WEBVTT 00:00:04.139 --> 00:00:06.559 You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:09.359 podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.099 Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:14.179 Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:16.500 strengthens your faith and draws you closer to 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:21.160 Christ. Let's dive in. All right. Jonah chapter 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:23.460 four, we're going to do the entire thing. This 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.899 is probably my favorite chapter in the entire 00:00:26.899 --> 00:00:31.010 book because it points out all of our flaws as 00:00:31.010 --> 00:00:35.070 people, but specifically myself. And so the kind 00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:37.090 of the big idea of what we're going to unpack 00:00:37.090 --> 00:00:41.450 today is God's overwhelming goodness often clashes 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:45.109 with our human perceptions of justice, revealing 00:00:45.109 --> 00:00:48.130 our own foolishness in resisting His mercy. So 00:00:48.130 --> 00:00:51.689 the title of my sermon is God's Goodness in Our 00:00:51.689 --> 00:00:58.030 Foolishness. How many of you guys like you are 00:00:58.539 --> 00:01:04.560 Big on fairness you want things to be fair I'm 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:08.599 definitely that way. I think if you are raised 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.739 in a household with multiple children You want 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:14.340 things to be fair if you're a parent you want 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:16.719 things to be fair everything's about fairness 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:20.359 and Here we are going to unpack a little bit 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:24.900 about the fairness That we feel like we deserve 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:29.170 and God says doesn't exist so If you have a Bible, 00:01:29.349 --> 00:01:31.750 Jonah chapter four, if you don't have one, there's 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:33.650 some right in the back there. We'd love for you 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:37.290 to take one as our gift to you. It will also 00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:39.890 be up here on the screen, but I want the text 00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:44.689 in front of you so you can see it. All right, 00:01:45.090 --> 00:01:49.510 so we know that Jonah is a prophet. We know that 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:52.150 he's Hebrew. We know that he's very nationalist. 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:56.670 We know that he is running from God. We know 00:01:56.670 --> 00:02:00.349 that he's been swallowed up by a whale because 00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:02.909 he's running. And all of this we've talked about 00:02:02.909 --> 00:02:07.230 is all God's mercy from his own decisions. And 00:02:07.230 --> 00:02:10.389 so now he's gone. Last week we unpacked, he went 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:14.210 to Nineveh, he preached. And I think Jonah may 00:02:14.210 --> 00:02:20.169 be the only pastor that I've ever heard of. who 00:02:20.169 --> 00:02:22.650 literally preaches and a revival breaks out and 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:25.770 he's mad about it. You know what I mean? All 00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:27.550 these people are getting saved left and right. 00:02:27.569 --> 00:02:29.729 They're confessing their sins and Jonah's like, 00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:36.389 this is terrible. So now we see Jonah, and I 00:02:36.389 --> 00:02:38.289 want you to see a parallel. Hopefully you'll 00:02:38.289 --> 00:02:40.990 see it. If not, I'll point it out soon. But there 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:45.330 is a parallel to Jonah right here to a New Testament 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.050 story as well. So here we go, Jonah chapter four. 00:02:48.050 --> 00:02:52.629 And again, Jonah is the, Jesus is the better 00:02:52.629 --> 00:02:56.810 Jonah. So here we go. Jonah's anger and the Lord's 00:02:56.810 --> 00:03:00.550 compassion, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly 00:03:00.550 --> 00:03:03.750 and he was angry. So again, they're all coming 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:07.050 to Christ. The Ninevites are his enemy. And so 00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.229 he's angry about it. And he prayed to the Lord 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:13.469 and said, Oh Lord, is not this what I said when 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:17.969 I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste. 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:22.639 to flee from Tarshish or to Tarshish. For I knew 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:26.780 that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow 00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:30.620 to anger and abounding and steadfast love and 00:03:30.620 --> 00:03:34.620 relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:37.960 please take my life from me, for it is better 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:42.319 for me to die than to live. And so let me ask 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.060 you guys this. How many of you guys have been 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:47.069 dramatic like this? I definitely have been dramatic 00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:49.949 like this. And many times my wife just says, 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:53.770 eat a Snickers bar. Verse four, and the Lord 00:03:53.770 --> 00:03:57.849 said, do you do well to be angry? And Jonah went 00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:00.689 out of the city and sat to the east of the city 00:04:00.689 --> 00:04:03.710 and made a booth for himself there. So he made 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:07.750 a makeshift kind of hut. And he sat under it 00:04:07.750 --> 00:04:10.370 for the shade until he should see what would 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:13.349 become of the city. Now the Lord got appointed, 00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:16.250 you should underline or highlight or circle that, 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:19.509 appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah 00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:24.029 that it might be a shade over his head to save 00:04:24.029 --> 00:04:28.889 him from his discomfort. That's also key, you 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:32.029 need to underline that. So Jonah was exceedingly 00:04:32.029 --> 00:04:37.110 glad because of the plant. Verse seven, but when 00:04:37.110 --> 00:04:39.810 dawn came up the next day, God, what is that 00:04:39.810 --> 00:04:44.410 word? appointed a worm that attacked the plant 00:04:44.410 --> 00:04:47.709 so that it withered. When the sun rose, God did 00:04:47.709 --> 00:04:52.569 what? He appointed a scorching east wind and 00:04:52.569 --> 00:04:55.629 the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that 00:04:55.629 --> 00:04:58.569 he was faint. And he asked that he might die 00:04:58.569 --> 00:05:01.730 and said, it is better for me to die than to 00:05:01.730 --> 00:05:06.389 live. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to 00:05:06.389 --> 00:05:12.420 be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do, 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:19.639 to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:22.839 said, you pity the plant for which you did not 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:25.899 labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:29.779 being in a night and perished in a night. And 00:05:29.779 --> 00:05:32.620 should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in 00:05:32.620 --> 00:05:35.879 which there are more than 120 ,000 persons who 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:38.680 do not know their right hand from their left? 