Themes
in the book of Jonah: The Pursuing heart of God
A)He is the God of the 2nd
Chance { Shows mercy
B)But another major theme of
the book of Jonah is the Sovereignty of God
1) What
is the Sovereignty of God? Put simply:
That means that God does
what He wants / when He wants and How He wants – and whatever He does is always
perfect.
C) Jonah struggles with the
Sovereignty of God
We
saw that Ch.3 ended in a Revival – 600,000 Ninevites turning to God
A)Now if the Bible was a book of stories made
up by men, the Book of Jonah would have ended right there.
B)This is great story, an evil empire, a stubborn
prophet, a Compassionate, Longsuffering God.
1) The stubborn
prophet breaks down and delivers God’s message to the evil empire,
2) they repent
and God holds off His judgment and everyone lives happily ever after.
C) That’s how man would end it.
But you see this
is not a story conceived in the mind of man, it’s a work of the Spirit that is
designed to show us the heart of man and the heart of God.
A)So as we came to Ch.4 – We
saw that Jonah wasn’t excited about that
CH.4:1 But it displeased Jonah
exceedingly, and he became angry.
B) Noted that the English words that are
used here don’t even come close to conveying what this actually says in the
Hebrew.
D The literal Hebrew here would go something
like this, “But it was evil to Jonah, a great
wickedness and he was burning.”
The repentance of
these people & God’s subsequent mercy, was viewed by Jonah as a grave
injustice.
A)In his mind,
God had actually done evil, He had violated His own holiness & it was
burning Jonah up.
B) Jonah says to God in v.2
This is why I didn’t want to go to Nineveh because I knew this is what you
would do – because you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
C) I knew if they repented you would
forgive them – and quite frankly God I don’t like them –
1) I wanted to
see them Judged
3 "Therefore now, O LORD,
please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!"
Here is what is
happening – God is drawing outside of the lines – and Jonah doesn’t like it.
A)Jonah has created a box that He wants God
to fit in / Set parameters for God to function in – God
is not staying in those parameters
B) God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness
and loving kindness was fine when it applied to
1) it was great
when it saved Jonah out of the belly of the great fish.
C) But it was not so
fine when it was applied to pagan Gentiles and it was down right
evil when it was applied to
D)Jonah was mad because these wonderful attributes
of God weren’t working in Jonah’s favor /
1) God
wasn’t doing what Jonah thought He should do
E) So God is going to give Jonah a little
object lesson in the Sovereignty of God
V.4
Then the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"
A) Note Jonah doesn’t even
answer – He just leaves
B)I am out of here: That is
usually the reaction of someone who Knows they are wrong! They Run
5 So Jonah went
out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a
shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become
of the city.
A)Now
what is Jonah doing here? Remember, his message was “40 days and
B) If all of this repentance took place in ten
or fifteen days, then there was still time for the Ninevites to blow it and
return to their sin and wickedness.
C) If they did, God could still wipe them
out and he would have a ring side seat.
1)I believe that
this is what Jonah was hoping for.
Have to wonder
what the People of
A)I wonder if many unbelievers feel that
way about the Church – Why do they seem so mad at us?
B) A lot of Christians come across like
they are mad at the World. What should be our stance? –
1) What do we see
in Jesus ?
2) Hate sin but love the sinner. Hate sin/ hate
injustice ? But
we need to love the sinner
C) Seeing people the way that Jesus did is
seeing them as being sheep without a shepherd . People in need of direction / People in need of
Forgiveness
Been said :
Forgiveness is the deepest need of man and the highest achievement of God
A)Mercy imitates God and irritates Satan.
B) If you want to be like God, be merciful.
Be forgiving. Be slow to anger /
1) slow to
criticize, slow to find fault.
