2024-10-13 The Narrow Gate

Well, we are continuing our final series from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 this morning. / / Kingdom Ambassadors. Last week we looked at a couple things. First, why we would call this series Kingdom Ambassadors, or greater really, why would we consider the sermon on the mount as something that points us toward that end? Why equate our Christianity, our following of Jesus, living as he laid out for us in these chapters, why equate that to a job title, or a mission like being an ambassador for the kingdom of God on Christ’s behalf?

The most obvious reasons is that I think quite strongly this is exactly what Scripture is telling us.

We are not just living this way for ourselves, but we are living this way as a representative of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be in plain and full view of the world so that it might help bring people to a place of repentance and redemption in Christ Jesus.

I certainly didn’t intend for Paul’s encouragement in 2 Corinthians about being ambassadors to be such an integral part of this year’s topic, but it just keeps coming up as I look at what God has invited us into. Of course we’ve focused on 2 Corinthians 5:20, / / So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

But listen to what he says just a bit before this, as he’s setting this up. He says in vs 11, 14-15, / / Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too… Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

/ / Because we understand our fearful responsibility…

What’s our fearful responsibility? / / So we are Christ’s ambassadors…

And is that for everyone? Or is he talking primarily about those who we would say have been, “called to the ministry”? Is there a distinction here, or does every Christian need to take their life in Christ this seriously? That’s the question, isn’t it? Is there place for what we might think of as ‘lay christians’, or, just an everyday Christian, an “I believe in Jesus and I’m saved, Christian.”

And I think that is a fair question. I also think the answer is…not complicated, but maybe needs a bit of explaining.

Christian Ministry, or working for a church, or being employed in some capacity as a ‘christian worker’ should not determine the life and representation of the Christian any differently than the person who is not called to the same life.

What do I mean by that? Listen to what Paul says that we just read. / / Christ’s love controls us. All of us? or just the ministers? Well, he goes on to say. / / Since we believe that Christ died for ALL, we also believe that we have ALL died to our old life. He died for EVERYONE so that those who receive his new life no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

There is no distinction, between vocations being what we might call sacred or not. There’s no distinction between any sort of ‘level of christian’. He simply says, Christ died for ALL, therefore, ALL who have received that life have died to their old life. Which means we have received new life in Christ. He says that in verse 17, / / This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

So, if Christ died for all, and all who have received Christ have received new life, then he takes all of that and says that those who receive this new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ…

And what does that look like? Well, he sums it up by calling us Ambassadors. It looks like the Sermon on the Mount. It looks like the Golden Rule that we looked at last week.

The Christian life looks like something.

The greatest witness you have is not the words you use, it’s the life you live.

Now, don’t take that out of context, the words you use are vitally important. And there will come a time to use them. But no one will listen to your words if your life doesn’t reflect what you have to say.

On a consistent basis, the life you display will be what convinces people of the words you speak.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

That’s a direct reference to the life you live more than the information you obtain.

Romans 12:1-2 says, / / I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

That points to three things directly.

/ / Choosing to be different by not doing.

We make a personal choice to no longer live the way the world lives. We actively reject sin. We intentionally reject living a way that is contrary to God’s word.

/ / Choosing to be different by doing.

It’s not enough to just not do wrong, but the key to not doing what is wrong is actually choosing to do what is right. I’ve said this before. The way to overcome any form of sin, and think of sin here as “missing the mark”, is not to try really hard to not sin, but to give your life over to the pursuit of what is right.

Choosing to live a healthy life isn’t JUST denying what is unhealthy, although that is obviously important. But when you give your body what it actually needs, then it runs optimally and you begin to crave less and less the way that was hurting you. Not saying it becomes easy all the time, but without pursuing what is right, trying to not do what is wrong is next to impossible.

/ / Asking, Inviting & Allowing God to transform you

The third part is letting God do what only God can do in your life.

To be truly different requires allowing God to do something that you cant’ do.

Y’all know I love the serenity prayer…

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed

Courage to change the things which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen

/ / There are things we cannot do.

There are things we should not do.

There are things we must do.

And the more I follow the way of Christ, living to the best of my ability in this place of being a living and holy sacrifice toward God, I find He does more and more in my life that I cannot explain.

He is good. He is faithful. He is the transforming, wonder working, miracle producing God that we sing about. And even though He does not want us to continue on in our own hurt and pain, He is kind enough and respecting enough to allow us the honor and privilege of approaching Him for our healing.

He is God almighty, yet he says, “come…”

This is the essence of what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 5.

Do you see the great work Christ did for you?

He has given you new life when you believed.

Shouldn’t we use that life to live for him?

