Outdoor Object Lesson 102: Everyone, Hearts and All

Glass Frog

Key Text

"Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." 1 Corinthians 12:27


Lesson

Frogs are unique and amazing creatures. Most people tend to think frogs are cute, especially compared to their rough-skinned cousins, toads. Frogs live all over the world and include over 6000 species. They can get as big as the Goliath frog which can weight up to 6.6 pounds (3 kg) and be over 13 inches (30 cm) long. They can be as small as the gold frog which is about the size of a dime at about 0.39 inches (1 cm) long and weighing only 7 oz (200 g). There is even a species known as the glass frog which has transparent skin through which you can see its blood flowing and food digesting! Frogs will eat just about anything they can swallow but they generally prefer bugs and insects.1 If you watch a frog swallow you may notice that it blinks when it does so. This is because it uses its eyeballs to help push the food down its throat.2

Frogs can live in all sorts of habitats from the edges of deserts to up in trees. But they must live near water in order to reproduce. Frogs tend to live in groups known as an army. During mating season, the males croak loudly to attract females. She lays her eggs in the water for the male to fertilize. When the eggs hatch the babies are called tadpoles and look more like fish than frogs. They will eventually grow legs and proceed out of the water to live on land.1 Frogs are amphibians which means they are cold-blooded. Their body stays the temperature of the air or water around them. They do not have the ability to warm themselves so they must sit in the sun to warm up.
  
Frogs have an interesting circulatory system to pump their blood. They have multiple hearts (including several lymph hearts) in order to keep their circulation flowing. The main heart pumps blood through its body. Some of the fluid from the blood flows into tissues to profuse them. That fluid is gathered by the lymph system and pumped back into the blood vessels by the lymph hearts.3 The frog requires these various hearts to stay alive. But what if some of its other organs and body parts became jealous of the hearts, and decided they wanted to be hearts too? How do you think that would work out?

Probably not well. For a frog's body to function properly, it needs all of its organs to do their job. They cannot try to be a different organ because then which organ would do that organ’s job? Just like you and me, a frog needs its hearts, but it also needs its stomach, mouth, nose, tongue, ears, and every other part. Each one is different but they all work together to make up the frog. Paul compared the church to the body of Christ. He said in 1 Cor 12:27 that we are each individual members, but we make up the complete body of Christ. What he meant is that we all have different abilities, we do things differently. These differences are not optional, they are necessary. If we all tried to be singers, who would preach? God has given you and me unique talents that we can use in the work of spreading the Gospel. He expects us to rely on Him to show us how to use them. You may not know exactly how God wants to use you yet. In the mean time be f.r.o.g.i.e., which stands for Fully Relying On God In Everything. He will show you how to contribute to his body.

Questions



Do you like to catch frogs or just look at them from a distance?


Do you know what talents God has given to you? If not, ask someone else what talents they think God has given you.


Is diversity important in the church? What kind of diversity?

How do we find out how God wants us to use our talents for him?

Sources
1. Alina Bradford, "Facts About Frogs & Toads," Livescience.com, (May 1, 2015), accessed June 6, 2019 from https://www.livescience.com/50692-frog-facts.html.
2. Julie Mianecki, "14 Fun Facts About Frogs," Smithsonian Institute online, (June 20, 2011), accessed June 6, 2019 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-frogs-180947089/.
3. Muller, John. "On the Existence of Four Distinct Hearts, Having Regular Pulsations, Connected with the Lymphatic System, in Certain Amphibious Animals." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 123 (1833): 89-94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/107989.

Written by David F. Garner
Photo source: Geoff Gallice via www.commons.wikimedia.org under a CC 2.0 license. 

Outdoor Object Lesson 80: Autumn Joy

Key Text

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:21‬ ‭(WEB‬‬)

Lesson

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. The beautiful colors of the changing leaves. The cool weather. The flocks of migrating birds. Seasonal flavors like apple and pumpkin. The warm glow of a fire. All these things help make this time of year special. Fall is not just my favorite season though. It has been a time of celebration for many centuries in many cultures. This is because fall is the time of harvest. Farmers and gardeners have worked long hours through the rain of spring and the heat of summer to till fields, plant seeds, remove weeds, and water crops. All that hard work pays off in the fall during harvest.

Of course many crops are harvested at other times in the year. But the most are harvested around the months of fall. This is a happy time of year because the farmer and gardener reap the rewards of their hard labor. They now have crops that they can sell at the market. But they are not the only ones who are happy. All the people who depend on the farmers and gardeners for their food are also joyful in this season because they have plenty of food as well. It is a time of much rejoicing. Many cultures have celebrated a harvest festival in the autumn. It is still popular today in the form of Thanksgiving.

Having plenty of food is not the only reason everyone is happy though. They also celebrate because now they have plenty of food stored to last through the cold winter. Little food will be able to grow during the winter months so everyone will depend on the food harvested in the fall. It will need to last until the next spring. So how disappointed would a farmer be with a tree or plant that she worked hard to grow all spring and summer that produced no fruit in autumn? I think extremely disappointed.

The Bible only refers to autumn a few times. The Bible uses autumn to represent harvest. In Jude 1:12, false teachers are compared to “autumn trees without fruit.” False teachers are disappointing because they seem like a good tree that will produce much fruit in the fall, but when harvest time comes they have nothing. As Christians we are all teachers according to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). We are to teach others about Jesus and his love leading them towards him. This is the fruit we are to produce. But many Christians are like trees that produce no fruit. Jesus warned his followers sternly about this in the key text. He said not everyone who calls me Lord will enter heaven. Only those who do God’s will.

In Revelation 14:14 Jesus is described as holding a sickle at the Second Coming signifying he is coming to reap the harvest. This is the autumn of the world. Autumn should be a fruitful season, the most abundant of the year. But not all the trees and plants will have a harvest for Jesus to reap. Many Christians may look very fruitful now. But some are false teachers that don’t actually produce anything good. These will be gathered up and discarded. Only those that do the will of God and work to teach others about Jesus will be gathered with the harvest to live in Heaven. Only those who work now in the spring rain and summer heat will have joy in autumn. Which type of tree will you be at the last autumn?

Questions

What is your favorite thing about fall?

Does the key text mean that we have to convert other people to our religion to get to heaven?

How do we go about teaching others about Jesus?

How can you teach others about Jesus even if they don’t want to talk about him?


Written by David F. Garner
Photo credit: giani via www.pixabay.com