Jonah 4

Intro

So, we’ve been going through this book of Jonah, but what even is the point of this whole story. Well, tonight, we find out.

Ok so to recap Jonah has just preached this great message of 5 words to Nineveh, and the entire city has repented or at least turned from their evil ways in this awesome conversion of an entire city that we dont really see anywhere else in the Bible. I mean Jonah must be so hyped right? He just had the ,most impactful per word sermon of all time, five words just saved 120,000 people, he’s going home hype right? Well lets look at verse 1 in chapter 4

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Jonah’s Heart Problem

Jonah 4:1–4 “Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. 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. And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

So Jonah, is not happy, Jonah has a heart problem. He’s got an issue but before we talk about that I mean just look at verse 1. Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. The Hebrew paints an even more vivd picture it has this word called Ra~a(h), which means evil, so a little more accurate translation is that Jonah thought what God had just done was evil.

We also find out Jonah’s real reason for running from God in the first place. He says he ran because he knew God was gracious, and compassionate etc. etc. Jonah ran because he knew God would save Nineveh. And so says , BECAUSE of that, BECAUSE of you compassion etc for Nineveh, just take my life.

So, Jonah’s heart issue here, is that he was unable to reconcile who God is, with who he thought He should be. Jonah, thought that God should be destroying Israel’s enemy, afterall it is Israel who God made a covenant with right? And I mean his fear of Nineveh is legit because a little spoiler alert, Assyria, the nation Nineveh is a part of, ends up destroying Israel in the next hundred or so years. Yet thats not what happens, and so Jonah is mad

Jonah doesn’t have this big moment where he realizes he was wrong and sees God’s love, nope not yet, he instead gets mad at God. Jonah couldn’t tolerate Israel’s enemy being spared, and do you know why? Israel was really at the top of Jonah’s heart. Jonah couldn’t reconcile who God was because in His mind God loved Israel above anyone else. No one else was ever worthy of mercy and grace. Jonah essentially tells God, I’ll serve you, but only if you do this. Jonah shows us, that his heart was wrong. In his life, his god was his country, not God.

And Jonah even quotes scripture to God when he lists all of God’s good attributes hes quoting from exodus, and essentially trying to use scripture against god to say wow you simply aren’t just, you just give mercy to everyone and never show any justice, if that’s the kind of God you are, then I’d rather just die.

And man Jonah is at a dangerous spot. He’s at a spot where he’s nit picking the Bible to go against God, and he’s trying to call God out for the mercy He showed to a nation that didn’t deserve it, when not two chapters before Jonah is in the belly of the fish begging God for mercy knowing that he didn’t deserve it, and God gave it. He’s already forgotten that, because at this point, Jonah’s whole reason for following God, is actually to serve the true god in his life, his country.

And so God asks is it right for you to be angry? no answer

And so what happens next?

God’s Compassion

Jonah 4:5–11 “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. 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. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered. 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.” 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!” 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. 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?”

In these next verses, we see a picture of God’s compassion. So back tracking a little up to verse 5, Jonah jsut leaves the city. He’s mad, he’s fed up, and goes to sit outside the city to see what would happen. He knows God has said he’ll spare the city, but Jonah thinks maybe just maybe that won’t last long and the city will be destroyed soon.

So now, while Jonah is sitting out of the city in his booth, God appoints a plant, just like earlier he appointed a fish, to give Jonah some shade. Jonah’s pretty excited about this, this plant likely a castor plant because they grow quick and have big leaves, grows and gives Jonah some shade. But then, as quickly as God appointed the plant, He appoints a worm to kill the plant, and appoints a wind to beat down on Jonah, and so now Jonah’s all upset again and just asks God once again to let Him die. He’s hot, Nineveh is still standing, just let me die, is what Jonah says.

So now God asks Jonah, like he asked before about Nineveh, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? Jonah says Yes! Of course it is! He’s so angry that since he doesn’t have it he’d just rather die again. and so then we get God’s response

Then God says you cared or had compassion for this plant, which you did nothing to make grow, it was ther for a day and gone in a day, and if you cared so deeply for that plant, can I not care for the city of 120,000 people in front of you? See, Jonah was extremly upset this plant that had been alive for one day was destroyed, but was calling for the destruction of an entire city of people. Jonah valued this plant more than an entire city of people. Jonah had lifted up the god of his life, his country, so high, that a plant was more valuable to him than the people of a city.

Yet, in contrast, God had compassion. God loved the people of Nineveh. Their wickedness hurt Him, He didnt want Nineveh to be destoryed, these people are his creation too and He longs for them to be with Him, just like He longs for the Jews to be with Him. Aren’t you thankful God doesn’t only love the Jews, because I don’t any of us in here fit that category.

And then the story ends. Now we don’t exactly know Jonah’s response to God’s question, but the fact that we even have this story means someone had to tell it, and so I would guess that Jonah made the right answer, and realized his heart problem, and saw who God truly was. But that question is extended now to us. And I think through that question and through this story we see three things.

