(Audio and Text)
Title: The Missing Ingredient
15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
The sailors finally resort to the last option, and do what feels totally unnatural to them (surrender to the fact that they can’t save Jonah) and they throw Jonah into the sea.
The immediate reaction is that the sea stops raging.
“ceased” Hebrew: ‘amad
literally: to stand with, take one’s stand, be appointed, grow flat, grow insipid
So I want to use this definition to paint a picture for you. Anyone here a boater or a sailor? (When I was a child, from the ages of about 9 until about 14, my parents owned a nice little boat that we kept docked in a marina just off Lake Erie, there was a term that was used when Lake Erie…traditionally a very rough lake….does anyone know this term?)
On the very rare occasion, when we were heading out the river to the lake, we’d pass another boat coming in and we’d yell to the other boat, “Hows the water?”
The best response (and the rarest) was, “It’s glass.”
These sailors are in the midst of a violent, raging storm. A storm that has come upon them suddenly. A storm they believe is supernatural in nature, a storm that is literally ripping their sizable ship apart, a storm that has these veteran sailors terrified…terrified to the point that they are finally drove to throw Jonah overboard…and then…’amad…GLASS.
Is there ANY way these men could see this result, and deny that they had just come face to face with the one true God?
And we know this from the sailors 3-fold reaction: Today we will study the first part of that reaction…next week we will look at the second and third part of the reaction.
- First Reaction: FEAR They feared the Lord exceedingly
“feared” Hebrew: yare’ (fear, revere)
This was a fear they had never known before, because, frankly, this was evidence of a God they had never seen before.
Key: Once God makes himself real to you, the natural result is fear, and that fear forces a decision.
Think back to what Pastor Luke shared last week from Isaiah 6 about how Isaiah reacts when brought to the throne room of the almighty.
Have you ever considered this: One of the reasons we see so many people in church give their lives to Christ over and over again (like myself) is because the missing ingredient in that conversion experience is fear?
Why don’t we like the idea of fearing God, especially when it comes to evangelism?
Q: If we are properly sharing the Gospel, what would drive us to fear, the beginning of wisdom?
A: A proper understanding of our sin, the debt we owe, and what will happen to us if we can’t appease God’s wrath. (Sounds just like the sailors, doesn’t it?)
Without fear, God is not real. And just in case you need some convincing on this, consider some of the other uses of yare’ in the O.T.
Adam in the Garden of Eden: So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Gen. 3:10)
God to Abram: After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Gen 15:1)
Here we see God understands the natural human reaction to seeing him is fear.
God to Isaiah:
“And of whom have you been afraid, or feared,
That you have lied
And not remembered Me,
Nor taken it to your heart?
Is it not because I have held My peace from of old
That you do not fear Me?
(Isaiah 57:11)
Fear is NOT bad:
Consider: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 15:33)
Conclusion: We have forgotten to teach the necessity of fearing God. We ourselves do not fear God like we should.
Want me to prove it? If we feared God more, we would sin less. Somebody disagree with that!
As a practical application: If you are struggling with sin, increase your fear of God!
(How do we do this?)
Ask God. (Pray)
Read Scripture. (Meditate)
Share experiences with others.