Overboard week 4

From Anger to Compassion: Jonah's Journey

Bible Passage: Jonah 4:1-11

Summary: In Jonah 4, we see the prophet's frustration and anger at God's mercy towards the Ninevites after their repentance, showcasing his struggle with the concept of compassion and justice.

Application: This passage helps teens to reflect on their own emotions and responses toward others, encouraging them to embrace compassion rather than anger or judgment. It demonstrates the importance of valuing God’s mercy in their interactions with peers and enemies alike.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that God’s compassion extends beyond human biases and prejudices. It challenges the audience to recognize their own tendencies to withhold compassion and invites them to align with God's heart for all people.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the context of the Bible, Jonah's experience foreshadows the ultimate compassion shown through Christ, who came to save not just the Jews but the Gentiles as well. Christ embodies the mercy God extends to all humanity, urging us to do the same.

Big Idea: God calls us to move beyond our narrow definitions of justice and to embrace His expansive compassion, reflecting His heart in our interactions.

1. Jonah's Judgment

Jonah 4:1-3

James 1:20

Perhaps, you could explore Jonah's anger at God's mercy to Nineveh and how that anger reflects our own struggles with accepting God's justice and compassion for those we consider undeserving. Jonah's displeasure reminds us of our own difficulties in aligning our values with God's expansive love. Emphasizing Jonah's initial attitude can help teens identify their feelings towards others and challenge them to choose compassion over judgment.

2. God's Grace

Jonah 4:4-11

You could focus on God's patient corrective towards Jonah, emphasizing how God uses the situation to teach Jonah about His compassionate nature. The growth of a plant and Jonah's reaction toward it illustrate God's lesson on valuing mercy over personal grievances. It serves as an encouragement for teens to learn from God's example, embrace His expansive compassion, and apply it to their personal relationships, recognizing that God’s mercy knows no bounds.

When we last left Jonah, he had given God’s message to the people of Nineveh, and they actually changed their ways. Because they did that, God didn’t absolutely wreck them like He said He was going to.

Jonah gets ticked—and not just a little annoyed. He’s so mad that he literally says he’d rather be unalived. Let’s check this out:

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 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. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” (Jonah 4:1-3)

Here we see Jonah’s judgment.

This is what you call a textbook overreaction. Jonah needs to pop a Xanax or something—I’m just kidding. But my guy is wildin’ over what God chose not to do.

After four chapters, we finally get the real reason he ran away in the first place. It wasn’t because he was scared or felt unqualified. No—he ran because he knew that if he gave the Assyrians God’s message, God would have mercy on them. And Jonah hated that idea.

He hated that idea because Jonah had already made a judgment about the people of Nineveh. They deserved justice, and they deserved Jonah’s idea of justice, which lets just say was not the same as God’s idea of justice.

But before we’re too hard on Jonah, aren’t we kind of the same way? When your sibling does something terrible, don’t you want your parents to come down on them and give them the punishment they deserve? Be honest.

I know I have a natural longing for justice built into me. That’s probably why my favorite superhero is Batman. He dishes out the justice people deserve. Even when the police can’t—or won’t—do anything, Batman steps in and handles it. And if we’re being real, we love that. We want to see bad people get what’s coming to them. We root for the villain’s downfall in every movie we watch. (At least, I hope we do.)

So before we drag Jonah too hard, let’s remember—the Assyrians were pretty bad dudes. Like, next-level bad. These were the kind of people who skinned others alive. If anyone deserved punishment, it was probably them. And Jonah knew it.

Jonah also knew that God was compassionate and merciful. He should have known that—because, in case Jonah forgot, God had just saved him from certain death. After he ran away, disobeyed, and got swallowed by a fish, God still showed him kindness that he didn’t deserve. But now? Jonah doesn’t want that same kindness extended to his enemies. It was totally fine when God was merciful to him, but heaven forbid God show that same mercy to people Jonah didn’t like.

