Gobsmacked!

Father, we've confessed our sin, we've heard your word, we've confessed the faith,

we've given of offerings, we've sung your praises.

Now we come to not just have heard your word, but to think upon your word.

And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would fall with fresh but deep power upon us at this time.

Father, may your Holy Spirit, may the Holy Spirit help our minds to think humbly and hungrily and well.

And at the same time, Father, help us to know that we are dependent upon you to make yourself known to us.

And so, Father, we ask this, that you would make the gospel real to us and bring your word home deep in our heart,

that it might change how we live, all for your glory.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

So a couple of weekends ago, our church, Church of the Messiah, we sponsored something that came up from below, so to speak.

Jonathan Kamiri had this great and wonderful idea about having a conference for those involved in the arts,

those who love the arts or just interested in the arts to try to think Christianly about the arts,

especially around the area of music.

It was a good success.

And about a month or five weeks or so before the conference was to happen,

it turned out that one of the main speakers at the conference,

she was maybe not going to be able to attend because of a severe back issue.

So Jonathan and I were talking about this, and I said to him,

well, listen, I've actually given some thought to these topics.

I'll start to prepare some talks, and if necessary, I can step in.

And it ended up that she did have to cancel.

I was thinking about these things.

It turned out that they ended up changing my talk, which was fine.

But as part of my preparation, I thought, I know a really, really great young guy

who works at a coffee shop that I go all the time, and we've had a few talks.

And I know he was really, really, really thoughtful about music.

And he's a complete non-Christian.

So I thought, oh, I'll see if he'd talk to me.

Like, rather than just sort of talking about what non-Christians say about music,

like, I'll listen to a non-Christian about music.

Like, that's a bit of a, like, that should just be an automatic thing that we would do, right?

So I asked him, and he was a bit hesitant.

I keep forgetting, you know, in my mind, I'm 24.

Like, I'm the same age as that young guy.

And then occasionally I look in the mirror and I think,

how'd this old face turn up with this young guy?

Anyway, so I sometimes forget that I might be very intimidating to talk to a young guy.

But he said, sure.

So we eventually did talk.

Had a wonderful 70, 75-minute talk.

I was just asking about what music meant and how he saw it in life and a whole range of questions.

And as I anticipated, I thought he was, in fact, quite articulate about these issues.

And by the way, I wasn't talking to him.

I didn't go in to talk to him thinking, I'm going to see how wrong he is so I can go,

aha, got you, and then try to, no, not at all.

I was just curious.

In fact, I suspected that what he would say, that most of what he would say that I would agree with.

But for much of non-Christian thought in the West, good Christian thought, I mean, much of secular thought in the West, when it's good,

it's Christian without realizing it's Christian.

And where it stands in middle air, not supported by anything.

And in fact, the matter is that just about everything he said I agreed with.

And after we'd been talking for about 70 or 75 minutes, as we were getting ready to go, he asked me what I thought.

And so I had learned a few things from Jonathan.

And one of the things I'd learned from Jonathan is that music is hardwired into human beings.

Like it's hardwired into us.

And Jonathan shared with me some scholars who've done some experiments and stuff like that.

If you take a simple tune and you play it on the piano, one that we've never maybe even heard before,

but if you do a wrong note, people will all say, oh, that was good except there's a note wrong.

And how is it that that would happen, that human beings can just tell that there's a note wrong?

I mean, that's like, and I shared that with him, you know.

I said, it's really fascinating that he said, that really is fascinating.

That's true.

And I said, and so here's the fascinating thing that I wonder about.

I think it's a good thing to think about.

I said, you know, if you think about it, if you go to high school and university and you go to elementary school,

the way they tell you the world came to be is just a result of, you know, just like blind scientific laws and chance and the survival of the fittest.

But if the world came to be purely by chance, how is it that music would be hardwired into us?

And he said to me, I've never thought about that.

That's a really, I don't know.

I'm going to think about that.

You've given me something to think about for the rest of the week, he said to me.

And then we went on.

And I share all of that because the story in Jonah, believe it or not, actually has a lot to say with this analogy about music

or other things like music being hardwired into us as human beings.

It actually has some very, very interesting things to say about that and about other matters,

about how we relate to non-Christians and how we relate to the city.

So it would be a great help for me if you would open your Bibles, turn to Jonah 3.

