WEBVTT 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.080 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.240 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:17.920 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:25.839 I'm so glad to see all of you here. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.600 If you are new with us, my name's Clayton. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:33.679 I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch, and we are kicking off a brand new series called Rescue. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:44.240 Now, this is a gospel series, which means every week we are going to specifically talk about the good news of Jesus and why that matters so much in each of our lives. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:52.320 And this series is ending in five weeks on October 8th with live baptism, something that we do at least twice a year. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:01:01.359 It's the best thing that we do for those of you who have been to a baptism service, and it is the right next step for you if you have put your faith in Jesus. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:05.200 It is a way to go public with the decision that you have made. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:09.040 It really brings you into the life and activity of your local church. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:19.200 And so if you have believed in Jesus and you've never been baptized, or if you put your faith in Jesus at some point during the series, I hope you will sign up so we can celebrate that on that day. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:27.040 Now, we are gonna be walking through a story in the Old Testament, uh, what is actually the Jewish scriptures in our Bible. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:35.680 It's a very interesting story that a lot of people know a little bit about, and most people don't know most of the details. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:41.200 It's the story about Jonah, and you might know the title from your children's Bible. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.159 You can help me finish it. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.280 Jonah and the Yeah, it's not a whale, right? 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:46.560 So we need some work on Jonah. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:47.920 So we're gonna do a whole series on it. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:49.359 It never says it's a whale. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.840 Uh actually, Adam and Eve, it doesn't say they eat an apple. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.760 You know, there's a lot we take for granted. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:55.439 It just says it was a big fish. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:10.159 And if that's all you know about the story of Jonah, then as someone who's been studying it for the last couple of months and has been like overwhelmed with conviction as I study the life of Jonah, I think God has so much for every single one of you in this series. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:23.199 If you are not a believer in Jesus and the claims of Christianity, and you might be hung up on the fact that we're gonna go through a story where a guy lives in the belly of a fish for a little while, I'm gonna ask you to hang in with us anyway. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:31.120 I think that this could be a series where if you're open to God speaking to you, it could change the trajectory of your life and your eternity forever. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:36.080 And if you are a believer and you think, oh, another gospel series, I've already believed in Jesus. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:41.919 The full gospel, like what it actually offers you, is not just believing in Jesus and then waiting to die to go to heaven. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.800 It offers you the adventure of a lifetime and following Jesus. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.199 And Jonah has a lot to share with us there too. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.879 My message today to get us started is running from God. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:52.080 Running from God. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:53.520 Would you pray with me? 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:55.360 Jesus, we love you. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:06.639 And sometimes there's a danger into walking into something that feels familiar, danger of taking it for granted, or thinking that we already know. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:12.080 And I'm so confident, God, that you are gonna show us some new things, new perspectives. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.719 You're gonna challenge us in some new ways, and you're gonna encourage us in some new ways. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:32.719 And so I pray for every person at Metachurch, for our seasoned believers walking with you, believing in you for years and decades, all the way to those who are on the fence or even skeptical that we would all just have open minds and open hearts and allow you to move exactly how you want to move. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.439 Today, Holy Spirit, we know that you're here, you're in our midst. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.039 We want to be sensitive to you. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:40.400 Pray you help us with all those things, and we pray it in Jesus' name. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:43.039 And if you're ready to learn more about Jonah, say amen. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:43.840 Amen. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:49.039 Um, we're gonna go by the end of these five weeks, uh, verse by verse, through the entire book of Jonah. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.400 Now it's only four chapters long. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:52.800 You could read the whole thing in 10 or 15 minutes. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:59.120 Today, we're only going to look at the first three verses and really get our background and our setup. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:10.000 Jonah 1, verse 1 says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitai, get up, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their evil has come up before me. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:22.800 And so Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord's presence, and he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish, and he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them from the Lord's presence. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:38.319 Now, Jonah is an Old Testament prophet of Israel, and part of what we try to do, we always try to understand the context of what we're reading in Scripture, and that partially means trying to hear it the way the original audience would have heard it almost 3,000 years ago. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:45.199 And these first three verses would have been a shocking way to open a narrative about one of God's prophets in Israel. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:58.399 Because when you are one of God's prophets, you do whatever God tells you to do, and you say exactly whatever God tells you to say, and you go wherever God tells you to go. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.439 Verse 2 says, the Lord said, Get up. 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:15.839 And verse 3 starts, and so Jonah got up, and you would think, like everyone hearing this in the original time would have heard he got up and just assumed the next line was and went to Nineveh, because that's what prophets do. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.439 They would have been so shocked when let's look at the beginning of verse 3. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.120 Jonah got up to flee. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.480 And Jonah didn't like kind of run, you know. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:31.360 He didn't like shimmy over to the next town and bunker down for a while. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.399 Jonah ran for his life. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:37.600 Like his escape was extreme. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:45.839 I found a map that kind of shows you just how different it was to go to Nineveh or to go to Tarshish. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:50.000 If you see, Nineveh was east of Israel. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.279 That's where he was asked to go. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.759 And Tarshish was due west. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.160 He literally went in the complete opposite direction of where God had called him. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.439 Nineveh was about 500 miles away from Jonah. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.079 Tarshish was over 2,500 miles away. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.800 Nineveh was an easy travel by land where Tarshish, you had to brave treacherous waters. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:20.800 Many people, even experienced sailors, would die on that path to Tarshish because the sea was known to be so wild. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:25.360 Nineveh was a well-known, mighty, expansive city. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:30.480 In fact, it was the key city in the Assyrian Empire, the biggest empire at that time. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.000 Everyone knew Nineveh. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.759 Tarshish was almost like a folk legend. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:45.759 It was so far west and so obscure that the people in Israel thought that Tarshish was literally the edge of the world. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:50.959 Jonah didn't just kind of try to get away from God and his calling. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:54.959 He went as far and as fast as he could. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:56.319 So why? 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.600 Why did this prophet run from God? 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.040 And why did he go to such extreme lengths to do so? 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:08.319 To understand that, we need to understand some background on the story, including who Jonah actually is. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:12.319 In verse 1, it says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:14.480 So, first of all, who was Jonah? 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.160 Who is this guy that we all know from our childhood, the story of Jonah and the whale, right? 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.560 Who is he actually and what was he about? 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:29.040 Interestingly, there's only one other mention of Jonah in all of scripture, and it only comes in one verse. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:42.240 But as quick as that mention is, the context around it tells us so much valuable information, including why he might have been so prone to run from God's calling. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.439 This is in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:53.199 In the Old Testament, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, these are historical books about the kingdom of Israel. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.199 In 2 Kings 14, starting in verse 25, we get some context. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:09.839 King Jeroboam restored Israel's border from Lebo Hamath, as far as the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, have spoken through his servant, the prophet Jonah. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.399 And in case you're thinking it could be a different Jonah, the son of Amitai from Gathefer. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:21.360 And for the Lord saw the affliction of Israel was very bitter for both slaves and free people, and there was no one to help Israel. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:31.040 And the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel under heaven, so he delivered them by the hand of Jeroboam the king, the son of Jehoash. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:47.519 Now, if you know anything about Israelite history, this short piece of context, just three verses, it's actually rich in information and helping us put together who Jonah was, what he was about, the reflection of his character. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:53.679 First, Jonah served under King Jeroboam, who was an incredibly evil king. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.879 He did horrific things in the eyes of God. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:09.039 He disobeyed God at almost every turn, and yet God loved his chosen people Israel so much that he would even use an evil king to build up their defenses and to increase their land. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.399 Jonah is known to history as the patriotic prophet. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:26.159 At the same time that all of the other prophets were spending the majority of their time prophesying against King Jeroboam, against the kingdom, against the monarchy. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:34.799 At that same time, Jonah stood out as very unique because he was prophesying not against Jeroboam, but for the people of Israel. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:36.480 He was a positive prophet. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:47.200 He had a nationalistic fervor, and not only that, he had a zealous, righteous rage against any and all enemies of Israel. 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:53.200 So we see Jonah as the patriotic prophet, and we see that Israel was under great distress. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:59.200 The question is: who was bringing so much pain and suffering to the people of Israel? 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:02.559 And the answer is the Assyrian Empire. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:08.879 And in the Assyrian Empire, their most notable fortified city is Nineveh. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:28.480 And so Jonah has made his entire reputation as a patriot, so much so that he was fully biased in favor of Israel and by today's standards, even bigoted against anybody who was not from Israel. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:39.919 And he has built his reputation, pointing a finger specifically at Nineveh and how much he hates them, and God hates them, and God will have his way and bring wrath upon them. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:50.960 It's Israel versus Nineveh, and God specifically uses Jonah to protect his people against the Assyrians, which makes what God asked Jonah to do so shocking. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:58.320 In the second verse, he tells Jonah, get up and go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their evil has come before me. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:10:59.919 So why does Jonah run? 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.600 This is what we're trying to figure out. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:08.080 We already know he has this history with Nineveh, and now God is calling him to go to this massive city. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:12.879 And here's some things you should know about Nineveh and about the Assyrian Empire more broadly. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.960 Historians look back on the Assyrian Empire during that time as a terrorist state. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:25.039 They were ruthless and malicious and bombastic. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:33.679 They would not only kill you, they would torture you in the most heinous way possible and make sure everyone in the surrounding areas knew about it. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.240 Some of this is recorded in history. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:44.000 There was one regiment, they were known to cut off the lips and the legs of everyone that they captured and watch them as they slowly died. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:55.440 Another king would dismember everyone that they caught, all except one arm, so that their soldiers could mockingly shake their hands and look them in the eyes while they died. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:08.240 Often they would take the people they capture, stretch them out on a torture device, flay their bodies, and take their skins, fashioning it to the outside of their walled fortresses. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:22.879 They would take the severed heads and limbs and legs and arms and pile them in mountains right outside of the empire, daring anyone from the outside who showed up to actually come in and face them. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:29.440 What you might find interesting is that the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and says, get up and go. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:31.200 Go to Nineveh. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.200 Enter the city. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:37.600 Preach against them. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:49.279 You might find it interesting that this is the first time in thousands of years of prophets that God ever called someone to actually go to the place they were prophesying against. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:13:03.919 Plenty of the other prophets had prophesied against different nations and people who had become enemies of God, but every prophet before Jonah prophesied against other nations from the safety and comfort of being inside of Israel. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:10.080 Jonah is the first one who is told to go and face them, man to man, face to face. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.159 Jonah is biased, if not bigoted. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:16.399 He's the patriotic prophet. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:19.519 He doesn't think that Nineveh is worth his time. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.639 He doesn't believe that they deserve to hear from God in the first place. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:30.399 And as we'll learn by the end of our series, Jonah's greatest fear is that Nineveh might actually listen to God and God would spare them. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.600 That was the worst possible outcome for Jonah, who hated Nineveh. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:46.080 So not only does he see it as having no merit from a prophetic lens, he also knows that this trip has a high, high likelihood that it will ultimately cost him his life. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:51.039 So God calls him to go, and instead, Jonah decides to run. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:54.879 In verse 3, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.679 He got up to flee, most importantly, from the Lord's presence. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.399 He went down to Joppa, a port town. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:10.639 He found a ship going to Tarshish, he paid the fare and went down into the ship to go with them away from the Lord's presence. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.000 Yes, he's going to a foreign land, the edge of the world, in the opposite direction of Nineveh. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.879 But more importantly, he's trying to outrun God. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.320 Jonah goes all in on this trip. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:31.039 This would have been extremely dangerous, and it would have been extremely expensive. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:45.200 There are many Jewish scholars who believe that Jonah would have had to drain his entire life savings and more than likely even sell any homes or properties that he owned just to afford to get all the way to Tarshish. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.799 The Israelites were known as land-dwelling people. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.360 They didn't risk the high seas. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:52.879 Jonah took the risk. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:58.720 This is how desperately he wanted to get away from what God was calling him to do. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:14.480 And so we can talk about Jonah's nationalistic leanings, his fear of the malicious Assyrians, his embarrassment, frankly, at going and prophesying to the people of Nineveh when he's built his reputation prophesying against the people of Nineveh. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.679 But the question is, why did Jonah run? 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:26.799 And to boil it down and really get to the heart of it, Jonah ran because Jonah did not trust God. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:43.759 And one of the things that we tend to do is when we watch a movie, or we read a novel, or when we study scripture, we have a tendency to view ourselves through the lens of the hero of the story, you know? 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:48.639 Like when you watch Avengers Endgame, you're Iron Man, right? 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.720 Like you would have snapped and saved the world because that's who you are, you know. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:16:00.480 Often we read scripture and we read it as if we should be the hero of the story, and so we're very quick to cast judgment on someone like Jonah. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:01.759 How could he? 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:06.000 He heard like the literal audible voice of God. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:12.080 I mean, what would you give for God to part the clouds and be like, here's the plan for your life, you know? 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:17.519 This thing you've been like wrestling and screwing up and trying to, here's what I need you to do. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:18.879 We ask for that all the time. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.720 God, if you would just tell me what to do, I would do it. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:26.159 The question is, what if what God asked you to do is the last thing you would want to do? 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:35.039 We're quick to blame Jonah, but really what Jonah represents is humanity's wrestling with God since the very beginning. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:51.200 And as humans, we tend to have this default position that when our plans and desires for our own life come into conflict with God's plans and desires for our life, we often default to assuming our plans are better. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.159 This goes back to like the beginning beginning. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.279 All the way back in the garden narrative, the creation narrative. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.840 We read about it in Genesis chapter 2. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:09.599 It says the Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it, and the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:10.799 Like all of them are yours. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:16.720 You can have any one of them except you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:21.279 For on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:30.240 What's interesting about this moment is God told them the consequence, but he never explained the rationale. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:34.319 Like, okay, God, I hear you. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:36.640 Um, but why? 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:37.440 You know? 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:40.160 Is this your special tree? 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:40.720 You know? 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.079 Is it poisonous? 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:44.079 Like, why can't we eat from it? 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:51.680 You told me the consequence, and I really don't want to die, but I'm highly curious as to why this rule exists in the first place. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.519 And everyone who has kids knows this. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:18:01.759 As soon as you give a kid a rule, hey, don't touch that, hey, don't go there, don't watch that, don't look at this, the first question they ask is like, well, why not? 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:02.400 You know? 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.480 Don't, don't, you cannot touch the stove. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.000 Well, why can't I not touch the stove? 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.640 Like, they want to know the rationale behind it. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:20.960 And one of the hardest things, especially as your kids get older, once they start hitting those preteen and teenage years, there are some things that you know as a parent that your kids should not do. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:24.559 And for the life of you, you don't know why. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.039 You just have to ask them to trust you. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:40.000 And whether or not they are going to follow the command that you have laid down will ultimately come down to whether or not they trust that your reasons are good. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:47.279 Adam and Eve went in. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:55.279 God's plans came into conflict with their desires, and they set a pattern that humanity has fallen into for the rest of humanity. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:19:01.440 That when God's plans and our plans are at odds, we often default to our plans. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:26.799 And increasingly, in today's culture, where our societal norms, like the normative things in our culture, are increasingly coming into conflict and completely at odds with God's revealed design and God's revealed desires for our life and our world, it creates more and more and more questions. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:27.839 Why? 