Luke
13:22-30 Make Every Effort to Enter
through the Narrow Door
“Lord, are only a few people going
to be saved?” It’s an interesting
question. What kind of answers do you
think we would get if we posed such a question to the people in our
country. According to most of the
leading polls, the majority of people in our country, while they do believe in
some kind of life after death, do not believe in a hell. And if there is a hell, they often
rationalize, a gracious God isn’t going to damn anyone except for maybe the
very worst criminals. God is often seen
as a kindly, old grandfather who isn’t really going to punish anyone. Sin is not taken seriously. Even within many Christian churches there is
a reluctance to speak about sin. As long
as I’m not hurting anyone else, don’t tell me I’m wrong. You don’t know what is right or wrong for
me. That is the attitude of many in our
society. Truth is relative. It’s what I want it to be. So I think that if you asked most people in
our country, “Are only a few people going to be saved?” I think they might respond, “No, only a few
people are going to be damned.”
So
how did Jesus answer that question? Well, Jesus makes it very clear that not everyone will get into heaven, even
that many will not. He doesn’t give us
an exact number of just how many people will be in heaven. Finally, that was not his purpose - to
satisfy our curiosity. His purpose was
to satisfy our spiritual needs, to open the door of heaven for us and to guide
us there to heaven. And so instead,
Jesus refocuses this man’s question to what needs to be his chief concern - not
how many will be saved, but how he can be sure of his salvation, how we can be
sure of our salvation. Jesus uses this
opportunity to encourage the crowds before him, and to encourage us, “Make Every Effort to Enter through the Narrow
Door.” The door is narrow. The door is open to all. But the door is only open for a time.
The
door to heaven is narrow because there is only one way. Jesus is the door. Jesus tells us, “I am the gate; whoever
enters through me will be saved.” That
is the only way to enter heaven – through faith in Jesus. There aren’t many different ways to get to
heaven. All religions are not the
same. All roads do not lead to
heaven. Our society would tell us that
it isn’t really so important what you believe, as long as you are sincere in
your beliefs. But faith is only as
strong as the object on which that faith depends. And God clearly tells us there is only one
Savior, only one way to heaven – that is Jesus. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” It doesn’t matter how sincere a person is, or how good a person he or
she might be – without faith in Jesus it is impossible to enter heaven.
The
door is narrow because it is only by Jesus’ work that a person is able to enter
heaven. Those carrying their
self-righteous pride – those relying on their works, who think that they are
good people – such a person can’t fit through that narrow door. The person who focus is on the things of this
world can’t enter that narrow door. Such
a person is loaded down with the baggage of the treasures and cares of this
world and can’t fit through that narrow door.
God’s
law cuts us down to size. God’s law
reveals the miserable sinners that we are. How unworthy we are of heaven. By
nature, we had no energy to make any effort to get through that narrow
door. We were “dead in transgressions
and sins.” With the baggage and the weight
of our sin, there was no way that we could get through the door into heaven.
So
the only way to enter through the narrow door into heaven is through our Savior
Jesus. Jesus opened the door to heaven
for us. He did it all by becoming our
substitute. He did it by his perfect
life in our place and by his sacrifice on the cross to pay for sin. In Jesus, the door to heaven stands wide open
to us. That is proven by his glorious
resurrection on Easter.
As Jesus encourages – we are to make
every effort to enter through that narrow door. It requires effort, a struggle, a fight on our part. While it is true that by nature, we couldn’t
produce any effort to get through the door to heaven, since our conversion that
is no longer the case. The picture is much
the same as the one used by the apostle Paul when he writes, “I have fought the
good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, will award to me on that
day.” The Christian life is pictured as
an endurance race with heaven the prize waiting at the finish line. But this race is a struggle which requires a
great deal of effort. Throughout our
lives there is much opposition - opposition from the devil, from the world
around us and from our own sinful nature. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, we have the strength and the
ability to fight against temptation, to overcome the devil, the world and our
own sinful desires. We are able to work
to avoid temptation, and to overcome sin with God’s help. We are able to do those good works God has
prepared for us – to exercise our faith. We are able to make those positive decisions that affect our faith. We do that by taking every opportunity to
remain in God’s Word. We make every
effort to study and hear God’s word so that the Holy Spirit might work through
that word to strengthen our faith and keep our eyes focused on Jesus. We need the continued encouragement and
strength that comes from God’s word otherwise we quickly and easily fall back
into a sinful, self-reliance and look to our own good works; we easily get
wrapped up in the things of this world and drift away from our Savior. The door is narrow – make every effort to
enter through that narrow door to heaven – that narrow door by faith in
Jesus.
