Sermon

Jonah 4

June 27, 2015 Christ the King Church Sermons

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Amen.
Amen.
We have weighty things going on.
And this afternoon is a parade.
You know, people will be gathering for this parade
all along 60th Avenue,
all along Library Square.
There will be hundreds, if not thousands,
of people coming out to watch
the Kenosha Civic Veterans Day Parade.
Surely, many people will have been saved.
Many people in attendance
will have gone from darkness to light,
but the majority of people
that will be participating in
and watching this parade
are perishing in their sin.
Now, I know that by saying that,
I can be a giant party pooper.
That I can be, so to speak,
reigning on your Civic Veterans Day parade.
Maybe you're like,
you know, Salvati,
I just really want to go
and hang out with friends and family,
see some muscle cars,
be wowed by some acrobats,
listen to some bands,
celebrate our great country,
and I really don't want to be thinking
about the people around me.
I don't want to be thinking
about their standing before God.
You must.
You must.
Because it's true.
What is more important to God?
A parade?
Celebrating our independence as a nation?
Or the eternal standing of each person present?
This morning, we've reached the climax
of the book of Jonah.

Jonah 4 chapter mention
Chapter 4.
Climax of the book.
It's been quite a story.
Chapter 1, Jonah gets called.
Turns the other way.
Goes as far away from Nineveh as he can.
God catches him.
Remember that storm at sea.
And during that storm,
the unbelieving,
those non-Hebrew crew,
do you remember what happens to them?
They end up crying out to Jonah's God
for deliverance.
And do you remember what God did?
He delivered the crew.
All who call upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
And so chapter 1 closes
with this non-Jewish crew
having believed in Yahweh,
going and rejoicing
in this great deliverance
they've experienced.
And the prophet himself
is now in the Mediterranean Sea.
That's how Jonah 1 closes.
And then with Jonah 2,
as Jonah sinks down
into the depths of the Mediterranean,
as he draws closer and closer
to the gates of death,
as he descends lower and lower,
it finally occurs to him
that not only is he perishing,
but he can call out
on the name of the Lord Himself.
And so at the verge
of losing consciousness,
Jonah cries out to his God
of whom he's a prophet.
And God supernaturally delivers him.
He sends a great fish
that swallows him whole
in order to wholly deliver him.
And as a result,
Jonah rejoices.
He celebrates.
He declares,
salvation belongs to the Lord.
Hallelujah, amen.
I've been delivered.
All who call on the name
of the Lord will be saved.
And now,
at the end of Jonah 2,
Jonah has experienced
deliverance from being,
from perishing.
God commands the fish
to spit him out.
Spit out.
In chapter 3,
Jonah is recommissioned by God.
Sent to Nineveh.
And Jonah has been changed enough
to be willing to go.
And so Jonah obeys.
And as he gets to Nineveh,
into the very heart of the city,
he declares a message
that's just five words in Hebrew.
Just five words.
But it was anointed by God.
And as a result,
there is a city-wide revival
of foreigners.
And they call out to
the one true God,
Yahweh.
They have realized
that because of their sin,
they were perishing.
Doomed for destruction.
And so they repent.
They cry out to God.
And God,
seeing their repentant hearts,
He relents
of the disaster He foretold.
You see that in chapter 3,
verse 10.
All who call upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
And so the book of Jonah
is one
supernatural deliverance
after another.
God saving Gentiles,
God saving Hebrews,
God saving Gentiles.
God has a heart for all people.
And so here we are
in Jonah chapter 4.

Jonah 4 chapter mention
The climax of the book.
It's all been moving to a point.
And it comes to a head
in a dialogue
between Jonah and God.
A dialogue in reaction
to what God has just done.
God's delivered the Ninevites
and Jonah is hot!
Man, he's angry!
And so the dialogue starts
with a heated accusation
from the prophet
to his God.
We'll see that in verses 1-3.
And that moves to a
loving confrontation
of God with His prophet.
And then finally,
the chapter in book
climaxes in a very challenging question
in verses 10 and 11.
A question that we're going to have
to end up asking ourselves.
So let me walk through
this story with you.
Let's start with this
heated accusation.
So God has just delivered
120,000 Ninevites.