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:36.799 Whether you're a longtime believer or someone who is still on the fence, we all have these big why questions. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:43.440 Like to follow Jesus, why do I have to give up so many of my desires? 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.000 So much instant gratification? 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:52.720 Why would I have to sacrifice the plans I've made, maybe even some of the dreams that I have for my life? 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:59.039 Why forfeit immediate pleasure for some future, somewhat ambiguous, eternal reward? 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.359 Why do I have to always put others before myself? 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.279 Why do I have to love those who persecute me? 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:12.240 Why do I have to be kind to those who are my enemy? 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:24.720 Why should I trust a first century carpenter with the whole of my existence and with everything that comes when this life is over? 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.720 A lot of questions. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:27.839 Why? 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:38.559 Jonah made the mistake that all of us make at times, and if we were able to be brutally honest, some of us are making right now in certain areas of our existence. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:42.960 God's plan and Jonah's plan came into conflict. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.400 And Jonah thought his plan was better. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:48.480 We do this. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:50.160 And so we run. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:21:08.000 We run into our worst ways, into our addictions, we run into toxic relationships, into dangerous patterns, we run into overworking, into trying to earn something to impress people around us who will never ultimately even notice and certainly don't care about us. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:13.119 We run into the rat race that the rest of the world is running. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:24.319 Trying to prove our value, our worth through status or influence or money or material possessions or attention or sexual affection. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:26.160 We run. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:35.920 And it seems like the more that we choose to run from God, the easier and easier it becomes. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:41.519 And here's what's so ironic Jonah knew he couldn't outrun God. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:49.119 He was an Israelite prophet, which meant he knew the Psalms, those are the poems in the very middle of your Bible. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.359 He knew all of them backwards and forwards. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:56.240 He would have memorized all of them in their version of elementary school. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.759 He knew what Psalm 139 says, Lord. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.480 You have searched me and known me. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.200 You know when I sit down and when I stand up. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:09.039 You understand my thoughts from far away. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.200 You have encircled me. 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.279 You've placed your hand on me. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.720 Where can I go to escape your spirit? 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.759 Where can I flee from your presence? 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:25.359 Those are rhetorical questions with an assumed answer that there is nowhere. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:32.400 Jonah knew he could literally go to the ends of the earth. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:36.799 And he could not hide from God. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.880 And yet, Jonah ran anyway. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:44.480 And it's easy to point fingers at Jonah. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:52.319 But can I just tell you for virtually my whole life, I've known there is nothing I can hide from God. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:59.279 And over and over and over again throughout my life, I tried anyway. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:07.759 Most believers, if you were to ask, will say, I know there's nothing I can hide from God. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:13.599 And yet so often we find ourselves running from God anyway. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:22.400 Pastor Tim Keller, who recently went home to be with the Lord, he had a really big impact on me early in my Christian journey. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.759 He says that there are two primary ways that we run from God. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.720 One will not surprise you, and the other one might surprise you a little bit. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.799 The two ways that we run from God are rebellion and religion. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:38.559 Rebellion and religion. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:47.119 My plans are better than your plans. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:48.960 Religion says something different. 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.359 Rebellion says, I don't need you. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:55.039 Religion says, You owe me. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.480 My plans are better than your plans. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:10.240 When our plans and desires and dreams come into conflict with God's plans and purposes and design for our life, often we run into rebellion. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:12.880 We run into sin and transgression. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:18.000 And sometimes we get this idea, like, I know what God says, at least at some level. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:23.759 I've gone through the verses that speak about the specific thing that I desire to do. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.680 I know that God says it's wrong. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:31.519 And listen, I hold to like 99.9% of what the Bible says, right? 