God is a Hunter
Recognize our youngest hunter
Recognize chili winner and judges
Welcome to Hunter Sunday.
A. Today after the service we will be serving chili and cornbread. Some of it has been made out of venison. Some has been made out of chicken and other meats. Some of it is very hot! Also out back by the picnic pavilion there will be archery for anyone who would like to shoot. And there is some camo gear in the foyer for free for anyone who would like to get some to use.
Why Hunter Sunday?
A. To encourage a biblical understanding of what God says about hunting animals and eating meat. There are so many passages in the Bible that we could never cover them in one sermon. Today I am going to challenge some of your beliefs and give you an opportunity to look at some scriptures with a deeper understanding of what was really going on.
B. I would like to recommend a great book if you are really interested in all the places that the Bible talks about hunting. “Rise, Kill, and Eat” by Doug Giles. It is a great book.
C. One thing that many non-hunters do not realize is that deer hunting is good for the state. Most people are not aware of the damage that deer cause to farmers. Deer destroy almost $50 million dollars a year in crops in Ohio alone! There are also around 30,000 deer related car accidents a year in Ohio. In the US there are about 1.5 million vehicles that are in accidents caused by deer, causing about $1.1 billion in property damage. That is partly why your auto insurance is so high. That means about 10% of all car accidents in Ohio are caused by deer.
D. The other thing most people don’t know is how much money the hunters as well as the anglers give to the state. Ohio is one of the best deer hunting states in the country right now. Hunters fly in from all over the country, from almost every state just to hunt in Ohio. About $100 million comes in each year from licenses, tags, and special tax on ammo and guns.
There is a big difference between animal rights and treating animals with respect. Proverbs 12:10
A. There are a lot of animal rights activists or Peta members today who are so confused about animal care. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals believe that animals should be treated with respect, they also feel that people should not eat meat, fish or drink milk, no wear leather or fur. That sounds nice but what does the Bible teach?
B. The Bible teaches that God created everything on the earth and that man was placed here to be the steward or caretaker over it. Part of caring for the earth is caring for creation which would include the animal and plant kingdom. In Proverbs chapter 12:10 we read, “The righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” This Bible teaches that animals are to be treated with respect, but there is a difference between animal respect and animal rights. The PETA organization pushes for ‘animal rights.’ They feel that animals should have the same rights as humans. They feel that it is wrong to eat animals, to use animals for research, to put animals in zoos, or to wear animal furs. They call all of this animal cruelty.
C. Christians should be concerned about animal cruelty but need to distinguish between animal respect and animal rights. All animals should be treated with respect. This is what the proverb is talking about ‘to regard the life of his animal.” But the Bible clearly teaches that ONLY man was made in God’s image and animals are not equal to humans. A righteous person would not treat animals cruel, but to raise animals for consumption by humans is not cruelty. Is it animal cruelty to use animals in medical research? No, as long as the animals are treated with respect and are being used to help advance human life.
D. There is some question whether putting an animal in a zoo is animal cruelty. Probably some zoos would fall into this category. But many zoos are also places of education and animal research and the animals are treated with respect.
E. What about dog fights, cock fights, or bull fights? I would define this as animal cruelty. These animals may be treated with respect when they are not fighting but their suffering is for human entertainment. Much of our commercial animal industry such as chicken farms and cattle yards borders on a total disrespect for animal life. These animals are not allowed any access to fresh air, nor are they given an opportunity to a free range. They are kept in dirty conditions and only raised in the bare minimum space. They are filled with unhealthy growth hormones just to get them fatter. This is animal cruelty.
F. I am convinced that organic farmers and Amish farmers are closer to what this proverb is talking about. I think all this talk about not eating red meat is correct because the meat that most people are eating is poisonous because of all that is being done to the animals. But eating meat that is raised properly is good for you, or else why would God have ordained that His priests in the OT were to eat the meat from the sacrifices?
