{"id":124,"date":"2010-08-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=124"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:03","slug":"enter-through-the-narrow-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/29\/enter-through-the-narrow-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Enter Through the Narrow Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 13: 22-30<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a fellow Christian dies, we struggle for words of comfort.\u00a0 We look into the tear soaked eyes of someone we care about and want to say something that helps them in their grief.\u00a0 Often I hear people try to console one another with these words. He or she is in a better place.<\/em><\/p>\n

We know that’s true for the loved one who has fallen asleep in Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far<\/span>.\u00a0 Better than the struggles of this world.\u00a0 Better than the pain and suffering.\u00a0 Yes, he or she is in a better place, better by far.<\/span><\/p>\n

But are those words true for every person who leaves this life?\u00a0 Will that be the case for every person who stands before God on judgment day? \u00a0\u00a0If we believe these words of Jesus’ word to be true, if we believe that this is God’s inspired truth, then we have to say no<\/em>.\u00a0 Every person who dies does not end up in a better place.<\/em><\/p>\n

These are hard words to listen to this morning. Words of warning are never easy to hear especially when we realize those words have something to say to you and me.\u00a0 But as you listen, remember what often gives rise to a warning.\u00a0 Remember what brings this warning. Love and concern.\u00a0 We warn someone we care about, don’t\u00a0 we?\u00a0 We warn our children about the sad consequences of making bad choices about drugs or alcohol or sex.\u00a0 We warn them because we care about them deeply.\u00a0 So remember what\u2019s behind \u00a0these words of warning, a concerned heart, a heart willing to lay down his life for every one of us.\u00a0 He urges us all:<\/p>\n

Make every effort to enter through the Narrow Door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem<\/span>.\u00a0 It was the last year of Jesus’ ministry, the last year of his life. As always, Jesus was reaching out.\u00a0 Jesus was teaching the people.
\nAnd some of those things you can read about in earlier chapters.\u00a0 But don’t let Luke’s words slip by unnoticed. Jesus went …teaching AS HE MADE HIS WAY TO JERUSALEM.<\/span> Maybe it seemed to others that Jesus was randomly wandering from one village to another but he was not.\u00a0 The Son of God was making his way to \u00a0Jerusalem for every person he met and many he did not.\u00a0 He was making his way to Jerusalem for every one of us.\u00a0 For whether people know it or not, whether they believe it or not, Jesus went this way to suffer and die for us all.\u00a0 He made his way to Jerusalem to bear our sins, suffer our punishment and win our forgiveness before God.<\/p>\n

Well along came a man who asked Jesus this question.\u00a0 \u201cLord, are only a few people going to be saved?\u201d<\/span> It would be nice to know why he asked that question.\u00a0 A young lady from Peru told me about her brother, Mario.\u00a0 He is trying to get accepted into a university.\u00a0 Thousands apply, take a test to get in and stand outside waiting to find out.\u00a0\u00a0 For out of those thousands they only accept 16 at a time.\u00a0 Just a few.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, are only a few people going to be saved?\u201d<\/span> I have to think that was more than a curious question.\u00a0 This was something that really concerned this someone.\u00a0 If only a few, then will I, will my loved ones be part of that few?<\/p>\n

Listen to Jesus’ answer the man.\u00a0 24 \u201cMake every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to<\/span>.\u00a0 Here Jesus pictures eternal life with God like a building that lots of folks wants to get into. \u00a0And many people think, if I’m a pretty good person, God will say come right in.\u00a0 That the way many of the Jews looked at their lives as do many people today.\u00a0 I’m trying.<\/p>\n

Then are those who believe there are many paths to God, all those many different religions we see in our world.\u00a0 Some say, all those isms can get you in.<\/p>\n

But that’s not what Jesus tells us here.\u00a0 He tells the man.\u00a0 24 \u201cMake every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.<\/span> Think about what Jesus say here.\u00a0 He speaks of one narrow door, not many, but one. Only one door provides access to life with God.\u00a0 So the question is who or what is that door?\u00a0 We know.\u00a0 The one who says to us: I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved<\/span>.\u00a0 The one who says to us:\u00a0 I am the way the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me<\/span> (Jn 14:6) He is that one narrow door.<\/p>\n

And here’s why.\u00a0 The Son of God came as our brother to live the life that we fail to live.\u00a0 Every day he lived that life of love and holiness in our place.\u00a0 \u00a0And then went to Jerusalem to bow his head and died for us all.<\/p>\n

For there he took our many sins.\u00a0 He suffered the death we deserve and rose from his grave in victory.\u00a0 What does that victory mean?\u00a0 It means this.\u00a0\u00a0 Every sin is paid for.\u00a0 The door is open.\u00a0 Forgiveness and life is there for all.\u00a0 So Jesus is that narrow door that God provides.\u00a0 As Peter would one day declare to those demanding his silence: Salvation is found in no one else…<\/span><\/p>\n

