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September 30, 2026 | Camden Nephew concludes the Neighboring series by exploring the book of Jonah and teaching how to love even those deemed unlovable. He highlights three key points for loving the unlovable: a fear of the Lord leads to obedience, dependence on the Lord in difficult times, and learning to see others with eyes like the Lord, recognizing everyone as image bearers of God deserving grace and mercy.
Bellevue Baptist Church High School Ministry
Hey, if you have your Bible, you can open it up to the book of Jonah. Yeah! Oh, Jonah is so good. Hey, while you turn there, we are wrapping up our series tonight entitled Neighboring, where we have been asking different questions like, hey, who is my neighbor? And the answer was anyone the Lord puts in your path. We ask questions like, how do I actually go about loving my neighbor? And then last week, old Crispy, Chris Pepper, talked about what stops me from loving my neighbor. And I wasn't here last week. So help me out. Give me some, a little bit of a recap about what Chris talked about. Anybody who took some good notes, catch me up to speed. What did y'all talk about last week? Come on. Chris, you did a phenomenal job. I can feel it. What was that? Pride. So pride keeps us from loving our neighbor, right? Anything else? What are some like good things that you wrote down last week that Chris said? I know that he had some good stuff. He was talking to me about his sermon. I know he had some good stuff. So pride is what keeps us from loving our neighbor well. Like what was like some main ideas around that that Chris kind of talked about? Anybody? You got a whole notebook full of notes right there. Well, he did talk about how being prideful can also be degrading yourself. Like prideful can be degrading? Oh, that's good. That's really, really good. Anything else? Anything else y'all like? I'm sorry, say it again. Who said that? False humility. False humility. Okay, okay. Explain that a little bit. What do you mean by that? I'm sorry, I put you on the spot. Oh, oh, that's so good, yeah. Yeah, I think that really can keep us from loving our neighbor well. Hey, this is all really good stuff. And I really appreciate Chris bringing the word last week. The question that we are answering tonight is a heavy one. And it's this, what if my neighbor is unlovable? So here's what I mean by that. When I say what if my neighbor is unlovable, what I mean is this, is that I recognize that some of you are in this room right now, and you say, okay, I get it. I'm supposed to love my neighbor. Okay, I get it. Lord calls me to love anyone that He's put in my path. Okay, I get it, the command to be neighborly towards other people, but not that person. Not because, oh, like, I just don't like the way they dress or I don't like the way they look or anything, but like, because there's some deep hurt in this room right now. Like when I say that someone unlovable, some of you might like kind of chuckle at that and be like, oh, haha, unlovable, but you know, because they like a different sports team than I do. But like for others of you, I say unlovable, and immediately someone comes to your mind. Someone who hurts you, someone who said something to you or about you, someone who did something to you. And when I say there are those who we feel like they are unlovable, immediately your mind goes to this one individual or maybe multiple individuals who hurt you in a really, really dark and cruel way. I wanna make sure two things are understood as we open up this text and as we study the book of Jonah tonight, and it's this. It's number one, is that that's never the way that God intended it to be. Some of you have experienced deep, deep hurt. Some of you have experienced things that no one should ever experience in their lifetime, and you haven't even made it to college yet. Some of you have experienced some things that are so tragic, so hurtful, and when I'd say, hey, you should love your neighbor, when your mind immediately goes to, yeah, okay, I get that, but not this person because they are literally unlovable. You need to understand this, students. That is not how God intended it to be. There are things that happen that happen to you. There are things that have happened that have hurt you deeply, and you need to understand this, is that it was never God's desire for those things to take place. There are things that you will experience that were never God's will for them to take place, yet they happen, why? Because we live in a sinful and a broken world, and you also need to hear something, you also need to hear this, students, which is this. It doesn't mean it's your fault. Some of you are in this room right now, and you've had some experiences, where you're just like, hey, this has hurt me, like some trauma in your past, and the enemy has convinced you that it was your fault, or that God was mad at you, and God wanted it to happen to you. That is not biblical, and that's not found anywhere in Scripture. Rather, what we know to be true is this, is that because we live in a sinful and a broken and a fallen world, we experience sinful, broken, fallen things. Not because you did something, because we live in a sinful and a broken world. So you need to understand that, as we walk through this tonight, that it wasn't God's intention for that to take place, but you also need to understand this. Now, I really want to make sure this is clear. Being neighborly and loving your neighbor well, even those who seem unlovable, does not mean that you put yourself in a position to be hurt again. Does that make sense? I really need to hear you hear me say that. Some of you, like I said, have been hurt in some really serious ways, and when you hear me say, hey, you need to love even those who are unlovable, and you think about that one person who really hurts you, those people that really hurt you, and you say to yourself, oh, I'm supposed to love that person well? The answer is yes, but at the same time, I'm not saying that you need to put yourself in a position to be hurt by them again. So let me give you a hypothetical. If you had some really good friends, and they hurt you really badly, maybe they started a rumor about you, or maybe they said some things about you, or maybe they broke your trust, or maybe they did something, and you say to yourself, man, I can never love that person again. Here's my challenge to you. As believers, God has commanded you and I to love the unlovable. As believers, God has commanded you and I to love the unlovable. And listen, my challenge to you is this. You can love them, you can love that group of friends, you can love that person, without being best friends with them again. Does that make sense? I really wanna make sure y'all understand this, that being neighborly and loving the unlovable, loving people well, does not mean that you need to put yourself in a position to be hurt by them again. That's really important. As believers, it's your responsibility, as a believer, it is your responsibility to love the unlovable, because Jesus loved you when you were unlovable. If you get anything out of tonight, that's what I want you to understand. It is your responsibility to love the unlovable, because in your sin, in your brokenness, Christ still decided to die for you and he loved you. So here's what we're gonna do tonight. I'm gonna, brace yourself. We're gonna read a lot of scripture. When I say a lot of scripture, we are going to do a complete study of the book of Jonah tonight. It's four chapters and we're gonna fly through it, okay? I promise I'm gonna have you out of here by 7.30, deal? We're gonna fly through and it's gonna be great. Okay, here we go. Chapter one says this. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amatia, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. For their evil has come up before me, but Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea. So the ship threatened to break. Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that way we may not perish. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and a lot fell to Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation and where do you come from? What is your country and what people are you? And he said to them, this is Jonah speaking, I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. I don't know if I said that right or not, I hope I did. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood. For you, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea.
He ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And verse 17, and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. We're gonna, like I said, we're gonna go through the entire book of Jonah, but we're gonna stop that right there just for a second. Listen to me, students. If you and I are going to be individuals who love the unlovable, it takes a few things. First, it takes this, it takes a fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord. Look at verse three again. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. You know what I noticed right there? Where is, what is Jonah running from? Huh? The presence of the Lord. I read that passage, and we hear about this story all the time. We think to ourselves, oh, hey, Jonah was just running from Nineveh. That's not the case, is it? What Jonah is running from is he's running from the presence of the Lord. Students, listen to me. When you decide that someone is unlovable, you are not making a judgment call, you're playing God. When you decide that someone is not worth love or affection, you are not saying, oh, I'm just making a judgment call because I don't like the way that they act or the way they dress or what they did to me in the past. You're playing God, and you're deciding, hey, who deserves my love and who doesn't? Who deserves for me to be kind to and who doesn't? You're deciding these things. God did not assign you the responsibility of determining who should receive love and who shouldn't. Rather, his command to you and to I is this. Hey, anyone that comes in your path, you need to be neighborly towards them. You need to love them, even those who seem unlovable. And remember, when I say this, I want, again, I want to reiterate this. You can do so without putting yourself in a position to be hurt again. But loving them well and being kind, repaying evil for kindness, or kindness for evil, rather. I'm sorry. Look at verse seven through 10, it says this. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. These sailors who don't know the Lord are asking this question, okay, what's going on? They're all kind of crying out to their own gods, and they go to Jonah and they say, hey, cry out to your God. And then they cast lots, they say, hey, Jonah, the lot has fallen to you, why is this happening to us? And then Jonah answers them in verse nine. And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. And then listen to this. And then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Here's what you need to understand, students, is these pagan sailors understood something that Jonah did not, which was this. A proper fear of the Lord always leads to obedience. We don't obey the Lord because we don't fear him. Growing up, I would obey my dad most of the time because he told me to do something. I would obey him because I was supposed to, like they teach me to obey. The root of how they taught me was