One man can change a city, an entire nation, or perhaps even the whole world.
Sometime during the 1800s, a Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball led a shoe salesman to faith in Jesus Christ. That salesman was D.L. Moody, who later became a famous American evangelist. I don’t have time to relate all the details, but Moody was the first in a chain of evangelists, one influencing another, the latest being Mordecai Ham. In 1934, Ham was preaching in Charlotte, North Carolina. During one of his crusade meetings, a youngster named Billy Graham became a Christian.
This is all very insignificant, except for the fact that Billy Graham has become perhaps the most famous evangelist of all time, leading thousands, if not millions, to faith in Christ.
What does this all mean? That there are many people, today, who might not have ever become Christians, had it not been for the faithful service of a rather unknown man named Ed Kimball. Millions of people are Christians because a number of men, starting with Kimball, and culminating with Graham, had discovered and were living out their purpose in life.
In Jonah 3, we find our rebellious prophet finally going to Nineveh. He warns them of impending judgment, they repent, and God spares them. During his sermon this week, PJ said this was because, after his near-death experience, Jonah had found his purpose in life.
On one hand, I agree with this statement. On the other hand, I don’t. For it seems to me that if you run from God, get caught in a nasty storm, are thrown overboard, then get swallowed by a giant fish, who later gets sick to his stomach, landing you on the beach, then it’s rather hard to say “No” when God comes to you and says, “Shall we try this again?”
So I wonder whether Jonah truly found his purpose, or if he obeyed God because God didn’t really give him any other options.
That being said, I certainly agree with the call to find your purpose in life and pursue it. But here is where many people get stuck in a rut, become stagnant, and are beset by discouragement. Many people respond to this call by saying, “I don’t know what my purpose in life is. How can I fulfill my purpose in life if I don’t know what that purpose is? And with my 40-hour per week job, my marriage, my kids, and all the activities we have going on, when am I supposed to take time out to discover my purpose in life?”
Well, let me give you a good starting point. The Westminster Catechism begins with the question, “What is the chief end (purpose) of Man?” The accompanying answer is, “The chief end (purpose) of Man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Your purpose in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him. That’s what you were created for. That’s what you were intended to do.
“Yeah, but I don’t really know what God’s will for my life is. I don’t know if I’m in the right career path. As a single person, I don’t know who God wants me to marry, or even if He ever wants me to get married at all. I can’t preach. I don’t feel comfortable teaching Sunday School or leading an e-group. How does God want me to glorify Him?”
I Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This is a command to do everything for the glory of God. This may sound rather intimidating, but it really is quite simple. For with every action we take, it requires that we ask ourselves only one or two questions.
First, we should ask ourselves, “Does this action, or can this action, glorify God?” If the answer is no, then we don’t even need to consider the second question. For example, does stealing from the grocery store glorify God? Can stealing from the grocery store glorify God? No, because God has told us not to steal. Issue resolved. Don’t steal from the grocery store.
But if the action you are about to take does, or can, glorify God, then you need to ask yourself the second question: Am I doing this for the purpose of glorifying God? What’s my primary motivation? The action may be appropriate. But if the motivation is wrong, then it doesn’t glorify God.
If we would learn to ask ourselves these two questions on a consistent basis, then we would find God blessing us and leading us in ways we might never have thought possible. We won’t have to worry about finding God’s purpose for our lives, because we will just find ourselves in the middle of accomplishing it.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Read I Corinthians 10:31 again. What does it mean to “do all to the glory of God”? What do you think it means to glorify God?
2. Read Matthew 5:13-16. How can your actions and your attempts to glorify God influence others? What happens when you fail to glorify God?
3. Do you have any fears with regard to glorifying God? That is, are you afraid He would call you to do something you have no desire for, and you would be miserable doing? What does the Bible have to say about this matter?
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Jonah: Vomitaceousness
As he was languishing in the belly of a great fish, Jonah cried out to God for deliverance. And toward the end of his prayer, he promised to keep the vow he had made to God: “What I have vowed I will pay.”
It’s funny what people do when they get themselves into trouble. They rebel against God, get themselves into a helpless and hopeless situation, and then cry out, “God, if You get me out of this mess, then I’ll…” But rarely do we see anyone make good on their promises.
Why is that? The obvious reason is that there really is no change of heart. People don’t really want to change. They just don’t want to face the negative consequences of their actions.
Jonah was like that. He had an unchanged heart. He still did not truly want to do what God had told him to do. As we will see, probably next week, he did go to Nineveh and prophesy to that city. However, his reaction to the revival they experienced demonstrates that his heart was still rebellious toward God. Therefore, as PJ told us, Jonah’s prayer was insincere.
