What's our priority?

Politics

Well, the election campaign is over. Maybe you love the result. Maybe you feel its a terrible result.

While some people may truly be able to put aside any bias when the assess candidates and policies, I suspect when most people have that deeper self-reflection, the reality is they have a bias one way or another when it comes to party politics.

Now occasionally, that bias can shift in an individual’s life, but generally, once formed, it doesn’t shift too much.

How you formed that bias - well, that might vary. For many it will be strongly influenced by their family upbringing, although at other times, it might be a particular ideology that you found convincing somewhere along the line.

Whatever the case, we then tend to assess the political scene through the prism we’ve come to accept.

Now, I’m not necessarily saying it is wrong for you to have that bias. There’s quite likely good reasons you’ve come to have the bias that you do.

The problem comes, however, when we start interacting with people who see the world differently to ourselves.

There’s even a bigger problem when we start to associate some of our biases to the Christian way. Now don’t get me wrong. There are some objective Christian principles that all Christians should hold - care for the vulnerable… even care for the environment, to name just two broad values.

The problem arises however, in the application of those principles.

Let me give an example which may prove controversial...

…the environment.

Now I would hold that all Christians should care for the environment. God created this world, and when he created humans, he asked us to be stewards of this world. So we have an obligation to look after it.

That part shouldn’t be controversial. We should all agree.

However, here’s where the bias in our thinking can take us.

Now let me split people into two camps - which I get doesn’t allow for the nuance of reality, but hopefully you’ll get what I’m saying.

You see, when we talk about the environment today, frequently we’ll get onto the topic of climate change.

Now in one camp, we have those who more or less agree with the science of climate change.

In the other camp are those deeply skeptical of the science.

Now I’m going to overly simplistic here - but the Christians in the first camp, that is, agreeing with the science, well, they look at the Christians in the other camp and conclude that they’re not very good Christians because they don’t really care about the environment. But on the flip-side. The Christians in the other camp, that is, those skeptical of the science, think those other Christians have been sucked into some secular agenda.

Now, I have no intention of addressing this specific issue right now.

I actually raise it because it provides a good example of when our efforts to achieve a Christian value become misguided. You see, we might enter a debate with an intention that we will honour God, but somewhere along the line, it becomes much more about proving that my bias is right, then about giving God glory.

And that’s what I want to talk about today. How do we make sure that our efforts to do good in this world is more about giving God glory rather than serving ourselves?

How do we avoid that subtle shift that makes it all about us?

You see, it can even happen in mission. The sad reality is that in many circles, Christian mission has a reputation for being about empire building.

So how do we keep mission about bringing people to Jesus, rather than converting them to our way of thinking?

Jonah

Well, we come to the fourth and final chapter of Jonah today. Now, if you’ve been following this series, you’ll know that Jonah is not exactly the pin-up boy for missionaries. But, his poor choices and his poor attitude can actually teach us a lot.

You see, when we look at Jonah, we find someone who worships God. And I’d even say, he genuinely worships God. I know we can criticise him for his misguided actions, but he knows who God is, and he is able to worship him.

But as we’ll see today, Jonah is going to come to his task with a pre-conceived idea. He’s going to face a strong rebuke for his bias. And so my hope today is that as we explore this story, we’ll be better equipped to see when our attempts to honour God actually have the same sort of bias that is evident in Jonah.

Recap

Ok, well lets recap whats happened to get to this point now.

The whole story started with God telling the prophet Jonah, to go to Nineveh and preach against them. The problem was, that was way outside of the comfort zone of Jonah, not surprisingly because Nineveh was only the capital of the then world super power who had a reputation for being nasty.

So Jonah runs the other direction, boards a ship. God sends a massive storm, and eventually, at the request of Jonah himself, the other sailors throw him overboard.

But God rescues him with a massive fish.

In chapter 2, we were witness to Jonah’s prayer while in the fish, the chapter ending with Jonah being vomited out onto dry land.