because there were consequences if I didn't obey. So, a lot of you know this, if you disobey mom or dad, what happens? You get punished. So why do you obey? Because you don't wanna get punished, right? As a young child, you obey because you don't wanna get in trouble. So what happens is, okay, if I get told to do something, I'm gonna make sure that I do it. How many of y'all have ever been, okay, let me just paint this picture. Mom or dad says, hey, do the dishes before I get home. They leave, and you're sitting there just doing your thing. And all of a sudden, you hear the garage door opening. And you're like, the dishes. And then you run into the kitchen and you start doing the dishes. And when you act like you've been doing the dishes for seven hours, that's how long your mom has been gone, and you're sitting there doing the dishes, why? Because there's a fear within you that, hey, if I disobey, punishment's coming. These sailors understood what Jonah did not, which is that a proper fear of the Lord always, students, always leads to obedience. Your fear of the Lord should outweigh your hatred of someone else. Your fear of the Lord should outweigh your hatred towards someone else. And here's what I mean by that. That means that even though that person hurts you, even though that person, you may see them as unlovable, you say, hey, my fear of the Lord is stronger than the anger that I have towards you, so I'm going to love you the way that Jesus has. Because I fear my father more than I get caught up in my own feelings and my own emotions. Fear of the Lord always leads towards obedience. All right, let's move on. Chapter two, he says this. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish, saying this. I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you heard my voice, for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and flood surrounded me. All your waves and all your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet shall I again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. The weeds were wrapped about my head. At the roots of the mountains, I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet you brought up my life from the pit. Oh Lord, my God, when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you in your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love, but I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah up, it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. So the second thing is this, that if we're gonna love the unlovable, it's gonna require a dependence on the Lord, a dependence on the Lord. It requires the fear of the Lord, and it requires a dependence on the Lord. Notice something, in Jonah's darkest moment of his life, literally darkest moment, imagine this, you're in the belly of the fish, listen, ain't no electricity in there, ain't no wifi, no like battery powered flashlights, okay? It's like utter darkness. And the darkest moment of his life, he's swallowed up by this fish, and literally it says, I called out to you, for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and flood surrounded me, all your waves and your billows passed over me, and said, the water is closing over me to take my life, the deep surrounded me, weeds were wrapped around my head, so he's got like seaweed and everything wrapped all around him, he's in the belly of this fish, and in the darkest moment of his life, what he does is this, is he cries out to the Lord. Students, listen to me. Some of you have checked out already, because I said like, oh, some of you have been hurt by some things, and a lot of you are like, no, I've had a pretty good life, I've not been hurt that bad, I need everyone to lock in right here. Whether it has taken place already or not, there's gonna be moments in your life where you feel like you are in the darkest, deepest, darkest place that you could ever be. And I understand that some of you have already been there, and you've been there by the hands of someone who was supposed to protect you. And the deepest and the darkest, in these dark places, the best thing you can possibly do is cry out to the Lord. What the Lord has taught me over the past about six to eight months, is he has taught me, I have nothing, in the sense of, if I'm not completely and totally dependent upon the Lord, I have nothing. I have nothing to offer you, I have nothing to offer my friends, I have nothing to offer my family, I have nothing to offer my wife, I have nothing if I have not the Lord. And in his deepest and darkest moment in his life, Jonah's prayer is a call of dependence. He cries out to the Lord. So it is not a mystery to God when you have found yourself in these dark places, and the enemy's desire is to keep you in darkness. But students, listen to me, there is healing, there is hope, there is redemption when you call on the name of the Lord, when you cry out to him. Listen, if you are going to love the unlovable, you cannot do it by your own strength, you can't. If you are going to love the unlovable, the only way to possibly do that is with a dependence upon the Lord. I heard a pastor say it this way, when it comes to loving the unlovable, the church, big C, the church, should be a beacon of distinction in this area. That when people see the way that you treat those who others would deem as like, hey, you shouldn't even talk to that person, you shouldn't even look at them, like they've been so mean, they've been so rude, and the way that you as a believer show kindness and mercy and grace towards that person should spark a light bulb in other people's heads where they start to say, like, why are you so kind to them? And guess what, that opens doors for gospel conversations where you say, hey.
