Sunday Messages

Compassion for lost people, concern for ways of reaching them, and confidence in God’s purpose to save them turns upside down values right side up.

Now that we come to the end of the Book of Jonah, we may well want to ask a question,

Why did Jonah himself tell this story?

Indeed, the conclusion of the book itself demands that we raise this very question. We can offer several answers to the purpose of the book. We could say that the purpose of the Book of Jonah is to…

demonstrate the foolishness of running from God

dramatize how futile and unproductive are the results of disobedience

show how God is ruler over and preserver of nature as Creator of the universe

portray the singular mercy of God as he tenderly cares for his own

see how God disciplines those whom he loves.

But these responses are subservient reasons for the Book of Jonah. For we have not yet come to the ultimate thesis and Jonah waits to the very end to show this to us. The reason perhaps the book exists is found in one word: compassion.

Webster’s dictionary defines Compassion as a “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with the desire to alleviate it.” Without the desire to follow-through with action to alleviate the distress, our sympathetic consciousness merely translates into insensitivity, unresponsiveness or indifference. Let’s look at two examples:

Is this compassion? A young husband came bounding into the house and found his wife in bed. He asked if she were sick or something. He was truly concerned. The wife replied that, as a matter of fact, she didn't feel too well. The husband replied, 'Well, honey, don't worry a bit about dinner. I'll be happy to carry you down to the stove.'

Pseudo-Concern. A knock at the door brought the lady of the house face to face with a man of sad countenance. He said, 'I am sorry to disturb you, but I am collecting money for an unfortunate family in your neighborhood.' He went on with great sympathy. 'The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, the utilities are soon to be cut off, and worst of all, they are going to be kicked out of their home if they cannot get the rent money by this afternoon.' The woman replied with great concern, 'I will be happy to help, but who are you?' He replied, 'I am the landlord.'

Let’s look at the following meaning of compassion from a Godly perspective.

Compassion =

“Allowing our hearts to be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”

This definition of compassion comes from Dr. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision International in 1950. Bob Pierce, a young pastor and missionary, was first sent to China and South Korea in 1947 by the Youth for Christ missionary organization. Pierce remained at the head of World Vision for nearly two decades, but resigned from the organization in 1967. Bob knew that God cared deeply about the predicament of needy children. So out of Bob Pierce’s broken heart for needy children, World Vision began caring for orphans and other children in need first in South Korea, then expanding throughout Asia and, eventually, in more than 90 countries, embracing larger issues of community development and advocacy for the poor as part of its basic mission to help children and their families build a sustainable future.

In our culture today, as in Jonah’s time, enmity and hostility have a way of turning otherwise kind and compassionate people into vicious and vindictive people. These attitudes can seriously distort our values, turning them upside down so that we care more about things such as our own honor, our material well-being, or our national or ethnic pride, than we do about people. Jonah fell into this trap.

Let’s focus on God’s response to Jonah’s bitter spirit. This bitter spirit produced a lack of compassion in Jonah 4:9-11…

9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the gourd?" "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." 10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"

God called Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah resisted because they were bitter enemies of his people, the Israelites. However, even after a near-death experience, Jonah’s values were still upside down. The Lord exposed the prophet’s distorted attitudes by showing that he cared more for the loss of a plant than for the plight of an entire people whom God was determined to save. It has been said that we “play at our worship, worship our work, and work at our play.” Our values are upside down. Like Jonah, God needs to teach the church today the lesson that people are more important than things. “Persons are to be loved; things are to be used” –Reuel Howe.

Probing the Prophet’s Values

God probes and exposes the sheer madness of Jonah’s obsession with the destruction of Nineveh. Jonah was so consumed with distaste from God’s compassion towards Nineveh that even the slightest irritation cast him into an outburst of enraged bitterness.

9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the gourd?" "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead."

Jonah was beyond all reasoning. But the Lord continued to reason with him and taught him something of the meaning of free grace and his need of a change of heart to love lost people. In essence, God said, “I was good to you and you did not deserve it; why shouldn’t I be good to others who don’t deserve it?”

10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"

In light of probing our values, let’s get personal one last time. Let’s consider three questions:

What issue or issues have you prayed about, but you sulk away or pout because you don’t feel God has intervened to your liking?