C) So it seems that Jonah is sitting there
hoping that things fall apart –
1) and that
D)Jonah is angry and depressed – focus is
in the wrong place
Reminded me of the story of
the Grandkids who played a joke on their grandpa –
Grandpa was a
sound sleeper
Each
afternoon Grandpa would lie down for a nap. One day, the kids decided to put
Limburger cheese in his moustache. It wasn’t long before he awoke sniffing.
“Why, this
room stinks,”
he said as he got up and went out into
the kitchen. He wasn’t there long until he decided that the kitchen smelled too,
so
he walked outdoors for a breath of fresh air. Much to Grandpa’s surprise, the
open air brought no relief, and he proclaimed, “The whole world stinks!”
That’s
the kind of mood Jonah is in. As far as Jonah is concerned, “the whole world
stinks.”
A)God
saw that Jonah needed an attitude adjustment.
B) There he sits, feeling sorry for himself, & judging the city God
had just pardoned!
1) Here is a
guarantee recipe for depression: Do what Jonah did & remove yourself from
people.
C) Hey
if you want to be miserable do what Jonah id – Isolate yourself from people and
sit back from a
distance and watch and analyze and JUDGE
D) Here are 10
steps to overcoming depression: Step one: Do something good
for someone else. Step 2: Repeat step one, 9 times!
The
place where Jonah should have been – in the city encouraging these new converts
– discipling them and teaching them
A)But
instead where was he – a spectator on an hill side
B)If
you want to be blessed get out there and Minister.
Now
at this point If
I were God I would have blasted Jonah the 500 miles back into the middle of the
Mediterranean, & this time had him pick up not by a big fish, by a small shark w/big teeth!...but that’s not
what God did –
He
is way more gracious than I.
We see God’s response in the next verse? 6 And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up
over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery.
So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
A)Here
is what God does – he looks at Jonah pouting because God just saved 600,000
people that Jonah was hoping would burn in Hell. …
B) God says: I think I’ll bless him by bringing
him shade from the hot Middle Eastern sun.
1) Isn’t that amazing ?
C) Here we have for the 1st
& only time in the book, that Jonah is happy!.. Grateful = rejoiced w/great joy
1)Over
his own personal comfort being met!
D) This is Jonah’s problem is he is so self
absorbed all he can think about is himself
Jonah has his shade and he is happy – but
God is going to mess with him here –
A)Here
comes His object lesson on the Sovereignty of God.
7 But as morning dawned the
next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8
And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and
the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint.
Then he wished death for
himself, and said,” It is better for me to die than to live."
9 Then God said to Jonah,
"Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"
And he said, "It is right
for me to be angry, even to death!"
What
a “pouty baby”! { I couldn’t have handled Jonah at this moment!
A)Q:Has the Lord ever asked you this…“Is it right for you to be
angry?”
B) At
your wife ? At your Husband ? At someone else in the Body of
Christ? At
your Boss ?
1)
At God Things are not going the way I wanted Lord
D) The truth of the matter
is this: We can be just like Jonah – things don’t go our way –
1) Disappointed
with God – Angry –
E) God in His grace instead
of blasting Jonah will seek to reason with Jonah
10 But the LORD
said, "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor
made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I
not pity
God
says to Jonah you are grieving over a gourd? A)But what
about the 120,000 Children in
B)I know that you are angry
at the adults and their evil ways – and horrible cruelty
1) but
what about the kids – what about the livestock
C) God is asking Jonah where
is your compassion ? Where is your mercy?
Two things we learn
from this:
#1 A
lesson on God’s Priority!
A)The plant was temporal;
people are eternal.
B)The plant was of little
value; people are highly valued.
1) Jonah
cared for the destiny of 1 plant; God cared for the spiritual destiny of 1000’s
of people.
C)Jonah played no part in
making the plant grow; God had every part in creating the Ninevites.
D)The lesson is clear: not
only does God’s concern for people go beyond
1) The
lesson of Jonah reminds us that God is the creator of all people.
Jonah thought that
the things that were important to him, should be important to God.
A)And so he fixed his eyes on them and
wouldn’t look any place else.
B)That lead to nothing but frustration.
