The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – week 1
“Beyond The Wardrobe” (There is more to life than meets the eye)
2 Cor 4:18
Have you ever, on a clear starry night, when there are little lights to crowd the view, lay on your back and looked up into the heavens and thought, wow, there is more to this life than meets the eye. Have you ever looked across the ocean and see the sun setting low over the horizon, filling the sky with the most amazing colours and thinking, there is more to this world than meets the eye. Perhaps, if you have been in the most blessed situation to see your child in the first few seconds of it’s life, sucking that first few breathes and looked in awe and wonder and thought, wow, amazing, there must be more to this life than meets the eye.
When I was kid growing up I had a pet badger. I would play with it and it would go everywhere with me. I can’t remember if he had a name. But it was my pet badger and it lived in the lounge, and it made its home in a kitchen stool that I turned upside down. It was my best friend. It loved me, and I cared for it, I was about 3 years old. My sister had also had a best friend, hers was called Dobby. Whenever Sue went Dobby would go. Dobby didn’t live in a stool that was turned upside down in the lounge, but she was allowed upstairs in her bedroom. Cute thing was only I could see the badger and only Sue could see Dobby – I think that was fine too until one day when neither I nor Sue would get in the car to go on holiday because we couldn’t find the badger or Dobby. Sue cried her eyes out one day, because Dad shut Dobby’s arm in the car door. Now it seemed that it was fine having a pet badger when I was three years old, the world of imaginary pets and friends is fine, but when you are 45 and you tell people that you believe in something you can’t see, do they need to call the guys with the white jackets? When you say, I am staking my life on Jesus Christ, He is the source and meaning of life for me, both this life and the next, I am orientating my decisions, I choosing how I live my life on something I can’t see, touch, feel or point to, But I believe that he is all in all, is it time to say, get me out of here! Is there really something that significant, that life changing that can’t be seen, nevertheless, is still as real as what can be seen? Can I share a secret with you, but don’t tell anyone else, the badger now lives in my office in Ednall lane, under the desk, so if you come into my office and see biscuit crumbs on the floor you now know where they come from!
Today we start a short series on, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. What’s that about? On December 9th, Disney launches the movie series that they believe will be the biggest selling film they will ever have, it’s all about the C S Lewis books “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Why look at this? Because there is more to this book than meets the eye, it’s a story within a story. Just as our lives are a story within a bigger story, there is more than meets the eye in this book, and there is more to our life than meets the eye. It’s a story that been told since 1950 when it was written and over 85 million copies have been sold, but it’s also a story that has been told for 2000 years. It’s a story that involves you and me. It’s a story where there is more than meets the eye. I hope that you will go to see the movie, we are trying hard to be the first people in Bromsgrove to have the movie after it’s released from the cinema and we will show it here for free sometime in Feb/Mar 2006. Many of your friends who do not believe in Jesus will be going to see the movie, perhaps, perhaps there may just be a chance that over the next three weeks something we say could be a seed that you could plant in their minds and who knows what God could do – because there is always more to this life than meets the eye.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" follows the exploits of the four Pevensie Children -- Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter. They live in World War II England, and they are sent as evacuees away from the London to a large country home of a rather eccentric professor. There one day, when it is raining and as children often do, they get into mischief and there begins the most magical story. First Lucy, then the others are drawn by the light in the forest to discover that there is more than meets the eye when they decide to hide in a wardrobe. There was a whole other world just one step beyond the world that they could see, one step beyond the real, was another reality that existed. It was a land that was inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants, but there was a land that had become cursed to always be in winter, but never to have Christmas by the evil White Witch, Jadis. In the world of Narnia there had been a prophesy that one day the spell of the white witch would be broken when four thrones would be filled. Could these be the people to fill those thrones? While sitting down to tea with some friendly beavers, the children hear of the Noble and Mystical ruler of Narnia, the lion Aslan.
When they hear the name Aslan, something happens –“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 in its 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.”
There’s more than meets the eye in story, although it may seem stuck in the world of the imagination, there is something true and real about God we can learn. Beyond the wardrobe was another world, beyond the wardrobe was a light and when Lucy took one step in the right direction that world that was unseen started to become reality in her life, there was more than meets the eye beyond the wardrobe. What about our lives. Is this the real life? Are you real or is this a dream and you are just a figment of my imagination? Perhaps I am having a nightmare? Perhaps you are thinking you are having a nightmare in that you are stuck in this strange building listening to this boring speaker! Is there more to life than meets the eye?
