Sermon--Matthew 7.13-14--Teen Confirmation--2017

Be Skinny…and Stay Skinny

You have to be skinny! That’s a message that we hear all the time, isn’t it? It’s not always said so directly, but we are told in subtle ways that being skinny and staying skinny is the best. Most of the movie and t.v. stars we see are skinny. Models are skinny. Every beer commercial has skinny guys hanging out with skinny women drinking a brand of beer that supposedly made that happen. And then there are body shamers. Do you know what they are? Body shamers are cruel people who criticize other people because their bodies don’t measure up to what society says is desirable or normal. Would you be surprised to know that Jesus wants you to be skinny too…and he wants you to stay skinny! No, Jesus is not a body shamer! Far from it, the Bible has nothing to say about what shape your body should be. God creates people in all shapes and sizes. But Jesus wants all of us to be skinny, because he says,

They are cruel people who criticize people who aren’t skinny, or who don’t have the size or shape of body that society says is desirable or normal. Jesus wants you to be skinny too…and he wants you to stay skinny!

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (, NIV)

You have to be skinny to get into the narrow gate, because it’s so narrow, and you need to stay skinny so that you can stay on the narrow road.

Be (Spiritually) Skinny to Get Through the Narrow Gate

Gates are very common in South Florida, in fact most of us go through a gate to get in or out of our communities. They are there to give us security. Gates were even more important in Jesus’ day because every city and even small towns had a wall around them and strong gates to enter or leave through. When attackers came, the gates would be shut to protect those inside. Jesus talks about two gates here. One gate is narrow and the other one is wide. We could say that these two gates represent two ways to obtain ultimate security and satisfaction in your life. Most people would say that there have to be more than TWO ways to do that, but Jesus says that there are only two, but unfortunately only one of the two really gives you ultimate security and satisfaction. Let’s look at both gates...

The wide gate looks nice because it is wide and welcoming and easy to get through, and it leads to a wide road that’s easy to travel on. It is easy to get through because anyone can enter, and you get to enter on your own terms. All you need to enter the wide gate is faith in yourself. You enter this gate by believing that you are essentially the master of your destiny, the one who has the power to find security and happiness in your life by making correct decisions. You also enter this gate exactly as you are.

The narrow gate doesn’t look as welcoming because, well, it’s really narrow and hard to squeeze through, and leads to a narrow road that is difficult to travel. Why is it so hard to enter this gate? Because you can’t enter on your own terms! You need to be spiritually skinny to enter this gate, and that means denying and throwing away everything that makes you too large to enter: your sin, your pride, your faith in yourself, your faith in anything else, and clinging by faith to the only one who can get you through the gate, and that is Jesus. We could even say that Jesus IS the narrow gate.

Yesterday the DSA senior class graduated, and they, like other seniors in this country have been planning for college for a long time. They had to apply to several different universities to see which one(s) would accept them. One of the most difficult universities to get into is Harvard University. Last year, only 5.2% of the 39,000 people who applied, were actually accepted as freshmen. That’s only 2,000! So which is harder to get into…Harvard or Heaven? That’s what it means to enter through the narrow gate. The 2,000 people who get into Harvard can say that they got in on their own merits: their academic abilities, but no one can enter the narrow gate to heaven that way. The only way to enter the narrow gate is 1) by admitting that because you are a sinner in God’s sight, you have no right to enter, and 2) by leaving your faith in yourself and in everything else at the door and believing in someone else to give you security and happiness, and that person is Jesus. You have already entered through the narrow gate. You trust that Jesus lived and died for you as your substitute. You trust that Jesus rose again to guarantee that God sees you now as someone free of sin and blame. Through Jesus you are spiritually skinny and it wasn’t because of a diet that you followed. It’s all because of him! Your sins are forgiven and no longer weigh you down and make you too wide to get through the door. You have entered through the narrow gate, and that was all because of God’s grace, and now you need to stay spiritually skinny...

Stay (Spiritually) Skinny to Stay on the Narrow Road

comes at the end of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount,” which is all about how to live as a disciple of Jesus; it’s’ about staying spiritually skinny. The narrow road that is in front of you now is the road of discipleship. Traveling on the narrow road is necessary until you die and enter the eternal security and happiness of heaven, because there is another road that you could also follow: the wide road, and the destination of the wide road is, as Jesus says, “destruction.” That’s hell! And unfortunately the wide road is right next to the narrow road!

Both the narrow and the wide roads offer you freedom, but different kinds of freedom. The wide road guarantees you freedom to do whatever you want, no matter what God says about it. There are really only two rules on the wide road (as far as I can tell): 1) Do whatever makes you feel secure and happy and 2) don’t criticize anyone else for doing what makes them feel secure and happy. So you can do what you want without being criticized for it! I can feel good about myself no matter what I do or how I live, and that makes me happy! But that kind of freedom is just what the sinful nature in all of us, is looking for. Our sinful nature will grab onto that freedom and lead us into a life dedicated to sin and estrangement from God which leads to eternal destruction, not freedom.

