17th March 2024 - Jonah 4 - No reason to sulk - John Shepherd

Sunday morning was full of praise, prayer, fellowship and to listen to God's Word. The book of Jonah is a wonderful story, summarised by that phrase, “salvation comes from the Lord.” The sailors are saved, Jonah is saved, and most wonderful of all, the wicked city of Nineveh is saved. Jonah knows that God is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, who relents from sending calamity”, and yet we find him at the end of the book as a disgruntled, unhappy prophet who wishes he could die! It is clear that Jonah’s heart is out of tune with God’s heart. God has a heart of love for the world, not just for his own people, and He wants no one to perish, but all to come to repentance and to have eternal life. Like the father in the story of the prodigal son, God loves to forgive and welcome back the wayward, the rebellious, the undeserving, and throw them a great party. However, the older, self-righteous son looks down on his brother, and angrily refuses to go into the party. Like Jonah, his heart is out of tune with God’s heart. Head to our dedicated sermon series page to go deeper: www.ccsurbiton.org/sermons