PAUL TRIPP MINISTRIES, INC. Disappointment with the God of Grace October 21, 2007 Jonah 4:1-4 I surely do wish I couldn t relate to Jonah. I wish that we had nothing in common, but we do. You can turn to Jonah, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4. I wish I could say that I've never been disappointed with God. I wish I could say that I've never been angry with God. When I was looking at this passage as I began to just consider the content, my mind went to an experience many years ago. We were ministering in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The school district there was in terrible shape. We felt God's call to begin a Christian school. I had a Christian Education background; I was approached about being the founder of that school, and I became the founding principal for that school for eight years. I did this while I was pastoring; it was a busy schedule. I never received any remuneration for those eight years. I paid for my children to go to the school. We were very dedicated to its ministry, and in an evening that still I do not understand eight years in, by a coup of some businessmen who thought they knew better, I was removed from my position in the school. I'll never forget that evening; I'll never forget driving home thinking, What in the world will I say to Luella. How in the world could this ever happen? I ll never forget the next several days. I wasn t just struggling with the people who had surreptitiously done this thing, I was struggling with God. I said to God, I'm one of the good guys. I worked hard. I labored long; this shouldn't happen. Have you been there? Well then, you need the words of Jonah, chapter four. Look there as I read again: But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 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. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the LORD said, Do you do well to be angry? You have to be shocked at Jonah s complaint. I think the better translation of these words is what is in the note probably in your ESV. It says, It was exceedingly evil to Jonah What was actually going on here is Jonah looked at this amazing thing that
God had done in Nineveh, and to him, it wasn't good; it wasn t amazing; it wasn t wonderful. In fact, to Jonah's eyes, it was an evil thing. How could this ever happen? How could God ever give His grace to Assyria? Assyria was the mortal enemy of Israel. In Jonah s economy, these people needed to be judged. This was not a good thing. Now, in each of our eyes, there are moments where the wisdom of God doesn't seem wise to us, where the love of God doesn't seem good to us, where the grace of God doesn't seem right to us. In my counseling experience, I've had many occasions when a struggling wife would come to me and talk about a husband maybe who was addicted to alcohol. And she would say, Oh, if the grace of God could only operate in my husband's life, if he could only turn. And God had begun to work in this man's life, this man who had left a trail of destruction behind him. And all of a sudden, his heart began to turn, and he began to be received lovingly by the body of Christ. He began to be restored to God's people. There began to be celebration of what God had done in his life. And all of a sudden, the wife becomes angry. And she begins to say, Is this it? Is this how easy it is? He s going to get away with all of this? Shouldn t something happen to him? I would ask you this evening, whom would you rather see judged than graced? Whom would you rather see punished than forgiven? Is there perhaps a place in your life where you would rather see God's judgment than God's grace? Now, as Jonah is making this complaint, he does a second thing here which is really quite amazing. He actually argues for the logic of his rebellion. He actually marshals his theology to demonstrate that his rebellion was the best choice. Your theology won t always work toward your obedience because your use of theology is dictated by the condition of your heart. And if your heart is not submitting to the plan of God, if your heart isn t saying, You are wise and You are right and You are good, if your heart is suddenly moved away from God's plan towards your own plan, you will actually use your theology to justify things that should not be justified. A person will say in the face of gossip, If I hadn t let somebody know, change wouldn t have taken place. A person will say in the midst of an ugly acquisition of personal power, Good things wouldn t have happened if I hadn't exercised leadership. We ll use the things that, on one hand, God would say is good to justify things that are not according to His plan and not according to His will. Isn t it amazing the Jonah says, This is exactly why I turned and ran. I knew exactly what you're like. And what he has described is a God of glorious grace, a God of wonderful mercy, a God who is slow to anger, a God who abounds in steadfast love. And those beautiful elements of the glorious character of God, a man will actually use to justify his sin.
Brothers and sisters, I can't say anything else to you than this: Be shocked! Be warned! That's the depth of our proneness to wander; that s the depth of our ability to shrink our lives down to the size of our lives. That's the depth of our ability to migrate away from the kingdom of God and, once again, set ourselves up as a king in our claustrophobic little kingdom of one. As I said to you earlier, I wish I could say, I can t relate to Jonah but I can t. Parents, maybe at the same time when you are personally celebrating God's grace, you treat your children with a legalistic spirit of un-grace. Wives, maybe there are moments when you're celebrating God's forgiveness when you're bitter and unforgiving toward your husband. Friends, maybe there are moments when you're celebrating the friendship of Jesus, and yet you're keeping a record of wrongs against the flawed people that you live near. What is incredible about this moment in Jonah, and you shouldn't miss it is he's actually complaining about the very grace that is the only reason he's still alive. Because if it weren't for this grace, if it weren't for this mercy, if it weren't for this steadfast love, Jonah would be dead. How easy it is to want mercy for me and justice for another. How easy it is to want to be covered by grace and yet want another to be judged by law. Jonah is not happy; he s not at rest; he s not pleased; he is able to look at something that is incredibly good and name it as evil. The Bible says in the New Testament that passages like this are in the Bible for us as a warning that we would not fall into the same error as God's people of old did. Is that contradiction in your life? I would ask you as you think about the city of Philadelphia, could there be a community of people in Philadelphia that you would rather see judged than forgiven? Who would come into this room seeking God's grace that would make you uncomfortable? Would you be heartened at the turning that may happen as God s grace spreads across this city? Do you love the grace of God? Do you love His forgiveness? Do you celebrate His love, not just for you, but for everyone on whom that grace would fall? Jonah s complaint is followed by this rather desperate request. He says, Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Maybe in modern words, Jonah is saying, Over my dead body this will happen! I'd rather die first than to see Nineveh forgiven. And you have to wonder how is it that one of God's people, how is it that a prophet could sort of get to this place where he looks at what God has done? He looks at his life, and he would actually pray, God, this is too much to take. It s too great of an evil for me to abide. If you love me, what you'll do is You ll take my life. Over my dead body! What's going on there? What s happened to Jonah? How has he come to this place? Why is he amazed at the grace that has been provided for him and the grace that swept across Nineveh from the poor to the rich, from the powerless to those in great power?
