What's more important than a US Presidential election? Almost everything.

For as much as Evangelicals tend to mock the Priests & Scribes in Scripture for their focus on merely momentary social & political issues of their time & not the deeper, Heavenly Truths taught by Christ this most recent US presidential election should have been a real eye-opener, that we haven't "evolved" much from the error of our spiritual forefathers 2000 years ago. #whatsmoreimportant

Reviewing possibility for female deaconesses (non-ordained)

Reviewing possibility for female deaconesses (non-ordained)

Women Deacons (Pro/Con) the Bible 05-06-2014

My opinion deacons can be women and we already have many women deacons even if we refuse to recognize them as such (as example - many of, if not most of our wives for instance). 

1^st question is are we limited to ONLY doing what the Bible say or ONLY restricting what the Bible says NOT to do. This may impact the question at hand.

Pro – Romans 16:1 Phoebe is recommended to the Church of Rome as a deaconess already.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant (or deaconess) of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house.

                  Con – S thinks a slippery slope and will lead to liberalism and is against it & I think the implication in 1 Timothy 3 is its men (although not explicitly)

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 (“Their” isn’t in the original Greek) Wives (or Women) likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife (non-polygamous), managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

**When reviewed more in detail later it seems Paul is giving the category of Male & Female deacons otherwise it makes no sense why there is expectation of Deacon wives & not Elder wives. There is an interesting lack of the He, He, His language in the Overseer section** 

The Early church

Aside from Paul’s writings other Early Church references can be found for the role of deaconesses. The deaconess ministry is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen.  Secular evidence from the early 2nd century confirms it. In a letter Pliny of Bithynia attests to the role of the deaconesses. Pliny refers to "two maid-servants" as deaconesses whom he tortures to find out more about the Christians. This establishes the existence of the office of the deaconesses in parts of the eastern Roman Empire from the earliest times. Fourth-century Fathers of the Church, such as Epiphanius, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa accept the ministry of female deacons as a fact. And both the Council of Nicea in 325  (Cannon 19) Likewise in the case of their deaconesses, and generally in the case of those who have been enrolled among their clergy, let the same form be observed. And we mean by deaconesses such as have assumed the habit, but who, since they have no imposition of hands, are to be numbered only among the laity & Council of Chalcedon of 451 (A woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination) both reference women deaconesses.

Early Church on 1 Tim 3 -In the late second century, Clement of Alexandria (155–220) indicated that this text presented evidence for the existence of diakonon gunaik n (“women deacons”). John Chrysostom and Theodoret, writing in the fourth and fifth centuries respectively, also understood these women to be female deacons.

On Romans passage - Early church writers give their own interpretation of this passage. Origen (185–254) interprets Paul’s statement to teach, “that there were women ordained in the church’s ministry.”² About Phoebe and the other women of Romans 16, John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) wrote: “You see that these were noble women, hindered in no way by their sex in the course of virtue; and this is as might be expected for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.”³ Theodoret (393–460) noted Phoebe as “a woman deacon, prominent and noble. She was so rich in good works performed as to have merited the praise of Paul.”⁴

Somewhere between A.D. 111 and 113, Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking how he should deal with Christians. In the letter, he tells of questioning two women, who were called ministrae, the Latin equivalent of diakonos.⁷ Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.
The Didascalia Apostolorum [Teaching of the Apostles], undoubtedly from the eastern part of the empire and composed in the third century, gives specific instructions about the role of men and women church workers: “Therefore, O bishop, appoint yourself workers of righteousness, helpers who cooperate with you unto life. Those that please you out of all the people you shall choose and appoint as deacons: on the one hand, a man for the administration of the many things that are required, on the other hand a woman for the ministry of women.”⁹

Tomb inscriptions also provide evidence that female deacons served the church. Among others, an inscription found in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives tells of “Sophia the Deacon.” Dated to the second half of the fourth century, the tombstone reads: “Here lies the slave and bride of Christ, Sophia, the deacon (h diakonos), the second Phoebe.”¹⁰ As a “bride of Christ,” Sophia would have been celibate.

