Jonah 3 – Responding to God’s Shocking Grace

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"Responding to God’s Shocking Grace” Jonah 3

Sermon Intro –

This morning we will be looking at Jonah chapter 3. Jonah is found approximately 75% of the way through the pages in your Bible one of the last 12 books in the Old Testament. It is only four chapters long but tells a captivating story of God’s grace and mercy to undeserving people of all stripes.

In this book we have gotten a clear picture of Jonah, a prophet of God. A prophet is a spokesperson or a covenant mediator of God Almighty. This man lives up to his name, which originally means dove. But, probably because of the somewhat erratic flight path of a dove, the word came to mean silly. Silly – and Jonah proves to be silly.

Here is the picture of the silly prophet:

Called to go to Nineveh, he goes the opposite direction

A spokesperson for God, he fled from the presence of the God.

[Illustrate with example from our lives of trying to immerse ourselves in a new activity so we might stop thinking about another.]

Instead he goes down to Joppa, down into the boat, and down to the bottom of the sea.

Crazy! Away from the presence of the Lord, where we default to by our nature. It’s not supposed to be the place we desire most though with our redeemed nature God gives us by faith.

Like Jonah’s journey, every time we choose sin over faith, we are fleeing God’s presence.

Too often I am like Jonah. We are like Jonah. Acting silly, not acting redeemed.

With every step away from the presence of God, Jonah goes closer to death. We choose death over life in Christ.

But, thank fully Jonah’s flight has shown us things about God as well. We see the story is not only about the mess we can make. What have we seen about God in these 2 chapters?

Merciful

giving the sailors faith to begin to trust God once they see God calm the storm. Those guys didn’t worship him before.

He’s merciful toward Jonah… didn’t strike him dead for disobedience, sent the storm to illustrate Jonah’s own evil, rescued him with a fish from the bottom of the sea. Figuratively Jonah was in a spot having entered the gates of Sheol and is shut in.

God even turns him around in the direction God called him to go.

Just –

We have also seen that God is just, because He tells Jonah to cry out a message against a pagan, evil, irreligious city of Nineveh, Assyria, which was located where modern day Mosul is in Iraq.

God hurls a terrible storm against the runaway prophet and companions.

Which means for us…

Righteousness is required by Him - that’s justice. As Creator He is in charge. And He also shows mercy to undeserving people, like Jonah… like us.

His justice is a problem for sinful humanity, because we need to be reconciled somehow. That’s where His mercy must come in.

In order to be in right relationship with our Creator, He acts mercifully toward us to bring us to repentance. God’s kindness led to Jonah’s eyes being opened at the bottom of the sea to the salvation of God, and Jonah’s subsequent repentance, or turning to the Lord.

Like Jonah, sinners not only want to leave God’s presence, but they have to leave God’s presence.

So, there is a chasm between us, and we are walking away, fleeing God’s presence.

But because He is loving and merciful, He pursues us and extends that mercy to whoever He wants to. We catch a glimpse of God’s Shocking Grace as opens our eyes, turns the heart so that we repent, turning toward God.

Repentance is front and center for us this morning in Jonah 3. So I have entitled The message responding to God’s shocking grace. And we will see the results of unearned kindness and mercy being extended to both religious Jonah and the whole irreligious Assyrian city of Nineveh.

Here’s the way we’ll organize our look at the text. Verses 1 & 2 under the heading of ….

I. Begin Again by Grace (3:1-2)

II. Hear the Hard Truth (3:3-4)

III. Repent Thoroughly (3:5-9)

IV. Hope in God’s Grace (3:10)

Big Idea: We must recognize our own evil apart from God, turn from that evil, cling to God’s grace toward us in Christ, and live as Christ’s witnesses so that the gospel can transform everything within our reach.

So whether you are a follower of Christ or just here to learn a little more about Christianity, this can be a helpful piece of sacred scripture for you.

