Faith | Hope | Love

Jonah

Chapter 4: Revolutionize Pt. 3

Jonah 4:9-11 “But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you do well to be angry for the plant?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.’ 10 And the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And 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?’”

Not only does God call the city of Nineveh great, meaning there was a LOT of people, but he reminds Jonah that the people in the city are in danger of dying. The language here is specific. If a vine can perish overnight, and that is cause for great pity for Jonah, how much more pity should he have for the people that perish.

Think about it this way. If I rolled a wheel barrow up to you that was full of a million dollars, and I said “You can have this money IF…. you press this button. But if you press this button, somebody somewhere in this world will die. You don’t know the person. You’ll never know who it was. You won’t be punished. Nobody will even know it was your fault. You press this button, somebody in the world that you don’t know dies, and you go home with a million dollars cash.” Would you do it?

It’s crazy how we can start justifying it. We have that moment when we start thinking about it. “Well, thousands of people die per day anyways. We’re all going to die sooner or later. It doesn’t affect me so…”

I think a lot of us try to behave as if we’re numb to death. While we hypothesize about this million dollar scenario, we can become experts at acting desensitized toward death. But death is a frightening thing for us. We’re not used to it, and I don’t know if we’re ever supposed to be. It’s a result of our sin, meaning death only exists because we fell out of God’s perfect plan. The Bible says since every human being has sinned, every human being now dies. So, while death is the number one common denominator for mankind, it wasn’t written into God’s original plan and therefore will always feel unnatural.

Now here’s the thing, this is what God was telling Jonah. We need to be gripped by the fact that there are people everywhere that are perishing, that are dying without Christ, and who need the good news of salvation. Perhaps this truth is so uncomfortable that we quickly throw up our defense mechanisms. We can pretend this isn’t really happening, we can distract ourselves, and we can change the subject quickly. But we can’t hide from this fact forever.

It’s not a happy thought. It’s heartbreaking, really. In my next post, I will finish this whole series off with some good news. But for now, allow me to give you some peace. You can rest at ease knowing that nobody is counting on you to be the lone hero of the world. While the truth is dark and heavy, you are not called to save the world. You are simply called to spread the Gospel within your world; your community, family, workplace, school, etc. So do your small part and trust that God is working beyond your awareness to save this world.

I ended the last post with a question, “Why do I need to sacrifice my personal comfort to bring a revolution to my world?” Here is the first of three answers I would like to pose to you.

Your World is Part of Something Bigger

           

Jonah 4:10-11 “And the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹And 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?’”

Did you know that God called Jonah to the city of Nineveh three times? In Jonah 1:1-2, 3:1-2, and 4:11. The last time is really the saddest call, and it’s what we’re going to talk about in this chapter. You know how in every argument, somebody throws out the trump card? It’s the final statement that wins it. For kids, it’s usually something like, “I’m going to tell mom!” Bringing mom into it is a definite trump card. For teens it’s usually something like, “Everybody knows it.” Pulling in the majority vote is a definite trump card. For God, His trump cards are usually convicting questions, like earlier, “Jonah, do you even have a right to be angry?” This time the trump question is, “You pitied the death of a plant, Jonah. Shouldn’t I pity a huge city of 120,000 people and all of their cattle?” After this trump question, there is no further conversation.

Now remember, Jonah is a picture of the church. So this is not a unique call that is specific to Jonah, but reflects the call of God upon us, the church! Let me ask you, how many people in your world do you know will spend eternity in Hell apart from God, if they were to die today? That’s the ugly question everybody tries to avoid. We don’t like to think of people going to hell. It’s not pleasant. But it’s reality.

The problem is, sometimes we feel like it’s best if we just don’t interfere. That we’ll just make things worse if we start trying to tell them about Jesus. But if we don’t say anything, then who will? We can’t leave the fate of the world’s souls in a hope that somebody else will share Jesus with them. That’s why it is so important, and so strategic, that YOU revolutionize YOUR world. Because you have a relationship with, and come into regular contact with, certain people like nobody else.

You are placed exactly where God wants you so you can revolutionize your part of this planet. I don’t think God calls any single person to change the whole world by themselves. He gave that command to the whole family of Christians. Don’t get me wrong, His will is that “all should come to repentance.” But it will only work if each individual Christian revolutionizes their own world. Jonah was not called to change the whole world, he was called to the 120,000 people in the city. And you, reading this right now, are meant to reach the specific group of people in your life. So let me ask you:

Are you doing your part in revolutionizing the world?

