Grace That Offends: When God Is Kinder Than We’d Like - Jonah 4

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. All right. Jonah chapter

four, we're going to do the entire thing. This

is probably my favorite chapter in the entire

book because it points out all of our flaws as

people, but specifically myself. And so the kind

of the big idea of what we're going to unpack

today is God's overwhelming goodness often clashes

with our human perceptions of justice, revealing

our own foolishness in resisting His mercy. So

the title of my sermon is God's Goodness in Our

Foolishness. How many of you guys like you are

Big on fairness you want things to be fair I'm

definitely that way. I think if you are raised

in a household with multiple children You want

things to be fair if you're a parent you want

things to be fair everything's about fairness

and Here we are going to unpack a little bit

about the fairness That we feel like we deserve

and God says doesn't exist so If you have a Bible,

Jonah chapter four, if you don't have one, there's

some right in the back there. We'd love for you

to take one as our gift to you. It will also

be up here on the screen, but I want the text

in front of you so you can see it. All right,

so we know that Jonah is a prophet. We know that

he's Hebrew. We know that he's very nationalist.

We know that he is running from God. We know

that he's been swallowed up by a whale because

he's running. And all of this we've talked about

is all God's mercy from his own decisions. And

so now he's gone. Last week we unpacked, he went

to Nineveh, he preached. And I think Jonah may

be the only pastor that I've ever heard of. who

literally preaches and a revival breaks out and

he's mad about it. You know what I mean? All

these people are getting saved left and right.

They're confessing their sins and Jonah's like,

this is terrible. So now we see Jonah, and I

want you to see a parallel. Hopefully you'll

see it. If not, I'll point it out soon. But there

is a parallel to Jonah right here to a New Testament

story as well. So here we go, Jonah chapter four.

And again, Jonah is the, Jesus is the better

Jonah. So here we go. Jonah's anger and the Lord's

compassion, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly

and he was angry. So again, they're all coming

to Christ. The Ninevites are his enemy. And so

he's angry about it. And he prayed to the Lord

and said, Oh Lord, is not this what I said when

I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste.

to flee from Tarshish or to Tarshish. For I knew

that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow

to anger and abounding and steadfast love and

relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord,

please take my life from me, for it is better

for me to die than to live. And so let me ask

you guys this. How many of you guys have been

dramatic like this? I definitely have been dramatic

like this. And many times my wife just says,

eat a Snickers bar. Verse four, and the Lord

said, do you do well to be angry? And Jonah went

out of the city and sat to the east of the city

and made a booth for himself there. So he made

a makeshift kind of hut. And he sat under it

for the shade until he should see what would

become of the city. Now the Lord got appointed,

you should underline or highlight or circle that,

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. That's also key, you

need to underline that. So Jonah was exceedingly

glad because of the plant. Verse seven, but when

dawn came up the next day, God, what is that

word? appointed a worm that attacked the plant

so that it withered. When the sun rose, God did

what? He 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. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to

be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do,

to be angry, angry enough to die. 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. All right, first and foremost,

before we get into my points or anything like

that, what stands out to you just reading the

text out loud? What words, what verses, like

what stands out to you in this chapter? Remember,

we're learning how to dissect the scripture and

feed ourselves. So what do you see here? What

stands out Self -pity Yep, what else? A lot of

appointing. Yep. We see that God also appointed

what earlier on He appointed a great fish, right?

So we keep seeing this he appointed he appointed

he appointed what else What else what's a phrase

that repeats I'll give you a hint. God is the

one saying it. Yeah. Do you do well to be angry?

Are you right to be angry? So these are kind

of key points that God is trying to highlight

for us. So my first point is this. It'll be right

up here if you're taking notes. There is no such

thing as fair in God's economy. And so one of

the first things Jonah teaches us in chapter

four is that fairness is not a currency of God's

kingdom. Grace is. We scream about fairness.

Jonah wants fairness. Why? Why do I say that?

Why does Jonah want fairness? Because he sees

the Ninevites as less than, more evil, and they

deserve judgment. And so he's like, it would

only be fair, God, if you go ahead and smite

them, wipe them out. And he's like, but you won't

do that. and I knew you wouldn't do that. That's

why I didn't want to go. How silly does that

sound? I'm serious. How silly does it sound?

