Opening Illustration: Starfish on the Beach.  I’m sure some of you have heard the story about a man who was walking on the beach one morning after a big storm had come in the night before. As he got near the water, he noticed the beach was covered with starfish. The starfish had been thrown onto the sand from the storm and the sun would soon come out to dry them out and they would die. The man looked a little bit down the beach and noticed a boy who had also noticed the  starfish. The man walked down to the beach to the boy and noticed the boy, one starfish at a time, was throwing them back into the ocean. The man said to the boy, “Why are you doing that? You will never be able to get all these starfish back into the water. Can’t you see that one person will never make a difference? There are just too many.” The boy bent down to pick up another starfish. As he did, he respond to the man, “Yes, that’s true.” And as the tossed the starfish back into the ocean, he smiled and the said, “But it sure made a difference to that one.”  

Today, as we reach the final scene in the book of Jonah where Jonah is looking at a countless number of people that needed to be saved. God asks Jonah, “Where’s your compassion? Where’s your heart? Does it not wreck you to the core that these hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of eternal destruction?” And we are going to find out, God is asking us the same question. When it comes to the hope of Jesus that you have in your heart, what are you going to do with it? Our God is relentless pursuing those who don’t have His hope. And God wants you to join Him. That’s what we are going to see today: God wants you to join Him in His pursuit. Let’s turn in our Bibles to Jonah 4 as we finish up our time in the book of Jonah. Our current Sermon Series: Jonah: The Relentless Love of God. Read Jonah 4:1-11. Pray. 

Jonah has been on quite the journey. We started with Jonah on the run. Jonah decided to ignore God’s command and went in the complete opposite direction. He took a cruise and fell into a deep sleep. The captain of the ship woke him up because the ship was sinking from a terrible storm. Jonah told the ship’s crew the way for the storm to stop was to throw him overboard. Which wasn’t true – there were other options, but Jonah didn’t want those options. Jonah thought he wanted death more than God’s calling. As Jonah was drowning in the sea, Jonah cried out to the Lord. God was one step ahead of Jonah and send a great fish to swallow Jonah. After 3 days in the fish, Jonah prayed. Jonah told God he’ll do what God asked of him. God had the fish spit Jonah out on dry land. And then, last week, we saw Jonah went to the great city of Nineveh and preached salvation to a nation with pending doom and destruction. What happened to the Ninevites? They repented of all their false worship and cruelty. Because of their repentance, God decided not to destroy the city. Great news! Right?! It should be great news, but how did Jonah react? We ended our time last week with 4:1. And that’s where we pick up today. Jonah is about to do something with God that we shouldn’t do: Don’t negotiate with the character of God.

1) Don’t negotiate with the character of God. (vs. 1-3).  What was Jonah’s reaction to the salvation of Nineveh? What does verse 1 say? ¹This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. This is not the reaction you’d expect from God’s prophet. If this was our story we were writing, I think most of us would write “And Jonah rejoiced. The end.” I’m all about the “happily ever after” endings! I don’t know why people watch those sad dog movies. I watched “The Art of Racing in the Rain” in 2019 and I’m still mad about it. We are in the final scene of Jonah and we don’t get that ending we expect. There is a reason Jonah’s story isn’t done yet. In relation to God, where did we see Jonah at the beginning of this book? He was in complete rebellion. He was so far gone, he thought death was better than obedience. But through his almost drowning and subsequent time in the great fish, Jonah eventually came to what place with God? Dutiful obedience. Jonah told God, “Fine, I’ll go. I’ll fulfill my vow. I’ll do what you ask of me.” Do you see the progression? Jonah 1 was about rebellion. Jonah 2 was about repentance. Jonah 3 was about obedience.

What’s left? What is God after in Jonah 4? God is after Jonah’s heart. Emphasis: God wants His children to overflow with His love, not obey out of obligation. Parents, we see this with our kids. If we give our kids a list of chores to finish and they go, “Ugh, fine. I’ll do them.” If we’re honest, we take that as a win! At least they are getting their responsibilities done. But if we come home and that trash has been taken out without having been asked, what does that do to us? It fills us with joy because they do it out of the desires of their heart. God is relentless in His pursuit of Jonah’s heart. Something has taken over God’s place inside Jonah’s heart and God wants His rightful place back. Rather than running away, what did Jonah do this time with God? We see in verse 2, Jonah went to God. There’s progress! Even though Jonah is complaining, at least he’s praying. What does Jonah say in verse 2?  ² So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 

I find this an interesting way to complain to God. Jonah tells God about all His wonderful characteristics. “You’re merciful and compassion. You are slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.” Imagine if your child ran up to you and said in an angry voice, “Why do you have to be such a good mom?!” So what’s happening in this prayer? Jonah’s false God is being revealed. Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 revealed a false god existed. Now, Jonah’s prayer in chapter 4 is revealing the false god. Jonah didn’t want the Ninevites to be saved because they were his enemy. The Ninevites threatened to take away Jonah’s nationalism, his status, and his prosperity. This prayer was smoke to show where the fire was. Jonah’s anger pointed to his problem. We now see what Jonah was finding pleasure in and refuge in – was something other than God. It’s so deep, look at what Jonah says in verse 3: ³ Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”  Now this something we all need to grab a hold of: Our strongest emotions towards God may be revealing what we truly worship. If we are filled with anger and hate and jealously and unforgiveness, it just might be revealing what’s really going on in our hearts.