What does the Bible say about hunting? Genesis 3:21
A. God killed the first animal according to the Bible. Now we have all seen the picture from children’s books about how God made some clothes for Adam and Eve (Show picture)
B. Let’s talk about this for a minute. First of all did God really have to kill an animal to make clothes for them? Actually, unless He killed a very large animal, He might have had to kill several animals to make clothes for them. He could have used wool. Anybody here wear clothes made out of wool? He could have used cotton. Adam and Eve made clothes out of fig leaves. But God chose to make clothes out of animal skins. Now there is some symbolism here with the coverings made from animal skins. Maybe it was to show Adam and Eve that to really cover themselves, or to get rid of that guilt that they were feeling which made them ashamed of their nakedness, someone was going to have to die and maybe the death of an animal was the beginning of the revelation that God was going to send a man to die for Adam’s sins.
C. But this does not do away with the fact that God killed the first animal. So what did they do with the meat? Maybe they offered it as a sacrifice or maybe they ate it. I don’t think that God just left it to the buzzards or let it go to waste!
D. What about these clothes though. Do you really think those rags would be the kind of clothes that God would make for them? This just plays into the whole evolutionary thinking model. This pushes us to believe that Adam and Eve were more like cave men. But that is not what the Bible says. They were extremely intelligent. Adam was a gardener. His son Abel was a herdsman and had domesticated animals and his other son was a farmer. In just a short amount of time we read in Genesis 4 that they were making musical instruments, working with bronze and iron and building cities. How about thinking that God would make them very nice clothes. Would He make them walk barefoot? (New picture)
E. Then what happened after this? I think we can assume that Adam and Eve wore clothes for the rest of their lives. So what kind of clothes did they wear? Cotton? Wool? Fig leaves? Maybe, but I am more inclined to believe that they wore clothes made out of animal skins, since that is what God did, unless they just wore the leather clothes to church on Sunday and then wore clothes made out of fig leaves or wool during the week! No, I am pretty sure they wore clothes made out of animal skins as well as their children and grandchildren. So that would mean that they killed more animals to make more clothes that they could wear.
F. It was God who first started the whole idea of men wearing animal skins for clothing. It was a good thing and it still is today!
There are so many other verses about hunting and eating meat
A. Most people don’t realize that God told Moses to go and hunt certain kinds of animals and then to tan their hides to decorate His house, the tabernacle. Could you imagine a church decorated with animal skins!
B. The cooking of meat over an open fire is called “A sweet smelling aroma to God” over 30 times in the Bible! Why would He say that He loved that smell?
Exodus 29:18 “And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
C. There are several stories where we read that Jesus helped Peter to catch a lot of fish, way more than he needed just to eat. They were killed and sold and for sure eaten.
D. You can be sure that Jesus at meat. He ate lamb at the Passover each year and He had a cookout with some fish one morning after He rose from the dead and ate it with some of His disciples.
Let finish up with one more story and see what we can learn about God’s view of eating meat. Turn to Luke 15:11-32
A. I am sure we are all familiar with the story of the prodigal or reckless son, who went and wasted his inheritance on riotous living and then came to his senses and came back to his father to repent and ask for his forgiveness. We can see that the father in this story represents God our Father. It should never have been called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, for he is not the hero, but rather it should be called the Parable of the Loving Father. This is a story about the nature of our Father and His wonderful and never ending grace. Grace is unmerited favor, getting what you “don’t” deserve. It means that God loves to bless us even when we don't deserve to be blessed. There are so many truths in this short story.
B. In a sense we are all prodigal sons. We have gone our own ways and done bad things and wasted what God gave us much like this son. He did not set out to wreck his life, nobody sets out to wreck their lives.
C. When he set out upon his adventure it seemed full of promise. Nobody makes up his mind in advance that he is going to throw their life into a garbage heap and waste himself. No ship ever leaves the harbor with the determination to go upon the rocks. No one ever starts drinking alcohol with the intention of becoming an alcoholic. No one ever starts taking drugs with the intention of become a drug addict.
D. He went away because he was seeking to “please himself.” He thought he would be freer in the big world. He thought this larger freedom would bring him more joy and a better time generally. He was bent on living his own life, as so many are today. So intent was he on pleasing himself that he had no thought for any loss or pain that might come to himself or anyone else. He thought himself invincible as many young people generally think.
