Melinda Song
INTRODUCTION:
It is always a joy when Pastor asks me to preach. Then he told me that the topic was to be on missions. Today after his presentation on the Sarawak mission trip the pressure is on me to convince more of you to sign up for the mission trip!
As you know I love stories and there is no better story on missions than the one found in the little book of Jonah. Let us turn to . . .
Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
The past week had been a hectic week for me. I had just come back from attending the APHAS in Bali when I had to make a trip to Kuala Lumpur. I flew down because it was an emergency but normally, I prefer to drive.
I love road trips for the flexibility it gives me. On the way I get excited whenever I cross a state border because it means I am getting nearer to my destination. My daughter on the other hand would not be able to identify her location along the highway. There was once I asked her where she was and she told me that she had just passed a Zhulian billboard!
However, there are other borders that I am not too keen to cross because I know they will make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. For example, we like to sit in the same place in church week in and week out. This morning it was not easy for Vive to get us to move out of our seats to shake the hands of our visitors. That is just a small border-crossing activity.
We don’t want to move out of our comfort zone but God’s mission compels us to cross borders.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We have to cross borders to fulfill God’s mission and so I have entitled this message “Crossing Borders With The Gospel.”
The purpose of the book of Jonah is to showcase an exceeding compassionate God (God is gracious) and an exceedingly certain God (God is sovereign). And it begins with . . .
I. GOD’S COMMISSION
Jonah was the “son of Amittai” (1:1) and from 2 Kings 14.23-27 we know that Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom. He came from a town called Gath-Hepher located 5 miles from Nazareth and he was a “celebrity” prophet who prophesied of Jeroboam’s expansion of the borders of Israel.
In verse 2, Jonah was re-commissioned. The terms “Arise,” “Go” and “Cry out” implies a master, a mission, and a message. Jonah’s commission was unusual because prophets prophesied to the people of Israel and proclaimed judgement against other nations from within the land of Israel. Jonah’s call would take him out of Israel, his comfort zone. However, Jonah’s love for the lost stopped at the borders of his nation.
APPLICATION:
What is God’s commission to us? It is found in Matt. 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. In Acts 1:8 God was very specific in mentioning “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” because we often just stop short at our Jerusalem.
There are two misconceptions about missions:
1. Local missions is enough. We don’t have to bother about beyond our immediate community or city or state. Let the people there handle the missions there.
2. Missions must be global. If we don’t have to take a flight or trek through jungles it is not missions. You can be on missions, crossing the street or sharing with your neighbour.
Crossing borders is part of God’s mission because God is Lord over the nations.
Psalm 22.27-28 (NKJV) All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.
Psalm 46:10 (NKJV) Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 72:11 (NKJV) Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
John Piper said, “Missions exist because worship does not” John Piper. We serve a great God who deserves worship from all the nations. Many people refuse to accept that they are sinners. They fail to realize that as long as they have broken the first commandment they are already sinners.
I dread to think of what our destinies would be like if the early missionaries refused to come to Malaysia. In those days, India and China were the popular mission fields. The missionaries always bypassed the Malay archipelago. Then God sent the Communists to kick the missionaries out of China and they landed in Malaya. We thank God for what He has done.
II. JONAH’S RESPONSE
The natural response of a prophet who is a man of God should be to obey but Jonah ran from God’s commission (v.3).
WHY DID JONAH RUN?
a. Ethnocentrism – In sociology, it is the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. For example, the Chinese consider other races to be barbarians and give derogatory names, such as “gwai lo” or “kek ling kwai”, to the Europeans and Indians.
The Europeans simply took over and colonized Africa when they saw the people in their loin cloths. In South Africa the Dutch justified apartheid based on Genesis 9:26. And no one can forget Hitler’s idea of Aryan superiority that led to the mass slaughter of millions of innocent people.
b. Fear - Niveveh symbolized cruelty, oppression, terrorism and godlessness to the Israelites. They practiced life dismemberment, flying and burning people alive, and enslavement.
Fear has never deterred missionaries for God. In the book “The Heavenly Man,” Brother Yun, shared the gospel despite being captured and tortured. We thank God for missionaries in India or Pakistan and other high-risk Muslim countries.
Not only did Jonah fear for his life but he also feared rejection by his own people as a traitor when he returned from his mission.
c.Selfishness – The Abrahamic promise is that the LORD would make them into a great nation so that they would be a blessing to all the families of the earth (cf. Gen.12:1-3). They are blessed to be a blessing but they thought about Yahweh as their own tribal god. In the ancient world it was very common to believe that the gods were territorial and that you might be able to escape their influence when you are no longer in their territory. There is no way to run from an omnipresent God but Jonah probably have had some bad theology.
