Reluctant Messenger—Powerful Message

Jonah 3:1-4:3 (NIV)

     Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion

4     But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Have you ever be reluctant to do or to say something, even if it was the right thing to do? You know like when you got an F on the math test and had to tell you parents, or When you deleted the project from the computer and had to tell the boss, or maybe it was when you had to have the colonoscopy but just didn’t want to do it. We have all faced times when we were reluctant to do or say something, even if it was the right thing to do. Perhaps you had to tell someone something that they didn’t want to hear. Maybe you’re not sure how they’re going to react, or maybe you know exactly how they’ll react—and that’s the problem! Have you ever been reluctant to tell others? Today is also the thirty-third anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Many are reluctant to talk in church about things such as abortion or assisted suicide. But let’s pause for a minute and not think about this a political issue, but rather as message about life. It then becomes a message we have to share. It is a positive message of life! It is a powerful message of life! We know what God has done to give value and dignity to human life. Why should we be so reluctant to share such a powerful, positive message?

Most people know the story of Jonah. He was a reluctant messenger with a powerful message. We can learn from him that

Jonah was a reluctant messenger. This was the second time God came to him with a message for the city of Nineveh (3:1). Jonah ran away the first time. But being swallowed by a great fish and then vomited up has a way of getting one’s attention! Even now, though, he’s reluctant; when the people of Nineveh repent, Jonah pouts! At the beginning of ch 4 we read, “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry” (4:1). Didn’t he want the people of Nineveh to be saved? Did he want them to suffer God’s wrath? Evidently. OK, the Ninevites were enemies of Israel. Still, rather selfish, Jonah!

Is the Church today a reluctant messenger when it comes to life issues? Have we been running away from God’s call to share this message? What will it take to get our attention? Don’t we want to speak up for those unborn babies who cannot speak for themselves? Don’t we want people to know that God’s gift of life is destroyed through abortion—over three thousand times every day and well over forty-five million since 1973? Don’t we want families dealing with an unplanned pregnancy or those facing end-of-life decisions to know about a God who does not abandon them in their troubles? Don’t we want people who have made mistakes and are filled with sorrow—like the Ninevites—to know of God’s compassion and forgiveness? Sure, some of these issues are controversial, but doesn’t it seem a bit selfish of us to remain silent? After all, we have the message they need to hear. It’s God’s message of life, and it’s a powerful message.

Jonah learned that. Reluctant though he may have been, he knew this was God’s message. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (3:2). Reluctant though he may have been, Jonah went to Nineveh with God’s message. This was no small task. Nineveh was a large, important city. We can only imagine what went through Jonah’s mind as he traveled through this large city, with its thousands and thousands of people. He was all alone, and the message God had given him was not exactly a popular one. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (3:4).

But there was power in this message because it was God’s message. Notice it wasn’t Jonah whom the people believed: “The Ninevites believed God” (3:5). They understood the source of this message. Therefore, they understood the truth of this message and the power of this message. They responded with repentance. They humbled themselves before God with fasting and putting on sackcloth. The power of God working through the message of God brought about godly results.

Next, we see the power of God revealed, not through threats of destruction, but through compassion. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (3:10). The power of God seen here is in what he did not do. He did not punish as he had a right to do. He did not give the Ninevites what they rightly deserved. God’s great love restrained him from carrying out his great judgment.

This frustrated Jonah. Just this past couple of weeks the news reported about a man convicted of raping and molesting a 12 year old girl and when he was found guilty the judge sentenced him to 10 weeks in jail. Ten Weeks, that all “What a goofy judge.” But when we think about it, God is an even more goofy judge. He sentenced His own innocent Son to death and told all the sinners they are free.” That is not justice, but rather mercy. As Jonah knew all along, “You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (4:2).

Yes, Jonah may have been a reluctant messenger, but he had a powerful message. It was powerful because it was God’s message. God worked through it to bring repentance. God worked through it to reveal his compassion.

