Grace through a Question

Introduction: The Importance of a Question

The questions people ask us have the tendency to either make us stop and think or quickly pass them by as insignificant.

Most often the question how are you doing with no context brings a response of OK, just life, doing good, ect...

But that same question posed by a close friend in a moment of sadness and hurt will bring a very different response.

But a good question has a way of drawing us in and contemplating an answer. it makes us think deeply and answer slowly. (now great questions don’t all have to be serious some are just informative:

- Who is your favorite character from a fictional novel and why do they resonate with you?

- Where would you like to spend the rest of your life and why?

But the questions that usually stick with us the longest are the questions posed by good friends when we are headed down bad paths.

-Do you truly believe that no one else is affected by your decisions?

-When this road ends who will be there to pick you back up?

-IS this more important than your family?

-Is this more important than your faith?

The question that the Lord posits for us today is: “What right do you have to be angry”

But let’s take a second and journey our way one more time to how we got to this point....

(Overview how we got here)

Chapter one begins the book in a very negative light Jonah takes off rejecting the faith and anything to do with a God who would send him to preach to the Ninevites, these Assyrians consumed in their sin and evil who had tormented Israel for generations, and who now were flailing, just as Israel “appeared to be succeeding”

(remember in 2 Kings Jonah was a prophet to the wicked King of the North who God was merciful to and fulfilled his promises to restore the land, in spite of their evil ways)

but God doesn’t let him run away, so rather than return to God Jonah would rather die, but God in his mercy saves him through a fish. Which leads us to the beauty of chapter 2 and Jonah’s prayer of repentance and declaration that God is the God of Salvation.

From Here Jonah is recommissioned and goes preaching his 5 word sermon in Nineveh leading to an overwhelming transformation as the people all turn from their wickedness and turn to God.

And this right where we would like the book to End, unfortunately that was not the case, for Jonah was not satisfied with his merciful God (who again gave wealth and lands to the wicked King Jeroboam II in Israel and who had just not a few months back saved him from certain death because of his own stubborn rebellion)

God’s response to Jonah will teach us a great deal about ourselves and more importantly about God

I. God Questions our heart towards People (1-4)

Jonah 4:1–4 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

-Jonah ‘s response to the Mercy of God should immediately hit us in the face

-John had literally not to long before had cried out that Salvation belonged to the Lord (knowing that it is only by God’s will that these things come to pass)

-As a Prophet Jonah is well acquainted with he character of God, he has studied the truth he has even experienced it, but here we begin to see he doesn't appreciate it.

-So just as Chapter 2 began with a prayer of the prophet in response to God’s mercy so Chapter 4 will once again echo a similar structure but with a far different tone and

-In 2 Jonah takes a few days but comes to realize what a blessing having a merciful God who will not let you go means, but by chapter 4 he doesn’t believe that his God is just in displaying that kind of care to his enemies.

-He quotes the book of Exodus:

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Ex.

-This section of Exodus is when God restore the people of Israel and remake the commands renewing his covenant after they built the golden calf and turned on him at Sinai.

-Jonah knew God, but was hoping that the final part of this verse would be the heart of God not the first part.

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made Conclusion: God’s Expansive Love

We are not supposed to read Jonah and then think to ourselves, “How ungrateful that Jonah is! I would never be so unloving to others as he is.” Rather, we are supposed to think, “If the heart of a prophet of God can become so wrongly hardened to God’s priorities, God’s love, and God’s mercy, how much more do I need to watch over my own heart!” We need to ask ourselves, “Is there any coldness in my heart toward the things for which God’s heart is warm—the things for which he shows love, mercy, and compassion?”

Jesus will offer a parable which will mirror the attitude of Jonah well towards a merciful God:

Luke 15:1–2 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Summarize the prodigal son

Luke 15:28–30 ESV

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

-Jonah has the heart of the Older brother that we see echoed in the 1st century pharisees who encountered Jesus

Luke 15:

-The heart of the older brother believes his anger is justified because there are those who do not deserve forgiveness

-In a way it is to place oneself in place of God determine that you are a better judge and arbiter of justice

-because for Jonah His anger stems from a feeling that God is being unjust in displaying mercy to these Ninehvites

-So

-God allows Jonah a moment to rant then steps in with that all challenging question.: “What Right do you have to be Angry”

-In our own lives are there areas where we see people blessed by God you think don’t deserve it. Do you think you are more deserving of God gifts then others?

-Are there any groups of people who you would rather see wiped off the earth than come to faith?

-Jonah has no response to god’s question it pierce to the heart and he is left speechless, he knows it’s true but is unwilling to accept it so he walks away and waits hoping God will see things his way.

