Relentless pursuit of a Prodigal Prophet

Introduction

Goodmorning Crossroads! I am excited to open the Word of God with you this morning. Last week we saw the amazing repentance of the people of Nineveh. The last words of chapter 3 are a beautiful testimony to the character of God when people repent “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.” Pastor Steckel did a great job last week explaining the stark contrast between God and man. And this week is somewhat of a continuation of that thought as we get to see how Jonah, this prodigal prophet responds to God’s mercy on the people of Nineveh....and as you can expect, it’s going to leave you with your face in your palms. Because Jonah throws an EPIC TEMPER TANTRUM! I have a question for everyone in the room: Have you ever thrown a temper tantrum? Well when I think of temper tantrums, I think of this video. look to the screens.

TEMPER TANTRUM: Show clip of Wifeswap

BACON IS GOOD FOR ME. LOL! In my mind when I read this text for the first time that clip popped into my head. Jonah’s epic temper tantrum. For the first time in this book we are going to see a dialogue between God and Jonah. It will be so revealing, not just about Jonah but as we keep this common theme throughout this sermon series that “We are Jonah” we will learn about ourselves in the process. We are going to see that God is big enough to handle our rebellious hearts, and good enough to have mercy on us.

Open your Bibles to Jonah Chapter 4:1-9.

Read Jonah 4:1–9

Jonah 4:1–9 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 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. 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. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 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.” 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.”

We can’t put God in a box.

Verse 1 is shocking to see Jonah’s response! In the original language it says “it was evil to Jonah it was great evil.” What a change from the verse directly above!

There is huge contrast in their attitudes to the repentant Ninevites, God and Jonah are completely opposed. When God turns away from his anger (3:9), Jonah becomes angry. This entire section is sheds light on just how wide the chasm that separates the Lord and Jonah. God turned from his anger, it made Jonah exceedingly angry!

These verses correspond closely to the events that happen at the end of chapter 1 through the end of chapter 2 when Jonah is tossed overboard and swallowed by the fish. This is the only other time that Jonah prayed to God in this book. Ironically, his last prayer in chapter 2 was a prayer of thanks and praise to God for HIS OWN salvation, but this time Jonah’s prayer is way different. There is a great contrast between Jonah’s joy over his own rescue and his anger at the deliverance of the Ninevites.

In Jonah’s own words, we see the REAL reason why he fled from God and tried to go to Tarshish. Up until this point we have seen the defiant actions of this wayward prophet, but we haven’t been given the insight as to why from Jonah himself until now.

Jonah quotes Exodus 34:6-7 “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.” this is also stated in Numbers 14:18-19 before the Israelites pass into the promised land, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, and Nehemiah 9:16-17. These verses were words that came directly from the mouth of God describing Himself to Moses, one of the most famous men in the history of Israel. These verses are extremely well known, celebrated, and memorized by the Jewish people. Jonah, as a prophet of God, would have loved this description and truth about God’s character WHEN it applied to Israel. However, Jonah’s response to this mercy move of God towards the Ninevites was unbearably unjust, in his words…evil.

Essentially what Jonah said to God here is “i wanted to get as far away from you as possible…because of who you are”

Here’s what we see from Jonah’s outburst towards God: Jonah knows a lot about God, but Jonah’s attitudes and actions reveal that he is unwilling to be transformed by God.

What we learn: Knowledge isn’t enough! Jonah knew a lot about God but didn’t want to submit to God.

Example/Link to Jonah’s knowledge and understanding of God to try to put Him in a box: Jonah has enough information to be dangerous. (Ex. Germany Mission Trip: Student who thought he knew everything about baseball. Every time I told him something he continued to do it his way. He thought he knew it all, but his attitude towards his teacher limited his ability to grow and experience even more beauty about the game of baseball.) Jonah has enough head knowledge about God to limit his own experience of who God is. Just like Jonah, when we think we know everything about God we begin trying to manipulate God’s hand for our own purposes. If we aren’t careful, we can begin to pick and choose who WE THINK God should save based off of our own cultural biases.

Here’s the reality: Have you ever tried to put God in your own neat little box? IT DOESN’T WORK. Why? Because we can’t put God in a box. When we try to put God in a box, we unknowingly box ourselves into a limited experience of who God is. Why? Because the created weren’t meant to contain the Creator. God is eternal. That means that we will NEVER exhaust our learning of the eternal God that we serve! At the end of the day, Jonah tried to be God and he wanted his WAY over God’s WILL.

Sprinkle of application: Do you ever want your way over God’s will? (PAUSE)

Here’s what can be so dangerous about unjustified anger that goes unchecked: Jonah couldn’t stand the Assyrians. But when God chose to show mercy instead of justice to the Assyrians, Jonah went from not being able to stand the Assyrians to not being able to stand God! There is a danger that we see in Jonah’s rebellion. When God doesn’t act in accordance to how JONAH THINKS He should, his anger shifts from being angry about a CIRCUMSTANCE to being angry at the CREATOR.

The tantrum for Jonah continues...God asks Jonah the question “Do you do well to be angry?” And we see no response from Jonah! JONAH IGNORES GOD! Instead, he walks into the hills and creates a makeshift shelter for himself. He is so deep in his own assumptions of God that he decides to sit on the outskirts of the city waiting to see if God would change his mind and destroy the city after all. The stubborn pride is coming out in full force here in Jonah.

