Dear Friends,
James Welch served as the Director of Religious Broadcasting for the BBC in the middle of the 20thCentury, at the time when Great Britain was at war with Germany. After reading a newly published book called The Problem of Pain written by an Oxford professor, Welch reached out to the author with the following proposal:
“I write to ask whether you would be willing to help us in our work of religious broadcasting ... the quality of thinking and depth of conviction which I find in your book ought sure to be shared with a great many other people.”
The professor eventually agreed to present four 15 minute lectures live on the BBC addressing the core beliefs of the Christian faith. Every Wednesday night in August of 1941, listeners heard C.S. Lewis presenting a series he titled "Right or Wrong: A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe." Those lectures generated an unexpected response, with letters pouring in from listeners and Lewis eventually addressing questions in subsequent programs.
If you’re curious, you can listen to Lewis giving one of his later lectures on the BBC here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=8a470d1c76&e=fbb0a4052b).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697YwoEYiHo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697YwoEYiHo)
Lewis’ lectures eventually became the basis for his classic book Mere Christianity. With more than 3.5 million copies sold and having been translated into more than 30 languages, the book is considered a modern classic.
Recently, I reviewed what I think are some of Lewis’ most profound observations from Mere Christianity. Here are my top five:
“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor — that is the only way out of our “hole”. This process of surrender — this movement full speed astern — is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.”
Lewis is exactly right. In our therapeutic culture, where the biblical doctrine of total depravity is considered by some to be harmful or abusive, Lewis understands that the Bible’s diagnosis of our condition is a necessary first step to the ultimate cure.
“What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could “be like gods” — be their own masters — invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history — money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery — the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
Again, Lewis clearly states the problem and explains what Jesus meant when He declared that He is the way, the truth and the life.
“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”
We’re all prone to think we deserve grace while our adversaries deserve justice.
“The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.”
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Praise the Lord.
Here’s Lewis on how to love others:
“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as though you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
Some of you will recognize that I left out what may be the best known of Lewis’ apologetic arguments from my list. I’ll add it as a bonus for those who are unfamiliar with what Lewis called the “trilemma” presented by Jesus’ claim to be God in human flesh:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice” Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
God has used Mere Christianity in the lives of many who read it. Chuck Colson, the advisor to Richard Nixon who was eventually convicted of crimes related to the Watergate conspiracy was convicted of his own need for a savior as he read what the book says about pride.
And Rachel Gilson tells about how God used Lewis’ book in her own conversion to Christianity.
“A few days later, I was in the room of a lapsed Catholic friend when I noticed an orange book spine bearing the name Mere Christianity. I knew nothing about C. S. Lewis or this book, but the title intrigued me—I quietly slipped it into my bag.
“I read and read. One day, as I read between classes in the library, I set it down, mid-chapter, as it dawned on me: There was a God—my heart and my head could no longer deny it. Yet along with these glorious certainties came a panicked admission of my own wickedness. I had lied and cheated; I was cruel—I had even stolen that book from a sweet, unsuspecting friend! How would I face a pure and holy God?
“But when I considered what Jesus had done—how he endured separation from God so that I could be joined—I knew I would be a fool to reject his offer. As my heart swelled with thankfulness, I clenched my eyes and prayed, surrendering myself to Jesus.”
If you’ve never read Mere Christianity, you should add it to your list of books to read before you die. Make sure you grab a highlighter as you sit down to read it, so you can start your own list of favorite insights from Lewis’ masterful work.
UPCOMING ROOTS EVENTS
Our Roots Students will wrap up their Summer Fun Days next week with a trip to the old ball game.
And the fall kickoff for student ministries is Sunday, August 10.
COMING SOON
For those who like to plan ahead, here are some key fall dates to note:
- Awana starts up on Wednesday, September 3
- Our Redeemer small groups will start up again the week of September 7
- The fall Women’s Bible Study begins the week of September 22
- The fall Women’s Retreat is the weekend of November 13-15
And there’s a lot more happening this fall. We’ll have the updated calendar ready soon!
NEW MEMBERS CLASS
One more upcoming date to note, for those of you who are interested in learning more about what it means to be a member of our church.
PREPARING YOUR HEART FOR SUNDAY
Here’s our New City Catechism questions for this Sunday.
Here’s the link to this week’s video (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=e78b74c6ee&e=fbb0a4052b) where Kevin DeYoung talks about this week’s question and answer.
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=81d4ca639c&e=fbb0a4052b)
And here is this week’s catechism song (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=21724c0e6d&e=fbb0a4052b)
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=c4a021a633&e=fbb0a4052b)
And finally, as always, here is the link (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=19d4178001&e=fbb0a4052b) that will take you to the Spotify playlist of the songs we’ll be singing together this Sunday!
For the rest of July and through August, we’ll be digging in each week to the one of the hymns found in the center of our Bibles, in the book of Psalms. We start this Sunday with a psalm that presents an outpouring of gratitude to God for the great gift of His life giving, soul stirring, convicting and liberating word. Join us as we turn to Psalm 119 and say with the psalmist “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:16).
See you in church.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bob
Resource Info
