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Jonah | Jonah 4 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I have a question for you this morning.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you've ever been angry and regretted it.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some liars in here.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just kidding.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: C.H.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Spurgeon shared an account of someone who got really angry and regretted it.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: He writes, I heard someone say that he was sorry that he had lost his temper.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was uncommonly glad to hear that he had lost it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I regretted it that he had found it again so soon.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 29, verse 11 describes what Spurgeon illustrates in that story.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Fools give full vent to their rage.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the wise bring calm in the end.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I read another story in church history of a famous pastor in the 1800s in England named Newman Hall.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: He wrote a booklet in the 1800s entitled Come to Jesus.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this booklet became quite popular and famous.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It led thousands of people to Christ.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Later in life, post this famous booklet, he became engaged in a theological controversy, which this controversy grew more heated and bitter at each stage of the discussion.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, he prepared and wrote a new booklet, a paper, which he intended to be a crushing and final reply.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: He closed the argument by an attack in anger that would be irresistible and overwhelming.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he showed his opponent no mercy and felt he had beaten him to the ground in his writing theologically.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: When the paper was finished, he read it to a friend and asked triumphantly, quote, How do you think I've handled him?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because he thought in his anger this is a crushing theological blow.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, said his friend, you have effectually disposed of him.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Have you thought of a title of your paper?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Question mark.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, Hall replied, the pastor.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Have you anything to suggest?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: His friend answered.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: I propose you call it Go to the Devil by the author of Come to Jesus.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: The paper was never published, and that's a good thing.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us in our anger, even in Christianity, even theological things, we get so fired up by our position.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: We get so angry at other people because of some situation.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But we need an insightful wisdom of how to address our anger as followers of Jesus.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: My short title for the teaching this morning is Anger and the Nature of God.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But my real title, which would not fit on this screen, I can't wait till we get a building and we have a big screen, is this.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Write this down Anger, despair, resentment, bitterness, and the nature of God.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's essentially what we're gonna see illustrated in the story of Jonah at the end of this book.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's three movements in this story.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Movement number one, we see in verse one, Jonah's anger.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Verse one.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah's anger.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: You say, what seemed wrong?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Notice back in verse 10 of chapter 3, when God saw that they did what they did, pardon me, the people of Nineveh, the wicked, evil people of Nineveh, the military city of the Assyrian Empire, when God saw that what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then read verse 1 again.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But Jonah seemed, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: You see that term angry?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Circle it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: It means to be kindled with anger.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it has the same idea of like the kindling of fire, how the fire is growing, and it's, you know, you're putting logs on it, and you're what it what's that stuff, you know, on Survivor that they start fires with?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Flint, and then there's something else.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Any Survivor friends?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tinder.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: You put tinder on there and you put the little sticks and then the big logs, and it just grows and grows and grows inside of you.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you kindle your anger like the kindling of fire.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: What is anger?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: We have all of these emotions, but sometimes we're not necessarily aware emotionally of what these emotions are that we're feeling.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anger is an emotion that we feel when we experience injustice.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Think of injustice as something that somebody does that you don't feel is right.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Injustice takes place when we feel wronged, and when we are wronged, we have an emotional response.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because injustice is a violation of God's design for human value and flourishing.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Injustice reveals a lack of equity that we were created for and that we innately desire in our soul.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so when that is broken or violated, we feel a sense of being wronged, which leads to anger.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: But anger is a secondary emotion.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something else under the surface that we have to evaluate in order to understand why we feel the anger that is inside of us.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the problem with this emotion is that every time we feel anger, it's not actual injustices.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you some reasons why you feel angry sometimes or I feel angry.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we experience an actual injustice and feel anger.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Other times we experienced perceived injustice and feel anger.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: For all honest, we've done that before and it wasn't true and we had the wrong response.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes anger is a response of being wronged by somebody, but other times anger is a response to unmet expectations that you placed on other people.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you expect people to meet in your life.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes anger is a mask for hurt and sadness.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I feel hurt or I'm sad, so I'm going to lash out in anger toward so-and-so.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible discusses anger in many different shades and lights and nuances, but also gives us some practical wisdom for anger.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these verses and maybe write them down.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4, verse 26.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: In your anger, do not sin.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, the the picture there is don't harbor anger in your heart.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let it reside in you for a long period of time.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm chapter 4, verse 4 says, tremble and do not sin.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you are on your beds, search your heart and be silent.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, when there's some sort of situation where you feel wronged or injustice or perceived, reflect before you do anything.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then James chapter 1, verse 19 says, Be slow to anger.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is not something we should quickly respond to when we feel this emotion.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Don't harbor it in your heart, reflect on what's happening, be slow to anger.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible also warns us about the destructive elements of anger.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these verses.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: James chapter 1, verse 20.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verse 17.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say, do not repay some people evil for evil, anyone evil for evil.