I love because he loved me first. This type of character reflection, when I say character reflection, I mean reflection of God's character can only be done through a dependence upon him and on his word. If you're gonna love the unlovable, it requires a dependence on the Lord. All right, we're gonna read the last two chapters really quickly together, okay? Chapter three says this. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh. Notice God's mercy and God's grace that he gives Jonah a second chance. That great city and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breadth. Why is that important? Why does he tell you that, hey, Nineveh was such a big city that it took three days to walk from one side to the other? Because listen to this. Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey. So listen to this. Jonah didn't even go all the way across the city. He just like went, I'm gonna go a little bit, little ways. Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey and he called out, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So he's walking around, he's got a bad attitude. He's kind of kicking the rocks as he does it. And he says, hey, repent, turn to God, whatever, I don't care. He's like having a bad attitude about it. Verse five, and the people of Nineveh believed God. What does it say? The people of Nineveh believed Jonah. Is that what it says? That the people of Nineveh believed God. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he issued proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them and he did not do it. And listen to this, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord. He said, oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you were a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. He said, God, this is why I didn't want to come, because I knew that you would save them. I knew you'd be merciful. I knew that you would offer grace and mercy. I don't think that they deserve it. Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? You know how I imagine this? I imagine this like a toddler, like getting mad and like kind of kicking and like throwing a fit. And mom or dad, like I have nephews and like sometimes they'll get mad and they'll like pout and they'll do something. And you know what I say? I look at him and I say, you feel better? And like, he's throwing his fit and the Lord says, do you do well to be angry? And you feel better about that now, Jonah? Jonah went out of the city and sat in the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under in the shade until he should see what became of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. That's important. Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, got appointed a scorching east wind, the sun beat down his head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in the night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle. The last thing is this, that if we are going to love the unlovable, we must have eyes like the Lord. Eyes like the Lord. Notice what happens. Jonah goes throughout the city and he starts preaching, he starts proclaiming, he starts sharing the gospel. He starts saying, hey, turn to the Lord, turn to the Lord. And they listen to God, they obeyed the Lord, they turned to him and then Jonah gets upset. And then what happens? All of a sudden, Jonah then goes up on this hill and he watches the city because here's what he's hoping for. He's hoping, well, maybe they won't actually turn to God and here's what's gonna happen. Maybe they won't turn to him and then all of a sudden, God's gonna destroy Nineveh and I'm gonna get a front row seat to it. And he's up there watching to see what happens to the city. And he's hoping that he sees it destroyed. He's hoping that this thing happens. And here's the problem and here's how I see the correlation for you and I is this, is that seeing with eyes like Jesus means that we need to recognize ourself as in need of the same compassion and same grace. Here's the hard truth that you need to understand students is this. You are no more deserving of grace and mercy than those who have hurt you. I'm gonna say it one more time. You are no more deserving of grace and mercy, of God's grace, of God's mercy, than individuals who have hurt you. And listen, I know there are some people who have hurt you deeply. There are just as much in need of God's grace and God's mercy as you are. And just because you have a better reputation than someone else, that does not mean that you deserve grace and you deserve God's love more than somebody else does. Jonah viewed himself as being more deserving of grace, more deserving of mercy, more deserving of love. And then God uses two things. He uses a plant and a worm to show him the difference. A plant and worm to give one last, hey, let me give you this one last little lesson, Jonah, that I want you to learn from all this, which is this. If you pity the plant, the plant that grew and gave you shade and then died and then withered away and then the sun beat down on you, if you pity the death of the plant, how much more should I pity those who are made in my image? Students, here's the deal. If we're going to see, have the eyes, if we're gonna have eyes like Jesus and love those who are unlovable, you have to stop seeing individuals as those who just kind of like, you know, people who like are either for you or against you. They offer something to you or they take something away from you. You have to see people who are made in the image of God. Students, you and I, image bearers of Christ, you and I have a responsibility as believers, of those who have received grace and have received mercy. We have a responsibility to view people, not just as those who have done things to us or done things for us, but as those who are image bearers of Christ in need of grace and mercy, just like you were.