E. What did this young man get for all his seeking for self-pleaser? “I perish with hunger!” The only real freedom is learning to submit to the ways of God for He is a loving God who cares for our welfare. To pursue freedom away from God puts us under the care of the hard taskmaster, the devil.
F. Then we read that, “He came to himself.” It was as though he was awaking out of a deep sleep. He had been unconscious of his true condition, but now he was coming round, returning to consciousness. He was recovering from insanity. He had played the madman. He was beside himself. Sin is madness. The insane man does not know himself to be insane, but as soon as he comes to himself he painfully perceives the state from which he is escaping.
G. What does it take for a person to “come to his senses?” What does it take before a person will come to himself? A near fatal accident, death of a loved one, poverty and sickness, before one wakes up and realizes in God's house there is enough and to spare. Notice this son's behavior. After he was broke and penniless, he could have returned to his father, but no, he goes and joins himself to a citizen of a far country. Sin is so deceptive. He was insane!
H. How does this awakening or "coming to oneself" happen? This is only the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it occurs suddenly. You sit there and all of a sudden you realize how mistaken you have been. For some it is gradual, but still eventually they come to their senses.
What brought this young man to his senses?
A. He remembered in his father’s house there was, “Bread enough and to spare.”
B. This is one of the main points to this story that Jesus told. There is plenty in my father's house and I am starving, “bread enough and to spare.” This is a most important spiritual truth. There IS plenty in my father's house and w/o God you ARE famishing. This story puts before you the exceeding abundance of the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not until you catch these words that you will say, “I will arise and go to my father's house.” That is the only place we will ever have our needs met.
C. It is only when a person is convinced of the abundant mercy of God will they be drawn to him. Romans 2:4 “His goodness leads you to repentance.”
D. “Bread enough and to spare,” needs to be our motto. There is no limit to God’s love for us. He has enough to spare. When Jesus fed the multitude, He spread the table with abundance. He provided a feast with baskets to spare. When He fed the 5,000 how many extra baskets were there? Twelve. When He fed the 4,000 how many extra baskets were there? Seven.
Now let’s look at the fathers’ response
A. The Father must have been watching every day, because he saw the son while he was a great way off. The Father is always watching for us to turn towards Him. All we have to do is begin the journey. He was looking for his son’s return, anxious to have his son back.
B. The robe and ring speak of full restoration. He gave the son power of attorney. The robe for honor and the ring for authority. Like when the Pharaoh of Egypt gave Joseph his ring and said, “With this ring you now can represent me.”
C. The father smothered his son with kisses. But he is not clean! Would it not be better if he waited until he is washed? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until those rags are removed, and he is decently clothed? Wouldn’t it be better to wait, and see how he does, put him on probation first, and if he does well, perhaps his father may receive him? That is the vulgarity of our supposed understanding of God's love. To all our cautious criticisms the Father would say; “Let me get my arms about him, and his head pillowed on my chest.” That is God.
D. Now to the best part! Jesus tells us in this story that the father was so happy when his son returned that he had a big outdoor BBQ and party! “Kill the fatted calf and let’s have a big outdoor cookout!”
E. Now if this were written today with all the political correctness in so many churches, it would say, the father said, “Let’s make some salad and tofu. Let’s have some chip and dip, and have some carrots and fruit and celebrate. Let’s have some milk and cookies!” But that is not what Jesus said, the father who represents our heavenly father has a BBQ.
F. What else can I conclude but to realize that God loves a good steak and a good party! I am not sure but I kind of think that maybe this is what is going to happen in heaven when we get there! Oh man, a BBQ cookout!
Summary
A. Hunting is a God honored, Bible blessed tradition for all of mankind. There are many passages in the Bible that speak about this truth.
B. God was the first hunter and the first tailor to make clothes out of animal skin. Adam and Eve wore nice clothes made out of animal skins, and most likely ate meat.
C. God likes to look at tanned animal skins so much that He told Moses to hunt certain animals and after their hides were tanned He told Moses to decorate His tabernacle with them.
D. God told Noah that he could hunt animals and eat the meat. I have not found anywhere in the Bible where God changed this blessing.
E. I am not sure but I think we might even be having a big BBQ cookout in heaven when we get there!
