City Life Starter

II. Reflection Questions:

1. Are there areas in my thinking that look down on other people because of their background, ethnicity, or cultural traditions?

2. Do I view other people however I want to, or do I view them as created in the image and likeness of God?

III. Commentary:

Most people in our culture are familiar with the story of Jonah from the Bible. Jonah was a prophet of the LORD, but he was not an obedient prophet in any aspect of the story. Although he is commanded to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, so that the city and her residents might not be destroyed, instead he set his course in the exact opposite direction.

The concept of sin is essential in understanding the narrative of Jonah. God is a holy and just King, and all sin must be met with appropriate punishment, or be paid for by a substitute. Because God acts in ways that are consistent with His character, He had to destroy the inhabitants of Nineveh, if they had not repented of their wickedness.

Nineveh was the great capital of Assyria, a people group that were deeply hated and mistrusted by the Jews, and which took the Northern Israel kingdom into captivity (slavery). Even so, the Lord very clearly and specifically told Jonah to go and preach repentance to them.

Not surprisingly, Jonah vehemently resisted obedience to God. It is obvious when we look at history, that Jonah’s disobedience was likely motivated by the deep mistrust and hatred between the two people groups / nations.

That Jonah utterly despised the people of Nineveh cannot be refuted. He deliberately boarded a ship going the opposite direction. Then, in the very brief, but dramatic chapter 3, the king of Nineveh’s people gives a solemn decree in response, that no person or animal may eat or drink, but must repent of sin and cry out to God (praying extremely fervently to Him). After the entire population repents, turning toward God, Jonah becomes enraged because he expected to see them destroyed much like Sodom and Gomorrah. He actually sat outside the city so as to watch the fire come down from heaven in total destruction. Instead, God had mercy because of the complete repentance, which made Jonah livid. In the end of the story, the tables are turned, and the outsiders (Nineveh) are exceedingly close to God, while Jonah’s heart is far from Him.

In Romans 12, Paul tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to, but to regard ourselves in humility. We should prefer the needs, hopes, and well-being of others above our own needs.

IV. Application:

If we are honest, most people that are “churched” have some spiritual tendency that is like Jonah. We think that we are the “chosen people”, privileged by God to more noble, higher causes that are more significant than some less important group of people. It is not a popular thought, but it is without a doubt that our corrupt human hearts think we are better than others.

Like Jonah, we may have hated (secretly, perhaps) other people groups, as if their sin were against us and not against God. Meanwhile we would cover up our own sin or marginalize it as far less severe than other people’s mistakes. There are likely many parallels between Jonah’s attitude toward “outsiders” and our own attitudes, if we are honest enough to examine the condition of our hearts.

Paul rightly says in Romans 12 that we all belong to each other. The application of Paul’s words is intended for individuals who have received new life in Christ as Lord. But there is not any people group, or ethnicity / race, for whom the words of Paul are not intended. The message is for all and in desperately needed by all.

Leave the response and results of the good news in the capable hands of God. The brother or sister that God is telling you to “love on” is created in the likeness and image of God just as much as you are, no matter the ethnicity.

V. Prayer: 

Dear Lord, we marvel at the brilliance and wonder that You created all of us differently, not the same! Some of us are extroverts and some introverts, some good at sports, others music, law, science, poetry, art, or many other areas of life. Help us to see the wonderful ways that You created all of us differently, and to treat each other with not just respect and dignity, but also with fervent brotherly love, in Jesus’ name. Amen.