Anger and Idolatry: Christian Kryptonite

Introduction

Psychologists say that there are 6 basic emotions that people feel on a regular, if not daily, basis: Fear, Anger, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, and Surprise. Some of us might have felt each of these emotions already today! Because of how often we do experience these things, about 10 years ago, Pixar released a movie called Inside Out that dives into 5 of them and if you’ve seen the movie, you know that each emotion is animated by a character that acts just like you’d expect that emotion to act like. Joy is always happy. Sadness is always, sad. Fear is always afraid. Disgust is always grossed out by things and other people… and anger is well, like this.

Isn’t this what anger feels like in our lives? Think about some of the things that make us angry in life.

People that cut us off in traffic

Our store being out of our favorite drink

Being ignored by someone

Being told that you can’t do something

Seeing someone be mistreated

Seeing people be deceived and led astray

Anger is a powerful emotion that we all have felt before and we know that left unchecked, anger can lead to serious problems! We can say things that we don’t mean. We can do things that we wouldn’t normally do. We can snap at a person that we care about and love dearly! We can even believe a lie that says that God doesn’t know what He is doing. There are some things that should anger us as Christians - it should anger you whenever someone blasphemes your Lord and Savior. It should anger you whenever you see image bearers of Jesus Christ placed in harms way. It should anger us whenever we know what God’s Word says, and we do the opposite thing. However, there are many times in life that we aren’t filled with righteous anger as Ephesians 4:26 talks about. Instead, we are consumed with unrighteous anger. We have this belief that we deserve something that we don’t experience, and we are left feeling angry at another person, at a situation, or worse, at God Himself.

This morning as we look at Jonah 4, we’ll see the devastating results of unchecked anger and how anger and idolatry are a deadly combination for those who claim to know Christ. As we land the plane in this study, let’s remember to submit our anger and frustrations over to our Savior and trust that He knows what is best for each of us. Let’s read from Jonah 4 this morning

Jonah 4 CSB

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?”

We see an angry person here - he is not angry because of his sin. He isn’t angry because people have rejected God. We see a person who is angry that God graciously saved sinners from sure destruction. We’re half tempted to shake our head at Jonah because his hypocrisy is hard to believe… but if we’re honest, we’ve all been there. We see someone get something that we don’t believe they deserve, and instead of praising God, we pout.

Anger and Idolatry Confuse Us (1-4)

We all know what it’s like to be displeased or upset. As we get a little older, sometimes we sleep the wrong way on our back and we wake up and our neck is upset at us and it takes hours and hours for it to finally feel better. Sometimes it’s other people that aggravate us or cause us frustration. Here, we see that Jonah, God’s prophet is displeased. He’s upset. Literally, “it was greatly displeasing.” What is the “it” that displeased Jonah? The conclusion of Jonah 3 tells us that God relented concerning the disaster that he threatened to bring to Nineveh. Remember that there are times whenever God says that disaster is coming and it is like a neon billboard on the side of I-44 that serves as a caution of danger ahead if nothing changes. God said that destruction is coming because of the wickedness of the people, because of their evil. Remember what the people of Nineveh did? They worshiped other gods for one, but they also were a serious threat to the people of Israel as they were very powerful, and they enjoyed torturing the people they had conquered! It makes sense to Jonah that God would bring judgment on these evil and wicked people! As we look around our world, if we were told that God was going to bring judgment on our enemies, that would make a lot of sense in our brains and it would make us feel pretty good to as we’d think that those people are finally getting what they actually deserve for a change!

But what happens at the end of Jonah 3? Jonah 3:10

Jonah 3:10 CSB

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 turn from their evil. You would imagine that this would be reason to rejoice… but this displeased Jonah. Again, these are wicked people. They were a threat to the nation of Israel. They did evil things. Jonah knew all about God’s power - he had heard the stories from generations ago about Sodom and Gomorrah… Jonah was ready for a firework display and he didn’t even see a bottle rocket explode. He’s upset. The text says that he became furious. Like the little angry red man from Inside Out, Jonah was fixing to explode because of the repentance of the Ninevhites. This is what Jonah was afraid about from the beginning - this is why, verse 2, he set sail for Tarshish, he was afraid that God would forgive these people.

