The Wind, the Whale, and the Worm.

Hi. I am exhausted from campus week, but excited to be here with you. And if you're going to follow along with us, you can go ahead and turn to Jonah. We're going to look at into the profit this morning. And you can go ahead and turn to the book of Jonah and go ahead and turn to chapter one for us. This week, I loved being at Ridge crest surrounded by the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And something that God does often throughout the Bible is that he uses his creation, to teach his people and hearing the story of Jonah, God uses three things in creation to teach Jonah to confront some idols that he has in his heart. We're going to talk about the wind, the whale, and the worm. Now, maybe you are a serious student of the Bible, and you want to raise your hand right now and say, Coby, actually, the Bible doesn't specify that it was a whale. Actually, the verse says that it was a great fish. If you were to say that, I would say, Hey, you are right. However, the wind the great fish, and the worm just doesn't flow as good for a sermon title. So today, it's going to be a whale. Okay? That way, I can get some extra credit for Pastor Charlie for having three W's in a row. Okay. All right, I'm going to summarize the story of Jonah pick out some verses from chapter 123. And four, we're going to highlight three lessons that Jonah learns through the wind, the whale, and the worm. So in verse one, it says this, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Emma tie, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose, to flee to Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. And he paid the fair, and he went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. Now, God tells His Prophet, his mouthpiece, to go to Nineveh and tell the people there about forgiveness of sins, but He boarded a boat instead, to go about 1500 miles in the opposite direction. During the announcement time, I said, three weeks from now, I'm going to be with a team, we're shipping in Panama City, Panama, which is about 1500 miles on an airplane from here to there. So it's about the same distance of where Jonah flees to. about as far away as you can get from the direction that God wants him to go. Right. So why would he do that? Why would you do that? Well, we're gonna see that he is struggling with some heart level idols. This is called the Book of Jonah, and he is the main character. But did you know that this is not the first time that he is mentioned in Scripture? He's actually mentioned another place in Scripture in Second Kings, chapter 14, verse 25, and says he restored the border of Israel, from Lebo Hamath, as far as the sea of the Arabba, according to the Word of the Lord, the God of Israel, and Jonah is supports Jeroboam 's aggressive military policy to extend his nation's power and influence. So the original readers of the book of Jonah would have remembered Jonah as a prophet who is intensely patriotic. Now we have lovely red, white and blue around us all across the sanctuary this morning, is a great holiday, a great weekend, I even have some socks on with American flags on them. It's okay to love your country and to love Jesus too. But Jonah, gets his identity wrapped up so much in his ethnicity, his ethnicity and his nation, that he hates anyone who is not a part of his nation. He is a missionary for God who hates people from other countries. Seems like it can't exist at the same time. Right? As a kid hearing the story of Jonah, which if you grew up in church, you probably heard as well, I always assumed maybe the reason why he didn't go was because he was scared. Because a lot of times in the Bible, when God calls somebody to do something, they raise their hand and they say, I have a speech problem or I'm scared or I don't know enough to be able to do this. And I always assumed that's why Jonah fled as well. But that's not the true reason. The reason why was because he hated the people of Nineveh and he didn't want them to be forgiven. So God sends the wind. Our first W for us this morning. It says in verse four, but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty 10 First on the seas of the ship threatened to break up, we're going to look at the wind, the whale and the worm, how it confronts three idols in Jonah's heart. And this is the first one for us, the wind was used by God, because Jonah needs to repent, from his idol of identity. Jonah needs to repent, from his idol of identity, he loves his own ethnic identity more than he loves God at this point. And so in verse nine, it says, And he said to them, I am a Hebrew. And I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land, sea, even in the midst of this great storm that he finds himself in on the boat, he turns to the other passengers. And what does he brag about? He brags about his ethnic identity. Even in the middle of the storm, he is still proud of his nation, his identity has become completely wrapped up in to the people that he was born into. And verse 12, says, He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and then the sea will quiet down for you, because I know, it is because of me, that this great tempest has come upon you. So God sends a storm, to get Jonah to repent of this idol that he has been clinging to in his heart, he looks around at the other passengers realizes that they are all about to die in this storm unless he volunteers