The Narrow Path

Introduction

What makes you happy? We all have an answer to this question and likely your answer is slightly different from someone else in this room. Perhaps the thing that makes you happy is having time with your family to visit. Perhaps what makes you happy is the satisfaction of a job well done. Perhaps what makes you happy is learning something new. Maybe what makes you really happy is just having the opportunity to get out and enjoy God’s incredible creation! We all have things that make us happy and we are all wired a little bit different.

If you are a people person, you want to be around people. If you are an introvert, you like having some time by yourself or in a small group. If you’re right brained, you probably see things a little more artistically than someone who is left-brained and see’s things a little more logically. We’re all different. During Sunday school this morning we talked about the reality that sometimes we don’t exactly treat people who are different than us very well. It can be easy to say that they don’t know what they’re talking about or that we know best! The fact of the matter is that we see in Scripture that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and, furthermore, we are called to live not for ourselves but for our God.

As we understand that our life’s calling is to bring God glory and honor, we see that we are called to do what He says. While we’re all a little bit different and we see things differently, the incredible thing about the Kingdom of God is that we are all walking down the narrow path together. Is this where you are walking tonight? Let’s read Psalm 1

Psalm 1 CSB

1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

The Good Way (1-3)

Perhaps your translation of Scripture starts off the book of Psalms with the word “blessed” rather than happy. Why do some translations use happy and others use blessed? The sense here is having received divine grace. How many of you are familiar with the story of Horatio Spafford, the writer of It Is Well? Spafford lost much in the great Chicago Fire and he lost his entire family to a disaster at sea. As he was passing the place where his wife and children passed away, he was inspired to begin to pen the lyrics of It Is Well. Do you think that Horatio Spafford was “happy” whenever these awful things happened in his life? Absolutely not. It would be concerning for someone to be happy in such moments. However, was Horatio Spafford blessed even in such moments? Yes. He was a child of God. A recipient of divine grace that he didn’t deserve. He might not’ve been happy but he was blessed.

Have you ever been in such a situation where your happiness level was lacking? Many of us have been in that situation this year numerous times. What we must remind ourselves is that even though our happiness might not be present, we are blessed by God and nothing can take this blessing away!

While that is great news, there are some things that define a person who is a follower of God. As we talked about this morning, because we are a new creation, we live completely differently than we did before Christ. We see this in Romans 6

Romans 6:4 NASB95

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

We walk in newness of life as a follower of Jesus Christ. What does this specifically look like? This is what the opening Psalm discusses. There are two ways to live: We can live for God or we can live for ourselves. As Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount, there are 2 gates: there’s the narrow gate and the wide gate. While many people around us are walking towards the wide gate which says that wrong is right and right is wrong, we know that we are called to not conform to the ways of the world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind as Romans 12:1-2 tell us! Regardless of what our culture says, the Bible gets the final word.

We are not called to bend to culture, we are called to follow after Jesus Christ. We are not supposed to walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers as verse 1 tells us. Does this mean that we aren’t supposed to have any dealings with non-Christians? Certainly no. We are supposed to interact with all people and love all people as Christ loves us. With that in mind, though, there is something said about the company that we keep.

This was something that my parents tried to teach me at a young age. The company you keep will have an influence on you and how you act!

1 Corinthians 15:33 CSB

33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

Proverbs 13:20 CSB

20 The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.

We see this in Scripture. We don’t look to other people to give us our purpose in life. Rather, as verse 2 shares, we look to God’s Word. Does verse 2 simply mean that we go through our Bible reading plan 5 days a week and call it good? No, it’s more than that. Quiet times are great and we should emphasize the reading of Scripture as individuals and as a church, but are we just supposed to read Scripture and not allow it to change us? Absolutely not.

We are to meditate on Scripture day and night.

I’ve said this often, but we have things so good in the USA in 2021. Did you know that for centuries and centuries, millions of Christians didn’t have their own copy of God’s Word? Maybe they were able to share a Bible with a small group, but in many cases they were only able to view a chapter or two at a time and then they would have access to another chapter or two. What would they do in order to know Scripture? They had to memorize what they had access to. They had to meditate on God’s Word constantly to remember what they had read. Did you know that there are many Christians today who do not have access to their own Bible? Maybe their church has a Bible and a group of 10 people share it, maybe they don’t even have that luxury! Meanwhile, if you’re like me, you have multiple copies of the Bible in multiple translations in your house or office. Not only this, but we have great devotionals, commentaries, theology books, and Bible study resources that millions of Christians would love to have! We have it so good, and we are called to meditate on God’s Word. To study it. To apply it to our lives and live according to God’s Word.

The “Good way” is the way that moves from just reading Scripture to applying it to our lives. Why does this matter so much? Why must we understand Scripture and live our lives accordingly? Proverbs answers this question

Proverbs 3:5–6 NASB95

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

He will make our paths straight. We must follow Him, though. We must know His Word and live accordingly! As we do this, the Psalmist compares the godly person to a tree planted besides flowing streams.