What do your attitudes toward others—especially your enemies—reveal about your values?

How have you allowed yourself to become “upside down” in your concern for people?

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt and jeans with holes in them, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of mysterious and very, very bright. He is a seeker of Jesus.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very evangelical church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill, the seeker, starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church has a few empty seats. By now people are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no front seats available, so he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church before!) By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a well-respected church leader is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now this man is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, a three-piece suit, and a pocket watch. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, “you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?”

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The people are thinking, the minister can’t even preach the sermon until this church leader does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships alongside him so he won’t be alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion. There seems to not be a dry eye in the entire congregation.

When the minister finally gains control he says, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget." Like this elderly church leader, should we not be concerned about the people around us?

Evangelist D.L. Moody wrote…

The churches would soon be filled if outsiders could find that people in them loved them when they came. This love draws sinners! We must win them to us first, and then we can win them to Christ. We must get people to love us, and then turn them over to Christ.

City Harvest

In our final week of our series on Jonah we will be challenged once again as Jesus-followers at Christ First to reach out to our “Nineveh.” There is a harvest waiting for us to cultivate and reap in the Covina Valley and beyond. It would be good for us to connect with unbelieving neighbors, coworkers or fellow students. We can support one another at Christ First in our age-group settings, classes, and small groups. Since lost people matter to God; they also matter to us.

Week 7— Welcoming People, Building Bridges

Let’s give a “Welcome Home” hospitality to those people who are guests at Christ First. God gives us the opportunity, week-in and week-out, to reach out to people we may encounter in our worship, study, fellowship, and service.

Jesus implied in Matthew 25:35 that

“when we welcome guests, we extend hospitality to them.”

Let’s covenant together as God’s people to follow ten guidelines concerning hospitality:

I will greet every guest with a warm “Welcome Home,” as they gather for worship, fellowship and study.

I will park my vehicle in the far end of the lot or off campus even when the sun beats down or the rain falls so that the guest has a choice spot.

I will greet guests even though I am not the assigned door greeter, and I will remember the name of the guest.

I will go to the aid of the perplexed, escorting and not sending.

I will not sit in the back two rows, but will leave them for the detained worshipers, so that they will not be embarrassed. Neither will I sit at the end of the isle blocking the entrance of others.

I will invite others to my home, out for a meal, and to church gatherings so that they do not remain strangers. Further, I will visit them when possible.

I will become responsive to the needs of others, not turning away from another’s difficulty.

I will train my nose neither to be raised in pride nor to be turned away by odor.

I will deny my critical self, keeping to myself opinions of preference regarding worship, music, dress, or choice of hair style.

I will not allow fear to immobilize me, nor will I seek the safe retreat of the ordinary. Instead, I will be the extraordinary person that God had in mind when he recreated me in Christ Jesus my Lord.

Let’s return our thoughts to compassion—the purpose of the Book of Jonah.

Let’s look at Matthew 9:35-36…

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

We need to step back, and take a long, hard look at what matters to God. Then we take steps to reorient our lives so that they honor what the Lord values. We must be moved with compassion when we see the multitudes. When we commute downtown and see all those people milling about, we must be moved with compassion. We must look beyond their outward form, knowing from the word of God that they are wandering through life aimlessly, not knowing the right perspective on the simplest things of life.

If we must, we work ourselves through this inspired account of Jonah’s syllogism on compassion. We move our hearts from love of plants to love of animals and then to love of people, as God was seeking to do with Jonah. A gourd, a hanging plant, a tomato vine in our garden. Our love for that plant would move us if it were mistreated, neglected, or trampled. A pet around the house—a dog, a cat, a fish, a bird. We would be concerned if we saw any one of them in distress. Let’s transfer that compassion to lost people. They need our love, just as they need the love of God. We reflect the compassion of Christ toward them.

The Book of Jonah ends with a question about compassion,

Should not the Lord have had compassion on Nineveh?

How does Jonah answer that question? We do not know. So the question remains for us to answer. Compassion! Shouldn’t we have compassion that reflects the compassion of Jesus? As we consider how graciously Jesus has had compassion on us, we must show the same compassion toward others in our ‘Nineveh’.

