Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Family.

I also want to say Good morning to our Fairhaven Venue, Cafe Venue, and our Rockford rescue mission venue and to those of you listening online.

We are so glad that you are joining us this morning.

Review - We saw that God’s heart is for his creation not a specific nation.

That Jonah thought his nation and the KOG were the same thing.

It wasn’t Jonah’s love for his country that got him in trouble.

It was his hatred for his countries enemies.

Could talk about how fairness matters.

Here is what we are going to see today.

Jonah wants to be a king.

He wants to sit on the throne.

He wants to render judgement.

The reason why is because Jonah believes that Justice has failed.

Jonah’s question is how can God be just and let all these people go? ()

How can God be just and let all these people go? (Isaiah 61:8)

Jonah believes that Justice has failed.

I’m going to propose though that Jonah doesn’t actually want justice.

What Jonah wants is vengeance.

It’s important to remember that this story isn’t really a story about a prophet, it’s really a picture of the overall heart of Israel at the time and it’s an example to us by extension of now being a part of that kingdom, that this is a story about you and me.

And if you and I are completely real and honest, what I think we actually want in life isn’t justice.

We say we want justice, but hat we want in life is mercy & grace for ourselves and vengeance for everyone else.

And if you don’t believe me, how about we simply take movies, a small snapshot into a representation of how the movies we love actually show us who we are.

I love the movie Taken.

Any taken fans out there?

Liam Neeson’s daughter get’s stolen and he is chasing after her and he tells the bad guy this: "I don't know who you are.

I don't know what you want.

If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills.

Skills I have acquired over a very long career.

Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

If you let my daughter go now that'll be the end of it.

I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

And we love that!

Your in the theater going oh yeah it’s on!

We love it!

Why?

Because we love justice?

No! Because we love vengeance.

We don’t want our movies whether it is Liam Neeson, star wars, super hero movies, James bond or any of those movies we are not watching on a Friday night with our large popcorn going man, I really hope this movie ends with this character who seems to have had a hard life having grown up in an unstable home gets a fair and legal process.

That will be riveting to see how this all plays out in an honest and open court where everyone tells the truth.

Like hello, no body wants to watch that movie!

We don’t want justice, we want vengeance and violence.

Why?

Because we love justice?

No! Because we love vengeance.

We don’t want our movies weather it is Liam Neeson, star wars, super hero movies, James bond or any of those movies we are not watching on a Friday night with our large popcorn going man, I really hope this movie ends with this character who seems to have had a hard life having grown up in an unstable home gets the jurisdiction process that is fair and it will be riveting to see how this all plays out in an honest and open court where everyone tells the truth.

Like hello, no body wants to watch that movie!

We don’t want justice, we want vengeance and violence.

While we want vengeance and violence for our perceived enemies, we also want mercy for who we perceive to be good.

So I was thinking about this and we actually say we want justice, but we also want mercy.

Think of Robin Hood.

The theme is to rob from the rich and give to the poor.

He would go after the evil sheriff of Nottingham who was taxing all the people and robin hood and his merry man, and little john would steal from the rich and give to the poor.

In the end he gets caught (robin hood is the one breaking all the rules, robbing people) but none the less, we want robin hood to receive mercy.

No don’t do that to him.

He’s the good guy, give him mercy.

And so what happens is we get caught in our lives between these two.

We get caught thinking we are the king who should be administrating either Mercy or Justice and that they are at odds.

And so we are quite happy when we realize that we ourselves our messed up but we get to receive God’s grace.

We are however, quite displeased when the person I despise is counted as just as worthy in the kingdom as I am.

An unadressed result of us thinking we should be the king, is that we begin to be the ones that determine the value of a life.

That’s Jonah’s problem right?

He think that his life, his people should receive God’s grace and mercy, but the people of Nineveh should suffer because what they have done is worse than what I have done.

So let’s jump into the text this morning

Jonah 3:10-4:

Jonah is mad.

To him it says, this seemed very wrong and he became angry.

So again, remember we said week 1 when we have a problem with God’s character, the issue isn’t God, it’s our misunderstanding of who he is.

It’s a mis-representation.

So we see that Jonah is angry with God.

Why?

Because he doesn’t understand how a God of justice can give this kind of mercy.

In fact it is so conflicting for him that he says, I wish I would have just stayed home.

For think he now is at a point where he is beginning to understands where God is coming from.

he understands that God loves these people and he is going to offer grace and compassion.

He is so distraught by it that he says just take my life.

It’s better that I don’t have to be a part of this.

But then God says, is it right for you to be angry?

Do you think this is okay?

And I don’t get the sense that God is asking with a biting tone....It’s not “well who is going to do the dishes then?”

Or are you right to be angry?

I think what is happening here is that God is continuing to work on his heart.

He is continuing to show him where he really is.

He is trying to bring about transformation to him…but notice what happens...

He is so distraught by it that he says just take my life.

So Jonah notice....didn’t respond to God.

He just ignored him.

It’s totally the moment when you were a kid and your mom or dad made a great point about something you were angry about, and they asked you a question, and you just walked away.

That is what is happening.

And Jonah, ever the runaway from what God is doing, goes even further!

By going to the east of the city and sitting down, here is what he is doing.

If you remember back in chapter 3 the prophecy was that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days.

And so for Jonah, what is happening here is that he is hoping that this is his Friday night movie that he is waiting to see not justice, but vengeance poured out on Nineveh.

Like I’m just imagining that Jonah is sitting there going, man this is the sequel to Sodom & Gomorrah.

This is going to be incredible.

Do you think he will use burning sulphur again, last time he used a pillar of salt?

What will he do for an encore?

And so he is getting comfortable and it get’s better....

only time Jonah is happy.

The only time he thinks of something other than himself.

Think about that.God has sent him on a mission to bring revival and he has been living in opposition, complaining, pulling this whole Woah is me routine but the second he gets a temporary little plant to distract him, he is pleased.