By the way,
they were enemies of Israel
and brutal enemies of Israel.
He's just delivered him.
We see in verse 10 of chapter 3,
God has relented.
And then the very next verse,
chapter 4, verse 1,
what you read is this.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly
and he was angry.
God relents
and Jonah rails.
He is so mad.
It's quite a contrast.
Why is Jonah so angry?
I mean, is this the same Jonah
that we see rejoicing
in God's deliverance
at the end of Jonah 2?
Salvation belongs to the Lord!
Same guy?
It is the same guy.
Why would Jonah rejoice
in God's deliverance
at the end of Jonah 2,
but then get all bent out of shape
at God's deliverance
that we see in Jonah 3?
What's going on?
Well, it has everything to do
with those who are being delivered.
In Jonah 2,
it was Jonah that was perishing.
In Jonah 3,
it was the Ninevites
who were perishing.
And so what we see going on here
is that when God's mercy
and steadfast love
was extended to Jonah
in Jonah 2,
thanksgiving, praise,
and glory to God.
But when we see God
extending this same mercy,
this same steadfast love
to the Ninevites,
the enemies of Israel
in Jonah 3,
Jonah is outraged.
His true colors are revealed.
Jonah accuses God
out of his anger.
By the way,
we shouldn't be surprised
that when we are saved by Jesus
that there is more work
to be done later on
to work out bigotry,
to work out edges.
It's typical.
It's normal.
But in verse 2,
we see Jonah
angrily accusing God.
And we learn,
finally,
why Jonah left
in the first place.
Why he hightailed it
out to Tarshish.
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?
What he's saying is this.
Is this not the reason
why I left in the first place?
What's the reason?
His reason for running
is astonishing.
For,
I knew
that you, God,
are a gracious God
and merciful,
slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love
and relenting from disaster.
Jonah's anger
is because God
is compassionate
towards sinners.
Jonah is angry
at God
that God would deliver
the Ninevites.
What is blowing
Jonah's categories here
is that the Ninevites
were not only
not Jews,
but they were enemies
of Israel
in a looming
and brutal threat.
What are you doing,
God,
saving them?
What we see happening here
is an 8th century
B.C.
prophet
who is throwing
a temper tantrum
after
he's just preached
and seen
120,000 people
repent
and experience
God's deliverance.
It's amazing,
isn't it?
It's not.
Jonah is angry
because he did not
want Nineveh
to be spared
and he holds
God responsible.
It's so arrogant.
It's like he's saying,
I knew it.
I knew if I went
and preached,
you would do
your nice God thing.
You would deliver him.
I knew it!
You know,
it's like
Jonah is saying,
hey,
you can deliver
your people,
the Jews,
all you want,
God.
Show us compassion
over and over
and over again,
but when it comes
to showing
any kind of mercy
and compassion
on our enemies,
done!
You've crossed a line.
I'm ticked!
That's what he's saying.
Jonah.
It's obvious
that Jonah is not
getting the scope
and scale
of God's heart
for all people.
That's obvious,
isn't it?
He's stuck.
The very reason
God chose Israel
in the first place
to be his covenant people
was to show
to the surrounding nations
his great
and steadfast love.
He chose Israel
to be the object
of his affection
so that their
resulting holiness
would shine like a beacon
to the Gentile nations
surrounding them,
calling them
to the worship
of the one true God.
But Jonah
has gone inward.
Jonah is hoarding
his God.
God is for us
and us alone.
His grace,
His mercy,
His pity,
His compassion,
His steadfast love
is for us.
And what God
wants to do here
and what God does here
is correct that.
He's not going to let
Jonah put him
in a box.
God wants to use
His people.
He's always wanted
to use His people.
He wants to use
His people
to show the world
who He is.
A holy God
willing to save
any sinner
who calls upon Him
because He's gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love
and relenting
from disaster.
So in verse 3,
Jonah is so angry
that he's so caught up
in the injustice
that he sees,
he wants to die.
He'd rather die
than see the Ninevites live.
That's the point.
It's kind of ironic.
I mean,
this is the same guy
that called out
to the same God
when he was dying
and God delivered him.
What happened?
Jonah
is being really selfish
with his God.
