Do What the Lord Judges Right

Introduction

This Sunday's service opens with a prayer quoting Jonah 1:17: "The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." The preacher then looks back on the retreat week that has just taken place, on recent baptisms in the churches of Numazu and Yokohama, and on the memory of his mother Mariko, who was called home to the Lord the previous Thursday. He then opens the book of Jonah to ask a very simple question: do you do what seems right to you, or what the Lord judges right? That is the whole point of Deuteronomy 12, "you shall do what is right in the eyes of the Lord," and that is exactly the story of Jonah.

Sermon Outline

1. Jonah, a patriot prophet called to go to Nineveh

• Jonah is not unknown. 2 Kings 14:23-25 presents him as a mighty prophet, whose word helped King Jeroboam II restore the borders of the Northern Kingdom to what they had been under David and Solomon. He is a "patriot prophet," deeply attached to his own people, Israel.
• So when God tells him to go to Nineveh to announce a call to conversion to that people, everything in him recoils. Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian Empire, to the east. And Assyria is about to invade the Northern Kingdom of Israel. A few decades later, it will. For Jonah, Nineveh deserves to be destroyed, not saved.
• That is where the conflict is born. God says: go. Jonah tells himself: in my heart, justice means Nineveh being destroyed. And he chooses his own justice over God's.

2. The flight: 180 degrees in the opposite direction

• Jonah gets up and heads for Tarshish, the exact opposite direction. Tarshish is a Mediterranean port, roughly where Spain is today. Literally 180 degrees west of the mission he received to the east.
• The preacher points out a human weakness this story exposes: Jonah is alone. Unlike Daniel, he doesn't have friends to pray with and discern things alongside. A brother could have told him: "Jonah, I understand your love for your people, but God has a plan bigger than your thinking. Go." He has no one. And he runs off in the opposite direction from God.
• Three times in Jonah 1, the text uses the phrase "fleeing from the presence of the Lord" (v. 3 twice, v. 10). This is the exact vocabulary of Genesis 3:8-9: Adam and Eve, after sinning, hide from the presence of God as he walks in the garden. Fleeing the presence of God is the first reflex of sin since the beginning. It's not just disobedience, it's withdrawing from the gaze of God.

3. The storm, and a God who still speaks

• Jonah 1:4: "The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea." God doesn't let Jonah go quietly. He chases after him.
• The contrast is striking. The pagan sailors, terrified, throw the cargo overboard and cry out, each to his own god. Jonah, meanwhile, has gone down into the hold of the ship and fallen fast asleep (v. 5). "You can no longer tell who the Christian is," the preacher comments. The men of the world are fighting not to perish; the prophet of the living God is asleep.
• One paraphrase (the Living Bible) renders verse 5 this way: "He went down into the hold of the ship to hide from the Lord." Hiding: the same gesture as Adam. Jonah's sleep is not simple rest, it's a way of fleeing the presence of God.
• And yet God keeps speaking. Through the captain who comes to wake him. Through the lot that falls on him. Through the crew's urgent questions. God does not stay silent. Just as Jesus joins two disciples on the road to Emmaus who are walking away from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13-35), without making himself known, he walks beside us even before we know him. He even speaks to Judas right up until the last hour.

4. "Throw me into the sea": admitting the truth without changing direction

• When questioned, Jonah finally tells the truth: it's his fault. He even proposes the solution: Jonah 1:12, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will quiet down for you."
• It's dizzying. Jonah knows perfectly well he is in the wrong. He admits it. But he still refuses to turn back. He would rather die than go to Nineveh. This is where "my own justice" leads: I can see the truth, name it, and cling to it anyway. You can know that a sin is eating away at you and live with it, never changing course.
• The preacher points out that repentance is not just feeling sorry about your sin: it means changing the direction of your heart. It means turning around. Believing in the cross of Jesus. Coming back to God and saying so plainly before him. He mentions two brothers, Takeuchi and Sol, who did exactly this recently at the morning services in Numazu and Yokohama, sharing the joy of salvation. This turning around, no one can do it for you.

5. The fish: God prepares a way to save

• The sailors, reluctantly, throw Jonah into the sea. And the text says: "The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17). The fish is not a punishment. It's a means of rescue. God is not trying to destroy Jonah; he is trying to bring him back.
• "God did not lead Jonah into the fish to trouble him, but to save him." The great fish means three days and three nights in the dark, but it's also proof that he is still loved.
• Jesus himself picks up this sign in Matthew 12:38-41: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." He adds: "Something greater than Jonah is here." The story of Jonah is already a gospel; it foreshadows the death and resurrection of Christ, which are no longer just a picture but our very salvation.

Key Takeaways

• Fleeing the presence of God has been the first reflex of sin since Adam. Recognizing it is already the beginning of turning back.
• What feels right in our heart isn't always what God judges right. Jonah loved his people; God saw further than he did.
• Spiritual isolation leaves you exposed. Without brothers who pray with you and correct you, you'll more easily end up in Tarshish than in Nineveh.
• Admitting your sin is not enough. Repentance means turning around. It means believing in the cross and saying so plainly before God.
• God's "great fish" is never meant to destroy you, only to bring you back. And behind Jonah, it's already Jesus, dead and risen, that you're looking at.

Personal Application

1. Where in your week are you fleeing the presence of God, through sleep, screens, work, or busyness?
2. On what specific matter does God say "go," while inside you answer "I'd rather go to Tarshish"? Why?
3. Is there a brother or sister you could tell about what God is asking of you, before you head off in the opposite direction?
4. Are you confusing "acknowledging my sin" with "repenting"? What concrete turnaround is God asking of you this week?
5. The "great fish" you are going through right now, whether it's a trial, silence, or a standstill, could it be a means God is using to save you, rather than a punishment?

Scriptures Cited

• Jonah 1, Jonah's flight, the storm, the great fish.
• Deuteronomy 12, "You shall do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord."
• Genesis 3:8-9, The man and his wife hide from the presence of the Lord.
• 2 Kings 14:23-25, Jonah, prophet of the Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam II.
• Luke 24:13-35, Jesus walks alongside the disciples on the road to Emmaus without being recognized.
• Matthew 12:38-41, The sign of Jonah: three days and three nights, the death and resurrection of Christ.

FAQ

Was Jonah really swallowed by a fish?

Jesus himself takes this account seriously and uses it as a sign of his own death and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-41). For the preacher, what matters isn't debating the species of fish, but receiving what God does through this account: he saves a man who was fleeing, and he foreshadows the greater salvation that will come in Christ.

Why does Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh even though he knows God?

Because he loves his people with a patriot's love and sees Nineveh as the future destroyer of Israel. His own sense of justice tells him: "these people deserve to perish." God's justice tells him: "I want to save them." The sermon shows that Jonah's disobedience is born of a sincere but partial conviction, corrected only by the revelation that God is bigger than our categories.

How does this story speak to me today?

It forces you to distinguish between "what seems right to me" and "what the Lord judges right." It shows you that fleeing the presence of God is older than you are, but that God never stops speaking and even prepares "great fish" to bring you back. It invites you to turn around in concrete ways, to talk to a brother or sister about it, and to trust the cross of Jesus more than your own sense of justice.