Why are you doing what you're doing?

Introduce the Bible

*Welcome & Dat*

*READ JONAH 4:1-11*

Introduction

Friends.

We’ve made it.

[Pause]

This is the last week.

Jonah 4.

[Bigger Pause]

I’m not going to ask a question this week.

That everyone responds to.

But.

I will ask…

WHY? [Slide]

We have followed Jonah for FIVE weeks now.

We have asked ourselves FIVE questions now: [Slide]

How are you going?

When are you running?

Who are you?

Where are you at?

What are you doing?

Now let’s ask WHY to all of that. [Slide]

To ALL of you…as well.

To YOU.

Why do we do anything?

Why are we who we are?

WHAT IS YOUR WHY IN LIFE? [Slide]

[Pause]

Why do you get out of bed?

Why do you go to School?

Why do you come to Youth?

Why do you listen to your parents?

Why do you not…?

Same with teachers…

With youth leaders...

With Sport coaches…

And more.

Why do we do everything we do…?

Why do we do ANYTHING…?

[Pause]

WHAT IS YOUR WHY IN LIFE?

[Bigger Pause]

Tonight, we turn to Jonah 4.

Where we see for the first time FULLY…

Jonah’s WHY.

So let’s look at this final chapter.

Let’s see: [Slide]

THE ANGRY PROPHET.

&

THE GRACIOUS GOD.

THE ANGRY PROPHET [Slide]

Two weeks ago we were happy for moment…

As we saw Jonah ACTUALLY OBEY God.

But then almost immediately do the job…HALF-HEARTED.

He went through Nineveh preaching…

A FIVE WORD SERMON.

That said Nineveh would be destroyed…

He did a Half-Hearted Job…

Because…

He did not preach grace…

He did not preach mercy…

That means he didn’t give them a way out.

A way to stop the destruction.

Because he didn’t want to stop it…

But God is good.

And God works.

The people in Nineveh prayed and changed.

They changed their ways.

And God didn’t destory them…

Let’s read how Jonah FELT about that…

JONAH 4:1 [Slide]

1 “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry”

The ANGRY Prophet.

Now before we go any further…

I want to say…

It’s ok to be angry at God.

And I don’t mean that

We’re in the right.

And God’s in the wrong.

NO.

I mean God wants us to be honest with Him.

We talked about this a few weeks ago, from Jonah 2.

When Jonah prays in the fish.

God wants honest prays.

God wants us to share our feelings

To pray our feelings.

And if we’re ANGRY at God…

Then God wants us to share that. Pray that.

BUT.

Even though God wants Jonah’s honesty...

Jonah’s honest prayer…

That does not mean Jonah is RIGHT here.

In Verse 4 God asks:

“Is it right for you to be angry?”

That’s not a real question.

God is not actually asking this…

He is saying it’s NOT right.

Jonah has no REAL reason to be anrgy.

And he does that extreme thing.

That drama queen thing…

In Verse 3 he says:

“it is better for me to die than to live”

Jonah here doesn’t actually want to die.

It’s like…

I feel most of us would have done something similar…

I remember as a kid.

Either me or my siblings.

Shouting:

I WISH I WASN’T BORN!

You know…

Because our parents had told us off…

Said no to something…

Took something away…

The list goes on.

BUT…

I didn’t mean that.

Everyone here who’s shouted something similar.

Didn’t mean that…

Jonah here.

Is being dramatic.

WHY?

Well, as we said at the start.

Because of his WHY.

JONAH 4:2 [Slide]

2 “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

This is Jonah’s WHY. [Slide]

If you remember from chapter one.

We learnt a lot about Jonah.

And we learnt he loves his country.

…but a little TOO much.

That’s his priority in life.

His country of Israel.

His people and family from there.

And finally here in Jonah 4:2 we see WHY.

Why he he ran from God.

Why he slept on the ship.

Why he didn’t mind going into the sea.

Why he said what he said in 2:8.

Why he preached a Half-Heart Sermon.

Why he is Angry now.

Because he knows God.

[Pause]

OR.

Because he THINKS he knows God.

In this verse on the screen.

Jonah correctly says WHO GOD IS.

Gracious.

Compassionate.

Slow to Anger.

Abounding in Love.

BUT.

He thinks Nineveh doesn’t deserve it.

Doesn’t deserve to know this God.

To know MERCY.

[BIG Pause]

I wonder…

I wonder if you’ve ever felt that…

That you don’t deserve mercy…

Because God is offering it to you.

Or, I wonder if you think…

You’re fine.

You’re good.

Like Jonah here.

You’re one of the FEW deserving ones…

Change that thinking.

Pray for your heart.

Because we will see what God says to Jonah…

[Pause]

Jonah’s WHY in life.

Jonah’s PURPOSE in life.

In that his people flourish in life…

Under God’s MERCY.

While all others fall…

Under God’s JUDGEMENT.

No one is deserving of God’s Mercy.

Mercy means:

“…to be kind and forgiving towards those who are undeserving…”

We spoke about this, this term.

We have all sinned.

We continue to all sin.

