Sermon
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
I
would like to begin this morning’s sermon by reading some verses from the book
of Genesis, Chapter 28: “Jacob came to a
certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place
and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he had a dream, and behold a ladder was
set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God
were ascending and descending on it. And
behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your
father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and
your descendants. Also your descendants
shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the
east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families
of the earth shall be blessed. Behold I
am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this
land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to
you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep
and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is
this place! This is none other than the
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’
Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put
at his head, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place
From
these verses, we are introduced to two concepts. One is the concept of tithing, or giving ten
percent of what God blesses you with back to God. Most people laugh at the concept of the tithe. Ask a person what is tithing, and they most
likely will answer, giving ten percent of what I make to the church. Actually that answer is incorrect. Because whatever we have that is good is from
God. It is more correct to say that a
tithe is giving back 10 percent to God from what He has first given us. Jacob made this offering to God out of sheer
joy and gratitude. He was so struck in
awe by the wonders of God that he made a vow to God, just give me enough bread
to eat and clothing to put on and keep me in peace, and I will give ten percent
back to you.
I
don’t want stewardship to creep into every sermon, nor do I want to make a
reputation as someone always on the make for money, but apparently there is a
correlation between how many reminders are made about stewardship and how much
is pledged. Hence a small stewardship
message in this morning’s sermon. There
are still 50 families who regularly attend church who have not filled out a
stewardship form. And if everyone was tithing,
there’d be no question as to whether the iconography would get fixed this year.
The
more important concept from this passage is the concept of a ladder going from
earth to heaven. In the Friday evening
Salutations services to the Virgin Mary, one of the many ways in which she is
described is as a ladder leading from earth to heaven, elevating people through
an act of grace. On the Fourth Sunday of
Lent, we commemorate a man called St. John of the Ladder, or St. John Climacus,
who took the concept of the ladder and wrote a book, entitled the Ladder of
Divine Ascent, in which he describes 30 rungs of a ladder that are to be
climbed if we hope to reach God.
The
ladder is the Virgin Mary. The rungs are
the virtues that carry us from earth to heaven. Christ is the ultimate example of climbing the
ladder of virtues, beginning with the first rung, renunciation of the world
(which He did at the beginning of His ministry when He was tempted by the devil
in the wilderness), and ending with Love, the last rung, the kind of love that
allowed Him to lay down His life for all of humanity.
The
Ladder of Divine Ascent is not some kind of philosophy. It’s not 30 steps to enlightenment or 30
steps to inner peace. The rungs on the
ladder are difficult, beginning with the first rung, renunciation, or breaking
with the world. Before even getting to
the lower rungs, the fundamental virtues, such as obedience and repentance,
before struggling against passions like anger and gossip, gluttony and lust,
and certainly before the higher rungs, the virtues of simplicity and humility,
discernment and stillness, there has to be a break with the world, a renouncing
of worldly attachment and declaring a desire for God.
I
had the wonderful opportunity to interact with about 25 people who are doing
the Lenten Covenant program Friday evening after services. I posed a question to them, “do you think it
is possible to be perfect for one day?”
The answer of course, is no, no matter how perfect we try to be, we
cannot be perfect even for one day. So,
an easier question, “Could you be near perfect for one day?” The answer, “yes, but it would be extremely
hard.” I referenced a TV show that
perhaps some of you have seen, called “Blind date,” where two people who have
never met before go out on a date to see if they are compatible. Throughout the video of the date, we see
white clouds over each person’s head, with what they are really thinking, even
if what they are saying or doing is quite different. For instance, a woman asks a question of her
male date, “What do you do for a living?”
He says, “I am a research scientist.”
“Fascinating” she replies, as the cloud above says, “How boring this guy
must be!”
Lots
of us go through life like this—we either don’t live in the moment, we are
constantly thinking of other things, or we take things people say and pass
harsh judgments on them. When you are
talking to someone on the phone or in person, are you often saying, “Right on,
that’s so true!” or are you trying to get some kind of angle so that whatever
answer they are giving, you can give one that’s better? Or worse, do you say one thing and think
something else, or say you’ll do something and then do something totally
different? Renunciation means to detach
from our own sense of importance and to validate someone else. It means to live in the moment, whether that
moment is difficult, mundane or joyful, rather than living at some other moment
in time.
Trying
to be perfect for a day would be very hard.
You’d have to really concentrate, and focus and pray. Every conversation, every word, every
decision would have to be carefully thought out, so that no word or even
thought would be judgmental or destructive.
