Untitled Sermon (9)

Scripture Introduction:

God calls you to go to your enemy and share a message with them. You refuse. Then God tracks you down—your heart changes—well somewhat—and you decide to be obedient. You’ll listen to the LORD. You’ll do what he says. You go to your enemy, you preach the message God gives them…and they repent, they turn away from wickedness, they trust in the LORD. How do you respond?

Here is how one prophet responds:

Jonah 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 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.” 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?”

How does this square up with what we saw from Jonah in chapter 2. It seems as if he was “right with the LORD”. So then why does he respond this way? Why the anger. Jonah 4 is baffling. It’s shocking. It doesn’t fit. We like to tell our gospel stories with a Jonah 1-3 flavor. I want us to wrestle with Jonah 4 this morning…but before we do this I need to tell you why I took a brief detour from the book of Luke in order to look at Jonah.

If we go back to the gospel of Luke in the 10th chapter, where we left off, you have the story of the Good Samaritan. If you remember that story we have a teacher of the law—a theology nerd—come to Jesus and ask him how to inherit eternal life. Jesus bounces the question back to him and our theology nerd says, “Love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus agrees. But then the dude says, “but hey I’m curious—who is my neighbor.” And the text tells us that he asks that question because he’s trying to justify himself.

So Jesus tells a parable. He puts the guy in the ditch and says…who do you want to help you. He really doesn’t answer the question the guys asks—but he gets right at the heart of mercy, right at the heart of the gospel. When you’re in a ditch you don’t ask silly questions like “who is my neighbor. You just want rescue. And God freely gives it.”

When you’re out in the middle of the sea and drowning you don’t care much what the means of your rescue is. You’re happy even if its a giant whale. Salvation belongs to the LORD and when it comes to you, you’re ecstatic. But I want you to notice what question the theology nerd didn’t ask in this story...

He didn’t ask any questions about God. He didn’t say, “How can I love God better, how can I love him with all my mind...” He didn’t ask those questions. His question was about his neighbor.

And I think it’s why you have what you do between Jonah 2 and Jonah 4. It’s the assumption that if we get the “God question” right then everything else is going to fall into place. But that’s not true. You can have amazing theology, you can convince yourself that you have a tremendous relationship with the Lord, great quiet times…but if your heart isn’t turned to your neighbor…then you’re pretending like Jonah 4 isn’t in your Bible. You’re pretending like it’s repentance to “get right with God” but fail to get right with your neighbor. God is after Jonah’s heart…not only in relationship to himself but he’s after Jonah’s heart in relationship to the Ninevites.

Why did we take this detour? We took this detour because if we don’t get the message of Jonah we’re not going to get the message of Jesus. Why does Jonah matter? Why does the parable of the Good Samaritan matter?

It matters because of what we see in the book of Acts with Peter. He’s confronted with that same question…who is my neighbor? God calls him to go to a Gentile sinner. And Peter can’t fathom what this will mean for him—what will it mean for him to call this guy brother…to eat with this guy. It’ll be a death to his preferences, his comforts, the things he was was taught from childhood. The things he built up around him as protection, as points of sanity…what the Spirit of Jesus is asking Peter to do is change his worldview.

That question has been asked throughout the ages. Will we have the heart of Jonah or the heart of Jesus. This is Reformation Sunday. 500 plus years ago the question was asked by Martin Luther—are we going to have the heart of Jesus or the heart of Jonah? Are we going to be about self-protection or are we going to be about repentance? Are we going to be about power and keeping our shiny cathedrals and taking money from the poor in order to build this big giant building or are we going to reflect the Jesus of the gospels? Will we have the heart of Jonah or the heart of Jesus?

We’re going to look a little closer this morning to the heart of Jonah…and we’re going to look at the heart of Jesus. We’re going to see the big compassion of God. So let’s walk through this text and see if we can dissect the issues with Jonah’s heart and then compare to the Lord Jesus.

4:1—Jonah accuses God of being far more wicked than even the Ninevites were. This is massive. And this wickedness says Jonah in verse 2 stems from God’s character. This isn’t just anger at something God does it is anger about who God is.

