Dr. Mensah is the author of the fascinating book, ‘Kwabena’.

For more information about their work, you may wish to visit:

http://grid-nea.org/

Matthew 28:18 – 20.

‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”’

This text of Scripture carries for us a commandment of primary importance. Matthew puts it at the end of his Gospel probably to make it unforgettable as the last thing we hear from the lips of Jesus before His ascension. It is really one commandment or commission but I want to divide it into segments for us so that we may grasp the significance of each phrase. I have divided it into four commandments and a promise.

The first commandment is:

1. Go.

Here were the disciples of Christ, eleven of them since Judas was no more one of them. Some of them were still doubtful about the Resurrection even though they had seen him on several occasions. But here they were, on top of a mountain, away from the crowds that followed him; away from the common people, in their seclusion with Christ. And they worshiped him. It was a special moment in their lives, a moment of grace. Christ was with them, alone and real in all His risen glory. They could see Him, touch Him, hear Him and they worshiped Him. And His first word to them was ‘Go.’ What does it mean?

A. They could not accomplish their chosen task in the seclusion of worship and fellowship.

If they were going to follow the call of Jesus to become fishers of men they were going to have to leave the mountain top of worship and fellowship and go where the people were.
Now there was nothing wrong with this time of worship and fellowship on the mountain. It was necessary and it was good but there is one thing it was not designed to be. It was not designed to be a place of evangelism. It was to be a place of worship and instruction.
Here is my point. Coming together in a place of worship was not designed to be a place of evangelism. Coming to church was designed to be a place of worship and fellowship. We are called together to worship Christ, to be touched by Him, to be lifted up by Him to be instructed by Him. For some of us that can be a mountain top experience. And some evangelism will happen there. Notice I say ‘happen.’ Unbelievers who come among us will also feel and sense the presence of Christ and be drawn to Him. Praise God for that. But that is not why we are here. We are here to meet with Him and worship Him and be taught by Him.
But the commandment of Jesus to us is to ‘go.’ We cannot accomplish the task in this place. We cannot accomplish the task if we stay on the mountain top. We cannot accomplish the task if we stay in our Jerusalem. We cannot accomplish the task if we confine ourselves to our homes and the homes of our Christian friends. We have to ‘go’ where people are and bring the message to them where they are. And that is not easy in these days when everyone thinks religion is alright and every opinion is to be respected and tolerated, but it can be done. We are called upon to ‘go.’

Here is the second part of this commission.

2. Make Disciples of all Nations.

We have been given the task of making disciples of all nations. This has many implications.

A. What is a disciple?

A disciple is one who is committed to learning and obeying the teachings of Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus are contained for us in the Four Gospels and expounded by Paul and others in the rest of the New Testament. Discipleship is not merely professing faith in Jesus Christ and attending Church. It is far more than that. We have to learn what Jesus is all about.

B. How do we make disciples?

We tell them about Jesus Christ. Some of us who are evangelists proclaim it in the act of preaching, but the tasks is not ours alone. It is the task of all believers to share their faith, or to use a New Testament phrase, to ‘gossip the Gospel’ (Acts 8:4).
C. This is a joint effort. Evangelists do it. Missionaries do it. Pastors do it. Christian lay people do it. It is a commission to every single one of us who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. And part of the problem with carrying out this commission today is that the majority of Christian lay people refuse to become directly involved in the mission thinking that this is what we pay the Pastor to do and this is why we support missionaries overseas and evangelists at home. That is not the teaching of Christ. The teaching of Christ is that we are all to be involved in the sharing of our faith and doing whatever we can to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.

This brings us to the third part of this commission.

3. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A. The Sequence.

Please note the sequence of things here. First you are to make them disciples, which is to say, we are to bring them to have faith in Jesus Christ. That is primary. But following that we are also to baptize them.

B. The Mode.

The word ‘baptize’ comes directly from the Greek baptidzo. It means ‘to dip or immerse.’ It was the word often used of the dyeing of cloth when the cloth was dipped in the dye. Christians were not the only group of religious people who used it. Many others did but the form was always the same – to dip or immerse.

C. The Meaning.

In the New Testament baptism was a public confession of faith that one had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of their and therefore was dead to the old life of sin and risen to a new life of forgiveness and faith – example Acts 16:29 – 33; Romans 6:4. Christian baptism is about living out our relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is the first act of obedience a new believer in Christ is asked to do.

