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Jonah's Reluctance: What We Can Learn Part 2
This episode continues the discussion of Jonah and what his reluctant obedience teaches us about our own attitudes toward evangelism and missions today.
• Jonah's need for a second command to "arise and go" after the fish incident reveals our own reluctance to obey God
• The bare minimum approach Jonah takes in delivering God's message parallels how we sometimes share the gospel without love
• Nineveh's repentance and Jonah's anger highlights our tendency to resent God's mercy toward those we deem unworthy
• Practical tips for sharing the gospel include keeping tracts handy and starting with simple conversations
• The love of Christ within us is essential for effective evangelism, especially when called to difficult situations
Check out Delight Thyself Ministries for gospel tracts that can help you start conversations about Jesus in your community.
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Hello and welcome to Simply Edifies podcast. Our goal is to encourage women as we navigate the messiness of life through biblical studies, personal stories and practical tips that bolster our walk with Jesus daily. Thank you for joining us in our episode today.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to our second episode in the series on missions, and we started off talking about Jonah. We're just going to make a few quick more comments about Jonah. We talked last time a little bit about how Jonah was told to arise and go and how it's often right there where we end up falling short of the command for missions. We don't arise and go and we just stay where it's comfortable. And then we also mentioned how God has, you know, divine wisdom and when it comes to the judgment of nations and things like that, and it's not our place to question God's sovereign will for these things. We are our duty is to obey the command that he's given to us. Yeah, we talked a little bit about Jonah and how he was just kind of a not a very happy person. He's kind of more of a depressed prophet and a few other things. So if you haven't listened to that, go on ahead and listen to that episode today.
Speaker 2:I kind of wanted to talk about after his punishment. We all know kind of the basic story of Jonah he disobeys, he is swallowed by the fish, there's his prayer in the whale's belly and all of that. And then a second time God says arise and go, so just right there. Arise and go, so just right there. It's kind of funny to me, because I think that if I had just gotten spat out of a fish, I wouldn't have to be told again to go. I would just go. At least that's what I would think.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I would probably need to hear it a second time. As tragic as that whole scenario is, I probably would still be like god, I repented and you, you know, showed mercy on me.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, and then not gonna go I just know my track record.
Speaker 3:I usually need to be told things a few times love it, thinking but it. But it is a, it is a funny. It's funny because it's we're so like far removed from it. But to think about, really just you know Jonah standing there on the water edge of the water covered in, who knows what he could have.
Speaker 2:He could have, I mean, we don't know the timeframe he could have like just gone back to Jerusalem at. I mean we don't know the time frame he could have like just gone back to Jerusalem. I mean we don't know if it was like right away that God said arise, go. I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we don't know.
Speaker 2:Or he could have just been spat out and sitting there Picturing him just like disgusting and being like okay. Okay.
Speaker 3:I'll go, I'll go this time and we I mean, it's easy to like, it's funny, it's funny from so far being so far removed, but it really is a sad picture of how we just don't take that commission very seriously, right, and we do need a lot of pushing sometimes to really take what god has told all of us to do seriously. Um, even just witnessing to our you know, our neighbors, let alone. You know, answering a call to going to a foreign field, and some people are called to that. We're all called to a mission of witnessing and sharing the gospel.
Speaker 3:So anyway, I find the story of doing a comical, but then every once in a while it just kind of punches me in the gut a little bit Right.
Speaker 2:It's very, very relatable to how we actually do respond. A lot of times that's for sure.
Speaker 2:So, yes, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah second time in chapter three and says arise and go. So this time he goes right and his message is not filled with love, it is not filled with compassion or, um, any of the warm, fuzzy feelies that you might hear in some preaching of today it's yet 40 days and nineveh shall be overthrown, and that that was his message. It kind of speaks to his idea of okay, god, I'll do it, I'll say what you told me exactly to say. I'm not going to like it, though it's almost like the bare minimum.
Speaker 3:The bare minimum, and, like we talked about last time, it's not necessarily like we really see into Jonah's heart at all. There's nothing. We see his actions and his attitudes, but we don't ever see like a change of his heart, and I find it. I just find the whole story so interesting because of how little character development we see in him right. The part that I love about this story, though, is that nineveh god does not really bear any words either, where he's like. You know, it's a wicked city, and we're so quick to write things off, people off, groups off whatever, um, and call them wicked, then wash our hands of them, and instead of that's not what god shows us here he shows us yes, they are wicked. Now go, go, reach them right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if you were to think about this in modern day today, I mean you can think of someone from Israel going into Iran and preaching the gospel to Iranians. I mean, that's kind of the idea here that we're talking about. I don't think anyone would be any Israeli, would be too fond of that prospect. You know, um, we're not called to go to the people who who love us, who like us or who are at least tolerable towards us. We're called to whoever we meet across our path, that the Holy spirit says share the gospel with like, and to every nation and every tribe.
Speaker 2:And we in ourselves say, well, I don't think that we might not say it out loud, but in our minds, well, do they really deserve god's compassion, do they really need the gospel? And we might just very begrudgingly be like oh, here's a track, you know, or something like that. If we see somebody who is, is wicked and has that, that wickedness all plastered about them, I mean they are against god and they have no problem saying that they're against god. So we say in our minds fine, god will judge you right.
Speaker 3:We write people off too, as like too far gone. Maybe their wickedness doesn't even necessarily offend us, but it's oh, they just, they have no interest. Oh, they're very, very this or that, whatever you know label that is doesn't line up with christianity. Um, they're an atheist or they're a drug addict or something, and we think they're just too far gone. Right, but that's not really our, our call to make.
Speaker 2:Right. So yes, jonah goes to Nineveh. He, he does exactly what God said, nothing more, nothing less. And the people of Nineveh repent. They proclaim the fast. They put on sackcloth and ash, they, they repent. They proclaim a fast, they put on sackcloth and ash, they, they repent. And we know that that did not bring joy and happiness to the man of God. He, he says it's so funny, it's I, it's sad, but it's funny because it's exactly us, it's human nature, and you know chapter four, verse one. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He was very angry and he prayed unto the Lord and said I pray thee. Oh Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. And repentantly of the evil, I told you, god, like this is why I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 3:I can just like hear my kids to me.
Speaker 2:But, yes, I say the same thing to God, like oh God, okay, I did it. Oh man God, I knew you were going to be merciful, merciful.
Speaker 3:I was really mad at that person.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to forgive them and I forgave them and then you like put blessings upon them, and now I get to see their blessings and I'm just so mad about it, like for real, yeah there's.
Speaker 3:Yes, I have lived through that scenario before and had to realize like you're not a nice person sometimes because you want forgiveness and you want mercy and you want all this stuff, but then when you see god doing it for other people, somehow that's not okay right and really sad. I I'll be honest, there are certain stories in the Bible. When I picture them, I have a hard time not picturing the VeggieTale version of them. Oh, this is one of them.
Speaker 3:And I don't know if you've watched it, but the asparagus that plays Jonah is. I think he's an asparagus, I don't know Whatever he is. He's green. He's very whiny the whole time whiny and his little like high pitch.
Speaker 2:Like is what I imagine when I'm reading it right and I mean I mean he's like he goes on and he's like basically asking God to take his life. You know he said take my life from me. It's better for me to die than to live. When we see God working in somebody's life who is maybe not our arch enemy maybe we wouldn't say that but somebody who has hurt us, somebody who has wronged us, somebody who we feel is not deserving because of the way that and they could have been completely in 100% wrong and you could have been, you know, right in that situation, but you have still harbored bitterness, resentfulness and anger towards them. So when they have repented of what they have done wrong and God is working in their life, all of a sudden we see that and it stirs up that anger. It shows us that we need God's mercy, just like they do. We need God's forgiveness and we are not to stand in a place of judgment of other people because really, deep down inside we are the same. We are sinners saved by grace.
Speaker 2:And when it comes to sharing the gospel with other people and just to kind of like put us in the bigger picture of missions, we are not in the position to say who God will have mercy on and who God won't have mercy on. Jonah was not in that position either, and God showed him that All we are to do is to obey the call Go into all the world and preach the gospel. We are to obey the call to support those who are going around the world to share the gospel, you know, to give to the Lord with a happy heart, not begrudgingly, to show love and compassion, not water down the truth of the gospel at all or to present the gospel with a heart of love, not a heart of. I'm just doing this because God told me to do this and I'm going to preach against your. You know who you are as a person, because I don't like who you are as a person. I don't like who you are as a person.
Speaker 3:You know there's there's a difference between presenting the gospel and being degrading and mean and hurtful in your present presentation of the truth one comes from a place of humility and gratefulness for what god has done for us and the others pride truthfully and I somehow deserved my mercy, but you don't deserve yours right, like the pharisee, who was praying and was like god.
Speaker 2:I thank you that I'm not like this publican and this sinner and that I, I am so pious and I pray and I do all these great things. But that, publican, you know, and if we're truthful, I think that all of us can kind of have that tendency in some way shape or form. Even though we might not say in some way shape or form, even though we might not say, it's kind of funny, there's like a, there's like a pharisaical spirit in legalism and there's a pharisaical spirit in contemporaryism. I guess you could say whatever too, and you can kind of see it when the one talks about the other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, ain't that the truth?
