JONAH 4 AND NOW… THE REST OF THE STORY

If Only It Could End Here “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” 3:10 “And Jonah spent the remainder of his days in Nineveh engaged in extensive discipleship throughout the city. And the Lord heard his cry for help and even sent a Family Pastor and some guy to lead music.” And the Lord heard his cry for help and even sent a Family Pastor and some guy to lead music.”

The Rest of the Story CHAPTER 3 Ministry thru Jonah Ministry thru Jonah God’s focus on a city God’s focus on a city God’s power to redeem God’s power to redeem God’s heart for the world and His mission for His people God’s heart for the world and His mission for His people CHAPTER 4 Ministry to Jonah God’s focus on a person God’s power to refine Jonah’s heart and his preoccupation with himself

God’s Debriefing of Jonah Attitude and Agenda (1-4) Consistency and Stability (5-8) Perspective (9-11)

Attitude and Agenda “But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life. The Lord said, Do you have good reason to be angry?”

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2

Consistency and Stability “Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.” (v. 5-6)

Consistency and Stability “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.” (v. 7-8)

Consistency and Stability Jonah is extremely happy about the plant and yet displeased and angry about the Ninevites. Jonah is extremely happy about the plant and yet displeased and angry about the Ninevites. Jonah cares a great deal about his own comfort and yet cares nothing about Nineveh getting nuked. Jonah cares a great deal about his own comfort and yet cares nothing about Nineveh getting nuked. When the source of Jonah’s comfort withers, so does Jonah. When the source of Jonah’s comfort withers, so does Jonah.

Perspective “Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”