4. Teach the obey everything I have commanded you.

Before we look at this part of the commission look back for a moment at how Jesus introduced the statement. He said in verse 18, ‘’All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Now why did He say that? What was the purpose of that little prelude or introduction to the Great Commission? Jesus is saying that He has legal and constitutional authority over the universe and therefore over planet Earth and therefore over all nations and peoples on the face of the Earth. If people are to become disciples of Jesus Christ they need to know this. They need to understand that He is absolute sovereign, that He is Lord of all creation, and that becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ means that you and I recognize his absolute and complete lordship over all we are.
Now there are many places in scripture where this is taught – see Daniel 7:13 – 14; Psalm 2:8, Philippians 2:9 – 11. The teaching here is very straightforward – ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’ When people are therefore invited to become disciples of Jesus Christ, they are never invited to ‘accept Him as their personal saviour,’ as we sometimes hear it phrased. They are actually invited to receive Him as their Lord and in receiving Him as their Lord He first of all saves them and then He goes on to lead them.
Some of you will question my theology at this point so let me point you to some of the great New Testament invitations to salvation – see Romans 10:9 – 10 & v.13; Acts 16:31; Colossians 2:6. That is the invitation, that in coming to Jesus Christ for salvation we bow to recognize and accept His lordship.
But this is also important for a second reason. In leading people to faith in Christ we are to teach them to obey the teachings and the example of Christ. A Christian’s life, the life of discipleship, is to be marked by obedience to Christ. Disciples are to learn and follow the ways of Christ. If we think of Jesus Christ as anything less than absolute lord of our lives we are probably going to take the human way and self-centered way out when we face difficult choices in life.
We read in Mark 10 the story of the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus seeking salvation – Mark 10:17 – 22. The young man desperately wanted eternal life, salvation. Jesus told him to go and sell everything he had and give it to the poor and to come and follow Him. And at this point we read these word – ‘He went away sad because he had great wealth.’ He wanted eternal life but when faced with the choice he would not bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
I’ve known people like that, people who would not bow to Jesus because of wealth, or because of family, or because or religious tradition, or because of some other pleasure in life which they realized was wrong. And like the rich young ruler they walked away from Jesus.
Jesus was very clear about entrance into His kingdom. He told His disciples, ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of Father in heaven.’ And you cannot do what you don’t know and what you don’t understand. Disciples must learn to obey everything that Jesus has commanded.

Now then, attached to these four phrases in the Great Commission, is this promise.

5. I am with you always.

I believe it was John Wesley who with his last breath before he died, said, “Best of all, God is with us.” Jesus was named by the angel ‘Emmanuel, God with us.’ Why is it important that you and I know that Jesus, the Lord of creation, is with us as we carry out this commission?

A. Because we cannot accomplish this task without His resources.

The task that Jesus has given to us is far greater than any of us can ever handle, but He is with us to gift us and empower us and help us all the way. Remember the Rich Young Ruler we just talked about? When that young man heard the demands of Jesus he was not the only one who was shocked. The disciples were as well. In fact as the young man was leaving they said to themselves, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus heard and answered, “With man this is impossible but not with God; all things are possible with God.” We should not be afraid or ashamed to share our faith in Jesus Christ because Jesus is with us to help us all the way.

B. Jesus has given us three great resources to aid us.

He has given us His Holy Spirit, His word, and Prayer. The word and the Spirit work hand in hand. We speak the word and the Holy Spirit uses the word. But the Holy Spirit uses the word in response to the prayers of God’s people. Isn’t that amazing? God chooses to bring people to faith in His Son Jesus Christ through the prayers of His people. That means that if we are to carry out this commission we must learn to pray for people.

C. We are to remember that we are following a living Christ.

We are not mere followers of some ancient Jewish rabbi who lived 2000 years ago, but followers of a living Christ whose presence and power is demonstrated daily in our lives.

Where?  Brechin Park Pavillion

When?    1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Who?       Kids K to Gr. 6

Cost?       $15.00

What?      Running Shoes required.

Contact Pastor Adam Hodgins @ 519-616-9542 (cell) or 705-484-0062 (office)

Today we come to the final message on the book of Jonah. The last time we looked at the story Jonah was outside the city of Nineveh sitting in a makeshift shelter, sweltering from the heat and sulking. After first running away from God and refusing to proclaim His message, he finally gave in, went to Nineveh, preached the message and the whole city turned to God. But, instead of rejoicing at the conversion of the city, he was sulking.
Interestingly however, instead of punishing Jonah for his attitude, God comes to him and reasons with him. It was the Prophet Isaiah who penned these words, ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord, and here we have the Lord coming to Jonah to reason with him.
But the book ends abruptly with a statement and a question. The question is not answered and we have no idea of what Jonah’s response was or what happened in his life following that confrontation. Jewish tradition has this to say about the end of the story, ‘in that hour Jonah fell on his face and said, “Govern your world according to the measure of mercy, as it is said, To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness.”
What are some of the lessons God would have us learn from this closing passage? I believe there are two main lessons. The first I call:

1. The Lesson of the Vine – v. 10.

The Lord said in essence,

“Jonah, you are concerned about material things but you are not concerned about people. Jonah, people matter to me.”

Jonah was more concerned about the vine that gave him shade than he was about the people who were saved in Nineveh.

Now there is nothing wrong with being concerned about material things. Things like money to pay the bills, food to eat, a house for shelter, medication to cure illnesses, transport to get from one place to another, are all important things. Some we have because we need them and some we have because we like them. They are important. But there must be balance in life. We are not just physical, material beings, we have a spiritual side as well. Sometimes, in fact, oftentimes, we spend so much time catering to the material that we forget or neglect the spiritual. Jesus asked his disciples this rhetorical question, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his souls?” (Matthew 16:26). Every day we come across people like that, people who are so occupied and preoccupied with accumulating material things and personal security that they forget to feed the soul and prepare it for life beyond the grave. Yet many of these people will tell you they believe they do have a soul which will live on in the next life.
The Lord also says to Jonah,

“Jonah, material things are gifts from me which you did not earn.”

God had caused a vine to grow up to provide shelter from the sun and the heat for Jonah, but Jonah thought this was something he earned, something he deserved. At last God was giving him his just reward. But he hadn’t earned it. God gave it freely to him and he did not receive it as a gift because he thought it was his due.
Now this may be hard for you to believe, but the gifts, the abilities and the knowledge you have are all gifts from God. You may say, but I worked hard for what I have, but none of that hard work would have accomplished anything without you having the gift in the first place.
Take for instance, the ability to make money. Where did that come from? Read Deuteronomy 8:17 – 18. It is a gift from God. Jesus once told His disciples, “Freely you have received, freely give,” (Matthew 10:8).

Here are three things you need to remember about gifts from God:

o Gifts have their source in the grace of God; you can’t earn them.

o Gifts are to be discovered, developed and dedicated to God, not hoarded and worshiped.

o Gifts are instruments to bring blessing to others, use them wisely.

So much then for the lessons from the Vine. Jonah also needed to learn:

2. The Lesson of Nineveh – v. 11.

The lesson of Nineveh was all about loving the lost. The Prophet was not pleased about God saving the people of the city of Nineveh, but God was pleased. Here was a group of people who would now be able to enter His kingdom. Jonah, on the other hand was more concerned about the vine when it dried up than about the people of Nineveh been saved from Hell.
Many years ago in a city where I lived, a woman went for a drive in a new car her husband had recently bought. Sometime after leaving home she called her husband. On the phone she told him, “I was in an accident.” He replied, “Is the car badly damaged?” “It’s a total write-off,” she said. “Well,” he said, “just call the insurance company and they’ll take care of everything. And call a taxi if you need a drive home.” “I can’t,” she said, “I am calling from the emergency room in the hospital.”
The story is not fictional. It happened and that marriage ended in divorce. Why? Because one man was more interested in material things than he was in people.
Nineveh had approximately 120,000 people. Ramara has 9,427. Brock county has 11,979. Mississauga has 700,00 and Toronto 2,400,000. Do they matter to God? Every last one does. The question is, ‘Do they matter to us?’

Jonah had his reasons why the people of Nineveh did not matter to him. Here they are:

 Prejudices

• Jonah was prejudiced against the Ninevites for good reasons. They were wicked and they followed many wild pagan practices. They were especially wicked towards the Jews.

 Priorities

–Jonah had other priorities. Perhaps he wanted to spend his time teaching the people of Israel the word of God and warning them about the coming destruction of the nation. Perhaps he just wanted to be a pastor to the little flock in Gath-Hepher. He had his priorities. What are yours? What comes first in your life, the plans you made for yourself or the plans God has for you? What if God should put on your heart the desire to spend next Saturday cleaning up the neighbour’s yard, but your desire is to spend the day boating on the lake, which would come first? Get your priorities right.

 Principles

– One of the great principles of scripture is this, ‘God loves the world.’ He loves the world of people and He loves the material world, but people come first. If we claim to be children of God then we too must love the people around us and the people of the world.

Challenges:

 How easy to be consumed with the trivial.

For many Christians life is just a game of Trivial Pursuit. Avoid this attitude at all times.

 How easy to be guided by anger.

We sometimes become so angry over petty things like what songs we sing in church and what bread we use when we serve communion that we lose sight of our great calling, to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

 How easy to neglect those around us because of wicked prejudices or wrong priorities.

Get these things right in your life.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost and He hasn’t changed His mission yet.

Let me begin today by pointing out three things about Jonah which we have looked at over the past number of weeks.

• Jonah is displeased and angry – 4:1.

• Jonah makes his complaint to God in a prayer – 4:2.

• Jonah makes a request of God – 4:3. He wants to die.