-So god will coming to Jonah again, this time though he will set a challenge before Him in the form of a physical blessing that he will then take away, forcing Jonah to confront the reality of his petty priorities.

if this be true then: “What right do you have to be Angry”

II. God Questions our heart towards ourselves (5-9)

Jonah 4:5–9 ESV

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

-Jonah goes out and builds a small hut for Himself (based on its location would have been random stones and twigs not enough to make a substantial roof)

-It seems from the text he is hoping God will either change his mind, or that the repentance of Nineveh is false

-God again will appoint just as he appointed the wind and the fish in the first part of the book, he now appoints a plant to give him shade for his poor head

-So in this moment of Jonah being a pain God shows momentary mercy (which Jonah had to have seen as such)

-Jonah though doesn’t appreciate the giver of the plant but rather only the plant and its benefit to him

-But the text makes it clear he is overly joyed by the this plant, it is praise worthy

-In this we know he is not prepared for if the tide changes, as God will quickly do (He doesn’t have the will of Job: you give and take away)

-God Kills the plant by now appointing a worm and the wind once more to teach him a lesson about the Love of God (which seems odd in the moment) -but again God disciplines his children

-In this moment Jonah loses his mind and once again yearns for death, and once more God steps in and responds with his questions, but now with a new object: ‘What right do you have to be Angry for the Plant”

-God’s question challenges Jonah heart towards himself

-Think of the things God has blessed you with (non-of which according to scripture we deserve) and if tomorrow they were lost would God be unjust

-maybe we simplify it, is God unjust when you car breaks down, when you don’t get the front parking spot, when you hit every read light,. when you never see that best life all those other people talk about all the time, is their injustice with God.

-Is the reality of your christian life about receiving blessings from God or being a blessing from God

-Jonah is man that was forgiven a lot and yet could only think about himself like the unforgiving servant Jesus teaches us about in .

-Focus on the forgiving work of Christ in our lives and how that should changes our perspective towards ourselves and the world

Which sets up God finally comment and question which focuses Jonah on the reality that he may know the words about God but he is missing the heart of God

III. God Questions our hearts towards Him (10-11)

Jonah 4:10–11 ESV

And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

-Is our heart in line with His towards the nations, towards our neighbors, towards our co-workers

-God knows their sins (that he does not dispute) but he also acknowledges their ignorance of the full nature of what their sin means.

-they sin yes, but they are still people made in the image of God and that matters

- His use of the cattle points out the fact that even for him to spare the animals is more righteous and just than Jonahs complaint about the plant (cattle is way more important than plants (there ya go vegans enjoy your one verse)

-In this way Jonah is being challenged to identify how his priorities line up with Gods, and then evaluate why that is a problem if they don’t

-Being a christian is about being all in with Christ loving what he loves and doing what he did, it is as he said the action of Picking up your cross daily and following Him

-This final question of God is meant to ring in our ears daily

If there is nay hope though we should acknowledge thought that in chapter 4 unlike 1 Jonah continues to pray and communicate with God

Conclusion

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made Conclusion: God’s Expansive Love

We are not supposed to read Jonah and then think to ourselves, “How ungrateful that Jonah is! I would never be so unloving to others as he is.” Rather, we are supposed to think, “If the heart of a prophet of God can become so wrongly hardened to God’s priorities, God’s love, and God’s mercy, how much more do I need to watch over my own heart!” We need to ask ourselves, “Is there any coldness in my heart toward the things for which God’s heart is warm—the things for which he shows love, mercy, and compassion?”

In concluding our series Mark Dever Offers 7 Applications for our text:

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made Conclusion: God’s Expansive Love

Practically speaking, what should we do? Let me offer several suggestions:

First, learn about the “Ninevehs” around you. Learn what the non-Christians at your work or in your neighborhood care about and enjoy. It is difficult to care about people when you know nothing about them. So give them a chance by learning about them. Also, begin learning about foreign countries, the state of the church in those countries, and the prayer needs of those places. Many resources can help you to do this, but one of the best must be Patrick Johnstone’s Operation World. Buy a copy and begin praying through its daily calendar.

Second, show hospitality to all the “Jonahs” who travel through your city and circles. When you encounter people committed to moving to places like Nineveh to share the good news of Jesus Christ, welcome them, greet them, and help them on their way.

Third, give support to Jonah and his work. We have done that in our church by making foreign missions one of the line-items on our budget. We also do that in special ways like providing free housing for mission families on furlough. This housing allows missionaries to return to the United States for four, five, even six months to resuscitate and renovate without having to worry about housing. We could not do this if the church did not make the funds available.

Fourth, pray for the Jonahs who go. Pray for the Ninevites they are going to minister to. Pray regularly. Do not pray just about your own self and your own life. Let your prayers increasingly reflect the wideness of God’s love!

Fifth, reach out to Ninevites in your city. Many people in the United States come from countries where Christ cannot be freely proclaimed and where the gospel is not known. Yet while these guests are in the United States, you have the opportunity to freely share the gospel with them. As Christians, we should take advantage of this situation. When I consider how multiethnic many cities in the West have become, I sometimes wonder if God has not brought the world to us because we Western Christians have become too lazy and self-satisfied to go to the world.

Sixth, build a church to support all this work. None of these suggestions can be accomplished apart from local churches. If you have been attending a church regularly but have not become a member, I plead with you to go to a church that you will commit yourself to, and build up the body of Christ by carrying on his mission work through them.

Seventh, go to Nineveh yourself. Maybe you are Jonah! Maybe you are the one called to go to a foreign people. Remember what Paul says in Romans: “ ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10:13–15).

Are there groups of people that you don’t particularly care for or like? Perhaps you have experienced injustice at the hands of rich people, white people, women, Germans, Japanese, Muslims, Americans, tall people, Midwesterners, members of Al-Qaeda—pick your group. And maybe you have experienced real injustice from them! Still, whatever that group is for you, know that God’s heart is larger than your own, and he wants his gospel to go to that group.

We read in Revelation 15, “Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you” (Rev. 15:4). God will accomplish his purposes. Praise God! How will you be a part of it? Are you running from God or for God?