Voyage of the Dawn Treader Part 2: Lucy Pevensie
This week Friday night at 6:30 we are going to have a family fun night,
Play some board games and watch Prince Caspian;
Part 2 of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Next Sunday Dec 12 after our morning service I want to encourage you to join my
family and I at the movies at Bella Terra to watch
The Chronicles of Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
We will need to purchase advanced tickets so we can all get
into the same theater.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a story about our spiritual life.
Through the struggles of the individual characters C.S. Lewis gives us a
glimpse into the challenges that we face in our own spiritual journey.
Last week I told you that as we make progress on that spiritual journey we
become more and more like Jesus.
We take on His attitudes, His desires, His ways.
The Holy Spirit through sanctifying grace transforms us
into a unique expression of Jesus.
Last week we looked at the beginnings of that spiritual journey.
Eustace Clarence Scrubb, was a dragon inside.
In the tale of the Dawn Treader,
Eustace actually becomes a dragon,
eventually finding redemption and rebirth through faith
in Aslan’s help.
I told you that we all start this spiritual journey as dragons.
Acknowledge the fact that you are stuck being a dragon.
Believe that Jesus can transform you from being a dragon into
being a human.
Commit yourself to doing anything Jesus commands you to do,
Commit yourself to being his disciple.
Then ask God to accept your faith.
What Aslan does for Eustace, Jesus will do for you.
Next week we’ll look at Reepicheep,
A two foot tall talking mouse with a singular purpose.
Then on the Sunday before Christmas we will venture into Aslan’s
Country.
Today we’ll consider Lucy Pevensie.
We will discover that no matter how far along the path of perfection we
journey, temptation walks with us.
Temptation reveals the deep things of the heart that are slowing
our progress down in becoming more like Jesus.
Temptation shows us what is inside that needs to
be dealt with.
I plan to tell you how temptation pulls us off the path of holiness,
And how we can overcome temptation when it whispers its siren call.
We first meet Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
She is the first of the four Pevensie children to enter the land of Narnia.
In that tale Lucy forms a unique bond with Aslan,
The great lion, high King of Narnia.
On the second tale, Prince Caspian,
It’s this special bond with Aslan that helps Lucy to see the great Lion,
When her other siblings can not.
Two things about the spiritual journey jump out at me from this adventure.
Near the end of the book Aslan tells Lucy that she must follow him,
Even if the others refuse to come with her.
That my friends is the attitude of a believer.
The calling with which you have been called heavenward in
Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)
One of the old hymns of the Church is
“I have Decided To Follow Jesus;”
page 468 in your hymnal. J
“Tho’ none go with me still I will follow,
Tho’ none go with me still I will follow,
Tho’ none go with me still I will follow,
No turning back, No turning back.”
Recall the ABC of the faith,
The C stands for commit.
In your heart of hearts you make a commitment to be a disciple,
to follow Jesus, even if it means you go it alone.
You will go it alone in the face of ridicule,
go it alone with the likelihood of losing your
friends;
go it alone even enduring
persecution.
Yet hopefully realizing that you never actually go alone,
Someone much greater than you walks at our side.
C stands for commitment.
That we are urged to follow means we must have a choice.
What are you choosing?
The second thing that jumped out of me in the story of Prince Caspian is
Lucy’s observation that since that last time she’s been with Aslan it
appears that he has grown even larger.
To which Aslan replies the more mature you become the larger I will
appear to be.
What that means to me is that as we set our eyes on the author and
perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) the place Jesus has in our hearts
and lives grows ever larger.
Jesus becomes one’s everything.
All meaning in life, the purpose of one’s existence,
Joy and happiness are all to be found in Jesus.
Is Jesus becoming your all in all?
Or is there still idols in the way?
Temptation will help you answer those types of questions.
In the tale of the Dawn Treader Lucy is 11 years old.
She is still courageous and compassionate,
Quick to forgive,
Still living up to her name Lucy the Valiant.