It's a hard book to find because it's a wee tiny book and it's close to the end.

It's sort of if you open up your Bibles, it's almost exactly in the middle, just a little bit to the right of the middle.

And it's Jonah chapter 3.

Jonah 3 · chapter mention

And just as we get into it, just to sort of help to place where Jonah is, the way to think of the book of Jonah,

and most people, by the way, when they think of Jonah, they think of Jonah being swallowed by the whale

and they don't really think of very much else.

But the way to think about it is imagine that you're watching a BBC or Netflix series.

And in a BBC or Netflix series, there's a certain number of episodes.

And usually every episode is its own story.

But if you watch all, whatever, four, six, eight episodes, it makes one big story.

Very, very, if it's well done, very interesting the way the story interplays,

the big story interplays with the individual episodes.

So the way to think about the book of Jonah is like that.

Episode 1, God shows up, tells Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh

and proclaim a message that I'm going to give you.

Jonah's response to God showing up is to try to get as far away from God as he can.

And he tries to go a one-year journey away the opposite direction from Nineveh.

A year's journey away from Jerusalem and the opposite direction from Nineveh.

And that, of course, as we know, ends up with a storm and Jonah being thrown overboard.

And Episode 1 ends with a cliffhanger.

Jonah going overboard.

What's going to happen?

Cliffhanger.

Great episode in Netflix.

Episode 2, you discover that there's a big fish there at the exact right time.

In fact, the language in the text isn't fish, but aquatic beast.

A water-dwelling beast.

A water-dwelling beast is there at the exact right time by God's command.

Opens its mouth.

Swallows.

The mouth isn't open, but it's a great image by Amy.

Swallows Jonah just before he dies.

And if you read Jonah 2, we talked about this last week.

Jonah finds himself in the intestines, the entrails of an aquatic, of a water, a deep water beast.

And he's going to be there for at least 26 hours, maybe a little bit longer because there's an idiom there.

And what we see for the rest of Chapter 2 is Jonah, obviously, who has survived it, and how he thinks through his experience in the form of a prayer.

And we looked at that last week.

And Episode 2 ends with Jonah acknowledging that the Lord's compassion and being grateful for it.

And the fish vomits Jonah on the shore.

End of Chapter 2.

What's going to happen next?

Well, this is Episode 3, which we'll look at now, and here's how it goes.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

Just as an aside, some of you know the Arise dance troupe that we've had here at different times.

Yesterday at the wedding that I did, the Gilman wedding, I officiated with a small, it was a very small wedding.

Only 700 people or so showed up for Daniel Gilman's wedding.

But somebody afterwards, they were really happy to see me, and they kept telling me that I was,

they were introducing me to their circle of friends.

This is George.

He's one of the people on stage with Arise.

And what he meant to say was, dig and delve and renew.

But he said, arise the ballet company.

And I said to him, friend, I'll take it as a compliment.

You think I could be a ballet dancer.

But I can assure you I'm not.

Anyway, the text here says, so God shows up.

It skips all the part about how Jonah gets from wherever he gets vomited on the shore.

But he makes his way to Nineveh.

And notice here again in verse 2, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

So it doesn't tell you right then what the message is, but Jonah knows he's to go to Nineveh.

And whatever the message is that the Lord gives him, that's the message he's to proclaim.

Verse 3, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out.

And this is obviously, he said more than this, but this is the summary.

Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And just pause.

That word overthrown is used just a few times in the original language.

That word is just used a few times.

The great famous time that this word is used is for Sodom and Gomorrah.

So this is profound judgment.

And Jonah, that's the message that Jonah has been told, to go to this pagan city.

It's the greatest city in the ancient Near East of a great empire.

And in fact, Israel, which is where Jonah is from, is a vassal state under the controlling power of Nineveh.

And he is to go and to give this summary message.

Just as an aside, anything the Lord asks you to do is not going to be as hard as this.

Sometimes the Lord asks you to do hard things.

That's just what it means to be a Christian.

Sometimes he asks you to do a hard thing.

This is a huge, big ask of God.

And Jonah does it.

He preaches this message.

The summary of which is, as I said, in 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And it seems as if there's no hope.

It's just a message that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, that's what's going to happen to Nineveh in 40 days.

But how do the people respond?

They respond as if there's still a chance.

Look at verse 5.

And the people of Nineveh believed God.

They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.

