A MISSIONARY IN HIDING
#512 A MISSIONARY IN HIDING
Scripture Jonah 1:1-3; 3:1-3, NIV
Orig. 8/11/1968
Rewr. 12/7/1990
Passage: 1:1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and
preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3But 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.
3:1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2"Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days.
Purpose: To share a message with my people during a major mission emphasis of our perceived concern for our mission responsibility.
Keywords: Commitment Missions Revelation Disobedience
Timeline/Series: Mission Promotion
Introduction Pro 2-90p23
On May 20, 1987, a strange item was read in our newspapers. A West German youth had leased an American-built Cessna airplane and started the first leg of an unbelievable journey. Extra gas tanks were placed in the rear, and he flew first to Helsinki where he filed a final and fictitious flight plan. He wasn’t going where he said he was going.
In fact, he wound up a few hours later looking literally down the barrels of the armor of Soviet warplanes. With fool-hardy abandon, he flew his little craft toward the most heavily guarded city in the world.
He flew on to the city of Moscow with a bevy of these Russian fighters following his every move. He located Red Square, and literally flew around the Kremlin, the seat of government. Unbelievably, he then landed the Cessna on the cobblestone pavement of Red Square.
Surprisingly, he was not fired upon. He left the airplane, waved to the surprised crowd, and as he was arrested and taken away, he explained that he just wanted to talk to the Soviet people. I am not sure what he wanted to say. Perhaps just “Hello! How are you?”
Jonah had something he didn’t want to say. It was a message of great importance, urgency even, but he thought better of it. Instead of dangerously running into the face of the enemy, he just as dangerously went the other way. God called him to a task, and his inclination was to get by, callously hiding his missionary credentials.
I. First, There is a Clear Mandate from God. V5, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”
A mandate to a chosen messenger. God effects a sovereign choice. Jonah can be easily perceived as a mistake, a malcontent, a rebel. But then, others whom God has chosen were not that different. Moses: reared in luxury, accepted responsibility, ran from it, married a Gentile, made all those excuses. David: of huge ego, proud, became immoral, enamored of himself. Simon: bold, brazen, little patience, no culture.
He is still choosing His messengers. Either, He has saved you or in the attempt you spurned it. We’re still enamored of ourselves. We use the same stale excuses.
Not only was the messenger chosen, the message was made clear. The West German youth just wanted to be chummy, to say, “Hallo!” Jonah was to tell Nineveh that their sins stank, but, more importantly, that God loved them and wanted to forgive them.
People get caught up in the whale. Did he/didn’t he? Could he/couldn’t he? When we make our peace with God, and His love, such things as whales are neither intellectual nor emotional ___. You see, for the believer, the whale becomes an instrument for deliverance.
But if this exacting message was to get through, a committed messenger would be required. Somewhat more is required than belief. Jonah clearly believed. He believed so strongly that God would forgive that he went elsewhere. He presumed wrongly that he could keep it from happening.
With belief is the need for conciliation. God’s judgments are just. The best investment that I can make in my life is to yield to His will.
II. Next, Is a Missionary in Hiding. V3, “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
At the outset, it is simply a refusal to comply with this mandate to serve. Jonah was the sovereign choice of God for the redemption of Nineveh. The Hebrew people lost sight of the intermediary posture of being “chosen.” Through them God had chosen the way that He would affect world-wide reconciliation.
Many are yet like Isaac, taken as he was with Abraham to Mt. Moriah: Helping to prepare the altar, he asked, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Most of us are no more willing than Isaac “to be offered up.”
Missionaries tell of methodology of the church in India. The convert being baptized is required to place his own hands on his head saying, “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel,” I Corinthians 9:16.
There are various ways that we accommodate such seclusion in our lives:
· Refusal to give up hidden sins of the flesh—Not something that we struggle with without effect; a recognized indiscretion that we refuse to part with.
· One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin—To deny Him right of reproof is to willfully exclude God.
· To refuse opportunities for growth as Christians is to hide our witness—List the avenues in your life that are directly related to your faith; list the things that go on in your church of which you have no part. Do you want your community to perceive of you as Christian? Other?
The most obvious now is to deny stewardship opportunity. Is regular financial support an integral part of my faith? Am I doing what I can? Should?
How seriously do I take the idea of participation in Jesus’ birthday? Lottie Moon goal is $86 million. Participation at 20-25%. What could we do if our best? Do you remember who Lottie Moon was? After 40 years, perceived her Chinese friends starving, began to go without food until [she] fell seriously ill, put on a boat to USA. Died at sea.
III. The Final Note Is One of Ministry. 3:3, “So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.”
There are social responsibilities that are not to be denied. We are to feed and clothe the destitute. We are to protest injustice. We are to champion unpopular but righteous causes.
The responsibility to share the gospel creatively is just as demanding. Jesus championed social causes. He died for the sin of men and women,
Jesus left a message through John that we deliberately downplay. Religious leaders reacted negatively to His claim to be “the living bread.” Those who “ate His flesh and drank His blood” had eternal life. John 6:66, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.”
He, of course, did not literally mean to cannibalize Him, but to be at one with Him in life and death.
Are you “at one” today with Jesus? Or, are you a believer taking the easy road to faith?
You believe the gospel, but you don’t want it to cost you anything? You didn’t place your hands on your head and say “Woe unto me if. . .”?
It’s easier being “a missionary in hiding,” or is it?
Conclusion
During WW2, workmen were building a cathedral in a city on the coast of England. The city was bombed again and again. “Why do you continue to build when the next bomb may destroy all?”
“Everytime those bombers come this way, we want them to see the spires of this cathedral, and to know that we still have faith in eternal things.”
Give us, O God, the strength to build
that city that hath stood
Too long a dream, whose laws are love,
Whose crown is servanthood.
Already in the mind of God
That city riseth fair
Yea, bids us seize the whole of life
And build that city there.1
1 https://hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/583
1 Public domain: Bowie, WR. O Holy City, Seen of John. (1910). In HYMNS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, Harper & Row.