TRY THE NARROW DOOR

TRY THE NARROW DOOR

Luke 13:22-30 NET.

²² Then Jesus traveled throughout towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them, ²⁴ “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵ Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves are thrown out. ²⁹ Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ But indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

We are resuming our study of the commands of Christ today. In our chronological study, we have reached the point where Jesus and his apostles are going through the towns and villages on their way to Jerusalem. John in his Gospel (10:40-42) tells us that there was a point when they left Judea and crossed the Jordan and began teaching in the region of Perea to the west. That is the context in which the words of today’s text were spoken. John draws a sharp contrast between the rejection that Jesus had just experienced in Jerusalem and the large numbers who are coming to faith in Perea, even though they only preached there a short time. It is in that context that we read of …

A question: “Will only a few be saved?” (23).

We don’t know whether the “someone” who asked the question was a believer or not. We don’t know what motivated this person to ask his question. Many assume that this person was a Jew, and that was probably the case. He may have asked the question because he was considering whether everyone who was born a Jew would be saved. If he thought that, he might have wondered what God’s plan was for all the other nations of the world. Will they be shut out of the great banquet God has planned for the descendants of Abraham? Is God only going to save the Jews?

If that was the basis for his question, this person probably was not vitally interested in the answer. After all, if he was already safe, he could only be slightly interested in the fate of people who were not like him.

I cannot help but think that there must be a lot of people in the world today who think that way. They may have been blessed with the privilege of growing up in a nation that allows the free preaching of the gospel. They may even feel that since their parents and grandparents got saved, that they will be allowed into the kingdom by virtue of their Christian heritage.

For these people, the world is made up of two kinds: us and them. Salvation belongs to us; damnation belongs to them. These people are marked by gratitude for being us and repulsion at anyone who is not us. For them, the world is clearly marked.

Except that Jesus said that it isn’t. From Jesus we read a command: “Exert every effort” (24).

This would be a strange reply because it does not convey the confidence of the question. The question implied that the questioner was safe. But Jesus’ answer said that nobody is born safe. If you want to be saved, you must go through a door, and it is narrow and hard to get through.

Jesus had used similar language when preaching in Galilee. He told them to “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it” (Matthew 7:13). The image Jesus was conveying at that time was that of salvation being a road that you can get to by means of a narrow gate. The destination you can get to after you get through the narrow gate is life. But only a few will take that route. Most will choose the easier path that is accessed by the wide gate. But that road will eventually lead to destruction.

The narrow gate that Jesus talked about in Galilee led outside and went to a place called life. That place is a symbol of the eternal life that believers will receive when Jesus returns. The wide gate led outside and went to a place called destruction. That place is a symbol of complete destruction which is the fate of everyone else – all those who take the easy road.

What Jesus is teaching here in Perea is only slightly different. Here, he is describing salvation not as a gate that leads to a road, but as a door that leads to the great banquet. In the Book of Revelation, it is called the “wedding celebration of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7, 9). In Galilee, Jesus talked about two gates. Here, there is only one door. You either make it through this door, or you don’t.

The command that Jesus gives is “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door.” These words imply that the man who had asked the question was not as safe as he thought he was. In fact, Jesus’ words are in the plural. He was not just speaking to that one person but to the whole crowd. He said “Y’all need to exert every effort to enter through that narrow door. The Greek word is ἀγωνίζομαι – which suggests an effort that is so strenuous, it causes agony. The word is used for athletic competition and warfare.

Jesus is saying that a person cannot get safely through that door by being born in a certain family or born a citizen of a certain country. It is an individual decision, and getting through that door is going to be a struggle.

I must apologize for my rather benign-sounding title for today’s sermon. I called it “TRY THE NARROW DOOR.” But we must do more than just try the door. We must fight our way through it. Jesus gives us all a warning: “Many … will not be able” (24).

Many will try to enter and will not be able to enter. They will be prevented from being saved even though they want to be saved. The door itself is going to be the obstacle to entering the wedding celebration of the Lamb. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob got through, and so did the Jewish prophets. But not all Jews will get through the door. Those who truly have faith in God will struggle through that door. But those who just assume that they will make it will not make it. They will be thrown out. They will weep in sorrow over their loss. They will gnash their teeth in anger at God for denying them access to eternal life.

Jesus taught the same thing using a parable in Matthew 22. He said “”The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they would not come. Again, he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”‘ But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest seized his slaves, insolently mistreated them, and killed them. The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy. So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the wedding guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he had nothing to say. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!’ For many are called, but few are chosen.””

