What so many dissatisfied and unhappy people in our churches fail to realize is that the fullness in life they're looking for can only be found in the gospel.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reflections on VotDT (which is either the 3rd or 5th book in the series depending on which order you choose to follow, both accepted by Lewis) - it takes the scenario of Britain’s era of colonialism and exploration and turns it into an outward journey of the inward heart. The further out they go the more the characters are humbled by the dangers they face, until they really reach the edge of the world, the end of a quest, to begin their next one.
I love how Eustace’s changed character continues in The Silver Chair, and I’ve always been sad once I finish reading The Last Battle. There is so much below the iceberg in Narnia, and I’m always left wishing it were all real. And thankfully in a heavenly sense it is.
Totally agree Ben - we're left wishing it was real and we want it to be real. As Keller often says - death reversed, love returned to us, evil vanquished, good triumphs is what we long for. And because of Jesus it is real! I too love the final scene in the Last Battle and the wonderful news is that the story continues and gets better ... it'll be our story and chapters too because of Jesus. We're sad because we want more, but the good news is that there's more chapters to come!
"And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
Lewis, C. S.. The Complete Works of C. S. Lewis: Fantasy Classics, Science Fiction Novels, Religious Studies, Poetry, Speeches & Autobiography: The Chronicles of Narnia, ... Letters, Mere Christianity, Miracles… (p. 1946).
Very interesting Euge, glad to read your thoughts again! What would possible responses be to someone who does entrust their fullness in life to Christ, and is also disappointed/dissatisfied in how their church & Christian life is going? (The people who aren't part of that "most people" at church).
Great question Jayden! This is where believers work on the assumption that the Christian life and our experience is one or the other - it has to be either or vs both and. Is it possible for someone to live faithfully entrusting their fulness in life to Jesus and also experience disappointment and dissatisfaction in their church community and Christian life? Absolutely. Paul speaks of his Christian life in terms of 2 Corinthians 6:10 - "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Paul in Ephesians 5:25-27 speaks of the church as both the bride of Christ and blemished i.e. the church is a work in progress. This is what it means to live in the now and the not yet - to live in between kingdoms - the kingdom has come in Jesus, but the kingdom in its consummation is still to come when Jesus returns. We live in the overlap of the ages. Or as a lecturer at Christ College said to me this week - too many people in our churches live by a theology of glory (their eschatology is overrealized) forgetting that there is also a theology of the cross as well - we walk in weakness, we struggle with sin done to us and sin against others, our relationships broken etc.
But living in the overlap of the ages isn't meant to leave us despairing because the story of redemption means that the restoration, healing, making things right, getting the perfect community/church, overcoming our struggle with sin has begun - it began at the cross and will be brought to completion for us to experience when Christ returns to reverse and restore all that is broken in our lives, our church and our world. The good news is that it's begun at the cross and we live in hope that the story will have a happy ending when He comes. And what we are meant to do in the now is to recognise the tension we feel which should drive us to two things - firstly, to look forward to the day when things will be fixed and made right (your life and your church will never be perfect and neither will it ever be completely satisfying simply because we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people - it's meant to drive us to long for eternity and the return of Jesus, to cry out come Lord Jesus, maranatha!).
Secondly, to live in the present as a people seeking to find our redemption in the gospel i.e. to see the gospel redeem our personal lives and our church communities. For Paul that meant in his suffering and unmet desires learning to find his sufficiency in the grace of the gospel even in his painful circumstances (2 Cor.12:1-10) For the church, learning to be a community of mutual forgiveness, service and love towards unity around Christ (Eph.4) God has redeemed and brought us to fulness in the gospel, he is redeeming in the gospel (this is what people don't realise in their struggle whether it's their personal Christian life or church community, which is why people's response isn't always marked by redeeming grace in their lives and in their relationships in a church community), and he will redeem finally when He returns. Hope that helps! Euge
Thanks Euge! Very helpful and insightful, I think it was helpful seeing the aspect of putting hope and redemption in the Gospel incorporates the change that is brought about by the Gospel too (a change in heart)!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reflections on VotDT (which is either the 3rd or 5th book in the series depending on which order you choose to follow, both accepted by Lewis) - it takes the scenario of Britain’s era of colonialism and exploration and turns it into an outward journey of the inward heart. The further out they go the more the characters are humbled by the dangers they face, until they really reach the edge of the world, the end of a quest, to begin their next one.
