On Mission – Who? Why? – Sermon

The story of Jonah was written to Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon. The people who surrounded them saw them as enemies. It must have been easy to believe the whole world hated them and, therefore, they felt justified to hate the whole world. The natural reaction would be to gather in their group to protect themselves. The book of Jonah, this story of Jonah and God together, challenges God’s people to rise above their hatred of others and see the world through the eyes of their Creator God, Yahweh. The only thing that is greater than God’s power to churn the seas, is His love for His creation. God hates nothing He has made. He yearns to restore it to Himself.

• Why do we care about two billion people who live and die and have never even heard the name of Jesus?
• Why do we post gospel messages on our social media feeds every day on our church accounts – and many of you share them – thanks!

The simple answer is because God cares about them. Because His Spirit lives in us, we share His passion to reach the nations.

Jonah, by contrast rather than by example, gives us reasons why we are to share God’s passion to reach the nations. Why should we want to reach the nations? To reach people we don’t know, way out there somewhere… I’ll give you three reasons – look at your sermon notes:

1. GOD’S LOVE: BIGGER THAN OUR BORDERS

Read Jonah 4:1-3:

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. ² He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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. ³ Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah saw God’s mercy toward the cruel Assyrians as evil; that is why he is copping “a’ tude” with God’s directive to Go. In this passage, the word angry means “hot.” He was fit to be tied. He could spit nails. God’s mercy toward the Assyrians made him blistering hot. Frankly, I cannot really blame Jonah- I won’t go into detail but there is plenty of historical fact about what despicable monsters the Assyrians were.

I am not justifying Jonah’s bitter hatred toward the Assyrians, but I think it’s important that we understand it.  Just think of the last newscast you watched about someone of power or authority abusing the innocent or young or worse – sit with that for just a moment. That’s merely a taste of how Jonah felt. That also sets us up for his description of God. The author then quite possibly sets us up to reflect on our own attitudes and actions toward the nations today.

Here’s a good question for us to consider –

Are our attitudes towards the ‘far off’ nations of the world, more reflective of Jonah or God?

I mean, you may not feel a want for vengeance or hatred towards any of these nations but is what you feel anywhere close to how God feels about them?

In verse 2, we learn the real motivation for Jonah running in the opposite direction as Nineveh, where God had sent him. His disobedience was not because he feared the Assyrians or that he had failed in his assignment. His disobedience was because he knew there was a real possibility of success. He knew it was, and is, the disposition of God to be merciful to those who deserve harsh punishment. One of the surprises in Jonah’s confession is that God is universal in that disposition. It makes no difference to God if the person He is showing mercy to is an Israeli or an Assyrian.

When Jonah addresses God, it’s with covenant name of God – “Yahweh” in the original text. That name speaks of the special relationship God had with Israel. Israel knew their relationship was possible only because God is merciful, compassionate, and faithful in His love. These terms are used regularly by Israel to describe their God. Jonah knew if the hated Assyrians showed any sign of repentance, Yahweh would show them mercy and compassion. He did not want to take that chance. But, there it is again, the borders of God’s love were greater than Jonah’s! And that’s what offended Jonah, that God would give the Assyrians something other than the justice they deserved.

It angered him that God loved the Assyrians.
It angered him to face the fact that God has no enemies.

God loves all people. God’s love is faithful.

Is that important? Is it important for us to understand that God’s love is faithful?

Ask that question of someone who has experienced unfaithful love.  

Ask Rahab who protected the spies and was told to hang a red cord in the window and her whole household would be spared the coming destruction to the city. Remember when we talked about Rahab this summer….and fourteen hundred years later she is mentioned three times in the New Testament and included in the lineage of the Messiah.  

Ask the parent or grandparent praying for their wayward child or the someone praying for a lost spouse if it is important that God be merciful, compassionate, and faithful to love the lost ones.

Jonah confesses, for our benefit, that God is slow to become angry. We do not deal with a God who is trying to get even, measure for measure, with those living in rebellion. Jonah is disgusted that God would withdraw destroying Nineveh like He did Sodom and Gomorrah.

As much as Jonah loved God, he hated the Assyrians more. Since he could not agree with God’s decision, he decided he could no longer represent the Lord. The best thing, he thought, would be for God to kill him since He was not going to kill the Assyrians.