Why is it he isn t celebrant? I think there are four explanations to this, and I think they are important to recognize. First of all, poor Jonah is a nationalist. He just can't imagine that the favor that has been given to Israel could possibly fall on anyone else. It just doesn't make any sense to him. Jonah is not only a nationalist, Jonah is a legalist. As he looks at Nineveh, his equation is: Evil people deserve judgment; the enemies of God's people deserve condemnation. It's an easy equation; you do what is wrong, and you get judged. But, there is a third thing. Not only is this man a nationalist, and not only is he a legalist, he is self-righteous. Jonah could never hold on to his legalism if he was able to look at himself with accuracy. This man is able to do this because he's forgotten who he is. He has forgotten his own rebellion. He's forgotten the outrageousness of his stance toward God; he's forgotten his need of grace. How could it be that this man who, more than once, has been rescued by the power of God this God who would literally harness the forces of nature so this man would live and have another opportunity? How could it be that he would actually argue for an economy of justice rather than an economy of grace? Listen; when you pray for an economy of justice, you have forgotten who you are. Because what Jonah is asking for, Jonah couldn t sustain. Because he s a nationalist, because he s a legalist, because of his self-righteousness, here's the capstone: Jonah actually thinks that he knows better than the Lord. Now, it s very easy for us to beat up on Jonah. Jonah is an easy target. Look, you don't have to be a very good shot to hit Jonah dead center, but I think it's very important to remember, and I will say it as your pastor, I'm sure there are the seeds of the spirit of Jonah somewhere in this room. Could you sit in your pew this evening and say, Paul, in every way possible, I'm free of the prejudice of Jonah? I don't know about you, but I can't. Could you say this evening, In every way possible, I'm free of the legalism of Jonah? Have you ever looked at somebody and said, He's getting what he deserves; she's getting what she deserves; you make your bed, you lie in it; what you sow, you reap? Perhaps there are still seeds of self-righteousness in you, feelings of arrival, an ability to look down on people that you think are blowing it, and forgetting that, every day, you are desperately needy of the same grace that would rescue that person, forgetting that there's no way possible that you have exited your need of God's mercy.
See, when you allow that prejudice to grow, when you allow that legalism to remain, when you allow that self-righteousness to be there in your heart, then you will hit those moments where you actually think you know better than God. Jonah is so far off God's redemptive policy page that all he can do is think of dying. Now you read that far, and you sort of should get a shiver going down your back. This is strong talk to a God, we have learned in Jonah, is a God of awesome power. This God, with a thought, can make the seas rage; this God, with a move of His finger, can cause animals to swallow people; this God, with an act of His will, can turn an entire city, and you ought to shudder at the talk of Jonah to this God of great power. You sort of want to hide; you sort of wait for the lightning as you re reading your Bible. You want to hold your Bible out here as you re reading it, wondering what's going happen next, what will happen next, how long will this God be merciful? How long will He be patient? How long will He tolerate this arrogant man? And then you hit verse four, "And the Lord said, Who do you think you are? It's over. Now, probably, had I been writing, (humph) there may have been words such as that. But what we have is a sweet and patient question. I was very moved as I came to this part of this passage. Maybe it's the counselor in me. I envisioned somebody in an office who's just letting their anger rip. I envisioned the counselor leaning forward, waiting for a moment of quiet and saying, May I ask you a question? Do you really think it's right to be angry? This is the wonderful counselor who is coming to Jonah one more time, giving Jonah one more opportunity to reflect, giving Jonah one more opportunity to feel regret, giving Jonah one more opportunity to repent, giving Jonah one more opportunity to see clearly, to think soundly, to submit to God s plan. What a God of amazing grace! You see, tomorrow you may complain against God s goodness; tomorrow you may question His grace; tomorrow you may, in a moment, actually think that you know better than God; tomorrow you may not find such joy in the blessing of another; tomorrow you may want to meet out justice while you're celebrating mercy; tomorrow you may respond to someone in a way that you couldn't do if you would remember yourself - your own need of grace; tomorrow the offense of someone may draw out of you a response of justice rather than a response of grace. And hear this, tomorrow your only hope is not in your theology and not in your righteousness - Your only hope is this God who would come to you once again as the wonderful counselor and, in wisdom, draw you back to the only place where you'll ever be safe, when you put everything that is yours in His hands, and say, God, I don't always understand You. There are times when Your good doesn't look good to me; there are times when Your grace doesn't encourage me; there are times when I completely forget who I am, but I
come to you, once again, and I say, Won't you protect me once again with Your counsel? Won't You forgive me, once again, with Your grace? Hear this prayer; won't You, once again, rescue me from me? Because, brothers and sisters, I am deeply persuaded the greatest danger in my life is the danger that I would do to me, that I would become okay with my legalism; I would become okay with my prejudice; I would be okay with my self-righteousness. And, in ways that are shocking, I would actually think that I know more than the One who knows everything from origin to destiny. Oh, would we not just beat up on Jonah? Oh, would we humbly receive the warning of Jonah, and say, Oh, Lord Jesus, please again rescue us from us. Let s pray: Thank you, Lord, for the sweetness of this passage, shocking as it is, disconcerting as it maybe. Oh, what a hymn it is to the wisdom and grace and protection that we can only ever find in You. Thank you. In Jesus name, Amen. 2007 Paul Tripp Ministries www.paultripp.com