THE PLANT: Then God APPOINTS (Same word used for the summons of the big fish in chapter 1) a plant to sprout up and bring shade and relief to Jonah’s discomfort. Then Jonah becomes “exceedingly happy”. Again we see a common thread for Jonah as he sits on his religious high horse...He becomes exceedingly happy because God showed mercy and provision for him, while still being angry about God sparing the people of Nineveh. So, God APPOINTS a worm to attack the plant and appoints an east wind to exhaust Jonah. Here we see something about God’s sovereignty: God has the ability and authority to deliver and to destroy! God asks Jonah the same question that he asked him in verse 3. Jonah reveals his selfishness and the shallowness of his thinking. He cared more about his own comfort than Nineveh’s salvation. Jonah cared more about his own earthly desires than other’s eternal destinies.

Sprinkle of Application: Do you sometimes care more about your own earthly comforts and desires than others’ eternal destinies? Assess your Time, attention, affections.

When I was studying this chapter and reading moment after moment of Jonah’s meltdown, I couldn’t help but think…when is God going to end this man?!?! In my own flesh I am ready to see Jonah get struck by lightning or something! Nobody reading this story is thinking: I want to be like Jonah. The author is exposing the foolishness of questioning the justice of God. In our minds we want to see God end this prodigal prophet...

However, what we see is that God doesn’t treat Jonah as he definitely deserves. why? Because God is after Jonah’s heart, too.

God is after your heart.

Here is the beauty in the account of Jonah: God’s presence never leaves Jonah. God never gives up on Jonah. Think about this…through Jonah’s anger-filled prayer God enters into a conversation with Jonah by asking Him a question. God could have told him he was wrong, but He had the patience to allow Jonah the ability to examine himself in his own foolish and unjustified anger. He even allowed Jonah to walk away without responding! God appointed a plant to bring Jonah comfort EVEN WHILE HE WAS STILL ANGRY AND AWAITING THE DOWNFALL OF NINEVEH. Then He appointed a worm to destroy the plant so that He could continue this dialogue with Jonah. He is in sovereign control of the wind and the waves. The fish and the plants. The worm and the sun.

All for this purpose: God is trying to extend the same grace and mercy for Jonah as he did for Nineveh. We see that the God of the universe wants to save Jonah from the evil and wickedness that fills his own heart. Jonah is ironically sitting outside of the city hoping for calamity to come upon Nineveh while he ignores the evil in his own heart and calamity in his own life that God wants to save him from. In this book we see Jonah’s words to be true: God is “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” God is consistent to His character even when we waver in our own. The same God in Exodus 34 is the same God in Jonah 4. The same God in Jonah 4 is the same God that stepped into human history to put on flesh and walk among men fully God and fully man, extending grace, mercy and forgiveness to all of us by living the life we couldn’t live, dying the death we should’ve died, and raising to life on the third day conquering death hell and the grave. That same God is dealing with us and He hasn’t changed. The relentless pursuit of God to extend grace to this prodigal prophet does the same for you and I today!

Remember earlier we said that God was bigger than we could conceive. The Bible says that His ways are higher than our ways. Which brings us to this truth: Whatever God calls us to, He has a specific purpose. (PAUSE)

God wanted to clean Jonah out through His call to the Ninevites. God knows better than we do. We hear this truth said often (and it is a good truth by the way): whatever God calls us to do He will equip us to do. Yeahhhhh we REALLY like that one, and rightfully so! We should because it’s true! However, what we learn through the book of Jonah is that God also call us to do things which expose the evil in our hearts that He wants to clean out. His sovereignty brings us to places, situations, and circumstances that expose sin that would otherwise go unchecked. Just imagine if Jonah would have stayed in Israel in his comfort zone...he would have never been confronted with his deep seeded pride, his desire for control, his entitlement for himself and the people of Israel, and ultimately his SMALL view of God and his plan for all of the world. Jonah’s call to Nineveh wasn’t just for Nineveh, it was for Jonah too!

Here is the beauty of God’s call for each of us: When God works through us, we can rest assured that He is also working in us. Just like Jonah, God wants us to experience His grace as much as He wants use us to administer His grace to others.

God wants to use the events and experiences of our lives to teach us and show us more of Himself. To mold us into the image of His Son Jesus. God wants to transform us.

Sprinkle of Application: What is God doing in your life that He is using to expose your own sinful leanings?

God is after your heart…why though?

He wants us to know him better.

He wants us to look more like Jesus

He is God!

He wants to transform you and me from the inside out. It doesn’t start with doing the right things. It begins by seeking the face of God and allowing who He is to change who we are!

Land The Plane

So, the question that God is posing to Jonah and to us today...Do you cognitively know me? Or do you know God with your heart and with your feet? Do you have good theology, but lack the compassion in your heart for others? In what ways do you disconnect what you know of God’s character in your head from what you feel for others in your heart? (particularly people who are hard to love)

Remember: We are Jonah. It’s possible to receive the mercy of God but resist the mission of God. How? Because:

We like our comforts.

We lack concern for others. If we are not doing anything for their salvation, aren’t we content with their destruction?

We don’t like God’s commission.

We don’t like God’s character.

Jonah, like us, wants to call the shots on who gets mercy and who gets justice. Either to be God or control God. We won’t participate on mission with God if we aren’t in alignment with God.

Here’s our reality: We need to repent. God wants our hearts. He wants our affections. You may need to come down to the altar and speak to one of our team who will be up front. Or maybe you just need to get on your knees before God and ask for forgiveness. You’ve been trying to call the shots in your life. You’ve loved God’s hand more than God’s face. You’ve hid behind your comforts as an excuse not to exercise faith.