“Fight to the Finish” Is.53; 61:1-4, 12-11-05, Advent 3, Narnia 3
Give spoiler warning as children are coming forward!
Children’s Message: For those of you who have been here the last couple of weeks, you know that we’re getting ready for Christmas by thinking about a story called, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” from the Chronicles of Narnia. Today, we’re going to continue reading some of this wonderful little story. [from the Narnia “Movie Storybook” read pages 16,17,28,29,30,35,36,39, primarily dealing with Aslan’s sacrifice for Edmund. Have the pictures displayed on the screen so everyone in the congregation can follow along and have the children watch the pictures on the screen]
Did what happened to Aslan sound like anything you’ve heard before? It sounds just like what happened to Jesus, didn’t it?! And that’s what I’m going to be talking about in the sermon for today – Jesus’ willingness to die for your sins and mine and then for Him to come back to life again so we could be with Him forever. So listen for the battle this was for Jesus and for the battle that you and I are in every day of our lives which Jesus helps us fight. Pray.
Friends, you’ve heard me say it before but hear it again today in fresh context. You and I are engaged in a battle every day of our lives. This battle is no imaginary, delusional, or story book battle but it is very real – more real than any of us can even imagine. It is a battle going on in our world but in another realm – interestingly not unlike Narnia only real! – the spiritual realm, which by and large, we do not see waging around us. But make no mistake – the battle is going on.
The battle lines were actually drawn thousands of years ago. In the Garden of Eden we read in Genesis 1&2 of how the Lord God made all that we see and all that we know in this created world. Then in Genesis 3 we encounter Satan and the temptation he put before Adam and Eve, a temptation to which they fell and became separated from God. But in His parting words to Satan, the Lord spoke this to him: “I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers [the Messiah, God’s Son whom He would send thousands of years later]; he [Jesus] will crush your head [destroy you] and you will strike his heel.” We know that He was speaking of His Son who would come into the world when the time was right, to defeat Satan and right the wrong that Adam and Eve began in Eden and which you and I continue to struggle with every day of our lives.
In Narnia, Edmund was taken in, tempted by the White Witch, C.S. Lewis’ depiction of Satan. He was seduced by her with delicious Turkish Delight, a favorite treat of Edmund’s, and with a promise of power – “I might make you a prince, perhaps even a king in Narnia if only you’ll help me.” It was that temptation, that lie which caused Edmund to betray his brother and sisters and even Aslan, the lion, the creator and true King of Narnia. When the question is asked of Aslan by the children if there’s anything that can be done to save Edmund, Aslan replied, “All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think.” What it would take to save Edmund went beyond anything the children were thinking. Watch this next segment, where we see the children meeting Aslan for the 1st time, we see Edmund walking alone in the White Witch’s castle, and then what saving Edmund would cost Aslan. [show segment from 9-minute Supertrailer from Narniaweb.com, 5:17-6:14]
The portrayal of the event of Aslan’s death is a powerful parallel to what we hear in the prophecy about Jesus from Isaiah 53:3-7, written hundreds of years before Jesus was born – “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
That sacrifice is what was required to give us back our lives and to bring back hope. And it was Jesus, out of His amazing love for us, who was willing to walk that path, die that death, pay for our sin, so that we could be called His children and live with Him and in Him forever. Because it’s not just about death, it’s also about life – which we’ll talk more specifically about next week. But we can’t leave it at Aslan/Jesus dying. Aslan returns to life and Isaiah foresaw that as well as he wrote in 53:11, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.”
Still, in that life that we’ve been given back, the fight is not yet over. While the White Witch, Satan, as been defeated, he still works in the world and in our hearts and minds, trying to deceive all people and blind them to the truth. We are called to stand strong in this battle as it wages on. Take a look at what the children in Narnia are engaged in, even after Aslan has returned to life – as I said at the start of this message – a very real and very dangerous battle. [show clip from 9-minute Supertrailer from Narniaweb.com, 6:15-8:33]
The battles in which we are engaged take on many different forms. Some may seem trivial and small while others may feel monumental and overwhelming, times you feel outnumbered or beaten down, times it seems you’re against impossible odds. Satan is behind them all, the big and the small, but don’t ever forget that he’s been defeated! What are your battles right now? What decisions need to be made? What wrongs need to be made right – first in the forgiveness Jesus offers and then, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, to put that sin behind you and strive toward being more like Jesus?
Take a look at the “What Now?” tear-out for this week. Those are the questions I encourage you to be asking, especially as we find ourselves in the hecticness and craziness of this time nearing Christmas. What are your battles? As you engage in those battles in your life, take time this week to consider the sacrifice our Aslan, our King Jesus was willing to make for you, remembering that you are not in battle alone! What does that mean for your Christmas preparations and beyond? How does that impact the way you approach this coming celebration? With what do you need the Lord’s help to make right as you strive toward that Christ-likeness?
[then put the following verses on the screen] As children of the King, we’re told to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13)
And stand we will, my friends! As the White Witch proclaimed when she saw Aslan for the first time after she had killed him by her own hand, her jaw dropping and she uttered the words, “Impossible!,” so we know that the impossible is possible in Jesus Christ and in His victory for us. He’s alive, He’s here, and He’s coming again for you!
