Luke 18:9-14
My brother Colin is over in England at the moment seeing his 2 boys and meeting up with friends and family. He is also watching the World Cup and we are in contact daily. We were talking this week and I mentioned how I was speaking for the next 2 weeks and didn’t yet have an integrated message. He suggested to speak on Jonah. I thought to myself, I have already spoken on Jonah and since it was a while ago and I was running out of time, I could refresh the old message. Thankfully I decided to go back and re-read Jonah to see if there is something new to bring that I would have time to prepare. I got to verse 3 and instantly knew the message for the next 2 weeks.
The Lord sent this message to Jonah, the son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh, and give them this announcement from the Lord: ‘I am going to destroy you, for your wickedness rises before me; it smells to highest heaven.’” But Jonah was afraid to go and ran away from the Lord. He went down to the seacoast, to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket, went on board, and climbed down into the dark hold of the ship to hide there from the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3
I gave away the clue in the 1st reading, so to check if everyone is tuned in, would any one like to guess the topics for the next 2 weeks?
It is Pride and Humility. Jesus said;
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:12
Let’s give some background to the story of Jonah.
Verse 1 says Ninevah’s sin rose up to heaven and got Gods attention. How bad was Nineveh? It was Sin City.
Founded by Nimrod, the man described as a hunter before God, who founded many of the pagan religions.
One of the descendants of Cush was Nimrod, who became the first of the kings. He was a mighty hunter, blessed of God, and his name became proverbial. People would speak of someone as being “like Nimrod—a mighty hunter, blessed of God.” The heart of his empire included Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From there he extended his reign to Assyria. He built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen (which is located between Nineveh and Calah), the main city of the empire.
Genesis 10:8-11
Nimrod was Noah’s great-grandson, his father was Cush and his grandfather was Ham, the son whom Noah cursed. If ever there is a lesson in the power of our words we should learn it from Noah. For by cursing Ham, no doubt, he was making Ham an outsider and a couple of generations later, Nimrod rejected the Lord to build a man-centred government and start the worship of other gods instead.
This excerpt is from a study on Nimrod
Nimrod became the most feared man in the land. His power and wealth grew as Babylon grew. He made the laws, and those laws decreed that Babylonians should not look to the God of Noah as their ruler, but should be ruled by human governments. Nimrod’s gods included the sun and snakes and other kinds of things (Rom. 1:21-23).
The name of the God of Babylon was Bel which is a form of Ba’al meaning lord or master. Another name was Merodach, who was a Babylonian "God of War." (Jer. 50:2). In the Hebrew language the name was Baal. He was the sun-god consort Ashtoreth or Ishtar or Easter for which the festival Easter is named. Bel was considered the chief god among the many idols. Nimrod strengthened his power over his subjects by making himself the high priest of Bel, or Baal, and of Merodach. There in ancient Babylon were born the false beliefs that have wormed their way into almost every religion. Even today millions and millions of people who may want to live according to the right ways are not aware that their manner of worship follows very closely that of ancient idol worship and pagan rites begun at Babel. People today, calling themselves Christians, keep the Babylonian festivals of the Solstice at Christmas and of Easter, which is the festival of Ishtar whose consort died on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday. This consort often carried many names in the mystery cults, such as Attis in the west and Adonis of the Greeks, or Orpheus and Dionysus among the Greeks or Bacchus among the Romans.
One of Nimrod's schemes to hold people together under his rule was to build a tower so gigantic that it would excite everyone's awe and wonder. It was to be the highest temple ever built, and a monument to the sun god in the centre of a world-ruling government (Gen. 11:5).
Then God stepped in. He saw that Babel was only the beginning of the things men would try to do. If they went unchecked they would develop knowledge at such a rate the world would be destroyed. We all know that man always finds a way to use an invention for evil. Imagine what it would have been like if men such as Nimrod had been able to develop weapons such as we have today!
So the false system of worship at Babel was interrupted and the people dispersed unfortunately along with their other Babylonian gods.
So if you wonder where those ancient gods of Rome and Greece came from, and where the gods of Hinduism originated, you can trace them back to Nimrod and his cities of Babylon and Nineveh.
Woe to Nineveh, City of Blood, full of lies, crammed with plunder.
All this because Nineveh sold herself to the enemies of God. The beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty, then taught them all to worship her false gods, bewitching people everywhere.
Merchants, numerous as stars, filled your city with vast wealth, but your enemies swarm like locusts and carry it away.
