Understanding God’s Compassion – Jonah 4:1-11
Understanding God’s Compassion – Jonah 4:1-11
By Pastor Lee Hemen
January 6, 2008 AM
Not all Christians believe God truly desires that all people be saved. Among those who do believe that, a number think that Christ really is just for people like themselves. Many believers take a passive rather than an active approach to being involved in supporting God’s redemptive work in the world. God, however, wants all His people to be involved in His redemptive work with all people. Let me ask you a question: How have you assisted in God’s redemptive work in the past year? What could you do in the new year to help take the good news to other people around you and in the world?
When the Lord first commanded Jonah to preach to the Ninevites he chose to run from God instead. God used a large fish to swallow Jonah and his disobedience, and from inside the belly of the fish Jonah began to view things a little differently. He began to gain a new perspective, however Jonah needed to mature still. God again commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, and this time Jonah reluctantly obeyed. Surprisingly, the Ninevites repented after hearing Jonah’s message. How did Jonah respond to the heartfelt repentance that resulted from his preaching? Not as we might expect. Instead, this prophet of God burned with anger because the Lord had showed compassion. Jonah heads outside the city to see what would happen next. He also begins to pray that he might die. Jonah failed, as many of us do, to understand God’s compassion. Let’s find out what that means for us this morning…
READ: Jonah 4:1-11
Not everything in life turns out the way we desire it to. Our life goals change over the years, children grow up and leave home, and even our marriages and relationships can change. However, for those whose focus is on the Lord and what He desires, we soon discover that he never changes. He remains the one constant we can rely on. In fact, as we read the story of Jonah we soon discover that it teaches us…
I. About God’s Character (Jonah 4:1-4)
1. Our ways are not God’s ways… and thank you Lord they are not! Jonah became childishly upset when he realized that the people of Nineveh had repented. He considered the Ninevite revival a great personal calamity. He responded in the way any self-centered person would – he became angry. Perhaps racism, national pride, or his own personal reputation could have motivated Jonah’s response. Whatever it was, it was wrong. He actually whines, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?” In fact, he interjects, “Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” What a pathetic person we find in Jonah. Yet he demonstrates our misunderstanding of God’s character. He identifies five characteristics of God: 1) God is merciful or “gracious,” which communicates the Lord’s attitude toward those who are undeserving. 2) God is “compassionate.” He understands our suffering and our needs. 3) God is slow to become angry. God is patient and forbearing with sinners such as “us.” He gives us second chances just as He did with the rebellious Jonah. 4) God has faithful love towards us. And 5) if we are willing to confess our sin, God may relent from disciplining us as we truly deserve. Even when it is a rebellious Jonah! Notice God responds to Jonah’s childishness with a question: “Have you any right to be angry?” The answer of course is , “No.” These four verses relate to us a lot about God’s character and ours.
EXAMPLE: Rather than telling Jonah directly that he was selfish or disobedient, God asked a probing question. Those who truly love us often challenge us in areas we do not like to address. Asking questions can be a less threatening way to help people reflect on their attitudes and reach some conclusions about them. Therefore, “How are you growing in Godly character?” Character is not something you earn, but rather something you learn. Companies often display their corporate slogans or core values for all to see. It helps the public and their workers to always be aware of what their business is to be about. God’s core qualities are always on display to the world through us, His people just as they were through Jonah. Jonah is taught a tough lesson that many in the Christian church need to be reminded of and it concerns God’s intrinsic character that is to be displayed in those who claim Him as their own. Jonah teaches us about God’s character and our own.
One of the major themes in the Bible is that God’s people should be imitators of Him. For example, since God is holy, we should be holy (Lev. 19:2). Jonah had stressed several of God’s characteristics but he was not willing to demonstrate those attitudes himself. God was compassionate, but Jonah had no empathy for the sinful Ninevites. Jesus told His followers, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). As God’s children, we should love other people. We should show mercy even to our enemies because God loves them. How can we do that? Jonah teaches us…
II. To Stay Away from Our Petty Concerns (Jonah 4:5-9)
1. Pettiness has no room in the heart of one of God’s people! We do not know if Jonah ever answered God’s question. No answer is recorded. However, Jonah trudges outside Nineveh on a hillside to see what would happen to the city. Jonah knew revival had broken out in that awful pagan city. Perhaps, he wondered God just might still punish the Ninevites and he did not want to miss the action! He build for himself a small shelter from the heat of the sun. Jonah cared more about his personal relief from the heat than about the eternal destiny of an entire city. God graciously “provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.” Yet, before Jonah could enjoy his new shelter and the vine, God supplied a worm that destroyed the plant. I believe God was trying to teach Jonah a lesson with this plant and its short life. It was kind of reminder that God could do what He desired, but also that life and its comfort is short. Nothing lasts. Jonah needed to stay away from the petty concerns of his own comfortable life and remember those God sent him to in the first place – the Ninevites! God again addresses Jonah with a question about his anger, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” Selfishly, Jonah thinks he does have that right, just as many of us do when we think God is playing “unfairly” with our lives. “That’s not fair!” we protest. We fail to see the bigger picture of what God desires. That in this life He has given us we are to stay away from our petty concerns and focus on what God desires.