What
is waiting for us on the other side of that door? The blessings and joys of heaven are too
glorious to be described in direct language – it’s beyond what our sinful minds
can comprehend – but what a wonderful picture Jesus gives us. Jesus pictures heaven as a great feast, a
place of celebration and joy with countless numbers of guests. The door is open to all. Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world.” Jesus isn’t just the
Savior for a certain group of people – he is the Savior for all.
Jesus
pictures the Old Testament patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - there at
this heavenly feast, together with people from all corners of the world. This is a reminder to us that we are to
proclaim the good news of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus to everyone. God wants all people to come to a knowledge
of the truth and be saved. Believers
will come from all over, from all places, from all ages, from all stature and
status, and take their places at the feast in God’s kingdom of heaven.
This
fact may not have sat well with this crowd of Jews whom Jesus was
addressing. If people would enter the
kingdom from all corners of the earth, this obviously meant Gentiles as well –
people whom they despised. It is also a
reminder to us that the gospel is for all people – Jesus died to open the door
to heaven to all people which includes people who we may be tempted to look
down on, people we may not particularly care for, people who are different than
we are, people we might consider beneath us. Jesus opened the door to all people and we as his witnesses are to
loudly and boldly proclaim the gospel to whomever we might have opportunity.
Some
may still be far from the means of grace. Perhaps they won’t hear the gospel until the last moment. Yet by God’s grace the gospel will still
reach them and they will be first – by God’s grace they will enter into his
eternal joys. That moves us to make
every effort to be busy reaching out with the gospel.
Because while the door is open for
all, the door is only open for a time. While Jesus’ death has opened the door to
heaven, there are those who will not enter, who will be lost. God’s grace is not without its limit. The prophet Isaiah encourages us, “Seek the
LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” Each individual is given a time of grace
after which it is too late. That time of
grace is the time of a person’s life during which he has the opportunity to
hear God’s Word and to come to faith. That time of grace ends when a person dies or when Christ returns again
in glory. And we don’t know when that
time of grace may end. Christ could
return today. We could die in an
accident tomorrow. Since that time of
grace will end, we are encouraged to use it. For once the Judge of heaven and earth has closed the door, the time of
grace is ended. It will be forever too
late to enter through that narrow door to heaven. Those who rejected Christ will be left out
forever in hell.
Where
were they when the door was open? Perhaps busy with other things – until it was too late. Their focus was on the wrong things. Their priorities were in the wrong
place. What a good reminder for us of
the need to be faithful in our use of God’s word – and today. To regularly come to receive the Lord’s
Supper. Because it is through those
things that our faith is strengthened, that our relationship to him is made
closer. Repentance is not something to
be put off until tomorrow. Time spent
with the Lord and his word isn’t something that I’ll do later on. The Lord and his word need to be a priority
for us right now, because we don’t know when that door might close.
Just
because I was baptized and confirmed and grew up in the church – doesn’t mean
that I can rest easy. Just because I
know who Jesus is, doesn’t mean I will be satisfied. Note, that just knowing who Jesus is and even
living a good life is not enough. The
people who ere left outside in Jesus’ parable knew the owner of the house. They even ate and drank with him; yet they
were shut out. The Jews had Jesus right
there with them. He taught in their
midst. He ate with them and drank with
them; and yet how many of them rejected Jesus as the Savior and were left out
of the kingdom of heaven. Their
relationship with Jesus was simply an external one, and not a close personal
relationship, not a relationship by faith.
That is a warning for us. What a temptation to take God’s Word for
granted, to think that we know what the Bible says, or at least know enough. We have had Jesus with us, for many of us most
if not all of our lives. Through the
pages of Scripture we have eaten and drunk with Jesus. But don’t take that relationship with Jesus
for granted. Don’t let it be simply an
external relationship. Instead in faith
cherish that relationship you have with Jesus your only Savior from sin.
To those who despised God’s time of
grace and rejected Christ, Jesus says to them, “Away from me, all you
evildoers!” Jesus rejects those who had
rejected him. It wasn’t their lack of
good works that prompted Jesus to call them evildoers. These people weren’t necessarily terrible
criminals. No doubt many of the Jews,
whom Jesus addresses here and who ultimately rejected him, appeared to be good
people. In fact those Pharisees, whom
Jesus once called a ‘brood of vipers,’ were outwardly extremely righteous.
But mere externals don’t save. These people were evildoers because they had
no righteousness. They were without
righteousness because they were not clothed in the righteousness of
Christ. Without faith they could not do
any good works.
Thanks be to God that we are among
that number of the saved. Our Savior
Jesus has opened wide the door to the
