Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Should I Not Love That Great City?

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

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. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. The book of Jonah can appear at first glance like a simple fable with an implausible high point. A great fish swallows a rebellious prophet. But the story is about so much more. It touches on racial prejudice, toxic nationalism, and the struggles believers have when it comes to obeying and trusting God. Today on Gospel in Life, Tim Keller continues exploring the fascinating story of Jonah,

the prodigal prophet. Let's take a look at the passage in the bulletin on which the teaching is based. Jonah chapter 4. This is the end of the book of Jonah, which we've been looking at for several weeks. Jonah chapter four, verses one to 11. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, oh 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 see what would happen to the city.

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. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm which chewed the vine so that it withered, and 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.

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. 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. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" This

is God's word. So we're looking for the last time at the book of Jonah. We come to the end of the story. And maybe now we can ask ourselves a question. What's the story about? I mean, what is the story about? The story has to have a protagonist and an antagonist, a protagonist. Who is the protagonist? Who's the one who agonizes pro for the good? And who's the antagonist? Who's the one who agonizes against the good?

The anti-agonist, you know? And the answer is, it's not Jonah. It's not the protagonist. And the answer is, it's not Jonah, it's not the protagonist, and the fish isn't the protagonist. It all comes down to this last question. In the last question, God says, should I not be concerned? And that's a word that means to be moved with pity or compassion. Should I not have compassion? Should I not love that great city? And that's an argumentative question. And so here, this is what the story is about. It's about God, who's the protagonist,

seeking to bring grace and love and mercy to a big city. And the antagonist is the religious moral people who believe in God and who obey his commandments. It's us. It's city disdaining, city phobic, moral, good people. We're the antagonists and God is the protagonist and the book is about God's love for a big, unbelieving, unjust, violent pagan city. So what are we supposed to learn then about the city from this book?

That's the last question we have to ask as we look through it. And I would just suggest that we learn three things here. We learn about God's call to the city, God's view of the city, and God's love for the city. Now first of all, the first thing we learn, and it's remarkable, but it's there it is, it's God's call to the city. What unites this book together is three times, three, I used to think it was two, but now I realize it's three times. Three times, God calls Jonah

to what he calls Nineveh, that great city. Chapter one, verses one and two, he calls him to go to Nineveh. Chapter three, after the fish incident, he's called again to go to the end of that great city and here at the very end, again, but now if anything it's clearer than ever. Over and over and over and over again,

God says to his prophet, I want you to go to and I want you to love that great, big, huge, dangerous city. You see what he's doing is he's calling Jonah out of a homogeneous place where everybody looked like him and believed like him into the big city. He's calling Jonah out of a safe place, a comfortable place, a familiar place, into the big city. Over and over he does it.

That's the call of God. Go to the great city. Love the great city. Now, somebody says, well, okay, now wait a minute. Are you generalizing this? This is for Jonah. Jonah is a prophet and Jonah had a particular purpose in God's plan. And God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh, to Assyria, but that's just Jonah, is it not?

Well, we have to have a balance here. If we stand back and look what the Bible says, here's what we learn. First of all, this is by no means a unique kind of call. Two to three, very sad, centuries later after this, the Jews are captive. They've been conquered by the great empire of Babylonia. And they're taken to the next big world-class city that was to come after Nineveh, which is Babylon. And if you want to read what happened in Jeremiah 27, 28 and 29, we read that the exiles came and they came to the outskirts of Babylon

and they stayed there. And they said, well, this is terrible. We've been taken to Babylonia. But that doesn't mean we have to go into Babylon itself. And in chapter 27, 28, and 29, what we see is that the exiles said, well, let's stay out here. Let's stay away from the city. Let's form our own little community outside the city so that we can be free from the violence and the doctrinal and moral cultural pollution of the city. Let's stay outside. Shockingly, God writes them a letter through Jeremiah,

which you can read in Jeremiah 29. And there he says, no, I want you to move into the city. I don't want you to just move in. I want you to settle in the city. I want you to buy homes and build homes and raise your families. I want you to settle in the city. I want you to make its life your life.

And he says, I don't want you to prosper your little believing community inside. He says, I want you to pray for and seek the shalom, the peace, the health of the whole city. I want you to bless it. I want you to make it whole in all of its functions and all of its aspects.