And notice what Jesus says about \u00a0entering that door.\u00a0 Make every effort<\/strong>.\u00a0 That tells us something important about being a Christian.\u00a0 It’s more than some event way back in your life.\u00a0 It’s more than just being able to say, I was baptized or confirmed. \u00a0Being a Christian involves effort, a \u00a0struggle to be faithful to Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 You might compare it to walking upstream against the current.\u00a0 At times, it’s just plain hard to walk against that water. Well the devil, some people in this world try to discourage us. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And we have to walking against our own sinful nature that says, who cares about Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 So it takes effort, effort to be faithful, effort to keep following Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0 And here Jesus urges us:\u00a0 make every effort to enter through the narrow door<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Right now that door is open to all. But it will not always be. Isaiah says it this way: Seek the Lord while he may be found<\/span>.(Is 55:6)\u00a0 For \u00a0the time will come when that opportunity will be no more.\u00a0 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, \u2018Sir, open the door for us.\u2019<\/span> Think back to the time of Noah. \u00a0For 120 years Noah warned the people \u00a0to repent of their wickedness while he built that ark.\u00a0 Finally the Lord brought their time of grace to an end.\u00a0 He sent that flood upon the earth and the waters began to rise.\u00a0 Noah, his family and the animals went inside the ark.\u00a0 Then comes a verse that says it all.\u00a0 \u2026The Lord shut him in.<\/span> (Gen 7:16) \u00a0He shut the door of the ark with Noah inside, safe from the flood, but with that same door he shut out a world of unbelievers.\u00a0\u00a0 Their opportunity to repent had come to an end.\u00a0 I wonder.\u00a0 When that door was shut did Noah hear the same pleading words that Jesus speaks of here : For people will say:\u00a0 \u00a0Sir, open the door for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut he will answer, \u2018I don\u2019t know you or where you come from.\u2019 26 \u201cThen you will say, \u2018We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.\u2019<\/span> How blessed the Jewish people!\u00a0 The Son of God was born a Jew and lived in their midst.\u00a0 Many witnessed his miracles, heard him speak powerful words of the kingdom. of God.\u00a0 How blessed they were.\u00a0 Yet so many did not believe in him.\u00a0 So many refused to see him as the promised Christ.\u00a0 So many turned away. Jesus warned them here.<\/p>\n

What about us?\u00a0 How blessed we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to know him as we do. \u00a0But if we walk away, if we wander off, if we treat Jesus like we might some distant relative, we dare not think that we’ll be able to say: \u00a0But Jesus, my parents took me to Sunday School.\u00a0 I had a Bible in my house.\u00a0 \u00a0Jesus, we put up Christmas decorations. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2019 27 \u201cBut he will reply, \u2018I don\u2019t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!<\/span>\u2019\u00a0 That is the worst thing that anyone could ever hear from God. \u00a0Go away.\u00a0 Yet It will be a tragedy that people will bring on themselves.\u00a0 For\u00a0 here and now Jesus invites us: Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.<\/span> The Holy Spirit testifies to us in this Word that Jesus is the bread of life that we may eat and never die.\u00a0 And our Lord Jesus promises to be with us always. So Jesus\u00a0 warns his people to make every effort to enter through the narrow door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If not, this is what they will find on the last day. \u00a0\u00a0\u2019 28 \u201cThere will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. \u00a029 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God<\/span>.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Jesus paints a picture of a great divide.\u00a0 He warns his fellow Jews of missing out on what the Lord has in store for his people. \u00a0Many of the Jews believed that because they were God’s chosen people they needed no Savior.\u00a0 Their bloodline gave them a leg up with God.\u00a0 We are children of Abraham they claimed.<\/p>\n

But they did not share the faith of Abraham and the prophets, faith in the promised Savior. They did not share the faith of people once foreigners to God, those they considered despicable unclean Gentile sinners<\/em>.\u00a0 They did not share the faith of these people from north, south, east, and west who would hear the good news of Jesus Christ and believe it. \u00a0Those who once were last, without God and without hope, would take their place in the Kingdom.<\/p>\n

So Jesus urges these people, his people, to enter through the narrow door.\u00a0 He urges us.\u00a0 Otherwise the Day of the Lord would find them on the outside looking in, shut out from God’s presence, feeling a terrible regret, suffering an eternal loss.<\/p>\n

And what would they see?\u00a0 Something so different for those who enter through the narrow door, so different for those whose hearts trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\u00a0 Instead of weeping, God will wipe away every tear and sadness.\u00a0 \u00a0The cancer, the dementia, the hurts, the struggles, the \u00a0broken hearts of this life will be no more.<\/p>\n

And \u00a0think of the happiest wedding you every attended.\u00a0 Maybe it was your own. That joy will be small compared to the joy of that Day.\u00a0 And it will not end.\u00a0 .\u00a0 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God<\/span>.\u00a0 That door is open, dear friends.\u00a0 \u00a0His name is Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Come and be blessed.\u00a0\u00a0 Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 13: 22-30 When a fellow Christian dies, we struggle for words of comfort.\u00a0 We look into the tear soaked eyes of someone we care about and want to say something that helps them in their grief.\u00a0 Often I hear people try to console one another with these words. He or she is in a better place. We know that’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}