Do you ever wonder sometimes what it was that made Jonah finally give up and go the way God had called him?  It seemed so strange that this text was chosen for today’s worship even before the news came out about the 20-foot Northern bottlenose whale got stranded this week in the Thames River in London.  Watching that whale on television, it was impossible not to wonder if that was the same kind of animal that swallowed Jonah so many centuries ago. 

Can you imagine?  Three days and three nights in the belly of what legend says was a whale, even though scripture only reports it to have been a “great fish.”  What a ride!  Jonah was in the fish’s belly specifically because he hadn’t been obedient to God’s call on his life.  God had told him to preach to Nineveh that their ways of free living, with no moral restraint, were bent on self-destruction.  God wanted to show mercy but their stubbornness was getting in the way. 

Jonah was afraid to get involved in the immorality of others.  “Live and let live” must have been his life’s philosophy, even if the morality of the Ninevehites was more like “live and let die,” if getting what they wanted meant the moral or physical death of others.  Injustice of every kind reigned in Nineveh.  God had other ideas and for reason’s that are God’s and God’s alone, Jonah was the man for the hour to let Nineveh in on the secret.  Except that Jonah had other plans, like running away! 

He even paid for transportation on a cruise ship out of town.  All was well until things got a little too stormy at sea and because Jonah had already let the cat out of the bag about being a fugitive, he was sacrificed by the crew to calm what they believed to be the god of the sea.  God sent the fish and the rest was about to be post-traumatic-whale-disorder history for Jonah.  Until he finally realized that running from God is always the most futile of all exercises. 

If you’re going to run from God, where are you going to go that his GPS can’t pinpoint your location within micrometers?  Somewhere in the acidic slime and fishy muck of the whale’s belly, Jonah finally realized his stupidity and prayed one of the most beautiful prayers of confession found recorded anywhere in scripture.  “I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good” (Jonah 2:9, NIV).  When Jonah coughed up his confession, on command from God, the whale coughed Jonah up on the beach.  That’s where we pick up the Jonah story this morning. 

For a second time, God tells Jonah to go and preach salvation to Nineveh.  Though he still was not happy about what it might cost him, Jonah already knew the cost of saying “no” to God and did as God commanded.  What is it that makes a man or woman, boy or girl, do what their hearts tell them is right, even when it might cost them everything?  Whatever it is, Jonah’s story is about to be added to the list of those who demonstrated that the faithfulness of one person to the call of God can lead to the transformation of whole communities, even generations, of people.

On April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood to give a speech.  King had sat with Presidents and prominent mayors, congressmen and governors.  He was in Memphis, though, to help support black garbage collectors who had gone on strike seeking better wages and working conditions.  He had a gaunt, weary look in his eye.  At only 39; he had aged well past his years.  The last decade of his life had been consumed fighting for justice for his own race.  A race of people who whose status in society had not improved much since Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.  Legally, no man could any longer own another in the United States.  But, in terms of access to education, health care, public facilities like lunch top counters and dressing rooms in department stores and even voting rights, blacks were, until the early 1960’s, for all practical purposes, still slaves to white people.  King had given his life to the cause of seeing that social injustice overcome.

King was not a perfect person.  Neither was Jonah, for that matter.  

Neither were many of the great heroes of our faith, like Moses and David, among others.  It is interesting how some of the most spiritually reforming events of history have been led by ordinary people, just as human and you and me.  By the time King stood to speak that night in Memphis, he’d gone too far to turn back.  He’d paid too great a price as had those who had followed him.  He was a man consumed with his mission.  He was a man who had seen enough of his closest friends die for the cause that he knew he might, too, have to pay the ultimate price for freedom. 

Echoing a sentiment that might have been Moses’ after leading the children of Israel from Egyptian captivity but not being allowed to enter the promised because of his sin, King rose to say, “I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land.  I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.  So, I’m happy tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.”

