SERMON SERIES: NARNIA: ADVENTURES WITH GOD IN A FOREIGN LAND

SERMON #3 - THE VALUE OF A GOOD NAME.

            This is the third in my sermon series on the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. My first sermon was entitled “Repent while there is still time,” and last week’s sermon was entitled “Your lusts will do you in.” Both of these sermons can be found on our website saint-annes.org.

            This week I want to talk to you about the value of a good name.

            Lucy and Edmund have both gone through the wardrobe and entered into the fantastic land of Narnia, but when they get back home and are confronted by their older brother and sister, Edmund denies it.
            Lucy, upset and being believed a liar, bursts into tears and flees the room, directly into the grasp of the housekeeper, Mrs. MacReady, who thinks the children are disturbing the Professor. But just then he appears, and directs Mrs. MacReady to get Lucy some hot chocolate. Then he turns his attention to Peter and Susan, Lucy's older siblings, "You seem to have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper." The children apologize and try to turn away, but Susan explains the source of Lucy's crying.
            She tells the Professor that Lucy claims to have found "a magical land in the upstairs wardrobe." The Professor's interest is high, "What did you say?" They try to explain what Lucy said she saw, and the Professor wants to know, "What was it like?"
            Susan replies, "Like talking to a lunatic..." but the Professor interrupts, "Not that, the forest." Peter is mystified. He can't believe that the Professor is acting as if he believes Lucy, but the Professor counters, "You don't?" Susan confidently asserts that Lucy's tale is "impossible." The Professor mutters to himself, "What do they teach in schools these days?"
            Peter explains that Edmund claimed that he and Lucy were only playing. The Professor asks which is the more truthful of the two, Edmund or Lucy. Peter has to admit that it is usually Lucy. So the Professor helps them make the deduction that if Lucy is not out of her mind then "logically she must be telling the truth."
            Peter can hardly contain himself. He asks, "You're saying we should just believe her?" And the Professor retorts, "She's your sister, isn't she? You're a family. You might just try acting like one."
            Professor Kirke has the right approach. If someone is a truth-teller, then it lends credibility even when the story they tell appears fantastic. If faith is the "assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1), then our ability to trust rests on the reliability of the witnesses who tell us of these unseen things.
            One of the reasons that Christians must maintain an impeccable witness is that the story we tell might appear unbelievable to some. The Bible is full of the miraculous, but it is correct where it can be tested so that we can have trust in areas where it cannot be tested. For example, it used to be thought that Luke’s account of history was wrong when he talked about Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Lysanius, governor of Abilene. An archeological discovery proved that what Luke said was exactly correct. Over and over again history and archeology show the Bible to be accurate giving us confidence to believe the things that we cannot explain or understand. The Bible is trustworthy giving us many reasons to believe in it. People with whom we are trying to share the gospel might not be inclined to believe the Bible if they see that the Bible does not make any difference in the way we live or what we say.

We need to hold ourselves to the same standard. Our lives should demonstrate that we are trustworthy, so that when we tell others about what Christ has done for us, they will have ample reasons to believe. When they see us living as if we believe what Scripture says, then they will be more likely to believe it as well.
            Lucy is a truth-teller, and a fearless one. Despite undeserved ridicule by her treacherous brother, Edmund, and lack of support from her elder sister, Susan and her older brother, Peter, she holds fast to the truth -- and it ultimately pays off as she gains a champion in the Professor.

The Bible commands us not to bear false witness, it commends the speaking of the truth, it attributes lying to the devil who is called the father of lies, and we see examples in the Bible of the bad consequences of lying. For some, lying has become habitual. A defendant took the witness stand. The judge asked him to put up his right hand and answer the following question: “Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” The defendant responded, “I’ll try anything once.”

Almost nothing can ruin the good name of a person faster than lying. .Pete’s wife inquired of her husband, “Why don’t you play golf with George any more?” Pete replied, “Would you play golf with a fellow who puts down the wrong score and moves the ball when you aren’t watching?” “No, I certainly wouldn’t,” she responded. “Well, neither will George,” he said.

            If we live a life in which we speak the truth and live by the truth then we don’t need to worry about trying to cover our tracks or defend our lies. We can live in the freedom of honesty and integrity.

            We also want to be willing to bear witness to the truth of the gospel. There may be some here who are not convinced that what the Bible says is true, or you are not convinced that you are able to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I would urge you to do some reading of some authors who have carefully investigated both the Bible and Jesus Christ. Authors like Lee Strobel, a former atheist and law editor for the Chicago Tribune, who has written two books, The Case for Christ and the Case for Faith. Josh McDowell has done exhaustive research in his Evidence that Demands a Verdict books. The Alpha course which is ongoing and will be starting up again around the middle of April is another great way to develop faith and to become sure of that faith.

            Many of you here have already come to that place of absolute faith and trust in Scripture and in Jesus. If you have reached that place in your life, are you willing to boldly proclaim the truth of Jesus and his Word to those in the world who do not yet believe? You have the example of the testimony of the apostles like Peter who said, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Always stand and proclaim the truth, it is always worthwhile.

            In this world we will face persecution for telling the truth. Some will think it madness to follow God. Others will try to convince us that the story of the Gospel is a fable. But God wants us to hold fast to the truth, even in the face of opposition, and to be ready to give "a good account of the hope that is within us" (I Peter 3:15). Sometimes God might use the truth to set someone free from wrong believing or skepticism regarding the gospel.

            J. P. Moreland, in his book Apologetic Reasoning and the Christian Mind, tells of an experience that illustrates the importance of truth: “One afternoon I was sharing the gospel in a student’s dorm room at the University of Vermont. The student began to espouse ethical relativism: ‘Whatever is true for you is true for you and whatever is true for me is true for me. . . . But no one should force his or her views on other people since everything is relative.’” Moreland says, “I knew that if I allowed him to get away with ethical relativism, there could be for him no such thing as real, objective sin measured against the objective moral command of God, and thus no need of a Savior. I thanked the student for his time and began to leave his room. On the way out, I picked up his small stereo and started out the door with it. ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ he shouted. . . . ‘I am leaving your room with your stereo.’ ‘You can’t do that,’ he gushed.” But Moreland said, “I happen to think it is permissible to steal stereos if it will help a person’s religious devotions, and I myself could use a stereo to listen to Christian music in my morning devotions. Now I would never try to force you to accept my moral beliefs in this regard because, as you said, everything is relative and we shouldn’t force our ideas on others. But surely you aren’t going to force on me your belief that it is wrong to steal your stereo, are you?” Moreland looked at him and continued: “You know what I think? I think that you espouse relativism in areas of your life where it’s convenient , say in sexual morality, or in areas about which you do not care, but when it comes to someone stealing your stereo or criticizing your own moral hobbyhorses, I suspect that you become a moral absolutist pretty quickly, don’t you?” The story has a happy ending, for Moreland says, “Believe it or not, the student honestly saw the inconsistency of his behavior and, a few weeks later, I was able to lead him to Jesus Christ.”...

            While it is important and valuable to have a good name when it comes to our fellow human beings, it is more important to have a good name when it comes to our God. We have that good name by speaking the truth, living by the truth of God’s Word, and by being willing to share that truth with others.