Hear a 27.5 minute MP3 audio of this teaching by Pastor Marty Boller @ http://www.crvineyard.org/Teachings/Marty121805.mp3
Last weekend...CS Lewis’ Lion Witch & Wardrobe roared into 3,600 theatres across America. It set several new records as Americans flocked in droves to theatres to see CS Lewis’ fantasy come to life.
The 2nd highest opening weekend EVER in December (just behind Tolkien’s ’Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’)
$65.5 million in weekend ticket sales set some new records for DISNEY. For a company like Disney...where it’s all about dollars, the executives are getting a strong message from America. GIVE US WHOLESOME MOVIES...movies with strong values & clean messages. Where good is good and evil is evil. As Mr. Beaver would say...this is a NASTY KNOCK for the WHITE WITCH!
I encourage you to go to the movie...take your family & friends. Take co-workers & neighbors & enjoy the movie together. The story speaks for itself.
Over the last few weeks we’ve met:
Mr & Mrs Beaver
Jadis: The White Witch
Peter & Edmund
Susan & Lucy
Father Christmas
...and found spiritual truths within each of these character’s stories
Today...we’ve saved the BEST for LAST! The star of the show. The centerpiece of CS Lewis’ Narnia stories.
Let me have Mr. Beaver introduce Him to you...
"Aslan...why, don’t you know? He’s the King! He’s the Lord of the whole world. King of the wood and son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion...THE LION...the GREAT LION. And word has reached us that he has come back. He is in Narnia at this very moment. Aslan is on the move & He’ll settle the White Queen all right."
To millions, Aslan has become a super hero.
Since 1950, Chronicles of Narnia has sold over 85 million copies in 30 different languages.
Last weekend over 10 million people worldwide met Aslan.
In order to fully appreciate the powerful image Aslan brings to us, we should look at his humble beginings...
For CS Lewis...LWW all began with images in his mind...
When CS Lewis was 16 (1914): image of a fawn holding an umbrella & packages.
In 1939: Lewis thought to himself...let’s see if we can take that image & weave it into a fantasy story for children....but without success.
WWII came and Lewis and his brother Warren took in four children from London, keeping them in their home during the worst season of London bombings. He continued working on the children’s fantasy.
Then in 1949, CS Lewis began dreaming about lions, when "suddenly", he tells us, "Aslan came bounding" into The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . He explained to one of his child readers: "I did not say to myself, ‘Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a lion in Narnia.’ I said, ‘Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a man in our world, became a lion there, and then imagine what would have happened."
There we have it:
Aslan...the powerful lion of Narnia.
Jesus...Son of God come to earth.
John 1: 14, 16 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.
What better time than Christmas to discuss the amazing truths surrounding Aslan & Jesus.
As you continue to read CN, you’ll see that Aslan reveals an interesting truth about Himself... In the final book of the Narnia series, we find an interesting clue...
When the children find that they would soon have leave Narnia to return to the reality of their own country, the children are devastated.
“It isn’t Narnia, you know.” sobbed Lucy, “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”
“But you shall meet me, dear one.” Said Aslan.
“Are-are you there too, Sir?” asked Edmunds.
“I AM,” said Aslan, “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
One little girl named Hila wrote to Lewis asking him to tell her Aslan’s OTHER NAME. Lewis responded with clues from the stories.
“Well, I want you to guess. Has there ever been anyone in THIS world who…
Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas?
Said he was the son of the Great Emperor?
Gave himself up for someone else’s fault, to be jeered at and killed by wicked people?
Came to life again?
Is sometimes spoken of as a lamb ?
Don’t you really know His name in this world? Think it over, and let me know your answer.”
CS Lewis put amazing spiritual truths within Aslan. (stories within the story)
For me, I’ve known Aslan now for 25 years. So what spiritual truths do I absolutely love about Aslan? There’s so many, but I’ll pick three to conclude today’s talk.
Spiritual truth #1. Aslan is not a tame lion.
Is He quite safe? Safe? Course He isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.
Spiritual truth #2. In Aslan there is deep magic...and a deeper magic.
There are ever increasing levels of truth within the character & nature of God.
Spiritual truth #3. Only Aslan can defeat the White Witch, but that doesn’t excuse me from having to fight in the battle.
Which Aslan spiritual truth do you need to embrace today?
I love Aslan...
Some folks may say...Marty, you’ve spent way too much time loving Aslan...discussing LWW, taking this church into Narnia...
My response...
A reader, a young Christian, actually became worried that he had come to love Aslan even more than Jesus. A concerned mother wrote Lewis for advice. Within 10 days she received this reply, “Laurence can’t really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that’s what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply things that Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus; and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before."
PRAYER.
