Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

We are rolling on in our summer series called Heroes. We’re spending the summer going back to classic stories of Old Testament heroes. If you didn’t grow up in the church, then you may be hearing these stories for the first time. If you’re a BUICK, a brought-up-in-church-kid, then you’ve heard these stories all your life. But either way, whether you know these stories or you don’t, God has been revealing powerful truths to us through the stories of these classic heroes. And today is no exception.

Today, we’re going back to the unforgettable story of Jonah. The story of Jonah is conveniently found in the book of Jonah. Nice how that works, isn’t it? It’s a little book, tucked away near the end of the Old Testament in a group of books we refer to as the Minor Prophets. They’re not called Minor Prophets because they’re not important. These books are called the Minor Prophets because they’re all pretty short.

If you don’t know the story of Jonah, it is wild. A lot of crazy stuff happens in this story. But the craziest thing in the story is Jonah himself. When we teach the story of Jonah to kids, we usually highlight the good part of the story. He ended up obeying God, as any hero would do. But there is a very dark side to Jonah. As we dig deeper into the story, you’ll probably agree that he doesn’t even belong in a series about heroes.

If you’re not familiar with Jonah, let’s walk through a lightning fast synopsis of the story. God commanded Jonah to go preach against the city of Nineveh. The people of Nineveh had become so wicked that God had decided to destroy the city. He was sending Jonah to issue a warning of the coming wrath to the people of Nineveh.

But Jonah had other ideas. Instead of going east to Nineveh, he went west toward Tarshish. He bought a ticket and boarded a boat, sailing in the exact opposite direction that God commanded him to go.

But God intervened. Jonah 1:4 says, “Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” (Jonah 1:4, NIV)

All the sailors were crying out to their various gods, but all the while Jonah was asleep below deck. Finally, they woke him up. The sailors had determined that the storm was the result of someone’s sin. They cast lots to find out who was responsible. Ancient people would often cast lots as a form of divination, trying to ascertain messages from their various gods. The lots fell to Jonah.

Jonah fessed up that God had sent the storm because he disobeyed the command to go to Nineveh. He tells them to throw him overboard and then the storm would stop. Reluctantly, they threw Jonah into the sea and immediately the storm subsided and the waters grew calm.

But God didn’t leave Jonah to drown. The Bible says, “But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17, NIV)

After his three day tour inside the fish’s belly, the Bible says, “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” (Jonah 2:10, NIV)

That’s a pretty picture right before lunch, isn’t it? Anybody planning on having fish for lunch?

After the fish deposits Jonah back on the shore, God again commands him to go preach in Nineveh. Not surprisingly, this time Jonah obeys.

That’s where we’d like the story to end. I can take that story and tie it up in a nice, neat Sunday School package. Jonah disobeys, but after his three day tour in a fishy submarine, he obeys God and goes to Nineveh. Good story…but not the whole story. I wish that was the whole story, because it would be a great, heroic story. But the truth is that the story of Jonah is a lot darker than that. And, what’s worse, the story of Jonah often mirrors our own stories more than we’d like to admit.

That’s because the core of Jonah’s story is pride. Jonah’s story gets really ugly because, the further you go, the more Jonah’s prideful heart is revealed. The results aren’t pretty, but they’re also not unfamiliar to us. Most all of us have seen the nasty results of pride in our own lives.

Because of Jonah’s pride, control trumped obedience. Jonah was a control freak, like a lot of us. He wanted to be sure that he was in the driver’s seat of his life. And when it came down to a choice to retain control or obey God, he chose control.

Jonah 1 says, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.” (Jonah 1:1-3a, NIV)

God commands Jonah to go preach against Nineveh. Nineveh was a huge urban center in the ancient world. Ninevites were well-known for being a ruthless, brutal people.

Those of you who are Star Wars fans…remember the pirate city of Mos Eisley? The cantina in Mos Eisley was full of brutal characters who barely stopped drinking when someone in the bar was shot with a blaster or had their hand cut off with a lightsaber. All the non-Star Wars people have completely checked out on me now. Anyway, that’s kind of like where God asked Jonah to go. It was a rough assignment. Let’s just say that Nineveh was not on the list of top ten vacation destinations in the ancient world.

So when God commanded Jonah to go to east Nineveh, Jonah said, “I don’t think so.” Instead, he headed for Tarshish, which was due west. Jonah went in the exact opposite direction that God commanded him to go. Harold Shank wrote that, “Tarshish was as far away from Nineveh in the ancient world as Timbuktu is in ours…” (Shank, Harold. Minor Prophets, Vol. 1. City: College Press Publishing Company, 2001, pg. 38.)

Now, did you catch the specific wording in these verses? Jonah was heading for Tarshish, as far away from Nineveh as he could go, because he was running from the Lord. God had given him a command that he didn’t want, and he did the easiest thing that he could in that situation…he ran away from God.

You ever done that? Happens all the time. God makes you uncomfortable, so you run. He commands you to do something that you don’t want to do. Or maybe he commands you to stop doing something that you don’t want to give up. Whatever the case, you run.