4:2-3—Does this sound familiar? It comes from Exodus 34 when God passes before Moses and reveals the essence of his character. Jonah uses this—and says, I knew this was your character. I knew that you were a God who would forgive these Ninevites and so I wanted no part of that.

Jonah would rather be dead than live in a world with forgiven Ninevites. We like a world built around karma. I do good—good stuff happens to me. I do bad—bad stuff happens to me. We like to live in a world where bad people (never us, because we always have the best of intentions) get punished and good people get rewarded. We love that world. When Jonah is confronted with a compassionate God who would relent from bringing disaster upon the Ninevites he would rather die than live in that world.

Again, what has Jonah so upset. It isn’t just that the Ninevites have repented and that they are forgiven. It’s what that means for him. That might seem strange to us—if my enemy repented then he’d stop being my enemy. Why would I have an issue with that. But what if you had a view of God’s grace that was somewhat limited. What if you didn’t quiet grasp the boundless love and grace of God. What if you had a view of the world that was limited like a Kit-Kat bar. You break off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar and give it to the Ninevites then you’ve only got a little for yourself. It means you lose something. You lose part of your way of life. You lose the way you viewed the world. In Jonah’s mind if the Ninveites are now accepted by God what does that mean? If they are now going to get God’s favor…what does that mean for he and his people? What if their blessing means a bit of a loss for him?

I’d rather die than live in that world, says Jonah.

4:4—Should you be angry with this Jonah? Should you be angry with what God is doing? Notice that Jonah doesn’t give an answer. This is going back to what happened in chapter 1. Jonah is reverting back to his old self.

Do you do well to be angry?

Oh, we are such an angry people. Is it okay for you to be angry about this thing. They are taking my stuff away. We are losing so many things! I’m angry, I’m furious, I’m mad.

Is your anger consistent, Jonah. Is it right for you to be angry. This is also connected with Exodus. Remember Moses interceding. Take me Lord. Don’t kill my people. This is what a faithful mediator does. But Jonah is the opposite. I’d rather die than see the Ninevites live. It’s either me or the Ninevites, says Jonah. And so he prays that God would either kill him or the Ninevites.

4:5—Jonah pitches his tent outside the city. Ah, I bet they’ll blow it. Won’t be long until they mess up again and then God is going to get them. (Ever do that with people? Watch them for awhile?)

Or is Jonah thinking that God might answer his prayer? That maybe God will relent and that his justice will win the day. Surely God knows that I’m serious. Surely he’ll answer my prayer and kill the Ninevites and save his prophet.

Notice too that Jonah is going east. This is a sign that Jonah isn’t repentant. The author has Jonah fleeing westward and now eastward. He’ll be anywhere but where God wants him in Nineveh.

4:6—God appoints a plant in the same way he appoints a fish. God meets the angry prophet with grace and compassion. As Jonah pitches his tent outside the city, the Lord causes a plant to grow up and give Jonah shade for his head, to save him from discomfort.

Symbolic of the inadequacy of Jonah’s hut. God has to provide him shade to actually protect him. To cover him adequately. Our feeble coverings won’t do. He gets grace again and it is abundant. God is going to teach Jonah one more lesson about the nature of his grace and compassion.

So Jonah is stoked about the plant. Remember this? Jonah wanted to die. Throw me overboard. God appoints a fish. It saves Jonah. Jonah celebrates the grace given to him. He’s ecstatic about the grace given to him. Same thing happening here. Perhaps life is worth living after all.

But then the next day, God sends a worm and it destroys the plant. In the same way that he appointed the fish and the plant he appoints the sun and the wind to scorch Jonah’s head. He’s sun sick. And now here he wants to die again.

He is grieving loss. Sure it’s his own personal comfort but he is actually coming to grips with what it means to experience God’s wrath instead of God’s grace. God gave him grace one day and then took it away the next.

