Interview with Jonah - Jonah 4

Whenever you read a story or a book, you want to know what the ending is. Were they married? Did they live happily ever after? Did grandma get well? Was the business successful? It's very disquieting to read a story and turn the page and discover we don't know the ending. And yet the book of Jonah is a book without a completed ending. You see, in Jonah 3, the city of Nineveh repents, and God saw their repentance and God said, I will not judge them. Now according to modern standards, the story should have ended at Jonah 3:10. Jonah did his work, the city was rescued and they lived happily ever after. However, we have Jonah 4, why? Because God is more concerned about the worker than he is the work. You say, well God got what he wanted. The city of Nineveh repented and the message was preached. What more could God want? He wants the heart and the love of his servant.

You see, if you stop in Jonah 3, Jonah looks very successful. He preaches a great revival. He's had a marvelous experience sharing the word of God. And yet, what happens? Well, God has to go deeper with Jonah and teach him one more lesson. Let's review just a little bit. In Jonah 1, we have resignation. Jonah says, I will not do the will of God. And he learns the lesson of God's providence. You can't run away from God. In Jonah 2, we've called it repentance, and there he learns the lesson of God's pardon. God does forgive when we come and we ask him. In Jonah 3, he learned the lesson of God's power. We called Jonah 3 revival. But now in Jonah 4, he has one final lesson to learn. Let's call Jonah 4 rebellion. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. Rebellion. Jonah has to learn the lesson of God's pity. His heart was angry at God and angry at the people who had repented.

You must remember that Jonah was a patriotic Jew. Nineveh was going to be the great enemy of Israel. And actually, Jonah wanted God to judge Nineveh for two reasons. One, Nineveh was their enemy. Two, he knew that his own people needed to be warned about their sins. It's very likely that Jonah was saying in his heart, Oh Lord, how can you forgive these Ninevites? Why don't you judge them and make them an example, exhibit A, to our own people, that they might turn away from their sins. What it really boiled down to was that Jonah did not have love in his heart for the people he was preaching to. God looks at the heart. Man may look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. You see, Jonah was not living on resurrection ground. He's like some of us today. We have been identified with Jesus Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. And yet we're not living as we should. We haven't set our affection on things above, our attention on things above. We don't love the lost sinners around us. We don't like the things that they do, and we don't like them. Sometimes we not only hate the sin, we hate the sinner.

Now there is a godly anger in the Bible. No one will deny that. Moses had a godly anger when he, when he took the golden calf and he smashed it, broke it into bits. Jesus had a godly anger when he cleansed the temple. Ephesians 4:26 says, Be angry and sin not. But Jonah's anger in Jonah 4 is not a godly anger. It's a selfish, carnal, worldly, fleshly anger. And when this gets a hold of our lives, we are in trouble. Let's consider several aspects of this anger that Jonah displays in Jonah 4.

First of all, the reason for his anger. Well, the reason for his anger is incomplete surrender to God. If there is one area in our lives that is not yielded to God, the devil will use it as a foothold. That's why it says in Ephesians 4, Neither give place to the devil. Don't give the devil a beachhead. Any area in my life that is not yielded to God is open season for the devil. And you see, even though God had gotten a hold of Jonah's mind, and finally got a hold of his will, and finally got a hold of his body, he had not gotten a hold of Jonah's heart. This is what Jonah said to God, and he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, oh Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? In other words, even before he'd gone, he'd determined this in his heart. Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. He really knows his theology, doesn't he? He's quoting here from Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18. Here's a man who can really quote scripture. But it hasn't changed the attitude of his heart. Now in Jonah 4:3, Therefore now, oh Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. You see, he's selfish. The reason for his anger, incomplete surrender to God.

Let's look secondly at the results of his anger. Once again, Jonah is the loser. God quietly says to him in Jonah 4:4, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and he sat on the east side of the city, and there he made a booth for himself and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. He's the loser. First he loses his testimony. He leaves the city instead of staying there and helping the people and teaching them about God and saying, look, the God who has turned away his judgment is a gracious God, a merciful God, a God who is kind and slow to anger. He leaves his place of service.

I wonder how many preachers and Sunday school teachers, missionaries, choir members have resigned impetuously because of anger in the heart. They didn't get things the way they wanted them. Well, he lost his testimony. He's silent now. He's not preaching the word, he's not living up to his theology. He just has an empty ministry. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13. If we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and we have not love, we're just a lot of noise, sounding brass, tinkling cymbal, an empty ministry. He lost God's guidance. Here he is wanting to die. That's a strange thing. You know, people make foolish decisions when they get angry at God. Here was Jonah angry at God, instead of saying, Lord, I'm glad that you saved these people. Now let's get a work going here. Let's teach them how to worship the true God, the living God. Instead he says, kill me. I didn't have my own way.

