2 June 2024 AM – Text: Jonah 1:1-16 – Topic: Missions
Introduction: In Romans 15:4 we read, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” The small book of Jonah is one of God’s books for our learning. In it, we learn the story of a man who ran from God’s call, repented, and saw revival.
Transition: God has a compassionate heart for all those He has created. This is fleshed out for us in three distinct ways in the first chapter of Jonah.
1. God has a compassionate heart for the ungodly.
a. Nineveh was a great city. (use map)
1) This great city was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, 960 kilometres northeast of Jerusalem.
2) It was a very ancient city. It was built shortly after the Noahic flood (Gen 10:11), perhaps 1400 years earlier.
3) In Jonah’s day, the city was huge. It took three days to travel around the city. This may have included its suburb towns. Jonah 4:11 tells us that it contained 120,000 little children, pointing to a total population of perhaps 600,000. People would not have lived in as tight of quarters as they do in our modern cities.
b. Nineveh was a wicked city.
1) God tells us in verse 2 that the wickedness of Nineveh came up before Him. This was not the first time God saw the wickedness of man. We read the same in (Genesis 6:5) “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Of Sodom the angels said, (Genesis 19:13) “For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.” Many other times, God said similar things. Sin always grieves the heart of God.
2) “Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, a ruthless and warlike people who were enemies of Israel. Nineveh’s destruction would have been seen as a victory for Israel.” https://www.gotquestions.org/Jonah-angry.html
3) The ungodly people of Nineveh were among God’s creation, and He cared for them. He had compassion for them. Here in this book, we find the ancient heartbeat of God for foreign missions. He longs for the conversion of sinful people.
c. God still cares about the untold millions today.
1) Peter reveals this passion of God. (2 Peter 3:9) “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.“
2) Just before leaving earth and returning to heaven, Jesus commissioned His followers. (Mark 16:15) “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.“
3) Christ’s last command is to be our first priority. God is looking for men and women who will surrender their lives to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to the untold millions.
4) During the 1800s, Robert Moffat, missionary to Africa said, “I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages–villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in this world.” Years have passed since Moffat said that, but the untold millions have only increased.
2. God has a compassionate heart for His people.
a. God sent Jonah out of his comfort zone.
1) Jonah had a successful prophetic ministry in Israel (2Kings 14:25). He lived in Gath-hepher, just north of Nazareth, between the Sea of Galilee and Mount Carmel. His prophecies of Israel’s success in recovering lands came to pass. Things were likely going well for him.
2) However, God called him to leave his comfort zone (v.1-2). God, in His sovereign will, sent Jonah to preach to the people in Nineveh. God’s perfect plan was repulsive to Jonah. Likely, Jonah had heard of the cruelty of that powerful northern neighbour.
3) He was to go and cry against Nineveh. He knew in his heart that God’s purpose was not just to warn the city of coming judgment, but to give them an opportunity to repent.
4) “As a result of Jonah’s ministry to Assyria, the Assyrian captivity of Israel was postponed some 130 years.” KJB Commentary
b. God sent Jonah to do His perfect will.
1) God was not being cruel to Jonah; He was compassionately leading him to higher ground.
2) When God calls a person into His service, it is to guide him along the perfect path for his life. We need not fear to follow God’s perfect path; we must only fear stepping off that path.
3) The most compassionate thing God can do for you is to lead you along the path He has mapped out for your life.
4) Jonah’s life would have been much happier if he had prayed as the Psalmist, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” (Psalms 143:10).
5) A wise preacher said, “The safest place on earth is in the centre of God’s will.”
6) Hudson Taylor, missionary to China said, “God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.” How about you? Will you lean on God to lead you in the path of His choice?
3. God has a compassionate heart for the disobedient.
a. When Jonah fled, God could have dropped him.
1) Look at those first six words in verse 3. “But Jonah rose up to flee.” He did not like the sounds of God’s call on his life. He got up and ran away in the opposite direction. Many believe that Tarshish was in Spain, on the other end of the Mediterranean Sea.
2) God could have struck Jonah with leprosy or with a bolt of lightning, but he didn’t. He was compassionate to him.
3) Sadly, Jonah viewed his calling as a sacrifice too great to make. Yes, Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “… If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Obviously, to serve the Lord, one cannot serve himself. However, we remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “… ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.“
4) Ponder these words by David Livingston, Missionary to Africa, “If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”
b. Discipline was God’s compassionate response.
1) Instead of killing Jonah when he ran away, God sent a great storm which threatened to sink his get-away ship.
2) It cost him dearly. It cost the ship’s fare, his peace, his testimony, and nearly his life. God’s discipline was an act of compassion.
3) God also had compassion on the pagan sailors when he saved their lives, but they lost all their cargo because of Jonah. They worshipped the Lord when the waves ceased.
4) God compassionately had Jonah cast into the raging sea, where he had prepared a great fish to swallow him. God’s chastening was not over, but He was being compassionate.
5) No faithful Christian worker will stand before God on Judgment Day and regret that he sacrificed to serve the Lord, but many will likely weep because they served themselves.
6) C.T. Studd wisely stated, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Conclusion: God has a compassionate heart for the ungodly. His commission for you and me is to go, give, and pray to reach them. He is compassionate for his people. His call to service will lead them down the best path in life, not to be regretted. God is compassionate for the disobedient. As with Jonah, if we are running from God’s call to serve, God may chasten us to get us to reconsider.
Can you hear God’s call this morning? He is calling us to witness, preach, go, give, and pray. Let’s learn from Jonah’s experience.