This parable teaches us what kind of people are not going to be able to get through the door. Those who get the invitation, but ignore it, will never be able to join in the wedding banquet. Getting an invitation does not guarantee you a place at the table. You must respond to the invitation. The gospel is the invitation. Failing to respond to the gospel is like holding the invitation in your hand, but refusing to R.S.V.P.

Showing disrespect to those who preach the gospel will also keep a person from getting through the door. In the parable, the king was so angry at those who abused his servants with his invitation that he sent his soldiers to kill them. Nowadays, we have atheists who think that they can do everything they can to destroy the church and that it will not matter. But it will matter.

Another thing this parable teaches is that only those properly attired will have a place at the feast. Those without proper wedding clothes will be treated just like those who ignored the invitation. Getting through the door entails allowing God to change you into the kind of person he wants you to be. Paul called it being transformed by the renewing of your mind. He taught that we should put to death whatever in our nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed.  We should put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language, and lying from our mouths since we have put off the old person with its practices and have been clothed with the new person who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it (see Colossians 3:5-10). I believe the wedding clothing in Jesus’ parable is that new person.

Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience justification by faith. Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience regeneration – the new birth. Not all Jews will get through the narrow door because many will not experience the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. The final experience to cap off all these other experiences is what the Bible calls glorification. That is what will happen at the wedding celebration. That is what is going to happen to all true believers.

It isn’t just first-century Jews in Perea who must hear and understand this message. Glorification is not going to automatically happen to all 21st-century Americans in North Carolina either. In every age and every culture, there will be many who ignore that door and many who try to enter it but fail. It is not an easy thing to do. It is a tight squeeze. It is an uncomfortable task. The kingdom of God is not inclusive. It is exclusive.

Finally, Jesus shares a principle: “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (30).

The idea here is that the people you might expect to jump at the chance of being made into new creatures will say no. Many will come to Christ, but not many of the best and the greatest in this world. They are going to come from all the directions of the compass. But lots of those who one might expect will be thrown out.

Jesus had just spent a long time preaching – first in Galilee and then in Judea and now in Perea – but that does not mean those areas will have a larger percentage of glorified believers participating in the wedding celebration. God’s plan is to send the gospel message all over this planet and rescue people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. But not many of the important and famous people one might expect to grab at the good news will be quick to do so.

The Apostle Paul explained this to the believers in Corinth once. He told them to think about the circumstances of their call. Not many of them were wise by human standards, not many of them were powerful, and not many of them were born into a privileged position. But God chose those who the world thought foolish to shame the wise, and God chose those who the world thought weak to shame the strong. God chose what was low and despised in the world, what was regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something. He did this so that no one could boast in his presence. Because salvation is by grace, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

Now, Jesus could have answered that man’s question differently. The man asked, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Jesus could have opened the skies and shown that man a vision like the one he would later show John on the Isle of Patmos. John looked, and there was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. That enormous crowd was shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (see Revelation 7:9-10). No – in that sense – there will not be only a few saved.

But Jesus did not answer that man with that vision because he did not want that man to think that salvation was going to be easy. He told him and everyone in that group that day to struggle, to fight, to agonize their way through that narrow door. He told them to exert every effort to enter that narrow door. He’s saying the same thing to you and me today. He is saying that one day we can relax and take our place at the banquet table and enjoy the wedding celebration. But today is not that day. Today is the day to get ourselves ready.

For further study:

Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1997. pp. 216-218.

Barrell E. V and K. G Barrell. St. Luke’s Gospel: An Introductory Study. J. Murray 1982. pp. 112-113.

Baugher, H L. Annotations on the Gospel According to St. Luke. New York: Christian Literature Co, 1896. pp. 262-266.

Card, Michael. Luke: The Gospel of Amazement. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2011. pp. 171-172.

Danker, Frederick, W. Jesus and the New Age, According to St. Luke: A Commentary on the Third Gospel. St. Louis, MO: Clayton Pub. House, 1972. pp. 160-161.

Erdman, Charles R. The Gospel of Luke: An Exposition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1921. pp. 133-135.

Foster, Lewis. Luke. Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Pub, 1986. p. 200.

Marshall I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. 1st American ed. Eerdmans 1978. pp. 562-568.

Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1902. pp. 346-348.

Tinsley, Ernest J. The Gospel According to Luke: Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1965. pp. 148-150.

Wright, N. T., and Patty Pell. Luke: 26 Studies for Individuals or Groups. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Connect, 2011. p. 85.