THEOLOGY UNAPPLIED
JONAH 4:1-11
We could label the fourth chapter, “The Pouting of Jonah.”
Chapter 1 pursued prophet
Chapter 2 praying prophet
Chapter 3 preaching prophet
Chapter 4 pouting prophet
We would imagine that Jonah would be elated at the response of the Ninevites to his preaching. Yet he only pouts, complains, prays in anger, and desires to die! What was his problem? Jonah had plenty of theology in his head but all too little had penetrated his heart.
This is one of my big fears as a preacher. That as word is opened up it does not affect our lives. Preaching is about change! God’s word is to be applied.
Jonah’s problem can be ours. It may be visible somewhat differently than Jonah’s, but it surfaces nonetheless. It shows up in our complaints, worries, fears, angry, and bitterness in life. When our knowledge of God merely fills our brain without capturing our hearts, then we have an unapplied theology
The book of Jonah doesn’t end with all the answers, it concludes with a question and it doesn’t provide the answer.
I. Have You Ever Felt Sorry For Yourself ? vss 1-3
Chapter four opens with Jonah having his own personal pity party. He was feeling very sorry for himself.
Jonah is acting three year old who has been told that he cannot have ice cream before lunch.
But look how Jonah acts here. – But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. NKJ
And what was Jonah angry about? The amazing work of God in not bringing judgment on thousands of people! Jonah is angry because God is not.
Here is man who has experienced the amazing grace of God himself and God’s wonderful salvation in such a dramatic way and yet when that same grace and salvation is extended to others he is angry.
Here is the danger of unapplied theology. Jonah never demonstrates any real interest in the people of Nineveh. If God had destroyed the city, Jonah would have gone home a happy man.
He is like the man that the Lord Jesus told about who was let of a huge debt and then immediately went out and grabbed one of debtors by the throat and throw into prison for the non-payment of a small debt.
May the Lord give us a compassionate heart to reach the lost, to pray for them and to love them.
Jonah’s attitude comes from the pit. Again we need to be warned here. Jonah has just been mightily used as God’s mouthpiece now he expressing attitudes that belong to kingdom of darkness.
Just like Peter. In one moment he is making a gt a statement concerning the divinity of the LJC in the next he is acting like Satan’s mouthpiece and trying to stop the Lord going to the cross.
Most pastors are frustrated at some point because people refuse to change. Here Jonah got frustrated because they did change.
His attitude was wrong it was from the pit, but there is a bit of silver lining to this cloud. He does one thing sort of right. What is it?
1) At least instead of just complaining Jonah complained to God in prayer.
2) The selfishness of the prayer must be noted. The word, “I” or “my” is in the prayer no fewer than 9 times in the Hebrew.
Jonah was still praying but his prayers were still self centered and self focused. When we pray are we are concerned about the glory of God and the extension of his kingdom.
When our prayers center around our own selfish whims, we are in trouble. Many today are guilty of selfish prayers.
Let me ask a second question. . .
II. Have You Ever Been angry at God? 4-9
1. When you look at Jonah he seems to be mad at the world. His anger was even directed toward God.
1) How could Jonah, of all people, forget God’s mercy so quickly?
2) He should have died when he was thrown into the sea, but he survived.
3) He should have died in the fish’s belly, but he survived.
4) He shouldn’t have got another chance to serve God, but he did.
How soon we forget. If we have trusted in the LJC as our savior we have received forgiveness/ pardon/ eternal life/ eternal riches. We are called children of God, heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Saved from hell and judgment brought into the kingdom of light.
And yet so soon we forget who we are and what our savior has done for us. That is wot happens when we sin. We forget that we are redeemed with an infinite price. We forget about the amazing grace of God.
Friends remember him this week. Psalms 103. 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3. Who forgives all your iniquities
O THOU, my soul, forget no more
the Friend who all thy misery bore;
let every idol be forgot,
but, O my soul, forget Him not.
4 Infinite truth and mercy shine
in Him, and He Himself is thine;
and canst thou, then, with sin beset,
such charms, such matchless charms, forget?
When you read chapter 4 Jonah acted like he thought he was in the right & God was wrong. He even argued with God. God didn’t argue, but He got ready to teach Jonah a lesson. Jonah was focused on the wrong things.
When we’re angry at God it’s a pretty good sign that we have lost our perspective and are focused on the wrong things.
It is like the short- sighted men who goes into an electrical store and asks to buy the T.V on offer and the sales man says I can’t sell that. The man becomes angry and demands to know why and the salesman tells him that he is looking at a micro wave and not a T.V.
The wrong perspective can make a world of difference. while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Lord showed how wrong his prospective was. How ironic that Jonah cared more for a plant than he did for a great city like Nineveh
III. Has God Ever Taught You a Tough Lesson? 10-11
I suspect I know the answer to that question. All of us have times when we need to learn a particularly difficult lesson. If we are willing to really listen, God helps us work through life’s tough lessons too.
Jonah was about to learn a big lesson that wasn’t going to be easy to swallow. In fact, we’re not even sure he got it, because the book ends without telling us if he finally understood.
The point of the book was to teach Jonah and those who would read the book later about God’s love.
We are to love those God loves and to share the grace we have experienced with those who haven’t experienced it yet.
Jonah was selfish. If we are honest, all of us are selfish too.
I relate to Jonah far better than I want. Being selfish comes naturally to us all.
To ignore what’s going on in the larger world and becomes obsessed with what’s happening in our own small corner of the world demonstrates that we are selfish. It was one of the big reasons Jonah wasn’t happy. He was too focused on himself. If we are honest, all of us understand what it is to lose our perspective and major on things that don’t matter and minor on things that matter.
That’s part of the selfishness we constantly fight.
In the church graveyard in Dundee, the godly minister Robert Murray Mcshane, erected a white marble stone. It was placed at the entrance of the graveyard. On this white marble stone there was one word carved in black letters. Do you know that that word was?
ETERNITY. There to remind people about their eternal souls that will never die. There to challenge people to live for eternity.
There to remind people to care for the eternal souls of others.
AS you look at vss 9-11 it is very striking. Who has the last word in the book? That is very telling is it not? When we are out of step with the Lord who will have the last word?
I sometimes hear people rage against God and say when I see Him I’ll give him a piece of my mind. Yet when all stand before him on judgment day who has will have the last word?
AS WITH BOOK OF JONAH GOD WIL HAVE YHE LAST WORD ON THAT DAY.
So wot have we learnt from this book-
Have we learnt that it is impossible to run from away from God?
Have we learnt that the sovereign Lord controls all things?
Have we learnt that he answer prayer, even the prayer of a disobedient prophet?
Have we learnt that God has the power to transform a pagan city by his Word and Spirit? And that God will have compassion even on his enemies if they repent?
Have we learnt that eternity matters and souls matter more than anything else?
The answer to all those questions is YES. So if we have learnt all those things are we going to hears and doers of God’s word?
Tags: Jonah, OT, Sermon, Sermon Notes