(Luke 13:22-30)
You got a guy. Everyone’s got a guy. But for this job, you got a guy. He’s swooped in and saved the day in the past, so when the situation arrives and his services are needed once again, you reach out to him. You assure others that he’ll come through.
But then something came up. There was a mix-up of some sort. He could do it, then he couldn’t. He had the wrong day. He couldn’t make it. Something else came up and he flaked again. In the end, he didn’t come through, and you felt like you let everyone down because of it. You feel awful.
What was the problem? Why didn’t your guy come through? Why did he leave you hanging? In some scenarios there may be legitimate reasons. He had other work that was a priority. An emergency came up in his own personal life that didn’t allow him to help out at this time.
Or – and this is maybe the one that stings the most: you assumed more of the relationship than you should have. You thought you had a certain rapport or understanding, only to find out that you had the wrong idea. The relationship wasn’t what you thought it was, and you ended up getting burned by it, along with others in the process.
That might be a good way of explaining the warning Jesus is giving us in his teaching in Luke 13. Most people, regardless of religious background or belief, assume they have a certain rapport with God, or the divine, a higher being – whatever label they want to attach to it. Even within Christianity this can be the case – people assume they have a certain rapport with Jesus. Jesus’ warning to us this morning, though, is that we had better be certain that the relationship with assume we have with Jesus is not one that’s going to leave us high and dry, discovering that we don’t actually have what we thought we had with him.
The picture Jesus uses to describe that is a door. A narrow door. And if you are shocked by Jesus saying that door is not maybe as large as you expected it would be or you think it should be, then you’ll be even more shocked by the number of people who assume they’re on their way through that door, only to eventually find they are not able to enter it. Jesus warned, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (v.24). The two points that Jesus emphasizes ought to grab our attention: 1) make every effort, and 2) many… will try to enter and not be able to.
“Make every effort.” These words of Jesus are especially dangerous in this era of soundbites and snippets, clickbait captions, and replayed reels. No, it’s not that there is anything wrong with the words themselves; the problem is on our end. With as brief of attention spans as we’ve ever had, and in our rush to scroll to the next dopamine fix, we don’t have time for context. We don’t have time to actually read the article. We don’t have time to think critically for ourselves. So like everything else we consume media-wise, we take bite-size chunks out of Scripture and run with them. In this case, that can be deadly.
Because if we’re lazy and ignore the rest of Scripture, it sounds like Jesus is telling us that salvation is a matter of how hard you work. “Make every effort” is the soundbite that has prompted who-knows-how-many souls to conclude that getting into heaven is a matter of being good or trying harder or measuring up. As long as we do our best, God does the rest and we’ve got nothing to worry about. But if effort was really the issue, then Jesus really piles on the discouragement with his words that follow!
“Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” So much for effort! So what, I just need to try harder than all the others who thought they were trying hard, only to find out they were shut out? I need to be more dedicated, more disciplined than they were in earning my salvation?
Hardly! If entering through the narrow door was a matter of your effort or mine, the door would be slammed shut to everyone. No amount of any effort on the part of anyone will ever measure up. It isn’t your effort. The Bible makes this very clear. It says, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20). Effort is ruled out, because keeping the law doesn’t cut it – all God’s law does is expose how futile our efforts are!
So what “effort” is required, then? What does Jesus mean here? The effort required is to let go of yours and lean on his. And yes, that is hard work that requires great effort! That’s why Jesus describes the door as being narrow. And it is. We can’t widen it, and it doesn’t get bigger like that door off in the distance. From far away it looks tiny, but because we understand perspective, we naturally assume that just like any door, the closer we get to it, the bigger it appears to get.
Only Jesus says this door is not like that. It doesn’t get bigger. It stays small. It remains narrow. We can’t change that. So we’d better make sure we are addressing what can change to make sure we get in.
That’s why our church and school exist. Our goal is to get as many through that narrow door as possible. While the rest of the world is worried about stuff that doesn’t matter, we’re on a rescue mission, we’re sounding the alarm, we’re announcing exactly what is necessary and required to get through that narrow door.
The answer? The one who’s talking in these verses from Luke: Jesus. But, it’s more than know just knowing Jesus. If a person thinks that knowledge of or familiarity with Jesus is sufficient, he has a warning. “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.’ “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!’ (v. 25-27).
Yes, Jesus is the answer, but make sure that your relationship with him is more than just the good rapport that you think you have with him. Jesus isn’t interested in risking your salvation by assuming you’ve got the right take on religion or your relationship with him, so he tells us how it is. He tells us plainly what is required. Do not bother pitching to him why you think you’re good to go through that narrow door, at the risk of hearing those same words, “I don’t know you.”
That assumed rapport that people have with Jesus can show up in so many ways. People think they intuitively know how Jesus would respond or speak in any given situation. “Jesus would this” or “Jesus wouldn’t that…” This is especially shocking when their opinions directly contradict his clear words in Scripture.
Take his warning today, for example. To anyone who feels that the concept of hell doesn’t line up with a loving God, listen to Jesus. Jesus is the one speaking the harsh words of warning today – don’t miss that! This is his warning! So those who think that “hell” isn’t in Jesus’ vocabulary, pay attention to exactly what he’s describing here. The Jesus people would like to think is giving all people a pass to get into heaven because he just has such a big heart is the the same Jesus right here warning that NOT EVERYONE GETS IN – IN FACT, MANY WON’T!
But Jesus doesn’t just wanr us that many won’t make it into heaven; he also teaches us how we can.
On another occasion, Jesus described exactly what is necessary to get through the narrow door. With bellies full of bread, compliments of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000, some crowds had tracked Jesus down afterward. Wanting to know more about what he was teaching him, an individual asked Jesus what work was required for a person to be saved. “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:29). He later clarified, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life” (v.40). Believe. And any “effort” required to believe is also God’s work, for the Holy Spirit is responsible for granting the gift of faith, too. See, the effort is really all God’s effort from start to finish.
But it’s not natural for us to believe that. What’s natural is to believe that God needs something from me. What’s natural – albeit in a fallen world – is for man to be well aware of his own shortcomings and be absolutely convinced that there must be some contribution on his part to work with God. That’s natural, and so yes, it takes real effort not to fall for that lie. It takes real effort to believe that through Jesus Christ, God alone has carried out all the effort needed to get us through the narrow door.
Speaking of which, have we stopped yet to marvel at the fact that there even is a door?!? When Adam & Eve first sinned (and each of us has compounded that sin every single day of our lives in our thoughts, words, and actions), they were banned from Eden. As a result of our own sin, we, too, should be banned, not from Eden, but from heaven itself. We have no business being there. Heaven is for holiness, and we have disqualified ourselves by our unholiness.
But grace gave us a door. God’s love established that sinners would not be shut out of heaven for eternity. There is a way, and his name is Jesus. Through faith in him alone, that narrow door is large enough for every soul to be welcomed into heaven.
And how wonderful it will be to rejoice with all of those who will be there with us – including those we may not have expected. Jesus reminded us, “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last” (Luke 13:29-30).
When faith in Jesus is a factor, anyone can have it. So when it isn’t a matter of our righteous living or our good lives, but faith in Jesus, yes, some good folks that we thought for sure would make it, will be left out. And others we thought to be miles away from heaven, will be right at the front of the line.
Only grace. Grace for you. Grace for me. Grace for everyone, who not only know Jesus, but know and believe that through faith in Jesus alone we are granted access through the narrow door into heaven.
You got a guy, actually, you’ve much more than just a guy. You have a Savior. And heaven is yours through him.
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