Jonah, the Great Commission, and You

This past Sunday at our church, Beulah Baptist, we finished our series through the book of Jonah. The story of Jonah began with a rebellious & runaway prophet who heard the call of God to go to the "nations", represented by the city of Nineveh, but refused. Then we saw a relentless God pursue Jonah through a series of circumstances to draw Jonah back to himself; God was working on Jonah so he could work through Jonah. As God worked on Jonah, we saw a repentant prophet as he spent time with the Lord in the belly of a big fish. As Jonah preaches in obedience to God's call, God's mercy is demonstrated in the repentance of the people of Nineveh and the relenting of God to bring disaster on them. However, Jonah doesn't like that, so we see a pouting prophet in Jonah 4:1-11. God continues to work on Jonah's attitude through a few object lessons so Jonah can see his own limited view of God's mercy and justice and his own ethnic idolatry (as one commentator called it).

So, what were our "takeaways" from that series that connect Jonah with the Great Commission and us?

Here are four of the big ones:

1. God is working in this world to redeem for himself a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation through the advancement of the Great Commission.
2. God is more interested in the advancement of the Great Commission than in our personal comforts in this world.
3. God works on us in order to work through us for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
4. God will not tolerate sinful attitudes among his people toward people of other races or ethnic groups.