Astounding. And they said, no, no, in all of its aspects. Astounding. And they said, no, no, no, we want to stay out here. In there, it's polluting, it's bad, it's evil, it's wicked, it's heretical, it's violent, it's unjust. God says, go. And then not only that, years later, the Book of Acts. And if you read the Book of Acts carefully, especially in the last 20 years, a lot of sociologists and historians have been, you will see that the early missionaries,

the first messengers with the gospel that went out in the Mediterranean, especially Paul and his strategy, that the strategy of all the early Christian ministers and missionaries was completely urban-centric. When they went into any region, they went to the very, very biggest city, and then after they'd planted the Christian communities in there, they left. They ignored the villages, they ignored the countryside, and as a result, by the year 300 AD or so, 50%, roughly, of the populations of the urban centers

of the Greco-Iranian world were Christian, whereas the countryside and the villages were all pagan. In fact, the word pagan, we think, comes from the Greek word paganus, which means man of the Greco-Iranian world were Christian, whereas the countryside and the villages were all pagan. In fact, the word pagan, we think, comes from the Greek word paganus, which means a man of the country, a rural man. And of course, but we all know that as the cities go, the culture goes. As cities go, the society goes.

And because God called the early Christians to be urbanites and to be in the city, as a result, the Roman Empire was really just swept through by the gospel. Now, you have to put that alongside the fact that there are individuals who don't go to the city. For example, I was reading recently in Genesis 13, a place for Lot and Abram. You know, they've both been called, in a sense, really by God to walk before him. But Lot goes to the city and his heart's filled with greed and avarice and he goes to the cities of the plain and there he falls and Abram stays out of the cities

and he walks with God as a rural person, as a man of the country. And what this simply means, on balance, what does it mean? What it means is simply this. There's no biblical warrant to say that every Christian is called to live in a city, absolutely no warrant for that. But we have to say is the church, qua church, the church institutionally, though I hate that word,

but let's just say the church institutionally is called by God to give a great, if not the greatest, part of its metabolism and its power and its resources and its concern to the city. It has to be. God calls the city. Now he's got two reasons for it that we see here. Why does God call the city? Why does God have this strong call to the city?

There's a head reason and a heart reason. The head reason is interesting. Very interesting. But the heart reason is even more. The head reason is every single time God calls Jonah to the city. He never just says, I want you to go to Nineveh the city. He says, I want you to go to Nineveh the city. He says, I want you to go to Nineveh the great city, right? Every time, that great city, even here.

Should I not be concerned about that great city? Now all the Hebrew scholars say that this word has two sides to its meaning. It has a lexical, you know, it has a lexical range with two aspects to it. And the one aspect is it means big. It means it's very large, lots of people. But the other aspect of the word, it also means important.

That's kind of one of the reasons why, and it's a good idea that the English translator is to try to get the both together. Translate this great, because great can mean big and it can also mean important. But what God's really saying is, I want you to go to the strategic city and As we just mentioned a minute ago, it's common sense if we have a message The gospel that many many people are blind to but that we believe with all our hearts

Has within it the beauty the the joy, the strength, the healing that everyone wants, everyone's looking for. Now if you believe that's what the gospel message is, what are you supposed to do with that message? You don't take that message with you because you know, you know, you've got it, you're one of the bearers of the gospel, so what are you going to do with it? You don't take your treasure off into some little comfortable bears of the gospel. So what are you going to do with it? You don't take your treasure off into some little, comfortable corner of the world.

How dare you? You go to the city. Why do you want to go to the city? It just makes sense. In the village, you reach individuals, but in the city, you reach the culture. You know, in the village, you might reach the artist, but if you want to reach the art world, it's in the city.

In the village, you might reach the lawyer, but if you want to reach the legal profession, it's in the city. And also in the village, or in the artist, but if you want to reach the art world, it's in the city. In the village, you might reach the lawyer, but if you want to reach the legal profession, it's in the city. And also in the village, or in the rural, you always have, generally, racial homogeneity. But in the city, you have a Bible study and you've got five different people from five different continents in your city, you see. The gospel runs through all the various language groups and tribes. It just makes sense. There's a head reason. Why go to the city? Well, because as the cities go, so goes the society. But there's a heart reason, and it's intriguing. You see what God does.

