On the 8th of December 2003, a friend of mine was in central London, and he was passing a bus stop.
and he heard two ladies speaking to each other, saying, where are all the buses? Where are they?
Why are they taking so long to come? I don't know where they were going, but they certainly wanted to be somewhere.
And they were so preoccupied with their own concerns and what they were doing, that they'd missed the big picture of what was going on around them.
Because the 8th of December 2003 was the day the England rugby team were having a parade through central London, having just won the Rugby World Cup.
But these dear ladies completely missed the big picture of what was going on, and so they were rather disgruntled because their own specific needs were not being met.
And as we turn to Jonah chapter 4, we see something similar happening.
Jonah is not just disgruntled but angry enough to die, because he's missed the big picture.
Of what God is doing, and more importantly, the big picture of who the Lord God is.
And aren't we sometimes a bit like that?
Well, let's have a look at Jonah.
We've got to work through this chapter.
We'll look first at Jonah's anger with God.
Then we'll look at God's lesson for Jonah.
And finally, God's gracious invitation to us all.
So let's start with Jonah's anger with God there, in verses 1-4.
It's extraordinary, isn't it?
He just had this extremely successful mission trip to Nineveh.
You'd think at this point he'd be signing up a contract on the God channel to rake in lots of money for his fantastic preaching.
But no.
How does he respond?
Verse 1.
It displeased Jonah exceedingly.
That is, the fact that the people of Nineveh had taken the message seriously and repented.
And the fact that God had shown them mercy.
That displeased Jonah greatly.
And he was angry.
And to his credit, he does a good thing in his anger.
He talks to God about it.
Look at verse 2.
He prayed to the Lord and said,
See, up until this point we haven't been told why Jonah ran in the opposite direction.
But now he tells us, or at least partly explains it.
He said, God, I didn't want to go preach to those people because I knew what you're like.
I knew you'd forgive them.
It's funny, most people today are angry with God if they think he exists.
They think he's a mean bully.
Jonah was angry with God because he knew God is a forgiving God.
See, at the heart of it, Jonah was angry because he didn't want the Lord God to show mercy to the people of Nineveh.
He didn't want them to receive mercy and grace and forgiveness.
Now we're not told exactly why.
We don't know exactly what Jonah had against those people.
Was it he was scared of them?
That's what some people will say.
Assyria was a big power.
Actually, at the point of Jonah's life, it wasn't a big power.
Well, they got bigger again.
Was it that Jonah was just racist?
Just didn't like those people over there?
That's possible.
But we don't know.
Was it that Jonah felt he was somehow spiritually or morally superior to those cruel Assyrians who worshipped other gods?
And they were cruel people.
History records the terrible things they did to the nations they conquered.
For whatever reason, Jonah felt he didn't want the Lord to show their mercy.
Underneath it all, at the heart of it, Jonah was proud.
Whether that was proud of his race, proud of his religion, proud of his performance.
He just didn't want God to be nice to other people.
He only wanted God to be merciful to him.
And what's important for us is not the reason why Jonah didn't want the Lord to be gracious to them, to forgive them.
What is important to us is the fact that that's what Jonah didn't want.
The fact that Jonah didn't want God to be merciful to these others.
And actually, are there times when you and I are like that?
Are there people who we look down on because we think we're better?
Are there people we loathe because we fear them?
Are there some people we just think are too bad, too hopeless for God to save?
I think of good Christian people who are studying Bible studies with.
Who would love most people who then talk with absolute venom about their political enemies.
Or others who welcome in the stranger, who welcome in people from all over the world.
But who just loathe the idea of people who fall into sexual sin, especially homosexual sin.
It's as if they cannot imagine God could ever be gracious to them, to those type of people.
Well, that's Jonah's attitude.
How could God be merciful to the people over here?
And even if we don't have that attitude in quite the same extent.
Actually, we sometimes feel the same way, don't we?
Why does God bless that church over there and not my church?
Why did God give that colleague there?
Why does she keep her job when I'm being made redundant?
Why did that man get promoted when he's not nearly as good as I am?
Why is God doing that?
Like Jonah, we want God to be merciful to us and kind to us and give us good things.
But we can end up resenting it when he gives those good things to other people.