Could we share King’s confession?  “I’m happy.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.”  Could we share Jonah’s?  “with a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you, God.  What I have vowed I will make good.”  Every person in this room today owes both Jonah and King a debt of gratitude.  This world is a better place to live than it might have been otherwise because both men knew that there is no such thing as thanksgiving without sacrifice, no such thing as joy without loss, no such thing as truly living until you listen to your heart when God has spoken and do what he says. 

Somewhere back in time, every single one of us in this room who claims to be a follower of Jesus remembers a time when God spoke to our hearts.  Some in this room who have never followed Jesus have heard God speaking to your hearts, too.  We may have to go back to a time and place far removed from this time and place.  But, all of us remember.  I know I do.  I remember the very day God called me to preach.  I remember it as clearly as any other day in my life.  I can take you back to the very room, the very place and show you where I was.  Do you remember when you knew God called you to salvation, or to his service?  When was that?  Where were you?  Do you remember how that felt? 

Did you make God any promises then?  Have you followed through?  How has life turned out since that time?  Even if you have nothing to show for it, can you say that following God’s call has been the most fulfilling experience of your life, that you are truly happy and that you have no fear?  Or, is life kind of slimy and mucky right now? 

How many of us would say that we don’t know what God’s call on our life might be?  We’ve had clues now and then.  But, we can’t lay claim to what Jonah did, that God had spoken clearly and unmistakably?  What does God want you to do with your life?  How will you know for sure.  This thing of being a follower of Jesus can be tricky at times.  The call is not as clear as we’d like it.  We get so many confusing messages, even from the church. 

In a spirit that preceded and certainly encouraged Martin Luther King, Jr’s, Jesus took courage from heartbreak.  In Mark’s gospel, it was after John’s arrest, that Jesus started preaching the gospel all the more.  It was an arrest that would lead to John’s death.  It was an arrest that foretold his own, yet Jesus kept going and transformed what others meant for his discouragement into a source of hope and life.  After John’s arrest, if you can imagine, Jesus had the nerve to say to his earliest followers, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  That’s it.  “Follow me.”  No guarantees.  No promises about personal security or victorious outcome.  Just a raw, unapologetic call for obedience.

Where are the guarantees in life anyway?  There was a story widely reported last week about an 81 year-old man in New Mexico whose house burned down.  Though the details are now questionable, the first story was that he caught a mouse in his house, took it outside and threw it, alive, onto a burning pile of leaves.  The lighted mouse then took off and ran back into the man’s house and the house caught on fire and burned down.  Here’s a guy who made it all the way to 81 and then got ratted out!  Some of us would love a guarantee that we’ll see 81.  Even if we were to get it, do we have any guarantee about how 81 will turn out for us?  Where are the guarantees?

This seems to be the principle for finding God’s purpose for your life.  Give your heart to Jesus then, listen to your heart.  What are our alternatives?  We can pull a Jonah and run.  Or, we can stay the course, or “stay in our lane,” and see what happens next.

There are heroes closer at hand than Jonah and King who have shown us what that looks like.  When I first came to Cliff Temple years ago, I went to visit with Dr. Gary Cook at Dallas Baptist University.  Those who know the story of DBU know that when Dr. Cook arrived, the school was hanging by a thread.  Bankruptcy loomed large on the horizon.  But, Dr. Cook started making some painful changes.  There were conflicts with trustees.  He had to turn out so many employees he became known around campus as “The Terminator.”  Now, however, it’s all paid off.  He stayed the course when it did look like it would matter and look how it has mattered!  Financially stable.  New buildings, programs and degrees and a burgeoning enrollment. 

Dr. Cook told me something that first time I went to see him that I’ve never forgotten.  He said, “I don’t know if DBU will succeed in the long run.  All I know is that this is what God has called me to do and I’m going to be faithful to that calling and trust God for how it comes out in the long run.”  Before it is all said and done, literally millions of lives will be impacted and even transformed, not because Gary Cook is perfect, but because Gary Cook has been faithful.

What is God saying to your heart?  What would you have to do to be faithful? 

A word of caution, we are called to be a part of a family of faith and we are wise to listen to the collective conscience of the church.  That said, sometimes, even the church is wrong.

