Sermon Tone Analysis
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Anger
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Introduction
Jesus’ most famous parable is probably the Parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15.
How could you not love it?
There’s this young kid who wants to trade his family for a frat house.
He wants his dad’s money and not his dad.
But then, when the money plays out and his friends go away, he realizes for the first time just how much better his father was than them.
For the first time in his life, he wants his father, not just his father’s stuff.
So, he decides that he’s going to go home and plead for mercy.
He works up a beautiful speech on his way home.
But, while he’s still a long way off, his dad abandons his own dignity and runs to him.
He welcomes him home, throws him a party, and restores him as his son.
And, we love that story because we see so much of ourselves there, don’t we?
In fact, I made a comparison with Jonah and the Prodigal son while Jonah was in the belly of the fish.
So, we so ourselves, and we see Jonah there.
But, it’s not actually the Parable of the Prodigal Son that Jesus tells.
It’s the Parable of the Two Sons.
In fact, the prodigal who runs off and is welcomed home is not even the main point.
The main point is found in the second son, the big brother.
You see, not everyone celebrated baby boy’s return to the farm.
While dad was throwing a party and the town was dancing, big brother was seething in anger.
He couldn’t believe that his father would celebrate someone who had brought so much shame upon the family.
He had always been there.
He had been a faithful son.
He had never gotten a party.
And, he’s ticked.
God’s Word
You see, we all love to believe we’re the runaway that returns home to the open arms of God.
But, the truth is that most of us believe we’re the younger brother when we’re actually the big brother, seething in judgement, jealousy, and misery.
That’s probably the best comparison for most of us, and it’s probably the best comparison for Jonah too.
So, from Jonah, I want us to see Three Questions Big Brothers Should Ask: (Headline)
Why am I “angry”?
There may be no question I get asked more often than this one.
We have this low grade frustration that’s always bubbling beneath the surface, and it always seems to erupt at the wrong time on the wrong people.
So, we know we’re angry, but we don’t often understand why.
So, we can see ourselves in Big Brother.
When Big Brother heard about his little brother’s return and the party his dad threw, Jesus says that “He was angry and refused to go in.”
Verse one says the same thing about Jonah.
Our anger reveals our values.
It reveals what we believe beneath the surface, even if its in contrast to what we say.
So, why are we angry?
For the same reasons that Big Brother and Jonah are.
“God” doesn’t follow our “rules.”
Jonah 4:1-3 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.””
There’s nothing we value more than control, is there?
We want the ability to direct our lives and the people around our lives according to our rule.
Look at how different Jonah’s prayer is here compared to his prayer chapter 2. In chapter 2, Jonah wanted grace himself, but in chapter 4 he resents God’s grace to Nineveh.
Jonah confesses grace with theological precision — in a tirade.
He’s the original theobro!
Rightly articulated theology can be a club in the hand of an abusive or prejudiced person.
He knows about God’s grace, but he doesn’t understand it.
It makes him angry and harsh, not gentle and kind.
Jonah wants God’s grace to operate according to his rules and his law.
That is, Jonah is angry because he’s not in control; God is.
The Big Brother is angry because he wants to control the estate, but it’s his dad’s.
We blow up on our wives and our children and our friends because we want control.
We want them to respond to us as though we are God.
And a temper tantrum is often our quickest way.
But, God can’t be manipulated by Jonah’s temper tantrum or ours.
A loving and wise Father doesn’t cede control to his unruly children.
There’s another source of anger for Jonah and for us:
“Life” doesn’t go our “way.”
Jonah 4:6-8 “Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.
So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.
And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.””
Jonah’s temper settles for a while.
He pulls up a lawn chair to wait out the 40 days hoping he may get to watch Nineveh burn yet.
And then, a plant sprouts above him that provides him shade for his lemonade.
Surely, this the favor of God! But, as quickly as the plant sprouts, it withers away.
And, Jonah’s happiness wither away with it.
Verse 9 says that he was “angry” over it.
Jonah was angry that his life wasn’t going the way he wanted it to go.
James says in chapter 4 that the root of anger is that “you want and do not have.”
That’s why you fight with your wife.
That’s why you blow up on your kids.
That’s why you talk under your breath about your boss.
That’s why the Big Brother gets angry with his dad.
You have unmet desires.
But, you see, God won’t spoil his children by indulging their corrupt desires.
He’ll make us angry by stripping them away instead.
You see, it could be that you’re angry because of all the things you think you need in your life in addition to Christ to be happy.
I want to ask you what God asks Jonah: “Do you have a good reason to be angry?”
(V. 9 NASB)
The second question should really be understood as an extension and clarification of the first.
Why am I “unhappy”?
Unhappiness may seem like a shallow subject for us to broach, but in truth it’s the deepest problem we seek to resolve.
We want to be happy, but we struggle knowing how.
The Big Brother is the opposite of happy when his brother comes home.
Everyone else is dancing and singing, but he’s seething outside.
That describes many of us, doesn’t it?
It’s like the happiness of others adds to our misery.
That’s where Jonah is too.
Nineveh repents, heaven rejoices, and he’s so unhappy that he just wants to die.
Why?
We see ourselves “first.”
Jonah 4:2-3 “And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?
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