himself to be thrown overboard. And he knows that then God will come, the wind. And so God sends the wind to get Jonah to repent, he needs to repent of the sin in his life, which is racism. But the root of that racism is an idol in which he has come to love his identity more than his God. And I think that God wants to remind us a lesson about our identity in Christ as well. And it's this is that we find freedom. When our identity is in Christ. If you following along, taking notes in the bullets, and you can write this down, it says we find freedom. When we went our identity is in Christ. Now, especially amongst students, college students, people that I hang out with on a weekly basis, there's a lot of conversation about identity. And what do you identify us? And can you identify as something else that you were born, our world is talking a lot about this idea of your identity. And maybe the world may say that you can identify as something today, and tomorrow you can be something else, because according to the world, identity is a fluid concept. But according to the Bible, that if you are a Christian, then your identity is fixed in Christ. Your identity is found in him today, and tomorrow, and forever. And it's not something that changes with your feelings. If you are a Christian, your identity is no longer in your race, your gender, your ethnicity, your hobbies, your accomplishments, or your job, your identity is in Christ. And this is a good and freeing thing for us. If you put your identity in anything else that I just listed, then it will keep you from enjoying God's freedom and also from fulfilling God's mission in your life. And that's what we see here as a warning from the life of Jonah. So let's go on in our story, says Now in verse 17, and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, or maybe this morning. It's a well we don't know. It says, And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish. So Jonah thinks that when he's thrown overboard, he thinks that's the end of his life, he thinks that he's going to go out as a sacrifice, and that God will calm the storm, but God spares his life. By sending this great fish, God has actually given Jonah mercy. And a second chance he swallows him up, and he lets him sit there for three days and three nights. Why? Because God wants him to confess his sin. And Jonah needs to sit there for three days and three nights and think about the sin in his life and the idols in his heart and repent from them. So God sends the whale and the reason why it's Because Jonah needs to repent from his idol of self righteousness. God sends the whale into Jonah's life, because he wants Jonah to understand that he has a second idol in his heart and is this idol of self righteousness. Now, this summer, by God's grace, Lauren and I are going to be celebrating our 10th anniversary. And I've learned at least two things from being married 10 years, probably more than that. But at least two things. And one of the things I've learned after being married 10 years, is that if you find yourself on a date sharing some food, or maybe you're at a restaurant, and you're sharing a dessert or something, and your wife slides the plate across the table to you, and says here, you have the last bite. It's a trap. It's a trap. Do not take that last. But now, if you do take that last bite, and you find yourself now in a predicament, the only way out is by apologizing because apologizing is essential for all relationships, friendships, marriages, and even our relationship with God. And that's what Joe needs to learn here is that he needs to apologize to God he needs to confess his sin, he needs to identify and turn from the idols in his heart. And so it seems like he does here because in chapter two, verse eight, it says those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love, but I would the voice of Thanksgiving, well sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will pay Salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Now here in the belly of this fish, he ironically says idols are pointless. He says, anybody who puts their hope and idols, forsake their hope of steadfast love and salvation belongs to the Lord. Only he says that life can only be found in this God so the fish spits him up. And after his repentance, God gives Jonah a second chance to go. So finally, he makes it to Nineveh and what happens when he gets there? Let's look in chapter three, verse three, and verse four. It says, So Jonah arose, went to Nineveh, and according to the Word of the Lord, now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city three days journey in breath, and Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey, and he called out now this is the sermon that he preaches after beget after being given a second chance in life and a second chance to obey God. This is the sermon that he delivers to the people of Nineveh. He calls out verse four, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Yet 40 days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. This is the shortest and meanness sermon of all time. Imagine that that was my entire sermon for you this morning. I walked up here and I said, if you don't repent from your sins, and 40 days, God will judge you. On the plus side, you would get out of church really fast and you probably would beat the church rush around town, right? You probably would get first in line at Zach speeds