Dr. Ron Sumners
January 11, 2004
Have you ever been with someone who did something to embarrass you? I’m sure that you probably have. Did you realize that often Christians who are away from the center of God’s will, must be an embarrassment to God? God never turns His back, yet sometimes Christians wander away from God and do some pretty embarrassing things.
Such was the case with Jonah. Not only did Jonah run from God, but he intended to stay away from God. He did some pretty embarrassing things.
If you are not making Jesus the Lord of every area of your life, you will soon be doing some of the same things.
When a believer is away from God, he sleeps while others perish. The storm was raging and the ship in which Jonah was a passenger was being tossed to and fro. Every man was scared for his life. They had thrown everything overboard that wasn’t essential in an effort to lighten the load.
The sailors were all praying to their gods. The captain went down to see if there was anything else left to toss overboard. And it was there, in the bottom of the ship, that he found Jonah asleep.
If there was ever a biblical character that presented a picture of contemporary Christians, it is Jonah. People are perishing all around us in a raging sea of sin, and, where are we? Asleep!
Jonah did not care what happened to the people on that ship. We sometimes do not care what happens to lost people. Many people start asking questions about the salvation of an individual only after they are dead! It is too late then. Their final destiny has been established. Where was the church? Where were the disciples? Asleep!
A young man at one of the iron works in Birmingham some years ago was thrown on a red-hot armor plate that was used for stamping molds. When he was rolled off by a fellow workman, it was doubtful that he would live.
His workmates cried, “Send for a doctor.” But the suffering man cried, “Never mind the doctor, I’m dying without God. Who can help me?”
Although 300 men were around him, no one could tell him the way to salvation. After several minutes of agony, he died.
One man who witnessed the accident and heard the cries of the dying man was a member of a church but inactive. When someone asked him about the accident, he said, “I have heard those cries ever since, and I wish I could have stooped down and pointed him to Jesus, but my life closed my lips.”
Does your life close your lips to those around you who need to know about a Savior?
When a believer is away from God, he confuses the lost world. The lost world may not have an exact understanding of what a Christian ought to be, but they generally have a good idea of what Christian behavior is. Those people on that ship knew that Jonah was acting strangely. And the question that he was asked could easily be asked to us by the world today, “What do you mean, O sleeper!” Most lost people know how Christians ought to act, but they seldom see that behavior from those who claim Jesus Christ. They will respect a person who lives by their convictions.
There was no respect for Jonah. There is no respect for us today when we fail to live a life that gives validity to our profession!
If you are a Christian and things are not right between you and God, even the lost world will know. The men on the boat knew that Jonah was messed up. If you are a Christian, but you are trying to live away from God, you will be miserable and you will make others miserable and uncomfortable too!
Sometimes the world demands to know answers to some hard questions. The questions in verse 8, demanded answers. “Who caused this trouble?” “What is your occupation?” “Where do you come from?” “What is your country?” “Who are your people?” The only problem was that the answers that Jonah gave did not exactly verify his actions. He told them that he was a Hebrew and that he feared the Lord. He testified that he feared the Lord, but his actions made that confession a lie. He was running from God.
The response of the men on the ship was “Why?” So, may lost people look at Christians and ask why we are no different from the world. I could not estimate the times I have heard, “I am just as good as or better than those people who go to your church.” “I know that John Doe goes to your church. I know John Doe. I have business dealings with him. If he is an example of what a Christian is, no thanks!”
There are many Christians who are committed to Christ just enough to be miserably hung on the fence. Many are dangling on the fence while the world and the Lord demand that they get to one side or the other.
We live in a world where compromise and trying to please God and Mammon become less and less possible. Those who straddle the fence are not respected by the church or the world.
Do you know what ultimately happens? When a believer is away from God, he is cast aside by both worlds! Jonah had already chosen to run from God and His people. But, to his dismay, he discovered that the lost world could not accept him either. In fact, they too cast him aside.
You see the true believer who runs away from God and His will embarrasses God’s people. Yet God will never really let him forget to whom he belongs. God will never allow his child to have a clear conscience in disobedience.
And strangely enough, the lost world cannot respect him either. To them, he is a traitor. He may be the most miserable man on earth. The world may not accept your faith or desire to live by it, but they will only respect you if you live it in front of them!
I knew a young man like that in college. One day he was on fire for the Lord. The next day he was out drinking beer with his other set of friends. Before long he had no respect from the Christians or the non-Christians!
Some people in this community are true believers but are away from God. There are members of this church who try to live in both worlds. They may be the most miserable of all people. Every day of their life is a lie! Those people may sit in one of these pews every Sunday. How can you tell if you are following God or living a lie, trying to please God and Mammon?
Are you sleeping while people all around you perish? Do you care that there are lost people in your family, at your work or in your circle of friends? Can you be at ease and even sleep knowing that people you care for are facing eternity without Christ? If that is true, your profession rings about as true as Jonah’s did.
Are you being cast aside by Christian friends? Do your non-Christian friends wonder at the inconsistency of your life as compared to your profession to be a Christian?
Come back to God! Jonah found that he could not run from God. He found that he could not gain the respect of the pagan world by denying who he was. Nor will you!
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