Mt. Zion Christian Church
3631 Combs Ferry Road
Winchester, KY
859.745.2446
exists to... Worship God. Love Others. Share Jesus.
This Sunday I plan to lead us through another example from the Old Testament where we are challenged to follow God...even if it seems to be an impossible or unthinkable task. In our Sermon Series "Saints in Dis Wrong Place" we will look at the topic of "DISOBEDIENCE" from the book of Jonah. This subject is something I believe we all struggle with at times.
Jonah is the story of how God teaches a lesson to a narrow-minded, sinful prophet, who represents all God’s people who think we have a monopoly on God’s grace. When Jonah refuses to go preach in Nineveh and God retrieves him and mercifully delivers him, Jonah is thankful. Yet when Jonah preaches in Nineveh and the people repent and are mercifully spared, Jonah is angry. The book of Jonah ends with an unanswered divine question regarding compassion, suggesting to the reader that Jonah repented, and inviting the reader to do the same. This must be regarded as the key to Jonah’s overall purpose, to stir up compassion in God’s people. The message of the book is that whether God’s people like it or not, God desires all nations to worship Him. God has shown mercy to His people, who did not deserve it; they should desire that mercy be extended to all who repent, and they should rejoice when God shows His grace (Acts 10:34-35). God is concerned for all human beings (John 1:7; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; 2 Pet. 3:9) and has the right to show mercy to whomever He wills (Exod. 33:19; Rom. 9:15).
Jonah was not pleased when God commanded him to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. The Assyrians worshipped the vicious god Ashur and a multitude of other gods and goddesses. Assyrian brutality and cruelty were legendary. The Assyrians were known to impale their enemies on stakes in front of their towns and hang their heads from trees in the king’s gardens. They also tortured their captives-men, women, or children-by hacking off noses, ears, or fingers, gouging out their eyes, or tearing off their lips and hands. They reportedly covered the city wall with the skins of their victims. Rebellious subjects would be massacred by the hundreds, sometimes burned at the stake. Then their skulls would be placed in great piles by the roadside as a warning to others. Jonah decided that he would rather quit the prophetic ministry than preach to such people. Nineveh was about 500 miles to the east, so he headed for Tarshish, probably what is now Spain, the farthest western location he knew, about 2,000 miles.
We may not have done much better if it were one of us that God asked to perform this task...after all, who wants to save a bunch of heathen, warring, sinful, deplorable bunch of people?
For the Cause of Christ,
Bro. Kenny