Exodus 34:6–7 CSB

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, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

What does the Bible tell us about our God?

He is full of compassion. He is gracious. He is slow to anger. He is faithful. He is love. He forgives sin, but those who are guilty will in fact be punished. Jonah is upset at the very character of God. He is mad that God shows mercy. He is mad that God is slow to anger. He is mad that God is abounding in faithful love, even when people rebel.

So how does Nineveh avoid the punishment that they deserve? They repented. They turned away from their evil. They believed this message that Jonah proclaimed. Jonah is angry at God’s character. Aren’t people today the same? Some are angry at God’s mercy… others are angry at God’s justness. Some are angry at God’s sovereignty… others are angry at God’s patience. Some are made at the fact that God is holy. In fact, the only attribute of God taken to the superlative or supreme degree is not God’s love or goodness, but His holiness in Isaiah 6 as we hear that God is holy, holy, holy - He is as holy as holy can be! Yet here is Jonah, believing that he knows better about holiness than than God, who is as holy as holy can be. What has Jonah done? He has revealed in these first 4 verses that he is an idolater.

Idolatry is desiring something more than God or building your identity on anything other than God. What are those things in your life that you are tempted to build your identity in other than God? The opinions of other people? Your job? Your report card? Your athletic achievements? The neighborhood that you live in? Sadly in our world, we are tempted to place our identity in what we feel or what others say more than what God says. Here is Jonah, who has believed a lie that says that he is better because of his actions and because of where he grew up. He thinks that he’s better than these people. He deserves God’s favor. Everyone else doesn’t. Jonah found more satisfaction in seeing his enemies destroyed than his own God worshiped. This is idolatry. And idolatry confuses us.

Jonah had short term memory less - He should have perished inside the fish. He had sinned against God. It would have been just for God to give him what he deserved… yet God gave him mercy. Yet, here in Nineveh, Jonah forgot God’s mercy whenever the Ninevehites repented and God showed the exact same mercy to these people!

How do you react whenever God displays mercy to those who don’t deserve it? Like Jonah, do you rationalize your sin and crucify others for theirs? Or, do you see yourself as one deserving of God’s punishment and marvel at the grace you have received? If we forget our brokenness and sinfulness, we will get angry. If we forget how merciful God has been for us, we will give into idolatry, and puff ourselves up and tear others down. Anger and Idolatry confuse us, and the solution to this confusion is to remind ourselves of the Gospel - that we don’t deserve God’s grace and we could never earn His mercy… yet, He gives them to us generously! Jonah went to Nineveh, but he didn’t delight in God’s generosity.

Anger and Idolatry Consume Us (5-8)

Jason Allen, president of MBTS, wrote a book called Turnaround that we’re reading as a church staff and in the book he provides 10 leadership principles that God has used to help turn the school around over the last 10 years. One of the principles he gives is to cultivate trustworthiness on your team. We know that we have better relationships both inside and outside the walls of our job with people that we love and trust! One way he outlines to build trust is to practice what he calls the 7 day window. If he has done something that hurts, offends, or negatively impacts someone on his staff, they have a 7 day window to bring that up to him. Can you imagine implementing something like this in your life? A study 3 years ago shared that the average adult has held onto at least 1 grudge 5 years! 5 years of holding onto something negative that someone did in the past. What happens over those 5 years? That anger builds underneath the surface. Imagine a volcano - praise the Lord that we don’t have to worry about those in Missouri - the magma builds inside the volcano and as time goes on, more and more magma builds and eventually, something triggers it and that volcano explodes and launches ash and lava into the air and it consumes everything around it. This is what anger can do to us if it is left unchecked for a long period of time. It festers and builds and grows and eventually, something sets it off, and it explodes and causes destruction left and right. Have you been impacted by this type of thing before? Wrong place, wrong time, and you get the brunt of the explosion? Not a fun place to be!

