This morning we're in Jonah chapter 4.
We have a sermon this week and we have a sermon next Sunday to
finish our multi month journey through Jonah and I hope that
it's been a blessing to you. So this morning our text is
Jonah chapter 4, verses 5 through 11.
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 should see what would become of the city.
Now the Lord got appointed a plant, and made it come up over
Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save them from
his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad
because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next
day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it
withered when the sun rose, Got appointed A scorching E wind,
and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah, so that he was
faint. And he asked that he might die,
and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plan?
And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.
And the Lord said, you pity the plan for which you did not
labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night
and perished in a night. Oh, 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. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, Please be seated.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We pray that you would open our eyes this morning to see
wonderful things in your law. And Lord, we pray for us what
Jonah needed, open eyes and a change in perspective to see you
for who you are and to embrace that as a good thing, not a bad
thing. So help us this morning we pray
in Jesus name, Amen. About 20 years ago, I was still
on staff at PCPC, which is hard to believe.
I was working with the youth staff.
I was pretty new here, and Mark Davis was my boss.
He was the youth director at the time.
And we decided around 2005 that we would go as a staff to a
Desiring God conference in Minnesota.
Some of you may be familiar with Desiring God, so we love the
conference, being there in Minneapolis and hearing from men
like John Piper and Tim Keller and others.
But what I actually remember didn't take place at the
conference. It took place sitting around a
fire with a former missionary to the Philippines.
He was the father of one of the people on our youth staff.
And so we gathered at their house one night there and he
opened Second Corinthians 4 and wanted to give us a word.
And there Paul writes, Therefore, having this ministry,
by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
So this missionary looked at all of us young youth workers
scattered around a fire, and he said the world doesn't need a
discouraged youth pastor. And that was really the apostle
Paul's point. We have this ministry by the
mercy of God, so how could we lose heart?
How could we be discouraged? So in a week where we heard some
of the best teaching in the world, this is what stuck with
me. The world doesn't need a
discouraged youth worker and the world doesn't need a discouraged
missionary. But that's what Jonah was, and
sometimes that's what we are. So as we consider this final
section of Jonah Four, we really see two things, an unhappy
missionary and an unstoppable God.
And Mark Davis will preach one more sermon.
That's the plan next Sunday from Jonah, where I think he'll focus
in on the very last verse. But I want to help us begin to
review where we've been and could consider what the Lord is
speaking to us from this remarkable book in His Word.
So as we study this passage and really the whole book, there's
much to learn. So let's ask today, why was
Jonah an unhappy missionary? And what did Jonah's unstoppable
God want him to see? So first, why was Jonah an
unhappy missionary? You may know this if you've been
on a mission trip, but sometimes things can go horribly wrong on
a mission trip. One time I had to send a student
home from a mission trip in Mexico.
And I'll spare you the details because this is being recorded.
But big picture, the whole incident put a real damper on
the trip for me, and you could say I was probably an unhappy
missionary most of that week. But if we think about Jonah, he
was unhappy from the jump before he ever got on a plane or a boat
or walked down a road. The book opens and the word of
the Lord comes to Jonah. Arise, go to Nineveh.
But Jonah arises to go to Tarshish.
He tries to run from the presence of the Lord.
When it comes to missions, you may have heard someone say, we
can pray, we can give, or we can go.
But Jonah chose D none of the above.
He disobeyed. He was an unhappy missionary
from the moment God called him. So we have to ask why and when
we do, we see issues in Jonah's life that are in our lives too.
So first, Jonah had issues with other people.
Jonah had what we hear a lot about in our culture today, an
US versus them mentality. For Jonah.
Us was Israel. Them was Nineveh.
Jonah was unhappy about his missionary assignment because he
hated the people he was assigned to.
He hated the people in Nineveh. It's a key city in the rival of
Syrian empire, and these people were violent and wicked.
It was full of Gentiles, not Jews.