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:43.300 and also much cattle. All right, first and foremost, 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:45.480 before we get into my points or anything like 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.879 that, what stands out to you just reading the 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.939 text out loud? What words, what verses, like 00:05:51.939 --> 00:05:58.079 what stands out to you in this chapter? Remember, 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.579 we're learning how to dissect the scripture and 00:06:02.579 --> 00:06:08.089 feed ourselves. So what do you see here? What 00:06:08.089 --> 00:06:17.209 stands out Self -pity Yep, what else? A lot of 00:06:17.209 --> 00:06:19.910 appointing. Yep. We see that God also appointed 00:06:19.910 --> 00:06:24.250 what earlier on He appointed a great fish, right? 00:06:24.529 --> 00:06:26.970 So we keep seeing this he appointed he appointed 00:06:26.970 --> 00:06:33.089 he appointed what else What else what's a phrase 00:06:33.089 --> 00:06:39.000 that repeats I'll give you a hint. God is the 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:45.519 one saying it. Yeah. Do you do well to be angry? 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.300 Are you right to be angry? So these are kind 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:50.939 of key points that God is trying to highlight 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:55.740 for us. So my first point is this. It'll be right 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:57.720 up here if you're taking notes. There is no such 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:03.379 thing as fair in God's economy. And so one of 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:05.319 the first things Jonah teaches us in chapter 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:09.480 four is that fairness is not a currency of God's 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:13.540 kingdom. Grace is. We scream about fairness. 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:16.639 Jonah wants fairness. Why? Why do I say that? 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:19.839 Why does Jonah want fairness? Because he sees 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:23.980 the Ninevites as less than, more evil, and they 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:28.079 deserve judgment. And so he's like, it would 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.160 only be fair, God, if you go ahead and smite 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.660 them, wipe them out. And he's like, but you won't 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:38.189 do that. and I knew you wouldn't do that. That's 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:40.990 why I didn't want to go. How silly does that 00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:45.410 sound? I'm serious. How silly does it sound? 00:07:45.850 --> 00:07:50.050 It's like I can get into an argument with one 00:07:50.050 --> 00:07:52.290 of my children and I'm like, you're making no 00:07:52.290 --> 00:07:55.410 sense right now, but they're in such anger. They're 00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:56.769 talking in circles. You ever been in an argument 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:58.269 like that? Where you're like, you're not even 00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:01.439 making sense. That's Jonah in this moment. He 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.360 is so upset. He knows God is merciful. He knows 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.779 God is gracious. He knows all of these things. 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:10.560 And he's like, and that's why I didn't want to 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.560 go in the first place. And you're like, aren't 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:16.120 you a prophet though? Aren't you supposed to 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:20.759 go and speak? And so in Jonah, verse two, he 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:23.500 says, that is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish. 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:26.920 for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:29.300 slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:32.120 and relenting from disaster." That sounds like 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:34.460 a good thing to me, but Jonah's like, this is 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:38.100 a terrible thing about you, God. I mean, it's 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:40.120 good when I need it, but not good when my enemies 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:44.360 need it, right? Notice Jonah isn't confused about 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:47.870 God's character. He knows what it is. He quotes 00:08:47.870 --> 00:08:51.129 Exodus 34, the very description of God that Israel 00:08:51.129 --> 00:08:54.590 cherished. And Jonah isn't ignorant to it. He's 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:57.870 offended by it. Because God treats people according 00:08:57.870 --> 00:09:02.389 to grace instead of fairness. And when that's 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:05.269 the case, when we are treated, God treats us 00:09:05.269 --> 00:09:08.669 with grace instead of fairness, the math never 00:09:08.669 --> 00:09:11.970 works out the way we want it to. What I mean 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:14.149 by that is we want the math to work out when 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:17.340 it comes to us. not when it comes to others. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.379 I love God's grace when it comes to me. Don't 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:24.659 necessarily love God's grace when it comes to 00:09:24.659 --> 00:09:30.320 others. So scripture is filled with unfair grace. 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:32.659 I want you to think through this for a moment. 00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:37.039 Where in scripture do we also see God's unfair 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:47.879 grace? Yeah, yeah the thief on the cross awesome 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:57.279 where else The prodigal son excellent what else 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:02.639 Adam and Eve good. I think about there's a parable 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:07.139 There's a parable that that Jesus tells of the 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:10.450 laborers in the vineyard, right? If you're not 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:12.990 familiar, those who worked for one hour received 00:10:12.990 --> 00:10:15.230 the same wage as those who had worked all day. 00:10:16.110 --> 00:10:19.710 And so this is God showing us that it's not about 00:10:19.710 --> 00:10:22.049 fairness, it's about His grace and love and compassion. 00:10:24.029 --> 00:10:26.590 And so if fairness were the standard, none of 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.210 those stories would sit right with us. And what 00:10:29.210 --> 00:10:33.950 I mean by that is, is like we love the idea of 00:10:33.950 --> 00:10:36.850 grace until it has something to do with someone 00:10:36.850 --> 00:10:40.759 else. But when we read those stories, we go, 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:43.340 oh, yes, thank you, Lord. Thank you for your 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:45.179 grace. But then when we see it played out in 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:48.299 front of us, we go, don't like that. Got to be 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:52.580 fair, God. Got to be fair. And so I actually 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:55.120 struggle with fairness myself. It's actually 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:58.759 one of my extreme faults as a human being. I 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:01.740 have a strong desire to want to be fair. And 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:05.100 so it's not just a principle, though. And what's 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:07.379 funny is it has to be fair in my estimation. 00:11:09.449 --> 00:11:13.610 You see what I'm saying? Everyone else can agree 00:11:13.610 --> 00:11:16.769 that it's fair, but if I look at it and say it's 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:19.649 not fair, I'm like, no, I'm right, you're not. 00:11:20.570 --> 00:11:23.730 And that's how fairness tends to work. I can 00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:26.750 go into a flying rage if I feel like I or anyone 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:30.289 I care about is being treated unfairly. Don't 00:11:30.289 --> 00:11:37.250 you dare, don't you dare try to make the rules 00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:44.269 or maybe kind of bend the rules. and my kid loses 00:11:44.269 --> 00:11:49.049 because of you bending the rules. I will come 00:11:49.049 --> 00:11:54.350 unglued, I promise you. I can't stand unfairness. 