Introduction
C.S. Lewis has been called one of the most influential apologists and theologians of the past century, especially in Britain. His books have touched the lives of multitudes. The Narnia tales, while children's books, are filled with theological truths, for he wrote them specifically to prepare children to be ready to grasp the great theological principles of the Word of God. Kind of a pre-theology or a theological primer, if you will.
There is a passage in his book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," where Lucy and Susan come back to the stone table expecting to find Aslan's body. Instead, they are surprised by the living lion Aslan. When asked what that meant or how this could be since they had seen him killed by the white witch, Aslan explains, "It means…that though the witch knew the deep magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know." He then explains why he was alive after dying in place of Edmond, who was a traitor.
I have a couple of reading websites that send me emails daily about free Kindle books. One is almost all science fiction or fantasy, a genre I like; the other is a variety of topics, including religious books. On this site, there are always books on How to live a successful Christian life. The writers vary from liberal to ultra-right conservative, from liturgical to charismatic. But, what amazes me is that people would go to these books more than the source material, the Word of God.
It might be, as I think about it, that it is not really arranged as a how-to-book. There are places that do deal with some of the issues of life and living, but it is not really a topical book with an index that tells you where to look for each particular subject. More often than not, the truth is spread out over all the many pages taking time, effort and contemplation to find and comprehend. It's like back when you were in school, and you had to write a paper or do an essay on the main ideas and themes of a well-known book by a famous author. Instead of taking the time and effort to read the book, what does one do? Buy the Cliff Notes! As the advertising states on the website, “CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams.”[1] 1 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/, accessed November 19,2022
Now saying all this and using that particular illustration, you might be tempted to think I am opposed to people using biblical Cliff Notes. Such is not the case, I assure you, as long as one is careful in the selection, for what else is a sermon but audio Cliff Notes? And they are not at all unbiblical. We should listen to others. Teachers are a gift of God, whether they be speaking aloud or through the written word. Biblical Cliff Notes are not bad as long as one does not fail to read and study the Book they concern.
This morning, the Cliff notes you are hearing are about living the successful Christian life.
This concerns the deep magic, as C.S. Lewis calls it in his series, the Narnia Tales, the laws and principles on which the Christian life works and depends, the principles for a successful Christian life. The order in which I present them is not indicative of their order of importance necessarily but rather the order in which they came to my mind as I worked on this message. Therefore, what is the deep magic; what do you need to do to have a successful Christian Life?
The Deep Magic – Principles of the Successful Christian Life
A. Faith in God
Faith in God. It is a prerequisite, a requirement, not an option. Hebrews 11:6 states: And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Faith is the primary thing God requires of us. That is how we first came to God, and that is how we continue to walk with Him. How were you saved? Were you saved because you were brought up in a Christian home by godly, loving parents? No. Were you saved because you have done more good things than bad, and when God puts all the positive things in one balance pan and all the negative in the other, it tips down in favor of the positive? No. When the crowds asked Jesus what they should do in order to do the works of God, his reply in John 6:29 was: Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
When the text says "believe in Him," it is not speaking of merely accepting the truth of a statement. In English, as we use the word today, it often means just this. For example, if I asked you, “Do you believe that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilks Booth? Your answer, I hope, would be yes. What you mean is that you agree with the truth of this statement. But that is not what Jesus means; it is not the core meaning of the Greek text. To believe, while it certainly includes the idea of acknowledging the truth of an idea, goes beyond this to mean to trust in or rely upon something or someone. Do you rely upon the fact that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln? No, you simply accept it as true that this did historically occur.
Now, if I asked, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" a great, great many people would answer, "Yes, I believe in Him." And they would simply mean they accept as true the accounts of His birth, life, death and resurrection? But this kind of faith does save, for many who answer this way are not relying upon Him for salvation but instead upon their church attendance to save them, or upon the fact that they have led fairly decent lives, or upon the fact that they go to confessional regularly, or upon the fact that they know the true doctrine, upon any number of things but not the person of Jesus Christ and what He did. Their confidence or reliance is upon something they have done rather in what He has done.
