It is a miraculous thing to see God working through frail and fallible people like us in order to see pagan people turn from their sin and turn to the salvation of our Lord. Think about it. If the goal of all life is to see God glorified, then why doesn’t God just speak his message from Heaven and then let the lost determine whether or not to trust him in salvation? Why does God want us to be a part of the process?  He doesn’t need us… so why does he want us? 

It makes me think of Mopsy.  Mopsy is a stuffed animal dog that was given to me when I was two years old… almost 39 years ago. Mopsy has been through a lot. He doesn’t have any stuffing in his body anymore, he’s missing an eye.  He has loose threads, his leg is barely hanging on,  he’s a wreck.  But for some reason I’ve decided to keep him around all these years.  Call it nostalgia… but i just couldn’t get rid of him.  And it’s a good thing I didn’t, cause when Vera turned two years old, I introduced her to Mopsy.  Now Mopsy lives on her bed and gets snuggle times with Vera every night. And I love to see that my favorite stuffed animal as a child gets to be loved by my kids.  I didn’t need to keep Mopsy but now I can use Mopsy to show love to my daughter.  

We are like Mopsy.  We are worn out, ragged, and pretty much useless… but God keeps us around anyway.  God is kind of nostalgic about us.  And instead of just throwing us in a storage bin or taking us to Goodwill he says, you know what… I’m going to use you to share my love with others. Not because I need you, but because I love you and want you to be a part of the process. God is glorified not just when people are saved but when we are obedient to be his messengers of salvation and are a part of the process of seeing the lost come to salvation. 

And this is exactly why he keeps giving Jonah second chances. Because he wants Jonah to be a part of the blessing of missions. He wants Jonah to be a part of the miracle. God wants to use Jonah and he wants to use us too.

As you can see, God will draw men, women, cities, and nations to himself, if only we would be obedient to answer the call and be obedient to the mission. The struggle isn’t whether or not God will save people, the struggle is whether or not we will surrender our lives to be used by God to see people saved. This morning I want us to see that The Miracle of Missions Isn’t That God Saves Sinners, But That He Uses Saved Sinners To See People Saved.