Sharing the heart of God
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Good morning, Gateway!
Scripture
Pray
Intro
God is less interested in our achievements than he is our character.
A few weeks ago I was really honest and vulnerable with you all, saying I was having some struggles putting together a sermon for this Jonah series, so I consulted a commentary on my bookshelf at home, and that commentary was Baby’s First Bible Stories.
We read the Baby’s First Bible Stories version of Jonah, and it resembles a lot of Jonah stories we hear in America. Jonah runs from God, God is mad, so he sends a fish, Jonah asks for forgiveness, obeys God. The end!
And if the Bible is just a divine rulebook giving us reminders to stop sinning so much, that would make sense for Jonah to be like that.
But as we wrap up Jonah this morning, and our sermon series “We Are Jonah” we come to the chapter in Jonah, chapter 4, which is often neglected. In fact, it is completely removed from Baby’s First Bible Stories.
Why?
Why does Jonah just end in Jonah 3? As we read in Jonah 4, we have to ask, didn’t God get what he wanted out of his prophet? Jonah preached the message. Nineveh responded. What more does God want?
Pray
We are continuing in our year of Biblical Exploration, as we are going from January thru December in a 30,000 foot level overview of the Bible, seeing how it is not a rulebook shaming us into obedience, but it is a unified story that leads to knowing Jesus and growing in Jesus.
Would you mind reading some scripture out loud again with me?
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
How many of you read Jonah as a kid? That’s awesome. So did Timothy, and Paul says, “Timothy, and all of you…Jonah is there to make you wise…so that you know you need a Savior and that Savior is Jesus.”
We’re reading the Bible as a church family to be reminded over and over and over again…I can’t do this life on my own. I need Jesus. And we get that even in this Old Testament story about a middle eastern guy getting swallowed by a whale shark. Or whatever.
Let’s start in verse 1 of chapter 4.
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 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. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
5 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. 6 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. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 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.” 9 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.” 10 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. 11 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?”
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
Ask the person next to you, “Why is Jonah so mad?”
In Jonah chapter 3, Jonah is a new man. He’s come out of the belly of the fish, he’s gone through the waters of baptism, and he finally obeys God and goes to preach God’s word to Nineveh. He seems to not fully obey God, he only goes one day in to a city that’s three days long, and he gives a horrible sermon. Doesn’t even say God’s name, which is usually a pretty big indicator that your sermon is bad.
I don’t care how many funny stories I tell, if I get done with a sermon and don’t say “God” or “Jesus” or “Holy Spirit” you can say, Chris that was bad.
Yet, Jonah’s horrible sermon gets extraordinary results. The Ninevites - including their king - repent from their evil way, fast, and respond to God. God sees their repentance and doesn’t unleash his wrath on them.
So why is Jonah mad? It literally says it was evil to Jonah. The salvation of the Ninevites was abhorrent to him.
Jonah wanted the Ninevites to die. His life would be better if they were gone.
Don’t say it out loud…but is there someone in your life that if tomorrow they were not there…at work, on your Facebook thread, in the White House, in your neighborhood…you think your life would be better?
We can relate to Jonah’s emotion, right?
Jonah 3 was about God’s relationship to the nations who don’t know him. He loves them and wants them to turn to him.
But Jonah 4 is now going to be about God’s relationship with his people. What does he want from them?
Verses 2-4
God’s Heart & Jonah’s Heart
2 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. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah 3 gave us the worst sermon ever (which was the title of last week’s sermon, by the way) and Jonah 4 gives us the worst prayer ever.
What is going on here?
There are two intentional Old Testament references here.
Two Old Testament References
Adam and Eve’s first two sons were Cain and Abel. Genesis 4 gives us the story of these two brothers. Do they like each other? No. Why?
For some reason, Cain and Abel bring offerings to God. God accepts Abel’s offering, but this is what he says to Cain.
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
This question of God to Cain is just like God’s question of Jonah. God chose to bless someone else, and this makes Cain and Jonah, very mad. And just like Jonah, Cain flees from God’s presence, where does he go? It’s the title of a great John Steinbeck book....East of Eden. Where will Jonah go in a few verses? East.
The second connection is Exodus 34.
Jonah directly quotes from Exodus 34, which is the passage the Old Testament quotes the most.
What’s going on?
In Exodus, God saves the Israelites from Egypt, delivers them through the watery sea monster of the Red Sea, and brings them out to Mt Sinai and makes a covenant with them.
But Israel disobeys by worshiping a golden calf instead of God. And God is very mad, but Moses intercedes on their behalf and God relents from the disaster of which he said he would do to them. God then tells Moses what he’s like in Exodus 34:5-7
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
The comedic irony of Jonah 4 is that Jonah is mad at God for the very thing that allows him to be alive today. If God were not gracious, merciful, slow to anger, he would’ve wiped them out back in Ex 34. But because he is gracious, merciful, abounding in love, he forgave the Israelites. But it ticks Jonah off that God would extend that love to someone else.
