Christmas in Narnia
Its September 18, 1931, in Oxford, England,
Two brilliant young professors walk in the darkness until 3am.
One is called Jack by his friends,
the other is called Tollers.
Jack and Tollers have become great friends,
primarily because they both love to read ancient myths and fairy tales,
and also obscure philosophers.
But tonight,
Jack is not talking about literature; he is desperately looking for answers to his doubts.
He has recently given his life to God,
and in his own words, he is: “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England,” because he still struggles to believe the most basic truths of the Gospel.
His friend Tollers has been a Christian for a long while,
but instead of quoting Scripture or arguing doctrine,
Tollers begins to talk about the stories they both love so much.
Tollers says that in every great story,
there is something good and deep—
something that points to the best and deepest story—
The Real Story—
God’s story of salvation through Jesus Christ.
That September walk was a breakthrough for Jack,
He kept thinking about that Real Story,
that was behind all great stories.
And two weeks later he told a friend that his doubts were no longer holding him back from his commitment to follow Christ.
He told his friend Tollers that the world needed more stories that would point to The Real Story.
Who were these two professors?
Tollers is better known as J.R.R. Tolkien,
who went on to write the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Jack, is better known as C.S. Lewis,
who went on to write The Chronicles of Narnia.
So they both wrote great stories,
that were based on The Real Story,
the story of God, and his love for us.
How many of you have seen the Narnia movie,
just released last week?
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is all about Christmas,
or at least about missing Christmas.
It’s about a snow blanketed land called, “Narnia,” where animals walk and talk,
and the land is ruled by a wicked witch whose magic spell keeps the entire land always winter, but never Christmas.
The movie brought in $65 million the first weekend,
which puts it in second place for any December release ever,
behind the Lord the The Rings, Return of the King.
So Tollers and Jack, 75 years later, have two of the biggest movies around.
Maybe you ask,
What is so compelling about this childrens story,
about a land called Narnia?
Why have 85,000,000 read the book,
and why will so many more see the movie?
Because it’s a story that really happened.
It’s really, the Christmas story.
The Bible calls Jesus,
the Lion of Judah,
and in Narnia the lion, Aslan brings Christmas and brings life,
just like Jesus did.
When Aslan comes into the land,
the snow melts, the sun shines,
and the world is delivered from the White Witch.
So today,
I want to use some of the things we see in the movie,
or in the book if you’ve read it,
to talk about what’s in the real story,
the story of God.
One of the first things we find out about Narnia,
is that in Narnia, its:
ALWAYS WINTER, BUT NEVER CHRISTMAS
You’ve got all the cold and bitterness of winter,
but nothing to look forward to in the middle of it.
No celebration,
no joy,
and not even springtime to look forward to,
so there’s no hope.
The picture of reality here is:
1. LIFE IS NOT AS IT SHOULD BE
Have you ever noticed
that most of the world’s greatest stories begin with a painful reality: Things are not as they should be.
Cinderella has a wicked stepmother and stepsisters.
Sleeping Beauty has been cursed by an angry old fairy.
Hansel and Gretel are driven by starvation to the house of a wicked witch.
Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother has been killed by the Big Bad Wolf.
Why do the greatest stories begin like that?
Because the truth is,
this world is not as it should be.
That’s just reality.
There’s war in Iraq,
and starvation in Africa,
There are tsunamis and hurricanes,
earthquakes and pollution.
Marriages falling apart,
children fighting,
Co-workers gossip and attack,
Politicians lie and steal,
People we trust betray and hurt us.
The world is not as it should be.
The Bible describes it like this: Romans 8:20, 21
“The creation was subjected to frustration…[in] bondage to decay…”
That is basically saying that ---
Sin has been tearing the world apart for thousands of years.
and we can see the evidence everywhere we look.
All of creation is not as it should be.
And so, in C.S. Lewis’ story,
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
the world is also not as it should be.
The story is set during the time of World War 2,
and 4 children have been sent to the country to escape the daily Nazi air raids on London.
The world is not as it should be.
Magically, the children enter another world—
a wonderful world called Narnia,
where animals talk and trees are friendly and magic happens.
But even Narnia is not as it should be.
It is winter in Narnia,
cold and desolate.
It is always winter in Narnia—
and never Christmas!
And in the winter of Narnia,
the animals are afraid to talk out loud,
the trees are stark and barren,
and the magic is dark and dangerous.
Why is Narnia not as it should be?