Now we come to verse 4 and God asks a simply question of Jonah, ‘Have you any right to be angry?’ He is really asking, ‘Jonah, is your anger justifiable?’ It is a good question. It is one we ought to ask ourselves when we get angry. Can we justify it? Have we really thought it through or are we just reacting to circumstances we don’t like?
Now we need to know that God is a God who often asks questions. In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned and tried to hide from God, God came walking in the Garden and he asked these questions, ‘Adam, where are you? Who told you were naked? What have you done?’
When Cain, in an angry jealousy, killed his brother Able, God appeared to Him and asked, ‘Cain, where is your brother? What have you done?’
When Saul the King of Israel disobeyed God and took the spoils of war and offered sacrifice to God, God send the Prophet Samuel to ask Saul, ‘What have you done?’
When the Prophet Isaiah saw God in a vision in the Temple and fell on his knees in repentance, he heard God asking, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’
I point this out to us for this reason that our God is a God who is always asking question and part of the image of God in us is that we ask questions. We ask question in order to discover truth. We ask them of ourselves and we ask them of others. When we fail to ask questions we end up making assumptions and usually those assumptions are wrong. And yet we sometimes make important and life changing decisions based upon assumptions. If our God who knows all things is always asking questions how much more ought we to learn the art of asking in order to discover and learn. I will teach more on that at another time.
Now back to Jonah. The question God asked of Jonah was, ‘Do you have any reason to be angry?’ What did that question mean to Jonah?

1. First of all, it was a challenge from God for Jonah to judge who was right – God or Jonah.

Why is it important for Jonah to answer that question – who was right, God or Jonah? For this reason, both God and Jonah are looking at the same situation and the very same circumstances, but seeing it from two different perspectives. God, who is all seeing, sees it from the perspective of eternity while Jonah who is finite sees it from the limited perspective of time, geography and personal preferences.
Whenever God asks that kind of question you and I must always remember that God is right and we are being invited to reaffirm that truth to ourselves. God is always right. I’ve already quoted Isaiah 55:8 – 9 several times in these messages on Jonah. Here is another text for us to receive and rest upon – Romans 11:34 – 35, ‘Who has known the mind of the lord? Or who has been His Counsellor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from Him and through him and to him are all things. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen!’
The question of who is right, God or me, is one we often face and when we face it we are often amazed to discover how much of Jonah is really in us. We need to settle the question once for all in our hearts and mind – God is always right. Paul states this very clearly in Romans 3:4, ‘Let God be true and every man a liar.’ When we receive that as settled truth in our hearts then we do not become frustrated and angry and depressed because God doesn’t do things we way we do them and doesn’t always answer prayer the way we want Him to answer it.

2. What was Jonah’s response to God? 4:5.

Jonah did not think through God’s question to him. Instead he went on sulking and became even angrier, so he leaves the city of Nineveh and somewhere outside the city limits he built for himself a small shelter. In doing so Jonah made three errors.

A. He abandoned his mission.

He gave up – he quit. God did not tell him to leave Nineveh. He did it all on his own. He was a prophet. His job was to stay and instruct the people, but he didn’t. He gave up.
One of the ways in which some people react when God doesn’t do what they want is that they give up. I have seen missionaries abandon their mission when God didn’t do what they asked. I have seen students quit school because they didn’t get the grades they asked God for. I’ve seen parents give up on their children because God didn’t lead them into the career they wanted for them. I have seen couples give up on their marriages because God hadn’t brought one spouse to faith. And it goes on and on. People, many of them good Christians, give up and throw in the towel because they couldn’t understand the ways and movements of God.
Listen carefully, I am not saying that we should never change courses in life or that there are not times when we have to walk away from thing. But when we are involved in doing something we know to be the will of God we don’t walk away from it. There may be serious difficulties with our circumstances but we need to find out from scripture through prayer what it is that God is asking of us and hold on to it for dear life.
The second error Jonah made was:

B. he built a private retreat.

He made a little shelter for himself. It was his way of saying, I am not going to become involved. God had used Jonah to bring grace to the city; surely there was some one in Nineveh who would have provided grace for Jonah in terms of a place to stay. But Jonah was not interested. Instead he built his own little private retreat outside the city and away from the people. Could it be that Jonah still secretly despised the people of Nineveh?
The danger and the direction that I have seen in many Evangelical churches including those I’ve pastured is this, that the church becomes a place of retreat. We use it to hide away from our neighbours and from our community. We are called upon, as Christians, to be involved with people and things which are happening in our community. It’s important to get into our schools and join some of the groups there which are working to improve the work of the school in the community – the PTA, Big Brothers, the Lunch Program and so on. It’s important to get into other organizations in the community and help – the Chamber of Commerce, the Lion’s club, the Library, etc. You could join the Coffee Club at Coffee Time at 10:30 in the mornings and be a Christian presence there. You can be the Christian presence there that will make a difference in whether or not people ever see Christ alive in others. Do use your attendance at worship on Sunday morning as an escape from rubbing elbow with the world. We need to out there with the world. We are a part of that world and we become the presence of Jesus to them.
The third error that Jonah made was this:

C. Jonah became a spectator.

In the beginning of the crusade he was at the very centre and all eyes were on him. Now he is on the outside looking in. Christians can become that way too. We sit at home, watch the news, read the newspapers and we see all that is happening. If we like it we are happy. If we don’t we criticise. We are fans at a baseball game. We cheer when our side is winning and we complain when its losing, but we are never involved. We are spectators.
Here is a challenge. Think about it. Pray about it. Take action. Over the next week watch the news and read your local papers. Ask God to show you one thing that is happening in your community that is contributing positively to the people around you and then seek to be involved – just one thing. Commit yourself to being a presence for God in that group and see how God can use you.
We have looked at God’s challenge to Jonah as to who was right – Jonah or God; and we have looked at Jonah’s response. He simple walked away, quit his mission and built himself a private retreat where he became a spectator instead of a player. The last thing I want us to look at is:

3. God’s gracious Illustration to Jonah.

First of all God caused a ‘broad leafed plant to grow up over Jonah to give him shade from the sun. The RSV says it was ‘a castor plant.’ How appropriate! What Jonah needed was a dose of castor oil.
Whatever the plant was it made Jonah very happy. Why? Because, at last, it seemed that God was doing something good for Jonah and not just for the people of Nineveh.
But the next day God caused a worm to chew and destroy the plant and to make things even worse the sun was hotter than ever that day, so hot that Jonah almost passed out. Again Jonah wanted to die.
Here is what’s happening. At first Jonah was angry at God for something huge, the conversion of a whole city. Now Jonah is angry at God for something small and petty, the withering of a tiny plant. And again God asks the question, ‘Jonah, do you have the right to be angry about the vine.’ Jonah answers honestly, “I do…I am angry enough to die.”
How much of Jonah is in us? Would you want to live your life in that way? Would you want to spend the rest of your life being angry over petty, insignificant things?
The application if far greater than that and we are going to take a final look at the book next Sunday, But for today consider these things:

• When you face questionable issues in your life, who is going to be right, you or God.

Are you prepared to trust God even when you don’t understand the why, when, how and what of the issue?

• How are you involved in your community today?

Is there something you can be doing to reach out to help and be the presence of Christ to people around you? Or are you going to spend your life just being a spectator?

• Are you a person who gets angry every time something doesn’t suit you?

Anger is energy and if energy isn’t channelled right it becomes wasted energy. Here’s my suggestion.

Turn your anger into positive energy by becoming involved in doing rather than merely reacting. Become Christ’s presence to a needy world.

And also Sunday Mornings during the summer months 10:00 – 11:15 am for Worship in the Park.  Program available for kids.

Church Outdoors is Cool!

‘There is an old Hasidic tale about a woman whose name was Anna Kebbitch. She was a complainer. All day long she complained:
“I have so little money, my clothes are like old rags.”
“My health is so bad, my back feels like the walls of Jericho.”
“I must walk so far to draw water, my feet are like watermelons.”
“My house is so small, I can barely move in it.”
“My children visit me so little that they hardly know me.”
One day, Anna Kebbitch woke up with an itch on her nose. All day long her nose itched. She went into town to visit the Rabbi. When the Rabbi saw Anna, he asked her, “How are you, Anna?”
Anna replied, “I have so little money, my clothes are like old rags, my health is so bad, my back feels like the walls of Jericho. I must walk so far to draw water, my feet are like watermelons. My house is so small, I can barely move in it. My children visit me so little that they hardly know me. And now I have this itch on my nose and it plagues me so. Tell me Rabbi, what does it mean?”
The Rabbi said, “Anna, your itch is the Kebbitch Itch – the ‘complainer’s itch,’ Its meaning is this: However you consider yourself, so shall it be.”
The next morning, Anna woke up and her nose was still itching. She could barely move. Her back had turned to stone like the walls of Jericho. When she looked about her she noticed that her house had shrunk until her arms stuck out the windows and her legs hung out the front door. She could not move in it. On the end of her legs were two large watermelons. Her clothes had turned to old rags. When her son and daughter came walking by, Anna called out to them, but they continued walking on, wagging their heads – they didn’t know her.
In despair Anna remembered the meaning of the Kebbitch Itch: However you consider yourself, so shall you be. What does this mean?
Anna began to think: You know, I do have money enough to live on and more. Henceforth, I will give out of my abundance to those who are not so well off. My health is not so bad. Actually, for someone my age, I feel quite well. I’m glad I have such a nice house to live in. It’s not large, but it’s comfortable and quite warm. I really don’t mind my walk to draw water. I love to smell the flowers along the path. And my children – I’m so proud that they have become independent and are now able to take care of themselves.
Miraculously, while Anna was saying all these things, her situation returned to normal – and her outlook on life changed forever. When the Rabbis tell Anna’s story, they end with this statement: May your noses itch forever.’

The Book of Jonah brings us the story of the Prophet Jonah, the reluctant prophet who ran away from the call of God to preach a very solemn message to the city of Nineveh.