Again, Jonah wants to see these people get destroyed. He thinks they deserve it. All of that lava is building up in his body as that anger builds. Eventually he travels East of the city and makes a shelter to look at the city. Do you believe that this book is significant? Why East?

Genesis 3:23–24 CSB

23 So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4:16 CSB

16 Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 11:2 CSB

2 As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Genesis 13:11–12 CSB

11 So Lot chose the entire plain of the Jordan for himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward, and they separated from each other. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities on the plain and set up his tent near Sodom.

In Genesis, eastward movement often symbolizes humanity’s departure from God’s will. This is significant. Adam and Eve sinned, and they were banished East of paradise. Cain kills Abel and leaves the Lord’s presence to the East. The builders of the Tower of Babel are moving from the East before they start their work - whenever God told them to spread out, they settled. Finally, Lot travels East towards Sodom. East is connected with drifting away from God’s will in Genesis and this is picked up on here in Jonah. He goes to the East and builds a shelter, awaiting a fireworks display, or so he hopes!

This makes sense - these people killed innocent people. They flayed people alive. They were evil and God, being just, must punish evil… in a courtroom, with all of the evidence laid out in the open, we would expect a good judge to bring about justice on those who do what is evil. Yet we see in the Bible that God longs to distribute mercy and forgiveness to those who DON’T deserve it. Whenever we see others receive God’s mercy, that can anger us. That anger can consume us. Until the point that we remember that this is what God has done for each one of us. Jonah sinned and God gave him mercy he didn’t deserve. You and I sin, and God doesn’t immediately give us what we deserve, each breath we take is grace! How can God be just and forgive those who have violated His standard? Because of the redemption provided by His Son. The reason that you can be forgiven by God today is because 2,000 years ago, Jesus died on a blood-stained cross in YOUR place. Whenever you’ve been redeemed, your outlook on forgiveness forever changes. You’re not consumed with anger, you’re consumed with grace.

But not Jonah, he just sits and seethes - even with this shelter that he makes, he is still burning up. In this area of the world, we’re talking heat indexes of upwards of 110-120 degrees. Shade is a big deal. Shade can save your life, truly! The Bible says that God appointed a plant to grow and provide shade for this shelter. This again is God’s grace… and just as God appointed the plant, he then appoints a worm to eat the plant, and then He appointed a scorching east wind to the point that Jonah nearly fainted and again, says it would be better to be dead than to be alive.

What do you do whenever the Lord gives to you? Whenever you are blessed. Whenever you are promoted. Whenever the under asking price contract offer you submitted gets accepted. Whenever your team wins the game. Whenever you pass the class. What do we do? We so often rejoice! We’re thankful.

But what about whenever the Lord takes? Some don’t like going there and they get around it by saying, God only does good and anything that I experience that I don’t like is automatically not God because God only wants me to be happy, healthy, and wealthy. What does the book of Jonah remind us with? The Lord appoints these things - the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, the wind.

Job 1:21 CSB

21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

You can’t find a more stark contrast to Jonah than Job. Whenever Job lost everything, he worshiped God. Whenever Jonah lost his shade, he cursed God. He was filled with unrighteous anger because God acted in a way that he didn’t approve of. Church, let us be a people who rejoice whenever God displays mercy, and not be consumed by anger and idolatry.

Anger and Idolatry Condemn Us (9-11)

Jonah is confused. He is consumed with anger. He is angry enough to die about a small plant. Do you know people who care an awful lot about little things like plants? Maybe not plants… how about cell phones? Cars? TV’s? Clothes? We get angry about losing things like these or being inconvenienced by things not working how they should, or how we expect. Jonah is angry about the plant… and he is angry that Nineveh survived. Think about the things that consume us - can you make a list? Worries, concerns, thoughts. Where does lostness fit on that list? The reality that we have loved ones, family members, friends, coworkers, classmates, who do not know Jesus! Jonah had a city of 120,000 that didn’t know their right from their left, meaning they are blinded by sin. They are lost. They are dead. And Jonah didn’t care. But he cared about a plant that gave him some shade. That’s it. That’s the end. God pours out mercy and Jonah pouts. That’s worse than any movie or TV series ending in film history, isn’t it?

