The grace of God does for others what we most likely wouldn’t. If we were the ones doling out the grace, we would probably be selective in who would get it. I have often made judgments in my mind about who deserves mercy and grace, and who deserves immediate judgment. I bet you have also. Recently, I saw a video of a homeless man sitting on a curb and another man standing three feet behind him. The video lasted for a minute or so with both men not moving. Then the man standing behind reached into his pocket pulling out a gun and the video stopped. It didn’t show what happened, only blurred, but you knew. The defenseless man sitting on the curb was murdered for no reason. My first thought, the murderer ought to be executed on the spot. He ought to be sent to Hell right now. In my mind, no grace for you. But that’s not God. Grace is for all sinners including you and me. If we got what we deserve, we’d be cast into Hell just like I wanted the murderer to be. We all deserve it because we are sinners and can’t save ourselves, but God can. One old time preacher often would say He “saves from the uttermost to the guttermost.”
The book of Jonah is a book that tells the story of the world’s worst missionary. This book isn’t about the greatness of Jonah. It is about the greatness of God. The fish is mentioned 4 times, the city of Nineveh mentioned 9 times, Jonah is mentioned 18 times, but God is mentioned 38 times. This is a book about the greatness of God and his willingness to save anyone, even wicked, godless, heathen. God loved them while Jonah hated them. My favorite outline of Jonah is chapter 1: “I won’t go.” Chapter 2: “OK, I’ll go.” Chapter 3: “I’m here.” Chapter 4: “I told you I shouldn’t have come.” Do you realize that each of us have Jonah inside of us? “How?” you may ask?
1. Jonah didn’t want to go. We don’t either. Have you gone next door and talked to your neighbor? Have you told that jerk at work about the grace of God? Have you called that family member that has been hostile toward you because of your Christianity? Jonah knew the hatred the Assyrians had for the Jews. He knew of their brutality as they butchered the people of God. Is there a group of people you don’t really care about and have said in your heart, “I won’t go?”
2. Not only did he not want to go, he didn’t think he should go. In his mind, he knew more than God. God evidently just didn’t know the right thing, at least concerning this mission. As bad as these people are, they don’t deserve the mercy and grace of God. He was right, they didn’t. But neither did he.
3. Jonah didn’t want them to repent. He knew if they repented God would stay his judgment. That is exactly right. When a person accepts Christ, the wrath of God is taken away for that person. No longer are they enemies of God. They have peace with God.
4. Jonah didn’t want God to love them. This missionary wanted God to love the Israelites, but that’s all. I want the Lord to save my family, but I don’t care about those in other places. They don’t look, act, or think like me.
Be brutally honest with yourself. In your mind at this moment ask, “Am I like Jonah in any of these ways?” I have already admitted I am by telling you my feelings about the murderer in that large city. But I need to stop feeling and start thinking, “If it weren’t for the grace of God, I would be in the same condition as other lost people.” What kind of missionary are you? Make no mistake about it, you are a missionary if you are a Christian. You are either a good missionary or a bad missionary. Every Christian is to share their faith with others letting those unsaved people know about the salvation found in the Gospel of Christ. Jonah repented of his disobedience in chapter 2. Let’s confess our sin and disobedience and begin sharing the Lord with those we meet. May God help us to run from being the worst missionaries.