To an Israelite sharing with their enemies would be a threat. Caring for their enemies would not be necessary. They are only interested in God blessing them and not their enemies. How would you feel if God were to ask you to share the gospel with your enemy or someone you don’t like? Can you imagine Chinese being sent to preach the gospel to a Japanese during the Japanese occupation? Is there someone you would not want to see in heaven.
I have a personal testimony. I had an aunt who caused my mother and sister a lot of misery. We avoided her most of the time but when she was ill and about to die, my sister and I prayed for her and shared the gospel with her. It was difficult for us and she never accepted the Lord. What would my reaction be if she did?
Jonah felt that it was too high a cost to go on God’s mission. Who or what is your Nineveh?
If we are honest, we don’t want to cross borders. FEAR is False Expectations/Evidences Appearing Real. When there is FEAR we Forget Everything And Run. That was what Jonah did.
No faith, no submission.
The above may be reasons that motivated Jonah’s flight but this is the reason given by Jonah . . .
d.God’s Character
Jonah 4:2 (NKJV) So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah knew the mission heart of God. He knew it in his head but not in his heart! By his actions Jonah is really saying, “Let them go to hell!” How big or how small is our heart? Does your heart beat like God’s?
I always get convicted whenever we sing songs like “Spirit touch your church,” especially when it comes to the part when we sing “I want to care for others like Jesus cares for me.” We often do not care for others the way Jesus cares for us.
We have problems crossing religious borders. When we share with the Buddhist that they must be born-again, they will agree and say, yes, we must be born again and again and again and again. We have trouble crossing ethnic borders. We find it difficult to eat on the floor when we are used to tables and chairs. We find that we are unable to get up after eating.
We have difficulty crossing geographical borders. We don’t fancy the long journey and the mountain trekking. We also find it difficult to cross socio-economic borders. On one hand, we cannot accept people who are poorer than us and on the other hand, we are intimidated by people who are wealthier than us or in authority over us. Do you know that the rich and the powerful also need Christ?
The prophet needed a shaking and God gave him a good shaking through the storm and put him into the belly of a fish to consider his ways. He finally realized that . . .
III. SALVATION IS OF THE LORD (Jonah 2:9)
Jonah was supposed to “cry out against it [Nineveh]; for their wickedness has come up before Me” (1:2b).
I was saved during a time when judgment of God was predominant message. The late seventies were the era of films like “Distant Thunder” and I remember waking up every morning and the first thing I would do is to check that my sister was still in her bed. That meant the rapture hadn’t occurred and I have not been left behind! Nowadays it is mostly sugar-coated messages of grace and love that we hear from the pulpit.
Very often we fail to understand that pronouncement of judgment is actually a work of grace. If you see a sign that says, “Bridge ends in 1 mile,” how would you respond? We would be glad that someone has warned us of danger. This is the same with warnings of judgments. People have to know of the danger in order for the good news of the gospel becomes good news to them.
We also fail to understand that we are called to share the gospel, not save the people. We do our part and leave God to do His part. During the APHAS, Dr John Edmund Haggai shared that someone asked him whether he wanted to see the whole world saved. He said, “No!” He understood the Great Commission to mean that the gospel has to be preached to the whole world. Not everyone will become a Christian but everyone must be given the opportunity to hear the gospel.
God gave Jonah a second chance! PTL! It is never too late to obey God.
Jonah 3:1-3a (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
Jonah 3:10 (NKJV) Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
The shortest message on record led to a huge city-wide revival. Pastor Gideon would have been the happiest man on earth if he preached and the whole city of Penang turned to Christ. Jonah responded differently.
The Ninevites were very receptive to Jonah’s message because they were experiencing several military set-backs, followed by an earthquake and an eclipse of the son. The lesson here is that people are more receptive than we think.
I will always remember Bro. Koay’s testimony of how his brother would ask him whether he would like to accept the Lord whenever he came to visit. On one particular day Bro. Koay was ready to accept the Lord but that day his brother did not ask him whether he would receive Jesus. So always ask for a decision. You never know how God has been working in the person’s life.
Instead of rejoicing Jonah became angry.
Jonah 4:1 (NKJV) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
He was so angry with God for saving the Ninevites that he became suicidal.
Jonah 4:3-4 (NKJV) Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
He again expressed anger and wished for death after the plant died.
Jonah 4:8-11 (NKJV) Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Jonah was more concerned over his own comfort and the plant than the Ninevites.
God then explains why He had compassion on the people of Nineveh. First of all, it was not because they were deserving. God’s action was based on mercy to an undeserving people.
