In The Felly Of a Bish Part 7: God Has A Really Big Nose

Carl thank you for that great prayer but I'm just gonna pray another quick one father bless us now as we turn our attention to you in Scripture is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say Amen all right if if you can believe it we're actually going to do the seventh and final installment of our series on the Book of Jonah Jonah we're gonna do it and it's been a long time coming and perhaps against my better judgment and certainly against the advising of my wife we're gonna spend a little bit of time in review to catch us up to where we are now Violetta I want you to have peace about this it's going to be a maximum ten minute review and I'm looking at my timer right now so our series has been titled in the Feli of a bish and since today has been about two months since our last installment and there's been six parts I thought I would just quickly catch us up as to where we've come because the punchline today is going to be made all the more punchier and powerful by knowing where we've come from and it'll be a good reminder for all of us so our first series first sermon in the series was simply titled an introduction to the Book of Jonah and we noted that the reason one of the main reasons we're studying the Book of Jonah is that Jesus identified himself so closely with Jonah right we see that in Matthew chapter 12 Jesus identified himself and his mission closely with the Jonah's story in that sermon we also noted that the Book of Jonah is very symmetrical and organized in its basic construction there are two parts two equal halves to the Book of Jonah each consisting of three episodes and those three episodes are almost a mirror image of one another what we've called the setup the build-up and the speak up in the first half we see God calls on Jonah the second half also has God calling on Jonah then we have Jonah in the Gentiles in the first half he's with the Gentiles in the ship on his way to Tarshish and in the second half it's Jonah with the Gentiles in Nineveh as he preaches the imminent destruction of the city and then the speak up is kind of the points the plot has been built and the the build-up has taken place the table is set and then the point is what takes place when Jonah calls on God in the first half out of the belly of a fish and then as we're gonna see today in our final installment Jonah calls on God from just outside of Nineveh so that's what we talked about in the first one our second sermon was titled Nineveh or Tarshish up or down and some of you will remember that Nineveh with God is better than Tarshish without him can he say him in nineveh's desire was to flee away from God's presence to the West but God had called him to the north and the East Jonah saw his flight on the horizontal plane but God saw his flight on the vertical plane and we have the repetition of that phrase phrase again and again Jonah went down to Tarshish he went down into the ship and then finally he goes down into the bottom of the ocean and so what Jonah saw merely horizontally God saw vertically and we noted that God scripts the god of Scripture is not someone to flee from he's someone to flee why someone to flee - very good alright then we went to our second scene part number three in the series was the mysterious man Jonah this mysterious man on the boat and we noted that when Jonah said just throw me overboard and the storm will stop then the Mariner said no no no the Gentile Mariners made every effort to save him and we noted that the Mariners hard but futile rowing hinted that salvation cannot come by human effort however sincere and vigorous salvation will come through some other means and we noted that just like those Gentile Mariners who tried their best to save Jonah there are many non-christian Christians and many Christian non-christians get your met your mind wrapped around that there are many people who are in their innermost soul and in their heart they are acting and behaving in Christian ways and then there are people who have the name of Christian that do not behave in that way Jonah being the example here the one who's fleeing from God was actually the prophet of God and we noted this we've noted several times am i preaching here over the last three and a half years that God is working with say that with me God is working with everyone what everywhere right God is not just working with a small group of parochial people okay then we went to part four scene 3 titled beyond death store and back and this is where Jonah went down in to the belly of the fish into the bottom of the ocean in contrast with the Mariners vigorous rowing the fish is a symbol of God's amazing what grace and undeserved salvation it looked like judgment and in a sense the fish was judgment but more than that it was deliverance from certain drowning in the storm Jonah's descent first to Tarshish then into the boat and then finally to the bottom of the ocean has now reached its nadir which means its lowest point Jonah has gone down down down seeking to flee from the presence of God he has come to the very doors of death and that's where Jonah cries out what is really the centerpiece of the entire Book of Jonah and we're going to come back to this this is the essence of the Book of Jonah and Jonah in his prayer cries out and says salvation or deliverance belongs to Yahweh right he cries out he says you can get me out of this situation you can get me out of this fish and so he calls out to God Tarshish where Jonah was fleeing to seemed like deliverance but it would have brought death and this fish seemed like death but in fact it brought deliverance it's exciting and we noted that salvation is not from judgment biblically speaking God doesn't save us from judgment primarily he saves us through judgment and we noted the amazing story of one of our own members Tim Dowd who was an alcoholic and had been that way for many years and who fell down the stairs how many of you remember that story fell down the stairs shattered his arms and said to him I'm gonna quote you on this best day of your life the best day of his life because that became the day that from that day forward he became a non alcoholic he turned away and so salvation didn't come from judgment it came through judgment okay then we had part 5 scene 4 like father like son this is quite a fun one we noted that Jonah is now on his way to Nineveh but not because his heart is in it he is outwardly compliant but his heart remains renewed we ask this question and it's a question we're gonna come back to today on two occasions as a recipient of Yahweh's mercy patience and saving judgment is Jonah now ready to extend that to others and we're going to get our answer today we're going to get our answer to that question the Jonas story and we went to the Peters story are everybody's story because we all need a second chance right Jonah chapter 3 opens with this phrase the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time Jonah was given a second chance Jesus when speaking to one of his disciples the loud mouthed disciple Peter he said Peter son of Jonah son of Jonah and there's it's a virtual certainty because Peters dad's name wasn't Jonah it's a virtual certainty that it was a play on words suggesting that Peters story was very similar to Jonah's own and we noted some similarities there and the punchline of that presentation was that Yahweh is the god of second chances and then we came to our penultimate sermon the one that was just before today's and that was titled Yahweh the great and gracious Elohim Elohim of course being the Hebrew word for God and how Yahweh is the Great God we noted that Jonah went into the city of Nineveh and he said in 40 days Nineveh will be a overturns but that word is ambiguous it can mean not only the overturning in terms of destruction but the turning around in terms of reformation or repentance and we asked the question did Jonah discern the ambiguity within his own statement that that Nineveh will be overturned did he even understand the ambiguity of his own statement Jonah's struggled to reconcile the good of Assyria with the good of Israel he thought that these are diametrically how can what's good for Assyria be good for Israel and how come what's good for Israel be good for Assyria Jonah took a parochial or a small view where God took a universal view we're gonna see that today transitioning people from the general Elohim or God to the personal Yahweh is our calling just as the Gentile Mariners called out to Yahweh the Ninevites call out to Yahweh and so these Gentile peoples are calling out to the Hebrew God it's absolutely amazing this general idea of some God out there to the Covenant making covenant keeping God Yahweh which brings us to our presentation today and that only took 9 minutes babe so that's not bad brings us to our presentation today our seventh and final presentation in the Jonas series which is titled what else God has a really big nose that is the title of our sermon today if you don't like that you might like this one because I couldn't decide between the two God is a big nosed birdwatcher that's the appropriate response giggling and astonishment okay let's see what we mean by the fact that God has a big nose you should be in Jonah chapter 4 right now Jonah chapter 4 this is the sixth and final episode in the Book of Jonah and let's see if we can get to the bottom of this crazy notion that Pastor Eric just suggested that God has a really big nose maybe some of you are like me you have a nose that's a little larger I remember when Landon was a boy we have a friend who also has quite a large nose I don't know if you use the language here in Australia do you say Shahs so it's a big schnoz a big nose and we have a friend who has quite a large nose and when Landon was young probably four or five he pointed at our friend's nose and said dad look at his nose and I said oh yeah you know and the friend was very gracious and he said all you know that's just my nose we all have big noses and Landon said I know but yours is really big I know that there are some big noses but that's a really big nose on another occasion I think about a year later also Landon there was a lady who not only had a reasonably large nose but she had a large wart kind of right on the end of her nose and dad said look at Landon said dad look at that thing and the lady was like oh yeah yeah that's my nose and and I was like yeah that's her nose land and he's like no no the thing on ur nose out of the mouths of babes I have perfected embarrassment and so maybe you're a little bit like me maybe you have a nose that's a little larger some others I'm gonna suggest here today that God has the biggest nose of all and not in the Pinocchio sense but in a sense that will become really clear and really awesome we find ourselves here in Jonah chapter 4 and this is the final episode of the 6 and here I've encouraged you to be there and I have not even turned there myself Jonah chapter 4 and we're gonna read the first three verses Jonah chapter 4 but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he became angry so he prayed to the Lord to Yahweh and said o Yahweh was not this what I said when I was still in my country for this reason I fled previously to Tarshish for I know that you were a gracious and merciful God slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness one who relents from doing harm therefore now o Yahweh please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live Jonah has gone into the city of Nineveh and he has announced that Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days but the king of Nineveh and all of the Ninevites including the animals went through an act of serious repentance they were in sackcloth they were in ashes they turn from their wicked ways and God responded to their repentance unto their Reformation by relenting from punishment the promise had been that in 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed but Jonah now alerts us to an earlier conversation that has been purposefully left out we mentioned this probably in our second presentation that the author of Jonah's sophisticated in in his writing and in his articulation has done something that we refer to as information gapping information gapping is where you create tension in a story you create drama in a story by not giving the reason for certain events or situations all we know is that when the word of the Lord came to Jonah the first time and said go to go to Nineveh it says that Jonah fled but reason for his fleeing is never given we're never told why he flees where were left as the reader to surmise maybe he was afraid of the Ninevites maybe he feared the danger maybe it was too far of a journey we're never told why until now so we go all the way through Chapter one all the way through chapter 2 all the way through chapter 3 and not until we get now at the beginning of chapter 4 are we finally given the long-awaited reason for Jonah's flight and Jonah tells us that the reason he fled was actually based on a previous conversation that he and Yahweh had had that we don't have access to said this is what I told you before God this is why I previously tried to flee to Tarshish because I knew you would relent in this punishment and in the promised judgment that's why I didn't go we asked the question as a recipient of Yahweh's mercy patience and saving judgment is Jonah now ready to extend these things to others and we now have our answer and the answer is no Jonah is happy to receive but not happy to administer not happy to give what he had been the gracious recipient of we now have our answer Jonah's frustration and fear to flee to Nineveh or rather to flee to Tarshish from Nineveh was not his fear that God wouldn't be merciful but his fear that God would be merciful that's actually what he says look at it again look at the important use of the word therefore this is what I said Lord when I was still in my country therefore or for this reason I fled I fled because I know what kind of a God you are you are a God that it's gracious and merciful slow to anger abounding and loving kindness one who relents from punishment I knew that this was a fool's errand and so I went the other direction I knew all along that you would not actually punish these people and here we're getting to the theological heart and center of this book and this is that Jonah is torn as many of us aren't we're going to see this Jonah is torn between trying to reconcile God's promise of justice and with his desire to give mercy and grace in every possible situation now let's unpack this because this is absolutely amazing like many today Jonas struggled to reconcile God's mercy with his justice the reason that I fled Lord is that I knew that you would relent now the backdrop for all of this story the backdrop for basically everything that's gonna happen in Chapter four of Jonah is an earlier story and a story that was absolutely formative in Jewish thinking and it was the story of Moses intercession on Mount Sinai you will maybe remember the story if you're not familiar with it I'll quickly review it God had met with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai and Moses had gone up to the pinnacle of Sinai and met with God where he received the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone Moses was away for 40 days right he was away for so long that down at the base of the mountain Aaron and others rather Aaron was persuaded by the others that something had happened to Moses that he wasn't coming back and in fact it wasn't Yahweh that had brought them out of Egypt it was some other God and so they made an idol they made this Idol and then they danced around it now danced is the nicest possible pg-13 version of what was taking place there the actual text is a rated-r version and it was basically a grand orgy was a grand orgy that was taking place down at the base of the mountain if you can believe it or not it was rated PG the way that we translate it but it was the actual Hebrew is rated R version it's a great big rave party going down at the at the base of the mountain and that's why when Moses and Joshua will make their way down somebody says hey that sounds like the sound of war and then Moses says that's not the sound of war that's the sound of playing and the word for playing there is a much stronger word than playing it's that's the sound of an orgy that's the sound of arousal that's the sound of of an erotic dance and festivities that are taking place so Moses comes down you will remember the story he sees the golden calf he he throws the tablets of stone down signifying that the Covenant had been broken in this context Moses goes back into the presence of the Lord and check this out he passed in front of Moses this is where Moses has asked to see God this is all of this takes place in Exodus 32 33 and 34 and it says that he Yahweh passed in front of Moses and said Yahweh Yahweh that's what capital L Ord means the compassionate and gracious God slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness maintaining love to thousands this is the very passage that Jonah quotes the very passage when Jonah says the reason that I didn't go to Nineveh per your request is that I know what kind of a God you are you're compassionate and gracious and slow to anger you're a god who relents from punishment but watch this watch what Moses actually says maintaining love mm and forgiving wickedness rebellion and sin yet he does not leave the guilty what's the next word unpunished he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation this is fascinating when Jonah quotes this this what sort of want to look for here when Jonah quotes this pivotal story in Israel's history what he says is your gracious you're compassionate you're forgiving you're slow to anger and you don't punish the actual context of what Moses said is all the same you're gracious you're kind you're slow to anger you're forgiving and you punish Moses has excuse me Moses Jonah has purposefully misstated what the text actually says I knew all along that you wouldn't punish because you're not that kind of a God now notice this list of Yahweh's characteristics that he showed to Moses on on Mount Sinai you are compassionate number one you are gracious number two you are slow to anger number three you abound in love and faithfulness friends is that a God you can love and worship yes or no man are you kidding me hallelujah maintaining love to thousands forgiving wickedness rebelling and sin and only then does it say but does not leave the guilty unpunished and then punishes so when Moses quotes it he says you do all of these great things and you punish when Jonah quote City quotes the very same passage very same language and then he says but you don't punish you don't punish interesting notice this from the complete Jewish Bible he prayed to Adonai now add and I didn't I say that this would happen this is Jonah when I was still in my own country that's why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time why Jonah because I knew you were a God who was merciful and compassionate slow to anger rich and grace and that you relent from inflicting punishment the opposite of what Moses had said the very verbiage that had been revealed to Moses is now turned on its head and Jonah says the opposite of the actual revelation of God the reason I didn't go is I knew that you would relent from punishment and this is key we're gonna unpack Jonah's mental state the psychology of Jonah because embryonic within the psychology of Jonah is the psychology of David asterik and probably of many of you as well so Jonah wants God to punish the wicked but only when it suits him my suspicion is is that there's not a person in this room who can't relate to that I suspect that all of us at times have been fired up we've had our dander up we've something has happened either to us or we've seen something happen on a television show or a news program and we've gotten really fired up we said man the world is full of wicked people God should punish these wicked people he'd be an unusual human being if he didn't feel that way at times but it's funny how we're selective in when and where and how and to whom we want God's punishment to be administered am I wrong or am i right it's funny how when we have fallen when we're the wicked when we're on the short side of of obedience we want grace but when others are on the short side of obedience we want punishment this was Jonah as a recipient of Yahweh's mercy patience and saving judgment is he ready to extend them to others that's the question we're asking the answer that we're getting here is no now this phrase is a fascinating one and you might have wondered why would we call the sermon God has a really big nose or if you prefer God as a big nosed birdwatcher why what a strange sermon in fact not a strange sermon title the phrase slow to anger here is a translation of a Hebrew idiom an idiom is a saying or a colloquial saying like go fly a kite or fair dinkum and the actual verbiage in the Hebrew is that God has long nostrils God has long nostrils now just let that settle in God I know what kind of a God you are your gracious your kind your compassionate you have long nostrils friends how do you feel about a God who has long nostrils well what the idiom is that when people become angry when they become agitated when they flare up your nostrils flare up and God's nose is so big and his nostrils are so long that they're slow to flare up God has a big nose we'll come to the bird-watching point point at the end the backdrop for Jonah's ultimatum to Yahweh is Moses intercession for Israel at Mount Sinai now you might be saying wait a minute ultimatum I missed that part Jonah makes an ultimatum in fact what Jonah says to God and this is the first time in the whole narrative where Jonah and God are actually interacting in dialogue fashion up to this point we've had Jonah speaking or we've had God speaking this is the first time where Jonah and God are actually communicating back and forth and and what Jonah says to Yahweh is a a not so thinly veiled ultimatum that looks like this either you will change your mind and punish or I will die the backdrop for this is the intercession of Moses let me just remind you of that we said it just a moment ago where where when Moses came down the mountain and he threw down the tablets of stone Moses then went back into the presence of God and this dialogue occurs this is Exodus chapter 32 Moses said to the people you have now committed a great sin dancing around the golden calf and attributing their Exodus deliverance to an idol but now I will go up to Yahweh perhaps I can make atonement for your sin so Moses went back into the Lord's presence and he said Oh Lord what a great sin these people have committed I can't believe it they've made for themselves gods of gold idols of metal but now please forgive their sin and if you cannot then blot me out of the book that you have written save them forgive them if possible and if this sin is too big soup too great too egregious if you can't forgive them and and there must be judgment if there must be punishment then let the judgment and the punishment come on me blot me out of the book now here's the remarkable thing this is kind of what Jonah is doing but only in Reverse Jonah does not desire his own death Jonah knows the story of Moses and he knows it well that God had originally said Moses I'm going to destroy those people and I'm going to start with you a new nation I'm gonna start with you I'm gonna start fresh with you Moses and Moses responses no don't start fresh with me if punishment must come if judgment must come if wrath must come blot me out of the book so that they can be saved Jonah knows that Yahweh has a history of changing his mind about judgment the problem is is that Jonah's got the story backward he doesn't desire his own death what he desires is a reversal of Yahweh's decision to not punish Nineveh he has the story of Moses and I've put in parentheses the story of Jesus backward he has the story backward backward in what sense David because you give up your life for others that's the Moses story that's the Jesus story greater love has no man than this and a man would lay down his life for his friends you don't threaten to die if they're not killed that's a very different thing now check this out stay in the text and look at verse 4 Jonah chapter 4 verse 4 then the Lord said and we'll come back to this is it right for you to be angry we'll come back to the significance of that in just a moment I want you to see verse 5 so Jonah went out of the city and he sat on the east side of the city and there he made himself a shelter and he sat under under it in the shade and I watched this till he might see what would become of the city so you have this petulant adolescent dialog where Jonah is throwing the equivalent of a prophetic temper tantrum and he says I knew you would do this I knew you would be forgiving I knew this was the kind of long-nosed God that you are and that's why I fled and he's just throwing this temper tantrum and he says it would be better for me to die and God's like really it's a bit much right is it right for you to be carrying on like this Moses Jonah rather than excuses himself from the dialog from the presence goes out to the east that significant will come back to that in just a second and sits down to wait and see what will happen to the city hoping against hope that Yahweh will relent change his mind and actually do what he said he wouldn't now he will punish in the same way there was a reversal of fortune in the day of Moses where God said he would and then didn't Jonah's hoping for the opposite that God said he wouldn't but now he will he's effectively giving God an ultimatum that says either you will be true to me a Jew your covenant people or you will be true to these wicked Ninevites but you can't have it both ways it's either us that's either me or them fascinating there is some crazy psychology going on inside of Jonah here I'm suggesting that it's not all that unusual and we'll come to that in just a second Moses concern and Jesus concerned to was for Yahweh's reputation and for others salvation in fact when Moses says God it would it would be better for you to block me out than to destroy Israel at the base of the mountain and then this is the fascinating reason that he gives he says because what would the Egyptians say about you what would the Egyptians say about you that you rescued your people that you saved your people that you delivered your people only to bring them to the base of a mountain and kill them god I don't want your reputation to be dragged through the mud it would be better for me to die than for your reputation to be compromised Moses was passionate about saving and protecting the reputation of God Jesus came to save and to secure God's reputation What did he say if you have seen me you have seen the father Jonah could care less about God's reputation as such what Jonah wants is what Jonah wants and that's the destruction of the wicked if I do this right at some point Jonah will feel less and less foreign and more and more familiar probably not yet we'll get there hopefully Jonah's concern is not Yahweh's reputation as it was with Moses and Jesus it's his unselfish desire to see Nineveh destroyed they were after all wicked now let's go back and note a couple things here first of all verse 4 is it right Yahweh's interaction with Jonah is going to consist of three questions and three questions only let's just read through those questions the first one he says in verse 4 is is it right for you to be this angry we then read verse 5 where he goes out to the east of the city and sits down now look at verse 6 and the Lord God prepared a plant and he made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade for his head to deliver him from his misery and Jonah was very thankful for the plant as morning dawn the next day God prepared a worm and it so damaged the plant that the plant withered and died and it happened when the Sun arose that God prepared of vehement east winds the Sun beats on Jonah's head so that he grew faint and he wished death for himself a second time now he says it is better for me to die than to live the petulant temper tantrum continues here's our second question verse 9 then God said to Jonah is it right hey that's the very same question he's already asked once is it right for you to be so angry here's the second time is it right for you to be angry about the plant he said it is right for me to be angry I'm even angry to the point of death if you have sort of a teenager crazy wild irrational temper tantrum in your mind here you're getting it about right verse 10 but Yahweh said you had pity on the plan that you didn't even work for you didn't make it grow and it came up overnight and it it it came up overnight and it perished in a night and here's the second question or the third question rather and should i'm not pitting Nineveh that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who don't know their right hand from their left and many cattle that's how the book ends it's a fascinated open-ended ending that we're gonna get to in a moment it places the reader squarely in the place where they become Jonah you have to evaluate your own motivations your own answers to these questions because the conversation between God and Jonah is not really a give-and-take it's Jonah throwing a temper tantrum and God asking three questions is it right for you to be angry is it right for you to be angry about the plant haven't I done the right thing I don't know if you've noticed this or not but when God shows up in Scripture he often doesn't show up to say something we're talking about what's called a theophany or the appearances of God he often shows up to inquire and to ask questions we see this right in Genesis chapter 3 God shows up and says who told you that you naked have you eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat of what is it that you've done we often see God coming in not to make bold and emphatic statements about situations but to inquire not because he lacks knowledge not because gods like what happened God doesn't lack awareness or knowledge God asks questions to place the listener or the here to the question squarely in the crop squarely in the crosshairs of the point that God is trying to make I will come back to that in just a second when Jonah leaves the city he leaves East he goes out to the east of Nineveh East as significant as we've mentioned before the Book of Jonah is is saturated in the imagery of Genesis there's a lot of Genesis imagery going on here and we won't revisit that now but in the early chapters of Genesis East becomes the direction watch this of loneliness and rebellion East is the direction of loneliness and rebellion Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden to the east to be alone in rebellion Cain leaves to the east to be alone in rebellion the builders of Babel moved east to be as they were alone as a group and all of them in rebellion and lot moved to the east towards Sodom to be alone and the beginnings provisionally of rebellion so it's fascinating when it says that Jonah went out to the east the author of Jonah is not just giving you a geography lesson as if you would care what side of the city he went out on oh no no he went to the north no he went to the west that's not the point it's not a geography lesson when it says that Jonah went to the east the author of Jonah wants you to know that he has departed from God he is in rebellion against God and he has isolated himself from God this is a place of isolation it's a place of rebellion it's a cloistered place where your faith has turned not outward to others but inward to self in petulant frustrated angry Jonah finds himself in the desert which is another inhospitable environment just like the sea was an inhospitable environment where he's already been thrown into for a Jewish person the desert or the wilderness was a place of chaos and of death and the sea was a place of chaos and of death and in both instances when God interacts with Jonah it's in these wilderness places in the sea in the case of chapter 2 and in the desert in the case of chapter 4 he's gone to the desert to be alone to the east of the city this is a biblical marker that he is in isolation from God and in rebellion against him like the fish the plant is a manifestation of God's gracious disposition toward Jonah Jonah didn't till the soil he didn't plant the seed the plant just came up to rescue Jonah if temporarily from the heat man Jonah loved that plant it just came up it was like a miraculous it was an omen from God you'll notice that the language that's used there is God prepared a plant he then prepared a worm he prepared an east wind the very same language that's used for the fish in chapter 2 God prepared a great fish this plant comes up and shades Jonah from the heat as a symbol of God's grace - Jonah his care for Jonah his attentiveness to Jonah's needs but then grace is interrupted by pure justice Jonah didn't deserve the plant Jonah was in rebellion against God he's gone to the east he's in isolation he's having a temper tantrum against Yahweh but when grace is interrupted by pure justice unsurprisingly Jonah hates it he resists it he says that's not fair when grace was taken from him he suddenly has a sense of entitlement to something that he had never worked for or earned now this is all building to a climax that some of you might already beginning you might already be seeing the various threads that we're gonna tie together but it is phenomenal so I've already mentioned on several occasions this is one of the most sophisticated and organized books in all of Scripture that I'm familiar with and notice what's happening here Jonah receives the very situation that he had wished on Nineveh what is that the withdrawal of divine grace at the moment it is most needed when the plant comes up as a symbol of divine grace and protection and attentiveness Jonah feels good he's happy he's secured the grace that he joyed in the grace that he relished the grace that he and that he loved was a grace that he was unwilling to extend to the Ninevites and when that grace is taken away by pure justice because Jonah didn't deserve the plans he reacts negatively of course he would he's mad at God because of the death of the plant and God here is creating an object lesson to expose Jonah's hypocrisy and double standard what's good for the goose is not good for the gander in the case of Jonah the plant and the worm exposed Jonah's hypocrisy and his double standard oh so you want me to punish the wicked when it suits and you want me to extend grace when it suits when it suits who Jonah well the answer of course is when it suits Jonah and now maybe it's coming a little closer to home maybe it's coming a little closer to home Kevin Youngblood and his superb book Jonah God's scandalous mercy says Jonah's situation jeopardized only one person think of Jonah out there by himself to the east of the city there's only one person jeopardized here and that's Jonah the consequences of his death in the desert would be relatively insignificant the death of one person or maybe not even the death maybe just the sunburned head of one person yet Jonah recognized that even the individual is a legitimate object of Yahweh's mercy and that the removal of grace and mercy is tragic Youngblood continues Yahweh by contrast pitied Nineveh the city's destruction would have jeopardized not one person sunburned head but thousands of people and animals Yahweh could no more abide the thought of rescinding his mercy for that city than Jonah could abide the thought of losing Yahweh's Mercy himself as double standard is being slowly exposed we never find out ever find out if Jonah comes to his senses the bird the book is left purposefully open-ended purposefully perfect the symphony doesn't have a grand climactic finishing note you you are left to place yourself in the position of Jonah and ask yourself the question are you also selective with God's grace and with God's judgment we get no answer only the questions we are required as the readers to place ourself in the position of Jonah and ask if we are similarly selective and petulant as he is Yahweh demonstrates to Jonah the inconsistency of his position Jonah reserves the right to be distressed over his experience of unmitigated divine justice but he disallows Yahweh's right to be distressed over the prospect of executing such justice on nineveh jonah is one person Nineveh is a hundred and twenty thousand which probably is not a literal number it's almost certainly not a literal number it's it's a biblical way of saying a lot of people the word million doesn't really occur in Scripture when a Jew a Jewish writer wanted to say a lot of people they said a thousand if they wanted to say a lot lot they said 12,000 if they wanted to say a lot lot lot they said 120,000 if they wanted to say even more than that they said ten thousand times ten thousand so so this is not a specific number it's not as though they had done you know in Moses it or no it's Noah excuse me Jonah did a quick census and he was suddenly aware prophetically that there were a hundred twenty thousand people in the city this is just God's Way of saying there are a lot of people there Jonah people that I love people that I care for yes sinners in your eyes but children in my eyes we've already noted before that Nineveh was a great city belonging to Yahweh and yet Jonah has a very parochial very insular very self-centered view of the way that Yahweh should work I'm a Jew I know the truth I have Torah do what's in my best interest and in the best interest of my people because what's good for Assyria not possibly be good for us and what's good for us cannot be good for Assyria so give me my plant back and destroy those wicked evildoers it's real simple God just do what I say Jonah wants to punish the wicked but only when it suits him and Jonah wants God to extend grace but only when it suits him this is the very same Jonah who cried out from the belly of a fish deliverance belongs to who to Yahweh God deliverance belongs to you salvation belongs to you you are such a big magnanimous saving God that you can rescue me even from the belly of this fish at the bottom of the ocean God you can save deliverance and salvation belongs to you Oh Yahweh but now he's like give me my plant back and destroy those evildoers youngblood again this quotation is so perfect it so captures the essence it was so beautifully written I had to include it believers like Jonah are often tempted to view God's reluctant wrath as indecisiveness or maybe even inconsistency on the part of God this perspective however is an indication that faith has turned inward and that believers have lost sight of the bigger picture of God's redemptive activity what is that bigger picture of God's redemptive activity it's the universal scope of God's compassion it's the fact that God loves Pharaoh and Moses it's the fact that God loves Israel and Assyria it's the fact that God loves Jonah and the king of Nineveh it's the fact that God loves us and them believers are to balance their eagerness oh this is good this is good this is going to be landing at your doorstep any moment believers are to balance their eagerness for the consummation of God's kingdom let me translate that for you believers are to balance their passion for the second coming of Jesus to balance their eagerness for the second of Jesus expressed in the prayer Lord come quickly with a long-suffering I that desires along with God to see everyone come to repentance now if you are a seventh-day Adventist you might not be there's lots of non seventh-day evidence at a tent here and we're glad you're here but if you are a seventh-day Adventist it is a virtual guarantee that at some point or points in your life you have been passionate almost insistent almost frustrated borderline annoyed that God has not returned yet and I don't have to ask you if that's true I know it's true I've been in this community of faith this gaggle of weird people called seventh-day Adventists for 20 years now I know how they think I know what they eat I know how you and I know that it is a part of the fiber and fabric the DNA of seventh-day Adventist especially generational Adventists too long for the second coming and there's nothing wrong with that in fact there's a lot right with it but I love what Youngblood says here that longing for the second coming you do realize that the second coming involves not only the deliverance of the righteous but the destruction of the wicked and all the ease and the casualness with which we long for the second coming of Jesus because man it's going to be such good news for us and it doesn't even dawn on us that God is saying but what about Nineveh what about them I know this is great news for you believer and I love youngbloodz point yes nothing wrong with being eager for the consummation of the kingdom but you have to balance that with this same desire that God has this longing desire to see every single savable person saved prayer is often the painful collision a great language of a believers impatient hope with God's patient grace and we live in that tension the memory of our own salvation enables us to embrace the scandal of God's patient mercy can somebody say Amen just remember your own story if some seventh-day Adventist had gotten their way and Jesus had returned prior to 1996 I would be unsaved so I can embrace the reality of my baptism June 6 1996 and I can embrace the reality of God scandalous mercy that there are others out there like me who could be saved so yes I want Jesus to come but I have to temper that with a reality that there are other David Astrix out there people who can come to faith and who will come to faith and yet sometimes the ease the platitudinous ease with which we say oh jesus is coming soon and it's as if we don't even think or care or register the fact that what's really really good news for the redeemed is terrible news for the sake of the lost and the wicked oh yeah yeah yeah yeah but they're Ninevites they're homosexuals they're adulterers they're sabbath breakers they're wicked they've got what's coming to them and god's response is yeah but you're those things too and i'm saving you so why should my salvation be parochial why should my salvation be institutional why should my salvation be denominational can't my salvation be universal in scope and an application should my salvation be about white people should be it should it be about Americans should it be about Australians or should I care about the Saudi Arabians - or the Pakistanis should I care about the other people no no no no even so come Lord Jesus quick come so that we can get on flying with Eagles swimming with dolphins and walking on streets of gold God's like I know that's easy for you to say but you don't see what I see you don't see you know you don't you don't go to the homes of these cute beautiful little Muslim girls who in their sincerity are responding to a lot to the best of their ability you don't see what I see you don't know what I know and so I love your enthusiasm for the second coming of Jesus God says I love that I love your enthusiasm for the return of my son I get that but I need you to temper that and I need you to balance that with a big picture not a parochial denominational picture but a bigger picture that I'm trying to save everybody I have a vested interest in more than just you and your club the memory of our own salvation enables us to embrace the scandal of God's patient mercy as we impatiently anticipate and pray for our Lord's return one of the founders of the seventh-day Adventist Church Ellen White hit this on the head to perfection she said the shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive for seeking righteousness and making Christ our friend Jesus is coming soon she says this is often used as a motivator as an incentive she says this should not be the great motive with us and then this fascinating little line its savers of selfishness what how so how does it saver of selfishness this emphasis on the nearness of Jesus return is it necessary that the terrors of the day of God should be held before us to compel us through fear to right action and then she says this ought not be why not because Jesus himself is attractive can somebody say Amen the attraction is Jesus not his soon return it's not just the second coming period it's the second coming of Jesus and Jesus himself is attractive it's not like preparing for a hurricane it's not like preparing for a storm its Jesus that's coming and she says he's attractive the urgency is not in the return of Jesus the urgency is not so much in the Pope or what the Pope is doing the urgency is not even so much in what Donald Trump is doing all of those signs of the times are fine and good you pay as much attention to them as you think is healthy but the urgency is and always has been Jesus himself is the urgency he is full of love mercy and compassion in one of her best loved and best-known books Ellen White wrote these words again one of the founders of the Adventist Church the last rays of merciful light the last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of God's character of love can somebody say Amen but it's not gonna be written across the sky by an airplane how is that how is that message of love gonna be revealed the children of God let me translate that for you the church the children of God are to manifest his glory to show his character in their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them and this is what Jonah failed to do he's happy to receive grace but slow to dispense it happy to be a the beneficiary of being the Covenant people of God and many of you here today are generational seventh-day Adventist oh man lucky you born into the remnant Church good news Rays keeping the Sabbath raised with an emphasis on healthful living raised with an awareness of Ellen White and her wonderful writings waist raised with an awareness of good Adventist education raised to stay away from cigarettes and alcohol and other things good for you but the vast majority of people were not raised with these privileges and peculiarities the vast majority of people are wallowing in darkness relative to the light that has shone upon you and so for you or me in a parochial and insular way to insist that Jesus returned soon when we are well aware that there are millions hundreds of millions bordering on billions of people who don't have access not even knowledge but even access to what we have is is selfish of us in the extreme we want his return do we work for his return these are very different things let's lay in this plane our eagerness for the advent of Christ must have the motivation of grace and maximal salvation can you say Amen not the destruction of the wicked that was Jonah's motivation and it cannot hours it cannot be hours if the destruction of the wicked breaks the heart of God it better break our hearts to the purpose of the promise of God's wrath against sin is to bring about Reformation not ruin when Jonah went into that city and preached that in 40 days the city would be destroyed everything went to plan they reformed they were they were converted they got there they got their heads turned around and God's like yes wrath has served its purpose a reformatory purpose not a ruinous purpose big difference Jonah was a little let's be honest a lot too eager for the destruction of the wicked of Nineveh rather than for their repentance and their salvation Psalm 84 verse 3 even the sparrow here's the bird-watching part did you notice that Jonah how can I destroy this city it's got 120 thousand people there and lots of animals what so God is paying attention to animals God is aware of the suffering and of the needs and even of the feelings of animals why say that the very last line in the book is and many livestock but what the psalmist says even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young the psalmist says oh praise your name Yahweh even your altars or Lord of Hosts my king and my god the swallow visits your altars and lays her eggs in the nest deposited in the in the rocks of your altar jesus said hey are not two sparrows sold for a penny that's a good bargain you get two sparrows for one penny yet not one of them falls to the ground outside of our fathers care not only could you get one for two not only could you get two for one you could get you could get five for two there was a bargain on sparrows look at this are not five sparrows sold for two pennies and yet not one of them is forgotten by God not one God says Joan are you kidding me he want me just to destroy pell-mell that city there's 120 thousand people in that city Jonah I know every name of every person in that city and there's a lot of cattle in that city there's a lot of animals in that city you want me just to wipe it off the face of the earth this was like the disciples of Jesus when they came to the city of Samaria and the city of Samaria didn't receive Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem and James and John said hey we know how to solve this do you want us to call down fire from heaven and destroy them we know how to handle this Yahweh's lordship over nature has been on full display in Jonah the whale or the fish obeyed the plant obeys the wind obeys the worm obeys not only as Yahweh the Creator of nature he is the carer of nature and the lover of nature some of us are in nature lovers as well if all we knew of Yahweh was his loving attention to sparrows we would know enough to love him let that sink in if all we knew about this God was that he cared attentively and specifically he even let little swallows nest in his altar if that's all we knew about God we would know enough to truly love him and truly worship Him can you say Amen thank you Jesus salvation belongs to Yahweh deliverance belongs to Yahweh that was the heart of the entire Book of Jonah so we say Yahweh is a big-nosed birdwatcher that you can really love and joyfully worship this is not a God who who compels worship or who compels obedience by the strength of his nature but by the beauty of his character he knows about sparrows he knows about swallows he knows about nature and he knows about Ninevites he knows and he cares his tender heart he's infinite heartthrobs even when a sparrow falls to the ground you and I drive-by roadkill and don't think twice about it but God does God's heart throbs even for every little creature that he his repository and his heart throbs I want you to imagine as we close the book of johna the most loving gracious beautiful and attractive being you can conceive of just try that just imagine the most gracious loving beautiful magnanimous attractive benevolent merciful being that you can conceive of that being will look like Jesus and the great news is is that Jesus is Yahweh he is the very God who asks Jonah Jonah is it right the way your be Jonah is it right Jonah isn't right that you want me just to wipe this city out is that right he doesn't impose in some autocratic or despotic sense the truth on Jonah he inquires he says think this through and then there's no answer we are left to wonder whether or not the Prophet ever came to his senses and we are then as the readers to place ourselves in that very position and ask the question how do I relate to God's mercy and wrath am I like Jonah that I want it applied selectively to situations and people and persons and circumstances that suit my personal selfish needs or do I long to have a heart like the heart of God himself a heart that throbs and aches and hurts and hopes for all of God's creatures Gentiles wicked unruly evildoers the psalmist said one thing I ask from Yahweh and this is what I'm gonna seek for that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of Yahweh and to seek him in his temple friends through the unending ages of eternity we will gaze on the goodness of Yahweh so just imagine the most beautiful merciful amazing attractive being you can conceive of it's going to look something like the Jesus revealed in the New Testament Gospels and that is who we will spend eternity with so as much as it's in me as a seventh-day Adventist and as and as in many of you the longing to get that to speed that up and to hurry up and get Jesus here let's temper our enthusiasm for his soon return with an awareness that the good news for the redeemed is the end of the opportunity and salvation and hope for the unsaved so let's have the attitude that God has an attitude that's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance we should want this to gaze on Yahweh's beauty for ourselves and for everyone else even for an end of the last slide in the Jonas series not only should we want it we should work for it to make Yahweh known to make Yahweh known a really interesting thing happens for most of the book when the Gentiles interact with God he's called Elohim that just means God and when Jonah interacts with God he's referred to as Yahweh which is the personal name for God and for almost the entire book the author of Jonah keeps that clear he makes it really clear Gentiles are talking Elohim Jonah is talking Yahweh but at the end of the book Elohim is talking to Jonah at the end of the book Elohim is talking to Jonah and the Ninevites have called on Yahweh there's been a shift in France I want to invite you if you know who Yahweh is if you are one of God's covenant people if you're a Bible believing Christian perhaps even a seventh-day Adventist if you're one of those people and you know God not just in the general Elohim sense but in the Yahweh sense make it your personal mission in life to introduce others not just to God but to the God that Jesus came to represent to Yahweh to the God whose heart throbs even for sparrows even for Gentiles even for Ninevites that is a God worth worshiping it's a God that you can love and it's a God that came to save you and me and every savable person as we close how many of you want to say with me that's a god that I can respond to that's a god that the god of Jonah that's a god I can respond you we never know if Jonah responds the book ends ambiguous it ends have a bit of a cliffhanger but the book is written that way so that you will place yourself in the position in the place of Jonah and you will respond in ways that we can only hope Jonah the Prophet did father in heaven we respond to you today because you are the great and gracious God you are the God whose heart throbs for Nineveh whose heart throbs for the Islamic world whose heart throbs for the Hindu world you were the God whose heart throbs for the Buddhists and the Daoists and the Sikhs of the world you were the God whose heart throbs for the Catholics and for the evangelicals the mainstream Protestants the agnostics the atheists for the for the for the Daoists you are the God whose heart throbs even for the seventh-day adventists and father today the prayer of my heart is that we would not as Jonah did petulantly and unthinkingly selectively apply your grace and your wrath father you are the gracious long nostril God slow to anger but you are also a God who punishes and today we know that we ourselves here today those that are believers we have been on the receiving end of your grace and we have not received your punishment at least not in the ultimate sense and Father why would we want for others anything different than we want for ourselves and so we pray that the kingscliff church and we pray for our global church the larger Christian Church and the denominated seventh-day Adventist Church that there would be a revived passion not just for us but for them too for those people over there those people on the outside looking in those people who are not a part of our community of faith those people who don't know what we know who don't love who we love father those people who have rejected not you but a caricature of you Father may we make it our business and our passion here at kingscliff to do what Jonah did only reluctantly but may it not be a reluctant errand for us may it be a passion for us to make Jesus famous in our world father you've been with us in this series and we pray that you will be with us going forward may we truly be a city set on a hill a place where people come to learn the truth about the one true God and his amazing son in whose name we pray let everyone say Amen god bless you are

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Length: 65min 19sec (3919 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 29 2017