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verse 19.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I will repay, says the Lord.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: God is the judge, he knows all things.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't, and I don't either.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in his timing and in his nature, justice will take place, but he also gives people opportunity to receive grace and forgiveness and redemption.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was angry that God had forgiven the Ninevehes, the great enemies of Israel.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah wanted them to be judged, and God wanted them to be saved.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine there's some people that you can think of, some groups of people, maybe people you don't even know, that you in your heart and me in my heart, we're bent on their judgment.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: We want their downfall, we want justice for them, we want condemnation, but God in heaven is desiring that they get saved and come to know Him.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So Jonah is angry.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: He needed, he felt like God needed to judge the Nineveh, not forgive the Ninevehes.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what do we do with our anger?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: What are we to do in our heart, in our response, when we feel this emotion, when we're kindling with fire, with anger in our soul, and we don't know how to quite manage this strong emotion.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: What do we do with anger?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you five tips.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, acknowledge your anger.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't say all anger is wrong.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: He says, be angry and do not sin.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anger is an emotion that every human being feels, and sometimes as followers of Jesus, we like to demonize emotions which is not good, not healthy, and not in the Bible.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to acknowledge your anger.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you feel it inside your soul, acknowledge it and call it for what it is.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling angry right now.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Second, reflect on your anger.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: People go from zero to 100 way too fast.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need to reflect on your anger, assess it, ask questions about it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Where is this coming from?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is this real?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is it perceived?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is it me?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is it them?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's me and not them.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You have to reflect on your anger before you do anything with it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, pray about your anger.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bring it to God.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: See what happens in your heart.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: God, I'm feeling this emotion.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is the situation.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not quite sure what to do, how to respond, how to think about it, how to assess it, how to manage it.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: God, I'm just bringing this to you.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Give me divine wisdom for this emotion and this feeling and this situation in my heart in this moment.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then number four, align your heart with God.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: This will change how you respond.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Align your heart with God.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: God, how do you see this person?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: How do you see this situation?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Where in the Bible has this type of situation happened and you showed yourself for who you are in your nature so that I can respond in a way that is aligned with your heart, God?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you pray that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you pray that, you're gonna find that you have a totally different response with this emotion than if you just acted out on it without the reflection in prayer.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then number five, respond in a Christ-like way.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Remember those bracelets?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I need it.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Does anybody have like know where they sell those?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I want to wear those again.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: A black one only, not a pink one or a purple one or a green one.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want a black one.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: W W J D.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great reminder.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I used to wear those back in the day.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's make those cool again.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Where can we buy those?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody let me know.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not what would Wesley do?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Not what would you do?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: What would Jesus do in this situation?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: How would Jesus respond to this situation?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that is your pathway and wisdom for you and your response.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Jonah was hot.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was heated.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was kindling with anger, and he prays to the Lord in his anger.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Notice Jonah's anger, verse 1, God's character, verse 2.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: He prayed to the Lord.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what I said, Lord?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what I said would happen?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: L-O-R-D, all caps, Y-H-W-H, the honorific name of God, the holy name of God in the Old Testament, Yahweh.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this what I would say that you would do, God, when I was still at home?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshis.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I ran away because I knew what you would do.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that you would redeem and forgive if the people turned away from their sin and their evil and their wickedness.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I knew, notice, that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Notice the five things that Jonah notes about the nature of God here, which should inform our anger, which should inform our responses to people.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, God is gracious, he says.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: He says, God, I knew that you are gracious.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to give Jonah some credit.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah knew God so well that he knew exactly how God would respond.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: He is not amiss theologically.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have like a theological gap here.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: For the most part, he knew the nature of God.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: He just didn't want God to respond to his enemies the same way that God responded to Jonah's people.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a problem.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: We live in such a tribal, polarized society that we encapsulate people in these groups, like these people were against and these people were for.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And yet God wants to save all the peoples.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how Jonah thought.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: But Jonah knew that God was gracious.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: The term gracious canun in Hebrew means that God bestowed favor on people that didn't deserve it.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And guess who else didn't deserve it?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: You and me and Jonah.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus 34, verse 6.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 86, 15, but you, O Lord, are full, are a God full of compassion and gracious.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 111, verse 4, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 112, verse 4, He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: God is a gracious God.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: He gives us what we do not deserve.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we like that.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: We just don't like it when God does the same thing for the people we don't like.