Jonah 1:1-3
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
Jonah, a prophet, was commanded by God to preach to the citizens of Nineveh.
• The city was the capital of Assyria. They were Israel’s enemy and Jonah was asked to preach to his enemies.
• This was hard even for a prophet of God. The Assyrians were known in history to be arrogant and cruel conquerors.
• Jonah hated the Assyrians for their atrocities and evil. They do not deserve to be saved.
Does God know how evil they were? YES. The Lord says, “…preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
• God saw their wickedness. Jonah saw their evil. But they responded very differently.
• Jonah wanted them dead, God wanted them saved. Those Assyrians did not matter to Jonah, but they mattered to God.
It’s easy to judge when you see evil. That’s understandable. That’s most reasonable. That’s human.
• But God’s FIRST response was NOT judgement but kindness. That’s divine.
• God, being holy and righteous, is the One most qualified to judge and it was fully justifiable in this situation. Yet God chose to show kindness and grant mercy.
• Ps 103:8 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
God is the GOD OF THE SECOND CHANCE. So God sent them a prophet.
• It’s not easy to understand God’s heart, Jonah realised. Likewise for us today.
• God chooses to love us despite our sins. He forgives us when we fail Him. He shows us kindness when we do not deserve it.
• You matters to God. No matter how bad you think you are, you matters to God.
If God did not give up on Nineveh, God will not give up on you.
• No matter how far away you have drifted from Him, God will give you a chance, a second chance, a third and fourth chance. His door is always open.
• So God directed His rescuer Jonah to travel East over land to Nineveh. But Jonah booked passage over sea, on a ship headed to Tarshish in Spain, in the extreme West.
He tried to run away from God’s assignment, he admitted.
• During that journey, a tremendous storm arose and he was thrown overboard, into the Mediterranean Sea.
• God did not give him up and called someone else to do the job. He sent a big fish swallowed him up and Jonah spent those quiet moments reflecting and prayed.
• 2:10 “And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
Jonah 3:1-2 “Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
• God did not give up on Nineveh. God did not give up on Jonah.
• Deliberately, consciously, stubbornly, Jonah had run away from God. Yet, God came to the prophet a second time and allowed him to carry on his ministry.
• God did not punish him. God did not fire him. God gave him a second chance.
God is the GOD OF THE SECOND CHANCE. God will not give up on you.
• He gave Nineveh a second chance. He gave Jonah a second chance. He will give you a second chance.
• How many second chances has God given you? Give thanks.
Chapter 3 tells us when the reluctant Jonah eventually preached God’s message, the people repented!
Jonah 3:5-9 “5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
"By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.
10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.”
What a wonderful thing to see! It calls for a great celebration, but Jonah was “greatly displeased and angry” (cf. 4:1)
• Jonah 4:2-3 “He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
• Jonah was not happy seeing others blessed, especially those who do not deserve it. It is not easy seeing good things happen to bad people.
Jonah’s anger revealed 2 things –
(1) He prefers to have his will fulfilled more than God’s will; and
(2) He sees only his moral self-righteousness. He sees himself as superior than others.
Phil 2:3-4 “3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This is the attitude of Christ.
Jonah needs to UNDERSTAND the HEART of God.
• He may know God in his mind but not with his heart. The Pharisees praise God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.
Jonah’s heart needs to be CHANGED.
• He hated the Assyrians so much that he saw God’s forgiveness of them to be the worst thing that could have happened.
• He didn’t love them; He didn’t want them saved; He didn’t want them blessed.
• Jonah knew in his mind that God is gracious and compassionate, yet he failed to understand what that really means.
Jonah 4:5-11 5Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
It is by GRACE that you have this shade. You did nothing to earn it. You did not grow it.
• And when it withers, frankly you have no claim on it. It’s not yours in the first place. It’s a gift. Yet you are angry over something you receive by grace.
• And it is just a small thing. An insignificant vine.
11But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
• Can you put things in perspective? Just children alone, there were > 120,000 of them in this city! Shouldn’t I be concerned?
• Indirectly addressing Jonah, shouldn’t you be concerned? If you can be so disturbed by a vine dying, shouldn’t you be concerned that thousands are dying away in their sin?
• They needed to hear the message of salvation. They needed to be saved.
We need to be reminded again of the Lord’s heart for us today.
• Ps 103:8 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
• We are all beneficiaries of God’s grace and love today. Not that we deserve it or that we are good, but because God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.
• Jonah must understand that he himself has received God’s grace and love. He needs to extend it to others, even so his enemies.
We need to do the same today. Let’s be kind to one another.
• Ask the Lord to change our hearts that we may extend the same kindness that we received from God, to those around us, especially those we find hard to love.
• God expects that from us. God expects that from Jonah.
• “Love your enemies” is not a nice slogan; it is real.
I am amazed to see how patient God was with Jonah.
• He gave him many opportunities to learn – alone in the belly of the fish, and alone with the vine in the desert - to reflect and pray. He enlightened him, again and again.
All of us need times like these, when we can be alone with God and reflect.
• Do I really understand God’s heart? What does He want me to do? Am I obeying Him?
• It will be during such times of solitude that we come to understand God’s will a little more, and not be overwhelmed by our own self will and self righteousness.
• Sometimes, our thoughts can seem so righteous and right, but in the light of God’s holiness and grace, they may turn out to be selfish and unspiritual.
As we remember the Lord’s Supper today, as we take the cup and the bread, let us remember the Lord’s great love for ALL PEOPLE. Not just us, not just a selected few.
Phil 2:1-8
2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
That’s what the Cross means. This is the heartbeat of God.
• Extend God’s kindness to you, to your children, your brothers and sisters, to your colleagues…
• Even so to those you do not like. Forgive them the way God forgave you. Love them into the Kingdom of God.
Let’s sing this song CHANGE MY HEART, O GOD.