A compelling example is the stone pictured above, found by workers at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on December 8, 1903. Probably dating from the fourth century, the Greek translates as “Here lies the slave and bride of Christ, Sophia, the deacon, the second Phoebe, who fell asleep in peace on March 21^st during the 11^th indiction…” The inscription’s subsequent lines are broken or missing, which is especially unfortunate because line 8 likely names a presbyter (pres-) that may have helped us to date and situate the artifact.

At the Council of Chalcedon (451), the ordination of deaconesses is expressly called ordination by the imposition (laying on) of hands. Members of the Council agreed that “a woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination.”

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While not all together 100% clear (& personally I'd like more NT proof texts), the evidence seems pretty large for at least the possibility if not the certainty of a role for "deaconess" in the local church.  

Worship Elements from the NT

Worship Elements from the NT

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Scripture read - 1 Timothy 4:13

Homile - Sermon/message - Acts 20:7

Confession of Faith - 1 Timothy 3:16

Singing - Colossians 3:16

the Prayers - Acts 2:42

Congregational 'Amen' - 1 Corinthians 14:16

Physical action (lifting hands) - 1 Timothy 2:8

Thanksgiving - Luke 22:19-20

Remembrance - 1 Corinthians 11:25

Anticipation of Christ's Return - 1 Corinthians 11:26

Intercession - John 17:1

Kiss of Peace - Romans 16:16

Ligonier Survey

Ligonier's recent survey of people who identify as "evangelical" is summarized well by this chart. "Evangelical" used to mean the belief in Scripture as God's inspired, inerrant Word and faith in Jesus is the only way for sinners to be saved.

Now "Evangelical" means Evangellyfish and is a worthless position as it relates to historic Christianity. SO much more could be said....

Edifying Thoughts of a Tobacco Smoker - J S Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is far more well known as a composer than a poet.  But in fact he wrote some poetry, including this little ditty about pipe smoking.

Edifying Thoughts of a Tobacco Smoker

Whene’re I take my pipe and stuff it
And smoke to pass the time away,
My thoughts as I sit there and puff it,
Dwell on a picture sad and grey:
It teaches me that very like
Am I myself unto my pipe.
Like me, this pipe so fragrant burning
Is made of naught but earth and clay;
To earth I too shall be returning.
It falls and, ere I’d think to say,
It breaks in two before my eyes;
In store for me a like fate lies.
No stain the pipe’s hue yet doth darken;
It remains white. Thus do I know
That when to death’s call I must harken
My body too, all pale will grow
To black beneath the sod ’twill turn.
Or when the pipe is fairly glowing,
Behold then, instantaniously,
The smoke off into thin air going,
Till naught but ash is left to see.
Man’s frame likewise away will burn
And unto dust his body turn.
How oft it happens when one’s smoking:
The stopper’s missing from the shelf,
And one goes with one’s finger poking
Into the bowl and burns oneself.
If in the pipe such pain doth dwell,
How hot must be the pains of Hell.
Thus o’er my pipe, in contemplation
Of such things, I can constantly
Indulge in fruitful meditation
And so, puffing contentedly,
On land, on sea, at home, abroad,
I smoke my pipe and worship God.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sunday school John 18:1-27

Jesus, You're Under Arrest!  - Recommendation Gospel of John on Netflix (docudrama) 

Most of us would hate the thought of being arrested and brought to trial. If we were guilty of a crime, being arrested would be humiliating. But if we were innocent, it would be devastating. Yet in what should have been a demeaning experience for Jesus, we see again his majesty and glory. Jesus uses the experiences of attack, betrayal and abandonment to demonstrate his confident trust in the Father. His calm assurance will help us face life's hurts and injustices with the same trust in the same Father.
Read John 18:1-27 

(on the board)

Themes:

Jesus & God same (John is big on the Incarnation)

Peter & Jesus opposites

Jesus: sovereign to save (friends), but willing to die (for enemies)

Jews: violence to Jesus, Jesus: peace to the Jews

In the Garden: vv 1-11
Why would Jesus go to a place where Judas knew Jesus might be found (vv. 1-3)?