To hate someone is a terrible thing but something worse is to be indifferent or apathetic toward someone.

I know you do not hate people, but would an honest evaluation of our prayers for or giving to the person on the other side of the world or across the street reveal an indifference to whether they go to heaven or hell? That indifference, if it’s there, is the spirit of Jonah.

2. We are called to be On Mission

Here’s the second reason, We are all called to be On Mission. We are all called to show & tell the Gospel message of Jesus to everyone – remember Jesus words – “the ends of the earth”

At the memorial service for country singer June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne celebrated her stepmother as someone who knew only two kinds of people: “Those she knew and loved, and those she didn’t know…and loved.”

FBK, do we have this type of love for others?

Look at the last week of Jesus’ life. He is teaching in the temple. The exclusivist, Jonah-like Pharisees, in an effort to trap Jesus, ask him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

We’ve covered this before but I want you to see this in the context of our discussion this morning. It is really not a surprise for Jesus to answer, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.” But then Jesus does something that was as shocking and offensive to the Pharisees as the Assyrians were to Jonah. What He said next revolutionized the world.

In time it would alter the way the entire world would think. No one thought like this. He laid down beside the first commandment another scriptural passage:

“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”.

From that time on you could no longer describe a person’s relationship with God by the fact that he does not work on the Sabbath, nor does he lie, steal, or covet. From that point on if you want to know if someone has a relationship with God, then you must look at the way they treat people, and especially those outside the people of faith.

God wants relationship with us. He calls us to join Jesus’s mission to befriend others. He wants you to share His passion for reaching the nations.

What would be different if God’s love were to go beyond your borders?

Thankfully, FBK has a legacy of answering that call in the past – together with our friends, Brothers and Sisters at Canadian Baptist Ministries, we have gone well beyond our borders and found it to be an amazing experience of love expressed, growth achieved and obedience defined.

3. LOST WORLD: SHOULD I NOT CARE?

Jonah cared for a plant because of what it could do for him. But it was just a plant. But God did not love the Ninevites for what they could do for Him. He just loved them. He loved them in spite of their sin and their inability to contribute anything to God.  Jonah, selfishly loved an unfeeling, unthinking, short-lived plant but God cared for people who were like children in their ignorance of God’s revelation of Himself and His commands. That is what I believe is the best interpretation of the statement of the 120,000. Jonah, are these people not more valuable than a plant. “Should I not care,” God is asking the prophet. “Jonah, should you not care?”

Hotels care about their guests. They have all upgraded to flat screens, and Wi-Fi, and computer access. Do you remember the day when those things were novelties? Now they are priorities.

Hospitals care about their patients. I was surprised, in Windsor Regional Hospital not long ago, to see a menu like in a restaurant and to learn you can order when it fits your schedule not theirs. I remember the day when they brought the meal at a set time to everyone and you did not know what you were eating until you lifted the cover.

What about us FBK? Do we care? I hope that new sign out front tells our community that this church cares enough about everyone to change and update for a new generation of people.

I hope that our new midweek programming, the new classes and structure in children, youth, and adult teaching shouts loudly about our desire to meet those in a way that is helpful and filling to them.

Where do you start in caring for a world that is so overwhelming in its lostness? Well, when it comes to the nations outside our borders, CBM is offering us that opportunity to. When you leave here this morning, you will each receive a letter outlining a proposal to rejoin the S.T.E.P Program – for FBK to go back to Bolivia. How ‘bout it folks?? That will be one of the decisions we ask you to make at our fall business meeting a month from now. How about choosing to say to our God, yes – WE SHOULD CARE!!! We care enough to support this S.T.E.P initiative. So, when the time comes all of us are contributing to an effort that will join with Canadian Baptist Ministries to support pastors and churches in Boliva telling the gospel to the lost? That’s one of the projects we would support. How about praying diligently for people like Patty Nacho and those people she leads.

Marlee said at the beginning of the message that we should ask about each book of the Bible why God protected it and ensured it was included. Do you think that one answer to that question for the book of Jonah is God knew that I would be standing here in front of you on this Sunday to ask this question: “Do we care for a lost world?”

We are God’s church. On Mission, together we share God’s passion for reaching a lost and broken world.