Title: “Believing the Incredible”
Is it possible that someone can open a door and enter into a new world? The truth about our existence is that there is another world near us. And this world is not so visible, but it is the one that we’ve always hoped for, where life-purpose and adventure are found. And even though it’s not visible, it is even more real: the world of the Spirit that transcends our material existence. For the hidden truth about life is this: that . . .
(Lamp Post #1) - We Live in Two Worlds
There’s the world we can see and the spiritual world where God’s presence is always transcendent and real. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lucy steps through the wardrobe into another world, and we too are “this close” to opening the door and seeing the light of God in our hearts.
Every person is looking for meaning. Every person wants to be connected with something bigger than themselves. In fact, this quest for tuning in to the divine, this quest for finding our purpose to be a part of something greater than ourselves, this quest to be a part of the ultimate purpose of the universe has been built into our genetic code, it seems. Think of the great hero tales of all history. The story of Narnia takes in the elements of the great mythological stories of western civilization: the stories of heroes going off to fight dragons and evil.
What is behind these stories? In the hero journeys we keep seeing the same script, the same “screenplay,” revisioned. It’s like each story is a piece of the same hero story. Think of the Iliad and the Odyssey as Ulysees returns from the Trojan wars to reclaim his wife and kingdom. Then there is Jason and the Argonauts. Likewise in the legend of Beowulf, he’s battling the monster Grendle and becoming the savior for Denmark’s freedom. In the stories of King Arthur we find the utopia of Camelot with the equality of the Round Table and freedom for all. And then more recently we have the story of Superman: a baby who came from another world to save our planet. And then there’s Luke Skywalker in Star Wars who finds his destiny in setting the universe free from the evil empire. And then Neo, the chosen one (The Matrix), who sets people free from enslavement to the machine world.
And you find these stories in every culture around our globe: the hero’s journey. It’s the story of redemption. The themes are always similar: there is a hero with a quest. Next, the hero’s journey is thwarted by adversaries both within and without. Then there is an apparent defeat: the running of the gauntlet. And there the final self-revelation leads ultimately to redemption. This is the hero’s journey, and it is seen in stories from every culture.*
So what do we make of this? How do we interpret this information that informs us that in every culture there is a hero that brings redemption to his world? Some have looked at the facts and said, “I guess Jesus is just another myth, just one more hero’s journey.” That might be the response of the secular anthropologist. But I would like to suggest a radically different interpretation: that . . .
(Lamp Post #2) - The life of Jesus is the Ultimate Hero Epic.
I’m putting forth the idea that all stories of all time are sub-plots to the real story of history: that God sent his own Son to redeem our world, that God at creation placed in the hearts of his children this innate knowledge that one day a hero would come and bring true eternal redemption. And all the stories of dragons and monsters were pieces of this giant puzzle trying to make sense of our world, but only when Jesus came did all the pieces fit together.
Jesus is the best of all the hero stories put together, and there is no story greater, nor can anyone even imagine a story that could top this: God becomes a baby born on earth who is sort of the anti-hero who refuses violent overthrow to win the world and in spite of his unconditional love is executed in a brutal death only to rise again and live in the hearts of all who come to him in faith. That is the ultimate redemption story! There is no story that can match it. In fact Tolkien wrote, “There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merits.”**
And so what I take from this is that every person is born hearing the music of the universe, the tune we all know by heart. And that is the song of Jesus. And when people find him, they realize that they have really been looking for him their whole lives. As Paul wrote in Romans 1, “For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts.” (Rom. 1:19 nlv) And this is what C. S. Lewis did in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: he told the story of Jesus (His life, death and resurrection) using the mythology of culture all around the world.
When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6 niv) he was in essence saying, “I am the fulfillment of the story that’s been on everyone’s heart. I am redemption’s story.”
Now let’s see how one group of people made this very same discovery:
(Lamp Post #3) - The Shepherds
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night." (Note: They were just sitting there minding their own business. Some might have been sleeping. Some might have the designated lookouts, and then something big happened on their watch.)