00:11:55.389 --> 00:11:57.289 Is fairness a good thing? Yes, I think fairness 00:11:57.289 --> 00:11:59.929 is a good thing. But when fairness becomes the 00:11:59.929 --> 00:12:02.470 ultimate, it can turn toxic. And that's my point, 00:12:02.809 --> 00:12:05.809 is by looking at myself and my own desire to 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:08.750 want fairness, it becomes very toxic in the way 00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:11.269 that I see things. And so Jonah feels the same 00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:14.090 way. We see him being angry, he's bitter, and 00:12:14.090 --> 00:12:16.929 he's bold enough to tell God exactly why. He 00:12:16.929 --> 00:12:19.990 says in essence, this is why I didn't go to Nineveh, 00:12:20.049 --> 00:12:22.809 because I knew you'd forgive them. Sounds pretty 00:12:22.809 --> 00:12:27.850 toxic. Nineveh wasn't misunderstood. They were 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:29.590 violent. They were brutal and they were enemies 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:32.669 of God's people and Jonah didn't want their redemption 00:12:32.669 --> 00:12:35.269 He wanted their destruction This is gonna be 00:12:35.269 --> 00:12:36.889 right up here If you would Weston you can pop 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:39.029 this up here and that's when fairness becomes 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:42.289 deadly Because fairness demands people get what 00:12:42.289 --> 00:12:44.830 they deserve and grace gives people what they 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:52.929 don't You and I deserve death we don't deserve 00:12:52.929 --> 00:12:57.210 God's grace and yet We get God's grace and we 00:12:57.210 --> 00:13:00.450 get his forgiveness and we get his mercy though. 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:06.649 We don't deserve it So let me ask you this in 00:13:06.649 --> 00:13:12.990 what ways are you raising your fist at God Demanding 00:13:12.990 --> 00:13:16.629 fairness What is it in your life that you go? 00:13:17.009 --> 00:13:20.230 That's not fair. God. They don't deserve that 00:13:20.230 --> 00:13:27.080 I deserve that they don't Where has God's goodness 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:29.679 towards others made you angry instead of grateful? 00:13:31.019 --> 00:13:33.600 Where has his blessing on someone else felt like 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.159 a personal offense to you? So I'm gonna give 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:39.340 you a confession of your pastor again I'm gonna 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:44.279 tell you when I was in a kind of a Jonah esque 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:50.039 moment And so when we moved from from st. Joe 00:13:50.939 --> 00:13:55.580 to plant the church in Lincoln for college students. 00:13:56.179 --> 00:13:58.259 There is another church in town that had just 00:13:58.259 --> 00:14:03.279 recently planted, and I do that because they 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:07.600 launched with 300 people. That's already a church. 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:09.539 Like that's not a launching of a church plant, 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:15.399 that's a church. So here we are, my little family 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:19.120 and a ragtag team of... one former student of 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:21.620 mine and a friend of mine and his wife and his 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:24.960 baby. And here we are trying to get the gospel 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.799 on the campus. Here we are trying to do everything 00:14:27.799 --> 00:14:30.919 we possibly can do to grow this little church 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:34.039 and get the gospel out there. And every time 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:37.279 I turn around, it seemed like that other church 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:41.360 was just exploding all the more and they're getting 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.980 another building and they're planting another 00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:45.299 church. And like, they started the same time 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:51.120 we did. It was good to have 30 people on a Sunday 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.600 for us, man. I was like high -fiving people. 00:14:56.179 --> 00:14:58.600 If you miss church, I pretty much knew it because 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:02.059 like there was nobody in the building, you know 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:06.620 what I mean? And so it was so painful to watch 00:15:06.620 --> 00:15:09.320 this other church, they're baptizing people, 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:11.820 they're having these massive events where they're 00:15:11.820 --> 00:15:14.019 just baptizing thousands of kids and all these 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:16.960 kids are coming to Christ. It's really good things 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.419 and things that that I should be super pumped 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.779 about. But instead, I'm literally throwing my 00:15:22.779 --> 00:15:27.159 fist in the air going, God, why I we moved here. 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.460 We're struggling and you're not blessing anything 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:33.620 we're doing, but you're going to bless them. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.600 Are you serious? Like we've taken all of this 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:43.580 risk. Where are you at? Like, why do they get 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:47.029 that? They literally took 400 people from other 00:15:47.029 --> 00:15:50.870 churches. I'm not still bitter, by the way. It 00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:53.269 sounds like I am, but I'm not. They're doing 00:15:53.269 --> 00:15:54.970 great things, and they're planting churches all 00:15:54.970 --> 00:15:57.529 over the place, and it's great. And I'm actually 00:15:57.529 --> 00:16:00.269 very good friends with the two main pastors. 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:03.230 But in that moment, in my own hurt, in my own 00:16:03.230 --> 00:16:07.970 insecurity, I saw it as unfair. And God would 00:16:07.970 --> 00:16:13.299 continually ask me what he asked Peter. when 00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:16.919 Peter was like Jesus says hey, there's gonna 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:21.179 come a day where Someone else is gonna walk you 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:23.600 and they're gonna dress you You know I'm talking 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.799 about in the book of Acts and Jesus is foretelling 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:31.559 Peter's death and then Peter goes What about 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:36.080 him? He points at John Does anybody remember 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.559 what Jesus says to him? Yeah, what does it matter 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.779 to you? What I do with them, you focus on you. 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.940 And that's the way Jesus was with me. What is 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:52.659 it what I do with them as a church? You focus 00:16:52.659 --> 00:16:57.940 on what I've called you to do here. And so we 00:16:57.940 --> 00:16:59.960 did get to baptize people. And of course, you 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:03.700 guys know the story. COVID ultimately shut it 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:09.650 down. There's this idea that like fairness, we 00:17:09.650 --> 00:17:11.230 have to have fairness. We have to have fairness. 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.369 And God's like, that's not how this works. There 00:17:14.369 --> 00:17:17.450 is no such thing as fairness in my economy. So 00:17:17.450 --> 00:17:20.509 Jonah's anger reveals something deeper than frustration. 