Father, we've confessed our sin, we've heard your word, we've confessed the faith,
we've given of offerings, we've sung your praises.
Now we come to not just have heard your word, but to think upon your word.
And so we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would fall with fresh but deep power upon us at this time.
Father, may your Holy Spirit, may the Holy Spirit help our minds to think humbly and hungrily and well.
And at the same time, Father, help us to know that we are dependent upon you to make yourself known to us.
And so, Father, we ask this, that you would make the gospel real to us and bring your word home deep in our heart,
that it might change how we live, all for your glory.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated.
So a couple of weekends ago, our church, Church of the Messiah, we sponsored something that came up from below, so to speak.
Jonathan Kamiri had this great and wonderful idea about having a conference for those involved in the arts,
those who love the arts or just interested in the arts to try to think Christianly about the arts,
especially around the area of music.
It was a good success.
And about a month or five weeks or so before the conference was to happen,
it turned out that one of the main speakers at the conference,
she was maybe not going to be able to attend because of a severe back issue.
So Jonathan and I were talking about this, and I said to him,
well, listen, I've actually given some thought to these topics.
I'll start to prepare some talks, and if necessary, I can step in.
And it ended up that she did have to cancel.
I was thinking about these things.
It turned out that they ended up changing my talk, which was fine.
But as part of my preparation, I thought, I know a really, really great young guy
who works at a coffee shop that I go all the time, and we've had a few talks.
And I know he was really, really, really thoughtful about music.
And he's a complete non-Christian.
So I thought, oh, I'll see if he'd talk to me.
Like, rather than just sort of talking about what non-Christians say about music,
like, I'll listen to a non-Christian about music.
Like, that's a bit of a, like, that should just be an automatic thing that we would do, right?
So I asked him, and he was a bit hesitant.
I keep forgetting, you know, in my mind, I'm 24.
Like, I'm the same age as that young guy.
And then occasionally I look in the mirror and I think,
how'd this old face turn up with this young guy?
Anyway, so I sometimes forget that I might be very intimidating to talk to a young guy.
But he said, sure.
So we eventually did talk.
Had a wonderful 70, 75-minute talk.
I was just asking about what music meant and how he saw it in life and a whole range of questions.
And as I anticipated, I thought he was, in fact, quite articulate about these issues.
And by the way, I wasn't talking to him.
I didn't go in to talk to him thinking, I'm going to see how wrong he is so I can go,
aha, got you, and then try to, no, not at all.
I was just curious.
In fact, I suspected that what he would say, that most of what he would say that I would agree with.
But for much of non-Christian thought in the West, good Christian thought, I mean, much of secular thought in the West, when it's good,
it's Christian without realizing it's Christian.
And where it stands in middle air, not supported by anything.
And in fact, the matter is that just about everything he said I agreed with.
And after we'd been talking for about 70 or 75 minutes, as we were getting ready to go, he asked me what I thought.
And so I had learned a few things from Jonathan.
And one of the things I'd learned from Jonathan is that music is hardwired into human beings.
Like it's hardwired into us.
And Jonathan shared with me some scholars who've done some experiments and stuff like that.
If you take a simple tune and you play it on the piano, one that we've never maybe even heard before,
but if you do a wrong note, people will all say, oh, that was good except there's a note wrong.
And how is it that that would happen, that human beings can just tell that there's a note wrong?
I mean, that's like, and I shared that with him, you know.
I said, it's really fascinating that he said, that really is fascinating.
That's true.
And I said, and so here's the fascinating thing that I wonder about.
I think it's a good thing to think about.
I said, you know, if you think about it, if you go to high school and university and you go to elementary school,
the way they tell you the world came to be is just a result of, you know, just like blind scientific laws and chance and the survival of the fittest.
But if the world came to be purely by chance, how is it that music would be hardwired into us?
And he said to me, I've never thought about that.
That's a really, I don't know.
I'm going to think about that.
You've given me something to think about for the rest of the week, he said to me.
And then we went on.
And I share all of that because the story in Jonah, believe it or not, actually has a lot to say with this analogy about music
or other things like music being hardwired into us as human beings.
It actually has some very, very interesting things to say about that and about other matters,
about how we relate to non-Christians and how we relate to the city.
So it would be a great help for me if you would open your Bibles, turn to Jonah 3.
It's a hard book to find because it's a wee tiny book and it's close to the end.
