Jonah Gets Moody with God's Mercy
Pastor Kevin Harris
Jonah & The Mercy of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
Welcome
We have reached our last week of a sermon series called “Jonah & The Mercy of God” in which we have been the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament.
Those of you that have been here will remember that God called Jonah to travel to Nineveh to preach against them because they were evil. Instead of obeying God’s will, Jonah ran the opposite direction and boarded a boat for a faraway place. On the journey, the Lord sent a great wind to bring a storm and the pagans who were onboard prayed to God and decided to toss Jonah overboard. Jonah was swallowed by the great fish for three days and three nights before he was spit up onto the shore. He travelled to Nineveh and delivered God’s message.
We’ll be finishing up this series today and next week we will begin a deep dive study in the New Testament Book of Colossians, which centers on the Fullness of Christ and how Christ is the center of everything that we do in the Christian life.
Let’s turn to our focal passage in the book of Jonah. We’ll pick up in the last verse of chapter 3 captures the central idea of the entire book and then we’ll continue in chapter 4.
10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.
The people of Nineveh believed God’s message and repented. As a result the destruction of their city was averted.
Let’s continue reading in chapter 4, where we Jonah revealed what was really going on in his mind and in his heart...
1 Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. 3 And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
10 And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. 11 So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”
[pray]
I. God Relented
I. God Relented
As I said, Jonah 3:10 is the key lesson of the whole book. God loves and has compassion for those who are lost and separated from him. He will go to great lengths to give them a chance at forgiveness.
10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.
The English version says that God relented, meaning that he changed the outcome because he had seen Nineveh's repentance, therefore he repented or turned from destroying them.
This concept of God relenting is often a response depicted in scripture as a response that he has toward repentance.
You’ll remember that I introduced to you the process of repentance from 2 Chronicles 7:12-14:
The Process of Repentance
Remember who you are and to whom you belong.
Humble yourself.
Pray and seek the face of the Lord. (James 4:8)
Turn from their evil ways.
As we reflect on Jonah 3, we can see that the Ninevites engaged in this exact process that led to their repentance in verse 10.
As for the first step, we cannot say that we have a record of the Ninevites ever belonging to God, but we can surmise that they had some knowledge of the God of Israel and what he represented. Whatever work God was doing among them is hidden to us, however he had clearly noticed their actions and was responsible to take corrective action.
10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.
Jonah 3:10 clearly shows that they turned from their evil ways and turned to God for their salvation from the impending destruction. And God relented. The text says “And he did not do it.”
The question that I have for you today is this...
To what lengths are you willing to go to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with others?
God loves...
the people who show up in our church that we have never seen before.
He loves the people that we meet as we are out and about in our neighborhoods and our communities.
He loves the people that you work with and the people that you run into as you run your errands.
He loves the people that you drive by in the rundown neighborhoods and colonias.
He loves the people across the border in Reynosa and Matamoros.
To what lengths are you willing to go to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those people?
As my wife and I have talked about our work of outreach to the community around us and across the border, I have heard some responses that confuse me. I hear people say, “Why do we need to cross the border to reach people over there when we have people right here who have needs?”
Then when we try to reach people right here nearby, I hear people say “Why do we need to go to the colonias? We have people right here in our church that have needs!”
Then when we try to bless people in our church that have real needs, I hear people say “Our people don’t have any needs, they have it good here!” And that’s knowing full and well that we do have people that have great needs right here within our church and here within our community.
So in offering many different opportunities to have people join us in blessing others, it seems that it is quite easy for some of us to find some reason that they shouldn’t be involved. Either that or they think that we, who want to reach our community with the gospel message are somehow misguided in our efforts to reach others.
This is a misguided way of thinking that completely rejects the compassion and grace that God has for others and has placed within those who believe in him and seek to do his will.
This misguided thinking that we have is a conundrum that we as a church MUST find an answer to if we are going to reach people and be a light in a dark world as we proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. We MUST be willing to encounter people around us and meet them with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
The appropriate way to respond to this is to remember Jesus’ words before he ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven...
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
We have the nations at our doorstep. We can spread the gospel message of Jesus Christ and cast His message into the winds where they will spread out through our nation.
I have come to the conclusion that there will always be people that disagree with the work that we are called to do in the name of Jesus Christ. The best course of action is to follow your calling and do what you are called to do.
II. Jonah’s Fury
II. Jonah’s Fury
All this reminds me of Jonah in chapter 4. Jonah looks out over Nineveh and begins to argue with God about why he spared Nineveh from destruction. Jonah had no compassion whatsoever for the people of Nineveh, not even after they turned to God and worshipped him.
In chapter 4 we can the revelation of Jonah’s motivations behind Jonah’s flight from God’s call.
1 Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious.
This phrase in verse 1 stating that “Jonah was greatly displeased and furious” in the Hebrew it literally translates that “Jonah was displeasing and evil.” The implication here was that Jonah had a sinful and burning anger that was directed at God for his compassionate grace against his sworn enemy, Nineveh.