In verse 3, Jonah begins to negotiate with God. He’s telling God, “If you’re not going to kill them, then just kill me.” “It’s either them or me.” Jonah is angry at God’s character. He’s angry that God has the freedom to be God. He wants God His way. God isn’t Burger King! In this moment, Jonah is using his life as a bargaining chip to try and change the character of God. Jonah’s real goal was for God to change His mind. Let God be God. We can’t have the attitude that Jonah had: “Change them or remove me.” The proper response is “God change me to be more like you.” That’s the heart God was after Jonah. That’s the heart He’s after with us. Here’s what Jonah’s about to learn (and us too): Let God’s grace overwhelm you every day. 

2) Let God’s grace overwhelm you every day. (vs. 4-8)  God responds to Jonah’s complaints in verse 4: ⁴ The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?” God has such tenderness and kindness in His response to Jonah. God is relentless in His pursuit of Jonah’s heart. God simply asks Jonah to self-examine his heart. But what did Jonah do? ⁵ Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. Jonah walks away and starts pouting. You can almost envision this scene. Jonah starts powerwalking out of the city with a frown on his face, crosses his arms, and plops himself down. This is prophet-level pouting. Jonah then makes a little shelter for himself. Why did Jonah do this? Was he thinking that God sent a great fish the first time he ran away from God and that he was afraid God was going to send a great bird this time? Probably not…Jonah was trying to get some shade from the sun, as well as have his little campsite to watch what happens with Nineveh. Jonah was hoping that even though the Ninevites repented that there would still be some consequences for their actions. Jonah is hoping to get a little satisfaction that God maybe God wouldn’t let them off unscathed. Maybe just a quick hail storm or some lightning. Or maybe their repentance wasn’t real and God would deal with them. Or maybe, just maybe, God would change His mind.

None of that was going to happen. Instead God gives Jonah an object lesson starting in verse 6: ⁶ And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. ⁷ But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away.  On a sidenote: God works through big fish and tiny worms. Don’t miss either in your life. ⁸ And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed. Jonah still isn’t getting it. The whole point of the plant, the worm, and the wind was to reveal Jonah’s double standard. Jonah was angry that God’s mercy and grace was removed from him – and it was only about a plant. Yet, Jonah was angry that God mercy and grace was given to the entire city of Ninevites – and that was hundreds of thousands of people. 

Jonah’s heart was so full of anger and unforgiveness that he had become ignorant to God’s grace in his own life. Quote: “A spirit of unforgiveness and a lack of generosity is the indication you are out of touch with the grace of God in your own life.” – JD Greear. Do you know the easiest way to tell if you have become ignorant to God’s grace in your own life?

1. You believe you deserve something from God
   • “God, I’ve been doing all these things you’ve asked of me, can I please have this one thing in my life. I deserve it.” 
2. Someone else receiving grace is shocking to you
   • “God, how could you let that person be forgiven for what they did to me?”

How do we fight against this? Let God’s grace overwhelm you every day. Illustration: My brother tells me my skin condition will kill me. For about two weeks, I looked at my skin thinking I was going to die. And then I found out my skin condition was actual healing me. Every day, for so many years, I looked at my skin and was overwhelmed with the healing that was taking place. That’s what we are called to do. Be enamored every day with the spiritual healing that has taken place in your heart. See what God has given you that you don’t deserve. And let that overflow. That’s where the story of Jonah ends - God wants your heart to overflow for our city.

3) God wants your heart to overflow for our city. (vs. 9-11) God asks Jonah a second time if he has the right to be angry. This time, Jonah responds. ⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?” “Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!” Jonah has dug in his heals. He looks at God and says, “I sure am, God! I’m so angry, I could spit nails!” And God, in His patient pursuit of Jonah, responds one last time: ¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. ¹¹ But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” God says to Jonah, “Look at all those people in Nineveh” By the way, the 120k mentioned were probably just children. Most translations describe the 120k as people who don’t know their left hand from their right hand. Most scholars believe this refers to children. There were probably 100s of 1,000s of people and God is asking Jonah, “What about them? Shouldn’t they know my grace and hope?” “Do you not see their souls? Do you not see how distressed and dejected these people are? So what if it infringes on your status or prosperity?! These are souls who need saving!” 

How does the book of Jonah end? What happens to Jonah? We don’t know for sure. We never know Jonah’s response. And here’s why I believe it’s left unresolved: We have to work out the resolution in our own hearts. The book of Jonah ends with us wondering, “Did Jonah ever get it?” Which forces us to look at ourselves and ask, “Do I get it?” God has put every single one of us at this moment in time right here for a reason. Men: we often hear the call to “step up.” That’s not what’s needed right now. I think it’s your time to “step in”. Step into the presence of God so that you can lead your circle (whoever that might be) into the presence of God. The only way you can step up for God is if you first step into the presence of God. I’m going to keep ringing that bell for us because the world needs powerful, yet in control men of God. The world needs meek, godly men. For all us: God wants your heart to overflow to those around you. God is pursuing them. He’s asking you to join in. Maybe today, God’s asking you to join Him for the first time.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION 

I want us to finish our time in the book of Jonah with one final thought: God’s love is relentless. God’s pursuit is relentless. Let’s join Him.

Join me, on May 1^st, I am going to spend 30 days spreading the hope of Jesus. I want you to join me. Each day, I am going to do one thing: pray, read the Bible, send out encouragement, invite someone to church. Just one small challenge each day. I want you to join me. There’s a meeting right after church to learn more – join me. As I look at out at our community, I see way more than starfish stranded on a beach. I see the distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Will you help me make a difference? Who knows what God will do with 10, 20, or 30 of us? But I’m ready to find out. We exist because everyone needs the hope of Jesus. Let’s live like it. Let’s pray.

Transition to Prayer Time / Baptism

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