The Gospel

Jonah: Our Stewardship of the Gospel

What is stewardship?

“The biblical doctrine of stewardship defines a man’s relationship to God. It identifies God as owner and man as manager.”

God makes man His co-worker in administering all aspects of our life. The apostle Paul explains it best by saying, I Corinthians 3:9: “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” Starting with this concept, we are then able to accurately view and correctly value not only our possessions, but, more importantly, human life itself. In essence, stewardship defines our purpose in this world as assigned to us by God Himself. It is our divinely given opportunity to join with God in His worldwide and eternal redemptive movement (Matthew 28:19-20). Stewardship is not God taking something from us; it is His method of bestowing His richest gifts upon His people.”

Stewardship begins in Genesis 1:1- God is Creator, yet man is given assignment by God to exercise dominion…keep the garden of Eden...

Stewardship is not about ownership; stewardship is about management. It is about managing that which belongs to someone else.

THE GOSPEL:

Romans 1:1: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,”

Romans 15:16: “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

It is HIS GOSPEL; it belongs to God…but we have been made fellow-workers in the work of the gospel. Remember: stewardship is our divinely given opportunity to join with God in His worldwide and eternal redemptive movement.

Notice Paul’s attitude towards the gospel:

Philippians 1:5: “For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;”

Philippians 1:27: “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”

I Thessalonians 2:4: “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”

Ephesians 3:8: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;”

One of the greatest stories regarding the stewardship of the gospel is the story of Jonah.

Jonah’s Call

Jonah 1:1-2: “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

Jonah 3:1-2: “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”

Jonah 3:4: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Jonah’s Choice

Jonah chose to disobey. He chose to run from God.

What were the results of Jonah running from the call of God and his stewardship of the gospel?

he was choosing to condemn the wicked to Hell

Jonah 4:9-11: “And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” Are you really willing to see 120,000 children destroyed?!

he was choosing to forfeit the blessings of God on His life

he was choosing to destroy his relationship with God

Before he preached, we see a miserable, lonely preacher who is suffering for His disobedience. And after his preaching, we still see a lonely preacher who is pouting because of God’s forgiveness of His enemies. He was a preacher FOR God who did not enjoy the FELLOWSHIP of God!

This helps us to see that there is happiness and joy in life ONLY WHEN we obey God and serve Him with our lives. Jonah made the wrong choice!

God’s Compassion

In the book of Jonah we see that there is power in the truth of the gospel!

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us!” -Richard Sibbes

As Jonah preached the gospel to the people of Nineveh, they believed the gospel and were delivered from the wrath of God.

Notice the gospel:

Jonah 3:4-10: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had he would do unto them; and he did it not.

they heard the Word of God

they believed the Word of God

they fasted and repented of their sins unto God

God turned & repented of the evil determined for them

This is the power of the gospel! The power was NOT in the messenger. The power was NOT in Jonah himself. The power was in the gospel. Romans 1:16 says: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THE GOSPEL? WILL WE BE GOOD STEWARDS OF THE GOSPEL OF GOD AND ALLOW GOD TO USE US TO SEE MEN AND WOMEN COME TO FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?