Jonah 3: God be gracious, so be it! (Jonah 3); Patrice Berger

Sermon: Jonah Chapter 3

God bless

Jonah was sure

This is what Jonas will say in the next chapter.

“Lord I know you too well. It’s obvious that you were going to be pardoned”.
Thanks to the worst

God is merciful to the Nazis of the time;
God gives grace to people who are not of the Hebrew people.
Psalm 145

8 The LORD is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, and full of kindness. 9 The LORD is kind to all,

ALL

All (not just Hebrews)

Grace, a character trait of God

Grace is not a characteristic feature of the New Testament.
Grace is a characteristic trait of the personality of God.
Many more examples in the OT

I would even say that we have more examples of the grace of God in the Old Testament with the people of Israel, their kings, the servants of God, the other nations… simply because the Old Testament has more books .

The grace of God is revealed here in that God does not carry out His sentence of destruction. This is what He says:

“He saw that they renounced their bad conduct. Then God regretted the evil. »

A personality to reflect

If one of the aspects of the person of God is revealed by his grace, we who are in His image, that is to say representatives of God, ambassadors of Christ, we must also reflect this aspect of God.

It’s a commitment

It is much more comfortable to take refuge behind the law which suits us and which is on our side, than to be pardoned.

Risk taking

In grace, there is a risk taking, that the one who is the object of it understands it and then acts accordingly.

Or be satisfied

When I take refuge behind my rights, I have only satisfied myself, but I have not changed the world, nor the course of history.

The scorned king

The greatest King was flouted by His rebellious subjects.

This great King took the risk of giving grace by offering His only Son

He could have applied His right and there would have been nothing to say.

He would have just had it, but this King is divine and in God, His right is equivalent to His grace.

This King is the Lord

God took this foolish risk in the eyes of right for me by grace in Christ.

The hand He held out for a long, long time…

He gave His son long before I paid attention to it.

But isn’t the result wonderful?!?

Demonstrative of the Grace of God

We too must register as representatives of God, as ambassadors of Christ in this process: to show, to demonstrate this character of God. Let’s take the risk of grace.

Two IBG trainers

I was really marked by one of the two IBG trainers with whom I had the privilege of working for several years:

one showed me how to read the Bible with simplicity and discernment;
the other showed me that grace was always the first option to explore.
Rejection of Christians

But what surprised me more was to see the number of hostile reactions to this approach.

Hostile on the part of Christians, even of those who had been the object of a process of grace. We can quickly be forgetful of the grace of others and especially those of God through Christ.

Despite the risk, He gives grace

Yes, there are more risks in grace and God took it for me and also for you: so it’s up to us to do the same!

Magnificent result.

Jonah

With Jonas, the law would have dismissed him; God, instead of sending a big fish, could have allowed sharks to feast…

What beautiful consequences of the grace of God towards Jonas who rehabilitates him in his mission (which will be a success!).

What beautiful consequences of the grace of God towards the city of Nineveh.

A whole city!

Grace does not look away from faults

Grace does not close its eyes to what is condemnable.

It is with regard to what is reprehensible that it is merciful.

Grace is not a cutesy thing, nor a good “good-natured grandfather” thing, a grandpa who passes everything (afterwards there is no longer any difference between what is good and abject).
Neither close your eyes nor act like “I didn’t see”, to avoid conflicts.

Grace builds on fault

Grace is given in the light of a fault, in the light of the one who really recognizes his fault.

In God everything is possible but my faults cut everything

Isaiah 59

1 No, the arm of the LORD has not become too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear, 2 but your faults have separated you from your God, your sins have separated you from your God. hid and prevented him from listening to you.

What cuts off from God is what is condemnable: God brings it to light, I recognize it and His grace acts.

Jonah’s experience

God highlights Jonah’s fault with the storm,
Jonas recognizes his fault in the belly of the fish,
God gives him grace by rehabilitating him in his mission.

Lived in Nineveh

God brings to light the fault of Nineveh through the preaching of Jonah,
Nineveh recognizes her fault, an attitude of unquestionable repentance,
God is gracious to them by not destroying the city.
Nineveh acknowledge his fault

The people, big and small,
then the king,
then everything that lives in Nineveh.
real awareness

The expression of this awareness is striking!

Which of us would dress there now in front of us in a sackcloth, sit on the ashes, taste nothing, eat nothing, and drink nothing? And would express himself by shouting: “Pardon Lord!” ?

Radical change

No matter the form, there is a radical change in this awareness, no half measures, of style:

“Yeah, it’s not really good what we did but well you understand…”

No, it’s really a radical awareness and the shift is obvious!

life direction

And this change also affects life intentions: it’s not just “forgiveness” and life resumes its course as before…

Verse 8: Let them all renounce their evil conduct and acts of violence of which their hands are guilty

God sees it

And it’s this global change:

cessation – repentance (fasting, burlap sack, ashes, drinking nothing),
different life intention,
that the Lord has noticed

Verse 10 God saw what they were doing, he saw that they renounced their evil conduct.

Inspiration

We have to be inspired by it: the grace of God is not a balm to calm our conscience when we are too “borderline”, but an invitation to discover the life of grace without ambiguity.

hand in pocket

If I’m a thief and I ask God’s forgiveness, but I still have my hands in my neighbor’s pockets or I still hang out with my companions in misfortune, there is a good chance that the habit will resume. course.

Life of Grace = True Life

The life of grace is discovering a transparency that does not fear the light of day, which, even if there are difficulties, brings the satisfaction of being a true human (in the biblical sense, a reflection of God)

Radicality in Jesus

There is this same radicality in the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 , when He speaks of a real life:

27 You have heard that it was said: Thou shalt not commit adultery. 28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to do wrong, pluck it out and throw it away from you, for it is better for you to suffer the loss of one of your limbs than to see your whole body thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to do wrong, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it is better for you to suffer the loss of one of your limbs than to see your whole body thrown into hell.

Pornography

You have a problem with pornography despite your repentance and the fact that God be gracious to you removes all the screens that invite you!

Calumny

You have a problem with slander, run away from conversations that slide in this direction, no longer meet the people who feed this fault!

Adultery

You feel yourself slipping into an adulterous relationship, put everything in place to never meet the person again. If it’s a colleague, it’s better to be transferred or lose your job…
What is better? That you destroy your family or that you keep your job?

The life of grace is radical in the face of what destroys life.

Proverbs 1 , verse 15 My son, do not go in the way with them, put your foot out of their way!
You are invited not to take this path, to cut the paths that lead you to the opposite of your repentance. Grace is such a beautiful gift that it does not need what is obscure!