Tree’s need a lot of help to grow. We have some very large tree’s around the church and on the one hand that can be a little concerning whenever there’s a strong storm, but it’s also beautiful in the spring and fall! Tree’s need a lot of water and sunlight to grow. They also need space and nutrients in the soil as they mature. Think about what we need in our spiritual lives as we grow. We need to be connected to God’s Word - we must be near the flowing stream. As we read Scripture and grow to be more like Christ, we bear fruit. Even when things are difficult, we don’t cower down or wither, our roots are solid and strong because they are secured in Scripture.

The final part of verse 3 says that whatever this person does, prospers. Does this mean that the godly person experiences economic prosperity and great wealth? After all that’s what the Psalm says! We know that this isn’t the case. Rather, we know that we are blessed by God in many different ways. Maybe that will be financially, perhaps it will be with our work or with a friendship. We see this reality throughout Scripture

Genesis 39:2–3 NASB95

2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 3 Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.

As we go throughout our life, we know that the Lord is with us. Regardless of what goes on around us or what our circumstances are like, we know that we are called to be obedient to what Scripture says. What does that require of us? It requires us to stay connected to the vine as John 15 talks about. In reference to Psalm 1, it means that we are like a tree near the stream that is God’s Word. We must be in the Word and we must allow the Word to transform us from the inside out and to control the way we live our lives! If you don’t know what the Bible says, you’re not going to be able to find and follow the narrow gate.

The Bad Way (4-5)

The Psalmist changes his tune in verses 4-5 and contrasts the person who meditates on God’s Word with the person who is wicked. Instead of receiving God’s blessing, this person receives God’s judgment. Sometimes it seems like the wicked people win in our world, doesn’t it? If God is just, if God commands His followers to obey Him then why on earth do wicked people experience success and prosperity in this life? If we live with an earthly mindset this will make no sense. If we live with a Biblical mindset, this makes total sense. This world is not all that there is! Rather than reading Scripture, being connected to God’s Word and building their house on the solid rock, the wicked person builds their house elsewhere. They do what the outside world says is wise. They think that right is wrong and wrong is right. We think of people that fit this description today but this was true in Biblical times as well

Romans 1:22–25 CSB

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

So these people are wicked and foolish, but why does it seem like God lets them prosper? Will they always prosper? When will they experience the consequences for their actions? The Psalmist notes that these people are like a chaff that the wind blows away. The wicked person will have their day of reckoning and Jesus talks about the chaff in a very negative way

Matthew 3:12 NLT

12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

God will deal with these people who are living life and headed for the wide gate. Because of this, they will not stand in the judgment.

What about the last part of verse 2? What do we make of this? Just as the wicked will not stand in the judgment and sinners will not be in the assembly of the righteous. What does this mean? It means that those who belong to God, those who are reckoned as righteous are those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Those who are wicked, those who do not belong to Jesus Christ are not those in the assembly of the righteous. If you live for yourself, if you fail to meditate on God’s Word, if it’s all about you, you are in for rude awakening one day because Hebrews 10 warns us about the awakening awaiting such people

Hebrews 10:31 CSB

31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Why do so many people live this way, though? Why do so few repent, place their faith in Christ, and live for Him? Many do so because of their comfort level. They don’t want to think that they are bad or that they are a sinner. Others don’t do this because they’re afraid of the cost. Why would I want to be a Christian whenever my life is easy and comfortable as it already is. I don’t “need” what Jesus offers. How sad it is that billions of people are so deceived and think that they’ve got it all figured out - we must speak the truth to them in love as Ephesians 4:15 commands us to do.

The Result (6)

How many of you have read or heard of the book called the Insanity of God? This book by Nik Ripken is phenomenal as he travels and visits with Christians all around the world and essentially asks them a question, “Is Jesus worth it?” You’re locked up, you’ve been beaten, you’ve experienced public ridicule, you’ve more or less been disowned by your family and other local people, your life hasn’t been great by earthly standards, but is Jesus worth it? Every single person answered this question and said, “Yes, He is.”

We’re so fortunate in the United States to not experience the same level of persecution that others have. We’re the anomaly in the history of Christianity! Yet, we have to ask ourselves, is Jesus worth it? Just as we look negatively at persecution, shouldn’t we also look negatively at comfortable Christianity? So many Christians in our country might not have to face the sword, but they have to face the question of is Jesus my Lord?

In the coming days we will all face temptation. Will we cave and go the way of the world and travel to the wide gate, or will we stay true to the task before us and travel down the narrow gate? As verse 6 concludes, the Lord watches over the way of the righteous. He leads us. He is with us! But the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Conclusion

The choice is before us right now. Will we commit to follow God’s plan for us? Will we stand firm on what the Bible says, even if it costs us? Will we meditate on God’s Word? Will we allow it to transform us and convict us whenever we mess up or go astray? Many Christians enjoy reading sections of God’s Word that are easy to our ears, but do we mediate on all of God’s Word? Do we strive to understand it? Do we dig deep into it, even into the deep mysteries of God? We should. And as we do this, we must seek to apply it to our lives and live a life that is pleasing to God.

We do this because we know that He is with us every step of the way. Again, is Jesus worth it? If I suffer for my faith, is Jesus worth it? If I get cancelled by some people for being a Christian, is Jesus worth it? Spoiler alert, Jesus is ALWAYS worth it. As the hymn says, you can have the world, just give me Jesus. Follow Him and His Word tonight.