Jonah wants God
to save his way,
not God's way.
Jonah,
his disdain
for the Ninevites
forms his theology,
forms his thinking
about God
and God is like,
no, you can't do that, buddy.
And so he corrects him.
He lovingly confronts Jonah.
And so here we have
the beginning of Jonah 4,
a really angry prophet,
angry at his God.
For saving people
who needed to be saved.
And if there's one thing
that we can learn
from Jonah's mistake
is that we,
the church,
the new covenant people of God,
we don't hoard
God's mercy and grace.
We don't want to keep it
in the walls
of this building.
We're not to keep
who our great God is
a secret
from the rest of the city.
We don't decide
who God shows compassion on.
We don't decide
who God shows his wrath to.
We don't make that decision.
We have no grounds
to challenge God's compassion
because we,
of all people,
we deserve wrath,
but Christ
has shown us grace,
mercy,
and steadfast love.
Jonah is standing
in judgment
over the judge.
It is astonishing.
And so God,
the judge,
lovingly
confronts
this angry prophet.
God puts on a clinic.
So Jonah vents.
He has a hissy fit.
And now God responds
in verses 4 through 9.
In verse 4,
Jonah in verse 3 is like,
I'm so mad I can die!
Take my life!
And in verse 4,
God totally ignores it.
Totally ignores it.
He totally ignores
Jonah's drama
and confronts him
with a question.
A question intended
to expose Jonah's heart.
Jonah,
do you do well
to be angry?
Maybe a better way
of understanding it is,
Jonah,
what right do you have
to be angry?
What grounds?
How can you,
Jonah,
be angry
with my
compassionate heart
to save anyone
who will call upon
my name?
Why are you getting
angry at that,
Jonah?
And in verse 5,
we see Jonah's response.
So God asks him
the question
in verse 4.
And in verse 5,
what does Jonah do?
I'm out of here.
He walks out.
Walks out of the city
of Nineveh.
Walks out,
sets up a booth,
sets up shop,
and it's kind of like,
okay, God,
show me.
Clear him out.
Basically,
it's kind of like Jonah
saying,
okay, God,
I'll give you one more chance.
I don't want to talk
about this anymore.
I'm going out.
I want to see,
I want to see you
do your stuff
on this city.
So Jonah's hoping
that God will change
his mind
or something,
but
what we know
is that he's still angry.
So what's God
going to do?
How does God
handle this
heated prophet?
I mean,
I guess God
could have responded
by wiping Jonah
off the face
of the earth
if he wanted to.
but he doesn't.
God responds
to Jonah
as he's responded
to Jonah
all throughout
the book of Jonah
with tremendous patience.
God is slow
to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love
not only to sinners,
not only to those
outside the people
of God,
but with his people.
And the way
that God handles
Jonah's sinful anger
is just simply amazing.
And this is our God.
He patiently
addresses this guy.
He is patient
with Jonah.
He is patient
with us.
Even in the midst
of our missionary
call as a church,
God is patient
with us.
Working things out.
So in verse 6,
God in his loving wisdom
changes tactics.
He's not.
It's kind of like
God takes stock.
Okay, Jonah,
you're not obviously
listening to me.
So I'll just expose you
in another way.
And so,
call to mind
that God
is sovereign
over all things.
He orchestrates
all things
to do his bidding.
And we've already
seen it in chapter 1
where God
calls out a storm
and throws it
onto the Mediterranean Sea
to get done
what he wanted
to get done.
And we see it
in chapter 2
and God appointing
a great fish
to swallow Jonah
and then to spit him out.
Here in chapter 4,
we see God's
sovereign control
over all things
to carry out
his purposes.
It's on display again
with three appointees.
And might I just tell you,
God is determined
to expose
Jonah's hypocrisy
that God can save him
but God can't save
anybody else.
It's double standard.
He's going to expose it
because he loves Jonah.
So in verse 6,
God appoints a plant.
Appointing number one.
And he makes this plant
grow over Jonah
in order to provide
shade for his heaven.
Remember,
we're in the Middle East.
This is in modern day Iraq.
It gets hot.
And we read
that God
raised this plant
up to verse 6
to save him
from his discomfort.
It's tongue in cheek.
