can. 

I don't feel that way. I don't feel that way. I feel like the people out in the dining room just sort of fussing over their napkins are just stupid. They're missing out. I feel like you should be part of the kitchen crew, man. We're making food here. 

We're keeping people fed. We're saving lives. If all you're interested in is yourself and your family, then pretty soon you and God are not going the same direction. If all you want is to favor yourself and your own well-being, and you think God's going to Like come alongside as your assistant, as your genie in the lamp to help you become that person. You know at one point, you know at one point, you and God will diverge in agendas. And you might try reading the Bible. 

I'm going to be a holy person and I'm going to honor God so that God can honor me and my family and favor me and give me prosperity. There's chunks of the Bible you can't read anymore. You just can't read. You've got to read Genesis and then go fill the earth. Oh, skip that part. Skip that part. 

You just can't read. You just have to read Joseph. He became prime minister. You can only read that part. And then you have to skip all the miserable prophets. Daniel! 

He went to Harvard. He went to Babylon University. Served the king. Became Supreme Court Justice. But then you've got to skip the part about his friends, Rackshack and Benny, getting thrown into the furnace, right? And they're bound. 

They're all bound, and they get thrown into the furnace. And in the fire, the ropes burn off, and they're praising God, and there's three of them. And the king says, didn't we throw three guys into the fire? How is it that I see a fourth? and they're having an amazing life group time led by Jesus in the furnace. And they come out. 

There's another in the fire standing next to me. But you can't read that part. You just got to read the part about Daniel becoming prime minister. Can't read Hebrews 11. Stay away from Hebrews. stay away from most of the Gospels. 

Anyway, I'm having too much fun with this. What is Jonah running from? Yeah, he's running from goodness. You run away from God, you're running away from goodness. There's no goodness apart from God. King David says, surely goodness and mercy has followed me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

You move an inch toward God, you're moving toward goodness. God is incapable of evil. And so when God invites you, he's inviting you to life. He's inviting you to joy. He's inviting you to a life where you will become fuller and more than you can imagine. And so here is God. 

Jonah, you petty, selfish, crazy guy, what are you doing? to be my instrument to do this together. Man. So God changes the weather pattern of the Mediterranean to corner the ship. And the sailors realize this is a supernatural crazy storm. So verse 7, they said to one another, come let us cast lots that we may know. 

On whose account this evil has come upon us? They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So the whole time, Jonah is just sort of like, all right, you guys can cast lots. It's kind of, you've got to picture Jonah. You've got to picture Jonah in this scene, because he's now on deck. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. 

What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And what people are you? Ask each other that question right now. Let's go right now. 

And Jonah's answer is amazing. Jonah's answer is amazing. Jonah's answer. And I imagine him, if I'm the director filming this shot, I imagine him, you know, everybody's excited and animated. Who is this guy? And I imagine him just with a flat face, Just his face slack. 

No expression. While he says these astounding things. I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord. He's the God of heaven. Who made the sea. 

Not just the dry land. He's the maker of heaven and earth. And that's my God. And then he tells them that he's running away from them. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told him. 

So he's not hiding anything. So this God who is a maker of heaven and earth and a maker of all of your idols, none of which are gods, I'm running away from him. They're like, wait, our deities are local. You're telling me you believe in the God and you are running away from God? So they're like, what is this guy? Why me? 

Why us? So then they said to him, all right, answer man, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? For as this conversation is happening, the sea is getting more and more tempestuous, almost like God is underscoring Jonah's story with a pipe organ. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will quiet down for you. Because I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. It's like if I were there, I would be like, were you going to tell us? 

How long have you known this? And I'd have picked them up and chucked them up. To their credit, they try to avoid this. The fear of God's on them. They try to avoid this. And then eventually they do. 

But think of Jonah's state. It's almost like he doesn't care. Right? Almost like he doesn't care. Like, really? This is the only way that the storm is going to stop? 

You can repent. Which he does in the next chapter. But he could have said right there, God, I am sorry. I am sorry, God. I'll go to Nineveh. Please stop the storm. 

Really? Like he has to be thrown overboard? God doesn't want him dead. Does God want him dead? But apparently that's sort of what he thinks. Slash, maybe that's what he wants. 

Slash, maybe he doesn't care. You know, you can get to that point where you're such a contradiction and you're so conflicted that actually you kind of stop caring about your life. It's weird how that works. It started with you caring about your life and you thought God didn't care about your life. And then eventually you can get to a point of such conflict and then the pride rears up its ugly head and you double down on your sin or you double down on your rebellion. And you're just this fool who keeps sawing the limb you're sitting on. 