It's sort of if you open up your Bibles, it's almost exactly in the middle, just a little bit to the right of the middle.
And it's Jonah chapter 3.
And just as we get into it, just to sort of help to place where Jonah is, the way to think of the book of Jonah,
and most people, by the way, when they think of Jonah, they think of Jonah being swallowed by the whale
and they don't really think of very much else.
But the way to think about it is imagine that you're watching a BBC or Netflix series.
And in a BBC or Netflix series, there's a certain number of episodes.
And usually every episode is its own story.
But if you watch all, whatever, four, six, eight episodes, it makes one big story.
Very, very, if it's well done, very interesting the way the story interplays,
the big story interplays with the individual episodes.
So the way to think about the book of Jonah is like that.
Episode 1, God shows up, tells Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh
and proclaim a message that I'm going to give you.
Jonah's response to God showing up is to try to get as far away from God as he can.
And he tries to go a one-year journey away the opposite direction from Nineveh.
A year's journey away from Jerusalem and the opposite direction from Nineveh.
And that, of course, as we know, ends up with a storm and Jonah being thrown overboard.
And Episode 1 ends with a cliffhanger.
Jonah going overboard.
What's going to happen?
Cliffhanger.
Great episode in Netflix.
Episode 2, you discover that there's a big fish there at the exact right time.
In fact, the language in the text isn't fish, but aquatic beast.
A water-dwelling beast.
A water-dwelling beast is there at the exact right time by God's command.
Opens its mouth.
Swallows.
The mouth isn't open, but it's a great image by Amy.
Swallows Jonah just before he dies.
And if you read Jonah 2, we talked about this last week.
Jonah finds himself in the intestines, the entrails of an aquatic, of a water, a deep water beast.
And he's going to be there for at least 26 hours, maybe a little bit longer because there's an idiom there.
And what we see for the rest of Chapter 2 is Jonah, obviously, who has survived it, and how he thinks through his experience in the form of a prayer.
And we looked at that last week.
And Episode 2 ends with Jonah acknowledging that the Lord's compassion and being grateful for it.
And the fish vomits Jonah on the shore.
End of Chapter 2.
What's going to happen next?
Well, this is Episode 3, which we'll look at now, and here's how it goes.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.
Just as an aside, some of you know the Arise dance troupe that we've had here at different times.
Yesterday at the wedding that I did, the Gilman wedding, I officiated with a small, it was a very small wedding.
Only 700 people or so showed up for Daniel Gilman's wedding.
But somebody afterwards, they were really happy to see me, and they kept telling me that I was,
they were introducing me to their circle of friends.
This is George.
He's one of the people on stage with Arise.
And what he meant to say was, dig and delve and renew.
But he said, arise the ballet company.
And I said to him, friend, I'll take it as a compliment.
You think I could be a ballet dancer.
But I can assure you I'm not.
Anyway, the text here says, so God shows up.
It skips all the part about how Jonah gets from wherever he gets vomited on the shore.
But he makes his way to Nineveh.
And notice here again in verse 2, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.
So it doesn't tell you right then what the message is, but Jonah knows he's to go to Nineveh.
And whatever the message is that the Lord gives him, that's the message he's to proclaim.
Verse 3, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.
Now, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out.
And this is obviously, he said more than this, but this is the summary.
Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
And just pause.
That word overthrown is used just a few times in the original language.
That word is just used a few times.
The great famous time that this word is used is for Sodom and Gomorrah.
So this is profound judgment.
And Jonah, that's the message that Jonah has been told, to go to this pagan city.
It's the greatest city in the ancient Near East of a great empire.
And in fact, Israel, which is where Jonah is from, is a vassal state under the controlling power of Nineveh.
And he is to go and to give this summary message.
Just as an aside, anything the Lord asks you to do is not going to be as hard as this.
Sometimes the Lord asks you to do hard things.
That's just what it means to be a Christian.
Sometimes he asks you to do a hard thing.
This is a huge, big ask of God.
And Jonah does it.
He preaches this message.
The summary of which is, as I said, in 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown.
And it seems as if there's no hope.
It's just a message that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, that's what's going to happen to Nineveh in 40 days.
But how do the people respond?
They respond as if there's still a chance.
Look at verse 5.
And the people of Nineveh believed God.
They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.
And to sort of pause there, the title of this sermon is Gobsmacked, which is an Irish and English word,
of being completely and utterly just stunned.
