When Stanley Kubrick made the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, he guessed that by this time we would be flitting back and forth in outer space, visiting other planets and seeing things never before seen by human beings. The movie suggested that those who would be alive in the year 2001 would go on an odyssey of exploration more fantastic than ever imagined.
Kubrick was wrong, and yet he was right in another way. Here it is 2001, and though we’ve had equipment out there scouting around, looking for signs of life, though we’ve sent bits and pieces so far out that it will take years for them to arrive at their destinations, we have yet to put human beings on other planets. We and are a mighty long way from selling tickets for regular trips to Mars. There is no shuttle service to the solar system, although I understand the Russians want to sell tickets to the next space shuttle mission. Anybody here ready to pay thousands of dollars for a four-month stay in outer space? Be sure to send in your tithe before you go! No, we haven’t gone on the outer space odyssey that the movie “2001” imagined.
And yet we do these days go on another kind of journey. We do take trips of a different kind. Instead of a trek into outer space, we can go on an inner space odyssey. We can explore the inner reaches of the human heart. We can examine what makes us tick. I suggest to you that that is a venture worthy of anybody’s time, anybody’s investment. In 2001: An Inner Space Odyssey.
A thousand years ago the great achievement of that age was to build an immense cathedral. All over Europe they planted soaring churches whose towers seemed to pierce the skies. Magnificent structures with steeples like fingers pointing to the heavens. Those who in the year 1001 wanted to point people toward a fantastic voyage did so by pointing to heaven with their architecture.
But then the walls of these cathedrals they did something more. On the walls they put magnificent windows of stained glass. High on the upper tiers they would picture the great saints of the Christian faith. They would tell in glass the stories of those who had achieved great things spiritually. There’s a good example here in Washington that many of you have seen. The First Baptist Church of Washington at 16th and O Streets has a lower level of windows, with Biblical scenes and with pictures of Christian history. But if you climb the stairs and go to the balcony, up at the top of the steps, you will see the pictures of some of the great Christians of the past – of Martin Luther and John Wesley and Helen Montgomery (the first woman to translate the Bible). They have saints at the top of the stairway. They even have a window showing a nondescript fellow in a blue suit and a 1950’s hat, carrying a bureaucrat’s brief case, and he is labeled, “The Average Man”. Right up there at the end of the stairway to heaven, the average person, ordinary, everyday, nothing special. But among the saints.
When Jesus says, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”, He is talking about this sort of person. This average guy, this you-and-me, who is capable of an inner space odyssey that takes him or her up the stairway to heaven. Incredible? Not if you take it one step at a time. Every stairway has to be taken one step at a time. The stairway to heaven is no exception. Did you hear about the time Dave Yarborough got lost driving his cab around DC? His fare wanted to go to the Kennedy Center, but Dave couldn’t find it; so he pulled over to the curb and asked the first person he saw, “How do you get to the Kennedy Center?” The guy on the street answered, “Practice, man, practice.”
How do you get to be perfect? Practice. How do you climb the stairway to heaven? One step at a time. Jesus will show you the steps.
Ia
First, you start with a step called humility. You start by acknowledging that you are at the bottom of the stairs and haven’t gone anywhere at all. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Poverty in spirit, humility, that’s the first rung on the stairs. If you don’t start there, you’ll never get to the kingdom of heaven. If you go off on some other tack, you will never arrive. And so you start with humility. You start by acknowledging that out of our human capacities alone we can achieve nothing at all. The kingdom of heaven is not about attainments, it’s not about degrees, it’s not about accomplishments. It is instead all about humility, it is all about understanding that for us to get anywhere we need help. We need help. The very first issue we must confront if we expect to move toward wholeness is the illusion that we can pull ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps.
I don’t know about you, but I know that I fill up my own heart with “oughts” and “shoulds” and “musts”. There’s something in my personality that makes me think that whatever I put my mind to doing, I can do. Folks, as long as I let that take me over, I won’t even get started on the stairway to heaven. I’ve stumbled at the first step! The absolute prerequisite for anybody who wants to grow into wholeness is humility, recognizing that we cannot, on our own, make ourselves be better. We cannot.
