Dan Herold | Luke 13:22-30 | August 21, 2016
(Sermon begins at 26:07)
How many times have you found yourself standing in line to check out at the grocery store, and you just happen to read a couple of the headlines on the magazines there and you start to wonder if they are really true? You start to get a little curious and your mind starts to run with all those ideas that just popped up. Hopefully, that is usually just when the person in front of you in line is all done and you move on. There’s something interesting about those tabloid type magazines though, isn’t there? It might be how outrageous the headline seems or it might be the celebrity that is being written about. It’s a greater struggle for some of us than it is for others, but our sinful natures love to feel like they have some inside information that they aren’t supposed to know about. Our sinful nature loves gossip. It loves to talk about everyone else and their faults, just so long as we don’t ever have to talk about our own weaknesses.
In this morning’s gospel reading someone tried to suck Jesus into that sort of a conversation. That person said to Jesus,
“Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
And instead of then talking about other people, Jesus redirects the question and tells us that first we ought to be concerned with ourselves and our own salvation. He tells us about the narrow door to salvation–he tells us to whom that door is open and to whom it will be closed.
In fact, Jesus doesn’t even really address the question that was asked at all! His first words to the people around him when the question was asked are,
“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,” he says, “many will try to enter and will not be able to.”
Now, when you look at this statement in context and with the rest of God’s word it is clear that Jesus isn’t saying that you need to earn your way into heaven. So, what does Jesus mean when he says,
“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door?”
First of all he’s telling us to whom that door is open. The narrow door, which is the only door to salvation, is open to those who make an effort to enter the door. It is not open to those who sit by and wait to be zapped into heaven someday, or to those who live life ignoring the fact that there is only one door into heaven. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:24 to run our race so as to win the prize. Have you seen any of the Olympic races? That’s the sort of effort we are to make to enter into heaven. Jesus tells us to live our lives with purpose and determination.
What does that mean? What does that look like in our daily lives? It means living your faith. It means seeking out those good works which God has prepared for you to do in advance so that you might demonstrate your faith. It means not sitting by and watching others run the race. It means not letting an hour or two on Sunday when you are in church be the only time that anyone could tell that you are a Christian. There’s no specific thing you have to do, or any checklist you need to complete. In fact the ways in which you can make every effort to enter through the narrow door are endless!
The United States has won quite a few Gold Medals so far in the Olympics this year. However, just because we have watched on TV or because we might be fans of the US Olympic team doesn’t mean that we are ever going to be invited up on the podium to receive a medal. That’s what Jesus wants us to realize.
Just because we know who Jesus is doesn’t mean we’ve made it through the door. Jesus demands more than that we just know him, he tells us to make every effort, to live our faith, to be active in it, and not to hide it—faith in Jesus is about more than just simple knowledge of a fact. Jesus wants to be your best and dearest friend, the one you turn to for help and advice, the one you rely on, and the one you put your trust in. And to those who have cultivated that sort of relationship with their Savior heaven is open. They will be welcomed in through that narrow door and take their seat at the heavenly banquet with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets of God.
However, to those who do not have that relationship with their Savior, Jesus says the door will be closed. Jesus says,
“Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us. “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.”
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Now, that has a couple of implications for us. First, Jesus is telling us that we have a limited and well defined time of grace. The length of time we are given to live on this earth is the amount of time we are given to make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Once our earthly lives are over we have either made it in or we haven’t and there’s no second chance. Also, Jesus is reminding us that this is an urgent matter since we don’t know when our time on earth will end. We can’t just put it off because it might be too late. We need to strive to enter that narrow door right now because five minutes from now could be too late!
Jesus also makes the point that this narrow door is not open to those who didn’t take their relationship with their Savior seriously. Jesus said,
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!”
There’s a difference between hanging around where Jesus hung around and being a true follower of Jesus. That is a matter that only God can judge–what’s in your heart—but, God can and does know who makes every effort to enter through the narrow door.
Jesus told that little parable in order to show the people he was speaking to, and us, that we might be surprised at who is in heaven. All those who thought they had the golden ticket into heaven and thought they could just stroll through a nice wide gate will be sorely mistaken. Everyone who relied on their connection to an earthly church, or teacher, or even on their bloodline to get them into heaven Jesus said would be sadly mistaken when they find themselves outside the banquet looking in. He said,
“There 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.”
And lastly Jesus speaks these words which are so familiar,
“Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
You often hear those words in reference to social class or position in a line or something to that effect, but in reality Jesus’ words are much more cutting than that. To the first century audience Jesus was speaking to he wasn’t just saying that the people at the end of the line will get to go in first and the people at the front will have to wait. No, Jesus was saying that the ones who heard the gospel first, the ones who were God’s chosen people, will be sent to the back of the line because they have not made every effort to enter the narrow gate. And those who would have been considered last, the gentiles who were not the first to hear the gospel, they would become first.
That’s the message of comfort that Jesus speaks to us this morning. That even though you were last in line, even though you were once a lost and condemned sinner, Jesus died for you to buy you back so that you would be his own. And he’s willing to welcome you into heaven to sit at that heavenly feast for eternity. However, there’s only one door into that banquet hall and it is through your Savior Jesus Christ. Nothing else can get you in, not being a good person, not simply knowing the facts of the Bible, not even being a descendant of Abraham.
But what will get you through that narrow door is sharing the same faith as Abraham. So many people at Jesus time relied on the fact that they were members of the race descended from Abraham as their ticket into heaven, but that’s not what God promised. Abraham didn’t get into heaven simply because he was Abraham, but God says in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham believed The Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham was saved by faith just like you and I are. Faith in Christ as our one and only Savior from sin is our ticket into the heavenly banquet hall.
It’s easy to get caught up in gossip and things that really aren’t any of our business. It’s natural for us to prefer to talk about others rather than look at what we really are, but Jesus reminds us where our focus should be. It has been said that every man has to do two things alone–he has to do his own believing and his own dying. No one else can believe for you and you can’t believe for anyone else. So when someone asked Jesus a question about how many people would or wouldn’t be saved Jesus redirected that question reminded us that first we must make sure we have seen to our own relationship with God. He tells us about that narrow doorway which is the only doorway into heaven and he tells us to strive and contend and make every effort to enter through that narrow doorway.
Through all the imagery, and the parables, Jesus is telling us that he is the way, the truth, and the life–no one comes to the Father except through him and as God’s own redeemed children we have been set on the path that leads to the narrow door. So make every effort! Live out your faith, nourish your soul, keep your Savior close. Depend on him, trust in him, love him because he loves you dearly. He loved you so much that he sacrificed his life for you and endured the punishment your sins deserve. Now he stands victorious over sin and death and eagerly awaits your arrival at the heavenly home he has prepared for you. Rather than get tangled up in things that aren’t your business and you really ultimately don’t need to know, put time and effort into what is of utmost importance…your relationship with your Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the narrow doorway through which you will enter heaven.
Amen.