Where Displeasure Meets Grace—part Ii

WHERE DISPLEASURE MEETS GRACE-II—Jonah 4:1-11

A man walks into a doctor’s office.

The man has a sausage coming out of his ear, a waffle out of his nose & a slice of bacon out of his other ear.

He asks the doctor what’s wrong.

The doctor replies, "You’re just not eating right."

The man’s displeasure met the doctor’s grace.

Need:

God’s people can become disappointed/displeased with the direction God takes or the way God does things.

Jonah’s displeasure with God’s actions was met by God’s grace.

Displeasure is met by God’s grace.

What is present where displeasure meets grace?

NEGATIVELY...

Where displeasure meets grace there is Inappropriate...

1. Anger

2. Glory

3. Intervention

4—Where displeasure meets grace there is

INAPPROPRIATE GRIEF(:2c-3)

—Explanation:(:2c-3)

:2c—“...for I knew that Thou art a gracious & compassionate God, slow to anger & abundant in lovingkindness, & one who relents concerning calamity.”

Jonah knew that God was...

“Gracious”—Giving when undeserved.

“Compassionate/Merciful”—Considerate of personal plight

“Slow to anger”—Willing to weigh a situation & apply anger as a last resort.

“Abundant in lovingkindness”—Loves unconditionally

Habitually “relents concerning calamity”/“Repentest Thee of the evil”—Uses calamity as a means to an end rather than an end.

Jonah basically saw God as a big patsy with power.

:3—“Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.””

Jonah Grieved over his loss of control.

God also grieves over His loss of control...BUT a fundamental difference—God’s will is perfect because He is perfect . Man’s sin causes God’s loss of control.

—Argumentation:

Jas. 4:1-7—“What is the source of quarrels & conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust & do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious & cannot obtain; so you fight & quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask & do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil & he will flee from you.”

Eph. 4:30-31—“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness & wrath & anger & clamor & slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

—Illustration:

My stop at Taco Bell in Tallahassee/Walk in place our orders/Wait! Hold everything!...sheepishly— ‘I forgot to go to the bank.’/A customer tells me, They have an ATM here!/Inappropriate GRIEF

—Application:

?You expressed Inappropriate GRIEF before God?

?What occurred as that Displeasure met & interacted with God’s grace?

5—Where displeasure meets grace there is

INAPPROPRIATE REASONING(:4)

—Explanation:(:4)

“And the LORD said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

KJV—“Do you well to be angry?”— ‘Is your anger a good thing? Is it justified?

Argumentation:

1Cor. 14:20—“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature.”

1Cor. 3:1-3—“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy & strife among you, are you not fleshly, & are you not walking like mere men?”

1Cor. 13:9-10—“For we know in part, & we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

—Illustration:

Ruby’s 5-year-old developed a strong interest in spelling once she learned to spell STOP. After that, she tried to figure out her own words. From the back seat of the car she’d ask,

"Mom, what does FGRPL spell?"—"Nothing," Momma said.

"Mom, what does DOEB spell?"—"Nothing," Momma answered.

"Mom, what does LMDZ spell?"—"Nothing, sweetheart."

The 5-year-old carefully set down her crayon, sighed & said, "Boy, there sure are a lot of ways to spell Nothing!"

Sam & Ellinor/

Building a house where you know they will widen the road/Get mad when they actually do widen the road/Inapproapriate REASONING

—Application:

?You expressed Inappropriate REASONING before God?