Speaker 2:So just throwing that one out there for free. Anyhow, when it comes to missions, I guess my overall thought that I want to try to keep in my life is that I have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and when he tells me to arise and go, I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and when he tells me to arise and go, I need to do it. I need to stop just putting those excuses and roadblocks and I just need to do it Like someone's walking in the store or whatever. First of all, you have to keep tracks with you. Tracks are just a way to kind of simply start a conversation, like maybe somebody is passing you in the store and you've seen them a couple of times through the store and the Holy Spirit said you know you should give them a track. Maybe there was like a small conversation you know, like in the grocery line or something, and you can just give him a track.
Speaker 2:At that point you don't have a lot of time, but you at least something to open that door, to say you know something simple like God loves you, here's a little information about Jesus, like nothing too extravagant, but you have to be ready and having tracks on you is a good way to be ready. If you do not have access to tracks, if maybe your church doesn't have some, like in the foyer or whatever, um, delight thyself. Ministries designs and makes tracks, and I've gotten them, some from them, like at christmas time.
Speaker 2:Um, we've gone around our neighborhood and gotten like some Christmas tracks from them and passed out, you know, like candy canes and the gospel tracks and stuff. So you can just order them If you want to check that out. Delight thyself, ministries.
Speaker 3:So they have these really pretty ones that say, just say god loves you, and they're flowery. So I try to keep a couple, in case it's a guy that I'm handing out to. But, um, like a different design, but that's my favorite one because it's just pretty and when you hand it to somebody, nine times out of ten they smile and the back has the full gospel written on it. It has our church information, um, but it's just an easy one to give out and I don't want to like I don't know, it's not always easy and it shouldn't just make and it doesn't have to be easy, but there's just something about just it's like a gift that you're giving somebody versus like um, there's some ones that have very inflammatory right kind of like eye catching, like uh, statements that can be kind of off-putting yes.
Speaker 3:So like this one is more like hey, I just want you to have this right and it just tells you you know more about Jesus or something, and I've had nothing but good responses from that. I sometimes drag my children into it, to be honest. I'm like, hey, I honestly said this because my kids were on this like track giving out kick for a while. Our church has an emphasis on it on Tuesday nights and um, anyway, I'll be like, hey, my kids gave these to me because they wanted me to hand them out. Can I hand one to you? And they're like it's, it's very, I'm a wimp, I'm a wimp, but again, sometimes you can be a wimp and still give out the gospel.
Speaker 2:And the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Speaker 3:Anyhow maybe.
Speaker 2:God is calling you to something that's bigger and scarier like Jonah Bigger, scarier, a lot more like repercussions or whatever. I guess in that situation, and you're not totally happy about the prospect of what God is calling you to do, I would say that the only way that you can have a heart for people is when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and that's for us in our daily living and that's for the person who's being called to something that is hard and people that are hard. If we don't have the love of Christ, we can't show the love of Christ and we can't portray his message in that love. So really what needs to happen is more of Jesus within us and really a prayer, a focused prayer, maybe even fasting and, um, just concentrated and having people pray for you, for that burden, for that heart of Christ you know, for that compassion, and to really seek for the work of God in your own heart, and I think we all need that.
Speaker 2:I'm the first to say that it's easy to stop seeing people as souls in need and to see them as just you know. You're just just your neighbors, or just that. You know, coworker, that's whatever is causing trouble, or just the person at the checkout line. You know it's. It's really easy to forget that they are souls and we need to keep the command, the commission, the great commission, in our hearts and show the love of christ it's true and imagine.
Speaker 3:Imagine if there was a book with our name on it, like jonah has in the bible and it had your name across it, and it was the account of how you have followed God's call in this area. What would it look like?
Speaker 1:Would there be much character?
Speaker 3:development? Yeah, and would you want anyone to read it, right?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm afraid probably not.
Speaker 3:Well, hopefully, I can say already in my life there's definitely been some character development in that regard. I can say already in my life there's definitely been some character development in that regard, Because I am an extrovert but also a giant wimp when it comes to doing uncomfortable things Right.
Speaker 2:And so we want people to like us?
Speaker 3:Yes, and so this is a really hard thing for me. I know people who are much more introverted than I am, who are really good at sharing the gospel, and I'm always very convicted by that, and so something I'm continually working on, but I can say that I have grown in that area and I hope to continue, but still I'm not ready for anyone to read that book.
Speaker 2:No, I'm thankful the canon of scripture is complete. Amen, all right. Well, thanks for joining us today and we have some guests coming on that we are really excited to share just their mission and their heart for the people that they work with and we're working with. And yeah, as we've got a few different missionary ladies and then one who's on deputation and one who wasn't on the mission field for a while, so we'll have some nice conversations, I think oh yeah, I'm excited Stay tuned.
