God is God
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Opening & Intro
Opening & Intro
Does anyone know what a snow blower is? Have you ever seen one? Joke...
A friend of mine used to own a snow blower. When it snowed he would go out and clean his drive way. After he was done his he would often times go next door and help his neighbour out and clean theirs. It was a small driveway, it took very little gas, and it took him 15 extra minutes to do. Why not.
Well, after one storm he woke up late and he had to go to work early and he only had time to clean my drive way. So he did it and he went to work.
When he got home he had a voice mail. It was his neighbour. They were angry with him because he didn’t clean their driveway. They had to do it their selves and they didn’t appreciate it.
My friend never cleaned their neighbours drive way again. He was being nice and the first time he couldn’t help them they acted like it was his responsibility to do it. They were entitled to free snow removal.
Now some may be listening to this story and think. Couldn’t your friend have called the neighbour to let them know? Maybe? But he didn’t have to.
Here is another story
Sold house and a parking spot…(Austrailia)
We are given gifts and sometimes even directions by God. Some times those things are not what WE want and we don’t understand why. Here is the main point for today.
Main Point
Main Point
When we know what we need to do we need to trust God. He is God not us. Sometimes He makes it clear and those times we NEED to listen.
Why Does it Matter
Why Does it Matter
If we don’t we will be eaten by an abnormally large animal.
No, it matters because Sometimes God chooses to use us to achieve His plan. Sometimes we might not agree or like our role in His plan but someone has to do it and if it is us then we need to listen…or… fish food...
Scripture
Scripture
Last week we talked about “that person”. You know who I mean. The one who always seems to come out on top even when they cheat or don’t do anything to deserve it.
JUST ONCE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEM LOSE.
We were talking about the on going rivalry between the twin brothers Jacob and Esau. Jacob came out of the womb holding on to his brother’s ancle, he manipulated his brother into trading his inheritance when he was close starving to death, He cheated his brother out of his father’s blessing by tricking his BLIND FATHER into believing HE was Esau.
Still God calls Jacob Israel and the father of His people.
Esau saw this and his family became the nation of Edom. The rivalry continued on and on generation after generation.
Last week God had a warning for Edom. Watch after your little brother. Don’t wish harm on him because you may need him in the future.
Israel lost it’s blessing because it was contantly spitting in the face of the covenant and God and Edom was laughing because JACOB WAS FINALLY GETTING WHAT HE DESERVES!
Wouldn’t it be nice? She them taken down a peg. That person we are thinking of. Always bragging. Always rubbing it in? Always choosing to do the wrong thing and they always win.
Imagine YOU are the one who gets to tell them that the time is now for them to get what’s coming to them. You get to be the bearer of the news and you get a front row seat for their come-upance.
That is what we are talking about today.
Jonah was that guy. God told him to go and deliver that message. Only he didn’t want to.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
In the text the Bible gives us no reason, at the moment why Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah. It just says that he didn’t want to do it.
He ran. Why?
Was he scared? The truth is that at this point we don’t know.
The famous part of this story is that he went the opposit way to Tarshish on a boat and a great storm… Tell the story
Make the vomit joke - (When does vomit stop being vomit? Once vomit always vomit)
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah DID IT! He delivered the message. It got to the king. He then retreated to a hill side for a front row seat for the mayhem.
It is time. They are finally going to get it! Oh yeah. He popped his popcorn, got a good view, aaaaaaand....NOTHING!
NOTHING. Jonah got mad and said!
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
I KNEW IT!!!!! I am going to come all this way and you are just going to have mercy on them. They don’t deserve your mercy!!! They constantly don’t listen to you. They disrespect you and you just forgive them. Just like that.
Boy’s oh boy. Sounds like someone else I know. I don’t know maybe Jonah?
He deliberatly disobeyed God not only that but he put other people’s lives at risk.
God had mercy on him. Yet that samee mercy was too good for ninevah.
Here is God’s reply.
But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Dramatic much? God’s point is. The plant would exist if Jonah was there or not. It was going to die if Jonah was there or not. God gave him the plant for shade and when it was time He took it away.
Just because God gives us a gift or a job doesn’t mean we are more important than anyone else. It also doesn’t give us dominion over that gift. It is His to give.
Application
Application
I KNEW IT! I didn’t want to do it because I knew you were going to do it. YOU GAVE ME A BUSH AND YOU KILLED IT!!! I WANT TO DIE!!!
Why can’t you just kill that whole nation because I THINK THEY DESERVE IT!
God’s question is this...
I forgave you, You brought yourself to destruction and I saved you and showed you mercy.
When I show the SAME mercy to this entire city you get mad and want to die.
I cared for you…should I care about everyone else.
You see we started this morning talking about THAT GUY!!! The Jacobs in our lives. They need Jesus too. They need grace too. Even if we are the ones God chooses to communicate that grace through.
God is God. Not us. Our roles is to hear and live. Listen and do. It is not our job to question God. It is not our job to cast judgement.
He diesn’t talk to us in directions every day but when he does and when it is clear we need to listen. Here I am lord send me.
Closing
Closing
The prodigal Son - Tell the Story
Jesus didn’t actually give us an ending to this story. We don’t knwo what happened after the father rebuked his son.
Why did Jesus bring this teaching to a close so abruptly? Why didn’t He finish the story? We want to know how the older brother reacted to his father’s words of wisdom. The story just stops! What happened next?
Did the older brother repent? Did he change his attitude? Did he go in and join the party and rejoice with the others? We would like to think he did. But, Jesus did not finish the story. And why not?
We have to put ourselves in his shoes. If we are the brother do we then rejoice with the father or stay bitter?
Same as Jonah. What happened to him after God rebuked him? We don’t know.
WHen God calls us to love those who we don’t think desever love What will we do?
Wish for death? Yell at God? Attack His character like Jonah?
This goes in all of the people in our lives. The Jacobs in our lives.
Maybe an ungrateful neighbour? An abusive friend? An enemy? a Nemesis? A mean teacher? A bad boss? a Lazy co-worker?
How will we respond? Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the brother or Jonah? The father calls us to respond.
What will it be?