And then you do this Judas thing. Judas Iscariot thing. That's where Jonah has gotten to. Throw me overboard. Well, God's not having any of it. Verse 17. 

The Lord, the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. The Lord's got an app, and he appointed, and he reserved a whale right there. Appointment, appointed. This word appointed will come up again. It's really interesting. God appointed a whale, you know. 

Is there a name for the whale that swallows up Dory in the movie? Nemo? Okay. Well, that guy. Yeah, God's not having any of it. God's saying, no, no. 

You and I, we're going to struggle not letting you go. So he's in the belly of the whale, and he makes this really beautiful, humble, desperate prayer to God, and God gives him a second chance. Yay, God. Yay, Jonah. and the whale speeds across the Mediterranean, big stomachache, having this kind of rascal in your stomach, vomits him up on the shores of Nineveh. Quite an entrance because what is the god of the Ninevites? 

It's a giant fish. So you got a prophet spewing out of a whale, tumbling and nailing the landing and saying, repent, Ninevites. That's going to be impressive. So he goes through the town of Nineveh. It's a great city. And he preaches a message. 

The Lord said to Jonah a second time, so just in case he missed it, He repeats it, right? God doesn't get tired. And Jonah says, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Not much of a sermon, but the message is clear. And the people of Nineveh believed God. Scholars think that they know what year this is, actually. 

There was a particular year that a series of calamities happened that seemed kind of bizarre. And so the Assyrians might have been prepared for this. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh and he rose up from his throne. The king of mighty Assyria removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of king and his nobles. 

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Wow. What a response. What a response. 

Again, Jonah is so different from the other prophets. I think other prophets would have killed to have this kind of response. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. You know, there is joy in the house of the Lord today. There is joy in Nineveh today. They're singing, and we won't be quiet. 

We shout out our praise, you know. Like there's joy in Nineveh. And Jonah brought it. But this displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he was angry. Well, you know, God gives him a second chance. 

When he's rebellious, when he's depressed, when he's detached, when he's moody, when he's nihilistic about his own safety, doesn't really even care about his own life. You know, God provides that well. God provides that limit experience that causes him to turn to him. That limit experience could be a whole bunch of things. And when it comes, know that that too is God's love for you. Right? 

When that limit experience comes that makes you cry out, whatever that might be, and God gives you a second chance. God does that. Love does that. And so Jonah has this amazing ministry. Yet he's unhappy. Such a contrast to the Ninevites. 

This displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. So he's like exceedingly displeased, and he was angry. What age does this sound like to you? Hmm? Six? Somebody said six? 

Yeah. Like a baby. Or maybe like certain moods that adolescents can get into. Displeased. Like huge emotions here. Displeased him exceedingly. 

He was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. 

I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live. This is so surreal as to be completely modern. I told you, I told you, I knew you are a gracious and merciful God, abounding in steadfast love, so patient. Yes, you are. I knew it, I knew it. 

If I were a God, it's like, bam, right there. Like, ah. How many times have the average parent wanted to murder their own children? Next Mother's Day card, you should write to Mom. Mom, thank you for all the times that you restrained from strangling me. Please take my life. 

All right. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? Jonah went out of the city. He's just really ticked off. There's joy in Nineveh today, and he's like, there is just anger in my heart. So he goes out of the city, and he sits down at the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. 

He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. So he knows they're repenting. He knows God's too merciful. He's still hoping that they would start sinning and God would be wrathful. He's still hoping that something would happen. He's still hoping that the terrible thing that he did, causing the Ninevites to repent, would be reversed somehow. 

And God starts to pursue Jonah again. Now the Lord appointed. There's that word, the Lord appointed. The Lord appointed a plant this time. Made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head. You know, it's hot out there near Iraq. 

That's where Assyria is. Save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad. Now, I understand glad. I understand mildly glad, but exceedingly glad. He's like really happy over this plant. 

And when dawn came up the next day, God appointed. He's constantly appointing people, appointing a worm that attacked the plant so it was withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind. So God's like just using nature to really teach this guy a lesson and to get at his heart. And the sun beat down on this guy's miserable head so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die. 

It is better for me to die than to live. Every day he wants to die. God said to Jonah, do you well to be angry for the planet? He said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. Did I not tell you this is one of the most distasteful characters in the Bible? And yet, he is my favorite. 

I love Jonah. Because he's so honest. He's so honest. He doesn't spiritualize things. He's so honest. He's constantly talking to God. 

This is not the older son who says, as you please, my Lord. You know, whole time is resentful. Whole time is angry. You never gave me a coat. And finally he's honest, and it's like the rug's being pulled out from under the father. Wait, I thought this whole time. 