And to sort of pause there, the title of this sermon is Gobsmacked, which is an Irish and English word,

of being completely and utterly just stunned.

It's a deer in a headlight look.

It's your jaw drops.

It's your speechless.

And probably the last thing in the world that Jonah expected was that the people would actually respond in this way.

But they do.

They do.

It's a...

They respond by sackcloth and ashes, which was the ancient...

One of the things the Jewish people and the other people of the pagan nations of that whole large region,

it was a culturally similar thing, a form of seeking God's favor, of his mercy, of repentance,

of calling out to God would be to put on...

put ashes on your body and to put on sackcloth.

And that's how they respond.

And then in verse 6, we see that it even goes to the king himself.

Look what it says in verse 6.

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe.

Just to pause here for a second.

This isn't just the fact that he's wearing a robe.

It would be as if you go into the general, you go into wherever the Pentagon,

and there's the four-star general who's in charge of all of the armed forces,

and he's there in his dressed uniform, and you speak to him.

And as a result of speaking to the guy in the Pentagon, four-star general,

which is the highest rank you can have.

Occasionally, they have five-star generals, but the four-star general,

and he responds by taking his uniform off.

The symbol of his power and authority.

And that's what the king does.

Look at it again, verse 6.

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,

which is symbolic of control of the entire empire,

removed his robe, symbolic of the fact that he is the king and the sovereign over the empire,

covered himself with sackcloth instead, and sat in ashes.

He went from the throne to ashes, from the robe to sackcloth.

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh.

Here's what he published.

By the decree of the king and his nobles,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

Let them not feed or drink water,

but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,

and let them call out mightily to God.

Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who knows?

God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger,

so that we may not perish.

Just as a bit of an aside before we see the response,

Jonah here is capturing something which is found in other documents about Assyria at that time,

is that in times of, unlike the Jewish people,

in times of profound mourning or profound calling out to God for favor,

they actually included the animals in the sackcloth and ashes,

and they included the animals in the fasting.

He's actually capturing here something that archaeologists know that was typical of the empire at this particular time.

And so the king takes this absolute statement by God,

and he acts as if there's some type of hope.

And here, what happens?

Look at verse 10.

What happens is that when God saw what they 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.

Look again at that.

When God saw what they 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.

Just before we get into some of the other implications of the text

and what it means for us,

sometimes when I talk to skeptics in coffee shops,

one of the things they do is they'll bring to perform me

a lot of the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament.

And sometimes when people bring the bloodthirsty language of the Old Testament before me,

it's because they actually,

you know,

occasionally they were raised in a Baptist or a Pentecostal or a Brethren church,

and they actually know the Bible,

but a lot of the times they don't.

What they've just said is they've read a couple of things by Dawkins or Hitchens,

and they think they know what the Bible says,

but I know that they actually don't have the vaguest idea about what the Bible says.

But the point here is this.

Ian Proven,

if you go on the Dig and Delve website and see one of the talks that he gave,

he had a very,

very good talk on the fact that you,

to understand what words mean,

you actually often in the Old Testament,

you have to see what it says in the rest of the story.

And that often we get very upset with words,

not realizing that if you look at all of the words in the story,

the words don't mean what we think they mean.

And he used an example,

it would be a very good language.

If I say to you on Tuesday morning,

for all of those basketball fans who wake up bleary-eyed,

by the way,

I will make a promise that Vestry ends tomorrow night early enough

that you can watch the basketball game.

Okay?

If not,

at a certain time,

I just suggest one of you get up and say,

I move a motion of adjournment.

And everybody else,

other than the speaker,

will want to second the motion,

and then we can all go home.

But anyway,

so let's say on Tuesday morning,

I get to say to people,

the Raptors slaughtered Golden State last night.

Now,

if there's an interview of Steph Curry on Tuesday morning,

you know I don't mean literally

that they pulled out machetes

and killed the Golden State Warriors.

It just means they beat them badly in a game.

And a lot of the times,

in the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament,

it'll say that God says,

slaughter all the Jebusites.

And then a chapter later,

there's still Jebusites.

So,

it doesn't mean that the Bible contradicts itself.

It just means that's how they're using the word slaughtered,

in a way,

in terms of a bad victory,

like a great victory or something.

It's just how the language is used.

But there's something else going on here in the text,

which is very important in the Old Testament.

And it's important spiritually for us.