I see it happen all the time. For example, I preach a tithing series every year. We don’t make any apologies for it. The Bible calls us to give generously, so I preach about it. I don’t dance around it. We talk about it straight up.

Every year, people who are checking out our church have left during that series. Every year, without exception. They’ll usually couch their decision in convenient sounding reasons and excuses. The church just wasn’t for them. Or they just didn’t like me. But what actually happened is that God got in their kitchen, and they didn’t like it. So rather than deal with the conviction that God laid on their hearts about their money, they run. It’s just easier that way.

It comes down to a question of control or obedience. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Jonah wouldn’t relinquish control. He wouldn’t give up control in his life in order to obey God. And the bottom line reason for that is pride.

Pride tells us that we know better than God. We can run our lives better than he can. We know what’s best for us. We constantly live with a, “God, I got it,” attitude.

God, I got it. I’ve got my money under control.

God, I got it. My marriage is perfectly fine as it is.

God, I got it. I really don’t want to hear more of that pray for your enemies, forgiveness stuff.

God, I got it. It’s just pictures on a computer screen. I wish you’d quit making such a big deal about it.

God, I got it. I know things are falling apart, but I can fix it. Just wait and see.

The root of it all is pride. When you think about it, the root of all sin, regardless of what it is, is pride. Pride in thinking that we know better than God. Pride in refusing to give up control of our lives in order to obey God.

That’s where the story of Jonah starts. I wish it got better after that, but it actually gets much, much worse. After Jonah spent three days in the belly of a huge fish, God sent him to Nineveh again. This time he obeyed, which makes it seem like Jonah is going to get it right. But once he arrives at Nineveh, he couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.

Jonah 3 says, “On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.” (Jonah 3:4-6, NIV)

Jonah preached what was probably the shortest sermon in history. But the effect was profound. He told them that God was going to destroy the city, and the people of Nineveh shifted into full out repentance mode. They declared a fast and put on sackcloth. Sackcloth was a very rough material, similar to burlap. People only wore sackcloth on very sober occasions, which shows the depth of sorrow and repentance the people were experiencing. Even the king took off his royal robes and put on sackcloth. That was unheard of in ancient times. The response of the Ninevites was absolutely unbelievable.

And God took notice. Jonah 3:10 says, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10, NIV)

Now that’s a great ending to the story, isn’t it? It couldn’t have turned out better. Jonah warned the people of God’s wrath. They repented of their sin. God showed them grace and didn’t destroy the city as he planned. It ends as all Bible stories should…with a happy ending.

But the Bible is not a fairy tale book. It tells of real events with real people in the real world. And that means that there isn’t always a happy ending.

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

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD,

“O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 3:10-4:3, NIV)

What? Did that just happen? Jonah preached, the people of Nineveh repented, and God forgave them. Did I miss something? Isn’t that a good thing? It is, unless you’re a person driven by pride.

Because of Jonah’s pride, being right trumped offering grace. Now we’re getting into really dangerous territory. It’s obvious when someone just flat out runs away from God. You can see that. But now we’re getting into a more subtle condition of the heart. But along with being more subtle, it can also be more deadly.

Jonah sees that, instead of destroying the city, God extends his compassion and grace to Nineveh. He forgives the people of their sins. And instead of celebrating, Jonah throws a fit.

He is angry at God’s compassion. He wanted to see Nineveh get fried. It’s pretty obvious that when he preached against the sins of Nineveh, he didn’t do it hoping to see them repent. He did it hoping to see the city get barbecued. He was right. They were wrong. They should be punished while he has a front row seat to watch the show. That’s how he wanted this deal to go down.

Seems like Jonah had a really short memory. It wasn’t very long ago when he directly disobeyed God. It wasn’t long ago when he was tossed into the middle of the ocean, where he should have drowned. It wasn’t long ago when God sent a fish to swallow Jonah, saving him from becoming a permanent neighbor of Davey Jones. And it wasn’t that long ago when Jonah himself cried out for God’s grace.

While he was inside the fish, Jonah prayed, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.” (Jonah 2:2, 5-6, NIV)

Jonah had sinned against God. As result, he found himself if a very bad place. And so he begs for God’s grace.

But now, probably no more than a few days later, he’s angry when God showed grace to someone else. That’s pride.

Pride will always value being right above extending grace. And it’s something that God’s people have to constantly guard against.

Take a minute and listen to these words from John 1. These verses are talking about the mission of Jesus from the day he was born.

“The Word [which is how John refers to Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, NIV)

From the day that Joseph and Mary laid him in the manger, Jesus’ mission was to extend grace and truth. And from the day we enter into a relationship with Christ, our mission becomes the same. Extending grace and truth to those far from God.

This is where Jonah made a seriously prideful mistake. He gave the people of Nineveh the truth, but absolutely no grace. In fact, he was furious when God showed them his grace. He was right. They were wrong. And his pride was quite content with that.

I’ve met a lot of Jonahs in the church. They’re chocked full of truth. They’re right. They sit around, enjoying the fact that they’re right. They celebrate their rightness. They let everyone else around them know how right they are. And, since they’re right, they’re also really quick on the draw when it comes to telling someone else that they’re wrong.

