Why Are You Angry?
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Why Are You Angry? Jonah 3:10-4:1-4
Why Are You Angry? Jonah 3:10-4:1-4
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
May God Bless The Reading Hearing & Understanding of his Precious Word!
Prayer
Confession of Faith
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
Intro:
Have you ever felt like you just don’t like someone or a group of people just because? They don’t look like you, act like you, talk like you, walk, like you or live like you! Today we will look at Jonah's final chapter. In this fourth and final chapter Four , we will walk with Jonah on his journey of self-discovery as he confronts his biases, his issues! Now in order for us to learn - we must be true to ourselves! The worst thing you can do is lie to God and Lie to yourself! In this case we need to look at our own biases towards groups of people, cultures, races, certain affiliations, denominations, identifications, people who live and act differently then you do!
Now whether you like them or not- You are not God and God can save who he chooses! So watch this and experiences God's amazing, kindness and compassion. The topic of our sermon for today is
Why Are You So Angry?
In the book of Romans
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
and in
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Now keep those verses in your heart and look at what the Ninevites did
8 But every person and animal should be covered with rough cloth, and people should cry loudly to God. Everyone must turn away from evil living and stop doing harm all the time.
9 Who knows? Maybe God will change his mind. Maybe he will stop being angry, and then we will not die.
Everyone must turn away from evil - that is Repenting!
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
The Ninevites got the Word that Jonah himself preached and they recieved the truth and believed the truth and turned away and God changed his mind about their punishment and saved them !
So you would think Jonah would be excited, joyful, full of thanksgiving and worship that God saved and entire city especially after God gave him a second chance and saved him from the belly of the fish!
No! that’s not what happened!
The bible reveals the true nature of Jonahs heart as an example of so many - so called Christians how are angry and only want people to be punished and banished to hell instead of saved by God!
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
Religious folks wanting those who they don’t know, never seen, grouping people together and hating or desiring God to punished instead of praying for individuals to be saved and allowing the gift of patience to operate while God saves in his own time!
2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.
3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
Now here is the good thing, Jonah went to God with his issue!
He did not allow the anger to take root, he did not run to the other church folks or people in the world - he did not let his feelings out to family and friends, trying to influence them - the way so many of us do today! When we mad or angry, we spread it to everyone around us! Then we try to justify why we angry! Jonah did what he was supposed to do! He entered into prayer pouring out his heart and expressing to God the depths of his anger, his distress and his righteous indignation!
Have a little talk with Jesus - tell him all about your troubles - He will hear the faintest cry and he will answer by and by!
In the presence of the LORD, Jonah humbly confessed that he knew God was going to save them! Jonah knew by divine insight that when God called him to preach to the Ninevites that he was going to save them!
You cannot be a follower of God and not know about God’s mercy, You cannot be a Christian and not know about God’s grace, You cannot say you love God and not know that the scriptures in It is God
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
So whats the revelation in this text
Jonah is prejudice! Jonah was focused on the sin, the lifestyle, the evilness, the cruel mistreatment the Ninevites had afflicted on the people and he could not see the people them self!
Jonah did not want them to be saved - that’s why he ran in the first place!
Look at your neighbor and say Jonah - is that You?
In Verse 3 Jonah says
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
Jonah is so angry the anger has taken control and now he is in sin himself
26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
God tells us that we shouldn't let anger take root in our hearts. When anger is deep inside us, it can take over and control everything we do, even our lives. If we let it, anger will build up inside us until it explodes in a fit of rage or aggression, which can make things worse
So God asks Jonah
4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah 4:4 (Message Translation)
4 God said, “What do you have to be angry about?”
Now remember Jonah's anger is not at the people of Nineveh, but at what God did after they said they were sorry. Jonah didn't want the people of Nineveh to be saved. Instead, he wanted them to be punished for their sins. He was angry that God had chosen to be kind and forgiving instead of punishing the people as Jonah had asked.
The Lord asks Jonah a simple but important question in answer to his anger: "Is it right for you to be angry about this?" So, God is telling Jonah to look at himself! God is telling Jonah to find out where his feelings - his emotions are come from. God wants Jonah to deal with his bias, prejudices, his selfishness, his arrogance! But more important God needed Jonah to understand the depth of love he has for all his people! God needed Jonah to understand how much he cares for everyone! I believe God is speaking to you and me today! Above and beyond our religious rules and regulations, Above and beyond our opinions, Above and beyond what is communicated on TV and On social media, Above and beyond what the politicians are saying whats right and wrong! God wants each of us to know, he doesn’t love like we do!, He doesn’t care in the way we care, His ways are not like our ways! His love is deeper and wider than we can even imagine! He can see past our faults and see that everyone needs salvation!
