The Saved Castaway: Jonah’s Prayer is our Prayer (Section 2) (Part V)

Sermon Title: Castaway: Jonah’s Prayer is Our Prayer (Part 2)

Good News Statement: God provides us salvation through our prayers

Preached: Sunday, August 06th, 2023, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Jonah 2:7-10 – Today’s Scripture reading comes from the Book of Jonah chapter two verses seven thru ten. In these verses we listen to Jonah’s prayer of reflection—a prayer and psalm of thanksgiving—as he sits in the belly of the fish. This reflection is our prayer today: to return to the LORD and to make promises before Him.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying, “I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
³ You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?’
⁵ The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head
⁶  at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God.

⁷ As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
⁸ Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.
⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out onto the dry land.

 

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

 

Introduction:

John Wesley prayed the following prayer every morning—a prayer of devotion and surrender. Wesley prayed: “I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things To your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, You are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.”

Last week, I informed you that Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the huge, great, large, fish, is our prayer today: it is our prayer of lament, distress, and surrender—“I am no longer my own, but yours.” In this prayer, just like Jonah, we are sinking below the surface because something in our life is dragging us down or even wearing us out, but we are also being raised up, brought to the surface of the water, by the saving grace of God. In this prayer, we find ourselves in the dark abyss—surrounded by the chaos and noise of the world—but, in this darkness, we see the light of Christ shining ever so brightly. In this prayer, we are tangled up by seaweed and placed behind bars at the bottom of the sea, but we are strong and courageous and know that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

In this prayer, we are hopeless, just like Jonah—seconds from giving up, seconds from letting the seaweed hold us captive, seconds from laying on the bottom of the sea—but we are being saved by the presence and grace of God in our life.  Paul notes when writing his epistle to the people of Ephesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8). In this prayer we are being renewed, given a second chance, and seeing life through the eyes of Christ: we have been given a gift to live a new life. Ultimately, in the beginning words of Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the large fish, we are called, in our moments of distress, to let things go, and let God save us! Remember, God is in control. I am no longer my own, but yours…. I freely and fully surrender all things To your glory and service.

I left you last week pondering the words of the hymn Cleanse Me. In this hymn, J. Edwin Orr, poetically writes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart today; Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me; Cleanse me from every sin and set me free. I praise thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; Fulfill thy word, and make me pure within. Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame; Grant me desire to magnify thy name. Lord, take my life and make it wholly thine; Fill my poor heart with thy great love divine. Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride; I now surrender; Lord, in me abide.”

Not only is this poem a hymn, but it is a prayer: it is a prayer of submission to God, to allow God to, as the Psalmist notes, “search me…and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23). Within this hymn we are praying what Jonah prayed from the belly of the large fish: to have our life turned over to God. Furthermore, the hymn ends with what Jonah seeks at the end of his prayer: promise and thanksgiving—“Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride; I now surrender; Lord, in me abide.”

Today, we look at the second half of Jonah’s prayer: Jonah 2:7-10. In these verses we are challenged to not only turn our life over to God, but to make promises to God and to give thanks to God. When was the last time you made a promise to God and you kept it? When was the last time you simply gave thanks to God? Why is it that we make promises to God and give thanks to God only when we are sinking below the surface of the water, when we are in trouble, or when we are in need of something? Why don’t we make promises and give thanks to God when the sun is shining, when life is good, or even when laughter and joy guide our footsteps? Remember, God is in control, and He deserves our full attention and gratitude.

 

Body:

I recently read a story by Biblical Scholar N.T. Wright titled, “Conversion is like Waking Up to an Alarm Clock.” N.T. Wright is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline Theologian, and Anglican Bishop, who has written over seventy books and is now the Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He is widely known for his Christian work on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The story from N.T. Wright goes like this:

“Waking up offers one of the most basic pictures of what can happen when God takes a hand in someone’s life. There are classic alarm-clock stories, Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, blinded by a sudden light, stunned and speechless, discovered that the God he had worshipped had revealed himself in the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth. John Wesley found his heart becoming strangely warm and he never looked back. They and a few others are the famous ones, but there are millions more.

“And there are many stories, that don’t hit the headlines in the same way, of the half-awake and half-asleep variety. Some people take months, years, maybe even decades, during which they aren’t sure whether they’re on the outside of Christian faith looking in, or on the inside looking around to see if it’s real. As with ordinary waking up, there are many people who are somewhere in between. But the point is that there’s such a thing as being asleep, and there’s such a thing as being awake. And it’s important to tell the difference, and to be sure you’re awake by the time you have to be up and ready for action, whatever that action may be.” Biblical scholar N.T. Wright uses the analogy of waking up in the morning for how some people come to Christ through a dramatic, instant conversion and others come to Christ through a gradual conversion.