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:44.480 Like I'm gonna follow God in all of these other areas, but in this one area that I really want and that I deeply desire on this one area, me and God have something worked out, you know. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:46.880 I think God will understand. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:49.039 I'm not I'm not throwing out the whole thing. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.359 I, you know, I'm still a Christian, I'm still trying to do the thing. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:59.200 I'm not throwing out the whole thing, but on this thing or on these couple of things, you know, God will under He'll forgive me. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:13.680 And can I just tell you, in about 16 years of ministry, every time that someone starts there, I'm gonna choose my plan, but just on one thing. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:23.200 As soon as someone takes one step of rebellion, a countdown begins for them to take more and more and more steps away from God. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:29.920 And what rebellion says is I don't need God. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:39.200 His plan, this whole thing he's asking me to do, all this sacrifice, all the hard work, all the suffering for some kingdom that may or may not come someday, I just don't need it. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:44.079 I can make my own way, I can be my own God, I can set my own direction. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:47.359 It is so interesting, it verges on ironic to me. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:26:00.000 The number of people who claim that they don't believe in God, who seem to spend almost every waking hour proving to the people around them that they don't need the God they say they don't believe in. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:11.680 We often run into rebellion, but interestingly, we also run into the dense cover of religion. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:38.400 And religion is someone who says, I do all the work, you know, and God, you've seen, man, you've seen, you've seen the offerings I've given, and you've seen the service that I've done, and all those temptations, all the times I didn't go to the strip club, all the times I didn't cheat on my wife, all the times I shut down the browser, all the times I didn't tell the lie, you've seen how honest I've been and all the work, and I've stayed close to you, and I've obeyed you, and I've never rebelled like all these people, like all these people over here. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:42.079 I've never done all the rebellion stuff, and now I want something. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:48.160 And so it's time, I've earned it, at least a few IOUs from the Almighty. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.759 And so now, let's do my plan. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.279 Let's get on my agenda, my timeline. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:04.160 Religion can sneak up on you because you have a prayer that you really want answered, instead of just trusting God with it and seeking Him, you start working. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:10.799 And you're not working out of a love of relationship from your Heavenly Father, you're working to hold something over his head. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:17.119 You give more to the offering that month that you really need a prayer answer than you've ever given in your whole life combined. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.039 God, I know you see this, and you know what I'm asking for here. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:25.279 And God doesn't operate like the mafia, you know? 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:29.039 It's not about what you can leverage, and rebellion is serious. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:33.599 Scripture says it is a terrifying thing to run into the hands of an angry God. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:43.119 But can I tell you it is equally terrifying to try and live your life manipulating the God who spoke you into creation? 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:49.279 There's two main ways that we want run rebellion and religion. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:53.519 And interestingly, in Jonah's story, he does both. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:03.519 Jonah has served God his whole life, he's been a prophet, he's done what God has told him to do, and he feels like God owes him something. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.960 We see it not just here at the beginning where he doesn't like God's plan, we see it all throughout the story. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:11.680 He is religious. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:16.799 He thinks that his service has earned him an IOU from the Almighty. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:24.000 And then, when God does not give in to his desires and his plans, the religious Jonah rebels. 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:28.240 And he runs as far and as fast as he can. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:37.359 The question that the story of Jonah really brings to the forefront for all of us is simply: do you trust God? 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:42.799 And if not, where are you running? 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:45.759 Are you running into rebellion? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:51.920 Are there aspects of how you're living your life that you know are outside of God's design and desire for your life? 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:54.240 Are you running into religion? 00:28:54.799 --> 00:29:00.799 Is it not about a loving relationship where you truly trust your father for all the good things that you need? 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.799 Or are you trying to earn something, leverage something, hold something over him? 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:10.400 Or are you stuck in both, like Jonah? 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:24.880 When Jesus was on earth, this is like almost a thousand years after Jonah, 800 years after Jonah, when Jesus was on earth, he told a story, a parable, about what rebellion and religion look like in everyday life. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:33.200 And most importantly, the actual point of the story is how our Heavenly Father deals with both forms of running. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:34.799 You've probably heard the story. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:38.319 Often we title it the Prodigal Son. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:45.519 And yet, a far more accurate title would be something like A Tale of Two Brothers. 