Jonah decides he doesn't want to, we'll get back to this, Jonah does not want to live in that, he doesn't want to be in that city. What does he do? He moves out. Look, see what it says in verse 5. Jonah went out from the city to watch, still hoping that something bad would happen to him. Okay? He goes out. He leaves. He goes out from the city, still hoping that God is going to do something bad. But what he does is he sets up a place and he has a shelter. Now, there is such a thing, by the way, as a vine that grows overnight in that part of the world. And what you have there is this beautiful vine

that grows up and it's leafy and it's beautiful. And he noticed, he was very glad for it. Of course, why not? Shade and green, it must have been a lovely little place. But at the very end, here's what God says, and look at the logic here. He says, and he used the same word, but the Lord said, you have compassion, you have been concerned about this vine.

See, you have affection, you love the vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow, it sprang up overnight, died overnight, but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. Should I not have compassion? Now, look what he's saying, look at the logic. It's extremely emotional. He's saying 120,000 people who don't know which way to turn spiritually. Look at the size of that. Look at the depth of that. But that's not all that he's doing. He's contrasting Jonah with a plant and himself with a city. And you know what? Years ago, a man named Bill Crispin put this in perfect relief for me, this logic.

And he put it this way. I know you're going to laugh. I laughed, but he didn't laugh, and I'll show you why. He says, he was an inner city minister. And I said, why are you in the city? Why do you stay in the city? He says, it's very simple. He says, in the country you have more plants than people, and in the city you have more people than plants. And since God loves people far more than plants, he loves the city far more than the country. That's exactly what God is saying here. And let me press it to you.

As beautiful as a tree is, you know, I think I shall never see a thing as lovely as a tree is, you know, you know that's, I think I shall never see a thing as lovely as a tree. Wrong. Because everybody, I don't, everybody, I don't care what you believe in your head in philosophy 101, you know that a tree is nowhere near as precious and as beautiful

and as amazing as a human being. You know that. Okay, if a boulder is coming down the mountain and there's a person and a tree there, what do you do? How are we going to save the tree? No. I mean, it will be a horrible tragedy. I love trees. God loves trees. You know, you'll save the person. And here's what God is saying. He says, there's nothing more amazing, there's nothing more beautiful, there's nothing more astounding, there's nothing more precious than a person.

Look at the city. Every subway car is chock full of the most beautiful thing on the earth. Every block is crammed with the most beautiful thing on the earth. The city is filled with beauty. Our calendars don't think so. You know, my calendar has all these wonderful, you know, January, February, March. No people. You know, trees and hills and vines.

No subway cars. Crammed with people, you know, the one, two, three train, the four, five, six, you know, at rush hour. Oh no, that's not beautiful. That's because our hearts don't work like God's heart. He says, why in the world are you attracted to cities? The cities are crammed with beauty.

Those beautiful thing there is. What does it matter with you? I don't know, what is the matter with us? Isn't this amazing? The call to the city. Now the second thing we learn here is not just that God calls us to the city. Now the second thing we learn here is not just that God calls us to the city, but that God has a really weird, unique view of the city.

When I say it's really weird and unique, on the one hand, I'm going to draw on what we've seen so far, on the one hand, what God does is he seems very moral. You know, he says to Jonah, go and preach against Nineveh, for its wickedness has come up against me. He says that in chapter one. And then when Jonah comes in,

Jonah denounces their violence and their injustice, and he says, 40 more days and Nineveh will be destroyed. So God is saying, repent Nineveh. You're wicked, you're evil, you're unjust, you're violent. I'm going to overthrow you, whatever that would have been, in 40 days. And so he sounds rather conservative, doesn't he? God sounds sort of like what we would call in New York a kind of traditional values guy,

a very moral person, conservative moral person. But then there's other places in this book where God seems to act like what any conservative would call the most bleeding heart liberal possible. See, not first of all, as we saw last week, why does God relent? Why is Jonah so freaked out over the fact that God has refused, has relented he's not going to punish Nineveh? As we mentioned last week, when the Ninevites repent, they don't use Yahweh's name, they don't call on the Lord,

they're not entering into a new covenant with him, they're not converting. What they're simply saying is, maybe you're right, maybe we've been too violent, we're really sorry, we're really sorry, please don't hurt us, and God relents. But we know from history and therefore certainly God knew that though it was probably sincere and heartfelt, it was superficial. They didn't relent, they didn't stop it. So here's Jonah, why is he freaked out?

