How effective is Your Love in Covering the Holes



Is Your Love Covering the Holes?

Jonah 4:1-11

Dr. Dave M. Hartson

Bala Chitto Baptist Church

September 11, 2005

Introduction:

As you drive through Pike County, MS this week, you cannot help but notice the many houses with tarps on their roof to cover the holes created by a fallen tree.

You couldn’t help but notice this week that many commercial businesses had plywood covering the hole created by the missing plate glass display window.

If you watched any television this past week, you couldn’t help notice the army dropping giant sand bags to fill the hole created by the rushing water that pushed the levee away and flooded the city.

All these pictures served to remind me of a principle of life: there is always something out there that is able to cover the hole that has been created.

That is also a spiritual principle. 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Since Peter is telling us love covers a multitude of sins, he is implying there are things in life that make holes in our lives and love must be the covering.

And this morning, I think we need to know more than ever, what are those things that make holes in our life to which we must apply the covering of love. As Christians we need to show love like we have never before shown love and we cannot have holes stopping us from loving like we should.

Body:

1. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even though you may be angry with me.

Jonah 4:1-2 (NIV)

1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.

2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

A. God’s love for Jonah didn’t change simply because Jonah got bad at God. He was angry at God because God allowed the people of Nineveh to repent. The Scripture says God still abounded in love. Jonah’s angry did not change how God felt about Jonah.

B. That’s good news for you and me. Even in those times that I am mad at God, God’s love for me doesn’t change.

C. How about in your relationships? Someone gets angry with you, doesn’t it usually change how you feel about them. We will tell ourselves something like this: “just go ahead and let them be mad, I am not going to fool with them anymore. I am going to just write them off.” We don’t allow love to cover the anger.

D. If we were the Christians we should be, then your angry at me shouldn’t cause me to love you any less than I always loved you.

E. Some of us today need to take out the covering of love and put it over the hole created by someone’s anger with me.

2. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even when we can’t agree on something.

Jonah 4:1 (NIV)

1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.

Jonah 4:4 (NIV)

4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

A. Jonah says I am angry with you, God. And God says you have no reason to be angry with me. And what we got here is an old fashion disagreement.

B. I wonder how many friendships have been broken up because of a disagreement. I wonder how many marriages have broken up because of some disagreement. I wonder how many churches have split because of a disagreement.

C. Jonah and God had a disagreement but God threw the covering of love over it so that the relationship would not be damaged.

D. Sometimes we have to be the ones that threw the covering of love over our disagreements otherwise we will have a giant hole in our relationship.

3. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even if you are being selfish.

Jonah 4:3 (NIV)

3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

A. Jonah is thinking everything is about him and getting his way. And he tells God since I didn’t get my way that it would be better if I just die. To commit suicide or want to die is one of the most selfish things you can do because it has no regard for the people left behind and have to deal with the grief.

B. But God covers Jonah’s selfishness with his love. I wonder how many marriages have broken because one partner felt the other partner was totally selfish. It didn’t have to break up if you could cover the hole of selfishness with love.

C. I am sure that many friendships have ended abruptly because one of the friends realize that is always about the other person and what they want and it is never about what I want. The only thing that will save that type of relationship is the covering of love.

D. Selfishness will create the hole in a relationship and only love will cover it back up.

4. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even if you stop talking with me.

Jonah 4:4-5 (NIV)

4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.

A. God asked Jonah a question, “Have you any right to be angry?” And instead of answering God’s question, he walked away. Jonah gave God the silent treatment.

B. Have you ever given someone the silent treatment? Or worse yet, have you been on the other end of the silent treatment where you are trying to get someone to talk to you but they won’t? I don’t know about you but it drives me crazy.

C. I have heard of stories where congregations are mad with the pastor and give him the silent treatment hoping it will make him leave. I have heard of cases where individual church members are mad with the pastor over something that he didn’t do that he should have done and as result they give him the silent treatment.

D. I have had couples come for marriage counseling and they will not talk to each other; they will only talk to me. I have heard of family members who have not talked to one another in years.

E. Over all this kind of junk, we need to put the covering of love. It is so ridiculous to give each other the silent treatment.

5. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even when you don’t acknowledge the things I do for you.

Jonah 4:6 (NIV)

6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.

A. God gave Jonah a vine to ease his discomfort and he is happy about the vine but he does not say “thank you” to God or even acknowledge that God had anything to do with it.

B. There are people who you do things for and they never acknowledge their appreciation for what you have done for them. They expect you to do it for them and get angry with you if you don’t.

C. The only way to keep that type of relationship alive is to cover it with love.

6. My love is covering the holes when my love doesn’t change for you even when you reject my counsel and refuse to change.

Jonah 4:8-11 (NIV)

8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

A. God tried to teach Jonah a lesson about life but he refused to accept the lesson. Instead, he once again wished that he might die. God tried to counsel him but Jonah rejected the counsel and refused to change.

B. There are people you and I know that we try to steer in the right direction but they don’t take our advice. No matter how much you tell them the right thing to do it seems that they are always doing the wrong thing.

C. Teenagers are good at that; they think that mom and dad don’t know what they are talking about; but face it we have been there and have experience.

D. The only way to cover up with holes created by somebody refusing to change is to throw love over the situation. Without love, the hole would be too big to repair.

Conclusion

Today, some of us may realize that there is a hole in our relationship with God. God is standing at the altar this morning with a covering of love to cover up that hole. Will you come to the altar this morning?

Today, some of us may realize that there is a hole in our relationship with others. I invite you to the altar to ask God to give you the strength to throw the tarp of love over that hole.

As God deals with you today, I hope that you have the courage to do what God is telling you to do to show love.

Scripture Reading

1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

     4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

     5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

     9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

     "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

     10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

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