Major Messages from Minor Prophets God of 2 nd Chances Jonah 2:1-10 July 17, 2011

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1 Major Messages from Minor Prophets God of 2 nd Chances Jonah 2:1-10 July 17, 2011 When I was in seminary my Introduction to the Old Testament professor was Dr. Harrell Beck ( ). He was a great teacher who inspired many students to love the Old Testament like he did. I remember one day he brought an object lesson into class. I was so impressed by what he had, I thought it would be great to own the same thing. That opportunity came one day while Elizabeth and I were walking around Fanuel Hall, a tourist spot in downtown Boston. Here it is. (I know many of your have already scene it, but I like to pull him out from time to time) Since we are talking about the prophet Jonah today, I want to introduce you to my Jonah. (I have a beanbag doll that looks like Jonah that can change into a whale) As a child growing up in the church there were several bible stories I learned quit well. There was Daniel in the lions den. There was Joseph and his coat of many colors. And there was Jonah and the whale. Each story was incredible as it portrayed God s power. Like most children I didn t think much about the theological implications of the story. It was a cool and I could remember what took place. As a child I also didn t question the factualness of the story. If God wanted it, anyone could spend time in a den of lions or belly of a whale. It is only as one grows older that one begins to question whether everything in the bible is true. Did all the events actually take place? In my Old Testament Class we looked at the story of Jonah. There are two trains of thought regarding this story. Some believe it is an actual story of

2 events that took place in the life of the prophet Jonah. These folks point to other places in the bible where Jonah s name is mentioned. Most prominent in those scripture references is Matthew 12: In this passage Jesus says: Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the son of Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. The people of Nineveh will rise up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now someone greater than Jonah is here and you refuse to repent. (Matthew 12:39-41) If Jesus talked about Jonah and Nineveh, then it must have really happened. Why would Jesus talk about events that never took place? The other argument that is made refers to Jonah as a parable. This is a story that is presented to teach some lessons. Just like Jesus used parables in his ministry, so the author of Jonah used a story to present some truths. How can anyone survive 3 days in a whale, or big fish? How could everyone in Nineveh repent after Jonah just says a few words? So is it fiction or is it truth? I am going to answer that question with another question: Does it matter? What is the most important part of the story? Is it Jonah s dealings with the whale or God s dealings with Jonah and the people of Nineveh? I would say it is what God did with Jonah and Nineveh. Both the People of Nineveh and Jonah were given 2 nd chances. Both were forgiven and allowed to move on. As the song in the Veggie tales movie about Jonah states; Our God is the God of 2 nd chances. (Let s watch this scene from the movie) Before I go any further I think I should stop here and give a brief summary of the Jonah story. Studies show that more and more people know less and less about the Bible. We preachers can t assume that everyone knows the bible stories. So if you know the story, bear with me for a couple of minutes.

3 God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the people there to change. Instead of following God s command, which is very rare for a prophet, Jonah heads the opposite direction. While at sea headed for Tarshish a terrible storm turns up. Jonah acknowledges his disobedience to God and get thrown off the ship. A big fish swallows Jonah. After three days in the belly Jonah repents and the fish spits him out. Jonah goes to Nineveh. He pronounces God s Judgment. The people and her King repent. Jonah gets angry at God for not destroying the Ninevites. In the end God uses a leafy plant to teach Jonah a lesson about God s concern for all people Our God is the God of 2 nd chances. That is one of the lessons we get from the book of Jonah. Jonah received forgiveness for not doing what God wanted. The people of Nineveh were forgiven for all their immortality. When we need it ourselves, we too can be forgiven by God. None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. We all do things we know we shouldn t do. The question is what do we do at those moments? When we disobey God, when we break the rules, do we act like nothing happened and believe God did not notice? Or do we acknowledge our poor decision and ask God for forgiveness? There are a number of reasons why we might not be quick to seek forgiveness. We might be trying to convince ourselves we were in the right in order to avoid guilt. We might have been conditioned while growing up to deny any bad behavior in order to avoid punishment. We might have an understanding of God where God is like a judge, always ready to condemn us Whatever the reason we are only hurting ourselves if we don t recognize the forgiveness God offers. In several of the Psalms it says God is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. In order to stop carrying around the weight of bad decisions and poor choices of the past, we can say we are sorry to God. When we do that God will wipe the slate clean and give us another chance. Now we may think there are some people that are unforgivable. We may feel there are some things that people do that are just so horrible, the person who

4 commits those acts should not be forgiven. We eagerly wait for those folks to be punished. If there is one thing we learn from our bibles, especially the book of Jonah, it s that God cares for all people. Each and every one, no matter how good or evil, is one of God s children. God is always there to forgive. This morning let s not think about other folks and the sins they commit. Sometimes I think we get too preoccupied by doing this. Rather than looking at others and their sin, I invite us to look inward. Are you carrying around the weight of guilt and anguish over things you have done or said in the past? Have you done something recently that might have hurt someone or maybe offended God? Today I am inviting us to seek forgiveness from God. Today is the day to let go of the memories from sins committed in the past. Our God is the God of second chances. Our God is offering us today another chance to get it right. All we need to do to confess our sin and offer it up to God. As an act of humble repentance, I am going to invite anyone who desires to come forward and place a piece of yarn on this net. As we tie the yarn on the net may it serve as an acknowledgement of our sin. We don t need to say what it is, God and we already know. Once the yarn is tied to the net let go of that sin. Give it up! As you pause before the net hear God saying to you, My child you are forgiven. Just as God forgave Jonah and the citizens of Nineveh, so God will forgive us of our sins. God is just waiting for us to make our move. I invite you to now come forward if you like. Take a piece of yarn and tie it to the net. Since we all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, we all have reason to participate in this act of forgiveness. There are many ways and opportunities to repent. I am offering one way this morning for those who might find this opportunity meaningful. So for those would wish to come forward come now, for the rest may we be in a prayerful, humble attitude. The video of the Harry Denman Award at the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference was shown to conclude the Sermon (please be patient as the

5 whole file downloads before starting to play; you may want to jump to 05:00 time into the segment):