Stairway to Heaven

Secular Entertainment for God

We are right in the middle of the season of lent. Lent is the 40-day period before Easter in which Christians spend time in prayer, fasting and almsgiving as a way for us to reflect more deeply on our own personal Christian faith and bring it more in line with where Jesus wants us to be. The 40 days is a reflection on the 40 days that Christ spent in the wilderness fasting and praying before being tempted by Satan. Normally we do not fast to the extent that He did and we sacrifice sweets or coffee or Netflix. We give up something which should be giving us more time to devote to prayer. Unfortunately, in today’s world, giving that extra time to prayer is usually not as easy as we like and it is usually given over to other tasks that we feel are important in our lives. Now don’t take this wrong, I am in no way trying to condemn anyone for anything, I am just as guilty, if not more so, of not spending as much time in prayer as I should.

            The reason that I point this out is that when we look at the ministry of Christ we see him spending a great deal of time with those who civilized society would not dare spend a second more than necessary with. His disciples were fishermen and tax collectors and zealots. He sat with a Samaritan woman which for any Jewish man was very wrong and for a Rabbi was absolutely unheard of. Jesus met people where they felt the most comfortable and then he proceeded to make them a little uncomfortable by pointing out what they were doing wrong quite plainly. However, he also showed them how following him and his teachings would lead them to a closer relationship with God the Father. It did not matter if you were Samaritan or Jew, you knew who God was.

Today I want to do something a little different, and I hope fun as well, to get our hearts and minds in line with Jesus and what he would have us do to spread the Gospel message.  We are going to look at the influence God has on the entertainment choices that we have and have had just in my lifetime. When we look at the movies that have come out just in the last 20 years we can all agree that movies like Fireproof, Courageous, and Facing the Giants have a clear Christian theme. Of course, that does not take away from ones that come directly from what we read in the Bible, such as the Ten Commandments.

When it comes to music we think of Christian artists such as Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, and Michael W Smith along with so many others. Then there are various secular artists that have sung Christian music or hymns. I love listening to some of the old country artists, like Randy Travis, Hank Williams, and Johnny Cash, that have recorded songs and hymns that we all enjoy. What most people would be surprised to know is there are some songs that are very popular that you would never guess would come from the Bible or be based on Christian and Biblical principles. What we are going to do is look at one particular song that goes along with what I read from Genesis 28 a few minutes ago.

I want to start by looking back at a devotion that I read a few weeks ago that was written by Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries. The topic for the series of devotions that he is covering this month is looking at how Christ is the central figure of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. In this particular one he referenced our reading from Genesis 28, more specifically verses 11 and 12, this is the NLT translation, “At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.” God gave Jacob a vision of a stairway to heaven. Now I will admit that one of the things I like to do is find ways to reference biblical and Christian principles using secular songs and movies so when I read this it made me think of the 1971 song by Led Zeppelin. This is where the idea for this series began.

Before we start looking at the song let’s go back to my devotion. Pastor Laurie talked about how Jacob had left his family because his mother had warned him of the vengeful anger that his older brother, Esau, had against him for not only taking his birthright but the blessing that should have been his as well since he was the first-born son. What Esau failed to remember is that he had given Jacob his birthright for a bowl of soup so obviously he did not value it as much as claimed. This sounds like what many people do even today. They get impatient and don’t want to wait any longer than they have to, to see the success they feel they want in life. So, they do just like Esau and take things into their own hands.

Back to what Jacob was witnessing in this dream; he was seeing what would be man’s future way to salvation and a place in the heavenly kingdom in the presence of God the Father. Jacob was seeing that the only stairway to heaven was through the future death and resurrection of Jesus. We read Jesus’ words in John 1:51 again this is in the NLT, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” The only way that we will get access to heaven is through the grace and forgiveness that comes from the acceptance of the gift that comes with Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross.

            I am getting off on a little bit of what my wife would call a rabbit trail but it is important for us to remember that from the very beginning of creation Jesus has been right there. Yes, God did send him down as man to complete the stairway to heaven for each of us, however, that does not mean that he was not already in heaven with God. We have looked in the past at how Genesis and the gospel of John both show that Jesus was there when God was creating everything. God guided John in writing his gospel the way he did because God knew that we would need a way to see that his son was there in the beginning with him.

Let’s get back to our topic of the day and that is the stairway that Jacob seen and how it relates to the stairway that was sung about 54 years ago. I do realize that there are many who would look at popular secular songs and not believe that there can be any Christian or biblical principles involved at all. I am not going to deny that to be the case in many of them, however, if we really wanted to I am sure we can find God’s influence on many parts of our lives that we did not even realize. Let’s look at our song for this week and see the biblical message that it shows us.

