SITTING & COMPLAINING

Do You Do Well To Be Angry?The final chapter of Jonah centers on Jonah’s anger.• Jonah 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he

was angry.• Jonah 4:4 And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be

angry?”

Two Parallel Stories

1. Jonah does not go to Nineveh, and he ends up miserable.2. Jonah does go to Nineveh, and he ends up miserable.• The stories have two very different outcomes for God

and for Nineveh.• The stories have identical outcomes for Jonah. Why?

Jonah Thinks He Knows BestJonah 4:2 “Is not this what I said …”• Jonah says, “I told you so.”• Jonah justifies his prior disobedience.•Compare: Matthew 25:24-25 “He also who had

received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’”

Jonah Does Not Love God

Jonah 4:2 “I knew that you are a gracious God …”• Jonah’s frustration does not come from his ignorance

of God, but from his knowledge.• Jonah knows God’s character, but wishes it were

different.•You cannot love the idea of god and hate the

character of God.

Jonah Does Not Want God’s ChoiceJonah 4:3 “It is better for me to die than to live”•Complaint = God isn’t getting it right•Despair = God isn’t going to get it right• Jonah is honest about what complaining really

means.•Complaint is our saying to God, “I’d rather not live in

this world you have made.”

Jonah Is Selfish

Jonah 4:5-11•Ultimately, Jonah cannot be happy for Nineveh or

God because he is only thinking of himself.•Compare: Luke 15:25-32 “… Look, these many years I

have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him! …”

Do You Do Well To Be Angry?

Our response to God’s work is an important choice.•Matthew 21:42-44 Jesus said to them, “Have you never

read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”• Find Joy In God Or Be Crushed