A Lesson in Right Affections (Jonah 4:6-11)

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A portion of this final section of Jonah was at the center of an infamous fight between two remarkable Christian leaders in the late 300s and early 400s. During that time period, the two most well known Christians were Augustine and Jerome. Both left indelible marks on the church that are still evident today. In 390, Jerome began to translate the Old Testament into Latin directly from Hebrew. Prior to that time, Latin Old Testaments had been based on a Greek text, the Septuagint. Augustine feared that Jerome’s version would create confusion and controversy because the wording of some familiar texts would undoubtedly be changed. This was somewhat like more recent situations in which newer Bible versions depart from the familiar wording of the King James Version. When Jerome’s version began to grow in popularity and common usage, a twelve year war of letter writing took place between the Jerome and Augustine over the issue. At the heart of the debate for some period of that time was the identification of the plant found in Jonah 4:6. The existing Latin Bibles of the day, based on the Greek Septuagint, had identified the plant as a gourd. When Jerome translated it from Hebrew, he used a word that means “ivy.”

In a letter to Jerome in 403, Augustine tells that a certain pastor had begun to use Jerome’s version, and in the course of expounding the book of Jonah, he came upon this word, which in Augustine’s words, had “a very different rendering from that which had been of old familiar to the senses and memory of all the worshippers.” Augustine relates, “Thereupon arose such a tumult in the congregation, … correcting what had been read, and denouncing the translation as false,” that this pastor, “was compelled to correct [Jerome’s] version in that passage as if it had been falsely translated.” Had he not done this, Augustine assured Jerome that the pastor would have been terminated from his position.[1]

In John Calvin’s reflections on this embarrassing episode in church history, he states that Jerome had been slandered and accused of sacrilege over the translation of this plant.[2] It is interesting that today most Bible commentators are content to say that we do not know, nor does it matter, what species of plant this was. Calvin says concerning the entire affair: “Those men were certainly thoughtless and foolish who were so offended for a matter so trifling.”[3] So much emotionally fueled rhetoric, and for what? A plant!

That is not only the point of the debate concerning the translation of the word referring to the plant; it is also the point that God sought to teach Jonah by way of the plant. He might well be saying to the prodigal prophet, “Jonah, you are certainly thoughtless and foolish to be so offended for a matter so trifling.” Like those who would argue vehemently about the identification of the plant centuries later, Jonah had some raw emotions on display concerning the plant. Through the entire ordeal, God was seeking to teach Jonah a lesson in right affections. Jonah is a man who is driven by his emotions, from the beginning of this book until its end. But thus far, his affections and emotions have not corresponded to those of the Lord. What brings joy to the Lord brings anger to the prophet. God desires to transform Jonah. He doesn’t just want Jonah to do the right things; He wants him to have the right heart—to love the things that God loves and to share in the compassion of the Lord.

Like Jonah, we also need to have our affections shaped by the Lord. We need to learn to be angry at what angers Him and to rejoice over what brings Him joy. So, if Jonah’s experience with the plant and the lesson God sought to teach him there can inform us, we may avoid having to learn the lesson through more direct and personal ways. It would be better for us to learn the lesson in right affections through his ordeal than through our own!

 I. We must beware of misguided affections.

Emotions are part of what makes us human. We all have them and we cannot escape them. They are the gifts of God, and they can serve as important messengers for us. Emotions are powerful motivators in our lives. They lead us to do certain things and to think certain ways. But our emotions are corrupted by our sinful nature, therefore they cannot always be trusted. Just because something feels right to us, that doesn’t mean we should do it. Just because something prompts anger within us, for example, this does not mean that our anger is the right response to the situation.

Back in June of 2003, we went to Phoenix for the Southern Baptist Convention. I had reserved a rental car on the internet, and I went to the agency’s counter to pick it up only to have the agent tell me that they didn’t have any more cars. Now, I thought this was a joke. I had seen this bit before on Seinfeld, so I played along. I explained to the agent the meaning of the words “reservation,” and “confirmation,” but I was assured that there was nothing they could do for me. I could feel the anger rising up within me. I did what many other Christians would do in that situation: I took a deep breath, looked around to make sure there were no other preachers I knew nearby, and then I absolutely uncorked it on the agent. After a few moments of my unbridled fury, I noticed someone trying to get my attention. I looked slightly to the right, only about five feet away, and there was an agent from another company pointing to the sign on his counter that said, “We have cars available.” I did one of those hard swallows, the kind you do when you are trying to get all of your pride down in one gulp, and I walked over to that counter where I very politely asked if I could rent of their fine vehicles.