Sometimes when the Bible speaks,

it gives a conditional statement of judgment.

It'll say,

if you don't do this,

you will be judged.

That's a very common thing in the Old Testament,

especially.

But other times,

there seems to be a statement like this

that seems to be no condition.

In 40 days,

Nineveh is going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

But in fact,

behind it,

there is in fact a conditional statement,

and people are welcome to repent.

And that's what happens in this story.

They repent.

And as a result of their repentance,

God says that he will not do to them

as he had done earlier to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now,

here's the issue in terms of us getting serious

about this particular text.

The big shocking thing about this story

is that Nineveh doesn't convert.

Nineveh doesn't become Jewish.

Think about it.

I've heard a lot of Christian speakers

who talk about it as if it's a conversion.

It's not a conversion.

They don't become Jewish.

They don't give themselves to the Lord.

In fact,

if you look at the text,

it's very,

very interesting.

One of the things,

just a bit of a clue

about how to read the Bible well,

is that often in the Old Testament,

if you see the word Lord,

it's referring to Yahweh.

It's referring to the covenant name,

the personal name

that the Jewish people had for God,

the God of the covenant,

the God who delivered them

from slavery in Egypt,

the God of the covenant,

the God who is now their God,

their protector,

their provider,

that they were to serve,

that they were to know,

that only they knew

and they were to have the job

of making him known

and his praises known

to the ends of the earth,

which they often didn't do very well.

But you see the Lord,

there were lots of other names for God.

And in this text,

you'll see that the Lord

tells Jonah to go do this,

but the people don't call out to the Lord,

they call out to God.

They call out to the generic name

for the high God,

the abstract word for God.

In all of the pagan mythologies,

there'd always be at least one high God,

the abstract, most distant God.

And that's the word that they use.

They don't respond to the message

by calling out to Yahweh.

They respond to the message

by calling to Elohim,

that abstract, generic name for God.

So there's no conversion that happens here.

There's no conversion.

So if you could put up the first point,

we're just going to rest here a little bit.

If the Lord cares for all of his creation

with compassion,

then so will I.

If the Lord cares for all of his creation

with compassion,

then so will I.

You see,

that's what's going on here in the text.

Quite a few years ago,

there was a guy,

it was a classic example

of a terrible salesman.

Maybe he's not a terrible salesman.

Some of you folks who are good in sales,

you can tell me

whether or not he was a bad salesman.

But he was very interested in us,

you know,

our family,

our needs,

and you know,

yeah,

and you know,

talking to us.

But all the while,

I think he was trying to sell us.

I can't remember exactly.

I think it was some type of vacuum system.

And very,

very friendly,

and blah,

blah,

blah,

blah,

blah.

But when it became obvious to him

that there was no way on God's earth

that Louise would ever buy that vacuum cleaner,

he went from being friendly

to droppiness.

Just,

it was so,

like,

I wish there was a video

because it was like a switch went on with him.

When I wouldn't give him what he wanted,

packed up his stuff,

was rude,

didn't say goodbye,

didn't say anything,

just packed up his stuff,

turned his back on us,

and left.

And,

one of the things which we Christians

have to come to terms with

is the fact that,

of course,

ultimately,

the Lord wants us,

he wants all people to come

to a saving relationship with Jesus.

But if we share the gospel with people

and they don't have any interest in it,

how should we respond?

Not like the vacuum cleaner,

salesman.

But it's a persistent problem for Christians.

It's as if,

if you don't want to go all the way with me,

the heck with you.

The heck with you.

I'm not going to waste my time with you.

I don't really care about you.

You know what?

If your life gets all messed up,

it just serves you right.

We might not come out and say that,

but inwardly,

we think it.

But that's not a Christian.

That's not what goes on here in the story.

The response to this message of judgment

isn't the best response,

but it's a good response.

And that good response,

God honors.

Because he cares for people.

It's not as if,

with God,

that there's either God has compassion for you

until you give your life to Jesus,

and if you don't,

he stops having any compassion for you,

and you just know

he always has compassion on his creation.

He always has compassion

on his creatures in his created order,

which includes us and animals.

The animals is going to be mentioned

in Jonah chapter 4.

Jonah 4 · chapter mention

And this is actually brought home

even more powerfully

by a part of the text

which is not obvious in English.

All the way through the book of Jonah,

but especially here in chapter 1

and chapter 3 and chapter 4,

there's a word play that goes on

in the original language.