Jesus didn’t operate that way. Think about how he dealt with the woman caught in adultery. A crowd of people was ready to stone her, which they had a legal right to do in that culture. Instead, Jesus challenges them with their own sinfulness. One by one, the crowd walks away, until only Jesus and the woman are left.

Jesus looked at her and said, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:10b-11, NKJV)

“Neither do I condemn you” – Grace

“Go and sin no more” - Truth

This is how Jesus interacted with people who needed God. He was full of grace and truth. Don’t overlook the order of those words. Grace comes first. Then truth. It’s not that grace is more important that truth. They are of equal value. The reason they’re written in that order is that, just like in the story of the woman caught in adultery, grace must precede truth.

We are surrounded by people who are living far from God. Our mission is to reach them with the gospel of Christ. And in almost every instance, it will happen when they receive grace first, then truth. Grace means accepting them, even though they’re wrong. Truth means honestly telling them that they’re wrong and helping them back to God, who can make things right.

Too many times, Christians mix up the order. They lead with a heavy-handed, Bible-thumping dose of truth…and then wonder why people reject the message?

Can we put our pride on the shelf here? It’s not about us. It’s not about how right we are. It’s about how good God is.

Like Jonah, it wasn’t all that long ago that we were wrong. We were lost. We were in desperate need of grace. And we found it because God placed someone in our lives who lived out the grace and truth example of Jesus…not the prideful “I’m right and you’re wrong” example of Jonah.

But it didn’t stop at Jonah’s desire to be right. Because of his pride, comfort trumped compassion. At this point, the depth of Jonah’s pride is just borderline bizarre. And again, it hits a little too close to home for a lot of us.

After Jonah pitched his little tantrum to God about not destroying Nineveh, the Bible says, “Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.

Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.” (Jonah 4:5-6, NIV)

So Jonah figures out that God isn’t going to let him have his way when it comes to Nineveh. Jonah wants the city to fry, but God shows them grace instead. So, like the bratty kid that used to live on your block…when he doesn’t get his way, he packs up his toys and leaves.

Jonah heads outside the city, builds himself a little shack, and then sits down to sulk and pout. But God’s not finished with him yet. Apparently Jonah’s little shelter wasn’t enough to keep the blazing Near Eastern sun away. So God provides a huge vine to shade Jonah from the sun. And I love the words of verse 6. “Jonah was very happy about the vine.” Once again, he was willing to welcome the grace of God himself, but refused to extend it to others.

Pick it up in verse 7. “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.” (Jonah 4:7-9, NIV)

Are you starting to get the feeling that Jonah was the king of the conniption fit? “I’m angry enough to die.” Wow.

But listen to how God responds. This is also how the book of Jonah ends. It ends with a question.

“But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:10-11, NIV)

The whole story ends with God asking Jonah a question that is never answered. He said, “Jonah, you’re only concerned about this vine that put shade over your head. What about all the people of this city? Why don’t you care about them? You value your own comfort more than compassion for lost people.”

Those questions are just as relevant for the church today as they were for Jonah some 2,700 years ago. Which will we value more? Our comfort, or compassion in trying to reach those outside of Christ.

For the church to keep accomplishing its mission in today’s post-modern culture, it will have to continue to change and adapt. The message of the church can never change, but the methods of the church will continue to change. And that takes some of us out of our comfort zone.

But every one of us must ask ourselves the same question that God asked Jonah. Which will be more important to me? Reaching those who are lost, or maintaining my own level of comfort?

I wrote about this on my blog recently. A few weeks ago, I left the office to work on my sermon at a local restaurant. It’s always been a good place to work. As I was studying, I overheard a conversation between two ladies.

One lady had left a particular church because “it just got too big.” Her counterpart agreed, saying that she really liked her current church because it was “just the right size.” She said, “I know everyone on a personal basis. I like that.” The obvious implication was that if her current church experienced any kind of significant growth, she would be none too happy about it.

I didn’t say anything out loud, but let me tell you what I was thinking. It went something like this.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

These two ladies were concerned about nothing more than their own comfort. I understand that it’s nice to know everybody. I do, but isn’t there something more important at stake? Even if church growth makes you uncomfortable, isn’t that better than never leaving your comfort zone while scores of people around you go to hell?

What I was hearing sounded remarkably like Jonah whining about his vine, but not caring about an entire city going through life apart from God. It was all about his comfort. That’s what was important.

It’s an incredibly prideful attitude, isn’t it? To think that the church exists only to please me, to keep me comfortable, satisfied, and happy. And I want to maintain that comfort, regardless of what happens to people outside of Christ. I can’t think of anything more prideful than that.

Pride is possibly the most subtle, and yet most deadly sin in our lives. As Mark Driscoll said, “Pride is what got Satan kicked out of heaven and it will earn you a cut in line to hell.”

Pride simply has no place in the life of someone who is following Jesus. It’s counter to everything we’re called to be. And it is something that God absolutely rejects.

Compare the city of Nineveh to Jonah in our story. What do you learn? God would rather accept humility from pagans than pride from his people.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Heroes, evangelism, grace, Jonah, obedience, pride