Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning!

Its so great to be in the middle of this sermon series - if you are new today, I want to welcome you - I’m glad you are here to worship with us.

We are in week 3 of a 4-week sermon series in the middle of the Old Testament story regarding the prophet Jonah.

Let me ask you something: do have a someone or a group of people in your life that you have to occasionally interact with that you really wish you didn’t have to interact with?

Or maybe there certain people with a type of personality that you really struggle to spend time around - they just rub you the wrong way?

Or what about people of a certain background that you really struggle to relate to?

I have a confession to make - I have struggled in the past to be around people that have kind of a rough exterior.

If I could make some sweeping generalizations for a second - you know the type: motorcycle gang, heavy metal rock concerts, goth…I think the list goes on.

You get the idea of the person I’m talking about.

I have struggled with that group of people.

I can’t give you any specific reason as to why - maybe its just the stark contrast between the way they choose to outwardly present themselves and the way I choose to outwardly present myself.

It could be because of a difference in values.

You know what’s weird, though?

I’ve noticed that as I’ve lived life, it hasn’t magically gotten easier to connect with people that are different from me.

In fact, I’ve noticed that, if I’m left to my own propensities - if I’m not challenged to go outside of my comfort zone - I will spend my entire life only ever talking to people that are very much like me - conservative, white, clean-cut, raised in Idaho, evangelical Christian.

Do you struggle with that?

Do you struggle to even talk to people that are radically different from you in background, values, and lifestyle, much less spend time with them?

The question is this: Is there anything wrong with that in and of itself?

And the next question we should always ask ourselves, as followers of Jesus, is what does the Bible have to say about this issue?

Well, we find Jonah in a spot where He has been called to go to people that are not just different from Himself but are His enemies and preach a message of repentance.

The Ninevites were not only pagans, but they were a direct threat to the Israelites.

Everything about them was reprehensible to Jonah.

How do I know?

Because I read ahead to chapter 4 and its obvious that Jonah does not have any strong love for these people.

So, in chapter 1 we find him being called by God to go to the city of Nineveh and preach a message of repentance.

And, after watching the video a minute ago, you all know what happened - he turned and ran the other direction.

What happened next was a miracle, though many of us would not think of it as a miracle.

Jonah hopped on a boat in his attempt to get away from God’s command to preach repentance to and God caused a great storm.

Once it became obvious to everyone on board that it was Jonah’s fault, Jonah volunteered to have himself thrown overboard, after which he was swallowed by a great fish.

He spent three days and three nights in the fish undergoing some serious reflection.

After three days and nights, Jonah humbly cries out to God for help and the fish vomits Jonah up on dry ground and then here’s what happens next:

Slide

So we find ourselves at a point where Jonah is, once again, called to “go” to the people he does not want to go to.

And with that said, I think we need to pray before continuing.

Pray

So we find ourselves at the beginning of chapter three and we begin to realize something amazing about the God we serve.

This God that Jonah serves and this God that we serve is not only powerful, and just, and able to accomplish whatever he wants.

But we begin to see something about God’s heart for people in these two verses that follow chapters 1 and 2. We see this:

God’s heart to reach people who don’t know Him will move forward with or without you…but He wants to do it with you!

God’s heart to reach people who don’t know Him will move forward with or without you…but He wants to do it with you!

This is an amazing truth that we see worked out over the story of Jonah and in countless other lives of people throughout biblical history - God delights in using His people to reach those who are lost.

He wants to use you, he wants to use me.

And we see this in the life of Jonah.

And you know - its tempting for us to think that God is somehow angry with Jonah.

That could be true, but did you know that in the story of Jonah we never see God characterized as angry even once?

We can’t read something into the text that isn’t there - God is not characterized as angry with Jonah’s disobedience even once.

He certainly does some amazing and extreme things to put Jonah back on track, but God never once interacts with Jonah in a way that is angry.

Do you know who is angry?

Jonah.

More on that next week.

But for now, just know that God is extremely patient with the disobedience of Jonah.

And God uses what He knows will be effective in Jonah’s life to shape his heart to become more like God’s heart.

And there is evidence of this in Jonah’s life - remember in chapter 1 when he was called to go to Nineveh?

What did He do?

That’s right - he ran.

In chapter 3, we see that God is a God of second chances and He says to Jonah a 2nd time - “Go.”

What does Jonah do in response to this call to go? Let’s take a look:

Do you see what has happened?

God used catastrophes in Jonah’s life to shape his heart.

God has a heart to reach the people of Nineveh and He wants to use Jonah to do reach them.

Jonah tries to run, hits a storm, hits a big fish, gets thrown up on the beach.

Jonah is at least now getting the idea - God wants to use him to reach the Ninevites!

Let me ask you something: when God clearly lays out a path in front of you and you choose to do something the opposite of what is clearly God’s will for you and you suffer consequences, how do you respond?

Jonah learned something - when God calls you to do something - you do it!

So we find Jonah going to to Nineveh according to God’s command.

The thing that happens next in the story is not only a surprise to Jonah, but I would guess that it would have been a surprise to any Jew.

Keep in mind that the Ninevites are pagans.

They not only don’t worship the one, true God, but they worship other gods proudly and openly.

They are idolators, unrighteous and enemies of Israel.

They are an imminent threat to the people of God.

And yet, we see God’s heart in desiring to show mercy by sending Jonah to warn them of their impending destruction.

He does, and here’s what happens next:

Two important questions we ask ourselves when we are studying Scripture are: 1) who was it written to, and 2) why was it written to them?

We call it the audience and the purpose.

There is almost unanimous agreement among scholars that Jonah was written to the Jewish people for a very specific reason.

Before I give you that reason, I’m going to read another passage of Scripture.

In Deuteronomy, after summarizing everything God has done for the nation of Israel, that they are recipients of great blessings, and honor, wealth, and land, here’s what He says to them:

And a little later He says,

These passages are important because they are a reminder about God’s heart - we are going to find out that Jonah looked down on the Ninevites and was frustrated that God wanted him to preach a message of repentance.

In this attitude he betrays himself - he shows that he believes that somehow God should work according to Jonah’s standards of who is worthy and who is not worthy.

But he forgot one simple fact - there is no one who is worthy!

The only reason God chose Israel is out of grace, not out of righteousness.

Jonah thought that somehow the Ninevites were undeserving.

And he would be right.

But the people of Israel were also equally undeserving of God’s promises.

They had zero righteousness or merit to present to God.

Let me tell you something - we are saved by the grace of God.

We have absolutely zero merit or righteousness or claim by which we can come before a God who is holy, righteous, and true.

And here’s the miracle: God doesn’t deal with us according to what justice demands!

Instead, He deals with us according to who He is.

If you don’t know this God, I’ll start with when He first revealed who He is when He was with Moses at the burning bush.

Moses said to God “let me see your glory,” to which God replied with this:

And later,

This is how the people of Israel first established their relationship with God - by coming face to face with the God that was Holy, but also a God who is gracious to whom He is gracious, and compassionate to whom He is compassionate.

Why do I bring this up?

Let me boil it down for us: we don’t get to choose whom we think is worthy.

All are equally unworthy and undeserving.

All we need to know is that we have been given a great gift of salvation in Jesus and that we are called to “go” by God and share that good news by Jesus Himself.

Still have doubts?