Don’t we owe him that much?

So, we are ambassadors. Not as a job, but as a reality. We are the day in, day out, followers of Jesus. It’s not something that gets switched on or off. It’s not something that comes and goes. It’s something we receive and decide on a daily basis to live in.

It might sound harsh to say, but an ambassador represents their nation whether they are doing a good job or not.

We see that every time a Christian leader fails. What does the world do? What do those who are frustrated with the church and with Christians often say? “See, I told you… they’re all the same.”

When a ministry is found out to having not been faithful with finances, it sows doubt inside and outside the church on the faithfulness of any church with money. People are less likely to give when they think an institution is not trustworthy, and the reality is that people tend to equate any church to any other church.

We’re seeing that right now. There’s a prominent ministry in Texas that is being sued right now by former members over the use of money they had given as tithes and offerings. why? Because it came to the light that the pastor had not been faithful in certain areas of his life, so people started scrutinizing the finances, and it appeared that they were not being fully honest with where money was going and it has caused a big stir.

I’m not saying that’s bad. As a church, as a non-profit, as a ministry representing God, that says it is a joy to give to the Lord and we are the recipients of that joyful giving, we better do the best possible job we can at ensuring that money is used for the things of the Lord. And that means everything from providing a place here to worship in, and looking after those who make possible the function and purpose of the church.

The basic financial principle behind giving and the original Old Testament tithe was to ensure that God would always have a place to be worshipped, that the people responsible for looking after that place and the function of worship would be looked after without having to concern themselves with two jobs. Then, on top of that people gave so that the orphans, widows and people who had fallen on hard times could receive help when needed. And that was all based on a community of God’s people working together and supporting that work.

It’s really no different now. This place only functions if we have money for it to function. We have bills like any other business, like any other entity. We have responsibilities, and we can’t get things done here without the finances to do it. That’s just a simple reality. But because we don’t live under the Old Testament law, we don’t demand that people tithe. It’s not a right of passage, or connected to salvation, or connected to be a member of the church, the global church, the body of Christ.

But when things go wrong somewhere else, at another church, what happens? It sows doubt into the hearts of people whether the church as a whole is trustworthy.

Take that with any topic. Money, leadership abuse, moral failure, misconduct. You name it, if the word church, or Christian, is attached to it, it can cause problems.

Why? Because we are meant to be a NEW people, living in NEW life, not unto our own desires, but to live for Christ, being ambassadors living a certain way so that when we say, “Come back to God!” people actually say, “That sounds good!”

I’ve read it a couple times so I won’t read it again, but if you study Church history you’ll see that the initial draw to the church was by the lifestyle represented from the believers. People saw that these “christians” were choosing NOT to engage in the corrupt and morally reprehensible ways of the world. They were different.

Exactly as Paul says in Romans 12, Do not be conformed to the behavior and customs of this world.

That simply means, Don’t live like the world.

You are new creation, a new life, you have a new purpose. It is to live for Christ!

So, last week we looked at the Golden Rule, which connected to the Greatest commandment in it’s fulfillment of the law and prophets. Matthew 7:12, / / “So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

And today we’re going to look at the next two verses, Matthew 7:13-14, which say:

/ / “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Now, over the next four weeks we’re going to look at this and the following two shorter sections of scripture that some commentators actually connect all together as warning signs along this journey of the kingdom.

What we just read is called / / the Narrow Gate. The warning seems pretty clear, / / life is found in difficulty, not ease.

The second section, which, for sake of time we won’t read until next week, is / / A Tree and Its Fruit, and is about the fruitfulness of someone’s life, that a tree bears fruit based on how well connected it is to the roots. The implication there again, quite straight forward, Jesus will continue this theme throughout his teaching, / / to live in the kingdom you must stay connected to the vine. And he says clearly, He is the vine, we are the branches. We’ll actually spend two weeks on that particular section.

And then the third section is this strange little story about those who come to the end of this age, stand before the judgment seat of God and Jesus says, / / “I never knew you…” when they are quite convinced, because they worked hard for the ‘kingdom’ that they would be praised upon arrival in eternity. And the idea here is it’s not all about works. In fact, / / you can work hard for the kingdom of God and miss it entirely.

And we’ll get to all of these over the next few weeks. But N.T. Wright says in his commentary, / / “Jesus ends the great Sermon on the Mount with a set of warning signs. If you’ve come this far with him, you need to know it’s not just a matter of holding on to the steering wheel and hoping for the best. You need to concentrate, to take note of danger, to realize that you can’t presume on anything. You’ve got to keep your wits about you.