Jonah goes outside the city and stares at the city, hoping that God would destroy the city. You know, Jeremiah had a great burden for the city, the city of Jerusalem in this case. And Jeremiah wept over the city. You'd think that Jonah would have been rejoicing over those who had repented. But no, he's sitting there in rebellion. Jonah sat there and he said, God, I really hope that you'll just blow this place up. They don't deserve to live. Well, did Jonah deserve to live? Suppose that God had begun to treat Jonah the way Jonah was treating them. You see, that's what Christian love is. Christian love means I treat you the way God treats me. God loves me and he's kind to me, so I'm kind to you. God forgives me, so I forgive you. That's Christian love. But Jonah did not have any love for these people at all. We lose our love for the people we're ministering to, and as a consequence, we start focusing our love only on ourselves and all we think about is earning our salary and getting our work done as fast as we can, and having it our own way. It's a sad thing, isn't it, when a child of God, a servant of God is rebelling the way Jonah did.

Now God has to deal with Jonah, and so in Jonah 4:6, the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd. That's interesting. In Jonah 4:1, he was exceedingly displeased because Nineveh repented. But now he's exceedingly glad because of a gourd. You see, he's become selfish. You can tell what a person is like by what makes him happy and what makes him sad, by what makes him laugh and by what makes him cry. Well, God is still in control, but God prepared a worm. It's interesting God can control great fish and God can control little worms. Everything in this book is obeying God except Jonah. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smote the gourd that it withered. It came to pass when the sun did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind. Now remember, you're out in the east and the sun is blistering and, and the wind is stifling, it's smothering. And the sun did beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted. Well, men ought always to pray and not to faint. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. But you see, Jonah is no longer praying and Jonah is no longer waiting on the Lord. He's pouting. He's stubbornly wanting his own way. He fainted and wished in himself to die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? It's interesting, God can't talk to him anymore about lost souls, about service, about new horizons of ministry. He has to talk to him about the gourd. He said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Now it's interesting, why did God permit this east wind to blow on Jonah? Why did God permit the sun to beat down upon Jonah? He's saying, Jonah, you have forgotten what it's like to be lost. Here are these people who need to be saved, and you've forgotten. You're only concerned about a gourd to shelter your head. You're only concerned about your own comfort. Oh, Jonah, says the Lord, do you realize what it really means to be lost? Jonah 4:10, Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madeest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?

One of the problems when you get out of the will of God is that your values get out of proportion. Your priorities get all mixed up. He was happy for a plant that grew up and would die the next day. But he wasn't happy for a city and for these souls that would spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. Now, what I'd like to do as we finish Jonah 4. What I'd like to do is interview Jonah. I want to call a committee meeting now and interview Jonah, and I want to find out whether or not Jonah is really qualified to serve as a missionary, a servant of God. Let's look first of all at his credentials.

Let's ask Jonah a few questions. Jonah, has God called you? Yes, he has. In fact, he's called me twice. Now, is your theology evangelical? Oh, yes. Yes, I believe in a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. A God who repents of evil. I believe that he's the God of creation. He's the God who made the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. Well, that's good. Now, Jonah, do you pray? Oh, yes, and when I pray, God answers. I've seen some marvelous answers to prayer. Jonah, are you a victorious believer? Have you experienced the deeper life? Oh, I've gone deeper than anybody else, says Jonah. In fact, I went down, down, down, and then God brought me up again. And he has given me newness of life. Jonah, does your preaching bring results? Certainly does. It certainly does. I preached at the city of Nineveh, and the whole city from the king on the throne down to the servants in the field, repented in sackcloth and ashes. Jonah, do you study the Bible? Are you able to quote the scriptures? Yes, indeed. I can quote from the Psalms, I can quote from Exodus and Numbers. Oh, yes, I know how to quote the word of God. Well, that's very good now, Jonah. One final question, you know, the, the service of the Lord is difficult. God may call you to some hard place. Do you have courage? Oh, yes, I have courage. I was willing to risk my life and die that a storm might be abated. Oh, yes, I have courage. You know, when you look at Jonah's credentials, it looks as though he has the makings of a wonderful servant of God. He's been called by God. He knows how to pray, knows how to quote scripture. He has preached and seen people repent. And he seems to be a courageous person, but you know, in spite of all these marvelous credentials, he was a bad servant of God. You know why? He didn't have any love in his heart. You see, even though we might be able to speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if we have not love, we're just sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Even though we do give our body to be burned or to be thrown into the sea, if we don't have love, it doesn't mean anything. Love is what gives us the values of life. You see, ministry not only blesses the people we minister to, it blesses us as well.