Later on that night, I became so convicted that I cared more about a stupid car than I did about the soul of that rental agent. No need to wonder what she thinks of Christians and Baptist preachers after her run-in with me! Instead of unleashing my anger on her, I could have helped her through what was obviously a very difficult shift by telling her the good news of Jesus Christ! But my emotions were misguided. Do you want to hear more stories like that? I have a whole bunch of them I could tell! See, I have been learning the hard way for many years that my emotions are not to be trusted, and when I forget that, I begin to be led astray by them.

That is the lesson that God is trying to teach Jonah here in this passage. He teaches him this lesson by three divinely appointed instruments. He “appoints” a plant, then a worm, then a scorching east wind. All of them do exactly what God appointed them to do, just as the “appointed” fish did previously. In fact, in this entire book, only Jonah refuses to do that for which God has appointed him.

The first thing the Lord appoints here in the text is a plant. What kind of plant was it? What do you want to do, start another war in the church? It doesn’t matter what kind of plant it was! One commentator has said that it was a castor-oil plant, and that is what Jonah needed: a good dose of castor oil![4] Like the fish that swallowed Jonah, it is futile for us to debate the meaning of the Hebrew word here. The point is that God appointed the plant, and it grew up miraculously (“overnight”, verse 10) and provided shade for Jonah. You can buy this product called “Miracle-Gro,” but it doesn’t work like this. This is real miraculous growth. The shelter he had attempted to construct for himself was insufficient to provide him comfort. In the loving providence of God, He graciously provided Jonah with a better shelter “to deliver him from his discomfort.” And this delighted Jonah. For the first time in the whole book, Jonah is a happy man!

Now, here comes the hard question: Was Jonah happy in God, or was he happy in God’s gifts? The average person will say, “What does it matter? If he was happy, that is all that matters!” No, that is not all that matters. To be happy in God’s gifts without being happy in God is idolatry. It is an inversion of true Christianity which focuses on seeking the blessings of God rather than seeking God Himself. This is why God’s people have engaged in fasting throughout the centuries. In fasting, we give up the gifts of God in order to attune our affections toward the Giver; to seek the glory of God’s face rather than the gifts of God’s hands.

So, which was it for Jonah? Was he happy in God or was he happy in God’s gifts? There’s really only one way to find out – take the gift away. After Jonah had enjoyed a full day of joy in the shade of the miracle-grow plant, God took it away. He appointed a worm, and before the sun came up the next day, the worm “attacked” the plant and it died. How does this expose whether Jonah’s joy is in God or in His gifts? If his joy is in the Lord, then he will say what Job said. He knew what Job said; he had that book of the Bible during his lifetime. Job said, when all that was precious to him in this world had been taken away from him, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).  Jonah didn’t say this. He didn’t say anything, at least not yet.

The next thing that happened was that the Lord appointed a “scorching east wind” to blow. In addition to the blast of the wind, the heat of the sun began to beat down on Jonah’s head. The Hebrew word is the same for what the sun did to Jonah’s head as for what the worm did to the plant. The sun attacked his head. So intense was the burning heat of the sun and the hot blast of the wind that Jonah became faint and delirious. Some have speculated that the wind appointed by the Lord may be the same kind of wind that blows in the Middle East still today which is known as a scirocco. Stuart writes that the scirocco wind blows with “constant hot air so full of positive ions that it affects the levels of serotonin and other brain neurotransmitters, causing exhaustion, depression, feelings of unreality, and, occasionally, bizarre behavior.” In some Islamic countries, he notes, “the punishment for a crime committed while the scirocco is blowing may be reduced at judicial discretion, so strongly does the prolonged hot wind affect thinking and actions.”[5] This may be why Jonah begins to beg with all his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.” He might have literally been “crazy from the heat.”

