South Woods Baptist Church

"God is more concerned about his servants that he is about their service," so wrote Sinclair Ferguson. Indeed, throughout the Scripture we find the Lord continually dealing with an individual and his relationship to the Lord. I believe that it is easy for us to treat our relationship to the Lord in the same way that many treat their jobs. As long as we perform our duties then it does not matter how much we love those in authority over us nor what kind of relationship we have with them. We go through the motions without enjoying the process. 

The Christian life is never meant to be like this. It is not merely an issue of duty, but a greater issue of relationship which becomes the intent with Christianity. Often in our relationship as children of God, we find ourselves in need of divine discipline or chastisement in order to correct us and set us steadfast in the walk with Christ. This is explained for us so clearly as we follow along in Jonah's story.

The whole book of Jonah seems to unfold as a drama on the stage. Typically, a drama goes through a long process, filling in one detail after another, leaving the spectators guessing on the outcome. But we know that all good dramas turn out right in the end! But Jonah seems to be an exception. Instead of everything coming together in Jonah's life, so that he makes his way back to his homeland with a sense of accomplishment to a hero's welcome, everything unravels. The story ends abruptly without telling us how Jonah responded to God's discipline in his life. Obviously, the abrupt ending is intentional. The story is completed only by putting yourself in Jonah's place before the chastening hand of the Lord.

God's purposes were abundantly accomplished in Nineveh. Multiplied thousands were converted; judgment had been averted; God's glory was manifested in his mercy shown to the wicked Ninevites. You are almost left with the idea that the book of Jonah was primarily about Nineveh. But you see the focus moving from the masses in Nineveh to one, lonely figure underneath a make-shift shelter. Jonah had done his duty, but God is never satisfied with his children merely performing duty. He is out to change our character, behavior, world-view, and to shape us in his own image. While the Lord certainly focused his attention on Nineveh, in his omnipotence, he simultaneously focused on Jonah. His focus was loving chastisement in order to bring change, deeper repentance, and increased God-dependence in Jonah's life.

How was this accomplished in Jonah's life? How did God make his point with Jonah?

I. The Lord exposes areas requiring discipline

Disciplining our children is certainly one of the most difficult things we face as parents. We struggle with when to discipline, precisely how to discipline, and our attitude in the discipline. No parent has ever handled this perfectly at each turn. So it is natural for us to sometime confuse the way the Lord disciplines us with our own imperfect acts of discipline with our children. So we must look at the best ideal which we have as earthly parents and multiply it far beyond our comprehension to grasp something of the work of God in disciplining his children.

It is obvious that Jonah needed discipline. He has witnessed the Lord using him mightily, then turns around, without any provocation from the Ninevites, and is ready to die. The Lord does not accommodate him on his request! How patient we see the Lord as he deals with Jonah in his reaction to the Ninevites' conversion. I was struck again by how much we discover concerning the Lord in this little book. It reveals to us the tender way our God works in us.

What is the nature of the Lord's discipline with his children? I believe it is found in him exposing the believer's heart, motives, attitudes, and actions, in order to bring about lasting change. The exposure will inevitably result in being reproved for sin, corrected in attitude, and changed in lifestyle. It leads to repentance on the believer's part.

What needed to be changed in Jonah?

1. Ignoring reality

After preaching for one day in Nineveh, Jonah retired a distance from the city, built himself a small shelter, then waited for the fireworks. He may have thought of the story in Genesis when God rained fire and brimstone down upon Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. He had announced such judgment, so he anticipated that it would happen. It didn't.

Before we announce Jonah as having a distorted personality who finds pleasure in destruction, let us consider his situation. The Lord had called him to this prophetic task in order to declare the impending destruction of Nineveh by the hand of the Lord. As far as Jonah was concerned, his prophetic reputation was at stake. No fireworks would surely lead his country-men to think of him as a false prophet. He was right in wanting to guard the trustworthiness of the prophetic office. But he was wrong in not casting this matter before the Lord and trusting that he would take care of his own divine honor. He was wrong in not seeking to mesh his desires with the will of God. He was wrong to think of himself above the countless souls of the Ninevites. He was wrong to be jealous over the spiritual advancement of the Ninevites while his own people had rejected the prophetic word for 150 years.