V9-10 Jonah has taken the bait. And now God asks Jonah the question. Do you do well to be angry for the plant? Now what should be Jonah’s answer here? Ah, you’ve got me. I shouldn’t care about this stupid plant. It’s just a silly little plant. Ah, you’re right I’ve got no right to be said about the stuff going on in my life. They are just like Jonah’s plants.

While there is likely some truth to the fact that we get upset about things we shouldn’t—first world problems—I don’t believe that the expected answer is…no, it’s just a stupid plant. I should stay mad. That wouldn’t fit the analogy. Jonah is right to be upset that this plant has died. And that makes God’s point perfectly.

You pity the plant…for which you had nothing to do with…Another reminder of God’s grace given to Jonah. You don’t deserve that grace Jonah but I gave it to you. You didn’t deserve shade for your head Jonah. You should have drowned in the ocean. You should have plummeted to the depths of hell, Jonah. But I gave you grace!

So Jonah. Shouldn’t I be consistent with the Ninevites? Can’t I give them grace? Can my mercy and compassion extend to them? God points out to Jonah his hypocrisy and his wicked heart. Jonah treasures this little plant that he had nothing to do with growing, it dies and he wants to die with it. Yet, he does not shed a tear and is in fact furious when God is gracious to Nineveh. Should God not have compassion on Nineveh? They don’t know their right hand from their left. (Maybe children. Maybe saying that they haven’t even been given special revelation) And cattle. Cattle are even more important than plants. God cares about everything. They too were repentant and God noticed it. Shouldn’t God respond to them in mercy?

And the story ends. No happy ending. No sign that Jonah “gets it”. It just ends.

And I think that is part of what makes this little book so beautiful. It ends because we’re meant to take up the question of Jonah. Do I do well to be angry? Do I have that Jonah heart? Do I love my neighbor as myself?

We must look at our anger, friends. Is it motivated by neighbor love or self-protection. Yes, Jesus flipped the tables in the temple—but what was it for? It was because they were blocking off worship for others. Yes, Jesus stood with his back to the temple and cursed a fig tree? But why? Because the temple system was so corrupt that they were shaking out change from poor widows and calling that an honor to God. Jesus’ anger was for the glory of God and for the love of neighbor.

We could ask that question of Jesus when he cursed the fig tree. Do you do well to be angry, Jesus? Yes. Absolutely. He’s angry at hypocrisy. He’s angry at the things that harm people and defames the name of God.

But that’s not the same with Jonah’s anger is it. Jonah’s anger is about self-preservation. Jonah’s anger is because somebody is threatening his kingdom and his way of life.

What does Jesus call us to do here? He calls us to lay those things down. To lay down our lives for the sake of others. To fight for the vulnerable.

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In just a moment we’re going to observe the Lord’s Supper. What a beautiful picture this is. What we are doing here is seeing the opposite of Jonah.

This is my body…broken for you.

We’re Nineveh. We’re the ones who were enemies of God. The ones who were not on Team Jesus. The ones whose hearts were wicked, self-absorbed, and fundamentally God-hating. Our hearts will always want to put self in the center.

And what did Jesus do? Did he stand outside our lives waiting for us to be destroyed? Did he pitch a tent outside the city gate in order to watch our destruction? No…he was crucified outside the gate.

This is my body…broken for you.

This is my blood…spilled for you.

Enemies.

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But this is also why it’s important what we read in 1 Corinthians about how they observed the Lord’s Supper. It why it was so important for them to be unified. Neighbor love…love for our fellow believers…and love for those outside…is also a huge part of the Lord’s Supper. We’re proclaiming our unity with all those who share in this…but we’re also proclaiming the Lord’s death until he returns. We’re preaching the gospel.

And so we don’t want to lie about that gospel. It’s not ONLY Godward. It’s also about loving our neighbor, loving each other. If we aren’t there then we’re preaching a Jonah 1-3 gospel. We’re saying that the gospel doesn’t have to change my heart towards others. If we stay in broken relationships, not repenting in that area. Then we’re fooling ourselves. This is why Scripture calls us to get those relationships right.

Give a moment to do this...

Cry out to Jesus.

Reconcile with another...