It's like I can get into an argument with one

of my children and I'm like, you're making no

sense right now, but they're in such anger. They're

talking in circles. You ever been in an argument

like that? Where you're like, you're not even

making sense. That's Jonah in this moment. He

is so upset. He knows God is merciful. He knows

God is gracious. He knows all of these things.

And he's like, and that's why I didn't want to

go in the first place. And you're like, aren't

you a prophet though? Aren't you supposed to

go and speak? And so in Jonah, verse two, he

says, 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." That sounds like

a good thing to me, but Jonah's like, this is

a terrible thing about you, God. I mean, it's

good when I need it, but not good when my enemies

need it, right? Notice Jonah isn't confused about

God's character. He knows what it is. He quotes

Exodus 34, the very description of God that Israel

cherished. And Jonah isn't ignorant to it. He's

offended by it. Because God treats people according

to grace instead of fairness. And when that's

the case, when we are treated, God treats us

with grace instead of fairness, the math never

works out the way we want it to. What I mean

by that is we want the math to work out when

it comes to us. not when it comes to others.

I love God's grace when it comes to me. Don't

necessarily love God's grace when it comes to

others. So scripture is filled with unfair grace.

I want you to think through this for a moment.

Where in scripture do we also see God's unfair

grace? Yeah, yeah the thief on the cross awesome

where else The prodigal son excellent what else

Adam and Eve good. I think about there's a parable

There's a parable that that Jesus tells of the

laborers in the vineyard, right? If you're not

familiar, those who worked for one hour received

the same wage as those who had worked all day.

And so this is God showing us that it's not about

fairness, it's about His grace and love and compassion.

And so if fairness were the standard, none of

those stories would sit right with us. And what

I mean by that is, is like we love the idea of

grace until it has something to do with someone

else. But when we read those stories, we go,

oh, yes, thank you, Lord. Thank you for your

grace. But then when we see it played out in

front of us, we go, don't like that. Got to be

fair, God. Got to be fair. And so I actually

struggle with fairness myself. It's actually

one of my extreme faults as a human being. I

have a strong desire to want to be fair. And

so it's not just a principle, though. And what's

funny is it has to be fair in my estimation.

You see what I'm saying? Everyone else can agree

that it's fair, but if I look at it and say it's

not fair, I'm like, no, I'm right, you're not.

And that's how fairness tends to work. I can

go into a flying rage if I feel like I or anyone

I care about is being treated unfairly. Don't

you dare, don't you dare try to make the rules

or maybe kind of bend the rules. and my kid loses

because of you bending the rules. I will come

unglued, I promise you. I can't stand unfairness.

Is fairness a good thing? Yes, I think fairness

is a good thing. But when fairness becomes the

ultimate, it can turn toxic. And that's my point,

is by looking at myself and my own desire to

want fairness, it becomes very toxic in the way

that I see things. And so Jonah feels the same

way. We see him being angry, he's bitter, and

he's bold enough to tell God exactly why. He

says in essence, this is why I didn't go to Nineveh,

because I knew you'd forgive them. Sounds pretty

toxic. Nineveh wasn't misunderstood. They were

violent. They were brutal and they were enemies

of God's people and Jonah didn't want their redemption

He wanted their destruction This is gonna be

right up here If you would Weston you can pop

this up here and that's when fairness becomes

deadly Because fairness demands people get what

they deserve and grace gives people what they

don't You and I deserve death we don't deserve

God's grace and yet We get God's grace and we

get his forgiveness and we get his mercy though.

We don't deserve it So let me ask you this in

what ways are you raising your fist at God Demanding

fairness What is it in your life that you go?

That's not fair. God. They don't deserve that

I deserve that they don't Where has God's goodness

towards others made you angry instead of grateful?

Where has his blessing on someone else felt like

a personal offense to you? So I'm gonna give

you a confession of your pastor again I'm gonna

tell you when I was in a kind of a Jonah esque

moment And so when we moved from from st. Joe

to plant the church in Lincoln for college students.

There is another church in town that had just

recently planted, and I do that because they

launched with 300 people. That's already a church.

Like that's not a launching of a church plant,

that's a church. So here we are, my little family

and a ragtag team of... one former student of

mine and a friend of mine and his wife and his

baby. And here we are trying to get the gospel

on the campus. Here we are trying to do everything

we possibly can do to grow this little church

and get the gospel out there. And every time

I turn around, it seemed like that other church

was just exploding all the more and they're getting

another building and they're planting another

church. And like, they started the same time

we did. It was good to have 30 people on a Sunday

for us, man. I was like high -fiving people.