You see, in the original language,

the word for evil,

the word for evil means

just what we would think is evil,

of doing things which are wrong,

of doing things which are bad.

But it also has another meaning to it.

It has the meaning of disaster or calamity.

And so, in fact, actually in this story,

you go back and forward,

you'll see that on one hand,

God sees the evil that they do,

the evil that he does,

but he's not going to do evil to them.

What will happen as a result of the evil

is the disaster from God

will come upon them.

It's in fact the same word

in the original language,

but the double meaning is played upon.

But the double meaning is very significant

when we view them together,

and it goes back to my story

with my friend Bob

and why is it that music

is hardwired into us.

One of the problems

that we have in our culture

is we can't get a pipeline built.

Now, I know I just made a political comment,

and those of you who are very green

will say,

I am praying that there's never

a pipeline built.

But just hear me out a little bit

on this particular thing.

One of the things which is a bit

of a mystery to me

is why so many people in our culture

have been turning to Buddhism

and Hinduism.

Yet the fact of the matter is

is that Buddhist and Hindu cultures,

they trash the environment.

Let me tell you,

you'd rather drink,

you'd rather go,

I don't know if you could go

on any river in India

and drink the water

that you were canoeing on,

but you can do that in Canada

in many places.

You wouldn't want to go

canoeing in China

and drink the water

in any river,

but you can do that

in many rivers in Canada.

The fact of the matter is

is that if you understand,

if your basic worldview

is that at the end of the day

we all came from one

and we will return to one,

and the idea of there being

a difference between you and I

is ultimately an illusion,

then there's no incentive

to care for the creation.

At the same time,

if you go the route

of more native spirituality,

it's very, very complicated.

That's just beyond the problems

on native reserves.

But in fact,

if nature itself is divinized,

if a river is divinized,

if a tree,

if a mountain is divinized,

you have not only

the science not work,

but you have a hard time

actually doing anything.

There'd never be any type

of development

or progress at all

if you understand

the world is filled

with spirits

resident with particular rivers

and trees and brooks

and channels.

And our culture

is profoundly confused

by that.

And at the same time,

ultimately,

if you really think

that everything

is just a result of chance,

it's just a result

of evolution,

there's really no basis

to care for the creation.

In fact,

if we understand

that everything

that comes to exist

is because the strong

survives and the weak dies,

and that's what brings us

to be human beings,

then why is there any outcry

at all over any

endangered species?

It's just evolution.

And why shouldn't we

just take raw matter

and use it to whatever

we want?

There's really no ultimate

reason for that.

But you see,

in the Christian understanding

of the world,

it's a very, very different thing.

In the Christian understanding

of the world,

there is a God

who's created all things.

Actually,

if you could put up

the second point,

that would be very helpful.

I should have told you

to do that before.

Doing something

that is wrong

is not just wrong,

it is also a calamity

slash catastrophe.

Doing something

that is wrong

is not just wrong,

it is also a calamity

slash catastrophe.

You see,

what we understand

is that the personal God

who from all creation,

the Father loved the Son

and the Son loved the Father

and the Holy Spirit

loved the Father

and the Son

and vice versa.

From all,

at the beginning,

before there was

any created order,

there was the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

They were good,

they loved each other,

and it was out of that love

and out of that,

in a sense,

community

that was that one person

of God,

all things were created

and God who creates

all things,

a mark of his nature

is in all things.

A mark of his nature

is in all things.

And that's actually

what I would say

to my friend Bob

if I'd gotten the chance

or when I eventually

get the chance

about why it is

that we can hear music

and we can hear a tune

for the very first time

and if there's a wrong note,

we say,

there's a wrong note

in that tune.

Why is it that music

is hardwired into us?

Because God is ultimately,

in a sense,

the creator of music

and beauty.

They're singing in heaven

and he's made

the created order

in such a way

that something like music

is hardwired into us

and we recognize

when something's not right.

And in the same way,

when I do something

which is wrong,

the wrong that I do

is not just,

like let's say

I believe a lie

or let's say

I'm filled with lustful

or wrong thoughts

or let's say

I'm nurturing

and harboring bitterness

or anger

and it doesn't seem

as if anybody's hurt by this

because it's all inside of me

but what the Bible says

is that every time

we do something

which is wrong,

it's not just wrong

in some type of legal sense

against some type of code,

it's also a catastrophe

because God's created the world

where goodness

is natural to it

and any time we go

from goodness

it has other types of impacts

whether we recognize it

immediately or not.

