God's Compassion for the City W/ Pastor Brad

In the final chapter of Book of Jonah, God asks Jonah a piercing question: Should I not care about the great city? This message explores God’s deep compassion for people, cities, and even enemies—and challenges us to examine our own hearts. As we close our Jonah series, we’ll see how Jesus calls His church to impact the city with truth, grace, and compassion.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We are continuing on. Really, today is the conclusion of a book in the Old Testament that we've been in on the book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet, and his story is about this: running from God, repenting before God, and then being revived by God. And if you've ever experienced those, say amen. All right. If you're visiting with us today, Jonah's a very short book, a powerful book. Four chapters. Four total. The first two chapters is about how Jonah runs from his calling. God gave Jonah a job. Jonah didn't want that job. Because the people that God called him to serve were his enemies. Those who he had despised. So he bolts, he hops on a ship where he faces a storm. All right. And check this out. I love this. I heard this past week a child here who loves to read the Jesus storybook Bible. In particular, uh several times a day, this child loves to read this one, the Jonah story. And in the story, uh Jonah says, I won't do what God says. That's a good plan, Jonah said. But of course, it wasn't a good plan. And in fact, Andrew, what does your son Joel love to say about what kind of plan that was? It's a silly plan, all right? It's a silly plan indeed to run from God. That's the sermon. Done. Joel preached it, all right? Yes, indeed. So God commands a storm, sailors, and a fish to bring him into the other direction to fulfill his calling. Last week we saw in chapter three that he enters the city walls of a great city by the name of Nineveh. He was called to go there. In fact, if you were to go there today, it would look like this. And a friend reminded me that this is not AI, this is real. You can see these walls today. And he goes there and he preaches to his enemies. That's what his job was. And what's crazy is that the first time he preaches, immediately they turn to the Lord. Everybody snap with me. That's how long it took. It's amazing. They repent, they turn from their sin, they turn to God. All it took was one prophet to give one word. They turn around, the people of Nineveh. So you'd think that Jonah would be so excited that his enemies turn to God. Nope, he's filled with anger. He's filled with rage. Why? Well, welcome to the last chapter that we see here in Jonah 4. My title is God's Compassion for the City. And chapter 4, it's gonna end on a cliffhanger. It ends on a question. In fact, as I read this, God will ask three questions in this passage. Look for them as we dive into the conclusion of this book. And you can remain seated for the reading of God's Word, and let's just let the Holy Spirit speak to us, convict us as we read. But to Jonah, this seemed all 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 is what I 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 is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, Is it right for you to be angry? Jonah had gone out and he sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and he waited to see what would happen to the city. Now watch this story, this lesson that we see. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and 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. God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, It would be better for me that to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? It is, he said, I'm so angry, I wish I were dead. But the Lord said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow, it sprang up overnight and died overnight. And here's how it ends. God says, And should I not have concern, or in other words, compassion? Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and also so many animals? This is the holy word of God. All right. So to get at God's compassion for the city, God asks three questions in our passage, and what I'd like to do is to take a closer look here, look at these questions, and then apply each of them. Verses one and following. But to Jonah, this all seemed very wrong, right? He became angry, he prayed to the Lord. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and a compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, Is it right for you to be angry? What's going on here? Why? Why is Jonah so angry? There's a lot of rage in his heart. Why? Well, in Jonah's day, his people did not want to share God's message with the surrounding people groups and nations. They had forgotten their purpose as a people to be a blessing to the rest of the world by sharing God's message with those around them. For example, in the very first book of the Bible, just a couple of chapters in, in Genesis 12, we see God's purposes here. God says, I will bless you, and I'm gonna make you a blessing to others. Jonah wasn't into that. No way. He thought that God should not give his salvation to a people who he despised as his enemies. He didn't want the Ninevites forgiven. He did not understand that the God of His people was also the God of the whole world. Which is a good question. Do our views ever get as narrow as Jonah? God help us. Are you ever surprised when someone unlikely turns to the Lord? Jackie Baber Bay, our early childhood development center, is named after her. She was a saint among us, a matriarch. She would often say this that heaven isn't for good people, it's for forgiven people. Right? Jonah is frustrated. He had the job of delivering a message of repentance to Nineveh. And the crazy thing is, they listened right away. Amen. Immediate hallelujah. But what it did it do to him? Verse three happened to him. He said he would rather die essentially than seeing God's compassion on that city, which is crazy because not that long ago Jonah was facing this. All right. He was tossed overboard, and there was a whale that was chasing him. Just imagine swimming around in the water, and you see a tail like this coming your way. Jonah was filled though with joy when God saved him from that, but he was angry when Nineveh was saved. He loved God's compassion for his life, but not for others. And he's learning something. God's forgiveness, what is not only for him or his people alone, it extends to all who repent and turn and believe in him. Let's go deeper. Verse 5. That's where we see this beautiful word picture. Jonah had gone out, you know, he's frustrated. And he sat down at a place east of the city. He's sulking. There, he makes himself a shelter. He sits, he sat in its shade and he waited to see what would happen to the city. How many of us are there? Just waiting. Waiting to see what will happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow 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. But God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plants? So as you can see, Jonah continues to be frustrated with God's compassion. He leaves the city, puts up this shelter to see what would happen. To see that really he was hoping for God to change his mind. Right here, God arranges a beautiful broad-leafed plant to spring up out of nowhere. Scholars suggest it was a castor oil plant, all right, which can reach up to a health of about 12 feet, just massive leaves, right? God caused this astonishing quick growth to care for Jonah in his discouragement. But then, just as easy as he provides this, he provides a worm to chew at the branches. Just think the hungry caterpillar, that story. This thing went in. And yet, what's happening to this plant is for Jonah's provision. Hmm. God was using the vine to teach Jonah something so important. He took away Jonah's comfort to expand his understanding of God's compassion and concern he has, not just even for Nineveh, but for all of his people. And I love this verse 10 and 11. This man, we could spend a whole sermon series right here. The Lord said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. Should I not have concern? Should I not have compassion for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals, or some translations were say, and a lot of cattle. So some powerful truths here, and then I want to apply it with a testimony. Jonah expressed concern over something dying, but ironically, it is a plant, not for the 120,000 people, who do not know their right hand from their left, which is a striking picture of a people who are morally and spiritually unaware. And the book ends with a surprising question from God. If Jonah could feel compassion for a plant, shouldn't God feel compassion for an entire city filled with people? Even animals, the local cows that He has created and cares for? The book leaves the question unanswered and invites us to respond. In fact, turn to your neighbor and say, You're invited. You're invited. Yeah, yeah. You're invited to examine your heart and consider God's call of compassion for others in the city to which he has called us. I love this cliffhanger, right? Should I not have concern and compassion for the great city of Nineveh? In Jonah, in the book, four times, God calls Nineveh great, this exceedingly great city. God says, shouldn't I have compassion for it? And I want to camp there for a moment. In the first church in the book of Acts, when God raises up a whole host of leaders and disciples, they go to cities. They go to great cities. God created, began this mission. And by the Spirit, these cities then impact nations. Samaria, Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Galatia, Colossae, Damascus, Antioch, Athens, and the largest city at that time Rome. Go to that great city, Paul. Go to Rome. Jonah, go to Nineveh. Madison, go to the city to which I've called you. Church, God calls us to reach the city. And here's a way to bring it home. Check this out. The book of Jonah has had a big impact on my wife, Christy. So love, I'm gonna invite you up at this time. For those of you who may not know, my wife was the youth director of Madison for more than 16 years, all right? And check this out. She's also originally from Pittsburgh, PA Ghost Stealers, alright? And her mother, Chris, and husband Vince are here today. We see you, they get the longest distance travel award today. We love you. Glad that you are here, and happy Mother's Day, Mom. We love you both. And I just learned this that actually for more than 14 summers, Christy helped lead service projects with teams from here who served at the Pittsburgh Project. And when she first started here in 1999, the book of Jonah had a big impact in love. Can you share and talk about that and God's compassion for the city?

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Absolutely. I also want to say, I actually think y'all get the biggest travel towards it. There might be another person. Just praise the Lord. Um we were reading Jonah chapter four over dinner the other night, and I just got tears in my eyes because I was remembering the calling that God placed on my life in 1999-ish, when I spent my first summer at the Pittsburgh Project. And the Pittsburgh Project was a space where they wouldn't do service camps during the summer, and they would invite people from all over the country to come and they would spend a week um learning about the city and then going out to do home repairs for low-income and elderly families throughout the city. And during the daytime, when all the kids were gone, when all the teens doing service projects were gone, they would bring in 150 kids from the neighborhood and they would do summer programming for those students. And one summer in 1999, we studied the book of Jonah in our club times at night. And in Jonah chapter four, this question of there are 120,000 people in this city who don't know their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Our pastor for that year, the one of the he was the founder of the Pittsburgh Project. His name was Salim Gubriel. And Salim was from Lebanon. And he had fled during the conflict and the war in Lebanon, where he lost most of his family. And they came to the U.S. and he had a really hard time in school. Um and he ended up growing up and finding that Jesus had been calling him for years to follow Christ. And he shared with us this powerful testimony of how sometimes when you look at the city, we think the worst of the city. And he challenged us to see the city the way God saw the city. And I don't know about you, but our city has been through some very heartbreaking tragedies in this last week. And if if you aren't aware, there was a 15-year-old boy and a 39-year-old mom who were murdered in a park in front of many people by an 18-year-old boy who was rejected from playing a soccer game. Happened right next to your house. What is happening in our city? But I genuinely believe that God is calling believers to say, I need you to care about the city. And I just want to encourage us in this space. We are people, many of us who live right here in Grand Rapids. And I hear God saying to us, South Hill in Grand Rapids, there are 200,000 eight hundred and eight people in the city of Grand Rapids. In the metropolitan area, there's over a million. Will you care about this great city? Will you take your gifts? Will you allow your talents and your passions to be used to see the peace and the prosperity of the city be cultivated? And sometimes that means your job is to raise kids who will be healthy and wise. For some of us, that's the call, the call to go and teach in the city. For some of us, it is a call to care about housing or immigrants or legal reform. But all of us have a role to play in this great city. And when I remember growing up in Pittsburgh, and I I we grew up about 40 minutes or 35 minutes from the Pittsburgh Project. And I think that it is so important that we are not petty. Because Jonah was petty. Let's be honest. That was some petty stuff he was doing. There's a website called God Ain't Petty, but I am, and I just want to reject it. Because, in all honesty, I believe every one of us has a calling to show up in our cities and to love and care for our communities. And so I just pray over us today, South Hill, that we would look at what gifts has God given us and will we love the city for his glory wherever he plants us. Amen. Amen.