WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.120 All right, well, good morning. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:03.759 So we're gonna continue our way through the book of Jonah. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.120 We're in chapter four. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:06.959 And last week we were in chapter four. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.240 We'll be in chapter four today. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.560 We'll be in chapter to four next week, and then we'll be done with Jonah. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:17.600 So if you haven't been with us, I'll catch you up to speed as we talk this morning so you won't feel too lost. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:21.679 So this morning, I I want to talk about a sad truth that we all know about. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.320 We all know this truth to some degree on some level. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:28.079 Now, some of us, our very lives are defined by this truth. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.920 All that we are and all that we do every day can sort of be defined by this truth. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.520 This truth, this sad truth, actually produces a lot of resentment and bitterness. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:40.960 For others of us, maybe you just know somebody, somebody near you, that is incredibly defined by this truth. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:47.759 And for some of us, it's just that a particular day or a week or a season can be defined by this sad truth. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:54.000 And we can move through life with the hum of never being enough and always being a victim. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:57.520 So here it is, the sad truth, straight from Jonah 4. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:59.840 It's what's going on with Jonah. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.040 Unprocessed anger can easily turn into self-pity. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:12.000 Now that's not groundbreaking for most of us, but it is a truth and it defines a lot of us, whether it be our entire lives or a day. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.159 Unprocessed anger can easily turn into self-pity. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:28.719 So chances are you know about this in some degree because you lost a job, or you lost a romance, or you lost a child, or you lost a wife or a boyfriend or a husband, or you lost your health. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.480 You didn't make the team. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:40.000 And that thing that you needed to happen, or you thought it would happen, it didn't happen, or it hasn't happened, the thing that you never wanted to happen, that thing, that thing happened. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:48.879 And you know what I'm talking about because it's that memory that you've bottled up and you've shoved it way deep down and you haven't processed it. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:54.239 Unprocessed anger can easily turn into self-pity. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:56.719 This is what can happen. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:04.239 And either we need to process and grieve our sin, or process and grieve our loss. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.159 Maybe both. 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:18.400 The first one is self-pity is a form of anger that can be created when life isn't going the way I want or expect. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:21.039 Anybody familiar with that, right? 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:21.919 All of us, right? 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.759 This is when we have our pity party and we listen to too much inya. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.439 We just keep listening to it and feel sorry about ourselves or too much reality television so we can feel better about ourselves, one or the other. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:32.719 Here's the second sentence. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:42.159 Self-pity is a reactive state fueled by anger because I lost something I thought I deserved. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.280 So, chapter four of Jonah. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:52.800 If you remember the story to catch you up to speed, if you've just shown up with us this morning, Jonah was a religious prophet, a very religious man. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:54.879 And he is called to go preach to Nineveh. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:56.159 Nineveh was his enemy. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.639 Now, we say enemy, but this really was his enemy. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:00.560 These were horrible people. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:04.719 2 Kings tells us how horrible these people tortured other people. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.879 This was his enemy. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:16.400 So, of course, he doesn't want to go and preach to them and share God's love for them, and like, hey, you should repent of all this horrible stuff you're doing, and God will have his kindness upon you. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:17.520 He doesn't want to tell them that. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:19.360 He wants them to suffer for their sin. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:21.280 And so he goes the other way, right? 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:30.159 He boards a ship, he heads to Tarshish, eventually he ends up over into the sea, under the sea, the miraculous story of him being swallowed by a fish. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.319 He is underneath it all. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.919 And there in that belly of the fish, he has nothing left. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.039 And we have this incredible moment of surrender. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:45.520 Out of that, he is thrown up out of the fish, he gets back on land, he heads to Nineveh. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:50.319 So out of his surrender, we finally have some obedience out of Jonah. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.039 And so he goes and he preaches to these people, these horrible people, and they all repent. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:59.039 They all say, We have been horrible people, we repent of that, we're not gonna do that anymore. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.120 We recognize God's authority, and God is kind to them. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:05.919 And that's just when we think, right? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.800 This is just at the story that in the narrative arc of everybody gets along. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:17.279 This is just the point where you go, like, hey, they're all gonna go to David Buster's and have drinks and play games, they're gonna have a great time. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.480 This is the end of the story, they're gonna live in a neighborhood together. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:22.720 No, that is not what happened. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:31.600 Jonah says, I don't I don't like anything that I just saw, and I'm gonna leave town and I'm gonna go up and be miserable by myself. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.399 So he's angry and he's full of self-pity. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.959 We hear it, we heard all of chapter four, but verse one. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:41.600 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:45.680 So what displeased him was that God was kind to people. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.279 And he was angry. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:52.720 So Jonah basically says, I just knew it. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.120 God, I knew it. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:58.879 I knew you were gonna love like that. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:06.959 And I want the love for me, and I want the love for my people and my nation, but I don't want the love for those people. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:14.639 And you know who those people are, because even when I say that, those people, you can start to think through who those people are for you. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:18.800 In verse 3, he says, You were loving and kind to this horrible. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:20.560 I'd rather die than see that. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.360 Verses eight and nine, you took away my comfort. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:36.959 He had that plant grow up, he had shade, he has comfort, so he got to be there, you know, he got to keep his enemy, and then he was still comfortable, and then God takes away that idol of comfort and says, Oh, if I can't have that idol of comfort, I'd rather die, verses eight and nine. 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:40.240 Now, of course, he could always go into the city, right? 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.160 That's kind of like the things going on in territory. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:44.959 At any point, he can walk back into the city. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.199 These people have repented, they're his brothers and sisters, they would take him in. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:56.000 But here's the point his anger and his self-pity would not let him do it. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.360 He would rather choose to be miserable. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:02.399 So he sat in the sun. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:13.839 And God keeps coming back to him over and over and over again and asks, Do you do well to be angry? 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.399 You know, it's kind of like, is this working out for you? 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:19.040 This anger thing, the self-pity thing. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:19.759 Is that working out? 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:21.839 How's that working? 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:24.560 Here's point number one. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:34.480 Anger and self-pity arise when what we thought we need for true life is threatened or taken away. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:41.040 Anger and self-pity arise when what we thought we need for true life is threatened or taken away. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.680 So Jonah has two loves we talked about last week. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.000 He has this racial nationalistic arrogance. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:50.560 His people are better than those people. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.639 God should love us, God should not love them. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:54.480 That's taken away from them. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:00.079 The other love of his life is this idol of comfort, the plant. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.519 And God says, Oh, you pitied the plant. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:05.040 You had compassion for the plant. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:09.680 You love the plant, but I love those people, and the plant's taken away from them. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:18.399 Now, chances are, chances are, because I have it, there's something in your life, let's just call it X. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:22.160 And if you have X, everything is good. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:24.160 If you have X, you are good. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:25.680 If you have X, you're whole. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:27.680 If you have X, you are at peace. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:33.519 And if X is taken away or threatened, everything starts to fall apart. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:42.240 Because you and I, we can easily think we need X to be worthy or to be righteous before God. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.199 It's the last thing we're holding on to. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:49.600 For Jonah, it was his nationalistic idea of his nation. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:51.120 And then it was his comfort. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:52.240 Both are taken away from him. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.040 He has nothing. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:54.399 So what does he cling to? 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:55.839 He clings to anger. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:59.839 That's what happens to us often. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:05.920 If X gets threatened or removed from our lives, and chances are you've never said it out loud because we're just too religious for that, right? 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.040 It's just, but it's there. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:10.240 And then the pity says: here's what pity says. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:12.399 You deserve that. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:19.839 You needed that to be whole. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.120 You needed that to be at peace. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.199 Do you remember the animated movie Inside Out? 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:29.839 Do you all remember that? 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:30.240 Anyone? 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:31.120 Watch that. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:32.000 I love that movie. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.320 Now that I have children, we watch it all the time. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:35.279 So just, you know what? 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.639 Spoiler or you know, maybe earmuff for the next five minutes. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.159 That would be fine if you hadn't seen it. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.279 You've had time to see it. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.320 It's not new, so I don't feel too bad about anytime I do this. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:46.799 And so it's about 11-year-old Riley. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.519 And this little girl, her family lives in Minnesota. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:50.399 She has a great life. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:51.759 She loves her life. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:52.480 It's wonderful. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:53.120 She has friends. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:53.679 She loves her home. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:54.799 She loves everything about it. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.919 And then she moves, her family moves from there to San Francisco. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:08:59.360 They get to San Francisco. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:01.600 She doesn't like this is not what she wanted. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:03.600 Her life is disruptive. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:09.759 Now part of the movie, it flip-flops back and forth between her, what her life is, and then it goes inside of her head. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:10.480 You remember that? 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:16.000 And inside of her head, there's those five characters: there's joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:20.399 And so there's all this interplay going on as she loses control of her life. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.240 Her parents offend her. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.320 She's socially embarrassed. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.080 And she loses control. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.320 And she's sad. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:29.440 Right? 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:30.320 You remember it? 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:33.759 She's sad, but she won't feel the sadness. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:40.320 So she's full of self-pity, self-hatred, rebellion, bitterness, resentment, and inner rage. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:52.559 And the entire movie, the entire movie is her trying to reconcile her desire for joy, but the reality of sadness. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:10:02.320 And literally in the movie, literally, until she gives sadness a seat at the table, she's falling apart. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:03.759 Brilliant movie. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:04.960 Brilliant. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.320 I ran into an article this week, What Your Anger May Be Hiding. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.559 By a psychologist, Leon Seltzer on Psychology Today. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:30.080 Here's just a little quote: Anger is almost never a primary emotion, and that even when anger seems like an instantaneous knee-jerk reaction to provocation, there's always some other feeling that gave rise to it. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:38.480 And this particular feeling is precisely what the anger has contrived to camouflage or control. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:40.399 So Dr. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.840 Seltzer's saying this anger works in the moment. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:45.279 It works. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:51.440 It works to camouflage, it works for us to have a sense of control when we feel out of control. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:54.240 But if we have anger, we have something to hold on to. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.840 So we get angry. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:01.120 The problem is inevitably it causes us to fall apart even more. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.679 So, three good questions when you become angry. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:06.320 Right? 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:12.879 You feel it rise up, maybe your passive anger, you hide it really well, you just feel it inside, maybe it's outburst anger, whatever. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.279 But if when you feel that anger, come up. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:16.879 What did I lose? 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.799 What did I lose? 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.159 You lost something. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.440 That's why you're angry. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:22.960 What did I lose? 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:25.279 What am I sad about? 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:27.600 You're actually sad. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.120 What am I sad about? 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.559 And lastly, what do I need to confess? 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:36.559 Or grieve. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:41.360 Point number two is this we need to grieve that which we lose. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:45.679 Jonah sat in the belly of the fish earlier in the story. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:49.360 He's lost a lot of stuff at this point in his life. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:52.720 He's lost his high view of himself, that's for sure. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:54.720 He was a religious prophet now. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:59.679 I mean, then he became just kind of like trash on a ship that they threw overboard. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.240 He lost the sense of capability. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.320 He's lost his sense of power and control. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:12.799 And so then that mourning leads to surrender, and that surrender leads to obedience, but then he's just like us, and we're just like him. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.240 He's obedient in one moment. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:18.080 We talked about it last week, how close together kindness and judgment can be. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.159 That's what we talked about last week. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:28.320 And yet here we have him up on a hill outside the city, and we don't see any grieving. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:35.600 We just see anger and pity, inner conflict, disharmony with God. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:44.000 But what if, what if, what if he had confessed his sin and grieved his loss? 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:52.559 In our first year as a church, I found myself, so this was six years ago, I found myself feeling incredibly inadequate. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:13:06.480 And part of that I started to realize was this how much of my identity that I had put in the place I used to work, a big, prestigious church, and I had an office, and I mean, you know, I mean, it was incredible, and it made me feel so important. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:13.120 And being a church planner, I mean, while it's incredibly rewarding, it's not glorious. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.480 And all that sort of like stripped away. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:27.440 You know, and then identity issues, security issues, certainly lack of faith issues, certainly fear and anxiety issues. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:34.159 And then also, also in that first year, we lost one of our founding members to suicide. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:39.519 So I'm grieving my sin of self-justification via my career. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.440 That's going on and causing sort of an identity crisis. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:49.120 And then I lose somebody that I'm caring for. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.440 And here's what I didn't expect. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.440 I didn't see it coming. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:02.720 I would have never expected that grieving was the way out. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:06.720 I just wouldn't have thought it. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.240 That grieving my sin and grieving my loss was actually the way out. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.200 I think this creates, Jonah creates a few more questions for us. 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.080 What is underneath your pity and anger? 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:21.840 What's the story under the story? 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:25.279 What is under your resentment or bitterness? 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:30.559 What did you lose and you've never grieved? 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.000 What did you love and you should have never loved? 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:41.440 See, Jesus breaks all of us in Matthew 5, right? 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:42.480 The Sermon on the Mount. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:43.200 He breaks all of us. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.600 And a whole, oh, he goes across the board on this one. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.799 But there's this one statement, you've heard it said, do not commit murder. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:49.600 You've heard that. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:50.639 Doing pretty good. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:51.600 Maybe most of us. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:53.200 I don't know all your stories. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:59.840 But I say, do not even hold anger in your heart. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:02.720 And it just levels us. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:10.399 And it just causes us to realize that I don't need Jesus to just be a model of character. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.480 Man, if Jesus is just a model of character, I'm done. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:15.919 I don't need that. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.960 That's just another standard for me to live up to. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.639 That's not gonna help me. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:27.600 What's gonna help me is if he's the fulfiller of the law, that I am angry. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:29.840 I get angry in my heart. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.200 I shouldn't be. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:33.840 I should live like Christ, but I don't. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:39.440 And thank God and the grace of God that he fulfills the law for me. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:46.559 That he's not just my model of character, but he's actually my substitute and my savior. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:57.519 That's why we say every week all of our sin is put upon the cross on Christ, and Christ's righteousness is put upon us, so we are forever beloved. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:06.080 Point number three is this the God of all grace and truth is always with you in all of your loss and in all of your sin. 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:07.360 Always with you. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:09.440 It's the promise. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:16.240 Jonah gives us a whole bunch to learn from, but it's a whole bunch of what not to do. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:23.039 Jonah never confesses and repents of his self-righteousness and self-justification in chapter 4. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:33.919 And yet in Christ, we get to joyfully confess and joyfully repent because we're already accepted, fully accepted in Christ. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:39.200 Jonah never asks to see where he's wrong. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:46.080 And yet in Christ, because we're already fully accepted and absolved in righteous, we can go before God and say, Hey, show me, show me where I'm at. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:47.840 Nothing's at risk here. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:53.759 It would be to my benefit and the benefit of everybody around me for me to see that and grow in my self-awareness. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:01.120 Jonah never accepts reality as it is, but always resists it. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:09.440 This makes me think about the woman at the well in John 4, one of my favorite stories of the Bible. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.000 I think it looks like I was going back through my sermons, but every four months I mention it. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:16.640 We know she's there in the heat of the day. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.759 So she's there at the heat of the day, which means that's when other people would not be there. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.680 So she's avoiding people, so she's probably an outcast on some level. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:26.880 Not highly regarded. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.519 Jesus shows up and he says, Hey, will you give me a drink? 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:38.640 She said, Why would you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink? 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.079 Because see, a Jew wouldn't ask a Samaritan, would talk to a Samaritan. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.599 Samaritans were lowly. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:54.480 And Jesus says, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who asked you for a drink, you would have asked him, that's him, me, and he would have given you living water. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:56.559 And she says, Sir, you have nothing to draw with. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.200 How can you how can you drink? 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:08.400 And then here's what he says: everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:16.400 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.519 And she says, Hey sir, sir, give me give me that water. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.319 I won't thirst, I want to come here anymore. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:23.519 Give me that water. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:27.599 And then Jesus says, He goes to the story under the story. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:30.319 Go get your husband. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:32.480 Right? 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.920 Jesus goes to the story under the story, the emotion under the emotion. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:44.240 He digs down into the heart because if she will grieve sin, if she will grieve loss, we don't know her whole story. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:46.960 It's probably a combination of both, just like all of us. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:19:03.599 But if she'll grow in that self-awareness, that joyful repentance, that joyful confession, that process of grief of loss, she's gonna know a secret that the world never will never tells us. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:08.000 Blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:15.759 She sort of avoids. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.279 She says, I don't have a husband. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:20.960 And she says, Yeah, yeah. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.119 I know, you've had five. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:26.400 You live with another guy now. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.640 And Jesus doesn't condone her sin. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:36.240 I mean, I really think the point of the story here is Jesus is definitely not scared of it. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.119 I mean, he engages her heart. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:52.000 As messy as it is, full of sin and full of loss, all of which she needs to grow in that self-awareness and that joyful confession and repentance and that grieving process. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:56.880 He goes straight into it and he says, I am all the water your soul has ever thirst for. 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:58.559 Now that's powerful. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:02.160 That's powerful because God doesn't shame you. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.599 And in his kindness, he leads you. 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:15.519 He leads you to greater self-awareness, more joyful repentance, and greater courage to grieve that which you have lost. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:22.000 So that we're not like Jonah up on a hill, just angry and pitiful. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:32.799 My brothers and sisters, may we be delivered in the perfect love of Christ from all self-pity and all anger and all fear. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.400 Let's pray together. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.519 God, thank you that we see in the book of Jonah that you just never leave him alone. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:47.279 You just keep asking him over and over again, do you do well to be angry? 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:49.440 Do you do well to be angry? 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:59.519 God, we confess this morning that we are full of anger and self-pity at different times in our lives. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:09.359 Some of us have reservoirs of deep anger and self-pity, and others of us, we come in and out of it. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.240 Would you give us eyes to see? 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:20.720 Would you give us the gift of self-awareness that we might know where to grieve our losses and where to grieve our sin? 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:37.039 Would you give us the faith that understands and believes and rests in the full sufficiency of Jesus as our full righteousness and absolution, so there's nothing for us to add, so that we can come before you with greater courage to grieve all of it and ask to see all of it. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:46.000 And in that, would you move us from anger and pity to joy and peace? 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:48.880 In Jesus' name, amen.