So whenever we think along those lines, we're thinking like Jonah.
But you see how strongly Jonah feels about this.
Look at verse 3.
See how angry he is with God for showing mercy to the people of Nineveh.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me.
For it is better for me to die than to live.
I'd rather die than you show mercy to these people, God.
It's an astounding thing to say, isn't it?
How could he talk like that?
What could it be that Jonah's whole sense of identity and self-worth
was so challenged by God showing mercy to the people of Nineveh
that he felt like life was no longer worth living?
Maybe he thought he was superior to them.
Maybe he thought he was morally better than them.
Maybe he just feared them.
But the fact that God is showing mercy to the Ninevites
means that Jonah sort of lost his whole sense of purpose and identity and worth in life.
I don't know if you've ever seen Les Miserables.
There's a little parallel in it, I think.
So Les Miserables is the tale of Jean Valjean,
a man arrested for stealing a loaf of bread,
who, as we go on in the story,
is forgiven and set free by a bishop
who treats him with mercy and kindness.
And so his whole life has changed around.
And he starts being kind to people.
But all the time he is hotly pursued by Javert,
the policeman who is on his case,
the policeman who wants to arrest him and get him back in jail
for jumping his parole.
And later on in the story,
20 years on from the first time we meet them,
Valjean is in a situation where he can kill Javert.
Yet he doesn't.
He lets him go.
If you know the story, at that point,
Javert decides life is no longer worth living.
He goes and drowns himself in the sand.
He sings a song which I will not sing for you.
He says,
Damned if I'll live in the debt of him.
Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase.
I am the law and the law is not mocked.
I'll spit his pity right back in his face.
There is nothing on earth that we share.
It is either Valjean or Javert.
That's kind of what Jonah is saying here.
It's either the Ninevites or it's me.
We don't have anything in common.
So how can you show mercy to them?
His whole sense of identity is completely unraveled
by God showing mercy to these people.
I'd rather die than live.
See, for Jonah, his self-esteem and identity
is somehow in what he did or who he was
or his ethnic identity or his status.
And it wasn't in the fact that he was someone
who needed God's mercy.
If we put our sense of identity and self-worth
in anything we do or anything we think we are on our own,
then that thing can go from us
and we might end up like Jonah and want to die.
But if our identity is based on being someone in need of God's forgiveness,
someone who needs God's mercy and God's compassion,
then that is something that can never be taken from us.
That is a rock-solid place to live.
So how do we see ourselves?
How do we see ourselves?
Well, Jonah certainly didn't see himself as someone who needed God's help
despite what he'd been through.
But do you notice how the Lord deals with Jonah's tantrum?
Look at verse 4.
He doesn't shout.
He doesn't scream.
When my kids have tantrums,
I'm not that patient.
I've been challenged this week
as I've been reflecting on this passage.
And hopefully I'll do better as a result.
But what do you think?
What's your answer to Jonah's question?
Or to God's question to Jonah?
Was Jonah right to be angry?
What did the Lord done for Jonah up until this point?
Well, even when Jonah had run away
in the opposite direction,
the Lord had brought him back.
When Jonah was going to drown in the sea,
when he despaired of his life,
the Lord sent a big fish to rescue him.
Such that when Jonah prayed to God
from the belly of the fish, chapter 2,
he came to the conclusion that salvation belongs to the Lord.
That rescue could only come from God.
It's all his business.
Yet now he seems to have forgotten that.
Oh, the Lord had shown great mercy and compassion to Jonah.
If only he recognized it.
Well, that's Jonah's anger with the Lord.
He's angry because God showed mercy to other people.
Let's look at the Lord's lesson for Jonah,
verses 5 to 11.
Look what Jonah does, verse 5.
Jonah went out of the city
and sat to the east of the city
and made a booth for himself there.
He sat under it in the shade
till he could see what became of the city.
Jonah is like the man
who hears as an airplane crashed
and takes his video camera along to record it.
That's what he's doing here.
He's hoping against hope
that the Lord will change his mind
and will destroy Nineveh
and you'll see some great kind of pyrotechnics
as sulfur and fire rains down the city.
Now, because he's sitting in a desert
and it's very hot,
he tries to build himself some shade
and some shelter.