Let’s fight the temptation to live by “upside down” values. Let’s commend ourselves for serious consideration—compassion for lost people, concern for practical ways of reaching lost people, and confidence in God’s purpose to save lost people.

A closing thought: When my wife Sue and I visited Rome a few years ago we toured the Vatican and viewed the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s painting on the Sistine Chapel portrays the prophets, apostles, and patriarchs. Of all the faces he painted, none has a more radiant countenance than the prophet Jonah. We wonder if Michelangelo knew something we do not know about what happened to Jonah after the sudden close of his biography. Or, perhaps the artist hoped that Jonah did indeed accept God’s compassion and became, not a reluctant messenger, but an obedient communicator of grace. We do not know. But what we do know is that our own portrait is not finished. And what it will be is dependent on the compassion we receive and give away in our ‘Nineveh’! Amen.

God extends blessing throughout this life and into eternity. No matter how severe the disciplining; we have the possibility of a way back to life.

In our series on Jonah—a Reluctant Messenger, we have encountered from God’s Word the great concern God had for Jonah’s obedience to his call and the direct effect that call would have on the city of Nineveh. God sent the wind, prepared the fish, and then came to Jonah a ‘second time.’ This is an amazing thing when we stop and think about it, that God should invest such time in and give such attention to one person. But God loves each of us as if there were nobody else to love. God gave Jonah this great attention.

We also need to see that when God makes a great investment in a person, it is a twofold sign: primarily due to his singular love for the individual, but also because there is an additional motive. God does this for us because there is a great work for us to do. We have learned a lesson thus far that God’s discipline is not his way of ‘getting even.’ God comes the ‘second time,’ and he doesn’t put us on probation or lessen our responsibility when we make a mistake through disobedience. God does not discipline us merely because he wants us to compensate for our lack of obedience. God ‘got even’ at the cross. Only Christ can satisfy god’s justice and uphold his holy character. Let us never for one moment think that our disobedience is punished so that we are simply to be objects of God’s disciplining for its own sake. Instead, we must see God’s disciplining as preparation for a future task. That future task for Jonah was preparing a wicked and sinful Nineveh for repentance. ‘Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’

God had a plan for Nineveh. That plan revolved around the fact that ‘God Permits U Turns!’ God, since the fall of humankind, has permitted U turns. God has always been willing to forgive us and pour out his grace and mercy in our time of need. This way of a ‘U turn’ has been expressed as repentance, change, regret, sorrow, and penitence. Repentance was one of Jesus’ most talked about topics in Scripture.

Repentance =

“A change of mind resulting in a change of behavior”

Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, writes concerning repentance… It is not repentance that saves me; repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience that puts me right with God? Never! I am put right with God because prior to all else, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, instantly the stupendous atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God. By the miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus has done. The salvation of God does not stand on human logic; it stands on the sacrificial death of Jesus. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus, which is prior to all experience.

So what do we suppose happened when Jonah obediently took God’s message to the people of Nineveh? The unlikely response is recorded in Jonah 3:5-10…

5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 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. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

The people of Nineveh believed! These people of Nineveh cried out for a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. Wow! How amazing! They believed God!

Do we remember the first time we sold a glass of lemonade or Koolade at the stand in front of our house? We had painted our signs—‘Lemonade 10 cents’, set up our table, and sat in the sun under an umbrella for an hour or two. No customers. Then this nice little old lady from next store actually came over, thought about the choices we offered, and gave us a dime for the drink. We rushed inside shouting, ‘Hey, Mom, Mom, we sold our first drink. Look! A real dime! Can you believe it?’ We had hoped to sell something, but we were overwhelmed when it really happened. Jonah must have felt the same way. He must have been stunned when more and more people indicated that they actually believed him!

But why should we be surprised when people come to faith in Christ? Don’t we realize that the prouder, the more needful, and the more miserable come to Christ? Did God not give his only Son to save sinners? Isn’t the Holy Spirit real, causing people to be born again?