Second, His compassion on Nineveh had nothing to do with what the people did but more to do with what they are. They are numerous. Nineveh was the largest city in the world at that time and cities are full of crime because people do not know each other. However God is interested in reaching cities.
They are also needy. They “cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” According to some commentators God is referring to children but, as parents, we know that children are not morally innocent, and God had destroyed children and cattle before in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. The phrase should be taken figuratively, to refer to people who don’t know right and wrong.
The emphasis is on the helplessness of the Ninevites. They are helpless, under the power of sin and unable to help themselves.
The LORD left Jonah and leaves us with a question, “Should not I pity Nineveh?” Rephrase the question with your Nineveh.
Jonah didn’t want to cross borders but Jesus crossed into a dangerous and hostile territory, to a people who rejected Him and killed Him.
Jesus received the commission and obeyed even unto death. He demands the same of us. There is no sacrifice he can ask of us that He has not made yet. We are never more like our Saviour than when we are bearing up under the challenges of extending border-crossing love to others.
A border crossing God will produce a border-crossing people. There is grace for past failures and power for future border-crossing in Christ. Ministry is not just being obedient to proclaim the gospel, but allowing Christ’s heart and compassion to bleed through us.
2Corinthians 5:14-15 (NKJV) For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
As we close today I have three application questions for us to prayerfully consider:
1. Who are the Ninevites that God has placed in your life? God may not be calling you to go overseas, or to become a full time missionary but He may be calling many of us to go across the street, or across the office, or across the canteen table to tell lost sinners that God has provided a way for them to be forgiven and brought back into relationship with Him.
2. Have you personally experienced the grace and compassion of God or are you still under his wrath? The Bible says that there are two kinds of people in this world – those who repent, place their faith in Jesus alone for salvation and experience forgiveness a personal relationship and peace with God, and those who refuse to repent and come under God’s righteous judgment. You can know this gracious and compassionate God today.
3.Is TOP a missional community? Too many churches have become little more than social clubs that exist only for the comfort of their membership.
Parable of a Lighthouse
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.
Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.
It is always a joy when Pastor asks me to preach. Then he told me that the topic was to be on missions. Today after his presentation on the Sarawak mission trip the pressure is on me to convince more of you to sign up for the mission trip!
As you know I love stories and there is no better story on missions than the one found in the little book of Jonah. Let us turn to . . .
Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
The past week had been a hectic week for me. I had just come back from attending the APHAS in Bali when I had to make a trip to Kuala Lumpur. I flew down because it was an emergency but normally, I prefer to drive.
I love road trips for the flexibility it gives me. On the way I get excited whenever I cross a state border because it means I am getting nearer to my destination. My daughter on the other hand would not be able to identify her location along the highway. There was once I asked her where she was and she told me that she had just passed a Zhulian billboard!
However, there are other borders that I am not too keen to cross because I know they will make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. For example, we like to sit in the same place in church week in and week out. This morning it was not easy for Vive to get us to move out of our seats to shake the hands of our visitors. That is just a small border-crossing activity.
We don’t want to move out of our comfort zone but God’s mission compels us to cross borders.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We have to cross borders to fulfill God’s mission and so I have entitled this message “Crossing Borders With The Gospel.”
The purpose of the book of Jonah is to showcase an exceeding compassionate God (God is gracious) and an exceedingly certain God (God is sovereign). And it begins with . . .
I. GOD’S COMMISSION
Jonah was the “son of Amittai” (1:1) and from 2 Kings 14.23-27 we know that Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom. He came from a town called Gath-Hepher located 5 miles from Nazareth and he was a “celebrity” prophet who prophesied of Jeroboam’s expansion of the borders of Israel.
In verse 2, Jonah was re-commissioned. The terms “Arise,” “Go” and “Cry out” implies a master, a mission, and a message. Jonah’s commission was unusual because prophets prophesied to the people of Israel and proclaimed judgement against other nations from within the land of Israel. Jonah’s call would take him out of Israel, his comfort zone. However, Jonah’s love for the lost stopped at the borders of his nation.
APPLICATION:
What is God’s commission to us? It is found in Matt. 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. In Acts 1:8 God was very specific in mentioning “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” because we often just stop short at our Jerusalem.
There are two misconceptions about missions:
1. Local missions is enough. We don’t have to bother about beyond our immediate community or city or state. Let the people there handle the missions there.
2. Missions must be global. If we don’t have to take a flight or trek through jungles it is not missions. You can be on missions, crossing the street or sharing with your neighbour.
Crossing borders is part of God’s mission because God is Lord over the nations.
Psalm 22.27-28 (NKJV) All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s,
And He rules over the nations.