EXAMPLE: God desires our involvement in His creation. We, as Christian believers and members of a church, are the body of Christ in the world, working to do His will to seek the lost, tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ, and discipling them. Far too often we think it “unfair” when life does not go the way we desire. Perhaps God is trying to plant a vine in our life to help us to stay away from our petty concerns and to get back to where He desires our hearts to be in the first place – with Him. Jesus would ask, “Isn’t life more important?” Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is the story of an upper-middle-class Englishwoman named Lizzy Bennet who is pursued by Mr. Darcy, a brooding and complex man of great wealth. Lizzy’s first impression of Mr. Darcy was that he was arrogant, introverted, and self-serving. So when he declares his love for her, she rejects him. Later, when she learns of his many secret acts of kindness for others, Lizzy admits that she had been wrong about Mr. Darcy and agrees to marry him. We, as Christians, are far too often like Lizzy. We too often use our worldly eyes to focus on pettiness rather than seeing others with the eyes of God. Jonah teaches us to stay away from our petty concerns and focus on what God desires.
God wants us to be involved as much as possible in His redemptive activity around the world and in our own community. All of us can be involved in prayer for missionaries, neighbors, co-workers, and classmates. Many of us can provide financial support for missionaries and ministries. Some of you may even be called to go as short-term or even career missionaries. However, all of us are called to reach out to our community with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. We are to witness, testify, and tell others about Jesus. We should never forget God’s willingness to reach out to the Ninevites and that He loved the whole world enough to send Jesus. Therefore, Jonah helps us to understand…
III. God’s Divine Compassion (Jonah 4:10-11)
1. Compassion looks beyond our needs and seeks God’s heart! After Jonah’s angry outburst, God responded to him with a direct statement and another question. God noted that Jonah had cared more about the plant than people. Jonah had done nothing to bring the plant into existence yet he wanted the shade it provided. Jonah apparently had no concern for the city of Nineveh; its people; the men, women, and children who lived there. The prophet had reluctantly obeyed God’s command to preach in Nineveh but had no real concern for the Ninevites’ spiritual well-being. Jonah’s concern was focused on his physical condition. If we looked closely at our own lives we would have to conclude that is often the case for us as well. We say we love Jesus, we honor God, and yet those around us are dying without ever hearing of the gospel. God has placed each of us right where He desires us to be to share with the “Ninevites” around us about His love and compassion through Jesus Christ. God mentioned that more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left were in Nineveh. It is a reference to their spiritual state. Not knowing good and evil or right from wrong. To worship the true God or some idol. Until Jonah brought God’s compassionate message, the Ninevites had limited knowledge of God, morality, and spiritual truth. Who around you is the same? God asks Jonah a very piercing question, “Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Of course God should because of His divine compassion, and so should you.
EXAMPLE: The Book of Jonah ends with a question from God. The question is both for Jonah and for us. Depending on how you and I answer this question, we have caught the message of the book or we have missed it. I have often wondered about the people who lived in Nineveh. There were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Friends, co-workers, politicians, soldiers, a King, office workers, clerks, shop keepers, beggars, thieves, drunks, violent people, and priests. There were high born, low born, and the in-between born. They woke up on that morning unaware that God had a message for them. The most important message of their lives. While it was short and told of their immediate destruction, it also had within it a message of compassion and hope. One person could either hold that message to his chest and never share it or he could proclaim it as God desired. Each day as you get up there are all kinds of people around you, in your neighborhood, at school, work, play, or the store, doctor’s office, gas station, and such. They all wake up not realizing that there is a message for them from God, but someone has to deliver it… you. Jonah teaches us about God’s divine compassion. Will you share it?
Conclusion:
Jonah teaches us about God’s character, to stay away from our own petty concerns, and God’s divine compassion.