Prayer

Let’s start the second half of the book, picking up in Jonah 3:1 where Jonah gets to begin again with grace. We are called to begin again with grace

I. Begin Again with Grace (3:1-2)

Jonah 3:1 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

Jonah 3:1

Then the word of the Lord came

to Jonah the second time,

saying,

This verse is verbatim a repeat of 1:1, except it notes this is the second time that the word of the LORD came. So, the writer is signaling for us that we are now in the second half of the story. Jonah is starting over. He has a second chance, he is beginning again.

What is he beginning to do? v.2

Jonah 3:2 ESV

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,

and call out against it the message that I tell you.”

He is to go in the right direction this time, going to the big city Nineveh.

There he is to stand there in this place of great evil, and call out or preach God’s message.

Will he do it? Has Jonah learned from his humbling experience on the sea, at the bottom of the sea, face to face with death?

Will Jonah continue to follow through in his repentance? Or is he still too proud and nationalistic to take God’s word to the lost?

NCC ES, guests, God gives you a second chance this morning too. He calls you to begin again with Him. He is calling each of us to seek to honor Him. To stop building our own kingdom

Recommissioning – Begin Again NCC ES!

You are being recommissioned!

Someone has said that being a Grandparent is the ultimate do-over for the parent. I would change that to say it is a vivid depiction of the ultimate do-over of a redeemed life we have in Christ Jesus.

We are called to begin again with grace. And to return to that place over and over as we repent and believe the good news. We ask God for more grace because we know Jesus is full of grace!

Grace toward Jonah becomes the backdrop, the story under Jonah’s ministry in Nineveh. What is yours? Does it include God’s ongoing grace to undeserving sinner? Learn to tell that story of God’s shocking grace to others.

Jonah’s at the tipping point here - will he go or not? Let’s be sure to follow through in our repentance. Let’s go with God in confidence, and move on from our past failures, even our past successes, and let us be faithful now NCC ES!

“Arise” – “Go immediately” – God is calling us up out of our slumber into action. Our sinful nature wants us to go down to death. But, we fight it with the word of God, standing on His promises. There is joy in walking in faithfulness.

And whether or not we move in the direction God calls us to go depends upon whether or not we’ve really gotten a sight of His grace to us.

Like the Apostle Paul who was knocked off his horse by the radiant glory of Jesus on the road to Damascus, you all as a church body have walked through a near-death experience. How will you respond?

Let us begin again in light of this grace God has given us!

Enter our next scene: Nineveh.

Jonah has already experienced grace as the Lord brought him through his experience where he was as good as dead.

Now the Ninevites will see that to get to that place of experiencing God’s grace, we also have to hear and believe the hard truth. Jonah had to get locked in Sheol and be vomited by the fish.

Nineveh also has to hear the hard truth. Let’s look at 3:3-4 to see that.

II. Hear the Hard Truth (3:3-4)

Jonah 3:3 ESV

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.

Jonah 3:4 ESV

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh,

according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, [better: big/important city to God]

three days’ journey in breadth.

4 Jonah began to go into the city,

going a day’s journey.

And he called out,

“Yet forty days,

and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

So let’s dig into these a little.

Verse 3: Does your bible have a footnote with “exceedingly great city?” If so, you’ll see a better translation: v.3 tells us that Nineveh is “an important city to God” which is interesting and might surprise us. They were not part of God’s chosen nation Israel. Yet, they are important to God. We will see why in a few minutes.

And the text says 3 days’ journey in breadth. The meaning is debated, but I think it is telling us that it was going to take Jonah, 3 days to get God’s word to all the people.

Verse 4: “Jonah began to go into the city.” Can you imagine what it must have felt like for Jonah to enter this pagan, evil, enemy city? My heart would be pounding! Butterflies in my stomach...

And on his first day into the city he announces, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Probably a summary, not the whole, of what he said. 5 words like our title this morning, “Responding to God’s Shocking Grace.”