Did the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, in our Lord’s day have the correct doctrinal positions? Yes, for the most part, they did, as opposed to the Sadducees or Herodians. They were the religious conservatives of the day. But listen to what our Lord states about them in Luke 18, verse 10 and following:
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other;
Remember also the warning our Lord gives when asked by someone if only a few were being saved. Luke 13: 23ff:
And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…
Faith is not what you know but what you know and do. Faith is not having the truth but applying the truth.
Not only are we saved by this faith, this reliance upon our Lord and His work, but we must also live daily by it as well! Do we trust in, and rely upon, our own efforts, our intelligence, our money, our retirement, our education, our friends, and our abilities to get us through this life? More often than not, I fear the answer to this is yes. Not to say these are unimportant and of no value, but the question is, what are we deep down relying upon or trusting in? As the apostle states in Colossians 2:6, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
Faith, then, in the words of C. S. Lewis, is one of those elements in the deep magic of living the successful Christian life. It must be there, for, without it, you cannot please God.
B. Seek first His kingdom
Another element in the deep magic of living the successful Christian life is one’s priorities. What are the priorities in your life? The deep magic of God's Word runs counter to the commonly accepted beliefs of our culture and society, and many miss this. Our culture says we should set our goals for success. Aim High! Become all that you can be! If you want success and fortune, you must seek it. But God tells us this is wrong; it is backward. What does He say? What is our first priority? Matthew 6:33 states,But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Success comes not by making your priority your own success but by making the success of God's kingdom and His righteousness number one before your own. So how does one tell what one's priorities are? After all, I may say, "Well, yes, I do seek God's kingdom and His righteousness?" But do we do that FIRST? A good measure of priorities is time and money. Where do your time and money go? How much time do we devote to the issues of our lives? How much time do we spend on entertainment? How much time is in prayer or the personal study of this Book? How much time in earning a living? In an average day, an average week, or a month, where does the time go? Where does the money go? We will spend our time and our money on those things that have the highest priority in our lives. God measures the success of a person's life not by how much they enjoyed it or what they have at the end but by how much they have furthered His Kingdom and His righteousness. Therefore, another principle of this deep magic is seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.
C. Study the Word
Closely associated with this element of deep magic is another, the study and application of this book, the Word of God, in our lives. Two passages: First, 1 Peter 2:2:Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
And Joshua 1:8:
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
How important is this Book in determining the success or failure of living the Christian life? We just read what the apostle Peter said. What does James say? James 1:22 to the end of chapter 1:
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
We must be careful to understand what this is not saying. It is not saying, "A verse a day keeps the Devil away!" Daily Bible reading, in and of itself, regardless of the number of verses or chapters, produces no blessing. If you examine these verses and other passages, it becomes clear that the exhortation is to read and heed, study and apply. I assume all of you know the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand, or at least the children’s song to that effect. But what is the point of the parable our Lord made about building the house upon the sand and rock? Luke 6:48-49;
Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.
Success and blessing come by studying this Book, meditating on it and putting into practice what the Lord teaches you from it. This Book is God speaking to us. If you want to hear His voice, you need to listen to this book. It is a formula for success. God told Joshua, “then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." James told his readers, "one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
If the study and meditation of God's Word is God speaking to us, what about our speaking to God? How important is that?
D. Pray
In Luke 18:1, our Lord, in teaching His disciples, states: Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, At all times, in good and easy times and in difficult and hard times. In example and in His teaching, prayer is highlighted in the life of our Lord. It reverberates throughout the letters of Paul and the other apostles. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” and Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Prayer is so central to the Christian’s life that it is almost impossible to think of the Christian life without prayer. But, in truth, how much time do we spend? Are there formal times you have with Him? Do you informally speak to Him as you go through the day, as you would another person? Do you only come to Him when trouble and hard times come your way? How much value do you place in prayer?
For some people, if it is present at all, it is there in a ritualized form, words and phrases one repeats before one eats or goes to sleep. For those of us who pray aloud in public, more often than not, we become concerned with what other people hear than what we actually say to our Father in heaven. Prayer then becomes another part of the sermon, for we are talking more to people than to God.
