DO WE HAVE PIGEON RELIGION?
John 1:29-33
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A doctor went out and bought a brand new Ferrari GTO, that can top out at 250 mph. He took it out for a spin and stopped at a red light.
2. An old man on a moped pulled up next to him. He asked, “What kind of car ya got there, sonny?” “A Ferrari GTO. It cost half a million dollars!”
3. “Mind if I take a look inside?” “No problem,” replied the doctor. The old man leaned in and said, “That’s a pretty nice car, but I’ll stick with my moped!”
4. When the light changed, the doctor decided to show the old man what his car could do. He floored it, and within 30 seconds, the speedometer read 150 mph.
5. Suddenly, he noticed, in his rear view mirror, the old man on the moped! WHOOOSH! He passed him! The doctor took the Ferrari to 175 mph, and the old man passed him again! This happened twice more.
6. At last the doctor decided to stop and the old man collided with his car. He jumped out to assist the old man, “Oh my gosh! Is there anything I can do for you?” The old man whispered, “Unhook my suspenders from your side mirror.”
B. TEXT
“29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. 33 And I myself did not know Him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ John 1:29,33; Mt. 3:16; Mk. 1:10; Lk. 3:22.
C. WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT LIKE?
1. Today we’re talking about the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sensitive; He gets His feelings hurt easily. He has been compared to a Dove. My thesis is that this is an all-important clue to understanding and working with the Spirit.
2. People often say that doves and pigeons are identical. Let’s take a few minutes to look at that. What are the characteristics of doves and pigeons?
3. The title of tonight’s message is, “Do We Have Pigeon Religion?”
I. HOW DOVES & PIGEONS ARE ALIKE, UNLIKE
A. HOW THEY ARE SIMILAR
Most ornithologists will tell you that doves and pigeons are really the same birds. They are part of the same bird family, Columbidae. They are anatomically the same. But for close observers, there are many differences.
B. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE BIRDS
1. There are physical differences. The Dove is smaller in size and is white, gray, or tan. Pigeons are a range of darker colors and are larger, but that’s where the similarity ends.
2. 12 Bible verses distinguish between doves and pigeons. God Himself declares there’s a difference. (Ge. 15:9; Lev. 1:14; 5:7,11; 12:6,8; 14:22,30; 15:14,29; Num. 6:10; Lk. 2:24).
II. THE N.T. MAJOR DESCRIPTION OF THE H.S.
A. CLUE TO THE SPIRIT’S PERSONALITY
1. God gives us a very important clue to the personality of the Holy Spirit. He is described as a dove, and NOT like a pigeon.
John said, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him.” All four Gospel-writers recorded this important description (John 1:33 Mt. 3:16; Mk. 1:10; Lk. 3:22).
2. So why is this picture so important? The H.S. is compared, in Scripture, to water (John 7:38-39), to oil (1 Sam. 16:13), to fire (Acts 2:3), to wind (John 3:8) – but so far as I know, this is the only living creature that is compared to the H.S., so the dove must have special similarities to the Spirit that are not found in most other creatures.
3. Now remember that John DIDN’T SAY, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a PIGEON and remain on Him.” Although the two birds are physically similar, their natures are surprisingly different.
B. 8 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DOVES & PIGEONS
DOVES PIGEONS
1. Peaceful Boisterous
2. Solitary Like Crowds, go in flocks
3. Shy Social/Outgoing
4. Gentle, sensitive Scrappy – will steal food
5. Easily driven away Not sensitive
6. Likes Quiet Impressed by Noise
7. Can’t Train/Manipulate Can train/ Manipulate
8. Stays close to Home Suited to long distance flight
C. EXAMPLE OF THIS DIFFERENCE
1. In big cities, people sit in parks and feed pigeons. The pigeons crowd around and fight for the seed thrown. Doves wouldn’t go there at all because a. they don’t like crowds; b. they’re too shy to enter into strife for seed.
2. c. They avoid areas where’s there’s a lot of noise; but the pigeons are at home there. With pigeons, the stomach rules; with Doves, it’s the atmosphere that makes them feel welcome or not. This is a great truth about the Holy Spirit.
