Narnia Sermon Series #2 Feb.12/06 

 This is the second in my sermon series on themes from the book and movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”

   Last week I talked about the subject “Repent while there is still time.” I shared about one of the characters in the movie, Lucy who encountered a faun who turned out to be a traitor intent on turning her into the White Witch. The faun, Mr. Tumnus, repented of the wrong that he had done and began to try to help Lucy. The point I made was that we all are traitors to God because of our sin, and we are in need of repenting or turning away from our sin, of the wrong we do, and turning back to God through Jesus Christ.

      Today’s message is entitled “Your lusts will do you in.” One of the four children I mentioned last week who came to stay at their uncle’s house was Edmund, the youngest boy. Edmund is tired of being the little brother and always having to take orders. He wishes he had the power to lord over his older brother, Peter. But he needs to take care, because the fulfillment of that wish is coming along in a sled, and he may get more than he bargains for.  
 Edmund has just found his way through the Wardrobe into Narnia. He calls after his sister, Lucy, but she is nowhere to be found. As he wanders aimlessly in the snowy land he hears the sound of bells, and is startled to find a fast-moving sleigh bearing down upon him. He leaps out of the way and falls into a small snow bank. From the front of the sleigh leaps a dwarf, knife in hand, and Edmund screams for him to stop. Just as the dwarf is about to kill him, a woman's voice from the sleigh orders the dwarf to stop. Then she asks, "What is your name, son of Adam?" 
 Edmund introduces himself and the woman wants to know how he came to be in "my dominion?" Edmund tells her that he was following his sister. The woman, representing herself as the Queen of Narnia, wants to know how many children are in his family. When Edmund tells her "four" her interest is piqued. He tells her all about Lucy and her visit with the faun, Mr. Tumnus, and then names his other brother and sister. 
 The Queen invites Edmund to sit with her in her sled, and when he sits next to her, she wraps her warm furs around him. She offers him something hot to drink, and Edmund asks for hot chocolate, calling her "Your majesty." The Queen opens a bottle and pours a single drop into the snow and what emerges is a goblet of hot chocolate, which Edmund takes and drinks. Edmund wants to know how she did that, and she tells him that she can make anything she wants. When he asks, "Can you make me taller?" she says that she can make anything he might like to eat, but seems to notice his interests. Edmund asks for a dessert, Turkish Delight, and once again she makes it in the snow. Edmund begins cramming it into his mouth. 
 The Queen tells Edmund that she wants to meet his family, but Edmund replies that they "are nothing special." The Queen flatters Edmund, saying that she is sure that his brother and sisters are not as "bright" as is Edmund, but since she has "no children" of her own she is looking for someone like Edmund to make a prince, and someday a king. Edmund, with jealousy in his voice, wants to know if his older brother would get to be "king too." But the Queen, playing off Edmunds emotions, says that his brother and sisters would be his servants. 
 Edmund tells her that he can bring them, so the Queen gives him directions to her home. She says, "You'd love it there, Edmund. There are whole rooms simply stuffed with Turkish Delight." When Edmund asks for more now, the Queen loses her composure and says, "No!" but then recovers and tells him that it would spoil his appetite. Besides, she says, they will see each other soon. She bids him goodbye and Edmund begins to think about how he will get his brother and sisters into Narnia.  
 The "Queen" -- actually the White Witch -- appealed to Edmund's vanity, his appetites, and his lust for power. All he needs to do to get his heart's desire is sell out his brother and sisters. C.S. Lewis, the author of the book on which this film is based, chided his fellow humans not for wanting too much, but for wanting so little. For the promise of a crown and some sweets Edmund is willing to turn traitor. 
 What does the world promise you to keep you from coming to, or obeying, God? Is it money? You often hear people supposedly quoting the scripture “Money is the root of all evil.” If you don’t know your Bible then you wouldn’t know that the passage actually says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” We might paraphrase that to say the “lust” for money is the root of all evil. That lust drives people to steal from others, to defraud others, to cheat on their income taxes, to lie or misrepresent for financial gain, to go into debt way over our heads, and on and on.

 I saw a new book this week entitled “How to be Happy Without Money.” I would have bought it, but it cost $15.

 Our lust for money can affect the way we give our tithes and offerings to the church. A pastor told of one of his laymen about whom he said, “that if he had been at the Last Supper, he would have asked for separate checks.”

 One of the things the lust for money says to us is, “if you just had such and such amount you would be happy, or you wouldn’t have any more worries.” All one needs do is to watch television to see the endless parade of wealthy movie stars, rock stars and business tycoons who are still seeking more and yet admit to not being all that happy. It causes sports figures to get into gambling, sometimes on their own teams. The lust for money is often at the heart of many marriage breakups. It can also drive individuals to lose all perspective on life.

