Running From the Grace of God

Sermon by Pastor David Layman

January 22, 2006

Jonah 3-4:2
Matthew 6:9-15

The prophet Jonah is briefly referred to in II Kings 14:25. Whether the
little book of Jonah is to be read as literal history, or as an allegory
or parable, has been debated. When Jesus told of the Good Samaritan in
Luke 10, the critical point is not whether such an incident happened on
that particular road, but its powerful message: that God desires us to
reach out to others in their need, regardless of their background. Our
study of ancient Israels history indicates that, following Gods
deliverance of the people from their Babylonian captivity, the
descendants of Israel failed to carry out their mission as a servant of
the Lord. When Jesus came into the world, most of those in Israel
werent seeking to reach out and redeem the Romans, Greeks and
Samaritans living nearby. They despised them, considered them enemies,
and desired their destruction!

Most doctors and lawyers, Philip Yancey notes, set a high value on
themselves and wait for clients to come to them. Not God. (p. 55) God
goes seeking out people: not for his benefit, but for theirs! God calls
upon Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the hated Assyrians, and
call them to repentance. Jonah heads in the opposite direction, boarding
a ship bound for Spain! Im not sure we in America can understand how
much many of the small and oppressed nations of the world would have
resented powerful and evil Assyria, with its capital of Nineveh. Perhaps
in Wayne County in the days before class basketball, the Wampus Cats of
Cambridge City, the Black Demons of Greens Fork, the Webster Pirates ,
the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets and the Fountain City Little Giants must
have gotten sick and tired of losing to Richmond. But Richmond residents
never invaded Economy, Greens Fork or Webster and burned the town to the
ground, and thats what ancient Assyria had done to Israel. So perhaps
we can understand why Jonah didnt want to journey to hated Assyria and
preach repentance.

Eventually, God got Jonah to Nineveh to proclaim that God would judge
and destroy it. The worst possible thing happened, in Jonahs mind. The
people of Ninevah repented! When God saw that the Ninevites had
repented, he likewise changed his mind about destroying the city. But
this made Jonah very upset, and Jonah said to God O Lord! Is not this
what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to
Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and
merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to
relent from punishing. (4:2) It was the grace and mercy of God that
upset Jonah. If Jonah could have proclaimed Ninevehs destruction, and
then sat upon a surrounding hill and watched destruction rein down upon
the city, Jonah could have gone home contented. But, no, God had to
extend grace to that wicked city!

Theres something deep within our hearts that wants to see law breakers
get what they have coming. Even if we dont really want to see our
enemies suffer and die, were kind of like Erma Bombeck who once prayed
Lord, if you cant make me thin, then make my friends look fat. (p.
87) I remember when our daughter Rachel had misbehaved in public, Pam
told her that when we got home, she was going to get a couple of whacks
with a wooden spoon. Rachels older sister Andrea rushed in the back
door, got out the spoon, handed it to Pam, and asked Can I watch?
Andrea may not have realized it, but she was reenacting Jonah, wanting
to sit in comfort outside of Nineveh and see God reign down judgment
upon that city. Oh, how we like to see others get what they have coming!

Jonah went outside the city and sat in the shade, waiting in vain to see
if the city would be destroyed. God appointed a bush to grow up over
Jonah to give him shade. But then God appointed a worm to destroy the
bush, and Jonah was angry that the bush was destroyed, repeating his
desire to die. The Lord said to Jonah You are concerned about the bush,
for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into
being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned
about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred
and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their
left, and also many animals? And that is where the little book of Jonah
ends, with that question!

Invariably we, like Jonah, desire grace for our lives. Jonah desired
comfort and peace. Jonah also wanted to be able to hate his enemies and
pray for their destruction. He didnt want to have to go a great
distance and call upon the Ninevites to repentance, out of fear they
might repent. God, being a grace filled God, might let them off the
hook! Jonah wanted the comforting shade a plant might provide for him,
but he didnt want comfort and forgiveness for his enemies.

When Jesus taught his disciples the Lords Prayer, there is a very
significant phrase in that prayer that we may be so familiar with, we
fail to seriously consider it. Forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors. Jesus elaborates upon this in Matthew 6:14 For
if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.

If we do not extend grace and mercy to others, Jesus tells us, we will
not receive it ourselves! In the little book When Bad Things Happen to
Good People is a story that Ill have to paraphrase, because I cannot
remember it precisely. (I think thats called growing older!) A man is
told that God will bless him, but he will also give his neighbor twice
as much as he himself receives. For example, if the man won a million
dollars in a sweepstakes, his neighbor would receive two million. That
doesnt sound like a bad deal to most of us, but this man despised his
neighbor. So he prayed to God Lord, make me blind in one eye. Jonah
saw nothing to be gained by calling an enemy city to repentance. The man
in our story thought he could devise a prayer that would bring
punishment upon his enemy. But the God of Jesus does not cooperate in
such prayers. God exercises mercy and grace, and desires to bless us
with his grace, and also extend it to others.

Sadhu Sundar Singh is a Sikh convert to Christ who later became a
missionary to India. One late afternoon, Sadhu was traveling on foot
through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk. It was very cold, and night
was coming. The monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing
to death if they did not reach the monastery soon. As they were climbing
up a narrow path above a deep cliff, they heard a cry for help.

A man had fallen down the cliff, and was seriously injured. The Buddhist
monk said to Sadhu Do not stop. God has brought this man to this fate.
He must work it out for himself. Let us hurry on before we, too,
perish. But Sadhu responded God has sent me here to help my brother. I
cannot abandon him. The monk continued on through the snow that had
started to fall, while Sadhu Singh climbed down to where the wounded man
lay. The mans leg was broken, and he couldnt walk. So Sadhu took his
blanket, made a sling of it, and tied the man on his back. It was very
difficult for Sadhu to make it back up to the path, carrying the injured
man. He was drenched in perspiration in spite of the cold. The snow was
falling steadily, and it was dark. Sadhu could barely follow the path,
but he trudged on, exhausted. Finally, he saw the lights of the
monastery. He stumbled over something in the road, and bent down on one
knee to see what it was. It was the body of the monk, frozen to death,
within sight of the monastery. (Vic Pentz, A City Humbled By Ice and
Snow, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Jan. 30, 2005.)

Sadhu Sundar Singh decided to show grace and mercy to a victim along the
road of life. His very act of grace, although risky, wound up saving his
own life. For the effort he put forth to save another warmed his own
body enough to preserve his life. Jonah wanted to receive grace, but did
not want to extend it to another. The question God left with Jonah, he
also leaves with us: Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that
great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand
persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many
animals?

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