Adventurer .vs. Fugitive

2006.08.27 Charlotte South Korean Prebysterian Church
Bible Verses: 1 Samuel 14:6-7, Jonah 1:1-3

Title: Adventurer .vs. Fugitive

Have you seen the movies on the adventure of Indiana Johns, acted by Harrison Ford? I have seen all three movies, Raiders of the lost ark, The temple of doom and The last crusade. They are full of fun and adventures. Our hero, Indiana Johns, is a very brave and determined person. He has lots of energy and experience to overcome all difficulties occurred in the process of accomplishing his mission. We, however, must not forget he has faced many risks, sometimes requiring almost his only life. Adventure is always accompanied by risk.

Mankind have been known to have lots of curiosity compared to other animals. Some anthropologists said curiosity is one of the most important merits for human to be a leader among all creatures. People dislike to be still for a long time without doing anything. If he/she is asked to spend his time with doing nothing, he/she likes it for a period of time but he finally becomes to feel boring and wants to do "something". He wants to read books, to listen to music, to play computer game, to play outside, etc. People have generally two different characters. He likes to take a risk for an adventure. In contrast, he likes to stay at comfortable place without taking a risk. He has both characters of an adventurer and a fugitive.

Let's come back to the Bible verses which we read this morning. 1 Samuel 14:6-7;
Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."

Let me explain these verses in a more detail. Jonathan is a son of Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul and the Israelites were fighting against the Philistines, the enemy of Israel for a long time. Two nations were under war at that moment. Jonathan and his armor-bearer were going to attack the Philistine outpost on a cliff. Their attempt was very risky, but it was much important for winning of the war. Jonathan took an adventure with risking his and his follower's life. What's the result of their attempt? The Bible tells us "Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre....So the Lord rescued Israel that day."

There are many other heroes like Jonathan in the Bible. Moses, Joshua, David, apostle Paul and other apostles. All of them took an adventurous life relying on God's goodness and greatness. They were not afraid of losing their lives to do God's purpose and mission for themselves. They are persons with true faith. They are genuine believers. I hope all of you find God's will for your life and have a big dream to take a risk for expansion of God's kingdom.

Let's come back to another Bible verses.
Jonah 1:1-3
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD .
Jonah is a prophet. The Lord asks Jonah "Go to the great city of
Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." God wants to deliver some chosen people in the great city of Nineveh out of their wickedness and sin. The people living in the Nineveh are not the Israelites. They had been enemies of the Israelites for a long time. Jonah wanted to run away from the Lord because he dislike to save some residents living at Nineveh even though it is God's plan. Sometimes we, believers, are apt to become fugitives because of many reasons. We may be afraid of taking a risk or have different minds against God's holy will. We may not want to make hurts of others' feeling although God asks us to do so. What's the result of Jonah's disobeidance to God's will? Did he succeed in running away from the Lord? No.........! Instead, he faced more and bigger troubles and spent three days and nights inside a great fish. From the inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord and repented his disobeidance. God saved a hundred and twenty thousand people living in Nineveh from their wickedness using Jonah's preaching.

Everybody, carefully listen to me! If you find God's way or calling in your life, please obey them even though you have different minds or feel fear and discouragement. If you run away from God, you will at last meet big troubles. What's God's way or calling for my life? You will find it someday if you continue to read the Bible and pray to the Lord.

Most of you know what IQ(Intelligence Quotient) is. Some of you know about EQ(Emotion Quotient). It measures people's attitudes toward relationship with others. The higher EQ, the better relationship with others. Is there anyone who knows about the AQ? AQ is abbreviation of Adversity Quotient. It was developed by Dr. Paul Stoltz, an American scholar, in 1997. He categorized people having some obstacles into three types such as 'quitter', 'camper' and 'climber'. Quitter is a person who run away from the obstacles like Jonah in the Bible. Camper is a person who ignores the obstacles and do not actively try to overcome them, not running away from them. Climber is a person who try positively to fight against the difficulties and finally overcome them. Do you know who will be the winner in the life among these three types? Climber is! The higher AQ is more important to the higher IQ or EQ, Dr. Stoltz said. I wish all of you have the higher AQ and become a true believer who pleases the Lord like Jonathan and his army-bearer.

Let's pray together!
Thank you Lord for giving us today's Bible verses. We want to have a big dream to please you, Lord. We want to be an adventurer to make our dream come true. Please give us strength and bravery to do it. In Jesus' name. Amen.