5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
After what God asked Jonah, Jonah left Nineveh and goes to the east. Not much is said about why he chose to go east, but it could be that he wanted to get away from the city and look at it from a distance.
Now check this out - Jonah builds himself a cover to protect himself from the hot sun and give him shade. Building shelter meant that Jonah planned to stay there for a long time while he waited to see what would happen to the city. Still, I believe that fact that Jonah built the shelter he was looking forward to God's punishing Nineveh, in some type of way , even though the people there had already changed their ways.
Jonah, is still struggling with what he thinks God should do. If It were me and God already said he was going to save the city, I would be own my way home - to family and friends! Not Jonah, he was far away enough to see what would happen to the people of Nineveh!
6 And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
Watch this
Despite Jonah's inner conflict and his reluctance to embrace God's compassion for Nineveh, the Lord shows Jonah His care and provision! John built his shelter, but it was getting hot, so God arranges for a leafy plant to grow right where Jonah had made his shelter. God doing that shows how much he still loves Jonah and will take care of him - even when he’s struggling to accept God’s decision!
So this growing plant quickly spreads its leaves over Jonah's head, providing much-needed shade and relief from the intense heat of the sun. Now look at God taking care of Jonah and providing immediate comfort!
You would think, that Jonah would be a little tired, and feeling the weight of his emotions and the weariness of his journey.
When God did this for Jonah , he became "very grateful" for the plant that God provided. But wait ya’ll God still teaching Jonah a lesson!
Lean in!
God providing the plant is the beginning of a lesson! God was still taking care of Jonah!
Now in verse seven
7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
check this out - you gotta get this! Please know that God is in control of everything! He is in the small details of things! God arranged for the worm to appear at precisely the right time and place to carry out His purpose. The worm, under God's direction, eats through the stem of the plant, causing it to wither away.
Now the lesson is this - Worldly comforts can be quickly given and can be quickly taken away. The plant that was giving Jonah comfort from the scorching hot sun was withering and now exposing Jonah to the sun once again ! The day before - Jonah was comfortable the next day - it’s all gone!
As I read the scripture - this is a powerful lesson for Jonah and for you and me today! God uses this experience to teach Jonah about the futility of focusing on temporary comforts and the need to focus on matters of greater significance like souls being saved!
That plant and the worm are symbolic of temporary and fleeting nature of worldly comforts and possessions. The plant brought Jonah immediate relief, but the rapid destruction of the leaves and the plant shows us how worldly comforts, how material things are unstable and temporary! Jonah - why are you angry - God just showed him what was important! It’s not the worldly things - they come and go, but there is a city of people who will be loss forever if they don’t hear the truth!
But wait there’s more...
8 And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.
See we are worried about the wrong things! Not only did God take away his blessings of comfort - but he added more drama to his life! The scorching wind came down and grew faint and wanted to die! He said it is better to die than to live like this! it’s the equivalent , of losing your job, losing the place where you stay, losing all the money in your account, losing your health and losing the people around you! It can happen just that quickly and we are running around angry and who God will save just becase we don’t like qhat they are doing or not doing!
So God questioned Jonah again
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly.
That’s like God saying - is it right for you to be angry cause the job is gone?
Angry because the money is gone? Angry because the love one is gone!
Angry because house is gone
Jonah said yes - Angry enough to die!
I love this dialog… he says to Jonah you feel sorry for the plant, but you did nothing to put it there! It came quickly and died quickly!
You angry because the job is gone - God is saying Just like I gave you the Job - I can take it away! You worried about the money that’s gone, You did nothing to put the money there, I made it come and I can make it go away
I am talking to us! We are so comfortable with the blessings that God has given us- we believe we did it our selves! We are so comfortable in our shaded environments - that we can have the audacity to get angry at people in their sins, not pray for them, ignore them, and pretend that we love the Lord!
What happens if he takes away the comfort that you and I have right now - Are you going to be so angry that you ready to die - Look at your neighbor and say Jonah is that you?
Ok we are going to close out...
10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly.
11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
Man, this hit home! We spend more time worrying about material things - then we do about the spiritual state of the people around us! We put so much time and energy into getting material things and when they are gone - we spend time in anger and depression and anxiety about the things we did not put there - they were given to us by God! But God says this
There are people living in Spiritual Darkness - Those are the ones my heart goes out to! Those are the ones He feels sorry for! He said feell sorry for the people and the animals!
Today I challenge you - to change your heart about what’s important! There are people that you know who are living in spiritual darkness - fight for their souls, share with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Know this - that when God tells you to speak to a person or a group of people he will always give you the words to say!
God Bless You and God Keep you is my prayer