The Lord asked, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" When God asks such a question, there is something in the life which must be addressed. But Jonah ignored the reality of his own sin. He offered no response to the divine question. His silence reveals an area needing change: he ignored reality. If he could ignore God long enough, he may have thought, he will surely go away and leave me alone. This time Jonah would not run. He would just act as though the Lord had not put a finger upon the sin in his life.

I believe we get the impression that Jonah may have resented this intrusive question in his life. Rather than facing it, he would just ignore it.

Are there issues, views, or practices in your life which you do not want to face? All of us have had that same haunting difficulty which Jonah faced. The Word of God probes our lives; we try desperately to shut it out. The proclamation of the Scripture presses some issue upon us; we quickly forget what was spoken. A reproof from a brother smites us; we change the subject. Through excuses on one hand or ignoring on the other, we find ourselves mentally running away from answering God's searching questions in our lives.

What kind of areas do we ignore? Maybe it is jealousy over the spiritual progress of others, as in the case of Jonah with the Ninevites. Perhaps it is the calling of God upon our lives for an area of ministry. Or maybe it is a spiritual discipline, a change in priority, or a radical shift in our life-style which needs attention. Are you ignoring what the Lord is exposing?

2. Priority on the temporal

One of the most significant areas we find afflicting Jonah was his priority on the temporal. He was overly concerned about his comforts rather than the eternal souls of the people of Nineveh. After putting up his little shelter, he sat in the shade awaiting judgment to fall on Nineveh. Maybe he counted the days. He had given them forty days at the command of the Lord. He may have developed his own notched calendar, watching anxiously for God to rain destruction upon these undeserving sinners! The text graphically depicts his priority on the temporal.

"So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant." Keep in mind that he was "greatly displeased...and...angry" over God's display of mercy to Nineveh. "But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered." Again, we find the Lord who had earlier "hurled a great wind on the sea," "appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah," and "commanded the fish" to vomit Jonah on dry land, now appointing a plant to shade Jonah, then appointing a worm to attack the plant. Do you get the picture? The Lord God who rules over heaven and earth is actively working in the massive realm of creation for the purpose of this one man. Even the use of the title, "the Lord God," demonstrates that he who is a covenant-keeping God (Yahweh) and who rules over his creation (Elohim), does not fail in working to chasten one of his children. There is never child-neglect with the Lord!        

What kind of guy is this Jonah? He is overwhelmed with happiness about a plant but greatly displeased with the salvation of the enemies of God. It almost does not make sense, does it? But if we consider that what Jonah was doing we might find that it hits much closer to home than first glance. Jonah was concerned about his own comforts. He wanted life to go his way, regardless of the effect upon other people. He was more concerned for things than for the souls of men. He actually ignored the Ninevite's eternity in favor of personal comfort.

Do you have a pre-occupation with things, creature comforts, earthly treasures to the neglect of being concerned for eternal issues? It shows up in our priorities, the way we spend our money, the way we parcel our time, the things we talk about. God's work of discipline exposes such an attitude so that we might be delivered from anchoring our lives on the temporal to the neglect of the eternal.

3. Nursing attitudes

The book of Jonah is about God's compassion for men. It is also an exposure of the lack of compassion often found in his children. We find this in Jonah as he "sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city." He was stinging over the favor being shown to the Ninevites. They had wronged every nation but their own. They were abusive, war-mongering thugs, who understood nothing about the rights and dignity of human beings! Jonah's own people felt threatened by the brute power of the Assyrians. Jonah thought, 'If only God will destroy them!' He had felt the wound of their bullying power over the Ancient Near East. Now he wanted vengeance.

Jonah nursed his secret (if we can call it secret!) attitude of bitterness, anger, and vengeance. Do you find yourself doing the same thing? Are there individuals whom you really would rather see God destroy than to bless? Do you secretly wish harm, perhaps even pray harm upon someone you believe has wronged you?

I recall the occasions as a boy plowing ground for planting. I would look across the ground yet to be plowed, and see nothing which might be a problem. But as I moved along I would feel the jolt of hitting a rock or a root or something buried in the earth. Our lives can move along quite smoothly until the plow of God's Word begins to press deeply into the soil of our own attitudes. What does the Word dig up? What bone of anger has been buried there for years? What rock of contention lies hidden beneath the surface? What roots of bitterness and grudges have tangled themselves into the fabric of your life? Divine discipline exposes these things. It is not pleasant. Instead, it is painful. Yet such exposure is necessary for us to deal with sin and be shaped in the image of our Lord.