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:24.089 It reveals a heart that values being right over 00:17:24.089 --> 00:17:28.230 being like God. And that sets the stage for the 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:31.190 rest of the chapter where God patiently exposes 00:17:31.190 --> 00:17:35.490 Jonah's small mercy in contrast to God's great 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:39.519 compassion. And because the real question of 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.980 Jonah 4 isn't whether Nineveh deserved grace, 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:45.319 it's whether Jonah understood the grace that 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:48.079 saved him. What did I tell you guys when we started 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.700 this book? What did I tell you guys? Who is the 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:56.140 book of Jonah really about? God. And you really 00:17:56.140 --> 00:18:01.759 see it in chapter four, right? Point number two. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.990 Self -reflection. is a call of grace. So if we 00:18:06.990 --> 00:18:08.809 look at verses four and five, you'll see what 00:18:08.809 --> 00:18:13.569 I mean. And the Lord said, do you do well to 00:18:13.569 --> 00:18:18.410 be angry? He's asking Jonah to reflect. Jonah 00:18:18.410 --> 00:18:21.390 went out of the city and sat in the east of the 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:24.329 city and made a booth for himself there. He sat 00:18:24.329 --> 00:18:28.069 under it for the shade until he should see what 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:31.809 would become of the city. So Jonah was upset. 00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:34.940 He goes and he pouts. And then he's like, well, 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:39.319 hopefully something will happen. So Jonah explodes 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:41.819 in anger and God does something surprising. He 00:18:41.819 --> 00:18:45.579 does not rebuke Jonah. He does not even correct 00:18:45.579 --> 00:18:49.000 him. He does not pull rank like he does with 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:54.319 Job. Instead, he asked a simple question. Why 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:59.880 are you angry? What's making you so angry? And 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:01.900 this is one of the most gracious moments in the 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.819 entire book. God is not asking because he lacks 00:19:04.819 --> 00:19:07.799 the information. He's asking because he knows 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:11.619 that Jonah lacks self -awareness. Jonah doesn't 00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:17.259 see it. God is like, hey dude, do you not see 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:20.039 the grace and mercy that has been over your life 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:24.359 the entire time? So the question is actually 00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:26.440 an invitation like what we talked about with 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:29.859 Adam and Eve He is calling Jonah out of the shadows 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:33.079 and it's an opportunity for Jonah to pause and 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:36.099 examine What is really going on in his heart? 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:39.259 But Jonah's response tells us a lot. What does 00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:40.980 Jonah do? What did we just read in verse 5? What 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:43.359 does he do? God asked him a question, but does 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:49.700 Jonah answer? No Like a five -year -old he takes 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:52.190 his ball and he goes home, right? He goes and 00:19:52.190 --> 00:19:56.769 he pouts. And so verse five, it says that Jonah 00:19:56.769 --> 00:19:58.710 storms out of the city and he builds himself 00:19:58.710 --> 00:20:00.789 a shelter and he sits to see what will happen. 00:20:01.230 --> 00:20:03.589 In other words, Jonah refuses to answer the question. 00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:08.069 He would rather sulk than self -reflect. And 00:20:08.069 --> 00:20:09.269 so this will be right up here if you want to 00:20:09.269 --> 00:20:12.450 take this down. God's questions are acts of mercy. 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:16.269 Throughout scripture, God often uses questions 00:20:16.269 --> 00:20:18.670 as tools of grace. Let me ask you this. When 00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:22.109 you have been in times where you are angry or 00:20:22.109 --> 00:20:24.190 frustrated with God, have you ever had God ask 00:20:24.190 --> 00:20:27.190 you questions? Maybe you're reading the scriptures 00:20:27.190 --> 00:20:31.029 and things begin to stand out and all of a sudden 00:20:31.029 --> 00:20:36.509 you're like, that hurts. Have you ever had that? 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:40.690 I have many times. We see it all throughout scripture. 00:20:42.230 --> 00:20:44.089 What did he ask Adam and Eve? What was the first 00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:49.059 question he asked? Where are you, right? He asked 00:20:49.059 --> 00:20:51.019 Cain the same thing he asked Jonah, why are you 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:56.380 angry? For the blind beggar, Jesus asked, what 00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:00.180 do you want from me? God's questions are not 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:02.319 meant to shame us, they are meant to slow us 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.900 down. Many times God presses into our hearts 00:21:05.900 --> 00:21:08.339 the same way he does with Jonah, through his 00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:11.619 word, through prayer, through preaching, or sometimes 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:13.859 even through a conversation with a trusted friend 00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:22.400 who asked just the right question. That's prophetic. 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:29.119 What I mean by that is, prophecy isn't necessarily, 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.480 when someone says, when God gives somebody the 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:34.980 gift of prophecy, it's not necessarily this, 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:37.740 well, I don't believe in the whole seeing the 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:40.720 future thing, because that's not prophecy. Prophecy 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:45.339 is God speaking through you in a way that realigns 00:21:45.339 --> 00:21:48.200 you back. So let me give you a couple of examples 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:52.859 of this. Have you ever been in a service and 00:21:52.859 --> 00:21:56.180 a preacher is preaching, they don't know your 00:21:56.180 --> 00:21:58.839 circumstances from Adam, but it definitely feels 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:01.599 like they're reading your mail? You know what 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.559 I'm talking about? That's the gift of prophecy. 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:08.079 That's God speaking prophetically unknowingly. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:09.880 He's not saying, the pastor's not saying it up 00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:11.859 there saying, thus saith the Lord. He's just 00:22:11.859 --> 00:22:14.279 preaching the word and the Holy Spirit is penetrating 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:18.880 your heart. That's God asking questions. Or have 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.160 you ever been in a conversation with a friend 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:25.339 who is a trusted friend, and you can be sharing 00:22:25.339 --> 00:22:27.299 with them maybe even just something that angers 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.039 you or frustrates you, and them being a good 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:32.819 friend who's just taking it all in, and then 00:22:32.819 --> 00:22:36.279 they just ask a question of you that's just like, 00:22:36.299 --> 00:22:40.240 that makes you go, uh. And you want to immediately 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.500 justify, right? Yeah, but you don't understand. 