This word for “overthrown” can carry the sense of either overturned (Gen 19:25 - Sodom and Gamorrah) or transformed (Jer 31:13 - God will turn mourning into joy and bring comfort).

Who do you think walking into the city hoping for the overturn? Jonah. That’s his plan. But, what does God want to happen? Transformation.

So God is already hinting at what He will do for this city, hinting at why they are important to Him.

Already we get the idea God wants to show mercy to this city that is important to him.

Anyone know of a city around here that is important to God?

And we want to see Macon and Gray made new – a New City. How can we be emboldened to take this message to them? Because we seek a heavenly city (Hebrews?).

People here are perishing.

And we need to speak truth in love, not merely doom.

Even within the body of Christ… Will you seek to overthrow, or seek to transform Macon, Gray? or overthrow as NCC leads? There are much bigger things to reshape than appearances of hallways. Gospel as A to Z, all of life. Not program driven.

Later on today, this week, and in the weeks to come when you begin to speak God’s message to Macon, will you be calling out against, or call out to?

I want to encourage you to take risk for the sake of faithful witness and kingdom’s advancement

Jonah didn’t love the people of the city. He may have justified his running away from the city by saying that it would be too dangerous (after all, he eventually was willing to die in the sea and in Ch4, perhaps relenting to the destiny he thought was his).

God exposed the reality of Jonah’s heart, Israel’s heart, and our hearts through this interaction.

Look at what we could see – the East Side of Macon preached to, the people transformed, not overturned. Let’s don’t miss out on that!

Now, Jonah’s message is delivered, summarized by the hard truth “40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown/transformed”?

2 days to go. Day 1 is done. It’s results are in God’s hands. How will Nineveh respond to God’s warning?

How will Macon, Gray respond? We don’t know. How would we respond to God’s warning?

We do know God does not give His people the Hard Truth for condemnation, but so that we will Repent Thoroughly...

III. Repent Thoroughly (3:5-9)

Jonah 3:5 ESV

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. [better: believed in God]

They called for a fast

and put on sackcloth,

from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Now, this is shocking to us as well. This evil people, folks we would think are the LEAST LIKELY to become believers, they believe in God… as in Abraham, the father of Isaac and Jacob, the father of God’s people “believed the LORD and it was counted to him as righteousness!”

Evil people are transformed from the inside out and are the ones acting like faithful Israelites! It’s like the sailors all over again, these people trust the message! They believe in God!

And it shows in their deeds that follow: They put on sackcloth - everyone!

Sackcloth is this burlap-like material, dark and rough to the touch. It displays their mourning and repentance. It was their funeral clothes, the opposite of festal garments worn in times of joy and celebration. Daniel 9:3 shows us that they often wore it as they fasted and sought God’s mercy for various reasons, including a coming tragedy.

And everyone is involved, noble and common, adult and children.

God’s threat of judgment has proven to be a mercy in itself. Like diagnostic test results for physical health, so too this helps us with our relationship to God.

Bad news is needed to show us our need for the good.

Jonah 3:6 ESV

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Note the true repentance they have... to the extent even of their animals.

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh,

and he arose from his throne,

removed his robe,

covered himself with sackcloth,

and sat in ashes.

There is rapid fire action indicated by 5 verbs.

The king is sitting on his throne, and the God’s message reaches his ears. He arose (like Jonah) off his throne, puts aside his nice clothes, puts on sackcloth, and sits down in ashes.

This man gets the gravity of what is about to happen. It hits him like a tone of bricks and he’s crushed.

Immediately he takes action.

Jonah 3:7 ESV

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,

7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, [He caused criers to call out saying in Nineveh]

[these guys took over Jonah’s role to get this serious job done thoroughly! Jonah covered Day 1, but it was like a California wildfire through dry brush from there. Multiple people are commissioned to go with this message;]

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Let neither man nor beast,

herd nor flock, [big and small]

taste anything.

Let them not feed

or drink water,

Jonah 3:8 ESV

but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Listen for the 3 positive commands here

8 but let man and beast be covered [1 clothe themselves] with sackcloth,

and let them [2] call out mightily to God.

