Sunday, May 13, 2012,
5:00 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with this song:
Jesus, I
My Cross Have Taken / Henry F. Lyte / Mozart/ Arr. Hubert
P. Main
Jesus, I
my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute,
despised, forsaken, Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish
every fond ambition, all I've sought, and hoped, and known;
Yet how
rich is my condition, God and Christ are still my own!
…Haste
then on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer;
God's
eternal day's before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon
shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope
shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Speak,
Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 7:13-27 (NIV 1984):
“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.
“Watch out for false
prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious
wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from
thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad
tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
“Not everyone who says
to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the
will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and
perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away
from me, you evildoers!’
“Therefore everyone
who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man
who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not
put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The
rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house, and it fell with a great crash.”
My Understanding:
A gate is an opening, means of access or entrance, or a door. Jesus said: “I am
the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out,
and find pasture” (John 10:9). A road is a highway, path or way. “Jesus
answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me’” (Jn. 14:6). So, Jesus Christ is both the gate (door) and he
is the road (way) to heaven, to the Father, and to eternal life with God.
Here in Matthew 7 Jesus thus describes for us the character
of that gate (door) and road (way) so that there is no mistake concerning how
we enter into relationship with Jesus Christ and eternal life with God in
heaven. The gate that is Jesus and the way that is Jesus is the narrow gate and
road, which stands in stark contrast to a gate that is wide and a road (way)
that is broad that leads to destruction. Jesus wants us to understand this
distinction, because many are preaching a wide gate and a broad path as though
they lead to heaven, when they do not.
If something is narrow, it is restricted, limited and/or
confined. If something is wide it is extensive, varied, inclusive, wide-ranging,
eclectic (diverse; assorted; mixed), loose-fitting, all-encompassing and comfortable.
I believe the definitions alone paint quite a picture.
Jesus clearly stated that he is the door and he is the way
and that no one comes to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. No one
gains eternity in heaven apart from genuine faith in Jesus Christ. There are
not many ways to heaven. God is not the God of all religions. Even the Jews do
not worship the one true God if they do not believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior. Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions do not all worship the same God
as the God of true believers in Jesus Christ. The people of this world are not
all one big family with God as our Father, either. He is our creator, but we
don’t all worship the same God. The only way to God the Father is through
genuine faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior. He is the narrow
(restrictive) gate and he is the narrow (confined) path.
Yet, this narrow gate and path go beyond just faith in Jesus
Christ vs. following other religions (wide path), thinking you will get to heaven
and/or that we all worship the same God. This has to do with understanding what
Jesus means by “believe” and “faith” too.
Narrow Gate and Path
According to Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ first sermon was “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is near.” To repent means to leave our lives of sin
behind us and to follow Jesus/God with our lives. Why do we need to repent?
Because the kingdom of heaven is near (or is at hand). The kingdom of heaven is
Jesus Christ, his teachings, life and ministry, his death and resurrection (for
our sins), the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell the lives and hearts of
his true followers, the life and ministry of the church (true followers of
Christ), and is culminated in Jesus Christ’s return to set up his millennial
kingdom reign on the earth.
Jesus denounced cities that did not repent (Matt. 11:20).
Matt. 21:32 combines repentance and faith together. Jesus combined repentance
and belief in the good news together (Mk. 1:15). Repentance always precedes
faith. Jesus said that unless we repent we will perish, so he made repentance a
requirement for eternal life (Lk. 13:3). Peter’s first presentation of the
gospel of Jesus Christ on the Day of Pentecost began with the word “Repent.” In
another sermon Peter said: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins
may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
Paul stated that God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). Peter
said that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that everyone
would come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
Not only is repentance required for eternal life and is part
of this narrow gate and path to heaven, but so is obedience to Christ’s
commands. Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven” (Matt. 7:21). In the “Great Commission,” Jesus told his disciples that
they were to make disciples of Christ of all nations, teaching them to obey
everything Christ had commanded them (Matt. 28:18-20). Jesus said: ““Blessed
rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Lk. 11:28). Jesus said:
“If you love me, you will obey what I command” (Jn. 14:15). Peter and the other
apostles said: “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,
whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32). John said: “We know that
we have come to know him if we obey his commands” (1 Jn. 2:3). And, “Those who
obey his commands live in him, and he in them” (1 Jn. 3:24).
