Scripture: Jonah 1:1-16 (p. 916)

Title: A missionary packing list

Outline:

Jonah was a complete failure of a missionary. He forgot just about everything that's important. And while Jonah's failures could not frustrate God's purposes, they did leave Jonah miserable. The same is true of the missionary task God sets for us. If we approach it unprepared we will make ourselves miserable. With or without our cooperation, God will still get his work done in the world, but WE will be much happier if we prepare for the task. So here's a packing list of things Jonah forgot, and things we would be wise to remember:

1. a heart of obedience

2. a heart free from idols

3. a heart of compassion


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When you set out on a journey it pays to be prepared.

Our family travels to Toronto two or three times a year. After a lifetime of travel -- and after more than twenty trips to Toronto-- you might think I would have this travel business figured out. But INSTEAD it seems to get worse each year. Inevitably I forget something important.

I remember one trip that was worse than most. It was winter, just after Christmas. We were going to spend New Years with Carol's family. And Carol's Dad had asked me to preach in his church -- rather brave of him, I thought. About two hours driving happily down I-90 -- just before Albany, I think -- I had a sudden panic attack -- my sermon notes were sitting on my desk at home. Then, just into NY state it occurred to me that my Sunday shoes had been left behind. I began to picture myself facing my Father-in-law's congregation barefoot and speechless.

Now our forgetfulness did not prevent us from reaching our goal. It just made our journey more miserable. We still got to Toronto -- but not nearly in as happy a state of mind as if I had been well prepared.

The same is true of the mission that God sets for his followers. If we approach it unprepared we will make ourselves miserable. Make no mistake, God will still get his work done in the world -- but we will be much happier travellers if we enter the journey prepared.

The Old Testament Prophet Jonah learned what happens when God gives a task and we approach it unprepared. Like most of us, Jonah was a complete failure of a missionary. He forgot just about everything that's important. Did this keep God from carrying out his plan? NO! God's will was not thwarted. God used Jonah in spite of himself. And he will do the same with you and I-- the only question is whether we will be willing, and happy participants in His work, or unwilling and miserable as Jonah was.


The story is a familiar one, but let me give you my cliff notes version:

Chapter 1 - Jonah runs away from God. Jonah is minding his business, doing whatever Prophets do when they're off duty, when he hears the voice of God, saying: "Jonah, go to Ninevah." Jonah is not going to be easily had -- he gets on a ship heading in the opposite direction. God decides he needs to get Jonah's attention -- so he sends a hurricane. Jonah stubbornly refuses to pay attention. He goes to sleep in the hold of the ship. But the hurricane DOES get the attention of the crew. They do some quick research and discover Jonah is the problem. He tells them to throw him overboard. They reluctantly do so. The storm stops. The crew worships God. And Jonah is swallowed by a fish.

But HEY, he has his first converts.

Chapter 2 - Jonah has a change of heart . He cries out to God from inside the fish. The fish spits him up on dry land. End of scene.

Chapter 3 - Ninevah is saved . God tells Jonah a second time to go to Ninevah. This time - wisely - he cooperates. He preaches the shortest missionary sermon in history. He goes through the city muttering, "Forty more days and Ninevah will be overturned."

His ministry is wildly successful. The Ninevites repent, the King declares a fast. God is impressed. He has compassion on Ninevah and decides not to torch it.

Chapter 4 - Jonah sulks . Jonah complains to God saying, "I knew it! I knew you were gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love -- I just want to sit down and die." He goes outside the city where he makes a shelter and waits to see what will happen. God grows a vine over him to shade him. Jonah is very pleased. Next day God sends a worm to eat the vine. Jonah is not pleased.

But God, as always, has the last word: The last verse in the book: "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Ninevah has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that Great city."

What can we learn from Jonah? I'd like to lay out a packing list -- things that Jonah forgot and that we would do well to remember.

1. The first thing Jonah forgot -- an obedient heart -- a heart sensitive to the call of God.

God says -- go to Nineveh
Jonah says no way. He goes the other way.

I can sympathize. Ninevah was not a nice place to live. It was not even a nice place to VISIT -- especially if you were a Jewish Prophet. It might help you to know that Nineveh was really very close to present day Baghdad -- so to appreciate Jonah's circumstances, I just have to imagine the word of the Lord comes to me: Dan Brown, go to Baghdad -- I didn't arrange for you to get a degree in Islamics for nothing.

Jonah had to learn obedience the hard way. He tries to run away from God -- and God sends a hurricane. He tries to commit suicide -- and God sends a fish to swallow him.

Is God's will frustrated by Jonah's disobedience? Certainly not. God even used Jonah's predicament to make worshippers out of the Sailors on the boat that Jonah was trying to run away on.

So The first lesson of this story is this: your disobedience will not thwart God's will -- but it may lead you into some miserable storms in life. God will accomplish his purposes. The only question is whether you will be a willing or an unwilling participant.

How does this apply to us at College Church & Stony Brook? Well, God's call to involvement in mission is not limited to a hardy few -- it is not limited to missionaries or pastors -- or church planters. You don't need to wait for an audible command from God. You don't need to ask God for a sign. You already have the command. The command that Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 to "make disciples of all nations" applys to ALL his followers -- not just missionaries and pastors.

That means If ANY one of us who claims to be a follower of Jesus is not involved in SOME way in fulfilling Jesus command to make disciples of all nations, then we are doing exactly what Jonah did -- running away from the clear command of God.

Jonah's second problem was not something he forgot, but something he should have left behind
-- he should have left behind his idols.

Idols? But wasn't he a Jewish Prophet.

Yes, but listen. When Jonah was in the stomach of the whale, he utters one of the most beautiful poems of praise in the Bible -- it takes up the whole of Jonah 2 -- and in the middle of this prayer he says this:

Jonah 2:8 Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. (repeat)

What were Jonah's idols?
What were the things he was clinging to that kept him from effective obedience?

Jonah worshipped at the altar of cultural superiority. His idol was ethnic and national pride. He simply could not believe that God's compassion could extend to Ninevah. And he had good reason. Ninevah was capital of Assyria, and the Assyrians were the scourge of the earth -- they were cruel, ruthless warriors who terrorized the nations they conquered, who despised the Jewish people and scorned God.

Jonah clung to this idol to the end and it made him miserable. He forfeited the grace that could have been his. He was unable to rejoice at the grace and compassion of God

What are your idols?
What altars do you worship at that are preventing you from being involved in some way in God's plan to make disciples of ALL nations?

Perhaps, like Jonah you cling to cultural prejudices that prevent you from crossing barriers of race or geography.

Perhaps you cling to the comforts of your life as it is

Perhaps you fear for your financial or physical well being.

Perhaps you are unwilling to give up relationships

Whatever your particular idol, as long as you cling to it, you will be unable to experience the full grace of God.

It's like this: Anyone who has read Where the Red Fern Grows knows the cheaters way of catching a raccoon. You make a large hole with a small opening -- put a trinket inside. The raccoon will grab the trinket and refuse to let go. Like this . . .

[Demonstrate with hand in pot]

As long as we cling to idols we are trapped and unable to serve God effectively or joyfully.

[OPTIONAL -- Let me give you an even more stark illustration.
Fishing season is upon us. You know how painful it is when a fish hook gets embedded in your skin -- how difficult it is to pull it out. I'd like you to imagine that every thing you care about is attached to an invisible fishing line. And each line is attached to a fish hook that is embedded in your heart. So I have all of these crisscrossing lines stretching out from my heart, like a huge web, each one attached to some thing that my heart is attached to. Here's one connected to my computer. Here's a whole network of them attached to my books. And there are lines for the car, the cd player, the car, the TV, the VCR. Here's a long heavy duty one attached to my checkbook, and another for my retirement account. And every single one of these lines is attached to a hook embedded in my heart.