That means turn away from God.

We ALL do it.

But.

God is Kind.

God is Merciful.

And here.

We see how God had every right…

To complete destroy Nineveh.

Exactly what Jonah WANTED.

But God.

Showed.

MERCY.

So Jonah’s WHY is crushed.

And therefore he is Angry.

And therefore multiple times he says:

“Death would be better…”

Again, being dramatic.

But with his WHY crushed.

Without his PURPOSE.

He feels he has no meaning…

He feels he has no joy…

But again…

We have a GRACIOUS GOD.

THE GRACIOUS GOD [Slide]

Even thought Jonah in in the wrong.

He had NO REASON to be angry.

The reason he is angry is ridiculous.

And Jonah doesn’t even reply to God’s question in Verse 4.

In Verse 5 it says he walks away.

Goes and sits down a bit away from the City.

In a bit of a shelter he makes.

To watch what happens to the city…

God has said he won’t destroy the city.

Jonah knows this…

AND YET.

He doubles down.

He stays put.

He’s job is finished at this point.

He had done the job God asked him to.

Now he is just being a bad follower.

He is doing what God doesn’t want him to do…

So…

Even through all this…

God is Gracious.

God doesn’t need to do anything for Jonah.

God can punish and judge Jonah…

But he doesn’t.

JONAH 4:6 [Slide]

6 “Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.”

God is Kind.

God is Gracious.

This is God being merciful to Jonah.

Jonah doesn’t deserve this.

And I think this is a great time to notice something about this book.

An irony if you will.

Jonah’s WHY is pretty much…

He is terrified of God’s MERCY to others. [Slide]

But he’s very happy to accept that same MERCY for himself. [Slide]

Both are undeserving.

Yet he is terrified for others to ACCEPT what he constantly NEEDS.

God saves him…

From the Sea. MERCY.

From the Fish. MERCY.

From the Ninevites. MERCY.

With this plant. MERCY.

Yet he sits in wait for the destruction of a city under God’s MERCY.

But again…

We have a gracious God…

Who shows us…

Tells us…

Teaches us…

[Pause]

Jonah really liked the plant…

The sun would have been hot.

The shade from the plant would have been great!

It was God made...

And therefore better than anything he did…

Or could have done.

But.

God sent a worm to eat through the plant…

Withering and killing it.

Then God sent a wind that was hot…

Scorching hot…

And the sun was beating down.

And yet again…

Jonah found himself thinking…

“it is better for me to die than to live”

Again, being dramatic.

And Verse 9 God asked:

“Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

And Jonah is very, VERY quick to say: YES.

Because Jonah thinks he is in the right.

Jonah thinks he knows better than God.

Jonah doesn’t trust God.

We’re back at the start of this book.

And Jonah is saying to God:

“You don’t know how this works…

You don’t know how JUDGEMENT works…

Those people…the Ninevites.

They should be Judged…”

And God replies:

“No.

[Pause]

No Jonah.

You don’t know the MERCY you have.

You don’t know how ANYTHING works.”

JONAH 4:10-11 [Slide]

10 “But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left’”

God is saying here:

You don’t know or understand ME.

You don’t know or understand yourself.

Your WHY is all messed up.

Significance

The ending of Jonah is abrupt.

It almost feels cut off.

But that’s on purpose.

Because it should make us think:

“WHAT SHOULD WE DO?” [Slide]

Jonah failed to know God and know himself.

And therefore failed his WHY.

We have asked lots of questions this term.

We have tried to understand ourselves and God better.

And so two things to finish…

First. To know ourselves better, we much first know God better.

“To be self-aware we must be creator aware” [Slide]

We need to know.

To love.

To trust God.

Second, our WHY.

A WHY as we have seen…

Is our meaning…our purpose in life.

Why we do what we do.

So, the question is:

What is your WHY?

What should it be?

There is an old and trustworthy one.

That I personally love.

It dates back to around the mid-1500’s.

It comes from a list of Questions and Answers.

And it’s the first one…

It goes:

“What is everyone’s PURPOSE?” [Slide]

“To GLORIFY God by ENJOYING Him forever” [Slide]

Glory means weightiness.

That means significance.

It means that God is the most important and significant in all the universe.

So how to we glorify him then?

“…by ENJOYING Him…”

What does it mean to enjoy God?

That he is the central joy in our lives.

That we pray each day to enjoy him more.

Because by knowing and enjoying him.

We glorify him.

By enjoying him, we want to do more.

We want to do better.

Two weeks ago we spoke about…

“Praying to enjoy Jesus more each day...”

This is part of it.

That’s something to start or keep doing.

[Pause]

If our WHY is centred around Jesus.

As it should be.

Then all we do…

Will be FOR HIM.

And that will be enough.

It should be enough.

For his own sake.

For just who he is.

For the joy of knowing Him.

Delighting in Him.

And slowly but surely…

Becoming like Him.

Let us take the warning of Jonah seriously.

Let us asked questions.

Let us ask WHY.

Let us know WHY.

Let us do out of our WHY.

Let me pray…

FATHER,

d