This Week\’s Sunday School Lesson, \”The Father Knows Best\” 5/28/2017, Jonah 4:1-11

THE FATHERS KNOWS BEST

Jonah 4:1 – 11

CHECK YOUR ANGER
V:1-2.\”But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, \”O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.\”
A. Not everyone in the Church agrees with mission of the Church.
1. Jonah completed the job God called Him to do but he was not happy
2. He became angry while he was proclaiming the Gospel to Ninevites.
3. God loves a cheerful giver.
a. We don\’t store up treasures in heaven when we do something
in the name of Lord and our heart is not in the service.
b. Jonah ran through Nineveh, not because he loved the Ninevites, but
because he feared what God would do to him if he disobeyed
B. You cannot serve the Lord in your anger.
1. An angry person is not a rational person.
2. Anger is an emotion that we should never act upon.
3. Jonah was angry with God because He did not destroy 600,000 people.
4. What Jonah failed to realize is that God can change the heart of an
evil person to be one of righteousness.
5. Jonah failed to consider that God had shown him mercy in his disobedient
behavior.
6. Jonah failed to consider that God saved him in the mist of his sin.
C. We are all recovering from some sinful behavior.
1. Not everybody is happy with your recovery.
2. Some people are jealous when you turn toward the Lord.
3. Jonah got angry because He knew God would save all of Nineveh.
4. Jonah\’s agenda was not God\’s agenda.
D. We must never pray that God give another person what we think
they deserve.
1. We serve a compassionate God who blesses who He wants to bless
and curses who He wants to curse.
2. We should be glad that God does not use our standard of justice because
we would be cursed.
3. To be truthful none of us deserves God\’s grave or mercy.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
4. Before we condemn another person, we should consider the mercy
that God has shown us.

LIFE IS MORE THAN MY THOUGHTS
V:3-4. \” Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.\”
4 But the Lord replied, \”Have you any right to be angry?\”
A. Since Jonah\’s prayer of destruction for Nineveh was not heard by God, he decided
that life was not worth living.
1. Jonah\’s thoughts were irrational because he was angry with God.
2. An irrational person is capable of taking his own life when their situation
does not turn out in their favor.
3. An angry person is selfish because he considers his own agenda.
4. A selfish person fails to consider the good he can do for others.
5. An angry and selfish person denies God the opportunity to use him for
the good of others.
B. We never have reason to be angry with God.
1. We serve a loving and caring God. If it was not so, we would cease to
exist.
2. By Jonah\’s own standard of justice, God should have allowed the fish to kill him.
3. Before we consider revenge on another person, we need to consider
the grace showed us when we were in sin.

GOD BLESSES IN SPITE OF OUR SINS
V: 5-6. \” Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.\”
A. Sometimes while we are considering our selfish agendas, God is setting us up
for a lesson in life that will change us.
1. Notice Jonah had been save from his disobedience, but he didn\’t want God to
save the inhabitants of Nineveh from their disobedience.
2. Any compassion that was in Jonah was blinded by his selfish agenda.
3. Jonah did not consider that among the 600000 population of Nineveh
that there were men, women and children who were innocence of the evil
of the ruling class.
B. Notice God blessed Jonah with shelter from the sun while he was hoping that
the same God would not show compassion to innocence people.
1. Just because everything seem to be going well does not mean everything
is right between you and God.
2. God has ways of bring you to you right mind.
3. Sometimes God shows you how good He is before He shows you
how bad you are.

GOD HAS AWAY OF GETTING US TO SEE HIS VIEW
V:7-8. \” But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah\’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, \”It would be better for me to die than to live.\”
A. Here is the lesson; You can\’t expect God to bless you while praying that He curse others.
1. God blessed Jonah\’s situation one day and cursed it the next day.
2. God blessed Jonah with shade one day and cursed him with scorching sun
the next day.
3. God blessed Jonah with pleasure one day and pain the next day.
4. God blessed Jonah with the desire to live one day and the wish to die the
next day.
5. I can only assume that God wanted Jonah to have a perspective between
blessings and curses.
B. The evil you wish for others may be the same evil you face.
1. It is when we are in trouble that we earnestly call on God.
2. The lesson is, when others are in trouble we should earnestly
pray to God for their salvation.

WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE ANGRY
V: 9-10. \” But God said to Jonah, \”Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?\” \”I do,\” he said. \”I am angry enough to die.\” 10 But the Lord said, \”You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.\”
A. Most of what God\’s provides for us, we put forth no effort to get.
1. The air we breath, the water we drank, the food we eat was put here for us
when God created the earth.
2. We have no right to be angry with God if He gives us more or takes what
He gave.
B. The lesson is that we put more emphasis on perishable things we have than the
spiritual needs of ourselves and others.
1. God provides an open door for eternal life for everyone.
2. It is our job to proclaim the Gospel and lead others to the door of salvation.
3. A selfish person only considers his own needs.
4. God wants us to concerned about the spiritual needs of others.
C. There were 120000 innocent children in Nineveh.
1. Jonah did not consider the welfare of innocent while hoping
God would kill an entire city.
2. We should make our decision based on the grace and mercy God has
shown us.

EVERYONE DESERVES GOD\’S FAVOR
11. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?\”
A. God\’s Agenda is always more important than our personal agendas.
1. God has a plan that does not include our personal opinions.
2. God sees what is best for the entire body of Christ.
3. We can see only what we know or have experience.
B. All things works together for the good of those who love the Lord
and are called according to His purposes.
1. We don\’t know who God has called.
2. Therefore we cannot eliminate anyone, no matter
what we think about them.
3. We cannot judge the call of Christ to His people.
4. Our opinions may work against the call of God.
5. In Jonah\’s case he wanted to work against the will of God.
C. It is our job to love everyone with the expectation that God has
it all worked out.

Thank God for His Grace and Mercy

Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North
Houston, Texas 77041

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