If you miss church, I pretty much knew it because

like there was nobody in the building, you know

what I mean? And so it was so painful to watch

this other church, they're baptizing people,

they're having these massive events where they're

just baptizing thousands of kids and all these

kids are coming to Christ. It's really good things

and things that that I should be super pumped

about. But instead, I'm literally throwing my

fist in the air going, God, why I we moved here.

We're struggling and you're not blessing anything

we're doing, but you're going to bless them.

Are you serious? Like we've taken all of this

risk. Where are you at? Like, why do they get

that? They literally took 400 people from other

churches. I'm not still bitter, by the way. It

sounds like I am, but I'm not. They're doing

great things, and they're planting churches all

over the place, and it's great. And I'm actually

very good friends with the two main pastors.

But in that moment, in my own hurt, in my own

insecurity, I saw it as unfair. And God would

continually ask me what he asked Peter. when

Peter was like Jesus says hey, there's gonna

come a day where Someone else is gonna walk you

and they're gonna dress you You know I'm talking

about in the book of Acts and Jesus is foretelling

Peter's death and then Peter goes What about

him? He points at John Does anybody remember

what Jesus says to him? Yeah, what does it matter

to you? What I do with them, you focus on you.

And that's the way Jesus was with me. What is

it what I do with them as a church? You focus

on what I've called you to do here. And so we

did get to baptize people. And of course, you

guys know the story. COVID ultimately shut it

down. There's this idea that like fairness, we

have to have fairness. We have to have fairness.

And God's like, that's not how this works. There

is no such thing as fairness in my economy. So

Jonah's anger reveals something deeper than frustration.

It reveals a heart that values being right over

being like God. And that sets the stage for the

rest of the chapter where God patiently exposes

Jonah's small mercy in contrast to God's great

compassion. And because the real question of

Jonah 4 isn't whether Nineveh deserved grace,

it's whether Jonah understood the grace that

saved him. What did I tell you guys when we started

this book? What did I tell you guys? Who is the

book of Jonah really about? God. And you really

see it in chapter four, right? Point number two.

Self -reflection. is a call of grace. So if we

look at verses four and five, you'll see what

I mean. And the Lord said, do you do well to

be angry? He's asking Jonah to reflect. Jonah

went out of the city and sat in the east of the

city and made a booth for himself there. He sat

under it for the shade until he should see what

would become of the city. So Jonah was upset.

He goes and he pouts. And then he's like, well,

hopefully something will happen. So Jonah explodes

in anger and God does something surprising. He

does not rebuke Jonah. He does not even correct

him. He does not pull rank like he does with

Job. Instead, he asked a simple question. Why

are you angry? What's making you so angry? And

this is one of the most gracious moments in the

entire book. God is not asking because he lacks

the information. He's asking because he knows

that Jonah lacks self -awareness. Jonah doesn't

see it. God is like, hey dude, do you not see

the grace and mercy that has been over your life

the entire time? So the question is actually

an invitation like what we talked about with

Adam and Eve He is calling Jonah out of the shadows

and it's an opportunity for Jonah to pause and

examine What is really going on in his heart?

But Jonah's response tells us a lot. What does

Jonah do? What did we just read in verse 5? What

does he do? God asked him a question, but does

Jonah answer? No Like a five -year -old he takes

his ball and he goes home, right? He goes and

he pouts. And so verse five, it says that Jonah

storms out of the city and he builds himself

a shelter and he sits to see what will happen.

In other words, Jonah refuses to answer the question.

He would rather sulk than self -reflect. And

so this will be right up here if you want to

take this down. God's questions are acts of mercy.

Throughout scripture, God often uses questions

as tools of grace. Let me ask you this. When

you have been in times where you are angry or

frustrated with God, have you ever had God ask

you questions? Maybe you're reading the scriptures

and things begin to stand out and all of a sudden

you're like, that hurts. Have you ever had that?

I have many times. We see it all throughout scripture.

What did he ask Adam and Eve? What was the first

question he asked? Where are you, right? He asked

Cain the same thing he asked Jonah, why are you

angry? For the blind beggar, Jesus asked, what

do you want from me? God's questions are not

meant to shame us, they are meant to slow us

down. Many times God presses into our hearts

the same way he does with Jonah, through his

word, through prayer, through preaching, or sometimes

even through a conversation with a trusted friend

who asked just the right question. That's prophetic.

