Jonah - The Reveal - Jonah 4

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Heat.

Heat.

Well, good morning, South Church. It's so good to be in the house of the Lord today. Amen. You know, one of my favorite stories in the Bible is actually the book of Jonah. Uh before we we jump into that, I just want to give you one quick announcement, and that is on May 24th at 10:00 a.m., we will be having one service. Uh, and it's a special service because we're going to have a baptism Sunday that morning. And you know, I've been married to my wife Bianca for 5 years. And you know, the ring, it represents marriage, right? It represents that that I have given my life to her and she's given her life to mine. But when I take the ring off, right, it doesn't mean that I'm not married, right? I'm still married. I've still made a commitment. But what this does is it shows the people around me that I've committed my life to someone, right? And that's honestly what I believe that baptism is, right? It is an outward expression of an internal decision, right? And my heart, maybe in your heart, you've decided, yes, I want to follow Jesus. But when you step into that water, you're telling the entire public, right? You're telling the whole world like, "This is a commitment that I'm making." So maybe if that's the next step that you want to take in your faith, I would highly encourage you to please come talk to me. Come talk to Pastor Keith and we would love for you to take that next next step in your faith. Let's jump into God's word today. We're going to be in in Jonah chapter 4. So if you want to get your Bibles ready, like I said, it's it's one of my favorite favorite stories. Remember as a kid, like when my mom taught me the story, I was like, "How did a man go? How did a fish eat a man? And how did he not die?" And all these things, right? But we've been talking about how we are rediscovering the wideeyed wonder of this story. And there's been one very important detail that we've learned and that is this that no matter how much we run from God that God will always pursue us. So I kind of want to recap and tell you a little bit. Maybe maybe you haven't maybe you weren't here last week or maybe you weren't here for week one, but the story starts like this, right? So Jonah chapter 1, it says this. The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amati. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. Does Jonah listen? No. Right. He he goes in the opposite direction. He gets on a boat. He's trying to flee. Right. There's a storm that comes in and Jonah's down at the bottom of the boat taking a snooze, right? Doesn't want to be bothered. The sailors come in. They wake him up. They cast lots. Of course, the lots fall onto him. They grab him. They throw him into the sea. And then inside the sea, right, a giant fish comes and just swallows him up. And then look at this. And then in Jonah chapter 2, it says this. In my distress, I called to the Lord and he answered me. Right? So from inside the belly of this giant fish, Jonah calls out to God. Right? He prays and he asks God, "God, forgive me." Right? In the darkness, in that moment, he calls out to God and God gives him a second chance. Or if there's one thing that you I want you to remember, it is this that no matter what we do, right, God is a God of second chances, right? He is always there to give us another opportunity. It's not it's not strike out once we've hit three, right? God will always give us a second chance. And then look at Jonah 3. says this, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." What time was it? Come on, you can answer. A second time. Right, you're with me? Okay. It says, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." So, what does Jonah go? Right? He goes, he finally listens. God's given him a second chance. He goes to Nineveh and he says probably the shortest sermon ever known to man. Like I don't think Jonah studied. I don't think he had any notes. He certainly did not have any slides. Like he was he just walked in, said a couple things, and he left. And all he said was this. You have 40 days or God will destroy you. That's it. We're done. Thank you. We'll see you next Sunday. That's all he did, right? 40 days and God will destroy you. And then he walks out, right? He doesn't tell them who they're repenting to. He doesn't tell them what to do. He doesn't give them any instructions at all. But something amazing happens. Look at Jonah 3:10. It says this. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Right? So something incredible happened, right? The city, the entire city from greatest to least, the king, right? his subjects, all the common people, everyone turned from their wicked ways and they turned to Jesus. And what did God do? He forgave them. He showed them mercy. I want you to put on your your wideeyed wonder for a second. I want you to think of this happening in a city like Denver, right? The mile high city, right? There's over 700,000 people in this city. And I kind of did the calculations. It would be about filling Mile High Stadium, right, 10 times for us to get the entire city in one place. And I want you to think about this. What would happen if we got to do that, right? In one message, a couple words and then the entire city repented and turned to God, right? We we'd be celebrating, right? We'd be we'd be so happy. Think about there would be no way for us to contain that many people in our churches. We would have to be planting new churches, setting up small groups, right? Getting teams ready. We would be excited. We would say, you know, heaven is touching earth. We would say things like, "Let it be in Denver as it is in heaven, right? We there would be a bunch of transformation happening. Lives would be changed, right? We would have baptisms every single Sunday, right? And I think about this as a messenger of God's word. If I was in Jonah's place and I went into this city and I preached a few words and people didn't just grasp God's words, but they accepted it, man, I'd be so excited. I'd be celebrating. I'd be thanking God like, "God, thank you. Even though I ran away, even though I didn't want to listen to what you had to say, even though and when you gave me a second chance, God, you still use imperfect people like me to love others in a perfect way." Like, I would be ecstatic. I would be so happy. But here's the thing. Jonah is a total opposite. He's angry. He's ticked off. Like, he's throwing a fit. I want you to think of this. Imagine that you've worked in a job for 20, 30 years, right? You're the first one in, you're the last one out. You've given your best. People know that they can always count on you to do what needs to be done. And then a day comes and your boss is like, "Hey guys, you know, our company's growing a ton and I really there's somebody in here that we will promote at the end of the week, right? So, you're locked in, right? Like you've always been. You're always locked in. You're doing your work. You're getting there early. You're doing everything that needs to be done. You're going the extra mile because you want people to see like this guy deserves it." So then the end of the week comes and your boss comes in and he's like, "All right, everyone. You know, we've been viewing everyone's work ethic and we've been seeing what needs to be done and one person has certainly stood out to us and you're like, "Okay, it's me. It's finally my chance. Like, let's go." And your boss points this direction, but he's not pointing at you. He's pointing at the person next to you. The person who is last one in, first one out. The person that is is always late. the person that doesn't do their work on time. He's always causing destructions for other people. He never does the work that you do. But yet somehow your boss not only promotes that person, but he publicly praises them for what they've done. You'd be like, "That's not fair. Like what is that? Are you serious? Like what's going on here?" And that is exactly how Jonah feels. Remember the people of Nineveh? They were enemies of Israel, right? They were wicked