Good morning!  The Bible says “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give and account.”  Heb 4:12-13

 

We’ve spent the last few weeks looking the meaning of Christian vocation.  “Vocation” means to be called out for a special purpose.  Your life isn’t a cosmic accident. The Bible says each one of us was in God’s mind from before the creation of the universe. 

 

We are here this morning because God has called us into being, called us to faith, he’s calling us to discipleship, lordship.  He’s calling us out of living for ourselves to live for him. Calling us to a purpose that has eternal significance. Calling us, Jesus says, to abundant life.

 

We’ve spent the last few weeks looking at the life of Jonah.  Jonah was a God guy.  Called to be a prophet; called to proclaim God’s message of salvation to the world. But something was messed up in Jonah’s heart.  When God called him, Jonah bailed.  He ran away because he thought his way was better than God’s way.  Rather arrogant! Let’s open our Bibles to Jonah 4.

 

It sounds like Jonah is more interested in God destroying the wicked than in God saving the wicked.  Why?  Here’s a guy who claims to know the LORD.  Who has experienced God’s mercy, yet he refuses to extent the same grace to other sinners like himself.  What’s the deal?

 

I don’t know about you, but this is hitting way to close to home for me. It’s like God is holding up this mirror for us who know the Lord. It reminds me of what the LORD tells Israel in Ezekiel 18.  Israel had been called out by God to be a blessing to the world. Yet they got it all messed up and began to see themselves as better than the rest of the world. They wanted God’s grace and forgiveness for themselves but were unwilling to pass the same forgiveness on to others.

 

The LORD says to them, "If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? … Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.

Back to Jonah 4:4.  The LORD asks Jonah if he has a right to be angry because he was merciful to the Ninevites.  Jonah refuses to answer.  Instead he tromps up the hill outside the city hoping the LORD will blast Nineveh just like Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

It’s hot and lonely out there on the hill side, so Jonah attempts to make a little shelter out of sticks.  How strange.  Centuries before David had written in Psalm 121 “The LORD watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”  Psalm 121:5-8

But Jonah is so self-centered, so self-righteous that he’s no longer in touch with how God protected him on the sea, in the sea, on the way, in Nineveh – how God forgave him for his disobedience.  He simply assumes he’s more worthy of God’s grace than the Ninevites.

 

Look at verse 6. “Then the LORD provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was happy about the vine.”   Jesus said, “I am the vine”.   The source of your life?  Is Jesus there with Jonah, this messed up prophet with such a depraved heart?  Is he with us?  Is he with his church in our selfish, self-righteous ways? Yeah, he’s here.  Why? Because we’re so righteous?  It’s just the opposite. He’s here because we need him!

 

Is Jonah’s heart just as full of sin as the Ninevites? Did Jesus come to save sinners?  Do we in the church along with the rest of the world, qualify? Every minute of everyday?

 

The next day the Lord provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.  There’s something here about the sovereignty of God and the difficulties of our lives.  God allows the worm out of his love for his prophet. In fact, God not only provides the worm that killed the vine, he provides a schirroco, a hot east wind, shrieking off the desert like a blast furnace. 

 

Jonah’s response? Only for himself. No thought of the suffering the wind is bringing to others. Instead of reaching out to help, he moans, “It would be better for me to die that to live.”

 

So the LORD responds to his childish prophet. “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”  It seems Jonah is more concerned about his rights than his responsibilities.  He sees God’s grace and mercy as entitlements even though he’s done nothing to earn or merit such favor.

 

The LORD says, “You’ve been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Jonah 4:10-11

The longer I serve the LORD the more convinced I become that the LORD has called us together as the Body of Christ, the church, for the sake of those who aren’t here yet.  That doesn’t mean we forget about those within the fellowship, but it means our primary calling is always reaching out, not in.  Our needs will be met when we give ourselves in serving others.

That includes those across the street, across the world, and in generations yet to come.

 

There is a chronic disease within every church and every believer I call Jonah-itis.  We have this persistent temptation to get turned in on ourselves and forget the mission to which we’ve been called. Our vocation so easily degrades into a religious occupation. We get in rut, going through the motions, but no longer being a channel of God’s grace to others around us.

 

So what is our Christian vocation – our calling? Our vocation is first and foremost to cling to Jesus and his righteousness alone. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives within me. And the life I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20

Finding your Christian vocation isn’t so complicated. Start where you are. If you’re married, love your spouse. That’s God’s call for you. If you’re a parent, love your kids.  If you’re a kid, you love your parents. If you’re a student, be diligent. If you have a job, work as on to the Lord. Begin by being faithful where you are. God will open and close doors, give direction, provide supply as you simply continue to be faithful in the daily responsibilities of the here and now.

 

I want to close this series with some contrasts between Jonah and Jesus.

And praise God, we have one, his name is Jesus. He saves sinners.  Are you thankful?    What can we do in response but to give our lives to serve the one who gave his life for us?  We’ve a story to tell to the nations, let’s take the light of Christ into the world.