Old Testament Missionary Training

In 1606 that Spanish explorer discovered the New Hebrides, the islands were inhabited by peoples whose existence no one knew of until then,.

It would be another 230 years before two London missionaries made the first earnest attempt to bring the gospel to these unengaged and unreached peoples in 1839. But they were killed and eaten by cannibals only minutes after going ashore.

John G. Paton and his wife set sail to the New Hebrides islands in 1858. But this decision didn't come without criticism. On one account before leaving, a respected elder chided the couple, "You will be eaten by cannibals!" To which Paton responded,

.... I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms.

- J Piper.....

What drove John Paton and His wife to this call.... to missionary work?

We have been exploring the call to be “A Light to the Nations” throughout the entire Old Testament. God has had a plan since Genesis to see a people of His own possession and for that people to include all peoples and nations!

Last week we saw in application a servant girl be a light to Naaman the commander of an enemy army.

This morning, we are going to get an Old Testament training in mission work from..... The most reluctant missionary of the Bible!.... Jonah...... and he wrote how he did all of these things.... and it’s in the Bible......

In short.... God said Go..... Jonah said No.... and he sent a fish to swallow him!.....

Jonah repented, God told the fish to spit him out....

God said Go, Jonah said OK, and he preached and the people of Nineveh repented! Hooray!

But what we find in the book of Jonah is really his personal missionary training..... left for us and left with a hanging question at the end for us today to answer..... Ready for some Good Ole Missionary training for us this morning!

1. Good News to All Nations

Jonah 3:10 ESV

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

They turned from evil...... They repented!......Weeping, Not sack cloth, not ashes..... turning from evil!

God is free to alter His announced judgments when we repent - Ligonier

Jeremiah says it this way......

Jeremiah 18:7–10 ESV

7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.

There is celebrating over a repentant Nineveh! - We should pump our fist at this!!

There is celebrating and joy in heaven when one sinner repents!

Luke 15:7 ESV

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Going to the gym to work on your fitness.... get on the treadmill, stretch.... in your faith in Jesus, do you get fist pumping excited, do you join in with the joy of heaven over one sinner who repents?.......

That is the training Jonah needed, does your heart need that this morning?

Maybe this morning you need to hear this truth, just like Jonah walked through with God and Nineveh.... when people repent, God forgives and there is rejoicing in heaven.......Get your heart pumping again in response to the GOSPEL at WORK!

2. Reminder of God’s character

Most embarrassing thing about Jonah.... not the fish, I think it is His childish Anger and pouting that comes in chapter 4!

Jonah 4:1–4 ESV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Why was Jonah Angry?

He knew God’s character.... that’s why he fled to Tarshish

a. Jonah knew who God was and what he would do!

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

He knew Israel’s role of the nations to bless the other nations

Genesis 12:3 ESV

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

He knew the wickedness of Nineveh

It was exceedingly wicked!.... exceedingly large.... and exceedingly out of Jonah’s desire to go there!

a. Consider Abraham compared to Jonah!

Jonah hears of the sin of the nation of Nineveh..... and runs and will not go!

Abraham hears the sin of Sodom and Gamorah..... and he asks God to spare the righteous.... and is surprised by God’s merciful response if there was

Genesis 18:17–21 ESV

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

Jonah struggles because he knows the Ninevites and their evil.... HE KNEW GOD’s CHARACTER, but wanted to only keep the benefits of his character for himself!

Us verse them language...... in his day.... in our day in the church!

I know if I mention a few things from the stage it will make your blood boil, or your stomach turn, or elicit a response..... political, race, money, socio economic statuses, and the list goes on....... If we are honest, in our life we struggle at times with what Jonah struggled with and we need a reminder of God’s character for ALL people!

God is merciful and gracious and forgiving...... to Israel and to others!

Let that sink in...... If Bible Study, If Church is only good for you in here.... and you feel that it is not for those out there.... then we in 2023 at LCBC are missing the point of who God is in his character!

"We talk of the second coming..... when half the world has never heard of the first." - Oswald J. Smith - Great Advocate for mission work!

Let us be trained this morning to remember God’s character shown to all people!

3. Burdened for the Nations

As if Jonah has not shown his true colors just yet.... he busts out the adult toddler attitude...... and God drops a truth bomb on him and leaves us with a question that still remains unanswered.... for us to wrestle with.

The next part of his training is a reminder that Lost people matter to God and so they should matter to us.... a burdened for the nations.

"Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us." - Keith Wright

Jonah 4:5–10 ESV

5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

God uses a plant, some shade, and a worm to reveal that God will show his compassion on the Ninevites and to train his heart to be burdened for them as well!

There are 120,000 child like adults walking around and innocent animals..... and I care for them.... don’t you!

So why did John and Susan Paton go to the cannibal filled islands where previous missionaries were eaten upon arrival?....

"At the moment I put the bread and wine into their hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself." - John G. Paton

Jesus told his disciples to Go and make disciples of all nations...... Matthew 18.... not go and find people you like, but go and make disciples of all nations!

does your heart break as John Patons did for the islanders? or does it look more like Jonah’s heart of stone?

BECAUSE IT IS GREAT NEWS, FROM A GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL GOD, WHO HAS A BURDEN FOR THEM THAT WE SHARE!

We may not be called to cannibals around the world, but we should feel the call, urgency, and jealousy to be a part of sharing the gospel here and everywhere!

Time of Reflection -

Will you let the Goodnews of Jesus stretching into the OT mold and shape and train your heart for missions?

Good news for all nations

Reminder of God’s Character for ALL PEOPLE

A Burden for the nations!