One of my favorite Cliff Temple stories is one that Buddy Griffeth shared with me just before he died several years ago.  The Cotton Bowl was built in the late 30’s, about the time this sanctuary was built.  Buddy and his good friend Ken Mansfield wanted to go to the very first football played there but, this was during the Great Depression and they didn’t have any money.  So, they just kept walking around the outside until they found a place where they could climb the fence.  Ken went first and then Buddy.  Just as Buddy dropped to the ground inside the fence he found himself standing face-to-face with a security guard who asked him what in the world he thought he was doing.  Buddy told the guard their story.  They just wanted to watch the game but didn’t have money for a ticket.  The security guard then said, “Son, this game’s free today.  You didn’t have to sneak in.  You could have just come in through the front gate.” 

I can’t forget that story as a Kingdom parable.  Entrance to the Kingdom is free because, as for the price of admission, Jesus paid it all!  Yet, sometimes, the church puts up barriers to entrance that have nothing to do with getting into the Kingdom of God.

Let me take you back to a time that will be more comfortable because it is so long ago before bringing you back to a more current moment that might not be so comfortable.  When I was doing my research for my doctorate, I was doing research on the role of women in ministry in the Baptist church and came across something that simply shocked me.  At the 1891 Southern Baptist Convention, the Home Mission Board made its annual report, including a portion on race relations.  Our Baptists brothers reported that the negro will be happiest when he is allowed to worship in his own separate church.  Those were our Baptist brothers, representing the best leadership we had to offer, making that racist statement fully twenty-eight years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation!

Still, today, the churches put up barriers.  Barriers of, social standing, the way we dress, etc., that build fences too tall for some to scale.  Including, God help us, racial prejudice still alive among us.  Yet, the ancient message is still the same.  Entrance is free!  It always has been, always will be.  No color, no ethnicity, no social standing, nothing will stand in the way of God showing all he loves the narrow way into his Kingdom that his son alone knows how to navigate.

What is the call of God calling you to?  What is he saying to your heart?  Are you listening?  What is he saying to our church’s heart?  Are we listening?

Sociologists have demonstrated that when a city allows pockets of poverty to exist that city begins to die.  Pockets of poverty, where people are cut off from essential services to sustain a minimal standard of living are like a cancer in a city’s blood.  This church is located in the very heart of a pocket of poverty.  Is the Lord telling our heart to help transform this pocket of poverty?  Will we listen to what he is telling our heart?

Will we be committed to helping tear down the fences that keep the people of this community cut off, even from access to our church?  Fences that, left unchallenged, threaten the validity of our faith.  Fences of ignorance, shame, poverty and the like.  It’s going to cost us.  No exact course has ever been charted for what that will look like for this church in this community.  We will lose some and win some.  We may lose more than we win.  But, what else can we do?

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that, if a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.  Have we discovered something we’re willing to die for?  Have you, personally?

We buried Foy Valentine just a couple of weeks ago.  He was truly a prophet to the church, especially with regard to race relations, even when it cost him dearly to do so.  At his funeral, one of his eulogizers pointed out that one of Valentine’s favorite sentiments was that, you don’t make good friends, you find them.

Maybe it is also true that we don’t so much make cause for our lives as much as we find our cause, our calling, along the way to following the voice of Jesus, wherever it leads.  Indeed, in some ways, your life’s purpose will find you every bit as much as you will find it.

Having listened to Jonah and Jesus both, we should remember these two fundamental truths.  First, God’s work in this world is done through people, very human people, frail, broken, sinful people, just like you and me.  People who fall down and then get back up and go again, even when it doesn’t make sense and everyone else is saying they are fools for even trying.  People who often fail more than they succeed.  People who fear failure but fear disobedience more.  Second, it is also done through very people, who despite their humanity, finally open their hearts to God and then listen to their hearts. 

Have you given your heart to Jesus?  Listen to your heart.

If you haven’t but you hear Jesus calling, Listen to your heart.

Listen to your heart.

Listen.

Listen.