(Calvin cartoon: “I am significant!”)

We can relate, can’t we?  Much of our lives we spend (or should we say ‘waste’) trying to assert our own significance.  This morning I would like to suggest an alternative – a much better alternative.

Believing in Jesus means recognizing the reality that we are not significant in and of ourselves; believing in Jesus means realizing that our significance is solely wrapped up in the reality of God and the fact that HE says we are valuable.  God does not exist for us or because of us. 

On the contrary, we exist because of Him and for Him.

We live in an “it’s all about me” world.  I would like to suggest this morning that if we follow the world in this way and make our lives “all about me,” we will waste our lives and suffer dire consequences.

On the contrary, if we make our lives “all about God,” we will have extremely fruitful lives, and we will have more joy than we could ever even dream to be possible.

The choice is real, and the consequences are real. 

We can run toward insignificance, or we can run toward significance.

We can run toward misery, or we can run toward life.

We can run toward God, or we can run away from God.

I would hope that we are all here this morning because we want to run toward significance, toward life, and toward God.

I am reminded of Moses pleading with God’s people to make the right choice – to walk with God; we read in Deuteronomy 30:19: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

So what can we do?  How do we choose life?

There are numerous places in Scripture where we could find such answers.  But this morning, we are going to find the answers in the first chapter of the book of Jonah.

If you were to ask the average Joe what the book of Jonah is about, you might get the answer: “It is about Jonah the prophet!”  They’d be right, in a way. 

The book of Jonah certainly tells ‘the story of Jonah.’  But we’d better be sure that the book of Jonah is not “about Jonah!”  The book of Jonah is about God.  It is about God’s will, and it is about how Jonah (and we) respond to God’s will.  In fact, the book of Jonah is best seen as a small ‘excerpt’ of God’s story.  The book of Jonah (like a number of other Old Testament books) begins with the word ‘And.’  You don’t start a new story with the word ‘And.’  You continue a story with the word ‘and.’   There is a big story going on – and it’s not about YOU… and it’s not about ME.  It’s about God. 

So you and I, we have a choice.  We can be “all about me,” and our little story will fade into insignificance after we die.  Or, we can choose to be a part of God’s story – which will NEVER end.  Our lives can have an everlasting significance if we choose to be all about God’s story.  Is your life all about God’s story?  Are you all about God’s glory?   Or is your life all about YOU and YOUR story. Are you running toward God?  Or are you running away from God?

I hope and pray that in the deepest parts of your being you are saying right now, “I want to be all about God!  I want to run toward God!”

If this is your heart, then you are inevitably asking yourself, “How can I do this?”

Here is the answer in a nutshell: We can run toward God and not away from him by joining him in seeking His glory.

As we look at Jonah chapter 1, we see three things we can do to run toward God and not away from him.

First: Realize God’s Commitment

In Jonah 1:1-2, we read:  The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:  "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."

Question: Why does God care?  Why does God hate wickedness?  Is God so self-absorbed that he demands that people live by His rules?  What right does He have to decide what is right and wrong, anyway?  What does He care about how we live!  C.S. Lewis puts the question well: “We ignore God, why can’t He just return the favor!”

The answer at its foundation is this: God is all about his own glory.  When we sin (when we aren’t all about God’s glory, too), God rightfully has something against us.  Hey, he made this world in the first place… and us!  Doesn’t he have the right to rule it as he pleases?

Some people think that God is not all about himself.  How can he be all about himself, they ask, when he is Love?  Isn’t God for us?

Consider what Scripture says about God being all about His own glory:

In Isaiah 42:8, we read:  " I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another.”

Have you ever wondered why God would choose to save us?  Why would he choose to forgive our sins?  Why did Jesus die?  Is it because God is all about us?  No!  According to Ephesians chapter 1, it is for the praise of his glory!  Listen to Ephesians 1:11-12:  “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

Scripture is clear; God does everything for one ultimate purpose: his glory! 

It is certainly true that God is for us.  But the reason he is truly “for us” is that he is first of all for himself!

Scripture is clear that God is God-centered and does everything for his own glory.  Your first reaction to that might be, “Wow, what a jerk,” and that would be a good reaction if we were talking about a human being.  When a human being is self-centered, that’s a bad thing.  When God is self-centered, that’s a good thing, because he is the center of the universe, and if he behaved as though something else was, that would be false.

There is no one more God-centered than God!  God is not an idolater!  He loves himself and his own glory more than anything!  Why should we be committed to the Glory of God?  Because He is!

So in Jonah chapter 1 we see that Jonah has a big, big problem.  He does not understand what life is all about!  Jonah does not get it that life is all about God’s glory!

If we want to run toward God, we need to realize that God is committed to his own glory.