Chapter 3, which we looked at last week the saw the most unexpected thing. At the preaching of Jonah, the Ninevites repented, and the chapter ended with God confirming that the city was spared.

But there was something interesting that was happening in that third chapter.

You see, while Jonah agreed to God’s request for him to go to Nineveh, you certainly seem to get the impression that there was an underlying assumption about what was going to happen which actually made him feel much better about going.

You see, the message that he gave (which we looked at last week), was “forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown”.

So you can almost see what’s going through the mind of Jonah.

He doesn’t really want to go, but then again, if he gets to stick it to them… to prophesy their destruction… well, this might be not so bad after all. There might be a certain level of pleasure being the one to deliver this particular bit of news.

Now, do you see what is happening here?

Jonah has formed a bias. There was good reason for that bias, but a bias none the less.

But there proved a problem with that bias.

Because that bias meant that he failed to see the bigger picture of what God wanted.

The bias I’m talking about is the bias towards Israel. I say there was good reason because, well, God had chosen Israel. God had blessed Israel. God had shown Israel a better way of living, and even though we well know that Israel didn’t always live to that standard, but at least compared to the other nations, they were generally speaking, doing better.

Jonah did have reason to be biased towards Israel.

But what this bias did, was blind Jonah’s vision that God was working towards a plan to redeem all of humanity.

Jonah’s anger

And so, it’s perhaps not very surprising that in verse 1 of chapter 4, we read the words… “But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry”.

If we understand that Jonah went there on the assumption that at least he would get to see their destruction, you can kind of understand why he was so outraged. God’s change of mind seem so infuriating.

In verse 2, Jonah even tries to justify his actions that we saw in chapter 1. He reasons that if he didn’t come, then they would be right now facing a smiting.

It is interesting however, that Jonah actually admits he knew more about God’s character. The second half of chapter 2 says he knew that God was gracious and compassionate. He knew that he was slow to anger and abounding in love, and relents from sending calamity.

Probably deep down, he knew that because he’d experienced that himself.

But I’m going to argue that because of that deep bias that he held, he still is going to be angry.

You realise the extent of his feelings in verse 3 when Jonah expresses that he thinks it would be better for him to die than to see the result that occured.

God’s reply

But in verse 4, we get God’s reply… “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Now anger can sometimes be justified. On a few occasions, we saw Jesus expressing anger. But that sort of justified anger is not just any sort of anger. It requires something a bit different. I’ll look at what that difference is soon. But even though no answer is given, the question seems to imply that there actually isn’t a good reason for Jonah to be angry.

A real life parable

But then from verse 5, the events that happen is like a parable of sorts. It’s not a parable, in the sense that they are real events that actually take place, but they have a sense of a parable in that it’s a story with a hidden meaning.

So let’s see what happens.

Jonah moves just outside the city on the eastern side.

And he decides to make himself a shelter of sorts. Exactly what sort of shelter we’re not told, however, given the events of the story, I suspect it wasn’t a very good shelter.

Anyway, a miracle occurs. Some sort of leafy plant starts growing. And it would seem that it’s growth is very rapid.

It would seem that his pathetic attempt at a shelter has now become a real shelter. His head is now in shade and his discomfort has been eased.

God has shown compassion on this (dare-I-say-it), poor pathetic man.

Jonah was now happy.

But that’s not the end of this part of the story. You see, at dawn, just when Jonah is reminded of his need for this shade, God provides a worm, who eats through this plant, to the point that when the sun rose, and a scorching east wind arises, the plant is withered and Jonah feels the discomfort.

A moment ago, Jonah was just feeling happy.

In a very short period of time, he’s now just a 180 degree turn - you could say, he was overturned, and now he repeats his earlier statement… “it would be better for me to die than to live.”.

Again, God asks Jonah almost the exact same question he asked earlier… “is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

This time however, Jonah actually gives an answer… “It is”.

