By Pastor Peter Linnecar
God is a God of judgement, but He is also a God of mercy. We must not have a heart like Jonah, harbouring bitterness and resentment against those who we feel God should have punished. God, by His Holy Spirit, is a faithful witness, and you know if you have bitterness inside. You need to hear God's call, forgive and repent. If you turn, as the Ninevites did when they heeded God's words, God will be merciful.
Peter Hall from Cancer Research
It is lovely to worship and share with you all at Trinity here. It is my first visit here and I was struck by the warmth. I'm here to share with you some really good news.
I want to share about my journey and why I am working about Cancer Research UK now. Who are Cancer Research UK? We are actually a relatively new organisation. We came out as a result of a merger between two cancer research organisations, who were doing a very good job but were actually working against each other. Through the merger we have an increased financial support system so that, this year, we were able to spend a lot of money on research. World class research makes a huge difference.
In the 50s, 60s and even 70s, if you were diagnosed with cancer, the prognosis was not good. I am pleased to say that now, the average 10 year survival rate has doubled in the last 30 years. And the number of people who die from cancer has fallen by 13% in the last ten years. Part of Cancer Research UK is to celebrate with those who have overcome cancer. Over 8 out of 10 children, diagnosed with leukaemia, now survive. The death rate from bowel cancer has fallen by over a fifth in the last decade, and the death rate from lung cancer in men has fallen by a quarter in the last ten years. All this is only made possible by Cancer Research UK. In short, there will be people walking around your community today, who are alive because of the research we have done.
But people ask why we have not completely cured the disease, if we are spending so much money on it? The problem is that there are over 200 different types of cancer. We are all living for longer these days, and thanks to the NHS, more cancers are being picked up earlier. The incidence of cancer is actually predicted to increase, but that is simply because cancer will be diagnosed more often.
I work full-time for the charity, and when I wake up in the morning, I think that I am going to save lives today. Although things are getting better, we can't be complacent.
Just to finish, I want to share with you how I survived cancer. I was diagnosed as terminally ill from 1999 – 2001. I received care at a Christian hospice near the end of my struggle. At that time, although I was aware of Jesus in my life, I didn't have a full experience with Him. But, although I didn't know it, He was near me, and I know that now. I very much believe in miracles. But while I'm here on earth I am going to do what I can to save lives and give people hope for the future.
Chibugo Okafor
I'm going to talk about what made me want to join Cancer Research UK. Prior to my joining, my family was affected by cancer, and this, although it was a great emotional blow for us, made me think about volunteering. So, I looked at the Cancer Research UK website and saw that I could volunteer as a public speaker. I love speaking to people, so this really attracted me, particularly since I wanted to help and give hope to people affected by cancer..
Cancer Research UK has shown me that there is actually hope for people with cancer. I think joining Cancer Research UK was actually one of the most fulfilling things I have done, so I would really encourage you to be a part of it.
Pastor Linnecar
For those who were here last weekend and on Friday, I think it has become apparent to you that the book of Jonah is entirely about the salvation of God. There are certain themes within this book which God wants us to think about today. There are only 48 verses in the book of Jonah, but throughout God is mentioned many times, it is one of the most 'God' referenced books in the Bible.
In chapters 1 and 2 it refers to the fact that Jonah was called by God to preach to Nineveh: "Arise, go to Nineveh and cry against it for their wickedness if come up before me." This is an historical book, these things happened. After Jonah was called, his reaction was that there was no way he was going to go there; instead, he was going to in the opposite direction. He opted to go down to the sea port of Joppa and set on his way to go as far as he could away from Nineveh.
Previously, there had been an occasion where Jonah had told a man called, jeroboam, what God had told him to say. But, in this situation with the Ninevites, he refused to do what God told him to. There was, from his decision to disobey, a sequence of going down and down. When the great storm came, the crew of the ship cried out to the their gods. They figured out that there was something wrong because the storm had come about too suddenly. So, the captain of the crew went down to Jonah and asked him to call upon his God. Lots were drawn to see who was the cause of the storm, and the lot fell upon Jonah. His reaction to this was interesting. Even though he refused to go to the Ninevites, he told the crew to throw him into the sea, in order to calm the sea. He knew that the tempest was to do with his disobedience to God. The crew threw Jonah into the sea, and the downward spiral continued as he went down into the depths of the sea
There is something about someone who decides that they have had enough. God organises things in such a way, for that person, so that they come to themselves, as Jonah did in the fish's belly, and call upon God. Throughout Jonah's prayer, when he was in the whale, we can see how he knows that, regardless of how far he went down, God was still with him.
However, in Jonah's heart, something was still not quite right. There are some sitting here this morning, where God in His mercy and His love and has kept bringing you back to square one. What is that question? The question to some of you is: "You can trust me." You may seem so confident in your life without God, but actually if you're honest in your heart, you know your only solution is God Himself. Why has He got you to that situation? Because He loves you. We are going to see in a moment about the judgement and holiness of God, but we are going to see more about the mercy of God. God wants us, as we go through our lives, to be mercy.
