Not About the Fish: God's Mercy for Enemies

And then would he dare call me or you to go tell them that? Is there more grace and mercy in God than there is sin in fill in the blank. Jonah is not about the fish, And I wish it were because that would be a whole lot easier. Yes. It would have been nicer if God tied a nice bow on this story, resolved it once for all, ended it with warm, fuzzy feelings. It would have saved us a lot of time if he would have just said, what kind of fish it was. But instead, he leaves us disturbed with an unsettling question. It's a direct hit to the heart. [01:06:47] (60 seconds)  #JonahNotAboutTheFish

I mean, this is so jarringly offensive. It's insulting. And it makes me sick to my stomach because it confronts a whole host of idols in my kingdom of self that I tend to ignore and overlook. The book of Jonah, it defies my patriotic interest. It threatens my greedy desire for more and more to consume. It endangers my sense of security and self protection. Could God's love and desire truly be so audacious and offensive as to love even the worst of sinners? [01:06:01] (46 seconds)  #AudaciousGrace

Our story begins on the boat. The prophet running away from God. It continues in the belly of the fish with the prophet declaring salvation belongs to the Lord. We finally made it to Nineveh, and we saw the incredible earnest repentance of wicked and evil people. It culminates with the prophet once again making an incredible truth statement. You are a gracious compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love, but I would rather die than have you extend it to them. Wow. Salvation belongs to the Lord, but not for those guys. [01:01:12] (47 seconds)  #ReluctantProphet

So an important truth that we say from time to time is that there is more grace and mercy in God than there is sin in us. I've always loved that phrase, but let's let's be honest. We don't think we're all that sinful, so it kinda it doesn't have a very high standard for God's grace and mercy. But let's state it differently. Is there more grace and mercy in God than there is sin in ISIS or whoever your greatest enemy is? Is there more grace and mercy in God than people who are my enemy, are violent oppressors, the religious extremists, people who carry out unspeakable evil against innocent vulnerable people? [01:05:15] (46 seconds)  #GraceGreaterThanEvil

In other words, instead of becoming a dispenser of God's blessings, they became hoarders of God's gifts. Instead of being known as God's people, they wanted to be known as Israel, a wealthy and powerful nation. See, Nineveh was a threat to their self interest. And isn't that actually the worst enemy we have when it comes to our walk with Jesus? Our own self interests and the lengths we are willing to go to protect them. In Jonah, we are confronted with our greatest enemy, our selfish ego, the arrogance of our plans. [01:03:03] (60 seconds)  #EnemyWithin

Now, the pagan sailors, they want nothing to do with this. They try to row back to shore to no avail, and their only choice left is to toss Jonah overboard. And when they do, what happens? The storm stops, and this first scene on the boat ends with these once pagan sailors worshiping the one true God, the God of Israel. They are worshiping Yahweh, the God of Israel. It's a marvelous scene of unexpected evangelism and the moving of God's spirit. [00:50:05] (34 seconds)  #UnexpectedEvangelism

The rebellious prophet, he experiences God's amazing grace in his darkest hour. He's snatched from the jaws of death literally, and he turns back to follow God's call to Nineveh. It's amazing. We are back on track. K. So scene one, the boat. Scene two, the fish. And now, we're in scene three, the city. Jonah has a fresh start. Chapter three begins the same way as chapter one. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. [00:52:34] (33 seconds)  #SecondChanceJonah

Keep in mind, he's not thinking, throw me overboard, and a big fish is gonna get me, and then I'm gonna be taken back towards Nineveh. No. He says, throw me overboard. Essentially, kill me, and the storm will stop. In my opinion, this is essentially a suicide attempt. He's not being thrown in the water expecting the fish. Right? He knows being thrown overboard in a massive storm in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea is a death sentence, and he chooses it. [00:49:28] (37 seconds)  #DesperateChoice