It's a deer in a headlight look.
It's your jaw drops.
It's your speechless.
And probably the last thing in the world that Jonah expected was that the people would actually respond in this way.
But they do.
They do.
It's a...
They respond by sackcloth and ashes, which was the ancient...
One of the things the Jewish people and the other people of the pagan nations of that whole large region,
it was a culturally similar thing, a form of seeking God's favor, of his mercy, of repentance,
of calling out to God would be to put on...
put ashes on your body and to put on sackcloth.
And that's how they respond.
And then in verse 6, we see that it even goes to the king himself.
Look what it says in verse 6.
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe.
Just to pause here for a second.
This isn't just the fact that he's wearing a robe.
It would be as if you go into the general, you go into wherever the Pentagon,
and there's the four-star general who's in charge of all of the armed forces,
and he's there in his dressed uniform, and you speak to him.
And as a result of speaking to the guy in the Pentagon, four-star general,
which is the highest rank you can have.
Occasionally, they have five-star generals, but the four-star general,
and he responds by taking his uniform off.
The symbol of his power and authority.
And that's what the king does.
Look at it again, verse 6.
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,
which is symbolic of control of the entire empire,
removed his robe, symbolic of the fact that he is the king and the sovereign over the empire,
covered himself with sackcloth instead, and sat in ashes.
He went from the throne to ashes, from the robe to sackcloth.
And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh.
Here's what he published.
By the decree of the king and his nobles,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.
Let them not feed or drink water,
but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
and let them call out mightily to God.
Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Who knows?
God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger,
so that we may not perish.
Just as a bit of an aside before we see the response,
Jonah here is capturing something which is found in other documents about Assyria at that time,
is that in times of, unlike the Jewish people,
in times of profound mourning or profound calling out to God for favor,
they actually included the animals in the sackcloth and ashes,
and they included the animals in the fasting.
He's actually capturing here something that archaeologists know that was typical of the empire at this particular time.
And so the king takes this absolute statement by God,
and he acts as if there's some type of hope.
And here, what happens?
Look at verse 10.
What happens is that when God saw what they did,
how they turned from their evil way,
God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them,
and he did not do it.
Look again at that.
When God saw what they did,
how they turned from their evil way,
God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them,
and he did not do it.
Just before we get into some of the other implications of the text
and what it means for us,
sometimes when I talk to skeptics in coffee shops,
one of the things they do is they'll bring to perform me
a lot of the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament.
And sometimes when people bring the bloodthirsty language of the Old Testament before me,
it's because they actually,
you know,
occasionally they were raised in a Baptist or a Pentecostal or a Brethren church,
and they actually know the Bible,
but a lot of the times they don't.
What they've just said is they've read a couple of things by Dawkins or Hitchens,
and they think they know what the Bible says,
but I know that they actually don't have the vaguest idea about what the Bible says.
But the point here is this.
Ian Proven,
if you go on the Dig and Delve website and see one of the talks that he gave,
he had a very,
very good talk on the fact that you,
to understand what words mean,
you actually often in the Old Testament,
you have to see what it says in the rest of the story.
And that often we get very upset with words,
not realizing that if you look at all of the words in the story,
the words don't mean what we think they mean.
And he used an example,
it would be a very good language.
If I say to you on Tuesday morning,
for all of those basketball fans who wake up bleary-eyed,
by the way,
I will make a promise that Vestry ends tomorrow night early enough
that you can watch the basketball game.
Okay?
If not,
at a certain time,
I just suggest one of you get up and say,
I move a motion of adjournment.
And everybody else,
other than the speaker,
will want to second the motion,
and then we can all go home.
But anyway,
so let's say on Tuesday morning,
I get to say to people,
the Raptors slaughtered Golden State last night.
Now,
if there's an interview of Steph Curry on Tuesday morning,
you know I don't mean literally
that they pulled out machetes
and killed the Golden State Warriors.
It just means they beat them badly in a game.
And a lot of the times,
in the bloodthirsty language in the Old Testament,
it'll say that God says,
slaughter all the Jebusites.
And then a chapter later,
there's still Jebusites.
So,
it doesn't mean that the Bible contradicts itself.
It just means that's how they're using the word slaughtered,
in a way,
in terms of a bad victory,
like a great victory or something.
It's just how the language is used.