00:22:43.640 --> 00:22:46.519 No, no, no, no. I'm just, let's just work this 00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:47.869 out. You know what I mean? Have you ever had 00:22:47.869 --> 00:22:50.150 one of those kind of conversations? That again, 00:22:50.710 --> 00:22:53.910 that's God asking questions. That's not your 00:22:53.910 --> 00:22:57.589 friend being prophetic. That's God speaking through 00:22:57.589 --> 00:23:00.309 them, trying to get you to slow down and let's 00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:04.470 self -reflect for a moment. All of this, by the 00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:09.309 way, is God's grace. This is God redirecting 00:23:09.309 --> 00:23:11.509 you and getting your attention. Hey, let's focus 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:16.569 in. You know what I mean? There are times where 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:25.279 I mean, I'll give you a for instance when just 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:29.099 over here when Michael was wrestling and I told 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:31.759 you guys he said he's gonna go undefeated this 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:36.519 year. Ask me if he went undefeated. He did not. 00:23:37.460 --> 00:23:39.339 The only match that we're letting him do on a 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:43.400 Sunday was today. Ask me if he went undefeated. 00:23:43.660 --> 00:23:46.420 He did not. He got pinned all three times. He 00:23:46.420 --> 00:23:48.460 got pinned all three times over there. And so 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:50.859 I got on a FaceTime with him just over here, 00:23:50.859 --> 00:23:53.539 just a moment ago, and I wanted to look him in, 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:55.619 you know, because I wanted to see him. Hey, we're 00:23:55.619 --> 00:23:58.160 right here, right? Hey, none of this matters. 00:23:59.339 --> 00:24:03.980 It doesn't matter. Let's remember that come next 00:24:03.980 --> 00:24:06.400 week, you won't even be able to pinpoint those 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:08.980 boys in a lineup. You won't remember their faces, 00:24:09.140 --> 00:24:12.859 right? So let's redirect and understand what's 00:24:12.859 --> 00:24:16.759 really going on, right? Let's remember where 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:19.440 we're at. We're just moving forward. We're growing 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:22.059 from this and that's what God does when he asks 00:24:22.059 --> 00:24:24.779 us questions He's refocusing us and go hey, let's 00:24:24.779 --> 00:24:27.799 get here for a moment Let's get real and let's 00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:31.019 let's kind of see everything that's before us 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:32.720 because right now you're really caught up in 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.579 yourself And so that question of why are you 00:24:36.579 --> 00:24:40.059 angry? That question matters because God because 00:24:40.059 --> 00:24:44.079 anger is often a secondary emotion It's usually 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:49.000 not the root, it's the fruit. Anger is almost 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:54.259 always not the issue. It's usually something 00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:58.740 much deeper. And so God is gently probing Jonah's 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:02.160 heart, asking, what is really bothering you? 00:25:05.339 --> 00:25:08.299 Do you guys think that anger is really Jonah's 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:16.210 problem? No, absolutely not. So we know that 00:25:16.210 --> 00:25:18.309 there's something much deeper, and so that's 00:25:18.309 --> 00:25:21.269 why God is going, hey, hey, hey, hey, what's 00:25:21.269 --> 00:25:24.890 going on here? Let's talk about this. Why does 00:25:24.890 --> 00:25:27.569 my mercy feel like an offense to you, Jonah? 00:25:28.630 --> 00:25:31.369 What outcome are you demanding from me that you're 00:25:31.369 --> 00:25:34.869 not getting? Because I told you what I was sending 00:25:34.869 --> 00:25:39.640 you there. And God does the same with us. And 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:41.720 so what is it about the way God is handling a 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.000 situation in your life that you believe you could 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:48.099 do better yourself apart from the way God is 00:25:48.099 --> 00:25:51.019 maybe doing it? Where are you convinced that 00:25:51.019 --> 00:25:54.380 his wisdom needs your correction? I'm gonna ask 00:25:54.380 --> 00:25:58.559 that again. Where are you convinced that his 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:05.980 wisdom needs your correction? Pain exposed is 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:10.119 pain being healed. Sometimes when God digs beneath 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:14.880 our anger, what he reveals is sin. It can be 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:17.380 idolatry, it can be pride, it can be entitlement, 00:26:17.420 --> 00:26:21.220 it can be control. But, and hear this but, okay? 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:25.519 Hear me. But sometimes it's something else. Sometimes 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:28.619 when we're angry at God and he's doing something 00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:31.400 and he starts kind of poking at that sore spot, 00:26:32.299 --> 00:26:35.539 sometimes it's just past hurt that hasn't healed. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:41.099 Sometimes it's trauma. From our past that hasn't 00:26:41.099 --> 00:26:44.259 healed Sometimes it's failure that hasn't healed 00:26:44.259 --> 00:26:49.779 And so that trauma that hurt that failure we 00:26:49.779 --> 00:26:54.680 can we can bury it really deep Because dealing 00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:57.319 with it feels too painful or too complicated 00:26:57.319 --> 00:27:01.140 and so we stuff it down We move on we cope we 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:03.240 can cope through all these different avenues 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:07.680 to just distract And then when God's spirit presses 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:14.460 on it, we react and we explode. And so it's like 00:27:14.460 --> 00:27:17.380 a child with a thorn buried deep under the skin. 00:27:18.460 --> 00:27:20.920 What do you have to do when your kid comes to 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:22.740 you and they have a thorn in their hand or wherever 00:27:22.740 --> 00:27:26.819 and it's painful, but sometimes, you know, it'll 00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:29.160 go underneath the skin. What do you typically 00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:32.380 have to do? Yeah, you got to peel that back, 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:35.200 right? It doesn't feel too good. It stings, right? 00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:37.200 And for a child, many times they're like, oh, 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.460 what are you doing to me? This is terrible. Let's 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:41.900 just leave it there. We're like, can't leave 00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:44.559 it there, dude. Just chill out for a second. 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:49.000 And we begin to do minor surgery, right? And 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:50.740 this is what God does with us when he's asking 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:54.759 questions. He's going, on the surface, you think 00:27:54.759 --> 00:27:59.059 everything is fine. But when we touch this spot 00:27:59.059 --> 00:28:02.440 right here, you get a sharp reaction and you 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:07.079 get pretty emotional. And so the pain isn't new, 00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.920 it's just finally being exposed. And when God 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:14.039 presses there, it can feel like anger, it can 00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.460 feel like resentment, it can feel like defensiveness. 