Are You Having A Spiritual Temper Tantrum?
Text: Jonah 4:1-11
Introduction
1. Illustration: At the beginning of a new year, a high school principal decided to post his teachers’ new year’s resolutions on the bulletin board. As the teachers gathered around the bulletin board, a great commotion started. One of the teachers was complaining. "Why weren’t my resolutions posted?" She was throwing such a temper tantrum that the principal hurried to his office to see if he had overlooked her resolutions. Sure enough, he had mislaid them on his desk. As he read her resolutions he was astounded. This teacher’s first resolution was not to let little things upset her in the New Year.
2. Two-year olds aren't the only one that throws temper tantrums. Sometime adults are just as guilty. Often our attitudes reveal that we are having a spiritual temper tantrum.
3. One of the most popular spiritual temper tantrums that people in the church throw has to do with whom God offers His grace.
a. We think its great when God offers His grace to those we like and enjoy being around.
b. However, when He save those less desirable people, in our opinion, we just assume God leaves them in their sin.
4. The truth of the matter is...
a. God's grace is for everyone
b. It is God's grace to give as He chooses
c. He gives it out of love
5. Let's all stand as we read together Jonah 4:1-11
Proposition: God chooses who gets His grace.
Transition: First we need to understand...
I. God's Grace Is For Everyone (1-5).
A. Greatly Upset Jonah
1. Jonah's preaching had been well received and he had what most preachers only dream of...it worked!
a. Everyone from the greatest to the smallest repented of their sins and got right with God.
b. Everything went exactly as it was planned...except for Jonah.
c. He was greatly upset that they repented because he wanted to see God wipe them off the map.
d. They were the enemies of Israel and Jonah hated them.
2. As a result, "This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry."
a. This verse uses very strong language in the Hebrew. The word that is used is associated with evil and calamity, and can be translated "To Jonah is was disaster, a great disaster, and he became extremely angry."
b. It shows the true nature of Jonah's heart and his feelings toward the Ninevites.
c. The Hebrew expresses that Jonah burned with anger and became inflamed with hatred.
d. This word is used five times in Jonah, four of which are in this chapter. To understand Jonah's anger we have to understand the historical context of the Book of Jonah.
e. The Ninevites were enemies of the Israelites and had been very brutal in their treatment of Jonah's people.
f. It would be like God telling us that He was going to forgive Osama Bin Laden.
g. His anger is in contrast to God's anger of Nineveh's sin, but the major difference was that God wanted to see them repent and Jonah did not.
h. Who is Jonah to complain, especially since he himself was recently so glad to be saved from destruction?
i. He who praised the gracious mercy of God in ch. 2 turns around and deplores it in ch. 4! (Allen, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament).
3. So he did what a lot of church people do...he complained. The text tells us, "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."
a. Jonah brings his prayer to God, but it is the very opposite of the prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
b. Its key terms, Jonah's life and Yahweh's grace, are indeed echoed, but in quite different tones.
c. This is not the new Jonah who followed with firm tread the signpost pointing to Nineveh, but a reversion to the "old man" who ran away from God's will and service (Allen).
d. Jonah begins his prayer, or more appropriately complaint, in the same way that the sailors did on the ship.
e. This indicates that his attitude towards Yahweh's ways are no better than the pagan sailors.
f. He knows that God is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love.
g. However, he does not want God to treat the Ninevites this way. He wants to see them suffer!
h. He had anticipated that this is what Yahweh would do. He knew this is how things would turn out and it was not what he wanted (Bruckner, 123-124).
4. Jonah's prayer is so self-centered that he actually says to the Lord, "Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
a. It is very possible that Jonah's attitude toward the Ninevites has to do with peer pressure.
b. Imagine how his friends and relatives would feel toward him once they found out that he had been the catalyst of Yahweh's forgiveness toward the Ninevites.
c. He figured it would be better for him to die than to have to face that kind of abuse.
d. He also seems a bit proud because what he predicted would not come true now. His attitude is one of selfishness and arrogance (Bruckner, 125).
5. But look at how the Lord responds to Jonah, "The LORD replied, 'Is it right for you to be angry about this?'"
a. Yahweh's question is an answer to Jonah's prayer, which bypasses the explicit petition and goes to the heart of the problem.
b. The question intends to elicit from Jonah a negative reply.
c. Yet God does not condemn, but invites Jonah to condemn himself and admit that his anger was not good (Allen).
d. This is the most important question in the Book of Jonah.
e. God wants to know if it does any good for Jonah to feel this way.
f. This is a moral question more than a legal one.
g. Yahweh wants to know if Jonah's anger and hatred serves any good purpose.
h. God is trying to have an open dialogue with Jonah, but Jonah wants nothing to do with the Lord at this time. He simply walks away (Bruckner, 126).