What is it with this prophet and his recurrent death wish? He became suicidal on the ship when he asked the sailors to throw him overboard. When Nineveh was spared from destruction, again he asked for death in 4:3. And now that God has taken away his little plant and let him feel the heat of the desert with full intensity, again he pleads for death. This brother has got some issues! Remember that he didn’t even have to be out in the desert in the first place! He could have stayed in Nineveh and enjoyed a hero’s treatment. He could have labored there, training the people in the ways of God. He could have gone home to Israel and reported the amazing work of God to his countrymen. But he chose to pout in the desert, and now he is mad because God is making him feel the heat. Have you ever done that? Have you ever wandered out into the deserts of life on your own volition, and then cursed God because it was hot?

As in the previous cases, it is a demonstration of grace that God doesn’t grant his death wish! Rather than just zapping the prophet, God asks him with tenderness, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And Jonah responds, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” In other words, “Yes, I am angry enough to die! I will die for my right to be angry about this!”

Now the scab has been ripped off so we can see the cankerous sore on Jonah’s soul. He has misguided affections. He has found delight in the gifts of God without delighting in the person of God. He has rejoiced over a plant – a plant! – that he did not plant, did not tend, and did not cause to grow. He thinks he has every right to be terminally angry about this plant, but obviously he does not. Through this little object lesson, God has shown Jonah that he is just an angry little man. He started out being angry at God because he didn’t get his way, and now he is angry about a plants and worms.

Misguided affections lead us astray like this. We begin to think they are trustworthy guides, and we allow them to direct our thoughts and actions. How many of us have ever been mad at one thing, which we may have had the right to be angry about, only to find that we are then getting mad about everything? James Boice describes the process:

First we are angry with God. Next we express our anger at circumstances, then minor circumstances. Finally, our shoelace breaks one morning, and we find ourselves swearing. God was showing this to Jonah, saying, in effect, ‘Look where your anger has taken you, Jonah. Is this right? Is this the way you want to live? Do you want to spend the rest of your life swearing at petty annoyances?[6]

This is not the way Jonah wants to live. In fact, it seems that it is the way he wants to die. He seems more willing to die like this than to change his heart and live a different way. What about us? Do we want to live this way, being led up and down a tumultuous rollercoaster by our unbridled emotions? Rejoicing one moment because we have received something good, only to wallow in misery the next because it has broken, or been lost, or been taken away? If our joy was in the Lord rather than in the gifts He gives, there would be more constancy in our affections for He is unchanging. If we are in right relationship with Him and He is the object and source of our joy, then we get off the rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs and we begin to find joy in the ordinary things of life here on the flat ground. I don’t know, maybe you like living on the rollercoaster? I doubt it, but you may say that you do anyway. And given the chance to get off the rollercoaster of misguided affections, will you accept it, or will you insist on staying on through the rest of your life and even unto death?

There is a lesson here in Jonah’s predicament concerning misguided affections. We can learn it from his experience, or we can learn it from our own. But be sure, God will have us learn it in life or in death. He desires to move our affections away from the things of this world and place them where they belong – in the only place they can be satisfied – in Him. When that happens, we can say when our loved one dies, “My joy is in Christ.” When the doctor says we have cancer, we can say, “My joy is in Christ.” When the house burns down, we can say, “My joy is in Christ.” When the cellphone dies, or the car crashes, or the stockmarket plummets, “My joy is in Christ, and He is enough!” And once He becomes the object of our delight and joy, our misguided affections begin to be transformed to reflect His affections.