What? I thought this whole time we're worried about your brother. Well, that's not Jonah. That's one thing I like about him. Like, he's so raw, but he's going to take it to God. Well, this picture of Jonah, extremely moody, very happy over trivial comforts, And like totally devastated when that's taken away. 

It's kind of almost the comedy of the absurd. But there's something about Jonah that if you look into, it will reflect your image. You know, how disproportionate. Here's a whole civilization that is turning to the Lord. And I'm ticked off. because the shade's gone. 

You know, I'm ticked off because I sprained an ankle or the DoorDash guy left out like the sauce that I asked for and it's the nth time and I'm going to go online and just really give it to him or get so worked up about that. Or you get exceedingly happy that the DoorDash guy brought you double portion and charged you only for one. that makes your day. Some pretty girl at work smiles at you, just like, oh, you're just walking on clouds. You know, you have like a pimple on your nose and you're just angry enough to die. Rejoicing in trivial things, great delight in little things, devastation and meltdown when little things are taken away. 

Jonah is not that different from us. When you lose God-sized proportion, this is what happens to you. Your heart, you couldn't care less for anyone. It's all about my convenience and my comfort. A heart, all of our hearts are like this. The only way our hearts grow into anything human is if we attach it to God's heart. 

Otherwise, this is what we're all destined for. Huge mood swings. Take away my life. Angry enough to die. Exceedingly glad. Then better for me to die. 

Whole time. There's thumping music in Nineveh. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in Nineveh today. We won't be quiet. We shout out our praise. 

Jonah's disconnection, his moodiness, his crankiness, his selfishness, it's almost absurd. Except it isn't. If you don't connect your heart to God's, your great delight is going to be over a new car. And then you'll be angry enough to die when you walk up to that new car and somebody scratched it in the Walmart parking lot? That's going to be you. And why wouldn't it be? 

What else is your heart going to be filled with? People? Why? Why should it be? Unless they're your little children. Then your little children look up to you and you're that guy. 

How inspiring is that? So God says to this absurd person, he says this, Lord, you pity the plant for which you did not labor. Well, it's not exactly pitying the plant, but getting all exercise over the plant. Nor did you make it grow, which came to being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left? Like, they're that morally confused. 

And also, much cattle. Don't know what to do with that. Compared to people who last forever, Like you're getting all exercise over things. I'll be here today and gone tomorrow. Should I not care? Jonah, should I not care about Nineveh? 

120,000 people? Yeah, and if calamity happens, then all the cattle are gone too. And with that note sort of ringing in the air, you think, what happens? What happens? It's the end. That's the end of the book. 

What's Jonah's response to this? We don't know. We have no idea how Jonah responded to this. But we know that God comes to Jonah as he comes to each of us to share his heart. To share his heart. He says, I've been thinking about Nineveh. 

I've been thinking about those Assyrians that are headed for judgment. They don't know their left hand from their right. They're cruel. They're evil. They need to repent. They need to be saved. 

He comes to Jonah as he comes to each of us. He wants to share his heart. Why? Because he needs the Ninevites saved. Why else, though? Why else? 

Because isn't there another way to get the message to Nineveh than Jonah? I mean, doesn't God have other prophets? Does he have to deal with this guy running away, change the weather system, bring a whale with a big, big burp that's unresolved in his heart, in his stomach, because I guess Jonah's breathing? And then does he have to do this? So one day, you know, I talked through Jonah a couple of times, and then one day I thought, wow, you know, God gets the best line at the end. And then I thought, wait, who wrote Jonah? 

This is a first-person account. Obviously, it's Jonah who wrote it. And he wanted to give God that final line. and then I realize oh that's an older Jonah maybe who's looking back on that episode and his immaturity and his refusal of God's call upon his life and then he now sees wait he didn't send me to Assyria for the Assyrians Of course he did, but he sent me to Assyria for me. God's working on me. God didn't have to do all of that just to get the message to Nineveh. 

He's doing all of that for me. God wants Jonah to share his heart. And it's good to know that by the time Jonah is recording this, that he gets it. And so that's his ministry as a prophet is to write this down for you and me. Say, this is God's heart. This is what you end up becoming if you run away from God. 