He says, God, you know, in chapters 4, 2, and 3, God, you bleeding heart liberal, he says, he says, you'll forgive anybody. He says, the most embryonic, little half-hearted look in your direction, and you give them a second chance. What's the matter with you? I can't take your tolerance. They didn't convert. He's just being patient with them. And not only that, there's an interesting place here where God says, but Nineveh has

more than, you can understand most of this question except one little piece, can't you? He says, Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle. And you were saying, what's that? And I'm sure God is an animal lover, but that's not the point here. That's not the point. I'm sure it's not the point. Some people have tried to make it that. The real key you have to realize is where, how big is your money?

You know, your money is so tiny, you get a little bit out of the ATM machine, but almost all your money on these little tiny pieces of cyber script on little microchips and computers in various places, that's it. But back then your money was a little bigger, it was hairier, it took up more space and it needed to be fed two or three times a day. And because the livestock is the economy of the city. And here's God. See, I've heard people say of the city. And here's God. See, I've heard people say this. Good religious, moral, Christian people come to a place like New York and they say, you know, they write home and they say, what a dark, awful place this is, what a terrible place this is. But I'm here to win some poor souls to Christ. It's a filthy, terrible, dark, godless place,

but somebody has to be here and share the good news with these poor people. Is that concern for the city? It's a concern for the individuals, but you don't give a rip about the city. God concerned about the city, the shalom of the city, the city, the economy of the city, the safety of the city, the housing of the city. That's what he was saying in Jeremiah 29. He's not just filled with love for the the city, that's what he was saying in Jeremiah 29. He's not just filled with love for the individual souls, he's filled with love for the city. Chances are you've heard some version of the story of Jonah, the rebellious prophet who defied God and was swallowed by a great fish.

In his book, Rediscovering Jonah, Tim Keller reveals hidden depths within the story, making the case that Jonah's rebellion also provides one of the most insightful explorations into the secret of God's mercy. As you learn what the book of Jonah teaches about prejudice, justice, mercy, self-righteousness, and much more, you'll gain fresh insight into how to become a bridge-builder in today's culture, how to foster reconciliation across lines of division, and with God's help bring peace where there is conflict. This month when you give to Gospel in Life, we'll send you Dr. Keller's book, Rediscovering

Jonah, as our thanks for your gift. Just visit GospelinLife.com slash give. That's GospelinLife.com slash give. And thank you for your generosity, which helps us reach more people with Christ's love. So now, is he a conservative or a liberal here? Is he a God that's thundering, you better repent, and trying to get people to convert and talking about their wickedness?

Or is he somebody concerned about the social system and willing to live and work with religiously diverse people and tolerate them and listen to them? Which is it? Isn't it weird? No wonder Jonah can't handle them. Can you? Can I? The only reason he's got this incredible view is because

he's simply reflecting what the whole Bible tells us about the very nature of human history. And let me tell you what the nature of human history is. You want to know who my teacher has been about the theological underpinnings of what God is showing us here in this view. Guy named Saint Augustine who wrote The City of God. And he's rather relevant.

Let me show you why. Everybody here is thinking about September 11th, right? That was the big day, the day the world shook. But back then, it was another day. Back in the ancient times, it was another day, August 24th. You know what was August 24th? 410. That was the day that Alaric and the army of the Goths

came over the wall and sacked Rome. And they came over the wall for just three days, and they burned and they plundered and they killed But they did not invade and occupy it. I mean years ago just this last month. I really realized this years ago I remember reading about the sack of Rome and all that kind of thing But you know I did not realize that what they did was they came over the wall and for the first time in a thousand years Rome was sacked by the barbarians, you see.

Impossible. How could this be? But they came over the wall and they plundered it and they wasted it and then they left. They didn't invade, they didn't occupy, they left almost as if it was to say, oh, superior civilization, look what us barbarians can do. We just want post-superior civilization, look what us barbarians can do. We just want you to know what us barbarians can do. They swooped in, they wasted part of the city, and they left. And there was an enormous shockwave that went through the entire intellectual, cultural, and social, and emotional world as a result. On the one hand, what people were saying is, if Rome is not safe, what's safe?