They were Jonah's enemies in every way as far as he could
see. So they were the last people
Jonah wanted God to save. They were the first people God
wanted. Jonah sorry.
Jonah wanted God to punish. They were the last people Jonah
wanted God, God to save. They were the first people Jonah
wanted God to punish. God sent Jonah as a missionary
of mercy to his enemies, and he wasn't happy about that.
So if we're honest, we have issues with them too.
They might be people of a different religion or
denomination or political party or nationality or neighborhood.
They might be a world away or right next door to us.
But whoever they are, we see them as enemies, and we assume
God must feel the same way about them that we do.
We can't imagine that God would call us to love and preach to
them. It's an unwanted mission for us,
and so if God would call us to that, we would be unhappy
missionaries. So our issues with them out
there are real, but they're only the tip of the iceberg.
We have issues with the people out there because of our own
issues in here. And Jonah 28 From the belly of
the fish, you might remember Jonah prayed.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of
steadfast love. What's he saying?
If we put anything before God, that's an idol.
If we look to anything else for our identity, our meaning, our
purpose, we're on shaky ground. We're putting our hope in
something other than God's love. And Jonah knew this, but like
us, he was often blind to his idols and how they're working in
his life. So Jonah had personal idols.
He had expectations and desires for how his life as a prophet
should go. So he would follow the Lord as
long as it fit his plans. But following the Lord on a
mission to Nineveh? Jonah didn't sign up for that.
At least he didn't think he did. There were things Jonah wanted
more than he wanted God. And so it's worth asking, what
do we want more than we want Jesus?
Is there anything the Lord might ask us to do that we just would
not be willing to do? If you can zero in on that,
you're probably close to finding a personal idol.
Jonah also had cultural idols. He had what we might call a
disordered love for his own country and his own people.
You could call it all kinds of different things, but that's
what it was. And it's not bad to love and
care for our own people and our own place.
But Jonah cared more about the national interests of Israel
than the spiritual good of Nineveh or anyone who wasn't
part of Nineveh of Israel. So Jonah would be happy for
Jerusalem to be saved and for Nineveh to be damned.
And that's an interesting posture, isn't it?
And as the story unfolds, we see that he's angry when God
actually does a gracious work in Nineveh.
So it's worth asking, what are our cultural idols?
Do we have some kind of disordered love for our own
people or our own place that distracts us or derails us from
God's mission to the world? Jonah also had religious idols.
In chapter 2, he prayed salvation belongs to the Lord.
But Jonah lived like salvation should belong to him and to
people like him. So he's like the older brother
in Luke 15. And this is what the commentator
say. Jonah is the Old Testament older
brother. Do you remember him from Luke
15? The father welcomed the younger
brother home after he demanded his inheritance and then went
and wasted it. The father showered the younger
brother with grace and received him back as a son.
And the father threw this party for his prodigal son.
But an important person was missing the older brother.
He was out in the fields. He didn't want to be there.
He heard the sounds of the celebration and he asked what's
happening. And he couldn't believe the
father would do this. And so he's outraged and he
unloads on his father in Luke 15.
He says, look, these many years I have served you and I never
disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that
I might celebrate with my friends.
But when this son of yours came, who's devoured your property
with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.
He's the older brother. He's the good son.
He's never disobeyed, right? Wrong.
He's disobeying right now, in this moment.
The Father wants him at the party and he won't come.
The Father wants him to share his heart, a heart that rejoices
when the Sinner comes home. So there's an older brother in
Jonah and in us, because we can be very religious, but we don't
understand grace, and it becomes clear that we don't know the
Father's heart. So the book of Jonah invites us
to be honest about our own issues, our idols.
Have we taken inventory of our idols?
Have we asked the Lord to shine his light in our hearts?
And do we realize that our idols actually lead us to rebel
against the very God we think we're serving?
So idols have the power to turn us into unhappy missionaries,
and the world doesn't need an unhappy missionary.
So we have issues with them and we have issues with us.