How can this story end like this? We wonder this with the parable of the Prodigal Son as well, don’t we? We’re told that the older son is invited to enjoy the party, but we aren’t told if he does or not and, if you’re like me, you want the story to be finalized and this bugs you! We want to know how Jonah ends. There are 2 main ideas - one idea is that Jonah is the one who wrote the book itself, so eventually he came to see his rebellion for what it was, repented, and shared this story that basically makes him look like a fallen, sinful prophet and doesn’t even document his repentance. The other is that Jonah never gets with the program. He doubled down. He died in rebellion to God’s mercy and grace. I read arguments for both perspectives, but want to hone in on a different question instead of how does Jonah respond to God’s mercy… Instead this: How do you respond to God’s mercy? The older brother of Luke 15 and the Pharisees in Jesus’ day believed there were people out of bounds when it comes to receiving God’s mercy and nothing could be further from the truth. Do we see ourselves here a bit? Drawing lines and saying these people are out of bounds? How about this instead, maybe it’s not saying that people are out of bounds for God, but parts of our lives are out of bounds for God. Maybe we’re fine with God saving sinners, but we aren’t fine with the idea of God changing every aspect of our lives. Our time, our talent, our treasure. We know the right church answers. We know the Bible stories. But like the Pharisees, we can be so blinded by being near Christ, that we aren’t actually in Christ. We think that it’s possible to be saved without being changed, and that’s as far from Biblical Christianity as it gets! Jesus changes those whom Jesus saves, and we all need His grace in this process as none of us are a finished product.

See, Grace means that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and grace means that there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. I’m not saved by my works. My salvation is a gift that I could never deserve. It’s a gift from God. And because it’s from God, God can’t love Himself any more or less. And whenever I’m in Christ, I can’t earn God’s favor any more or less because I’m saved and kept by His grace, not my works. This is good news as Romans 8:1 reminds us that

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

Today, are you in Christ? Many think they don’t need Jesus for this.

To think that I don’t need God’s grace and mercy is to believe that I am stronger than Samson, wiser than Solomon, and more godly than David… and all of them fell. Anger and Idolatry are Christian Kryptonite - they are common in our world. We talk this morning about the importance of training up a child in the way they should go - you don’t have to train a child to get upset. You don’t have to teach a child to worship themselves. They will grow up and do these things! So, parents, what is our God-given charge? To show them something better than anger and idolatry. See, Jesus came to give us peace and access to the Father. It is our responsibility and privilege as parents and as a church to help the next generation find FREEDOM in Jesus! Freedom from the kryptonite that will drag them to eternal separation from God in a literal place called hell. The stakes are high because eternity is a long time and there are 2 options that couldn’t be more different.

Because of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we all inherit this sinful, fallen nature. And God can’t stand sin. He hates it. In fact, He hates sin and death so much that Jesus came to this earth 2,000 years ago and lived a sinless, perfect, life. He went to the cross in our place. He rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven. He will return. He did all of this so that whenever He returns He will end all evil without also ending us. Aren’t you thankful for our Gospel hope?

So my question for you today is this:

Will We Pout or Will We Proclaim the Gospel?

Are We Enraged With God or Are We Engaged With God?