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:20.740 But this is not cruelty, it's grace. Why do I 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:24.599 say it's not cruelty? Why is God, if God is pushing 00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:27.640 on that and you're reacting so sharply, why is 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:38.359 that God's grace? Huh? Yeah, absolutely. We find 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:43.740 healing in it. I was watching a show yesterday 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:52.019 and there's a kid who loses his dad and he is 00:28:52.019 --> 00:28:55.859 blowing up on his aunt because his mother had 00:28:55.859 --> 00:28:59.539 to be taken away and so he's living with his 00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:02.559 aunt and he's exploding on her for nothing. And 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:06.490 then ultimately what she says is, is she's like, 00:29:06.630 --> 00:29:09.670 you can deal with grief in one of two ways. You 00:29:09.670 --> 00:29:11.730 can be like most people and don't talk about 00:29:11.730 --> 00:29:14.470 it and stuff it way down. And you can live just 00:29:14.470 --> 00:29:17.289 like this where you're a ticking bomb that people 00:29:17.289 --> 00:29:19.130 have to kind of walk around on eggshells, or 00:29:19.130 --> 00:29:21.829 you can be like other people who talk about it. 00:29:21.829 --> 00:29:23.589 And the more they talk about it, the less it 00:29:23.589 --> 00:29:27.309 hurts. Why? Because our brain begins to heal 00:29:27.309 --> 00:29:30.210 as we begin to navigate these deeper issues. 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:33.539 And so God doesn't want you walking around like 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:36.839 a ticking time bomb. He wants you to be healed 00:29:36.839 --> 00:29:39.799 and walk in wholeness. And so many times in His 00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:42.460 goodness and in His grace, He is going to push 00:29:42.460 --> 00:29:44.799 and He's going to probe and He's gonna go, that 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:47.599 right there, that's infected and we need to deal 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.420 with it. Let's cut it out. Doesn't feel good 00:29:51.420 --> 00:29:55.559 in the moment, but I promise you, like anything 00:29:55.559 --> 00:29:59.069 else, that you've ever had that maybe got infected 00:29:59.069 --> 00:30:02.029 or maybe hurt and then ultimately you got the 00:30:02.029 --> 00:30:03.809 you got the medication that you needed and all 00:30:03.809 --> 00:30:05.809 the things in the moment didn't feel good but 00:30:05.809 --> 00:30:08.630 you were sure glad you did it afterwards right 00:30:08.630 --> 00:30:16.849 lol your back the surgery wasn't necessarily 00:30:16.849 --> 00:30:18.950 great and the aftermath of the healing wasn't 00:30:18.950 --> 00:30:21.269 good right but are you are you happy you did 00:30:21.269 --> 00:30:24.710 it now yeah And this is the same way with us, 00:30:24.710 --> 00:30:27.210 when God is asking questions and he's digging 00:30:27.210 --> 00:30:30.230 deeper, many times he's going, this is my grace, 00:30:30.230 --> 00:30:32.009 this is my goodness. I know it doesn't feel good 00:30:32.009 --> 00:30:38.650 in the moment. So God asked hard questions, like 00:30:38.650 --> 00:30:41.589 I said, through his word. And instead of answering 00:30:41.589 --> 00:30:45.309 it, we can distract ourselves. He exposes something 00:30:45.309 --> 00:30:48.470 tender and instead of dealing with it, we withdraw. 00:30:49.369 --> 00:30:51.970 But unanswered questions hardens our hearts. 00:30:52.919 --> 00:30:55.740 God's probing questions are invitations to wholeness. 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.640 And if we let him, God uses self -reflection 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.960 not to crush us, but to free us. Point number 00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:09.220 three. I've called this point for verses six 00:31:09.220 --> 00:31:11.940 through eight, Lessons from Creation. So let's 00:31:11.940 --> 00:31:20.269 read that quickly. Now the Lord God appointed 00:31:20.269 --> 00:31:24.109 a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that 00:31:24.109 --> 00:31:26.950 it might be a shade over his head to save him 00:31:26.950 --> 00:31:30.589 from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly 00:31:30.589 --> 00:31:34.009 glad because of the plant. But when dawn came 00:31:34.009 --> 00:31:37.089 the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked 00:31:37.089 --> 00:31:40.369 the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, 00:31:40.450 --> 00:31:43.549 God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun 00:31:43.549 --> 00:31:46.170 beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was 00:31:46.170 --> 00:31:50.690 faint. and he asked that he might die and said, 00:31:50.769 --> 00:31:55.970 it is better for me to die than to live. So lessons 00:31:55.970 --> 00:31:57.990 from creation in verses six through eight, the 00:31:57.990 --> 00:32:00.750 story takes an unexpected turn where God stops 00:32:00.750 --> 00:32:04.029 debating Jonah and starts teaching him using 00:32:04.029 --> 00:32:08.029 creation itself. And so it says the text says 00:32:08.029 --> 00:32:10.289 that the Lord appointed a plant and then he appointed 00:32:10.289 --> 00:32:14.029 a worm and he appointed an east wind, meaning 00:32:14.029 --> 00:32:17.440 none of this was accidental. All of it was on 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:21.480 purpose. It's not random. Every element is intentionally 00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:26.380 placed by God. And I'm gonna show you how amazing 00:32:26.380 --> 00:32:29.619 God's intentionality is. What does the Bible 00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:35.460 say about when Jesus says, he goes, hey, the 00:32:35.460 --> 00:32:41.859 birds of the air, they get fed how? By God, right? 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:46.470 The lilies are adorned because of God. God is 00:32:46.470 --> 00:32:49.829 teaching a lesson of Jonah at the same time feeding 00:32:49.829 --> 00:32:56.269 a worm God knows what he's doing Everything is 00:32:56.269 --> 00:32:57.829 intentional. This will be right up here. If you 00:32:57.829 --> 00:32:59.609 want to write this down God appoints more than 00:32:59.609 --> 00:33:03.289 we realize The word appointed it matters That's 00:33:03.289 --> 00:33:05.309 that it's there and repeated because it's trying 00:33:05.309 --> 00:33:08.430 to be flashing red lights And it tells us that 00:33:08.430 --> 00:33:11.470 God is not merely reacting to Jonah. He is orchestrating 00:33:11.470 --> 00:33:15.039 a lesson God appoints the plant to grow, giving 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:18.460 Jonah shade and relief. Jonah gets exceedingly 00:33:18.460 --> 00:33:21.960 glad. Then God appoints a worm to destroy the 00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:25.339 plant and Jonah becomes furious. Then God appoints 00:33:25.339 --> 00:33:28.299 the scorching sun and wind until Jonah is faint 00:33:28.299 --> 00:33:31.799 and once again wishes to die. The same God stands 00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:35.960 behind all of it. Why does this matter? Our verse 00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:39.200 of the week, Jesus tells us the same truth in 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:43.109 Matthew 5 45. That God causes the sun to rise 00:33:43.109 --> 00:33:45.529 on the evil and the good and sends rain on the 00:33:45.529 --> 00:33:49.049 just and the unjust. This again goes back to 00:33:49.049 --> 00:33:53.230 fairness isn't a thing, grace is. It's common 00:33:53.230 --> 00:33:55.769 grace and uncommon grace. Common grace is this. 00:33:56.809 --> 00:34:01.029 We know plenty of wicked people who are millionaires 00:34:01.029 --> 00:34:04.670 and billionaires. That's not God, that's just, 00:34:04.670 --> 00:34:07.329 I mean it's God, but it's like, it's just common 00:34:07.329 --> 00:34:11.179 grace. It's just his, hey. This is how it is. 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:13.519 We can look at it and go, that's unfair. And 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:19.559 God's like, it's how it is. And so God stands 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:22.079 behind all of these things. And so that means, 00:34:22.619 --> 00:34:24.579 put this right up here for me, if you would Weston, 00:34:25.539 --> 00:34:27.480 write this down. Blessings in this world are 00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:30.139 not proof of righteousness and hardship is not 00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:34.519 proof of God's absence. That's something we all 00:34:34.519 --> 00:34:38.050 need to be reminded of. Both are tools in the 00:34:38.050 --> 00:34:41.530 hands of a sovereign and gracious God. Even the 00:34:41.530 --> 00:34:46.530 hard things are grace. Every one of these moments, 00:34:46.610 --> 00:34:49.210 the plant, the worm, the heat, is grace to Jonah. 