So from the greatest to the least the people of Nineveh believed God. Those living in the penthouse to the outhouse responded to the message. The down-and-outers and the up-and-outers alike took put faith in action. The gospel is no respecter of persons. It has the power to save all people no matter what their race, economic level, creed or conduct. The Bible says that the people of Nineveh believed God, not Jonah. It is God and his truth that people believe. We must remain only the instrument, assigned the task of reaching lost people. Why? Because lost people still matter to God.

Can You Believe It?

Nineveh calls us to the foot of the cross and asks, ‘What will you do with Jesus?’ Nineveh points all people everywhere to the necessity of coming to the Lord in belief that is exercised through repentance and faith.

Four aspects of this great change are brought out in Nineveh’s belief.

1. Conviction of sin

5 The Ninevites believed God.

At the simplest level, belief means taking God at this word. And that meant, for the Ninevites, accepting that God was substantially angry with them and that God was not bluffing when he said he would destroy them in forty days.

Conviction of sin is illustrated in three ways before the people of Nineveh:

First, it should be seen that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites. He came to them as a man raised from the dead. He was a sign of the certain wrath of God against sin but also a sign that a sinner can be spared, as Jonah had been. Second, Jonah’s message was received as the Word of God. They believed God. They accepted that what Jonah said had all of the authority of God himself. They did not argue it, or try to explain it away or even run to their own false religions for clarification and guidance. Third, because they believed God, they were initially gripped by an awareness of his majesty, his power and, most awesomely, his wrath. God’s wrath is not the whole of saving faith, but it like the cultivating of the soil as a necessary step on the way to a fruitful harvest.

2. Sorrow for sin

5 …They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 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.

The king himself got up from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust. This was a practice in Old Testament times as a sign of sorrow over sin. So a deep sorrow swept over the hearts of a nation. Not only were they convicted of sin, they were grief-stricken in the realization of how much offence they had offered to Jonah’s God. They were laid low in the dust. The Psalmist cried out in Psalm 119:25… “I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.”

This is an experience of the Christian life that is not nice and comforting and, like the preaching of the wrath of God, therefore does not sit well with many people. But sorrow for sin in the form of fasting and putting on sackcloth is another essential component of coming to the Lord. The people of Nineveh could neither fight nor flee. They sat down in the dirt and wondered what they might do to be saved.

3. Changed behavior

7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."

The Ninevites acted on their new-found sorrow for sin. They had fasted. They had put on sackcloth. Their king had joined them in this act of repentance. But the king also took the lead in issuing a decree calling for national reformation. Where did this heathen king get the idea that God might have compassion if he repented of his sin? Why, from Jonah, of course. Despite himself, Jonah embodied the message that God was compassionate. Jonah was in himself a sign of God’s grace. He ran from the will of God, yet but through a change of heart and mind, was brought out from the belly of the great fish. It is clear that at the individual level there was a great deal of sincere repentance. However, this change of behavior was more than a large number of individuals turning to God and changing their ways. This was an example of a rare event—a national turning from sin. A nation belonging to the Lord, connected to his knowing them, personally and particularly, and the nation knowing him through a confession of faith.

4. Living hope

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

The people of Nineveh realized that God’s message, and the way it had come to them, implied the possibility that they might be spared. The warning presupposed hope. The fact that a time limit of forty days was set suggested that the verdict might be reconsidered. The fact of Jonah’s own deliverance argued that his God was a gracious God. Behind whatever may have led the Ninevites to hope that God would spare them, lies the fact that God is a God of love, as well as of wrath. The Ninevites were not mistaken in entertaining some hope; they had come to the God who is love. They repented at the preaching of Jonah. God saw not only what they said but what they did. Their faith produced works. So God showed love to them and spared them from the destruction he had announced. How merciful is our God!

In light of these four aspects we can learn from Nineveh’s repentance, let’s get personal once again. Let’s consider three questions:

What feelings do you associate with the word “repent?” Intimidation, Fear?

What characteristics or traits in your own life make you ashamed when you think about standing in the presence of God?

What transgression or sin should you confess in your heart as you approach God to ask forgiveness?

Let’s return to the lemonade stand.

