The Birdfeeder (Haggai 1:3-8)
Robert J. Tennant
Greenbrier Baptist Church, October 15, 2000
There once was a man named Jeff. Did you catch that? I said, “There once was a man …”. What does it mean when someone says, “there once was a man”? It means I am telling, ah yes, a parable. This is a parable. The characters represent something else, something bigger than themselves. What could that be? I wonder. … Now where was I?
There once was a man named Jeff who wanted to build a bird feeder in his backyard. He wasn’t going to buy a bird feeder at a hardware store or pet store. He spent a lot of time imagining what the ideal bird feeder would be like. He drew up his own design. He purchased all of the wood, nails, and paint that he would need. He even bought some birdseed to be ready to fill it as soon as he finished it. It was October and he thought, I’ll be able to have this thing up by Halloween.
He had all of his equipment, he had his designs together, and he was ready to go to work. It was a Monday afternoon and he was going to get started right after he got home from his job. As he was getting ready to leave the office, his boss came in. After a brief exchange, his boss chewed him out and told him was close to getting fired. He left feeling terrible. As he pulled into the driveway at home, he ran over one of his eight-year-old daughter’s toys. It was a toy she always wanted, and had received for her birthday just last week. He was greeted inside by his extremely angry 14-year-old son Sidney. Sidney was holding the science project his father had helped him complete. “I got a ‘D’ Dad. You said you knew exactly what you were doing when you helped me. A ‘D’! Thanks for the help!” Jeff sat down in his chair and stared out the window at the place he was planning to build his birdfeeder. He sat there staring until dark, enveloped in his own unworthiness.
A few days later, Jeff was ready to get started on that bird feeder. He went outside with the materials to begin building. The fall air was crisp, and he felt really good inside. As he was about to pound the first nail, his neighbor James yelled over the fence to him. “Hi Jeff.” He got up and went to talk to his friend. James, nearly 75 years old, had lived in the neighborhood for over 50 years. He shook his head and talked about how the neighborhood was going downhill – fast. There were gangs and drugs and a lot of pollution. The county had done a major clean-up project last year, which Jeff thought did a lot of good, but James just shook his head and said it wasn’t worth the effort. Things weren’t the same. They talked until it was almost dark out. Jeff decided he wouldn’t get to start on the birdfeeder that evening after all.
Another week went by, and Jeff missed his Halloween deadline. So, he set his goal to get the bird feeder –which as of yet had not been started – done by Thanksgiving. He got home from work hoping to get started, but when he went to pull in the driveway, he was surprised to see his wife’s car in front of the house. She usually got home after him. When he went in she was in tears. “I was really upset after our conversation at lunch time.” They had had an argument over the phone. “This always happens,” she said. “I can’t take it anymore.” So, they talked and talked and finally set up an appointment with a counselor. No work on the birdfeeder that evening.
In late November, Jeff was finally prepared to work on the birdfeeder. He would spend all of the time it took to get it done on the Friday after thanksgiving. He got up that morning, had a big breakfast, put his jeans and work clothes on, and his wife smiled at him. “I’m glad you’re ready to go.”
He looked at her and said, “Go where?”
“Christmas tree shopping. We’ve been talking about this all week.”
“Oh, yeah. O.k.” He wasn’t upset because he knew he had all day. However, when he got home and they got the tree set up and the lights put on it, his daughter came running into the room.
“I’m ready Daddy.” He smiled a big smile.
“Great.” The smile left his face and was replaced by a frown. “What are you ready for?”
“Don’t you remember? We’re going Christmas shopping!”
“Oh yeah.”
“Don’t forget to be back in time, for the party at the Johnsons’ tonight,” his wife said as he and his kids left. “We need to be home early from the party so we can get early tomorrow to go to your parents’ for the rest of the weekend. You didn’t forget did you?”
“No, I didn’t.” He sighed. No work on the birdfeeder over the Thanksgiving holiday. That was o.k. There was still plenty of time to get it done and give it to the family as a Christmas gift.
There was just one problem. Christmas was the busiest time of year for Jeff. And, the weather was starting to get nasty. Most days, when he came home it was already dark, and it was usually cold and rainy. One Saturday, he got up with the notion that he would do the bird feeder that day. He was being kind of lazy as he enjoyed a big breakfast. He looked at the birds in the backyard as they landed on a tree limb and splashed in a mud puddle. His son came into the room. “Hey Dad, you want to watch a college football game with me?”
They had watched a lot of games together. He looked out at the spot where he had imagined there would be a bird feeder. ‘Nah!’ he thought to himself, ‘I am not going to work on it today. I just don’t feel like it.’ He looked at Sidney. “Sure son. I’ll watch the game with you.”
On Christmas morning, after the presents were opened and they had eaten a nice meal, Jeff went out to the back yard, and threw breadcrumbs onto the wet snow. A few birds came and ate them. ‘Why didn’t they have more birds?’ He wondered to himself.
When Haggai was a profit in Old Testament days, God wasn’t trying to get the people to build a bird feeder. He wanted them to rebuild his temple. Why was the temple so important? It was the center of worship for the Hebrew people. It was the place where the high priest, on behalf of the entire nation, offered sacrifices to God. It was a place that all people could come for prayer and instruction.
