God brings the growth - Jonah 4 - [sermon]

#earlwoodanglican #brendanmclaughlin #jonah4
From the minister . . .
Submitting to God
Jonah chapter 3 includes what is arguably the worst sermon in history. In the
original Hebrew it is just 5 words long; ‘forty more days, Nineveh overthrown’. He
doesn’t tell them how to be saved or whether salvation is on the table. He
denounces them. Yet this is likely the most effective sermon in history,
winning over an entire city. Not even the Apostle Paul got a response like that. So
what is it that made this terrible sermon so successful?
The first reason is that God was involved. The Bible says you and I cannot make a
person give their life to Jesus. That’s God’s job. What this means is, we need to be
on our knees regularly, begging God to bring a revival of biblical proportions.
The second reason is it includes something missing from most modern preaching,
which is the call to repent. Repentance is best described as doing a U-Turn. It
means to stop living our life the way we think it should be lived and start living our
life God’s way. This doesn’t mean just following the commandments we happen
to agree with. It means following all of God’s word, even if it looks dumb or
immoral to do so. A life of faith means trusting that God knows best.
The reason repentance is missing from the modern church is Christians don’t want
to step out of their comfort zone if they don’t think it will work. Telling someone
they need to repent risks turning them off Jesus. Yet Christians must understand
that humans don’t do anything unless they feel it is needed. This is why most people.
Don’t give up smoking until the first heart attack or cancer scare. As such, non-
Christians will simply not repent and turn to God unless they are told they need to,
on pains of Judgment Day.
So may our preaching be a little more like Jonah’s, as bad as it is, and call people
to repent.
Brendan McLaughlin