4. Dulled hearing

When the Lord sent the worm to wither the castor oil plant that had shaded Jonah, he then continued using creation to discipline his child. "And it came about when the sun came up that God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life"." The picture sent to Jonah was obvious. It could not be any clearer than if the Lord had sent him a telegram! Jonah did nothing to grow the plant. It came by the providence of the Lord. Yet so did the Ninevites, whom the Lord had nurtured with life. Jonah showed more concern for the plant than for people; more interest in comfort than in the Lord's mercy being shown to sinners. He was so consumed with his own interests, comforts, and desires, that he was insensitive to the voice of the Lord speaking to him. He was dulled in his hearing. This required discipline.

It happens to us as well. We become so consumed with our own lives that we find ourselves full of noise rather than hearing the quiet voice of the Lord through his Word. We read the Scripture and think, 'So what?' We hear the Word preached and think, 'This is for someone else'. Circumstances point toward a message from the Lord and we are so busy that we fail to think clearly. God speaks and we are dulled in our hearing.

5. Escapism mentality

Jonah had earlier run from the word of the Lord. Now he just wanted to die. He was not joking either. He "begged with all his soul to die, saying, "Death is better to me than life"." He did not want to face the realities of life. He knew that he could not run away from the Lord, so he decided that death might be a workable solution. It is the mind of escapism; refusing to deal with your sin; resisting efforts of reproof; stubbornly refusing repentance. Escapism. It is the mind of Houdini applied to the spiritual realities of life. 'If you force me to take action on some issue in my life, to make changes, to humble myself, I will find a way to escape'.

We honestly do not know how far Jonah was able to go with this since our text stops short at his ultimate response. We are left hanging but only as far as we are unwilling to apply the same exposure to our own hearts and lives. Running from your failures, escaping the consequence of your sins is the normal human pattern. But it is the wrong pattern for the believer. When the Lord plows over our lives with his hand of discipline, exposing areas which need to be addressed, it is time to do business with the Lord!

II. The Lord applies the grace of discipline

The Lord makes his point in our lives through discipline. Why does the Lord apply discipline in our lives? The writer of Hebrews explains that it is evidence of "sonship" by which our heavenly Father demonstrates exacting care of his children. "For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives" (Hebrews 12:6). How do we characterize discipline? Let me explain it in a three-fold fashion.

(1) In discipline, God's motive is benevolent to bring good out of evil in the life of the believer. In spite of the obvious pain of divine discipline, it always produces good in the believer.

(2) Chastisement or discipline "is a means of spiritual benefit appropriate only to sinning children of God" [R. L. Dabney, Systematic Theology, 818]. It is not applied to unbelievers nor is it applied to angels for some advancement in either of their lives. It is reserved for "sons." As John Owen expressed it, "Chastisement is a companion of them that are in the way and of them only" [Hebrews, vol. VII, 260].        

(3) God's motive in discipline is not for the purpose of retribution or satisfaction but for the benefit of the believer [Dabney, 818 for the ideas on this].

In what ways does the Lord discipline us? I believe the list could be endless, but we do have at least four areas in our text which help us to understand the application of the grace of discipline in our lives.

1. By searching questions

We are struck by the probing ability of the questions the Lord asks Jonah. "Do you have good reason to be angry?" he asks after Jonah complains at what appears to be a delay of judgment on Nineveh. Then when the Lord wilted Jonah's shade-plant through the means of a worm, the Lord God asked, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" with the implication being, 'do you have a reason to be angry about something you did not create while you are angry with Me about not destroying humans whom I have created'. The purpose of the questions are to cause Jonah to think. If only he could get a good look at what he was doing, it would seem that Jonah might turn from his soured attitude.

Thinking is a basic need any of us have in developing spiritually. We must learn to think about biblical truth, doctrine, the work of Christ, et. al. But we must also learn to think about our lives in light of Scripture and the probing work of the Spirit. We must look at ourselves through the lens of the Word of God.