But there's something else going on here in the text,
which is very important in the Old Testament.
And it's important spiritually for us.
Sometimes when the Bible speaks,
it gives a conditional statement of judgment.
It'll say,
if you don't do this,
you will be judged.
That's a very common thing in the Old Testament,
especially.
But other times,
there seems to be a statement like this
that seems to be no condition.
In 40 days,
Nineveh is going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
But in fact,
behind it,
there is in fact a conditional statement,
and people are welcome to repent.
And that's what happens in this story.
They repent.
And as a result of their repentance,
God says that he will not do to them
as he had done earlier to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now,
here's the issue in terms of us getting serious
about this particular text.
The big shocking thing about this story
is that Nineveh doesn't convert.
Nineveh doesn't become Jewish.
Think about it.
I've heard a lot of Christian speakers
who talk about it as if it's a conversion.
It's not a conversion.
They don't become Jewish.
They don't give themselves to the Lord.
In fact,
if you look at the text,
it's very,
very interesting.
One of the things,
just a bit of a clue
about how to read the Bible well,
is that often in the Old Testament,
if you see the word Lord,
it's referring to Yahweh.
It's referring to the covenant name,
the personal name
that the Jewish people had for God,
the God of the covenant,
the God who delivered them
from slavery in Egypt,
the God of the covenant,
the God who is now their God,
their protector,
their provider,
that they were to serve,
that they were to know,
that only they knew
and they were to have the job
of making him known
and his praises known
to the ends of the earth,
which they often didn't do very well.
But you see the Lord,
there were lots of other names for God.
And in this text,
you'll see that the Lord
tells Jonah to go do this,
but the people don't call out to the Lord,
they call out to God.
They call out to the generic name
for the high God,
the abstract word for God.
In all of the pagan mythologies,
there'd always be at least one high God,
the abstract, most distant God.
And that's the word that they use.
They don't respond to the message
by calling out to Yahweh.
They respond to the message
by calling to Elohim,
that abstract, generic name for God.
So there's no conversion that happens here.
There's no conversion.
So if you could put up the first point,
we're just going to rest here a little bit.
If the Lord cares for all of his creation
with compassion,
then so will I.
If the Lord cares for all of his creation
with compassion,
then so will I.
You see,
that's what's going on here in the text.
Quite a few years ago,
there was a guy,
it was a classic example
of a terrible salesman.
Maybe he's not a terrible salesman.
Some of you folks who are good in sales,
you can tell me
whether or not he was a bad salesman.
But he was very interested in us,
you know,
our family,
our needs,
and you know,
yeah,
and you know,
talking to us.
But all the while,
I think he was trying to sell us.
I can't remember exactly.
I think it was some type of vacuum system.
And very,
very friendly,
and blah,
blah,
blah.
But when it became obvious to him
that there was no way on God's earth
that Louise would ever buy that vacuum cleaner,
he went from being friendly
to droppiness.
Just,
it was so,
like,
I wish there was a video
because it was like a switch went on with him.
When I wouldn't give him what he wanted,
packed up his stuff,
was rude,
didn't say goodbye,
didn't say anything,
just packed up his stuff,
turned his back on us,
and left.
And,
one of the things which we Christians
have to come to terms with
is the fact that,
of course,
ultimately,
the Lord wants us,
he wants all people to come
to a saving relationship with Jesus.
But if we share the gospel with people
and they don't have any interest in it,
how should we respond?
Not like the vacuum cleaner,
salesman.
But it's a persistent problem for Christians.
It's as if,
if you don't want to go all the way with me,
the heck with you.
The heck with you.
I'm not going to waste my time with you.
I don't really care about you.
You know what?
If your life gets all messed up,
it just serves you right.
We might not come out and say that,
but inwardly,
we think it.
But that's not a Christian.
That's not what goes on here in the story.
The response to this message of judgment
isn't the best response,
but it's a good response.
And that good response,
God honors.
Because he cares for people.
It's not as if,
with God,
that there's either God has compassion for you
until you give your life to Jesus,
and if you don't,
he stops having any compassion for you,
and you just know
he always has compassion on his creation.
He always has compassion
on his creatures in his created order,
which includes us and animals.
The animals is going to be mentioned
in Jonah chapter 4.
And this is actually brought home
even more powerfully
by a part of the text
which is not obvious in English.