or barony house or wherever you're going after this, but on the other side, you probably would leave thinking is Colby okay is Why is he so mad? Does he does he like us? What was that sermon about? And after God just forgave Jonah gave him a second chance at life a second chance in obedience, he walks into Nineveh and delivers the shortest and most self righteous sermon of all time, and walks away with no compassion or grace on the city. You see, God sends this whale to teach Jonah, that he has an idol of self righteousness in his heart, and that he needs to learn about God's grace. And so something else that we can take out of this for ourselves is that we find freedom. When our righteousness comes by faith. Jonah is still trying to earn his own righteousness by being perfect and obedient. And he's walking around with a self righteous attitude. Now for us as Christians, our righteousness does not come from our own works. It comes by grace, through faith, the righteousness that we have, Jesus earned it for us. And he transfers it to our account when we put our faith in him. He took on our guilt, or shame, our punishment for our sin on the cross and exchanges his perfect righteousness to us. And this comes by grace through faith. This is what separates us from every other world religion, that we are saved by God's grace not by our own works. And in the kingdom of God. There's no Room for self righteousness. If we walk around and self righteousness like Jonah, then we will not enjoy the freedom that God has given us. And we will not be able to fulfill the mission that God has given us. Because self righteousness means that you see others through a lens of judgment. And we love ourselves more than others. Are you ever tempted as you walk down the halls, wherever you find yourself at work, or in your neighborhood, or at school, if you're a student, and you're walking by other people, and you are comparing yourself to them, and you're thinking, Am I smarter than that person, in my more successful than that person, and my funnier than that person am I'm more attractive than that person, you're walking around with a self righteous attitude, looking at people through a lens of judgment, but God wants us to see other people like he sees them. And God wants us to love other people in the same way that God loves them. And that can only happen if you find freedom, in the righteousness that's available to you by grace through faith. Now, we've made it to the last chapter in the last part of our story. And so if you're following along, we're in Jonah chapter four. Now, this is one of my favorite parts of the story might be my favorite chapter in the book says, but it displeased Jonah, exceedingly. God had just said he was going to forgive everybody and 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's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. The real reason comes out. It's the he didn't want these people to be forgiven, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and unrelenting from disaster. Therefore, now, oh, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? This is an embarrassing outburst from God's prophet. Jonah says, I knew that you are a loving and forgiving God. That's why I didn't want to go. The Lord says, it really makes sense for you to be angry right now. Didn't you do the same thing? Don't you deserve to be judged? Just like the people in Nineveh? Shouldn't you be happy that they're receiving the same kind of grace that you just did? He yells at God for being forgiving after he just asked for forgiveness from God Himself from the belly of a fish. It goes on and says in verse five, Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, made a booth for himself there and sat under in the shade until he should see what would become of the city. For six now the Lord appointed a plant, and made it come up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up, the next day, God appointed a worm, our third W word, a worm comes and attacks the plant so that it withers. And when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah, so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, It is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, Yes, I do well, to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, You pity the plant, for what you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in the night and should I not parry? 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, and also much cattle? We've talked about the wind talked about the whale. But there's a third W in here, the worm and it's often goes overlooked in the story of Jonah. Right, if you see if you see pictures of Jonah in children's Bibles is there's always a whale there. But it seems like this worm is just as important as the whale, this tiny little animal from the one of the biggest ones to the smallest ones, God is now going to teach his prophet another lesson and confront him on another idol in his heart. And that is that he needs to repent from his idol of comfort. From his idol of comfort, he finds himself up on a hill overlooking the city, waiting, they're sitting back like a villain in a movie waiting for this, the city to be destroyed by God, hoping that it would be destroyed by God. And then a plant comes up. And it grows faster than any other plant he has ever seen. And now he has shade, and he gets to sit back like a villain. And now he's in the