When I comply half-heartedly, God rebukes
It would seem to me that complying half-heartedly is a fairly common occurrence for many Christians. As every parent knows, it is a fairly common occurrence with the children we raise. They’ll obey, but with the sourest of faces, and worst of attitudes. There’s little doubt that God the Father sees the same thing in his kids.
Jonah, in fact, is the best example we have in the Bible of that very thing. As I stated in the first two messages, the Book of Jonah is satire. Jonah is an anti-hero. You don’t want to be like Jonah. In chapter 1, he fled God’s mission. In chapter 2, he’s partially rescued but utters a prayer that is tone deaf to the realities of his situation. And this week, in chapter 3, we’ll see a prophet who does what God asks of him but who only does the bare minimum. Just enough to say he obeyed God. And the unexpected, shocking plot twist in this chapter will leave Jonah in a tough place as we head into chapter 4 next week.
Bottom line: God wants our heart and not simply our outward compliance. That’s what we’ll see in this message. Prepare for that by watching or listening to the previous messages if you missed one or both. Read the book of Jonah again. It takes just seven or eight minutes. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be using this in our lives to show his relentless mercy and call us to greater faithfulness to God.
Sermon Notes
The God of Second Chances (Jonah)When I comply half-heartedly, God rebukesTodd Dugard // Jonah 3Proverbs 27:19I Samuel 16:7bGod wants his children to show wholehearted devotion not half-hearted compliance to his Word.—• Listen to what he says (v. 1-2)James 1:22,25—• Do what he says (v. 3a)—• Put your heart into what he says (v. 3b-4)1 Timothy 2:4—• Expect him to act in keeping with what he says (v. 5-10)1 John 4:8b