            If we jump right in with the first verse of the song it starts with:

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold And she's buying a stairway to Heaven When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for Ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh, and she's buying a stairway to Heaven

            Right off we are introduced to a lady who is very materialistic and selfish and feels that for her it does not matter if a store is closed all she has to do is say a word and they will open their door for her to buy what she wants. And as the verse closes it looks like she is wanting to buy her way into heaven. While we know that we can’t buy our way into heaven, what we see is something that was an issue even in biblical times to try to buy your way into heaven, or the good graces of God, by doing enough good things during your life. We can find numerous examples throughout the bible stating that it is not by our works that we get into heaven Jesus tells us this very thing in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He also gives us a warning of sorts in Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Jesus is telling us that the only way to get to heaven and be in the presence of God is through him. He also reminds us that it is our home in heaven that we are working towards and not for the temporary fame and riches that we get before we go home.

            The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” I would say that is about as plan as it can get. Now don’t get me wrong, Paul is not in any way saying that we should just sit back and not do anything because that is not what he is talking about either. If we look at James 2:18-20 “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” James ends with a very important question and a valuable point. Faith apart from works is useless!

            There is a line in the second verse of the song that says, “you know sometimes words have two meanings.” This is the concern that a lot of people, including Christians, have with the words of Paul and James. Paul tells us that it is not a result of works and James counters that with him showing his faith by his works. Just like the woman in the song, many people today are under the misconception that if they do enough good things in life they can in effect buy their forgiveness and get into heaven. This is one of the biggest errors that people make when it comes to what being a Christian is. What James and Paul both are talking about is that we are called to show our faith with the physical things that we do to show others the love and forgiveness that comes from a relationship with Jesus. When Christ gave us the great commission in Matthew 28, he stated in Vs. 19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” He is commanding us to do at least 3 things in these verses. We are to make disciples, baptize them, and then teach them. What Jesus is commanding us to do and what Paul and James were saying is just the opposite of the way the lady in the song was living her life. While your works or physical actions will show others the true love and forgiveness that comes from a relationship with God, it is and always will be a free gift that comes from that faith in Jesus Christ. It is not something that can be bought by us no matter how much we pay or how many good things we do in our lives. It was already bought and paid for by His death on the cross. We are called to do the work of Christ to show others what our faith gives us and by doing so we can show them the way to a relationship with God through Jesus.

            Now when we look at the third verse it seems like the life of materialism and selfishness is starting to catch up to the lady in the song. There's a feeling I get when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees. And the voices of those who stand looking. The despair and desolation that comes to those who focus on the materialism that fills this world has caused the spirit to leave in tears and bring about destruction in our lives. This is the opposite of what the lady, and many people today, are working towards. We buy the latest phone or car because we think that it makes us look powerful or successful to others. All it will end up doing is pushing us further from the path that God wants us to be on.

However, when we look at the very next verse we see the piper will lead us to reason and a new day will dawn for those who stand long and the forests will echo with laughter. When we put our faith in Jesus and live our lives as he calls on us to it will bring new life and joy to our lives. It will help to return us to the path that God wants for us. In the end of the next verse, we see this new day continuing with an important choice that needs to be made; Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on.

            There are so many people that feel as if they have done such horrible things in their past and have been on the wrong path for so long that there is no chance of them being forgiven and reaching the path that will lead them to the forgiveness from God for all their sin. The hopelessness they feel comes from the control that Satan has over their lives. They are unable to escape the despair that the bad choices has brought to their lives. We see an important truth in the last line of that verse. There is still time for everyone that has not been saved to change and have that forgiveness and relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It does not matter how far down that dark path you have went. I spent over a decade on that dark path and didn’t have any idea how to get off it until someone helped me to see the way back to the path that God had for my life.

            As we finish the song we see that our lady still wants to show how everything still turns to gold when she wants, however, there is a change in that now we finally see the recognition that life is hard and things worth having are not going to come easy to us. Jesus never promised that things will be easy for us when we have a relationship with him. In fact, he said it would be just the opposite. We will be hated and persecuted by others, including our own family. When we work together and look out for others, when we “love our neighbor as ourselves” we are promised that ultimately we will have a reward greater than we could ever imagine. But just like the lady in the song, even knowing what we know are we still trying to buy that stairway to heaven and failing to see that it is not for sale.

            I am sure that before today many of us would not have looked at stairway to heaven as a song that would be a good ministering tool to bring people into a relationship with Jesus. If we looked I am sure we could find many things that could be a tool to bring the gospel to others that we would have never thought of trying. This is another way that we can be like Jesus and meet people where they’re at and show them that no matter what they have done there is always time for them to seek and receive the forgiveness for their sins that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. This will give us a way to meet them where they are at and show them to the path and a stairway that leads to heaven.