This passage (speaking of Matthew 7:13-23), has three of these warnings, coming in quick succession like road-signs on a motorway. Make sure you get through the gate - it’s not very wide! Watch out for people who will lead you off the road! Don’t think that because you’ve been tagging along with the other that you’ll get there in the end! These are sharp and worrying. We need to take them seriously.”

So here we are, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus giving these sharp warnings to his followers that the life of the kingdom is going to be one that is continually difficult. That choices must be made on a continual basis. That you don’t just get to coast in without a care in the world.

And why? Why does Jesus have to do this?

Because of what He says in John 18:36, that I think we might have read last week, right? Answering Pilate, the governor, when he’s questioned before being crucified, Jesus says, / / “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

We’ve talked about this before. Jesus didn’t come to overthrow Rome and set up His Kingdom here on earth in some sort of small capacity and then slowly take over the rest of the world as a conquering hero. And when you study church history, there is a very mixed repercussion from the church’s connection to government and political systems. From the time Jesus leaves the earth and for nearly 300 years the early church grew through the most horrendous adversity. Terrible persecution, a fair amount of Martyrdom. And it was the life of the Christian, as I mentioned earlier, that was so contrary to that of the normal person in that pagan culture that drew people to it.

Then in the year 306 Constantine becomes emperor of the Roman world and becomes a Christian himself. The persecution stopped. The killing stopped. The church was not only allowed, but soon enforced as the primary religion of the Roman Empire. Is that a good thing? I don’t think anyone is going to argue against less persecution. But, Christianity in many ways ended up looking more like humanity trying to make the kingdom of God, that Jesus said was not of this world the kingdom of this world. It didn’t take long before using military power to enforce Christian conversion wasn’t something that was looked down on, but was actually encouraged. That people who opposed Christianity, or those who believed and taught things contrary to Christianity were crushed under military power.

Now, that’s a big rabbit hole we don’t have time to to go down, so we’ll leave it there, but I’ll caution all of us as we are coming to the end of this current political season, as Jesus is saying here in Matthew 7, that it is not political power that will champion the kingdom of God. It is not what becomes popular, enforced, or endorsed by the kings of this world, but it is the narrow road, the fruit of our lives and the pursuit of HIM that matters.

We already said it. / / Your life in pursuit of Jesus Christ will be the witness that draws people to follow Jesus with you.

In Acts 1:8, Luke’s recording of the final moments of Jesus on the earth before he ascends to heaven, Jesus says to his apostles, / / “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

That word, / / “witnesses”… guess what word it is? it’s the greek word / / martys… Not a big leap here, but can you guess what english word we get from that as well? / / Martyr…

/ / You will be my martyrs…those who give their lives for this.

Am I saying we all need to die for the gospel. No, that’s not what I’m saying, even though almost everyone who was standing there hearing that statement did in fact get killed for their faith. But we read Romans 12, what does Paul say, / / …present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

To echo again the words of N.T. Wright in what it means to live by the way of the Sermon on the Mount, following Jesus, / / “These [warnings] are sharp and worrying. We need to take them seriously.”

We live in a world that does not embrace the authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ and it is precisely because you walk into a room that the Kingdom of God is present. Why? Because you are an ambassador of that kingdom. It is lived and worked through you.

Alright, so, Matthew 7:13-14, / / “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

/ / 1. Enter By The Narrow Gate

First of all, this “narrow gate” wouldn’t have been something that seemed weird to say for people listening to Jesus. Jerusalem, and most cities for that matter, had multiple styles of gates into the city. Some of those gates had wide roadways so that even now today the gate is still there and cars can drive through. Others had steep, narrow steps that only a pedestrian, someone walking, could get up to and through. Some wide enough for several people to walk side by side through, while others narrow enough that you had to wait your turn and enter by yourself and couldn’t bring anything with you.

And I would say this is a picture illustration of a teaching of Jesus later in his ministry in Matthew 16:24. / / “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”

So, what Jesus is saying here is that the narrow gate is NOT the path of least resistance, but instead is the path of MOST resistance.

In most areas of our lives we are taught to seek out the path of LEAST resistance, not the path of MOST resistance!

Why would we want to take that?

And you can take this singular thought from vs 13-14 and apply it to so many different areas of our lives, but most importantly, looking at it in context, what has and what is Jesus talking about? He’s talking about the Kingdom of God, right?

And what has he just finished saying that we looked at last week? / / “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Narrow your life.

Narrow your thinking.

Narrow your room for offense and how you treat other people.

Only do them good.

Only do right by them.

Get rid of everything else.

This is the way of the kingdom.

