WEBVTT 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:14.099 Well, hey there, friends. Brother Jim here, and 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:16.579 welcome to the Semiseminary, the only podcast 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:21.339 where a fish, a prophet, and a revival march 00:00:21.339 --> 00:00:25.120 into God's mercy. And somehow, it's a story about 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:29.600 us, too. It's the Wednesday episode, which means 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:33.659 I have my pastor hat on tonight. Yes, I'm not 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:37.079 just a famous podcaster. I'm also a pastor of 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.070 a small country church, and you've... just stumbled 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:43.090 into our Wednesday night Bible study. We've just 00:00:43.090 --> 00:00:44.990 finished the fellowship dinner, and now it's 00:00:44.990 --> 00:00:49.070 time for the lesson. So pull up a chair, cup 00:00:49.070 --> 00:00:52.829 of coffee, maybe some of Gigi's Bundt cake, if 00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:55.530 there's still some left, and settle in for an 00:00:55.530 --> 00:00:58.969 old -fashioned Bible study. Today's episode is 00:00:58.969 --> 00:01:03.009 a journey, and a hard one. Because we're not 00:01:03.009 --> 00:01:06.870 just looking at Jonah and the whale. We're looking 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:12.599 at Jonah's heart. And ours. This episode's called 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:16.060 The Jonah You Thought You Knew. The VBS story 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:20.459 and the grown -up gospel. See, growing up, you 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:22.980 probably heard the Jonah story like this. God 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:28.719 says go. Jonah says no. Big fish swallows. Lesson 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:33.420 learned. The end. But buried under that Sunday 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.140 school simplicity is something raw and real. 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:41.890 A prophet. who hated God's grace for the wrong 00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:46.730 kind of people. So what happens when God's mercy 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:50.829 goes where we don't want it to? What does it 00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:53.109 mean to follow a God who forgives our enemies 00:01:53.109 --> 00:01:57.790 and then asks us to be glad about it? Stick around. 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:00.709 We're going to talk storms, belly prayers, bad 00:02:00.709 --> 00:02:05.310 sermons, pity plants, and the mercy that might 00:02:05.310 --> 00:02:08.500 just save us all. I'll see you on the other side. 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:18.860 So tonight, we're going to look at an old Bible 00:02:18.860 --> 00:02:22.379 story that we've looked at before, maybe, perhaps, 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:24.180 hopefully, with some new perspective tonight. 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.020 Tonight's discussion is called The Jonah You 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:30.680 Thought You Knew, The VBS Story and the Grown 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.800 -Up Gospel. So there's a certain version of Jonah's 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.680 story that most of us ran across when we were 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.580 younger. Vacation Bible school Jonah or Sunday 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:45.259 school Jonah. The guy who said no to God and 00:02:45.259 --> 00:02:50.659 got swallowed by a whale. Not a whale. It's a 00:02:50.659 --> 00:02:53.439 big fish. That's right. Bible doesn't say that. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.759 But in the end came out the better for it, right? 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:01.319 That version fits on. The felt board in children's 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:03.919 church. It's neat. It's manageable. It's just 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:07.460 strange enough to be memorable without asking 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:12.080 too much of us. But then you grow up, and if 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.080 you're paying attention, you realize that there's 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.400 actually a Jonah behind the fishtail. And that 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.219 story is actually a lot more complicated. The 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:27.740 story of Jonah isn't just a morality tale about... 00:03:28.310 --> 00:03:30.689 listening to God so you won't get in trouble. 00:03:30.830 --> 00:03:33.729 So I think that's a lot of times that's the takeaway 00:03:33.729 --> 00:03:37.870 from the VBS version. Pay attention to God and 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:39.750 do what God says or you'll get in trouble. You 00:03:39.750 --> 00:03:43.849 might end up getting eaten by a big fish. But 00:03:43.849 --> 00:03:46.250 instead, it's actually a deep, gritty gospel 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:52.189 story about mercy and who deserves it. It's about 00:03:52.189 --> 00:03:55.550 God's compassion for enemies and how even prophets 00:03:55.550 --> 00:03:59.240 can get stuck in the dark. when grace shows up 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:03.840 in places they didn't want it to. If we let it, 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:08.120 this story will call out the Jonah in all of 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:14.180 us, parts that would rather see God be fair than 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:19.360 kind. Now, let's take a second. Let's place ourselves 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.860 in the history of the narrative that Scripture 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:26.879 says. that the story of Jonah was probably written 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:31.560 in about the 5th or 4th century. So we have to 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:33.839 remember to do the crazy thing with numbers when 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:37.279 we use that. So we're talking about either 400 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:45.240 or 300 BC. 400 or 300 years before Jesus' birth. 