Psalm 46:10 (NKJV) Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 72:11 (NKJV) Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him;
All nations shall serve Him.
John Piper said, “Missions exist because worship does not” John Piper. We serve a great God who deserves worship from all the nations. Many people refuse to accept that they are sinners. They fail to realize that as long as they have broken the first commandment they are already sinners.
I dread to think of what our destinies would be like if the early missionaries refused to come to Malaysia. In those days, India and China were the popular mission fields. The missionaries always bypassed the Malay archipelago. Then God sent the Communists to kick the missionaries out of China and they landed in Malaya. We thank God for what He has done.
II. JONAH’S RESPONSE
The natural response of a prophet who is a man of God should be to obey but Jonah ran from God’s commission (v.3).
WHY DID JONAH RUN?
a. Ethnocentrism – In sociology, it is the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. For example, the Chinese consider other races to be barbarians and give derogatory names, such as “gwai lo” or “kek ling kwai”, to the Europeans and Indians.
The Europeans simply took over and colonized Africa when they saw the people in their loin cloths. In South Africa the Dutch justified apartheid based on Genesis 9:26. And no one can forget Hitler’s idea of Aryan superiority that led to the mass slaughter of millions of innocent people.
b. Fear - Niveveh symbolized cruelty, oppression, terrorism and godlessness to the Israelites. They practiced life dismemberment, flying and burning people alive, and enslavement.
Fear has never deterred missionaries for God. In the book “The Heavenly Man,” Brother Yun, shared the gospel despite being captured and tortured. We thank God for missionaries in India or Pakistan and other high-risk Muslim countries.
Not only did Jonah fear for his life but he also feared rejection by his own people as a traitor when he returned from his mission.
c.Selfishness – The Abrahamic promise is that the LORD would make them into a great nation so that they would be a blessing to all the families of the earth (cf. Gen.12:1-3). They are blessed to be a blessing but they thought about Yahweh as their own tribal god. In the ancient world it was very common to believe that the gods were territorial and that you might be able to escape their influence when you are no longer in their territory. There is no way to run from an omnipresent God but Jonah probably have had some bad theology.
To an Israelite sharing with their enemies would be a threat. Caring for their enemies would not be necessary. They are only interested in God blessing them and not their enemies. How would you feel if God were to ask you to share the gospel with your enemy or someone you don’t like? Can you imagine Chinese being sent to preach the gospel to a Japanese during the Japanese occupation? Is there someone you would not want to see in heaven.
I have a personal testimony. I had an aunt who caused my mother and sister a lot of misery. We avoided her most of the time but when she was ill and about to die, my sister and I prayed for her and shared the gospel with her. It was difficult for us and she never accepted the Lord. What would my reaction be if she did?
Jonah felt that it was too high a cost to go on God’s mission. Who or what is your Nineveh?
If we are honest, we don’t want to cross borders. FEAR is False Expectations/Evidences Appearing Real. When there is FEAR we Forget Everything And Run. That was what Jonah did.
No faith, no submission.
The above may be reasons that motivated Jonah’s flight but this is the reason given by Jonah . . .
d.God’s Character
Jonah 4:2 (NKJV) So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah knew the mission heart of God. He knew it in his head but not in his heart! By his actions Jonah is really saying, “Let them go to hell!” How big or how small is our heart? Does your heart beat like God’s?
I always get convicted whenever we sing songs like “Spirit touch your church,” especially when it comes to the part when we sing “I want to care for others like Jesus cares for me.” We often do not care for others the way Jesus cares for us.
We have problems crossing religious borders. When we share with the Buddhist that they must be born-again, they will agree and say, yes, we must be born again and again and again and again. We have trouble crossing ethnic borders. We find it difficult to eat on the floor when we are used to tables and chairs. We find that we are unable to get up after eating.
We have difficulty crossing geographical borders. We don’t fancy the long journey and the mountain trekking. We also find it difficult to cross socio-economic borders. On one hand, we cannot accept people who are poorer than us and on the other hand, we are intimidated by people who are wealthier than us or in authority over us. Do you know that the rich and the powerful also need Christ?
The prophet needed a shaking and God gave him a good shaking through the storm and put him into the belly of a fish to consider his ways. He finally realized that . . .
III. SALVATION IS OF THE LORD (Jonah 2:9)
Jonah was supposed to “cry out against it [Nineveh]; for their wickedness has come up before Me” (1:2b).
I was saved during a time when judgment of God was predominant message. The late seventies were the era of films like “Distant Thunder” and I remember waking up every morning and the first thing I would do is to check that my sister was still in her bed. That meant the rapture hadn’t occurred and I have not been left behind! Nowadays it is mostly sugar-coated messages of grace and love that we hear from the pulpit.