She still has that special relationship with Aslan that makes it possible for
her to see him and discern his presence where others may not.
Lucy is a lovable good person.
But she is going to have to face some of the deep things that lurk in her heart
As the Dawn Treader makes her way to The Island of Voices.
“Lucy will face feelings of being inferior to her sister,
Will worry about what her friends think of her,
And will have to confront her fears of the unknown.”
(Devin Brown, Inside the Voyage of the Dawn
Treader, p. 131)
What we will focus on is Lucy’s temptation that rises out of her secret sins.
For each one of us is uniquely tempted.
James 1:14-15 (NLT)
Temptation comes from our own desires,
which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions.
And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
Each one of us must learn how to defeat temptation in order to prove to
ourselves that we are ready for greater responsibilities in the Kingdom
of God.
The companions land on the Island of Voices.
It is here because of their disobedience the Dufflepuds were uglified,
and then got so tired of being ugly cast an invisibility spell on
themselves so that they didn’t have to look at one another any
more.
Now they have grown tired of their attempt to fix their problem.
So they need Lucy to undue the spell and make them visible again.
In order to accomplish this Lucy must go into the Magicians lair and find the
Magic book and read the spell.
The Dufflepuds consider the Magician their enemy,
For it was he who cast the uglifying spell upon them in the first
place.
This of course makes Lucy very nervous.
Who wants to confront a mean and wicked
Magician.
Just a little side note: Remember one always needs to hear both sides of a
story before making a decision about a situation.
On heightened alert Lucy creeps up the stairs and down the long hallway to the
Library where the magician’s book is kept.
The hallway seems much longer than it did when she started walking
down it.
There are strange markings of the walls,
Doors along the way which anything could jump
out of and get her.
Many of our fears exist only in our imaginations.
(Devin Brown, Inside the Voyage of the
Dawn Treader, p. 141)
She finds the library and the Magicians Book,
She wants to close the door, but it will not,
To read the book she must stand with her back to the open door.
The book has no table of contents so she must move through it page by
page.
At around page thirty she comes upon,
“An infallible spell to make beautiful her that uttereth it beyond the lot
of mortals.”
As Lucy considers saying the spell she has visions of herself becoming the
most beautiful, captivating, sought after and fought for woman in the
history of the world.
“As she looks at the page she sees herself with a beauty that surpasses
that of her sister Susan.”
Here her great temptation begins.
Deep in her heart, most likely hidden even from her own
conscience is a secret sin of envy.
Envy is the desire for what someone else has.
Envy is often associated with jealousy.
Both envy and Jealousy have to do with a sense of inferiority.
Some other has a trait of possession, or ability that you do not,
And you want it so bad it hurts you.
Aristotle said that
“Envy is pain at the good fortune of others.”
(Aristotle, Rhetoric, Bk II, Chapter 10)
You want what the other has so much that you are willing to deprive
them of it in order to obtain it for yourself.
At its worst I think it says:
“If I can’t have it no one shall.”
Envy and jealousy give birth to resentment,
Resentment deters, damages and even
destroys relationships.
As we have learned in our home groups through the study of Wild at Heart and
Captivating questions haunt men and women.
For the men the question is: “Do I have what it takes?”
For the women the question is: “Am I captivating?”
So Lucy’s temptation is very much our own.
It would be hard to pass up the opportunity to be the best and have no equal.
To be the best even if it meant bad things would happen to others is
hard to say no too especially when you have been living in
someone else’s shadow.
To not be recognized and loved for who you are but instead watch
others pour out their accolades and praise and attention on
someone else.
We all long for approval.
No one wants to be the rejected one,
We all want to be the desired on,
The sought after one,
The competent one.
For Lucy the temptation reveals what’s in her heart,
The temptation reveals what is inconsistent with living a devout and holy
life.
John Wesley described to us how temptation can pull us off the path of holiness
and prevent us from maturing spiritually.