Throughout the Bible, we see the use of questions to help search the heart and bring a person to repentance and obedience. When Adam had sinned against the Lord and hidden himself in fear of God, the Lord asked, "Where are you?" The Lord was quite aware of Adam's geographical position! But the question probed Adam's spiritual life so that he recognized the separation between him and the Lord.        

When Elijah reproved the Israelites for their syncretism of Judaism and idolatry, he asked the probing question, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions?" (I Kings 18:21). Later, as the throes of depression overwhelmed the great prophet, he fled to a cave at the mountain of the Lord and the Lord asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Again, geography was not the issue. It was a question to help him understand that he could press on, that he need not succumb to despair (I Kings 19:9, 13).

What questions has the Lord been sending your way? Have you ignored them or responded? Yes, these questions can be painful. They cut to the heart of our lives. Yet they are used of the Lord to perform remarkable surgery on the spiritual lives of his children.

2. In gentleness and kindness

I think that it is important to see that the Lord did not toss Jonah aside once the prophet grew sour after accomplishing his mission. Here we see the divine compassion, that God would show kindness and deal gently with a surly believer. Jonah was tormented by the heat, so the Lord comforted him. "So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant." Notice that the text tells us that the Lord gave this plant "to deliver him from his discomfort." Yes, it would later become an important object lesson for Jonah. But in the mean time, God gave him the plant to comfort him.

Paul explained that even "the kindness of God leads you to repentance" (Rom. 2:4). We often think of discipline as something harsh coming our way, and perhaps that is the case in various occasions. But discipline can also come through the kindness of God in the midst of our stubbornness. His kindness can serve as a gentle flame which melts us into submission.

Think of how kind and gentle the Lord has been to you. Perhaps you have been unfaithful or disobedient to him, yet you are still constantly show his kindness. Will you not respond to him? Will gratitude to the Lord not motivate you to a deeper repentance and diligence in your walk?

3. Through distressing circumstances

On other occasions, the Lord must apply the intensity of discipline to bring the believer into submission. In Jonah's case, after the shade-plant withered, "And it came about when the sun came up that God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die." This "scorching east wind" refers to the sirocco. It is compared to the heat of an oven blowing across the desert floor, torturing all in its path. Jonah was desiring an even greater heat to consume the Ninevites. Now, tempered with the mercy of God, a milder heat of the sirocco plunged the despairing prophet into a deeper pit. It was a messenger sent to awaken him, to help him understand the foolishness of his complaints, to enable him to see the perverseness of his desires for Nineveh. It was distressing, but it was sent by the hand of the Lord as a gift to discipline the prophet. Not one blow of the sirocco failed to be filled with the love of God for his child.

Discipline can involve distressing circumstances. They can come in many forms; whatever might be profitable for our lives at the good pleasure of our heavenly Father. The Lord might use the natural realm to reprove us. Or it may be an issue with our health or with our financial lives or with a relationship. Through distressing circumstances, he brings us into submissive obedience to himself.

4. With living parables

Jonah had a living story before his own eyes. He never labored for the castor oil plant which shaded him; it was a creation of God. He enjoyed the plant's benefits but bemoaned its withering. The Lord told him, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work, and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight." Imagine, while the souls of the people of Nineveh were hanging in the balance, Jonah was much more concerned about a plant! The lesson becomes clear when we read, "And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" You answer the question, Jonah! You have had such great compassion on a plant that is here one day and forever gone the next. Should God show less compassion for the those whom he has created and nurtured, who have eternal souls? He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked! He desires to see sinners repent and follow after him. So, Jonah, are you right in having compassion on a plant while you were willing to forfeit for eternity the souls of men?

Living parables may come to us through the circumstances of life, through observations in Creation, through lessons in our families, through situations arising on the job. They can come in a thousand different ways, but they come with the distinct message of a loving Father, reproving us for our sin and bringing us to repentance. With Jonah, God was making his point. How about with you?

Conclusion

If we keep  in mind that discipline is not simply punitive acts, but a means of training children unto maturity, it will encourage us to realize that God is training us. If indeed, the Lord is more concerned about his servants than their service, then do not be surprised at the loving hand which disciplines you for holiness. Do not treat his acts of discipline lightly. do not try to ignore them, for he will not be slighted by his children.

Receive from the Lord his gracious work of discipline. Keep yourself sensitive to know when God is making his point in your life.