Let everyone [3] turn

from his evil way [ra’ah]

and from the violence that is in his hands.

So each should take responsibility for their part in repentance. It’s corporate, it is individual.

Each should turn from ra’ah, evil.

All of this shows it emphasizes again the gravity they feel with God’s threat.

These criers / preachers are still out with the king’s proclamation, and they also are told to say this with a hopeful tone:

Jonah 3:9 ESV

Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

9 Who knows?

God may turn

and relent

and turn from his fierce anger,

so that we may not perish.”

For them, “Who knows?” is not a rhetorical with assumed answer “no one”. They used the expression more like, “Hey, this could happen....!” “God may turn from his fierce anger and we might live on!”

Think back. Who all in the book of Jonah has been fighting for life?

pagan captain,

pagan sailors,

now pagan king

Now if you think I’m being hard on him, look over at Jonah 4:1 - Jonah’s not happy with the results. So everyone else is acting like a child of God - they don't want people to perish. How ironic that the people of God represented by Jonah can end up only being self-interested.

[let that sit]

What a shame.

Jonah has just come from essentially Hell. Ch.2 said the bars on the gates of Hell were shut. How can he want Nineveh to go there? Hatred.

Penn Jillette, of the magician duo Penn & Teller, is not a believer. But, he insightfully said quote in video, “How much do you have to hate someone to keep from telling them the good news?”

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

Our Lord’s reputation is drug through the mud by us! We should repent thoroughly, turn from our evil self-interest.

This week I saw on Twitter, a social-media platform someone posted this, and I think it is good:

I've seen people on the left say they aren't sad that a Trump supporter was shot and some on the right say they aren't sad when someone who has prior convictions takes a bullet. When did the loss of a human life, no matter the person's beliefs, cease to be a tragedy? @JRay

We want mercy for ourselves and justice for others.

Or, we say, “Compared to some people I’m not bad at all.”

But Jesus taught us that in reality, we should be a holy people. We should take the log out of our own eye, so we can see clearly to take the spec out of our brother or sister’s eye.

Nineveh responded to God’s shocking grace with real repentance. That generation can see clearly to take the spec out of the eyes of others. Let me read Matthew 12:41 they really repented:

Significant Texts To Help with Whether Nineveh Truly Repented

Matthew 12:41 ESV

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Brothers and sisters, let’s not harden our hearts to God’s gracious and merciful call to repent!

Jesus has spoken. He has shown us an even more shocking grace! Being himself God, living among Ninevah for not just 3 days, but 33 years. Living righteously, even when suffering because of our evil.

So this is a hard word for Nineveh, for us.

As a book that came to Israel during a time when they were not following God well, I think this was intended to be a mirror for them, making them see themselves as God sees them.

Personally, I am confronted by my own self-righteousness and my tendency towards keeping the good news to myself. What about you?

We must repent thoroughly of not carrying God’s message to those around us - in our neighborhoods, in the area surrounding the church, to our co-workers; wherever we live, work, or play.

God’s threat to Nineveh is a lot like the so-called “warning passages” provided in the New Testament.

[skip Matt. 7:22-23]

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

In light of that passage, do you think we outgrow our need for repentance and believing the gospel? Let me share this from my personal experience: We get this crazy idea in our heads, and it just isn’t biblical. We think the gospel is just for beginning the Christian life. Repent of sin and trust in the gift of righteousness that comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus - He earned it, we can’t, we trust him for the gift. We mess it up and put that in the category of “done, now move on.”

So when we hear a call to repent and believe, we think, “That’s for someone else.”

David didn’t outgrow his need for God’s grace to come to him!

Psalm 51:17 ESV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Being broken in spirit, grieved at our sin, at our building of our own kingdoms...

God does not despise that. He welcomes one like that into his presence for eternity.

So, let me as again, “Do we outgrow repentance and our need for the gospel?” NO!