II. We need transformed affections that reflect the heart of God

Rumors concerning the death of Muammar Gadaffi began to circulate early on the morning of October 20, 2011, and by midday it was confirmed. One comment on Twitter summed up the emotions of many people around the world. It said, “Hell has been busy this year.” Now, before you say “Amen” to that, let me remind you that hell is busy every day. And the big question we need to ask is not “How does this make us feel?” The big question is “How does this make God feel?” The death of a ruthless tyrant is good for the world and good for the people who have suffered under his violent and oppressive regime. Therefore, the end of his reign is the cause for some measure of rejoicing. But if our rejoicing is not tempered with another reality, then we have not understood the affections of the God who said, “As I live! … I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). If our affections are undergoing transformation to reflect His, then there is a gravity in our emotions – a joy for the opportunity of the people to live in a freer society and for the world to be a safer place, mixed with the real horror that another lost soul has joined the population of hell for eternity. You may say, “Well, he got what he deserved!” But, please remember, you also deserve it, as do I. If you think that you are not as great a sinner as Gadaffi or any other ruthless tyrant in the world, then you have not grasped the sinfulness of all of our sin and how it is viewed in the affections of a just and holy God.

Let me throw out another case study. Most of us remember Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer whose grisly and perverted crimes tallied seventeen murders from the late seventies to early nineties. To read of the things that this man did to his victims is gut-wrenching. At some point during his imprisonment, Dahmer testified that he had become a born-again Christian. The pastor who baptized him in the prison has stated repeatedly that he is sure that Dahmer’s conversion was sincere and genuine. If that is true, then when Jeffrey Dahmer was brutally beaten to death by a fellow inmate, he went to heaven. How does that make you feel? How do you feel when you think that Dahmer might be in heaven, but your neighbor who is a nice and friendly unbeliever will go to hell? Are you more outraged that Dahmer could be saved, or more sorrowful that your neighbor has not been saved?

We’ve migrated into the crevasse of weighty issues here. This is visceral stuff, but these kinds of questions are exactly the kinds of questions that God was asking Jonah to teach him about right affections. He asks, “Jonah, do you have a good reason (or a right) to be angry about the plant?” God caused the plant to grow with no help or permission from Jonah. God didn’t need Jonah’s permission to take it away. He gave, and He took away. Was Jonah able to bless His name? No, he was wrongfully angry.

Jonah’s emotions are the same concerning the plant as they are concerning Nineveh. He was terminally angry about the repentance and salvation of Nineveh as well. God had already asked him in verse 4, “Do you have good reason to be angry” about what took place in Nineveh? Jonah didn’t answer that time. But the answer he gave concerning the plant exposes the fact that Jonah felt like he did have a right to be angry about Nineveh. In fact, Jonah’s tirade against God and his silence in the face of God’s questions indicate that Jonah felt that God had no right to spare Nineveh. Now God has Jonah in the place where He wants him to teach him a lesson about right affections.

“Should I not have compassion on Nineveh?” Unlike Jonah’s cherished plant, God had a good reason and a right to have compassion on Nineveh. He “planted” this seed. This city was filled with human beings whom God had created, and as such they bore His divine image. They were the objects of His love – the love of a Creator for His creation. Should He delight in their destruction, or does He have the right to spare them if He chooses?

If Jonah is unwilling to acknowledge God’s right to have mercy on the adult population of Nineveh, many of whom (but certainly not all) have been guilty of heinous crimes against humanity, would he object to God sparing Nineveh’s children? These may be the ones God is referring to when He speaks of more than 120,000 who cannot tell the difference between their right and left hand. If He wipes out the whole city, it will include these children who have committed no crimes against Jonah or Israel. Should God have mercy on them? Many commentators believe that this statement does not refer exclusively to the children of Nineveh, but to the entire population of the city. Not knowing their right from their left might speak of their moral and spiritual ignorance. Nineveh has been wicked because they didn’t know any better. If that is so, should God not have mercy on them now that they have repented of their sin and turned to the Lord begging for mercy? And what of the animals? What have the cattle or flocks of Nineveh ever done to Jonah? If fire and brimstone should fall on Nineveh, they will be destroyed as well. Does God not have the right to spare Nineveh, if for no other reason than to spare these animals? Does God, or does He not, have permission to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and to show compassion to whom He shows compassion (Romans 9:15; Exodus 33:19)? Does God need Jonah’s, or anyone else’s, permission to save the lost wherever they may be found?

