I Am Jonah
Part 3: Let’s Try That Again
Pastor Ryan Akers
Jonah 3
3rd week of 4 of our current series entitled I Am Jonah. For those of you who don’t know, Jonah is a prophet of God who went on the run when God commissioned him to go preach a message of repentance to the wicked people of Nineveh. Rather than obeying Jonah flees. He doesn’t go east 500 miles instead he travels west 2000 miles to Spain. During that time, God sends a big storm that threatens to destroy the boat he was on along with all the people on the boat. Jonah tells the men to throw him overboard. The men refuse but they can’t get away so eventually they give in and toss him into the sea where God then provides a big fish to swallow Jonah. That in a nutshell is the first chapter. If that chapter reveals anything to us it’s the dramatic contrast between Jonah and the sailors. He was disobedient to the command of God; they obeyed what God told them to do through Jonah. They prayed frequently and fervently; Jonah did not. They had great compassion on Jonah; he seemingly had none on them. In the end, the pagan sailors repented and believed in God, where as Jonah, the Israelite directly called and commissioned by God, would rather be thrown into the sea to die than to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites.
Chapter 2, which we covered last week, looks at the Psalm of Jonah. This is the poem he writes sometime after this whole ordeal is over, possibly when he actually wrote this book. He is reflecting on how he felt in the fish and how God rescued him from death. In this chapter we see Jonah start to “get it.” Jonah spent 3 days and nights in the fish and during that time he awakens to the reality that even though he willfully disobeyed, God still chose to rescue him. He repents for his disobedience and gives God the glory for his undeserved deliverance. We call this grace. Grace is unmerited and undeserved favor. God rescues me even though I don’t deserve it. God’s grace and compassion is one of the major themes of this whole book.
Two questions that we can ask. One, why did Jonah risk his life to disobey God’s will? I’ll answer that in a second. The second question which I’ll answer at the end of this sermon is, “Why did God give Jonah a second chance?” The short answer to the first question, why was Jonah so against the Ninevites, is because Jonah didn’t believe the Ninevites deserved the opportunity to receive God’s grace. He believed they deserved God’s wrath and destruction.
I said this week one but just to recap quickly the Ninevites were an incredibly cruel and evil people. They would rape and kill women, torture and murder children. They would skin men alive then bury them in the desert to die of bleeding and dehydration. They would cut the heads off the dead and create pyramids outside cities they had conquered. They were polytheistic meaning they didn’t worship the one true God they worshipped many gods. They were enemies to the Israelites, God’s chosen people. So it is no surprise that Jonah, an Israelite, would have a hard time hopping onto the first camel he saw to go and give these people a way out from the punishment that is waiting for them. But even though we would probably say they deserved to be destroyed that’s not what God desired.
Regardless of how the Ninevites lived there is no justification for Jonah’s willful disobedience to God’s command. In fact Jonah’s disobedience only proved him to be nothing but a hypocrite. Hypocritical because he would say, as a prophet and follower of God’s law, that he believed in God’s grace, God’s love, God’s forgiveness but his actions in this case proved he believed that God’s grace should be extended only to a select few. Only to those who Jonah deemed worthy to receive it. And in his mind that would mean only the chosen people, the Israelites were worthy of that grace, not wicked pagans. The Israelites should be saved, the pagans should die. But God is going to show him first hand a different way. In chapter 3 after running from God and then being swallowed by a fish we see the recommissioning of Jonah. Now, he may have repented for his disobedience and he may be doing what God wants him to do but whether or not his heart is really in it remains to be seen. Just because he is obeying doesn’t mean his hate for the Ninevites has changed. We’ll talk about that when we cover chapter 4.