shade and he's even more comfortable and he is can't wait for God to bring judgment down on these people that he hates. And then the next morning a worm comes and the worm eats away at his shade. it, and now his shade is gone, and the sun is beating down on his head. And he says, Lord, I don't even want to live anymore. And God says, You care more about your own comfort, you care more about this little plant and the shade that you have than you care about 120,000 people out there, you care more about sitting in the shade rather than the souls of 120,000 people. God wants them to repent from this idol of comfort. Now comforts a gift from God, but it can also hold us back from living the kind of life that God wants us to live. Jesus taught his disciples Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me that doesn't sound like a very comfortable life to me. So Jesus is essentially saying to His followers, you have to choose one or the other. Either you're going to choose comfort in this life, or you're gonna choose to follow me. But if you do, follow me, then you will find everything that your heart is longing for. You will find acceptance, you will find unconditional love, you will find hope you'll find an unshakable joy. And you will find freedom if you follow after me. And so a third lesson for us to be reminded of this morning is that we find freedom. When we embrace God's mission. We find freedom when we embrace God's mission, just like Jonah. God is calling us to live on mission for him today. Question for you. When you drove on your way to church this morning, and I'm so glad that you're here. How many other churches Did you pass along the way? For most of us is probably a couple of different churches that we drove along the way here. And I'm so glad that you're here. I'm so glad that we live in a country where there are many churches and options to worship. But did you know that there are billions of people around the world who will never drive by a church. There are billions of people who live in places of the world, who will never in their entire lifetime, meet one Christian, they will never hear the name of Jesus. And they will never know that Jesus loves them just as much as Jesus loves us. And so if that's true, then we need to embrace God's mission, we need to take this gospel to the ends of the earth. And it starts here as well. Maybe this morning, God wants you to consider joining in on our who's your one campaign, if you've stopped by the Welcome Center, you can see that we have a place to drop in ping pong balls. And this is a reminder to us that yes, we need to take the gospel to all the nations but we need to also take the Gospel to our neighbors as well. And so this morning, if you pray for someone who is far from God, but close to you go ahead and drop a white ping pong ball in there. If you have an opportunity to share a meal with somebody, or serve someone or share the gospel with them drop different colored ping pong balls in there, there's instructions in the Welcome Center, and then rejoice when we see a red ping pong ball in there because it means that someone has given their life to Christ. If you walk by this morning, there are red ping pong balls in there because our church is one that lives on mission. And let's continue to do this. Because we find freedom when we embrace God's mission. One day, a greater Jonah came into the world. And his name was Jesus. He was a substitute who raised his hand and said, Throw me overboard into the sea of God's wrath. Where on the cross he took on God's punishment, not for his own sins, but for our sins. And he was dead and buried for three days, just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so was our Lord in the grave. And then he rose again and went out preaching the forgiveness of sins, just like Jonah was supposed to do. Jesus is a greater Jonah. And if you're here this morning, and you have never repented from your sin, and put your faith in this greater Jonah, then let today be the day of your salvation. Find this freedom that is offered to you in Christ. Come down, pray with me, pray in your heart. Lord, I want to turn from my sin and follow after this. Jesus, I want this freedom and this hope that we've talked about, maybe this morning, you've already made that decision. Maybe you're here and you're a follower of Christ. You've been a follower of Christ for many years. Then maybe this morning God wants you to examine your heart for idols, maybe he wants you to think about am I do I have this idol of identity? This idol of self righteousness? Where am I Lean into this idol of comfort in my life. This morning if you're a believer embrace God's mission for you, and go out this week telling others about the freedom they can find in Christ as well. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you. For Jesus, we thank you for the freedom that we have in him. Or we confess that sometimes we cling to these idols, sometimes there's other other idols that we turn to. Or we're deeply sinful people and we need your even deeper grace to transform us. Pray that if there's one in here today who has never put their faith in Jesus that today would be the day that they begin following after him and for those of us who have been following after you. Lord, help us to go from this place and make Jesus famous among our neighbors, and among among all the nations, we pray this in his mighty Name, Amen.