After all, if you've been in a desert
in the heat of a day,
you'll know it's not good
to sit and direct sunlight.
But Jonah's shelter was inadequate.
But look what the Lord does, verse 6.
Now, the Lord God appointed a plant
and made it come up over Jonah
that it might be shade over his head
to save him from his discomfort.
Back in chapter 1,
the Lord appointed, same word,
a fish to rescue Jonah.
In verses 7 and 8,
we'll see the Lord appoints other things
for Jonah's good.
And how does Jonah feel about this?
So Jonah was exceedingly glad
because of his plant.
God, you're doing something good for me.
Thank you.
That's cheering me up.
He was as overjoyed about the plant
as he was overwrought
about God's grace and mercy to Nineveh.
But then look what the Lord does.
Verse 7.
But when dawn came out the next day,
God appointed a worm
that attacked the plants
that had withered.
And when the sun rose,
God appointed a scorching east wind
and the sun beat down
on the head of Jonah
so that he was faint.
The Lord gives
and the Lord takes away.
The Lord who appoints a big fish
and appoints a plant to grow up
is the same Lord
who appoints a worm
and appoints a hot east wind.
And he does it all for Jonah's good.
He's the one who appoints
where we live, where we die,
and appoints
all the ups and downs of our lives.
He does it all for our good.
Even if Jonah doesn't realise it just now.
As his precious shade is destroyed,
look how he responds.
He asks that he might die.
He says,
it's better for me to die than to live.
Well, Jonah wanted to die
when he saw the Lord being merciful to Nineveh.
Now he wants to die
because he's no longer comfortable.
As we fare to him in the scorching heat,
it would have been really hot.
But do you see what Jonah
was primarily concerned about?
He's concerned about his own comfort,
his own status.
Like the ladies at the bus stop,
he's missed the big picture.
He's just concerned about his convenience
and his comfort.
And isn't there a bit of Jonah in all of us?
Let me ask you,
if you pray,
what kind of things do you pray about?
Is it for our health and work?
Or for growth and becoming more like
the Lord Jesus Christ,
becoming more Christ-like?
Do we pray for our friends and families?
It's good if we do.
Or do we pray for our enemies as well?
Do we pray just for our concerns?
Or for the big picture of God's concerns,
God's compassion,
God's purposes in the world?
Well, the Lord appointed all these things
for Jonah's good,
to teach him a lesson.
When difficult things come in our lives,
it reveals our hearts, doesn't it?
It shows what we're really like.
We think we're quite nice,
and then,
we think we're patient,
and then the train doesn't come.
We think we're quite nice and kind,
and then the guy in the BMW
carves us up as we're driving along the road.
We think we trust God,
and then we lose our job.
The Lord appoints these things
to show us,
help us see our own hearts,
and so that we will then
cry out to him for mercy again.
Look how the story goes on.
So Jonah said he wants to die.
Verse 9,
God said to Jonah,
Do you do well to be angry for the plant?
And he said,
Yes, I do well to be angry.
Angry enough to die.
Well, he's a petulant child, isn't he?
And look how the Lord speaks
to this petulant child.
He said,
Do you pity the plant
for which you did not labour,
nor did you make it grow,
which came into being in a night,
and perished in a night?
Should not I pity Nineveh,
that great city in which
there are more than 120,000 persons,
who do not know their right hand
from their left,
and also much cattle?
You see the contrast
that the Lord is pointing to Jonah too.
Jonah, you care about a plant,
but you didn't make it grow.
You didn't plant it in the first place.
And it was very short-lived.
Here's the city of 120,000 people.
I created all of them.
They're made in my image.
I love them.
Shouldn't I be concerned about them?
And by the way, Jonah,
your plant,
it was only here for a day
and then gone.
These people,
as those created in my image,
will live forever.
They either live forever
in heaven or in hell.
They're not just short-lived.
And by the way, Jonah,
if you don't like the people of Nineveh,
at least think about the cattle,
because there are quite a few of them as well.
And they're more valuable than the plant,
by the way.
And do you notice
how the Lord describes these people?
I guess Jonah would have thought
they're horrible Assyrians,
they're immoral,
they're disgusting,
they're violent.
How does the Lord describe them?
In that verse?
Verse 11?
They are people
who do not know
their right hand from their left.
That doesn't mean
they're really stupid.
It's a picture of being
morally clueless.
Yes, they're responsible
for the evil they do.
The Lord had called it evil
back in chapter 1, verse 2.
He pronounced the message of judgment
on the evil they did
back in chapter 3, verse 4.
So they're guilty,
irresponsible.
And yet the Lord
in his compassion
also sees them
as people who are just lost.
People who are clueless.
Just as the Lord Jesus
looked out in the crowds
who are harassed
and helpless
like sheep without a shepherd.
See, what's the lesson
that the Lord
is teaching Jonah here?
He's teaching Jonah
that the Lord
is compassionate.
And that those people
need his compassion.
Amongst people I know,
I have a friend
who came to the Lord
in prison.
He was there
for child sex offences.
But his life's been
turned around.
I have another friend
I used to visit in prison.
I visited in prison.
I didn't know him
before this.
I met him in prison.
He was in prison
because he'd
murdered his wife.
Several years
after finally getting out,
he also came to faith
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's a much humbler
and different man.
How can the Lord
show compassion
to people like that?
How can the Lord
show compassion
to a wicked city
like Nineveh?
Well, the answer
is through Jesus.
As we go on
to the pages
of the New Testament,
we find that God
so loved the world
that he sent his own son
to live as a man
on this earth.
The only man
who fully loved God
with all his heart,
soul, mind,
and strength
and loved his neighbours
and self.
Who lived the perfect life
and yet who died
on a cross.
Who took the punishment
that sinners like me
deserve.
See, God doesn't just
overlook evil
and injustice.
It all gets paid for.
And it will either
be paid for
by Jesus on the cross
or for those
who reject Jesus,
they themselves
will pay ultimately
in hell.
That's how God
can show mercy.
He provided someone
a substitute
to take away
the sins of the world.
And there's a big
contrast between
Jesus and Jonah,
isn't there?
Jonah said,
Lord, I'd rather die
than have you
show mercy
to those people.
I'd rather die
than have the Lord
show mercy
to those people.
Jesus said,
I'd rather die
so that my Father
can show mercy
to those people.
So you see
Jonah's anger.
You see God's
lesson for Jonah
and a lesson
in his compassion.
And implicit in all
this is the Lord's
invitation,
not just to Jonah
but to you
and to me as well.
See, how does the
story end?
Verse 11 ends
with a question,
doesn't it?
How does the
question get answered?
We don't know
what Jonah does,
do we?
And there's a
reason for that.
The question is
left there
because it's a
question for us
to answer as well.
It's the Lord's
invitation to us.
It's an invitation
to see ourselves
as he sees us
and to see the
world around us
as he sees it.
To see ourselves
as Jonah's
who naturally
run away from God
and who would not
be able to come
back to God
if it was not
for his kind,
compassionate,
merciful intervening
in our lives.
The Lord is saying
do you see yourself
as I see you?
That's the invitation.
And it's an invitation
to see the world
as the Lord sees it.
How do we see the
people on the bus
with us heading to
work?
How do we see the
people on the streets
walking past the
town hall?
How do we see the
people on the
television, the
politicians, the
business leaders,
the filmmakers?
How do we see the
drug addicts?
Do we see them as
the Lord sees them?
As those in need of
mercy?
Or do we just see
them as people out
there, like the
Ninevites, people
who aren't as good
as me?
Here's the invitation.
Will we see ourselves
as God sees us?
Will we see the
world as the Lord
sees it?
Or will we be like
Jonah and miss the
big picture?
So caught up in our
own comfort, our own
status, our own
needs.
John Newton was a
slave trader in the
18th century.
Did some terrible
things as a slave
trader, as part of
that trade.
And yet, came to
saving faith in
Jesus Christ as his
saviour.
Very near the end of
his life, as he
was, his brain
wasn't necessarily
working as well as
it once did.
Pretty much on his
deathbed.
He said this,
One thing I still
know, I'm a great
sinner, but Jesus
Christ is a great
saviour.
Is that how we see
ourselves?
Let's pray.