I presented this Christian message on 8/3/20 at the Lifecare Parkrose Nursing Home United Congregation on Sunday 8/3/20.
The Birds our Teachers
You would have noticed
in my power point presentations for this service I often have pictures of
Australian Birds.
That stems from my
love of birds and bird watching and bird photography.
Today I would like
to speak about how we can learn from the birds much about God.
(I got the idea to
do this today as a few weeks back Roger Brown was using the Eagle as part of
his message.)
In fact you often
come across people who say there is no God and that we just evolved as slime from
the mud of the ocean.
They don’t believe
there is a creator and therefore don’t believe in God let alone Jesus.
All they really
have to do is look around and think about the beauty of our creation.
Where did it all
come from?
As Paul says in
Romans 1.20
“Since earliest
times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of His
existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse when they stand
before God on judgement day.”
The birds are part
of creation and they do feature quite a bit in the Bible.
I started bird watching
on the encouragement of my father when I was about 12.
Mainly because at
that age I had my own air rifle and I was in the habit of shooting the sparrows
in the backyard.
I had no regard
for them as creatures.
Not a good habit
to get into.
Back then
Australia had a “own your own gun and use it mentality” just like America still
does.
Thankfully that is
largely a thing of the past although some still insist on recreational duck
shooting.
Well I got myself
a bird identification book, was given some binoculars as a Christmas present
and a groundsheet to sit on while I watched birds.
These days they would probably have called me
a nerd.
Anyway my interest
and knowledge grew.
When I finally got
into photography in about 1970, then my passion for bird photography started to
take off.
So what has all
this got to do with today’s message?
Well my father in
law was an expert on birds and he was always saying they were cleverer than us
and even had a language they could communicate with each other.
He believed we
could learn a lot from birds.
He used to talk
about birds as if they were humans.
For example
he would call them husband and wife.
Not male and
female.
They are not
humans of course and the message we had read to us today from John 3 does not
apply to them.
In the sense they
are not sinners and do not need salvation in the way we do.
Our response to
God and the Gospel also has an impact on our world and indeed the birds.
A famous
Theologian, the late John Stott, was also a keen birdwatcher and photographer.
He wrote a book
some years back called “the birds our teachers”.
He invented what
he called “Ornitheology”.
I am going to draw
on some of his ideas today and share one or two of my own.
He was introduced
to birdwatching by his father at the age of 5 or 6.
His interest grew
and as his preaching duties took him around the world he was able to observe
and photograph birds everywhere he went.
In the book of
Genesis,
Adam was given the job of naming the birds and
animals.
They were first assigned to him as companions.
Then God gave him Eve.
I wonder how many of his names are still used?
Please note that
the subject of birds is a big one.
Many have written
about birds,
many have drawn
and painted them,
many have
photographed them,
many have recorded
their songs,
many study them,
there are many
documentaries about birds,
some try to teach
us about evolution through them,
many have
worshipped them and also used them as sacrifices,
and of course many are eaten daily as food.
My focus today is
on birds as exclusively created by God and how in some ways they can point us
to Him.
My aim, as always,
is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ;
and how the birds around us can assist us in
this.
Jesus was and is
their creator.
So lets start
talking about some of these birds and how they might help us draw closer to God
in our thinking.
The Sparrow.
Luke 12:6-7 Living Bible (TLB)
6 “What is the price of five
sparrows?
A
couple of pennies? Not much more than
that.
Yet God does not forget a single one of
them. 7 And he knows the
number of hairs
on your head! Never fear, you are far more
valuable
to him than a whole flock of
sparrows.
(show
slide of sparrows)
It is
a fact that in some countries small birds such as sparrows and songbirds are
still sold in market places for food.
The
little dead sparrow in the picture I photographed on Everard terrace just out
the front of Parkrose some years ago when visiting Aunty Doreen.
I
took it because of this verse, and I thought one day I might give a talk such
as todays.
John Stott focuses
on this well known verse in his book.
(That was our call
to worship today.)
John says there is
an epidemic around the world these days of what is called low self esteem and
depression and mental health issues.
We don’t have to
look far to notice this.
Well he argues
that we should realize how blessed our lives are, and we really don’t have a
good reason to be down in the dumps.
By learning from
this passage we are given a glimpse of the way out.
He tells the story
of Joni Earekson-Tada.
You might remember
her as the 17 year old all American teenager who tragically broke her neck in a
diving accident.
She had a re
awakening of her faith when this happened but has been in a wheel chair all her
life.
She married Ken
Tada and although she started and still leads a ministry for disabled people
she has had her bouts of depression.
Especially after
25 years in a wheelchair and she became bed ridden for a time.
Her husband Ken,
placed a bird feeder outside her window.
This is what she
is quoted as saying in John’s book.
“I glanced at the
bird feeder and smiled. I could understand Jesus noticing an eagle…but a
scrappy sparrow? They’re a dime a dozen,
Jesus said so
Himself.
Yet from thousands
of bird species the Lord chose the most insignificant, least noticed
,scruffiest bird of all.
A pint sized thing
that even birdwatchers ignore.
That thought alone
calmed my fears.