And I fear that if any of these things will be taken from me, then the line will be jerked -- and it pulls at this hook in my heart -- and it hurts -- can you feel it? -- the hook tears at my heart and it leaves a wound, because I am attached to these things. So I am afraid to let these things get too far from me, because I don't want to feel the pain of having them pulled away. I must gather them close about me to protect myself -- I must protect them with security systems and insurance policies and I must take very good care of them lest I feel the pain of loss.

Then Jesus calls us to leave behind these things in order to serve him -- And I want to get up and follow him. But when I do, I find myself unable to move. You see when I try to follow I must turn away from these things -- and it hurts. It really hurts. Some of the hooks are so deeply embedded in my heart that I can't imagine pulling them out.

Anything that we allow ourselves to be attached to so that it keeps us from giving our hearts wholeheartedly to God is an idol. Our challenge is to remove the hooks that keep our hearts attached to our idols -- so that we will willingly part with them. We cannot be disciples of Jesus if we are unwilling to rip out the hooks that bind our hearts to idols.]

END OF OPTIONAL ILLUSTRATION

Unless we can let go of these things that we cling to -- that we are attached to -- we, like Jonah will simply end up miserable. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

So far we have two things on the list: 1. An obedient heart; 2. A heart free from idols

3. The third thing that Jonah needed was a heart of compassion.

Jonah knew from the start what God was like -- that he was compassionate and merciful --and he did NOT like it.

It was not that Jonah was unloving. I'm sure he was a very loving guy when you got him in the right mood.
He loved certainly loved his people
He loved his country & home
He loved his little vine.

Jonah just didn't like Ninevites -- they were so, well, unlovable.

But that is exactly the kind of love God has called us to. In fact, God calls us to a higher standard than Jonah.
Jonah just had to preach and leave. He didn't have to become a Ninevite -- eat Ninevite food, make friends with Ninevites, learn Assyrian. But our model is Christ who did exactly that for us. When Jesus showed us God's love, he did not stay at at a distance -- he did not love us from afar. He became like us, came to share our lives, our hurts, our joys, our sufferings. We are called to do the same.

1 Cor. 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible . . . 22 I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

Are you willing to become such an incarnational witness? To learn to enter the worlds of those who are different from you -- eat their food, understand their culture, share their hurts and joys.

It means giving up time, eating things you never imagined, being with people who are not always comfortable to be with.

But what else does Christ call us to, but to love those who LIKE US are unlovable.

CONCLUSION

So here's your missionary packing list: An obedient heart, a heart free from idols, a heart of compassion.

But the most important lesson of Jonah is this -- Even though you may fail miserably, God will not fail. He will use you in spite of yourself. God will will accomplish his purposes. The question is this: Will you be a willing and joyful participant in God's purposes -- or like Jonah, will you resist God's plan and be miserable.

"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

[END HERE IF NECESSARY]

Let me end with a more personal word of application:

When I was first talked to about become Pastor at Stony Brook, I was a Jonah. I liked being a professor -- I could serve God just as well as an elder of the church couldn't I?



Today -- no, right now, think about what part God is calling you to play in his plan to make disciples of all nations. Remember, involvement is not optional for a follower of Jesus. What potential ministries do you get excited about? Do you ever say to yourself -- "It would be really neat is someone would do . . " Or "I wish the our church would get involved in such and such" Is there any need in our community or in the world that you just can't get off your mind.

These are pretty good indications that God is calling you to service in that area. Don't be a Jonah! Obey the call of God-- let go of the idols that keep you from serving -- and go for it.

It may be something you can't do on your own -- if you need help, talk to one of your Pastors or Elders. They'll pray with you about it -- they may give you the opportunity to share your vision with others. But don't expect someone else to do it for you. If God gives you the burden, he also gives you the ability.