Now, let me ask you a question. Did God know that Jonah was insincere when he prayed the prayer we find in chapter 2? Yes, of course He did. God is omniscient. He sees all things. He knows all things. He not only sees everything we do. He also knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
So God knew Jonah was insincere. And yet, He delivered him from his desperate, life-threatening situation.
Why would God respond to such an insincere prayer? When we cry out to God, making outlandish promises we will never keep, why does God answer our prayers and deliver us anyway? Why didn’t God just let Jonah die inside the belly of that fish?
Because that’s the kind of God He is. The one thing we should see in this story, more than anything else, is the incredible graciousness of God. We see Him delivering Jonah, despite the prophet’s persistent rebellion and hardheartedness.
Within Christian circles, we talk about grace all the time. But do we really know what grace is? Can we clearly define it, and do we fully comprehend it? Defining it is rather easy. Comprehending it is quite another matter.
Grace is defined as God’s unmerited favor. It is His favorable disposition toward us, that we do not deserve. So many people speak of grace as being undeserved. I would not quibble with this. However, I would point out that this definition falls short of reality. God’s grace is not just undeserved. It is ill-deserved. But what’s the difference?
If you are a sports fan like me, and if you’ve spent any time surfing the sports networks, looking for something interesting to watch, you’ve probably noticed that they often feature something like the World Poker Tour. It’s a bunch of guys on tv, sitting around, playing poker, hoping to win a lot of money. Now, every hand has a winner. And at the end of it all, there is a tournament winner. But did that individual necessarily deserve to win? No. He just got lucky. Just the right cards came up for him, and he won. But he did not particularly do anything to deserve winning anymore than somebody else. His winnings are, for our purposes, undeserved.
However, let’s suppose that we later find out that the champion was hiding the Ace of Spades in his shirt sleeve. Suppose he was strategically using that card to win important hands throughout the tournament. Because nobody caught him at the time, he won the tournament. But he was cheating. Now, we would have to say that his winnings were ill-deserved. Not only did he not deserve to win, but rather, he actually deserved to lose.
When we consider the grace of God, this is what we are talking about. It’s not that we were lucky enough to be the recipients of God’s grace. We actually deserved not to receive it at all. We can’t just say that we didn’t deserve to have Jesus die on the cross for our sins. Rather, we actually deserved to have Him not die on the cross. We deserved to have God pour out His wrath upon us and condemn us to hell. But God is so gracious that He gives us what we don’t deserve, and in His mercy, doesn’t give us what we do deserve.
That being said, allow me to give you a word of advice. The next time you get into a scrape; the next time you find yourself in a desperate situation you can’t get yourself out of; do not try bargaining with God. Do not say, “God, if You help me, then I will…” Remember that Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”
Instead, cry out to Him on the basis of His mercy and grace. Trust His love. Trust His grace. Trust that He will help you, simply because that’s the kind of God He is.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. When have I made promises to God, and then failed to keep them? What were the consequences? How did I feel and what did I do about it?
2. When I get myself into trouble and find myself crying out to God for help, am I truly sorry for my wrongs? Am I repentant? Or do I just want Him to get me out of a messy situation?
3. On what basis do I ask God for help when I need it? Do I try to bargain with Him? Do I think I have to cajole or coerce Him into helping me? What’s wrong with this? How might it actually be an insult to God?
It’s funny what people do when they get themselves into trouble. They rebel against God, get themselves into a helpless and hopeless situation, and then cry out, “God, if You get me out of this mess, then I’ll…” But rarely do we see anyone make good on their promises.
Why is that? The obvious reason is that there really is no change of heart. People don’t really want to change. They just don’t want to face the negative consequences of their actions.
Jonah was like that. He had an unchanged heart. He still did not truly want to do what God had told him to do. As we will see, probably next week, he did go to Nineveh and prophesy to that city. However, his reaction to the revival they experienced demonstrates that his heart was still rebellious toward God. Therefore, as PJ told us, Jonah’s prayer was insincere.
Now, let me ask you a question. Did God know that Jonah was insincere when he prayed the prayer we find in chapter 2? Yes, of course He did. God is omniscient. He sees all things. He knows all things. He not only sees everything we do. He also knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
So God knew Jonah was insincere. And yet, He delivered him from his desperate, life-threatening situation.
Why would God respond to such an insincere prayer? When we cry out to God, making outlandish promises we will never keep, why does God answer our prayers and deliver us anyway? Why didn’t God just let Jonah die inside the belly of that fish?
Because that’s the kind of God He is. The one thing we should see in this story, more than anything else, is the incredible graciousness of God. We see Him delivering Jonah, despite the prophet’s persistent rebellion and hardheartedness.
Within Christian circles, we talk about grace all the time. But do we really know what grace is? Can we clearly define it, and do we fully comprehend it? Defining it is rather easy. Comprehending it is quite another matter.