There is no healing for your wound—it is far too deep to cure. All who hear your fate will clap their hands for joy, for where can one be found who has not suffered from your cruelty?
Nahum 3:1,4,16,19
The people of Ninevah were known for their wealth and prosperity. But it had been gained by deception and theft. Sound a little like Wall Street to you? Still happy that your pension plan is growing at a record rate?
The people of Nineveh were also known for their cruelty. If you think ISIS is bad, these guys were their forefathers. Assyriologist Archibald Henry Sayce describes the barbarities that followed the capture of a town:
“Boys and girls were burned alive or reserved for a worse fate; men were impaled, flayed alive, blinded, or deprived of their hands and feet, of their ears and noses.”
And we know that as part of Baal worship, children were sacrificed on the altar. As an aside, is NZ honestly much different to Nineveh with its high abortion rate and the rise of the other gods of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam?
So Jonah was afraid to go. Ever had God ask you to go witness to the most unlikely hostile person? What stops us from reaching out to our neighbour - it is pride. We don’t want to be embarrassed, we don’t want to be rejected.
But as the saying goes, “Pride comes before a fall.” Jonah fell as far as you can go. It is a common theme in the Bible. Pride leading to a fall and then redemption. The Prodigal Son, Joseph, Moses, David, Nebuchadnezzar, Peter.
I was reminded that the moment Jonah said no to God in his heart he started his journey down away from the presence of the Lord. I noticed how many times the word “down“ is used.
- Down to Joppa
- Down from the wharf into the boat
- Down into the inner part of the ship
- Down overboard into the stormy seas
- Down into the belly of the whale
- Down to the bottom of the sea
- Down into the belly of Shoel, the land of the dead
Pride and fear are together. Jonah was afraid to do what God asked.
Likewise their opposites, humility and faith go together but we’ll talk more about that next week.
Pride is something the Lord hates. Pride stops us from admitting we’re wrong and saying sorry. Pride stops us from seeing things the way they are. You have heard the saying “he has delusions of grandeur”. The person is full of pride and deluded about the truth of themselves.
Satan is also deluded about his position.
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
Isaiah 14:12-15
But it is our problem too in these last days;
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
We are the generation who invented the selfie to post it on Facebook or Twitter. We are the ones who say Heh, look at me, it’s all about me etc...
Does this sound familiar?
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
The modern definition of pride is very positive;
“a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of one's close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.”
What’s wrong with that you might ask?
But to God, pride is our no.1 problem.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
- haughty eyes, (pride)
- a lying tongue,
- and hands that shed innocent blood,
- a heart that devises wicked plans,
- feet that make haste to run to evil,
- a false witness who breathes out lies,
- and one who sows discord among brothers.
So pride is the no.1 thing God hates I think because it leads us to independence from God and a relationship with him, and places our security in things. The very problem we have in the Western World and isn’t it interesting to see that with the rejection of the true God, there has been a rise of alternative religions like Buddhism among Westerners, and these gods don’t challenge our sin.
Recently our young adults discussed money - how much is too much, what should a Christian tithe? The point was made that you can’t serve God and money which is what Jesus said.
The problem with money is when it gives us assurance of security which we need to have in God instead. It makes us proud.
And the Bible also says
For the love of money is the first step toward all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it, and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:10
And what about the pride of the man in the parable of the rich farmer?
Then he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing—he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, and finally exclaimed, ‘I know—I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have room enough. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “Friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women, and song for you!”’ “But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’ “Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.”
Luke 12:16-21
The trap that the man had fallen into was that he was secure in his money and his intention was it would be used for himself, he gave no thought to others. We can also be proud and think that we are secure when we have houses, investments and pensions but fail to see that God wants us to use it for his purposes and Kingdom.
So the warning is ultimately against pride. Our security is in God and nothing else.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life —is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17
What is God asking you to do? What is stopping you? What are you afraid of? Is it what you will lose? Is pride a factor?
That’s why when the preacher makes the altar call, he says to come forward, it is really hard to do because it’s our pride that’s at stake. We hate to admit the truth that we need help, that we haven’t got it together, that we have sinned. That is why when we do humble ourselves, God is there to meet us as he said he would.
When Jonah was humbled and prayed, the word of the Lord comes to him a second time. It was the same word - Go to Nineveh and tell them that destruction is coming.
So if we think of Pride as a kind of illness we need the remedy and God’s healing which is humility, that’s what we’ll talk about next week in Jonah Part 2.
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