00:34:49.630 --> 00:34:57.309 Why do I say it's grace? Is Jonah living in sin 00:34:57.309 --> 00:35:02.449 in the moment? Is he being idolatrous? Yes. This 00:35:02.449 --> 00:35:06.710 is God going, hey. Let's focus in. You're missing 00:35:06.710 --> 00:35:11.610 it. So the plant, the worm, the heat, all of 00:35:11.610 --> 00:35:15.130 it is grace. God reminds Jonah that comfort is 00:35:15.130 --> 00:35:18.489 a gift, not a right. I'm going to say that again 00:35:18.489 --> 00:35:23.389 because in the culture that we live in, it would 00:35:23.389 --> 00:35:27.349 seem that we feel that it is. The plant reminds 00:35:27.349 --> 00:35:31.630 Jonah that comfort is a gift, not a right. The 00:35:31.630 --> 00:35:34.809 worm exposes how quickly Jonah's joy collapses 00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:38.860 when his comfort is threatened. The scorching 00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:43.900 sun presses Jonah to the end of himself. God 00:35:43.900 --> 00:35:45.760 is desperately trying to show Jonah something 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:48.659 simple but profound. Jonah, you're not in control. 00:35:49.260 --> 00:35:54.239 I am. The good things in Jonah's life are because 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:57.840 of God. Everything, I said it earlier, everything 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:01.579 he's had up into this moment, God's grace. And 00:36:01.579 --> 00:36:04.039 even the painful things that are allowed by God, 00:36:04.489 --> 00:36:07.849 are not to destroy him, but to shape him. The 00:36:07.849 --> 00:36:11.550 hard things that Jonah has thus far experienced, 00:36:12.469 --> 00:36:16.969 have they been for his goodness? Yeah, absolutely. 00:36:18.650 --> 00:36:21.989 Did Jonah create a lot of it? Yeah, absolutely. 00:36:23.030 --> 00:36:25.510 It's God, you guys have heard me say this, that 00:36:25.510 --> 00:36:29.869 is an example of God being fully sovereign, in 00:36:29.869 --> 00:36:33.690 control of all things and still, Allow us to 00:36:33.690 --> 00:36:35.610 make our own decisions. God didn't force him 00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:39.809 to do any of those things He did and God's like, 00:36:39.809 --> 00:36:44.170 okay We're gonna we're gonna walk down this road 00:36:44.170 --> 00:36:48.349 But ultimately you're gonna see But here's the 00:36:48.349 --> 00:36:52.030 thing Grace can do one of two things. This is 00:36:52.030 --> 00:36:54.809 how we respond as people and as believers Okay, 00:36:54.949 --> 00:36:58.349 when we get this common grace and this uncommon 00:36:58.349 --> 00:37:02.840 grace We can either be hardened by it or we can 00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:05.820 be refined by it. Here's what I mean. Scripture 00:37:05.820 --> 00:37:09.500 often uses heat as an image. Heat can harden 00:37:09.500 --> 00:37:12.920 clay until it is unworkable. Or heat can refine 00:37:12.920 --> 00:37:15.719 metal, burning away impurities until something 00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:18.500 stronger and purer remains. It's the same heat, 00:37:18.699 --> 00:37:22.539 but very different outcomes. And so the question 00:37:22.539 --> 00:37:24.659 is not whether God brings heat into our lives. 00:37:24.699 --> 00:37:27.659 The question is, what are we doing with the heat 00:37:27.659 --> 00:37:39.159 and what is it doing to us? Are you being hardened 00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:42.239 or are you being refined? Everything Jonah has 00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:45.780 is grace. And so it's God is peeling back Jonah's 00:37:45.780 --> 00:37:50.280 illusions of self -sufficiency. Jonah is a prophet 00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:54.599 by grace. Jonah has a platform by grace. Jonah 00:37:54.599 --> 00:37:57.800 has the ear of the king by grace. Jonah was sent 00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:01.400 to preach repentance to an enemy nation by grace. 00:38:01.579 --> 00:38:04.360 The storm was grace, the belly of the fish was 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:06.780 grace, the plant was grace, the worm was grace, 00:38:06.920 --> 00:38:09.940 the faintness under the sun, once again is grace. 00:38:09.980 --> 00:38:14.019 Do you see it? All of it is for God's purposes, 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:18.679 trying to redirect and realign the vision that 00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:23.239 Jonah has. And all that Jonah is and all that 00:38:23.239 --> 00:38:26.360 Jonah would ever become is all because God, not 00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:31.340 because of Jonah. And God is lovingly dismantling 00:38:31.550 --> 00:38:34.309 Jonah's belief that he is entitled to anything 00:38:34.309 --> 00:38:38.690 at all. Point number four, it's our last one. 00:38:39.190 --> 00:38:43.110 This is the most Logan Marek point I've ever 00:38:43.110 --> 00:38:46.030 made in a sermon. Don't be a one -sided vending 00:38:46.030 --> 00:38:53.030 machine. Let's look at nine through 11. But God 00:38:53.030 --> 00:38:56.869 said to Jonah, do well to be angry for the plant. 00:38:57.690 --> 00:39:01.489 And he said, yes, I do. Be well to be angry, 00:39:02.369 --> 00:39:04.829 enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the 00:39:04.829 --> 00:39:07.170 plant for which you do not labor, nor did you 00:39:07.170 --> 00:39:09.769 make it grow, which came into being in a night 00:39:09.769 --> 00:39:12.449 and perished in a night. And should not I pity 00:39:12.449 --> 00:39:16.550 Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more 00:39:16.550 --> 00:39:19.449 than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right 00:39:19.449 --> 00:39:25.150 from their left and also much cattle. So why 00:39:25.150 --> 00:39:28.170 do I say don't be a one -sided vending machine? 00:39:30.279 --> 00:39:32.699 because Jonah is looking at this and God is going, 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:40.440 hey, you want my grace, you wanted me to rescue 00:39:40.440 --> 00:39:43.639 you from the belly of a whale, from the belly 00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:45.639 of a great fish, right? Jonah prays, he wants 00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:48.460 to be redeemed, he wants to be rescued. You want 00:39:48.460 --> 00:39:51.739 these things, but you are unwilling to give it 00:39:51.739 --> 00:39:54.739 to others. And so the reason why I say don't 00:39:54.739 --> 00:39:55.980 be a one -sided vending machine, what do you 00:39:55.980 --> 00:39:58.420 do with a vending machine? You put money into 00:39:58.420 --> 00:40:05.670 it, to get something out of it. So we want God 00:40:05.670 --> 00:40:07.849 to give us grace, but we don't want it to be 00:40:07.849 --> 00:40:11.389 extended to others. And so Jonah, once again, 00:40:11.570 --> 00:40:13.849 begs for death, not because he's suffering injustice, 00:40:13.909 --> 00:40:17.570 but because his comfort is gone. The plant is 00:40:17.570 --> 00:40:19.789 gone, the shade is gone, the thing that protected 00:40:19.789 --> 00:40:23.210 him from the scorching heat is gone. And God 00:40:23.210 --> 00:40:25.989 presses Jonah one last time. In essence, God 00:40:25.989 --> 00:40:28.369 says, you're grieving a plant you had nothing 00:40:28.369 --> 00:40:32.760 to do with. Why does why does God ask him that 00:40:32.760 --> 00:40:42.920 question? What is he trying to say? Right, but 00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:46.500 why does he make but why does God point to the 00:40:46.500 --> 00:40:49.139 plant in particular because he says you care 00:40:49.139 --> 00:40:54.940 about a plant Right So he's like so what what 00:40:54.940 --> 00:40:58.019 God is doing here if my question if my question 00:40:58.019 --> 00:41:01.199 you're not it's not making sense He specifically 00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:04.679 says, this is a 24 hour plant. It's here and 00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:07.699 it's gone. And you care more about that thing 00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:10.280 than you do about people created in my image. 00:41:12.179 --> 00:41:17.900 This thing, here for 24 hours. Those things are 00:41:17.900 --> 00:41:21.360 created in my image and you care more about that 00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:25.920 thing than you do those things. So again, this 00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:30.889 is God going, hey, are we here? He's gotta saying 00:41:30.889 --> 00:41:33.590 you didn't grow the plant, you didn't sustain 00:41:33.590 --> 00:41:36.670 the plant, and yet you care more about it than 00:41:36.670 --> 00:41:39.989 about people. And God exposes Jonah's hypocrisy. 