I have to admit to y’all before we really get started that I had originally planned on ending our look at Jonah this week. Today was supposed to be our last Sunday spent in this book, one of what are referred to as the Minor Prophets. However, as I was reading and preparing this week, there was something in me that was calling me to change my plans. So, after wrestling with it for some time, I decided to use the last part of Jonah as a kickoff to our Lenten series, so that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to look at the first part of the final chapter of Jonah this morning, and then we’re going to begin our season of Lent with a conclusion and recap of Jonah and I’ll explain how all of this ties together, Jonah and John’s recording of Jesus’ High Priestly prayer, which is our Lenten series focus. I know some of you think that I’m just making this up as I’m going along, but there is at least a certain level of intentionality behind the texts that we look at each Sunday. With that being said, let’s look to God’s Word this morning as we turn our attention to Jonah 4:1-4…Read text
Now, I’ve got to tell y’all that as I was reading this text during the earlier part of this week I actually laughed aloud in my office with no one else around. I don’t really know why; it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve ever read the book of Jonah. However, there was something different about it that occurred to me this week that I guess I’ve never really stopped to think about before. You see, usually I’ve just sort of read through Jonah and quickly moved from one verse to the next without much thought about what just happened. I know what’s coming up and so my mind is typically just kind of moving swiftly through the events as they unfold. However, since we’ve been moving pretty methodically and carefully through this book, I’m able to consider the implications of what just happened upon the text that I’m currently reading. In other words, I’m slowing down and seeing and noticing some things that I’ve overlooked in the past. Case-in-point is today’s text. V. 1 says, “but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.” Well, the first thing that we have to ask is what is it that displeased Jonah exceedingly (or as some texts put it, it was a very evil thing to Jonah)? The answer is found in the last verse of our text from last Sunday. “When God saw what they (the people of Nineveh) did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” Apparently, this is what made Jonah angry. So, let’s get this straight; because it’s crucial to how we interpret Jonah’s words and actions moving forward. God wanted Jonah to call Nineveh to repentance, which he ultimately did begrudgingly. After all that Jonah went through, he called for the repentance of the people of Nineveh that we saw last Sunday. When they responded by repenting wholeheartedly, God spared them. Remember, we saw the whole city fast from food and drink, even the animals. We saw all of them change so much that they ceased to be the same Nineveh that had previously existed and became virtually a new group of people. Now, because God spared them from being destroyed and bringing the just fury of His wrath upon them, Jonah was angry and upset about it. That’s pretty much what happened.
Now, by this point in my reading of the text earlier this week I was only smirking. It’s what we read as we continue on that got me really amused by this text this week. Jonah cried out to God in prayer saying, “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.” In other words, “God, I knew that you were going to do something like this. Why do you think I was trying to run from your command in the first place? I knew that something like this was going to happen.” Jonah continues on, “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” This last part is what caused the laughter to come out of my mouth. Can you imagine ever speaking with or about or to God and talking about His mercy, His grace, Him being slow to anger, and His steadfast love and talking about them like their negative qualities? Is the fact that God is gracious and merciful ever a bad thing? Can you imagine looking at your spouse and saying, “Honey, you’re too pretty, you’re too much fun to be around, your cooking is too good, and I really just don’t like the way that I seem to be a better overall person when I’m around you”? Could you ever imagine saying such a thing to your spouse (or anyone else for that matter)? Of course not! All of those things are wonderful qualities to have in any kind of relationship, much less a marital relationship. Just like all of those qualities or attributes that Jonah mentioned about God are never bad things or negative characteristics. However, as Jonah was spouting off this short list of attributes of God, he’s saying all of them as if they are marks against God. He’s reciting these things as if they are problems or grievances that we ought to have with God.
Remember, if we back the story up and look at some of the highlights of Jonah’s actions in this account (which are more like lowlights if we’re being honest), then we see that the only reason why he was still alive to say these words was because of God’s grace, mercy, and steadfast love. If Jonah was going to take this stance and say that sin and wickedness (which remind you are not just the bad things that we might think of, but are any actions, thoughts, or speech that is contrary to God’s commands) ought to lead to punishment and death, then he’s going to need a mirror (and a casket too). Jonah ran from God, actively ran from God. The ship should have crashed, he should have drowned in the Mediterranean, he should have been swallowed (and digested) by the great fish, he should have never made it back to dry land. Yet he did; he made it back to dry land because God is gracious and merciful. Jonah was alive only because God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Not only was Jonah still alive, but upon being put back on land, God continued to call Jonah to carry out the work of a prophet, someone who speaks for God to God’s people. Jonah was angry with God because God had shown the people of Nineveh the same forgiveness that He had shown Jonah all throughout this account. During Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as it’s recorded in Matthew’s gospel account, we find Jesus saying these words, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Perhaps the clearest Old Testament example of someone with a log in their eye is the prophet Jonah here in chapter four.
However, it’s not like we couldn’t find plenty of examples in today’s world of someone with a long in their eye. Perhaps we could borrow that mirror that I said Jonah needed earlier. How often do you talk about how you can’t stand someone because of the fact that they are a gossip and then you go on to talk about them for thirty minutes? How often do you criticize the way someone raises their children while neglecting some of the responsibilities you have as a parent? How often do we treat someone as if we care for them, yet in our hearts there is this distain (or even hatred) for them? How often do we say that God is the most important thing in our lives but we choose every option available to us other than spending time with or serving Him (and I don’t just mean attending worship)? Do you see what I’m getting at here? So often we get so focused on what other people have done or are doing that we forget about ourselves. We criticize everyone else’s house while ours is a complete wreck. It’s the old idiom about getting your own house in order before you start worrying about someone else’s.