Because of THE WHITE WITCH.
Yes, there’s a witch in the story—
and there has to be a witch—
or at least some type of evil, powerful being,
because the real story says,
1 John 5:19
“…the whole world is under the control of the evil one”
That’s the unfortunate reality ---
2. WE HAVE AN ENEMY…
The witch in Narnia is tall, thin, and beautiful like a fashion model.
but her whiteness is not the whiteness of purity,
but the paleness of death.
Everything about her is deceptive.
Just like our real enemy.
2 Cor. 11:14
“Satan masquerades as an angel of light.”
Its easy to hide evil, behind a mask of beauty.
If Satan was to show himself,
he’d probably disguise himself as a fashion model,
and not a red monster with horns and a tail.
The witch calls herself the Queen of Narnia.
She’s not the queen of course,
but that’s part of the deception.
She promises a better life,
but her castle is decorated by the stone statues of people who believed her lies.
Just as our world is full of people
who believe the lies of our enemy.
John 8:44
“there is no truth in [the devil]. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
Satan is the father of lies.
What kind of lies?
Lies like:
God will never forgive you after what you’ve done.
You can’t change. You’re stuck in your sin.
God doesn’t care about you.
There’s no hurry in getting right with God, you have all the time in the world.
You’ve got to think of yourself first. You’ve got to look out for number one.
There’s not really a hell.
It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere.
And there’s thousands more.
The number one tool of our enemy,
is the lies he tells.
Now the next thing we see in Narnia,
is the name given to the 4 children who enter Narnia.
They’re called:
SONS OF ADAM AND CHILDREN OF EVE
That’s a pretty obvious reference
to the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden,
and the sin that is passed down to us all.
We already saw that the world is not as it should be,
But now we see that:
3. WE ARE NOT AS WE SHOULD BE
We saw that Narnia is not as it should be.
But that’s not the worst part of the story.
Because the four children,
“sons of Adam and children of Eve,” are not as they should be.
Edmund, the youngest boy to enter Narnia,
is the first to meet the Witch.
She feeds him candy—Turkish Delight.
And she tells him that he can have all the Turkish Delight he wants and be the prince of Narnia
but only if he brings his brother and sisters to her castle.
It’s all lies, of course.
If he were thinking clearly he’d see immediately that its wrong to betray your brother and sisters for candy and a promise of power.
So why does he do it?
That’s the question of all questions, isn’t it?
Why do any of us do it?
Why did Adam and Eve do it?
Why did they go for the forbidden fruit,
that looked so sweet,
and promised to make them like gods?
Why do people choose evil over good?
Is the candy so irresistible?
—or maybe we should ask,
is the money,
the toys,
the power,
the thrills,
the lust so irresistible?
Do the enemies lies really convince us,
that evil is good, and good is evil?
Or did it begin long before,
in our self centeredness or anger,
that makes us want to believe a lie?
The Real Story says in
James 1:14,15
Each person is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full, grown, gives birth to death.”
Notice it starts with our own evil desire.
We see that with Edmund in Narnia:
He wants the candy, and even more then the candy,
he wants to get back at his brother for criticizing him,
he wants the power to get revenge,
and so he lets those evil desires cause him to believe the lies,
It’s just the same thing we see in the headlines,
and on the nightly news every day.
In fact if we’re honest,
we see some of those same things in ourselves: the evil desires,
the confusion,
the weakness,
the sin.
The world is not as it should be,
and WE ARE NOT AS WE SHOULD BE.
BUT: there is hope: The next thing we hear in the story is that:
"ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE!"
One of the heroes of the movie is named “Mr. Beaver.” which makes sense,
because he happens to be a beaver.
Mr. Beaver tells the children,
what is really the theme of the story.
He tells them:
Aslan is on the move – perhaps has already landed.”
Let me read you what the book says at this point:
Now a very curious thing happened.
None of the children knew who Aslan was, any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different… At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.
So we see in the book that simply the mention of the name of Aslan has a significant effect on people.
Aslan has that kind of awesome power.
Philippians 2:9-11 NIV
Therefore God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The time is coming,
when at the name of Jesus,
at the mere mention of his name,
every knee will bow,
and everyone will confess that he is Lord.
Why?
4. BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS ON THE MOVE.
2000 years ago Christ came to defeat the white witch,
to defeat Satan, the enemy.
And he put in place a movement that has slowly been gaining momentum for 2,000 years,
until now it is an unstoppable force,
that is rolling over all the opposition of the enemy.