Jonah 3:1-4. Here in the first 4 verses we see Jonah’s obedience. He is recalled to do what God wanted him to do originally. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he would have just obeyed the first time. But humans tend to have to make a lot of mistakes before they finally realize that what they were taught by their parents or guardians was actually right all along. It’s funny how as a parent I find myself teaching my kids a lot of the same things my parents used to teach me. But like most kids I was stubborn and didn’t listen. Arrogantly I thought I knew better and that my parents were out of date, out of touch and just not cool enough to listen to. It took me making many of the mistakes they wanted me to avoid in order to realize that what they were teaching me was right. Don’t you ever find yourself thinking, “If I knew then what I know now…” Well the fact is we could have known then what we know now if we would have quit being so stubborn and actually listened to our parents or to the ones who loved us enough to help us not make foolish decisions. God’s the same way. He wants us to avoid a lot of unnecessary mistakes and the way to do that is to listen and obey. If Jonah wouldn’t have been so stubborn and self-centered he could have saved himself a lot of pain. Today, you and I have the Word of God to show us a better way so that we can avoid making unnecessary mistakes and committing sins that go against God’s will for our lives.
When we meditate on the words of God and obey the will of God then we too will save ourselves from having to experience the consequences that come from disobeying God. Just like parents discipline their children so too does God discipline his children when we disobey, not out of anger, not out of hate, but out of love to help show us that His way is right for us and we need to not deviate from the path he desires but instead keep our eyes on Him and obey his will completely. If you don’t read God’s Word then you can’t know His desires for you. Simple as that.
Jonah finally obeys. It took God’s discipline to get him to obey but because of that discipline, which was done in grace and love, Jonah would become a more faithful and obedient follower. This time, rather than running from God’s will he goes to Nineveh. On a side note when you get a chance read chapter 1:1 then read 3:1, then 1:2,3:2,1:3 then 3:3. Do that for the first 3 verses of those two chapters. There is a fascinating parallel happening there. Alright back on track…Again, just because he obeys doesn’t mean his opinion of the Ninevites has changed. He goes into this huge city (60 miles in circumference) and he says what God tells him to say. 8 simple words, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” He may have said more scripture doesn’t say. But man, what a sermon! Wouldn’t you love it if I preached 8 word sermons?! Of course you wouldn’t. “No pastor, preach all day we love it. Who cares if the packers are on!” Sorry I went into fantasy land for a second. His message from God was short, it was direct and it was offensive. Jonah wasn’t like, “Okay what should I say to these people. I know I’ll give them the tried and true sermon that says if you feel bad just look to God and he’ll make it all better. Or maybe the classic three point sermon that gives them three steps to a happy life. Step number one, stop being mean. Ninevites you are mean. Step number 2 think happy thoughts and be positive. Step number three don’t worry be happy. Then I’ll close it out with a poem and a funny story to make them feel good. He didn’t do anything like that. He goes in there and it says he shouts, “forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” Some translations say overturned or overthrown. Obviously Jonah probably liked that part and probably didn’t believe for an instant that such a wicked people would even listen to what he was saying but God was working and the reaction of the Ninevites would have been shocking to pretty much everyone at that time. VS. 5. The Ninevites BELIEVED! But they didn’t believe Jonah’s message they believed God’s message. It was revealed to them that this message was coming from God through Jonah and not a message that some crazy dude that just hung out in a fish for 3 days was making up.
If this part shows us anything it’s that whatever I say to you that is of my own opinion and not from God is worthless. If it’s not from God it doesn’t matter and it’s not worth listening to. I can give you advice and personal opinion and principles to live by all day long and you can walk out of here feeling good about yourself and happy that you now have 3 more things you can do to help solve your problems but if what I tell you and preach to you and teach to you can’t be backed up by the Word of God, if you can’t confirm it with biblical truth then it’s false teaching. It’s worthless. Don’t buy into my personal opinions. Instead listen to God’s Word. If it’s from God then we better listen. The people weren’t listening to Jonah, they were listening to God and it drove them to repentance. If they had responded to Jonah they would have responded out of fear, but because they responded to God they responded out of faith. God revealed to them the truth of who they were, sinners who needed to repent and immediately they recognized their sin and the result of their faith was to take action by fasting and wearing sackcloth. The act of fasting was a symbol of humility and repentance. It also showed their desire to hear from God. Putting on sackcloth which was a very scratchy, burlap type of fabric made of goat hair was typically worn by the poor. The Ninevites wore it to express their complete inability to contend with the divine decree that they were the slaves of the one true and supreme God. In other words this wasn’t some emotional response out of a fear to a turn or burn message. This is as we understand it at this moment in the city’s history a genuine repentance. This is real revival.
