A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

whale of a tale

Jonah 1:1-17, 2:10, Preached  at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, January 25, 2009

Was Jonah really swallowed by a whale? Does it make a difference if he was or wasn’t? Well let me put it this way, or better yet, let me put it the way the Bible puts it: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” 2Tim 3:16 Those who try to make more out of scripture than this are not following scripture, just as those who make less of scripture than this. Jonah’s tale has several mighty meaty messages, all of which are good for teaching and training in God’s way.

The story of Jonah begins with a command from the Lord to Jonah, “Arise go to Ninevah….” This is a typical command: the Lord said to Elijah, “Arise, go to Zarephath….” That narrative continues, “So he arose and went to Zarephath.” 1Kings 17:9-10 But with Jonah the usual pattern is broken. When he is told to rise and go, Jonah instead rises and runs, heading off in the opposite direction. He flees “from the presence of the Lord.” Because of his disobedience Jonah became a man on the run. He was running, and running hard. Nineveh was 550 miles east of Israel and Tarshish was 2,500 miles west of Israel.

There is some dispute as to where Tarshish actually is, and even what it is. Some believe it stands for Cyprus, while others believe it is a city on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian peninsula, or Spain and Portugal. I like the second one. Why? Because if Tarshish was there, then what Jonah is saying is that he is going to run to the ends of the world to try to get away from God. Of course, he doesn’t get that far; and of course there is no end of the world when it comes to God. Something else here as well. These two cities represent  different things: Ninevah represents God’s will and Tarshish represents our will. Everyday, and throughout our day, we go to one of these two “cities” in the choices we make. God allows you to make the choice, but remember this: Every time you choose Tarshish over Nineveh it's going to cost you. We're told in verse 3 that when Jonah found the ship going to Tarshish, "he paid the fare." Whenever we run from God we pay the cost. Whenever you run from God, the trip is always longer, always costlier, and always harder. Doing it the wrong way will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Doing it God’s way keeps you closer to where you want to be and costs you a lot less to get there.

One of my favorite basketball players of all time is Larry Bird. During the final seconds of an especially tense close game, Boston Celtics coach, K. C. Jones, called a time-out. As he gathered the players together at courtside, he diagramed a play only to have Larry Bird interrupt him and say, "Just get the ball to me and get everybody else out of my way." Jones exploded. He looked at Larry Bird and said, "I'm the coach and I'll call the plays!" Then he turned to the other players and said, "Get the ball to Larry and get out of his way." Well, they did what Larry Bird said and won the game. It’s sort of like this with God, though perhaps a little tougher to hear. When God speaks, listen and do what the Lord says. Follow the best path. Choose the better city, the city of God.

If there is anything that Jonah teaches us, it’s this: You not only can't hide from God, you can’t run from God. I love the story of a little boy who kept riding his bicycle around the block. A police officer was sitting by the side of the road, watching this little boy ride around the block about ten times. Finally, he got out of his squad car and stopped him and said, "Son,  what are you doing?" The little boy said, "I'm running away from home." The officer said, "Running away from home? How can you be running away and keep going around the same block?" The little boy said, "Because my Mommy told me I couldn't cross the street!" In a real sense, we are all like that little boy. We can’t ever really cross the street and get out of God’s sight. So when God speaks and calls us to do something, whether you think it's a big thing or a little thing, it’s much better to go on and do it.

This is what happened to Millard Fuller. From humble beginnings in Alabama, Millard Fuller rose to become a young, self-made millionaire. A graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., and the University of Alabama Law School at Tuscaloosa, he and a college friend began a marketing firm while still in school. Fuller’s business expertise and entrepreneurial drive made him a millionaire at age 29. But as the business prospered, his health, integrity and marriage suffered. These crises prompted Fuller to re-evaluate his values and direction. His soul-searching led to an attempt a reconciliation with his wife and a renewal of his Christian commitment. Linda was not easily convinced that he could turn back from his headlong rush for material wealth. Millard recalls: "We were in a taxi right after Linda and I had a very tearful session. We'd gone to Radio City Music Hall and they showed the movie Never Too Late. It was about a woman's getting pregnant after she thought it was too late. The message was that it's never too late to change anything. I had a sensation of light in that taxi. It was not anything spooky. All I can say is it just came into my head: Give your money away, make yourself poor again and throw yourself on God's mercy. I turned to Linda and said, 'I believe that God just gave me the idea to give all our money away; give everything away.' "She said, 'I agree. Let's do it.'" Friends, family, even pastors tried to talk them out of it. "I told them no, if I think about it I won't do it, because it's not logical. But I believe that God is calling us to do this."