Think about it. We’re right at the end of this big section, this big sermon, and this is a visual of the entire Sermon on the Mount. Everything Jesus has said is the narrow gate. Look at every series we’ve gone through this year as we travel through the Sermon on the Mount.

/ / The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful and pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for the sake of Christ.

That’s living a certain way!

/ / You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world!

/ / You have heard it said…,

you shall not murder, but I say don’t even be angry with anyone!

don’t commit adultery, but I say, don’t even lust after someone!

don’t make bad promises, but I say, don’t make oaths at all!

Love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say, Love your enemy!

On and on and on and on… Every thing Jesus is preaching is a narrow road.

You have to give up something of your own way of thinking.

You have to give up your own desire because / / your own way of thinking and your own desires are not compatible with the kingdom of God!

So take the narrow road…

/ / 2. The Way Is Hard

So, Jesus says enter the narrow gate, and then talks first about the wide gate, and then goes back to the narrow gate to finish his point saying, / / “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

All those things I mentioned from the past segments of the Sermon on the Mount. None of those are easy.

It is not easy to be a Jesus follower.

It is not easy to give up your own way.

It is not easy to admit that you don’t know what’s best.

It is not easy.

It’s hard!

It’s hard to choose other people over yourself.

It’s hard to choose to bless when you want to curse.

It’s hard to choose to pray when you want to complain.

It’s hard to choose to fast when you want to feast.

It’s hard to choose purity over immorality.

And anyone who says otherwise might just be telling a bit of a lie!

Let’s face it, the world is pitted against you. And we’ve talked about that before, these three things in our lives that work against us, the world, the devil and the flesh. This is why Paul is very open about the struggle in Galatians 5:17, / / The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

That’s why this is such a firm warning. Because it’s true. Choosing to do the right thing AND choosing NOT to do the wrong thing can feel exhausting.

In the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is arrested, Peter, whom Jesus says is the Rock on which he is going to build the church. As far as the Catholic church is concerned, he’s the first pope. He’s the apostle that is instrumental in the building of the ground level of the church that has been going for 2000 years now. That guy. And when they come to arrest Jesus, what’ his first reaction?

He draws his sword and cut a man’s ear off.

Now, I haven’t been in too may sword fights lately. But Peter either has absolutely incredible aim. or…he…missed.

I have to imagine Peter is aiming for the guys head.

I just don’t see how you manage to cut someone’s ear off without doing other damage or by accident, OR intentionally.

You were aiming and you missed. Maybe that’s a thrust. I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But we certainly know that it happened. We have 4 witness accounts of it. Not a lot of stories from the gospel are in all four of them. But the arrest of Jesus is, and it includes a man’s ear in every single one. John is the only one who names Peter as the assailant. I wonder if their friendship needed some counseling after John published his book…

But this is the point: The Kingdom of God is not of this world.

Jesus didn’t come to set up shop. He came to die so that we could receive eternal life and be representatives of a kingdom of peace, love, joy, faith and hope for all people.

And that is not easy. It is hard.

It’s hard to be the bringer of peace when the world wants war.

It’s hard to be the calm and loving one when the world seems absolutely pitted against each other in hatred and division.

We just read through those beatitudes again really quick, right?

They aren’t easy. They are hard to do.

So, get this picture into your mind. You’re walking up to this narrow gate that Jesus is talking about, and first of all, the way leading up to the gate is hard, it’s difficult. It’s been an uphill climb the whole way and your life, and the cares of this world are weighing you down.

What’s Jesus saying here? Let it go. Let go of the weights that are burdening you.

Shed from yourself the need to hold on to the things of this world so that you can more easily come into the kingdom of heaven.

The way is hard, but the more we give up of ourselves, the lighter we are to climb.

If you’ve ever read the Pilgrim’s progress, that’s an incredible visual of the life of the Christian.

And then when we come to that gate, we realize, we won’t fit through carrying all of our stuff anyway. We have to be willing to lay it down.

We don’t like talking in the negative when it comes to Jesus. We want him to be kind and sweet all the time. And I totally get that. But think about it. When Jesus says, / / If you want to be my disciples you HAVE TO give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me…what he’s saying is, “You can’t be my disciple if you don’t do this…”

If you choose to hold on to your own way, you’re staying on the wide and destructive path and it will lead to your ruin.

You have to choose to give up your own way.

You have to choose the narrow road.

You have to choose to take the hard road.

But don’t let that get you down…

/ / 3. This Road Leads to Life…

I haven’t focused really on the first part that Jesus talks about. / / For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

That’s so self explanatory, I think we all get it. And if you’re anything like me, you know that road all too well. You’ve spent some serious time stuck on that road. But like I said earlier, the road to life is not simply trying NOT to do what is wrong. / / The road to life is actively choosing the hard road that leads to the narrow gate, leaving the wide and easy road behind.