           

In the next two posts I’ll explain two more reasons for you to revolutionize your world. The first one is really uncomfortable. But don’t worry, it gets better.

Leslie and Lauren are two sisters that are looking to Jesus and reaching out to those in need, and as a result they have revolutionized their world. After a life-changing experience at camp, these girls decided to get serious about changing the lives of those around them; specifically the homeless lives. So they got an idea to create a ministry in their church called “H2O: Hope to Others.”

Basically, people from the church can pay $3 for a paper bag filled with food, water, and a Gospel tract that they keep in their car. So when they come across a homeless person they have some way to help them out in a practical manner. The project has provided these not-really-shy but not-really-outgoing girls with many opportunities to trust God and step outside of their comfort zones.

But it gets better. Since they’ve started, they’ve been featured on Oregon’s largest newspaper, have had calls from other churches wanting to start their own H2O program, and they have even started a website for people all around the world to catch the vision and passion. They have revolutionized their world.

In this last chapter you will be see how God loved the people of the city of Nineveh so much that he went to such great lengths to bring a revolution to the city when His messenger was resisting His will. And not only that, but how He is on a mission to bring a revolution to your world as well.

It’s in this chapter that God lowers Himself to actually engage in an argument with Jonah about His plan and desire to bring a revolution to the city of Nineveh. It was a silly argument to say the least, but God took him on nonetheless. And when you read it through, you can’t help but groan a little bit for Jonah. Like, “Jonah, dude, why are you being so selfish? What’s with all the whining?”

Before we start judging him again, though, here’s a few reasons why Jonah was living in self-pity and with a self-absorbed lifestyle. He was not accepting God’s will. He had forgotten how God had been merciful to Him. And he did not love God or his neighbor as well as he should have. So yeah, Jonah failed on several lower levels which led to this emotional breakdown.

But we are just as self-absorbed, self-pitying, argumentative, and disobedient as Jonah, aren’t we? Of course, we don’t like to admit it. But God has an incredible compassion for the people of the world, and thankfully, that involves us. So once again we see that Jonah’s story is our story. But this is the last chapter of his. The final phase of his story. And it’s about creating a revolution.

We’ve said the city of Nineveh represents the world, and it does. But we’re going to narrow it down now. Because what it really represents is not just THE world. It represents YOUR world. Where you live day to day. Your school. Your job. Your family. Your friends. Those are the people you are called to reach right now. We’re not talking about when you’re older, when you’re wiser, when you’re smarter, or when you’ve graduated. We’re talking about right now, you are called to reach YOUR WORLD.

And the whole, “I’m too young to do something spectacular.” is a flat-out lie. Throughout history teenagers have reached their worlds, and they’ve started revolutions, just like Leslie and Lauren. They created a movement in people that all pointed back to Jesus Christ. Teenagers throughout history have done heroic things and many of them have gone unnoticed, and unappreciated, but that makes them all the more honorable.

Even in the Bible we have many stories of young teenaged people making big differences. People like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel, Joseph, Mary, and Ruth. These are all teenagers who did amazing things for God to revolutionize THEIR WORLD. It seems like God prefers to use the young, the incapable, the weak, and the simple to do amazing things.

As a Christian. (young, old, or in between) you are called to abandon your own personal comfort and to bring a Christian revolution to your own world.

But why? If you’re like me, you want to know the why. Not in any sort of disrespectful way. People just want to know why they are supposed to do things. I’ve always asked why, and it’s always driven my mom crazy. “James, take the trash out.” “Why, it’s only half full?” If she was in a good mood I would get an answer, “Because there is meat rotting in it, that’s why.” And if not I got the answer that we’ve all heard before. “Because I said so, that’s why!”

It makes me happy that God doesn’t leave us in the dark. He knows what He is asking is hard. It’s sacrificial. And sometimes God answers our why questions with, “Because I’m God, and I said so, that’s why.” But sometimes He answers our questions. And He has answered this question for us, “Why do I need to sacrifice my personal comfort to bring a revolution to my world?” In my next three posts, the last three of this series, I’ll share with you the why and the how of revolutionizing your world.

