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Avoiding the pride that leads to prejudice - June 11, 2023
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This morning, I am finishing up my sermon series through the Old Testament book of Jonah, which is a masterfully told story with a great deal of relevance to our lives today. Over the last four weeks, we looked at the chapters 1-3 of Jonah and talked about how God called Jonah and calls us to find our identity and purpose in Him and to share His message with others. But Jonah, like many of us, rejected that call. Instead of submitting to that call and finding true purpose and freedom, he decided to run as far as he could from God’s call. We saw that although he boarded a ship and tried to sail as far as he could in the opposite direction from where God wanted him to go, he could not escape from God’s omnipresent sovereignty. As others on the ship experience a storm of suffering because of Jonah’s disobedience, it becomes evident that the only way to survive will be for Jonah to be thrown overboard, to submit himself to God’s saving discipline. And so, the sailors reluctantly throw Jonah overboard, where God provides a great fish to swallow him up. And in the belly of the great fish, Jonah prays to God and acknowledges that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs, and that salvation comes from the Lord. He is willing, finally, to go to Ninevah, where he preaches the warning message God has given him – “forty more days and Ninevah will be overturned,” and incredibly, Ninevah repents of their sin, and God forgives them.
Jonah 3:10 - When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Now if this were a modern Christian movie, the story would end after chapter 3 with a very neat and tidy resolution. Jonah experienced God’s grace and mercy, learned his lesson, obeyed God, preached the message God gave him, and Ninevah repented and turned to God. But the Bible is not neat and tidy, and Jonah’s story does not end there.
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