Eventually the message of God through Jonah gets to the King. VSS. 6. Even the king leaves his throne, removes his royal robes and humbles himself by fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in the dirt. Not high up on a throne where people bow to him and hang on his commands but he’s down in the dirt just like the poor and the broken. Then he makes a decree that the people were already following but he raises the standard. VS. 7-8. Thousands upon thousands are to not eat or drink. Human and livestock are refused food and water. And even the animals are to wear sackcloth signaling their repentance and mourning. You have to imagine how after a few hours let alone 40 days that animals, people, babies would be groaning and crying from hunger. Thousands upon thousands of people and animals deprived of food and water. The cries from them especially the thousands of animals would be deafening. The king’s desire is that from the deepest point within themselves the entire city would repent and give up their wicked ways. They didn’t just say they were sorry and go on living but they are showing through their actions a deep and genuine brokenness. Then the King says in VS. 9…
The King had hope that when God saw the repentance of him and the people He would relent and not destroy them. He says, “Who can tell?” Basically he’s saying, “Who really knows for sure that God will forgive us but let’s pray he does.” The King is hopeful. Well, Jonah knew God would forgive them which is why he didn’t want to give the message to begin with. The message Jonah gave sounds unconditional but there was a condition. If they would repent God would relent. Jonah knew it was conditional but the king is just hopeful that it will be true. All they can do is wait. VS. 10. My translation says, “God changed his mind” but a better translation would be to say that God relented. In the end God didn’t destroy the city because they repented of their sins. This passage reminds me of a couple of a few things.
1. God is compassionate. God loves people. God is always for people. He is merciful, longsuffering, and committed to persuing the lost. But, we should never just assume that His compassion will be there because…2. God does not ignore righteousness and justice. God is always against sin. He always judges evil. Yes, he loves us but he does not ignore or overlook our sin against him. If he overlooked our sin then it would be impossible to say that he is for us. We need it removed from our lives. We need to be forgiven of our sins. We need God to reveal our sins and shortcomings to us or there would be no hope after this life. Sin must be judged and destroyed because it is everything that God is not and God can’t dwell where sin exist so we need to be released from the slavery of it or we have no hope. But the good news for us (as it was for the Ninevites of Assyria) is that…3. God does not desire destruction; He desires salvation. God’s plans and purposes for humanity never change. God never changes. God desires that no one, not even the ones we would hold up as being the most wicked and evil people on earth perish for eternity but that they would be restored, reconciled through His son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of those who repent and believe. God offers us that gift of salvation not because we deserve it, not because we did enough nice things to earn it but because He desires to simply give it to us. He desires to make us a new creation. This is exactly what happened in Nineveh. Jonah proclaimed God’s truth, the people including the King believed and Nineveh became a new creation. Not because they earned it or deserved it. On the contrary they deserved anything but forgiveness. They received it because God desired to give it to them if they would repent. By his grace, in spite of what they did, God saved them.
Did Jonah like it? Nope. We’re going to see in chapter 4 that Jonah hated that God saved them. It made him incredibly angry. Which brings us back to the question, “Why did God give Jonah a second chance?” He gave Jonah a second chance for the same reason he gave the Ninevites a chance, the same reason he gives us a chance. Because he loves us. Because he wants us to obey Him, to live for Him, to love others the way He loves us. To forgive others the way he forgive us. To grant grace to others the way he grants grace to us. Jonah doesn’t realize it until later just how amazingly patient and gracious God is to us.
And I think God was using Jonah as an example of how you and I act towards others even though God has extended grace to us over and over again. We see what we would call “misfits, outcasts, and losers of society” all the time both in the church and out wouldn’t you say? Actually I would say we see them more outside the church these days because the church has become much more like a clique or a club for the like minded who would rather spend more time fighting over what style of music is more spiritual or if it’s appropriate for the pastor to wear jeans or what activities are offered so their selfish wants are met rather than a place for the hurting, widowed, orphaned and the outcast of society that need Jesus. We assume many things about people who aren’t like us, don’t act like us, dress like us, fit in our social class. People who are criminals, Goth, gang members. People who are drug addicts, homosexuals, adulterers, gossipers, homeless. Our stereotypes tend to be that anyone in prison is guilty and in a gang, anyone in politics is rich and corrupt and anyone who lives in a trailer or low income housing is trailer trash, moochers, red necks, lazy, living off welfare.
