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"You Can Run But You Can't Hide"

1-24-2021

INTRODUCTION:

How many of you like to fish? If you like to fish then you probably have a
favorite fish story, either about that big one you caught or the one that got
away. What's your favorite fish story?

a.) A wealthy businessman hosted a spectacular party in which he had filled

his swimming pool with sharks, barracuda and other assorted dangerous fish.
He announced to his guests that he would like to challenge any of them to
try swimming across the pool, and he would offer a prize of either a new
home in the mountains, a trip around the world for two or a piece of his
business. No sooner had he made the announcement than there was a splash
and a man swam rapidly across the infested waters and jumped out on the

other side.

While the man was trying to catch his breath, the millionaire came over and
started asking his hand and said, "That was an absolutely stunning
performance. What prize do you want?"

The swimmer answered tersely, "Right now I really don't care about the
prize. I just want to get the name of the turkey who pushed me in." (1)

b.) My favorite is about the one armed fisherman who caught one this big.

My favorite fish story in the New Testament is the story of Peter and the
disciples fishing after the resurrection and breakfast on the beach with the
risen Christ. My favorite Old Testament fish story is the story of Jonah. You
see, I can really identify with Jonah.
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I. GOD CALLED:

First off, when God called, Jonah stalled. Jonah has

been called the reluctant prophet. He just flat out didn't want to do what God
called him to do. Jonah was bull-headed and let his prejudices and
preconceived notions about God and who God loves get in the way of his
relationship with God. And Jonah let it get in the way of God's message and
God's call for Jonah's life.

When God called Jonah to hold a revival in Nineveh, Jonah's skin started to
crawl. You see, Nineveh was SIN City. Think of the worst of New York and
Las Vegas combined with the worst of New Orleans during Mardi Gras and
you might get a glimpse of what Jonah thought about Nineveh.

Nineveh was in Assyria, which today, includes modern Iraq. The Assyrians
were noted for burying their enemies alive in the sand with nothing but their
heads sticking out so they could play polo with them until they whacked the
life out of them. Then what remained became a vulture buffet, at times they
were not very nice people. No wonder Jonah was a little reluctant to go to
Nineveh.

B. Not only that, but there was within Jonah an attitude which most Jews of
the time held. Jonah believed that God's message and God's grace was just
for the Jews. After all, they were the chosen ones. That's what God told
Moses. That's what Scripture called them. If the Jews were the chosen ones,
and the Assyrians were so evil, how could God's love extend to them? They
thought it couldn't.
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But God's message of love IS for all people.

The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:28: "There is no longer Jew or Greek,
there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of
you are one in Christ Jesus." But Jonah didn't know that. The Gideons hadn't
made it that far East yet and Jonah hadn't read the New Testament. He didn't
need to. Jonah had the Creator and Author of life telling him what to do.
Unfortunately, Jonah wouldn't allow himself to recognize God's call. Or
listen to it and heed it.

C. There was a young dedicated but rather bashful Christian girl reading
her Bible on a bus. This pushy loud mouthed, belligerent man sat down next
to her and confronted her about the Bible. He asked "Do you believe
everything in the Bible?" And she said, "Yes, I do." He kept on, "You mean
to tell me you believe that Jonah lived for three days in the belly of a
whale?" The girl answered, "Yes." The man persisted, "Well then how do
you explain that?" The young woman answered, "I can't, but I believe it.."

The man became more agitated and said. "Lady, you should be able to
explain whatever you believe!"

The young woman then said, "I don't know exactly how Jonah survived but
I'll ask him once I get to heaven."

Then sarcastically, Mr. Rude asked, "And what if Jonah didn't make it to
heaven?" And she replied, "Then YOU can ask him."

I tell that story because that's probably exactly where Jonah really wanted to
tell the Ninevites to go. He didn't want to preach. He didn't think they
deserved to hear God's message.
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II. JONAH SAILED:

So, Jonah did what any red-blooded reluctant prophet would do: he ran, in
the opposite direction. Jonah looked God square in the eye, said, "Sure thing,
Lord. I'll get on the road today." And then he took off in the opposite

direction.

Haven't you ever done that? We all have. God calls us to do something and
we go the opposite way. Or a friend asks us to do something that we're not
really excited about doing and reluctantly we say, "Sure." We even tell
ourselves not to forget. The operative word here is forget. And we do. We
forget because we didn't really want to do it in the first place. We put OUR
priorities first; when what God wants is to be first in our lives and first on
our to do lists. Jonah isn't the best role model for this in the Bible. He
listened, nodded his head in agreement and ran the other way.

This is the biggest fish story ever. Bigger than Moby Dick or the whale in
Pinocchio. Jonah ran from God and wound up in the weirdest form of
transportation anybody has ever taken. That big fish took off and got as
close to Nineveh as it could and spit Jonah out. It's the only fish I know of
that can talk about the one that got away.

