03/04/18 Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door Luke 13.22-30 Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

03/04/18 Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door Luke 13.22-30 Pastor Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church In Luke 13:22, we’re reminded that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem where he will die on the cross. On the way, he is continuing to teach with an increasing sense of urgency. Listen to Luke 13.22-30, “Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”’ then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’” Someone asked Jesus, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Luke seems to deliberately avoid telling us who the man was, what group he may have represented, or what his motive might have been for asking the question. Whatever the man’s motive, the question provided Jesus with the occasion to teach an important lesson but Jesus didn’t answer the question directly. He doesn’t say “No, many will be saved” or “Yes, only a few will be saved.” Instead, as he did with the lawyer who asked in chapter 10, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus directed the question away from theological speculation and toward specific application. The man had asked, “Will only a few be saved?” Jesus turned it around to basically ask him and us, “Will you be among the saved?” Jesus’ answer begins, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.” Have you ever been locked out of your home? It isn’t a fun experience; especially if it is cold, dark and raining, to be locked out knowing you could be warm, dry and comfortable, if you hadn’t done something foolish or stupid. How much worse would it be, to a have the door of eternal life closed on us forever because we had been foolish, and not gone in when we had the chance. Jesus, in speaking of the “narrow door,” and many who will “try to enter and will not be able,” seems to be suggesting that a few would be saved, and that there will be others who will realize only when it is too late that they wished they had gone in. Many who think they will be admitted will be turned away. In a parallel text in Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus speaks of the “narrow way,” which has virtually the same meaning, but here the meaning is more clearly stated: “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” (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus is telling us that salvation requires our earnest effort, our urgent attention, and our careful self-examination. It requires our earnest effort because the door is narrow. It requires our urgent attention because the door is soon to be closed. It requires our careful self- examination because once it is closed, the door will be eternally-closed. Jesus says “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Strive comes from a Greek word used for athletic contests and war. Obviously, it implies a great deal of effort. You don’t win wars or athletic contests by being passive. The Winter Olympics just concluded last Sunday. You never see an athlete receiving the gold medal, who says, “I had never worked out or run in a race until a few weeks ago. I thought it would be fun, so here I am.” Every athlete who wins strives to win. He or she invests great energy and effort into winning. It isn’t an accident if he or she wins. It’s the result of deliberate and sustained effort. Not everyone receives the prize. Only a few are winners. The fact that the door is narrow implies that it takes some deliberate thought and effort to go through it. There aren’t many doors into the same place, so that you can take your pick. There is one and only one door, which is Jesus Christ. He alone is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). There isn’t one great big door that’s easy to find and stroll through without thinking about it. There is one narrow door. Jesus is asking us, “Are you striving to enter the narrow door? Are you making your relationship with God a matter of deliberate and sustained effort? Are you sure that you’re entering the narrow door?” Someone might be thinking, “I thought that salvation is a free gift, received simply by grace through faith, not a matter of our effort. How does this harmonize with striving for it?” Jesus isn’t talking about salvation by works or human effort. But He is talking about our attitude toward it. Those who are only mildly interested about salvation will not obtain it. Those who view salvation as an interesting topic for discussion are missing the point. You need to take great pains to make sure that you have entered the narrow door. It shouldn’t be a matter of mild interest that elicits a half-hearted response. Jesus doesn’t say, “Stroll through the big door sometime when you’re not doing anything else and check it out.” He says, “Strive to enter by the narrow door.” Up to this point in Luke has spent more than half of his Gospel describing why we want to walk through the narrow door into the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God there is joy, love, hope, justice, peace, healing, wholeness, and eternal life. Outside of the door, as you can see in reading Luke, there is brokenness, hopelessness, despair, enmity, injustice, and a lack of compassion. We’re called to strive to enter God’s kingdom and become people who resemble the God we worship. Again, picture an Olympic athlete. She makes winning the gold medal the focus of her life. Everything she does is controlled by her goal of winning the gold and this requires tremendous sacrifice and discipline. She won’t eat anything that isn’t good for her, because it might hinder her muscles from performing at their maximum on the day of the race. She doesn’t go to parties and stay up late the night before, because she wants to be rested and ready to give everything to the race. She will refrain from engaging in activities that her other friends enjoy because she doesn’t want to risk injury. She works out for hours, often when her body is screaming, “That’s enough!” because she wants to win. That’s the kind of attitude that we should have toward our own salvation, according to Jesus. It shouldn’t be a nice thing to think about every once in a while when you don’t have anything better to do. It is on your mind every day. It governs everything you do. It determines how you spend your time, your money, and your leisure hours. You must strive to enter because the door is narrow, and make sure that Christ is your hope of salvation. Strive to enter through the narrow door because in the end there will be some surprises, and some people who are upset and shocked to be on the outside looking in and unable to enter. Make sure you’re not one of them. It is not how few who are saved that will shock the crowd listening to Jesus, but who many of these “few” are. Jesus is talking to Israelites who may assume that they’re already inside the door. Jesus says there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when the door is closed, and they discover they’re on the outside looking in. We have to actively strive to enter the narrow door, strive as though admission to the kingdom depends on our own doing even though it ultimately depends on God’s grace. We have to do our part. As Jesus said earlier in Luke 11:9-10, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Have you knocked on the narrow door that is Christ and asked to enter into God’s kingdom? We not only need to make sure we have entered the narrow door, which is Christ; we want to help others find their way in the door as well.

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