(Text and Audio)
Title: Is it Right?
Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Three Clarifying Questions to begin with:
Q: Why (specifically) is Jonah Angry?
A: Exactly what he feared might happen, has happened: The people of Nineveh repented at Jonah’s warning, and God has shown them mercy. Jonah’s sworn enemies are now receiving the same grace and blessing that was promised to Israel.
Q: At this moment in history, who deserves God’s mercy more, Israel or Nineveh? Why?
A: (Neither, really) BUT…Nineveh is BEHAVING more like people who fear the one true God, aren’t they?
Q: What do you think God is trying to teach Israel by showing such grace and mercy to Nineveh?
A: Hosea 2:23 “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
POINT: How does this story relate to us? For weeks we have been saying “Oh, Lord, I am far too much like Jonah, forgive me!” (Which it true.) BUT, today I want you to see this truth: WE ARE NINEVEH. As Gentiles, we were NOT Israel (God’s People) and have now, by God’s grace and divine plan BECOME Israel (God’s People).
Now on to God’s Question of Jonah: “Is it right for you to be angry?”
First of all, there is a pretty wide variance of how to translate this Hebrew question into English, consider:
“Is it right for you to be angry?” (NKJV, NLT, NIV)
“Do you do well to be angry?” (KJV, ESV, RSV)
“Do you have good reason to be angry?” (NASB)
Matthew Henry’s GREAT Pastoral Application to God’s Rhetorical Question to Jonah:
We should often put this question to ourselves, Is it well to say thus, to do thus? Can I justify it? Must I not unsay it and undo it again by repentance, or be undone forever? Ask:
1. Do I well to be angry? When passion is up, let it meet with this check, “Do I well to be so soon angry, so often angry, so long angry, to put myself into such a heat, and to give others such ill language in my anger? Is this well, that I suffer these headstrong passions to get dominion over me?’
2. “Do I well to be angry at the mercy of God to repenting sinners?’ That was Jonah’s crime. Do we do well to be angry at that which is so much for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom among men-to be angry at that which angels rejoice in and for which abundant thanksgivings will be rendered to God? We do ill to be angry at that grace which we ourselves need and are undone without; if room were not left for repentance, and hope given of pardon upon repentance, what would become of us? Let the conversion of sinners, which is the joy of heaven, be our joy, and never our grief.
What are the ways in which we are guilty of this same sin of Jonah? What are ways in which we can be angry at the very same mercy of God that has saved us?
- Blessing comes to someone we think doesn’t deserve it. (A pastoral friend of mine poorly left his position on staff, to start a new church without the blessing of his senior staff, and took several families from that church, and that church is growing! I had to come to a place where I said: Who am I to question God’s increase? If this man can reach a segment that other churches cannot, who am I to question God’s mercy?)
- Someone is restored, or promoted, without “paying their dues.”
- Someone is not punished nearly as much as they should be for a sin. (Someday, perhaps Matt Dravenstott will share his AMAZING testimony with our church and you will see this truth of mercy on full display.)
And what should we do when these thoughts and temptations toward unjust anger begin in our hearts?
The Basic Christian will ask:
1. Am I Right to be angry?
“Is it right for you to be angry?” (NKJV, NLT, NIV)
(Is the anger reasonably justified?)
The Mature Christian will ask:
2. Do I Have any right to be angry?
“Do you have good reason to be angry?” (NASB)
(If I were judged by the same standards that I am judging this situation with, would I be guilty or innocent?)
3. The Heritage Christian will remember Matthew 7:1-2
“Do you do well to be angry?” (KJV, ESV, RSV)
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Last Slide:
Remember:
Just because you have the right to do something,
Doesn’t make it right.
PB’s Translation:
A human justification for anger is not the same as righteous anger.
(Is God angry at this thing too?)