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, God, I'm a mess.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a wreck.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a failure.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have fallen.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've done wrong.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Be gracious to me, God.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: God, they're a wreck.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're a mess.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: They have failed.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: They have done wrong.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: God judge them.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's how we interact with people that we don't like.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: But no, God is gracious to everyone.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: You and them.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then, secondly, God is compassionate.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Rachum is the term, it means mercy.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's illustrated in the soft compassion of a mother for her child in the womb.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great picture, isn't it?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's the Hebrew idea.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus 34, verse 6, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: The term merciful there is compassionate.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 4, verse 31 for the Lord your God is a merciful or compassionate God.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 78, 38, but he, full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103, verse 8, the Lord is merciful or compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: God is a God of compassion, like a mom with her child in the womb, is how God looks at us.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Third, notice what else he says about the nature of God.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: God is slow to anger.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: The term in Hebrew means patient or long-suffering.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's able to look at wrongdoing in our lives, and he doesn't judge us right away.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a good isn't that good news, by the way?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Before I knew Jesus, I knew I for some reason nobody taught me this, but I knew there was a God.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I did wrong, I thought God was going to take my life.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was a bad theology of God.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: God is long suffering.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: He is patient with all of us.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's not judging us for everything we do wrong.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 78, verse 38 says that God forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, many a time he turned his anger away.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's how God treats us.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: He turns it away, even when we fail.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103, verse 8: the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: God is not quick to anger, He is slow to anger in my life and in your life.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: You might have come here this morning, you're like, God's mad at me.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a total failure.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've done so many things wrong, even in the last week.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just remind you, God is not mad at you?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: God is patient with you.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: God is so glad you're here.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: God wants to remind you of his grace and his compassion.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then forth, God is abounding in love.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's not just love, he is overflowing with love.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Kesed, it means loyal love or faithfulness.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: When you are not faithful, God is faithful.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you are not loyal, God is loyal.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's how God treats us.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: He is faithful to his promises, he is faithful to his people, he is unrelenting in his love for us.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this is best seen in the cross of Jesus Christ.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: God is unrelenting.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: He sees all my failure and all my mistakes and all my guilt and all my shame And he pursued me.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why Jesus Christ died for me and you, that you would be forgiven and freed by the God of heaven and earth.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because he is loyal and faithful and unrelenting in his love.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then, fifth, notice the fifth thing that Jonah says about the nature of God, which should inform how we react and respond to people, that God relents from sending calamity.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: God relents.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is interesting because some people, some people, in this idea think that God is repenting.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, God did something wrong and then he changed his mind and he went the other way.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: This has nothing to do with God repenting.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: This has to do with God relenting.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Two different things.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: The way that I think of this, that's been helpful for me, maybe it'll be helpful for you, is I wrote this down, and I've this is how I kind of think about this.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: God's repentance is not a change of character, but a change in his dealings according to his character.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Should I say that again?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: God's repentance is not a change of character, but a change.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: In his dealings, according to his character.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is so important to understand that when we are living an evil life, and God is a perfect judge and he sees all in his perfection and his perfect justice, he could judge us fairly.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when we turn away from that lifestyle, or we turn away from the life of living apart from God, not worshiping God, doing the opposite of God, and we turn to trust in Jesus for our forgiveness, God relents from that.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to be judged by God.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're not, you know, God's not going to take the sum of all your wrongdoings and judge you.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to forgive those things on the cross, which is a perfect description and story illustrating how God relents from doing harm or God relents from doing justice.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So Jonah knew this, and Jonah laid out a theology of God, theology Proper 101, that these are the five beautiful characteristics of God.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: But notice what happens next in the story.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't end there.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 3 through 11.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah's despair.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: It goes from anger to the character of God to flat out despair.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Lord, take away my life.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: For it is better for me to die than to live.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Can you believe this?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah is in, this is a picture of absolute despair.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: I actually write about this story.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have a forthcoming book at the end of April on mental health, and I talk about the different aspects and storylines in the Bible in one chapter around suicide and suicidal ideation.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: I actually talk about Jonah here.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to say too much, or then you won't get my book.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, Jonah is in despair here.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to talk about that in a minute, verse 4.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord replied, Is it right for you to be angry?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is the great assessment.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like so he's in despair.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: He goes out into like the hot place of the city and he just goes and sits down, like sulking and mad at God.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: There he made himself a shelter, sat in the shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: He was still hoping that the city would be judged by God, wiped out.