Get On The Right Road: Matt 7:13-14
Sept 10, 2006
Intro:
“The secret to happiness is short-term, stupid self-interest” – Calvin.
When we hear it put that blatantly, it really does sound ridiculous! And yet, that is how many people in our culture live – for short-term, self-interest.
So if that is not the secret, what is it? Well, I’d like to take out Calvin’s word, “happiness”, and replace it with another word, a much better word, a much deeper word, a word that Jesus used: it is the word, “life”.
John 10:10
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Let me back up from there for just a moment, and ask this question: “why did Jesus come?” Most of us would respond with “He came to die on the cross”, which was certainly a central part of Jesus’ coming to earth. But it is not how Jesus described why He came. His response was not about death at all, in fact it was about the opposite: Jesus came to bring life.
And not just mundane, humdrum, yadda yadda yadda, trudging through kind of life, but deep life. Real life. Vibrant, beautiful, melodic, hopeful, joyful, honest, life. Life in every good sense of the word. Jesus described the reason why He came as bringing life, to the full. And today, I want you to know that it really is possible.
5 Week Journey
For the next 5 weeks, I want to invite you on a journey to discover what this life looks like, where it begins, and how to live it.
You see, Jesus is not here talking about heaven – He is not saying “I have come so that you might, after you die, find out what real life is. Just muddle through this pathetic earthly life, and then you will find the good stuff…” NO! Jesus didn’t live like that, He didn’t teach like that, He didn’t die and rise again for that. The opposite is true – Jesus is saying that we can live in that life NOW. In fact, very little of the Bible talks about the next life, the vast majority of it talks about this life, how to live it, how to treat one another, what our priorities should be, and what things to stay away from because they will suck the life out of us and bring us to death.
And at the heart, we discover that the central part of a life of fullness is a life of love. Now, while I’ll gladly throw out the word “happiness” and replace it with “life”, I will fight to win the word “love” back from the Hallmark card people, the sappy romanticists, and the non-confrontationalists – I’ll fight to get back to a true meaning of the word “love” – which is not about making people happy, or feel nice, or keeping them from being upset! The love we seek is a force so powerful that it refuses to allow anything to suck life out of another human being: it is a force that goes to war: that battles discouragement with encouragement, hopelessness with life, poverty with provision, boredom with purpose, isolation with belonging, independence with interdependence, even death itself with new life. The love we seek is tough, strong, unshakeable, permanent, rooted in the very character of the God of the universe, and experienced in us as God’s children.
Over the next 5 week journey, we’ll see that a life of Godly love is the only road to the kind of life Jesus said He came to bring - fullness of life. I’ve titled the series, A Life of Love: God’s Road to Fullness. It comes out of our identity statement as a church – that we “joyfully place relationships of love ahead of every other consideration” – and my conviction that the only road to fullness of life is through developing those relationships, and then joyfully choosing to make them our highest priority.
The Journey Begins:
Where does this road begin? Let’s listen again to Jesus: “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.” (Matt 7:13-14). Jesus spoke these words near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and He tells us where the journey to life begins.
It is a great metaphor – two roads: one wide, spacious, broad, and therefore easy to travel. Sort of like the Whitemud freeway at 11pm. The other road is small, narrow, and therefore much more difficult to travel. Sort of like the parkade at the U of A Hospital.
Jesus doesn’t spend much time on it, the images speak pretty clearly. But He does make sure to tell us the destination: the road which is broad, with a wide gate, easy travel, leads to destruction. It might be an easy journey, but is that really where you want to go? The second road, the narrow one, the harder one, is the road that leads to life.
Which Road Are You On?
Of course, the question Jesus is trying to create in our minds is obvious: “which road am I on?” Well, to answer that question we need first to ask this one: what does the “narrow road” look like? How would we know if we are on it?
Jesus’ “narrow” road begins with a “small gate”. This, I believe, is the moment of salvation – the moment that we recognize who Jesus is and we ask Him to be Lord of our lives. We step through, onto the road of life. (Tie into Ron’s story)?. If you haven’t yet stepped through that gate, the invitation is here, open, available, your journey can begin.
And then, the journey begins down this narrow road, this road to life. This road is the Christian life – as described in the Bible (and not in popular opinion) – which is a road where first and most importantly, God the Holy Spirit is truly in charge of our lives, where we live by God’s Spirit, in the power of God’s Spirit, in obedience, in selflessness, and in a place where love for God and love for others becomes the “thing” which we seek.
Perhaps I can illustrate what this narrow road by pointing out what it is not: it is not “keeping a list of rules”, it is not keeping score and hoping to do more “good” than “bad” in the hope that then you will get into heaven, it is not going to church, or saying prayers before meals, or trying to be nice to your sibling or spouse. It is not about any of those externals. The “narrow” road is about a life of love – for God first, and others second. It is about living through the Spirit, not our bodies. It is about that compelling love which then produces all kinds of activity, but all of which is simply flowing out of our hearts which have been transformed by God’s love for us.
On a more practical, daily level, life on the narrow road is about waking up and knowing that you are a child of God, accepted and loved. And then going into your day, with that deep understanding shaping your outlook on life, your emotional security, your level of patience with your family, the place that you turn to when challenges and disappointments and frustrations happen, the place that you turn quickly to when you have messed up. It takes us to prayer, not because it is something we are supposed to do, but because we love God and want to talk with Him. It takes us to God’s word, not because we feel guilty that we haven’t read it in awhile but because we love God and want to know Him better. It takes us to church, not because we get dragged there by someone and not so we can see some friends, but because we love to have the chance to join with others and bring an offering of worship to the God we love. It is about living moment by moment in the truth that we are new creations in Jesus, our spirits have been reborn, we have been filled with the never-leaving gift of the Holy Spirit.
And the only way to get to that place, is to allow yourself to know the love of God for you, and to be transformed by the love of God for you. I need you to concentrate here for a moment: this transforming by God’s love does not come as a result of our effort – we don’t do it, God does – but there are some things we do have to do so that God can do what God does. (repeat!) First, we have to open up, allow God to love us. Second, we have to make time, so that we can listen and know God’s love. Third, we have to respond, so that we remain in God’s love. As we do those things, God shapes us, comforts us, and guides us down the narrow road – and as we walk with Him, we discover life. That is the narrow road.
The Way To Life:
That is the journey – A life of love – God’s Road to Fullness. It begins by getting on the right road – opening up and allowing God to love us; making time so that we can listen; and then responding.
The narrow road is worth every bit of extra effort, because it is the road with Jesus – if you and I will choose it, our lives will be significant, secure, surprising, full of forgiveness, goodness, joy, they will be exciting and invigorating and comforting, there will be times of great laughter and joy and times of real anger at evil, and above all and best of all, it will be a life in step with Jesus, every mile of the journey.