Grace is defined as God’s unmerited favor. It is His favorable disposition toward us, that we do not deserve. So many people speak of grace as being undeserved. I would not quibble with this. However, I would point out that this definition falls short of reality. God’s grace is not just undeserved. It is ill-deserved. But what’s the difference?
If you are a sports fan like me, and if you’ve spent any time surfing the sports networks, looking for something interesting to watch, you’ve probably noticed that they often feature something like the World Poker Tour. It’s a bunch of guys on tv, sitting around, playing poker, hoping to win a lot of money. Now, every hand has a winner. And at the end of it all, there is a tournament winner. But did that individual necessarily deserve to win? No. He just got lucky. Just the right cards came up for him, and he won. But he did not particularly do anything to deserve winning anymore than somebody else. His winnings are, for our purposes, undeserved.
However, let’s suppose that we later find out that the champion was hiding the Ace of Spades in his shirt sleeve. Suppose he was strategically using that card to win important hands throughout the tournament. Because nobody caught him at the time, he won the tournament. But he was cheating. Now, we would have to say that his winnings were ill-deserved. Not only did he not deserve to win, but rather, he actually deserved to lose.
When we consider the grace of God, this is what we are talking about. It’s not that we were lucky enough to be the recipients of God’s grace. We actually deserved not to receive it at all. We can’t just say that we didn’t deserve to have Jesus die on the cross for our sins. Rather, we actually deserved to have Him not die on the cross. We deserved to have God pour out His wrath upon us and condemn us to hell. But God is so gracious that He gives us what we don’t deserve, and in His mercy, doesn’t give us what we do deserve.
That being said, allow me to give you a word of advice. The next time you get into a scrape; the next time you find yourself in a desperate situation you can’t get yourself out of; do not try bargaining with God. Do not say, “God, if You help me, then I will…” Remember that Ecclesiastes 5:5 says, “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”
Instead, cry out to Him on the basis of His mercy and grace. Trust His love. Trust His grace. Trust that He will help you, simply because that’s the kind of God He is.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. When have I made promises to God, and then failed to keep them? What were the consequences? How did I feel and what did I do about it?
2. When I get myself into trouble and find myself crying out to God for help, am I truly sorry for my wrongs? Am I repentant? Or do I just want Him to get me out of a messy situation?
3. On what basis do I ask God for help when I need it? Do I try to bargain with Him? Do I think I have to cajole or coerce Him into helping me? What’s wrong with this? How might it actually be an insult to God?
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Jonah, The Anti-hero
The story of Jonah as it should have been:
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me.” So Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Nineveh. He paid the fare and went on board. While they were sailing to Nineveh, Jonah preached to the sailors on the ship. They all repented and turned to God. In fact, when they reached Nineveh, some of the sailors got off the ship and went with Jonah into the city. There they all cried out, “In forty days, God will destroy Nineveh.” When the people heard it, they all repented, from the greatest to the least of them. There was a great revival, and many people got saved. Then Jonah left some of the sailors to be pastors and elders in Nineveh while he returned to Israel to report the great work God had done in Nineveh.
That, perhaps, is how the story should have gone. And perhaps it might have gone very nearly that way, if not for one person—Jonah. Yes, Jonah did preach in Nineveh, but only after God used His sovereignty to say, “You’re going, and that’s that.” And yes, the sailors did turn to God, but not because of Jonah’s preaching. It was only after they threw Jonah overboard and saw the sea calm down that they “feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows” (Jonah 1:16).
I, like PJ, am a big James Bond fan. So I understand the analogy he made between Jonah and agent 007. In the earlier movies, it was rather cut and dry. Bond was the good guy, working for MI-6. The bad guys were such characters as Dr. No, Goldfinger, and various agents working for SPECTRE. In the more recent films, James Bond is still the good guy, but perhaps more reluctantly. He has some personal issues he has to work through as he is carrying out his mission.
As Pastor John said, these recent films depict agent 007 as an anti-hero, or a reluctant hero. In a sense, that’s what Jonah is. He goes to Nineveh, alright, but not because he is anxious to do God’s will. In fact, he’s kind of the bad guy in this story. Our James Bond has gone AWOL.
One thing I noticed as I read the first chapter of Jonah is that we are told three times that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God. Three times! This tells me that this fact is rather significant. I also notice that, in verse 9, he tells the sailors, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Can you see the irony in that? Psalm 111:10 tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The testimony of the Bible is that those who fear God obey Him. And yet, here we have rebellious Jonah, fleeing from the presence of God, but saying, “I fear the LORD.” I wonder how much Jonah truly feared God.