And maybe… we do the same thing. Maybe there are people in our lives we don’t think deserve mercy or compassion. We see them as so horrible that they should just get what’s coming to them. Sometimes we even root for bad things to happen to them. Maybe it’s a classmate who annoys you. Maybe it’s a family member you can’t stand. Or maybe it’s some celebrity or athlete you’ve never even met.

It’s so easy to fall into that trap. Because, like Jonah, we forget just how much we have been forgiven.

We see this truth laid out clear as day in the book of Colossians. The apostle Paul is talking about Jesus when he reminds his readers of this truth:

For God in all his fullness     was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled     everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth     by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Col 1:19-22 Just like the people of Nineveh were enemies to Jonah—people he wanted to see justice brought down on—we were once enemies of God. But here’s the huge difference: God didn’t want to see justice have to be done to us.

Because if justice had been done, it would have meant eternal separation from Him—hell. That would have been the rightful consequence. We all deserved that, because every single one of us has sinned. We’ve all broken our relationship with God.

But the beauty of God is that, just like with Nineveh, He chose mercy over judgment. And He didn’t just say, “Eh, I’ll let it slide.” No—He paid for that mercy by sending Jesus. Jesus, eternal and perfect, stepped into our world. He took on human form. And even though He lived a life without ever doing anything wrong, He chose to go to the cross. He was brutally tortured, murdered, and died the death of a common criminal—for us.

And then, in the greatest news ever told, He rose again. He conquered death so that we wouldn’t have to face the punishment we deserved.

But sometimes we forget that. We look at others and think, They’re so much worse than me. They deserve justice. And in doing so, we forget that, because of Jesus, we don’t have to face God’s justice and wrath for our failures.

And that’s what we’re reminded of as we close out the book of Jonah. Here, we see God’s grace.

4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. 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.

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. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness,[a] not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah decides to sit, wait, and hope against hope that God will still destroy the city. He’s basically thinking, Maybe God will change His mind and drop the hammer on these people after all.

But here’s the problem—it’s hot out there in the Middle Eastern desert. So God, being gracious (again), gives Jonah some shade. He grows him a nice little plant, and suddenly Jonah goes from sulking to extremely happy. Like, ridiculously happy over this plant.

Now, imagine how salty bro got when the plant died. He was so mad that he begged God to just end his life again. This is when God finally calls him out.

God basically says, Jonah… why are you this emotional over a plant? You didn’t even grow it. It wasn’t even alive for a full day!

Jonah was ready to die over a plant, but he was totally fine with an entire city full of people being wiped out. Yikes.

Then God drops the truth bomb: Jonah, if you care that much about a plant you did nothing to create, imagine how much I care about the people of Nineveh. I made every single one of them. I know everything about them. And I love them.

There’s so much truth here, guys.

Jonah’s bitterness over the dying plant isn’t just some random overreaction—it actually highlights a struggle we all face. As teenagers (and honestly, as humans), we tend to focus on ourselves—our problems, our insecurities, our drama. And when we do that, we can completely overlook the deeper pain of the people around us.

But when we understand God’s compassion toward Nineveh, we start to understand His heart for a lost and dying world. We realize that we’re not called to be like Jonah, sitting back and judging the world, hoping people get what’s coming to them. No—we’re called to go to them. To bring them the good news that Jesus can save anybody.

So today, I want to challenge you with this question: Who have you been more like—Jonah or God?

Have you been like Jonah—quick to judge, eager to see people face consequences? Or have you shared in God’s heart, longing for every person to experience His mercy and be saved by Jesus?

My prayer is that you choose to share in God’s heart. Because that is what we’re all about here. We exist to reach a world that is lost and under judgment with the good news of Jesus. I want every single teen in Lake Country to hear about Jesus, to know His love, and to be changed by Him.

That’s our mission—to reach every single teenager we can for Jesus.

But listen—this mission isn’t just about agreeing with me. It’s not even just about agreeing with God. It’s about living it out.

So ask yourself: Who is one person I can share Jesus with this week? Who is one person I can love—even if it’s hard—because I don’t want to see them under God’s judgment?

If we’re serious about reaching every teen in Lake Country for Jesus, then it starts with you and me.

Will you join me in that mission?

Let’s pray.