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:50.240 Now, you might say, why are you telling me this? 00:04:50.420 --> 00:04:53.699 Because this is a very important... part of historical 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:58.040 context that you need to get so you can see what 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:01.379 the author of the story is actually trying to 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:09.800 say. Now, the temple in Jerusalem falls in 586 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:16.259 or 87, depending on who you ask, BC. These stories 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:22.269 are written... 150, 200 years after the fall. 00:05:22.529 --> 00:05:26.629 Now, who was it that destroyed Jerusalem, the 00:05:26.629 --> 00:05:31.370 temple, and began to export the people of God 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:36.209 to a different land? The Assyrians. And where 00:05:36.209 --> 00:05:41.250 was their capital? A place called Nineveh. And 00:05:41.250 --> 00:05:44.449 Jonah is being called, will be called to Nineveh. 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:47.980 Now, if you think about it, if this story is 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:50.579 written after all of these horrific things have 00:05:50.579 --> 00:05:53.120 taken place, then you could imagine that the 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.519 first readers or first listeners to this story 00:05:56.519 --> 00:06:01.040 would have thought of the Assyrians the way that 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:04.860 the first century Christians, or sorry, first 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:07.300 century Hebrews might have thought about the 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.879 Samaritans. Remember how we've talked about how 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:12.759 the Samaritans and the Hebrews didn't get along? 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:17.259 And that's why whenever Jesus paints a Samaritan 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:19.500 as a hero in the story, the people that would 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:21.879 have heard that would have went, I was with him 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:25.560 up until that point, because nothing is good 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:29.779 that comes from Samaria. Only this would have 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:33.980 been much worse. The Samaritans were ancient 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:40.079 cousins ethnically to the Hebrews, and they didn't 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.600 destroy the temple. and take the Hebrew people 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:46.899 into slavery, the Assyrians did. They would have 00:06:46.899 --> 00:06:50.639 hated these guys. So with that in mind, let's 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:54.360 start with the story. Jonah's story, it starts 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:57.600 like this. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.920 the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:05.339 the great city, and cry out against it, for its 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:09.459 wickedness has come before me. But Jonah arose 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:13.120 to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.439 Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:19.860 to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:24.199 it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:28.720 of the Lord. Now he's a prophet. What's the problem 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:33.560 here? Why run? Because Jonah knows who Nineveh 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:38.079 is. These, again, are the Assyrians. They are 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:42.420 their mortal enemies. Think psychological warfare, 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:47.480 public torture, deportation. This is the capital 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:52.680 of cruelty. And God says, go preach to them. 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:57.199 And Jonah's response, I think, is actually very 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:02.199 human. He runs in the opposite direction. Not 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:06.519 figuratively, literally. when he literally boards 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:10.720 a ship to Tarshish, likely in southern Spain, 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:13.959 that would have been the edge of the known world. 00:08:14.860 --> 00:08:19.600 It's as far west as you could go in Jonah's day. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:24.339 If God called him to go east, Jonah was trying 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:29.620 to go as far west as he could, not out of fear, 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:34.720 but out of protest. Because in Jonah's theology, 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:42.720 Nineveh doesn't deserve forgiveness. Jonah hated 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:47.379 the Ninevites for one big, deeply personal, very 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:52.340 national reason. The Ninevites were the worst 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:57.360 people Jonah could have imagined. They were Assyrians, 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:01.799 violent, cruel, imperial enemies of Israel, and 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:05.009 not just... your generic run -of -the -mill enemies. 00:09:05.110 --> 00:09:08.649 These folks were infamous for psychological and 00:09:08.649 --> 00:09:11.690 physical terror. We're talking about impaling 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:16.289 people alive. We're talking about taking people 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:21.230 captive and flailing them, removing their skin 00:09:21.230 --> 00:09:26.250 and draping the skin over the city walls, stacking 00:09:26.250 --> 00:09:32.600 up bleached skulls as warning signs, and... deporting 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:35.659 entire populations to destroy nations from the 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:39.899 inside out. To Jonah, Nineveh wasn't just a city. 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:44.580 It was the capital of a genocidal empire, the 00:09:44.580 --> 00:09:47.720 kind of place you don't distrust, you dread, 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:52.379 you grieve, you grow up hearing horror stories 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:57.120 about what they did to your people. So when God 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.919 says, go preach to Nineveh, Jonah's... Reaction 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:05.399 isn't just fear, it's moral outrage. It's theological 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:10.759 protest. And remember, Jonah is not just some 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:16.980 nobody. According to 2 Kings 14 -25, Scripture 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:20.120 says this, He restored the border of Israel from 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:23.539 the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of Arabah. 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.529 According to the word of the Lord God of Israel, 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.710 which he had spoken through his servant, Jonah, 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:32.870 the son of Amittai, the prophet, he was from 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:36.909 Gath -Hoper. That's where he was from. Jonah 00:10:36.909 --> 00:10:40.610 is a prophet within the king's court. He's a 00:10:40.610 --> 00:10:44.350 part of the national narrative. He is respected, 00:10:44.450 --> 00:10:48.110 and he doesn't want any part of Nineveh's redemption. 00:10:48.289 --> 00:10:52.850 I mean, imagine. Imagine being called to be the 00:10:52.850 --> 00:10:55.330 head coach of wrestling at Perry or Bristow. 00:10:57.110 --> 00:10:59.990 That's the worst place you could possibly, you're 00:10:59.990 --> 00:11:05.350 right in the heart of the enemy. We see ourselves 00:11:05.350 --> 00:11:10.070 in Jonah every time we define God's mercy through 00:11:10.070 --> 00:11:15.809 our own comfort zones. We want grace for us and 00:11:15.809 --> 00:11:20.539 we want justice for others. Jonah's protest reveals 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:24.759 how hard it is to believe that God's love includes 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:29.820 those who've hurt us and threatened our tribe. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.700 It also exposes how often we make God in our 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:38.539 own image just enough to suit us, but not enough 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:43.580 mercy to actually disrupt our worldview. Jonah's 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:47.169 refusal is more than rebellion. It's a theological 00:11:47.169 --> 00:11:51.870 argument against God's capacity to forgive the 00:11:51.870 --> 00:11:56.570 unforgivable. It is a theological argument against 00:11:56.570 --> 00:12:04.269 God's capacity to forgive the unforgivable. So, 00:12:04.409 --> 00:12:10.129 God sends a storm. Not as punishment. That's 00:12:10.129 --> 00:12:14.470 where the VBS story gets it wrong. But of pursuit. 00:12:15.529 --> 00:12:18.070 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:21.490 and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so 00:12:21.490 --> 00:12:24.129 the ship was about to be broken up. That's the 00:12:24.129 --> 00:12:27.250 fourth verse of chapter 1. While these sailors 00:12:27.250 --> 00:12:31.049 pray and panic and toss cargo over the sides, 00:12:31.309 --> 00:12:37.289 Jonah is asleep below deck. And not a peaceful 00:12:37.289 --> 00:12:43.720 rest, but the numbness of disobedience. And finally, 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.860 he acknowledges, it's my fault. Throw me in. 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:53.700 And they do. Jonah 1, 15 and 17 says, So they 00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:55.779 picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and 00:12:55.779 --> 00:12:59.000 the sea ceased from its raging. Now the Lord 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.580 had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:06.000 Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:10.700 and nights. God's storms aren't always there 00:13:10.700 --> 00:13:14.039 to break us. They're often there to wake us. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:19.000 Jonah's sleep beneath the storm reminds us how 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:22.700 easily we can tune out the conviction of the 00:13:22.700 --> 00:13:26.700 Spirit in our own hearts. Sometimes we'd rather 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:31.039 drown in denial than face the truth that God's 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:35.700 grace isn't just ours to hoard, because it even 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.159 belongs to people that we've long written off. 