----
This article is copyrighted by Pastor Lee Hemen © 2007 and the property of Pastor Lee Hemen. You are welcome to copy it, email it, or use it but if you copy it, email it, or use it you must do so in its entirety.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
January 6, 2008 AM
Not all Christians believe God truly desires that all people be saved. Among those who do believe that, a number think that Christ really is just for people like themselves. Many believers take a passive rather than an active approach to being involved in supporting God’s redemptive work in the world. God, however, wants all His people to be involved in His redemptive work with all people. Let me ask you a question: How have you assisted in God’s redemptive work in the past year? What could you do in the new year to help take the good news to other people around you and in the world?
When the Lord first commanded Jonah to preach to the Ninevites he chose to run from God instead. God used a large fish to swallow Jonah and his disobedience, and from inside the belly of the fish Jonah began to view things a little differently. He began to gain a new perspective, however Jonah needed to mature still. God again commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, and this time Jonah reluctantly obeyed. Surprisingly, the Ninevites repented after hearing Jonah’s message. How did Jonah respond to the heartfelt repentance that resulted from his preaching? Not as we might expect. Instead, this prophet of God burned with anger because the Lord had showed compassion. Jonah heads outside the city to see what would happen next. He also begins to pray that he might die. Jonah failed, as many of us do, to understand God’s compassion. Let’s find out what that means for us this morning…
READ: Jonah 4:1-11
Not everything in life turns out the way we desire it to. Our life goals change over the years, children grow up and leave home, and even our marriages and relationships can change. However, for those whose focus is on the Lord and what He desires, we soon discover that he never changes. He remains the one constant we can rely on. In fact, as we read the story of Jonah we soon discover that it teaches us…
I. About God’s Character (Jonah 4:1-4)
1. Our ways are not God’s ways… and thank you Lord they are not! Jonah became childishly upset when he realized that the people of Nineveh had repented. He considered the Ninevite revival a great personal calamity. He responded in the way any self-centered person would – he became angry. Perhaps racism, national pride, or his own personal reputation could have motivated Jonah’s response. Whatever it was, it was wrong. He actually whines, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?” In fact, he interjects, “Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” What a pathetic person we find in Jonah. Yet he demonstrates our misunderstanding of God’s character. He identifies five characteristics of God: 1) God is merciful or “gracious,” which communicates the Lord’s attitude toward those who are undeserving. 2) God is “compassionate.” He understands our suffering and our needs. 3) God is slow to become angry. God is patient and forbearing with sinners such as “us.” He gives us second chances just as He did with the rebellious Jonah. 4) God has faithful love towards us. And 5) if we are willing to confess our sin, God may relent from disciplining us as we truly deserve. Even when it is a rebellious Jonah! Notice God responds to Jonah’s childishness with a question: “Have you any right to be angry?” The answer of course is , “No.” These four verses relate to us a lot about God’s character and ours.
EXAMPLE: Rather than telling Jonah directly that he was selfish or disobedient, God asked a probing question. Those who truly love us often challenge us in areas we do not like to address. Asking questions can be a less threatening way to help people reflect on their attitudes and reach some conclusions about them. Therefore, “How are you growing in Godly character?” Character is not something you earn, but rather something you learn. Companies often display their corporate slogans or core values for all to see. It helps the public and their workers to always be aware of what their business is to be about. God’s core qualities are always on display to the world through us, His people just as they were through Jonah. Jonah is taught a tough lesson that many in the Christian church need to be reminded of and it concerns God’s intrinsic character that is to be displayed in those who claim Him as their own. Jonah teaches us about God’s character and our own.
One of the major themes in the Bible is that God’s people should be imitators of Him. For example, since God is holy, we should be holy (Lev. 19:2). Jonah had stressed several of God’s characteristics but he was not willing to demonstrate those attitudes himself. God was compassionate, but Jonah had no empathy for the sinful Ninevites. Jesus told His followers, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). As God’s children, we should love other people. We should show mercy even to our enemies because God loves them. How can we do that? Jonah teaches us…
II. To Stay Away from Our Petty Concerns (Jonah 4:5-9)
1. Pettiness has no room in the heart of one of God’s people! We do not know if Jonah ever answered God’s question. No answer is recorded. However, Jonah trudges outside Nineveh on a hillside to see what would happen to the city. Jonah knew revival had broken out in that awful pagan city. Perhaps, he wondered God just might still punish the Ninevites and he did not want to miss the action! He build for himself a small shelter from the heat of the sun. Jonah cared more about his personal relief from the heat than about the eternal destiny of an entire city. God graciously “provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.” Yet, before Jonah could enjoy his new shelter and the vine, God supplied a worm that destroyed the plant. I believe God was trying to teach Jonah a lesson with this plant and its short life. It was kind of reminder that God could do what He desired, but also that life and its comfort is short. Nothing lasts. Jonah needed to stay away from the petty concerns of his own comfortable life and remember those God sent him to in the first place – the Ninevites! God again addresses Jonah with a question about his anger, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” Selfishly, Jonah thinks he does have that right, just as many of us do when we think God is playing “unfairly” with our lives. “That’s not fair!” we protest. We fail to see the bigger picture of what God desires. That in this life He has given us we are to stay away from our petty concerns and focus on what God desires.
