Sermon Tone Analysis

*A Lesson in Compassion (Jonah 4)*

-          | *COMPASSION* To feel passion with someone, to enter sympathetically into their sorrow and pain.

Holmon Bible Dictionary  Compassion is what makes a person feel pain when someone else hurts.

- Unknown |

\\ The book of Jonah shows how great the compassion of God is towards people

 

 

\\ -          Compassionate on the Gentile, pagan city of Nineveh: sending a prophet, then relenting from judgment

-          Compassionate on the Mariners who were on the boat with Jonah in Chapter 1

-          Compassionate on Jonah: a prophet who has disobeyed the call of the Lord, still struggling with his mission

-          But as we find out this morning, Jonah is not as compassionate as the Lord and the Lord wants Jonah to learn the lesson of compassion

-          | Christianity demands a level of caring that transcends human inclinations.Erwin W. Lutzer (1941– )  |

\\ Christians should be the most compassionate people on the earth, but at times we do not show our compassion like we should

 

\\ -          Let’s learn the lesson of compassion with Jonah in this passage, read 3:10 – 4:5

 

I.

Jonah’s lack of compassion (4:1-5)

 

A.

Anger at Nineveh’s deliverance (1-2)

 

·         Very angry as the language suggests (1)

Ø       “displeased Jonah exceedingly”: to spoil one’s countenance, to ruin one’s expectations, “Greatly”

Ø       Not just a little annoyed, but greatly displeased

Ø       Angry: charah: to glow or grow warm, to blaze up, to burn, to be hot, very angry with the turn of events brought on by the Lord

Ø       Amazing to me that Jonah would be so angry with this.

Imagine if Billy Graham got angry at one of his crusades when people came forward in repentance.

Ø       120,000 to 600,000 people came forward in repentance at Jonah’s crusade and he was angry that they had done so!

 

·         Angry at the compassion of God? (2)

Ø       He vividly describes the compassion of God, borrowing from Exodus 34:6, later also expressed by Joel, Nehemiah and in the Psalms

Ø       These words accurately describe the true God of heaven and earth

Ø       Gracious: properly to /bend/ or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to /favor/, /bestow/;

Ø       Merciful: full of compassion towards people

Ø       Slow to anger: longsuffering, patient

Ø       Abundant in lovingkindness: /abundant/ (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality),  /hÖesedÔ/, “loyal love, or faithfulness to a covenant”

Ø       His love is full and beyond any capacity we can understand

Ø       Relents from doing harm or bringing calamity:  not willing that any perish, wanting to restore

Ø       This is a beautiful description of the true God whom we worship as Christians, so much different than how others try to portray God

| (Exo 34:6-7 NKJV)  "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, {7} "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.""

|

\\  

 

\\ ·         Jonah was angry at God’s compassion towards Nineveh!

(2)

Ø       Jonah was not angry at God’s compassion in general, but rather that it had been directed towards Nineveh

Ø       That is what this whole thing is about!

That is why Jonah disobeyed his call.

These thoughts determined his disobedience.

Ø       Unbalanced patriotic fervor is in mind here.

Ø       He was a prophet of Israel, wanted God’s blessing on Israel, wanted destruction on the enemy nations of Israel.

Ø       The Assyrian empire was a bonified threat for Israel, they were a wicked and evil nation.

He wanted them judged.

Ø       He feared that if the Ninevites learned of the judgment they might repent and that God might not judge them after all, because He is compassionate

Ø       “I knew this would happen God!

I knew you were a compassionate and forgiving God and that you might relent from judgment.

And my fears have come true!

You have relented!”

Ø       The one on whom God had shown such compassion did not have compassion on others.

Ø       Why didn’t Jonah catch this hypocrisy?

Why don’t we catch this hypocrisy in our own lives?

Ø       Are there people or people groups in your life that you don’t have compassion for?

Gang members, homeless, drug addicts, nationalities, ex-spouses, previous bosses, previous pastors or brothers or sisters in the Lord.

Ø       God has compassion on them just as much as He has had compassion on you.

B.

Jonah’s pity party (4:3-5)

 

·         Saying stupid things and avoiding questions (3-4)

Ø       “Take my life from me, it is better for me to die than to live”

Ø       Come on, Jonah.

Is it really that bad?

Ø       Is Jonah afraid of being labeled a false prophet?

No, he is depressed and very confused in his false expectations.

Ø       Then God asks a question, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Ø       The obvious answer here is no.

Jonah had no right to be angry with the Lord.

Ø       God is not afraid of our honesty.

We might voice our displeasure to him at events in our lives.

But it is wrong to stay angry at the Lord.

We must accept His sovereign wishes and go on.

·         Watching the city (5)

Ø       Jonah did not respond to the question, but rather journeyed outside the city

Ø       On the east side of the city, he built a shelter for himself and sat under the shade

Ø       Must have had a good view of the city because he sat there to watch what would happen

Ø       Jonah was watching to see if the city would be judged after all

Ø       “40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

40 days had not passed.

Ø       Camping out to see.

Amazing, the lack of compassion and stubbornness.

II.

God gives Jonah an Object lesson (4:6-11)

 

A.

The Plant, the worm and the wind

 

·         God can use anything to get us to learn a lesson (4:6-9)

Ø       Jonah is sitting under this shelter, probably poorly constructed, lacking shade

Ø       It is very hot outside, sitting in the sun has to wear you out

Ø       Plant:  may have been a castor-bean plant (/Ricinus communis/), which grows rapidly in hot climates to a height of 12 feet and has large leaves.

Ø       Like a vine, it grew and covered the shelter with leaves, providing shade

Ø       Supernatural: it grew overnight.

Jonah was very glad for it.

Ø       “Very grateful for the plant.”

Rejoiced over the plant.

NIV & NASB “Very happy about the plant.”

Ø       Next day, God prepared a worm that damaged the plant.

A small worm that gets at the root of a plant can destroy the whole plant.

Ø       The plant withered and stopped providing the shade

Ø       “vehement” East wind:  Not a strong wind, but a scorching wind as the NIV & NASB translate the word.

A sultry, hot wind

Ø       A very hot sultry day in El Paso, in the heat of the Sun

Ø       In Chapter 1 God used a violent tempest and a large fish.

Here he uses a sultry wind, a small worm and a plant.