With Koinonia founder Clarence Jordan and a few others, the Fullers initiated several partnership enterprises, including a ministry in housing. They built modest houses on a no-profit, no-interest basis, thus making homes affordable to families with low incomes. Homeowner families were expected to invest their own labor into the building of their home and the houses of other families. This reduced the cost of the house, increased the pride of ownership and fostered the development of positive relationships. Money for building was placed into a revolving fund, enabling the building of even more homes. In 1973, Fuller moved to Africa with his wife and four children to test their housing model. The housing project, which they began in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), was a success in that developing nation and the Fullers became convinced this model could be expanded and applied all over the world. Upon his return to the United States in 1976, he met with a group of close associates. They decided to create a new independent organization: Habitat for Humanity International. The rest is history.

At the close of life, the question will not be, "How much have you gotten?" but "How much have you given?" Not "How much have you won?" but "How much have you done?" Not "How much have you saved?" but "How much have you sacrificed?" It will be "How much have you loved and served," not "How much were you honored?"

Jonah had tried to run away from the Lord, was unsuccessful, and was punished by being thrown into the sea. The story could have ended here. Its only point then would have been: Do not disobey God. Remember what happened to Jonah! On the contrary, the story continues. Jonah had gone down as low as he could go. He had gone down to Joppa, down onto a boat, down into the hold of the ship, and then he goes down a final time—thrown into the sea. He had descended to the depths, to the land of the dead, “to the land whose bars closed on (him) for ever.”  He was in a state of crisis; his soul had fainted. But the Lord did not leave him like this. This time a great fish rescues Jonah. And Jonah full of gratitude prays to God, from whom he had fled, and proclaims, “Deliverance belongs to the Lord.” The witness of this story, of Jonah’s prayer, is that in such a desperate situation the only thing to do is to pray. Someone may have been shipwrecked, may be at the end of her or his rope, the bottom may have dropped out. You may have lost a loved one, a job, or experienced a breakup in your marriage or family. Like Jonah, perhaps the crisis is even of one’s own making, not that most people need to be reminded of that. If this is how it is, pray. And pray again because the Lord delivers. God will answer you. When your soul faints within you, remember the Lord, and your prayer will come to God: yeshuata leyahweh, “deliverance/salvation is from the Lord.”

All of this has to do not with Jonah doing something nasty, illicit, or even illegal. It was a real religious deal. He ignored God. He turned a deaf ear to the Lord’s word. We all do that; we all have excuses. Jonah had his excuses for avoiding the call of God, which reminds me of advice about excuses given to some middle management people in the event they were ever caught sleeping at their desks. Here are the top three things to say if this happens to you: Number 3. “They told me at the blood bank that this might happen.” Number 2. “I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance.” And the number one option: “...in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

 Avoiding God ain’t difficult. Ignoring the call isn’t rocket science. It’s actually too easy. A named Harry Ironside used to go to a seminary and teach. On one occasion somebody came up and said, "Dr. Ironside, I understand you get up early every morning to read and study your Bible." "Yes," he said, "I've been doing that all my life."  "Well how do you manage to do it?" the inquirer asked. "Do you pray about it?"  "No," he replied, "I get up."

That’s what Jonah did next. He got up, turned himself in the right direction, and walked the walk of faith in the call. That’s the way. Stop avoiding the word. Step out in faith. Continue your faith-filled walk—the good you have done leads your way, lightens your path, and keeps you close to God.

Some aspiring psychologists were attending their first class on emotional extremes. "Just to establish some parameters," said the professor. "Mr. Jones. What is the opposite of joy?" "Sadness," said the student.  "And the opposite of depression, Ms. Smith?" "Elation." "How about the opposite of woe, Mr. Brown?" "I believe that's giddyup," the student replied. I believe giddyup is just the word God is speaking.

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