Answer- He intended to be found.

18:3 – the chief priests expected resistance to Jesus’ arrest that’s why they sent armed soldiers, also they’d sent soldiers to arrest Jesus once before (John 7) & they came back empty handed the soldiers reporting, “No one ever spoke like this man!” This time they mean to get it right.

18:4 – Jesus was ready to be arrested & did not attempt to flee or escape what he knew was coming; what the Father had sent him to do. Also this verse states Jesus is omniscient like God, (all-knowing).  

• When the soldiers say they are seeking Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus replies "I am he" (lit. "I am"; v. 5). How would you explain the reaction of the soldiers falling back (v. 6)? Or why is this important? Read: Ex 3:13-22 the great I AM of the OT is God himself, Jesus is God incarnate.

18:8 – Jesus shows even here his concern for his friends even in his time of trial, asking soldiers twice, “who do you seek?” reminds the soldiers its just Jesus (not the disciples they’re after).

18:10 – Peter strikes out to defend Jesus, Luke 22 tell us additionally how Jesus heals this Jew even as he’s being unjustly arrested by him (Jesus passive, Peter violent & Jesus peace to the Jews)  

·       What did Peter do to protect Jesus? (Think: Why would he have done this?

·       In what way was Peter right or wrong?)

·       What did Jesus say to Peter and why?

18:11 – “put away your sword” this is to say, this is why I came: to be arrested, tried, killed. “The Cup” Jesus mentions is the Cup of God’s wrath which is an image used a lot in the OT from Psalms & Jeremiah. Jesus accepts his role to drink this cup of God’s wrath against sin & die for sinners.

Jesus faces Annas & Caiaphas: vs 12-14 & 19-24

The Jews’ anger was against Jesus was for calling himself God’s Son but the story changes pretty soon as they have to “trump” up treason charges to get the Romans (who could put him to put him to death as a traitor)

·       What did the high priest ask Jesus, and how did Jesus respond (vv 19-21)? (Think: What

·       point was Jesus making?)

·       What did Jesus say in response of being hit (vv 23)?

There is a laundry list of irregularities & inconsistencies based off the “Mishnah” order for Sanhedrin & Jewish law that show this was a sham trial against Jesus

            Meeting at night, death penalty decided on 1^st day of hearing or trial, false   evidence, false witnesses, Jesus a bound prisoner was assaulted by the
            “prosecution” during hearing, it was even illegal to meet on eve of the Sabbath or eve of a feast day.

Peter’s denial: vs 15 -18 & 25-27

            Who is the disciple with Peter following Jesus? John (we assume, several times   in the gospel he refers to himself without saying “me”)

·       What accusation was made against Peter and how did he respond?

·       Where was Peter standing and what was he doing there (v18)?

Peter says “I am NOT” spoke while comforting himself by the fire while Jesus (the true I AM) is uncomforted, suffering injustice & violence. Peter “the Cowardly Lion” lies to escape fear of any inclusion with Jesus or mutual embarrassment or punishment.

Applying the Word

• What can we learn from Peter's failure about being ready to stand against the world's challenges?      I like us to be the opposite of Peter, meaning both non=violent and unafraid to speak in defense of Christ.
• How will this study change the way you will face a time of testing in your own life?

Responding in Prayer

Ask God to make you ready to face difficulties with grace.

A Prophet's Prayer for Mercy (Jonah sermon)

P#0

Good morning Calvary,

If you want to open your Bibles to our passage today I’m gonna be reading a familiar story from the OT prophet Jonah. Jonah’s is a minor prophet between Obediah & Micah, written about 800 – 750 B.C. And since they are short chapters, I’ll be reading both chapters 1 & 2. One will give us the context of the story & two will be the meat of this sermon sandwich, it’s the prophet’s cry to the Lord for rescue.

So let’s read chapters 1 & 2 of Jonah, this is the Word of the Lord….

(Pause)

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” ³ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶ So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper!? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps your god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

(Pause)

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹ And Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹² Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard^[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Therefore they called out to Yahweh, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Yahweh, you have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

^17 [c] And the Lord appointed^[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

(Pause)

Jonah's Prayer

CH 2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying,

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
³ For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.

