Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Jonah finally obeyed God, but took no joy in the revival that followed his preaching in Nineveh. His self-focus prevented him from seeing the big picture. Instead, he sat down, asking God that he might die. Pity party indeed.

Guest (Male): From The Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running To Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Guest (Male): Today, Erwin Lutzer continues his series on Brokenness. How God gets us to say yes. Studies in the book of Jonah. Turn to Jonah chapter 4 and join us now as we hear a message on Death to Self-Justification.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Death to self-justification.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: If there's any trait about fallen human nature, it is the tendency for us to protect ourselves, to justify ourselves, to dig deep walls behind which we hide, to make sure that no one ever sees us as we are, to prevent God and others from revealing to us what we are really like, until we begin to even believe our own lies.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Enter Jonah chapter 4. Chapter 4 of the book of Jonah, the last in a series of messages entitled Brokenness, How God Gets Us to Say Yes. And at the end of the message, I'll tell you whether or not God ever got Jonah to say yes.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: We read in verse 1, "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry." What happened? Something terrible happened. He preached to the city of Nineveh and the Ninevites repented. Awful.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: The Hebrew text is actually more vivid, but it was evil to Jonah, a very great evil, and it burned to him. He was really, really mad.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Now, isn't it interesting that God was compassionate and Jonah was angry? The pagans ended up fearing God, Jonah ends up hating God. Even the sailors feared the Lord. The Ninevites repented and God relented regarding the destruction of the city of Nineveh as God had warned. And lo and behold, here is Jonah who is angry at that kind of compassion.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: That's maybe why he didn't tell them what they could do to prevent the overthrow. He just simply said, "Nineveh shall be overthrown." Thankfully, we discover that it was a conditional warning.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I mentioned that Jonah at this point tells us exactly why he is fleeing. He says in verse 2, "And he prayed to the Lord and said, 'Oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore, now, O Lord, please take my life from me.'"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: These words, which are based on one of the Psalms, are always sung and said in honor to God, that that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. I mean, that's what we sing about. That's what we talk about is the the wonderful compassion of God. And we adore him for that. Jonah is indicting God for that. He is saying this in derision that you are compassionate.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I've mentioned to you earlier that I think what we have here is a case of what I call full-blown narcissism. You know what narcissism is? I got that out. Narcissus was a young man, the son of the river god in ancient mythology, and he was in love with himself. When he saw a reflection of himself, in those days they didn't have mirrors, so when he saw a reflection of himself in a pool of clear water, he so fell in love with himself that he could never love anyone else.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You've heard me say, how do you identify a narcissist? Because it's possible that one is listening today. We all have various degrees of narcissism and if you live with someone like that or if the narcissist happens to be sitting in your chair today, I can tell you about yourself.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Narcissists interpret all events through the filter of themselves. They will always say to themselves for everything that comes, "How does this make me look and how does this make me feel?" And that's all that matters.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I remember the illustration that I love to give. True stories because narcissists exist all over the place. A wife who was beaten by her husband, a Christian woman, phones a friend who is also a Christian, but who is very narcissistic. All right, now catch the picture. Here's a wife, who's just sustained a beating. She needs to tell somebody and so she phones her narcissistic friend and says, "You know, my husband just beat me up."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Because what this dear woman, God bless her, she's looking for some compassion, some feeling. So what does she get?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: "Oh, really, is that what happened? Well, you know, you guys are sure a lot worse than my husband and me. We we have our own fights too, but you know, he's never beaten me. You know, so really, we are better than you in terms of our relationship. Thank you so very much for the compassion that I was looking for."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: What we're going to see is traits of that in in Jonah. So, God has this problem on his hands and this entire chapter is just between God and Jonah. So God tries therapy. God says, "Jonah, you'll notice that the Lord says to him in verse 4, 'Do you well to be angry?'"