Humility. . “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
b
Which leads us to the second step on the stairway to heaven. The second step is grief. The second step is facing a deeper truth about ourselves. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” To grieve over our own spiritual condition, that’s a crucial step. It’s a step lots of us want to skip. We pass over this sin thing lightly, We say, “Oh well, I’m only human. You can’t expect me to be perfect.” And that’s true; but we are trying to pass over our brokenness without letting it sink in just how awesome sin really is. We don’t want to focus on the awful truth that sin is not just doing wrong things. Sin is a slap in the face of God. Sin is a wound to the heart of God. Sin crucifies Christ. That’s not pleasant, and we’d like to skip past that. But we cannot. We must not. We must feel something profound about the awful sinfulness of sin. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Only those who grieve and feel their lostness will find comfort. That’s the second step on the stairway to heaven. First humility, then grief.
c
The third step is openness. The willingness to receive what God has to give. The third step on the stairway to heaven is an open and a grateful heart that knows that if anything is to be done in our lives, God will be the one who will do it. Openness to receive the gifts of God. Jesus says it, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” You cannot truly receive what God wants to give you unless you bring Him a receptive heart. God does not force Himself on anyone. God does not give His gifts to those who do not want them.
When will I ever learn? Someone called me and said, “I have something I want to share with you. I have a gift to give you. May I come and see you?” And so, gullible me, I went out of my way to set up an appointment for this person. If she had something to give, free of charge, of course I wanted it. What was it? I didn’t know. Free is free is free, right? Except that five minutes into our conversation I realized that what she wanted to “give” me was a sales pitch! It was a gift I didn’t want to receive! And as she talked on about this supposed gift, I could feel myself tensing up. I could feel the muscles in my jaw getting tight. I saw myself looking at the clock. I noticed my body language, as I began to turn away from her and stare at the wall. I found out I did not want her so-called gift!
Some of us are like that with the Lord. He wants to give us the gift of a disciplined life, but we don’t want it. He wants to give us a mind centered on Him, but we turn away. And guess what? If we don’t want what God has to give, He won’t force it on us. Be as humble and as empty as you like. Regret all you wish all your sins. But you are going nowhere on the stairway to heaven if you are not willing to receive what God wants to give you. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Openness. That’s the third step on the stairway to heaven.
d
Where are we now? Humility, grief, openness. We are climbing the stairway to heaven. But our steps have been pretty small. They haven’t gotten us far off the ground yet. Humility, grief, openness, those are good, but limited. Now, however, the next step is a big one. The next step is desire, it is passion, it is a driving wish to become something more than we are now. The fourth step on the stairway to heaven is that powerful feeling that there is something better out there for us.. That life can’t be just like it’s always been. Something’s going to change. Desire.
This is a crucial step on the stairway to heaven. This is the one that separates the men from the boys, this is the one that takes you somewhere. Listen to how Jesus spoke of this passion to change, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Hunger and thirst – He doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who would like a little taste of goodness every now and again.” He says “Blessed are those who are hungry for righteousness” – who want a godly way of life so bad they can taste it. He doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who sip slightly the syrup of sweetness.” He says “blessed are those who thirst for righteousness” – those who want to drink life in great gulps, those who can never get enough! Blessed are those who want all there is of the Christian life! Blessed are those who, when the Sunday service is done, are not counting the minutes, but who want more! Blessed are those who, when the thirty seconds of rote thanksgiving are said before a meal, find themselves hungry for a sweet hour of prayer! Blessed are those who want more of the Scriptures than the 23rd Psalm and John 3:16! Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for more!
Oh, I covet for you the ability to step on the step of passion. The willingness to stir up a strong desire for the things of the Lord. Not a mere taste, but a banquet. Not a mere sip, but a drowning in the things of the spirit. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
II
Well, I see we are near the top of the ladder now. That’s it, right? We’ve climbed the stairway to heaven. We’ve got it made. Are we perfect and complete?
Friends, as I read these eight sayings of Jesus, these beatitudes, the first four are like climbing up stairs. They take us higher and higher into fellowship with Christ. And that’s good. That’s fine. But that’s not all there is. You can’t live life up there. You can’t stay in the stratosphere all the time. Nobody can live life perched on the top of a ladder. You have to come back down. You have to re-enter the real world. And so watch how Jesus gets us started on re-entry. He’s going to take us back down the stairway to heaven.
a
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” Once we get up on our spiritual highs, we need to look around at the real world. We need to see how others are living. We need to see their pain and their issues, and we need to find compassion for them. Compassion.
There’s an awful lot of halfway religion around. Halfway religion climbs up into the spiritual blessings that God has for us, but then doesn’t want to see the real world. Halfway religion doesn’t want to descend from the mountain of exaltation into the valley of despair. Halfway religion doesn’t want to get its hands dirty with real people. There’s a kind of religion that forgets that once we too were lost and without hope in the world. When we reach the top of the ladder, when we get up to where we’ve grabbed our spiritual goodies, then it’s time to step back down, and see the world as it really is, and feel some compassion.