⁴ Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head⁶ at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
⁷ When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
⁸ Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

(Pause)

Let’s pray:

Lord, full of mercy, full of patience, full of steadfast love & endurance. Like Jonah, we cry out to you for rescue, for healing, for salvation from all of life’s hardships & struggles even if they are of our own making. In our sin we flee from you to the heights of mountaintops, to the depths of seas we run…stop us, Lord…stop us in our tracks, and turn us once again onto the path that leads us right back to you. Let us know you as Jonah did as a God that LOVES repentance & reconciliation & the lead us into that same repentance that heaven may rejoice to hear our confessions & our praise of your mercy & redemption. May the heavens resound with the cry of Jonah,  “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” Oh friends come, let us worship & bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our maker! For he is our God, & we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep lead by his hand.  Amen.

P#1

Now, I have an eclectic list of interests. Aside from a bit of woodworking (like Jesus), I love adventure literature, mythology, ancient history, a bit of the sciences & it dawned on me while studying, that Jonah may be one of the most controversial books in all of Scripture. Literature students & some biblical commentators frustrated by the ending make the mistake in thinking the story of Jonah is about Jonah, it’s not. Jonah is not the protagonist of our story, God is, and this effects how you read (or possibly mis-read) the ending of the story. For historians & archeologists there is of course some debate if these events actually took place & are being reported by Jonah or if the tale is supposed to be a fictional parable like some of Jesus’ stories in the NT only meant to explain to the Jews a kind of spiritual truth. For scientists & zoologists there is a lot online you can find trying to bend the text in some way to make the story of Jonah a bit “easier to swallow” (sorry, pun-intended) or to use some example of modern animal physiology to disprove the tale all together.  And if you like a bit of theological debate you can also find transcripts between two Titan of the Early Church Augustine & Jerome arguing about if the plant at the end of the book of Jonah should be called a gourd or an ivy.

                 

For me none of these debates make Jonah any less interesting, probably more, in fact. And if you have only ever thought of Jonah as some kind of Veggitales children’s fable then let me reintroduce you to an old friend, a prophet of God whose own sin on display for us today holds deep theological trues & themes from literally thousands of years ago trumpeting many of the same themes as the Messiah & the Messiah’s Gospel who was to come centuries later.

(Pause)

Several years ago Brian talked to me about being able to discern a person’s personal theology by listening to them pray. People’s prayers often betray aspects of their genuine beliefs. Since then I’ve often been drawn to prayer passages in Scripture from Jesus’ High priestly prayer in John & parable of the Pharisee & tax collector (whose beliefs are put on display through their prayers) to the sermon I preached last year on King David’s repentance in Psalm 51, to Mary’s Magnificant to today’s sermon “A Prophet’s Prayer for Mercy”.

Three things we will be looking at in these passages is 1 – a high level overview of chapter 1, things not to miss & ch 2 – details to glean from Jonah’s prayer & then 3 – to see how Jesus is prefigured in this story, you might say an even better Jonah.

(Pause)

P#2

Right from the start in chapter 1, Jonah had a pretty ideal job. He spoke God’s good news to God’s people & God’s people actually listened. This wasn’t always the case in Jewish history where the people would heed the prophet’s words but Jonah was one of the lucky ones. According to 2^nd Kings he’d become famous for telling them that God’s Kingdom would expand & prosper & they were excited to hear the news. But then came Jonah’s next commission to speak the opposite: to speak dire warnings instead of good news of God’s coming judgment against God’s enemies. Right from the gate the text reminds pastors of our commission to preach the whole council of God. In a day & age when it may be more “popular” to only preach some parts of God’s Word. Preachers, pastors & you!-witnesses/disciples are called to share not only the good news of God’s sovereign expansion of His kingdom but to warn the unrepentant of the trials to come they will face, before a Holy & righteous judge.  