6. So he does. In v. 5 it says, "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."
a. Here we learn that Jonah is still in the city. His temper tantrum and prayer have all happened in the Nineveh.
b. This is actually good news for the citizens because now they know that God has accepted their forgiveness.
c. Jonah's prayer is the best new that this preacher could deliver. However, Jonah is not happy about it.
d. He is still hoping that God will wipe them off the planet. Despite his anger and disappointment, Jonah leaves Nineveh and his life in the Lord's hands.
e. Jonah makes himself a shelter reminiscent of the ones that the Israelites were commanded to build every year as memorial to the years they wondered in the wilderness.
f. It show that Yahweh is willing to extend His blessing to the whole world including the evil Ninevites (Bruckner, 126).
B. God Do We Really Want Him?
1. Illustration: There was a point in the history of one of the churches we Pastored in Arkansas, long before we got there, that the Deacons would stand at the back door and decide who could come in and who could not. If they didn't approve of how you looked, smelled, dressed, or where you lived they would refuse to let you in. I am so glad that they didn't see me before I gave my life to Jesus because they probably wouldn't have let me in. Of course, they probably wouldn't have let Jesus in either.
2. The Gospel is for "whosoever will."
a. Acts 2:21 (NLT)
But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’
b. It doesn't matter what you've done.
c. It doesn't matter where you live.
d. It doesn't matter what you wear.
e. It doesn't matter how you wear your hair.
f. If you call upon the Lord you will be saved and you belong in this church.
3. Who are we to stand in God's way?
a. Acts 11:17 (NLT)
And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
b. If God opens up the door of someone's heart who are we to oppose Him?
c. His desire if for everyone to come into a relationship with Him.
d. He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, but we want to bolt the door so they can't get in.
e. But heaven is meant for every tribe, nation, language and tongue.
f. Don't stop them; let them come to Jesus!
Transition: Since God's grace is for everyone...
II. It Is God's Grace to Give As He Chooses (6-8).
A. Lord God Arranged
1. God was very displeased with Jonah's attitude and the spiritual temper tantrum he was throwing. So He decides to give Jonah an object lesson.
2. In v. 6 it says, "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."
a. The God of the sea, who can produce a fish to swallow Jonah, is also the God of the earth and its plants.
b. He produces a plant, which grows Jack-in-the-beanstalk fashion and is soon high enough to shade Jonah's head with its huge leaves.
c. The narrator specifies the plant as probably the quick-growing ricinus or castor-oil plant, which in hot climates grows like a tree and gives ample shade with its palmate leaves (Allen).
d. As is typical of the Lord in this book, He uses non-human resources to get Jonah back on track.
e. First, he used the storm to cause trouble for him, and then he sent along a big fish to keep him from harm and deliver him to the place he needed to be.
f. The plant shaded Jonah from the sun, eased his discomfort, and he was very pleased with this turn of events.
g. The vine actually eased Jonah out of his temper and back towards God's way of thinking (Bruckner, 128).
3. But just when Jonah's attitude problem seemed to be healing, "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."
a. Now God uses an the situation to teach Jonah about His mercy. God provided the vine to shade him, and since it was God who gave it was also God's to take away.
b. This is what God wants Jonah to learn about mercy. Since it is God's mercy it is God's right to give it to whomever He chooses.
c. So God sends a worm to eat the vine which causes it to die.
4. Then, "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."
a. Then God sends a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. If you think that the wind would relieve Jonah think again.
b. If you have ever had the AC go out on your car in the middle of summer you know what I mean.
c. You roll down the windows and the hot air blowing on you not only doesn't cool you off, but it actually makes you hotter and more miserable.
d. It makes Jonah so hot that almost suffers from heat stroke. Notice that it says he grew faint and wished he was dead.
e. The words rendered wished he were dead occur in only one other place in the OT, in 1 Ki. 19:4, concerning Elijah's death-wish.
f. 1 Kings 19:4 (NLT)
Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
g. Indeed Elijah was sitting under a broom tree when he said it, while Jonah had lately been sitting under the shadow of a ricinus.
h. The narrator's echo of the Elijah story is here, as in v. 3, a deliberate anti-Jonah device.
i. Jonah may mouth Elijah's words, but against that giant of a prophet this squirming victim of his own ideology cuts a pitiable figure.
B. God Gets to Choose
1. Illustration: An umpire named Babe Pinelli once called Babe Ruth out on strikes. When the crowd booed with sharp disapproval at the call, the legendary Ruth turned to the umpire with disdain and said, "There’s 40,000 people here who know that the last pitch was ball, tomato head." Suspecting that the umpire would erupt with anger, the coaches and players braced themselves for Ruth’s ejection. However, the cool headed Pinelli replied, "Maybe so, Babe, but mine is the only opinion that counts." Believers need to realize that God’s judgment is the only one that counts and resist the temptation to argue over disappointments. We need to rely on God’s sovereign choices for us regardless of whether they seem popular or not at the moment.
