Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20090111.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Jonah: Replacing Heartless Nationalism With God's Universal Love
Part IV: Correcting Selfish, Heartless Love With God's Selfless, Compassionate Love
(Jonah 4:1-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. A patriotic love for one's own country is a reputable kind of love to have, but it can turn into a selfish, heartless attitude toward people of other countries, especially if they are enemies of one's own country.
    2. Jonah possessed that bad kind of patriotism, and Jonah 4:1-11 shows God's exposure of its evil and of Jonah's need to correct it by adopting God's selfless, compassionate love for all mankind (as follows):
  2. Replacing Selfish, Heartless Love With God's Selfless, Compassionate Love, Jonah 4:1-11.
    1. After God decided He would not destroy Nineveh when it repented at Jonah's preaching (Jonah 3:4, 5, 10), Jonah became very angry (Jonah 4:1), and told the Lord in prayer that he was so distraught over His mercy toward Nineveh that he wished God would take his life, Jonah 4:2-3!
    2. To explain Jonah's feelings, we recall that he had not wanted the Assyrian city of Nineveh spared since it had been predicted in Hosea 11:5 to conquer his own nation of Israel. Thus, Jonah had a selfish disregard for the enemy nations of his own spiritually wayward people!
    3. God responded to Jonah's anger, asking him, "Do you do well to be angry?" (Jonah 4:4 ESV)
    4. Jonah did not answer this question, but left the city and made himself a booth east of it and sat under its shade in an apparent effort to see of God would destroy Nineveh in line with his first message that the city would be destroyed in 40 days, Jonah 4:4-5; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., footnote to Jonah 4:5!
    5. Accordingly, God graciously taught Jonah to repent of his selfish, heartless love for his own country to adopt God's selfless, compassionate love for all His creatures, including the Assyrians, Jonah 4:6-11:
      1. To expose Jonah's self-centered kind of love, the Lord used an object lesson in the form of a "gourd" as the King James Version puts it, apparently a castor-bean plant, Jonah 4:6-9:
        1. In accord with the booth Jonah had made to shield himself from the hot Mesopotamian sun, God caused a "gourd" (KJV), in the Hebrew text a qiqayon, probably the castor-bean plant, to grow up over Jona h during the night, Jonah 4:6-7a; Bible Knowledge Commentary, O. T., p. 1471.
        2. This plant has large leaves that provide welcome shade from the sun's heat, and can grow to the height of 12 feet, although it easily withers if its stalk is damaged, Ibid.
        3. Jonah was delighted with the plant since it delivered him from his discomfort with the sun, Jon. 4:6.
        4. However, once the sun had risen after the next night, God prepared a worm apparently to girdle the stock, making the plant wither, and He sent a strong, dry, brutal east wind to make Jonah uncomfortable as the sun's heat beat down upon him, Jonah 4:7-8a, 10b.
        5. Thus, Jonah fainted, again wishing for death, saying it would be better to die than to live, Jon. 4:8b.
        6. God again asked Jonah if he did well to be angry, and Jonah this time replied, saying, "I do well to be angry, even unto death," Jonah 4:9!
      2. Since Jonah had voiced his intense selfishness, God very graciously exposed and critiqued it, 4:10-11:
        1. The Lord noted that Jonah had pitied the plant that he had not labored to produce or to grow, a selfish pity expressed only for what the plant could provide for Jonah's comfort, Jonah 4:10.
        2. In sharp contrast, God asked why He should not pity the 120,000 children in Nineveh He had made who were not old enough to discern between their right and left hand, or, if one were not to care for these children, at least to pity the many innocent animals that God's judgment would destroy, 4:11!
        3. Thus, God revealed Jonah was selfish where God had a selfless love for all of His creatures!
Lesson: When Jonah persisted in being angry at God for His grace for not destroying the repentant foes of his nation, God exposed Jonah's selfishness behind his anger that had to be replaced with God's selfless, compassionate love for all of His creatures, even the people of Nineveh!

Application: (1) If we hate those who live in nations that oppose our country, we must replace a selfish love for selfless compassion for all of God's creatures, including His love for those people in that land! (2) We never have just cause to be angry at God as was Jonah; God and His works are always upright!