Now if you’ve read all of Jonah in the past you’ll know Jonah had no love for the Assyrians (the Ninevite people) so you might think Jonah would be kicking up his heels at the chance to rub the noses of these Ninevites in their own sin (like my dad used to do to the dog when the dog had an “accident” inside the house, he’d rub its nose in it). But Jonah ironically isn’t gleeful in delivering God’s warning against the Assyrians. Jonah according to chapter 4 knew God well enough that he knew that if he preached destruction to the Ninevites & they repented God would be merciful & forgive them. Reminding us of Ezekiel 18 in which God says, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, would I not rather they turn & live?” So it would appear that Jonah would rather these gentile pagans die in their sins than ever be warned, repent & be saved, which is why he states he didn’t want to go to Ninevah in the first place. He hates them that much that he does not want them aware of either God’s mercy or His coming judgment. I wonder Calvary if some of the times we keep our mouths shut with friends or family or neighbors about God’s mercy or coming judgment if  that is an example of our Hate for our neighbors or merely a comment on our own cowardice at times.

According to another prophet Nahum some of Nineveh’s sins may have included plotting evil against God & God’s people, plunder, prostitution, witchcraft & commercial exploitation…. claims that would not be wholly inaccurate if leveled against America these days.   

So instead of going inland to Nineveh & warning them of God’s anger at their unrepentant sin as he is told to, Jonah heads to the boat docks to board a ship that heads in the exact opposite direction.

There isn’t time to reflect on all of the Scriptural passages that parallel this idea that sinning against God is akin to a type of “fleeing from His presence” except to say this if you’re in Eric’s Sunday School class on the book of John then you’ll remember Jesus stressing the opposite of this in John 15 Jesus describes those who do not want to sin, who want to honor & worship God, they are described not as those who flee like Jonah but those who “abide” in his love, in faith, commitment & in community with God’s people.

Last point to notice in chapter 1 is how sin or this “fleeing from God” hurts others around you in our text God is an active agent a Hound of Heaven tracking Jonah down to draw him back NOT a passive character. Brian’s described this idea people have of God today, in heaven wringing his hands hoping everything will work out somehow & that someone, anyone will come & seek Him in his hiding place. In chapter 1 we see God as active in hunting Jonah, as Jonah (a bad theologian by the way) imagines he can sail far enough to be free from the presence of the Lord. As Jonah flees & God follows the trials & roadblocks God puts in Jonah’s path to slow him down in his flight from God impacts other people, the pagan sailors with him on the ship to Tarshish.

Two points we can take from this is a gentle reminder that our sin & flights from God can hurt & harm those around us, not just relationship between us & God but our friends & family & the rest of God’s people can be harmed or humiliated by our actions.

2^nd not all trials & roadblocks in life are a bad thing. If the text is to be believed then it is a Mercy of God to send these trials at times. Troubled times & storms in our lives can actually be good things if they ultimately lead us like the sailors, Jonah & the Ninevites to repentance & faith & a closer bond with God than if these hard times never happened.

Think of how much deeper Jonah’s understanding of God is after surviving this event, than without it. Think how much stronger Daniel’s faith must have been after surviving the lion’s den then without it. Or Shadrack, Mescheck & Obendego after the fiery furnace or Lazarus after death & resurrection, or you!- without some hidden pain or illness or trauma I don’t even know of. This is the depth that trials that bind can have in your life.  

One of the things I tried to stress with the Sunday School guys (like Jesus did with the disciples) is we do not need a God who merely keeps us from all harm & hardship but we do need a God, like the God of Scripture, who’s promised to see us through those times, to stay close to us & not forsake us as we walk through trials & struggles in life. One to hears when we call & comforts when we hurt. Those are the events that actually stitch a closer bond between people & God much like 2 men who’ve survived going to war & made it home or a marriage that’s lasted for many years not that its always been easy but that its better now having survived all its own hardships over the years.

