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JONAH
A SERMON BY MRS WINIFRED MONTGOMERY
SERMON WEDNESDAY 13 MARCH 2019
READINGS:
Jonah 3: 1-10.
Psalm 51: 1-2, 10-12.
Luke 11:29-32.
Jonah is called the most reluctant person in the O.T////Three times God asks him to do something; ///twice he dodges God./// But finally he realises that God will have His way./// Finally with a very bad attitude Jonah does what God wants him to do. ///
The job Jonah was called to do was to go to Nineveh to warn the Ninevites that unless they repent of their godless ways//their country will be destroyed. Jonah refuses to meet with the heathens. ///He would actually enjoy
seeing them destroyed. /// Are we not sometimes like Jonah?/// Is there a mission or task God wants you to do?////Are you behaving like Jonah?////////
The story of Jonah tells of God’s patience towards us; ///His reluctance to punish us,/// and the repeated warnings God gives us./// But we have become stubborn. ///// Because God does not punish, we think that he never will,/// and we continue to ignore Him.//// What are we escaping from? mission and evangelism? ///Are we afraid to tell people to repent?/// Are we deaf when we are told to clean up our lives?///. We attend services and listen to sermons, ///but what we hear is just
information. //// When the challenges come we hide,///// ignore ////or pass the buck for some one else to do. ////What is preached//is the Word of God. And the Word of God is nothing less than the power of God./// Often the
prophets end their message by saying : “Thus says the Lord” ///
2.
To ignore it is to ignore God///and at our own peril,/// as Jonah realised. ///It shows how powerless we become when we try to resist God. ///The rule of God over man and nature remains no matter how we try to resist it///////// Actually Jonah was making a mountain out of a molehill./// What did God really ask him to do? /// It was a very small thing./// All he had to say
(to no-one in particular) that in forty days Nineveh will be destroyed. /// A very Short sermon./// But it needed courage.///The message was not to a king or a Judge or any specific powerful person. ///////// Like Moses, who was told to go to he Pharoah/////// Often we are reluctant to dosomething because we imagine it to be a huge task. /// asked to read a
lesson in church one Sunday morning/// and all kinds of excuses areoffered///” No! I can’t read in front of people. I can’t see so good…etc.////too busy to visit a sick of house-bound person////////////….Nineveh was a large and beautiful city./////Jonah was scared. /// Can we blame him?/// Jonah displays all the human weaknesses that you and I have: disobedience; reluctance; lack of vision; stubbornness;
The book of Jonah shows God’s patience and mercy because God knows us.////God always gives us a commission/////Perhaps this Lent we can ask God what commission He has for each of us.////us find out what that
commission is.//// Perhaps we could make a special task of obedience./////Jonah tried so many ways to avoid going to Nineveh./// He paid the sailors to take him to Tarshish to cover up his disobedience///
3.
Preachers have sometimes to preach a message that they know the congregation will not like////. But they are commissioned to preach the word of God/// Sometimes you feel you are being picked on.///But often we need to hear just what the preacher has to say/////////
In our reading for today we see that God does not give up on Jonah.//// The fact that “the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time shows that God had forgiven him his disobedience. ////God so pleadingly asks “Jonah,: “now will you go to Nineveh? “/////How many times are we forgiven for our disobedience? ////Even though each time we see the foolishness of going against the will of God.////
Now, remembering what happened before,///without any grumbling, Jonah goes to Nineveh to preach the message God entrusted to him./// Because no matter what, God will have His way.///// we can just imagine Jonah walking down the streets///talking as though to himself, /// but hoping that someone will hear (that way he thinks:
well. I’M doing what I was told to do) /// Because later we read how angry Jonah was that God had actually spared the people of Nineveh.///
News got to the king ///and the king became a partner in the mission God had appointed Jonah to fulfill.////.
Often we, too, think that a task given us by God is too great /// We forget that we are not alone: “I will put words in your mouth.” When the time comes I will tell you what to say.” /// But before his can happen we must be obedient and willing to offer ourselves to the service of God. The message was quite short and simple. “In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.”//////
4.
Nineveh was a great city./// It is said that at one time to have been the city to rule over the kings of the earth.///But all cities are under the rule of God. ///And God wants to buy back every city to Himself./// Nineveh was a heathen city// without the knowledge and worship of the true God. /// Their wickedness was such that despite other prophets having tried to reform them//// they did not listen///So God thought that He himself should intervene. /// Jonah was an Israelite ///and part of his reluctance to convert a heathen city///and get them to repent/// would for him be a slur on the people of Israel/// Sin separates us from God. /// We cannot sin in isolation ///because we cannot live in isolation.///Our sins affect others as well as ourselves/// Jonah’s sin caused a storm which put in danger the lives of the sailors. /// To resist God brings trouble on ourselves as well as on others. ///We see this so clearly in the psalm 51.///David asking forgiveness for what started
out as a sin of lust ///and spiralled into deceit and eventually murder./// In the Gospel we are again reminded that the miracle of Jesus is a repetition of the miracle of Jonah.////The obedience of Jesus was the supreme lesson of obedience to His Father/// Tonight we start our Lenten discipline///We will hear words the Spirit speaks to the churches: “Hear, you who have ears///to what the Spirit says to the churches”.
Amen.
Worship and Warning.
A SERMON BY MRS WINIFRED MONTGOMERY
Sunday 15 March 2020.
