Jonah 4: 1-11
“Where Is Your Heart?”
Vs. 1-3: I Hate Your Grace?
Vs. 4-8 Preparing His People
Vs. 9-11 Plants or People?
Intro
It would have been great if the book of Jonah ended in chapter 3. What a different story we would have had. I think we all like happy endings, don’t we? We love success stories, where ordinary people do extraordinary things because of the goodness of their own hearts.
If we stop in chapter 3 of Jonah and compare his ministry to that of Jeremiah, some striking differences appear. On the outside Jonah would appear to have been the far more successful evangelist. One message to one city of over 600,000 gets saved. Jeremiah preached thousands of messages for over 40 years, and not one changed heart. I’m sure that by today’s standards, Jeremiah would be attending Jonah’s church growth seminar. Yet oddly in Matt. 16:14, when Jesus questioned His disciples as to whom the people thought He was, their reply was, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Did you see that? Jeremiah? Jeremiah not Jonah? Folk, it is as the Lord said to Samuel in 1 Sam 16:7: “…the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” You see, Jonah had heart problems. And I think I know the reason why.
It’s kind of like one of those 2000-piece jigsaw puzzles. Not that long ago, my daughter bought a Thomas Kinkade picture. The first thing she did was get out all the straight-edged ones so that she could put together the frame. Now the frame, as you know, goes up real fast. Then you separate the pieces by colors. Well, I hate these puzzles, so I just watch, but they are really addictive, so what normally happens is that my daughter starts them, then my son finishes them. Sooner or later in putting the puzzle together, I know that I’m going to hear two phrases:
- We are missing some pieces.
- And of course our first thought is some sadistic manufacturer on purpose left out the pieces we need to complete the puzzle.
- The second thought that comes to mind is that one of the other people near you lost the piece that you needed. In either case we know that it is not our fault!
- The second phrase I know that I’m going to hear is that these pieces are cut wrong, for they just don’t seem to fit.
But you know, as time goes by slowly, the picture comes together. And do you know what the key to putting it together is? Keep your eye on the picture that came on the box! That’s why they put it there for you so that you can see what it should look like when it is altogether.
You see, that’s Jonah’s problem; he just can’t see how the pieces of the puzzle of his life are supposed to fit together. So he blames the manufacturer, then he blames the Ninevites, and lastly he just thinks that the pieces are cut wrong. What’s his problem? He fails to see the whole picture; instead, he focuses upon the pieces! All of this led to his heart problem. It is my prayer this morning that we can get back to looking at the finished picture and use that to interpret the pieces of our lives!
I Hate Your Grace?
Vs. 1 How strange this first verse is in light of the success Jonah’s message had upon the Ninevites; one would think that he would have been incredibly pumped up after 600,000 people got saved! Yet we read that Jonah was not glad; he was mad!
In fact, to say that Jonah was a “little bit” upset would be incorrect. He was extremely angry. Why? Let me suggest to you two reasons:
- You will remember that Jonah hated the Ninevites; they were the most vicious people in the history of mankind, and no doubt Jonah had witnessed their brutality firsthand in his life as they came in with their raiding parties to his hometown first.
- You remember Jonah’s message was more of a prophecy than an opportunity to respond (Forty days and you die!). So when Jonah saw the reaction of the city, he knew that his reputation was going to go downhill.
Folks, what do you value more, your reputation or your character? Aren’t they the same thing? No, your reputation is what others think of you; your character is what God knows about you! When what others think about you is more important than what God thinks about you, then you will end up like Jonah, “defending your prejudices” instead of obeying the word of God. It is interesting to note that the last time we heard Jonah pray, he had a broken heart; now when he prays, he has an angry heart. Jonah’s heart was broken over his situation, but he was angered when those that he hated were receiving the same mercy that he got! But why? I mean, who is Jonah really mad at?
Vs. 2 Here we are told the answer to the above question. Jonah is mad at God. And what is it about God that makes him so angry? Well, we don’t have to guess, for he tells us, “For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.” Simply put, Jonah hates God’s grace! Now that does not seem to be something that you or I would normally protest about God. “Lord, I’m just so ticked at you, and do you know why? Well, of course you do. You’re just too darn good, kind, caring, loving, patient, forgiving. I want you to cut that out!” Now this would make no sense to us at all if Jonah was saying that he did not want God to be so good, kind, caring, loving, patient, forgiving towards him. In fact, that is what Jonah praised about God when he was inside the fish, near death: “Salvation is of the Lord.” So why the anger towards these attributes now? Well, because now they are directed towards someone he hates.
Follow me closely on this one. Jonah, deep down, thought that the Israelites were better than everybody else. Just like us, Jonah had begun to believe his own press reports started to feel as if God was obligated to bless him. Then when God poured out His grace upon a people that Jonah knew were totally undeserving, it made him realize that Jonah had not earned God’s grace; all he had done was receive it!
Do you see how many times I, my, and me appear in this prayer of Jonah? Eight times in this prayer against God’s grace towards those that aren’t on Jonah’s “A” list, he uses the first-person pronouns. All Jonah can see is how God’s grace towards others affects him.
Is there something wrong with Jonah’s theology? No! Nothing wrong with Jonah’s theology; he is right on the money with the character of God. You see, the problem with Jonah is not a head problem; it is a heart problem! Old Jonah has a great grasp upon the character of God here, but he had no grasp at all of how that should impact his own life towards others! How about it, Christian? Are you still harboring bitterness towards someone? Do you not want God to shed His grace upon someone because you think you have earned His grace they have not?