Instead of reaching out with the love of Christ to these various groups of people we instead shun them. We are embarrassed by them, uncomfortable around them and quick to judge them. We don’t love them, we hate them. In that way we are just like Jonah who would say outwardly that God desires to show grace to all but inwardly we only believe grace should be extended to the ones I deem worthy or the ones who are socially just like me. But here’s the real truth. If I could get you as the body of Christ to learn anything it’s this…anytime we have thoughts of superiority, we must remember that we don’t belong there any more than they do. We deserve as much grace from God as we are willing to extend to others. That’s the truth. It’s the hard truth, but there is something for all of us to celebrate as I wrap up our time this morning.
1. GOD IS GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE. Because God is gracious and compassionate, we can belong to this marvelous thing called the body of Christ, the church. It’s not perfect but when it’s working right then all people are welcomed. Because God is gracious and compassionate, we can respond to His good words to us. Because God is gracious and compassionate, we can repent of our evil ways and be determined by His power to live a life characterized by His holiness. Because God is gracious and compassionate, He will relent of His judgment when we turn to Him. If Nineveh can repent, anyone can repent. Maybe there is a person or a group of people that you do not like at all. Maybe you think it is hopeless for them. …an alcoholic parent…an abusive spouse…the children who terrorize the neighborhood…that deranged neighbor …the criminal in prison…that co-worker is always trying to make you look bad. And when it comes down to it, you despise them. You consider them hopeless. But…if Nineveh can repent, anyone can. No one is hopeless!
Because no one is hopeless this means that all of us who call God our Father, Christ our Savior and the Holy Spirit our great counselor should also be gracious and compassionate. We are called to love rather than hate, to care rather than be inconsiderate and to be of strong faith and courage rather than afraid. We are to also boldly, proudly proclaim God’s message just as Jonah proclaimed it. The message for us is found in many places but in Romans 10:9 Paul says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” It’s fascinating that it’s the person of Jonah that would point to Jesus. Jonah who was hesitant to proclaim the truth becomes the sign of what occurs to Jesus who is the truth. Jonah is a sign of the resurrection of the risen and true Savior. And the people of Nineveh didn’t have Jesus, didn’t have Moses, didn’t have the law and prophets yet they believed. How sad it will be for those of us who do have truth, who hear it and still refuse to believe it. As long as I am breathing I have to speak of who Jesus is and what he has done. When we faithfully proclaim the Word belief and repentance will follow.
Perhaps this morning you need a new start because up to this point you haven’t been a whole lot better than the Ninevites. Your life is characterized by…sexual indulgence…pride…selfishness…lack of love…laziness…materialism and all other manners of sin. I encourage you to discover that God is gracious and compassionate, so much so, that He is not content to leave you as you are, but lead you to what you must become. A redeemed, passionate follower of Jesus Christ.
I ache for this church. I ache for our spiritual condition. I’m not sure that there are many in here that are truly honoring Christ with their lives. Yes, there are some who take the Gospel seriously, who love Christ, who desire each day to know him better and love him more but there are many more of us who go to church out of habit and routine and then go about our lives however we want. True faith cannot happen without true repentance. Authentic Christ centered transformation cannot happen without true repentance. There might be many here this morning that need to repent. To repent means to turn away from. To do a 180 and never look back. To go down one path then turn around go down the other way. It means to recognize that how we’ve lived, what we’ve done has not honored Christ. It means to recognize that we are unworthy, that we truly need Jesus and that without him we are without hope.
Whether or not we want to believe it time is short. God will only be patient for so long. The Ninevites had 40 days. God will not wait forever. Our lives will end. Our opportunities will run out. If you don’t know Jesus as your savior this morning now is the time, if you know Christ but have strayed now is the time to repent and return, if you are a Christian now is the time to pray that God would give you an urgency to proclaim the truth to anyone who would listen. I don’t want us to just be a group of people that gather together and go home. I want us to be the body who not only sees people coming to Christ but people growing up in Christ. That we won’t just come to church but we’d be the church both here and during the week. If you call on God he will forgive. What an amazing, incredible God we serve. I hope you realize that this morning.
Prayer