00:41:40.389 --> 00:41:42.690 If you care this deeply about a plant you didn't 00:41:42.690 --> 00:41:45.170 make, why should I not care about the people 00:41:45.170 --> 00:41:47.489 that are made in my image, people I formed in 00:41:47.489 --> 00:41:50.070 the womb, people whose lives, families, and futures 00:41:50.070 --> 00:41:52.849 hang in the balance. You can't stand the scorching 00:41:52.849 --> 00:41:55.409 heat, but you would love for your enemies to 00:41:55.409 --> 00:41:59.659 experience eternal heat. Are we serious right 00:41:59.659 --> 00:42:04.639 now, Jonah? God is not being sentimental. He's 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:09.599 just being just and merciful. He's saying, Jonah, 00:42:09.619 --> 00:42:12.340 should I not desire repentance instead of destruction? 00:42:12.739 --> 00:42:15.739 Should I not want family trees to change, crime 00:42:15.739 --> 00:42:20.159 to end, wickedness to stop, premature death to 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:22.860 be spared? Because remember, they are a wicked 00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:25.739 city. They are brutally murdering not just the 00:42:25.739 --> 00:42:30.139 surrounding nations, but those inside. And so 00:42:30.139 --> 00:42:32.400 what do they do when they start repenting? It 00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:34.179 starts with the king. We talked about that, right? 00:42:34.400 --> 00:42:37.260 He's casting off his clothes and they're all 00:42:37.260 --> 00:42:39.199 laying in sackcloth. They're all repenting. And 00:42:39.199 --> 00:42:42.940 God's going, you don't want family trees to change. 00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:47.239 You don't want to see this entire city go from 00:42:47.239 --> 00:42:51.440 being your enemy to being your ally. Jonah, what 00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:56.760 are we doing here? Jonah is more worried about 00:42:56.760 --> 00:42:59.940 the here and now that he is on the eternal. So 00:42:59.940 --> 00:43:02.000 I'm gonna ask you this, are you more focused 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:04.280 on what's happening here than what's happening 00:43:04.280 --> 00:43:08.099 eternally? Because I gotta tell you, you're gonna 00:43:08.099 --> 00:43:11.179 spend more time over there than you will here. 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:19.980 So, God then brings it home. He says there are 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:22.920 120 ,000 who do not know their right hand from 00:43:22.920 --> 00:43:27.179 their left. Who is he talking about? Children. 00:43:28.099 --> 00:43:29.659 Children don't know their right hand from their 00:43:29.659 --> 00:43:32.360 left hand. He's saying there are 120 ,000 kids, 00:43:32.699 --> 00:43:36.000 innocent lives, those who would suffer if judgment 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.980 fell, even though their caretakers are now willing 00:43:38.980 --> 00:43:44.320 to repent, are not willing to repent. Jonah, 00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:46.340 you should see this. You should understand this. 00:43:46.380 --> 00:43:49.099 You should reflect my heart, but Jonah doesn't. 00:43:49.260 --> 00:43:51.900 He wants to be a recipient of grace, not a dispenser 00:43:51.900 --> 00:43:55.369 of it. And so Jonah is a one -sided vending machine, 00:43:55.570 --> 00:43:57.510 happy to receive the payment of grace, but unwilling 00:43:57.510 --> 00:44:00.369 to dispense it, to dispense hope to anyone else. 00:44:00.730 --> 00:44:02.889 And in doing so, Jonah doesn't just withhold 00:44:02.889 --> 00:44:06.369 mercy, he misses a miracle. Why do I say he's 00:44:06.369 --> 00:44:09.469 missing a miracle? What's the greatest miracle 00:44:09.469 --> 00:44:17.469 that we can see performed? Repentance. Seeing 00:44:17.469 --> 00:44:21.380 people come to Christ, that is a miracle. And 00:44:21.380 --> 00:44:24.039 Jonah is missing out on a miracle. He would rather 00:44:24.039 --> 00:44:27.699 go up on a hill and want to see their downfall. 00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:31.519 And instead he's up there while they're all repenting. 00:44:31.699 --> 00:44:34.880 An entire city is repenting. Lives are changing. 00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:39.820 God is moving and he's up there pouting. Where 00:44:39.820 --> 00:44:41.860 else do we see something like that happen in 00:44:41.860 --> 00:44:43.500 the scriptures? There's a story we've already 00:44:43.500 --> 00:44:49.969 hit on at once. What is Jonah reflecting? The 00:44:49.969 --> 00:44:54.650 prodigal son. But here's the thing, Jonah is 00:44:54.650 --> 00:45:00.110 both. He's the prodigal and the beginning. He 00:45:00.110 --> 00:45:03.150 prays, God spits, God has the great fish spit 00:45:03.150 --> 00:45:06.610 him out, right? We're seeing the mercy, we're 00:45:06.610 --> 00:45:08.429 seeing the grace. He's like, I'm coming home, 00:45:08.429 --> 00:45:11.250 Jesus. And then what happens when God does what 00:45:11.250 --> 00:45:13.849 he said he's gonna do, Jonah then becomes the 00:45:13.849 --> 00:45:17.570 brother who sits outside of the party for his 00:45:17.570 --> 00:45:25.000 brother. and pouts. And so Jonah is pouting in 00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:27.099 self -righteous pride outside of the walls and 00:45:27.099 --> 00:45:30.780 he's missing a miracle. When we live like one 00:45:30.780 --> 00:45:33.320 -sided vending machines demanding grace for ourselves 00:45:33.320 --> 00:45:36.599 while resenting it for others, we miss the goodness 00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:39.579 of what God is doing. We rob ourselves of joy 00:45:39.579 --> 00:45:44.840 because their blessing is our blessing. Their 00:45:44.840 --> 00:45:48.889 grace is a reminder of our grace. and their new 00:45:48.889 --> 00:45:52.889 hope is the same hope that we live by. When you 00:45:52.889 --> 00:45:55.309 see someone come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, 00:45:55.510 --> 00:45:58.329 it should make everything inside of you well 00:45:58.329 --> 00:46:01.449 up with all of this joy because all of heaven 00:46:01.449 --> 00:46:04.010 is rejoicing and you just witnessed a miracle, 00:46:04.250 --> 00:46:07.909 a hard heart becoming soft. And now you get to 00:46:07.909 --> 00:46:10.650 see and experience, oh man, they are experiencing 00:46:10.650 --> 00:46:14.610 the very same grace that has saved my life. And 00:46:14.610 --> 00:46:17.130 it should make you want to go and share it more. 00:46:18.539 --> 00:46:22.639 And so, to bring this home and to close, I want 00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:25.659 you to imagine with me a man who is being rescued 00:46:25.659 --> 00:46:29.840 from drowning. Pulled out of the water at the 00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:32.719 last second, lungs are burning, his life is flashing 00:46:32.719 --> 00:46:38.139 before his eyes. And someone drags him onto shore, 00:46:39.139 --> 00:46:42.219 brings life back to him, wraps him in a blanket 00:46:42.219 --> 00:46:47.360 and saves his life. Now imagine that same man 00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:50.880 later that day is standing on a pier and he sees 00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:54.119 someone else fall into the water They're thrashing. 00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:56.559 They're panicking. They're going under and instead 00:46:56.559 --> 00:46:59.019 of helping he crosses his arms and he says something 00:46:59.019 --> 00:47:01.639 along the lines of well This shouldn't have been 00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:05.800 standing so close to the edge. That's on them 00:47:05.800 --> 00:47:09.960 That's Jonah and if we're honest that's us when 00:47:09.960 --> 00:47:14.059 we receive grace but refuse to extend it It's 00:47:14.059 --> 00:47:20.239 absurdity. All of us know what it's like to be 00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:24.599 drowning, drowning in our own sin or physically 00:47:24.599 --> 00:47:29.639 drowning and to be saved. Grace saved Jonah. 00:47:29.900 --> 00:47:33.000 Grace saved you and I. And we should extend that 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:36.280 and offer it to others. The gospel never produces 00:47:36.280 --> 00:47:38.920 one -sided vending machines. It produces rescued 00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:43.639 people who throw life preservers. So the question 00:47:43.639 --> 00:47:46.599 Jonah leaves us with and God leaves us with is 00:47:46.599 --> 00:47:49.639 simple. Will you stand on the shore, arms crossed, 00:47:49.820 --> 00:47:52.179 or will you remember the water that you were 00:47:52.179 --> 00:47:53.480 pulled from? Let's pray.