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: "Is it good that you're angry?" God wants to get to the root of it, you see. He wants to help Jonah reflect back his feelings as good counselors are, to try to get to the bottom of the matter. And Jonah won't cooperate. He doesn't stay for the session. He walks away. He stomps out of the city, verse 5, and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there, and he sat under the shade till he could see what will become of the city.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Now, remember that the King of Nineveh is sitting in an ash heap hoping that God will spare the city. Jonah is sitting here in his booth that he built for himself, hoping that God will destroy the city.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: And while God is compassionate, Jonah is full of hate. And he refuses to see the world God's way. And he's got this death wish. "I'd rather die than see what you're doing. I'd rather die than see these Ninevites repent and not be judged." What a man.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: So what God decides to do is to give Jonah an object lesson. What the Lord does is, he says, "I'm going to give you a lesson in comforts and so forth." And then I'm going to give you some lessons in compassion. So that's the direction that the text takes from here.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You'll notice that the Lord first of all appoints something. Now, four times the word appointed occurs in the book of Jonah. First of all, it says that God appointed a fish. That's in chapter 1. But here in succession there are three other appointments that God makes and let's look at them.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: You'll notice it says, verse 6, "Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad about the plant." Can you ever get a narcissist to be happy about something? Yes, if they are particularly blessed and you add to their comfort, they will be quite joyful and work it into their day.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: So that's what Jonah was doing here. Notice what God does. God appoints comfort for Jonah. Here's a plant that grows up in a night, as we learn in a few verses.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: It grows up just very, very quickly in one night. Obviously it was a miracle, a plant like that growing in the midst of the desert, and a plant growing up that quickly and probably what is known as the castor plant, which which has great foliage and beautiful leaves that are as big as the palm of your hand. And this this plant grows up and it encases his shelter, and you can just see Jonah enjoying it because at last in the midst of this hot climate, God has given him an air conditioner. So he's very, very happy about the plant.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, that's not all that God appoints. You'll notice it says now in verse 7, "But when the dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: God said to this little worm, "Little worm, here you are. Do you see that plant over there? I want you to saw down, work at it all night, but get the thing sawed down because I am appointing you to bug Jonah." So God talks to this little worm and the little worm comes and he begins to work on this plant, and by morning he has it down.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: God appoints our comforts, God also appoints our disappointments and our losses. And Jonah is supposed to learn that lesson.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: So the little worm comes along and by morning the plant is down, and soon the sun is going to rise and it's going to become very, very hot, and Jonah is going to become very, very angry. Just as he was exceedingly glad for the plant, he is going to become very, very angry because he's going to have a death wish in just a verse or two again, saying, "I want to die. Just get me out of this. I would rather die than deal with a God whom I can't change and whose will I oppose."

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, it's going to turn out that this plant was really his God. It meant more to him than the will of God.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: My friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Isn't it wonderful to read a story like this and see God's grace in the midst of human failure, in the midst of prejudice, in the midst of a prophet who was called but didn't want to go. And that's really in some sense our own story too, isn't it?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Have you been blessed as a result of the ministry of Running To Win? If you answer yes, and I hope you do, it's because of people just like you who support this ministry. I'd like to give you a challenge. Would you consider becoming what we call an endurance partner? Endurance partners are those who support this ministry regularly.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Let me read you some letters that we have received from different parts of the world. Someone, for example, who had a phone addiction, and isn't that common today, from East Africa, mentions how that this ministry helped them to recognize that God is able to overcome their addictions.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Why is it that Running To Win is in so many different languages? Well, I want to emphasize again, because this is a shared ministry with the Running To Win family. Here's what you do. You go to offerrtw.com, click on the endurance partner button, or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-800-215-5001.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I'm going to be giving you that contact info again because Running To Win is dependent upon people just like you. Investigate becoming an endurance partner. Go to offerrtw.com, click on the endurance partner button or call us at 1-800-215-5001.

Guest (Male): That was Erwin Lutzer bringing us part 1 of Death to Self-Justification. The last message in his series on Brokenness. How God gets us to say yes. Studies in the book of Jonah. Next time on Running To Win, join us for more details on God's unique means of persuasion for Jonah and for you and me as well.

Guest (Male): All four messages on How God gets us to say yes, can be yours on CD as our thank you for your gift of any amount to support Running To Win. Call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online, go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to Running To Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAlister. Running To Win is a ministry of The Moody Church.