All the way through the book of Jonah,
but especially here in chapter 1
and chapter 3 and chapter 4,
there's a word play that goes on
in the original language.
You see, in the original language,
the word for evil,
the word for evil means
just what we would think is evil,
of doing things which are wrong,
of doing things which are bad.
But it also has another meaning to it.
It has the meaning of disaster or calamity.
And so, in fact, actually in this story,
you go back and forward,
you'll see that on one hand,
God sees the evil that they do,
the evil that he does,
but he's not going to do evil to them.
What will happen as a result of the evil
is the disaster from God
will come upon them.
It's in fact the same word
in the original language,
but the double meaning is played upon.
But the double meaning is very significant
when we view them together,
and it goes back to my story
with my friend Bob
and why is it that music
is hardwired into us.
One of the problems
that we have in our culture
is we can't get a pipeline built.
Now, I know I just made a political comment,
and those of you who are very green
will say,
I am praying that there's never
a pipeline built.
But just hear me out a little bit
on this particular thing.
One of the things which is a bit
of a mystery to me
is why so many people in our culture
have been turning to Buddhism
and Hinduism.
Yet the fact of the matter is
is that Buddhist and Hindu cultures,
they trash the environment.
Let me tell you,
you'd rather drink,
you'd rather go,
I don't know if you could go
on any river in India
and drink the water
that you were canoeing on,
but you can do that in Canada
in many places.
You wouldn't want to go
canoeing in China
and drink the water
in any river,
but you can do that
in many rivers in Canada.
The fact of the matter is
is that if you understand,
if your basic worldview
is that at the end of the day
we all came from one
and we will return to one,
and the idea of there being
a difference between you and I
is ultimately an illusion,
then there's no incentive
to care for the creation.
At the same time,
if you go the route
of more native spirituality,
it's very, very complicated.
That's just beyond the problems
on native reserves.
But in fact,
if nature itself is divinized,
if a river is divinized,
if a tree,
if a mountain is divinized,
you have not only
the science not work,
but you have a hard time
actually doing anything.
There'd never be any type
of development
or progress at all
if you understand
the world is filled
with spirits
resident with particular rivers
and trees and brooks
and channels.
And our culture
is profoundly confused
by that.
And at the same time,
ultimately,
if you really think
that everything
is just a result of chance,
it's just a result
of evolution,
there's really no basis
to care for the creation.
In fact,
if we understand
that everything
that comes to exist
is because the strong
survives and the weak dies,
and that's what brings us
to be human beings,
then why is there any outcry
at all over any
endangered species?
It's just evolution.
And why shouldn't we
just take raw matter
and use it to whatever
we want?
There's really no ultimate
reason for that.
But you see,
in the Christian understanding
of the world,
it's a very, very different thing.
In the Christian understanding
of the world,
there is a God
who's created all things.
Actually,
if you could put up
the second point,
that would be very helpful.
I should have told you
to do that before.
Doing something
that is wrong
is not just wrong,
it is also a calamity
slash catastrophe.
Doing something
that is wrong
is not just wrong,
it is also a calamity
slash catastrophe.
You see,
what we understand
is that the personal God
who from all creation,
the Father loved the Son
and the Son loved the Father
and the Holy Spirit
loved the Father
and the Son
and vice versa.
From all,
at the beginning,
before there was
any created order,
there was the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
They were good,
they loved each other,
and it was out of that love
and out of that,
in a sense,
community
that was that one person
of God,
all things were created
and God who creates
all things,
a mark of his nature
is in all things.
A mark of his nature
is in all things.
And that's actually
what I would say
to my friend Bob
if I'd gotten the chance
or when I eventually
get the chance
about why it is
that we can hear music
and we can hear a tune
for the very first time
and if there's a wrong note,
we say,
there's a wrong note
in that tune.
Why is it that music
is hardwired into us?
Because God is ultimately,
in a sense,
the creator of music
and beauty.
They're singing in heaven
and he's made
the created order
in such a way
that something like music
is hardwired into us
and we recognize
when something's not right.
And in the same way,
when I do something
which is wrong,
the wrong that I do
is not just,
like let's say
I believe a lie
or let's say
I'm filled with lustful
or wrong thoughts
or let's say
I'm nurturing
and harboring bitterness
or anger
and it doesn't seem
as if anybody's hurt by this
because it's all inside of me
but what the Bible says
is that every time
we do something
which is wrong,
it's not just wrong
in some type of legal sense
against some type of code,
it's also a catastrophe
because God's created the world
where goodness
is natural to it
and any time we go
from goodness
it has other types of impacts
whether we recognize it
immediately or not.
