This is the time of year when those of us who live in the northern states have just about had it with winter. We’re ready for Spring to make her delightful return appearance. If you want an idea of when that should be, my calendar reads that Monday the 20th of March is officially when the change occurs.
How awful if we couldn’t count on the promise of spring. How sad if the snows continued on into April, May, June and July. If we were still wearing heavy jackets and scarves and gloves
and boots well into the middle of August. If there were no growing season. No baseball, only hockey!
Those of you who saw the movie “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” got a feel for what that would be like. Maybe you read the book. Millions have. C. S. Lewis makes matters worse when he describes the land of Narnia as a place where it was always winter, and never Christmas. So even the celebration of this special season of great joy and wonder had been taken away. And when it would be warm again in Narnia, no one really knew.
What’s interesting to me is how adaptable human beings are. They can get accustomed to anything if they have to – even to winter! People in the south wonder why we tolerate sub zero temperatures, repeatedly clear driveways of knee-deep snow, endure ice storms that leave tens of thousands without electricity, tolerate the wear-and-tear of winter driving on our automobiles, and maintain different wardrobes depending on the season at hand.
Spiritually speaking, however, all of us are agreed that winter - icy, frigid, raw, bleak winter - is not the spiritual idea for which we aspire. Unfortunately, however, it’s where we sometimes find ourselves, and characteristically people learn to adapt.
Do you remember Mr. Tumnus in the Lewis story? He’s a most interesting character . Actually he’s a faun who appears early on and then eventually reappears again at the end of the book. He’s the one who meets Lucy, the first of the four children to enter Narnia through the magical wardrobe.
He eventually breaks down and weeps uncontrollably. Why this emotional outburst? It’s because he’s terribly divided about what’s happening. He truly likes the young girl, but what he hasn’t told her is that he has made an agreement with the White Witch to betray any sons or daughters of Adam he might meet. So now what will he do?
Actually, it’s hard to tell what to think of Mr. Tumnus. You aren’t sure which side he’s really on. He obviously has a tender conscience and that’s good, but he’s also crossed a line and aligned himself with the evil powers-that-be. It’s like he has a foot (or a hoof) in both camps.
My assumption is that there are a lot of people like Mr. Tumnus in the church. They’re friendly and helpful. They make a good impression and keep busy, busy, busy. I mean they’re not ogres or snarling wolves or hideous hags or great poisonous plants. But then they certainly don’t talk much about the great lion either. More than that, they seem to have worked out an arrangement whereby having crossed over into the kingdom of light, they also have a foot that’s inching back, touching, standing, even walking in places where it really shouldn’t be.
If I explain it a different way, Mr. Tumnus type people have adapted to winter living, and view it pretty much as normal. Life under the White Witch isn’t really all that bad once you get used to it, and that deep longing for the promise of springtime is not where they are anymore in their hearts. If the truth were known, they wonder sometimes whether there really is such a season. Sure the old timers talk about it, but people tend to get sentimental, maudlin, dreamy as they get closer to passing on.
We are going to look at some ways that we get used to the world. Before experiencing first-hand the delights of spiritual springtime, you must recognize winter conditions for what they are. Preaching about spiritual springtime is little more than an exercise in futility if no one listening recognizes the winter condition of his or her heart.
So we are going to follow the prophet Jeremiah this morning who walks the streets looking for one just and true person. A person who is more afraid of God than the powers of evil. And I believe that God is going to touch our hearts and bring us closer as we meditate on Jeremiah’s words coming up.
A hundred and fifty to two hundred years ago, preachers would have labeled nice Mr . Tumnus, the faun in Narnia as backslidden. This faun wanted to help Lucy and still was afraid of the power of the Witch. I’m thinking of a minister like Charles Finney. He was the Billy Graham of the first half of the 1800’s.
Finney defined backsliding in various ways. In a word picture it was a believer
leaving his or her first love. His more standard definition was “a Christian falling back under the control of a self-pleasing spirit”. When push comes to shove, not Christ
-pleasing but putting your own desires first. In this condition, certain of the forms of 
religion are maintained such as church attendance, prayer at meals, tithing, and so on, but the joy of a close relationship with God is no longer there.
