Reversal

The Door Is Narrow & Opened For You

7.3.22 [Luke 13:22-30] River of Life (4th Sunday after Pentecost)

(1 Cor. 1:2-3) Grace and peace to you, the church of God, those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours. Amen.

It’s a question everyone acquainted with Christ has wondered. It’s a question most who are familiar with Jesus have asked out loud. It’s a question that many believers are persuaded is begging for an answer. (Lk. 13:23) Are only a few people going to be saved?

Have you ever wondered this question? How many people are really going to be in heaven? If you ask a Jehovah’s Witness, they’d likely give you a pretty concrete number: 144,000. They get that figure from (Rev. 7:4) the number of those sealed. They interpret that passage very, very literally. 144,000 sounds like a lot, at first. But when you consider how many people there have been in the history of the world since Jesus, that number suddenly seems small.

The truth is the number of those who are saved is both few and a multitude. That’s what Jesus tells us here in Luke 13. That’s what the Scriptures reveal to us in Matthew 7 and Revelation 7, too.

Many times in his earthly ministry, Jesus taught that those who would be saved were far fewer than most people thought. In his day, most people believed that being a part of Israel meant you were saved. The only Israelites who weren’t going to be saved were those who had scorned the law of Moses and the nation of Israel—people like tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners.

Jesus came to upend this false notion. Again and again, Jesus warns those who assumed they were a part of the kingdom of God that they would be in for a big surprise come Judgment Day.

Matthew 7 mirrors Luke 13 and might be more familiar. (Mt. 7:13-14) Enter through the narrow gate. Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. Many enter through it. But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to life. Only a few find it. Many sprint on the path to perdition. Few strive for the way that leads to eternal life. That’s one of the points that Jesus illustrates in Luke 13. The path to eternal life is neither popular nor easy. But there are a couple of nuances that Jesus adds in Luke 13. Did you notice them?

The first is the present urgency. The time to act is now. (Lk. 13:25) Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, there will be no second chance to get in. Those outside the house will knock and plead to no avail. (Lk. 13:26) They will claim that they know the owner, but (Lk. 13:27) he does not know them.

The second is the far-reaching guest list. (Lk. 13:29) People will come from east and west and north and south and take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Then Jesus offers his summary. (Lk. 13:30) Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.

In Jesus’ view, it is imperative that his listeners understand that the door is narrow and closing fast, but it has been opened for you. That’s not just something some random guy needed to hear. We all need that sobering warning. The door is narrow and closing soon.

We need to hear this because, like the people of Jesus’ day, we struggle with complacency, entitlement, and procrastination. Like those (Lk. 13:25) outside knocking and pleading, we tend to think being familiar with Jesus and his teaching is good enough. But those who are inside (Lk. 13:29) the feast of the kingdom of God have strived, strained, and traveled great distances. They made it their highest priority to enter through the narrow door.

Does that represent your life? Now I know, it’s July 4th weekend. There is a wide array of things you could be doing with your time. But you’re here. And for that I am grateful. I rejoice with those who are with me in the house of the Lord. Many are doing other things.

But complacency is a temptation that begins with the comparison game. Entitlement sets in when our egos fixate on what we have done in the past. Procrastination begins as fine-sounding promises about what we will do when we conditions change or improve.

So it’s easy for us to compare ourselves with all those who aren’t here and think we’ve made enough efforts to enter through the narrow door. To act like church attendance is all Jesus cares about.

Making every effort means we don’t act like Christianity is a hobby.

Striving isn’t just for Sundays. We aren't spiritual weekend warriors. Think about it this way. Let’s say every Sunday you see the treats out on the counter and you exercise great willpower and you don't eat any of those sweet treats. But the rest of the week, you eat junk food. Does that one act on Sunday make you a healthy eater? Can you really claim to be on a diet if you only are disciplined when you’re here? Health experts say: You can’t outrun a bad diet. The same is true spiritually.

If, six days a week, you are feeding on the polemic political rhetoric of cable news, or juicy celebrity gossip rags, or the vulgarity of Hollywood or the distracting diversions of sports, your heart and mind will only be mildly molded by what you see and hear here. If curses fly out of your mouth six days a week, praising God on a Sunday won’t fix that.

We should not assume, just because we are here, making some effort, we are living as Jesus insists. Being a part of the kingdom of God demands our very best effort. Everything we can muster and more.

Remembering a few of the Bible stories you learned in Sunday School is insufficient. That is spiritual (1 Cor. 3:2) milk, not solid food. To know (1 Cor. 2:16) the mind of Christ means we must deliberately spend time in his Word. (James 1:23-24) We must not look into the mirror of the law at 9am and forget what we saw by Sunday evening. We must struggle and strive to (James 1:22) do what the Word says.