The temple had been destroyed 50 years earlier when the Babylonians came in and defeated God’s people. Most of the young men had been carted off – back to Babylon – as slaves. Those left behind were wounded, weak and vulnerable. God had given His people up because of their unfaithfulness. However, he preserved a remnant. There was a portion that lived on in Israel, and, there were some who survived in exile. They maintained their faith. They had turned their back on God. They had worshipped foreign Gods. They had forgotten about justice. But, when they realized the consequences of their actions, they turned back to God, sometimes with words of praise, sometimes with lamentations, sometimes with prayers that couldn’t be expressed in words. God never forgot His people. Even in their lowest hour, He never abandoned them. He heard their prayers and led the Persians to defeat the Babylonians. Then God softened the heart of Persian King Artaxerxes, and he allowed Israelites to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. They had been taken away as young men. They returned tired and old.
God did all of this so that His people could return to the land He had promised to their father Abraham. However, He did not simply do it to bring them home safe and sound. He wanted them to once again worship Him. He wanted them to be a holy nation and a light to the entire world.
The people, on the other hand, weren’t ready to fully embrace being God’s people. They were happy being home, but they had not yet started work on the temple. God was getting impatient. We read His word in Haggai. Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. Then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Is it a time for you to be living in paneled houses while the house of the Lord lies in ruins? Therefore says the Lord, think about this: You have sown much seed. Why have you harvested so little? You eat and eat and eat, but you are still hungry. You drink and drink, but are never filled. You put on fine clothes, but you are still cold. You fill your pockets with money earned, but your pockets have holes. Why is that, my people? Why is it that I your God have delivered you, and yet you are still in such desperate need? Now, go up to the hills and bring the wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored. Do not delay. Don’t find good reasons to wait until tomorrow. Go now.
Things weren’t going very well for the people who had returned home. However, God promised them that if they would obey His command, and rebuild His house, then they would be blessed beyond their grandest dreams and wildest imagination. God wanted the people to begin work on the house worship – immediately. That is the main thrust of Haggai’s prophecy. Without that house the people were not worshipping. When they were not worshipping they were no longer covenant people.
Now, another parable. I began with a parable about Jeff and his birdfeeder. Do you remember that? Do you remember what the people in the parable represented? Do you remember the symbols in the parable and what they stood for? The story about Haggai and the temple is not a parable. It’s real history. Now I am going to share another parable. You see the thing about parables is they can become real if we live them out. Anyway, here is a parable about a church.
A church had a fall revival. There was singing. There was clapping. There was fellowship. And there was preaching that rattled the pulpit, shook the pillars of the sanctuary and set the hearts of the people on fire. The revival lasted five days and then it was back to normal in the life of that church.
In truth, it was never normal there again. After the revival, the church had visitors, just as they had had before the revival. Now though, they embraced those that came in the sanctuary doors. Each guest was showered with God’s love in ways they never would have anticipated. Moreover, the church members went to their places of work, home and play as changed people. They prayed and proclaimed Christ crucified and Christ risen to all who would listen.
From the time of the revival, several young adults and young families came and joined the church. Several church members who had been half hearted and peripheral moved into ministry and service. The choir increased in membership. The attendance at prayer meeting reached new levels of consistency. The worship was inspired. People outside the church probably didn’t notice any difference. People on the inside knew something was going on, but they didn’t know what. That Christmas was the most memorable the church had ever had.
What did happen in our, I mean in that church? (Remember this is just a parable!) I believe what happened was they heeded the words of Haggai and began building the temple. Except that it was not 538b.c.; rather, it was 2000 a.d. The church no longer resides in houses built by human hands. Now true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. The church of God, the body of Christ, is wherever two or three are gathered in His name.
Just as the Israelites were the people of God in the 6th century b.c., we are the people of God today. As the people of God, we have tasks He has given us that set us apart. These tasks are worshipping and evangelizing. If we fail to do these things, we fail to be the people of God. He is calling us to get up from our places of comfort and go about the task of building His church. It is not a time for us to stay tucked away in our paneled houses. We need to feel the momentum of revival pushing us toward God and compelling us to grab other people and bring them along with us.
What was the point of the parable about Jeff and his birdfeeder? There were several distractions that kept him from getting to get his birdfeeder built. First, he felt unworthy. He made mistakes, his boss yelled at him and he crumpled in depressed heap of unworthiness. How many people don’t serve because they say, “I am unworthy”? Second his neighbor talked him to death saying, “things aren’t what they used to be.” How many people spend more time complaining that the church isn’t what it once was instead of working to find out what it can become? Third, Jeff couldn’t work on the birdfeeder because he had to work out the relationship with his wife. Clearly, it was critical to fix his marriage. However, it distracted him from the birdfeeder. A lot of people are so steeped in relationship problems, they aren’t involved in church at all. Those relationships need to be mended yes, but the needs of the church don’t go away. Fourth, he was distracted by other things that needed to get done – the Christmas tree, the shopping, the trip to the grandparents. There are a lot of people who are just too busy for church. Fifth, he didn’t work on the bird feeder because he didn’t feel like it. He figured he’d rather watch the game. There are many people who know they are needed and they know they need to be active in church – but they just don’t want to be involved.
So, people are comfortable living in paneled houses, and maybe they show up to church once in a while. Attending Sunday morning services and building the church are two different things. God said to get up, go to the hills and bring the wood to build my house. Today He says, “get up, get out of your comfort zone.” This world needs the church and God is calling us to sacrifice our lives to build it.
Oh, there is one other symbol. It’s the birdfeeder. How much do birds have to pay to eat at a birdfeeder? What’s the cost? Zero? How much do they get to eat? They eat until they are filled; then they go and tell other birds about the birdfeeder and they bring them back so they too might eat. You guessed it. The birdfeeder is the church. Everyone is welcomed here. Everyone is loved here. Everyone is filled here. But, we must constantly work on keeping it up because there are hungry people out there. They need God. God has called us.
AMEN