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:43.250 Storm also reveals that God's pursuit of us is 00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:47.470 relentless, not because he's angry with us, but 00:13:47.470 --> 00:13:51.690 because he loves us enough to interrupt our escape. 00:13:52.990 --> 00:13:55.830 Now here's the twist, okay? Here's what I was 00:13:55.830 --> 00:13:59.029 saying about punishment. The fish isn't actually 00:13:59.029 --> 00:14:03.549 punishment. It's preservation. God appoints the 00:14:03.549 --> 00:14:07.419 fish. He saves Jonah with the thing that could 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:11.259 very well have destroyed him. And in this belly, 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:16.639 Jonah finally decides to pray. Chapter 2, verses 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.820 2 through 6, I cried out to the Lord because 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:22.000 of my affliction, and he answered me. Out of 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.799 the belly of Sheol, that's a concept of hell, 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:28.100 right? Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and 00:14:28.100 --> 00:14:31.899 you, capital U meaning God, heard my voice. For 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:34.320 you cast me into the deep. I said you, and I 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.720 meant why, capital Y. For you cast me into the 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.720 deep, yet you brought up my life from the pit. 00:14:40.860 --> 00:14:45.539 Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. My God. It's beautiful. It's 00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:49.500 poetic. It's grateful. But it's still Jonah talking 00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:52.960 about Jonah. Not a word there about Nineveh. 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:58.720 You know, just thanks for being spared. Sometimes... 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.879 God meets us in the depths, not just to rescue 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:05.759 us, but to reshape our hearts. And Jonah's prayer 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:10.340 is half true. It recognizes his need, but not 00:15:10.340 --> 00:15:15.899 the call. It's possible to experience grace personally 00:15:15.899 --> 00:15:20.100 and still resist it theologically. Where have 00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:22.179 I heard that before? Remember our discussion 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:25.669 on Sunday about the absurd country song? that 00:15:25.669 --> 00:15:28.649 understood grace and forgiveness but applied 00:15:28.649 --> 00:15:31.870 it in a completely incorrect way, do you still 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:37.409 receive grace? Yeah, you do. It's possible to 00:15:37.409 --> 00:15:42.870 experience grace and still resist it theologically. 00:15:43.269 --> 00:15:50.809 We love what saves us. But will we, can we, love 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:55.389 what saves others? The belly moment is where 00:15:55.389 --> 00:15:58.549 we wrestle with our own self -centered faith. 00:15:59.370 --> 00:16:02.250 This is where we find Jonah, and this is where 00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:07.029 we can find the Jonah in all of us. So God speaks 00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:10.610 again. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah 00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:12.929 the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, 00:16:12.929 --> 00:16:15.850 that great city, and preach to it the message 00:16:15.850 --> 00:16:20.490 I tell you. That's Jonah 3, 1 and 2. This time, 00:16:20.490 --> 00:16:25.870 Jonah goes. but not with passion. He walks a 00:16:25.870 --> 00:16:29.809 day into the city and delivers the worst sermon 00:16:29.809 --> 00:16:33.690 in the Bible. Jonah chapter three, four, yet 00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:38.429 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. That's 00:16:38.429 --> 00:16:42.850 it. In Hebrew, it's five words. No mention of 00:16:42.850 --> 00:16:47.610 God, no invitation to repent, no hope, just fire 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:53.190 and brimstone and overturned in Hebrew. Nepaket, 00:16:53.190 --> 00:16:55.970 Nepaket is especially rich because that word 00:16:55.970 --> 00:17:00.049 can mean destroyed, but it can also mean transformed, 00:17:00.269 --> 00:17:04.410 leaving room for either judgment or repentance. 00:17:05.210 --> 00:17:08.490 It's a word that has a fork in the road in it. 00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:15.000 But the city of Nineveh listens. So the people 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.680 of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.500 put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:25.779 of them, Jonah 3 and 5. The next verses, the 00:17:25.779 --> 00:17:28.539 king of Nineveh actually makes the livestock 00:17:28.539 --> 00:17:34.900 fast as well. And what happens? God shows his 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:38.650 mercy. Then God saw their works that they turned 00:17:38.650 --> 00:17:41.490 from their evil ways and God relented from the 00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:43.910 disaster he said he would bring upon them and 00:17:43.910 --> 00:17:47.609 he did not do it. Sometimes the least impressive 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:51.470 words can produce the greatest results if God's 00:17:51.470 --> 00:17:54.990 behind them. And sometimes our bitterness reaches 00:17:54.990 --> 00:18:01.009 louder than our obedience. Jonah obeys outwardly, 00:18:01.009 --> 00:18:04.569 but inwardly he still hopes they don't listen. 