"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified." (Note: They may have been praying that no lions would attack their flocks, but they probably weren’t praying about getting a visitation from God’s angels! And instantly they were aware of that other world where they could hear a message directly from God, where they could be comforted by the God of the universe.)
“But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ’Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ’Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (Luke 2:8-20 niv)
Is it possible that someone can open a door and enter into a new world? Can someone who is struggling - who is losing hope - in an instant be transformed into the presence and comfort of God? That’s what the shepherds experienced. And so can you. Because God is always “this close.” Open the door . . . and see the light.
Have you read the book, Blink?*** In this book Malcolm Gladwell shows us how we have this innate power to come to quality revelations or conclusions in the blink of an eye. An art expert can look at a fake object of art that has stumped historical scholars and in one look tell that it’s a fake. Get this, Vic Braden, the tennis legend, can watch a pro tennis tournament on TV and on second serve, he can tell as soon as the server moves if he is going to double fault. He doesn’t know how he does it, but he can predict the double fault 20 out of 20 times regularly. It’s called the “theory of thin slicing.” As if you could cut a pie with a thickness of one millimeter, and you could predict that the rest of the pie will be pretty much the same.
For example at the University of Washington is the lab of John Gottman. He calls it the love lab. In his lab he measures the conversations of couples (including pulse rate, temperature, and anxiety levels). And then he rates their conversation in terms of how many seconds of their dialogue they were angry at each other, how many seconds they were defensive, how many seconds of contempt, etc. And if he can chart a couple for an hour, he can predict with a 95% accuracy whether they will still be married after 15 years. Amazing!
In fact a couple of things he has noticed in his studies is that the ratio of positive emotion to negative emotion in a marriage needs to be at least 5-to-1 in order for that marriage to be healthy. Also he said that clearly the most negative emotion is contempt. He has noticed that the worst thing couples ever do to one another is to show contempt -- a very damaging attitude. But get this: with this idea of thin slicing, he can now listen to a couple for just a few minutes or even seconds and predict with accuracy their chances for a successful marriage.
This thin-slicing is a gift that God has given all of us in different ways. It’s the ability to understand some things instantly. And likewise with God, he has given us through Christ the gift to understand him instantly: to move from this world into the spiritual world and to find ourselves instantly in communication with the God of the universe. That is, opening the door of faith!
But we don’t always live in faith, because there is
(Lamp Post #4) - The Temptation of Reductionism
It’s the ever-present struggle of faith: to believe or not to believe. Reductionism as relates to science might say that all phenomena could be minimized to scientific explanations. There is always the temptation to question whether or not God is really right here: not “out there,” but right here, now. Can God help me? Will God hear me? There is a temptation to explain things in materialistic terms, such as: “Prayer is merely a psychological exercise of the brain.” Whenever the word “merely” or “It’s nothing but your imagination” comes up, the temptation of reductionism is at your door. Is God really there? Is there a world beyond this world that I can experience? When I pray, am I actually face-to-face with God?
There were only a few times in the Old Testament that people actually walked with God and tuned in to the reality of heaven. Of course Adam and Eve walked with God before the fall. Then the voice of the Lord or an angel of the Lord came and spoke with Abraham. Jacob, also known as Israel, wrestled with the angel of the Lord. And then the 400 years of Egyptian captivity brought Moses face-to-face with God at the burning bush where God told him to be the savior of the people. And as the exodus took place out of Egypt, the presence of God was visibly present with them all that time in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. That was the only time in the Old Testament that the other spiritual world became visibly present for an extended period of time. And then there was Elisha who saw all the spiritual armies of God on the hillsides protecting him from attack by a hostile army.
And then we come to the New Testament where everything changes. Because Jesus had said that he must depart so that his Spirit, the Holy Spirit could be with us all, meaning that for those who have received Jesus Christ, every moment of every day we will have the very presence of God with us, the Spirit. You can thin-slice any molecule of this universe and you will find that God is there. And he’s waiting for you. It’s not a long journey to find him. He’s already here. Just open the door, and see the light.
