Sermon # 35 - The Heart Of A Christian Leader Series

We read in Jonah 4:1, “Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry.” (GNB)

There are two kinds of emotions that Jonah expressed as mentioned in the verse above, one was sadness, and the other was anger. As we meditate on this portion of scripture, we will try to understand the reasons for these emotions, and see what we can learn from Jonah’s experience.

The reason for Jonah’s unhappiness and anger is found in Jonah 3:10, “God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.” (GNB)

God had sent Jonah to preach against the people of Nineveh as their wickedness had greatly increased with the warning that if they did not repent, God would destroy their city in forty days. The people of Nineveh took the words of the prophet Jonah as the very words of God, felt remorse, and repented in sackcloth and ashes. Not only did the people repent, the king also repented, and when God observed their penitence, God relented from the destruction that He has pronounced on them. When Jonah noted that the change in the people also changed the heart of God towards them, and that they were spared, Jonah was overwhelmed with the feeling of sadness and indignation. Jonah was more bothered about his ego, and was not really concerned that the lives of so many were transformed, and thereby spared from destruction. Jonah’s reputation was at stake, and he was really upset about it.

There are so many like Jonah who are troubled about what other’s think of them, when the truth of the matter is that no one really has the time to bother, or even think about another these days. Most often it is our ego or pride that is the cause for the surge of such emotions within us. As children of God if we are struggling with these emotions, we need to analyze ourselves, and set things right with God.

Paul’s experience

The Apostle Paul went through some difficult, and complicated situations too. These are recorded to encourage us as these are applicable to our circumstances today as they were to Paul in his days.

These are the words of Paul to the church at Philippi as recorded in Philippians 1:15-16, “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;”(NKJV)

Paul speaking about some of his contemporaries who preached Christ, mentioned that some did so out of jealousy and animosity, just for the sake of competition, and with the intention to create controversy. They preached in the name of Christ, but their intentions were far from what Christ Jesus taught. While some preached out of goodwill, there were those who preached with the selfish motive to add troubles to Paul, who was already in chains.

We must take note that motives and actions are both important. Sometimes motives will be good, but the actions may be wrong, and so also there are times when the actions will seem good, but the motives behind doing them will be wrong. Even when a message is being preached, we must be able to discern the motive behind the same. There is another version that translates that some preached Christ out of competition, and to create controversy. This is so prevalent even today. Our motive for teaching the word, and preaching the good news of the Gospel should always stem out of a pure heart, and sincere motives. Never should our preaching be done with envy hidden inside our hearts, and also should never be for the sake of competition or to create trouble for other servants of God.

The coming of the Lord is close at hand, and whenever Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God, it was with reference to one kingdom. Jesus is the only way into that Kingdom. There are no divisions in that kingdom, no room for hatred or jealousy. If this is so, we realize that everyone who is a minister of God should do so with oneness of heart and mind, with no room for any sort of divisions. It is a fact that there are differences amongst us, but let us never forget that our God is one, and we are all working for that one kingdom, so let us do so with a pure heart.

Jonah had no compassion for the multitude of people who would be destroyed, and no wonder then he got unhappy, and angry with God. God could have destroyed Jonah for his disobedience instantly, but in His grace God gave Jonah a second chance. Wistfully, when God gave the same advantage to the people of Nineveh, Jonah was not pleased about it. The word of God admonishes us that the measure that we use for others is the same measure that God will use for us. Hence, those areas in our lives that are not in keeping with God and His ways should most certainly be set right.