Our mind won't work as well.
We now know from neuroscience
thinking certain thoughts
for a long type of time
actually even starts to change
the way our brains are hardwired.
Like who would have thought of that?
Like the more we find out
about neuroscience
the more we find out
that even victimless things
like thinking certain ways
is actually going to have
an impact
in how we're wired.
It has an impact
on how our heart pressure,
how much our blood pressure
and our heart rate
and all sorts of other types of things
and our culture
wants to hide this from us.
A little bit controversial
but I mean just
the fact of the matter is
is that you can't watch anything
on TV
without having people
who are unmarried
hopping into bed together
and nobody on TV
ever has a sexually transmitted disease.
Ever.
And they say
we live in a fantasy world?
Come on.
Like nobody ever has one once
and nobody ever gets pregnant
and has an abortion
and you don't ever see anybody
after they've had an abortion
and how much it can wreck people up
emotionally for so long
even if they have an abortion
and you don't ever see
any woman
who's given herself to a guy
and then afterwards
how bitter she might be about men.
Like no.
Oh yeah, bye.
And then like the next
like that's not real world.
It's this unbelievable fantasy world
connected to these things
that have no consequence whatsoever.
By the way,
if you were here this morning
and I've maybe touched a nerve
by referring to abortion
and in a room like this
it's very likely
that there are people in the room
who've either encouraged an abortion
or had one themselves.
I'm not saying anything judgmental
about this.
All I can tell you is
the Lord knows what you did
and he loves you
and he wants you to know him
and he wants you to know Jesus
and he wants to bring
healing to you
as you come to him
in repentance
and amendment of life.
He only loves you.
And I encourage you
if you've had
something like that
and that you just share
with one of us
you will not be condemned
by any of us.
We will just want to love you
and pray for you.
And
if you're wondering
we're going to get to this
in a moment
there's only sinners
in this room
and
it's only a sinner
who's standing in front of you.
It's not
perfect.
Anybody here
who thinks you're perfect?
Good luck.
You're a legend
in your own mind.
Sorry
I don't want to insult you
but you're not.
You're not.
You're a sinner too.
But you see
here's the big point
of the text
you see.
So the first point
is that
what this text shows
is the people
didn't show the thing
that ultimately
God would desire
of them the most.
That they would become
they would call out
to Yahweh
they would ask
that they would be
included in the covenant people
and they would begin
within that history
of salvation
to live as observant Jews.
That's the great thing
that God would be
the greatest desire
of his heart.
They didn't say that
but his response
to them isn't
well
the heck with you.
Let the fire fall.
No.
They turn
from their violence
and evil.
The word for violence
in this text
is also the word
for injustice.
God cares
about his created order.
He cares
about
the harm
that we do.
He cares
about people
doing evil
which is also
a calamity
which causes
human suffering
and unhappiness.
He cares
for injustice.
He cares
when people
are doing injustice
because he wants
them to turn
from injustice.
He wants them
to turn
from violence.
He wants them
to turn
from evil.
And even
if they do not
go all of the way
of calling out
to him for mercy
the fact
that they respond
by turning
from injustice
makes him smile.
The fact
that they turn
from violence
makes him smile.
The fact
that they turn
from evil
makes him smile
and if it makes
him smile
it should make
you and I
smile as well.
Some of you
work in government.
Some of you
work in private
industry.
Some of you
are self-employed.
Some of you
are retired.
Some of you
are in between
jobs wherever
you are.
At some point
in time
you should try
to do the job
the best
you possibly can.
You really should.
You should try
to do the best
you can.
If you're having
trouble doing
a good job
talk to somebody
here at the
church.
Talk to
somebody else.
Get some
insight about
how you can
be a better
entrepreneur,
a better poet,
a better musician,
a better self-employed,
a better retiree,
a better stay-at-home mom
or a better stay-at-home dad.
Wherever you are called
do the best
you possibly can
to the glory of God.
Pray that God
will give you
opportunities
to share the gospel
with your co-workers
or your neighbors
or your friends
and if you get a chance
to bear witness to Jesus
walk through that door
and take it.
