Message 01-15-06

Series: Narnia: Behind the Scenes

Scripture: Ephesians 4:20-32

Title: Uncovering the Truth

Intro:  Introduce the Narnia story,  

Lewis said – he didn’t want to tell the story of Christianity. He wanted to imagine how God might work in another world.

Why look at movies and stories?

I think it is important for Christ followers to use our imaginations as we look at life. I think we are called on to see more than is right in front of us. Seeing the real world is vitally important, but what we learn from Jesus is that there is more to life than just what is right in front of us.

Jesus told us that the kingdom of God is at hand – right here, right at the end of our fingertips. Jesus opened up the eyes of those around him, and especially the eyes of his disciples, to what else was going on. If all we see is what’s happening then we may be insensitive to the work of God. We may miss real life – life that is richer and deeper and fuller. And also what is actually going on.

If we don’t recognize what is going on around us spiritually, then we will work at answering all the problems of the world ourselves. We will think that the Bible actually says, "God helps those who help themselves" – which it doesn’t. Benjamin Franklin said that – not God.

Jesus opened up for us the kingdom of God – Jesus was the door – the gateway – into the kingdom.

Narnia reminds us of that. Let’s just have some fun with this.

Study:

Do you remember the story? The children get sent to live in the home of a reclusive professor out in the country away from the bombing in the city during WW2. They are told not to disturb the professor and so they do their best to have fun while being quiet and out of the way. And then the youngest girl ends

up hiding in a wardrobe during a game of hide and seek. Instead of discovering a back to the wardrobe she finds it is a doorway into another world called Narnia.

This can remind us of Jesus telling us that the kingdom of God is at hand and that he is the door. It can make us realize that God is very much present in our world – and that we can enter his kingdom.

The call to the people of our world is to find the kingdom of God and to come into it.

What I’m going to do is to move back and forth between the Scripture and the story suggesting connections we can make as we consider it. I don’t think that Lewis necessarily intended all these connections, but I don’t think that dismisses the connections. I’m going to bring us back and forth between the story and the Bible so we can think about our Scripture in new ways.

Paul writes to the Ephesians about realizing how they were supposed to be new people in coming to Christ. They were supposed to be changed.

Paul reminds us that we need to become new people – that our minds must be made new. Jesus told us that in order to enter the kingdom of God we had to come as little children. It’s interesting that Lucy – the youngest is the one who finds the land first and easily.

She is able to enter it with an open, fresh appreciation and not be held back by fear or by prejudice. She enters the world, finds the lamppost and, of course, meets Mr. Tumnus, the faun.

For some people "Christ" is an idea, a concept. Christ is a religious perspective. But we didn’t learn the truth of the kingdom of God through a concept. We learned it through a person. We learned it through "the truth that is in Jesus." We were taught to enter the kingdom of God like a little child, like someone newly born.

We are called by Jesus to give up being sophisticated and to be open to discover a new way of seeing and in fact a new life.

The rest of the children follow. At first Edmund makes his way in, following Lucy. But Edmund wants his own way. He wants power and prestige and he wants to get back at his older brother and sister. He gets a taste of this new land – and it tastes good, but he wants it to work for him. He doesn’t want it to change him.

It’s interesting that when all the children finally get in they realize they have to change the way they dress. They have to "put on" new clothes in order to survive. So they put on the coats that they find in the closet.

And they set out to explore this new land. What they learn pretty quickly is that they have to put off the old ways – they can’t be arguing and fighting with each other. They have to work together.

Edmund, of course, isn’t ready for this and you may notice that he almost immediately loses his "new clothes", he takes off the coat and then forgets it. He remains the way he was when he first entered Narnia.

And he tries to make it work for him. He tries to create a world in which he is king and he gets what he wants when he wants it. We call those people liars.

Lying is when we try to make up a world that works for us.

We have to give up the old, take it off and put on the new. We need to have our minds transformed. The way to do this is quite practical. Sometimes people complain that they can’t find God or they feel very distant from God. Sometimes we wonder how do we find the "door" back into the kingdom. We can only do that as we follow Jesus.

Imagine if one part of your body didn’t tell the truth to another part of your body. You may think that’s impossible until you consider pain. Think of the benefit of pain. Pain gives us a warning. Pain saves us. Pain lets us know that we have to stop.

There are people with diseases where pain is stopped. Beckie and I live with her parents. Beckie’s dad is a brittle diabetic. He has lost the nerve endings in his feet. We have to check his feet on a regular basis because they could get a cut and he would never know. People with leprosy lose all feeling – their nerves die in their hands and feet first. There are horrible stories of people not realizing that their hand is in a fire or touching a hot pot. They get horribly hurt because one part of their body is not communicating with another.

One of the first things we need to do as we enter the kingdom of God is to start communicating with each other. People outside the kingdom, people who don’t follow Jesus, they can get angry with each other and hold grudges and give each other the silent treatment, or stop listening, or stomp off in a huff, but not us. People who are not in the kingdom have to communicate with each other. We have to start helping each other. Instead of living the way we used to live – looking out for ourselves we need to look out for each other.

For us here at Palma Ceia – we need to look around and figure out who we need to get to know. We need to work at meeting new people. We need to meet people we don’t know.

And when we get to know people we need to be authentic with them. This takes time and energy, but the more we do it here, the easier it will be outside of here.

We need to live in the kingdom of God – it’s supposed to go with us. We’re not supposed to come here – to come through these doors to find the kingdom of God. The kingdom is within you. It is in your midst, Jesus said. So we need to practice here with each other how to be authentic so that we can do it for real out there.

These are the ways that we keep opening the door. The children get out of the wardrobe and they can’t find their way back in, but there are other places and other ways back in. The kingdom is at hand.

We can find our way back in by we tell the truth to each other. As we uncover the truth and become authentic we become more relaxed in living in the truth. Living in the truth sets us free – we enter into the kingdom of God through the truth. Paul tells us "don’t grieve the Holy Spirit". The way we grieve the Spirit is by not telling the truth, not living in it.

I bring up political subjects in my messages. Sometimes that bothers people, but I’m your pastor. If I don’t talk with you about the real world, the world we live in and have to deal with I don’t think I’m following Christ. If all I do is read you a portion of the Bible each week and tell you to be "nice" and the next week I read you another part and tell you to be "nicer", then I don’t think I’m doing my job. When our leaders act in inappropriate ways I believe I have a responsibility to hold that up because our leaders claim to be Christians – a lot of them, particularly our presidents. But we are not following our presidents first – we follow them after we follow Jesus and if they’re not living up to his calling, then we need to admit that. Regardless of whose party’s in power at the time – we have to be able to admit when our leaders do things that are wrong. If we don’t, if we just come up with excuses, then we’re grieving the Holy Spirit as much as when we make up excuses for ourselves.

But we can’t rage against our leaders either – just as we can’t rage against each other. We need to get rid of the things the language that damages others and follow the model of Christ. Don’t wink at sin. Don’t pretend it isn’t there. But don’t act like you can judge others either. Act like you are someone who knows they needed forgiveness as well.

So, this week look for the ways to enter the kingdom of God. Look for the doors all around you. See how you can build others up. Look for the moments when you’re called on to forgive. Tell the truth when it hurts. There are going to be moments when you’re going to hang your head, when you know you’re not going to want to do this, but then you’ll choose it. You’ll do it and when you do, when you obey God’s voice inside you. You’ll suddenly realize that you’ve re-entered the kingdom. You’ve come through the doorway into another land. You’ll have the truth and you’ll be living in it.