Jonah Chapter 3

Reach Pt. 4

      Jonah 4:1-4 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ 4 And the Lord said, ‘Do you do well to be angry?’”

                 

What is it going take to reach out with forgiveness and love, as discussed in the last article, instead of revenge or retreat?

Read this carefully, Forgiveness is when you get rid of the anger and bitterness before you deal with the wrong doer instead of getting rid of the anger and bitterness by dealing with the wrong doer. Read that again. Let me quickly explain why you need to overcome bitterness and resentment. Do you understand that you are playing into the Devil’s trap when you allow yourself to lose your temper to the point of cussing someone out, fighting them, locking yourself in your room, or getting bitter? If you do not first forgive the wrongdoer, you cannot respond with love.

But here’s the tricky thing. Forgiveness doesn’t feel right. Forgiveness feels more like you are letting somebody off the hook. Like, “I know you lied to me, but lying is OK.” We all feel like we need to bring justice. But forgiveness says, “You know what, I’m guilty too. And I deserve justice too. But I was forgiven by Jesus, therefore I will forgive you too.” Vengeance is the Lord’s and we need to trust that He can deal with the punishment a lot better than we can.

Once forgiveness is dealt with in your heart, you can reach out with love to destroy evil. Here’s how:

First, you need to make sure you deal with the attitude of superiority. Verse four is God’s award-winning response to Jonah’s judgmental pouting. God puts his finger on Jonah’s whole issue and with one question obliterates any reason for his religious and rebellious attitude. He said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Doesn’t seem that extraordinary, right? Were you a little let down at God’s life-changing response? What He is really asking is, “Jonah, what gives you the right to be angry? Who do you think you are?”

You know, we will never have a family bond in Calvary Baptist Church if we can’t trust each other. And we can never trust each other if there is judgment amongst us. And we can never get rid of the judgment if we have an attitude of superiority. Let me ask you, how can we extend anything BUT grace to the evil world after grace has saved us from evil? How could we ever think we are any better when we never earned our own righteousness in the first place?

We’re all dorks. We’re all sinners. None of us deserve God’s salvation. So basically, here’s what the Bible is really saying: Get over yourself. You’re not better than anybody else.

Secondly, to bring about the destruction of evil in your life, you need to keep looking at Jesus. Remember back when Jonah was in the belly of the fish and he was contemplating the Temple where blood was shed? He remembered it wasn’t the guilty who shed his blood but rather it was the blood of innocent animals being shed to cover the sins of the guilty. But somewhere in the middle of getting digested in the fish’s belly and preaching revival at Nineveh he had forgotten that. Apparently, Jesus’ blood was enough for HIS salvation, but not for the Ninevites salvation.

When I say we must keep our eyes on Jesus, I mean we need to remember that our identity is in Jesus Christ and what He did. Never about what we have done. Who we are and what we are is only because of the gospel of Jesus Christ alone. He reached out to us first. Again, the only hope we have of ruining evil is to reach out with the forgiveness and love that Jesus first reached us with!

I once read this moving story from South Africa. When Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa, he came into power at the end of a long string of vicious wars, battles, and violence. So there were major efforts made at stopping the violence that had plagued the country for so long. One such attempt was the forming of the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ where people came before the commission to confess to torturing and murdering others. It was horrific as so many people told terrible stories in graphic detail. The horrors of the crimes make one particular story especially moving.

Two people who came before the commission were Mrs. Calata and her daughter. See, Mrs. Calata's husband had been an advocate for black South Africans in rural communities. Because of his work, he'd been arrested, detained, and tortured by the police many times. But one day he simply disappeared and his wife and daughter had no idea what had happened to him. Until, soon after his disappearance, on the front page of the newspaper, Mrs. Calata saw a photograph of her husband's car on fire. That was how she had learned her husband had been killed. She cried so loudly during the hearing at the Commission as she described the autopsy's report about his horrific torture that the Commission had to be dismissed for a while.

When they reconvened, Mrs. Calata's daughter testified. Years had gone by, and she was now a young lady. She pleaded with the commission to discover who had killed her father. But she wasn’t crying out because she wanted vengeance or justice. What she said astounded the hearers, "We want to forgive, but we don't know whom to forgive."

Eventually members of the police confessed to the crime. Rather than continue the endless cycle of hatred, Mrs. Calata and her daughter reached out with forgiveness to the men who tortured and killed their husband and father. And that is how these two amazing ladies ruined the evil in their lives.