So let's go back to Joppa, That city, the seaside town that he goes to, to get his ticket to Tarshish? What decisions would mean for you that you're buying a ticket to Tarshish? And let's imagine that on the dock there are two ships and one says, Nineveh Express. and you're at the fair booth, and you have to lay down your money, you're going to buy a ticket to Nineveh or to Tarshish. And I think Jonah's here to tell you, I know Nineveh sounds ugly and scary, but Tarshish, a journey to Tarshish is no fun either. And at the end of the day, you end up at Nineveh you experience God turning your heart of stone into a heart of flesh what decisions and choices would represent you running from God's love and God's goodness why would you run from love why would you run from goodness why would you say to God God, I appreciate your great love. 

I just don't want to be a part of that too much. Like what decisions would look like that for you? What are those voices? Because, oh man, those voices sound so reasonable. It doesn't say Tarshish. It sounds reasonable. 

You know? Tarshish changes into, I don't know, success. joy, romance, wealth, I don't know. And then what is your Nineveh? That place of discomfort, stepping out from the familiar, and yet you're on a journey with God to share in his heart and his mission for the world. Remember this verse that we covered yesterday, Jesus saying to Peter and Andrew, follow me, I will make you become fishers of men. 

Follow me. I'll make you become fishers of men. You know, I was 23. I was 23, and Kelly and I, we started dating right out of college. Kelly was a double major, management science and CS. Got a job in Silicon Valley before the Silicon Valley was known. 

I was doing a fifth year program as an undergrad. You know, if you're particularly excellent, they ask you to stay on an extra year. So at the five-year bachelor's program, my financial aid ended. You know, they only give you financial aid for four years. So I was starving. It's down to under $100 in my bank account. 

Dozen roses. $54. I still remember the amount. I've never, ever bought flowers. Not for my three sisters. Not for my mom. 

I never bought flowers. I thought flowers are plentiful. I didn't think they would be that expensive. I thought maybe $10. $54 for a dozen red long stem roses right on Bancroft near Bancroft Hotel. There used to be a flower shop there. 

Oh, man. And then the FTP cost. Back then, flowers were about the only things that you could deliver remotely. Had that delivered to her work, fancy workplace on microsystems or wherever it was. She said, will you go on a journey with me? Follow me. 

And I will make you my wife. I can't complete it. I can't complete. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. So it's like, why would I be interested in that, you know? 

You know? Princess Bride, you know, Wesley comes to Buttercup. I don't know. I can't come up with the right analogy, you know? And Kelly has no idea who this guy is. I mean, she knows I'm funny. 

She is happy to report to you that my skin was awful during that time. I never had pimples growing up, teenage years, all through undergrad. Fifth year of college, boom! All of it shows up like in a few months. She taught me you should wash your face. I said, I shower in the morning. 

Why should I wash my face? She says, I had zits upon zits, which is kind of true. It's like a topographic map of Nepal or something. So, you know, it's like Beauty and the Beast, man. It's like she didn't see how handsome I really was. You think about what a marriage proposal entails and how much you actually know about this person. 

It's kind of crazy. That's why you've got to do it when you're young and your frontal cortex isn't fully developed. Because if you really think about it, the fear should grip you. You should run away in horror. But of course, we trust God and there's a church and so you should get married. Of course, it's safe. 

For the most part. But you never think of it in that way. You think of Jesus like some Jedi, Qui-Gon, Jinn kind of guy. Come with me. Make you fishers of men. And people just follow. 

And he's so amazingly awesome. And he's so powerfully charismatic that you hardly have volition. I don't think that's how it is at all. We know that the calling of Peter is a little bit nuanced. It sounds like a couple of times. Think of it as a proposition. 

Think of it as Jesus saying to Peter and Andrew, guys, you don't know me. You heard me. You've seen what I do. In the movie Chosen, I think the drama of that calling is not fleshed out. It seems like they hang around a lot and they just sort of end up kind of traveling. The scriptures, it's pretty distinct that there's a moment. 

You know, you're kind of getting to know each other and then the guy, still the guy, right? Supposed to say, can this be permanent, right? It's sort of that kind of thing. And there's a promise. I will. I will. 

Like when Jesus says, I will, I think that's pretty cool. You know, it's not like, look, if you believe in me, I think one day with my little song, I will change the world. There's an old sappy Kenny Rogers song like that. She believes in me. Wonderful song. Oh, moves me. 

She believes in me, you know. While she lays sleeping, I stay out late at night, play my songs, you know. So he's sort of a second-rate musician, and he needs to do the bars late at night. And he comes home, and he's trying to be quiet, but she wakes up, and he says, How was your night? And I said, It was all right. And then before he goes to sleep, he says, I see my old guitar in the light, and I fumbled through a melody or two. 