What I mean by that is, prophecy isn't necessarily,

when someone says, when God gives somebody the

gift of prophecy, it's not necessarily this,

well, I don't believe in the whole seeing the

future thing, because that's not prophecy. Prophecy

is God speaking through you in a way that realigns

you back. So let me give you a couple of examples

of this. Have you ever been in a service and

a preacher is preaching, they don't know your

circumstances from Adam, but it definitely feels

like they're reading your mail? You know what

I'm talking about? That's the gift of prophecy.

That's God speaking prophetically unknowingly.

He's not saying, the pastor's not saying it up

there saying, thus saith the Lord. He's just

preaching the word and the Holy Spirit is penetrating

your heart. That's God asking questions. Or have

you ever been in a conversation with a friend

who is a trusted friend, and you can be sharing

with them maybe even just something that angers

you or frustrates you, and them being a good

friend who's just taking it all in, and then

they just ask a question of you that's just like,

that makes you go, uh. And you want to immediately

justify, right? Yeah, but you don't understand.

No, no, no, no. I'm just, let's just work this

out. You know what I mean? Have you ever had

one of those kind of conversations? That again,

that's God asking questions. That's not your

friend being prophetic. That's God speaking through

them, trying to get you to slow down and let's

self -reflect for a moment. All of this, by the

way, is God's grace. This is God redirecting

you and getting your attention. Hey, let's focus

in. You know what I mean? There are times where

I mean, I'll give you a for instance when just

over here when Michael was wrestling and I told

you guys he said he's gonna go undefeated this

year. Ask me if he went undefeated. He did not.

The only match that we're letting him do on a

Sunday was today. Ask me if he went undefeated.

He did not. He got pinned all three times. He

got pinned all three times over there. And so

I got on a FaceTime with him just over here,

just a moment ago, and I wanted to look him in,

you know, because I wanted to see him. Hey, we're

right here, right? Hey, none of this matters.

It doesn't matter. Let's remember that come next

week, you won't even be able to pinpoint those

boys in a lineup. You won't remember their faces,

right? So let's redirect and understand what's

really going on, right? Let's remember where

we're at. We're just moving forward. We're growing

from this and that's what God does when he asks

us questions He's refocusing us and go hey, let's

get here for a moment Let's get real and let's

let's kind of see everything that's before us

because right now you're really caught up in

yourself And so that question of why are you

angry? That question matters because God because

anger is often a secondary emotion It's usually

not the root, it's the fruit. Anger is almost

always not the issue. It's usually something

much deeper. And so God is gently probing Jonah's

heart, asking, what is really bothering you?

Do you guys think that anger is really Jonah's

problem? No, absolutely not. So we know that

there's something much deeper, and so that's

why God is going, hey, hey, hey, hey, what's

going on here? Let's talk about this. Why does

my mercy feel like an offense to you, Jonah?

What outcome are you demanding from me that you're

not getting? Because I told you what I was sending

you there. And God does the same with us. And

so what is it about the way God is handling a

situation in your life that you believe you could

do better yourself apart from the way God is

maybe doing it? Where are you convinced that

his wisdom needs your correction? I'm gonna ask

that again. Where are you convinced that his

wisdom needs your correction? Pain exposed is

pain being healed. Sometimes when God digs beneath

our anger, what he reveals is sin. It can be

idolatry, it can be pride, it can be entitlement,

it can be control. But, and hear this but, okay?

Hear me. But sometimes it's something else. Sometimes

when we're angry at God and he's doing something

and he starts kind of poking at that sore spot,

sometimes it's just past hurt that hasn't healed.

Sometimes it's trauma. From our past that hasn't

healed Sometimes it's failure that hasn't healed

And so that trauma that hurt that failure we

can we can bury it really deep Because dealing

with it feels too painful or too complicated

and so we stuff it down We move on we cope we

can cope through all these different avenues

to just distract And then when God's spirit presses

on it, we react and we explode. And so it's like

a child with a thorn buried deep under the skin.

What do you have to do when your kid comes to

you and they have a thorn in their hand or wherever

and it's painful, but sometimes, you know, it'll

go underneath the skin. What do you typically

have to do? Yeah, you got to peel that back,

right? It doesn't feel too good. It stings, right?

