Resurrection Lutheran Church - Sermon Update

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/21/18
Jonah 3:1-5, 10


An Amazing Word Produces Amazing Results!
I. With an unlikely prophet
II. With an unlikely people


When it comes to our human efforts, we expect results.

For instance, if you’ve spent any employment time in the world of business and industry, you certainly participated in an analysis of where you are and where you want to be. You plan the steps it will take to get you as quickly from one to the other. And if you and your business partners apply themselves fully to the plan, you expect the planned-for results.

You undertake a project at home. It can be as simple as the dreaded closet-cleaning or floor-scrubbing. It can be as complex as the renovation of a kitchen or bathroom. You make your plans for what you want things to look like when you’re finished, and then you get to work. You expect results.

But what do you expect from your God? What do you expect when he shares his word with you?

Realize that, when hearing the word of our God, we’re up against our experience with the word of our fellow human beings. People say things all the time all day long, and that’s all there is—just sound bytes which have absolutely no impact. Many are the times we’re convinced that we’re simply listening to a person who likes to talk. And so we have no expectations. We’ve learned long ago not to expect any results, especially when what they tell us is even just a bit out of the ordinary. That’s our daily experience with human words. But what do we expect when what we’re hearing or sharing is the word of our God? Are we doubtful? Are our expectations low?

If that’s a problem that you share with your fellow Christians, then your God has just the thing for you this morning. Our God sends out his prophet—and not just any prophet; this situation is incredible—and has him share his word with an entire nation of people—and not just any nation; this situation is incredible.

To put it succinctly, in the event before us we hear and see the word of God doing amazing things in the lives of people. It changes them completely. But that’s what God’s word does. An amazing word produces amazing results. Are you ready to witness them?

Part I.
Have you ever dreamed about being someone else? Children are known for dreaming what they’ll become as adults. A professional athlete, a pilot, a race car driver, a king or queen, a prince or princess. Maybe even president of the United States.

And adults aren’t immune from that dreamy activity. How often have you wished with deep longing for your life to be like someone else’s? You see the glitz and glamour, or you hear the description of what someone’s life is like and you wish, “If only…”

But how about this one: Have you ever wished to be a prophet of God? Maybe so. Perhaps you recall reading something amazing God accomplished through one of his heroes of faith and you couldn’t help wondering what it would be like if it happened in your life. For instance, in our Sunday Bible class we’re studying the amazing things God did through his prophets Elijah and Elisha. Nearly 3,000 years later and God’s people are still reading the accounts of their lives with amazement. Imagine being one of those prophets!

But I doubt you’ve ever wished that your life was like Jonah’s, the prophet before us this morning. What do you recall about his life as God’s prophet? Well, he was swallowed by a great fish. That would be OK if that never happened to me. How about you? But what else do you recall? Not much?

Let’s take a minute and get to know his situation a little better. This morning’s text begins right at the halfway point of the book that bears his name. And the very first verse sheds some light on Jonah’s life. Listen to it again. “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” A second time. This wasn’t the first time the Lord had shared his word with Jonah, telling him what to do. Do you recall the first time? God told him to go to Nineveh to proclaim his word and a stubborn Jonah refused. He went as far as he could go in the other direction. God stopped his little spiritual tantrum with a storm and a huge fish.

So “the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.” He went, like a good little prophet of God should. And he proclaimed the word of God just like God told him to do. And amazing things happened. And what was Jonah’s response? He was upset! That’s right—upset! He was angry that the people believed God’s word. Can you imagine that? Why would he have such a terrible reaction? We’ll get into that in a few minutes. Just focus for the moment on Jonah. First, he directly disobeys the Lord and tries to flee in the opposite direction. Then, when he does what the Lord calls him to do, he pouts that God lived up to his word. What a wretched response! What a wretched child of God! No wonder no one dreams of being a prophet like Jonah!

But the point is this: An amazing word produces amazing results, even with an unlikely prophet!

What a wretched child of God! More than once that accurately characterizes God’s prophet, Jonah. What a wretched child of God! Has that ever characterized your life as a child of God? Has there ever been a time in your life when you’ve defiantly declared to God: “I know that’s what you’re telling me. I can see and read it right here in your word. But you’re asking too much of me, Lord.” Or, “This time I know better.” Or, “I have my reasons for ignoring what you say. Get back to me later, God, and you’ll see how my way was better than yours.” Does that sounds at all familiar? Even if it doesn’t (and who can honestly make that claim?), then consider this: Every one of us came into this world a wretched sinner who wanted nothing to do with God. But look what amazing results an amazing word has produced in us! A man of God speaks the name of the triune God and applies water to us and God the Holy Spirit uses that word to bring us to faith and make us his own. In fact, he loves us so much that he begins to make our bodies his dwelling place. Amazing results! We come here confessing our sins, sins with which we’re all too familiar, and we hear God’s amazing proclamation: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus! We stand with our fellow sinner-saints, shoulder to shoulder, and hear our Lord’s amazing words: Take eat…my body. Take drink…my blood. For the forgiveness of sins. And that word has amazing results. By that very word we are connected in a mystical yet real way with Jesus himself. We, the wretched children of God that we are, are connected to the Son of God himself. Amazing results! But that’s what an amazing word does, even with us!

Part II.

Hitler. Stalin. ISIS, Boko Haram. Those names evoke a host of emotions—none of them positive. Fear. Repulsion. Hatred, even. We can’t imagine doing what these people have done and still do to human beings. If we had the power and the opportunity to rid the earth of them before they do any more harm, we’d do it. In a heartbeat. Justice would demand it. Concern for our fellow human beings would cause us to take such immediate action.

But what does God do with the people of Nineveh? He sends them his prophet.

Perhaps that doesn’t sound so incredible to you. But it should when you understand the people of Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria—modern eastern Turkey. The Assyrians were the dominant world power at the time and a menace to God’s people in the Holy Land. They worshiped all sorts of vile idols. That was bad enough, but their inhumanity was unimaginable. They were brutal in warfare. Decency won’t permit me to describe the methods of torture they invented and “improved.” And they gloried in it. Believe me, you would rather be dead than be an Assyrian prisoner of war. What’s more, they were hedonistic gluttons. They captured more territory simply because they wanted to get drunk on the riches of others.

But God came to Jonah and declared, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” And what was that word? Not, “I hate every one of you and I’m going to vent my righteous wrath on you,” but, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” A gracious God was giving the people time to repent and change their ways. The God of love and forgiveness, who wants all people to be saved, had sent his prophet to the wicked people in this wicked city to call them to repent and to trust in him.

Not very likely, considering who the Ninevites were. But an amazing word produces amazing results. “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

A complete, 180-degree turnaround. Amazing! An amazing word produces amazing results even with an unlikely people.

This is one of those events which declares that God loves every sinner, no matter how vile they may be. God’s grace is for all, no matter what sins they have committed. I find my comfort in that and I urge you to do the same. Our God calls us to repent and to trust in him. That amazing turnaround is all his doing, not our own. We owe everything we are to him. What a gracious, loving God we have that he should spare nothing, not even his Son, to make us his own people.

That’s his deepest desire for every sinner. What God has done in us with his word, he wants to do in every sinner. How many prophets do we have here today? How many of us will God use to share his amazing word to produce amazing results in others? Lord, how will you use me? Ask yourself that question. Then get busy proclaiming God’s truths to others. And watch for amazing results—the same results God has worked in you. Amen.