My favorite time of year is Autumn. More fall than spring because of the beauty of God¡¦s majesty in the leaves. Plus, football starts again. Deer hunting is back. I believe that before the fall of man, it was always Fall. The air is cool, the sun is warm, the holidays are coming closer.
There is a story of a place that is similar to the Eutopia I just described.
Have you ever read the great classic, "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe¨ by C.S. Lewis?
Some of us as children probably watched the cartoon on television. Walt Disney pictures is about to release this movie in December in a way that will absolutely grip your heart and soul. If you haven¡¦t seen the cartoon or read the book, here is an overview of the story:
First, it’s always winter in the land of Narnia. The evil Queen Jadis "car jacked" the Land of Narnia and declared herself ruler. As part of her rule, she cast a spell over Narnia making it a continual winter. To make matters worse, she has forced every living being to be submissive to her illegitimate rule. If they didn’t, they died. She doesn’t believe in a volunteer army¡Keveryone is drafted. Like it or not.
Her philosophy was "You don’t have to like it, but you do have to live with it." Should you choose to buck the system, you are turned into stone and placed in the palace courtyard as an example to all, of her power and authority.
Many people run to Florida during the winter months to escape the harshness of winter. The winter months have the highest rate of people suffering from suicide and depression. In Narnia, there is no place to run, no place of refuge, no place from the cold, no Florida.
There is a glimmer of hope. A rumor is circulating around the kingdom of Narnia "Aslan is on the move!" Aslan, a lion (The king of the jungle), is the rightful king of Narnia. At the single mention of the name "Aslan," a smile is seen upon the faces of the people of Narnia.
There are people today that have lived for years in the winter of Narnia their entire lives. Why is there such a high rate of suicide and depression in the winter months? It very well may be that some cannot see the end to the winter in their lives. Who are these people? It may be someone struggling through a divorce. It may be someone who¡¦s just lost their job or a loved one. It may be the battle of a crippling disease.
Today, there is hope: "ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE!"
Romans 8:1-11 MSG
(1) With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.
(2) A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
(3) God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it.
(4) And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
(5) Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them--living and breathing God!
(6) Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.
(7) Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.
(8) And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.
(9) But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about.
(10) But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God’s terms.
(11) It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
Let’s go back to the land of Narnia. We talked that there was rumor, "Aslan is on the move!" Aslan begins his journey to regain his rightful place as king. When he arrives, his very presense begins to melt the snow and ice and Spring begins to reveal herself.
To move our story along, Queen Jadis captures a human. Aslan offers his life in exchange for the human. She takes his offer and kills Aslan. In her joy, she fails to realize that the curse that has plagued Narnia for so long, kies with Aslan and death begins to reverse itself. Aslan in resurrected and conquers the palace and Aslan breathes his breat of life on the statues, giving them new life again.
If you haven’t seen it by now, Aslan is a "type" of Christ. When Jesus died on the cross in exchange for your sin, he broke into the winter of your life to give you a new chance at life outside of the stone statue you are encased in. Just as it happened in Narnia, Jesus is giving life back to the dead today.
Do you know the Power of Aslan?
Do you know the Power of the risen Lion of Judah?
Have you experienced his breath of life upon you today?
If you have not, you are as dead as the stone statues in the palace courtyard. Many today are in that stage in their life. Who are they?
Your neighbors
Your co-workers
Your family
You?
When Aslan comes back to life, so does the world around him. However, if the statues never experience the breath of life upon them, they never feel the power and warmth that spring can bring. There are some here this morning who have experienced it. The joy and peace in their life is evident and undescribable.
The King is on the move! He is changing people right here in this church! I have a huge expectation about the power that will be encountered in this body in 2006! Some may get called into full time ministry. Some may accept a small roll of leadership. We will see the salvations of people that we never thought would ever receive Christ.
The believer should never lose heart.
(10) But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells--even though you still experience all the limitations of sin--you yourself experience life on God’s terms.
Our outer man is constantly dying, but the inner man is being renewed everyday.
-Look down at your hands. Are they a little more wrinkly?
-Look in the mirror when you get home. Are there crows feet that didn¡¦t used to be there?
-Do you see more gray hair? I just see less hair.
Now, look inside.
-Are there things you still are hanging on to that God has spoken over and over again "Lay it down?"
-What have you not accepted? Is there something God wants you to do?
-Is there someone God has laid on your heart to tell..Aslan is on the move and you are afraid?
You know what is so sweet about January? It¡¦s a time to start over. Renewal, Rebirth. Restart. Redo.
Anyone need a Redo? Anyone need a spiritual rebirth?
ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE! WILL YOU MAKE THE STEP AND ENCOUNTER THE POWER OF THE KING?!
-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 fix this problem¡¨
ASLAN IS ON THE MOVE!
-"I have creditors breathing down my neck"-I have completely anihalated my finances"
-"My competition wants my head on the chopping block"
-"My ex wants everything"
Allow the King to breath upon you today!
The winter of your life can begin to turn to spring today if you will allow the Lion of Judah to take his rightful place on the throne of your life!
