Plano Needs CityBridge
Sermon Notes
Today we walk through Jonah 4, a chapter that forces us to wrestle with God’s mercy, our comfort, and the mission we’ve been given. After Nineveh repents, Jonah is angry, depressed, and ready to quit. Why? Because God’s compassion reached people Jonah didn’t want to love. Through a plant, a worm, and a scorching wind, God exposes Jonah’s heart and asks a question that still confronts us today: Should I not care about this city?
As we look ahead, we’re reminded that God is not primarily interested in keeping us comfortable. He’s committed to shaping us — and sending us — for the sake of people who need His grace. This message invites us to see our city through God’s eyes and respond with obedience, courage, and love.
Key Takeaways
God’s mercy often confronts our comfort
It’s possible to obey God outwardly while resisting Him inwardly
Loving God’s gifts is not the same as loving God’s heart
Disobedience never cancels God’s mission — it just makes the road harder
Our city is not the problem; our reluctance can be
God still sends His people to the places they would rather avoid
Discussion Questions
Where do you see Jonah’s heart reflected in your own life?
Are there people or places you struggle to believe deserve God’s mercy?
How do you typically respond when God disrupts your comfort?
What is a “Nineveh” God may be calling you to engage right now?
Are you more excited about what God gives — or who God is?
What would obedience look like for you this week?
Transcript
Jonah Outside the City
Jonah is successful, respected, and comfortable, with a ministry that has been steady and predictable. Life makes sense. He is serving God, and he is doing so squarely within his comfort zone. And then God disrupts everything.
God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, and Jonah says no, not necessarily with words, but clearly with his actions. He runs in the opposite direction, and God responds by sending a storm. Jonah sleeps while the sailors panic, until he is thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish, not as punishment, but as rescue. After three days and nights in the darkness, Jonah finally obeys and goes to Nineveh, where he delivers the weakest sermon imaginable, yet the entire city repents.
When Mercy Feels Like a Problem
That moment, which should mark the greatest joy of Jonah’s life, instead triggers an emotional collapse. Jonah is not relieved or grateful. He is furious, depressed, and so overwhelmed that he begs God to take his life. What Jonah hates is not merely what God has done, but what God has revealed about Himself. A gracious God. A compassionate God. A God slow to anger and abounding in love.
Jonah loves those attributes when his own life hangs in the balance, when mercy means survival and grace means rescue, but he cannot tolerate that same grace being extended to people he believes least deserve it.
The Plant, the Worm, and the Question
God then takes Jonah to school. A plant is appointed to grow quickly and provide shade, and Jonah is overjoyed, not because a city has turned to God, but because his personal discomfort has been relieved. Then a worm is appointed, and the plant withers overnight. Finally, God sends a scorching east wind, and once again Jonah collapses under the heat and asks to die.
The blessing, the loss, and the suffering all come from the same hand, and through each of them God patiently exposes Jonah’s heart. Jonah cares more about a plant he did not grow and could not preserve than about people God created and loves. That is why the book ends with a question rather than an answer: Should I not care about Nineveh?
The question lingers because it is not directed at Jonah alone.
Our Nineveh and the Call to Say Yes
Nineveh is not merely an ancient city buried in history. It is modern and familiar. It is neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and streets filled with people going about ordinary life. God loves these cities deeply. He sent His Son to die for them, and He continues to send His people to speak, to love, and to go.
The mission has not changed, and the destination has not changed. The only remaining question is whether obedience will come willingly or through resistance. There is no need to wait for the storm or the fish. The call is clear now, because Nineveh still needs messengers, and God is still calling His people to go.