Vs. 3 Well, Jonah is so bummed that he prays that God would just take his life. Now this would have been so much better if instead of asking God to take his physical life, Jonah would have asked God to take control of his life so that his flesh might die. Instead Jonah says to God, “Shed Your grace upon those guys; over my dead body!” Oh, how great it would have been if Jonah had prayed, “Shed Your grace upon those guys over the death of myself!” Folks, that is our battle! Jonah can’t see how the pieces of the puzzle of his life fit. There are some missing, or perhaps they just don’t fit? Jonah needs to go back and look at the box. Well, how does that help me? Well, if you look at the box, you will realize that the image that God is trying to make in your life is His. 2 Cor 3:18 tells us this as we read, “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.” Folks, God is interested in making you more like His Son. It’s not about comfort; it’s about His character in you!
Preparing His People
Vs. 4-5 I love this questioning of the Lord here. God is trying to get Jonah to look at where his heart is at. So what does Jonah do? Well, he goes for a walk up a hill that overlooks the city. Why? Well, verse 5 says that he waits to see what would happen to the city! Jonah is still hoping that the Ninevites might have been faking it. You know. Perhaps you have had that happen: some guy at work that you don’t much care for comes in one day and says that they have come to Christ. So what do you think to yourself? “We will see; that guy just wants some fire insurance!” I’m of the opinion that Jonah waited there 40 days. Why? Well, because that is how long he had told them they had until they were destroyed. So Jonah finds a good spot to overlook the fireworks!
Now notice that God “prepares” three pieces of the puzzle for Jonah so that he might see the whole picture.
Vs. 6 A blessing: As Jonah made that little lean-to so that he could watch the fireworks in the city below. It got hot, so the Lord prepared a plant to bless Jonah. It says here that God saw that Jonah was in misery. Did Jonah deserve to be blessed? No way! His attitude stunk; he had no compassion for those guys; in fact, he wanted them to be toast! You might say that he wanted them torched, but he did not want to be scorched! So what does the Lord do with Jonah? Well, He blesses him with comfort when Jonah least deserved it. Why? To show Jonah that grace is never shed upon the deserving, only upon the undeserving! You see, Jonah had started to think that he was just a little better than the rest, so God is showing Jonah firsthand that grace is an unmerited, undeserving, unearned favor! So God goes out and blesses Jonah not because he was worthy of it, not because of anything Jonah had done, but rather in spite of everything he had done!
Folks, that piece just does not fit, does it? I mean, that is not how we would do things, is it? We would bless based upon performance, but God blesses based upon the picture of making us more like His Son! Do you realize that this is the first time Old Jonah has been happy in this book, and it’s over a gourd!
Vs. 7 A Loss: Here God prepares a worm to destroy what He had provided to bless Jonah. Why? Well, to show Jonah that he ought not value the temporal above the eternal. The problem with Jonah was that he, like us, was far too comfortable with Jonah! He did not want God to change his attitude. But God loved Jonah, so He was going to be working on his attitude anyway. Jonah was all caught up in earning God’s blessing, but had he done anything to earn the plant that provided him shelter? No, did Jonah plant the vine and water it? No, he just enjoyed the benefits of it. Folks, God is going to strip away from you the things that you value above Him.
Vs. 8 A change: Now if you are out in the hot sun and a scorching wind kicks up to where you start growing faint, what would you do? You would MOVE! That’s what God does here: He sends this wind upon Jonah to get him to move. Was it a change of physical location that Jonah needed? No, it was a change of heart! Where should Jonah have been? He should have been down in the city ministering to all the new believers, but his heart was not in the right place.
So what does God do here in preparing these things for Jonah? Well, He prepares:
- A plant to reveal His heart of grace!
- A worm to reveal the heart of Jonah!
- An east wind to get Jonah to move from his heart to God’s heart!
In all of this we see that God was doing more than preparing things; He was preparing Jonah! That’s the missing piece, the one that seems not to fit.
Again Jonah wishes for physical death when he should have been doing it to himself spiritually! Oh folks, if we just change a few words around here with Jonah’s statement, we would have it: “It is better for me to die to myself so that I might live!”
Plants or People?
Vs. 9 Now Jonah did not answer God’s first question, so God again asks it, only this time He asks it with reference to the plant that Jonah loved. Now if I were God, I would have said, “Jonah, your gourd for nothing!” Jonah’s only happiness was in a plant! Now that’s sad, but you know what? I’ve sure let things rip off my joy; how about you? Poor old Jonah out of his gourd over a gourd!
Vs. 10-11 Here is where God tells Jonah about grace. Jonah preached a message that brought a whole city to faith in God, yet he did not love a single one that he preached to. Yet he loved a plant that he had nothing to do with. What was the difference? Well, Jonah loved the plant for what it gave to him; he hated the people for what they did to him. Now I hate to admit it, but that’s a lot like me. And when we love that way, the only person we are truly loving is ourselves!
Folks, where would we be today if God loved us that way? Well, I will tell you, you would be condemned to hell! The reality is that he has called us to love the way that He has loved us, and that is based upon grace, not merit! May I just ask you the same question that I heard the Lord ask me? “Do I cry more over my things than I do the Lost?” “Do you spend more time in your prayer life crying out to God for your life or for the lives of others?” Do we pray, “Bless my _________” or “Make me a blessing?” You see, there might be a little more Jonah in us than we would like to admit!
Lastly, God reveals to Jonah that there are 120,000 children there that did not know right from wrong. Jonah grieved over a gourd dying, but not about 120,000 children dying! Does this make you uncomfortable? Because it sure does me. The truth of the matter is that I grieve more for my car when it does not run than for the unsaved in Mercedes. So what does God have to say? Where is your heart?
Folks, the reality is that we have lost sight of the picture on the box, and it is time for us to admit that and see that God is preparing us into His image! We are recipients of God’s grace, and we are unworthy of it. Do you believe that, or do you still think that somehow you deserve it?