people. They were cruel. They were brutal. They had a reputation. And when God chooses to give them mercy and extend his grace to them, Jonah's angry about it. Let's look at Jonah chapter 4. It says this. It says, "But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing Tarses. It says, "I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." But the Lord replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Right? Think about this. An interesting thing that I thought about was, you know, the first time that Jonah prays, he's asking God for mercy on his life. When he's stuck in the belly of the fish, he calls out to God. He says, "God, in my distress, I called out to the Lord and he answered me." But the second time that he prays to God, he is angry at God for extending mercy on somebody else. somebody that he doesn't think deserves God's mercy. Someone that he thinks that deserves God's justice. Like he's saying, "God, it's it's good enough for me to get it, but for those people, oh, I don't know. Those people don't deserve it." Right? He's saying, "God, like this is why I try to run away because I know who you are. I know how you are. I know that you are gracious. I know that you are compassionate. I know that you are abounding in love and slow to anger." And that's the problem that I have, right? Because it's good for me to receive the compassion. It's good for me to receive the love. It's good for me to receive the mercy. But as soon as God extends that same mercy and grace to somebody else, Jonah has a problem with that. And another interesting I thought is, you know what is Jonah isn't even being original when he's praying. Like this isn't a prayer that that Jonah just thought about. This is something that he had already heard over and over again. You see, Jonah is pulling back directly from one of Israel's most powerful times in their history. You know, the Israelites, they were captive in Egypt for a long, long time. And God used a man named Moses to help deliver his people from captivity. Right? So, the Israelites are are fleeing. They're they're getting away from Egypt and they come to a crossroads. There is something standing in the way of their freedom and that is a sea that is right in front of them. If they go forward, they drown. If they go backwards, Pharaoh's army is right there around the corner waiting for them, chasing them. So what does Moses do? The people of God, they call out to God, right? And God parts the waters and God's people get to walk on dry land, right? They had just seen the glory of God. They had just seen God free them. And they get to a certain spot and and God wants to talk to Moses. So Moses goes up to a mountaintop and the people of God are just waiting at the bottom. The funny thing is when Moses is talking to God, he's also getting the Ten Commandments. And what do the people do below? They get impatient. They can't wait. This is taking too long. So, they start to remove all their gold, all their jewelry, all their fine metals, and everything. And they start to melt everything down. And they build a golden calf. And they worship this man-made image. after seeing what God had done for them. They traded the glory of God for something that they created themselves. I know I would look at that and think, you know what, like they don't deserve mercy. like God had every right to wipe them out right there and then because of their disobedience, because they went against God's wishes, because they put something else in place of God after seeing that what God had done for them, how he had provided every single step of the way, it still wasn't good enough, right? They deserve justice. But what does Moses do? Moses intercedes on their behalf. And God reveals not only to Moses but to his people who he is and what his heart is. Look at this. It says this in Exodus 34. It says, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin." I don't know about you, but that sounds very familiar like what Jonah just said, right? But here's the thing. Jonah has double. He has a double standard of God's grace. Right? It's okay when it applies to me, but with somebody when it applies to somebody else that I don't like, that is my enemy, that is different than I am, that maybe votes different than I do, that maybe looks different than I do, that maybe speaks a different language than I do, it's a problem. But when it's my people, when it's people that I like, when it's people that believe the same things that I believe, when it's people that look the same way that I look, then it's totally fine, right? that there's this double standard of God's grace. But I want you to write this down. This is our first point this morning. And it is this. It is that God's mercy reaches all people, right? God doesn't make exceptions. He doesn't look to see who's qualified and who's unqualified. Even though Jonah was like, you know, God, those people, yes, I'll go preach to them. These, you know, yes, they pass, but the people over here, God, definitely not. Do you know who the Ninevites are? Do you know what they've done? They're brutal. They're wicked. They're far from you. Like they had so much beef with one another. And when God when Jonah hears God say, "God, Jonah, go to them." The first thing Jonah hears is, "God, not them. They don't deserve your mercy. They don't deserve your grace." But here's the thing that God's mercy reaches all people, not just my people. Not just the ones that we think about, the ones that we think that can deserve it, the ones that think that we that they can accept it. God is saying, "No, I am here for everybody, even them." So, what does Jonah do? Jonah leaves the city and he goes outside of the city far enough to to get a front row view like he wants the best seat in the house to see what God's going to do. Look at this. It says this in verse 5. It says, "Jonah had gone 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. Remember, he told him, "You have 40 days or God will destroy everything." So, he goes out, he gets comfortable, and he's waiting for God to light it up like it's the 4th of July, right? The same people that he had just preached to, he is still expecting their destruction. And he wants to make sure like I want to have a front row seat to what God is going to do. And I want you to write this down for a second. And it says this, "You can follow God's command without carrying God's compassion." Right? Like Jonah did all the right things. He went, he talked, right? He said his his speech. He said his six words like, "You got 40 days and you're out." But he still resisted what God wanted to do. I had a friend of mine who came to visit us and he wanted to go explore Colorado. So I said, "Hey, there's my car." Like, "Go for it. Have fun." And he went out on the highway and then he called me afterwards and he was like, "Hey, Daniel, like I'm on the freeway and I'm driving your car." And I put it on cruise control and the car's here, but then suddenly I can feel that your car is starting to do that. And then I pull it back forward and then it keeps going this and then I pull it here and then it's going on the other side. And I told him, well, yeah, you know what? I'm going to be honest with you. It's It's been a while since I've had an alignment. Like, the car wants to go here, but it's still kind of turning this way. It made me think about this. Obedience to God doesn't mean alignment with God. I'm going to say that again. Obedience to God doesn't mean alignment with God. like I can do all the right things, right? I can show up every Sunday. I can sing the songs. I can lift up my hands. I can pray. I can quote scripture to you. I can serve. I can have a title. I can do everything right on the outside. But if my heart is not aligned to God's compassion, then I'm doing everything just for show. Right? I care more about what people think on the outside than truly being transformed by God on the inside. And Jesus warned us about this. He says this in the book of Matthew. He says, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven." Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.