And for a child, many times they're like, oh,

what are you doing to me? This is terrible. Let's

just leave it there. We're like, can't leave

it there, dude. Just chill out for a second.

And we begin to do minor surgery, right? And

this is what God does with us when he's asking

questions. He's going, on the surface, you think

everything is fine. But when we touch this spot

right here, you get a sharp reaction and you

get pretty emotional. And so the pain isn't new,

it's just finally being exposed. And when God

presses there, it can feel like anger, it can

feel like resentment, it can feel like defensiveness.

But this is not cruelty, it's grace. Why do I

say it's not cruelty? Why is God, if God is pushing

on that and you're reacting so sharply, why is

that God's grace? Huh? Yeah, absolutely. We find

healing in it. I was watching a show yesterday

and there's a kid who loses his dad and he is

blowing up on his aunt because his mother had

to be taken away and so he's living with his

aunt and he's exploding on her for nothing. And

then ultimately what she says is, is she's like,

you can deal with grief in one of two ways. You

can be like most people and don't talk about

it and stuff it way down. And you can live just

like this where you're a ticking bomb that people

have to kind of walk around on eggshells, or

you can be like other people who talk about it.

And the more they talk about it, the less it

hurts. Why? Because our brain begins to heal

as we begin to navigate these deeper issues.

And so God doesn't want you walking around like

a ticking time bomb. He wants you to be healed

and walk in wholeness. And so many times in His

goodness and in His grace, He is going to push

and He's going to probe and He's gonna go, that

right there, that's infected and we need to deal

with it. Let's cut it out. Doesn't feel good

in the moment, but I promise you, like anything

else, that you've ever had that maybe got infected

or maybe hurt and then ultimately you got the

you got the medication that you needed and all

the things in the moment didn't feel good but

you were sure glad you did it afterwards right

lol your back the surgery wasn't necessarily

great and the aftermath of the healing wasn't

good right but are you are you happy you did

it now yeah And this is the same way with us,

when God is asking questions and he's digging

deeper, many times he's going, this is my grace,

this is my goodness. I know it doesn't feel good

in the moment. So God asked hard questions, like

I said, through his word. And instead of answering

it, we can distract ourselves. He exposes something

tender and instead of dealing with it, we withdraw.

But unanswered questions hardens our hearts.

God's probing questions are invitations to wholeness.

And if we let him, God uses self -reflection

not to crush us, but to free us. Point number

three. I've called this point for verses six

through eight, Lessons from Creation. So let's

read that quickly. 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. But when dawn came

the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked

the plant so that it withered. 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. So lessons

from creation in verses six through eight, the

story takes an unexpected turn where God stops

debating Jonah and starts teaching him using

creation itself. And so it says the text says

that the Lord appointed a plant and then he appointed

a worm and he appointed an east wind, meaning

none of this was accidental. All of it was on

purpose. It's not random. Every element is intentionally

placed by God. And I'm gonna show you how amazing

God's intentionality is. What does the Bible

say about when Jesus says, he goes, hey, the

birds of the air, they get fed how? By God, right?

The lilies are adorned because of God. God is

teaching a lesson of Jonah at the same time feeding

a worm God knows what he's doing Everything is

intentional. This will be right up here. If you

want to write this down God appoints more than

we realize The word appointed it matters That's

that it's there and repeated because it's trying

to be flashing red lights And it tells us that

God is not merely reacting to Jonah. He is orchestrating

a lesson God appoints the plant to grow, giving

Jonah shade and relief. Jonah gets exceedingly

glad. Then God appoints a worm to destroy the

plant and Jonah becomes furious. Then God appoints

the scorching sun and wind until Jonah is faint

and once again wishes to die. The same God stands

behind all of it. Why does this matter? Our verse

of the week, Jesus tells us the same truth in

Matthew 5 45. That God causes the sun to rise

on the evil and the good and sends rain on the

just and the unjust. This again goes back to

fairness isn't a thing, grace is. It's common

grace and uncommon grace. Common grace is this.

We know plenty of wicked people who are millionaires

and billionaires. That's not God, that's just,

I mean it's God, but it's like, it's just common

grace. It's just his, hey. This is how it is.