Can we imagine after that first sale that another customer arrives for a cool drink? Hours have passed. We open the ice bucket and there is no ice. The customer notices it and accepts the lemonade warm. Syrupy sugar oozes out of the pitcher but our customer wants just a little. He receives the cup and hands back a dollar telling us to keep the change. He drinks the warm, syrupy lemonade, thanks us for doing a great job, and walks away.

Quite a transaction. We give our customer a warm, partially filled cup of lemonade syrup, and he gives us a compliment and a payment ten times too much. We all end up with a lesson of grace instead of free enterprise. For all the spiritualizing preachers do about God’s grace, the kind stranger models it better than the best of sermons state it. Each of us has seen our ice melt in the summer sun of disobedience. Who hasn’t attempted to serve the best, only to find that the best has already been served and that the pitcher needs to be refilled? Lemonade stands and living life would be high-risk endeavors were it not for the appearance of gentle strangers on our streets. But, thank God, they come. And, thank God, he came in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. Aren’t we not much more than surprised children, amazed that what we receive is ten times, yes, even a million times, more than what we ask for? Aren’t we amazed to see people who don’t know Jesus come to him when we obey the Word of the Lord?

City Harvest

Each week we will be challenged as Jesus-followers at Christ First to reach out to our “Nineveh.” There is a harvest waiting for us to cultivate and reap in the Covina Valley and beyond. It would be good for us to connect with unbelieving neighbors, coworkers or fellow students. We can support one another at Christ First in our age-group settings, classes, and small groups. Since lost people matter to God; they also matter to us.

Week 5— Your Community Needs You

Volunteer organizations are hungry for people who will step in and serve their community. Whether you’re feeding the hungry, enhancing your city’s culture, or serving the local school, you are demonstrating that you care about the people around you. This is a message worth communicating in a time when many communities view Jesus-followers as enemies who want to control how their communities are run. Here are some ways to serve:

Para-church Organizations. Offer to volunteer at Love INC. (Love in the name of Christ). Our church over the years has supported this organization with prayer, money, office space, and volunteers. This weekend (October 12-13) our church is hosting a Love INC. information meeting on Friday at 7 p.m. and a training meeting on Saturday at 9 a.m. Come and learn how you can help our community with support from other churches.

Local City Library. Offer to volunteer at our local library, next to our church campus. Libraries often need board members, volunteers to read during pre-school programs, grant writers, or book shelvers.

Program for Moms. Many mothers become isolated when they decide to stay home, and social activities that welcome parent and child are a genuine service to families. Volunteer at our “Mom’s in Touch” program that meets at our church on Wednesdays at 9:15 a.m. in our church lounge.

Run for Office. Throw your hat in the ring and run for city office. Ask to be appointed to a local board such as planning or zoning. Get involved with special events planning for your city.

PTA Leadership. Become an officer in the local parent-teacher organization, ask to be appointed to the school’s budget or planning committee, or run for school board.

Service Listing. Make a list of volunteer opportunities in your community and distribute it to your Christian friends.

The people of Nineveh made a U Turn! God permits U Turns! What an amazing God and what a great story from the life of Jonah—a reluctant messenger. It has captured people’s imagination for hundreds of years. But the story we have been commissioned to tell is not only about Jonah. It is about one greater than Jonah. The story we tell to our “Nineveh’ is about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We speak not only of death but of resurrection. Our message not only is of the judgment of God for sinners, but of his grace and mercy as well.

In Luke 21:15, as Jesus sent his disciples out, he said to them…

“For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”

When we are involved in any form of ministry, we can pray, “Jesus, help me with this. My own winsomeness will never be enough!” But if God gives us power to minister, no matter how arresting our speech, no one will be able to resist or refute our message. God says in Isaiah 9:2…

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.

God means for his people to see the light. God means that all should come to know him, even people like those in Nineveh. God means that not one should be lost. Like Jonah, God sends us to be a light to those darkened portions of our ‘Nineveh’. Where there’s no knowledge or understanding of who Jesus is, that’s where God wants to send us.

There are countless numbers of people today who desire to travel in the opposite direction. However, they are looking for a U Turn sign. That sign is Jesus Christ who offers them a change of direction and a new way of living. We can be so thankful that God through his Son’s death on the cross is the light that has prepared the way for U Turns! Amen.