Very often we fail to understand that pronouncement of judgment is actually a work of grace. If you see a sign that says, “Bridge ends in 1 mile,” how would you respond? We would be glad that someone has warned us of danger. This is the same with warnings of judgments. People have to know of the danger in order for the good news of the gospel becomes good news to them.
We also fail to understand that we are called to share the gospel, not save the people. We do our part and leave God to do His part. During the APHAS, Dr John Edmund Haggai shared that someone asked him whether he wanted to see the whole world saved. He said, “No!” He understood the Great Commission to mean that the gospel has to be preached to the whole world. Not everyone will become a Christian but everyone must be given the opportunity to hear the gospel.
God gave Jonah a second chance! PTL! It is never too late to obey God.
Jonah 3:1-3a (NKJV) Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
Jonah 3:10 (NKJV) Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
The shortest message on record led to a huge city-wide revival. Pastor Gideon would have been the happiest man on earth if he preached and the whole city of Penang turned to Christ. Jonah responded differently.
The Ninevites were very receptive to Jonah’s message because they were experiencing several military set-backs, followed by an earthquake and an eclipse of the son. The lesson here is that people are more receptive than we think.
I will always remember Bro. Koay’s testimony of how his brother would ask him whether he would like to accept the Lord whenever he came to visit. On one particular day Bro. Koay was ready to accept the Lord but that day his brother did not ask him whether he would receive Jesus. So always ask for a decision. You never know how God has been working in the person’s life.
Instead of rejoicing Jonah became angry.
Jonah 4:1 (NKJV) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
He was so angry with God for saving the Ninevites that he became suicidal.
Jonah 4:3-4 (NKJV) Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
He again expressed anger and wished for death after the plant died.
Jonah 4:8-11 (NKJV) Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Jonah was more concerned over his own comfort and the plant than the Ninevites.
God then explains why He had compassion on the people of Nineveh. First of all, it was not because they were deserving. God’s action was based on mercy to an undeserving people.
Second, His compassion on Nineveh had nothing to do with what the people did but more to do with what they are. They are numerous. Nineveh was the largest city in the world at that time and cities are full of crime because people do not know each other. However God is interested in reaching cities.
They are also needy. They “cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” According to some commentators God is referring to children but, as parents, we know that children are not morally innocent, and God had destroyed children and cattle before in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. The phrase should be taken figuratively, to refer to people who don’t know right and wrong.
The emphasis is on the helplessness of the Ninevites. They are helpless, under the power of sin and unable to help themselves.
The LORD left Jonah and leaves us with a question, “Should not I pity Nineveh?” Rephrase the question with your Nineveh.
Jonah didn’t want to cross borders but Jesus crossed into a dangerous and hostile territory, to a people who rejected Him and killed Him.
Jesus received the commission and obeyed even unto death. He demands the same of us. There is no sacrifice he can ask of us that He has not made yet. We are never more like our Saviour than when we are bearing up under the challenges of extending border-crossing love to others.
A border crossing God will produce a border-crossing people. There is grace for past failures and power for future border-crossing in Christ. Ministry is not just being obedient to proclaim the gospel, but allowing Christ’s heart and compassion to bleed through us.
2Corinthians 5:14-15 (NKJV) For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
As we close today I have three application questions for us to prayerfully consider:
1. Who are the Ninevites that God has placed in your life? God may not be calling you to go overseas, or to become a full time missionary but He may be calling many of us to go across the street, or across the office, or across the canteen table to tell lost sinners that God has provided a way for them to be forgiven and brought back into relationship with Him.
2. Have you personally experienced the grace and compassion of God or are you still under his wrath? The Bible says that there are two kinds of people in this world – those who repent, place their faith in Jesus alone for salvation and experience forgiveness a personal relationship and peace with God, and those who refuse to repent and come under God’s righteous judgment. You can know this gracious and compassionate God today.
3.Is TOP a missional community? Too many churches have become little more than social clubs that exist only for the comfort of their membership.
Parable of a Lighthouse
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.
Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.
Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea.
They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they re-decorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.
Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired life-boat crews to do this work.
The mission of life-saving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the life-saving activities personally.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat-loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people.
They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin, and spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal pattern of the club.
But some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was founded.
If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but now most of the people drown!
What is TOP’s logo?
It is a lighthouse. I remember three words that are pasted on the mirror of our church when it was located in Jalan Mas – “Souls! Souls! Souls!” Our theme song was “Send the Light.” TOP’s mission is to be a lighthouse to the community, Penang, Malaysia and to the end of the earth.