Our mind won't work as well.

We now know from neuroscience

thinking certain thoughts

for a long type of time

actually even starts to change

the way our brains are hardwired.

Like who would have thought of that?

Like the more we find out

about neuroscience

the more we find out

that even victimless things

like thinking certain ways

is actually going to have

an impact

in how we're wired.

It has an impact

on how our heart pressure,

how much our blood pressure

and our heart rate

and all sorts of other types of things

and our culture

wants to hide this from us.

A little bit controversial

but I mean just

the fact of the matter is

is that you can't watch anything

on TV

without having people

who are unmarried

hopping into bed together

and nobody on TV

ever has a sexually transmitted disease.

Ever.

Ever.

And they say

we live in a fantasy world?

Come on.

Like nobody ever has one once

and nobody ever gets pregnant

and has an abortion

and you don't ever see anybody

after they've had an abortion

and how much it can wreck people up

emotionally for so long

even if they have an abortion

and you don't ever see

any woman

who's given herself to a guy

and then afterwards

how bitter she might be about men.

Like no.

Oh yeah, bye.

And then like the next

like that's not real world.

It's this unbelievable fantasy world

connected to these things

that have no consequence whatsoever.

By the way,

if you were here this morning

and I've maybe touched a nerve

by referring to abortion

and in a room like this

it's very likely

that there are people in the room

who've either encouraged an abortion

or had one themselves.

I'm not saying anything judgmental

about this.

All I can tell you is

the Lord knows what you did

and he loves you

and he wants you to know him

and he wants you to know Jesus

and he wants to bring

healing to you

as you come to him

in repentance

and amendment of life.

He only loves you.

And I encourage you

if you've had

something like that

and that you just share

with one of us

you will not be condemned

by any of us.

We will just want to love you

and pray for you.

And

if you're wondering

we're going to get to this

in a moment

there's only sinners

in this room

and

it's only a sinner

who's standing in front of you.

It's not

perfect.

Anybody here

who thinks you're perfect?

Good luck.

You're a legend

in your own mind.

Sorry

I don't want to insult you

but you're not.

You're not.

You're a sinner too.

But you see

here's the big point

of the text

you see.

So the first point

is that

what this text shows

is the people

didn't show the thing

that ultimately

God would desire

of them the most.

That they would become

they would call out

to Yahweh

they would ask

that they would be

included in the covenant people

and they would begin

within that history

of salvation

to live as observant Jews.

That's the great thing

that God would be

the greatest desire

of his heart.

They didn't say that

but his response

to them isn't

well

the heck with you.

Let the fire fall.

No.

They turn

from their violence

and evil.

The word for violence

in this text

is also the word

for injustice.

God cares

about his created order.

He cares

about

the harm

that we do.

He cares

about people

doing evil

which is also

a calamity

which causes

human suffering

and unhappiness.

He cares

for injustice.

He cares

when people

are doing injustice

because he wants

them to turn

from injustice.

He wants them

to turn

from violence.

He wants them

to turn

from evil.

And even

if they do not

go all of the way

of calling out

to him for mercy

the fact

that they respond

by turning

from injustice

makes him smile.

The fact

that they turn

from violence

makes him smile.

The fact

that they turn

from evil

makes him smile

and if it makes

him smile

it should make

you and I

smile as well.

Some of you

work in government.

Some of you

work in private

industry.

Some of you

are self-employed.

Some of you

are retired.

Some of you

are in between

jobs wherever

you are.

At some point

in time

you should try

to do the job

the best

you possibly can.

You really should.

You should try

to do the best

you can.

If you're having

trouble doing

a good job

talk to somebody

here at the

church.

Talk to

somebody else.

Get some

insight about

how you can

be a better

entrepreneur,

a better poet,

a better musician,

a better self-employed,

a better retiree,

a better stay-at-home mom

or a better stay-at-home dad.

Wherever you are called

do the best

you possibly can

to the glory of God.

Pray that God

will give you

opportunities

to share the gospel

with your co-workers

or your neighbors

or your friends

and if you get a chance

to bear witness to Jesus

walk through that door

and take it.

