Musings122010, The Gate to Life is Narrow, by John

Matthew 7:13,14 say, "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." I've preached a number of sermons on those verses during the last 60 years, and I've heard many topical sermons using them as their text during the last 80 years. Some preachers have used them like a diving board. They read them and then dive off into a series of words that may, or may, not reflect the trust of the text. That is generally called topical preaching; a sermon devoted to a topic rather than a text.

One of the mystery religions of ancient Greece practiced a rite called "tauroboleum." One purpose of the rite was to supply purity for those who were aware they lacked spiritual cleansing. The person seeking purity lay in a shallow trench, or pit, under a grating. A live bull, or bullock, was placed above the person. The priest stabbed the animal, and the blood trickled down on the person beneath. The blood was supposed to take his sins away. It was thought it also gave the person the attributes of the sacrificial bull.

The Jews, on the other hand, expected shedding the blood of animals to cleanse them. Hebrews 9:22 speaks of this when it says, "In fact, the Law, requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Those sacrifices foreshadowed the death of Jesus on the cross. The New Testament teaches us the real way to be cleansed and saved for eternity. Jesus, our Great High Priest, shed His Own blood for us as an innocent sacrifice before God for the sins of the world. It was a spiritual as well as a physical act. Work, suffering, devotion, shedding your own blood, nor any other physical thing can accomplish anything eternal. Salvation is wholly spiritual. Ephesians 2:8,9 says God's grace accepted by our faith does the saving.

Most of the sermons I have heard talking about the "narrow way" have dealt with living a sinless life. I remember a Mississippi Methodist minister named Ellis Finger who preached to my college group at Delta State College, now a university. He said before he became a Christian he thought Christianity was walled in and so narrow that he would bump his elbows every time he turned around. That kept him from entering through the narrow gate. Once he overcame his fears and entered the narrow gate (Jesus), he discovered that the walls were so far away that he couldn't touch them with outstretched arms. Mr. Finger was right. No one ever has known true freedom outside of Jesus. There were many Jews who began to believe in Jesus. Jesus knew they needed the freedom He offered, and He said in John 8:31, 32, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." There is no real freedom in anything false. In the truth of Jesus, the vast expanse of God's creation lies before us without limit! We are really free!

The Bible points out a mistake so many of us make. Anarchy is not freedom. If freedom is limited to one person then all the rest are slaves. Francis of Assisi discovered the narrow way was better while he was living a life of debauchery. That truth so deeply impressed Francis that he gave his wealth away and turned to Jesus. In Matthew 19:16-22, Jesus talked with a young man and told him if he wanted to enter into life to keep the commandments. The man realized he had done that already, but something was lacking. In verse 22, Jesus said, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." That young man went away sad because he had great wealth." I'm not sure Francis realized there is nothing wrong with wealth. The problem is, it is hard to keep possession and the power it gives from making a person consider himself God. Francis followed Jesus' advice literally. We don't need to be so drastic, but as Jesus said in verse 23, "It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." We must be willing to put aside any and every thing that hinders us from following Jesus with our whole being.

Let me use sort of a reverse illustration. The first year I served as pastor 1947, one of the men asked me, "Preacher, does it bother you when you eat onions that your breath become offensive?" I replied that it did. He said, "They've discovered that you can take one bite of a little garden vegetable, and no one will know that you've been eating onions." I bit hook, line, and sinker! "What is it?" He grinned and said, "Garlic!" So much of what we consider dear before we meet Jesus will be lost in the wonderful life Jesus gives us. Our new life just eliminates the memory of our life before. Jesus described it in John 3 as being "born again."

I myself discovered long ago that the gate to life looks narrow from the outside, but not the inside! Now, I wonder why so many refuse to enter the perfect freedom that God gives us in Jesus! I suppose riches, education, popularity, and guilt all narrow people's perspective of what being a disciple of Jesus is. I pray for God to open the eyes of such people so that they may not lose their opportunity to live successfully in this world and eternally with God. It really is such a short step into the arms of Jesus when it seems impossible to us, and I think that is because it is a rational step into the unknown. That's called faith.