“Should I not have compassion on Nineveh?” the Lord asks. And then the story ends. Jonah gives no answer. If he wrote the book, or provided information to another writer (as he must have done unless he wrote it himself), then we know that he didn’t die there. He lived long enough to record the ordeal or provide the information to one who did, but we do not know how he answered the Lord, or if he ever did at all. Did he learn this lesson of right affections? I guess we will find out when we get to heaven.

There is a sense in which we really don’t need to know how Jonah answered. What is more important for us is whether or not we have learned this lesson. What is our response? Does God have the right to save whosoever He desires to save, wherever and whoever they are? Does God need your permission or mine to do what He desires to do? Does He have the right to give and to take away, and shall His name be blessed when He does? If our affections are misguided, we will be angry at the Lord about things that should cause us to rejoice. We will be happy with His gifts when we receive them, but envious and angry when others receive them. But if our affections are being shaped to reflect the affections of the Lord, we will be angered by what angers Him, and we will rejoice over what brings Him joy. If there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7), then is that reflected in our affections? If so, it will be manifest in how we conduct ourselves in this world. We will be zealous proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus, and we will be glad when even the worst of sinners finds the saving mercy of God. We will be burdened when anyone departs this life without the hope of heaven that is found in Jesus. It will trouble us deeply that a significant percentage of the world’s population has no access to the message of Jesus! And we will acknowledge that God is God, and God is good, and it will be our delight to join Him in His mission to spread His fame to the ends of the earth!

Jonah was not the first to wrestle with the question. And he won’t be the last. Someone here today may be wrestling with it even now. Thomas Carlisle’s poem “You Jonah” concludes with these words:

And Jonah stalked

to his shaded seat

and waited for God

to come around

to his way of thinking.

And God is still waiting for a host of Jonahs

in their comfortable houses

to come around

to His way of loving.[7]

He is waiting patiently for you. He longs to transform your affections so that they will reflect His. If you are struggling with the same burden that Jonah was, call out to the Lord and offer Him all of your misguided affections that He might transform it for His glory.

But maybe you are struggling with the burden of Nineveh instead. Convicted of your sin, turned off by a host of hypocritical Jonahs you have known in life, you wonder if there may be any hope. The Gospel tells us that there is hope, and it is only found in Jesus. He is the One who is greater than Jonah (Matthew 12:41). He has taken your sin upon Himself and carried it to the cross where He received your penalty in Himself and He has conquered sin and death through His resurrection. He is alive today and will save you if you turn to Him. He is a God of mercy, and He will show it to whomever He chooses. He has announced that He will show His saving mercy to all who come to Him through repentance and faith in Jesus.

---

[1] http://www.bible-researcher.com/vulgate2.html. Accessed October 20, 2011.

[2] John Calvin, Calvin’s Bible Commentaries: Jonah, Micah, Nahum (trans. John King; reprint, Forgotten Books, 2007), 104.

[3] Calvin, Jonah, 103-104.

[4] Sinclair Ferguson, Man Overboard! (Carlisle, Penn.: Banner of Truth, 2008), 81.

[5] Stuart, 505-506.

[6] Boice, 309.

[7] Quoted in John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! (Second Edition; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003), 175. 

Good Advice from Spurgeon

"Brother, if you preach God's Word as He gives it to you, you have nothing to do with the consequences that come of it. God will justify His own truth; and even if it should seem that the worst rather than the best consequences ensue, it is for you still to go on in the name of Him who sent you. Whenever you and I begin to try to manage God's kingdom for Him, we find the divine scepter too heavy for our little hands to hold."

- From Spurgeon's Exposition on Jonah 4. 

What We [Should] Have Learned Since 9/11

Earlier this week, I sat down with a legal pad and wrote across the top of it, "What have we learned since 9/11?" After a lengthy period of time, I stared down at the page, still blank, and decided to start another list: "What should we have learned since 9/11?" Then, the ideas started rolling. As I look at our nation, the church, and the world, I am not sure that we have learned much since 9/11. But when I think about the lessons that we could have learned, indeed the lessons we should have learned, the list is long. Some of these things are hard for me to think, harder for me to write, and will be harder for you to read. Some of them require more explanation than I have space or time to give them here. And of course, any list such as this is partial at best. But here goes:

1. We should have learned that God is not obligated to bless or protect America.

For too many people, patriotism is considered a fruit of the Spirit. While there is nothing wrong (and a good deal right) with a certain degree of patriotism, unbridled nationalistic fervor causes us to blur the lines between our two citizenships. We make the mistake of Old Testament Israel who took the blessings of God for granted and assumed that because they were Israelites, God was obligated to bless them. They took no consideration of the fact that they had violated their covenant with God. Their security was not found in Him, but in their "patriotism". Israel is unique among the nations, for never before and never since has God made a covenant with an entire nation. Contrary to popular opinion, America never struck this deal with God. We have experienced unusual blessings of God's common grace in this country, but they were never deserved. God is not beholden to America to always provide abundantly or to protect from disaster. If other countries of the world are subject to the ravages of sinful humans and terror plots, Americans must not think that we possess a divine right of immunity.

2. We live in a fallen world where sin produces evil and suffering.

That seems obvious, but sometimes in our words, thoughts, and deeds, the understanding of this truth is lacking. I've written on it at length elsewhere, and my sermon this coming Sunday will deal largely with it (so stay tuned), therefore I will not go into this at great lengths. Only to say this -- because of the presence of sin and its effects in the world, we must expect the unthinkable to always be a possibility. The things we see happening around us are not the problem. They are symptoms of a problem. The problem is sin. And God has not dealt with the symptoms apart from the root issue. Jesus Christ has dealt with the root on the cross. But the effects and symptoms will always be present while we endure in this fallen world. A better day is coming, but we are not there yet.

3. War and politics are not simple solutions.

Once upon a time, war was a relatively simple solution. One country or regime declared war on another. They wore uniforms and flew banners. They marched in straight lines and stood face to face and shot each other. The side with the most men left standing won. Though war evolved greatly over the centuries, even up until World War II, war remained rather simple. It came to an end when one side possessed a weapon more powerful than the other side had. But, the world's leaders have agreed (thankfully) that the use of those weapons is not good for humanity. They kill innocent people and cause excessive destruction. We agree. But, if you are going to fight a war, you have to fight it knowing that you can win. And ever since World War II, that has been difficult to determine. The enemy does not always wear a uniform or fly a flag. They don't always play by the rules of war. And because the present war is not a nation against another nation, there are few limits on who can join up to fight. That makes it difficult to know if victory, or even ceasefire, is ever possible.

When it comes to politics, there is always the expectation that new leaders can bring needed change and quick solutions. History proves this to be impossible. Many people voted for Obama thinking that he would immediately withdraw our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and bring an end to what was being called "Bush's War." But it hasn't happened yet. And in some ways, the war has gotten worse. It certainly can't be said to have gotten better. And now a new barrage of rhetoric is in the air as we approach another election year. Someone will promise to end the war, to bring the troops home, and to conquer terror in the world. We must not believe it. Those kinds of promises can only be kept by one Person -- the Lord Jesus.

3. The Gospel is the only hope we have.

Since Christ alone is able to bring in a Kingdom of peace and righteousness and perfect justice, then we must seek to become citizens of that kingdom. But we are all spiritual exiles, barred from the borders because of our sin. The good news is that the King has come on a mission of mercy and reconciliation. He has suffered in Himself for the sins we have committed against Him and conquered through resurrection glory. By faith in King Jesus, we can become citizens in His Kingdom and know the comfort and hope of His promises of eternal life. This means that the worst that this world can do to us is kill us. But we have life that cannot be ended by death. So let the world bring what it may to the one who has been rescued by the Gospel. We have a hope that exceeds all the dangers, toils, and snares of this fallen world.