We can look at it and go, that's unfair. And

God's like, it's how it is. And so God stands

behind all of these things. And so that means,

put this right up here for me, if you would Weston,

write this down. Blessings in this world are

not proof of righteousness and hardship is not

proof of God's absence. That's something we all

need to be reminded of. Both are tools in the

hands of a sovereign and gracious God. Even the

hard things are grace. Every one of these moments,

the plant, the worm, the heat, is grace to Jonah.

Why do I say it's grace? Is Jonah living in sin

in the moment? Is he being idolatrous? Yes. This

is God going, hey. Let's focus in. You're missing

it. So the plant, the worm, the heat, all of

it is grace. God reminds Jonah that comfort is

a gift, not a right. I'm going to say that again

because in the culture that we live in, it would

seem that we feel that it is. The plant reminds

Jonah that comfort is a gift, not a right. The

worm exposes how quickly Jonah's joy collapses

when his comfort is threatened. The scorching

sun presses Jonah to the end of himself. God

is desperately trying to show Jonah something

simple but profound. Jonah, you're not in control.

I am. The good things in Jonah's life are because

of God. Everything, I said it earlier, everything

he's had up into this moment, God's grace. And

even the painful things that are allowed by God,

are not to destroy him, but to shape him. The

hard things that Jonah has thus far experienced,

have they been for his goodness? Yeah, absolutely.

Did Jonah create a lot of it? Yeah, absolutely.

It's God, you guys have heard me say this, that

is an example of God being fully sovereign, in

control of all things and still, Allow us to

make our own decisions. God didn't force him

to do any of those things He did and God's like,

okay We're gonna we're gonna walk down this road

But ultimately you're gonna see But here's the

thing Grace can do one of two things. This is

how we respond as people and as believers Okay,

when we get this common grace and this uncommon

grace We can either be hardened by it or we can

be refined by it. Here's what I mean. Scripture

often uses heat as an image. Heat can harden

clay until it is unworkable. Or heat can refine

metal, burning away impurities until something

stronger and purer remains. It's the same heat,

but very different outcomes. And so the question

is not whether God brings heat into our lives.

The question is, what are we doing with the heat

and what is it doing to us? Are you being hardened

or are you being refined? Everything Jonah has

is grace. And so it's God is peeling back Jonah's

illusions of self -sufficiency. Jonah is a prophet

by grace. Jonah has a platform by grace. Jonah

has the ear of the king by grace. Jonah was sent

to preach repentance to an enemy nation by grace.

The storm was grace, the belly of the fish was

grace, the plant was grace, the worm was grace,

the faintness under the sun, once again is grace.

Do you see it? All of it is for God's purposes,

trying to redirect and realign the vision that

Jonah has. And all that Jonah is and all that

Jonah would ever become is all because God, not

because of Jonah. And God is lovingly dismantling

Jonah's belief that he is entitled to anything

at all. Point number four, it's our last one.

This is the most Logan Marek point I've ever

made in a sermon. Don't be a one -sided vending

machine. Let's look at nine through 11. But God

said to Jonah, do well to be angry for the plant.

And he said, yes, I do. Be well to be angry,

enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the

plant for which you do 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, the great city, in which there are more

than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right

from their left and also much cattle. So why

do I say don't be a one -sided vending machine?

because Jonah is looking at this and God is going,

hey, you want my grace, you wanted me to rescue

you from the belly of a whale, from the belly

of a great fish, right? Jonah prays, he wants

to be redeemed, he wants to be rescued. You want

these things, but you are unwilling to give it

to others. And so the reason why I say don't

be a one -sided vending machine, what do you

do with a vending machine? You put money into

it, to get something out of it. So we want God

to give us grace, but we don't want it to be

extended to others. And so Jonah, once again,

begs for death, not because he's suffering injustice,

but because his comfort is gone. The plant is

gone, the shade is gone, the thing that protected

him from the scorching heat is gone. And God

presses Jonah one last time. In essence, God

says, you're grieving a plant you had nothing

to do with. Why does why does God ask him that

question? What is he trying to say? Right, but

why does he make but why does God point to the

plant in particular because he says you care

about a plant Right So he's like so what what

God is doing here if my question if my question

you're not it's not making sense He specifically

says, this is a 24 hour plant. It's here and

it's gone. And you care more about that thing

than you do about people created in my image.

This thing, here for 24 hours. Those things are

created in my image and you care more about that

thing than you do those things. So again, this

is God going, hey, are we here? He's gotta saying

you didn't grow the plant, you didn't sustain

the plant, and yet you care more about it than

about people. And God exposes Jonah's hypocrisy.

