11th MARCH 2018
From the previous two parts of the life of Jonah we learned that God’s interruptions are always a blessing in disguise and that God cares for us even when we choose to disobey Him. Our God is always a God of second chance. We can make a difference if we choose to obey God. Jonah was called to preach in the city of Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-2), so are we also called to proclaim the name of Jesus to the ends of the world. The God who spoke to Jonah is speaking to each one us today to preach. God has neither called us to be just an example, nor just to behave in a good way but also to proclaim His message to the people around us. God wants us to tell the whole world about His love, sacrifice, the coming judgement and the only eternal hope. Whenever we talk about Jonah we always focus on the whale and forget the essence that God has a purpose behind every call. Just as God had a specific purpose for Jonah, He has a wonderful purpose for each one of our lives. God has given us His beautiful gift of salvation. It’s a privilege God has given us to know Him as our personal Saviour and so He wants us to share this good news with all our loved ones, our friends and all the people around us. The people of this world are doomed to destruction just as the city of Nineveh was, if they don’t know about Jesus. God has called us to preach about this God. Preaching does not necessarily mean we have to scream on the streets, but we need to tell the people about Jesus while having a normal conversation. Preaching is God’s way of reaching out to the world. God is so powerful and mighty that He can reveal Himself directly to the people in a magnificent way through the solar system or anything that’s powerful in this world, but God chooses to do it through ordinary people like us. When God has chosen us to preach, He has entrusted us with greater things. We are special in the eyes of God hence He has entrusted us. He has the confidence that we can tell people about God. Whenever we read the about Jonah, we tend to think that God was very cruel in allowing Jonah to go through so many trials but if we observe very closely, we can see God’s care and protection over Jonah which changed his life forever. After being vomited out by the whale on the shore, he immediately went to Nineveh. There was so much of power in the Word shared by Jonah that all the people in Nineveh repented of their sins and hence believed in God. There is a magnificent power in the Word of God that it can transform us. When Jonah experience the Word of God personally, He was able to preach it powerfully to the people.
Romans 1:16 says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
There is a dynamic explosive power in the gospel. So, our job is not to make the Bible relevant to people but to preach the Bible as it is.
What we can learn from Jonah?
God’s prophets are ordinary people like us. Jonah was not perfect but God’s purpose for his life was perfect.
Jonah is calling us to deliver the Gospel of God. Our job is not to deliver the message but just to share the people what God has shared with us. Our job is to only deliver the good news about Jesus Christ and not to create or impact the news. God doesn’t want us to take God’s glory at all.
A true prophet has to recognise that the result is up to the Lord. Never be worried about any program becoming a success or not. When we are delivering the gospel, please don’t be discouraged if we get rejected. In the book of Acts chapter 17 verses 32 to 34 we can see that Paul preached to many but only few accepted the gospel. Our objective is to be faithful and not to be successful. One day God is going to say, “well done good and faithful servant and not successful servant”. God wants each one of us to just faithfully deliver the message and leave the result to God.
Jonah obeyed the Word of God and went to Nineveh. He just shared what God told him and people believed in God not in Jonah. (Jonah 3:5-6)
God gave a warning for Nineveh which when people heard repented and turned back to God. Today God gives each one of us the warning that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
God’s warning is a good sign as He is giving each one of us a second chance to believe in Jesus and be saved from the eternal burning hell.