I can do all the right things on the outside. Right? Jonah followed God's command, but he didn't carry God's compassion. Right? We can do everything so that other people see what we're doing. Like, we can show up. We can say all the right things, but still not want what God wants for somebody else because maybe they're different. Maybe to us they're rejected. Maybe to us they're outcasts. Maybe to us they're undeserving. Right? Just because we carry God's name doesn't mean we truly know who God is. But here is the good news that Jonah is not the hero of this story. Right? God is. Write that down. God is the hero of this story. Because remember, he's still waiting. He's still 40 days. Like I think about it, he might have had a cl a countdown clock and he's waiting for kickoff. He's waiting for the pyrochnis to go off. He's still out there waiting. Look at verse six. It says this. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm which chewed the plant so that it withered. 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." Right? So Jonah's still out there. He's waiting. He's like, "All right, God. When when's it going to go down? When am I going to see it? when when is it going to light up in the sky? So, what does God do? God provides a plan to come and give Jonah shade, right? To give him comfort. And the plan is there. And Jonah's happy, right? He's comfortable. He's he's in a good spot. Like, you know, I want to tell you this, like I grew up in heat. Like summers here in Colorado, 95 degrees. That's amazing, guys. Like, this is awesome. Where I grew up, the summers go up to 120 degrees. And if it wasn't over that on the turf, we still had to have practice. So, I know what heat is. So, now imagine Middle East desert heat and Jonah's just baking in there. And then the shade comes, right? He He felt amazing. He's happy. He's comfortable. But then God provides a worm to come and eat the plant. And now Jonah's shade, Jonah's comfort is gone. And he's angry again. And he's so angry that God would take away his shade that he says like God, like I want to die. Like what are you doing? What's happening? And then look what happens here in verse 9. It says, "But God said to Jonah. Is it right for you to be angry about the plan?" It is. He said, "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend to it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals.

