You may hear that when you get on an elevator, usually by another passenger as they’re pressing the button for their floor. Rarely is there an operator on the elevator; it’s all automatic. The device is programed so that the operation of the doors and the starting and stopping at the floors are all controlled by the passengers. Near the elevators there may be a listing of what’s on each floor: clothing departments, medical offices, various businesses; the passenger gets to decide their destination. In hotels the rooms are usually numbered according to what floor they’re on; room 406 is on the fourth floor, and so on. The interesting thing about hotels is that although their primary purpose is to provide rooms to sleep in, they often have many other amenities to be made use of by the guests. Big hotels usually have a lot to offer by way of luxuries and distractions. They provide an environment that many of us don’t get to enjoy on a regular basis. Room service, saunas, massage therapy, roof-top dining, an indoor pool, dry cleaning service, stores pedaling high-end items; they all combine to give the guest a taste of a life they might not otherwise ever experience. On the other hand there are those guests who actually do live a privileged lifestyle and when they travel they seek to sustain that privileged status. In either case it would be a shame if those amenities weren’t made use of given the fact that what’s made available is reflected in the higher cost of staying in such a hotel. Why pay all that money if all you’re going to do is enter your room and go to sleep? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. What would be stranger still would be someone who was given a key to a room, but never made use of it or anything else provided by the hotel. Instead, they just sat down in the lobby content to have a place of refuge from the weather outside. Maybe they could catch a little sleep on one of the sofas and curb their appetite with a selection of snack foods in a little store next to the desk; then be on their way the next morning. Sounds weird doesn’t it?

The question is: are you doing that? I’m speaking to believers here…and I’m speaking to myself as well. If we’re counting ourselves Christians in what I would call a traditional, evangelical, sense, then we know that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and that His sacrifice gives us standing before Holy God. The fear of death has been alleviated because our expectation is to enter the Kingdom of God when we die. We’re not going to hell! And the knowledge of that gives us comfort as we make our way through this life. In the meantime we do life as we’re able: home, family, work, church; they all have their place in our lives to one degree or another. Is that it? Is that all there is to it? Given what I see presented in the Bible, such a posture would render us one of those hotel guests that I just described: content to reside in the hotel lobby rather than getting on the elevator and discovering what’s been made available to us through the “Good News” of our Redeemer! If we’ve repented of our sins and received God’s grace through our acknowledged faith in the Messiah’s sacrifice on the cross, then we’ve found our way into the lobby, so to speak. We’re not out in the cold anymore (by grace we have been saved) and we’ve become part of a body of believers who share a common understanding of their salvation. It’s great; we’re all milling around the lobby enjoying one another’s company, and sharing a common sense of relief to be inside out of the cold. Halleluiah!

At times the hotel manager might call people up to the desk where they’ll receive a key and some directions, and those folks will pick up their luggage—if they have any—and disappear into an elevator. Where they go is not clear and, for many in this scenario, it seems irrelevant. What’s important is that we’re all out of the cold; out of that terrible environment that so often threatens our well-being. Some are so enthusiastic about the benefits of the lobby that they actually take the time to step outside on the doorstep of the hotel and tell passersby about the benefits of the place, meaning the benefits of the hotel’s lobby, inviting people to step inside. Life in the lobby is comfortable; perhaps a little confined, but comfortable. Occasionally, a soft-toned bell might be heard. The sound isn’t obtrusive and it’s easily ignored, but it does get the attention of some. If those who are nearby turn their head they’ll see that the bell rings when the elevator door opens and, if they’re paying attention, they’ll hear someone inside ask the question: “Going up?”

What happens next will depend on who’s listening. Not everybody hears the bell or the question about ascending, and those who hear often don’t respond. Maybe their curiosity isn’t sufficient for them to investigate the elevator and its call. They’re content with what they know and enjoy in the lobby. They know what they’ve got why seek for anything more? What can possibly be provided that would be worth the effort of investigating? Is better food sufficient to entice the effort? Probably depends on the person. For some, food is more than sustenance, it’s a pastime. Why not seek out the pleasure of a restaurant with gourmet food. Others would enjoy muscling up…getting “in shape”; and for them the fitness center and the pool might draw them out of the lobby. For others it would be the comfort of a large bed with fresh linen…much better than the furnishings in the lobby. A case can be made for each one of those amenities and what they represent. In this metaphor better food involves a better understanding of the Word of God; an understanding that nourishes our soul and enables us to pass along that understanding to others. A regimen of exercise and activity suggests an effort to counteract the effects of what corrupts us. Acting upon the Word and letting it inform all our actions and activities establishes a balanced view of our circumstances and the power to overcome what works against us in this world. A comfortable bed with clean linen suggests the comfort of knowing the Lord and abiding in Him, providing the capacity to relax in His goodness and be sustained in the peace that only He can provide.

However, of all the amenities that a good hotel can provide—and they are significant—the one thing that I think overshadows everything else is a “room with a view.” It’s just a joy to be up above the ground; sleeping in the clouds so to speak; looking out at a breathtaking vista, away from the noise and hubbub that informs life on the earth. Knowing the Lord and meditating on His word provides a vista that counteracts what the world confronts us with. He gives us encouragement to withstand the affairs of life and the power that works to animate this existence. We get to see what’s out there. We can wonder at the panorama of His creation without obsessing over the impact of sin and its corruption. And in the process we can anticipate the overwhelming glory of His Kingdom to come. And the key to this discovery is expectation. We appropriate some of the glory that is to come through an expectation powered by faith, a faith that recognizes, anticipates ,and glorifies the created order of our God, however marred that may be in the here-and-now.

We need to ask ourselves: do we have a “room with a view”? Or are we just milling around together in the lobby of our Church, enjoying one another’s company, being comforted with the Word of salvation in Christ? These are good things, but is there more to be gained in our walk with the Lord? Do we enjoy the comfort of peace with God but neglect the ongoing challenge left to us by the Apostle Paul as when he addressed the Philippians saying:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the Prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect (that is: mature) have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have obtained. (Philippians 3:7-16)

That’s the challenge that the Apostle left us. He never stopped seeking to know the full impact of what has been inaugurated through the cross and resurrection. Those that follow Paul’s example have that wonderful amenity that’s been made available to us: a “room with a view.” That’s the challenge being made prompting us to answer the question: Going up?

For this reason I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth drives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Amen and Amen!