Sermon Tone Analysis

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.