Instead, let us pray, not just an orthodox prayer like Jonah, but heartfelt genuine plea! Let’s follow it up with action, with genuine repentance, with turning from backbiting, gosspping, slandering, and let us start doing the things God would have us to do with His message!

So Nineveh has this heartfelt repentance. By comparison, they make Jonah look silly for the way he has responded to God.

It’s the same level of repentance shown by the sailors. They knew their need for mercy.

Not merely a worldly sorrow. It is a godly sorrow.

Worldly Sorrow vs. Godly Sorrow - What’s the difference?

The first is, “aw, I sinned again; I didn’t meet my standards for myself.” or “I don’t want to lose face / respect and have to ask for forgiveness.” We’re really just not wanting to look bad, so we are man-pleasing.

Godly sorrow on the other hand knows that we have grieved our Lord and Savior, we have taken his grace for granted. I haven’t believed His word, but have taken his mercy for granted.” The latter has an open confession and accepts the consequences.

Godly sorrow results here is Ninevites turning from evil, looking to God to have mercy.

Much like Jesus went down into the sorrows of His suffering on the cross in pursuit of a greater joy (Heb. 12:2), we and the Ninevites go down into godly sorrow over our own sin in pursuit of the joy Jesus will give us on the other side.

Pursue This Greater Joy in Christ

There is the joy of restored fellowship with our Creator, and King Jesus. There is peace with God and often even with other people as a result.

God threatens Nineveh with giving them what they are due for their evil. God threatens to overthrow. But, as even the King of Nineveh had stated, who knows - perhaps - God may turn from his anger.

So, we can hope in God’s grace.

IV. Hope in God’s Grace (3:10)

Jonah 3:10 ESV

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

10 When God saw what they did, [their deeds]

how they turned from their evil way, [ra’ah]

God relented of the disaster [ra’ah]

that he had said he would do to them,

and he did not do it.

And this is the climax of the chapter! After he works repentance in the people, there are three actions of God: God saw, God relented, and He didn't do it.

The text says they turn from their evil way. So this evil, this ra'ah, no longer characterizes them. They have a new IDENTITY, and their DEEDS follow.

Now the momentum going into chapter 4 is this: Ninevites turned from their ra'ah and have it no more, and God has no ra'ah - how will Jonah respond? We’ll have to wait for next week to discuss that in here.

God doesn’t change, but he relents as these people genuinely repent.

Help with “God Relented”

Some translations (KJV, RSV) wrongly translate niḥam as repent. But, there are 2 words here that are distinct: šûb, ‘turn’, and niḥam, ‘relent’.[1] Yes, both have this sense of turning, but niḥam (relent) has the idea of ‘a decision to act otherwise’. It does not mean a change of behavior for the better. It does not imply that the first action is inferior to the second. These are 2 different ideas that sometimes are found together when the context is judgment.

Jeremiah 18:7–8 ESV

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.

Again and again God offered this to His people too, but they hardened their hearts (Heb 3:8-11). That did not yield to God’s shocking grace.

So God relents, he decides to not bring on them what they earned by their ra’ah. Because they repented, God relented.

This is God’s gracious nature because of what Jesus has done for us. It is in His resurrection that we have a basis for hope, and a promise that God will relent from the wrath we deserve. But we have to believe.

In His resurrection, we have hope

Like Jonah, many especially from the self-righteous religious team hated his presence and even sought to put him out of the world. Jesus had said

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The night before Jesus’s torture and death on a Roman cross, He had gone to pray in a garden area. He cried out to God, asking that His ra’ah His wrath be averted.

But His Father denied that one prayer because Jesus had a mission to rescue a people who had no other hope.

He was in the place of the dead 3 days.

But the gates of Hell could not prevail against Him or keep Him in!

The righteous Son of God had defeated sin, death and Satan, and He purchased not only our ransom from them, but also the ransom that was needed for all the sins of God’s people that He had formerly passed over (Rom 3:25, Heb 9:27-28).

