Should I Not Love That Great City?
5/13/202641 min
In Jonah, the antagonists are the religious, moral people. It’s us. It’s the city-disdaining, city-phobic, religious, moral people. We’re the antagonists, and God is the protagonist.
It all comes down to this last question when God says, “Should I not have compassion? Should I not love that great city?” This is what the story is about. It’s about God’s love for a big, unbelieving, unjust, violent, pagan city.
We can learn about three things here: 1) God’s call to the city, 2) God’s view of the city, and 3) God’s love for the city.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 14, 2001. Series: The Church in the City. Scripture: Jonah 4:1-11.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 1· Host0:00
[intro music] You're listening to the Gospel and Life Podcast. What does God's concern for cities tell us about His mission? Jonah was called to preach to the great city of Nineveh, but his own anger and prejudice blinded him to what God would accomplish there. Today, Tim Keller looks at why culture-shaping cities matter to God and what that reveals about His heart for the entire world.
Tim Keller· Guest0:25
[soft music] Uh, let's take a look at the, uh, passage in the, the bulletin on which the teaching is based. Jonah chapter four. This is the end of the book of Jonah, which we've been looking at for several weeks. Jonah chapter four, verses one to eleven. "But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? This 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. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.' But the Lord replied, 'Have you any right to be angry?' 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