We each have the calling to preach the gospel of grace in our homes and our workplaces. We are commanded to preach God’s grace, to honour and love Him above all and our neighbour as ourselves. Are we faithful to this calling? Is our life a ‘’yes’’ for God’s grace and His calling? Sometimes we have many preferences and prejudices of whom we will love and for whom God’s grace is meant. For Jonah it was his people, those who looked like him and spoke like him, and therefore he fled from his calling as a prophet. The Lord wants to tell us in the sermon this evening, you who are still running from the Lord’s grace; know it is in vain, from the Lord’s calling and His grace, we cannot flee. Jonah found this truth in agony and fear. The water mass of the sea surrounded him; wave after wave hit him. The waters surrounded him. But more than that, he thought he was forsaken of God. He was disobedient to God; he fled from God’s grace. A certain dead he knew, but more he feared the eternal death of eternal hell.

[Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 52 Q/A 128 & 129]