The following are sermon notes from The Rebel Jonah Sermon Series week 5. To read more about this series, including the introduction and listen to audio content click here.
The final chapter in the book of Jonah is extremely interesting. What is most amazing is the outright disobedience and anger Jonah displays. You would think God would have finally had it with Jonah. Why in the world would God have chosen this man, this rebellious, selfish, religious man to be His mouthpiece? Yet for all of us, great encouragement should be found in the truth that God uses people He knows will rebel against him and continues to pursue them. We find two major themes in this chapter: hypocrisy and pity.
God’s Mercy is Evil
The phrase, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly” (Jonah 4:1) can be translated literally, “It was exceedingly evil to Jonah”. What was evil? God’s compassion and love for a people group and ethnicity that Jonah did not want to see God be compassionate towards. God’s mercy was evil to Jonah.
How could the mercy of God ever been evil to someone? Why would they react in such a way? Shouldn’t we always be happy when God deals mercifully with anyone?
Jonah reacted in such away because he wanted to see God’s justice rather than God’s mercy. This problem is not limited to Jonah, but extends to all of us. We all at times prefer that people receive justice rather than mercy. Here’s an example for you: you’re driving home from work on the freeway and you’ve got some dude tailing you so close your worried he’s going to love-tap your bumper. He’s doing this for miles and you feel like slamming on the break and letting the insurance company deal with him when all of the sudden he gets in the next lane and blows by you giving you the “one finger salute”. What do you wish for him at that point? Do you wish mercy or justice? If you’re honest, you probably wish that he get’s pulled over by the next angry motorcycle cop and get’s a fatty ticket as you drive by with a smug expression on your face: justice, not mercy. How about this: take the convicted criminal on the cross next to Jesus. He got to live a rebellious life and at the last minute he was saved by Jesus (Luke 23:39-43). Often times, we are just like Jonah, we would rather see God’s justice than His loving mercy.
Jonah Responds to God’s Mercy
How does Jonah respond? He pouts like my three and a half year old daughter when she doesn’t get her way. Jonah goes outside the city and sets up a nice spot with a good view of the city and waits for what he hopes is God’s just wrath poured out over the city (Jonah 4:5). Now we would all probably respond with something like, “Well that’s just sad, a grown man pouting like a child!” Yet, the truth is, you and I pout just like Jonah.
When God does something that we didn’t desire, in particular in relation to His merciful kindness to another person, we pout. We pout with anger, bitterness and often, gossip.
I’ve heard many people say in reaction to someone else being blessed by God’s mercy, “I’m happy for them… like, 75% happy.” What they are really doing is trying to justify the bitterness and even anger that is welling up inside them. They are simply pouting like a child.
Jonah the Hypocrite
It’s incredible that God is still dealing with Jonah at this point. You’d think that God’s mercy would be done at this point and He would now show Jonah His justice, especially because Jonah is so keen to see it! Yet, God continues to deal mercy towards Nineveh and towards Jonah.
God’s mercy to Jonah is to reveal his hypocrisy to him and call him back to obedience and worship. The way God does this is very interesting. God see’s that Jonah is baking under that hot sun so God causes a plant to grow and give Jonah shade and relief from the heat (Jonah 4:6). Then the next day, God destroys the same plant He had just made meaning Jonah is hot again. Jonah’s response to the death of the plant is the exact same response to God’s mercy on Jonah, it was exceedingly evil to him. God then asks Jonah a pointed, open-ended question and He asks you and I this question as well, “You pity the plant, should I not pity Nineveh? (Jonah 4:10-11)”
Jonah is a hypocrite. He only wants God’s mercy to apply to himself and not those from Nineveh. We are EXACTLY the same! When we’ve sinned we always want God do deal mercifully with us, but when others have, we wish only justice. It’s hypocrisy!
Some Questions to Think About:
- Do only want God to deal in justice towards others?
- Do you wish that God’s mercy would always apply to you?
- Have you ever dealt with others in a way that did not reflect God’s mercy? How can you repent of this?
- In what ways has God dealt mercifully with you?
To read more about the book of Jonah and explore more resources concerning this study including audio content click here.
