Sermon: God Saves Jonah (Jonah part 10)

Sermon by Matt Kennedy
text: Jonah 4:4-10
Sunday January 29th, 2011

Last week we saw that God didn’t do what Jonah wanted him to do so Jonah got angry. God forgave the ruthless, child-sacrificing, Ninevites who repented and turned to him.

Of course, if YHWH were the god Jonah wanted him to be—full of unbending wrath for the wicked, there’d be no more Jonah. When I consider the evil some people do I sometimes think—why doesn’t God do something about that guy? Bernie Madoff; Larry Sandusky? The angels must ask the same question about you and me. Why is Matt still breathing?

Thankfully, God is who he is and not the god of Jonah’s desires or my own.

Instead of fire from the sky God asks a question (v.4).

Some of you have read Plato. Plato was a student of the philosopher Socrates and recorded many of Socrates’ conversations or “dialogs”. Socrates taught by asking questions that ultimately lead you to realize that you’re dumber than a bag of hammers and Socrates is brilliant. The great thing about the Socratic Method is that instead of someone just telling you, “this is how it is”, asking questions allows you to come to the conclusion yourself. The questions help you reason. It’s actually a very gentle way of persuasion. Socrates could’ve just said, “shut up and take notes. You’ll all be smarter afterwards.” But he wanted his students to get it for themselves. He wanted his wisdom to become their wisdom. God deals with Jonah in much the same way. God questions Jonah—to show him, rather than tell him—just how hard his heart has become.

Do you do well to be angry?(v.4)

Jonah remains silent. But his actions are clear enough. v.5 “Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.”

The word “booth” recalls the “booths” the Hebrews built in the wilderness after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. That provides insight into Jonah’s attitude. Nineveh is Egypt. And he longs for the plagues to fall.  Yes. I do well.

The city and everyone in it, has repented and turned to YHWH. What does Nineveh need most? What do new believers need most? Peter (1 Peter 2:2) likens new believers to newborn babies—they need milk. And milk, for Peter, is the “word of the Lord that has been preached”(1:25). The sign of life in an infant is desire for breath and milk. The sign of new-birth is an insatiable hunger to feed on God. You don’t have to corral new believers to church, no cajoling new believers to small group bible study. Living babies need and demand milk and as soon as they’re born. And the church better be able to give it to them.

So here’s this city full of spiritual babies…who don’t know their right hand from their left…they have no Old Testament. They have nothing. And there’s Jonah. A prophet. A teacher.

But where’s he headed? Out of town.

Chapter 3 contains the greatest miracle of the book. God sent a storm, God sent a fish. God made the fish throw up, awesome…but more amazing: God raised a city full of cold hearted, spiritually dead people to new life. Jonah saw it, a living breathing testimony to God’s love for lost people…but he’s unmoved. He goes the other way. He’d rather watch God’s newborn babies die.

It’s interesting. At Good Shepherd There are mature disciples who’ve followed Jesus for years and there are newborn believers, immature Christians, Christians stumbling around trying to figure it all out. We’ve said this many times: it’s crucial for mature Christians to make the effort to meet, build a relationship, read the bible with, invite to mission group, share wisdom with less mature Christians newborns especially. That’s how new converts become disciples.

Here’s why that’s hard: Babies are often smelly, messy and loud. New believers can be that way too. They may have habits you find offensive. They may not be as educated as you. Maybe they come from a different culture or just a really bad neighborhood. I’ve noticed a reluctance—and I don’t know all the reasons—to say hey why don’t we get together for coffee. Or why not bring your kids over to play with my kids and we can talk. I do know there hungry people here. And there are people who know how to feed and how to get fed.

So Jonah’s built a booth for himself but it’s insufficient. You can picture him out there, waiting for God to repent and destroy Nineveh, sulking, sullen, hot. I’d be tempted to leave him there to rot…but God has other plans. 

“6Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.”

The KJV calls it a “gourd.” Many OT scholars want to figure out what species does this. My guess is that they won’t ever find one—and we’ll probably never find a fish that can swallow a man and keep him alive for 72 hours. And we’ll never find a pregnant virgin. But with God all things are possible. The key word in verse 6 is “appointed” Remember, God appointed the fish too. And later God appoints a sandstorm. These are all miraculous acts. God spoke and the universe leapt into being out of nothing…making a plant grow overnight isn’t rocket science. God miraculously causes a great plant with big leaves to grow fast, overnight, to save Jonah from his “discomfort.”