You see, while while Jonah is so upset and so worried about his comfort,

God tells him, "You didn't grow the plant. You didn't put the seed down. You didn't water it. You didn't tend to it. You didn't make it grow. It was here one second, it was gone the next. But should I not care about all those people that I created, that I gave my life for, that I shed my blood for, that I want to experience a life with fullness of my grace and my joy and my love. Should I not care about those people? And see, here's the thing that Jonah cares more about his comfort than anything else. But God is not in the comfort business. God is in the restoration business. God goes out and he seeks the lost. And he wants the people that don't know him to have a personal relationship with him. And Jonah's like, "Well, I'm comfortable that that that's what I care about." But God is saying there's a city of over 120 people who need to know who I am, who I want to experience my love and my grace and my forgiveness and my mercy and my redemption because of who God is. Right? We know that his character, he is a God who is compassionate, who is slow to anger and abounding in love. So, while Jonas just sees a random city and he's waiting for them to be destroyed, God looks at a city full of people and he thinks to himself, I care about them. I want them to experience my love. I want them to experience my grace. Even if they don't deserve it, it doesn't matter. Right? God is freely giving his love and his compassion to all people.

And if you keep going throughout the story, well, let me just tell you, you won't you won't find anything. The story ends right there. It just ends with God asking a question. Should I not care about the people of Nineveh? Like, I don't know if you've ever seen a movie or or read a book where the ending just doesn't make sense. like the good guy is actually the bad guy. The bad guy is the good guy. The the ending isn't clear. It just simply ends. And that's where Jonah at 4 ends. That's it. But you know what? Maybe the question wasn't written for Jonah. Maybe the question was written for us. Because if we're honest, sometimes some of us, we've received mercy from God, but we've never extended mercy to somebody else. Right? We want grace for our failures, but we want justice for theirs. And there's questions that I want you to to meditate and I want you to ask yourself these questions this week. And the first one is this. Have I received God's mercy and kept it to myself? Like, is there someone in your life that you need to forgive? Is there a relationship that you need to mend? Is there someone that you need to apologize to? Is there something that you need to restore? And the second one is this. You know, some of us have obeyed outwardly. like we'll show up, we'll sing, we serve on a team, we jump in, but inwardly we're resisting what God wants to do. We're out of alignment. So the question is, do I know God or do I only know about God?

Like I can know who the author is,

but do I live by what the author wrote? Do I live? Do I have compassion? Do I love how he wants to love? Do I forgive the way that he wants to forgive? Have I truly given myself to him or am I just following what he wants to do but not really but my heart's not really in it? Right? There's a big difference in that. And if we're really honest, you know, some of us care more about our comfort than his compassion, more about our plans than his plans. But here's the good news that the same mercy that Jonah received, right, the second chance that he received is the same mercy that the Ninevites received. And that same mercy that they received is also available to you and I. Because you see, while Jonah had a list, a qualification, his invitation had limits to who could be a part of this, who could receive forgiveness, who could receive mercy, who could receive God's love and compassion. But God's invitation is for all people. I love what his word says. It says this, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

And let me tell you something. When God says all, he means all. All the weary, all the broken, all the rejected, all the outcast, the doubter, the sinner, the one who's run away, the rejected. He means everybody. And maybe that's been you this morning. Maybe maybe you're running like Jonah. Maybe you've gone away. Maybe you've gone astray. Maybe your heart is is is misaligned with what God wants to do. Maybe you're doubting. Maybe you're hurting. Maybe you're angry. Maybe you're bitter. And God's invitation is still here today. And it's for all people. And God's people is all of us. It's me and you. He doesn't make exceptions. It's freely given. Would you just bow your head with me for a second as we pray?

Father, we thank you.

That for you, all means all. It doesn't matter where we've come from. It doesn't matter what we've done. Father, it doesn't matter if we've run away. It doesn't matter if if if we were once wicked, if we were once away from you, if we once rejected you, Father, it does not matter

because you are gracious. You are compassionate. You are slow to anger and abounding in love.

And that means that at all times that we are never too far gone for you, Father. Your arms and your heart is wide open, ready to receive us, ready to welcome us home to you. Because no matter how far we run, you will always pursue us. And Father, that is why we say thank you. Lord, I pray if there's somebody in this room right now that needs to take a step forward to receiving your grace, to receiving that abounding love, to receiving that compassion. Father, I pray that they would just open up their hearts right now and invite you in. Father, thank you for who you are. Well, we love you. We thank you and we praise your name. And everyone said, "Amen.