Related to this, the Gospel is not only our only hope. It is also the only hope of our earthly adversaries. The politicians repeatedly say that this is not a war against Islam. And it would be a tragic mistake for us to think that it is. We cannot triumph over a religion by bombs and bullets. Though not all Muslims are terrorists, and not all terrorists are Muslims, there is a movement of Islamic terror. It is utter folly to deny that. And as long as there are people willing to believe the claims of this movement, they will continue to join up and kill and die for it. What hope do we have? What hope do they have? The only hope is the Gospel. It is "the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). What that Islamic terrorist needs more than anything is Jesus. So, what we should have learned from 9/11 is that the military cannot accomplish what the missionary can. The Christian witness has the potential to lovingly share the life-changing truth of Jesus with unbelievers of whatever stripe, and the Holy Spirit uses that witness to draw the unbeliever to Jesus. Then there begins a transformation of heart and life from the inside out. War, politics, diplomacy, etc. cannot accomplish this. The Gospel can.

4. There is such a thing as divine judgment.

Immediately following 9/11, there were some preachers saying that it happened because of God's judgment on America. They were pressured by PR firms and image consultants into retracting those statements and issuing apologies. Two things about that: (1) None of us should ever claim to know for certain that a specific act is a judgment of God. Some things happen simply because we live in a fallen world. The conditions of a fallen world are, to be sure, rooted in the judgment of God, but they affect us all every day. To claim that a specific event is a specific judgment of God on a specific sin of a specific country is to speak in ignorance. We simply have no revelation to validate that. (2) On the flip side, based on the revelation we do have, neither must we assume that this is NOT what is happening. God brought judgment on Israel repeatedly in the Old Testament by the use of pagan nations. Though those nations themselves were wicked and idolatrous, God used them as agents of judgment on His own people. Could God use Al Qaeda to bring His judgment upon America? It would not be unprecedented. But when God did this to Israel, He announced it to Israel. He is not making these kinds of announcements today. Revelation is completed in the Scriptures and the person of Jesus Christ. So we cannot claim it with confidence, but neither can we dismiss the possibility.

Now, I am not saying that 9/11 was a divine judgment against America. I am saying we don't know that it was, but we also don't know that it wasn't. Now, let's pretend for a moment that it was (and it may have been). Our first reaction as a nation was to fight a war. If God was behind this, then are we not declaring war on God? And how can we ever win? Impossible! But if a nation is under the hand of God's judgment, what should the response be? It should be a taking of inventory: "Wherein have we sinned against God as a nation?" And once those sins are discovered, there should be a call to repentance and prayer and a seeking of the face of God! Now, again, I am not saying that 9/11 was judgment (I have to keep reminding you of that), but IF (IF, IF, IF) it was, what are the sins that He may be condemning in us as a nation? I won't list them, you know many of them, and all of our lists would be different to some extent. But the point is this: since 9/11, how much has changed regarding these sins?

5. There is a growing need for Christians to distinguish their faith from their nationality.

I have already touched on this in point number 1. I am going further with it now. It is not impossible to be a faithful Christian and a patriotic American. Many exemplify both of these traits. And while our government says that this war we now fight is not America vs. Islam, and the Church says that it is not Christianity vs. Islam, that is not what the other side is saying. The other side is saying that this war IS about Islam vs. "The West," and by "the West" they mean the Christianized nations of the world. So, 9/11 was, in a sense an attack on Christianity. But only Christians understand that it was misguided. Sure, many of those who died in the attacks were Christians, but many more were not. Christians have got to get to the point where we say to Muslims, "We are not the ones shooting at you! We are the ones who are praying for you and who are seeking ways to love you and show you how our God has revolutionized our lives!" And we have to get to the point of saying, "The things you hate about America are not Christianity! In fact, many of the things you hate about America are things that we hate too!" And we have to get to the point of saying, "If you hate Christianity, then stop killing and terrorizing so many Americans who aren't Christians." [Note, if you don't hate me already for saying these things, then this one is really gonna get you] We have to get to the point of saying, "Look, if you want to attack Christianity, leave the Pentagon and the Trade Center, and all these other places out of it. Bomb us while we are in our churches worshiping our God and praying for your souls. We would rather die and go to meet our Savior than for you to kill our fellow Americans who do not have that hope!" [read those words repeatedly and prayerfully before passing judgment on me please]. It may be that in separating our Christian faith from our American identity (rather than combining and intertwining them) that we actually become able to be both the most faithful and the most patriotic.