Jesus said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the
rock” (Matt. 7:24). Obedience means applied knowledge. In other words, we are
not to be just hearers of the word, but doers of the word (see book of James).
If we do what the word teaches, then we are wise. Not only are we wise, but
this shows that we have built our spiritual house (relationship with God) on a
solid foundation (Jesus Christ) – the Rock. When the storms of this life come,
and they will, our house (faith) will not fall because it is built on Christ
and his word, which is evidenced by our obedience to the word (putting it into
practice). Though I believe this has to do some with the difficulties of life
and not wavering in our faith, in context, I believe this also has to do with
our eternal salvation remaining firm, steady and assured because we have true
faith in Jesus Christ, evidenced by repentance and obedience.
So, to enter this narrow gate and path to heaven we must believe
in Jesus Christ as Lord (master; boss) and Savior (from sin) of our lives. This
faith involves repentance and obedience to Christ and to his commands. Yet,
there is one more aspect here of this narrow gate and narrow path, and that is
bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. The Bible talks much about how we
must bear fruit (produce; harvest; yield; outgrowth; fruition; result), giving evidence
of genuine salvation and a true relationship with Jesus Christ (see: John 15; Ro.
7:4-5; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:10; Jms. 2:26; 3:17; and Jude
1:12).
So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ by faith, via
repentance and turning to walk in obedience to Christ, and we continue in
Christ in living a life of faith, obedience, and we bear fruit (our deeds,
words and attitudes) in keeping with a life turned away from sin, Jesus
promises us that we will also be hated, rejected, persecuted, abandoned,
mistreated, mocked, falsely accused of wrong, called “crazy” or “of Satan,” and/or
we will have all manner of evil spoken against us. Some of us may even be
killed for our faith. This type of treatment against us because of our
commitment to Christ is also part of the narrow path.
Wide Gate and Road
This wide gate and road, being marketed in much of today’s
church as the way to heaven is varied, inclusive, wide-ranging, eclectic
(diverse; assorted; mixed), all-encompassing and comfortable. This sounds good,
right? And, the false teachers of today (wolves in sheep’s clothing) are doing
a great job at marketing it, too, so that it sounds loving and kind, whereas
the narrow path and gate sound judgmental, critical, hateful, exclusive, intolerant,
and unaccepting of people who think and believe different from us. And, the
more this is marketed this way in the church, and true followers of Christ are
becoming outcasts and throwaways because of their stand for Christ and the
truth of the gospel, the greater the persecution of Christ’s true followers will
ensue, even in the church.
This wide gate and path tells its followers that they do not
have to repent, and they do not have to obey Christ and his commands and that
nothing is really required of them because God does it all. In fact, they teach
that God is pleased with us no matter what we do, which is saying God is
pleased with evil – may that never be! This is being taught by these wolves in
sheep’s clothing who disguise themselves as true ministers of the gospel, but
what they teach is “gospel lite,” which is no gospel of Christ at all, and only
leads its followers to hell. They make the path attractive to the world so that
the world will want to follow. Yet, the Bible says that the cross of Christ is
an offense to those who are perishing. They try to make the walk of faith
appear as all fun and church as fun, exciting, comfortable, non-threatening, and
non-judgmental, etc. And, they can do that when they leave out the cross of
Christ from the picture, and they just appeal to the flesh of man and man’s
desires.
Yet, Jesus said that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of God the Father;
only those who turn from their sins; only those who choose to walk in faith and
obedience to Christ and to his commands; and only those who bear fruit
(evidence) in keeping with repentance that shows that true faith actually
exists, i.e. shows that the follower is on the right (narrow) path. Make sure
you are on the right path. You don’t want to hear one day: “I never knew you.
Depart from me!”
Your Servant Witness
/ An Original Work / March 13, 2012
Humbly I bow, Lord,
before You,
Bringing my requests
to You.
May I listen; hear You
speaking.
May I follow You in
truth.
Gently lead me in Your
service.
Guide my steps and
strengthen me.
Fill me with Your love
and mercy.
May I live for Thee!
Let me be Your servant
witness,
Telling others of Your
grace.
May I always share the
gospel
With those I meet face
to face.
May I show the love of
Jesus,
Caring for the needs
of men;
Be Your servant witness
always
For my Lord, Amen!
My desire to be like
Jesus,
Living for Him ev’ry
day.
May I obey all His
teachings
Given me, so I’ll not
stray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord,
my master.
You are the King of my
heart;
Follow You where’er
You lead me;
Not from You depart!
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