 

P#3

Most likely you & I will never imagine what it would have been like for Jonah on that day when (like Jesus) he offered up his life as a sacrifice so that the pagan sailors might live, being thrown overboard, sinking in the sea like a stone, lungs on fire, seaweed like tentacles wrapping around arms & legs. There finally Jonah would recognize his dependence on God, his desperation. “I cried out for help” vs 2, “I have been banished” vs 4, “my life fading away” vs 7. Jonah now exhausted of hope in himself, that’s when God moves in. There no better than a drowned rat, no better than pagan sailors, no better than sinful Ninevites, there God can strip Jonah of his pride & prejudice, teach him about divine provision & the power of God over man, beast, distance & time & near or far no man, or woman or child is beyond the reach of God! And he is not beyond the reach of you, friends.

In Jonah ch 2 there is another demonstration of something Brian has tried to beat into our minds & that is to be so familiar with Scripture that it actually permeates our very prayers.

The passage, “Your billows swept over me” vs 2 reflects themes from Psalm 42

“I have been banished” vs 4 comes from a section of Psalm 31

“Engulfed me up to the neck” vs 7 comes from Psalm 147

“To your Holy temple” vs 7 comes from Psalm 18

 “To worthless idols” vs 8 comes from Psalm 31

Jonah speaks God’s Word back to God much like Jesus uses God’s Word as a guide for his word & deed & as his defense against Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. Jonah for all his faults has a mind fixed to the Word of God & it comes alive in his prayers. Jonah’s confession & repentance is a way to recognize that while his earlier thoughts and actions were incongruent with God’s…his desire now is for reconciliation; to have God’s word guide Jonah & to acknowledge God’s word about him. God’s word has a cleansing effect not just on Jonah but us as well. Notice how Jonah’s rebellious heart is softened & God’s word draws him back likewise we should look to God’s word, like a lost man in the woods views his compass, with much more respect & deference.

What does Jonah’s repentance look like?

Jonah’s cry for mercy recognizes God’s hand in the events.

Vs 3,4 - Jonah says, “You threw me into the depths” & “I have been banished from your sight.” Notice that he makes the connection between his disobedience & God’s correction & does not pass any blame to another. He alone is to blame & he lays his blame at the feet of his blameless God. Just like “fleeing from God” is an illustration of sinning, we can see Jonah’s repentance in this idea of turning as well, but this time instead of turning away from God to flee, turning his eyes back to God. 

Vs 6 – Jonah does what all believers do when confronted with God’s mercy he becomes thankful for God’s compassion “But you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God.” Jonah offers thanks in faith for deliverance however odd his rescue may be in the form of a great fish rather than drowning in this foreign sea.

& Vs 9 – Jonah renews his commitment to God, Jonah promised “I will fulfill my vows” true repentance is never in word alone and always expresses itself in some change or action. This action & commitment we can see over the following chapters as he does finally obey the Lord’s task for him.

(Pause)

It’s said long ago Eastern shepherds when bringing the sheep into the fold at night, would stand at the gate and touch each sheep on its head & count them off as they passed through. The idea was this reminded both the shepherd & sheep of their link & their roles & to remind the sheep daily of the shepherd’s voice. If the shepherd grew careless of this touch & this talk then the sheep would quickly forget the sound of the shepherd’s voice & would not heed the shepherd’s call when he warned of danger & the sheep would not follow when he called.

In the story of Jonah we see God at work in leading a wayward sheep back to the fold & this is the picture the Bible gives us of God & God’s gospel not as a tale of sinful children earning their way back into God’s good graces but God on a rescue mission to seek his own & snatch them out of the hand of his enemy. A 20^th century poet Francis Thompson penned a poem called the Hound of Heaven: his words make me envision Jonah “I fled Him, down the nights and the days; I fled Him, down the aches of years; I fled Him, down the labyrinth-ed ways of my own mind; and in the mist of years & tears I hid from Him.” This poem was written to honor that Hound of Heaven who still draws sinners to Himself even as they flee from his voice. And this same Hound who seeks to save his own is looking to you today Calvary do not harden your hearts against Him.  

       

P#4

Lastly, let’s look at a few ways the story of Jonah points us to that much more important person Jesus.