Jonah's prayer in chapter 2 shows that God answers in spite of how guilty we might feel. It shows how God answers to win our loyalty and thanks and He answers to make us merciful like Him.
I read on Friday about the experience of a sailor who was swallowed by a whale in 1891. He was swallowed by a whale for two days. He could easily breathe inside the whale, but the heat was terrible. He recovered fully however, although his skin became bleached from the enzymes in the whale.
In Nineveh at that time they worshipped a god who was half-man half-fish. There is no doubt in my mind that Jonah, now possibly bleached, came to the Ninevites in a form that the people already believed in. They believed in a half-man half-fish that came out of the sea, so the people would have taken heed of what Jonah said.
So Nineveh was a great city, excavations suggested that it was seven miles across. In fact, one reason why Jonah didn't want to go there, was because there another prophet, Amos, who had said that the Syrians were going to conquer the Israelites.
That was it. His appearance convinced them. The words that he said, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, were powerful. In this post-modern age you can forget that God is a God of judgement. I just want to read to you what Jesus said:
There is coming a day when we will be judged as to what we have done with our lives. God is a God of love and His judgement will be just. I want you to realise, particularly those of you in the age bracket of 15-30: you can't mess about with sin. There is a consequence to making choices in life and going the wrong way. There will come a day when we will be judged. When Jonah spoke these words to Nineveh, he knew that God was just and had every right to judge the Ninevites.
That cuts across someone who says that they have had enough of God. If I were to talk to you, in the night when you begin to think about things, you know that the way you are living is wrong. I am merely confirming what you already know in your heart because God is a faithful witness.
The King was someone who heard, directly from Jonah, that he had to change his ways. Once he did, all the people followed suit, determined to change.
It isn't that God is evil, that is simply phraseology to say that He had every right to judge them in that way. They repented and God, effectively, saved them. This is now something I would say: God is closer than you think, He hears your thoughts. If you were here with God alone, you would in all honesty, say that you know you have been going wrong and need to change. God is faithful in His voice to you, in speaking about the way you are living. This morning you can turn inside to God. it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, or what pride you might have in admitting you need to turn; you need to turn.
Jonah couldn't believe what God did.
He couldn't stand that God let people off and showed them mercy. Sometimes we can get so bound up with the wrong that someone has done, possibly against us, that we see everything in a negative way because we are angry at God for letting us down and now judging them.
What had happened to this guy? He was a prophet of God but was no completely paralysed with anger at God. He was waiting for God to deal with the people. He was resentful at the mercy God had showed.
It is interesting that when Peter asked Jesus: 'how often should I forgive my brother, seven times?' Jesus told him that it should not be seven times, but 490 times. Jesus then spoke a parable about the man who was forgiven, but then throttled another who owed him a debt. If you are sitting here with resentment at God for what He has not done to someone and refuse to forgive, the person who has done you wrong still has power over you. Jonah was gripped by that, and when Jesus spoke to the disciples about forgiveness, they could not believe it. When they witnessed the crucifixion, some were looking wondering why Jesus, who could with a word have freed Himself, kept silent.
God is trying to help Jonah now:
So he was up here waiting for the city to be bombed, and God prepared this gourd, which was some sort of plant, to come out of nowhere to shield him from the sun. He probably knew that this was a miracle and that God had provided it. I wonder if it made him think again? I don't think it did.
That is the second time in this chapter he has said this.
We are not told what Jonah then thought. Inside he knew it was God who had established the God, and that it was God who had taken it down. God asked him, 'don't you think these people deserve to be spared for their repentance?' It is possible to have the mindset of Jonah in our lives; it is not good. You know as well as I do that in Hebrews 12 it say: "Follow peace with all men. Because bitterness is a root that springs up and defiles many." If you let bitterness remain inside you, you are paralysed. Everything from then on will be viewed in a warped way, because of the way your mind is set without forgiveness in your heart. We have heard a lot about love lately. The key thing about love is that love involves forgiveness.
Why is that evidence of a Jonah spirit? Because the rule book overrules mercy, love and forgiveness. It got to Jesus because He said this now:
It is the same phraseology which God used when He spoke to Jonah. Here the ruler of the synagogue told Jesus that He could not heal on the Sabbath day. So the prioritisation was the ruler book, and the vindictiveness of the rule book overriding helping another.
That is quite something. There is a direct link from Jonah to Jesus. If you are a visitor here and you have wondered about Christianity. I want to confirm to you that God, by His Holy Spirit, is speaking to you because of His mercy and love. There is a way out of the darkness that you have tried and failed to overcome. You may think that that is it, but it is not. In due time Christ died for the ungodly, that there was answer for the darkness of sin. As far as Jonah was concerned, all he had to do was allow the workings of God to operate in His heart.
Today God has brought this word to us. It is for all of us to take heed. A greater than Jonah is here right now in this hall. It seems odd that everything revolves around Him, even our calendar. Jesus Christ is where is at as far as life is concerned. Everyone needs to be a right relationship with Him. We have to be honest with ourselves, if we have harboured bitterness in our heart; we will be paralysed going forward. A greater than Jonah is here, we need to hear His call.
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