If time in God’s Word reveals that we are greedy or prideful or a worrywart, we must ask God for the strength to live according to his will. Now. Not later. Not when things slow down, or ease up, or when we have a little more wiggle room in our schedule or in our budget. We must struggle and strive to be content, generous, humble, & prayerful right now. Even when it’s difficult, frustrating, painful or makes us look or feel foolish. Even when it seems like we are the only one who is making any effort.

But even after making great effort to enter the narrow door, none can confidently say that we have done everything we could. We will always battle complacency and entitlement. Each of us buys into the captivating promises that the procrastinator in us makes. The door is narrow and closing soon. But that is not the only thing that Jesus tells us. He also tells us the door is open. That there are places specifically prepared for people from (Lk. 13:29) east and west, north and south.

The door is narrow. It is closing soon. But it is open now. Because Jesus is holding it open for you right now. (Lk. 14:35) He who has ears—that’s us—let him hear. Faith comes from hearing this message. This faith that God gifts us, compels us to live differently. God is working in you, right now, to make every effort to enter through that narrow door.

The narrow door has been opened for you by Christ’s every effort. He came to earth and lived with urgency, purpose, and focus. He met ever demand of the Law. He fulfilled every detail of the Prophets.

Jesus was no weekend spiritual warrior. Being in the synagogue on the Sabbath was not good enough for the Son of Man. Remember how, as a young boy, he stayed behind in Jerusalem after the festival. As a teenager he sat in the Temple discussing the Word of God. This was just who he was and what he came to do.

He made every effort to be your Substitute and Savior and to reveal himself to us as the Eternal Son of God. Look at what Jesus was doing as he fielded this question. (Lk. 13:22) Teaching in the towns & villages as he made his way to Jerusalem to shed his blood for us. He rose from the dead to assure us that he has opened the door to eternal life for all those who believe in him. (Gal. 2:20) The Christ who was crucified and raised to life now lives in you. We (Gal. 2:19) live for God. The life we live now in the body, we live by faith, simple trust that (Gal. 2:20) the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me only gives me good and perfect guidance for life.

But Jesus doesn’t just give us an impossible instruction like (Lk. 13:24) make every effort to enter the narrow door and leave us to figure it out for ourselves. (Php. 2:13) God works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. God gifts us grace and guidance in his Word. He assures us that when our efforts fall short, he is eager to forgive. He directs us how and where our efforts ought to be even more intense. But that’s not all. God blesses us through the Lord’s Supper, assuring us, yet again, that all our sins are forgiven. At the same time he nourishes our souls and strengthens our resolve for the spiritual striving we must do in the days ahead. Christ has opened the door for us. He has prepared a place for us at the feast of the Lamb.

So let us struggle and strive. Let us make every effort, every single day, (Lk. 13:24) to enter through the narrow door. Let us encourage each other in these efforts too. When we see complacency, entitlement, or procrastination in ourselves or in others, let us rebuke sin firmly. We know there will be many who are acquainted with Jesus and his teaching but will be disappointed and angry when the door is closed. Many who think they will be saved are going to be sorely disappointed. But a multitude (Lk. 13:29) will take their places at the feast. Indeed there are many who, from our vantage point, seem to be last, that will be made first, by God’s mercy and grace.

That’s what God showed John in Revelation 7. In the same chapter where he heard the number 144,000, he (Rev. 7:9) looked and saw a great multitude, that no one could count. People from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the Lamb of God. These are the one who had gone through (Rev. 7:14) the great tribulation. They had made every effort to enter through the narrow door. What had they done? They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That perplexing picture is a precise and beautiful way of illustrating what Jesus is saying here.

Our salvation, our justification, our spiritual cleansing is God’s gift, God’s work, God’s power, and our activity. You can try to wash clothes in dirty water, but they won’t get clean no matter how hard you scrub. You need clean water and a powerful cleanser.

Look at what God provides for that cleansing. (Rev. 7:14) The blood of the Lamb. Washing clothes in blood doesn’t make much sense to most folks. It’s among the last liquids you’d look for to wash anything.

But this last choice has become first. Remember who said to do it. The powerful God who instructed Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times and then cleansed and restored his dying leprosy flesh to be youthful and healthy again. The loving Lord who has attached greater restoring and redeeming power and eternal promises to the waters of Baptism. This same God calls and equips you to strive, to struggle, to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. And he promises you and I a place at his eternal feast. Where you and I, and a great, uncountable multitude, will (Rev. 7:10) cry out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And he has given it to us by grace through faith. Christ has opened the door for you. So make every effort to find yourself at that feast. (Rev. 7:12) Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God, forever and ever. Amen.