If Rome can fall, we can all fall. But it wasn't just simply a financial, physical thing. People were saying, if the impossible has happened, the unthinkable has happened. See, this was unthinkable. If the unthinkable has happened, how do I know I'm thinking right about anything else? Everything was thrown into uncertainty. Everything was up for grabs.

Relevant, don't you think? And the Christians were every bit as shattered as the pagans. And the reason for that was in the last hundred years before the fall of Rome, Christians have been starting to move up. They've been starting to move up into the city, up into the circles of power in Rome. They were moving up into the areas of influence and of government and business and so on.

And everybody said, this is the way God's going to do it. If we win Rome, and we're winning Rome, we're winning Rome. If we win Rome, we've won the world. This is how God is going to do it. This is how God is going to spread the gospel through is how God is going to is going to spread the gospel through the world But now why has God abandoned us what's going on? Why did God let this happen and into this vacuum Came Augustine who wrote a book called the city of God the greatest of his books

most remarkable of his books the longest by far of his books and the hardest to read of his books and Then he says two great things. He studied the Bible, he looked at Rome, he looked at the situation and he said two things. First of all, one of the reasons why you're all absolutely freaking out is that you have confused the eternal city, civitas eternitas, that's what Rome called itself, with the city of God. There is no eternal human city. It's just only one city that cannot be broken. There's only one city that cannot be torched.

There's only one city that cannot be bombed. There's only one city. It's the city of God. If you remember the city of God, you're absolutely safe. You see, if you kill the members of the city of earth, an earthly city, the city's gone. But he says, if you kill the members of the city of God, all you're doing is moving them to better quarters in the city. The more you kill the city of God, you can't kill the city of God. It's going to come. It's coming on. You see? Psalm 46, which we love, and Augustine used, where it says,

there is a stream. There is a river. The stream is where I'll make glad the city of God. What is it talking about? A city with a river going through it can't be besieged. Right? You see, you would besiege a city and you'd starve them out. And that's how you did it. You weakened them and then you went in because they were starving and they were eating each other and it was terrible

and there was no food and there was no water. But you can't besiege a city with a river going through it because they would always have water and they'd always have food. And as a result, what he's saying is the city of... There is one city and there's only one city that you're safe. And if you are freaking out, it's because you think your real wealth is in this earthly city, but there is no eternal city on earth. There is no human city.

But if you're in the city of God, you're safe. That is a city that has to triumph, will triumph. Nothing can stop it. And you know what? Augustine was absolutely right. Because Rome did break down, it did not recover. Society for good, for centuries, became all, really broke down, became disordered. And partly because Augustine helped with giving the church a theological vision, what happened? The city of God continued.

Do you remember that little book, The Irish that Saved Civilization? That's just a little piece of this. What happened was the church is not just a bunch of individuals scattered. The church is a counterculture. It's an alternate city. It's a city and what that city did was when everything else was falling apart, the Christian community went forward.

It kept learning alive. It kept art alive. It kept justice. It kept peace alive. It kept love alive. It stayed. It did. I mean, what do you think the monks, I mean, there's a lot of reasons to have monks and nuns, there's

a lot of reasons to have sisters and brothers, bad ones as well as good ones, but I mean, don't you see how the city works? Even when the city, the earthly city around you is falling apart, what happens is a hundred monks get together and they say, I'll tell you what, let's live together in simplicity and community and let's follow the teachings of Christ, and let's consume 10% of what we produce, and share the other 90% with the towns around. That's the city of God working. And so first of all, Augustine said, if you're freaking out, it's because you have over-identified,

you have confused the city of man with the city of God. But then he says, the other hand, now if you stop there, you're going to make a mistake. Because Augustine is not saying, therefore, this bad old wicked city, who needs it? Bad old Rome, who cares about it? Not at all. Because at the end of the book of the Bible, what do we read? At the end of the Bible it says, and I saw the holy city coming down out of heaven from God like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And in the middle of the city was the throne of God and out of the lamp.

What's going on at the end of the world? At the end of time, at the end of history, what goes on? Not we go out of the world into some ethereal place, but the city of God, this city that cannot be broken, this city that cannot be burned, this city that cannot be stopped, is coming down to cleanse and to purify and to renew and to heal the cities of the world. It's coming down. We're not leaving to go to it.

