Blasted Gourds

Yesterday's message wrapped up our series in Jonah. In the message I referenced John Newton's 1779 hymn, "I asked the Lord that I Might Grow" one of two hymns he wrote about Jonah's plant.

Several folks requested a copy of the hymn as well as the closing Sinclair Ferguson quote. So here they are and as an added bonus for you "life together" readers, I've tossed in the second Newton "Gourd" hymn.

First the Ferguson quote with a little more tossed in that wouldn't fit on one PPT slide . . .

The book of Jonah carries no conclusion because it summons us to write the final paragaph. It remains unfinished, in order that we may provide our own conclusion to its message. For you are Jonah; I am Jonah. We recognize ourselves in the story of this man’s life. We stand together in need of the mercy of God to enable us, from this day on to be obedient to his commands, and to live to the praise of His glorious grace.

I Asked the Lord that I might Grow by John Newton (1779)

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek, more earnestly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I trust, has answered prayer!

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He’d answer my request;

And by His love’s constraining pow’r,

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;

And let the angry pow’rs of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,

Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?

“’Tis in this way, the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,

From self, and pride, to set thee free;

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

Newton's second "Gourd" song, reminds us of our tendency to make idols of the Lord's gifts and forget the Giver. It is actually titled, "The Gourd" . . .

As once for Jonah, so the Lord
To soothe and cheer my mournful hours,
Prepared for me a pleasing gourd,
Cool was its shade, and sweet its flow'rs.

To prize his gift was surely right;
But through the folly of my heart,
It hid the Giver from my sight,
And soon my joy was changed to smart.

While I admired its beauteous form,
Its pleasant shade and graceful fruit;
The Lord, displeased, sent forth a worm,
Unseen, to prey upon the root.

I trembled when I saw it fade,
But guilt restrained the murm'ring word;
My folly I confessed, and prayed,
Forgive my sin, and spare my gourd.

His wondrous love can ne'er be told,
He heard me and relieved my pain;
His word the threat'ning worm controlled,
And bid my gourd revive again.

Now, Lord, my gourd is mine no more,
'Tis thine, who only couldst it raise;
The idol of my heart before,
Henceforth shall flourish to thy praise.

Thanks, Dr. Ferguson

In the course of my study of the book of Jonah, I kept running across references to Sinclair Ferguson's commentary entitled, "Man Overboard."

I've always really enjoyed Sinclair Ferguson's preaching and writing. He's a Scotsman who pastored at St. George's Tron in Glasgow for many years, but is now pastoring the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina.

I decided to purchase "Man Overboard," only to discover it had been out of print for more than 25 years. Then I decided to try and find a used copy. Surely someone somewhere on the internet would have a used copy for sale. No luck. So then I checked with all my mentors who all value and collect classic commentaries. Nope. Pretty soon, they were all searching for it, too. I had my assistant, Debbie Johnston, start calling some of the great theological bookstores throughout the country. Nothing.

I had kind of given up hope in finding it, when Debbie came to me and said, "I have a surprise for you! I located Sinclair Ferguson on the internet and I took the initiative to email him directly to see if he could help us get a copy of this book. I just received an email from his assistant saying that they'd photocopy the book and send it to you."

I received the book yesterday. How cool is that? Thanks, Debbie. You are amazing. Thanks, Dr. Ferguson. You are so gracious.

Tarshish . . . the edge of the world

Rona Lee who has been serving as a nanny for a missionary family all Fall (I think with Mission Nannys) sent me an email that included the following paragraph. . .

I'm just returning from a few days on the Mediterranean coast of Spain where we visited the city of Tarragona, which many believe is the ancient city of Tarshish, so I was fascinated to see that you have started a 4-week series on the book of Jonah. Lord willing I'll be in SLO to hear your last two messages in the series.

Isn't that awesome? She's listening over the internet from Spain where she recently visited Tarshish. How cool is that? The world is flat.

Rona also sent this great background info on the city of Tarshish. . . not sure where she dug it up. For the sake of time, I didn't do much with Tarshish in the message, so I thought I'd post it here.

Some associate the country of Tarshish, as mentioned in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, I Kings, and Jonah, with a locale in southern Spain. In generally describing Tyre's empire from west to east, Tarshish is listed first (Ezekiel 27.12-14), and in Jonah 1.3 it is the place to which Jonah sought to flee from the Lord; evidently it represents the westernmost place to which one could sail. If Tarshish was indeed Spain, Jewish contact with Iberia may date back to the time of Solomon. The relationship would likely have been one based on trade. Ezekiel 27.12 describes such a connection: "Tarshish did business with you out of the abundance of your great wealth; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged with you for your wares", and as much is demonstrated in I Kings 10.22: "For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks." The link between Jews and Tarshish is clear. One might speculate that commerce conducted by Jewish emissaries, merchants, craftsmen, or other tradesmen among the Semitic Tyrean Phoenicians might have brought them to Tarshish. Although the notion of Tarshish as Spain is merely based on suggestive material, it leaves open the possibility of a very early, although perhaps limited, Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula.

Who's your Ninevehite?

Happy New Year Friends.

It's been a wild and wonderful holiday season for the Theules and we we're still trying to find our new year groove. But it's been too long . . .

Sunday we kicked off the New Year with the start of a new teaching series at Grace entited "The Gospel according to Jonah." 4 chapters in 4 weeks. I explained that my passion to teach the book of Jonah is rooted in 3 realizations. . .

1. First, it's become apparent to me that we have more and more folks among us who don’t know the stories the Bible and especially not the Big Story of the Bible. I love it that these folks are among us and I hope that more and more show up. But what that means is that we've got to tell the story.
   
   
2. Second, I’ve been wanting to do more in the Old Testament in the coming years than we’ve done over the last 4 years. Many of us don’t know what to do with the mass of pages at the front of our Bibles. There’s a continuity of the Gospel the Scriptures that many of us don’t understand. I'm eager to show that continuity.
   
   
3. Third, I think that Jonah provides an excellent way for us to begin the New Year. Jonah is about the relationship between God, the Church and the World. Jonah reminds us what God is doing the World and where we fit in to what God is doing in the World.

I struggled with whether to begin on New Years Eve Sunday with so many away and college students still not returned from Christmas break, but I decided for other reasons to jump in. So if you missed last Sunday, can I beg you to listen before next Sunday? This series, unlike others, is going to be more tightly bound together with each week building on and depending on the ones before it.

On New Years Eve, I was hanging out with a few church families and someone was sharing about their struggle with their sister, who is so different and opposite from them. I said, "She's your Ninevehite." This woman replied, "You're right. I want to withdraw and separate, but I need to run toward and serve."

So who is/are the Ninevehite/s in your world? Chances are there some individuals who you really struggle with. . . . your liberal brother, your rebellious child, your overbearing boss, etc, etc, etc. Chances are there are whole groups of people you dislike (hate?) and want to run away from instead of toward . .. homeless people, homosexuals, those of a different political persuasion, etc, etc, etc.

So who is/are the Ninevehites in your world? How do you become a "sign of the Gospel" to them? How do you serve them instead of separate from them?

I can't remember the last time a text has grabbed me like the book of Jonah. I hope it grabs some of you as well.