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord, God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head, to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this awesome about God?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: God it, he's like, Why did you do this?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just take my life.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go out into the desert, sit on the ground in the hot heat, and just be mad at God.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And God, God grows a plant, and the plant gives him shade.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And God is still gracious to Jonah.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Look, look what happens next.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was very happy, but at dawn the next day, God provided a worm.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: God provides the plant and the worm, which chewed the plant, so it was withered.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to uh Palm Springs in August?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Probably a little like that.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to die.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is the second time.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to die and said, It would be better for me to die than to live.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if any of you have struggled with suicidal ideation, what Jonah is saying here is not true.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is better for you to live than to die.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much hope for your life.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can't judge your worst period as though that's gonna be the entire story of your life.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much future in God and Jesus and redemption in your life.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is always better to live than to die.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is a false perspective.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is a wrong evaluation.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, but God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is, he said, and I'm so angry, I wish I were dead, the third time.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the Lord said, You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend tend it or make it grow.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hundred and twenty kids that aren't even of the age that they can tell their right from their left, Likely six hundred thousand people in their population.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And notice that God mentions this, all of you veterinarians, veterinarian students, lover of dogs and cats and cows and animals.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: God also mentioned the welfare of the animals.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: God cares about the kids, He cares about the grown-ups, and He cares about the animals in the city.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: When's the last time you read that?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in a veterinary Bible study, bring that to your next Bible study.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: And bring the proverb, the proverb that says how you treat animals is a reflection of your righteousness.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: So people that are cruel to animals that shows a little bit of their character.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're kind to animals, you know everybody has a dog voice.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, I know that person until they talk to their animal, and you're like, wait a minute, who is that person?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's this sweet, like high-pitched.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: You guys know how many of you have like a dog or a cat voice?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, be bold and brave and proud of that.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Come on now.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: So God cares about the kids, he cares about the people, and he cares about the animals, and Jonah just cares about himself.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want to show you a spiral that can happen in your life that happens here at the end of this story.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this will give us really good personal intuition, IQ, EQ.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: We love IQ in this city, but we lack, no, you don't, but some people lack EQ.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: We love to be intelligent, but maybe not emotionally intelligent all the time, right?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: People got their PhDs, but they don't know how to emotionally connect with human beings.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: People have their PhDs, but they don't know how to respond to their own inner emotions.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I want the people in our church to have the IQ and the EQ.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you can be experts in your subject and also be experts in your own inner relationship with your emotions and how you respond in relationships with people.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: So this can happen in all of our life.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: First, anger can lead to despair.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Anger is meant to pass through us, not root inside of us.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if anger is, if it's like day one, I feel angry, day two, I feel angry, day three, day four, month one, month two, month three, month four, same thing.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's a problem.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: That is not healthy.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna talk about that at the end.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is not healthy for you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Anger is meant to pass through you, not root inside of you.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: What is despair?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Despair is either hopelessness or profound disappointment.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah had profound disappointment that God did not judge Nineveh.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: He misunderstood God's justice.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like many people do in the Bible.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: They think that God's justice is just penal justice, retribution.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, God's justice is often restorative justice in the Bible.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't know about that part of God's justice.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted judgment and God wants restoration.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you have the sacrificial system, that's why you have the death of Jesus.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is restorative justice.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is God saying, Here's my innocent son being sacrificed for a guilty people so the guilty people can be restored to me.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is the message of the cross.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, anger can lead to despair, and despair can lead to resentment.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Disappointment is the feeling that something or someone has failed to meet an expectation in our life.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is there cooking?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do you guys smell this?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bernice, what are you cooking in there?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some good things?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Is that for after church outside?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Great job, Bernice and crew.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's bacon.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: I can't even eat it.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: When the failure of the expectation is experienced and you feel it's unfair, especially it involves another person's choices, neglect, betrayal, disappointment readily turns into resentment.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you go from anger to despair, then you go from despair to resentment, and then you gotta catch this the de-evolving nature of this, then you go from resentment can lead to bitterness.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Watch this in your life.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Anger can lead to despair, despair can lead to resentment, and resentment can lead to bitterness, and this is where Jonah is living inside his soul.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: If resentment is not expressed or resolved or released, it tends to calcify into bitterness.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Bitterness is more chronic and inward, it's less about a specific incident and more about a settled emotional posture toward life, people, and oneself.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is the most dangerous place to be as a follower of Jesus.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: To go from anger to despair, despair to resentment, resentment to bitterness, because bitterness becomes a state that you live in.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I did some research on this.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Some health and mental health effects of anger, resentment, and bitterness.