The narrow road offers freedom too. When you are in love with someone, doing things that make them happy are not a burden; you find joy in pleasing the person you love. The narrow road of faith and discipleship is the best life of all because through faith in Jesus you are free from the burdens of the law, from the specter of hell, and captivated by God's amazing love and you want to please him and find delight in pleasing him. People who are on the wide road (right next to you) will try to convince you that life on the narrow road is boring. Not true at all! The devil has convinced them of that lie, but don’t believe it. You can truly enjoy life on the narrow road because it’s the road God wants you to walk on! You find almost all of the same things on the narrow road. You will find earthly success, leisure, friends, the Internet, romance, alcohol, parties, Snapchat, entertainment, and so many other things. They are found on both roads, but when you are walking by faith in Jesus as his disciple on the narrow road you can enjoy them in moderation and use them according to God's will and for the benefit not only of yourself, but also of others. Then you will truly enjoy them, receive benefit from them, and your faith will not be harmed by them. You will remain spiritually skinny. There are, however, some things that are only found on the wide road, and many people that are doing them...

You can enjoy life on the narrow road! You find almost all of the same things on the narrow road, but when they are enjoyed in moderation and with God's will in mind, you will enjoy them, receive benefit from them and not be harmed in your soul by them.

At the 1993 NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships, there were 128 runners in the cross country race. The course had been marked out by the officials, but halfway through the race, one of the runners noticed that the lead runners had taken the wrong path, a shorter one. He tried to get the rest of the runners to follow him on the right path, but only three other runners followed him. The four runners who followed the right path finished last, and the officials actually accepted the shortcut that the majority had taken. So…the runners who followed the right path were penalized! Jesus said that many are following the wide road and few are following the narrow road. Because of that, it might seem at times that the people on the wide path are the right ones. How can so many people be wrong? Don’t believe that argument, that just because everyone is doing something, that it is right. says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”

Tragically, you will see many people traveling on the wide road. They may be even be family members or friends or neighbors or classmates, or maybe even people who used to travel on the narrow road. Sometimes they will get run over and end up in the gutter and wonder if there is a better road. That´s when you can step in and show them the narrow gate and the narrow road. There aren’t many people traveling on the narrow road, so all of us who are need to encourage each other. While you are on the narrow road, support others who are on that same road! Remember these young people you were confirmed with and if you see one of them straying off the narrow road toward the neon lights and flashy signs of the broad road, go after them and try to pull them back!

Few people on the narrow road: Need to encourage each other. While you are on the narrow road, support others who are on that same road! Remember these young people you were confirmed with and if you see one of them straying off the narrow road toward the neon lights and flashy signs of the broad road, go after them and try to pull them back!

Realistically, all of us will need Jesus to pull us back onto the narrow road, because inevitably we will see the sinful attractions of the wide road and wander over to it. Maybe we think we will just try it out a little bit, and we find that it has a lot of appeal to the sinful side of us. When earthly success turns into our god; when leisure turns into laziness, when our own selfishness drives away our friends, when the Internet turns into an addiction, when romance turns into sexual immorality; when we let alcohol control us; when parties get wild and sinful; when Snapchat turns into a way to get revenge…When we are foolish and get weighed down with sin, we will need Jesus to pull us back, because he’s the only one who can make us spiritually skinny before our Heavenly Father’s mirror. Without him we look in the mirror of God’s law and see ourselves as we are: wide with sin, unable to enter through the narrow gate. With faith in him as our Savior, we are skinny in God’s eyes, forgiven, cleansed, holy, innocent and eternally saved.

Today you nine will confess your faith in that Savior Jesus because you have passed through the narrow gate by God’s grace, just like the rest of us who are your fellow believers. We are spiritually skinny because of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts, and only he can keep us spiritually skinny.

1993 NCAA CC Championship

People who are on this road will sometimes get run over and end up in the gutter and wonder if there is a better road. That´s when you can step in and show them the narrow gate and the narrow road.

If you enter through the wide gate and travel through life on the broad road and you make mistakes and ruin your life, what can you do? Just try to pull yourself up again and dull the pain with something. How different it is for us who enter through the narrow gate! When I was a missionary in Bogota, my parents came to visit us and I picked them up from the airport at night. I had been to the airport and back several times and knew the way, but since it was night, I took the way I thought was right and it turned out to be wrong. I was lost in a city of 7 million people at night, with no map and no idea of where I was. It took a long time for me to forgive myself for that one, because I had put my poor parents' lives at risk. When you and I temporarily leave the narrow road of faith and discipleship because we are attracted to something on the broad road (and it will happen!), we will hopefully be brought back to our senses by God´s law. That´s why it´s so important to keep hearing God´s Word and live in repentance every day. Then we will feel bad, but if we are hearing God´s Word, we will also be hearing the Gospel, which was what gave us entrance into the narrow gate in the first place!