Jonah: Stepping Out In Compassion, Jonah 4:1-11
- Tim Birdwell
- Aug 8, 2010
- Series: Jesus in the Old Testament
Good morning, how are you guys doing? Good, well hey before we get started the THE KIDS CAN BE DISMISSED with Clint and Clay. And as they head outside we'll go ahead and get rolling in the book of Jonah so if you have a bible you can turn there. Like the book of Ruth, which we looked at last week, Jonah is a short book in the Old Testament so its a little hard to find. But, if you start in Matthew the first book in the New Testament and just flip back a few books you are bound to find it.
As you turn there, my name is Tim, one of the pastors here and we are continuing in a series called Finding Jesus In The Old Testament. And this morning we're looking at the life of Jonah. And most of you know, whether you have ever read the bible or gone to church, you probably have an idea about this guy named Jonah and you probably know something about him getting swallowed by a big fish. Most everyone seems to know at least that there is this story in the bible and its kind of hard to believe, it sounds a little crazy, it seems a little gross... a guy getting swallowed by a fish. But you are at least aware of the story. Well, what leads up to that part of the story is pretty important. And that is Jonah is in the process of running from God, he is attempting to avoid the presence of God. Which this concept of running from or avoiding is something that we can all relate to. Right, we run from all kinds of things... like for me I run from working on our budget. I avoid it all costs.
I know that there are some of you who love to organize and love to plan and in some weird way you get some kind of natural high off of things like budgets. Well, I am definitely not one of those people. I am not a fan of budgeting, and even though I know it is important and I know it is a good thing, I always manage to avoid it, to run from it. Every time my wife brings it up I immediately break into a vicious yawn... it could be 5pm and I'll just get so sleepy and want to do anything else but a budget. Well, luckily I have a good wife and she keeps me accountable to that.
But, you guys can relate to that... maybe for you its not doing a budget, maybe its doing the laundry or taking care of the kids, but there are things for all us that we run from.... that we avoid.
When it comes to our spiritual lives we do the same thing. God calls you to do something or he even just calls you to Himself, to his presence and instead of responding in obedience... we run, we avoid. Maybe its because of sin, maybe its the fear of the unknown, or some insecurity... but we have a tendency to run from God just as Jonah did.
So as we look at the life of Jonah and how he runs from God and as you think about the ways in which you run from God, I want you to see that IN THE MIDST OF YOUR RUNNING FROM GOD, IN YOUR REBELLION AGAINST GOD, HE RESPONDS IN COMPASSION. And to see that we are going to look briefly at a few different verses in Jonah and then end up landing in chapter 4.
So let's get started in verse 1, chapter 1 of Jonah.
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me."
Alright, so as we look at Jonah starting in these first couple of verses. We see him hearing from the Lord... it says in verse 1 that the word of the Lord came to Jonah. So God is speaking directly to Jonah. And we don't know a ton about Jonah from Scripture other than this book, there is not a lot written about him, but he is mentioned a couple of other times in Scripture. In Matthew 12 Jesus actually refers to Jonah as a sign of his death and resurrection. That Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a fish and Jesus will also spend 3 days and 3 nights in the grave before He rises again. In 2 Kings 14 Jonah is referred to as a prophet of God, meaning he spoke for God. He was an Israelite who was given the opportunity to not only speak truth into the lives of just normal people in Israel, but to Kings in Israel and he had a platform to do that and they would actually listen and respond to him. So that's what we know of Jonah, this is who the word of the Lord came to.
And then if you'll look at verse 2, this word from the Lord is that Jonah would go to this great city called Ninevah and cry against it, basically to speak against their wickedness. Now this is a remarkable statement by God if you know anything about the city God has called him to. Ninevah was a city in the Roman province of Assyria which is right about where Iraq is today. And when God speaks of their wickedness in verse 2, you need to know that in history Assyria and in particular the city of Ninevah was know for its brutality toward its enemies. In fact, one of the forms of execution that they utilized was to bury their captives alive in the desert and leave them in the sun to die. These are not just your average wicked people, like say the Houston Texans. This was a wicked, brutal city that was a direct enemy of the nation of Israel and this is where God is commanding Jonah to go and proclaim His truth. It would be like God commanding you to approach Hitler in World War II and to call him to repentance. This was an irrational, ridiculous command given to Jonah.