Application

We can be serving a different god without even realizing it

Just like Jonah we can be serving a different god and not even know it. Jonah thought he was worshipping and following and worshipping God, but the second that what God did contradicted with who he thought God should be, he no longer follows him and just asks to die.

We can be in that same spot. We can get caught up with who we think God should be, that the second something in our life doesn’t add up to that, we assume God must not love us or we’d be better off dead. It’s like this

In my life, I have gotten the privelege to go to some national parks and do some cool hike. Here is a pic from one of those, arches, in Utah. There’s me, standing at the bottom of the arch. Ok, now, lets say before I went to arches I had this picture of what the big arch looked like. Now I go out and go on this big hike, and when I get to arch, it’s not like the picture I had, it’s even bigger and better. But instead of being happy that my picture is wrong, I get mad and think, what, no I didn’t come out here to see this big arch, I wanted to see this dinky little rock, what I’m looking at must be wrong because I know this picture is right.

Now, that sounds stupid right, but thats what Jonah is doing with God, and thats what we can do with God sometimes too. We can think that God must be a certain way because thats what we were told, we can think that God must love America more than any other country, we can think that God must only like church a certain way, we can think that God only likes when people pray the way you do, or God only doesn’t ever let any bad things happen, or the God would never let that girl or that boy break up with you, or God would never let you get caught for that sin, or God would never let you lose that game. Whatever it is, we can limit God to be the picture we have of him.

This is often shown when we say or think things like, God I’ll serve you, just don’t mess with this. Jonah said, I’ll serve you, as long as you destroy Israel’s enemies. That kind of thinking means we are putting something other than the one true God, as the authority in our life. We are slave to it. Jonah’s god was Israel. It is not a bad thing to be patriotic, but when that patriotism leads you to call for the destruction of an entire city of people God loves, you’re starting to have a problem. Jonah was saying I’ll serve you God, as long as you do what I want for Israel.

And when we say that, we too are serving our own god. Maybe our god is our phone, and you’ll serve god as long as you can have your phone, or maybe its a relationship or whatver it may be. Ultimately, those things aren’t God, and those things will let you down and disappoint you. Those things can’t save you. Those things can’t fulfill your life, but the one True God can.

The True God Shows Compassion for All People

God showed compassion for Nineveh. Jonah obviously didn’t. But God did. God was hurting that this large amount of people were living in sin and away from Him. And God shows that same compassion to us. Just like Jonah showed compassion and grief for the loss of his plant, God in a much greater way shows copassion and grief for the loss of his creation. Jonah cared for that plant, and when it died it hurt him. God cares for even the lost people of nineveh, and their sin hurt him. God cares for you, and shows compassion on you. God isn’t like Jonah, when we sin against him, he doesn’t long for our destruction, like Jonah did for Nineveh, he longs for us to receive his forgiveness

Gospel

His forgiveness that is found in His son. You see, Jonah wanted the wicked city of Nineveh, the enemies of Israel to perish, but Jesus, when He sat outside of Jerusalem, a city that would torture and crucify Him, he didn;t long for its destruction, tho it seems like he would have every right to, instead he wept over it. Jesus shows the compassion to Jerusalem that God showed toward Nineveh. Jesus shows that same compassion to you. He is saddened by our lostness, but not just our lostness, the world’s lostness. And He longs for us, and the world to know him. Not just baptists, not just missipians, not just americans, but the world.

We can get caught up like Jonah and be mad when our enemies find mercy, we can be mad when that person who hurt us most in our life finds forgiveness, we can be mad when those who hurt us find success, but what this chapter, and really this whole book teaches us, is that God’s compassion and love and mercy is extended to all people. That means for those of you who think you’re not worthy, its extendd to you. That also means that for those of us who can sometimes think that certain people around us aren’t worthy of it, they are too.

God’s Grace should point us to love

The question at the beginning of the night was what was the point of this whole book? It’s right here. It’s to show just how awesome God’s grace is, and for that to point us to love.

Jonah experienced God’s grace first hand. He ran from God, deserved to be punished, yet was saved. But now he isn’t ready to see that same mercy extended to another. When in reality, God’s grace SHOULD point us to love those around us. Because the whole thing about God’s grace is we don’t deserve it. Not one bit. Yet God still offers it to us, and since we don’t deserve it, yet got it freely, we shouldn’t hide it for ourselves as if we earned it, but instead share it with everyone we encounter. The awesomeness of that grace should lead us to lovingly share it with everyone around us, because its just that good.

Don’t be like Jonah, don’t serve your own version of God, don’t hide the compassion of God and think you’re the only one who deserves it, and don’t let God’s grace point you to arrogantly think you earned or deserve it, instead, seek after God for who HE is not who you think He should be, see God’s compassion for you and for those around you and let that compassion and grace point you to love and share this good news with the people around you. God used Jonah, who didnt follow any of that, to bring all of Nineveh to turn from their sin, imagine what He can do with you.

Respond

with every head bowed and eye closed…

What other gods are you serving in your life

Will you turn and serve the one true God

Will you allow the forgiveness and grace you have received humble you to love others?