Realizing that God is committed to his own glory, however, is just the first step.  We also need to: Undertake the Mission

We need to undertake the mission to join God in seeking His own glory!

Jonah doesn’t undertake the mission.  Look at verse 1:3:  But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.  After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

God sends Jonah on a mission to bring Glory to God, but what does Jonah do?  He runs away!

Why?

Why would anyone hear the invitation to join God in seeking his glory and then run away?

Why didn’t Jonah undertake the mission?  The answer is actually found at the end of the book of Jonah… in Jonah 4:1-3.  After Jonah comes around and preaches to the Ninevites, they repent!  His preaching is effective!  Does Jonah rejoice that they turn to God?  Nope.  Instead, he complains.  Listen to Jonah 4:1-3:  But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

Here in chapter 4 we find out why Jonah did not undertake the mission; he doesn’t care about the glory of God!  Ninevah was in Assyria, enemies of Israel.  The Assyrians had often abused Israel, and Jonah hated them!  Jonah wanted the Ninevites destroyed, and he knew that God would not destroy them if they repented.

Do you see here the conflict of interest?  Jonah has his own idea of what life should be like.  He wants the blessings of God to come to him and to his own people of Israel, but he wants nothing to do with God’s glory among the nations, especially among his enemies! 

Are we like Jonah sometimes?  Do we sometimes care more about ‘making life work for us’ than we care about the glory of God?  Do we love God and obey Him as long as He blesses us and serves our own ambitions?  Or is our own will so caught up in his glory that we care for nothing else in life?  Can we really say that we are all about God?  Do we get the big picture?

The apostle Paul was so committed to the glory of God that he writes in Philippians 1:21:  “For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain!"

What a contrast from Jonah who instead says, “God, if I can’t have it my way, then kill me!”

And that is what running from God leads to – Death!  As Paul writes in Romans:  “The wages of sin is death.”

Don’t we believe that undertaking the mission is a worthy cause?  Are we with God?  Don’t we realize that joining God in seeking His glory is what we were made for?  Don’t we realize that this is where life is? 

We were created to seek God’s glory!  And this alone is where we’ll find fulfillment!

And this brings us to that third thing that we need to do to help us to join God in seeking His glory….  We need to: Note the Consequences

We need to note the consequences of not joining him in seeking his glory.  Look at the consequences for Jonah.  Jonah decides not to join God in seeking God’s glory, and look what happens!

First, consider verse 4:  Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Consequence #1: Jonah’s life is immediately stormy! 

We read in Hebrews 12:6:  “Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

When we run from God, He disciplines us!  When we run from God, He often sends the storms into our lives.

And the next consequence of running from God?  Consider verses 5-6:  All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.  The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."

Consequence #2:  Jonah loses his witness!

Jonah is supposed to be the prophet of God!  He is supposed to be sharing God’s love with people, bringing others into a relationship with the one True God.  Instead, he sleeps while the others pray to their false Gods.  Jonah endangers their lives, and he doesn’t even care about them!  When we run from God, we lose our love for other people, and we lose our witness.

For the next consequence, consider next verses 7-10:  Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.  So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"  He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

Consequence #3:  Jonah is found out to be a hypocrite

Don’t you find it a bit sad that Jonah has to be forced to admit in verse 9 that he is one of God’s chosen people?  He says, “I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."  Really?  Do you really, Jonah?  Do you really worship God?  Then why are you running from Him?  WHAT ARE YOU THINKING! 

And there is one more consequence; consider verses 11-16:  The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"  "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."  Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.  Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased."  Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.  At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

Consequence #4: Jonah would rather die.

Don’t you think Jonah would realize that he could just repent?  Couldn’t he confess his sins and be restored into a right relationship with God?  Don’t you think God would forgive him and end the storm and save all of the men on the ship?

You would think Jonah would realize this - and do it!  But instead, he says, “throw me into the sea!”  We shouldn’t look at Jonah as a martyr.  He is rebelling against God and would rather die than repent!

Running from God does not end in peace and life; it ends in turmoil and death.  When we run from God, we cut ourselves off from Life himself and lose even our ability to think straight and do what is best for ourselves.

In Hebrews 4:7 we read:  "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

Are you running from God?  Today is the day to return to the arms of your Lord and Savior.  Repent.  Turn around.  Give your life back to Jesus.  It is the only way toward LIFE.

RUN.

Realize God’s commitment.

Undertake the mission.

Note the consequences.

Remember to RUN, but Run toward God.

Run toward God and not away from him by joining him in seeking His glory.

Who is it all about, anyway?  What is the big picture?

Its not about you, and its not about me.  Its about Him.  He is the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.

He made you.  He made me.  And made us for His glory.

Let us pray.