Let's begin by examining a few related passages of scripture.

Job 12:7-9
7 "But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
      or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
      or let the fish of the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
      that the hand of the LORD has done this?

Psalm 148:7-10
7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
      you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
      stormy winds that do his bidding,
9 you mountains and all hills,
      fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
      small creatures and flying birds,

Isaiah 43:20a
20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls,

The animal kingdom knows of God, it praises God, and it honors God. They are also capable of being a warning to mankind. You can read the story found of Balaam's donkey in Numbers 22:23-33 but it concludes with the angel telling Balaam, "Your donkey saw me and turned from me three times. If she hadn't turned from me, I would have killed you and spared her." That animal quite literally warned its master of something that should be avoided. Let's consider the warnings given symbolically through 4 different animals today. These are warnings that are very important to us in our daily walk so I hope you will listen carefully and remember these animals and the lessons they provide. To help you remember let me tell you the first three animals using a scene from an old movie.

Just after rescuing the tin man from the evils of rust. Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man follow the yellow brick road into the forest. The woods kept getting thicker and darker as they traveled along.
Dorothy says, "I don't like this forest. It's dark and creepy."
Scarecrow says, "I'm scared. I think it will get darker before it gets lighter."
Dorothy asks, "Do you think we'll meet any wild animals?"
Tin Man replies, "We might."
Scarecrow nervously asks, "Animals that -- that eat straw?"
Tin Man comments, "Some, but mostly lions, ...and tigers, ...and bears."
That's when Dorothy nervoiusly asks, "Lions?" and Scarecrow chimes in, "And tigers?" followed even by Tinman asking, "And bears? " Then so begins them all saying, "Lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!"

Lions, tigers, and bears Oh my indeed. I did a search on this phrase and uncover gobs of sites using this and few had anything to do with Oz. Evidently it's catchy so hopefully it will help you remember the first three warnings.

First there is the lion. Lions are large and powerful. I found out from Animal Planet's website that the average male weighs 416 pounds and stands 48 inches high. The average female weighs in at a much thinner 277 pounds, standing about 44 inches tall. The lion has sharp, retractable claws on each paw and hinge-like jaws containing 2-inch canines. I don't remember what the product is but there's a commercial showing a crew filming a man in lion costume approaching a pride. We know he's going to get ripped to shreds. We know not to mess with lions.

1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

The devil is a lion; other demons might well be in His pride. The devil is to be avoided. Like lions, demons are not to be messed with. This is the first warning by the animal kingdom.

The second is tigers - paper tigers actually. For those who have not heard the term, a paper tiger is defined in Webster's as "one that is outwardly powerful or dangerous but inwardly weak or ineffectual" This term is also found in a relatively new translation called The Message.

Galatians 4:8-11 (MSG)
Earlier, before you knew God personally, you were enslaved to so-called gods that had nothing of the divine about them. But now that you know the real God--or rather since God knows you--how can you possibly subject yourselves again to those paper tigers? For that is exactly what you do when you are intimidated into scrupulously observing all the traditions, taboos, and superstitions associated with special days and seasons and years. I am afraid that all my hard work among you has gone up in a puff of smoke!

Looking in a more traditional translation at that same passage.

Galatians 4:8-11
8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Here the false gods and rules and regulations we force on ourselves are said to be "paper tigers". We are warned away from them as well. False idols can do nothing for us and legalism can and will steal our joy and cripple our ministry. The paper tiger is a warning against false idols and legalism.

Psalms 115:1-8
1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Idols can't do anything. They are said to have brains of wood and stone and verse 8 says those that trust in idols are just like them. Now we may not have little Buddha's in our homes but maybe we have other kinds of idols. As Dwight L Moody once said, "you don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol." Some of us even make God in our own image or at least into the image we want him to be. We think God is only pleased if we dress a certain way, sing 2 songs, pray, take up an offering, sing 2 more, say another prayer, read from a version of the bible, listen to a sermon, sing another song and say a final prayer. We think God can only use this or that. We fashion for ourselves a god of rules, regulations, and our own traditions. That's not God that's just another worthless idol known as legalism. Jesus made several mentions of those who went worshipped that god.

Matthew 23:27-28
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Jesus said those that worshipped the gods of legalism are hollow empty shells, nice looking on the outside but no substance, no meat. You know what irks me. I hate going to one of those steakhouses that serve peanuts, getting me a nut, cracking it open and finding some shriveled up black raisin looking nut inside. That's exactly how God must feel about legalism.

God came to earth as a man to set us free. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." I believe there's a flip side to that verse. But where the spirit of legalism is there is only bondage. The tiger should remind us to avoid the trappings of idolatry and legalism.