Readings:
Exodus 17: 1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
In a few Sundays time we will join with other denominations in our annual Palm Sunday procession of witness. ///// Just picture in your mind how previous processions looked and sounded. //// Leading us are the Priest, servers and the choir us with lusty singing./////// As we walked on// the gaps between one row of people and the next widened. /// The sound of the hymns grew fainter and fainter as some lagged behind. /// Those further back// because of no hymn books and the words of the hymns not remembered///personal conversations started //and cell phone messages were exchanged./// The pace slowed
down////making the whole procession look untidy and disorganised./// People watching from the side of the street or through their windows //must have wondered whether this was just another protest march against service delivery. //////////////////
Today’s psalm portrays a procession of worshippers on their way to the temple. /// The occasion may be one of their major festivals;/// perhaps the feast of the Tabernacles. ///// As was customary /// like ours, the procession was led by the choir,////or perhaps with a lead singer who would chant one half of the verse of the psalm, ///and the rest of the people would sing the second part.,,,////very much like in our worship service ///where one person or group would read the lines in blue and the other would read the lines in bold black.//////// Of course they
did not have books/// they knew the psalms by heart./// The leader of the procession leads the people of God to worship in the temple///
We do the same….///before our Sunday worship service///the worship team gathers outside, and the Priest, the choir and the whole sanctuary contingent///symbolically we lead the people of God to into the temple for worship ///// because or worship follows the form the
ancient times///// In that gathering,// before we enter the church/// we prepare ourselves to meet with God. //////Of course, for each one of us, preparation for worship should begin , long before Mr. Koffie rings the bell./// That is afterall why we are here….to answer Gods invitation to meet with Him.
The psalms were often used as a method of teaching ///or of as a reminder of the history of God’s chosen people./// In the procession //// the lead singer/// reminds his following of the reasons for this journey towards the temple.//// It is a call to worship////////// The psalmist gives reasons why
God deserves to be worshipped.///// (you may want to follow the reasons either in the Bible or in your prayer book. Ps.95) One of the reasons is, that those who worship God must also obey him. ////. “ The worshippers encourage one another to praise THE ROCK OF THEIR SALVATION///////
They are called back to the heart of worship.//// “ Come, let us praise the Lord for the Lord is a mighty God, a mighty king over all gods.”////
When the psalmist says he is “A GREAT KING ABOVE ALL GODS, he is emphasizing the kingship of the one true God, as being particularly seen in creation.//// V4, HE RULES OVER THE WHOLE EARTH/////FROM THE DEEPEST CAVES TO THE HIGHEST HILLS//// THE SEA AND ALSO THE LAND//////////////…..
As they approach the gates of the temple the call to praise now includes physical acts of devotion////. V6. “LET US KNEEL BEFORE THE LORD OUR MAKER///HE IS OUR GOD////// V8. The people are called to humility before God. ///“DO NOT BE STUBBORN AS YOUR ANSCESTORS WERE AT MERIBAH//// Here they are reminded of an event in their history/// A reminder of their time of testing in the wilderness.////Here they are reminded of the Israelites who trekked from
Egypt to Canaan/////they recall how they grumbled against Moses,/ because they had no water///// not trusting God to care for them.////But God said to Moses/// “it is against me they are angry,/// not against you” ////There they put me to the test V9 ./////Now comes the warning:// Their punishment was that they would not enter the Promised Land, ///as they are reminded of God’s promise in the book of Hebrews./// A scripture they were familiar with.
They are reminded of the danger of God’s wrath and the need of His mercy.///// In the precession the psalms were usually sung.// because , especially in the open, the sound of the words carried better.// Singing, combined with action, is an effective way of reinforcing the teaching.///hymn books were not in fashion then, ////and folks learnt by repeating over and over again as the teacher taught all the history of the Israelite people. //////////
The leader encourages the flock to praise God,/// reminding them that spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thanksgiving.
/// WORSHIP AND BOW DOWN AND KNEEL BEFORE GOD///
The singer asks the question: “Why is God to be praised? ////And the congregation replies: “ Because God is our Father and King //and a God who covenants with us./// and protects us./// In spite of the might and power of God the creator of the sea and the land ///////there is also a warning in the psalm;/// a warning for the present generation not to be stubborn as were their ancestors while travelling through the desert.//They had forgotten that each time God had provided all that they needed. ////// How do we stand in the face of that? Do our grudges against God and against each other last for
forty years? ////This Gospel psalm contains in the words of everything we confess to believe, in the creed/// God the Father, //creator of heaven and earth and all that is in it./// The Mediator: we believe in the Holy Spirit. The latter part of the psalm calls everyone who sings gospel songs to live gospel lives////
Not only to be hearers of the words, but also doers./// There is a warning not to harden our hearts.//// The temptation of the Israelites was to ask:// Is the Lord among us or not? /// In their ignorance they questioned the presence of God. ///. In the present Coronavirus scare ///do we
doubt that God is among us? ///many are still treating the situation lightly./// the threat is coming nearer and nearer to us./// We still find people today who in ignorance question the reality of God. ////The reason why people forsake the ways of God is because of the sins of Gods professing
people,/// not only do they anger God /// or refuse to take his miracles and proof of his existence,///but they sadden God.//////
Just like the Israelites distrusted God,//// so those who distrust God will be denied the eternal rest in the presence of God. ///// It will be their choice.
So let us remember this and get back to the heart of worship.
Amen.