But Jonah reminds us that our deepest issues are actually with
God. Jonah should have been a
rejoicing missionary. He should have rejoiced to be
called to go, to preach, to see God work miracles.
But Jonah doesn't rejoice. He's reluctant.
And if we ask again, why was Jonah an unhappy missionary, the
deepest answer is because Jonah didn't like how God was being
God. Remember Jonah 4/2 and three
from last week? Oh Lord, is not this what I said
when I was yet in my country? That's why I made haste to flee
to Tarshish. I knew that you're a gracious
God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love
and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please
take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to
live. See, this isn't really about
them. It's not really about Jonah
either. It's ultimately about God and
friends. It always is when we get angry,
we're ultimately angry with God. We're angry with who he is and
what he's doing or what he's not doing in the world or in our
lives. Jonah basically says, Lord, I
knew it. I knew you would do this.
I knew you would be patient and forgive them.
And that's why I ran away. I was right about you and now
I'm done. I'm out.
I don't want to live in a world where God is like this.
And isn't this wild that Jonah would think like this and then
say it out loud to God himself? But if we're honest, we've all
been there. When something happens or
doesn't happen to us or to someone we love, we get angry
with the way God is running the world in our lives.
We're outraged that he would do something that we can't
understand, or we're shocked that he would be gracious toward
people we don't like and we just want to take our ball and go
home. So look at verse 5.
Jonah goes out of the city, finds a place to sit down.
He could have stayed in Nineveh. The people probably would have
enjoyed spending time with him after all that God did.
But he's not rejoicing over God's work in Nineveh.
He's not weeping over Nineveh like Jesus might have wept over
Jerusalem. Now Jonah is stewing in anger.
This is his temper tantrum with God.
He's going to sit here and wait and hope that God might change
his mind and destroy the city. So Jonah's an unhappy missionary
because God refuses to fit in his boxes.
But thankfully, the Lord doesn't leave Jonah alone in his anger.
He continues to pursue him, and he does the same for us.
So now we have to ask, what did Jonah's unstoppable God want him
to see? So we've already seen God's
unstoppable love for the rebels and Nineveh, and now we see his
unstoppable love for the rebel prophet Jonah.
The Lord had numerous opportunities to throw in the
towel all the way back to chapter 1.
The Lord had so many opportunities.
He could have just said, Jonah, I'm done, I'm out.
But his love simply will not give up on Jonah.
God wants Jonah to see something and he uses a plant, a worm, and
a wind to get his message across.
So Jonah built this makeshift booth to give himself some
shade. But what happens?
Look at verse 6. Now the Lord God appointed a
plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade
over his head to save them from his discomfort.
So even though Jonah is sinfully angry, God gives him the comfort
that he wants. God causes this plant to grow up
and give Jonah some shade, and this little bit of comfort makes
angry Jonah exceedingly glad. But then what happens?
Look at verse 7. But when dawn came up the next
day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it
withered. So the same God who sent the
plant for Jonah's comfort sends a worm to eat it the next
morning. Now look at verse 8.
When the sun rose, God appointed A scorching E wind and the sun
beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.
So God sends one more thing to turn up the heat on his unhappy
prophet. And whether Jonah likes it or
not, it's clear God is at the center of his story.
God calls him, then sends a storm, then a fish, then speaks
to the fish to vomit Jonah out, then calls him again, empowers
him to preach, works in the people of Nineveh, relents from
disaster, and now appoints a plant, a worm, and a wind.
So do you realize, whether you like it or not, God is at the
center of your story? We wouldn't have a story to tell
if God didn't give us life and a point when and where we would
live, order our days, surround us with friends and family, give
us work, send comfort, take it away, speak to us from His Word.
So what's going on with the plant and the worm and the wind?
Like a good youth minister, the Lord provides objects, lessons
for his child. God wants Jonah to see one big
thing. Look at verse 9.
God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant?
And it's the second time the Lord confronts Jonah about his
anger. Earlier God sent this violent
storm, but now God is counseling him, reasoning with him.