And what is Jonah's response
to this leafy plant
that has just grown
over him?
Exceeding gladness.
He's now run the gamut.
He was exceedingly angry
and now he's exceedingly happy.
He's so happy
that he's got shade
for his head.
But God,
in his loving wisdom,
knows that this is just a setup.
God is sovereignly,
wisely setting Jonah up
for a very important lesson.
verse 7,
God appoints a worm
at dawn the next day
in that worm
attacks the plant.
Sometime early morning,
crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch,
crunch,
worm eats the plant,
some aspect of it,
and the plant withers.
Right at the,
just at the right time.
So now,
the plant withers,
Jonah's exposed,
just in time for verse 8,
when the sun rises
and appointing number 3,
God appoints a scorching east wind
that when coupled with the sun,
beats down on Jonah's head
and pushes our prophet Jonah
to a physical breaking point.
He wants to die again.
Echoing the words of verse 3,
he asks God to take his life.
It's better for me to die
than to live.
I can't stand this heat.
I can't live without this plant.
Jonah is upset
that the plant has perished.
He has pity on the plant.
And up until this point,
in the book of Jonah,
the only one he's been concerned about
when it comes to perishing
has been himself.
He wasn't concerned about
the captain or the crew
who were perishing on the ship
in chapter 1,
verses 6 and 14.
He wasn't concerned about
the 120,000 Ninevites
who were going to perish
if they hadn't repented.
Chapter 3, verse 9.
For the first time in the book,
Jonah is concerned
about something perishing
besides himself.
And do you know what it is?
A plant.
God is exactly,
He's got Jonah
exactly where He wants him.
God has exposed Jonah
and once again,
God has brought Jonah
to an end to himself.
We saw that in chapter 2.
Why is God bringing Jonah
to an end to Himself?
Because God loves Jonah
and He does not want Jonah
ruled by any kind of selfish hate
that boxes God in
to some kind of self-made God.
He wants Jonah to take on
His heart for those
who are perishing.
Instead of being bitter
and callous and whatever,
I don't give a rip,
God wants Jonah
to be full of pity
and to be compassionate
and to be concerned about
these people who are perishing.
The whole episode
with the plant
is one great sovereign orchestration
of love for Jonah
to expose Jonah,
to confront Jonah,
to show him
his double standard.
Now that God has Jonah
where He wants him,
verse 8,
God asked Jonah
the same question
as He did in verse 4
with a slight adjustment.
Jonah,
do you have the right
to be angry
about the plant
that's just perished?
Jonah,
do you have the right
to be angry right now
about that plant
that is no more?
Jonah gets the question
and man,
He has had it.
Yes,
I have the right
to be angry,
angry enough to die.
Thank you.
Let me just die,
God!
He doesn't want to,
He doesn't get His way.
And so He does what we do
when we don't get His way.
He pouts.
I mean,
big time pout,
like,
I'm out of here,
pout.
Classic,
self-preoccupation.
And before you look down
at your nose at Jonah,
remember,
we've got the same
tendency ourselves.
Even after being saved,
when things don't go
our own way,
when we're denied
our comfort,
we get upset.
could it be
that when we are
denied comfort,
it's actually God
orchestrating our situation
in order to expose
our hearts
so that He can get
at the comfort
that gets in the way
of His compassion
for all people?
Could it be?
Could it be?
God lovingly
confronts Jonah
and us.
Do we have the right
to get angry with God
when He sovereignly
denies us
some kind of shade?
Some kind of comfort?
When He exposes us
with some kind
of scorching heat?
Some kind of hardship?
We're going to experience
some heat
with the Supreme Court's
decision this past week.
Do we get angry
with God?
Do we have the right
to be angry?
God is just scratching
at the surface
of Jonah's heart.
Because you know
what He's really doing?
He's helping Jonah
and us
see what we really
get upset about.
What really
ticks us off.
What really
gets our goat.
what do you get
upset about?
What do you
get angry about?
What happens
when you're denied
some shade?
Do you get angry
when you are denied
the shade of sleep?
I do.
When you're denied
the shade comfort
of money,
the shade of advancement
success?
When you're denied
the shade comfort
of being well thought
of by those people
around you.