Right now, you can radically change our attitude toward those who have hurt you. Right now, you can make the decision to stop trying to get revenge or retreat and start reaching out with forgiveness and love. You can do this if you keep looking to Jesus who loved and forgave you first..

Jonah

Chapter 3: Reach

Pt. 3 The Responses to Evil

           

Jonah 3:9-10 “‘Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.’ 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.”

Allow me to clarify something right up front. There’s only one proper way to respond to the evil in your own life: Repent! We’ve already discussed that in chapter two, so we don’t need to repeat ourselves. But in case you’re still reading, and you haven’t had that time with God when you confessed your sin, and turned from it to God, please do that right now. You won’t be able to deal with the evil in other people’s lives until you deal with your own.

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready for what’s next. Jonah helps us to see the evil in this world and contrast it to how the Lord responds to it. Here’s the question that is naturally posed; How do I deal with wickedness that offends me? This is personal. We’re not talking about solving the problem of evil in the whole entire world, but rather responding to the evil that directly offends us. And I see only three possible responses.

1^st. You can choose revenge – This is where you pummel the wrong doer. You are determined to hurt the person that hurt you. You believe very much in the “eye for an eye” philosophy of life. And most likely you believe, although nobody would admit it, that is how you should behave toward others but not so much how others should behave toward you, right? I don’t recommend this response. It doesn’t end well for anybody.

2^nd. You can choose retreat – This is when, out of passivity, you just let it go but not in the healthy way. This is when you cannot get past it so you do nothing about it. Outwardly you seem to be fine but inwardly you are bitter and hurt. You go to your room and scream into your pillow. Maybe you pop in the head phones and zone out from the world. Perhaps your medication is a little more serious and damaging. This is more about running away than dealing with the evil.

Neither of these two options are better than the other, because you are responding to the hurt in unhealthy ways. Some people think, “Well I’m not hurting anybody if I bottle up.” But revenge and retreat are BOTH wrong, and do no good for you OR the wrongdoer.

Here’s the last option. This is the one we all need to aim for.  

3^rd. You can choose to reach out – This is the forgiveness that God gives to the people of Nineveh and what he is trying to give Jonah. He is reaching out to them, not to exclude, but to include. This is not reaching out with a fist like revenge. This is not reaching out with a shove like retreat. This is reaching out with an open hand to offer forgiveness and love.

In the book, The Secret Garden, Colin is a cruel, spoiled, arrogant boy who makes the lives of his servants and nurses miserable. At first, you despise him in the book. But as you read on you realize this boy is really just afraid. Because all of his life he’s been told he wasn’t going to live long. That he would get a disease like his father and die. So he chooses to confine himself to his bed and order his servants and nurses around.

Until one day he meets his cousin, Mary. Of course, she doesn’t like him at first because of his demanding, selfish personality. He really was an evil little boy. But instead of getting some revenge on him or choosing to retreat from him, she begins to reach out to him. She talks to him about the beautiful things she had seen in the Secret Garden. She describes the adventures she had with the neighbor boy. She begins to encourage him to come outside with her and to see it all for himself. And through it all, she is really showing him that he is actually healthy and he isn’t going to die.

So as she reaches out to him with a love that he had never received before, he begins to soften. He stops throwing his tantrums and starts thinking about others. The evil in him was ruined when Mary reached out with forgiveness and love. The only way you will ever ruin evil in the world is by reaching out with forgiveness and love. That is the one response to evil that God has commanded.

If we fail to do this, if we choose to exact revenge or run away in retreat, we just become a part of the cycle of evil in the world. We are adding to the sinfulness of our own world, but God has called us to destroy the evil; to help bring forgiveness, love, and repentance to those around us.

That’s a lot easier said than done. Right now you might encouraged and thinking, “Yeah! I’m going to change the world with love!” And it all seems clear to you, right now. But tomorrow, when the bullies come around again, or the family member starts acting selfish again, or that coworker makes up another lie about you, this usually isn’t the first thing in our minds because it’s not natural. You’re going to have to work at this. It will require a good amount of effort. Are you up for it? I believe you are. I really do believe you can ruin evil in your world and bring forgiveness and salvation to those around you. Next month, I’ll show you exactly how this works.