Imagine trying to do that not only for one day, but for one week, one
month, one year, one lifetime. Try doing
that for a day this week—I’d be curious at the results. I’m sure that if you really tried to measure
out every word, every decision and every action and were able to do so in a
Godly way, it would affect you in a profoundly spiritual way.
How
does one climb the ladder of Divine Ascent?
Study the rungs and focus on learning some of them. Obedience, which is the fourth rung, doesn’t
seem that hard—follow the Ten Commandments and such. But break down the Commandments and realize
that gossiping is under the “thou shall not kill” commandment, because Gossip
kills another person’s self esteem. “Honor
your father and mother” pertains not only to our parents but to our brothers
and sisters, our children, our neighbors and our friends. It means honoring
people all the time, rather than challenging them or fighting them.
Repentance
is the fifth rung. Repentance and
confession are two different things.
Confession is a listing of sins and transgressions. Believe it or not, confession is easy. Just read off your list—it usually only takes
a few minutes. Repentance, however, is
what is difficult—because in confession, the sins come out once and then they
are out in the open. Repentance involves
change, and change requires daily vigilance—it’s not a one time event.
Most
sins in the world are tied to the sin of lust, the 15th rung on the
ladder, and not just in a sexual way.
Lust for power, wealth, status.
Jealousy is lust for what others have.
Lust is an almost all-consuming desire to be things we are not or to
have thing that we do not have.
I
had a conversation with someone the other day who said, “I feel more like a
do-gooder, rather than as Christian.”
What’s the difference, you may ask.
For those who are football fans, the National Football League plays a 16
game schedule. Winning 9 games and
losing 7 in a season is pretty good. It
means you won more than you lost. It is
certainly better than the teams that win 3 and lose 13. The good team is pleased with 9 wins and 7
losses. Just like the good person makes
sure they do more good than bad, or more good than their neighbor, and becomes
pleased with himself. The perfect team
shoots for 16 wins and no losses. The
true Christian doesn’t shoot for good, or even very good. He shoots for Godly, he tries for as close to
perfection, according to God’s definition, as he can get.
I’m
sure there are some
And
it’s the same thing with the genuine Christian.
It’s not about being good, or being better than your neighbor, it’s
about establishing as perfect a relationship with God as possible. And as for climbing the ladder of Divine
Ascent, I guess in sports terms 16 rungs up and 14 to go would be considered
good. But one doesn’t make it to heaven
climbing 16 rungs—he’s still 14 short.
One
climbs the ladder not when he is legalistic, but when he has a soft heart—that
is open to the things of God. One whose
heart is angry or frustrated or hateful or prideful will not make it far at all.
As an example, our obedience in itself
does not earn us anything. Rather, the
act of obedience changes us and makes us ready to receive the love which God
has already given to mankind in Christ. So
that obedience is not mere legalistic compliance, but joyful change. It was pride, disobedience and dishonesty
which cost humanity paradise. Thus it is
humility, obedience and honesty that will set the course of our return. It’s not so much about being a do-gooder, as
it is in doing Godly things. For good is
not necessarily Godly. But one who is
Godly does works that are good.
And
as for Jacob’s dream, this powerful vision of God elicited a profound
response—awe, the building of a monument, a vow of simplicity and the sacrifice
of ten percent of all that he had. We,
too, have been presented with a powerful vision of God—a beautiful temple in
which to worship, incredible witness of the saints, the Virgin Mary who is
herself the ladder from earth to heaven, the saving work of Christ who
descended the ladder and showed us the virtuous life, obedient to God even unto
death, who ascended in glory following His Resurrection, and who descends upon
us continually in prayer and in worship.
And yet, what kind of response does this elicit? What’s in the cloud over your head at this
moment? Thoughts of basketball? Talking
to your neighbor? Checking out the
bulletin? Or making your plan for which
rung of the ladder you are going to attack this week? Jacob joyfully offered ten percent of himself
to God. How much are you willing to
offer? The first-fruits? The left-overs? And that’s not just in terms of
stewardship. How about prayer? Is that the first thing you do in the
morning? Do you do it early in the day
when you are awake and sharp? Or does it
get relegated to bedtime when you can barely get out one prayer without falling
asleep. How about worship? Every Sunday?
Once a month? Only at Holy
Week? If I’ve got nothing else important
going on?
We
have passed the half-way point of Lent.
At the end of the Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus began to prepare His
disciples for what lay ahead—the journey to