Concrete or Clay

Today we are going to close our series on the book of Jonah. The first week we learned the first step of any turnaround begins with you. No one else can start your turnaround…not even God.

Then last week we said the second step of your turnaround is.....recognizing in order to understand where we are we must understand how we got there. If we ignore how we got into our current circumstance we will simply continue to get the same results.

Today we are going to finish up this series by talking about the Third and probably the most important ingredient to our turnaround. Humility....

God’s will becomes clearer when we Humbly and Honestly seek God’s plans.

When God is leading and our pride is resisting the results are always less than pleasant.

We stay stuck in the trap of indecision, we double down on ineffective practices, our minds are constantly looking for a way to be right instead of being molded by God....we are often angry, troubled and resistant to anyone or anything that contradicts our own well thought out ideas.

In short our pride is often more powerful than God’s ability to Lead us into our turnaround.

If you boil down all of Jonahs troubles in our passage the last few weeks they center around His own pride.

Even after realizing why he had been thrown into the deep and almost killed in Chapter 2... we see Jonah’s pride or desire to change the will of God reappear in Chapter 3 and 4.

Jonah 3:4 “4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!””

Thats it…8 words…He didn’t tell them what they needed to do, He did not do anything other than tell a group of people whom he already had contempt for that they were going to be destroyed in 40 days.

Jonah could have cared less if those in this great city lived or died…...in fact in the mind of Jonah these people deserved death...

Even though Jonah obeyed God’s call to Nineveh he does the Bare minimum instead of putting his heart and soul into the assignment.

Doing the bare minimum is not a sign faith here it is a sign of contempt…I wonder how many of us do the bare minimum spiritually?

I don’t think its on purpose for many of us…but I think it happens.

The good news is that the bare minimum is enough sometimes…

Even though Jonah did not do his best God worked through his words…not because Jonah was powerful but because God can use anything for his purpose…

Jonah 3:5-6, 10

Jonah 3:5–6 (NLT)

5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes.

Jonah 3:10 (NLT)

10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Success!!!! Destruction averted....so it’s time to celebrate right?

One would think.

Jonah 4:1-4 “1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” 4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?””

Then continuing to pout Jonah goes outside the city hoping that God will in fact still destroy the city…God provides shade for him as he pouts, then he destroys the shade and the following discussion takes palce.

Even though Jonah is still dragging his feet and wanting his own way in this God is still trying to bring him along.

Jonah 4:9-11 “9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!” 10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?””

Jonah’s pride was bigger than the souls of 120,000 people, and as I read this Jonah’s pride was bigger than his own life.

This is hard for us to fathom but the truth is that we do not have to look very far to see the same type of attitudes. Jesus says that he did not come to condemn the world but to save it…yet it seems that there are more than a few Christians that would seek to use condemning language of Jonah toward entire groups of people.

This type of thinking keeps us acting in uncaring ways which I maintain keeps us trapped in our undesirable state instead of leading us to a turnaround.

In order for us to receive the Turnaround God has for us we must walk in Godly humility not selfish pride. This is only possible when we:

Stop being outraged in given circumstances and start seeking how God can use every circumstance.

When we are dealing with worldly people we should not be surprised when they are acting…well....Worldly.

When we are having negative thoughts about others we are often unable to see the child of God in them…When we see others as the enemy our souls are not able to find personal peace.

We will not see our turnaround if our pride will not allow the Holy Spirit to see God’s greater perspective.

This is where the title comes into play remeber it?....Concrete or Clay.

When we are concrete in our understanding of God’s will we are not allowing ourselves to be molded like clay...

In order to pull all of what we have been talking about these last several weeks we must become more like clay and less concreted.

God does not call us to be certain…He calls us to be molded to His will. Isaiah 64:8 “8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.”

When we stubbornly hold onto beliefs, attitudes and practices that are keeping us stuck we will always be wondering and wanting instead of growing and content.

Wondering and wanting people are often described as bitter, judgmental, angry, vengeful or better than thou....Yet…some embrace this as though it is the proof of following Jesus. When the truth is just the opposite.

Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

Jonah never embraced being molded and thus the last picture we have is Jonah dying for his pride.

Your turnaround is waiting for you....Will you be moldable clay or will you set like concrete?

Altar:

Communion/Benediction