And, He has promised a return!

Acts 17:30–31 ESV

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Now, He even gives us the Spirit, who works conviction of sin, and gives us more godly desires so we can be defeating sin.

What we’ve seen here in Jonah 3, with God’s gracious relenting, is consistent with the NT picture of God’s character of desiring repentance, as seen in 2 Peter 3:9 when Peter is answering why it seems to be taking a long time for Jesus to come back to judge the earth:

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God’s patience is kindness, not a show of weakness. He has been patience with NCC ES. It is mercy and grace (SHOCKING GRACE) that we get a chance to turn and believe, and receive the gift of God, His Spirit!

How will you respond to THAT shocking grace?

Closing

We all need grace, and it is available to all, plus we live as instruments of grace

God's grace is available to ALL people and God has called us (His Children) to be instruments of his grace.

Psalm 30:11 ESV

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

Big Idea: We must recognize our own evil apart from God, turn from that evil, cling to God’s grace toward us in Christ, and live as Christ’s witnesses so that the gospel can transform everything within our reach.

I think this passage in Ephesians 2 paints the picture well for us. It shows us how great was our need for God’s grace It shows us how God intervened to give us a new heart, to give us faith, and call us into His mission:

Ephesians 2:1–10 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Just as there was a multiplication of messengers sent out by the king of Nineveh, Jesus calls us to carry forward His message and make disciples:

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

New City East Side, let us:

Begin again with grace (remember and respond to God’s grace to us in Christ)

let us hear the hard truth (we have sinned against God and our fellow man by keeping the good news to ourselves, and by pursuing our own kingdom rather than the transformation of all that is around us)

let us repent thoroughly, propelled by grace to confess our sin, to begin to walk obediently by the Spirit

let us confidently hope in God’s grace, knowing that though we will again stumble in sin, we will rise again by God’s grace.

Do we care about people perishing? If not, why? Is life about us? Are we silly like Jonah, wasting our lives.

God asks Nineveh and us to repent and believe.

Let’s pray

Invite Keith to lead us in taking the Lord’s Supper.

[rework this

Irreligion and religion

• But, hear me now, I’m not talking about this only being a problem for the irreligious of the world.

• Does Jonah need mercy? Yes. Is Jonah irreligious? No, though he acts like it.

• So, God is telling us that this religious man of God also needs to have a come to Jesus moment. He did at the bottom of the sea, and he will again. We will see that all the way through the end of the book!

• Often times we think it is the irreligious people who need to repent, but even those of us who have been in and around the church, who have led the church, we need to repent too! So let us not miss that.

Reconciling justice and mercy. Is God unjust to forgive what deserves to be punished? I mean, these Ninevites were wicked people!

But note it carefully: God put his wrath on Jesus for all that would be forgiven. The sins of the children of God were placed on him so that we wouldn’t have to be condemned (John 3).

May have comments at the end about the joys of fellowship with God in order to bridge sermon and communion.

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Spirit in us makes a difference for how will walk.

Our kingdom too will be overthrown. Let us repent.

Illustration from politics for uncovering the truth now – thorough repentance, not hiding. Every single sin will be accounted for at the judgment, and for those of us in Christ, he has them all.

All around us are either objects of wrath, or objects of mercy. (Romans 9)

Evangelism is hindered by our thoughts of no wrath. What’s the need if all people go to heaven.

Look at how God graciously used the proclamation of a prophet appropriately named Silly.

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It’s not that God changes - it is that He acts differently than He had warned He would act. Many gentiles, like the Ninevites, are coming to repent and believe.

Walk by the Spirit, Don’t Gratify the Flesh

We should be able to do better than Jonah. We have the Spirit in us who generates love for God and others. He helps us to love God and submit to His will.

He helps us to love people and have compassion on their souls which will be eternally separated from God in Hell if they do not hear the message of the gospel of Christ and believe. God used a guy whose prayer sounded orthodox but his heart was still not right.