I felt significant
and noticed….if the great God of Heaven concerns Himself with a ragtag little
sparrow,
clinging to a bird
feeder outside my window,
He cares about
me.”
This was the
catalyst that helped her overcome her depression.
He cares about all
of us.
So we can learn
from the sparrow when we remind ourselves of this verse.
How impressive is
it when you see a hen bird of any species protecting it’s young under it’s
feathers.
(show slide)
I was admiring
with Shirley Rumbelow a few weeks ago, the little quails in the atrium/aviary here
in Parkrose.
A little Hen quail
,
though itself is
tiny,
had even tinier
little chicks under the protection of it’s feathers.
How wonderful is
the gift of Mothers,
who are like hens for us when we are little,
and usually throughout our lives.
And God Himself is
likened to our protector as we shelter in his “wings”.
He is both our
Father and Mother.
We can learn from
the protecting and nurturing nature of hens.
The Thrush
(show first slide)
There are many birds
around the world that are wonderful
songsters.
We have several
species in Australia.
However I would
like to concentrate on one bird we have in Australia.
It is a beautiful
songster.
The Grey Shrike
Thrush is common in the countryside in Australia and has a number of beautiful
calls.
They can become
very tame if you are lucky enough to have them on your property.
(show video clip)
They and other
birds such as the Nightingale, The Black Bird, The Willy Wagtail and the
Butcher Bird have beautiful calls.
The Australian
Magpie also has beautiful warbling song,
If you are ever
fortunate enough to be in woodland in Australia at Dawn you can hear the
beautiful dawn chorus of any number of species all joining in together.
Music and song is
such a great gift God has given us and the birds.
A reminder that
with this gift we can praise God together and in doing so inspire each other
and be uplifted as we touch our living God in joyful song.
The Thrush, and
other songbirds
give us a
wonderful example of the beauty of praise.
Of making a joyful
noise unto the Lord.
The Apostle Bird
(show slide)
The Apostle Bird
is a bird of inland Australia.
I first saw these
birds when I was 13 on a station property on the Darling River in NSW.
A mid sized grey
bird that always seems very busy and noisy when not resting in the shade of a
tree.
They are called
Apostle birds because when first observed by early settlers they seemed to
always be together in groups of about 12.
I have actually
seen lot larger groups than that but never big flocks.
They are very
communal birds,
a fellowship if
you like.
They build one mud
nest that is utilized by all in their group.
They look out for
each other and their young.
I’ve seen them
surrounding a sparrow hawk and chasing him off when he was too close to their
nest.
(show slide)
The early
disciples of Jesus were very communal and shared possessions with each other.
We could learn a
lot from the “love” and sharing the Apostle Birds have for each other.
The Dove.
(show slide)
The dove is widely
recognized as a symbol of peace and also of God’s Holy Spirit.
When Jesus was
baptized a dove descended on him representing the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us
when we are baptized we receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
We are also told
in the Bible that God is always with us.
No matter what our
circumstances
He is with us every day,
every hour,
every minute,
every second.
As a dove is a
symbol of the Holy Spirit
their presence all
around in our gardens and parks is a great reminder of The Holy Spirit’s
presence in our lives as our comforter, our helper,our teacher our source of
God’s power in our lives.
So in conclusion:
We have touched on
some Birds about :
God’s love for us,
no matter how insignificant we think we are,
The need to work
together as Christians
and love and
support each other.
God is always with
us.
His Holy Spirit is
always with us.
We have much to
praise God about and can do so in song.
Of course we have
our Bibles to tell us so much more
but if we didn’t
we can still learn
about God’s love from the
“Birds our
Teachers”
They have many
more lessons for us if we take notice.
When I gave Valmai
today’s reading she said there is nothing about birds in it.
That’s true in a
sense.
But this reading
is recommended in the lectionary for today as we are approaching Easter,
The reading
features the famous “ God so loved the world” verse.
“For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
and verse 17 says
“God did not send
His son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
In regard to v17
it should be realized when Jesus came the world was already condemned since the
fall in the Garden of Eden.
In verse 16 we can
put our own name in the place of world to allow that verse to hit home to us
with the Gospel.
But the verse also
says He loves the world.
His creation.
He loves His whole
creation including the birds.
The sparrow in
particular is highlighted to help us in our understanding of God’s love for us.
Sparrows can’t
believe in Him, well they don’t have that capacity, but we can on their behalf
and all other creatures.
The Birds and all
of creation rely on us humans to help sustain the planet and their habitat.
We have heard a
lot about that lately, haven’t we?
Perhaps I will
close with a famous encounter with a bird in the new testament.
It happened just
before the Crucifixion of Jesus.
It is found in
Luke 22:31- 34,54-62
(Read from Bible).
Peter was found
out by the crowing of a rooster.
It was not a
message for the whole world to hear.
Only for Peter!
But in turn we who
are Christians can now heed it’s lesson.
It applies to us.
Is our love for
Jesus genuine?
Would we give our
lives up for His sake?
Would we ever deny
Him before men?
Do we need to take
steps to grow in our faith?
That is a lesson
for us to ponder.
As we approach
easter and people are talking about the resurrection as they do, will we walk
away from the conversation like Peter?
What a challenge!
