“Winter in Narnia” from 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18, by Matthew Everhard. Originally preached at Hudson Presbyterian Church on January 2nd 2004.
I have to be honest, I don’t really like this time of year. This time of year reminds me of the land of Narnia. Have you read the great classic fantasy by C. S. Lewis The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe? If you haven’t, let me describe for you what this mystical country is like. First of all it is always winter in Narnia. There may have been other seasons long ago, but ever since the evil Queen Jadis illegitimately claimed the land as her own and declared herself the ruler over all of it, she has kept it under her evil spell making it winter all the time. What’s worse, she has forced all living creatures, gnomes and centaurs, dwarves, and giants, even the woodland animals to be submissive to her rule at the threat of death. With her magic powers she has dominated all rebels against her reign and anyone who dares to oppose her is turned to stone and placed in the courtyard of her palace as a frozen testimony of her power. Statues, frozen reminders of what happens to those who rebel against her evil empire. It’s always winter in Narnia but it is never Christmas.
But there is a rumor circulating around Narnia. A rumor of hope. Do you remember it? “Aslan is on the move!” The mere mention of the name of Aslan the great lion and true King of Narnia causes joy to well up in the hearts of many, and invokes fear in the hearts of those loyal to the queen. “Aslan is on the move”. One child asks the question ‘is he safe?’ Of course he is not safe, but he is good!
For me, January and February are like Narnia before Aslan returns--the two hardest months of the year. Christmas is as far away from us now as it can ever be. The forecast for next three months will be exactly the same here in Ohio, cold with a pretty good chance of snow. Do any of you out there have the post-Christmas blues? You know, when we discover what the preacher said all last month about ‘gifts and presents will not make us happy’ turns out to be true. And every year we try to go that route anyway and every year we end up on the first week of January and all of the gifts haven’t solved a thing. We try to make some returns and exchanges of presents but after all we end up on the same ground we were on before. Some of us are stuck in the house for days at a time.
And worst of all, the same situations that we struggled with back in November are back again. We might have put them off for a month with the joy of the Christmas and New Years, but if anything, January is the month of getting back to reality isn’t it? That relationship that was messed up before might not be any better now. That financial situation that was looking tough then may even be worse now. Vacation is over and that job that you dead is staring you down again. That illness that has been dragging on for so long now is still not better.
But if the deep winter-freeze usually hits you hard, I’ve got some good news for you this morning. You see there’s this rumor circulating around Narnia that “Aslan is on the move!” In our passage this morning from 2 Corinthians Paul says, “I can relate to your seasonal depression, and worse, I’ve been through every problem you can name: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.” And me (Paul says), I’m just like a little clay jar, I’m fragile, I’m weak, I’m frail, I break easily, but I know in my heart there’s treasure inside because living inside of me is a power, an extraordinary power that comes from God and not from us! You see no matter how bad the situation may look from the outside, no matter how bleak the forecast for your life this winter, Paul says “I know a little secret, and the secret is this, the Lion of Judah is on the move!”
There is something else about January that I haven’t mentioned yet. The days are the coldest and the nights are the longest of the year but believe it or not, January is the season of new life. You say “Now wait a minute! New life begins, in April! Right?” But listen, before new life can spring up there must first be a death so the new life can replace it. Paul says in verse 10 “We carry around in our bodies, the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” Did you get that? If you didn’t that’s ok because Paul repeats it for emphasis in the very next verse: “For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus may be visible in our mortal flesh.”
Now what on earth does that mean? Let me explain it this way—you know those pretty little crocuses that spring up, the first flowers of the spring-time? They wouldn’t look so beautiful on the fourth week of March if God weren’t working on them right now under ground in this present moment in the winter. You know those pretty Monarch butterflies that spread their golden wings in the summer? They wouldn’t look nearly as pretty if they didn’t spend half their life, in a near-death coma in the cocoon. Sometimes when you are feeling the least useful, the least motivated, the least hopeful, that is exactly the time that God is doing a transformation in your heart.
Do you want to be conformed to the glorious image that God wants you to be? Have the beautiful character of Christ-likeness that God intends for you? The ability to love God and to love other people the way that God wants you to? It’s time to die with Christ (an internal spiritual death to the self) so that you can live with Him and for Him. You better carry around the death of Christ in your body (as Paul said it) so the resurrection of life can be made visible in you. Or let me say it plainly for you: God is doing some things in your life in your heart right now, that science can’t explain, that nature can’t explain, some things that only God can do or understand, but when it’s all said and done He’s got a true resurrection of body and heart and soul in mind for you. In other words even now, the King is on the move—in your life!
You ever wonder why Paul talks so much in his writings about the death and resurrection of the Lord? Here he goes again in verse 14, we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will bring us with you into His presence. Why is the resurrection so important to Paul? This is just a personal theory but I kind of wonder if every time Paul thought about the death and resurrection of Jesus he remembered his own conversion.