      As the highway patrolman approached the accident site, he found that the entire side of the BMW had been ripped away, taking with it the driver's arm.

 The injured lawyer, what we used to call a yuppie who was very much into materialism, was obviously in shock and kept moaning, "My car, my car," as the officer tried to comfort him.

"Sir," the patrolman said gently, "I think we should be more concerned about your arm than your car."

The driver look down to where his arm should have been, then screamed, "My Rolex! My Rolex!" The lust for money can really affect our priorities.

 Another lust that can affect us is the lust for fame or recognition. For most of us this is only applicable in the context of our business life or our church life. Some want to be recognized and honored so much so that they will seek to undermine others. They may not always act with integrity in order to gain recognition. We’ve all heard about the employee that takes credit for a project that he had no part in developing.

 Another lust is an obvious one - that is in the area of sexuality. May I suggest that the reason the Episcopal Church has gotten itself in trouble is partly because lust in this area has overridden what the Bible clearly says. We begin to take our cue from society around us which tells us that sexual relations outside marriage are not always bad, in fact, in many cases, they say, it is good and right. Because the church began to fudge in the area of heterosexual relations and began to make exceptions and excuses, then it was not a big step for the church to begin to look at same-sex relationships the same as it did traditional relationships. As a result of buying into the world’s philosophy of sexuality and because our denomination has denied 2000 years of church history not to mention the clear teachings of Scripture, we find ourselves in a battle for the very soul of the church. We have allowed our lusts to affect the way we look at the whole area of sexuality, rather than being guided by God’s Word.

 Still another lust that affects more and more of us is gluttony. You might say, “Now wait a minute, you’ve gone from preaching to meddling.” This is a lust that has caused numerous news reports telling us that as Americans we are overweight. We hear that our children are out of shape. We are fascinated by the various weight loss programs around. The diet pill industry is a multi-million dollar business. Quite often we approach this whole problem from the wrong direction. I love to go to the buffet places like Luby’s. I almost look at that as a challenge to at least get my money’s worth and to make sure that I eat everything in the buffet, except what my parents used to make me eat. I have to admit that if and when thoughts of gluttony cross my mind I quickly squelch those thoughts. Thankfully my wife discourages me from going to buffet places. Psychologists tell us that gluttony quite often masks an unhappiness we are trying to cover up or ignore.

 The final area of lust I want to talk about is the lust for power. We’ve all heard the phrase “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We often think of this in terms of politicians or dictators. On a smaller scale you and I can struggle with a lust for power. We might want to have power over a friend, co-worker, neighbor, or even a spouse. Sometimes this is to make ourselves appear or feel more important than we are.

 A young businessman rented a beautiful office and furnished it with antiques. However, no business was coming in. Sitting there, worrying, he saw a man come into the outer office. Wanting to look busy, he picked up the phone and pretended he was negotiating a big deal. He spoke loudly about big figures and huge commitments. Finally, he put down the phone and asked the visitor "Can I help you?"

The man said, "I've come to install the phone."

 At other times we have this lust simply because we want our own way, and we think that by having more power we will be able to get what we want. The lust for power can cause us to have a disregard for the feelings of another. We can try so hard to get that power that we end up hurting others in the process.

 We see that lust for power being exhibited in the Muslim world, by those who are trying to take over the world and make it subject to the tyranny of sharia law. Some may say that Christians are trying to take over the world. That may partially be true in the sense that we as Christians would like everyone to come within the saving embrace of our Lord Jesus and that they are won to faith in him not by killing, force or coercion, but by love and grace.

 Money, fame, illicit sexuality, gluttony, or power – all of these are merely distortions of good things God intends to give those who follow Him. The world offers wealth -- God owns the universe. The world offers fame -- God says we will be known by Him, The world offers illicit sex -- God offers partnership and marriage as God designed it between a man and a woman. The world offers gluttony -- God says not to worry about food or clothes, He knows what you need and will provide; and he will provide satisfaction for the cravings of life, if we would let him have control of our lives.

 Listen to what the apostle John wrote in his first epistle as the Amplified Bible puts it: “Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things] – these do not come from the Father but are from the world itself.” 
 The world's offers always come with a catch. Deny God, do what you know is wrong, and you can have your lusts fulfilled. God asks us to reject the world and follow Him out of love, seeking His kingdom, and we will be blessed with all the rest besides. What we are not told about lust is that it is only ever fulfilled temporarily. An acted upon lust only serves to increase its power the next time it arises.

      One of the fruit of the Spirit is described as “self-control.” St. Paul spoke of that in our Epistle lesson today. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”

      Let us pray that God would develop within us the fruit of self-control so that we may be able to resist the lusts and so that our lusts do not do us in.