Our Lord taught us the pattern for prayer. This is commonly called the Lord’s prayer, but it is the Lord’s pattern given to us to teach us how to pray and what to pray for. We are to pray on behalf of God's interests first, to pray that His name is made holy, honored and exalted. We are to pray that His Kingdom is established. Just an aside at this point. He told us to pray that His Kingdom may come, that is, that His Kingdom, the Messianic 1000-year reign of our Lord, be established upon the earth. Combine that idea with the principle that James gives us that we have not because we ask not. Could it be, I ask you to consider, that the Kingdom has not yet come because God’s people have ceased to earnestly pray for it?
We are to pray that even though the Kingdom is not here, His will be done upon the earth. Next, we are to ask for our own concerns, that our daily needs be met. We are to confess our own sins and seek His forgiveness. And finally, we are to pray that we are delivered from temptation.
Again a rhetorical question. In our prayer, how well do we follow this pattern He gave us?
Faith, seeking His kingdom as a priority, the study and application of His word, and prayer all of these are important principles for living a successful Christian life. They are the deep magic. And there are others we may add to this list, such as the counsel of others, good teaching, and fellowship. But yet a word of warning. Just as the white witch in Lewis’ Narnia tales was unsuccessful in killing Aslan because she did know the magic deeper still, so we too can be unsuccessful if we do not realize there is a magic deeper still. We can do all these things and still fail. This magic, this principle of God’s Word, is the deeper magic of the Grace of God.
The Magic Deeper Still – Yet not I, But the Grace of God
If you had to choose one man in the New Testament, apart from our Lord, who most represented a person successful in living the Christian life, who would that be? I suspect that a majority of you mentally chose the Apostle Paul, maybe some Peter, others John perhaps. Paul is who comes to my mind. So considering Paul for the moment, do you think he was a man of faith? The record of his life, from conversion onward, as seen in acts and revealed in the epistles he penned, portrays a man of faith. It shows up everywhere in the Scriptural accounts, over and over again.
Was his priority to seek first God’s kingdom in living his life? The answer is certainly clear. This ministry was his life. 1 Corinthians 11:23-28:
Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
Was he committed to seeking first God’s Kingdom? What do you think that says about his commitment?
Did he study and put into practice the Word of God? How many of us can honestly say to someone else, follow the pattern of my life as an example of how to live for Christ? He did. Did he know and practice the Scriptures, which for him was the Old Testament? Few rational people would doubt that at all.
Did he pray? Read his letters to the churches. He is always praying and requesting prayer!
Now was that why he was a successful example of living the Christian life? He himself tells us the secret, the magic deeper still. In 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, speaking of himself as an apostle, he writes:
For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
What is the magic deeper still? It is the grace of God. Did Paul have faith? YES, Did he exercise it well? CERTAINLY! Was he committed to seeking God's Kingdom first and foremost? BY ALL MEANS! Did he work hard? He worked harder than any of the other apostles!
But, he acknowledges it was not him. It was God’s grace only. And so it is with each of us. There is an almost paradoxical tension between our free will and God’s sovereignty. We are given a free choice to act, and we are responsible for that choice. And yet, it is by God's grace that we did this.
Our own salvation was not because we were smart enough to choose to believe. Did you choose to be born here in this country at this time in history? Why not in Iran or the jungles of Peru? Why not in Persia in the 4th century BC? It was God’s grace!
By God's grace, you heard the word and believed. Did you choose what spiritual gifts you were given by the Spirit of God? No!
Ultimately, we are what we are by God's grace. Make no mistake, now! You and I are responsible for working and working hard. We must exercise faith. We must see to seek first his kingdom. We must study and do God's word. We must pray without ceasing. We must do all these things, then, having done all those things, realize, as did the Apostle Paul, it was by God's grace alone.
As soon as we start to believe we did something, we become proud and have failed. Hard to understand? Certainly! Harder to live! But remember, it's not you; it is the deeper magic still. It is the grace of God!
I pray that we all may know, not only the deep magic, that is, the principles which we must follow if we wish to have a sucessful Christian life but also the deeper magic still, without which all we do is only leads to pride and failure. May God write upon our hearts, "Yet not I but the grace of God!"
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1 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/, accessed November 19,2022