Finally, Jonah relented and presented the message to Nineveh. He didn't

do it with very much style. He didn't rent a tent for a big tent revival. He
didn't live-stream it on the internet. He walked to the middle of the city and
mumbled out something just barely audible: "Forty days more, and Nineveh
shall be overthrown!" No three point sermon. No prayer. No offering. No
hymn of invitation. Just "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown!" Then Jonah left.

Jonah presented and, surprisingly, Nineveh repented. The world's shortest

sermon had the greatest effect. The whole city, adults and children alike
repented and changed their way.
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Jonah 3:1 reads: "The word of the LORD came to

Jonah a second time." I think that's the central message of Jonah. I think that
verse is the key to understanding God's love and desire for us. It's key to
Jonah's message to Nineveh. God gave Jonah a second chance. Jonah had
deliberately, consciously, stubbornly, willfully disobeyed God. Jonah turned
and headed in the wrong direction. He ran from God in a fit of rebellion, yet
God came to Jonah a second time and allowed Jonah to carry out his
ministry. Why? Because God is a God of second chances.

And that's what Jonah didn't understand. He didn't get this whole thing about
repentance. Jonah wasn't reluctant because he was afraid of the Ninevites.
Jonah didn't want to preach because he was afraid they WOULD repent and
God would forgive them. Then Jonah would have to deal with his own
prejudice and accept the Ninevites just as God accepted them. And he didn't
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want to do that. He wanted the second chance but he didn't want to give

them one.

So, what does this have to do with us? Is Jonah about facing our own
prejudices? Is this a story about God using us even when we don't want to be
used? Is this a story telling us to quit running away from God and come
home? Or is this about God taking our worst effort and turning it into a
miracle of grace? I think the answer to all of these is "Yes." But I also think
there is more, too.

I think Jonah is about repentance and a God who loves us so much that God
searches for us even when we run off in the wrong direction. It's about a God
who creates opportunities in which we can repent and turn back to God. This
is the story of our God who is a God of second chances. You see, God could
have just let Jonah go and gotten someone else. God could have told that big
fish to take the final gulp. But God loved Jonah so much, that "The word of
the LORD came to Jonah a second time." Would God have given Jonah a
third chance? I don't know. But God gave Jonah a second chance and that's
all he needed.

God offers us second chances, too. We know the message of

love and forgiveness that Jesus preached but his very first message was,
"Repent, and believe in the good news." You see, you can't receive
forgiveness unless you realize that you need to be forgiven. And that's what
repentance is all about.
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To repent literally means to "turn around", to do a 180, a U-turn, an about

face. Repentance is allowing Christ to reorient us from

past sin to God's future. Repentance is an ongoing attitude of heart and soul.
It reminds us not that we're bad, we're good. God said so at creation. Our
relationship with God has been broken through our disobedience but God
wants to restore that relationship.

Somehow we all have this image of God standing up there with finger
shaking in our face saying, "Bad boy!" or "Bad girl!" But that's not what

God is saying. God wouldn't have created us in

God's own image, say we are very good and then start calling us "bad."
That's inconsistent.

God does say that sometimes what we do may be bad or wrong or break our
relationship with God. We're not bad, but what we do may be. As a
consequence, what happens is that we wind up facing the wrong direction in
life. You see, when you sin you're going the wrong way. You're not going
toward God. You're not going God's way. You're going away from God.
That's why the call to turn back to God is "Repent". It means, "Halt. Turn
around. Do a 180. Head the other direction." It means turn around and come
back home.

That was the message Jonah had for Nineveh. That was the message God
had for Jonah. And that's the message Jesus brings for each of us, "Repent,
and believe in the good news."
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CONCLUSION:

One spring day a mother and her six-year-old son were out in the garden.
Mom was absorbed in her work while the little boy explored the miracle of
growing things exploding everywhere. All at once he picked a daffodil bud,
sat down on the ground and studied it. Then with his two little hands he tried

to force it open into full blossom.

Frustrated, he cried out, "Mommy, why is it that when I try to open the bud,
it just falls to pieces and dies? How does God open it into a beautiful
flower?" And before his mother could give an answer, he made his own "Ah
Ha!" discovery and said, "Oh, I know! God always works from the inside."
(1)

He was right. God always works from the inside,

calling, guiding, reminding us just how much we are loved. God works from
the inside even when we are going the wrong direction. God calls us like
Jonah and like Nineveh to turn around, to "Repent, and believe in the good
news." The question for us is, "What is it that is keeping you separated from
God?" What do you need to turn away from? Your sin might be like that fish
I told you about, this big . . . ., but God still loves you. "Repent, and believe
in the good news." Turn around. Do a 180. Come home. Let the angels in
heaven rejoice. Jesus is calling you.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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Benediction
You have been called. Go into the world in confidence of God’s absolute
love for you. Bring healing words and actions; offer compassion and peace.
Go and be God’s witnesses in all that you do. AMEN.