Jonah’s alarm clock is going off. His spiritual alarm clock is ringing in his head. He is waking up. Instead of ignoring it and hitting the snooze button, Jonah is getting up and responding to God’s call. As we read back in Jonah 1:17, Jonah’s conversion didn’t happen right away. As a matter of fact it took time: it took three days and three nights. And during this time, Jonah was waking up to God’s alarm clock: praying, listening, discerning, and returning to God. Are you waking up to God’s alarm clock, or are you hitting the snooze button because you want that extra five minutes of sleep? It has been reported that 57% of people regularly hit the snooze button, while on average, the snooze button gets hit twice before finally getting up. Are you part of that 57%? Are you part of the 57% when God sets off your alarm clock.

Towards the end of Jonah’s prayer, we encounter that moment when Jonah was fully awake, converted by the faith of God, and ready to do what God had initially called him to do: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:1-2). We encounter a Jonah, a prophet of the LORD, who is not part of the 57% but is now part of the 43% who are awake and ready to go. Jonah is making promises and giving thanks to God. But are you?

Remember the LORD:  Jonah 2:7 reads, “As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” The beginning of verse seven calls us to remember the LORD in the darkness  and troubles of life. Psalm 34:6, “This poor soul cried and was heard by the LORD and was saved from every trouble.” Psalm 34:17, “When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and rescues them from all their troubles.” Psalm 37:39 reads, “The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.” Furthermore, the prophet Isaiah notes in 41:10, “do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

In time of trouble, Jonah remembers the works and promises of the LORD. Jonah is fully awake, no longer feeling lost and troubled but saved because the LORD is there to help and save him: the LORD has heard his cry. When do you find yourself remembering that the LORD is in your life? Do you remember the LORD when you are only in trouble experiencing darkness, or do you only remember the LORD when things are going great? When will you wake up and remember that the LORD is always in your life: through the good and the bad and in everything in between?

In remembering the LORD, Jonah goes on to say, “and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7). Jonah is recalling what he prayed earlier in verse four: “Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?’” (Jonah 2:4). Jonah finds himself searching for the temple of the LORD because he has now been converted, or has returned to the LORD. Jonah is looking forward to being in the presence of the LORD. Jonah is awake and seeks to be where the LORD needs him to be. I ask you, How often do you look forward to returning to the LORD’s temple every week? Do you search for the LORD’s temple during your daily life? How eager are you to live in the presence of the LORD and do what He is calling you to do: return to Him?

What are you worshipping? Jonah continues his prayer, “Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty” (Jonah 2:8). The NIV translation reads,  “Those who cling to worship idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8). First, who is Jonah talking about? The unidentified idol worshipers must be those who hear or read Jonah’s witness and prayer: Jonah is preaching to those who will later read this Book. God, through Jonah, is sending us a message to awake up and take note of what we are worshipping. God knows we are going to worship false idols—technology, sports teams, our animals, our favorite shows, John Deere, Case, etc.—those things that make God no longer the center of our life, the cornerstone to our foundation, the promises upon which we stand, the everlasting arms that we lean upon, which is why He is giving us a warning to set those things aside. God needs us to wake up and put Him at the center of our life. What do you cling to in your life that can be considered an “idol”, that draws you away from God?

Second, Jonah warns the reader, us, that if we don’t stop clinging to those false idols in our life, we will forsake our true loyalty to God, we will, in a way, forfeit God’s saving grace upon our life and be left at the bottom of the sea, tangled by the seaweed. Psalm 31:6-8 states, “You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken notice of my adversities and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.” Are you wanting to forfeit God’s grace in your life or are you wanting to have your life saved by God’s grace? Let go of what is keeping you from God.

Promises and Thanksgiving. Prior to being spewed out of the fish, Jonah proves that he is awake when he gives thanksgiving to and makes promises to the LORD. Jonah 2:9 asserts, “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!” This is Jonah’s cry to God letting God know that he has been healed, that these past three days and three nights have changed his life. God provided Jonah with the exact time that Jonah needed to be healed, to return to God, and to be made new. Needless to say, Jonah, as Ezekiel stated before encountering the Valley of the Dry Bones, has received a “new heart…and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26).

In this verse Jonah deliberately takes a moment to thank God. Let me remind you that Jonah was told to go to the great and wicked city of Nineveh where death was a for source thing, has ran from God, disobeyed God, was the source of the raging storm, was thrown overboard, was sinking to the bottom of the “roots of the mountains”—the bottom of the sea—and then was swallowed by a large fish. There was no food in the fish, no clean water in the fish, and probably no light in the fish. But yet through all of this, Jonah, at the end of his prayer says, “I with the voice of thanksgiving sacrifice to you…” Jonah has every right to be angry with God. However, Jonah accepts his fate and decides to give God thanks.

