Witholding Mercy

The Unforgiving Servant

Jesus told a story once of a servant who was brought before the king to settle his debt. The servant owed the king what would be $3.4 billion dollars in our money. The servant didn’t have it. So the king condemned the servant to be sold with his wife, children, and other belongings and payment to be made from that. 

The servant begged for patience and promised to pay it back.

The king was moved with pity and released him and forgave him the debt.

But when the servant left, he saw a fellow servant who owed him the equivalent of $5,800 in today’s money. He seized the man, choking him, and demanded that his debt be paid. This servant made the same plea, be patient, I will pay it back. But the servant had no mercy and put him in prison until he could pay the debt.

The other servants heard about this and went to the king, and the king was angry. He summoned the servant. “I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellows servant, as I had mercy on you?” The servant was condemned to prison until he should pay all of his debt.

We, like this servant, are quick to forget the mercy that God has shown us. 

We, like this servant, are quick to condemn others forgetting that we have been just as sinful, if not more than them.

Amazing Grace

The book of Jonah is more than a story about a man getting swallowed by a big fish. It is a story of God’s amazing grace, not just for Nineveh, but for Jonah as well.

Jonah 1:1–3 “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”

So God calls Jonah and tells him to go to Nineveh and this is His response - Lego Batman NO!

Jonah

The only other place in Scripture where we hear about Jonah …

2 Kings 14:25 “25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.”

Jonah got to give prophecy about Jeroboam having success in his conquest.

Other prophets often called out wickedness in their king, but Jonah never did (at least we don’t have any record of it.) We know that Jeroboam was not a good king.

In a lot of ways, Jonah comes off as more of a Nationalist pastor than God’s prophet. He prophesied when it was good for Israel and was silent or disobedient when it didn’t benefit Israel.

After all that GOD STILL CALLED JONAH AND CHOSE TO USE HIM.

Nineveh

Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians Empire.

They were known for their cruelty.

The had murals depicting their gruesome victories.

They would dismember a man leaving only one arm, so they could shake his hand in mockery as he died.

They made wives and children carry their dead loved ones heads on poles in parades of Assyrian victory.

They would stretch prisoners out and skin them alive.

They would burn teenagers alive.

And if you didn’t get killed you would be forced into grueling slavery building their magnificent cities.

This is the city and the people that God was calling Jonah to go to and pronounce judgment upon them.

When God calls you, realize that there is someone who needs what’s on the other side of your obedience.

Nineveh was a wicked city filled with wicked people.

Jonah didn’t run because he was afraid. We will learn in the weeks ahead that Jonah ran because he knew it was God’s intention to save them.

God wouldn’t tell Nineveh that they were going to be destroyed in 40 days, if He didn’t intend for that message to be conditional. If you don’t repent, you will be destroyed.

Jonah didn’t want them to have the opportunity to repent. They weren’t worth it to him.

Jonah was making a call to withhold mercy that God wanted to offer to the Assyrians.

There are people in this world that are determined to be wicked. There is nothing that you can say that will change them or convince them to listen to God.

BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THOSE PEOPLE ARE. Only God does. If there is even a chance that someone might listen, we owe it to them to offer God’s mercy instead of withholding it.

When Jesus was picking disciples, HE CHOSE A TAX COLLECTOR, that was the Assyrian of the first century Jew. They betrayed their people to benefit and get rich off of them.

Matthew meets Jesus and drops everything to follow Him. He holds a feast to invite all his tax collector buddies because he wants them to know Jesus and be saved too.

But then you have the Pharisees show up and pitch a holy fit over it. How can you associate with tax collectors.

Matthew 9:12–13 “12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.””

Jesus desires mercy. God the Father desires mercy. While so many try to paint God in the Old Testament as judgmental, clearly He desires mercy if He is willing to forgive the Assyrians after all that they have done.

Someone needs what’s on the other side of your obedience.

Obedience to share the Gospel.

Obedience to love and give of your time or your resources.

Obedience to live faithful to God in the presence of others.

Sometimes the someone God is trying to reach through your obedience…is you.

On the other side of your obedience is the person God is trying to make you.

Jonah runs the opposite way from God’s call. Clearly there is a problem with Jonah’s heart if he isn’t willing to submit to God’s will.

Just to show you how far Jonah tried to run away from God’s will. The distance from Jerusalem to Nineveh is about like going from here to Miami (6.5 hour drive). Instead of doing that he went to Tarshish which is about like saying instead of going to Miami, I’m going to LA (1 day and 9 hours).

7 hours or 33 hours. That’s how much Jonah was not going to do what God told him to do.

What’s funny is that Jonah was going away from the presence of the Lord. This is symbolic in that Jonah was moving himself outside of God’s will.

But it is also I believe an attempt to run from God which is kinda impossible. You can’t escape God’s presence. Psalm 139 declares that there is no where that we can go that God is not already there.

Sometimes God’s call is just as much for our benefit as it is for the ones we are serving. Jonah needed God’s working in his life. And despite Jonah’s racism or nationalism or bitterness and disobedience, God is still willing to work in Jonah’s life.

Who is the person on the other side of your obedience?

Is there someone you know right now who is waiting on you to share the Gospel with them? What is keeping you from doing it?

Fear - Maybe Jonah was afraid of an Assyrian skinning or burning him alive or dismembering him and shaking his hand as he died. Nobody is really threatening that here. You might get ignored or laughed at. You might lost some popularity. You might get passed over for a promotion. So what?! Nothing here is worth more than the salvation of a person.

Hate - We know Jonah hated Assyrians. Maybe there is a person God is calling you to share Him with and you don’t really like them.

Pride - Maybe you don’t think a certain someone deserves it. Not being ugly, but you don’t deserve it either. No one does.

Indifference - Maybe you just don’t really think it is a big deal. Whether you say it or not, your actions reveal what is more important. Is it more important to share the Gospel with others or is it more important to be a great athlete…a great student…to make good money…to have a nice car/truck…to be noticed…to be loved…to be popular…

Is there person on the other side you?

Is there something in you that needs to be changed?

Jonah ran away from the lost, Jesus ran to us.

Even though at the end of His ministry Jesus wrestled with what He was about to do on the cross. He accepted the Father’s will and received the strength to go through with His sacrifice and our salvation.

Jesus stood against fear and hate.

Jesus humbled Himself. He had every right to come off the cross and be done, but He didn’t.

He wasn’t indifferent. Our salvation was and still is the most important thing to Him.

It needs to be the most important thing to us too.