There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. 2 Cor. 4:18 (MsgB)
So many things about this world are here today, gone tomorrow; change is an ever constant reality. How many things that you saw one day have now gone? 8 track stereo players for your car, betamax video players, a Atari games console, a hilman avenger, a ford cortina, a bond bug, a flat stomach, a spring in your step and a full head of hair! How many things come today and have gone tomorrow? Gareth Gates, Hearsay, and Cliff Richard – well there are something’s we wish would be gone! But what lasts, the Bible would tell us that its things we can’t see. What’s true is that some things that can’t be seen endure beyond, love always wins. Love, when it is true love and not infatuation, lust or a passing fancy, but love that triumphs over adversity, love that survives the storms, love that is unselfish, that kind of love lasts beyond today and tomorrow. I suppose the question is, if there is more than meets the eye beyond this world that we can see, what is it? And if there is something more than meets the eye, what stops us seeing it? For Lucy the world beyond the wardrobe, the world of Narnia existed beyond the wardrobe, but what is the world that exists beyond our eyes? And why can’t we see it? If there was a world beyond our eyes, how would that make our lives different?
Elisha was a prophet, he was God’s voice to the people of Israel. Often in the stories of the Bible we find that when either a king, judge or a prophet either died or was killed his replacement was often ineffective, not so in the life of Elisha. This is the man that followed Elijah and he had asked for double the blessing God had given Elijah. Within days, miracle after miracle happen, widows suddenly have oil in jars that never runs out, a rich woman whose son has died is brought back to life, Naaman is healed of leprosy and an axe head floats. There was more to this man than meets the eye, there was an unseen power working for good in his life, there was an unseen power that brought life and healing, there was more to this man that meet the eye. At that time Israel was at war with Aram, modern day Syria. The king of Aram was looking for a way to attack Israel, but no matter how much he tried to surprise and ambush them, God gave Elisha the knowledge he needed to be able to pass on to the king of Israel the location of the army. This enraged the king so much he set off to capture Elisha. (2 Kings 6 – 14 – 17)
Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don’t be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha. 2 Kings 6:14-17 (ANIV)
There is more than meets the eye, when it seemed like they were surrounded by forces that were against them, in the sight of the servant was an army that he could see. It doesn’t say that God opened the eyes of Elisha, perhaps he didn’t need it, he had something, we would call it faith, which allowed him to see beyond what his human eyes could see. Fear had gripped the servant when he looked and saw the enemy facing them, don’t be afraid. The truth is we can so often be afraid of the things we can see right infront of us. This week for many you things that you have seen with your eyes have brought you to a point where you are afraid, afraid to open the post because it was the result of the tests, afraid to pick up the phone in case it was bad news about a loved one, afraid to go to bed because your teenager was still out and you didn’t know where there were, afraid to go to work because today may be the day that redundancies are handed out. Afraid to come home in case your wife had been drinking again, afraid when you are lying in bed in the dark in case the abuse may come back again. There are so often many things we can see in front of us that bring us fear. The response of the prayer was for God to open the eyes of the servant so he could see that there was more than meets the eye – he looked and he saw. Elisha’s servant was no longer afraid when he saw God’s mighty heavenly army. Beyond the sight, beyond the visual was more than meets the eye. Beyond the human ability to see was more than meets the eye. There was a battle raging that was beyond his sight, is there more than meets the eye in the battles that we fight, in the enemies that we can see?