And she believes in me, Kenny Rogers says. She believes in me. And I told her one day, if she was my girl, I would change the world with my little song, but I was wrong. It's that song. You know, all country songs are kind of sad. And yet there's something pretty cool about this woman who looks at this starving musician and says, you know what? 

if I had you next to me, I think I could keep composing my little song. I think I can change the world. And she says, all right, I'll believe in that. I'll risk the rest of my life and hitch my destiny to yours. And then Kenny Rogers sings about that. And we've never been musicians and we've never, But there's something about that you get. 

You just grasp that. Why is that? Even though you don't know the song, right? Like all the love stories are like that. It's about trusting when you don't have the evidence. There's nothing romantic about a billionaire coming to some beauty pageant queen and saying, here's my offer. 

Here's a prenup. here's the assets you'll get, and then she says yes. Nobody cries at that scene, right? It's this moment of trust that is intensely relational. And I think it's that moment when Jesus says, maybe he doesn't say, follow me. Maybe he says, hey, guys, if you follow me, I'll be with you. 

and I will train you because here you are, you're fishing for fish. You know what? You're going to be saving souls. You're going to be drawing men into God's kingdom. I will make you into that guy. And they look at Jesus and they look at their nets and there's no guarantee. 

It's just a proposition. It's just an invitation. And Jesus is just looking at them. And they follow him. And we know that that was a great decision that they made. Peter. 

Who otherwise would have just been a fisherman in the Sea of Galilee, providing for his family. No drama. He won't end up in Rome under Nero and could get crucified. And legend has it that he said, I don't know if I could get crucified upside down because I'm not worthy to be crucified the same way as my Lord. But oh, man. What he got to become, what he got to experience. 

and the whole thing's about the journey, whole thing's about journey. Hebrews 11, this week we'll cover that passage. Verse 11, it says, all these greats of faith, they did not receive what was promised. And if you don't know that verse and you start memorizing it like, what, what? They did not receive what was promised? He said, yeah. 

Because it wasn't about the land. It wasn't about stuff. They said, it's about the relationship. You know, like for Kelly and I, it's not about building a big church. It's about, you know, what if God takes all of this away and we finish our lives chaplain to a nursing home? I don't think that would matter that much. 

It just would be another chapter in how we're relating to one another as a couple obeying Jesus. Like it's, you know, if you have a relationship, it's not so much about like, hey, I'm counting on you so that you can win the Emmy and make me rich. Somehow that doesn't matter. Right? The gift of the Magi, that old Henry story that all of you probably, or many of you probably know about this poor couple. What am I going to buy my wife for Christmas? 

I don't have anything. I've saved up for this, what is it, hunting rifle? Watch, watch. So he's saving up. So he wants to, so he's, he has a watch. He has an awesome watch, and it doesn't have the chain, right? 

So he can never have that little gentlemanly pull out the watch, that kind of move, I guess. But then his wife has beautiful hair, and he wants to get her a golden comb. Not to comb, but the sticky thing so that she can, like, I don't know. It's been a long time. Christmas Day, she decides to get him the chain by selling her beautiful mane. So she's got a short haircut, and then gives him the chain. 

But he sold his watch, his one cool possession. Get her the comb that she no longer needs. And we all say, aw. I don't know why I'm talking to you about all of this. Well, I guess it's because when you're clutching onto small dreams, when you're clutching onto that nice shade that that little plant provides, Anything better seems like you're taking something away from me. You know, what's better is love. 

What's better is that you go on a journey with somebody who is beyond cool. Jesus says, you follow me. I will make you fishers of men. And Jonah is here to tell you the alternative is this crazy journey to Tarshish, Where you become disconnected, discontent, numb, narcissistic, moody, grumpy. Taking joy from trivialities and being distraught over nothing. Yeah. 

So, drop your stinking nets and follow Jesus. And I think all of us are here to tell you, yeah, that way lies joy and fellowship and purpose and even fun. Definitely the resources to metabolize even scary things like cancer. So that net back there, you guys saw a little picture of that. That's what we try to express. We actually made that out of paracord and put our dog tag and wrote our commitments on it. 

And then we had this big, massive ceremony where everybody came and read their little dog tag and clipped it together. And, yeah, 1,600 dog tags there. So we'll keep expanding it, hopefully. All right, so I want you guys to net it out. What did you hear? How's God speaking to you? 

Gave you a little commitment card, the one that we use at our retreats. And so think about it a little bit and then see if you can sort of net out, you know, like this is supposed to be a dialogue, right? God's speaking to you, like what are you saying back? And when you concretize it in some sentences and it becomes a historical event in your life rather than just the thought or a feeling you had. So see if you can let it out in a prayer on that card. And if appropriate, you know, check off one of the boxes there. 

So give you some time to do that.