Jonah’s anger is irrational. God wants to party over the Ninevites, Jonah wants to sulk. God wants to think clearly about this, Jonah is not thinking well.
Who’s read Moby Dick?
It’s 9,000 pages long, but Captain Ahab is irrationally set on hunting the great white whale Moby Dick, even though everyone around him tells him not to. They think he’s crazy. But anger and revenge and bloodlust has completely distorted his judgment.
What does God want from Jonah? God knows his prophet’s heart is messed up. God wants more than just right action from Jonah. He wants to share his heart with him, and right now that’s just not happening.
Powerful question?
How will God pursue the heart of his prophet? With a parable.
The Parable
5 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.
I went to the Daffodil parade this year, and I didn’t get very good seats because I got there late. A lot of people there.
Jonah went early to what he expected would be the main event. He was ready to watch Nineveh burn.
Jonah is going east just like Cain in Genesis 4. Cain ran from Eden…the place God gave his people to experience his love and grace.
Jonah runs from God’s mercy and grace and does what…builds a booth. Why a booth?
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
The Israelites celebrate a Feast of Booths, where they act out God’s salvation from Egypt. And they make these huts out of leafy branches - kind of like little Edens to say “God thank you for choosing to save us.”
Jonah is saying, “Yeah, I’m going to do this own my own thank you very much.”
Kingdom without the king maybe?
So God sees his prophet huddled up under his little tent, and he gets to work.
6 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.
Sandy Benson is our resident Master Gardener, Sandy is it common for plants to grow overnight?
Sandy is confirming that no that is not common. Again, another BIG miraculous thing that happens in Jonah. Picture that big plant that comes out of the tube in Mario.
This is the high point for Jonah. He is exceedingly happy.
So now Jonah has two shelters. The booth and the plant.
7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
God continues to move all of creation to do his work, this time asking a worm to attack the plant so that it nearly dies. One of Jonah’s shelters is now gone.
8 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.”
Commentators think an implied point here is that the east wind removes Jonah’s booth, so now Jonah has no shelters. How’s he doing? Not good. He says twice he would rather be dead.
I’m sure if you were in Pheonix this week when it was 115 you might be saying the same thing. But there’s more going on here than just heat.
God you took my plant! The only thing that made me happy! I’ve only been upset, disobedient, underwater, angry, this whole time. Why can’t you let me have just this one thing?
9 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.”
God makes Jonah intentionally uncomfortable to probe deeper and go after Jonah’s heart. And, what did it say in verse 6, to save him from his discomfort. That word discomfort can also mean evil. God made Jonah uncomfortable to save him from sin.
How might God be using circumstances in your life to make you uncomfortable to save you from your evil?
Like Jonah we run from God’s goodness and try to make the good life for ourselves apart from him. You don’t really need God if have enough money, right? Doesn’t it feel like the last two years of our lives are in some sense a lived parable, forcing us to answer tough questions and face our own darkness?
Two more verses in the whole book
The Last Word
10 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. 11 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?”
Jonah, I hear you saying you’re very upset. And it looks like that plant means a lot to you. Can I point out that you didn’t make that plant, nor did you have to work at all to grow the plant, and you’ve only even known the plant for less than 24 hours.
So…if you can have such huge emotional swings about a plant, what do you think about me having feelings towards, oh I don’t know…Nineveh…that has over 120,000 needy people (which if I remember right 12 is an important number to your people too) and a lot of animals?
God is so smart. Fun fact...God’s answer to Jonah is 39 words in Hebrew…the same amount of Jonah’s words. The Bible is incredible.
Rather than telling Jonah. You’re dumb! Stop it! He asks him questions and gives him examples.
Have we heard a story in the Bible about two people…one who doesn’t deserve God’s mercy and gets it, but the other who is in God’s family but is mad at God for forgiving the other person?
Jesus knew his Bible well, and Jesus told a parable very similar to this story. It’s called the parable of the lost son. Read it with your Jonah goggles on.
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
Do you see the similarities? I’d never heard of these stories being connected until my Tim Mackie lectures and then the Philip Cary commentary also pointed this out.
Which son is Jonah? The older one.
Or is he?
Knee jerk answer is he’s the older son. Because he’s been in the family and is mad for God choosing to forgive.
But you’ve read Jonah now…isn’t he like the younger son? Didn’t he run from God and experience God’s mercy? Didn’t the Israelites disobey God over and over?
Jonah’s anger comes from his lack of awareness that he’s just like the younger son. Desperately in need of God’s grace.
There’s a lot on the line here. Jonah 4 ends with the open ended question. How does Jonah respond? We don’t know. But we do know that in 722 BC Assyria destroys much of Israel. So maybe their repentance didn’t quite stick because Jonah didn’t go back to say “WAIT! There’s more! Let me tell you more about this God who I represent.”
Jonah doesn’t realize the only way to save himself is to love his enemy.