Beyond the wardrobe was a land that was under the curse of the White Witch, it was a curse that brought darkness, fear, bondage into the land of Narnia. For those who opposed the Witch she turned them into stone. For the land it was always winter, never Christmas, it was like living in perpetual anticipation of Spring, a better day, but it never coming. In the Bible we are told that this world, the world that we can see has a curse on it, a world that is blinded to the light that would draw beyond the darkness.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Cor. 4:4 (ANIV)
Who is the god of this age? The god of this age is not some imaginary adversary that has no power to bring darkness into lives. Have you ever wondered why it is some people can see goodness and light, faith and belief in the world and others can’t? Have you ever had someone say to you – “oh Jesus, well if going to church helps you, that’s fine, if it makes you get through life, if it’s some emotional crutch that helps you great, but I don’t see any need for that in my life. Have you ever had someone say to you, if I could see God then I would believe in him? Have you ever had someone say show me proof and by this they mean usually scientific proof, that God exists and I will believe, and because they can’t see that there is more to this life then they disbelieve, it’s because the god of this age, who is Satan, the devil would do anything to blind our eyes and minds to seeing what is more than meets the eye. Right now some of you are having the thought – that’s crazy, I could more believe in his badger in the chair than I could in Satan. Some of you now are seeing a picture in your mind of a red suit and a pitch fork and horns; don’t be deceived, that thought is trying to blind you to the truth. The Bible says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Edmund as we will find out next week was drawn into the darkness of lust by a White Witch, it started with a bite of Turkish delight, how often have we heard of how people get drawn into darkness by something that starts off innocent, it was just one drink after work and then it became two, it was just a text and an email, but it ended up in Travelodge with an affair, it started as a quick drag on a spliff, but it ended in an overdose alone in a bed-sit, it started as a quick look at that spam email and now it’s an addiction to internet porn that desensitizes intimacy and degrades women. That word masquerade is like to deceive, and how often what appears as innocent deceives and strangles, and turns people into statues, an unrecognizable imitation of what a human life was always meant to be. There is more than meets the eyes. Satan blinds unbelievers’ eyes to seeing the truth of Jesus; he makes it as hard to see Jesus as it would be to see my imaginary badger – that’s why we pray for our power3 prayer people that God would open their eyes to see the deception that is going on all around them.
There is more than meets the eye to the world around us that we can’t see, there is more to world around us that we fight against than we can see, more than the things we can see that we are afraid of. Paul who wrote the words about the angel of light tells us to be on our guard, even those of us who are believers are in a battle with what is more than meets our eyes –
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephes. 6:12 (ANIV)
In other words there is more to battle in our lives than with the flesh and blood problems we see, although they may be what is right in front of you now, we battle more against what we can’t see! Yet right now I know that some of you have some mighty battles you can see – battles with loss over a loved one, battles with loved ones who are ill, battles with relationships, battles with debt and the God of the universe who is above all and over all and who has all power of all powers in this world would say open up your eyes, there is a battle going on, there is more than meets your eyes, and he would say this - you are not alone. There really is more to this life than meets the eye and you are not alone. Whether you battle with what you can see or you battle with that you can’t see, here is the bottom line today – you are not alone. There is more to your life than meets the eye – you are not alone! You don’t need to fight the battles you can see and the battles you can’t see alone, take one step beyond the realm of this world and trust Jesus the Lord of all is with you, you are not alone. When Lucy and the other children heard that Aslan was on the move it was confirmation in a power then that they couldn’t see at that time – faith, believing in Jesus, though we can’t see him, is the step that moves us to live with confidence in that which is more than meets the eye –
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. Hebrews 11:1 (MsgB)
Two words describe faith: sure and certain. These two qualities need a secure beginning and ending point. The beginning point of faith is believing in God’s character—he is who he says. He is called Emmanuel – in a month from now we will sing that – “God with us” we are not alone – there really is more to this world than meets the eye – God is just waiting for us to move beyond doubt, to faith. Here’s the application today – it takes one step in the right direction to move us from mundane to miraculous, one step beyond doubt to faith, one step beyond saying seeing is believe to saying – I believe Lord, help me with my doubts. The end point is believing in God’s promises—he will do what he says. When we believe that God will fulfill his promises even though we don’t see those promises materializing yet, we demonstrate true faith. How can you apply this? What is the one step you need to take? Is the one step to say open my eyes God to who you are? Take a step towards the light. If you are who you say you are Jesus come into my life – you can take that step today. If you are trying to fight too many battles on your own, ask God to give you the eyes of that servant, eyes of faith to see around you, to say God give me eyes of faith to trust in what I can’t see. Give me the eyes and the heart to see that I am not alone. Perhaps the step you need to take is to pray – God don’t let me be blinded to the things that are seemingly good, but will drag me down. Open my eyes to deceptions of Satan in my life.
Faith reveals that God is doing more for his people than we can ever realize through sight alone. When you face difficulties that seem insurmountable, remember that spiritual resources are there even if you can’t see them. When you see the stars – remember, there is more than meets the eye, I am not alone. When you see the sunset, remember, there is more than meets the eye, I am not alone. Look through the eyes of faith and let God show you his resources, for beyond the world that is more than meets your eye, is an all powerful, all loving, all present God who is with you – there is more than meets your eye in this world – and you are never alone.
Peter Billingham
NewSong Community Church
Bromsgrove
Worcestershire
England
www.newsong.co.uk