And that brings us to:
(Lamp Post #5) - The Fifteen-Second Secret
I got this idea from Larry Jones. He was reading a book about a Vietnam prisoner of war, Colonel Robinson Risner. One of the key beliefs that helped him survive his seven-year ordeal was the belief he held that he could withstand any amount of punishment, torture, or temptation for 60 seconds. As Larry Jones read this statement he had a brainstorm: that the key to living by faith is not to live in one-year segments, or months, or weeks, or days, but to live each few seconds at a time. The key is moment-to-moment.
The Fifteen-Second Secret is this: that whenever we are confronted with a problem or bad news or whatever, we generally make a decision about that thing within the first few seconds. And so here’s the challenge: when a problem is right before you; when bad news comes your way; when fear strikes . . . take fifteen seconds to pause and tell God that you are going to trust him instead of fall into despair. You can choose fear or faith. You can choose to connect with God, or turn away from him. Every day there will be many chances to go your own way, or turn your life over to the living God, to tune in to God’s loving presence, to open the door and see the light of Jesus’ smile! Many times every day you can take fifteen seconds to decide whether or not you’ll confront this thing in faith.
Jesus said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:9-10 nas) In John’s Gospel, this is the theme of what Jesus said he brought into the world: life. We are born into life on earth, but Jesus made the offer that we could be born again into life eternal: abundant life on this earth and in the world beyond. But this life is only available to us if we will open the door. This door swings on the hinges of the word “if.”
Jimmy Stewart shared the story about the filming of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. “It’s hard to explain. I, for one, had things happen to me during the filming that never happened in any other picture I’ve made. In one scene, for example, George Bailey is faced with unjust criminal charges and, not knowing where to turn, ends up in a little roadside restaurant. He is unaware that most of the people in town are arduously praying for him. In this scene, at the lowest point in George Bailey’s life, Frank Capra was shooting a long shot of me slumped in despair. In agony I raise my eyes and, following the script, plead, ‘God . . . God . . . dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope, Show me the way, God. . . .’ As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.”**** In a moment, in a blink, he had the experience of seeing heaven opened up and seeing that God is there waiting for us to call on him, to come to him.
"The Lord said, ’I was ready to answer my people’s prayers, but they did not pray. I was ready for them to find me, but they did not even try. The nation did not pray to me, even though I was always ready to answer, "Here I am; I will help you"’" (Isaiah 65:1 gn) “Here I am; I will help you.”
What is your need for God today? Will you open the door to the realization of his presence and just tell him? Is it a shortage? A shortage of energy? Time? Money? Ideas? Help? Can you believe that God already has an answer prepared to address your problem? Will you pause for fifteen seconds and make a decision to connect with God for his help? Or will you just focus on the problem and feel helpless?
What are you facing today: Family problems, a big decision at work, illness, grief over a loss? What do you need? Do you need help with a relationship? Are you sinking financially? Do you need healing? Whatever your need, you have a choice. You can either tune into God and trust that he already is in the process of providing your answer, or you follow the path of hopelessness and assume that your problem is too big for God.
Here’s what the Lord wants: he wants to have a close personal relationship with you in which you and he can be nothing less than best friends . . . soul mates. He wants you to know that his Spirit is closer than your breath . . . just a blink away . . . and you can open the door and see his light.
"For all those
who are searching and waiting
and who are not satisfied
with what they have
For all beggars in spirit
Come
Let us search for Him
He is waiting to be found."
- Ulrich Schaffer******
Footnotes:
*See Brian Godawa, Hollywood World Views, (Downer’s Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press)
**J.R.R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories,” in Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, ed. Christopher Tolkien (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1983), pp. 155-6.
***Malcom Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking (New York: Little, Brown and Company), see especially chapters 1 & 2.
****Larry Jones, The Fifteen-Second Secret, c. 1 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991)
*****Guideposts, December 2005, p. 82
******Ulrich Shaffer, Searching for You, (New York: Harper & Row, 1978), p. 5
