Encountering Grace before Preaching about Grace
Jonah 1:1-17 (NIV)
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down
to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the
fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6
The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call
on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7
Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find
out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot
fell on Jonah.
8
So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this
trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your
country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10
This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he
was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12
"Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become
calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon
you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14
Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for
taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an
innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:1-2 (NIV)
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
1. Sometimes, God leads us into situations that go bad – in order to expose the major problems in our soul in order to bring grace and transformation to it
Jonah 4:1-2 (Msg)
Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, "God! I knew
it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That's why I
ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily
angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your
plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!
2. When God sends a storm, know that God’s love is already waiting for us under the waves and God’s loving intentions in the middle of the storm
Luke 11:32 (NIV)
The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation
and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now
one greater than Jonah is here.
3. The reason why we can confront our own self-righteousness and our own idols is because God has already dealt with them
Jonah 2:9 (NIV)
…”Salvation comes from the LORD.”
4. If salvation is totally from God, grace is totally free for everyone – only when we receive Grace deeply, continuously will our hearts be ready to give grace freely
Jonah 2:8 (NIV)
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
I am grateful to Tim Keller, from whom most of this sermon came from