Whenever God does something that we don’t expect or calls us to join Him in His Kingdom mission, will we pout or will we proclaim the Gospel? Job proclaims, Jonah pouts. Will be be engaged with God or will we be enraged with God whenever He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him alone? Some say that this is just asking too much and that Jesus isn’t worth it. Friends, a Jesus who you follow and obey whenever it’s convenient or whenever it suits you is an idol, not the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who

Colossians 1:17 CSB

17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

God saves us in order for us to join Him in His mission of changing this world one life and one light at a time. This is what His mission was for the people of Israel in the Old Testament, to be His people that He uses to bless all the peoples of the world… but, as Andrew King shares,“The Israelites faced their woundedness but not their waywardness. They saw God for His usefulness but not His righteousness. Therefore, they ignored their sinfulness.” This is what Jonah did. He saw his woundedness, but not his own waywardness. He thought of himself as righteous, not a rebel, and as a result, he was offended when God saved sinners. May this not be true of us, church. May we be a people who remember who we were and where we are

2 Peter 3:9 CSB

9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

God was patient with YOU. To all Christians, God didn’t give you what you deserved in the past - He was patient. But, judgment is coming. Sin has an expiration date. God will judge this world and all that is wrong will be made right one day! But until that day, God is being patient with us. What is the danger? That we excuse our anger as righteous and our idolatry as religious checkmarks and stand before the Judge one day dressed in our own righteousness which the Bible says are at best filthy rags. The best of our works fall short and they always will… but there is a work today that is sufficient. There is a Person who alone offers and provides hope that lasts and His name is Jesus. And today He says to you, Come Home. You don’t clean yourself up before coming home. You just come home. Who can be saved by the grace of God? The vilest offender who truly believes.

“Just as I am and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot

O Lamb of God, I come, I come”

Come to Jesus and He will mend, heal, rescue, fill, pardon, and welcome you. He will save you. He will change you. This is God’s plan for you, and He calls on us to engage in this plan today! How do we do this? 5 ways

How Can We Engage in God’s Worldwide Redemptive Plan and Overcome the Kryptonite of Anger and Idolatry?

Realize God’s Grace

We read in the Bible that God created everything and it was good. God remains good, even though we ourselves live in a fallen and broken world. We must realize God’s grace in our lives. He made us. He knows us. He loves us. He sent His Son to die for us. He brought us here this morning. There is blood in our veins and breath in our lungs. The answer to unrighteous anger is remembering God’s amazing grace in providing Salvation and joining in His mission of sharing this grace with others!

Repent of Your Sin

Our life is a gift of God’s grace. We look around our world and we see brokenness and as we look within our own hearts, we see that same brokenness. Our greatest problem is our sin - but as great as we are at sinning, Jesus is greater at saving! We must repent and turn away from our sin and towards Christ. This is His command for each person today, to repent of your sin.

Redeem Your Time

As those who have repented of their sin and realize God’s grace, we must redeem our time. Time is our greatest asset and we so often take it for granted! We think of redeeming things usually in terms of money - something is $100 and we have to determine if it is worth $100 or not. But how do we acquire $100? Usually by working, which requires our time. Is this thing worth 5 hours of our time, or is it not? We must remember that Jesus gives us all the time that we have and that He expects a return on that investment. We must redeem our time by using our time to glorify Him!

Reflect God’s Love

You will never meet another person who was not made in God’s image and who God does not love. How can we engage in God’s redemptive plan? By reflecting God’s love to a lost world! While we were sinners, Christ died for us. The least that we can do is speak the truth in love and share the love of God with those who do not yet know Christ.

Raise Up Disciples

This morning we celebrate the gift of life! Many say that they can’t imagine raising children in this world… I can’t imagine NOT raising up kids in this world. This is what God has called parents to do today. How will we raise our kids? They will be discipled - either by the WORLD or by the WORD. How can we impact this world? By raising up disciples who submit to God’s Word. By raising up disciples love Jesus. We can’t save our kids - but we can point them Who can every day. That’s how you change the world.

If you are here today and you’re struggling with anger - there is peace in Jesus. If you are here and you haven’t yet turned away from your sin, friend, there is freedom in Jesus. If you are here and you haven’t yet trusted in Jesus, His Word tells us that there is life and hope in Him. As we prepare to sing a final song of response, ask Jesus for help in building your life on His Word.