And you're probably thinking, I thought we were going to talk about compassion. This doesn't seem very compassionate of God. This seems like a daunting task thrown on Jonah that is pretty much set up for failure. But, believe or not God knew what He was doing. As you read on in the book of Jonah, you'll discover in Chapter 4 that Jonah had a deep resentment in his heart for the people of Ninevah and did not think they deserved a warning from God. And God sovereignly knew this, he knew that Jonah had a distorted view of His grace. You see Jonah would have thought that God should only show grace to the people of Israel. That these wicked people outside of His nation didn't deserve to be reconciled to God. And so instead of letting Jonah continue in his resentment and his distorted view, God places him in a teachable situation. If you're taking notes, you can write in that first blank on your bulletin that He PLACES you in a teachable situation. Out of compassion, God places you in a teachable situation.
Places you in a teachable situation
In looking at the definition of compassion this week, the consensus was that it is a deep sympathy for another person and I think most of you would agree that. But there is a second part to the definition, and its an element of compassion that we see God demonstrate throughout Scripture. The second part to the definition is to actually alleviate a negative situation that someone is in.
You see God's compassion runs so deep that not only is He sympathetic toward your situation, but he wants to alleviate your weakness, your sin, and teach you something about Himself in the process. He has enough compassion that he does not just leave you where you are, whatever sin you struggle with whatever resentment you have in your heart... He doesn't just leave you there. But, instead He places you in a teachable situation where you have to depend on Him and you have to confront whatever issues you may have. Now what we see next in Jonah is what all of you are probably thinking and that is being placed in a teachable situation is not always the most exciting thing. Check out Jonah's response in verse 3...
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD
So Jonah immediately says this doesn't sound like a good gig. And so he just picks up and runs. And just to give you an idea of how blatant his rebellion was, Tarshish the place that he attempts to run to is in present day Spain. So if you know your geography (Alisdair) and you remember from earlier that Jonah is in Israel and God calls him to present day Iraq which is east, and Jonah goes to Spain which is west, the complete opposite direction. Right you have Israel here, Ninevah here, and Tarshish all the way over here... I mean, he has to board a boat and go across water to get there. It would be similar to you being in Texas and being called to New York, but instead, you don't just go to Colorado, you go to Hawaii. The man knows how to run.
We've been in this series, Finding Jesus In The Old Testament and we've talked about how sometimes we can elevate these people in the Old Testament and make them the hero, when in actuality Jesus Christ is the only hero in Scripture. That all of these people and all of these books should point us to Jesus. And for some of you, that's been difficult because you look at some of these guys and you say well, David did some really heroic things, Moses that was kinda cool when he parted the sea... you know, maybe he's kind of a hero.
Well, with Jonah not so much. With Jonah it's clearly pretty clear that he isn't portrayed as the hero. I mean, right off the bat Jonah is running from God. That's how the story begins. And how does God respond??? He responds in compassion.
In the rest of chapter 1 you see God pursuing Jonah patiently, but persistently. If you'll look at the second point in your bulletin, you can write that He PURSUES you patiently, but persistently.
Pursues you patiently, but persistently
In chapter 1, as Jonah is on this boat, running from God... God causes a storm to come and its a pretty intense storm. In fact, the storm is so intense that these sailors on the boat who sail for a living, are just panicing. And they go to Jonah and Jonah basically asks them to throw him off the boat... because he knows that the storm is a direct result of him running. So they throw him off the boat and God sends a big fish to swallow him and while Jonah in the fish he repents and turns to God and so God brings him out of the fish to dry land.