Do you remember Paul the sinner the persecutor of Christians who approved of the stoning of Stephen and chased down and imprisoned believers? Do you remember how he was saved back in Acts 9? Paul was riding to Damascus to persecute Christians when all of the sudden he was knocked off his horse so hard that he went blind for three days. And while he was on the ground, curled up in the fetal position, he had a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ himself. When he finally got his sight back again he probably felt like he too had physically died and been given a new life. His character and heart certainly demonstrated a dramatic change. He went from persecutor of believers to defender of the faith! I want you to understand this morning, that one of the things that God delights in most is to see the resurrection-life made visible in His people. Or as Paul said it better himself that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.
Let me take you back to the fantasy world of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia for a moment. When Aslan the good Lion and true king returns to his rightful homeland things start to change immediately. At his mere presence snow starts melting, and spring begins to set in. Finally (and this is the condensed version) Aslan agrees to give his own life to the Queen in exchange for one human being that she has captive. And the Queen thinks she’s won, but the moment she plunges the knife into his heart, something happens that the Queen never expected, when Aslan is killed her curse dies with him, and death itself begins to work backwards. Finally the resurrected Aslan conquers her own palace and one by one he goes from statue to statue breathing on them with his breath of life, and restoring new life to all who had been turned to stone. The Resurrected Lion is on the move!
And it is no coincidence that this fairy tale lion is a metaphor for the real and true Lion of Judah Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, he broke the curse of sin and the stranglehold that Satan had on the inhabitants of earth, in other words, death itself began to work backwards! And now Jesus moves from person to person breathing on them and restoring them to new life. Have you experienced that new life yet? Has he breathed on you and turned your cold stone statue-like heart into a new creature? You see that is exactly what happens when the King is on the move! As verse 15 says yes everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God!
The resurrected Christ is on the move and one by one he is passing through the courtyard breathing new life into the captives of the devil and heart-by-heart is being transformed into a new creature with new life. The stone is falling off, the spirit is beginning to flow. And all of the sudden those who have been touched by the King are experiencing new life that they never thought possible!
I don’t know if you’re the kind of person that likes to indulge in a little gossip every now and then, but here’s a tasty little secret for you: The King is on the move! And He’s spreading new life to more and more people (v 15) and He’s doing it right here in this church. I can’t say this for sure because I can’t see into the future any better than you can, but I have a feeling that God is going to do some things in this place that might stir us up a little bit in 2005. Some people might get called into ministry this year that never thought they were good enough to serve before. Some people might get converted to Christ that never planned on being converted! Our pastor might have to cut us deep with some messages so we can heal properly. This church might have some prayers answered that we only said out of routine, but it turns out that God took us seriously and He wants to bless us in areas that we weren’t sure we wanted to be blessed in.
So we will not lose heart this winter. Oh no. The believer should never lose heart not even in the coldest winter of Narnia because there’s a great renewal coming. V. 16 Even though our outward nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. Look down at your hands for a moment. Are they a little more wrinkly than they were 10 years ago? Look in the mirror when your get home—there any crows-feet that didn’t used to be there? I saw my first gray hair last week. I’m not making that up. As soon as we are born the body begins the life-long process of dying. Am I wrong? You young people think you’re exempt but you’re really walking down the same path as the rest of us. But though our outward nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. That’s the sweet part of the month of January—its time to start over. Renewal. Rebirth. Restart. Redo. Reformation.
Is there anyone out there who needs a little spiritual internal renewal this year? Is there anyone who’s had a bad year, maybe even a bad decade and the one thing you need most is a breath, just a breath of new life, of new hope?
Is there anyone out there this morning who says “I have been afflicted in every way, (I lost my job, I lost my spouse, I lost my father or mother, I lost my home, I lost my health) but praise be to God that I have not been crushed—thanks to His grace! Let me tell you, the Lord God is on the move!
Someone out there says “I am perplexed (I have no idea what the next step is, I have no idea what to do about my situation, I have no idea how to solve this problem) but I will not be driven to despair, you see there’s a rumor up in the house this morning that God is on the move!
Someone else says “I’ve been persecuted (I’m being chased down by a thousand creditors, I’ve made a mess of my finances, my competition wants my head on a platter, my ex wants everything) but I have not been forsaken because there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. There is one who has been tempted in every way just as I have yet remained without sin, and he is my defender! And His is my advocate.
Someone else says “I’ve been struck down so many times this year that I can’t even count them. Life has beaten me up, kicked me when I was down, added insult to injury—but I have not been destroyed, in fact I cannot be destroyed because they can kill my body but they cannot kill my soul you see while my outer nature is wasting away, my inner nature is being renewed day by day. It may look like winter in Narnia but Spring is already at hand. Somebody praise God in the house this morning—the Lion is on the move.