Jonah was so focused on the fact that God had spared Nineveh that he seemed to have completely missed the fact that God had spared him as well. He’s so angry and upset and out of sorts about all of this that he tells God to end his life right then. He says it would be better for him to die than to live and see Nineveh continue on. Now, an interesting point about this comment made by Jonah is that it is much deeper than it might appear on the surface. Jonah didn’t want God to kill him simply because he was upset at God for sparing Nineveh. What Jonah was reacting to, according to O. Palmer Robertson, was the fact that his people, the Israelites, hadn’t repented for over 150 years. Meanwhile, after only five words, the Ninevites repented. It’s as if Jonah can see the shifting of God’s covenant promises no longer including only God’s chosen nation of Israel. Instead of God being only for the Jew, He’s going to be for the Gentile as well. Jonah would seemingly rather die than be around for such a calamity. Can you imagine if Paul would have had a similar mindset and only been willing to take the message of Christ’s resurrection to Jews and not Gentiles? Imagine it on a much smaller level. How shameful it would be if our only concern was for our particular church and not the kingdom of God. How disgraceful it would be for us to pass up an opportunity to proclaim the good news of the gospel to someone simply because it couldn’t really benefit our church in any way. However, the sad fact of the matter is that that type of thinking goes on every day in the American Christian church. Look, I’m not saying that Jonah didn’t care about God. Nor am I saying that someone who is concerned primarily for their church doesn’t care about God. What I’m saying is that we have a very limited or false view and understanding of God when we try and reduce Him to be for one people group or one type of person. If God wants to call the thieves and thugs of this world into a relationship with Him then He is perfectly within His rights and power to do so. If God wants to call every person who is part of the Muslim faith to follow Christ, then who am I or who are we to say that He’s wrong and that they don’t deserve it. Because here’s the newsflash: WE DON’T DESERVE IT EITHER! We don’t deserve even one iota of God’s grace, mercy, love, or forgiveness.
That’s the thing that God is teaching Jonah here. “Do you do well to be angry?” God asks of Jonah. As I picture this scene I can’t help but think of an argument between a husband and wife. In particular, I think of this husband and my wife (yes, it happens). I won’t go into any specifics about any arguments, but one argument does stand out to me where Amy and I were really frustrated with each other and our voices were escalating and we were going back and forth pretty good. We both felt as if we were in the complete right and neither one of us were relenting. Now, for those of you who don’t know, I am an excellent arguer. Even when I’m wrong, I still mount a pretty good case. However, Amy said something during this particular argument that got me. Now, I didn’t let her know right then, but in my mind I was thinking, “Dang, she’s right.” I have to believe that even though Jonah, much like myself in that argument, didn’t give up the fight right then, that the armor at least had a few cracks in it which exposed a spot for the fatal blow. I have to think that Jonah was starting to realize what was wrong with his mindset, his outlook.
I don’t want to make light of this scene here, but can’t you just imagine God sitting there asking Jonah, “Please, tell me about how my love, mercy, grace, and patience or bad things. While you’re at it, please tell me how my exercising of these attributes with you is any more warranted that it is with the people of Nineveh.” I mean, that’s just kind of one of those death-nail statements in an argument that you can’t come back from. Jonah was being faced with a reality that, as I said, we so often forget: God is to be shared with everyone. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everyone belongs to God and is a Christian. At times we’re way too liberal with our usage of the title Christian. What I’m saying is that we have a responsibility to share the good news of the gospel with everyone. It’s not our job to decide who’s worthy of hearing it or who deserves the wonderful relationship that God is calling us to be a part of. As I said last Sunday, it’s not our job to convert or convince, that’s God’s job. There’s a liberty and a freedom found in the reality that our evangelistic efforts don’t hinge on our abilities or the lack thereof. Or job is simply to present the message. We do that through preaching, through relationships, by modeling, and through encouragement and study. If the book of Jonah teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that the effectiveness of our message isn’t found necessarily in what we say.
We don’t deserve God’s grace, mercy, or love. The people that we’re witnessing to and preaching to don’t deserve God’s grace mercy, or love. The people of Nineveh didn’t deserve God’s grace, mercy, or love. Jonah didn’t deserve God’s grace, mercy, or love. Yet, God gave and does give them to us anyway. Despite our being in no way deserving of anything from God other than complete and total punishment and condemnation, we receive only grace. I think about two verses in Romans. First Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” but the second half of that verse reads “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The other verse is Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But the very next verse reads “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” You see, we’re broken, we’re fallen, and we’re deserving of punishment, but God has granted to us this gift of redemption, or restoring the broken relationship that we once had with Him. However, it isn’t as if it was of no cost to God, for it cost Him the life of His Son. Jesus died for me, he died for you, he died for all those whom the Father has given to Him. It’s not our job to figure out who that is so that we can minister to them. It’s our job to spread the message of the gospel as loudly and as far as we can so those who need to hear it do hear it. After all, there was a time that every single one of us was lost and in need of someone telling us the glorious news of the gospel. And each and every one of us is proof that you don’t have to deserve a relationship with God to have one.
No comments:
Post a Comment