Here's this month's Gone Fishin' Newsletter.
Enjoy!
Gone Fishin’ Monthly Newsletter – March 2020
“But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there
was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken
up. Then the mariners were afraid; and
every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into
the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of
the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him, and
said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps
your God will consider us, so that we may not perish." And they said to
one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause
this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on
Jonah. Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble
upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your
country? And of what people are you?"
So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear the
LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men
were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?"
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had
told them. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea
may be calm for us?"--for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he
said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will
become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me."
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea
continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to
the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this
man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have
done as it pleased You." So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the
sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD
exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.”. (Jonah
1:4-16).
Hi Everyone
We had a great time last month. The weather was a lot warmer,
and the pop-up market and events stage drew the people in. It made for an
interesting day. More on that later.
Last month we discussed the story of Jonah – his Rebellion,
his Repentance, and finally his Restoration.
This month, I want to focus on the sailors’ conversion.
God was angry with Jonah for running away, and was moving
the circumstances of his rebellion. He sent a great wind that caused a ‘mighty
tempest’.
The sailors’ false gods.
This was obviously bad enough to tear the ship apart. And
the sailors did exactly what the world does in times of disaster; they prayed
to their god. It could have been a physical god or one they made in their head
to suit themselves, we don’t know.
Often when you turn on the telly and there’s a big disaster
going on (such as the coronavirus at the moment), they canvas your prayers,
regardless of who to – Allah, Budda, Confucius, Jesus, – they don’t care who
your ’god’ is. They don’t want to offend you by stipulating who you should pray
to, they just want you to do your part in trying to save the world.
But the sailors received no satisfaction from their empty
prayers. They must have thought it was the end, as they disposed of their cargo
– a sure way to bankrupt your business! Even that didn’t improve anything, so
they went down to find Jonah. Maybe if he prayed to his God, things might
change for the better. They expected him to be doing his part on his knees.
Instead they found him curled up, asleep. They woke him up and berated him for
not praying.
The sailors’ foolish gesture.
The sailors then took things into their own hands. They cast
lots, to find out who was responsible. They didn’t know it, but God was
orchestrating their decision. The lot fell on Jonah. And without hesitation,
they accused him, and started questioning him. Jonah admitted to them who he
was, and what he had done. He told them that they should toss him overboard to
calm the sea.
But then the sailors did something strange. They jumped on
the oars and tried to row the ship ashore – a last ditch effort to save the
ship and everybody onboard. But it was a meaningless gesture. It was never
going to work. It would have been like trying to roll a 10-ton boulder up a
steep cliff with your bare hands. The storm was just too great. Sometimes that can
happen when you are at your wits’ end; you’ll do anything it takes to make
things better, regardless of how trivial it may seem.
The sailors’ fearful gratitude.
Weary after giving up trying to row back to shore, the
sailors realised that Jonah was right. The only way for the storm to cease was
for them to be rid of him from the ship. But first they prayed that God would
not hold them accountable for his certain death. The last thing they wanted was
for God to deal harshly with them for taking the life of one of His prophets.
Then they threw Jonah overboard, and immediately the storm
abated. This filled them with even more fear, so they took vows and offered
sacrifices to the Lord.
Well, what an interesting turn of events this turned out to
be. Jonah was in rebellion from God, but God still used it for His glory to
save others!
And there is also an underlying Gospel imagery in the story.
Let’s take a closer look:
Our gods have all vanished.
Like the sailors, we like to fashion a god of our own
liking. We dream up how this god is so wonderfully impressed with us, and we
will do anything in order to appease him. But when faced with the turbulence
that life throws at us – sickness, staring at death, fear of what is on the
other side of life – our gods abandon us. They are useless. They don’t hear or
respond to our prayers. Nor can they appease our afflictions and worry. That’s
because they only ever existed in our minds. Our faith is unfounded, and we can
gain no foothold when thrashed about by uncertainty.