What Jonah experienced as God came down and spoke to him is what every preacher would like to experience. Everyone of us would love for God to come down and tell us face to face where He wants us to go, to whom we should preach and what we should say, but that is not the normal experience of the preacher. Many times we have to struggle and as it were, wrestle with God in prayer to get His word for the upcoming Sunday. Not so with Jonah. The call came to him in a face to face encounter with God.
Now, if you follow the story carefully you will soon discover that it is not so much about Jonah as it is about God. What is it about His nature that God wants us to know and understand from this book? Jonah sums it up for us in 4:2, ‘I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love…’ That is a summary of what God wants us to know about Him in this book.

Three times in this book God demonstrated His grace and compassion:

Jonah 1:15, God showed grace and compassion to the sailors;
Jonah 2:2, God showed grace and compassion to Jonah;
Jonah 3:10, God showed grace and compassion to the Ninevites.
This is the picture you find throughout the book and it should be a cause for rejoicing, but it is not. Rather than rejoicing Jonah is angry. Jonah had seen the grace of God displayed in a most unusual way. He saw the kind of revival that you and I long to see today. He got a foretaste of Pentecost, yet he is angry. How can that be? Why is he angry? Why the contradiction?
Before I try to answer that question I want you to notice something unusual here. In 4:1 Jonah is angry. In 4:2 he prays. Is that what you normally do when you are angry? Of course not. Usually we want to stand up and fight back. Jonah, of course, knows that you don’t fight with god. There is just no chance of winning. So Jonah did what we all need to do when we get angry – pray. Talk to God about it and get your answers from him.
Now then, what was the problem with Jonah?

1. Jonah had obeyed God by doing what God wanted him to do, but God had not done what Jonah wanted God to do.

Jonah had come to the conclusion that if he obeyed God then God would automatically do what he desired and what he desired was that God would punish the Ninevites for their cruelty and wickedness against other nations. But God wasn’t about to do that, at least, not at this time. Jonah needed to learn what the prophet Isaiah had learned. In Isaiah 55:8 – 9 we read these words that God sent us through Isaiah: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’ declares the lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’
Jonah needed to learn that. Somehow he thought he had God figured out ant that God would act in a predictable way. He wanted God in a box, not a God who was sovereign and unpredictable.
It reminds me of an incident on the mission field many years ago when a missionary family ran out of money. They had been taught to trust God for their needs so they got together as a family and prayed that God would send them the money they needed for food and other things. Then, having prayed, they sat on the porch and waited in excitement for the postman to deliver the mail. The postman came but there was no mail from home and no money. Had god forgotten them? No, for to their surprise one of the native families from their little church brought them a basket of food from their garden which kept them until their regular support came a few days later from headquarters.
You and I must never put God in a box. God is not predictable. He is too creative to be predictable. He is always doing something new and breaking away from what we call the norm. Tennyson was right when he wrote,
‘The old order changeth and God fulfills Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.’
Don’t ever think that God has let you down or forgotten you because He didn’t give you what you asked for.
The second thing Jonah tried to do was this:

2. Jonah tried to justify his anger, both in his own eyes and in the eyes of God.

He argues in 4:2 that this was the reason he didn’t want to go to Nineveh in the first place. In other words he is saying that he was right in the first place. He had a legitimate reason for running away. This is a complete turn around from when he was in the belly of the fish. In the belly of the fish he thought his life was over and he had no argument with God. God was right and he was wrong and God was justified in punishing him. That was his position. But now he says that he was right in the first place.
We see this over and over in so many human situations. Quite often, when things do not turn out the way we expected them to, we try to justify our disobedience. We decide that, if we obey God, this is what the appropriate outcome should be and when it doesn’t happen we are confused.
Here is what I have learned through the years. God has given to ever person coming into this world a beautiful gift. It is the gift of choice, free choice. It’s a gift we have until the day we die. It is a gift we all exercise within the boundaries of our human nature. But we don’t all exercise it alike and the result is often this, that one bad choice cancels out the result of a good choice.
We see this many times in our children. We bring them up according to the teaching of the word of God. We teach them values based on biblical principles and so on. But when they come of age they make their own choices and there is nothing we can do about except to pray. But God doesn’t take back the gift of choice because we pray and often they choose to do their own thing.
So, don’t get angry with God because thing haven’t worked out the way you expected them to. Rather learn to say with humility and brokenness, “Lord, not my will but thine be done.”
Now here is the third thing about Jonah’s response.