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:11.720 What if our actions appear to be right, but our 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:16.720 hearts remain corrupt? What does that say about 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:21.980 our view of God and our view of others? True 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:25.160 transformation happens not when we say what's 00:18:25.160 --> 00:18:29.799 right, but when we want what's good. Not just 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:35.720 for ourselves, for everyone. And Jonah? as a 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:40.339 result of this redemption, is furious. But it 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:44.380 displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:50.240 First verse of the fourth chapter. He says, God, 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:56.859 this is why I ran, because I knew you would forgive 00:18:56.859 --> 00:19:01.359 them. You're a gracious and merciful God, Jonah 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:05.079 says, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:12.140 So God gives Jonah a living illustration. And 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:16.000 a plant grows up to shade him, then it withers. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.339 And then it talks about Jonah's bald head getting 00:19:19.339 --> 00:19:22.680 sunburned, and he doesn't like that. Jonah's 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:27.539 mad again. And God says, you have had no pity 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:30.740 on the plant for which you've not labored. Should 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:34.059 I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:37.119 are more than 120 ,000 persons and much livestock? 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.759 Jonah's anger is about a God who won't conform 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:46.920 to his comfort. We often cheer God's justice 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:50.640 when it comes for others and mourn his mercy 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:54.269 when it comes to them too. But here's the actual 00:19:54.269 --> 00:20:01.130 gospel message. God pities Nineveh and us and 00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:05.650 our enemies. And it reveals the dissonance between 00:20:05.650 --> 00:20:10.670 how we love and how God actually loves. Jonah's 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:14.529 story asks, can you handle a God whose grace 00:20:14.529 --> 00:20:20.490 offends you? Because the real scandal isn't a 00:20:20.490 --> 00:20:27.180 fish. It's the mercy in this story. And what's 00:20:27.180 --> 00:20:32.059 crazy about this story is this is how the prophecy 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:38.539 of Jonah ends. With the words of God asking a 00:20:38.539 --> 00:20:45.039 question. To whom? Jonah. But us as well, right? 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:53.069 Shouldn't I care about them, Jonah? Even if you 00:20:53.069 --> 00:21:00.269 don't, this isn't a children's story. No, this 00:21:00.269 --> 00:21:03.890 is a reckoning. It's God confronting a prophet 00:21:03.890 --> 00:21:10.529 and us. These radical ideas, the scope of his 00:21:10.529 --> 00:21:16.170 real mercy. Mercy that covers enemies. Mercy 00:21:16.170 --> 00:21:20.809 that exposes our pride. Mercy that interrupts 00:21:20.809 --> 00:21:24.549 our national, political, and personal storylines 00:21:24.549 --> 00:21:32.049 and says, yes, even them, even there. Because 00:21:32.049 --> 00:21:35.410 the gospel road doesn't just lead us to forgiveness. 00:21:37.009 --> 00:21:39.549 Leads us through every place we'd rather not 00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:44.529 go. With a message we didn't invent for people 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:48.670 we did not choose. Because God still wants to 00:21:48.670 --> 00:21:52.710 save Nineveh. He's still calling forth Jonas. 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:59.289 So, the next time he calls you east, don't run 00:21:59.289 --> 00:22:05.150 west. That fish might be still swimming out there 00:22:05.150 --> 00:22:18.990 looking for you. Amen? Amen. So here we find 00:22:18.990 --> 00:22:23.809 ourselves at the end of Jonah's road and maybe 00:22:23.809 --> 00:22:28.210 at the start of our own. God never told Jonah 00:22:28.210 --> 00:22:31.809 how to feel. He just asked him to go. And when 00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:36.529 Jonah refused, God didn't give up. He sent a 00:22:36.529 --> 00:22:39.430 storm. He sent a fish. He sent a plant. And in 00:22:39.430 --> 00:22:43.569 every bit of it, God was saying, shouldn't I 00:22:43.569 --> 00:22:50.450 care about them too? So let me ask you, friend, 00:22:50.650 --> 00:22:55.529 who's your Nineveh? What's your Nineveh? That 00:22:55.529 --> 00:22:59.009 person you wrote off? That city you gave up on? 00:22:59.109 --> 00:23:02.569 That story you stopped believing could ever be 00:23:02.569 --> 00:23:07.789 redeemed? Because here's the good news. The Gospel 00:23:07.789 --> 00:23:11.930 Road doesn't just lead to Calvary. It runs... 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:14.759 Straight through the people and the places we'd 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.240 rather avoid. And it carries grace way deeper 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:23.500 than any whale's belly. Thanks for listening 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:27.559 to the Semi -Seminary. This has been the Jonah 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:30.559 you thought you knew. Until next time, don't 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:36.900 be afraid of mercy. And if God says go, do not 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:41.220 sail west. See you next time.