EXAMPLE: God desires our involvement in His creation. We, as Christian believers and members of a church, are the body of Christ in the world, working to do His will to seek the lost, tell them about the good news of Jesus Christ, and discipling them. Far too often we think it “unfair” when life does not go the way we desire. Perhaps God is trying to plant a vine in our life to help us to stay away from our petty concerns and to get back to where He desires our hearts to be in the first place – with Him. Jesus would ask, “Isn’t life more important?” Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is the story of an upper-middle-class Englishwoman named Lizzy Bennet who is pursued by Mr. Darcy, a brooding and complex man of great wealth. Lizzy’s first impression of Mr. Darcy was that he was arrogant, introverted, and self-serving. So when he declares his love for her, she rejects him. Later, when she learns of his many secret acts of kindness for others, Lizzy admits that she had been wrong about Mr. Darcy and agrees to marry him. We, as Christians, are far too often like Lizzy. We too often use our worldly eyes to focus on pettiness rather than seeing others with the eyes of God. Jonah teaches us to stay away from our petty concerns and focus on what God desires.
God wants us to be involved as much as possible in His redemptive activity around the world and in our own community. All of us can be involved in prayer for missionaries, neighbors, co-workers, and classmates. Many of us can provide financial support for missionaries and ministries. Some of you may even be called to go as short-term or even career missionaries. However, all of us are called to reach out to our community with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. We are to witness, testify, and tell others about Jesus. We should never forget God’s willingness to reach out to the Ninevites and that He loved the whole world enough to send Jesus. Therefore, Jonah helps us to understand…
III. God’s Divine Compassion (Jonah 4:10-11)
1. Compassion looks beyond our needs and seeks God’s heart! After Jonah’s angry outburst, God responded to him with a direct statement and another question. God noted that Jonah had cared more about the plant than people. Jonah had done nothing to bring the plant into existence yet he wanted the shade it provided. Jonah apparently had no concern for the city of Nineveh; its people; the men, women, and children who lived there. The prophet had reluctantly obeyed God’s command to preach in Nineveh but had no real concern for the Ninevites’ spiritual well-being. Jonah’s concern was focused on his physical condition. If we looked closely at our own lives we would have to conclude that is often the case for us as well. We say we love Jesus, we honor God, and yet those around us are dying without ever hearing of the gospel. God has placed each of us right where He desires us to be to share with the “Ninevites” around us about His love and compassion through Jesus Christ. God mentioned that more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left were in Nineveh. It is a reference to their spiritual state. Not knowing good and evil or right from wrong. To worship the true God or some idol. Until Jonah brought God’s compassionate message, the Ninevites had limited knowledge of God, morality, and spiritual truth. Who around you is the same? God asks Jonah a very piercing question, “Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Of course God should because of His divine compassion, and so should you.
EXAMPLE: The Book of Jonah ends with a question from God. The question is both for Jonah and for us. Depending on how you and I answer this question, we have caught the message of the book or we have missed it. I have often wondered about the people who lived in Nineveh. There were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Friends, co-workers, politicians, soldiers, a King, office workers, clerks, shop keepers, beggars, thieves, drunks, violent people, and priests. There were high born, low born, and the in-between born. They woke up on that morning unaware that God had a message for them. The most important message of their lives. While it was short and told of their immediate destruction, it also had within it a message of compassion and hope. One person could either hold that message to his chest and never share it or he could proclaim it as God desired. Each day as you get up there are all kinds of people around you, in your neighborhood, at school, work, play, or the store, doctor’s office, gas station, and such. They all wake up not realizing that there is a message for them from God, but someone has to deliver it… you. Jonah teaches us about God’s divine compassion. Will you share it?
Conclusion:
Jonah teaches us about God’s character, to stay away from our own petty concerns, and God’s divine compassion.
----
This article is copyrighted by Pastor Lee Hemen © 2007 and the property of Pastor Lee Hemen. You are welcome to copy it, email it, or use it but if you copy it, email it, or use it you must do so in its entirety.
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