III. COUNTERFEIT CHURCHES & CHRISTIANS
JUST AS A DOVE IS THE SYMBOL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SO THE PIGEON CAN BE REGARDED AS A COUNTERFEIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
A. HOW CHURCHES COUNTERFEIT THE SPIRIT
1. People say, “Oh! The Holy Spirit really came down on Sunday!” When you ask them what they meant, what they describe is really Pigeon Religion. They were impressed by the noise and activity. In fact, many churches, during their worship services, COPY rock concerts, including blasting music, light shows, and fog machines. The spotlights often flash on the crowd because they’re the true focus of the service! Not all that glitters is gold.
2. There’s a lot of hype in churches today. Many churches treat the ministers like celebrities and the minsters promote themselves and talk a lot about what they’ve done. But Jesus said, “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come...He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak....He shall glorify Me” Jn. 16:13-14. Needless to say, the Holy Spirit is not in human glorification.
3. The Dove came down on Jesus and “remained.” The Dove has a mind of His own. You can train/manipulate a Pigeon, but you can’t train/manipulate a Dove. Some ministers try to manipulate the believers by getting them to fall on the floor for “carpet time.” They feel the need to ‘give them a push’ or blow on them, etc. I believe that’s manipulation.
4. God won’t bless manipulation and He won’t share His glory with another! Let the Holy Spirit do ministry His way. God doesn’t need any help to work a miracle! The healings Jesus did weren’t always immediate or visible. Many happened as they went on their way, or in stages (Lk. 17:14; Mk. 8:24; John 9:7). God doesn’t intend for us to be the Holy Spirit ourselves. Pray and let Him do the miracle.
B. OUR DUTY: TO GET THE H.S. TO REMAIN
1. The Dove remained on Jesus because His life was the right atmosphere for the Dove. He felt at home. If WE want the Holy Spirit to rest on us & remain on us – as believers – we need to have the right atmosphere in our hearts and homes. The Spirit is pure, gentle, & sensitive; He lives in peaceful places, and where Jesus is spoken of and glorified.
2. When the Spirit does come down, we say, “Holy Spirit, please stay!” But often the Dove flies away. Why? Many reasons. We start driving our car and get mad at a driver, “Watch where you’re going!” we roar. Or we get upset because an old lady at a store checkout insists on counting her change – and the Dove flies away.
3. HUMOR
a. Who knows how many pints are in a quart? (2)
b. On her way to a picnic, Julie Guiterrez stopped at a fast food place to order a quart of potato salad. "We don't sell it by the quart," the clerk snapped.
c. "Okay, then give me two pints, please," she replied.
d. When the clerk said, "Do you want it in one container?" Julie said, “I'm proud to say I held my tongue and didn’t say, ‘Yes, you DO sell it by the quart!.’” Self-control.
C. KEY: NOT GRIEVING THE SPIRIT
1. It’s easy to grieve the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” Eph. 4:30-32.
2. Paul saw a clear connection between the Holy Spirit being grieved and the “bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, and malice.” How many times, when we were on our way to church, has the devil incited us into an argument to grieve the Holy Spirit?
3. ILLUS.: Worried about Grieving his Mother
a. In his book, Anecdotes and Illustrations, R. A Torrey told how he was invited to play cards with a young woman’s family on Sunday. His first thought was, “What if my mother should hear of it. It would break her heart” (that he was profaning the Sabbath). So he was kept from doing something he felt was objectional by the thought of grieving his mother.
b. If we would care about our mother’s opinion, how much more should we care what the Holy Spirit thinks about what we’re doing? Torrey made the connection and later said he couldn’t do things because of how it would grieve the Holy Spirit, his Friend.
4. The wonderful thing about Jesus was that He never, ever grieved the Holy Spirit! The Dove never flew away. He had the H.S. without measure, ungrieved. So our duty/goal is not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE WALK OF THE CHRISTIAN
1. A father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, and exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”
2. His son asked, “How could you possibly know you’re looking at your uncle when you’ve never seen him before?”
3. His dad answered, “Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.” If we walk in the Spirit, we’ll be recognized by our similarity with Jesus our Lord. [www.minisrty127.com]
B. THE CALL
1. We want a church that has the Dove, not Pigeon religion! We want to be people on whom the Spirit alights and remains!
2. How do we need to change our lives and our natures so that we will be good hosts to the Holy Spirit?
3. Paul said, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me” Gal. 2:20. We in ourselves are too faulty ; if God’s going to do anything of eternal significance through us it’s going to be because Jesus is living in us and we’re letting HIS nature shine through us.
[This sermon drew on R.T. Kendall’s “The Strategy of the Holy Spirit” preached at Times Square Church 7-19-22]
