In my previous post, I shared the manuscript of the first message I wrote. Here is the sermon I actually preached. I worked this up this morning. I sat down to read my first manuscript, and while it wasn't terrible, it was not right either. I don't know if this one is right, but it is what the church got.
Faith out of Fear
(Jonah 1:4-16)
Rob Tennant, HillSong
Church, Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday, October 30,
2016
4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,
and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They
threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them.
Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down,
and was fast asleep. 6 The
captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on
your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.”
7 The
sailors[a] said to one another, “Come, let
us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon
us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us why this calamity has come upon
us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And
of what people are you?” 9 “I am a
Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God
of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this
that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of
the Lord, because he had told them
so.
11 Then they
said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For
the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the
sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great
storm has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless
the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the
sea grew more and more stormy against them. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord,
“Please, O Lord, we
pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty
of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have
done as it pleased you.” 15 So they
picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a
sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
The men of the sea, the
mariners, were among the bravest of people in the ancient world. Their ships were ancient. If they ran into trouble on the open ocean,
no coast guard was coming. There would
be no search with the coordinated efforts of several nations. They were on their own. And they certainly would run into trouble.
But, they did it. They set out on the Mediterranean Sea in
search of adventure and prophet. They came from different places, different
cultures. And on the ship, with nothing
but trust in one another, they journeyed about the known world. They were definite believers in God or in
many gods, but their religious practice amounted to superstition more than
faith.
On this day, at port in
Joppa, they would make the Tarshish run as they had before. A few days at sea would bring temporary
wealth and at the end rest and relaxation awaited. They took on passengers as they had before –
this time an Israelite who said as little as possible and kept to himself. He
was aloof. Did he think himself
superior? Did he look down on the
sailors? Would they make life miserable
for him because of his standoffishness?
It did not matter. The captain admitted him passage and took his
money. They had no care for why he
came. The simply told him to stay out of
the way as they did their work. They did
not ask for his story – not at first.
Was it a beautiful day when
they set sail? The port of Joppa shrunk
behind them as they moved into the deeper waters. They were experienced navigators who by the
stars and the winds and the familiar landmarks always knew their location. The one thing that might throw them was if a significant
storm arose.
It did. The winds started up as the sky
blackened. No panic. They had seen this before. But when the lightning cracked across the sky,
it felt particularly close. When waves
began to rise, sailors began to comment in a way more tinged with fear than the
normal seaman exaggerations. “I’ve not
seen waves like this before,” said one man.
This was his third Joppa to Tarshish run. “That rain is running sideways,” another
exclaimed. And he was far saltier than the
first who spoke. Then, the man who had
been on the seas longer than any spoke solemnly. With a note finality he said, “Men
this is trouble. Call on your gods.”
As they followed their elder’s
advice, the boat began to toss and turn, nearly heeling over. At this point, their prayers were fear-filled
prayers. They made recitations. They promised things. They prayed panicked prayers. Have you ever prayed a promised-filled,
panicked prayer in your life? Then you
might understand what this men were doing.
The prayers didn’t
work. They began tossing cargo – their prophets
– overboard. This entire trip would be
for nothing. No money waiting in
Tarshish; and not a one of them even paused, because in panic, we throw
whatever we have overboard if it will save our lives.
The prayers didn’t
work. Neither did lightening the
load. There was nothing left to throw
overboard. They were going to die, and
die completely penniless. The captain
ran below deck. Was he turning
coward? Not this captain. He was tough, windblown, and fearless. A moment later he re-emerged with the
Israelite.
Now these superstitious
sailors were all interested in his story.
This storm was an act of God.
They had no doubt. Each one had
prayed. Then, they took a dice that had
black on three sides and white on three.
In the midst of the tempest they lined up and each man rolled. Each one came up white. The Israelite might as well join them in
their panic. He rolled. Black.
What had he done?
The sailors were in his face.
“Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation?
Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
“I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. I am on the run, fleeing my God. He has brought this upon us.” He said this soberly, with no trace of
terror. Who was high-minded fool? Was he
so taken with his own dignity that he could not see the death about to swallow
them?
The men were even more afraid, and said to him, “What is this that
you have done!” He looked into the driving rain and let the drops, like wet
bullets, pelt his face. “Tell us, darn
you. “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?”
He said to them, “Pick me
up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know
it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”
Fool. Fool! Fool! Fool! God was punishing the boat, the sailors, and
the sea itself because of his arrogance.
Did he think these sailors wanted to bring God’s wrath on themselves by sending
him to death? They began rowing furiously,
praying they were headed south, to the coast of Egypt. It would be a full day’s row in ideal
conditions. But we don’t act logically
when we are panicked, do we? Have you
ever been there? Life is so out of
control that you do something that makes no sense in an attempt to fix
things. That’s why we say, “she’s losing
it.”
Reality
set in on them. Prayer hadn’t worked and
only increased their fear. Throwing
everything overboard had not worked. When they confronted Jonah and heard his
story, their fear spiked. Now, they saw
the insanity of rowing in this squall.
One more prayer was all they had left.
“Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let
us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent
blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it
pleased you.” So they picked Jonah
up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
What conversations
did they have in the blue-skyed, quiet calm?
Not a one. Not one sailor said a
thing. The image of Jonah sinking to the
depths was emblazoned on their minds.
Those sailors would never forget that image. At every turn in this tale, one thing was
clear. The fear in those men grew incrementally. Each new twist drove the tremors deeper in
their souls. Now, with the danger past,
they were spent. The
men feared the Lord even
more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and
made vows.
After chapter 1, we don’t hear from the sailors again in
the story, but by the end of Jonah, we are left to wonder. What did their lives look like after they
worshiped on the deck of their ship as the soft waves gently rocked them? We suppose that they made it to Tarshish, but
then what? As each sailor, got off that
boat, how was his life different after his encounter with the living God.
How
about our lives? One of the cornerstones
of the way we try to live as a body of believers is the encounter. We pray that when we gather, people will meet
God in this place, this gathering of believers.
In that meeting with God, when holiness exposes us completely, including
our darkest secrets and deepest pains, will fear drive us to our knees in
confession and worship? Or will fear
make us runaway and pretend that God is far off somewhere, mostly uninterested
in our lives? We at HillSong try to set
conditions so that you will meet God here and stay with Him. Meet God and be made new in the process.
God
controls how He will reveal himself.
When he does, we decide if we will run away, or if stripped down, we
will kneel at the cross and receive forgiveness and grace and new life. I don’t
know what you’ve been through today. I
don’t know the pains stabbing at your heart.
I don’t know the brokenness that drove you to panic and then despair.
I
pray this morning, you’ll open your eyes and mind and heart wide enough to see
God. When you see God, I urge you step
into the fear. Step to the cross and let
the Lord hang your sins on it. Name your
personal disasters, see God in them, and then give yourself to Him. Let the Lord wash you and bring you up from
the waters clean, refreshed, renewed, and alive. The sailors in Jonah 1 help me see the new
possibilities of life that come when, in our fears, we step to God. Faith can come out of those moments – life renewing
faith. I pray you will see that too and
that you will step toward God right now.
AMEN
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