Imagine being an Israelite reading this story after the Babylonian captivity. Imagine hearing God say, “Am I not allowed to show concern for the regime that murdered your family?”
Imagine being in Jesus’ day and hearing God say, “Am I not allowed to love Rome? The perfecters of torture as shown in the cross?”
First point this morning.
God wants his people to share in his heart to run and embrace our enemies.
God wants his people to share in his heart to run and embrace our enemies.
Maybe you think God in the Old Testament is just angry and trigger happy. That’s not what we see here.
God wants to bless his enemies. How do we know that? The whole nation of Israel is born out of this desire from God. God blessed Abraham so that he could be a blessing to all nations, even those who wouldn’t know human rights if it came up and bit them in the face.
God wants his people to share in his heart…the heart Jesus expresses in the parable of the lost son, the heart that runs and embraces our enemies.
Think about how relatable Jonah’s heart is to ours today. There’s been so much on the news this week about the Jan 6 2021 riots at the Capitol. Our society is angry. And given the motive and opportunity, we will move towards our enemies…not to embrace them, but to kill.
Obviously that’s an extreme example, but can we agree out society is angry right now? We feel it. I feel it.
God will go to great lengths to pursue the hearts of his people to share in his desire to run and embrace our enemies.
How do we share in God’s heart?
Surrender to the Spirit of Jesus, the greater Jonah who died for his enemies.
Surrender to the Spirit of Jesus, the greater Jonah who died for his enemies.
The Bible makes us wise for salvation in Jesus…Jonah makes us wise, it helps us understand we need salvation and we need a new heart and a new Spirit.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
God promises to fix the problem that lies inside Jonah and all of us. Hearts that are not in line with God’s heart.
The Old Testament, much like Jonah, ends with a question. When will God do this?
Along comes another prophet named Jesus. Jesus was born from the line of David, the family through whom God promised to bless all nations.
And Jesus said what God wanted him to say, and he did what God wanted him to do. But more than that, he shared God’s heart.
In Matthew 11, Jesus said he is gentle and lowly in heart.
In Matthew 23, Jesus weeps over rebellious Jerusalem, saying if only you would be like Nineveh and turn to me, and I would embrace you like a mother hen embraces her chicks.
Even as Jesus was being murdered on the cross, he was being compelled by onlookers to get down from the cross! Be like Jonah and desire revenge!
But Jesus, instead, let himself be unjustly murdered by his enemies for the sake of his enemies. But three days later, the grave spat him out as Jesus defeated death itself.
And the Spirit of Jesus began empowering people of all nations, including people who were his enemies, including a man who we know as Paul. And that same Paul wrote to the Roman church
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
I think it’s important to note…does God care about justice? Yes. Is it a good thing when criminals are put in jail? Yes. Is it a good thing when evil is punished? Yes.
“We must be clear where Jonah gets it wrong. It’s not as if we should never desire justice... It is good news when an oppressor is toppled, the terrorist caught, and the torturer brought to justice. The Lord does indeed “take vengeance on his enemies,” for he is the enemy of all who destroy his world.
But the great danger is that instead of simply rejoicing at the vindication of the oppressed, we self-righteously identify ourselves as the oppressed, taking pity on ourselves and not on others. In our imaginations, the Lord becomes a weapon in our campaign to destroy our enemies...But the biblical theme of God’s “repentance concerning evil” means that the God of Israel is more inclined to save his enemies than destroy them...”— PHILLIP CARY, JONAH [BRAZOS THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE], 160-161.
The point of Jonah is not be better. But, we need a better Jonah. And that’s Jesus. And our only hope is surrendering to him and allowing his Spirit to fill us and help us become the kind of people who can run and embrace our enemies.
This is where spiritual practices come into play. Practices that align us not with “Spiritual things” but with God’s Spirit.
Things like letting Scripture wash over you, reading Psalms every day, reading stories about Jesus.
Praying throughout the day, being attentive to what God is saying to you and what he wants you to think about people around you.
Fasting…taking time to deny yourself and focus on Jesus.
What would it look like for you to surrender to God’s Spirit this week?
Maybe it’s being honest with God that your coworker ticks you off.
God, I’m like Jonah. Help me.
Who is God asking to bless?
Who is God asking to bless?
Isn’t it amazing that God seemingly asks Jonah’s permission to care about Nineveh?
God wants us to share his heart to run and embrace his enemies.
What if God wanted to give someone you have a hard time with a better life?
What if God is asking us if he can give learning to rejoice over someone else having a better life than us?
For Jonah, death was better than that.
Seeing other people get deals done…pit in my stomach.
The story of the Bible shows how God chooses people to experience his joyful love, not because they are particularly lovely, but because he wants them to experience his love and pass it on to others so all people can know he is gracious and merciful.
What would it look like for you to do good to someone who is not like you? Beyond just giving them money?
Everyone has that coworker. We all have that uncle.
Food Bank
Compassion Clinic
Difficult Coworker
Benediction
Eph 3:14-21.