It's coming down. And what Augustine says is, here's how you know, you are really a citizen of the city of God. You are the very, very best citizens in the city of this world. The best, not bad. He says, my goodness, he says, Christians, if you say, let's all go out in the desert,

let's get away from the city of man. You know what you're gonna have out there in the desert? Another city of man, because as you're men and women, you're human beings. The city of God is not the good people next to the bad people. The city of God is the spirit of God. In the gospel of the kingdom, changing the political community of this world, which is built on self-interest and power, and turning it more and more into a political community of God God which is based on

concern for his name service love not taking but giving Not accruing power but serving That's the city of God and to make a perfect case for this he makes reference to this I'm going to make reference to it as well. Do you know about the two great plagues that happened before Augustine happened? The reason why there was critical mass, the reason why the Christians were growing, is this. There was a huge plague in 165 AD that went through and killed off at least a quarter of the people in all the cities. Huge numbers of people dying.

And then 100 years later, it was another horrible plague. And this is what happened. numbers of people dying. And then 100 years later was another horrible plague. And this is what happened. This is in Rodney Stark's book, The Rise of Christianity. Here's a pagan writer, witness to what happened. He said, the doctors were quite incapable of treating the disease, equally useless were the prayers in the temple. The people became afraid to visit anyone, and as a result, thousands of people died with no one to look after them. Indeed, there were many houses in which all the inhabitants perished through lack of any attention.

The bodies of the dying were heaped up one on top of the other and half dead creatures could be seen staggering about in the streets. The catastrophe was so overwhelming that we became indifferent to every rule of morality. Many pushed sufferers away, even their dearest, often throwing them into the road before they were dead, hoping to avert contagion. As for the gods, they seem not to matter when one saw the good and the bad dying indiscriminately." You see what they're saying? Good religious people, pagans, they're good people. Okay? And they try to obey the gods and follow the gods. But when all this showed up, they said, what good is there in being moral or being good? The good people are dying with the bad people.

And they freaked. They ran. They dropped their beloved in the streets. But this is what the Christians did, and this is also an eyewitness account written by a guy named Dionysius. Most Christians, not all by the way, most Christians in the plague showed unbounded love and loyalty never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another.

Heedless of danger they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ and many departed their life serenely happy for they were infected by their neighbors and they cheerfully accepted their pains. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner and a number of elders too. Biological terror. Christians stayed put. Not only did they stay put, but they gave their lives, nursing both Christians and pagans who were dying. Why? Because they were citizens of the city of God, they were the very, very, very, very

best citizens of the earthly city. That's how you know you are a citizen of the city of God. Isn't that amazing? So Augustine said, if you believe in the two cities, that every city is two cities and a Christian is a citizen of both, if you over-identify or under-identify, if you detach like Jonah, go outside, wait for its condemnation, you know, good riddance, you'll be a conservative or a liberal. But if you believe in the theology of the Bible, you're a citizen of both cities,

in fact, your citizenship in the city of God makes you the very best citizen in the city of man. Now, somebody says, how can I do that? I don't believe it. I mean, that's very inspiring, it's very heroic, but you know what? We're actually thinking about biological terror, aren't we? This is not, you see, the unthinkable has been happening. So you ready? Somebody says no. Not me, I could never do that. I could never do that. I beg to differ with

you. Look at what? Look at Jonah's opposite and look at Jonah's response. What do we mean by that? Look at Jonah's opposite. Jonah goes outside the city to condemn it, right? He goes outside the city hoping bad things will happen. There was another prophet who years later went outside the city, and we read about him in Hebrews 13. Now Jesus also suffered outside the gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

And here we do not have any enduring city, but we're looking for the city that is to come. Jonah went outside the city that spared his life to condemn it. But Jesus was dragged outside the city, weeping for it, and died for its salvation, not for its condemnation. Now, what difference does that make?

I left a little piece out of that piece, Dionysius, the witness to how the Christians lived. I left a little piece out. Let me tell you what. Let me go back to it and let me put it back in. He said, Said heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and many departed their life serenely happy, for they were infected by their neighbors and cheerfully accepted their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others,

transferred their death to themselves and died in their neighbor's stead. Many of the Christians cheerfully took their neighbor's death on themselves by nursing them back to health, but in the process died in their stead. Where would you get an idea like that? And don't you see? The pagan people were good people.