Like Jonah Jesus too was called to leave his homeland preach God’s message among both the Jews & Gentiles. Yet unlike Jonah Jesus was willing. The NT describes Christ as sinless: in both word & deed he longed to do the plan the Father had set before him & did not flee from the task even though it meant his life. Jonah was one of the only OT saints specifically called (like Paul in the NT) to preach to the gentiles. But even this speaks to the ultimate truth of salvation history that the Gospel was always meant to extend not just throughout the Jewish people but like light from a lighthouse to spill out amongst the pagan world around them.

2^nd like I mentioned earlier there is an odd connection between the NT tale of Jesus calming the stormy sea in the (Matt 8, Luke 8 & Mark 4) & Jonah in the ship to Tarshish.

In both stores you have a prophet of God in Jonah & Jesus, you have a great tumult of the sea rise up, you have fearful sailors moments away from shipwreck & death & in both stories the prophets are peacefully asleep (like a good Calvinist would be, *chuckle* knowing God’s in control) & in 1 pagan sailors wake Jonah to call on his God for aid & in the NT the disciples wake Jesus & call on Jesus as their Lord for Jesus to save them. In both the sailors are pointed to the True God. First the pagan sailors through the self-sacrifice of Jonah come to some knowlege of Yahweh & made sacrifices to him & made vows & the disciples through this same control over nature that Yahweh himself manifests in the OT & Jesus exhibits in the NT & through Jesus’ self-sacrifice these disciples come to know Yahweh, in & through the person of Christ.

Jesus himself agrees so much with this parallelism that he uses this story in Matt 12 to prophesy his own death, burial for 3 days (harking back to the time Jonah was in the sea) & his own eventual resurrection. I suppose even the resurrection of Christ is prefigured (maybe grossly) in the great fish that vomits Jonah back on land Jesus is, in a sense, retched from his own tomb back into the land of the living & according to Jesus this resurrection is THE sign that he was the Messiah Israel was to be looking out for.

Finally lets remember that this story shows us that like Abram, Joseph & others we’ve studied in Genesis God often uses deeply flawed people for his purposes but what they point us to is a much greater prophet than Jonah that has come, 1 that not only died in the place of sailors but one that died in the place of sinners & he came proclaiming the same messages God gave to Jonah: God’s sovereign advance, expanding his kingdom beyond just the Jews & to the Gentles, warning us to come & call on God’s mercy & grace like the Ninevites, to be warned that God’s patience with impenitent sinners will not last forever, to be warned of God’s coming judgment for the living & the dead. Calvary, friends, unbelievers, you too can call on the same God as Jonah, no matter what awful mess you’ve gotten yourself into because there is no distance that you can flee from God, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 95 from the heights of mountains to the depths of seas you may run but he’s already there ahead of you. Today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts, cease in putting God to the test, requiring from him proofs when they are in his Word you’ve been neglecting. Turn your eyes back upon Jesus, cry out for mercy otherwise again as the Psalmist in Psalm 95 says, You harden your hearts, You put him to the test, You put him to the proof, though you’ve seen his works, therefore He will say, “These are a people who go astray in their hearts & they have not known my ways. Therefore I will swear in my wrath, they shall NOT enter into my heavenly rest.”  This is God’s warning to the unrepentant.

It doesn’t matter if you are a man, a woman, rich, poor, homemaker, or business guru of the year all of us sin & all sin is running from God, running from what we know God is like, running from what we know God wants from us & all of God’s people are called to turn their eyes back upon him in repentance & faith & to abide, simply but diligently abide in the self-sacrifice of his son. And to trust as Jonah would tell us himself, that our “Salvation belongs to our Lord!”

Let’s pray:

Righteous & holy Sovereign, in whose hand is all our life & our ways, keep us from fluttering about religion; fix us firm in it, for we are irresolute; our decisions are often like smoke & vapor, & we do not glorify you or behave according to your will. Don’t cut us off, be patient & kind. Save us from ourselves, from our own deceit, treachery, offences & rebellion against you. We act at times as if we hate you, but you are love itself. Oh, Father of our spirits, king of our lives, cast us not into destruction, drive us not from your presence, but wound our hearts that it may be healed, break our hearts that Your own hand may make it whole again.  Amen.