According to him, other indications of backsliding or adjusting to living in spiritual wintertime conditions include: A lack of interest in God’s word. Finney writes, “Perhaps nothing more conclusively proves that a professing Christian has a backslidden heart, than his losing interest in the Bible. There is no faith to accept its promises, but conviction enough left to dread its threatenings. In general the backslider in heart is apathetic as to the Bible. Therefore it is neglected.”
We live at a time when Christians are generally not interested in the Bible. I did not choose this passage today because I only look for justice passages. But as I read the whole chapter, I realized again that God was searching Israel for people who would stand up and say something in the middle of wickedness.
This week a new set of photos has been released on the torture, sexual sadism, and murders of Iraqis held by Americans. The United Nations has demanded that we stop torturing prisoners. And the Christian church in America managed to keep going and generally not respond at all. I got no letter from a bishop ordering me to lead you in protest today. There was no Charles Finney to get on television and warn that our nation is offending the image of God by disrespecting human life.
Friends, there are protests as we speak by Muslims over a cartoon in a newspaper. People died in riots yesterday. I do not admire or accept the violence, but I respect the passion to follow God. The scriptures here say that God searched for one person who acts justly and seeks truth. Think of the difference if Christians in America put aside the self interest of apathy, and accepted the passion for God.
Another, a want of interest in secret prayer. Finney again, “If you feel disinclined to pray, if your secret devotions are short, or you are easily induced to neglect them, or if your thoughts, affections and emotions wander, you may know that you are a backslider at heart.” He’s very direct, isn’t he?
I cannot stand before you and say that I am proud of my own prayer life. There are some natural pray – ers and there are unnatural pray ers. I am one of the unnatural ones. On good days, I am too busy to pray. On slow days, I am too bored to pray. I am faithful in prayer when Im in trouble. And then my prayer is, ‘Lord, why am I in trouble?’
I am so interested in the Prayer Garden personally because I want our church to do more to stimulate me to prayer. If that garden motivates us to have more prayer services, and we each pray an extra hour this year, your gifts will be well invested.
Again, with Finney, a symptom is no interest in the conversion of souls. “There is nothing in which a loving heart takes more interest than in the conversion of souls”, he writes.
Allow me to continue, A self-indulgent spirit. By self-indulgent, Finney writes, “I mean a disposition to gratify the appetites and passions of the flesh and of the mind.” In this he includes lust and also food. “More persons are ensnared by their tables than the church is aware of.” are his words. We are thinking about addiction today. And it is sort of fun to think about addictions we don’t have.
But friends, I spend time with people who eat what they should not. I struggle with my own need to exercise more. We would need less medical care if we controlled our tables more. And Part D of Medicare makes sure you get less medical care so that you can do more for yourself.
“backslidden” doesn’t necessarily mean a believer is far, far from God. Finney said it’s a loss of that first love relationship, remember? It’s a Christian falling back under the control of self-pleasing, putting personal desires ahead of Godly ones. Maintaining the forms of Christianity while having lost the joy of a truly close relationship with the Lord. Religious bondage – doing your duty out of obligation. Winter, but never Christmas, if you please.
Ezekiel, in chapter 37 about the vision in the valley of the dry bones, proclaims the word of the Lord, “I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them.”
my guess is that some of you here have been supernaturally challenged to entertain a new thought. This is a possibility you hadn’t really wrestled with prior to this very hour. Is there a chance that you are a believer who is backslidden? If that’s too strong a word, or one that sounds offensive, ask yourself whether you are a Mr. Tumnus. Generally speaking, you’re a nice person, but someone who’s secretly agreed to playing both sides against the middle. You have a foot in both camps – Is the first love there anymore? Or like a relationship that’s gone stale, is it possible you don’t delight in the Lord’s presence as you once did?
The purpose of message one in this series is simply to help you get a handle on where you are. It’s not meant to be condemning or humiliating or intimidating. Rather, it’s only to be heard as a reality check.
That’s why God sent the prophets to Israel – to make the people cognizant of the dangerous position they were in. We need to come back to God and let grace wash over us and expect new change. New life in Christ means change. Usually we hope that the changes will just make us more presentable. But God’s heart is to see you made into a person who person who acts justly and seeks truth. Your faithful life will have more impact than you possibly imagine. At the end of the first of the Narnia books, Mr. Tumnus is one of those who has been restored. His journey was not an easy one, but it ended well, thanks to the great lion. And may the same be said of all of us!