And right about now, you're probably thinking again, that doesn't really sound like compassion on the part of God. I mean, he sends a storm and then allows Jonah to be thrown overboard, and then to top it all off, he sends a big fish to swallow him and then spit him out. You're thinking if that's compassion, I'll pass. But this is all part of the process. Its all part of the process of God, out of His compassion, pursuing Jonah patiently, but persitently. You see in the midst of Jonah's rebellion, instead of God responding in apathy (letting him run) or total judgment (killing him), God responds in Compassion, in that goes after Jonah. And He doesn't do it immediately, he allows Jonah to run a little bit, but he persitently provides a way for Jonah to come back to God.
You need to know this morning that if you are running from God, because of sin, because of fear, because of resentment... He is pursuing you patiently, but persistently. And this pursuit began when God sent his Son, Jesus Christ. He sent Him TO US. That's why Jesus said in Luke 19 that He CAME to SEEK and save that which was lost. That He came to us, that He sought us. He pursued us. He didn't just apatheticly allow us to keep running or wait for us to come to Him. He didn't just destroy us in judgment. But instead he compassionately pursued us by entering into our world and laying down His life so that we could be restored to God. This is the ultimate demonstration of compassion.
And it is why Jesus Christ is the hero... not only of this story in Jonah, but in every story of Scripture. Because in the midst of our rebellion, in the midst or our running from God, He responds in compassion. Ephesians 2 says it this way that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to stop running or get our act together or check off a list, and then eventually once we met all of those requirements he would die on the cross for our sins. NO, instead, out of compassion He pursues us right where we were. But here's the important thing... for Jonah and for us. This compassion doesn't end with us. Jesus has called us to particpate in this pursuit and to extend His compassion to others.
And that's what you can write in the blank on the last point on your bulletin, you can just write that He POINTS us to others.
Points us to others
And that's what we are going to see in chapter 4 of Jonah... so flip over to chapter 4.
And as we come to chapter 4, this is after Jonah has run from God, God has pursued Jonah and gives him another shot to go into Ninevah and he finally does and proclaims God's truth. And the response is amazing. You can look on your own later, but in chapter 3 the whole city of Ninevah repents of their sin and believes in God. So that's where we are... this wicked city has turned from their evil ways and believed in God in response to Jonah's message.
1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country ? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 3 "Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."
So Jonah is basically pouting... He is displeased that God ends up saving the city of Ninevah. And he tells God in verse 2 that this is precisely why he ran. Because he knew that God was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness... and that most likely if he went to Ninevah, that God would save that city. And this is the resentment that we mentioned at the beginning that Jonah has for the people of Ninevah. And his resentment runs so deep, that even now after he has seen the result of his proclamation and has seen a whole city repent and believe in God... that instead of celebrating, Jonah sulks. And he's so distraught over this that he says in verse 3 that he wants to die.
Jonah just doesn't get it. He has experienced God's compassion throught this entire book, but he does not understand that God's compassion doesn't end with us, but it is to be extended to others. So God doesn't want to leave him in that state, so he is going to challenge Jonah's thinking in the last few verses. In verses 4-9 Jonah is still sulking and it is hot and so God raises up a plant that gives Jonah some shade, some comfort. And Jonah is pretty happy about this plant, about this comfort that he is experiencing. Well, then God takes away the plant and Jonah is again angry and sulking, this time about the plant. And we'll pick it up in verse 10 and listen to what God says.
10 Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight . 11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals ?"
God points out that if Jonah can have compassion for a plant, why shouldn't He have compassion for an entire city of people who desperately need God. Now we don't know what happens for after this, but I'd like to think that Jonah finally gets it and stops running from God and starts running with God.
And that's what I hope you see this morning as well.
STOP RUNNING FROM GOD AND START RUNNING WITH GOD
1.confess sin, experience God's compassion
2.small groups - allow others who are running to God and with God to speak truth into your lives.
3.3, 2, 1 - participate in extend God's compassion to others
Fix your eyes on Jesus, who in the midst of your rebellion responded in compassion by giving his life for you so that you could stop running from God and start running with God.