Reluctant though we may be to talk about abortion and other life issues, God has something to say about them. The message we have to share is God’s message, not ours. We want people to listen and believe. God’s message is a powerful message. It’s a positive message. Certainly it’s a message of “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” But this is positive. God loves human life so much he wants to protect it from harm. So he says in the Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13). It is not our prerogative to choose an innocent human being’s death in order to solve a problem. It is not our prerogative to hasten someone’s death in an effort to relieve suffering. God loves human life so much that he wants to protect it from the harm of bad choices. So he says, “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor 6:18). God loves human life so much he wants to protect it from the harm of misplaced trust. God’s message of protecting life is a positive message for others and for us. Why should we be reluctant to share such a message of life?

The message we have to share is God’s message. It is a powerful and positive message. It is not only a message that says “Do this” and “Don’t do this,” but it is also a message that says, “Look what God has done.” We have a positive message of what our God has done that gives value to each human life. He created the first humans in his own image (Gen 1:26–27). Even though sin marred that image, that original, lofty position still gives special value to human life. God has been intimately involved in the creation of all human life ever since. The psalmist says, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps 139:13). Job reminds us that in God’s hand are “the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10). God gives value to each and every human life through his creative hands.

God also gives value to each and every human life through his redeeming hands. The hands that knit you together in your mother’s womb stretched out on a cross to pay the price for your sin. God loved what he made with his hands so much that he sent his Son to buy us back from sin and death. “You were bought at a price,” Paul reminds us (1 Cor 6:20). It wasn’t gold or silver, but the holy and precious blood of Jesus. That gives life value!

What a positive message of the God-given value of human life we have! The embryo in the petri dish, the baby in the womb, the child on the playground, the child with Down syndrome playing with him, the professional athlete, the paraplegic in the wheelchair, the energetic young businesswoman, the young woman with MS, grandpa on the golf course, grandma in the nursing home—all are people created by God. All of these are people for whom Jesus died. Therefore, they all have value and dignity and purpose. Why should we be reluctant to share such a powerful and positive message of life?

The message we have to share is God’s message. It is a powerful and positive message, a message through which God reveals his compassion and love. There are a lot of people out there—and undoubtedly some right here in these pews—who have made mistakes when it comes to decisions about life and death. There are those who have not led chaste and decent lives. There are those who have chosen abortion. There are those who have been misled by the growing acceptance of euthanasia. There are people out there and in here who have made mistakes and they know it. They are filled with guilt and regret and are sitting in their own version of sackcloth and ashes.

Others of us may find we have the attitude of Jonah. The “bad guys” should get what they deserve because of their wrong decisions. However, the reality is that we are all “bad guys.” All have sinned. It is not the magnitude of our sin that puts us under God’s judgment. Sin itself puts us there. Like the Ninevites, we deserve God’s wrath. Like the Ninevites, we do not get what we deserve. God’s “goofy justice” for us satisfied his wrath once and for all by giving Jesus what we deserved as he hung on the cross. Jesus gets what we deserve, and we get what we do not deserve. The holiness of Jesus is applied to us. In God’s goofy justice, the good guy, Jesus, is declared to be the bad guy who gets it in the end. The bad guys, you and I, regardless of the magnitude of our sin, are declared to be the good guys. Through faith in Jesus, we are seen as holy and blameless. We must declare with Jonah, “You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (4:2). Why should we be so reluctant to share such a powerful and positive message of life?

The message we have to share is God’s message. It is a powerful and positive message. It is a message about our God, who promises never to leave or forsake those he created and redeemed. There are no circumstances, whether it is a crisis pregnancy or a terminal illness that we face alone. There are no circumstances beyond God’s power to help. There are no circumstances that can ever separate us from his love. There are no circumstances in which God is not at work, bringing good for the sake of his people. Why should we be so reluctant to share such a powerful and positive message of life?

Have you ever been reluctant to tell someone something? Who hasn’t? There’s a little of Jonah in all of us. But in this season of Epiphany, we are reminded that it is the Church’s responsibility to share the message of what God has done in Jesus. On this thirty-third anniversary of the legalization of abortion, we are reminded that it is the Church’s responsibility to apply the message of what God has done in Jesus to the life issues of our time. It is a message that calls people to listen to God and what he has to say about these issues. It is a message that calls people to repentance. It is a message that reveals God’s love and compassion. We do not have to be reluctant to share such a powerful and positive message of life!