2. God gives his grace to whomever He chooses.
a. Exodus 33:19 (NLT)
The LORD replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.
b. It is God's choice to whom He gives grace.
c. It is God's choice to whom He shows mercy.
d. It is God's choice to whom He shows compassion.
e. It is God's choice to whom He reveals Himself.
3. God's grace is God's call and not ours!
a. John 6:44 (NLT)
For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
b. It's not our grace to give; it's God's.
c. It's not our mercy to give; it's God's.
d. It's not our compassion to give; it's God's.
e. We should be grateful to share the Kingdom of God with whomever God calls.
Transition: It is God's grace to give and...
III. He Gives It Out of Love (9-11).
A. Shouldn't I Feel Sorry?
1. Now that the Lord has given Jonah his object lesson He show Jonah the application of the lesson.
2. He says to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
a. The Lord asks Jonah if he has the right to be angry that the plant died.
b. Did Jonah plant it? Did he water it? Did he cultivate it?
c. No, it was given to him by God, and therefore, it was God's to take away.
d. Which is, again, what God wants Jonah to learn about grace. If God chooses to forgive the Ninevites that is his right and Jonah should not question it.
e. The divine question, which Jonah did not lower himself to answer before, now stings him into a vehement reply, by which he unwittingly plays into Yahweh's hands.
f. For now the question is asked not about Nineveh's reprieve but about the shriveled ricinus.
g. The innocent-sounding question as to the rightness of the prophet's anger, which in v. 4 clashed with Jonah's conviction by inviting a negative reply, now cunningly elicits a positive protest (Allen).
3. The lesson continues. In v. 10 it says, "Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly."
a. "Let us analyze this anger of yours, Jonah," comments Yahweh. "It represents your concern over your beloved ricinus—but what did it really mean to you?
b. Your attachment to it could not be very deep, for it was here one day and gone the next.
c. Your concern was dictated by self-interest, not by a genuine love.
d. You never had for it the devotion of the gardener. If you feel as badly as you do, what would you expect a gardener to feel like, who tended a plant and watched it grow only to see it wither and die, poor thing?
e. And this is how I feel about Nineveh, only much more so. All those people, all those animals—I made them, I have cherished them all these years.
f. Nineveh has cost me no end of effort, and they mean the world to me. Your pain is nothing to mine when I contemplate their destruction" (Allen).
g. God reminds Jonah of why He is so willing to forgive. The Lord is willing to forgive because He has a vested interest.
h. He loves us, even when we sin, because He created us.
i. He is patient, forgiving, and merciful towards us because we are His creation.
4. Then the Lord wraps up the lesson by saying, "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?”
a. God's point to Jonah here is clear. Jonah had been concerned about a plant he did not create.
b. So should God be concerned about the 120,000 people that He did create?
c. God asks Jonah to see the Father heart of God, desperate to to reconciled to the people he created, cared for, and caused to grow.
d. He also invites Jonah to share in His compassion for sinful people (Bruckner, 130).
e. The Ninevites deserve compassion not only as creatures for whom God cares but also as virtual children compared with the Jews.
f. They know no better, for they have not had the spiritual advantages of Israel, and so it is necessary to make allowances for them (Allen).
B. Compassion For the Lost
1. Illustration: I remember reading a Peanuts cartoon strip in which Lucy comes up to her brother Charlie Brown and does something that is very unusual for her. She says--I love you. But Charlie Brown keeps responding by saying: no you don’t. And each time Lucy answers a little louder: yes I do, I really love you. But Charles Brown has been rejected so many times he keeps saying: it can’t be true. So in the last square, Lucy has reached the limit of her patience and she screams out in a loud voice: Hey stupid, I love you.
2. God loved us so much that He was willing to sacrifice the most import thing of all.
a. John 3:16 (NLT)
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
b. He loved us so much that gave His only Son.
c. He loved us so much that He was willing to let His Son be murdered.
d. He loved us so much that He was willing to let His Son take our punishment.
e. He loved us so much that it is beyond comprehension.
3. God loves us because He knows we need His help.
a. Matthew 9:36 (NLT)
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
b. He knows without him we are lost and helpless.
c. He knows without him we will perish.
d. He knows without him we are spiritually bankrupt.
e. He knows without him we are spiritual blind.
4. God loves us so much we should love others - unconditionally!
a. 1 John 4:19-20 (NLT)
We love each other because he loved us first. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
b. We should be concerned for others because Jesus was concerned about us.
c. We should reach out to others because Jesus reached out to us.
d. We should accept others because Jesus accepted us.
Transition: Do we have the right to not be concerned for others salvation?
Conclusion
1. The truth of the matter is...
a. God's grace is for everyone
b. God's gives it to whomever He chooses
c. God gives it because He loves us
2. Are you concerned for those around you?
3. Are you sharing Christ with those you come in contact with regardless of how much you like them?
4. If not you are throwing a spiritual temper tantrum!