God has made Himself known, but He is not the god we
intended. So we have turned our back on Him and placed our faith in worthless
idols.
Our good works are in vain.
Good works will never get us to heaven. No matter how much
we do, it will still count for nothing when faced with the judgement that
awaits us. All they amount to is filthy rags. We need another way out.
Our goal is for vindication.
When the sailors realised that salvation was not
forthcoming, they finally took heed to the prophet’s words. They prayed that
the blood of Jonah not be on their hands as they delivered Him to a certain
death. God heard their plea, and when they threw him overboard, the sea abated,
saving both the ship and the crew.
Faith in our own ability will never save us, for we cannot
save ourselves in our own strength. Rather, blood must be spilled. Someone
needs to pay the price. Someone needs to die - either you or someone else. The
sailors placed their faith in the substitutional death of another.
We also, must repent of our faith in our false gods, and our
meaningless good works. Christ wilfully offered up His life to save and redeem
mankind. To ignore this is certain peril for us. We have no other hope apart
from faith in Jesus Christ.
And this is what we need to tell the world! We point them
towards faith in Christ.
There are so many ‘nice’ people out there, who believe that
their gods and their good works will make up for their lack of righteousness.
But when they stand before God on judgement day, their gods will desert them.
Their good works will be exposed as futile. They will be called to render a
payment, and the time will have passed to accept the payment of another. They
will be destroyed in the final storm.
Let that resonate in your heart, and drive you to spread the
Good News!
Errol’s Error
Last month I spotted two people sitting outside the café,
chatting. Their names were Errol & Christina. I didn’t know if they were a
couple or not, but it didn’t really matter. I gave them million dollar bill
tracts each. Errol countered by saying that a million dollars doesn’t go very
far these days (the cheek of it!). So I gave them trillion dollar tracts
instead, and ask them what happens after we die. Errol took charge of the
conversation. He said he believed that we don’t have much time on this planet,
so we need to spend it wisely – help others as best as you can, look after one
another. He explained he had a Roman Catholic upbringing, and that he followed
the Golden Rule; that is, to treat others how you want them to be treated.
I asked him that when he died and stood before God on
judgement day, would any of that matter? He said, as far as he knew, yes, it
would count for something.
So after introducing myself, I took them both through the
Good Person Test. They both failed miserably.
I explained how all the lies they had told, all the things
they had stolen, all the times they had blasphemed God, and all the adulteress
and murderous thoughts they had stored where no one else could see them – all
this was doing was storing up God’s wrath that will be poured out on them on
judgement day.
Errol was unmoved. He was adamant that he could earn his way
to heaven. I told him that he was counting on his good works to mask the bad
things he had done, and that he was like a person who as trying to trick a judge
to ignore the charges against him, and instead look at all the good things they
had done. But the judge is there to determine if a crime had been committed,
and if so, mete out justice accordingly.
I gave them an analogy. They were on a plane, flying at
10,000 feet, and suddenly all the engines stopped. They needed to get out of
the plane. There was a parachute sitting there. The parachute was there to save
them, but instead of strapping it on, they were relying on flapping their arms.
None of this was working, so I left them more literature,
imploring them to read it, and moved on. About an hour later when I was leaving
for the day, I passed them still sitting there. I yelled out “Remember: faith
in Christ, not good works. Parachute, not flapping your arms, OK?”. They
smiled, gave me the thumbs up, and waved goodbye.
Errol & Christina are in a storm. They could be
destroyed any moment; death could be just a moment away.
But instead of placing their faith in someone else to save
them, they are foolishly trying to row the ship to safety.
Please keep them in your prayers!
I’ll see you at my place this Saturday at 10am for prayer
before heading out again!
Blessings,
Craig.
Witnessing Tip: Watch that mouth!
Just because the world gets to use expletive and colourful
words to express their feelings,
it doesn’t mean you get to copy them!
A Christian should always temper their words with kindness:
“The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning
to his lips. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and
health to the bones.”
(Prov 16:23-24)
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