GOD IS NOT COLOR BLIND

Sermon Title:

"God Is Not Color Blind"

Text:Jonah 1:1–17

Theme:God's love extends to every person, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, or background.

Central Truth (Thesis): Our love for God is demonstrated by our willingness to share His love with all people because God's grace is not limited by race, culture, or color.

Introduction

A little boy once asked his mother, "Mom, why did God make people different colors?" She smiled and replied, "Just like a beautiful garden has many different flowers, God filled His world with many different people so we could learn to love one another."

Unfortunately, Jonah didn't see people that way.

Jonah had no problem preaching to Israel, but when God told him to preach to Nineveh, he ran in the opposite direction. It wasn't because he was afraid to preach. Jonah was an experienced prophet. His problem wasn't fear—it was prejudice.

The Assyrians were enemies of Israel. Jonah believed they didn't deserve God's mercy.

Yet God reminds Jonah—and us—that His love is bigger than our preferences.

God is not color blind because He sees every race, every nation, every culture, and He intentionally loves them all.

The question becomes:

If God loves everybody, why don't we tell everybody?

I. God's Call Is Inclusive (vv. 1–3)

"Arise, go to Nineveh..."

Can I tell you God don’t operate like we do.

God could have sent Jonah anywhere.

He specifically sent him to people Jonah didn't like.

Nineveh represented everything Jonah despised.

Jonah despised them but God loved them.

Did you notice God didn't ask Jonah how he felt.

He simply commanded him to go.

That’s our problem many believers are comfortable sharing Christ with people who look like them...

...think like them...

...vote like them...

...live near them...

...or worship like them.

But Jesus didn't say,

"Go into all your favorite neighborhoods."

He said,

"Go into all the world."

Can I let you in on a secret

Love for God always produces love for people.

If we truly love God,

we cannot pick and choose who deserves the Gospel.

John 13:35 says,

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

God's mission has never been limited by race.

The Gospel is for everybody.

Application

Here It Is

Ask yourself:

Who have I avoided because they're different?

Who have I written off?

Who needs the Gospel that I've ignored?

GODS CALL IS INCLUSIVE

II. God's Pursuit Is Relentless (vv. 4–12)

Check this out

Jonah ran.

God pursued.

I need to tell somebody there is nowhere you can run that God won’t find you. Gods plans are to wise for him to let you abort them.

God sent a storm.

Not because He hated Jonah...

Because He loved Jonah.

Sometimes storms are not punishment.

Sometimes they're divine interruptions.

Notice something amazing.

While Jonah was running from sinners...

God was saving sailors.

Look at the text

Those pagan sailors began praying.

They began asking questions.

Eventually they feared the Lord.

Even while Jonah was disobedient,

God was still working.

God refuses to give up on people.

His work must be done

He pursued Jonah.

He pursued the sailors.

Soon He'll pursue Nineveh.

Our prejudice cannot stop God's purpose.

Our disobedience cannot cancel God's compassion.

God loves people we often overlook.

God loves...

The rich and the poor.

The black and the white.

The brown, red, yellow, and every ethnicity.

The educated and the uneducated.

The young and the old.

The religious and the rebellious.

The saint and the sinner.

The church member and the unchurched.

The addict and the achiever.

The prisoner and the police officer.

The immigrant and the citizen.

The homeless and the homeowner.

The businessman and the beggar.

The Democrat, the Republican, and the Independent.

The urban, suburban, and rural resident.

The healthy and the hurting.

The successful and the struggling.

The broken and the burdened.

The forgotten and the famous.

Those who are near and those who are far away.

And perhaps the most powerful truth of all:

God loved the Ninevites. The very people Jonah hated were the very people God wanted to save..

Application

Sometimes the people we least expect

become the people most ready to receive Christ.

All we need to do is step out of our personal comfort zone and share the gospel with them

I.  GODS CALL IS INCLUSIVE

II. God's Pursuit Is Relentless

III. God's Grace Is Incredible (vv. 13–17)

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

1

The sailors tried everything they could before throwing Jonah overboard.

The text says

When Jonah entered the sea...

The storm stopped.

The sailors worshipped.

But don’t take your eyes off God

 God prepared a great fish.

Notice the miracle.

I’m trying to help somebody listen

The fish wasn't punishment.

The fish was preservation.

Can I tell you today

Grace kept Jonah alive.

Why I’m glad you asked

Because God still intended to save Nineveh.

Jonah failed.

God remained faithful.

That's grace.

God's grace reaches rebels.

God's grace reaches racists.

God's grace reaches religious people.

God's grace reaches pagan sailors.

God's grace reaches wicked Ninevites.

There is nobody beyond the reach of God's mercy.

The same grace that saved you...

...is available to everyone else.

Conclusion

Jonah thought God's love belonged only to Israel.

God reminded him,

"I love Nineveh too."

The cross settled the issue forever.

Jesus died for:

Black people.

White people.

Brown people.

Rich people.

Poor people.

Educated people.

Uneducated people.

Republicans.

Democrats.

Americans.

Immigrants.

The respectable.

The rejected.

The religious.

The rebellious.

The Gospel has no color restrictions.

Invitation

Maybe today God has called you to witness to someone you've ignored.

Maybe He's calling you across the street...

Across the workplace...

Across the aisle...

Or even across the world.

Don't run like Jonah.

Run toward the people God loves.

Because every person you see...

is someone Jesus died to save.

Closing Illustration

Years ago, a missionary in Africa was asked why he left the comfort of his home to serve people who looked nothing like him.

He answered,

"When I stood at the foot of the cross, I couldn't tell where one drop of Jesus' blood ended and another began."

Neither can God.

At the cross, race disappears beneath redemption.

Culture bows before Christ.

Nationality gives way to salvation.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Because while the world divides people by color...

God sees people as souls.

And if God loves every soul...

then His church must carry His Gospel to every soul.

Close

Well I got to get out of here I hear my bed calling I slept in a little city called Valley Alabama that’s where I go to escape I swear it seems like God is always there waiting for me to come lay down to rest my body if only for a little while. I got up at 4am drove one and a half hour back to the airport to catch a 7:26am flight to be here this morning to tell you my brothers and sisters God Is Not Color Blind

Ship

Don't let your preferences become barriers to God's purpose.

Don't let your traditions silence your testimony.

Don't let prejudice poison your witness.

Because one day around God's throne...

There'll be people from every nation...

Every tribe...

Every language...

Every color...

Every background...

We will ALL Be Singing one song—

"Worthy is the Lamb!"

If we're going to worship together in heaven...

We ought to work together on earth.

Lift your eyes beyond your comfort zone.

Open your heart beyond your own community.

Open your mouth and tell somebody about Jesus.

Because God is not color blind!

Im gone when I tell you  

when Jesus stretched out His hands on that old rugged cross...

One hand reached as far as the east...

The other reached as far as the west...

His head was lifted toward heaven...

His feet were planted on earth...

As if He were saying, "I'll embrace anybody who will come!"

The nails didn't discriminate.

The blood didn't discriminate.

The cross didn't discriminate.

The empty tomb didn't discriminate.

But I heard Jesus say

Whosoever will... let him come!

And if the blood was good enough to save me...

It's good enough to save you.

If the blood was powerful enough to reach my past...

It's powerful enough to redeem your future.

There is room at the cross for everybody!

Jesus died for us all, because God's love is for us all!

So let's tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody!

Don’t to be a witness for The Lord

SOMEBODY OUGHT TO SAY YEAH

IF YOU KNOW HIM SAY YEAH

IS HE WORTH SAY YEAH