These are hard words. They are hard for me to think about, hard for me to write, and hard for you to read. They are born from a lifelong journey that isn't over yet. I will be the first to admit that my mind may change on any of these things. I have been on a pilgrimage that included being a zealous patriot who loved America and hated Christ, to being a zealous Christian who loved Jesus and hated America. I'd like to think that maturity has landed me somewhere other than those extremes. I am aware that there have been changes in my life, changes in our country, and changes in the world during the course of my life. I am a citizen of America. I am a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of God's Kingdom. The same is true for any of you who follow the Lord Jesus. Our challenge in these post 9/11 years is to settle firmly the matter of prioritizing these citizenships and our allegiances to them.

So, for what its worth, these are a few of the things I think we should have learned since 9/11. 

How Have We Changed Since 9/11?

In the current issue of Christianity Today, several evangelical leaders contribute to a piece entitled "How I Have Changed Since 9/11." Some of the contributions are rather unspectacular, and some recognize the awkward challenge of answering a question like this. For instance, Douglas Wilson writes, "Of course, a stupefying event like 9/11 should never be reduced to a matter of personal growth or understanding. At the same time, to be unchanged by such an event, or not to notice such changes, is to be ranked in the top tier of those who are not really paying attention." But the highlights of the reflections are found in the statements by Anne Graham Lotz and William Willimon. The entire article can be found here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/september/howleaderschanged.html?start=1

Here is what Lotz had to say:

"September 11 was an alarm that penetrated my daily responsibilities and my busy ministry schedule, warning me … of what? Ten years ago, I could not have answered that question. All I knew with certainty was that God was trying to get the attention of his people, including me. Like the prophet Isaiah in the year that King Uzziah died, I looked up with the eyes of faith.

What I saw was not just a fresh vision of Jesus Christ. Like Isaiah, I also saw a humiliating vision of my own sin. I spent days on my face before God, confessing my sin and receiving his cleansing. The result was an authentic experience of personal revival. The immediate impact was a renewed vibrancy in my relationship with God, an increased fervency in prayer, clearer insight into God's Word, and a sharpened focus in ministry.

But the alarm did not fade away. Instead, I have heard it reverberating throughout the past 10 years: from Hurricane Katrina to the record-breaking floods, forest fires, tornadoes, droughts, and snow storms; to the collapse of our major financial institutions; to the economic recession; to the inability to win the war in Afghanistan. The alarm keeps resounding because so many people have not heeded, or even heard, the warning. 

And what is the warning? Simply this: It is five minutes to midnight on the clock of human history. Judgment is at the door. Jesus is coming! It's time to wake up and get right with God! Are you listening?"

_______


Willimon's comments are below: 

"On 9/11 I thought, For the most powerful, militarized nation in the world also to think of itself as an innocent victim is deadly. It was a rare prophetic moment for me, considering Presidents Bush and Obama have spent billions asking the military to rectify the crime of a small band of lawless individuals, destroying a couple of nations who had little to do with it, in the costliest, longest series of wars in the history of the United States.

The silence of most Christians and the giddy enthusiasm of a few, as well as the ubiquity of flags and patriotic extravaganzas in allegedly evangelical churches, says to me that American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat. It was shattering to admit that we had lost the theological means to distinguish between the United States and the kingdom of God. The criminals who perpetrated 9/11 and the flag-waving boosters of our almost exclusively martial response were of one mind: that the nonviolent way of Jesus is stupid. All of us preachers share the shame; when our people felt very vulnerable, they reached for the flag, not the Cross.

September 11 has changed me. I'm going to preach as never before about Christ crucified as the answer to the question of what's wrong with the world. I have also resolved to relentlessly reiterate from the pulpit that the worst day in history was not a Tuesday in New York, but a Friday in Jerusalem when a consortium of clergy and politicians colluded to run the world on our own terms by crucifying God's own Son."

Romans 12:1-2 Living Under the Lordship of Christ (Dr. Danny Akin)

Dr. Danny Akin was the guest speaker for our combined worship service of Immanuel Baptist Church, Greensboro Chinese Christian Church, and Ethiopian Christian Fellowship Church on Sunday, September 4, 2011. Click here to hear his powerful message on Romans 12:1-2 (right-click to download).