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:50.160 Now, when Jesus tells the story, we don't get their names. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:55.200 But for the sake of our message today, I'm gonna name them for us. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:59.200 The more popular of the brothers, that's the younger brother. 00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.599 We're gonna call him rebellion. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:06.960 Then there is the older brother, he really comes into play later in the story. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:09.680 We're gonna call him religion. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:21.759 Now, both of these brothers, they lived with their father, all of their needs were met, and they knew that someday in the future they would receive an inheritance beyond belief. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:34.079 Now, to be in the father's house, there were expectations, there were rules to follow, there was work to be done, sometimes there was struggle and even suffering, but if they could stay close, they didn't have to be perfect. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:41.599 They're gonna screw up along the way, but if they'll stay close and they'll trust the father, someday the inheritance would come. 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:57.839 One day, the younger brother decided he was done working and he was done waiting, and what he did, in effect, was to steal half of the family's wealth. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:05.119 He took it and he ran off, scripture says, into the far country. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:13.119 A place of decadence, a place where he felt he would never be found, a place actually that sounds quite similar to Tarshish. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:15.440 And he lived it up, man. 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:23.039 He lived in splendor and wealth and decadence and popularity for about seven minutes. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:48.240 He had every woman at his disposal, he had a whole host of fake friends, he bought drinks for the club every night, but then the money ran out, and the drought came and the friends disappeared, and he found himself all the way at the very depths of chaos. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:56.799 Meanwhile, the older brother, religion, he stayed home, he worked hard, slaved away. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:04.240 And if he were really honest, he kind of enjoyed the fact that his no-good little brother wasn't around anymore. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:05.359 He didn't have to deal with him. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:08.240 At the end of it all, he wouldn't have to share anything with him. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:12.079 Life was pretty good for the older brother. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:14.400 One day everything changed. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:20.240 As the older brother was out working in the field, he heard a rumor that rebellion had come home. 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.599 I imagine the older brother was like, I cannot wait for this. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:29.039 He's gonna finally get what's coming to him, you know? 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:30.640 Oh, dad will tear him up. 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:34.160 I bet he'll disown him in front of he may lay hands on him, honestly. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:38.319 Like he might just beat this worthless child in front of everybody. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.000 If you know the story, you know what actually happened. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:47.680 Is the father saw his rebellious son. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:54.079 When he saw him in the distance, the father ran to him. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:04.400 You see, one of the things that happens when you start running from God, maybe you aren't a believer and you've been running from God. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:20.079 Maybe you are a believer, but in this season you've been running from God, is we not only have to contend with the fact that we have chosen our plan over the God of the universe's plan, we then often buy into religion's lie. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:36.240 And religion's lie says, God is so mad at you, and he's so disappointed in you, and you've broken his trust so much, and you've just gone too far, and you have sinned too explosively. 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:41.119 If you came home, all you would get is punishment. 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:44.079 And Jesus told this story. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:55.359 Jesus, who knows God because he is God, he told us this story, so we would never have to question what would happen if you stopped running from God and you start running to him. 00:33:56.240 --> 00:34:04.720 Your heavenly father is waiting on the hillside, he's watching every day for the slightest inclination that you might turn things around and head home. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:08.159 And as soon as you do, your father will run to you. 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:22.159 He came to the sun and threw his arms around him, he wept on his shoulder, he removed his robe and placed it on his back, he put rings on his fingers, he forgave him and restored him and threw a party in his honor. 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.760 This is what your heavenly father is waiting to do. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:28.480 If you're just ready, you're done living. 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:35.440 Look, if you run from God far enough, it might be fun for a second, but the fun will run out, and there's something missing inside of you. 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:44.559 You cannot rebel against the designer of the universe who has purposed the universe for too long before your life will end up in the depths of chaos. 00:34:44.639 --> 00:35:04.239 And for some of you, you look like you have it all together on the outside because you've made the money that you wanted to make and you got the job that you want to have, and you have all of the things that you dreamed about having, but at the core of who you are, it is hollow, it is shallow, it is unfulfilling, it is purposeless, and it's because you are disconnected from your heavenly father. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:14.559 And if you would stop running from him and run to him, he would meet you where you are, bring you into his family. 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:22.239 Religion found out what had happened, and as you can imagine, he wasn't too happy. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:30.000 The thing that religion hates the most is someone being blessed by God who they don't feel like has earned it. 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:36.480 Nothing will make them matter than someone who's been rebellious coming home and being shown grace. 00:35:36.800 --> 00:35:44.400 Because it completely destroys the foundation that their life is built on, a foundation that says, if I do enough, God's gotta give me what I want. 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:48.000 We actually read about this in Luke 15. 00:35:48.159 --> 00:35:52.800 The older brother tells the father, look, I've been slaving many years for you. 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:53.519 Slaving. 00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:55.519 Is he a slave or a son? 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:59.840 I've been slaving many years, I've never disobeyed you. 00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.000 You never even gave me a goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:15.119 But when this rebellious, good-for-nothing son of yours came home, who's devoured half of your wealth out there spending it on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him. 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:22.719 The father gently reminded his religious older son, everything the father had was already his. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:30.559 He wasn't owed anything because of his work, he was gifted everything because of his relationship. 00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:33.280 Religion says, I don't need you. 00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:35.760 My plans are better. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:42.079 Religion says, You owe me, my plans are better. 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:50.159 Both are rooted in not trusting the Father, both are forms of running from what God actually offers us. 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:54.559 To trust him, to be in relationship with him. 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:05.280 I was both religious and rebellious. 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:08.239 I grew up serving God, I loved God. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:16.400 And as I got older, my desires started to change, and my desires were in conflict with God's demands for my life. 00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:21.039 And yet I had done so much for God, I kind of felt owed. 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:25.519 And when I couldn't make it make sense, I just ran. 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:30.079 I ran into sin, into my insecurities. 00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:33.039 You probably know this about me by now. 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:34.559 I don't do anything halfway. 00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:36.639 I ran into the party lifestyle. 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.719 If I was gonna drink, I was gonna drink all the time, and I was gonna drink till I blacked out. 00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:42.880 If I was gonna get high, I was gonna get as high as I can. 00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:45.039 I gave into all of it, I gave into all of my lust. 00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:50.880 I rebelled, I spit in the face of God, day after day after day, and I was religious. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:38:01.840 I was rebellious, but I was religious, and so I believed the lie that I was so far gone that probably the worst thing I could do is try to come home. 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:05.119 What kind of a freaking hypocrite would that make me? 00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:15.599 And the thing that changed my life is when God finally got my attention, I realized a truth that you must know today. 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:19.440 You cannot outrun God. 00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:32.239 He's given you a free will, you can choose to go to the farthest country, you can choose to live as your own God and king, you can rebel and reject him your entire life. 00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:35.360 But you simply can't outrun him. 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:49.599 And every moment of every day, whether you know it or not, whether you're aware of it, whether you're sensitive to it, God is doing everything he can to call you back to himself. 00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:54.880 See, God created a world of cause and effect. 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:57.280 You reap what you sow. 00:38:57.440 --> 00:38:59.840 Sometimes God interjects into his world. 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:03.039 Sometimes he sends big storms and big fish. 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:12.320 Normally, he just allows you to come under the consequence of trying to live your life apart from the God who created your life. 00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:27.280 And God will use consequence, he will use broken expectation, he will use every rock bottom that you hit, he will use every disappointment, he will use every parent on their knees praying for your life. 00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:39.679 He will use every part of it if you'll let him, he will use this service today, he will use a broken, jacked-up preacher who was Joanna half of his life to tell you that if you'll run home, your father will meet you there. 00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:46.239 He will give you the life that you were created to live. 00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:58.559 A life that's unimaginable, a life that is fulfilling, a life where you're not perfect, but you stay close to your father. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:09.519 And even when it doesn't make sense, you choose to trust him, and he will give you all that he has. 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:19.840 Not because you've worked for it or deserved it, but because he loves you and he's your father. 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:26.320 The question is, are you tired of running? 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:28.800 Will you trust him? 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:36.800