But do you remember what the pagan author said? He said, when we saw the good and the bad dying together, we said, what the heck, what good is morality? What good is God? That's because they believe in salvation by works. It means they're good, moral people, but they don't understand the gospel. The gospel, at the heart of the gospel is a man who lived the best life possible and he had a terrible life.

But he had a terrible life for you and me. And you see, what that does is it changes everything. Religion does not have the intellectual structure to deal with suffering. It says, I've lived a good life, they live bad lives, why are we all dying together? I don't get it. See? Christianity says, but we know that we're not saved because we're good, we're saved only because we're willing to admit we're not good, and we know the only good person who ever lived suffered for us,

therefore why can't we suffer for others? If in his suffering he brought healing to the world, maybe in my suffering I can just do a little bit in his name to show other people what he's done for me. Besides that, I'm safe now. And see, that's the other thing. Religious people never know they're good enough. They're never sure that if they die they'll be with God. But the gospel says that your relationship with God is not based on how good a performance

you've done this week or last week or last month or last year, but Jesus' performance. He lived the life you should have lived, and He died the death you should have died. And when you put your faith in Him, you know you're there, and that's the reason why you can be like George Herbert, the great Christian poet,

who said death used to be an executioner, but now the gospel's made him only a gardener. I used to be scared of death, but now he looks at death and say, go ahead, give me your best shot. All you're going to do is make me something really great. Secularism, moral, religious people were not able to handle social breakdown, biological terror, and the Christians

were, because citizenship in the city of God made them the very, very best possible neighbors and citizens in the earthly city. Why? Not because they were trying hard, but because they looked at the aunt of Jonah. The opposite of Jonah, the one who went out not to condemn the city, but to save the city.

And then lastly, look at Jonah's response. You say, you know, this is all very nice but I just don't believe it could happen to me. I don't believe I could ever have that kind of certainty and joy. I could never have that kind of sense of safety that you say the gospel brings. I just don't believe it. I don't think I could possibly do the things that those Christians did. Well, I don't think you're right. Even Jonah can change. You say, well, how do you know Jonah changed? Isn't the end frustrating? You see what's interesting?

You get to the very end, and this is the last time God comes to Jonah. He says, look, Jonah, I asked you once, and you blew it, and I put you into a fish, and I asked you twice, and you blew it. Now I'm asking you one more time, will you come with me in my project of spreading the city of God into the human city, spreading the city of love and service into the city of power and selfishness? Will you come with me in doing that? And we

don't know what Jonah did. Yes, we do. It's brilliant, isn't it? Yes, we do. How do we know all this stuff about Jonah? How do we know that Jonah was such an idiot? How do we know he was such a racist? How do we know he made that unbelievably stupid I hate the God of Love speech in the beginning of chapter 4? The only possible way we would know is if Jonah told us. And what kind of man would let the world see what an ass he has been, except someone who

is so joyfully secure in God's love, who finally accepts the fact that he's simultaneously sinful but completely accepted. Someone who finally gets the gospel. That's the only possible reason we didn't know any of this stuff. If he can change Jonah, he can change you. Love the city. And here's what's so ironic. Love New York City, but don't mistake New York City for the City of God because if you

do, you won't be a good lover of New York City. You won't be the best possible lover of New York City. The best way to really love New York is to know it's not the city of God, is to recognize its shortcomings, to recognize what it needs. But if you're a member of the city of God, then you can love the city of New York like nobody else really. Love the city and fear no darkness. Let us pray. Give us, Father, what we need to take these things and put, I don't know, to really inhabit them, to really live into them. These are inspiring ideas when we see them in print and as we hear them

proclaim, but oh, what we really need, Father, is for you to show us how to make them real to us and how to live them out. And we ask that in these next days, Lord, we really ask. Everything will go well in our city. We ask for safety. We pray for protection. We pray for a complete return to health and to safety and to economic and political stability. We pray for all of that. But we also know, Lord, that we want to be ready for anything and we ask that you would make us that. We want to be the for anything and we ask that you would make us that. We want to be the best possible citizens of the city of New York by loving your salvation.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel in Life podcast. If you found today's teaching helpful and something you'd like more people to hear, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel in Life monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the hope and joy of Christ's love. Just visit gospelinlife.com slash partner to learn more. Today's sermon was recorded in 2001.

The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to to learn more.