Wesley teaches that it is God’s love and conquering faith that keeps us from
committing what we will call volitional sin.
(1 John 3:9)
A volitional sin is a behavior that we know is wrong but we do
it anyway,
(Hebrews 10:26)
Or we refuse to do what we know is right.
(James 4:17)
Lucy is in such a state when she accepts the quest.
She is exercising love and faith.
But now the beautification spell,
what she has secretly longed for,
to be the desirable one, the beautiful one, the captivating one,
is placed before her
The Holy Spirit uses our conscience to warn us that we are heading into
dangerous country.
(Isaiah 30:21)
At first Lucy knows that to recite the spell is wrong,
That she should turn the page and continue in the purpose
for which she has been called.
Then the thought of it grows more pleasing.
You entertain the temptation,
It is desirable or it wouldn’t be tempting.
You imagine yourself in possession of what you long for.
Lucy begins to see herself as object of desire in all of Narnia,
Others competing to win her affections,
Even to the point of going to war over her.
“Lucy sees herself back in England,
“Where Susan is ‘planner’ and jealous of Lucy’s ‘dazzling
beauty, not that it mattered because ‘no one cared
anything about Susan now.’”
(Devin Brown, Inside the Voyage of the
Dawn Treader,,
p. 144)
Doing what you want becomes more desirable than doing what God wants.
(The Great Privilege Of Those That Are Born Of God II.9)
Do you satisfy this aroused desire,
Or do you stay obedient to God?
There’s temptations choice.
You’re right on the edge of hurting the one who saved you.
You’re right on the edge of turning your back on the one you
committed yourself to follow.
Maybe the Holy Spirit again whispers in you mind,
The pleasure of sin last but a moment,
(Hebrews 11:24)
The consequences of sin can last for a lifetime.
Having entertained that thought of the temptation it is so hard to
resist.
You’ve played with it, turned it over in you mind,
Gotten very close to the fire,
You feel it pulling on you.
Lucy is going to say the spell!
The scripture tells us some important things about temptation.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others
have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down;
he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you
come through it.
The scripture teaches us that you are not a special case,
Everyone is tempted.
Temptation sneaks along with us on this path of spiritual maturity.
It is constant silent companion that waits for the ideal situation
to try to trip us up in our journey.
What you’re facing isn’t anything new.
Others have gone through the exact same thing.
Even the one you vowed to follow.
Hebrews 4:15-16 (MSG)
We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through
weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up
to him and get what he is so ready to give.
That priest is Jesus and he faced temptation,
The student is not greater than the teacher
(Luke 6:40)
Jesus was tempted,
(Matthew 4:1)
But He overcame the temptation and did His Father’s will.
We are told that when we are tempted, we can run to Him and
He will give us the power to overcome our temptation
also.
Your heavenly Father knows your heart, He knows what is in it,
(1 Chronicles 28:9)
Temptation brings what is hidden to light.
What is hidden needs to be brought out in the light where it can
be redeemed.
(1 Corinthians 4:5)
Temptation again is like the refiners fire,
Testing the resolve of your commitment to be true to God.
(James 1:12)
Your heavenly Father knows your heart,
(Psalms 44:21)
He knows that you can only handle so much at one time,
that you can
only deal with a part of what lies deep within,
so He doesn’t allow the temptation to be too much
for you to run to Him and
find the same overcoming strength that Jesus
found.
“Lucy can feel the page pulling at her.
She entertains thoughts of what the spell would do for her,
to look at how it would pay off for her.
Even though she knows that she should not read from the page,
“ ‘I will say the spell,’ said Lucy, ‘I don’t care I will.’”
She said “I don’t care,” because she had a strong feeling that
she must not.
It is then that she hears a roar as the face of the great lion appears on the
page.
She immediately turns the page and resists temptation.
(Pastor Ken Foreman, Senior Pastor Cathedral of
Faith, San Jose, CA cathedraloffaith.org)
The face of Aslan appears on the page,
And Lucy knows the face growls in anger.