This concept of fearing God is significant. There are several passages in which we are called upon to fear God. Now, to clarify, we are not talking about being afraid of God in the same way we would be afraid of a thug in the back alley, brandishing a gun, and saying, “Your money or your life!” Instead, we are speaking of a reverential awe of Him. To fear God is to be struck with wonder at the glory of God, so that we would fall down on our faces in worship before Him and offering our lives in service to Him. Those who truly fear Him cannot help but to obey Him.
This is not Jonah. His actions betray him. By acting in outright rebellion against God, he is demonstrating that he does not truly fear God.
But what about us? How do we view God? Have we got such a vision of His glory that we cannot help but fall on our faces and say, as Isaiah did, “Here am I, send me”? When we disobey God, what is the source of our rebellion? Pride? Selfishness? The Sin Nature? Yes, I think all of these can be factors. However, I also believe that our sin stems from the fact that we do not fear the LORD as we ought.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. God accomplished His work in the hearts of the sailors, as well as in the city if Nineveh, despite Jonah’s rebellion. What does this say about God’s sovereignty? What encouragement can I gain from this when I find myself falling short? How can I safeguard against having a careless attitude toward sin in light of this truth?
2. What does it mean to fear the LORD? Is fearing God just an Old Testament concept that doesn’t apply to us today? To what extent do I fear the LORD? How can I pursue growth in this area?
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me.” So Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Nineveh. He paid the fare and went on board. While they were sailing to Nineveh, Jonah preached to the sailors on the ship. They all repented and turned to God. In fact, when they reached Nineveh, some of the sailors got off the ship and went with Jonah into the city. There they all cried out, “In forty days, God will destroy Nineveh.” When the people heard it, they all repented, from the greatest to the least of them. There was a great revival, and many people got saved. Then Jonah left some of the sailors to be pastors and elders in Nineveh while he returned to Israel to report the great work God had done in Nineveh.
That, perhaps, is how the story should have gone. And perhaps it might have gone very nearly that way, if not for one person—Jonah. Yes, Jonah did preach in Nineveh, but only after God used His sovereignty to say, “You’re going, and that’s that.” And yes, the sailors did turn to God, but not because of Jonah’s preaching. It was only after they threw Jonah overboard and saw the sea calm down that they “feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows” (Jonah 1:16).
I, like PJ, am a big James Bond fan. So I understand the analogy he made between Jonah and agent 007. In the earlier movies, it was rather cut and dry. Bond was the good guy, working for MI-6. The bad guys were such characters as Dr. No, Goldfinger, and various agents working for SPECTRE. In the more recent films, James Bond is still the good guy, but perhaps more reluctantly. He has some personal issues he has to work through as he is carrying out his mission.
As Pastor John said, these recent films depict agent 007 as an anti-hero, or a reluctant hero. In a sense, that’s what Jonah is. He goes to Nineveh, alright, but not because he is anxious to do God’s will. In fact, he’s kind of the bad guy in this story. Our James Bond has gone AWOL.
One thing I noticed as I read the first chapter of Jonah is that we are told three times that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God. Three times! This tells me that this fact is rather significant. I also notice that, in verse 9, he tells the sailors, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Can you see the irony in that? Psalm 111:10 tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The testimony of the Bible is that those who fear God obey Him. And yet, here we have rebellious Jonah, fleeing from the presence of God, but saying, “I fear the LORD.” I wonder how much Jonah truly feared God.
This concept of fearing God is significant. There are several passages in which we are called upon to fear God. Now, to clarify, we are not talking about being afraid of God in the same way we would be afraid of a thug in the back alley, brandishing a gun, and saying, “Your money or your life!” Instead, we are speaking of a reverential awe of Him. To fear God is to be struck with wonder at the glory of God, so that we would fall down on our faces in worship before Him and offering our lives in service to Him. Those who truly fear Him cannot help but to obey Him.
This is not Jonah. His actions betray him. By acting in outright rebellion against God, he is demonstrating that he does not truly fear God.
But what about us? How do we view God? Have we got such a vision of His glory that we cannot help but fall on our faces and say, as Isaiah did, “Here am I, send me”? When we disobey God, what is the source of our rebellion? Pride? Selfishness? The Sin Nature? Yes, I think all of these can be factors. However, I also believe that our sin stems from the fact that we do not fear the LORD as we ought.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. God accomplished His work in the hearts of the sailors, as well as in the city if Nineveh, despite Jonah’s rebellion. What does this say about God’s sovereignty? What encouragement can I gain from this when I find myself falling short? How can I safeguard against having a careless attitude toward sin in light of this truth?
2. What does it mean to fear the LORD? Is fearing God just an Old Testament concept that doesn’t apply to us today? To what extent do I fear the LORD? How can I pursue growth in this area?
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