But as well as that
it does not
being a good Christian
at work
is not only
defined by being
able to share
the gospel.
If you are working
in the government
and the government
is going to be
proposing something
which is just wrong
be the one
who farts in the room
so to speak
and says
what you want to do
is wrong.
If you're in a boardroom
and they want to do
something that's wrong
try to talk them
to doing that
which is right.
Seek the good
fair prosperity
of your business
because God
has compassion
on this city.
His longing
is that every person
in Ottawa
will come to know
Jesus as Savior
and Lord
but less than that
he still has a heart
for this city
that what will
characterize this city
is justice
not injustice
prosperity
not poverty
generosity
not being
a scrooge
a proper
caring of the environment
not a trashing
of the environment.
When a human being
turns from being a racist
to loving the other
that makes God smile.
When a human being
turns from injustice
to justice
it makes God smile
and it should make us
smile as well.
If you could put up
the third point
to enter
that would be
very handy.
This has been
a point for every
one of the sermons
it will be in all
five of the Jonah
sermons.
Because the Lord
is God
there is no other
God
hence there is
no other
when it comes to
people.
That's why I said
there's only sinners
in this room.
On one level
who is in this room
and who is outside
are all the same.
We're all sinners.
Every single one of us.
We're all sinners
whom God loves.
Everyone.
And we
well could you put up
the final point
just to bring it
to a close?
If my only hope
in life and death
some of you will
recognize this is
connected to
an ancient catechism.
If my only hope
in life and death
is the Lord's
great compassion
given to me
in Jesus
then I will learn
his way of compassion.
See this is how
the gospel is to form us.
I mean the fact
of the matter is
we will fall
into the hands
of almighty God.
There is a judgment
that every human being
will fall under.
Just as an aside
if this text
of the Bible
was written around
755
33 years
after this Bible
text was written
the nation of Israel
did not heed
the prophets
calls to repentance
and the northern
kingdom of Israel
was destroyed
in 722
and its people
scattered
because in fact
the Assyrians
practiced
true
genocide.
True
genocide.
Genocide.
all of the people
of the northern
kingdom
were taken
into captivity
and they are
lost to history.
130 years
after this
Nineveh fell
and the Assyrian
empire fell.
I am very
conscious
not as conscious
as I should be
but I am conscious
that I am a sinner
and I am only
redeemed by grace.
It is only
because the
punishment
that I justly
deserved
fell on
the Lamb
of God
who takes away
the sin of the world
it is only
because
I who stood
properly condemned
for my wrongdoing
that in the words
of Isaiah
Jesus
in my place
condemned
he stood.
It is only
because of that
that I have
any hope
in life
and death
and if in fact
I am a complete
and utter recipient
of the Lord's
compassion
and mercy
then I need
to learn
how to live
and walk
in the way
of compassion.
That is how
the gospel
shapes you
to live.
Please stand.
Just bow our heads
in prayer.
Father
we thank you
for Jesus
we thank you
Father
that he saw
our great need
that
we had
turned our back
on you
and could not
turn ourselves
to save ourselves
could not
accomplish enough
merit
to make ourselves
right with you.
He saw our
great need
he came
and lived
amongst us
amidst
all of our
mess
all of our
muck
all of the
injustice
of this world
all of the
beauty of this
world
but all of the
injustice
and the evil
he came
and dwelt
among us
only without
sin
and that
out of love
for us
he died
on our
behalf
he died
on my
behalf
taking
upon
himself
that
judgment
which I
justly
deserve
and that
fell on
him
that I
by my
faith
and trust
and love
my faith
and trust
in him
that he
would bear
my punishment
and bestow
upon me
his righteousness
Father
thank you
for your
great
compassion
and mercy
that you
showed to
me
and we
ask
I ask
Father
that as
the great
compassion
that you
have shown
to us
in Jesus
as that
grips us
that we
will learn
to live
in the
way of
compassion
that we
will be
characterized
by compassion
in our
office places
in our
neighborhoods
in the
city
in our
interpersonal
relations
that we
will be
characterized
and known
Father
by people
who are
gripped
by your
great
compassion
for us
and are
learning
to walk
the way
of compassion
and mercy
caring for
this city
and caring
for your
created order
in a way
that brings
you glory
and is truly
good for
this created
order
and for all
your creatures
Father
this is what
we ask
and we
ask it
in the
name of
Jesus
and all
God's
people said
Amen