If you care this deeply about a plant you didn't

make, why should I not care about the people

that are made in my image, people I formed in

the womb, people whose lives, families, and futures

hang in the balance. You can't stand the scorching

heat, but you would love for your enemies to

experience eternal heat. Are we serious right

now, Jonah? God is not being sentimental. He's

just being just and merciful. He's saying, Jonah,

should I not desire repentance instead of destruction?

Should I not want family trees to change, crime

to end, wickedness to stop, premature death to

be spared? Because remember, they are a wicked

city. They are brutally murdering not just the

surrounding nations, but those inside. And so

what do they do when they start repenting? It

starts with the king. We talked about that, right?

He's casting off his clothes and they're all

laying in sackcloth. They're all repenting. And

God's going, you don't want family trees to change.

You don't want to see this entire city go from

being your enemy to being your ally. Jonah, what

are we doing here? Jonah is more worried about

the here and now that he is on the eternal. So

I'm gonna ask you this, are you more focused

on what's happening here than what's happening

eternally? Because I gotta tell you, you're gonna

spend more time over there than you will here.

So, God then brings it home. He says there are

120 ,000 who do not know their right hand from

their left. Who is he talking about? Children.

Children don't know their right hand from their

left hand. He's saying there are 120 ,000 kids,

innocent lives, those who would suffer if judgment

fell, even though their caretakers are now willing

to repent, are not willing to repent. Jonah,

you should see this. You should understand this.

You should reflect my heart, but Jonah doesn't.

He wants to be a recipient of grace, not a dispenser

of it. And so Jonah is a one -sided vending machine,

happy to receive the payment of grace, but unwilling

to dispense it, to dispense hope to anyone else.

And in doing so, Jonah doesn't just withhold

mercy, he misses a miracle. Why do I say he's

missing a miracle? What's the greatest miracle

that we can see performed? Repentance. Seeing

people come to Christ, that is a miracle. And

Jonah is missing out on a miracle. He would rather

go up on a hill and want to see their downfall.

And instead he's up there while they're all repenting.

An entire city is repenting. Lives are changing.

God is moving and he's up there pouting. Where

else do we see something like that happen in

the scriptures? There's a story we've already

hit on at once. What is Jonah reflecting? The

prodigal son. But here's the thing, Jonah is

both. He's the prodigal and the beginning. He

prays, God spits, God has the great fish spit

him out, right? We're seeing the mercy, we're

seeing the grace. He's like, I'm coming home,

Jesus. And then what happens when God does what

he said he's gonna do, Jonah then becomes the

brother who sits outside of the party for his

brother. and pouts. And so Jonah is pouting in

self -righteous pride outside of the walls and

he's missing a miracle. When we live like one

-sided vending machines demanding grace for ourselves

while resenting it for others, we miss the goodness

of what God is doing. We rob ourselves of joy

because their blessing is our blessing. Their

grace is a reminder of our grace. and their new

hope is the same hope that we live by. When you

see someone come to the saving knowledge of Jesus,

it should make everything inside of you well

up with all of this joy because all of heaven

is rejoicing and you just witnessed a miracle,

a hard heart becoming soft. And now you get to

see and experience, oh man, they are experiencing

the very same grace that has saved my life. And

it should make you want to go and share it more.

And so, to bring this home and to close, I want

you to imagine with me a man who is being rescued

from drowning. Pulled out of the water at the

last second, lungs are burning, his life is flashing

before his eyes. And someone drags him onto shore,

brings life back to him, wraps him in a blanket

and saves his life. Now imagine that same man

later that day is standing on a pier and he sees

someone else fall into the water They're thrashing.

They're panicking. They're going under and instead

of helping he crosses his arms and he says something

along the lines of well This shouldn't have been

standing so close to the edge. That's on them

That's Jonah and if we're honest that's us when

we receive grace but refuse to extend it It's

absurdity. All of us know what it's like to be

drowning, drowning in our own sin or physically

drowning and to be saved. Grace saved Jonah.

Grace saved you and I. And we should extend that

and offer it to others. The gospel never produces

one -sided vending machines. It produces rescued

people who throw life preservers. So the question

Jonah leaves us with and God leaves us with is

simple. Will you stand on the shore, arms crossed,

or will you remember the water that you were

pulled from? Let's pray.