Now be honest, how many of you would respond like Jonah? How many of you would give thanks to God when life was against you? Not too many of us would! The last time you got upset because something didn’t work, did you stop and say, “Thank you God for making sure this doesn’t work.” No! The last time your kids didn’t listen to you, did you stop and say, “Thank you God for making sure my kids didn’t hear me.” No. The last time you witnessed the price increase just as you were pulling into the gas station, did you stop and say, “Thank you God for increasing the price of gasoline today.” No. We don’t give God thanks when life is unfair or against us. However, maybe we should say thank you to God when life is unfair; because maybe, perhaps, God is trying to send us a message.

Did you ever consider that the messes we get ourselves into could be messages from God? Did you ever contemplate that maybe our trials could be turned into triumphs? Did you ever ponder how our distance from God could be turned into moments of deliverance and salvation? Give thanks to God. Psalm 30:12 states, “O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” 1 Corinthians 1:4, “I give thanks to my God always…” 2 Thessalonians 1:3 and 2:13 assert, “We must always give thanks to God.” When you choose to give God thanks in all circumstances, always and forever, for the good and the bad, God will find a way to save you by His steadfast love and grace. So, I ask you, “When was the last time you stopped and gave God thanks in your life? When was the last time you gave God thanks for those good and bad moments in your life? When was the last time you gave thanks to God for allowing Him to change your messes into messages?”

After giving thanks, Jonah proclaims, “What I have vowed, I will pay” (2:9). Essentially, Jonah is saying, “What I have prayed to you, O LORD—returning to you, seeing your holy temple, and becoming awake in your grace and salvation—I will continue to promise to you.” Jonah is making a solemn promise to God: Jonah is devoting his life to God and he is not backing down from this promise. He is going to live it out, practice it, and preach about it. Jonah has promised his life to God and nothing is going to break that promise. When was the last time you made a promise to God? Were you able to keep that promise, or did you break that promise? If you kept that promise, what made you keep it? If you broke that promise, why did you break that promise?

Because Jonah prayed—emptied his heart before God through tears, distress, and lament—and give thanks to God and made promises to God by which he will not break, Jonah finally realizes the truth about God: “Deliverance/Salvation belongs to the LORD.” Just like Jonah, we do not create our own salvation, we do not develop our own salvation, and we certainly do not mold our own salvation. Salvation belongs to the LORD and only the LORD. When you give your life to God, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and leave everything at the foot of the cross in the presence of the Holy Spirit, then you will experience what Jonah experienced: salvation, grace, and new heart and life—a new walk with God. Even as Christians, we still need to be saved; and we certainly need to have God in our life.

After three days and three nights, after praying and reflecting, after lamenting and giving thanks, and after making promises to God, Jonah was spewed out onto dry land, saved and ready to follow through on what God had initially called him to do: warn and save the people of Nineveh.

Conclusion:

Going back to the story shared by N.T. Wright, I ask two final questions. First, “What will it take before you surrender to God?” Jonah was thrown overboard, almost drowned in the sea, was swallowed by a large fish, and then was spewed onto dry land, before he truly surrendered everything to God. Do you need to experience what Jonah experienced before you surrender or even notice that God is in your life? I believe the time has come to leave everything at the foot of the cross, lament, give thanks to God, and make promises to God that you know you can keep. Let God know that you need Him every hour of every day. Don’t wait until tomorrow to surrender to God, do it now, do it today.

Second, “Will you hit the snooze button or will you get up right away when God tells you to get up and go?” What would your life look like if you pursued everything that God called you to do: you didn’t wait and you didn’t hesitate? Jonah became awake in the belly of the fish. Although it took him three days and three nights to fully wake up, he woke up, saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and gave thanks to God even in what seemed like the worst possible way, and then promised — gave his life— to God. The time has come to wake up and allow God to spew you out so that you can do his work here on earth as it is in heaven.

John Wesley prayed the following prayer every morning—a prayer of devotion and surrender. Wesley prayed: “I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things To your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, You are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.”

What is God calling you to do? Who is God calling you to see? Where is God calling you to do God’s work? Don’t hit the snooze button when God says it’s time to get up! Give thanks to God and make promises to God that you know you can keep. However, the choice is yours…

Let it be so…

 

Closing Prayer:

Let Us Pray…Dear Saving God, we are no longer our own but yours. O God, hear our prayer of surrender today, and allow your Holy Spirit to surround us with comfort and determination to wake up and go where you need us, say what you need us to say, and do what you need us to do. O God, we are your servants seeking to do your will on earth has it is in heaven. All honor and glory is yours, now and forever, amen.

 

Benediction:

“What will it take before you wake up and surrender all to Jesus?” This week, let God hear your prayers of lament. This week, don’t be afraid to give God thanks in all things. This week, I challenge you to make promises to God that you know you can keep. May the LORD bless you, may the love of Jesus Christ guide you, and may the presence of the Holy Spirit wake you up. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go out into the world knowing that you have been saved by God. And all of God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.