Past the Plate

Jonah 1:4-6

“A few years ago I met with a group of twenty-five leading Christian youths, aged sixteen to twenty, from an excellent church.  I asked them, “How many of you would say the essence of your Christian life is this:  First, you don’t do certain things other kids your age do, like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or marijuana, or experimenting sexually.  Second, you do some things they don’t - you go to church, read the Bible, and seek Christian friends.  Raise your hand if you think these two things are the essence of your faith.”  All but one raised a hand.  Their doing was the core of their faith.”

• Dan Doriani, The Life of a God-Made Man, p.199).

I would imagine that if a prophet were to poll Israel in the day of Jonah, Israel’s response as a nation would be much the same.  They might add a caveat or two, something like, “Well, yeah, we do have our sins, but they aren’t nearly as bad as the Assyrians.  Man, they’re just plain evil.”

Would a poll of the evangelical church yield any different answer toward those outside the church?  

So let’s take the scenario a step farther.  What if you then pressed these people to step out of their “do good/avoid bad” world into the world of those who “drink alcohol, smoke dope, cook meth, are sexually perverted, etc.” to love them?  I would expect that at the very best we would pull out our checkbooks and ask, “How much do you need to send a professional missionary to them?”  But more than likely, we would yawn, stretch our arms over our heads, say, “Could you hold that thought,” drive home, power down our cell phones, and find a nice warm blanket and a cozy chair in which to hide and fall asleep. 

So it was with Jonah.  So it is with us.  If the essence of our faith is not Jesus Christ, but our supposed good behavior vs. bad behavior, then we will run from whatever or whomever rocks our boat of performance religion . . . be it God or our peers.  God’s Word says, “Arise! Go to Nineveh”, and topples us off of our self-made thrones.  If the essence of our faith is our comfort, we will sleep every time.  If the essence of our faith is in the Jesus Christ, we will respond with glad and trusting hearts ready to serve our Savior who has served us.