1) But what God
wants is for Jonah and us to see things from His perspective.
C) He is a lover of People. All people –
all races / all colors
1) He wants to
give us His eyes and His heart for the world.
#1
A lesson on God’s Priority!
#2
Lesson on God’s sovereignty:
A)What right do I have to
question God?
6 Seek the LORD
while He may be found,
Call upon Him
while He is near.
7 Let the
wicked forsake his way,
And the
unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return
to the LORD,
And He will
have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will
abundantly pardon.
God enjoys showing grace to
the repentant sinner
Sometimes we don’t get that
…….
8
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor
are your ways My ways," says the LORD.
9
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So
are My ways higher than your ways,
And
My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and
the snow from heaven, And do not return there, but water the earth,
and make it bring forth and bud, that it
may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that
goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall
accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent
it.
So Who
am I to question what God does? Who he chooses to show mercy to
A)His
ways are higher – His thoughts are higher – so beyond us – But His word
doesn’t return void
B) It goes forth and
accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish.
C) Our Problem is we want everything
has to make sense to us.
1) We think God should act
this way: Respond in that way
D) People are most disappointed with God when
life throws them a Change up –
1) wait – that wasn’t
supposed to happen.
33 Oh, the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 "For
who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has
become His counselor?"
35'Or who has
first given to Him
And it shall be
repaid to him?"
36 For of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
NKJV
E) We say It wasn’t supposed
to work that way. – God says trust me – I know what
I am doing.
Tension
in scripture: God’s Sovereignty and man’s responsibility
A) Election / Free will / God’s
foreknowledge
B)For 100’s and 100’s of yrs
some of the greatest minds in the Church have wrestled with these things – REALLY NO ANSWER
C) Every answer only puts
God in a box – sets him in parameters and ignores the verses where God is
clearly drawing outside of those parameters
D) What is the solution –
the conclusion – He is God and I am not { Fun to
wrestle but no answer
E)
His ways are higher than my ways – His thoughts than my thoughts
1) God’s word is going to
accomplish what he wants it to accomplish.
Remember
what God said to Job? Job was questioning God’s dealings in his life.
A)Questioning the way that
God was doing things
Then the LORD
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2 "Who is
this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself
like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
4 "Where
were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have
understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who
stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who
laid its cornerstone,
God would continue Where were you when I put the stars in place – gave the
oceans their boundaries
When made the
heavens – atmosphere and space and set their boundaries
Have you ever
commanded the sun to come up or to set?
Read
Now
does that mean that God is saying – Don’t question me ? No not necessarily
A)Saying just remember who
it is that we are talking to – that His ways are so beyond ours
B) Rest in that ! – rejoice
in that !
1) We serve a big God –
Great God – that is who we belong to
C) That is who makes Himself
available to us
1) Every task and challenge
– He is there for us
GLORIOUS
Did Jonah get
it? Not sure really. – We notice that
the book ends abruptly
A)I think that is a clue: You see I ask you this question – Who wrote
this book – Jonah
B) Said all along the focus of the book of Jonah is not Jonah it is God
1) God’s pursuing love / God giving 2nd
chances / God showing mercy God being
Sovereign –
C) The main Character is God – Jonah
is just a supporting actor
1) Jonah the writer appropriately gives God the final word
D)I personally think that is
an indication for us – Jonah got it
Jewish tradition says that
after God said the words of
A)We can only hope that Jonah - and we - would have such a humble
response.
B) I am told that the
painter Michelangelo did a painting that
hangs in the Sistine Chapel there in
C) And there is one face
that stands out as having a far more radiant continence then any other.
And that is the Prophet
Jonah.
It
seems like Michelangelo also believed that Jonah got the message of God’s
wonderful grace and mercy that goes out to all.
A) We can’t be totally positive about Jonah
– But we can be about ourselves
B) Maybe you have been one who has said –
What about this what about that
Excuses for not trusting God -
Stop today