And he continued in an almost tantrum kind of way… “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead”.

Jonah’s bias

Now I said this is very parable like - although of course, a real event.

And in a very real way, God has orchestrated this little event to prove a point.

You see, I want to make the suggestion that was has happened is a bias of sorts in Jonah’s thinking.

Jonah thinks that good things that happen to him are because he somehow deserves it. I think this is a kind of self-centred bias that at times can effect all of us.

Getting back to politics, it’s perhaps a problem that afflicts politicians of all stripes. That is, when good things happen, it must be because they did something amazing. When bad things happen, well, let’s just say that it must have been someone else’s fault.

But this particular bias, perhaps starts to get to the heart of the real issue here.

You see, you think about a bias - it’s a leaning towards a particular way of thinking.

Now, as I’ve said, we can have a bias for good reasons. Except that it can blind us to something bigger.

And at the heart of that blindness, is a self-centered attitude. You see, when you add self-centeredness to a bias, you now can’t see anything any other way. And this is the problem.

God wanted to show Jonah that there is something bigger afoot. He was giving Jonah a sign of what is to come. But there was a sin in his life which blinded him for it. And so he is angry.

Parable meaning

But let me get back to what seems apparent from the lesson God is teaching Jonah.

In verse 10, God essentially points to the plant to make his point.

Jonah didn’t tend it… but it grew.

It sprang up… and then it died.

What point is God making? Well, I’m going to suggest he’s saying - this is not about you, Jonah!

I think God’s saying to him ‘don’t think I’m only here to look after you. I will bless you if I choose. And I will also take away that blessing if I choose. Just stop thinking it’s all about you.’

In the final verse, God then explains the bigger picture. While Jonah is concerned about whether he has shelter or not, there is a great city with a large population, and they are completely lost. They need help.

If Jonah was just able to look beyond his preconceived ideas, he’d be able to see that for himself.

Application

And so what does this all mean for us?

Well I think the big lesson for us is that we need to stop being so self-centered, and see the amazing ways God is working.

To do this we often need to look beyond the bias we have and see God loves all people, even the ones that at times work against him.

And this should completely open up our mission perspective.

You see, I want to show a bias we often have. It’s quite likely that you already agree that we should reach out to all people. The problem however, is that we somehow get this idea that we’re only successful in reaching out to them if we convert them to our way of thinking.

But this misses the point of loving them. God loves them the way they are, and so we should accept them the way they are. If God wishes to change them on any matter, then perhaps we need to allow that to be up to the Holy Spirit to convict them in their ways.

We need to stop a selfish attitude getting in the way we reach out to them.

Anger

This passage also teaches us that we need to be careful with our anger, because anger can really get in the way of our ability to reach people. Now I mentioned before that at times, anger can be justified. And I think this can be implied in this chapter.

You see, anger, when it’s not driven by a self-centered desire… when it’s rather driven by seeing injustice in the world - then it can be justified.

You see, Jonah didn’t have a right to be angry either time that God asked the question. Because Jonah’s anger was because things didn’t happen his way.

If Jonah allowed that selfish anger to subside, then he might have been able to see how amazing this grace that God had shown to the repentant Ninevites.

Conclusion

The reality is, our self-centeredness seeps into all areas of our life and as a result it completely effects how we reach out to others.

Unfortunately, we can become way too concerned about serving our own patch, that we fail to see the great need around us. And there really is a great need around us.

There are so many people who are without hope… people who are hurting.

But so often we can’t even see them because we’re too busy with ourselves.

It’s hard to look beyond ourselves. Sometimes it requires looking beyond the biases we’ve formed… to stop thinking that we have it all sorted out.

To do this we need to constantly be reflecting on God and what he is saying to us. To gaze upon his ways, and his character.

And when we do, we will get caught up in the amazing mission of God. And that’s what is so important.

So let me pray...