By Pastor Greg.
My
pastor friend put sanitary hot air hand dryers in the restrooms at his church, but after two weeks he took them out. I asked him why and he confessed that they
worked fine, but when he went in there he saw a sign that read, "For a
sample of this week's sermon, push the button."
I
hope what I say today is more than just a bunch of hot air.
For
the past few weeks, we have been studying
the story of Jonah. But rather than focus
on the famous miracle, we’ve been looking
at several destructive attitudes exhibited by Jonah. He was a man filled with fear, with
indifference, hatred, and anger. And his
story becomes a mirror; by exploring Jonah’s life, we can examine our own.
If
you’ll recall, Jonah eventually did travel through Nineveh and the surrounding
towns, preaching the message God had given him.
Surprisingly, the people repent … even the king! Because of this, God changed His mind. But …
This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained
to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this,
Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and
compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are
eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now,
Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” 4 The Lord replied, “Is it
right for you to be angry about this?”
5 Then
Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as
he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the Lord
God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad
leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the
plant.
7 But God also arranged
for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant
so that it withered away. 8 And as the sun grew hot, God
arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his
head until he grew faint and wished to
die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed. 9 Then
God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
10 Then the Lord said, “You
feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came
quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000
people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t
I feel sorry for such a great city?”
[1]
Look at his words in verse 3. “Just kill me now.” Wow, that’s harsh. Jonah would rather die than see these people
receive grace. And he knew that’s what
God was about to do; extend mercy to these individuals
who have just repented.
This, of course, caused Jonah to
become angry.[i] But who was he angry with? Jonah was angry with God because He changed His mind. He
would not destroy the people of Nineveh … which is what Jonah knew would happen. That’s part of the reason he refused to obey
the Lord’s command – why he jumped on a boat headed in the opposite
direction. Jonah knew God very well. He knew that God was merciful and
compassionate. He was aware that God was filled with unfailing love and that He
was slow to anger. Jonah knew this, but he did not want these
people to know how merciful and gracious God can be.
Are we guilty of doing the same
thing?
Part of the reason I wanted us to
look at the life of Jonah is that there
are tremendous parallels in our world
today. Today, there are people we
hate. Their actions make us cry out to
God and beg Him to strike them down. We think
the world would be a better place without them.
Yet we are faced with the reality that God is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and filled with unfailing love; that He is eager to turn back
from destroying people. And we know this is God’s character because we
have seen it in Jesus.
Jesus knew there was no one beyond
the grace of God. On the other hand,
Jonah did not want these people to receive the grace of God. I wonder if we do the same thing. Are we are convinced that certain people
should never have their sin forgiven? Do
we believe their crimes should be
beyond God’s grace? Do we want their sins to be held against
them? We have repented, but are there certain people we do not want to repent? Do we become angry with God when He shows them unfailing love? Do we wish
calamity would strike these people? Do we
rejoice when bad things happen to
those we hate?
When our enemy hears the message
of Jesus, all it takes is for them to repent of their sin, and bang! God offers grace. He shows them mercy. They become adopted into the family of God
just. like. us. Does it seem fair? I guess that all depends on how selfish we
are with God’s grace.
But see, that’s the whole
point. It’s God’s grace, not my
grace. I don’t possess the power to
forgive someone of their sins. Only God
can do that. So, if He chooses to show a
person mercy, that is His prerogative.
After all, they may have wronged me, but they sinned against God. So, He is the One who must choose between
justice and grace. I, on the other hand,
am merely a messenger. We
are messengers. And sometimes God asks
us to take the message to those we hate.
If we know that God is merciful
and loving; if we know God is slow to
anger, why would we withhold this news from others? Is it because we are afraid of them? Is it because we don’t care about them;
because we hate them? Maybe it’s because
we don’t want our enemies to receive the same forgiveness we received. Like Jonah, we try to impose our will upon
God. When Jonah became angry at God for
showing grace to the people of Nineveh, God asked, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” In other words, what right did Jonah have to
force God to comply?
Jonah had no answer.
I doubt we would be able to answer
as well.
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do
not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 or the Lord will see
it and be displeased [2]
(Proverbs 24:17-18). In God’s eyes, it
is evil to rejoice when bad things happen to your enemy – to those whom you
hate. However, we should rejoice when
those, whom we hate, discover the grace and mercy of God. Our enemy has become
our brother.
Let me ask you this: are you okay
with God loving your enemies? That’s the
real lesson here. We need to realize
that God loves our enemies. And as
Christians, we need to be transformed into people who love them as well.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers.
(2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Jon 4:1–11). Carol Stream,
IL.
[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Pr 24:17–18). La
Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[i] Part of Jonah’s problem may
stem from God’s actions in the past. In
the early years of Israel, God actually promised to attack her enemies. As Israel crossed the Jordan River and
traveled into the land of Canaan, God stepped in and overpowered Israel’s
enemies (Joshua 11:8; Judges 6:9; 2 Chronicles 20:24). Even after this incident with Nineveh, God
intervened in Jerusalem, killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (2 Kings
19:35). So, Jonah may have been thinking God would do the same with these people from
Nineveh, however, God must have clearly indicated his plans to Jonah – that He
was going to offer mercy before
judgment. In Jonah 4:2 it’s apparent the
prophet knew this. He knew what God
planned to do in this particular situation, but His plan made Jonah angry.
Through
the lesson of the plant and the worm, God caused Jonah to see the people of
Nineveh from a different perspective (Yes, Jonah changed his attitude in the
end, which is why he wrote this book).
God reminds Jonah that the people of Nineveh did not know the difference
between right and wrong. They didn’t
know their behavior was wrong in God’s eyes.
Thankfully, a man of God delivered the message, and they repented. They recognized that they had been acting in
evil and wicked ways. And they
stopped. It’s true. The people of Nineveh changed their wicked
ways for at least two generations.
Unfortunately, this repentance will not last. In just two generations, the people will
return to their wicked ways. King
Ashur-dan and his son lived changed lives, but Ashur -dan’s grandson returned
the nation to their wicked ways.
Tiglath-Pileser III began attacking neighboring nations about 10 years
after his grandfather died. 150 years
after Jonah preached, Nineveh will be destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment