God, R U kidding me? (Part 6 / conclusion)

Text: Jonah 1:2, 4:1-10

And sometimes we get angry that God asks us to do these things. There are all kinds of people out there. People we would like to ignore. People that if God said I want you to go and serve them, we would try to find a way to run away from it. We would try to find some kind of way to make it difficult for God to use us that way. Maybe God will forget and will send somebody else. City people? People of other races? People of other countries or speak other languages? Gay people? Rich people? Poor people? There are so many people we would like to ignore and just stay comfortable, stay inside of what we would like, what we expect from God in our own lifestyle.

And what Jonah is teaching us is that that isn't always an option. Jonah did not want to be at Nineveh. God who loves even the Ninevehites called Jonah to go there.

These words are to shake us out of our own selfishness. And God finally asks us, “Why are you so concerned about doing something you like? Why are you so concerned about your career proceeding a certain way? Shouldn't you be more concerned about serving the people who need to hear the word of God?"

And, finally we hear it, and we understand it; but we aren’t a whole lot more graceful than Jonah in obeying. We all have these parts of our lives that are like Jonah. God is calling us out of the shade. God is calling us out of our comfort zone. He is calling us to serve somebody, to sacrifice for somebody who is different than us

When that call comes, and that hard thing shows up in our lives, we don't have to be hypocrites. Jonah was a hypocrite. We don't have to be. The same mercy we have received, we can share. We can share it here, in our homes and churches. We can share it out in our communities, or overseas on mission trips. We can share it to the ends of the earth.

The most important thing we want to take away from the story of Jonah is that we don’t really want to be like him. Instead our call is to be like Jesus Christ who willingly gave up all that was due to him and took upon himself the form of a servant. He became human and suffered willingly for us. He was willing to face the cross for our sakes, to bear the weight of our sins. That is our Lord. That is our Savior. That is what we rejoice in and that is the pattern we are called to follow.

So, get over yourself. Pray and calm down. Get back in the race. Be the people God expects us to be.

Amen…

God, R U kidding me? (part 5)

Text: Jonah 1:2, Jonah 4:1-10
Okay, Jonah has preached, and he leaves the city. There are not a whole lot of trees in the area, so he stacks up some rocks and builds to make as much shade as he can. Here, he squats down to watch the city, and if he’s really lucky, they will not have repented. Perhaps God will still judge the city harshly, so he sits to watch the show.

But God has forgiven them, and as he is sitting there waiting for what might happen, he is hot. But then a plant grows and shades him and he says, "Okay this is good. Glad this has happened." But then overnight the plant disappears, it withers away and the next morning it is dried up and it's not of any further value to Jonah, and guess what, he gets really, really angry. God decides to make a little lesson out of this. He tells Jonah, he didn't tend this plant, so he couldn’t be concerned about it because of all of the effort that is gone into growing it. And, he couldn’t be concerned because he valued or and loved this plant. “The reason you are angry is because you are uncomfortable. The reason you are angry is because I have called you here. I have sent you through all of this. Here you are outside of this city where you don't want to be and to make matters worse, you are hot; it’s all just too much.” And so, God says, if you have all of this passionate concern about your own comfort, about all the things that surround your own life, your own concerns… shouldn't I be even more concerned about the hundred thousand plus people who will perish if they don't hear the news of my love and of my judgment?

You see, Jonah is acting out of a distorted theology. It is a theology which many of us adhere to. It says that God is nice to us because we are so important. And so when things don't work out just right, we start getting angry at God. Hey, I am not where I expected to be in life. Things aren't happening the way that I want them to right now. God, what's going on? And God is trying to get Jonah to see that there are concerns bigger than you in the world around you. I think we all struggle with this a lot more than we’d like to profess.

We talk, sing and pray about how important it is to know God's love and forgiveness. We do it all the time. And that's good. That pleases God. But at the same time that we are praying, praising and thanking God for the incredible mercy shown to us, it is very hard for us to sacrifice or do anything uncomfortable so that we can share that mercy same mercy with other people; so that we can serve other people that need to be served, in order to bring the compassion and help of God to people who need that compassion.

Like it or not, this is a hard thing for us to do!

[conclusion tomorrow...]

God, R U kidding me? (Part 4)

Text: Jonah 1:2, 4:1-10

The whole book of Jonah sets us up for what is about to happen. Jonah disobeys God and through his own words says, I am deserving of judgment. God shows mercy to Jonah and he praises God for that mercy and re-commits himself to serve God. Jonah goes to a people who have been disobeying God and deserve judgment. God shows mercy on them and here is Jonah again, but instead of praising God, he is angry. The whole book sets this up to show us how absolutely inexcusable Jonah's attitude is at this point. And when we read this, we've got to look at Jonah and say "Where are we in Jonah?"”Is this really how I am?”

Jonah rejoiced in being forgiven, but he wasn't willing to forgive. Many people carry around hate like that. Rejoice at being forgiven, but just are not willing to forgive others. Sometimes it’s a specific person, or a particular incident that has hurt us deeply. We are not willing to forgive and we hope that God doesn't either. We don’t want them to be forgiven. Let's be honest, we want them to pay. We are like Jonah.

Sometimes it’s a group of people, maybe a nation. With all the unrest in the world, maybe it’s a whole nationality that we don't want to forgive. We don’t want to see God bless them.

There are all kinds of things that stick in our hearts that we struggle with. So here we have a prophet, sent by God who is having the similar issues. Jonah had this deep-seated prejudice and hatred for these people, but there is something more going on in Jonah's life. And, we can sense it even if we can't personally identify with this sort of hate; maybe we can identify with the other kind of problem that Jonah is dealing with.

Let's pick up at Verse 5: "Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord 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. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live." But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do, he said. I am angry enough to die" But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Jonah has been completely comfortable on the hillside waiting for the city to be consumed like Sodom and Gomorrah. Okay, the shade may be gone and its a little hot....but the people have repented. Praise God! Isn't this a good, if not a great thing? What is wrong with Jonah?

[continued...]

God, R U kidding me? (part 3)

Text: Jonah 1:2, 4:1-10

A review of what we've covered so far: In Chapter 1, we see Jonah running from God. In Chapter 2, God preserves Jonah as he's running and now Jonah is going to commit his life to God because salvation comes from God. He calls out to God for deliverance, God delivers him and so now he is going to pledge himself to the God who loves him this much, who has been this patient and compassionate with him. In Chapter 3, we come back to where we were in Chapter 1, exactly the same words. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."


So we find ourselves back at square one, but this time Jonah is willing to obey the word of the Lord. So now Jonah goes off to Nineveh. Nineveh is a large city by the standards of the day. There was a wall around it that is eight miles in circumference. It was a power center for Assyria, Israel's sworn enemies. And so Jonah goes into this city and proclaims his message. Short, but to the point: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."

Now the greatest miracle in the Book of Jonah is that this city actually repents. This gigantic city of over 100,000 people, from the king on down, decide that this is a real word from God and they have got to listen to it and obey. This is wonderful! What more could a preacher or prophet hope for?

But then, we move on to Chapter 4, and things don't sound quite right:

"But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?"

Jonah is not just unhappy, he is angry. Why is he so angry? Because God is going to show mercy to the people he hates. The real reason Jonah didn't obey God wasn't because he thought it was too dangerous to go to Nineveh. Jonah did not run away because he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news; this good news, repent and be saved. Jonah did not go directly to Nineveh because he knew that God would be merciful. Jonah knew that God would give them this chance, and that if they turned things around, He would be compassionate and gracious. And, Jonah did NOT want that to happen. Look at what he says. “I know that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."

Does that sound familiar to you? These are the same words spoken to Moses in the infancy of the nation of Israel; that God is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love, who doesn't want to send calamity. These words were said again and again in the life of Israel. These words were part of what they held on to. This is what they rejoiced in. This is what they went to praise God for. You, Lord are a compassionate and gracious God.

But here we find Jonah stating the fact that You are a compassionate and gracious God, and I am angry because you are being the same way with those other people that I don't like. This is what makes Jonah a hypocrite.

[continued...]

God, R U kidding me? (Part 1)

I’m having one of those weeks. Things aren’t all going the way I’d like or the way I’d planned. And, no matter how many leadership articles I read, absorb and try to implement, some things are just beyond my control.

What is in my control is my response. We all get tested and upset. And, as much as anyone hates to say it aloud, we get angry with the people around us, and occasionally at God. There is no one alive who hasn’t wanted to ask God “Why,” “What am I doing here?”, “God, are you kidding me?”

But you’ll notice that these questions are not really about God at all, they are about me, and my feelings. They are questions essentially asking God, “Why don’t you think the way I do?” “Why can’t it be done my way?” “Just let me smote them just a little, and we can get this thing back on track.”

And, as much as I’d like to proclaim that it’s about God, it is about getting myself out of the way to do His will and His work. So… onto Jonah

What’s the basic problem with Jonah? Like many of us, he was a hypocrite. He thoroughly enjoyed the forgiveness of God, but deep down inside, didn't really want to share it with Nineveh. We talk and sing about how life changing the grace and forgiveness of God has been in our lives. Yet, far too often it seems we aren't willing to face any inconvenience to share this grace with others!

Text: Jonah 1:2, 4:1-10

Most of us know about the story of Jonah. Jonah was one of the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Unlike many of the other prophets, Jonah is not noted so much for his prophecies and what he said, but instead he is noted for what happens in his life. In looking at Jonah’s story, we are witnesses to a conversation that he has with God over what’s happening around him. It is from his struggle with God that we in point of fact learn something.

Jonah's experience and journey begins in the first Chapter. It begins with the Lord saying, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it." In other words, the word of the Lord has come to the prophet and He tells the prophet to go and do something specific. What's unusual about this is that Jonah is called by God to go and speak to people who aren’t even from Israel. This is unusual.

It's also strange for another reason, and that's because Jonah is sent to preach to Israel's enemies. Well, Jonah wants nothing to do with this idea. We can all hear him say it, “Are you freaking kidding me, God? I am not going to do that.” What this demonstrated is that, as servants of God, no matter the call or calling in our lives, we have a choice. God has, after all given us free will. God can actually be calling us to do something, and we run away from doing it. And that's exactly what Jonah does. The Israelites, looked down on most groups, and the Ninehvites were no exception. They were sworn enemies of Israel. So he decides first, that he is not going to do it and second, that he will just run away from all this nonsense.

[continued...]