And isn't this beautiful? God doesn't always work in the
same way in our lives. He knows just what we need in
each moment. So Jonah says, yes, I do well to
be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the
plan for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow,
which came into being in a night and perished in a night.
And should I not 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?
So what does God want Jonah and the readers of Jonah to see?
Your priorities are all out of whack.
You care so much about what matters so little, and you care
so little about what matters so much.
Jonah, You care about the plant. I'd send it one day and took it
away the next. You were exceedingly glad about
a plant. I just did miraculous work in
Nineveh. Why aren't you exceedingly glad
about that? Brothers and sisters, we care so
much about what matters so little.
And we care so little about what matters so much.
Think about it. What is our plant?
What comfort has the Lord given us that we make way too
important? What thing in this life has the
power to make us go from really angry to exceedingly glad just
because of this little gift, this little comfort?
Do we thank the Lord for that thing?
You don't see Jonah really thanking the Lord for the plan.
Do we realize that God is the one behind it?
So do we actually love the giver of the gift, or do we just love
the gift? If the Lord took our plant away,
would we be angry enough to die? Have you been there before?
Is there something in life that if we lost it, we'd almost lose
the will to live? It's amazing Jonas says this to
God, who is the ultimate reason to live.
When we care so much about what matters little, we attach our
happiness to that thing. And that sounds a lot like
idolatry, doesn't it? The unstoppable God is doing
beautiful work all around us. But just like Jonah, it's so
easy for us to miss it. And at the end of Jonah, the
Lord makes it clear He wants to open our eyes and invite us into
real, deep joy, just like the older brother in Luke 15.
This ending is a cliffhanger. Did you notice that?
There's no sense for what Jonah's going to do, just like
the older brother in Luke 15? We don't know.
Is he going to come to the party?
What's going to happen? And the function of that, I
think, as a reader, is the question is turned on us.
It's like the Lord is asking us, OK, reader, how will you
respond? Will you continue to pity the
plant? Will you attach your heart to
the things of this world? Will you be glad when I bring
comfort and angry when I take it away?
Or will you join me in pitying Nineveh?
Will you attach your heart not to things but to people?
Will you join me in caring about the cities and even cattle and
the lost being found? Will you learn to see and love
like I do? I think that's what the Lord is
asking us. And friends, it can feel
hopeless, but we have hope because Jesus succeeded where
Jonah failed and where we fail. So consider the depth of your
sin in all the ways you've run from God.
But then consider the depth of God's love for you, that our
Lord Jesus came and lived and died and rose again for you.
He was not an unhappy missionary.
With holy zeal, He loved you and gave himself for you, though you
didn't deserve it. He wanted you.
This week I imagine Jesus rewriting Jonah's words during
his time on earth. But instead of speaking in
anger, Jesus would joyfully say, Oh Father, is not this what I
said when I was yet in heaven with you?
This is why I made haste to come to earth.
For I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow
to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting
from disaster. Therefore now, O Father, please
accept my life as a sacrifice, for it is better for me to die
so that they might live. If you're an unhappy missionary
this morning, remember this. The mission that we don't want
is the mission closest to God's heart.
It's the very mission that brought us to Jesus in the 1st
place. How quickly we forget that He
loved us when we were His enemies.
But nothing, not even sin and death, could stop Him from
saving us. And nothing, nothing will stop
Him from working until in us, until we know and embrace the
joy of His mission. Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for your sovereign mercy, for your
unstoppable purposes to save your people.
Would you give us grace this morning to turn from our idols,
to let go of our anger and enter into your joy?
Should we not pity this great city and this lost world?
This world doesn't need an unhappy missionary.
So thank you, Lord Jesus, that for the joy set before you.
You endured the cross, despising the shame, and now you're seated
at the right hand of the throne of God as we come to this table
at your invitation, restore to us the joy of your salvation and
give us everything we need to run to this world.
With the joyful news of your grace and your name, we pray.
Amen. Let's stand together.