“Discomfort” is ra’ah is better translated: “evil”. It’s the same word used in verse one: “but it [God’s mercy] was exceedingly evil to Jonah”

There’s a word-play here. Jonah’s “evil” bodily suffering is like his “evil” heart—God will somehow use the plant to save him from them both.

Jonah is “exceedingly” glad about the plant. Back in verse 1 God’s grace to Nineveh was “exceedingly” evil to Jonah. Same word. The implication is that the lives of 120,000 people and the comfort of a shady plant are emotional equivalents for Jonah. He’s just as happy about the plant as he is angry about Nineveh. That tells us something about the “evil” of Jonah’s heart. He’s a self-centered guy isn’t he? He’s exceedingly angry when God doesn’t fulfill his desires for vengeance. He’s exceedingly happy when God provides a shady plant. Really, it’s all about Jonah.

So what’s God going to do?

“7But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.”

God appoints a plant. God destroys the plant. God appoints a fierce windstorm. God’s in control throughout. He’s the cause of Jonah’s comfort and his suffering. If this set of events were to occur today some Christians would start praying against demons—because many’ve been taught that God never wants you to feel bad. He never wants you to be miserable. He always wants you to be happy, wealthy, and healthy. So sickness, failure, misery is always demonic. But God is the source of Jonah’s suffering. God makes Jonah miserable, not the devil.

Here’s why this matters: If you think God only wants you to be healthy, happy and prosperous, you’ll attribute illness, failure, misery to demons or chance and so you’ll pray against demonic and you’ll totally miss the good that God has for you in suffering. In failure. In pain. 

You all know Roman 8:28 right…God “causes all things to work for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purposes” (Rom 8.28) that means that even what we experience as painful God causes to work for our good. Sometimes, as with Jonah, it’s only through pain, suffering, frustration, that that good is realized.

God’s making Jonah miserable here…but his purpose is Jonah’s life.

So Jonah (still 8) for the second time asks for death,

“And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

He’s been broken. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, in every way. Then God speaks again.

“9Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”

The same question he asked in v.4. But instead being angry about the life of a city, now Jonah’s angry about the death of a plant. And this time Jonah answers God’s question:

“Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

Look what you’ve done to my comfort. Look what you’ve done to my plant, the shade over my head. I’m out here suffering in this desert, far away from home, all because you called me to this horrid city and now you’ve killed my plant.

I was incredibly frustrated last week. My three year old specially designed desktop, cashed out. Died. It won’t even start now. I have a laptop but it’s not the same. I’ve been trying decide whether trash it or to fix it. Either way it’ll be a huge pain because I don’t have time to deal with it. Ask Anne what I was like last week. I was cursing mad, kicking things, yelling to myself and at her and at the kids.

That’s how Jonah is thinking right now. But now God closes the trap:

“10And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah didn’t make the plant grow. It just made him happy. By contrast God made each of the 120,000 human beings in Nineveh in his own image, knitting them together in the womb, designing each for eternal life with him. They didn’t know God until Jonah came to preach, but God knew each Ninevite and loved each Ninevite from before the beginning. And now, having turned to YHWH, they’re like 120,000 infants who do not know their right hand from their left. But what’s Jonah worried about? He’s really really invested in this plant.

What frustrated you most last week? Was it that people God created, loves, and longs for are living and dying all around me without ever hearing the gospel. Was it that some newborn believers aren’t being fed? Was it that one of our brothers or sisters may be struggling with sin or loss and on the verge of falling? My week was consumed by my computer. I’m spitting mad at God because my computer dies, meanwhile, God’s heart is centered on those all around me dying because they don’t know his Son, his heart is with his newborns starving for milk. On his lost sheep who’ve fallen away. But hey, my computer’s broken so what do I care.

So here’s the mirror that’s just been held up to Jonah’s face. Gods says, let’s compare your heart to mine. You’re upset when your personal life is inconvenienced. I’m upset at the potential death and damnation of 120,000 people I love. Do you see a problem here? And I suppose we could ask ourselves the same question.

Application

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