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Loving What God Loves
- Greg Waybright Scott White
- Jonah 3:10-4:11
- Jonah: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels
- 47 mins 24 secs
- Views: 595
Study Notes
Loving What God Loves
Jonah 4:1-11
I’ve been told that one of Hollywood’s fads over the past decade or so is to leave movies “open-ended”, i.e., to leave conflicts between characters in the movie unresolved and questions raised in the movie unanswered.
So, this week, I’ve done what I often do: I’ve been asking church people to tell me about movies, books and shows that don’t tie up all the loose ends. And I’ve been told about a lot of them:
- The recent Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens that ends with the heroine Rey on an island about to deliver Master Luke’s light saber back to him. But, it leaves us with countless unanswered questions.
- Almost all the recent Marvel superhero movies that put a trailer in after the credits. It’s usually funny or odd, and makes you wonder what they're talking about or how the new problem will be fixed. But, always, it makes you look forward to the next movie!
And, as many of you told me, older movies did the same, mentioning movies like Casablanca that ends without letting us have any idea about what will happen with Rick and Ilsa after they leave Morocco. Others talked with me about Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz.
Today, as we come to the end of Jonah, we discover there are a lot of questions unanswered, especially about Jonah himself. What are we to do with a story when the title character’s last words are “I’m so angry, I wish I were dead!” And God’s last words to him are, “And also many animals”? It seems so unsatisfying, doesn’t it? It’s confusing. Why didn’t it end with Jonah 3:10, “When God saw how the Ninevites turned from their wicked ways, he did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” Now, that would be a happy ending!
But, let me tell you today that God’s Word has the story end this way to proclaim to you and me a powerful message. It’s one that we don’t know whether Jonah ever was willing to accept. And, I think that human beings have been so much like Jonah throughout history that God inspired this story to be written in this way to shock us – to shake us up in such a way that we might be changed by it.
How Bad Is This Ending with Jonah?
I think the best way for me to start is to help you see how bad Jonah was at the end. I’ve heard preachers try to soften the story. I’m not going to do that. Let me show you a few things about him that you might miss:
- Jonah’s Sermon (3:4) Forty days and Nineveh will be overturned.
I talked about this briefly last week. Notice again that Jonah’s sermon only says that God will overturn these evil Ninevites. This is indeed what Jonah hoped for, i.e., that Nineveh would be destroyed. But, do you see that Jonah said nothing about the fact that it’s in God’s nature to forgive sins and to show mercy? And, these Ninevites would not have known anything about God’s character. In fact, not knowing anything about God, the Ninevite king could only tell his people in 3:9, “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
In 4:2, of course, it’s clear that Jonah knew full well that God loves to show mercy. But Jonah didn’t want these people to receive mercy! He only wanted them to be destroyed!
- Jonah’s Revised Quotation (4:1-2) You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love.
As many Old Testament writers did, in v.2 Jonah quoted Exodus 34:6-7, the foundational passage in the Bible in which God tells Moses what he is like. In that text, God emphasized that he always has been, is and always will be both just and merciful. In his sermon, Jonah had only preached about God’s justice. But, in his complaint in 4:2, Jonah only speaks of God’s compassion. The point is that Jonah thinks God is only being true to one part of his character when he is patient with Nineveh, i.e., the side of mercy. By doing so, Jonah is really saying, “God, with what you’re doing to Nineveh, you are merciful but you are not just!”
I think we can appreciate how hard this was for Jonah to grasp. He didn’t know how God could be merciful to the evil Ninevites and still be just. We who follow Jesus do know how this can be – or, we should know. This topic is what we spoke about for weeks in our series from Romans 5-8. God has shown how he can be both just and punish evil as well as merciful and declare sinful people right with him, i.e., Jesus bore the punishment for our sins on the cross and thereby makes right all who are in Christ by faith. But, Jonah’s complaint is a vicious one, blatantly accusing God of a lack of integrity.
- Jonah’s Ultimatum (4:3-5) Jonah prayed, “Lord, take away my life…” Then Jonah sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter… and waited to see what would happen to the city.
What Jonah is doing here is challenging God. Jonah believed that God was the God of Israel and Judah – not of the Assyrians. So, there is a lot of ethnic prejudice in Jonah’s actions. He thought that the reason he and his people were God’s chosen people was because of their superiority over others – a point that God never accepts throughout Scripture. Anybody in the family of God is there by grace – not by personal merit.
Added to that, Nineveh was the center of the worship of the Goddess Ishtar. Ishtar was the goddess of desire, sex and power. What happened in the temple dedicated to her was vile. So, Jonah must have wondered, “What would a holy God have to do with such immoral people?”
With all that in mind, what we see in 4:3 is Jonah giving God an ultimatum: “Make your choice, God. Either destroy Nineveh or destroy me!” And, Jonah seemed to believe that God would give in to this demand. After all, God had covenanted to love Israel – not Assyria! What Jonah wanted in v. 3 was not to be killed. Jonah wanted God to reverse his decision to spare Nineveh. So, Jonah gave his ultimatum and then went to the east of the city, built a shabby hut, and sat to watch what God would do.
- Jonah’s Self-centeredness (4:6-10) The LORD said, “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 people …and also many animals?”
Some say that Jonah was a classic narcissist -- seeing himself at the center of anything that is important in the world. That may be true. He saw himself as wiser than God. And, he saw himself as being more important than over 120,000 people – and all their animals too!
So, while Jonah was sitting in the hot sun waiting for God to submit to his demands, he found his hut wasn’t providing much shelter. But then, God in his mercy appoints a leafy plant to provide shade and Jonah is overjoyed! (4:6b is emphatic about how thrilled Jonah was with the plant.) Jonah probably thought God was making up with him and showed it by giving in to his demands and providing this plant. But, on the next day, God sent a worm to destroy the plant -- followed by a hot wind. The result? Jonah mourned the loss of that plant and again was ready to die. We hear no more from Jonah in the story after v. 8.
Of course, the last word in the story belongs to God – as it always does. God was God when the story began and is God at the end too. Let me put God’s words to Jonah in vv. 9-10 into my own words:
“Ok Jonah, let me get this straight, you pity this plant, which was simply a gift to you that you did not earn or create. You only knew that plant for one day. Still, you mourn the plant -- and only because of what it did for you! And yet, Jonah, you are angry with me for caring about a whole city more than 120,000 human beings. These are all people I have created in my image -- people I have watched over and longed for all these years? Jonah, if you feel compassion for that one little plant, should I not feel compassion for these people who are the work of my hands? And, Jonah, these people who are not as fortunate as you. They have not had my Word and my Laws. They do not know whether to turn to the left or to the right. Yet, with what little they had, they have repented. Jonah, you care about a plant. Shouldn’t I care about these people – yes, and even their cattle?”
THE END!
So, what happened to Jonah? Do you want to know? I wish I could tell you because I also want to know. But, I don’t know what Jonah did. Did he go to the grave angry with God and embittered with hate-filled self-righteousness? The Bible doesn’t tell us. So, I don’t know.
So, what do I know when I finish reading Jonah?
- I know that, at the end, God is still God and he will always act in keeping with who he is.
- I know that, if Jonah would turn to God in repentance and faith… well, we all know what God would do if Jonah were to do that, don’t we? God would forgive his sins and show him mercy. That’s what God would do because he is a God who loves mercy.
But, we don’t know what Jonah did. One clear point in Jonah is how out-of-step Jonah was with God. He didn’t think the way God thinks. He didn’t see the way God sees. He didn’t value what God values. Do you?
In my view, Jonah ends this way so that we will ask ourselves whether we see anything like Jonah inside ourselves. As followers of Jesus, we understand how costly justice is, for the wages required for our sin had to be paid. Jesus bore in his body on the cross the punishment for our sins. And, we really understand mercy. The sinless one, Jesus, died for the sinful, us. It is by grace that we are saved – not by our works.
So, knowing all that, if we will live out the ways of God, valuing both justice and mercy like God does, what will we do? I’m sure it would change every part of our lives. But now, let me suggest two things:
#1: God loves people – so go to where people are and take God’s message to them.
Look at how the Bible talks about the megacity of Nineveh in Jonah 3:3c – “Nineveh was a great metropolis belonging to God. That what it says literally. It means that the people of this city were made by God. All that was in the city belonged to God. Basically, this is a main reason for God’s interest in Nineveh, i.e., Nineveh belonged to him. So, the people of that city were a part of the world that God loves – in spite of their sin.
So, God sent Jonah to where the people are, i.e., to the big city -- to the center of power, entertainment and influence. God loves the city – because so many people made in his image and for whom his Son died live in cities. Read the Book of Acts and you’ll see it: The church started in a city, in Jerusalem. God’s missionary enterprise started in a city, the great city of Antioch in Acts 11. In their missionary activity, Paul and his associates went from city from city to preach the Gospel. From the city, the work of God moved forward.
In the book of Jonah, God opened the door for Jonah to go to 10s of thousands of people, maybe as many as 600,000, in the megacity of Nineveh. That’s almost always how God has furthered his work in the world. And, let’s accept this challenge to us at LAC: God has placed us in a great city, the greater Los Angeles area, the entertainment center of the world. How can we bring the gospel to our city? We should be praying about that.
And, in our own day, God is moving cities of people out of their home areas and their places of safety, out of countries that have been resistant to the message about Jesus. We are witnessing the largest migration of people in the history of the world in our day. I think we are now experiencing the greatest opportunity for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our world that I have seen in my lifetime as refugees are being forced by the millions to leave their homes. Jonah calls us to ask: Does God love those people? Is he calling to us as he called to Jonah? “Arise, people of LAC. Go to that great city of people who are wandering and don’t know anything about me. Go and tell them. Either go or make it possible for others to go. I am ready to do a great work among them. I am ready to use you.”
#2. God loves mercy – so if you are a mercy-receiver, then love being a mercy-giver.
Jonah expected God to be merciful to him, but threw a fit when God wanted to show mercy to others. Jonah would have been more than happy to go to Nineveh if he knew he would have gotten to witness God’s wrath coming upon them.
Why was he so negative about these people? Was it because the governments and militaries of the Assyrians had been so brutal? That’s certainly a big part of it. But, did he really think that this entire people group had already done so much bad that the only just verdict for them all was annihilation? And was he so blind to his own stubbornness and pride – and that of his own people?
When you read Jonah, you should ask yourself, “Do I ever lump whole people groups into the “unworthy of God’s mercy” category as Jonah did the Ninevites?” Do you think about any people group, “I don’t want any of your kind around here!”? I hear a lot of talk like that in our world now. That cannot be the way of Christ.
Or, was Jonah so harsh toward them because their religion was so immoral? The sexual immorality of those who worshipped Ishtar at the temple in Nineveh was as bad as anything you might find in our world. I wonder whether, like Jonah, there are people that we as churchgoers avoid intentionally because of their ways of life. But, God sent Jonah to such people. God was ready to be merciful to such people. God has always called his people to enter with courage and humility into people’s lives to call people to turn to God -- including telling them of the mercy of God that is greater than any kinds of sin.
I think there is a reason Jonah ends the way it does. We read it and react negatively at the callousness of Jonah. But, then, we should stop and ask, “Do I see anything in myself that is more like Jonah than like God?” That’s the point of the story, isn’t it? God is both just and merciful – and Jonah was neither. He didn’t like God’s justice on himself – only God’s mercy. He didn’t like God’s mercy for Nineveh – only God’s justice.
I see the book of Jonah calling us to the same thing that is in Micah 6:8. That’s the great verse calling us to have our lives imitate the ways of God. God is just – we should act with justice. God loves mercy. We should love mercy. So, now you know that God is able and willing to save the Ninevites – and, yes, even Jonah.
And, you know that you and I are witnesses to our generation that God loves the world so much that he sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
I’ll now ask Pastor Scott White to come up and challenge us with one way that this message might play out through our lives.
Chinese Study Notes
愛神所愛
約拿4:1-11
我聽說在過去十年之間,好萊塢電影的一個時尚,就是為電影的結尾留白,比如讓電影中人物之間的沖突留有懸疑,或是電影中所提出的問題沒有答案。
因此這周,我照舊做了以往常做的事:我讓教會的弟兄姐妹給我講他們看過的一些沒有結局的電影、書和演出。他們告訴我很多這類的故事:
- 在最新的一集星球大戰的電影----“原力覺醒”的結尾,女主角瑞在一個海島上,即將把路加大師的光劍歸還給他,但是,這個結尾卻留給我們無數沒有答案的問題。
- 最近幾乎所有超級英雄的電影都會有預告片,它們通常都有趣而奇怪。它們會使你想要知道電影中的細節,或者他們如何解決新的問題,它們也總會使你期待下一部電影!
而且正如大家告訴我的,老電影也是一樣,像卡薩布蘭卡那樣的電影,不會讓觀眾知道,裏克和麗薩離開摩洛哥之後會發生什麽;還有人和我談到“飄” 和“奧茲巫師”。
今天,當我們來看約拿書結尾的時候,我們發現,有很多問題沒有得到解答,尤其是關於約拿自己的問題。當這部書的主要人物最後所說的話是“我很生氣,我希望自己已經死去”,而神跟他說的最後的話是:“也包括他們的牲畜”的時候,你會作何感想?這一切看起來都無法讓人滿意,不是嗎? 這其實讓人覺得很困惑。為什麽這本書沒有以3:10這樣的經文為結尾呢:神查看尼尼微人的行為,見他們離開惡道,祂就後悔,不把所說的災禍降與他們了。”這該是多好的結局呢!
但是今天,我想告訴你,在神的話語中,這個故事以這樣的方式結束,是為要向你我傳遞一個強有力的信息。我們不知道約拿是否願意接受這樣的信息。我覺得人類在歷史上一直像約拿一樣,因此神才默示了這個故事,並以這樣的方式寫下來使我們警醒,希望我們能因此而改變。
這個結局顯明了約拿的本性
我想,開始這篇講道最好的方式,是讓大家看到,在這部書結尾的時候,約拿這個人有多糟糕。有些牧師想要美化這個故事,但是我不想這樣做。請允許我向大家解說一些你可能會錯過的有關約拿的細節:
- 約拿的宣道(3:4)四十天之後,尼尼微就會被毀滅。
我上周曾經簡要地介紹過這一點。請再次留意,約拿的宣講只有說到神會毀滅這些邪惡的尼尼微人。這其實正是約拿所希望的。他希望尼尼微人被毀滅。然而,你有沒有看到,約拿並沒有宣講神赦罪和憐憫的本性?這些尼尼微人不知道神的任何屬性。其實他們對神是毫無所知,尼尼微的國王在3:9說:“或者神轉意後悔,不發烈怒,使我們不至滅亡,也未可知。”
在4:2中,約拿當然非常清楚,神喜愛賜下憐憫,但是他不想要讓這些人得到憐憫!他只想讓他們被毀滅!
- 約拿的斷章取義(4:1-2):你是有恩典,有憐憫的神,不輕易發怒,有豐盛的慈愛。
就像很多舊約作者一樣,約拿在第2節中引用了出埃及記34:6-7節,講到聖經
中神所曉喻摩西的祂的一些重要本性。在那段經文中,神強調,祂過去、現在、將來,永遠都是公義而又慈愛的神。然而在約拿宣道的時候,只講了神的公義,而當他在4:2向神抱怨的時候,又只講到了神的憐憫。重點是,約拿認為,當神對尼尼微人有忍耐的時候,祂只有對祂本性的某一部分是信實的,也就是說,神只有憐憫。約拿的意思其實是:“神啊,你對尼尼微所做的,只能說明你是慈愛的,但是你並不公義!”
我覺得我們可以贊同,這一點對於約拿來說,是多麽難以理解。他不知道神如何才能對邪惡的尼尼微人既有慈愛,又有公義。我們這些跟隨耶穌的人,當然能夠明白何以如此,或者說,我們應該知道為何如此。我們近期幾周在講羅馬書五至八章的講道中談到了這個主題。神向我們顯明,祂如何能公義地懲罰罪惡,又能宣告有罪的人在祂面前是義人呢?是耶穌在十字架上擔當了我們的罪,因而使那些在耶穌裏的人因信而得稱為義。但是約拿的抱怨卻是惡毒的,他顯然是在指責神沒有信實。
- 約拿給神的最後通牒(4:3-5)。約拿禱告說:“耶和華啊,現在求你取我的命
吧。因為我死了比活著還好……於是約拿出城……在那裏為自己搭了一座棚,坐在棚的陰下,要看看那城究竟如何。
約拿這是在向神挑戰。他相信,神是以色列和猶大的神,不是亞述人的神。因此
在約拿的行為中,體現了很多民族偏見。他認為,他和他的民族之所以成為神的選民,是因為他們比其它民族更加優越,整本聖經中從未有過這個觀點。在神家中的每個人都是因著恩典,而不是因著個人的成績而得蒙救贖的。除此之外,尼尼微是伊斯塔女神的崇拜中心。伊斯塔是欲望、性與權力之神。她的寺廟裏的一切都令神憎惡。所以約拿一定在想,“聖潔的神與這樣邪惡的人有什麽關系?了解了這一切,我們就可以看到,約拿在4:3是在給神最後通牒:“神,你需要做出選擇,要麽毀滅尼尼微,要麽就毀滅我!”約拿似乎相信神會屈服於這個要求。畢竟,神與之立約並施予慈愛的,是以色列人,而不是亞述人!其實,約拿在第3節中所要的並不是求死。約拿想讓神逆轉祂拯救尼尼微人的決定。因此,約拿下了最後的通牒,然後去了城的東邊,搭了一座棚,坐在那裏看神如何行事。
- 約拿的自我中心(4:6-10)“這尼尼微大城,其中不能分辨左手右手的有十二萬
多人,並有許多牲畜。我豈能不愛惜呢?
有人說,約拿是一個典型的自戀者,他將自己看為世上一切重要之事的中心。可真
的如此。他認為自己比神更聰明。而且他認為自己比十二萬人的性命還重要,其中也包括他們所有的牲畜!因此,當約拿坐在太陽下面等待神遵從他的要求的時候,他發現他的棚子無法為他提供足夠的陰涼。然而神因著祂的慈愛而使一株蓖麻為約拿提供陰涼,使得約拿大大喜樂(4:6b 強調了約拿因著這棵植物所得到的喜樂)。約拿可能認為,神是在與他和解,是要滿足他的要求,才提供了這個植物。然而第二天,神卻安排了一條蟲子咬死了蓖麻,神又安排炎熱的東風。結果呢?約拿為了那棵植物而難過,又再次求死。在第8節之後,我們就沒有再聽到約拿的聲音了。
當然,故事最後的結局屬於神,就像往常一樣。在故事開始與結束之時,神依舊是神。讓我用自己的話來復述一下第9-10節中神對約拿所說的話:“好吧,約拿,讓我直接說明吧,你愛惜這棵植物,它只是我所給你的禮物,,你既沒有賺取它,也沒有創造它。你只看到它一天之久,你都會愛惜它,只因為它為你遮蔭!但是約拿,你卻因為我顧念一個有著十二萬人的大城而對我生氣。這些都是我照著自己的形象所創造的人,他們都是我這些年來在看顧的人。約拿,如果你對於一株小小的植物都有憐惜之情,我難道不應當憐憫這些我所創造的人嗎?而且,這些人沒有你那麽幸運。他們沒有我的話語和律例。他們不知道是應當向左行還是應當向右行。然而,盡管他們所知甚少,他們還是悔改了。約拿,你憐惜一株植物,難道我不應當關心這些人、甚至包括他們的牛嗎?
接下來,約拿怎麽樣了?你想知道嗎?我希望我可以告訴你,因為我也很想知道。但是,我不知道約拿接下來做了什麽。他是否直至進入墳墓都責怪神,或者存著怨恨自以為義?聖經都沒有告訴我們。
所以,當我們讀完約拿書的時候我們明白了什麽?
- 在結尾的時候我了解到,神仍舊是神,祂永不改變
- 我也知道,約拿會在悔改和信心之中轉向神……我們都知道,如果約拿果真是如此,神會怎樣做。神會赦免他的罪,向他施憐憫,因為祂是喜愛憐憫的神。
然而我們不知道約拿在此之後做了什麽。但是有一點很清楚,那就是約拿偏離了神。他沒有想神所想,沒有從神的眼光看待事物,也沒有看重神所看重的。你是否如此呢?
在我看來,約拿書以此為結尾,是為要讓我們問一問自己,我們內心裏是否也像約拿一樣看待事物。作為耶穌的跟隨者,我們明白公義的代價,我們需要償還罪的工價。耶穌在十字架上擔當了我們的罪。我們也理解神的憐憫,那位無罪的耶穌,為了罪人而死。因著神的恩典,我們都蒙拯救,這一切都不是靠著我們的行為。
因此,了解了這一切之後,如果我們要按照神的方式來生活,像神一樣看重公義與憐憫,我們應當怎樣行呢?我很肯定,這會改變我們生命的每一個部分。但是現在,讓我給大家兩個建議:
第一,神愛世人,因此我們要去世人所在之地,將神的信息傳給他們。
請看聖經在約拿書3:3中是如何談論大城尼尼微的:“這尼尼微是屬神的極大的城。 這是字面上的意思。 這意味著這城裏的人都是神所造的, 城裏的一切都屬於神。這就是神關註尼尼微的主要原因,也就是說,尼尼微是屬祂的。 所以,這個城裏的人是神所愛的世界的一部分,盡管他們有罪。
因而神差遣約拿到那些人所在之地,救贖那個極大的城,那城市是權力、娛樂和影響力的中心。神愛這個城市,因為如此多住在這個城市的人,都是按著祂的形象造的,並且祂的兒子為他們而死。如果你讀使徒行傳,就會看到,教會是從耶路撒冷這個城市開始的。使徒行傳11章說,神宣教的計劃是從安提阿這個大城市開始的。在宣教的行動中,保羅和他的同工們從這個城市開始去傳福音,使神的工作開始向外拓展。
在約拿書中,神為約拿打開了一扇門,使他有機會去面向千萬人,在尼尼微這個大城中,可能有將近六十萬人。神幾乎總是這樣在世上推展祂的事工。 讓我們在自己的教會中也接受如此的挑戰:神把我們安放在一個很大的城市中,就是大洛杉磯地區----世界的娛樂中心。我們如何能將福音帶給這座城市呢?我們應該切切地為此禱告。
同時,在我們有生的年月裏,神正使許多城市的人口移出他們世代居住的地區,以及他們覺得安穩的地方,移出曾經抵擋耶穌救恩信息的國家。在我們有生之年,我們見證到歷史上最大的人口遷徙。我們正在經歷有史以來拓展耶穌基督福音事工的最好時機,我們看到上百萬的難民被迫離開家園。約拿書呼召我們去尋問:神愛那些人嗎? 祂也會像呼召約拿那樣呼召我們嗎?祂說: “起來,教會的人們, 到那個人口眾多的大城裏,去告訴那些正在徘徊,對我的存在全然不知的人們。 要麽自己去,要麽幫助別人去傳講。 我要在他們中間行大事,我要用你。”
第二, 神喜愛憐憫,所以,如果你曾蒙受憐憫,那麽也要讓自己成為一個施予憐憫的人。
約拿希望神以慈愛待他,但是當神想要憐憫別人的時候,他卻發脾氣。 如果他認為他真的會看到神的憤怒臨到尼尼微人的話,他定會非常樂意去尼尼微。
他為什麽對這些人有如此負面的態度呢? 是因為亞述帝國的各王朝和軍隊都非常殘酷嗎? 這當然是其中一個重要的原因。 但是,他真的認為整個的這個族群已經如此糟糕,以至於對他們唯一的裁決就應當是被毀滅嗎? 他難道看不到自己、以及自己民族的頑固和驕傲嗎?
當你閱讀約拿書時,你應當問自己:“我是否像約拿對待尼尼微人那樣,將某個族群都歸為‘不配得到神的慈愛’ 的人?”你是否對任何群體有過這樣的想法:“我不想讓你的族群的任何人在我旁邊坐著!”在這個世界裏,我能聽到很多類似的話。 這不是基督的方式。
或者,約拿對他們是如此苛刻,是因為他們的宗教邪惡? 那些在尼尼微的寺廟裏敬拜伊斯塔的人們的性淫亂,與我們的世界中可能發現的類似的事情一樣糟糕。 我不知道是否會有一些經常去教會做禮拜的人們像約拿那樣,故意躲避那些與自己生活方式不同的人群。 但是,神卻差遣約拿到這樣的人群之中,祂已經準備好了向這樣的人施憐憫。 神呼召祂的子民進入到那些人之中,呼籲他們轉向神,包括告訴他們,神的慈愛超越一切的罪。
約拿書有如此的結局,一定有其原因。 我們在閱讀的時候,會對約拿的無情做出負面的反應。 但是,接下來我們應該停下來問:“我是否看自己内心裏有些方面更像約拿,而並非像神呢?”這就是故事的重點,不是嗎? 神既有公義又有慈愛,約拿兩者都沒有。 他不喜歡神對他自己的公義,他只想要神的慈愛。 他也不喜歡神憐憫尼尼微人,他只想要神對他們施行公義。
神在約拿書中呼召我們去做的事工,與獼迦書6:8中相同。 這是一處重要的經文,呼召我們在生活中遵從神的行事方式。 神是公義的,我們當以公義行事; 神又是喜愛憐憫的,我們也當喜愛憐憫。 所以我們知道,神能夠、並願意拯救尼尼微人,是的,其中也包括約拿。
你和我都見證了神愛世人,甚至將祂的獨生子賜給他們,叫一切相信祂的人,不至滅亡,反得永生。
但願這篇信息向我們提出挑戰,讓它藉著我們的生命得以發揚。
榮耀歸給神,
Greg Waybright 博士
主任牧師
Small Group Questions
1. What makes Jonah angry, as we see in Jonah 4.1-3? Can you resonate with his anger? Why or why not?
2. Answer God’s question in Jonah 4.4. Isn’t God’s question good for us to ask any time we are angry? What does it say about Jonah that he didn’t answer God’s question?
3. Tell what happened in Jonah 4.5-8 in your own words. What adjectives would you use to describe Jonah in these verse? Why?
4. God asks another question in v.9. This time Jonah answers (v.10) and God offers a rebuttal (v.11). What is God saying in v.11 by comparing the plant with the city of Nineveh?
5. Think back through all of what you have learned from the book of Jonah. What’s the main point? How can we live out that main point?