Did you know that our world is in the middle of one of the greatest spiritual movements of all time?
I’ve talked about this before.
In the Bible,
there’s a description of a great spiritual awakening,
it happened on the day of Pentecost,
the Apostle Peter preached a sermon,
and 3,000 people committed their lives to Christ,
and then many more in the days following.
Now in modern times,
we occasionally see things like that in the US.
We have a promise-keepers meeting in a stadium,
and a couple thousand men come forward
and accept Christ as their Lord.
Or Billy Graham comes to Cincinnati
like he did two years ago,
and a couple thousand people came forward each meeting.
But let me tell you,
that is nothing, compared to what is happening today all around our world.
In Asia, Africa, South America, and all over the globe,
Jesus Christ is on the move.
In Communist China alone,
there are 28,000 new people every day,
making Jesus Christ their Lord.
That is 7 Pentecosts a day,
day in day out,
365 days a year.
Over 10 million people a year
turning to Christ as the answer for life.
But that’s just China.
In the world, there are 178,000 people turning their life to Jesus Christ every day.
That is 59 Pentecosts a day, every day.
Jesus Christ is on the move.
There are now about twice as many Christians in Africa
as there are in North America.
46% of Africans are Christian, and its rising quickly.
I visited Ethiopia a couple months ago:
In 1960, there were less than 200,000 Christians in Ethiopia,
now there are over 12 million, 200k to 12 million in my lifetime so far.
and the growth is continuing to explode.
Jesus Christ is on the move.
The largest churches in the world aren’t in the US.
They’re in places like Korea,
Chile,
Ivory Coast,
Columbia,
Nigeria,
India.
In fact,
The largest US church doesn’t even make the top 20 list in the world.
My friend Steve Caperton, pastor of Milford Vineyard,
got back from Pakistan a couple weeks ago.
He went to help with a crusade,
led by Hamilton Filmalter,
who was here at this church last summer.
Now this is a Muslim country.
and we’ve all been told how difficult it is to preach about Christ in Muslim countries,
right?
During the crusade there, in Lahore Pakistan,
November 1-9, last month,
a mere 240,000 people accepted Christ.
¼ million people, in 10 days,
in a Moslem country,
where there are laws against converting to Christianity.
Jesus Christ is on the move!
Now most us are unaware of this,
because its not happening much in the U.S.
In the U.S. we’re pretty much just maintaining,
probably because we’re just way too rich and comfortable,
compared to most of the world.
We don’t think we really need God.
But God is doing incredible things around this world,
and it makes me think that maybe,
God is starting to bring all of world history
toward the eventual conclusion
that we know is coming one day,
because Jesus promised that one day,
he will return.
And you don’t want to be left out
when that happens.
Jesus Christ is on the move.
One of my favorite animals is the Rhino.
Did you know that
rhinos can run 30 miles an hour?
That is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling.
I wouldn’t want to get in front of a rhino going 30.
In fact, rhinos are slightly faster than squirrels,
which can run up to 26 miles an hour.
But then I wouldn’t be quite as nervous
about getting in front of a charging squirrel!
30 is pretty quick.
30 miles an hour is faster than my first car would go.
Now there is another important factor
in case you ever see a rhino coming your way at full speed.
Rhinos can only see 30 feet in front of them.
Now, imagine for a moment that you have a bunch of rhinos, in a hurry, and they’re plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at 31 feet?
You would think that might bother them,
that their inability to see far enough ahead would cause them to think twice about running full speed.
But you know what?
It doesn’t bother them a bit.
With their large horn pointing the way,
rhinos run at full steam ahead without any hesitation
Which leads us to their group name.
You may have heard of these names: a herd of buffalo,
a gaggle of geese,
a pod of whales,
but Rhinos hanging around together are called a crash.
Even when they’re just hanging around together at the local pond,
they’re called a crash because of their potential.
Some of you are saying,
Ken, what is the point here?
I think that’s what the church in our world is supposed to be.
We become an unstoppable force.
Running at full speed.
We’re out to change the world for Jesus,
and you better not get in our way,
because we’re a crash,
and we’re not stopping no matter what gets in our way,
because Jesus Christ is on the move.
We don’t have to know everything that’s ahead,
we know that Jesus Christ is on the move,
and he’s coming back one day,
so who cares that we can only see 30 feet ahead?