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you allow these things to root in your life, there is an elevated uh opportunity, risk for depression and anxiety.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Persistent despair and bitterness strongly correlates with clinical depression.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's an important thing to understand.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Chronic despair, resentment, bitterness activates the body's stress response, so you're living in this constant elevated state on a near constant basis.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what that leads to?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Cardiovascular problems, higher blood pressure, elevated resting heart rate, increased risk of coronary artery disease and heart attacks.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is not good for you.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Also, inflammation.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's not good for you either.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Also, immune dysregulation.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: You get sick more, prolonged stress can suppress your immunity, and all of a sudden you're getting sick.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And also, sleep disruption.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody likes their sleep.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants disruption in their sleep.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rumination and emotional stress arousal interfere with sleep quality and duration.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Also, that's not all.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to tell you the whole thing so you know.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Metabolic and endocrine effects, poor glucose regulation, elevated cortisol, increased visceral fat.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants this stuff.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: So don't let anger turn to despair and despair turn to resentment, and resentment turn to bitterness.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then also, that's not it.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like those commercials, it's like 999, that's not all.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is that God warning us.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Pain amplification.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you live in these states, you have higher rates of chronic pain and pain sensitivity.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if that were just all, there's one more bonus.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Potential impact on your longevity.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: All cause mortality is higher in people with high levels of chronic hospitality, not hospitality.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, be hospitable.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hostility, unresolved bitterness, people that have chronic hostility and unresolved bitterness in general have a shorter lifespan.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want all of that, anger can lead to despair, despair can lead to resentment, resentment can lead to bitterness.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't want that, you've got to do what the Bible says.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 and 32.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Did you go?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Did you guys like that list?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Was that helpful?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good warning for me and for you.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 and 32.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is what you do if you don't want any of that.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be like Jonah.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what God says: get rid of all bitterness.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Get rid of all rage and anger.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Brawling.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: No fighting guys when you get mad at somebody.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: No fighting girls when you get mad at somebody.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: And slander.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Quit slandering people.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Even if they slander you, you don't have to slander them.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing of no revenge.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Along with every form of malice, what is malice?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's badheartedness toward anybody.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, verse 32, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is the way of Jesus.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: When we feel this emotion to assess it so it doesn't lead down a negative, de-evolving path that hurts us in every way.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this story and the end of it.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, people think the end of Jonah is just awkward, and like, why does it end the way it ends?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just give a suggestion?
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's honest, and the Bible tells an honest story.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: It ends the way it ends because that's how it ends.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, it's a, oh, Jonah got up and he was happy and redeemed and you know started worshiping the Lord this morning in church with these great songs.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, he was just bitter.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about a major contrast threading through the end of this story.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this, just listen.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to write some of these things down, but maybe just it encapsulates the entire idea.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: God chose to prepare a plant to give Jonah shade.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was very happy and grateful for the plant.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: God chose to spare Nineveh when they repented.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was very displeased and angry with the Lord.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: God showed mercy and compassion to a city of enemies.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah wanted judgment, not mercy for Nineveh.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was more concerned about his own physical comfort and welfare, the plant and the shade, than the welfare of the entire city of Nineveh.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah cared more about the plants than the people of Nineveh.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: God cared about the people and animals of Nineveh.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah cared mainly about himself.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah wanted grace, mercy, patience, loyal love, and forgiveness for himself, but not for his enemies.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah wanted God to bless and protect his own people and country, but not other nations.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Jonah was angry that God was exactly who we knew him to be: gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love, and one who relents from disaster.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he ends this story in a state of resolved, calcified bitterness.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can I give you three things before we go this morning for you?
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is only gonna take three minutes, I promise.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Three things for you anger, despair, resentment, and bitterness.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, it's not good for you.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not good for you.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: There are spiritual effects, there are physical effects, there are mental health effects.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is not good for you.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is God warning you.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is not good for you.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: This will not lead to any flourishing in your life.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Spare yourself from this.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Second, it is not good for the people around you.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: When you live in a state of angerness, despair, resentment, and bitterness, this will eventually be projected on your relationships.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: It will distort things.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's not good for the people around you because you're not at your best.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then, third, it is not good for your future.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: This emotional state will become a roadblock for your future.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: It will distort your view of human relationships.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: It will distort your view of hope and the good that is happening in the world.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: It will create an unhealthy heart from the lack of emotional regulation and intelligence in your own soul.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: It will affect your future.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: And God does not want that for your life.