Jonah 4:1-11 | Part 6
Jonah part 6
Acts 5:27-32
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Jonah Chapter 4
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
- Jonah was angry because he wanted the Ninevites punished
- This was after he had seen the women, children, and elderly, close up. He hated them all
- Jonah was furious with anger
- Through repentance, the Ninevites come into harmony with God
- In self-righteous anger, Jonah turns away from God
- Jonah’s declaration to God was self-righteous and demanding. This is not prayer. Prayer is confessional, Christ-seeking, and repentant.
Jonah’s prayer for himself | Jonah’s desire for the Ninevites |
I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me (2:2) | I left in the first place because I knew you would show mercy to these people |
you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. (2:6) | I didn’t want to do what you asked because I knew you were gracious and merciful |
Salvation belongs to the Lord! (2:9) | You will abound in love and you will relent and not bring disaster to these people |
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."4 And the Lord said, "Do you do well to be angry?"
- Jonah is back to the self-pity, self-righteous, “just take my life”
- Jonah saw death as a greater good than these people living
- God asks him does his anger serve him?
What anger does to a relationship
Causes fear
Reduces honesty
Increases distance
Encourages lying
Multiplies problems
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
- Jonah does not want to be around the people of his calling
- He goes outside the city and makes a pout house.
- Jonah continued to hope that God would destroy them.
6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.t So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
- God made the plant
- God made the worm
- God made the wind
- Jonah is back to wishing for death
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?t And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Hail this past Thursday morning at 3:20am
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die."
- God asks the question again, does your anger serve you?
- How is your way working for you?
- Jonah answers with the maturity of a 5-year-old and says yes
10 And the Lord said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"
- Jonah was more concerned with the plant (it served him) than with people
- In our anger we are less concerned with people and more concerned with our need to be right
Whatever you are struggling with God is aware
1% change this week!
ANGER
Characteristics of anger: uncontrolled emotion, bitterness, non-forgiveness, refusal of any care, desire to see that person hurt (revenge), absence of other feelings on a deep level, inability to extend agape love, self-imposed judgment, judgment of others, no personal responsibility, self-entitlement ( deserve this revenge) The whole root is self-control
Did Jesus ever get angry?
- Yes! Righteously!
- Twice he cleared the temple of merchants (John 2:13-15, Matthew 21:12)
- But he did not sin
- Righteous anger is called for when we see abuse of any kind, world hunger, persecution, pain, etc., but we are not to sin
Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger
So when is anger wrong?
- When it becomes about self and not the righteousness of God
James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God
- Listen more
- Talk less
- Be slow to anger
- Man’s self-righteous anger does not produce God’s righteousness
How do we deal with our anger?
- Come clean and talk about it
- Confess it as sin and repent
Proverbs 28:13,14 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. 14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity