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Well, we are in the third and final part of our series on Jonah. In week one, we talked about that. He was called to go, and he said no. And we said, it's the opposite of our theme. It's not, speak, Lord. I'm listening. It's Speak, Lord, I'm not listening. In week two, Pastor Logan did a great job doing chapters two and three and talking about how the great fish swallowed up Jonah and then that he had to deliver hard truth. What hard truth do we have to deliver? And then changed hearts that God responds to changed hearts. And I just wanna get you up to speed if you're missing any of these weeks. Our theme of this is really understanding that God pursues. And then a key word is the word great. We started in week one about a great city, a great fish, a great. It's used over and over again. We're gonna get back to that word again in chapter four. And really, this book is about two things. It's about sin, and it's about the grace of God, the mercy of God. And so we're grabbing this. So we're gonna jump into chapter four. But honestly, chapter three would have been a better spot for the book of Jonah to end. All right. Jonah's in the belly of the great fish. He gets vomited up. He goes and preaches to him. They repent. And God says, because they repented, I'm not gonna destroy them. What a great place to end right there. And then there's chapter four. Probably one of the craziest chapters, again, paints Jonah as the worst prophet of God. That this guy's supposed to bring this message of repent, and maybe God will be merciful. And he's merciful. And then you got chapter four, where it's like, Jonah just ruins it all. I mean, after the storm, after the fish, after the preaching, after the repenting, Jonah still doesn't understand God's grace. And the biggest problem in all this we're seeing is Jonah's heart. So we're gonna jump in Jonah 4, 1, 4. But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong. What seemed very wrong? The fact that God was not gonna punish them, that they had repented. Even their animals were fasting and repenting. And that should be good news. But it says, but to Jonah, this seemed very wrong. And he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home, that. That it was 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. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it's better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry? All right, so we're gonna go through this, through each verse of this chapter. And we see here, first of all, the running man keeps running. He's running from God and going the opposite way to Tarshish. He's running. He's in the belly of the whale. He's now preached this, but he's still running. He keeps giving excuses. He keeps. Like, in the same spot. You'd think that he would learn after all these things, and he's not. And we do the same thing. How many know what I'm talking about? You catch a kid that's lying, and then they tell a second lie, and you're like, you're lying again. Stop your lie. And they tell a third lie. How many know? Like, the addict gives an excuse. They're caught. They give an excuse, tell another excuse, another one. Becca loves to watch this show Cops. Anybody like the show Cops? She watch all the time. It's like the same thing over and over again. I watch it one time with her, I was like, do they always run? She's like, they always run. They always run. I was like, what happens if they get caught? They always lie every time. They're like, is that your drugs? No, that's not my drug. I don't know how that got there. It's just laying in my car. That's not even my car. That's not even my license. That's not even me, you know. Are you drunk? No. You're 2.0. It's not me. It's breath mints. I mean, you know, they just keep lying. I mean, Jonah would fit on that show. God's like, do you see? Do you see? Do you see what I'm doing? And you're like, I still am mad. I don't wanna repent. I told you. And so he's so upset. The storms didn't get to him. The sailors didn't get to him. The fish didn't stop him. Nineveh's repentance didn't stop. Jonah's biggest problem here is not the location he's in, it's his heart. His heart. He does not love the way that God wants him to love. And in verse one, it says, it seemed to Jonah very wrong. Now, the Hebrew word that is saying, like, it seemed to Jonah like, It was very wrong. He's saying the same word. The same word where it says, the evil of the city of Nineveh. Jonah says, you not punishing them is the same evil as they are evil. Do you understand how messed up he is? He thinks it's evil for God to forgive people that repented. It bothers him that much? In verse two, he says those famous words. He says, I know that you're a gracious, compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. These words are not his words. These are originally God's words about who he is and his character. And Jonah is quoting back to God, his very words. The first time we find those is in Exodus 34, after the golden calf. And the people rebel against God after they've escaped from slavery in Egypt. And then that's where God says what type of God he is. It's repeated in numbers and Nehemiah and Psalms and Joel and. And other places. And every time it's quoted apart from Jonah, it's, people are in a bad place and they know they need grace and they know they need mercy. And they're a God. You're a gracious God, a compassionate God. You are forgiving God. You're abounding in love, and they're claiming the grace of God. Jonah's the only guy that's quoting this as a complaint. See, that's who you are, God. You're kind, you're gracious, you're forgiving. And he's complaining. I mean, when Moses said it, he treasured it. When David says it, he's celebrating it because he understands how amazing God is. When Joel preaches it, he's preaching it to the people to show them come to God. And Jonah's quoting his own words back to God. And it's like I'm complaining to you. He knows his theology is right. He knows who God is. But he only loves grace that's directed to him, not other people. Have you ever been like that? You love when you get grace, but when somebody else, you're like, oh, prove it. Show your work for this. Grovel a little bit. I'm not even sure I wanna give that to you. How dare people that have been given so much grace live that way. In verse three, he says, take away my life. It's better for me to die than to live. And he's not the first one to want to die. In the Bible, there was a man of God. Elijah wanted to die. Elijah wanted to die. Because the people wouldn't repent. Jonah wants to die because the people repented again, why is this chapter there? And he's like, I'm so upset. I'm so angry. I'd rather die than live in a world where you give grace to people. I don't want it to go to how sad. How sad that he would live that way. Verse 4. But the Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry? And it's God's question to him. And Jonah doesn't even answer it here. He just walks away. Now, before we get too critical of Jonah, we do the same thing. We do the same thing. We celebrate forgiveness for ourselves and not for others. We have people that we think they should get grace. They shouldn't. I have watched Christians sneer when somebody walks through our doors. Or, oh, what does he think he's doing here? Does he know the harm that he caused this place? And we have that same attitude, like the prodigal son's older brother. Who do you think you are? After the mess you made? You dare walk through those doors. We judge people by the way they look. We judge people by the way they smell. We judge people by the way they're wearing. We got a lot of Jonah on us. Okay, I'm gonna step on some toes here. Mine included. Cause. God's been wrecking me a little bit. I look at our state leadership and the trajectory we're on, and I know we have campuses all around the world, in Vancouver locations, and I look at Minnesota, and sometimes I just get so angry at what they're doing and how they fought us as a church and different things. And I look at our leadership, and instead of praying for grace and repentance, I'm like. I'm kind of, like, tempted to be a little Jonah. I'm just being honest. I see people protesting outside the church in St. Paul every week. They're still showing up every week, protesting out there, waving obscenities and adults toys at these children. And it disgusts me. And our governor goes by and he high fives all the protesters and says, keep up your taunting of the church every week as he runs down Summit Avenue. And I just. I get a little Jonah on me. And then I'm like, I gotta reach these people. I'm just being honest. I'm being honest. And we're. And they shouldn't do that. And we should try to stop that, and we should provide security and do whatever we can. Okay, But I get a little Joan on me, and I lose a little Grace. Okay, I'm gonna go a little further with the smaller community in Minnesota. Sometimes I get a little Joan on me. I'm being very transparent. I just see some of the communities and some of the degrading of the community and what's going on. The lack of care for the community, not the people. The lack of care of the community. I see the things on the TV and the money that's being ripped off and the millions of dollars, our dollars. And I get a little attitude and I get a little Joan on me. And then I'm thinking, like, we should reach them. And then I get a little Joan on me, and I'm like, I don't wanna reach Em. I'm just being honest. And I do wanna reach them. I'm just telling you. And maybe you can identify with a little bit of Jonah on you, but towards our state. And people are like, I'm outta here. Sometimes I feel like maybe I got a little Joan on me, and maybe you got a little Jonah on you, and it's called Florida. I don't know. But you just. And I think about this. I gotta guard my heart, you know, I gotta make sure. And yes, I want people to be held accountable for all the things they've done wrong in our society. And I believe people should go to jail for those things. But it's still. They're in proximity to me. So why did God bring them here in proximity to River Valley and me? Probably cause he doesn't wanna have Jonah on me. He wants his heart on me. He wants his heart. And he's like, I want your heart in. I want that in you. I want my heart to be in you for these people. And I think, why did you pick River Valley and why did you pick us in this time, in this place? And I don't wanna live with exclusive grace. I wanna live with accessible grace. And I just have this thought of, wouldn't it be crazy in the state of Minnesota if River Valley church was known as like, in the Somali community? It's like, watch out for those River Valley people. They will try to get you to church every week. You know, watch out. They're gonna try to share Jesus with you. Watch out for them. They're just full of love and. And they're like the real deal. Jesus. Watch out for them. Cause they're the real deal. They're gonna try to get you. Wouldn't it be great if when we were like, I was thinking during worship, the presence of God was so strong during worship, the anointing was so strong, I thought, there's not a Muslim on earth that has ever felt what we were feeling during worship. They've never. They only have law, and they're never. And I thought, what would happen if we could get them in proximity? And they came to church and they were part. And they were just there, just. It's first time they'd ever feel the presence of God like that. What could happen? And if that happens and God brings people in like that, don't you go sneering, you know, don't be doing that. Let's have a heart like God's heart, not like Jonah's heart. Okay? Let's be the type of people that says, God help us to get your grace to all the people. All the people in Minnesota, the. The people we disagree with, the people from other cultures. Let's welcome them in. It's clear from Jonah that God wants him to get his heart, and he misses it. And I don't want us to miss it. I don't want us to miss it. Verses five through eight. Let's go there. There's a detour here. Jonah's gone out. He 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 in the city. Then the Lord God provide a leafy plant, made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm which chewed the plant 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 he said, it would be better for me to die than to live. In order to get through to Jonah. God is still, like, having detours and still having these things, like taking him different ways and. And saying, you're not getting there. I still want you to get my heart. All right, I'm gonna take you over here, and I'm gonna grow this plant, and I'm gonna have a worm, and I'm gonna have a scorching east wind. He's doing all these things, and he's trying to get Jonah to understand what he's doing. And the detour is still not getting through to him. Speaking of detours, I hope our Apple Valley detour. July, I'm told end of July. I've been praying for no rain, so it's not delayed one week. But anyways. All right. I still make the wrong turn every week. Every week. All right. See, we measure success in time. How quick could we get there? And God measures success and transformation. Are you looking like me? Oh, you're not? Well, then I got another detour. Oh, you're looking at like me. Okay, I got another detour. I got another detour. So in verse five, he sits down at the place east of the city and makes a shelter. Here's the sad thing. Jonah knows that the 40 days has not expired yet. They're still under the clock. And so he's like, maybe these people are gonna mess up. They're Nineveh after all. I'm just gonna wait and maybe there's gonna be a big fireball coming down on Nineveh. Cause they didn't truly repent. He still doesn't get the heart of God. And he's waiting there wondering, will they get burned? And it's crazy. The Ninevites are waiting for God's mercy, and Jonah is waiting for God's fire and judgment. How sad. How sad. And I thought about this. He could have had access to the King. Like, they all repented. He could have said, hey, guys, I think it's working. Can I disciple you in the ways of God and who God is? He's compassionate, long suffering. He's abounding in love. This is the God I'm talking about. And when you repent like this, he enjoys this and he loves you. I mean, he could have done that. But instead of having acts to the King and access to all the people to change it, he goes and sits over in judgment, waiting for them to mess up, hoping that at the end of the 40 days, it's still gonna happen. Sad, sad, Sad. In verse 6, then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah and gave shade for his head to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. First of all, when it says that he provided, it really means he appointed. God had this. Just like he had the great fish, just like he had the storm. God's in control of all this. He's like, I even can cause this plant to grow. I appointed that plant to grow at that place at that time. And the first time Jonah is happy in the entire book is when he has shade. That's it. He's like, thank you, God for shade. Favor ain't fair, you know? I mean, like sad. You know what he's happy about? He's happy that he's comfortable. And don't be happy that you're a Comfortable Christian. I'm only happy that I'm comfortable and somebody sat in my seat. Somebody up, interrupted. No, it's like it's the wrong thing to be happy about. So then it says, the next day at dawn, the next day, God provided again, he appointed a worm. God is controlling the fear and the worm. He's controlling them and says, we chewed the plant so that it withered. And it's amazing. God has a sense of humor, I think, because he's like, jonah, I'm trying to get through to you. Here's a great fish that's gonna swallow you. All right, Jonah, I'm trying to get. Here's a worm, you little worm. You know, like, I'm gonna use a tiny worm and a great fish. Like, just the difference of the 2. Verse 8. When Sun Rose, God provided a scorching east wind. Same way provided appointed. God appoints the wind. And the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die. He said, it'd be better for me to die than to live. I wanna die. He said, I wanna again. I feel like a success. Everybody has repented. I wanna die. How sad. And so God's using all these detours and all these things and he's trying to teach Jonah about himself, saying, what is in there is pretty ugly. What is there is pretty ugly. So we get to this last part of Jonah, chapter four again, like, this minor inconvenience has happened. The plant goes down. He's now getting sunburnt. And something that should be very minor on the scale of things is so big to Jonah, he wants to die. You talk about, have you heard first world problems? You know, like first world. Like my life was full of those last week, of course, because I'm preaching on this. And I had all sorts of first world. I was on a flight from Raleigh last week home, and the AC thing wasn't working. We were on that plane, we were all fanning and we're like, come on. I mean, we were fanning. Everybody's complaining. And even when we landed, people were still talking about the lack of AC on the Runway. And I'm thinking we just flew 550 miles an hour in an air conditioned plane with WI fi. We were communicating to our family, but we're gonna stay stuck in. Two and a half hours ago, about a little bit of sweat. I mean, how many know I'm talking about first world problems? I was on my way to the airport. I was a little tired. Starbucks was closed, power outage. I Was. So I got to the airport, I said to Pastor Caleb, he was traveling with me. I said, can you believe that? That's Starbucks. First world problems. First world problems. You have it, too. I had to wait five minutes for that treadmill. Seriously? Oh, sorry. Run outside. You know, like, the humidity ruined my hair. First world problem. All right. But he's, like, upset about this tiny thing. So in verse nine. But God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? It is, he said, and I'm so angry, I wish I were dead. Jonah's final recorded statement. That's it. Final recorded thing. He doesn't even, like, get a better word that it is. And I wish I was dead. That's the last thing we have recorded about this. No repentance, no softening, no acknowledgement. God, you're right. You're right. After all this, after the great fish, after the storm, after the repenting, after the plant, the worm, the heat. You're right. You're right. I have missed your heart doesn't do it. He ends with, I just wanna die. All of them get him to this spot. And he still doesn't have God's heart. Think about this. Job didn't even react like this. And he had family members die and loses all of his wealth and all these things, and Job doesn't even. And Jonah's upset at repentance. It's a Sad thing. Verse 10. But the Lord said, you've been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And the only reason Jonah liked the plant was because it served him. I bet he didn't even care about that plant. It's just, he liked the shade. The only thing Jonah cares about is Jonah. Don't be that type of Christian. The only type of person you care about is you. You should be caring about others and thinking about others and not just yourself. And then God says this to Jonah, as we get ready to end this here, should I not have concern for this great city of Nineveh? Remember that word, great, we'll get there. Which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and all so many animals. Jonah is concerned about a plant, and God's concerned about a great city. Jonah is concerned about a plant that grew up in a day and a worm killed it. And. And he's upset about that. And God's like, are you not concerned about the eternity of the 120,000 that can't tell their right hand from the left. And by the way, if you don't know, in the Bible times, you know what that meant? That meant children under three. God says, there's 120,000 children under the age of three, plus other children, men and women, 600,000. A million people. We don't know for sure, but at least 120,000 kids. And then God goes below. He says, and the animals? Do you not think I care about the animals? I care about all this. And you're still worried about this plant. And do you not have my heart? Should I not be concerned about this? God help us if we love plants more than if we love prophets more than people, if we love our comforts more than people. I'll never forget when Connor was a little kid in our neighborhood. He was running around and he ran through the neighbor's yard, and the neighbor was one of those neighbors. He goes, get off my lawn. Connor runs off the guy's lawn and gets to the street. Guy's like, don't sit up on my lawn anymore. And Connor comes over and says, hey, dad. He goes, what's more important, grass or kids? I said, kids? He goes, yeah, grass can't hug you. I said, no, it can't. He goes, grass can't tell you that it loves you. I said, no, it can't. He goes, why does he love his grass so much? I shared that with our neighbor. It didn't go well, but anyways, Connor was profound. How sad if we love the comforts and the conveniences and the amenities of church more than the people that need to join us in church and be a part of this more than the lost. How sad that we would lose what it's all about. This is really a book about how gracious God is, how amazing he is that Jonah was right. God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. We learn this about who he is, and I get back to this last word. Great. And I said in the beginning, I'll get there. Hebrew scholars believe that when God used the word great city, Nineveh, it was a claim on that city. He was saying, nineveh belongs to me. Nineveh belongs to me. And I have compassion on Nineveh. I see how evil they are. But the city of Nineveh belongs to me. And he said, and I wanted you to have compassion on them and bring the grace message and a forgiveness repentance message, because that belongs to me. And I keep thinking about God's claim on the lost of this world. They belong to me. I'll never forget when one of my professors said to me in Bible college, he said, there's just found sheep and lost sheep. And he says, God looks at the found sheep and said, will you go find the lost sheep? They belong to me. They're just lost, but they belong. I paid the price for them, and they're just lost. Will the found sheep have the heart for the lost sheep and go after them? And that's really the heart of this. And then it ends. We don't have any clue what Jonah did. We don't have a clue. Now, I would have a theory. Would have a theory. Cause some people, we still don't know who wrote Jonah. Some people believe that Jonah wrote it, which I would go along with that. And I know there's some criticism of that, but here's why I'd go along with that. Because, like, how else do we have the account of it? And wouldn't it be a great way for Jonah to, like, redeem himself? To say, like, this is how bad I was. I didn't like these people. But I wanted you to see who God is. And I want you to see at the end of this, it's really about God and his heart for the world. It's not about me. I messed up. I. But I want you to see how amazing God's heart now, regardless whether you wrote it or not, that's what we should catch out of this. How amazing that God's heart for lost people. God is gracious. God is compassionate. God is slow to anger. He's abounding in love. And if we know that, we should live differently. We should get rid of the Jonah in our life and stop judging and be willing to bring anybody into the grace of God. Extend it to anyone and. And everyone. And welcome anyone through the doors that wants to hear about the message of Jesus Christ and say, you're welcome. We've been waiting for you. We've been expect. Sit with me. Come on in and be a part of this. So as we close this book and end this series, will we get God's heart? Will we get his heart? Will we share God's love? Will we show compassion where God shows compassion? Will our heart really be like that? Will we be consumed with the Great Commission and say, that's why we do what we do? I have people say, why do you want to give so much money to missions? Because we want to reach those people that are far away from God, that are lost sheep. We really do. Why do you care for people all around the world. Because we believe that 42% of the world that has never heard deserves the right to hear about Jesus Christ. Why do you want to translate Bibles into every language? Because we believe people should hear it in their heart language so God can connect with them and they could be saved. We live differently because the grace of God has been given to us. We keep ridding ourselves of the Jonah and the selfishness in our heart. And we say, God, help us to have a heart that says, go into all the world. That will commission missionaries. They'll say, we want to send 500 that will either go or will be generous to those that are going to. And we're on this mission together because we want the heart of God, not Jonah. So that's why I'm praying for our church, that from this we'll see a guy who said, speak, Lord, I'm not listening. That we would say, speak, Lord, we're listening. We want your heart. We want your compassion. We want your boldness, your urgency to go into all the world and to share this message of Jesus with those people that are right next to us as our neighbors and to those nations that are far away. God, we will be on mission for you to fill heaven, to fill heaven, to bring lost sheep home in Jesus name. So, God, I pray right now for all of us that we would rid the Jonah in our heart. Doesn't matter who it is. If there's a group or a neighbor or a coworker or a student or a subgroup in our communities. God, we repent of being exclusive on grace and not being accessible of grace. And I pray right now specifically for the Somali community in Minnesota. I pray that they'd see a different way of Christianity be lived out. I pray that they'd see the love of Jesus from the church all around them and would confound them. It would confound them and that there'd be a revival there. I pray for again, any group, any group, I don't know what group is in somebody's heart right now that they say, I have a little trouble there. God, I pray that you would help us to have a love for that group, a love for those people. We'd be angry with, maybe things that are being done wrong, but we'd still want those people to, to be right with you and repent. And we rejoice and celebrate those things in Jesus name. God, rid our hearts of the Jonah that's in there. And may we have the heart of God to truly live it. Out. In Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.