What God is doing here
is setting Jonah up,
exposing him
in order to make
a glorious point.
plant.
In other words,
this whole plant
episode
is a divine
setup.
What God is doing
is showing Jonah
that he is getting
upset about
something
terribly
insignificant.
a plant.
He pities a plant
more than
120,000
people.
So in verses
10 and 11,
God turns the table
on Jonah.
It comes to a head.
This whole book
comes to a head
in verses 10 and 11.
And it takes the form
of a very
challenging question.
It's the climax
of the book.
And it represents
a kind of rationale.
So let's look at
verses 10 and 11.
I'm going to read that.
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.
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.
The kind of rationale
that God is using
right here,
it's a kind of argument.
It's called
a how much more argument.
And so
there's a contrast
between two things
in order to show
how much more
one is
over the other.
We see it in Matthew 7.
Jesus says,
If you then
who are evil
know how to give
good gifts
to your children,
how much more
will your Father
who is in Heaven
give good things
to those who ask Him?
So it's a comparison
between evil dads
and our Heavenly Father
and it gets to the point
that God gives
awesome gifts
better than we can
ever imagine.
So Jesus' point is
go big,
go often to your God,
ask Him for big stuff.
That's the point.
Back to Jonah 4.
Here the
how much more argument
takes the form
of a question.
A question
aimed to make
a point.
And the comparison
in this
how much more argument
is between
Jonah's pity
for the plant
and God's pity
for the Ninevites.
So Jonah's pity
for a plant.
He did not labor
for this plant.
He did not make
this plant grow.
It was just
one plant.
It came into being
in a night
and perished in a night.
It was a short-lived plant.
Bottom line is
it was a very
insignificant plant.
Now let's compare
that to God's pity
for the people
of Nineveh.
A great city
important to God.
Remember
Jonah 3.3
a great city
to God.
120,000
people
not plants.
Image bearers.
120,000
people
made
by God
like God
and for God.
120,000
people
created by God
himself
to worship
him alone.
120,000
people
who will
one day
stand before
God
someday
at the judgment.
120,000
people
who do not
know their
left hand
from the right.
What's being said
there is
they're ignorant
of who God is
even though
they are morally
accountable to God.
I mean the whole
reason God
sent Jonah
in chapter 1
was because
their evil
was being
rising up
to God.
The very last
line is a little
odd isn't it?
Also much
cattle.
It's like
where did that
come from?
Well it's kind
of like this.
God's saying
hey if you
don't buy
the image
bearer
argument
cattle are
more important
than plants.
120,000
people
perishing
is more
important
than one
plant
that
perished
Jonah.
From God's
perspective
what's
more
important
are
people
than
plants.
Jonah was
not seeing
things from
God's
perspective
but is
from his
own distorted
perspective.
He was
valuing
one plant
over
120,000
people
therefore
the question
Jonah
you pitied
one
insignificant
plant
how much
more
should I
pity
120,000
of my
image bearers
whose
eternity
is in
the balance.
Point made.
The point
has been made.
Jonah has
no right to be
angry with
God.
God has
every right
to save
whoever he
wants.
And we are
left asking
ourselves the
question
does God have
the right to
save anybody
he wants?
And here's
the point.
God has
every right
to show
mercy on
whomever he
pleases.
God has
every right
to show
mercy on
whomever he
pleases.
God is
not bound
by human
expectations
of who he
can and
who he
can't save.
God's not
even bound
by our
disobedience
and obeying
him in the
mission.
God is
free in
who he
is.
He's
gracious,
merciful,
slow to
anger,
abounding in
steadfast love,
relenting from
disaster.
He is
free to
have mercy
on whomever
he will.
And he
invites all
to come to
him for
salvation.
Let's fast
forward to
Jesus in
Matthew 11
28 and
29.
Jesus says
it this
way.
Come to
me all
who labor
and are
heavy laden
and I will
give you
rest.
No
qualifications
on the
all.
All who
are heavy
labor
and are
heavy laden
and I will
give you
rest.
Take my
yoke upon
you and
learn from
me for
I am
gentle and
lowly in
heart and
you will
find rest
for your
souls for
my yoke is
easy and
my burden
is light.