Whatever’s at 31 feet needs to watch out,
because we’re coming and they better get out of the way,
because Jesus Christ is on the move.
There’s a world out there that desperately needs God,
its a world filled with loneliness,
and hopelessness,
and fear.
but we’re going to change that world,
and nothing is going to slow us down,
We’re going to be like a crash of rhinos,
racing ahead as God leads.
not worrying about all the details,
of what’s ahead,
but trusting God to guide and then provide!!!
Because Jesus Christ is on the move.
One final thing that we see from Narnia, is
THE WARDROBE .
The name of the book is The Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.
Now the Lion and the Witch we’ve already talked about,
What is the significance of the wardrobe?
and why is that important enough,
to make it into the name of the book?
Its because the wardrobe was the door,
to another world,
just as 5. JESUS IS THE DOOR
John 10:9,10 Jesus says,
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved… I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus is the door.
He’s the only way into new life.
There is no other door,
no other way.
If you don’t have a relationship with Christ,
you are as dead as those stone statues in the palace courtyard of Narnia.
All of us know people all around us,
who are like those stone statues.
They’re spiritually dead, frozen.
You probably know neighbors like that,
or co-workers
or family members
Or maybe its You?
When Aslan comes and breathes on those stone statues,
they come back to life,
and their joy and peace is indescribable.
It’s interesting that the story of Narnia
is also really the story of C.S. Lewis’ own life.
Lewis wrote the story because in real life,
he almost missed Christmas.
C.S. Lewis was a quiet professor at Oxford University, in England.
But some have called him the greatest author of the 20th century.
He is definitely considered the greatest Christian author of the 20th century.
He published over 40 books while he was alive.
20 more were published after his death.
During World War II,
the British Broadcasting Company asked him to do a series of lectures on the radio.
People were so captivated by those broadcasts that Lewis became the second most famous person in all of England.
behind only Winston Churchill,
Those lectures that Lewis gave for the BBC were later published in a book that is titled,
“Mere Christianity.”
I found a list published by the magazine Christianity Today,
of the top 100 Christian books of the last century.
Mere Christianity is #1 on the list.
Some say that Mere Christianity
it is the most powerful explanation of Christianity outside of the Bible itself.
But until he was 30 years old,
C.S. Lewis was an atheist.
In a letter written to a friend in October, 1916 he said,
“I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them…
All religions, that is, all mythologies to give them their proper name,
are merely man’s own invention.”
But a change began to take place in Lewis while he was a professor at Oxford.
He became friends with 2 other professors,
who happened to be Christians.
One was Hugh Dyson,
the other was Tolkien,
who I already mentioned,
the author of the Lord of the Rings.
As Lewis got to know these two,
he became convinced that their faith was real.
And in summer of 1929,
he also became convinced that Jesus Christ really was the son of God,
and that He really did die on the Cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins.
So Lewis invited Christ into his life.
In one of his books,
Lewis said he came into Christianity “kicking and screaming”.
He said “You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me.
In the Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God,
and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”
When Lewis decided to follow Jesus,
it was like the snow melted from his heart.
He came to Christmas,
and Christmas came to him.
He began reading the Bible,
attending church,
and helping the poor.
For the rest of his life,
he donated 2/3s of all his book royalties to help poor widows whose husbands had died in WW 2.
In Hebrews 11 in the New Testament,
the Bible gives a long list of heroes of the faith who all died before the birth of Christ.
It says Hebrews 11:13,14
All these people were still living by faith when they died….
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
After Lewis became a Christian he said,
“I realized that all my life I was like that.
I was looking for a country of my own.”
All of his life,
he was looking for Christmas.
He just hadn’t realized it.
And so he wrote The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe out of personal experience of what it meant to have someone die in his place.
His relationship with the Christ of Christmas not only changed his life,
it changed his eternity.
It opened a better country for him,
the country of heaven.
And his story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is so powerful because,
not only is it the story of Christmas.
but its the story of every person,
It’s your story.
And my story.
It’s the story of a God who so loved each one of us so much,
that He came, on Christmas.
And the Bible also tells us that the wonder of Christmas is available to each of us today,
this morning.
2 Corinthians 5:17
…those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
I want to invite you to experience that new life today.
If you’ve never put Jesus Christ in charge of your life,
if you’ve never experienced
that new life,
and new hope,
and new joy, that Christ brings,
now is the time.
Don’t let Christmas of 2005 pass you by,
without getting to know the Christ
who can bring Christmas into your heart, forever.