Well, let's look at a second source of information now. When I have been interviewing missionary candidates, we have often, we have always, in fact, sent out pieces of information to other people. Their friends, their pastors, their instructors in school. We'll send out inventory sheets and say, now, would you tell us what you think of these people?

Let's talk to some of his companions now and find out what kind of testimony Jonah has. Jonah 1, let's talk to the sailors. What do you think of this fellow named Jonah? Oh, he's a troublemaker. Because of him, we almost lost the ship, almost lost our lives. He sleeps when he ought to be praying. We don't think much of him. He's a troublemaker.

Well, let's talk in Jonah 2 to the great fish. Now, I realize that fish can't talk, but let's just talk to the great fish anyway. What do you think of this fellow Jonah? Well, he's a pretty stubborn person. God commanded me to swallow him, and it took him three days until he finally got to the place where he would repent and ask for forgiveness. I think he's a pretty stubborn person. I'm glad that he did finally repent. But he's got a stubborn heart.

Let's talk to the people of Nineveh now in Jonah 3. What kind of a person do you think Jonah is? We're interviewing him possibly for service. Well, we can't quite understand him. He's a problem. He came into our city and began to preach and we believed him, and we repented and God held back his hand of judgment, and that's the last we saw him. He just vanished, and we heard word he was sitting outside the city, really hoping that fire would come down from heaven and burn us all up. We don't really understand this fellow. He started something and didn't finish it.

Well, let's turn to Jonah 4 now and using our imagination, let's interview the worm. He got kind of close to Jonah there. What do you think about this fellow Jonah? Well, to begin with, I think the worm would say he's a, he's a man who lives by his feelings. If he feels good or feels happy, he does one thing. If he doesn't feel good, he does something else. He has a tendency to pout, to be angry if he doesn't get his own way. He really is not a very disciplined fellow. I understand, says the worm, that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, and he could have died. And yet the Lord gave him mercy. Now, why doesn't he want mercy for these who desperately need salvation? In fact, Jonah is very unlike the God that he preaches. I heard him say that God is a gracious God, a merciful God, slow to anger and of great kindness. But I don't see much mercy or grace or kindness or slowness of anger in Jonah. He's very unlike the God that he preaches. And finally, the worm I think would say, Jonah lacks perspective. His values are out of proportion. He's got everything all confused as far as priorities are concerned. He doesn't have a burden or pity for people, and yet he has pity for a gourd that I was instructed to kill. So I think that the worm would probably say he's not a very good candidate.

Well, as far as his credentials are concerned, Jonah passes with 100%, but as far as his companions are concerned, they don't give him very good recommendation, do they? Let's talk to the Lord. The Lord may have something to add to this. Lord, did you call Jonah? Yes, I did. I called him twice. Did he obey you? He obeyed me outwardly, not inwardly. Are all the statements true that these various witnesses have made? Oh, yes, they're all true. What do you suggest we do with Jonah? Give him another chance. Give him another opportunity. You see, God deals patiently with Jonah and God deals graciously with Jonah and God deals gently with Jonah. To begin with, God dealt very fiercely with Jonah. A storm, waves, wind, a big fish. But now he's using a little worm, a little plant, using some wind, using the warmth of the sun. Very gently and patiently, God is dealing with Jonah, trying to teach him one more lesson, the lesson of God's pity. The greatest need that Jonah had was a love for God and a love for lost souls.

And so, the chapter just simply ends on a question. Should I not spare Nineveh? And I would expect that there would be Jonah 4:12 at the end of Jonah 4, but I don't see Jonah 4:12. You see, you and I have to write Jonah 4:12. We have to face the fact that Jonah's not the one who's on trial. We are the ones who are on trial. How do you respond to Jonah 4? Do you say, well, I think Jonah had a case? Or do you say, oh, Jonah was dead wrong? You see, God looks at our hearts. God sees what is important to us. Suppose that your companions were summoned to bear witness about you. I wonder if we would be able to pass the test. God is searching our hearts. God is wondering what is our attitude toward his will. I do believe that Jonah repented. I believe he went back to Nineveh, ministered to these people, and then returned home a different man. A man with a much wider perspective on life. A man who realized that God is not just a God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He's also the God of the Gentiles. And his mercy is everlasting and God is not willing that any should perish. Where does the book of Jonah find you in relation to God's will?