Compassion isn’t contempt. Compassion isn’t disrespect. Compassion isn’t pity. Compassion is just the desire to share what God has given with others who need it. One theologian describes compassion as one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
b
Now at home I have a ladder that is really tricky. It’s tricky because there is a missing rung. On the way up, that missing rung is no problem, because I can see the gap in front of me, and I can give one foot a super boost and skip that gap. No problem.
But more than once I’ve gotten a rude shock on the way down! Call it a senior moment, call it careless, call it what you will, but when I am backing down that ladder, I forget that missing rung and I put my foot down on a whole lot of nothing! Let me tell you, your pastor dangling from a gutter twenty feet in the air is not a pretty sight!
So here’s a step we sometimes miss, on our way back down the stairway to heaven. Here’s a step we forget about, but it’s dangerous to do so. This step is motivation. This step is understanding what we really want. It’s knowing what we really want out of life. You see, some of us pursue spiritual things because we want others to think highly of us. And we get involved with other people’s needs because we want them to approve us and applaud us. Oh, I tell you, when I do something for somebody, and they don’t even say thank you, I get bent out of shape. I really do. I want to be approved by others. I enjoy the praise of others.
But that’s where I fall through that missing rung. That’s where I have trouble. Because Jesus asks me about my motives. He asks me to get rid of all the selfish stuff that makes me do what I do. What does He say? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Somebody has penned a parody of the Beatitudes. I saw it on a poster once. It said, “Blessed are those who go around in circles, for they shall be called “big wheels.” If all you want is to be busy and to look good, to get approval, you can have that. But that’s not Jesus’ way. Happy are those who have dealt with their motives, for they won’t fall off the ladder!
c
All right. Work with me now. We’ve climbed up the stairway to heaven, we’ve seen how each spiritual discipline builds on the other. First humility, then grief, then openness, then a desire for God’s gifts. Those bring us into fellowship with Christ.
Now we’ve started back down the stairway, because we knew we had to deal with the real world. We looked around and saw the needs of others and felt compassion. We purified our own motives. Now we are almost back down all the way, and it’s time to roll up our sleeves and go to work. It’s time to get something done for others – not just for ourselves, but for others. We have to remember that spirituality is not something you develop in a vacuum. Spirituality has to do with what you for others.
Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” The peacemakers. Who are they? Not just the peace-filled, who take life easy. And not even just the peacekeepers, who try to keep everybody happy. But the blessed are the peacemakers, who wade into the mess and make a difference. The peacemakers, who see that families go into conflict, but who get involved to bring about reconciliation. The peacemakers, who see that young people sometimes go afoul of the law, but get involved to turn them around. The peacemakers, who see that children are not getting a chance for a first-rate education, but get involved to create opportunities. The peacemakers, who see that there are poor people and disadvantaged people and unsaved people out there, and who do something to reach them. Blessed are the peacemakers, who come down off the ladder and wade into harsh human reality, and make a difference. James says, “be doers of the word and not hearers only”. There is a step on the stairway to heaven for doing God’s will.
d
Stairways to heaven take us up to the high places where we can fellowship with God. But stairways to heaven take us back down here where God is at work. Down here is where heaven really is. The cathedral-builders didn’t quite get it right, with those steeple fingers pointing up. That’s not the only place where God is – up. The lasting message of the Christian faith is that God is right down here with us, enduring what we have to endure, facing what we have to face. God in Jesus Christ is right here alongside us, every step of the way. And so if it gets rough out there – if they don’t understand you and they criticize you – rejoice. Be glad! If the folks at the office and the kids in the school cafeteria think you are crazy because you care about these things, rejoice. They did the same thing to Jesus. What a blessing to be treated the same way they treated Jesus!
When even the church members don’t get it and want to retreat into the same old same old – when even the folks next to you on the pew think you are some kind of crazy fanatic because you want to touch hurting lives, well, hallelujah for that! When you get criticized, it means you’re getting somewhere! When you take some heat, it means you’ve done something right!
I can’t improve on the words of the Lord Himself, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” You’ve climbed the stairway to heaven.
And now look. We are back where we started. We are all the way back into the real world. The way of the cross leads home. It may be tough, but what does it matter? The way of the cross leads home. “They climbed the steep ascent of heaven, through peril, toil, and pain. Oh God, to us may grace be given to follow in their train.”