He was still upside down in some ways as we’ll see in his reaction in Chapter 4. But God used him. That’s good news for people like us!

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Keith introduces communion

Observing Communion at New City East Side By Keith Watson

I grew up in Baptist Churches. My most formative years were spent at Shurlington Baptist and then after becoming a believer, at Tabernacle Baptist. Through the years I visited other Baptist churches from time to time as well. Some of those churches observed Communion monthly, some quarterly and others on 5th Sundays. I never gave communion frequency much thought until I attended Southeastern Bible College.

Studying the church as it started and grew in the first centuries I was led to a deeper study of communion – what it was, where it came from, who took part and even how often the church participated in the Lord’s Supper. I learned that I did not know a lot and had assumed even more! Here are a few of the things I learned: • The Lord’s Supper or Communion was instituted by Jesus during his last Passover shared with the disciples. Jesus shared with the disciples as they shared in the Passover that he was the fulfillment of the Passover. It was him that was being pointed to in ever Passover celebration that had taken place. He was the lamb of the Passover – the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, the Lamb whose blood marked those who would be passed over for judgment. This made communion a much richer and more beautiful celebration for me!

• The first churches did not pass pieces of bread and juice around, they celebrated a meal together. Just as Jesus had shared a meal with his disciples, the first churches sat down for a full meal together. In Corinth it was called the Love Feast. As they shared this special meal together they remembered the love that Jesus showed them in his life, death and resurrection and they were reminded of the love that they should share with one another.

• The “unworthy manner” of taking the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 12:27-32) which led to death was not taking the elements with sin in the partaker’s life. It was not taking communion as communion (I Corinthians 11:20). The truth is, no one could ever take of Communion if it required sinless lives. We all have sins that we have committed, some knowingly and some that we are not even aware of. It is not our righteousness that qualifies us for the table, it is the righteousness of Jesus! In Corinth there were some who were showing up to the meal early. They were eating all the food without regard to others who were coming. They drank all the wine before others had any. For them it was no longer a meal to enjoy with brothers and sisters remembering the work of Jesus and looking forward to his return, it was an opportunity to eat and drink with friends.

• At least some of the first churches celebrated Communion every Lord’s day (Acts 20:7). The Bible does not prescribe how often we should take communion, but it describes a much more regular frequency for communion than quarterly or longer (Acts 2:42, I Corinthians 11:18-21).

• There is no requirement for deacons or elders to serve the elements of communion. Part of the problem in Corinth was that the self-service meal was being unfairly taken by some to the exclusion of others. Paul’s “fix” for the problem was not to send deacons or elders to guard the table but was to call believers to remember why they celebrated the Love Feast and to act accordingly.

Based on what we see in Scripture, both what is prescribed and what is described, this Sunday we will begin the weekly celebration of Communion, remembering the beautiful work of Jesus in his life, death and resurrection and looking forward to his return (I Corinthians 11:23-26). • Communion will be self-serve with assistance given to those who need it. • Due to the Coronavirus we will serve individual pre-packaged communion. • Communion stations will be set up on the Communion table up front and two other tables at the rear of the church. • The final song we sing together, following the sermon will be a time of response to the Word of God and the Spirit. It will continue to be a time of song and prayer and we will add to that a time of repentance and the joyful celebration of Jesus through Communion • Communion will be “open,” meaning that it is not only for New City East Side members but for all believers who want to participate.

We know that for some this change will seem strange at first. For others it will be welcomed. I pray that rather than seeing Communion through the eyes of our habits we might see it for what it truly is, the proclamation of the Lord’s life, death and resurrection for us! I pray that we would find our time of Communion to be a time of broken humility as we consider our sin but even more that we would find it a time of great joy as we remember our forgiveness and the great love he has for us. I pray that each week would find communion to be a time of hope as we truly consider that our great King is coming back and when he does, he will right every wrong, fix everything that is broken and finally turn the ashes of our lives to beauty!