Jonah thought that he knew better than God what should be happening. It’s almost as if Jonah complains to God, “You see! I told you this was going to happen! This is just like you God, to forgive a people that don’t deserve forgiveness! Don’t you know that these are our sworn enemies? There is nothing good or worth redeeming in Nineveh! This is exactly why I ran away to Tarshish.”
Jonah’s burning displeasure continues in his prayer in verse 2 that explains his behavior going back to the beginning of the book.
2 He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.
Jonah remembers that God is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster.” While this is something that most of us would celebrate, Jonah almost seems to be cursing God for being like he is.
In fact, Jonah KNOWS who God is. He knows his attributes and calls them out clearly here. Let’s look at these for a minute...
Who is God?
Who is God?
1. God is Gracious
1. God is Gracious
God’s grace is unmerited divine favor, a favor from which comes many gifts, including salvation itself.
While some people, who do not understand the Bible might believe that the God of the Old Testament is angry and likely to respond with vengeance, we can actually see that God is more gracious than he is vengeful.
When God gave the tablets with the Ten Commandments to Moses, he declared these same attributes...
6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,
Our own salvation in Jesus Christ is wholly dependent upon the grace of God...
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
2. God is Compassionate
2. God is Compassionate
Jonah said that God is compassionate. Compassion and Mercy are closely related in Hebrew thought. The mercy of God describes his focused disposition of compassionate forgiveness toward his people, especially in light of their distressful and dire circumstances.
God has a long-standing record of compassion and mercy...
6 Remember, Lord, your compassion and your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion; in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your goodness, Lord.
As we look at the gospels and the life of Jesus, I think one of the things that stands out about him is his compassion for sinners...
35 But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
3. God is Slow to Anger
3. God is Slow to Anger
While God certainly exhibits his wrath (extreme anger) when the situation merits, his wrath is based in a revulsion against what is evil and is a result of his focused judgement against sin. He only acts against those who refuse to turn from sin and only then is his wrath set loose. However, we can also see scripture define God as being “slow to anger,” which is a product of his patience and mercy.
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath. The Lord takes vengeance against his foes; he is furious with his enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
The modern liberal concept that the wrath of God is evidence that we should reject him and reject religion is the result of a poor understanding of God and his ways. God is not just ideologically opposed to evil and sin, he is the polar opposite of sin and cannot coexist with it. His entire existence is repellent to sin and evil, like putting the wrong sides of a magnet together.
When justice is earned and his wrath would be an appropriate response, God often responds with a patience that exhibits that he is willing to give every chance for repentance. It is only when repentance is rejected that God’s wrath takes action against those who refuse him.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.
4. God is Love
4. God is Love
God’s love is the divine attribute that indicates God’s disposition to be self-giving and FOR the good of the other. I would take the position that all of these aspects of God are based in his love.
It was for love that God chose Israel...
7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.
And it is the very same love that caused God to draw us to himself and bind us to him in the same way that he did the nation of Israel...
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
III. Jonah, the Drama Queen
III. Jonah, the Drama Queen
Jonah was furious at God for relenting in the case of Nineveh. In fact this suspicion that God would be merciful was behind Jonah’s motives the entire time. He resorts to being the drama queen when he declares that he would rather die than continue living in a world where Nineveh is not destroyed by God.
3 And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
I love God’s response here.
4 The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
This is a classic question that gets to the heart of the matter. God calls out Jonah’s anger and questions it without the need for defense or explanation for his actions. I wish I was this good at defusing arguments or complaints.
God did not need to explain himself to Jonah, he simply pointed out Jonah’s anger and called it into question. God’s purpose in asking this question was primarily to encourage Jonah to think about his position and his emotions, but also to remind Jonah that God is God and he will do things in the way that he sees fit.
IV. Jonah’s Depression
IV. Jonah’s Depression
Jonah went out into the wilderness to have a view of Nineveh while he sulked and continued to doubt and question God...
5 Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
I call this section “Jonah’s Depression,“ because I see Jonah’s actions and arguments as being somewhat like a pity party, that is to say that Jonah is self-focused in his anger for what God forced him to do for Nineveh. He seems to give no thought for the Ninevites, who seem to be without hope and beyond being worthy at a shot for God’s redemption.
Then we get into this passage about the plant that God grew up over Jonah as he camped out in the desert on the edge of Nineveh...
6 Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. 7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
When we look at this passage for the object lesson, Jonah certainly seems silly, doesn’t he? He’s more worried about this plant and about his own sensibilities than he is for the people of Nineveh.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we look at Jonah, we really must examine our own motives as we respond to God’s lovingkindness. And not only that we must examine how God’s lovingkindness is or is not at work within us.
We are thrilled and thankful when God gives US his grace, but there are times that we can be truly apathetic when God brings blessings to those that we consider unworthy. And there are times that we are flagrantly negligent in engaging others with the grace and compassion of Jesus Christ.
I think that there are some in the church today that almost celebrate when we see others suffer as they “get what’s coming to them.”
How often do we fail to see the plight of others in the light of God’s compassion and mercy?
Should we be concerned when we encounter people that have no knowledge that they are lost?
Shouldn’t we have some concern for the lost and go out of our way to show them the love of Christ and the compassion of a loving and gracious God?