(Matthew 10:28)
That remembrance gives her the strength to overcome her temptation.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…(Ps
111:10)
Wisdom is correctly applying what you know to
any given situation.
Sometimes we just need a shove in
the right direction.
There is more to the story,
But I will allow you to discover those lessons on your own.
Lucy eventually comes to the page where she is has come looking for,
Recites the spell, and all that was invisible becomes visible.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the first thing she sees is Aslan
standing
right behind her.
(Psalm 139:7)
Lucy hasn’t been out of Aslan’s protective care.
The great Lion has been with her along.
What have we learned about temptation?
Temptation will always be a possibility as long as we walk this earth.
Nowhere on the spiritual journey are you free from temptation.
“Temptation makes the secret desires and sins of the heart visible to oneself.”
When somebody tells me that they are never tempted, ever,
I get concerned.
For they are either lying to me,
Which is a sin in and of itself.
Or they are in denial,
Blind to their own hearts.
One of the greatest threats to becoming more like Jesus is a lack of
self-awareness.
1 Corinthians 10:12 (MSG)
Don't be so naive and self-confident.
You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else.
Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
Until you are gloried there will be work in our heart that needs to be done,
For no one is fully matured until they look into the eyes of their Savior.
(1 John 3:2)
So temptation shows you what you want more than doing what God
wants.
So use this secret of temptation so that you can ask God to help you discover
what is in your heart that shouldn’t be there,
and to repent of it,
and to be redeemed from it,
to be free of it.
We’ve learned how temptation works.
How it presents itself,
How enticing it is.
How it pulls us in.
So much has to do with our entertaining the temptation.
We need to train ourselves to run from temptation;
to avoid the triggers that lead to temptation;
not to be silent about our temptations.
Its temptations secrecy that overcomes so many.
We’ve learned that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to
overcome it.
What does that tell us about ourselves when we give in?
It means we still have work to do.
It means we need to strengthen our resolve our
commitment to following Jesus.
Satan will use a victory over you to tell you that you are no good,
that you are a vow breaker,
that you really don’t love God and that God really
doesn’t love you.
Satan will use your failure to tell you that you are disqualified
from the journey.
1 John 1:9; 3:9 ; 1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)
But if we confess our sins to him, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness…
Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning,
because God’s life is in them…But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who
pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly
righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our
sins but the sins of all the world.
To give into temptation is to loose a battle,
It is not loosing the war.
Just remember, there is no need to give in and allow yourself to be
overcome by temptation,
God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability
to resist.
Recall Aslan growl as Lucy was just about to give into temptation,
You can be forgiven of your sin,
But you can not be excused from the consequences of it.
Let that fear, the growl of the lion,
Give you the strength you need to turn away.
“Only those who try to resist temptation know how
strong it is.” (C.S.
Lewis, Mere Christianity)
Remember when you lock on to the page of temptation,
and the temptation locks on to you,
Like Lucy you will have the power to turn the page and resist the
temptation.
It is your birth right as a child of God.
To exercise that birth right there are three things you must do.
The first two are to be watchful and pray.
Be aware of temptation and pray for strength to overcome it.
Mark 14:38 (NIV)
Watch and pray so that you will not fall
into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is
weak."
The third thing is to put on the armor of God by practicing the 7 habits of a disciple.
Bible Study, Prayer, Fellowship, Service, Worship, Obedience and Contemplation
Ephesians 6:11 (NLT)
Put on all of God’s armor so that you
will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
Its through watching and wearing that you draw closer to God.
If you are continually being tempted by something,
There are reasons for it,
There is an unmet need in your life.
Bring the temptation to God,
With His help the need will be met and the temptation
overcome.
Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT)
Our Father in heaven, may your name be
kept holy.10 May your
Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.11 Give
us today the food we need, 12 and
forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.13 And
don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.