I love how Eustace’s changed character continues in The Silver Chair, and I’ve always been sad once I finish reading The Last Battle. There is so much below the iceberg in Narnia, and I’m always left wishing it were all real. And thankfully in a heavenly sense it is.
Totally agree Ben - we're left wishing it was real and we want it to be real. As Keller often says - death reversed, love returned to us, evil vanquished, good triumphs is what we long for. And because of Jesus it is real! I too love the final scene in the Last Battle and the wonderful news is that the story continues and gets better ... it'll be our story and chapters too because of Jesus. We're sad because we want more, but the good news is that there's more chapters to come!
"And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."
Lewis, C. S.. The Complete Works of C. S. Lewis: Fantasy Classics, Science Fiction Novels, Religious Studies, Poetry, Speeches & Autobiography: The Chronicles of Narnia, ... Letters, Mere Christianity, Miracles… (p. 1946).
Very interesting Euge, glad to read your thoughts again! What would possible responses be to someone who does entrust their fullness in life to Christ, and is also disappointed/dissatisfied in how their church & Christian life is going? (The people who aren't part of that "most people" at church).
Great question Jayden! This is where believers work on the assumption that the Christian life and our experience is one or the other - it has to be either or vs both and. Is it possible for someone to live faithfully entrusting their fulness in life to Jesus and also experience disappointment and dissatisfaction in their church community and Christian life? Absolutely. Paul speaks of his Christian life in terms of 2 Corinthians 6:10 - "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Paul in Ephesians 5:25-27 speaks of the church as both the bride of Christ and blemished i.e. the church is a work in progress. This is what it means to live in the now and the not yet - to live in between kingdoms - the kingdom has come in Jesus, but the kingdom in its consummation is still to come when Jesus returns. We live in the overlap of the ages. Or as a lecturer at Christ College said to me this week - too many people in our churches live by a theology of glory (their eschatology is overrealized) forgetting that there is also a theology of the cross as well - we walk in weakness, we struggle with sin done to us and sin against others, our relationships broken etc.
But living in the overlap of the ages isn't meant to leave us despairing because the story of redemption means that the restoration, healing, making things right, getting the perfect community/church, overcoming our struggle with sin has begun - it began at the cross and will be brought to completion for us to experience when Christ returns to reverse and restore all that is broken in our lives, our church and our world. The good news is that it's begun at the cross and we live in hope that the story will have a happy ending when He comes. And what we are meant to do in the now is to recognise the tension we feel which should drive us to two things - firstly, to look forward to the day when things will be fixed and made right (your life and your church will never be perfect and neither will it ever be completely satisfying simply because we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people - it's meant to drive us to long for eternity and the return of Jesus, to cry out come Lord Jesus, maranatha!).
Secondly, to live in the present as a people seeking to find our redemption in the gospel i.e. to see the gospel redeem our personal lives and our church communities. For Paul that meant in his suffering and unmet desires learning to find his sufficiency in the grace of the gospel even in his painful circumstances (2 Cor.12:1-10) For the church, learning to be a community of mutual forgiveness, service and love towards unity around Christ (Eph.4) God has redeemed and brought us to fulness in the gospel, he is redeeming in the gospel (this is what people don't realise in their struggle whether it's their personal Christian life or church community, which is why people's response isn't always marked by redeeming grace in their lives and in their relationships in a church community), and he will redeem finally when He returns. Hope that helps! Euge
Thanks Euge! Very helpful and insightful, I think it was helpful seeing the aspect of putting hope and redemption in the Gospel incorporates the change that is brought about by the Gospel too (a change in heart)!