Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: We need to actually care about people. That's what God was trying to work into Jonah, to actually care. And if you don't care about people, I tell you what, God's going to be faithful and He'll prepare whatever He needs to prepare for you: a storm, a fish, a worm, or whatever.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador, reflecting on the lesson of Jonah. Does God have your attention to break your heart for what breaks His? God forbid that we have a Jonah mindset. We need to be people who care about the lost, the unsaved.

The story of Jonah reveals the persistence of the mercy of God. Jonah enjoyed God's grace when he experienced it himself, yet he was very resentful when God extended mercy to his enemy, the Ninevites. From today's word, Pastor Brett Meador challenges us to examine whether we celebrate God's compassion or resist it when grace is given even to those we don't think deserve it.

Brett Meador: The book of Jonah, we've got basically the call that God gave to Jonah and he rebelled against God. God said go, Jonah said no. Where he was told to go to Nineveh, that scary city. We can't lose sight of the fact that Nineveh was known to be extremely violent and godless and wicked. God says, "I see the wickedness of Nineveh, so I need to send you there, Jonah." Jonah says, "I'm not going to Nineveh." So he went the opposite direction, 2500 miles in the opposite direction was his goal.

But as it turns out, the Lord prepared a big fish to swallow him up and took him back the direction he was supposed to be going. Jonah was barfed back up on the beach. But this is where we pick it up here in chapter three of Jonah. It says in verse one, chapter three, "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, 'Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.' So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord."

We see here Jonah is called by the Lord a second time. Don't you sense the patience of the Lord in this? Okay, Jonah, listen, I want you to go to Nineveh. Verse three, Jonah arose and went to Nineveh. Now that's maturity. We're seeing growth in Jonah's life. Last time he said no and he ran. This time he goes to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

So Jonah obeys God and goes to this great beautiful city that's full of a bunch of wicked, violent, horrible people. That's the situation. This whole city repents. This is the greatest evangelistic thing that ever happened. How does the story end? This is where we get to chapter four. Let's read verse one. It says, "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry."

Verse two, "And he prayed unto the Lord and said, 'I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repented thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.'" Wow, Jonah.

He's mad that this whole city gets saved. So much, this is why I think Jonah was kind of suicidal. This whole story, he wants to die on the ship, "Just throw me overboard." Not "Turn the boat around, let's go back." Just "Throw me overboard." That was his word. He was ready to die because he was so not into what God was wanting to do through him. Here he's like, "Lord, just kill me now." It seems to me like Jonah's a little bit bummed that his words didn't come to pass. Jonah said, "You're going down in 40 days, you're going to be annihilated." God doesn't do this as it turns out, the whole city repents.

He should be leaping for joy. He should be activating himself into discipleship mode. He should be walking around the city saying, "Now, here's what it means to be a believer in God. And if you want to follow God, here's the word of God." He had work to do here, but he's saying, "I'd rather die. Lord, kill me now." It's almost like he said, "I knew it, the Lord was going to be merciful."

I wonder if you and I have this where we're more concerned about people getting what they deserve than we care about love and grace and mercy and kindness. But they're sinners, they deserve to be judged. You know when you find yourself saying, "I can't wait till God returns and justice will be brought out in this world." Some of us have this sanctimonious idea that God in His justice is going to come and people are going to get what they deserve. You know what I always kind of have to remind myself is I sure hope that doesn't happen, because justice would mean me burning in hell for all eternity. That's what is just.

I don't want justice. I want God's grace and mercy, not just on me, but on the whole world. That's my heart. As it turns out, that's what God says He wants to do. I want everyone to repent and be saved. That's not going to happen, but the Lord is patient, long-suffering, and it's amazing. Sometimes I wonder if there's going to be a bunch of people in heaven that you're going to see there and you're going to go, "What? How did you get here?"

Yep, that's God's grace. Does it do us well to be angry? Well, let's keep reading. It says there in verse four, "Then said the Lord, 'Doest thou well to be angry?'" Jonah's, he wants to see these people destroyed and it's almost like he wants to hope that it's still coming. Check it out, verse five. "So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made him a booth, like a lean-to sort of shelter. And he sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city." See, he's just sitting there going, "Well, let's see what happens." It's almost like he's hoping, "Come on, Lord, just send a little fire and brimstone." He was hoping for a blasting rather than a blessing on these people.

Now, this is where it gets a little strange. Check it out, verse six. "And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad for the gourd." Huh? First time we see Jonah glad in the story. He's glad about his gourd. The Lord prepared a fish in chapter one at the end and chapter two, but now He prepared a gourd. The Hebrew word is kikayon. It's a Hebrew word for a fast-growing castor bean plant.

It says here, "God sends a gourd to come up over Jonah that it might somehow deliver him from his grief." He's just really bummed out that the Ninevites are going to not be destroyed. So the Lord sends, "I'm going to give you something to give you a little peace." Some people say He's providing shade over his head. You know, it's funny how the Lord shows compassion on Jonah and I wonder how many of us have things the Lord's blessed us with and the Lord's like, "Well, you're just such an angry little person. I wanted to give you something to sort of take your mind off of it for 10 seconds."

What is it that the Lord has given you that's a little blessing just to give you a little relief? But be careful, the Lord giveth and the Lord also what? Check it out, let's read on. Verse seven, "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day. It smote the gourd that it withered." A worm. Now, mark the word worm there for you Bible students. It's an important type of worm that's used here. The Hebrew word toleth.

It's a toleth worm. If you know what that is, that's kind of an amazing thing in the Bible. We really don't have time to cover it, but Psalm 22:6, it's a Messianic Psalm about Jesus going to the cross. But it says, "I am a worm," the word toleth. But the word toleth is a kind of worm that the mother worm attaches itself to a branch on a tree. And then this little worm gets pregnant, if you would, and has little baby worms, but the baby worms, the way they survive is they eat the mother. They eat the body of the mother and then they break out of the little chrysalis cocoon thing and the little baby worms go out, the little toleths go out.

Well, it's interesting because when the baby worms escape, it leaves a bright red spot on the tree. And then after a few days, that bright red spot turns as white as snow and it starts to become flaky. After a little wind and a little weather, the white flaky piece where the chrysalis was attached becomes freed and it falls like snow to the ground. During certain times of the year, all those toleth flakes come down and people say it looks like it's snowing outside.

It's an amazing picture really, as Jesus hung on the cross and we are to eat of His body and drink of His blood in communion. And that Jesus gave His life that we might have life. The blood of the stain, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow." There's this amazing correlation, but it's interesting that God prepares a toleth worm. That's the specific word in the Hebrew, toleth, that's being talked about here. And the Lord's using that to take away his little gourd that made him happy.

What's the Lord doing? It's the same thing He did with the preparing of a fish. He's trying to mature Jonah. He's trying to get Jonah to get where he needs to be mentally, spiritually, maturity-wise. And so He prepares a fish number one. You might even say God prepared a storm there in verse four of chapter one. So you've got God preparing a storm, God preparing a fish, God prepares a gourd in verse six there, but God also prepares a worm. Isn't it interesting all the things God's preparing for Jonah?

By the way, on this "the Lord gives and the Lord's taking away," it comes from Job. Job knew about this, didn't he? If you know the story of Job, he says, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job's a guy who recognized the Lord gives and He takes away. We need to be good with that because God knows what's good for us. So the Lord prepares a worm and now Jonah's losing his gourd and that's a bummer.

But the Lord's not done preparing stuff for Jonah. What else does He prepare? Well, check it out, verse eight. "And it came to pass when the sun did arise that God prepared a vehement east wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah." So the gourd is withered, he's sitting out in the sun, the sun beats on his head, and he faints and wished himself to die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." What an emotional wreck Jonah was. Up and down, and first he's happy, "Oh, we got a gourd." Oh, the gourd died. Oh, the sun, I'm going to die. I faint, I'm going to die. This guy is really in bad shape.

And verse nine, "God said to Jonah, 'Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?'" Oh, if he wasn't angry then, I think he's probably now. And this is funny. "And he said, 'I do well to be angry, even unto death.'" "Then said the Lord, 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand,' that's 120,000, 'persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?'"

The Lord's saying you care more about this little weed that grew up overnight, this gourd, and you got all attached to it and you loved it and then it died in just one night and you have this care for it, now you want to die. The Lord's sort of trying to work into Jonah his illogical thinking. "Don't you see I care more about these people, 120,000 people that are saved now because of you sharing the message? And you care more about this gourd? Who cares about the gourd? It's just a plant that came and went overnight and was eaten by a worm."

Jonah is angry because the Ninevites didn't get what he thought they deserved. I wonder if you and I have the heart that's a little bit Jonah-esque when we see our enemies, or people that we don't like, or people that irritate us, or the people on the other side of the political spectrum. People care passionately about things, but they could care less that people are going to hell, that people are going to be destroyed for all eternity burning in hell.

It's a perspective that we get all into our myopic little microcosm where we kind of say, "Well, this is what really matters to me." Could it be that we care more about gourds than we care about people? That's where Jonah was at and the Lord's saying, "You've got to grow up, Jonah. Time to mature." So the Lord sends a wind, sends a worm, sends a gourd, sends a fish, sends a storm. And it's all part of this process. And we don't ever get, you say, "Brett, where's the rest of Jonah? How did it turn out?" The answer, we don't know and I think the Lord did that on purpose because we ask that question about you and me.

How does it turn out for us? Are we ready to love people the way God wants us to love them and care enough about them to talk about salvation and preach even a simple message? I'm reminded in Mark chapter five there's a similar story where there was a person that was of the Gadarenes. Do you remember the people of Gad? They were the Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. They settled on the east side of the Jordan River. Remember those guys? That was not a good place for them to be. They were Jews that never really entered in the promised land.

Well, fast forward a couple thousand years and you get to these Gadarene people, the Gaddites. And they were living on that side, Jewish people, and guess what they were doing? They were pig farmers. Does that sound like a good Jewish thing to do? That's what happens when you separate yourself from God's people. You still think you're God's people but you're doing stuff that's looking a lot more like the world than God.

So these people are pig farmers and everything's great except they've got this one problem: a lunatic crazy young man who's demon-possessed. And so what they do is they chain him up and they put him outside of the town and make him live among the tombs of the dead. This poor guy. He's a guy that's been a problem for them, lighting houses on fire and doing horrible things like that. They just chained him up, put him up in the tombs and that was the end of it for them. Meanwhile, they're just happy pig farmers eating their bacon and all that stuff. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

But this is where we pick it up in Mark chapter five. Jesus came to this man of the tombs and He cast out the demon. Suddenly this guy is no longer freaking out and breaking chains and doing all this crazy demonically-possessed stuff. He's like normal. He's just sitting there and clothed with normal clothes. He's not running around naked shrieking with craziness.

Suddenly the townspeople hear, "Oh, the man of the tombs, somebody healed this guy." The message came out that this guy was healed. Well, check out what it says in verse 14 of chapter five. "And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country and they went out to see what it was that had been done. And they came to Jesus and saw him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind and they were afraid."

That's always a worldly response by the way, when you see someone who was a drug addict and who was someone... there's kind of this fearful like, "Well, I don't think it's going to stick," or "They're not really saved," or "They're just good for a few minutes." We always have this negative response sometimes to God doing a miracle in someone's life.

So they're all afraid and it says in verse 16, "And they that saw it told them how it befell him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine." Remember what Jesus did? He said, "Who are you?" and he says, "We're legion, we're many." He's going to cast them out of this person, but instead of just casting them out of nothing, they said, "Let us go into the swine." So Jesus said, "Okay," and they go into the swine and all the swine run off a cliff and die in the Sea of Galilee there. It's kind of a crazy story.

So they realized their pigs were gone. And it says verse 16, "They that saw it told them how it befell them that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine." Verse 17, "And they began to pray him," or ask Jesus, "to depart out of their coasts. And when he was come into the ship, he had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not and said unto him, 'Go home to thy friends and then tell them the great things the Lord hath done for thee and had compassion on thee.' And then Jesus departed into the Decapolis region."

What an amazing story. The Jews, the Gadarene people, instead of them saying, "Sweet, we've got a guy here who can cast out demons. And look at this guy, the son of the Gadarenes, this young man who was tormented by all these demons. Look, he's healed. A miracle, wonderful." That wasn't their response. It was like, "Ugh, this is weird. We don't know what to do with this guy now that he's clothed and in his right mind." And they said, "Man, you made our pigs go into the ocean," or the sea, "so get out of our town. Get out of these parts." That's what he's basically asked to do.

One of the things we learn about the Gadarene people is they cared more about their pigs than they cared about people. They cared more about pigs than they cared about people. They should have been happy for this man. They should have been convicted knowing that they shouldn't have been doing pig farming as Jews keeping the law. But I wonder if the pigs and the Jews... sometimes we want to just stick with our sin and just do our thing and we could care less about other people.

Do we care more about politics than we care about people? It's amazing how things become important to us, whether it's a gourd, or it's a pig, or a Wilson volleyball. Little objects can become really important to us and it's about what you're investing your time and energy and affection. You know that Cast Away movie, that Wilson volleyball... you almost feel horrible for this guy when he starts to lose his volleyball. You're like, "No!" You're feeling as bad as he does. It's just a volleyball.

But it's funny how when you invest time and energy into something, how much you love it. You can start caring for things that really don't matter as much as other things in God's perspective. I love the story of the guy who was in prison, had 30 years in prison. Early in his prison sentence, he found this carpenter ant, a big ant, that was walking across. He saved it and put the little ant in a little matchbox and he started to train it over the years. Years in prison and he taught it to do cartwheels and somersaults and this little ant could just, you know, do on command. It was amazing.

After 30 years he got out of prison, he brought his ant, he said, "Oh, I'm going to make millions off this ant." He thought I'll go into his favorite bar and sets it down on the counter and old Hank behind the counter, he says, "Oh, this will be great." He takes the ant out and says, "Hey Hank, come, you see this?" Hank's like, "Yeah," [smashing sound]. See, I just told you a dumb story about an ant and some of you are like, "Oh!" It's not even a true story. And some of you are heartbroken. And it took me 10 seconds to set you up for that.

It's amazing what we start caring about. What makes you excited and happy? Jonah was totally backwards on this. He was happy about a little plant that meant nothing. He was really unhappy that a whole city of people were saved by God's grace through faith. I just want us to go away with this notion of the book of Jonah, that this is kind of the main lesson. I mean, it's a great lesson of repentance and we learned some stuff about rebellion and all this stuff. But I think the main lesson of the book of Jonah is really that we've got to not have the Jonah mindset.

We need to actually care about people. That's what God was trying to work into Jonah, to actually care. And if you don't care about people, I tell you what, God's going to be faithful and He'll prepare whatever He needs to prepare for you: a storm, a fish, a worm, a gourd, a wind, whatever He'll do, He'll prepare it for you. Slowly but surely, hopefully you'll start to actually care more about people than pigs or gourds or whatever.

We need to be people who care about the lost, the unsaved. There's so many people today that are lost in this world. For you and I, we have work to do. Go into all the world, preach the gospel. Well, what if I don't want to? I don't care about those people downtown or these people that are living over here or those people that have that world view. Well, that's very Jonah-esque. God forbid that we have a Jonah mindset.

So, some words for us to ponder, to think about, and then maybe to change some attitudes in our hearts. Amen? Amen. Lord, we thank you for this little book, this amazing story really. And it's amazing to me that you care about the Ninevites so much that you would save a whole city of Ninevites. That shows us about your amazing grace, your massive mercy that you would care about these bloodthirsty people of the Ninevite era.

But at the same time, it makes us realize we have no idea who you want to see saved to that level or that degree. But help us never to get in the way or be hesitant to be obedient to preach your word and to share the gospel. I pray that we would care more about people and their eternal condition rather than the little things that don't matter. Give us wisdom, Lord. I pray your blessing upon this congregation that our lights would so shine in this dark world.

We know this life on earth is temporary, that gourds come and go, but Lord, we know that heaven is coming for us by your grace. So may we have that same heart for you as you have for the unsaved, that we might preach the gospel to all that would hear. So bless this study, Lord, in Jonah. Now we just continue through your word. I pray that you'd use this time to speak to us, Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador concluding a study series with a fitting prayer, reflecting on the lessons for us from the story of Jonah: to rejoice in God's grace and mercy that extends to all. And I hope you'll stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me with some closing thoughts on our time in Jonah.

But first, our teacher Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Each day, Pastor Brett will bring you a verse-by-verse study of God's word. If you've missed any portion of our time today, you can find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville, Oregon. For more information, just go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link Locations. Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link Locations.

Well, I have Pastor Brett with me now. As we've just completed our study in one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, Jonah, Brett, how can this story that begins with a reluctant prophet and ends with a people who end up repenting and turning to the Lord be a lesson for us today?

Brett Meador: Well, I believe it is very relevant, and maybe one of the most relevant stories for us today. It's the story of a reluctant people, a reluctant prophet, a rebellious nation, but a relentlessly merciful God. That's really what the story of Jonah's about. Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he didn't think they deserved God's mercy. And that's the point. None of us really do deserve the mercy or the grace of God. Yet, God, He's quick to show compassion and mercy, even nations that seem too far gone to be even saved. And that's true for people. You might think you're too far gone to be saved or you've been too sinful, but the book of Jonah reminds us God can reach even all the way out to the uttermost and save the lost. And that's the beautiful part of the book of Jonah.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Brett, for that reminder of the gracious and faithful God that demonstrated His love for an unlovable people. Well, I want to mention that if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador or Today's Word, just go to todayswordradio.com. That's todayswordradio.com. And that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett Meador will continue in our Old Testament minor prophet series. This time, we'll look at the prophet Micah. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.