3. Jonah tries to turn God against God.

Jonah complains about God’s action by quoting God’s own words to him – Psalm 103:8, 86:5, 15, Exodus 34:6 – 7. So here is his argument, ‘God, here is what you have said over and over again, that you are merciful, kind, compassionate and forgiving; so why did you send me to Nineveh in the first place to preach doom and destruction when you knew full well that you were going to do the opposite?’ In other words Jonah is saying that he, Jonah is the consistent one, not God.
Now that is an awful prospect because we find some frightening parallels in the Bible. We find Satan in the Garden of Eden saying to Eve, “Did God really say that you should eat from that tree? Maybe he did because he knew you would become like him when you eat,” (my paraphrase). And the result was the fall into sin by the human race.
We find Satan in Matthew 4:6 quoting scripture to Jesus in the Temptation to persuade him to do his own thing apart from the Father’s will Fortunately Jesus didn’t fall for it.
And sometimes people will search the scriptures for all kinds of references to justify some action they want to take which is completely out of the orb of God’s will. As Christians we must learn the great principles of Scripture, most of which are repeated several times in different texts and we must be careful to read them in context and apply them properly to daily life. And we must avoid at all cost the temptation to turn biblical principles into legalistic rules for life.
Finally we find one frightening things happening to Jonah>

4. Jonah asked God to take his life – v.3.

Jonah had tried this before when he asked the sailors to throw him overboard – 1:12. But at that time he was in a state of disobedience and unhappy. Now, having obeyed God, he is still unhappy and would rather die.
Why? Is it possible that we can obey God while our heart is still unwilling and that our obedience is really no better than our disobedience? If God asks you to do something for him and you do it with a disobedience heart you are no better than the person who refuses to do it altogether. Its kind of like the little boy who was told by his mother to stand in the corner for half-an-hour because of his disobedience. He looked at his mother from the corner and said, “I might be standing up on the outside but I am sitting down on the inside.” Unwilling obedience is still disobedience.
Here is another question for you. Is it possible that we can experience the overwhelming power and blessing of God and yet long to be somewhere else – or better, nowhere? That is precisely what Jonah felt. God had blessed his ministry in a mighty way in the city of Nineveh. At no time in Palestine did he ever have that many converts. Nevertheless Jonah didn’t want to be there.

Closing: In closing let me try and sum up what I’ve been trying to teach this morning.

• Don’t put God in a box. Don’t expect that because you have obeyed God you can make demands of Him. He knows what is best for you and you need to recognize that and rest in it.

• It is never right to be angry with God. God does what he does because he sees the beginning from the end. We only see a small segment of life but He sees everything, therefore only He knows what is right.

• Be careful not to turn principles of faith into legal rules for life. Learn to work out those principles in a practical way for yourself without forcing them on others.

• Learn to obey God with a willing heart. You can only do this when you know deep down in your heart that all things work together for good to those who love god and are called according to His purpose.’

Jonah was not the first to give up on god and he won’t be the last, but God was not willing to give up on Jonah. God persevered with Jonah and Jonah found himself caught up between his own self-will and the perseverance of God. And the more he pushed against God’s strong hand, the more God pressed against him. And, in the end, God would make Jonah a symbol of His call upon your life and mine.

Have you ever seen a street preacher? I have. In fact I started my ministry in the early 1960’s as a street preacher.
The Salvation Army also started its ministry by going to the streets and I can recall as a young boy attending many Salvation Army street meetings.
Jonah the prophet went from being a settled preacher in the town of Gath Hepher in Northern Palestine to a street preacher in the great city of Nineveh.
The city of Nineveh awoke one morning to find a Jewish preacher walking up and down its streets declaring, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” And the amazing thing was this that no one questioned the truth of his message. They accepted it immediately. Why?
Some have suggested that some Ninevites may have seen Jonah as he was vomited up on the shores by the great fish that had swallowed him, and had reported it to the people in the city, so they knew this was a miracle from God. Other suggests that the digestive acids in the belly of the fish had bleached Jonah’s skin to an albino white and this sight may have turned their hearts toward Jonah. Ultimately it was God who was at work behind the scenes carrying out His work of grace towards these needy people in that city. The people of the city gave a radical response to the message of Jonah such as was never again experienced in any place. How did this come about? We are going to look at two things this morning.

1. What happened to Jonah – 3:1 – 3a?

In chapter1we learned about the disobedience of Jonah. In chapter 2 we see the repentance and renewal of Jonah. Jonah had come to a place where he stopped running away from God and totally cast himself upon the mercy of God. As a result of this God brought him three things.

A. God brought him life out of death – 2:10.

By all accounts, living in the belly of a fish for three days was death. Everything happening there was like death itself – the darkness, the suffering both physical and mental, and the hopelessness all looked like death. And as far as Jonah was concerned God had banished him from His presence which is the worst aspect of death.
But then the fish vomited Jonah unto the beach and it was like resurrection. He could see the light again. The turbulence of his under water experience was over. He could again walk and talk and eat like a normal man. He was resurrected.
Jesus talked about it in Luke 11:30, “For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” And again in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
The sign of Jonah was distinctly his resurrection from his watery grave to which God had consigned him. It told the people of Nineveh that God was very much alive and that what he had done for Jonah He would do for them.
To the Jews of Jesus’ day and to all of us today, the ‘sign of Jonah’ was reissued in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
But the story has an even greater application for us as believers in Jesus Christ today. If the world of people among whom we live is going to see Jesus Christ alive in us today, it will only happen as we too learn this principle of dying to self and living in the power of the risen Christ. You find this principle explained by Jesus Himself in John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus says that if we are going bear fruit for Him, that is, if we are going to influence people to come to Christ and live for Christ, we have first got to learn to die to ourselves and put Christ first in everything. But this old self doesn’t want to die; it wants to please itself, get its own needs met, and do its own thing.
How do we die to ourselves? We have to come by faith to God’s throne of Grace, and place ourselves totally before the Lord and ask Him to take this old flesh, this thing that is always saying “Me first,” and crucify it, that is, put it to death and reckon it dead – Galatians 2:20. And when that happens the world will see and know men and women, young people and children, who are living in the power of the risen Christ.
God brought Jonah life out of death and:

