Message
The Compassion of A Merciful God
Jonah 4:5-11
Summary
Jonah preached
The Ninevites repented.
God relented from sending punishment
It made Jonah a “grace extinguisher”.
They are the people who say . I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity
But then, when God acts in a way that is exactly as he says, they get angry or upset.
So instead of being in the city celebrating with the Ninevites Jonah walks off in a frustrated huff.
Read Jonah 4:5-11
vs.5
Jonah seeing what would happen to the city
This is an example of what happens when we hear God, but we don’t listen.
- God has clearly stated what he is going to do.
- God doesn’t let us tell Him what to do, he tells us.
- Then we respond in obedience and faith.
• when we are told to come in repentance … don’t come with excuses
• when we are told we are forgiven … don’t keep living as if we are failures.
Hear and listen.
Romans 8:26
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Let me emphasise
It says “God works for the good”.
Not “God works good”.
This promise is not about God making good things happen.
God is working His energy with His people to bring about good.
Let’s not just hear what God says, but also listen.
Because when we don’t we can find ourselves in a space where we are completely misunderstanding what God is doing.
That is where Jonah was.
When Jonah was in that space God taught Jonah a very visual lesson.
The growing of the vine.
- God provides quickly and abundantly.
- God is giving me “good”.
- God and I are now best friends.
Reflect on this … how easy it is to fall into that space.
Danger becomes that our commitment to God is defined by our life circumstances, not by our relationship with the all power-full all mighty
…
And such a commitment can be quite fragile.
God sends the worm.
And a bit of sun.
And everything changes.
I am so angry I want to die!
How angry do you need to be to get to that situation.
Jonah has completely lost all perspective.
And that is the purpose of the visual lesson.
God is helping Jonah gain perspective. To stop just thinking about himself. To stop just thinking about the moment.
To have a bigger perspective.
Library …
… collected.
… burnt.
How I would feel
The concern you have … shouldn’t that be the same concern you have for people.
Jonah look down at the city.
Should I not be concerned about that great city?
- These people are in my image … I created them.
- There are 120,000 plus children … plus their animals.
- They are ignorant of their sin … they do not know their right from their left.
- Shouldn’t I have a greater concern for them, then you had for the vine?
Of course the answer is yes.
But we actually don’t know what Jonah does.
Maybe he stubbornly walks away from Nineveh still thinking that God should have destroyed the place.
Or maybe He repents and says, “Yes, God is right, he should be concerned for these people”.
Which means the question still sits in the air.
And it is a really good question for us to think about, especially in this COVID19 time.
At the moment
We have had a lot of shade from the vine:-
expand …
But our situation may make us feel that the vine has been eaten and the sun is scorching
expand …
Maybe we are angry
- angry because our circumstances have become so fluid.
- angry at how it all started.
- angry at over reaction … or that people still are not taking this seriously.
- angry because of the financial costs.
ANGRY BECAUSE THIS IMPACTS ME
In the background there is God who is still saying:-
Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh
… for those who ignorantly reject me.
… for the distant and afraid.
… for the broken and searching.
… for the hurting and hoping.
How often have you heard it said, “Many people need a catastrophe as it will be the only situation that will help them come to know Jesus.”
How often have you personally said those words about someone.
In that context I’ll ask the question again.
Do you have a right to be angry?
We are going to draw to a close. But if you want to keep thinking and talking about this verse here please do so.
To help in here is a Question and A Challenge
The Question
Has the situation of the past weeks revealed that my commitment to God is based more on the provision of the shady vine than it is on my belief that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
The Challenge
In the midst of all the emotions we are going through, including even our anger, try and identify circumstances, situations and outcomes where God is actively showing His concern for the cities, and the people, because he is a God who is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Prayer