God wants
all people
everywhere to
call upon
his name
for salvation.
And what we
see in the
book of
Jonah is
that the
scope of
God's
saving grace
defies
Jonah's
expectations.
It makes
him angry.
God wants
all people
everywhere to
call upon
his name.
Experience
the mercy
he alone
can give.
All who
call upon
the name
of the
Lord will
be saved.
Salvation
belongs to
the Lord.
Salvation
for anyone
belongs to
the Lord.
So the
point being
made here is
God has the
right to
show mercy
on whomever
he pleases.
So I want
to bring that
to bear in
three ways
in our
lives.
First,
God's
heart for
people must
prioritize how
we live our
lives.
If God
prioritizes people
over plants
because people
are eternal
and plants
are temporal,
we too
must prioritize
people over
things.
Every person
is hardwired by
God to worship
God alone
and there's no
other name under
heaven by which
man can be
saved.
It's the name
of Jesus.
Jesus.
And so,
we've got to
ask the
question,
are we
elevating
something of
more importance
than people?
Or are we
getting distracted?
God's
second thing,
God's heart
for all the
Ninevites must
form our
heart for all
people.
Jonah's
mistake was
believing there
were some
people outside
the reach of
God's saving
grace.
of His
mercy.
And we
can't make
the same
mistake.
Last week
we talked
about some
obstacles to
sharing our
faith.
Fear,
unbelief.
So let me
ask you,
is there
someone or
a group of
people who
threaten you?
Or are
distasteful to
you?
Or you
just don't
believe we'll
be saved if
they hear the
gospel?
So you
run!
You pull
a Jonah.
we're more
like Jonah
than we
think.
And what
God does is
confronts us
with Himself.
He says,
this is who
I am!
All who
call upon
my great
name will
be saved,
even your
perceived
enemies,
even those
you think
are distasteful,
even those
who you
think right
now would
never respond.
All who
call upon
me will
be saved.
God's
love.
It has a
way of
softening
our hearts.
This forms
our mission
as a church.
That's why
we're here.
To make
known the
life-transforming
power of the
gospel of
Jesus Christ
to all
people.
The last
thing I want
you to see
here is
this.
God's
character
is
absolutely
glorious.
worthy of
eternal praise
and adoration
from as
many lips
as possible.
God
continues
today to
be a God
who is
gracious,
merciful,
slow to
anger,
and abounding
in steadfast
love,
relenting from
disaster.
Brother and
sister in
Christ,
can I just
remind you
that you,
by God's
grace,
because of
what Jesus
has done,
you have
experienced
His
relent of
disaster over
your head.
He delivered
you from the
wrath of
God.
Jonah used
God's
character against
him.
He accused
him.
He came
really close
to cursing
God.
He saw
God's
character as
a liability.
We in
Christ,
we don't
see God's
character as
a liability.
God's
character as
an asset.
We see
God's
character and
we are like,
who is like
you?
Gracious,
merciful,
slow to
anger,
abounding in
steadfast love,
relenting from
disaster, my
disaster, and
so we don't
accuse Him, we
worship Him.
We glorify Him.
So today, as
you leave this
building, there's
already people
lining up, I'm
sure.
You've seen all
the chairs set
up for the
parade.
This
afternoon, as
you watch the
participants of
the parade and
the spectators of
the parade,
can I just
encourage you to
see them as
God sees
them?
Image
bearers who
are perishing
and are in
need of hearing
the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
God has
entrusted us with
the only message
that will save
them.
God has
the book of
Jonah is not
about a big
fish.
The book of
Jonah is about
a big God
with a big
heart who
offers a big
salvation to a
lot of people.
Salvation belongs
to the Lord,
our Lord, our
Lord Jesus.
Let's pray.
God in
heaven, we
are freshly
aware of your
great heart for
all people and
we would pray
that God you
would make us as
a church, a
church that is
bold in our
witness and
winsome, that
as those who
have been
delivered from
disaster, that
we would speak
of your saving
grace to those
who would hear.
I pray that God
today, that as
we leave this
building and see
people,
hordes of
people, crowds
of people, that
we would see
them with new
eyes.
Give us a new
heart, your
heart, for all
people.
In Jesus' name,
amen.