B. God brought Jonah renewed Conviction of his Call – 3:1 – 2.

It appears that God was pleased with Jonah’s confession in chapter 2 and there was reconciliation. But there was more than that. The real proof that Jonah had come to the end of himself was not the words he spoke or even what he felt in his heart. The real proof was his willingness to follow his God in obedience.
And the real proof that you and I have died to ourselves is not what we say in our testimonies, or whether or not we speak in tongues and prophesy, but whether or not we are willing to obey God in everything.
But please notice, the word of the Lord came to Jonah ‘a second time.’ This call was not to test Jonah but was given as a token of the love and grace of God upon His life. God says, as it were, to Jonah, “Jonah, I am still willing to trust you again, even though you have rebelled and ran away from me; I want you to know that I forgive you and I will restore you and use you if you are completed submitted to me.”
As I said last Sunday, Nineveh had not changed but Jonah had. He was not just willing to obey God. He was willing to die for God.
I don’t think there is any greater joy in the Christian life than to have God bring us back from the edge of defeat and failure and renew us and use us again in His service.

So much then for what happened to Jonah. Let us now look at:

2. What Happened to Nineveh – 3:3 – 10?

Here we see an entire city turning to faith in God. But how did it all happen? What were the underlying principles that brought about this response?

A. There was the spoken word – 3:4 – 5.

Jonah spoke the word and ‘they believed God.’ Even though they worshipped many idols which they called gods, yet they believed this to be the word of the one true and living God.
But did you notice the principle in verses 4 & 5. In verse 4 they heard Jonah and in verse 5 they believed God. You know it doesn’t really mater whether or not you believe me; what matters is do you believe the word of God? And if the word that I speak in this gathering is truly the word of the living God, then this is all that matters, that you believe it to be God’s word to you.
Here are some words from God – Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9 – 10. Do you believe them to be the word of God? Then act upon them.

B. There was Inward Conviction – 3:5b.

They were deeply convicted about their past life of wickedness; they felt sorrow for what they had done and they were desperate to turn from it. So they called a fast to pray and demonstrate their feelings to God.
We see very little of this kind of reaction to the Word of God today and yet, this is really what we need most. Christians and non-Christians alike need to experience the convicting power of the Word of God borne to us by the Spirit of God and we need to feel deep conviction.

C. There was Outward Repentance – 3:6ff.

The repentance was led by the king himself.

(1) He heard the word – Romans 10:14 – 17.

(2) He arose from his throne – he did not use his position as king to excuse himself from responding.

(3) He laid aside his robe – the outward symbol of his glory. We cannot flaunt our glory before the living God.

(4) He covered himself with sackcloth and ashes – this was admitting his bankruptcy.

(5) He fasted – he was desperate for help.

(6) He called upon God – this was expressing faith.

Closing:

In the sovereign purposes of God there was a revival in Nineveh, and the instrument of that revival was the man Jonah. He was very much a man like you and me – he was not perfect in his obedience to God. Like you and me he had elements of remaining sin in his life, sin that clung tightly to him.
But something happened to Jonah. Jonah died to himself and out of that self-death God raised up a new man, a man short of compassion but full of power, and used him to turn Nineveh upside down for God.
We, that is, you and I, stand in need of such a revival today. All of these little towns and villages along the Talbot River need a revival such as we saw in Nineveh. And I can see very little hope for these places if God doesn’t move in a very special way among them.
But before God will move among them He has to move among us bringing us to the end of ourselves, renewing our first love within us and giving us a heart for people. He has to move among us and make us a people of prayer and a people of compassion.
Revival comes when the church is awakened to the needs of men and women who do not know the Lord. Would you take a moment to reflect upon your own heart? Do you have any passion at all for the lost? Do you have any concern for the lost position of men and women? Are you praying for unbelievers? And do you pray for the Jonah’s who travel the world sharing the faith of Jesus Christ with others?

July 25 – July 30 1:00 – 3:00 pm.

Brechin Park

Cost $15

Forms available at the church office Brechin Medical Centre 3242 Ramara Rd. 47, Brechin ON L0K 1B0 Tues. to Thurs. 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. and Sunday mornings at Church in the Park 10:00 am.

Contact Pastor Adam: 519-616-9542 or 705-484-0062