We must choose to deny the easy road with the wide gate, so we can focus on the hard road with the narrow gate.

I think we’ve probably all experienced to some level the destruction of the easy and wide life. Whether that is in our health, our finances, our relationships, it’s easy to not care, to not focus, to not prioritize, but that only leads to destruction and pain.

So, let’s not focus there, where we’ve felt that. Let’s focus on choosing the better way.

Jesus gives a bit of a warning here when he talks about the hard road and narrow gate, he says, / / “…and those who find it are few.”

I don’t want you to take that as a discouragement that Jesus is making it so hard that why bother. This IS the encouragement. Jesus says that HE is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus says if we want to be his disciple we need follow HIM. This is about choosing Jesus.

Not choosing the hard and difficult life for the sake of pain and suffering. This is about choosing Jesus, time and time again.

If you love me you’ll follow my commandments.

If you follow me you’ll hear my voice.

If you pursue me, you will find me.

When we see the kingdom of God in the right light, that we are subjecting ourselves to the authority of King Jesus, we are continually brought to a place of committing ourselves to HIS Lordship in our lives.

That’s why Jesus is saying this isn’t easy. It’s not. It’s hard.

We are continually choosing a way that is contrary to the world that we live in because His kingdom is not of this world.

If it was, it’d be all good. Conquer the world. No problem. But it’s not.

/ / 4. The Key Is…

So, what’s the key here?

We have to remember, and I hope you are hearing this from God directly: This is not about simply trying harder, working harder, or getting down on ourselves that we don’t feel like we’re doing this Christianity thing well enough. Not at all. Scripture says, / / There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That’s Romans 8:1, So this is not about getting down on ourselves. About beating ourselves up. About feeling like a failure.

but… Paul also says a few verses later (5-8), / / For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind of the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

What’s the key? What’s the solution?

Set your mind on the Spirit.

Set your mind on heavenly things.

Set your mind of Christ Jesus your Lord, the king of this Kingdom we are ambassadors of.

Paul writes in some of his letters, “I don’t want you to be ill informed about this…”

and I feel the same sometimes. I don’t want you to be ill informed. Listen. I come from a tradition of church that is very ‘feelings’ oriented. We love the presence of God. We know that God is real, that he expresses himself tangibly. He is not a far off, distant, unfeeling, unloving God. He is literally all of those things. He is a loving, caring, affectionate Father toward us. Ok, and I get that. And we live with both the understanding that this is true, and the expectation that we can and will experience the real and life transforming love of God. I can’t read something like Romans 5:5, / / For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. and not believe that God wants us to literally feel his love.

But also, in the words of Paul, my dear children, I don’t want you to be ill informed. The way to life is narrow and hard. And the choices you make determine the gate you will walk through. To choose the flesh will lead to death and destruction. To choose the Spirit, the directing of Jesus, the way of the kingdom, the discipline of living as a disciple to Jesus, will lead to life.

I don’t want you to be ill informed.

You need to read scripture. often. everyday. you need the Bible. It is the truth and the very Word of God to us.

You need to pray. You need to honor God by coming to Him in worship and reflection.

You should fast. Times of dedicated sacrifice to God are good for the body, soul and spirit.

You need to serve. You need to give. You need to worship. You need to think of more than yourself.

You need to lay down what feels easy and good to the flesh so you can walk the hard and narrow path that produces in you life.

The way to life is narrow and hard.

Some of us need to lay down the baggage we’ve been carrying.

The hurt, the desire for revenge, the desire for karma, those who hurt us getting theirs.

Some of us need to lay down our misconceptions about God. Invite Him to heal where the church may have hurt you in the past. Invite God to remove from you the weight of your past.

Some of us need to repent, to let go of our former life. It’s all too easy to live for the wide and easy road. That’s how Jesus always starts, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

If you’re feeling the weight of something this morning, I encourage you, stick around for a minute and just take some time with Jesus, admit to yourself, and admit to God that you are having a hard time laying down the baggage you’ve been carrying. It’s been so long it just feels like a part of you.

Or if you feel a bit awkward, that’s ok. But don’t let this become a fleeting moment. When you get home, take a moment and ask God to remove from you the weight you are carrying.

Or ask someone this morning if they’ll pray with you. Scripture says we should confess our sins one to another so that we might be healed. It also says that when we pray for each other, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful. It is not just ok, it is good to lean on each other.

/ / The way to life may be narrow and hard, but you are not alone!