But as well as that

it does not

being a good Christian

at work

is not only

defined by being

able to share

the gospel.

If you are working

in the government

and the government

is going to be

proposing something

which is just wrong

be the one

who farts in the room

so to speak

and says

what you want to do

is wrong.

If you're in a boardroom

and they want to do

something that's wrong

try to talk them

to doing that

which is right.

Seek the good

fair prosperity

of your business

because God

has compassion

on this city.

His longing

is that every person

in Ottawa

will come to know

Jesus as Savior

and Lord

but less than that

he still has a heart

for this city

that what will

characterize this city

is justice

not injustice

prosperity

not poverty

generosity

not being

a scrooge

a proper

caring of the environment

not a trashing

of the environment.

When a human being

turns from being a racist

to loving the other

that makes God smile.

When a human being

turns from injustice

to justice

it makes God smile

and it should make us

smile as well.

If you could put up

the third point

to enter

that would be

very handy.

This has been

a point for every

one of the sermons

it will be in all

five of the Jonah

sermons.

Because the Lord

is God

there is no other

God

hence there is

no other

when it comes to

people.

That's why I said

there's only sinners

in this room.

On one level

who is in this room

and who is outside

are all the same.

We're all sinners.

We're all sinners.

Every single one of us.

We're all sinners

whom God loves.

Everyone.

And we

well could you put up

the final point

just to bring it

to a close?

If my only hope

in life and death

some of you will

recognize this is

connected to

an ancient catechism.

If my only hope

in life and death

is the Lord's

great compassion

given to me

in Jesus

then I will learn

his way of compassion.

See this is how

the gospel is to form us.

I mean the fact

of the matter is

we will fall

into the hands

of almighty God.

There is a judgment

that every human being

will fall under.

Just as an aside

if this text

of the Bible

was written around

755

33 years

after this Bible

text was written

the nation of Israel

did not heed

the prophets

calls to repentance

and the northern

kingdom of Israel

was destroyed

in 722

and its people

scattered

because in fact

the Assyrians

practiced

true

genocide.

True

genocide.

Genocide.

all of the people

of the northern

kingdom

were taken

into captivity

and they are

lost to history.

130 years

after this

Nineveh fell

and the Assyrian

empire fell.

I am very

conscious

not as conscious

as I should be

but I am conscious

that I am a sinner

and I am only

redeemed by grace.

It is only

because the

punishment

that I justly

deserved

fell on

the Lamb

of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

it is only

because

I who stood

properly condemned

for my wrongdoing

that in the words

of Isaiah

Jesus

in my place

condemned

he stood.

It is only

because of that

that I have

any hope

in life

and death

and if in fact

I am a complete

and utter recipient

of the Lord's

compassion

and mercy

then I need

to learn

how to live

and walk

in the way

of compassion.

That is how

the gospel

shapes you

to live.

Please stand.

Just bow our heads

in prayer.

Father

we thank you

for Jesus

we thank you

Father

that he saw

our great need

that

we had

turned our back

on you

and could not

turn ourselves

to save ourselves

could not

accomplish enough

merit

to make ourselves

right with you.

He saw our

great need

he came

and lived

amongst us

amidst

all of our

mess

all of our

muck

all of the

injustice

of this world

all of the

beauty of this

world

but all of the

injustice

and the evil

he came

and dwelt

among us

only without

sin

and that

out of love

for us

he died

on our

behalf

he died

on my

behalf

taking

upon

himself

that

judgment

which I

justly

deserve

and that

fell on

him

that I

by my

faith

and trust

and love

my faith

and trust

in him

that he

would bear

my punishment

and bestow

upon me

his righteousness

Father

thank you

for your

great

compassion

and mercy

that you

showed to

me

and we

ask

I ask

Father

that as

the great

compassion

that you

have shown

to us

in Jesus

as that

grips us

that we

will learn

to live

in the

way of

compassion

that we

will be

characterized

by compassion

in our

office places

in our

neighborhoods

in the

city

in our

interpersonal

relations

that we

will be

characterized

and known

Father

by people

who are

gripped

by your

great

compassion

for us

and are

learning

to walk

the way

of compassion

and mercy

caring for

this city

and caring

for your

created order

in a way

that brings

you glory

and is truly

good for

this created

order

and for all

your creatures

Father

this is what

we ask

and we

ask it

in the

name of

Jesus

and all

God's

people said

Amen