Our Spiritual Walk #1
The Gate and the Way
Matthew 7:13-14
CHCC – June 8, 2014
INTRODUCTION:
(This message is related to the first chapter in the book I have written entitled, "Our Spiritual Walk" which is available at Amazon.com and the e-books that are available on Smashwords.com Look for the title above by Ed Skidmore)
This summer we’re going to go through an 8 week series about Our Spiritual Walk. I’ve been studying this topic for a while because I noticed the New Testament is filled with specific instructions about how a Christian should WALK.
Today I want to kick this off with a teaching Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount. This was a ground-breaking sermon … in fact, just about everything Jesus said came as a shock to his listeners. Several times Jesus said, “you have heart it said, … but I say …” People were used to hearing their Rabbis quote each other, but Jesus said things no Rabbi had ever said before. His talk was revolutionary. He talked about things like turning the other cheek, walking a second mile, giving your cloak to go with the coat someone demanded of you. In the middle of these strange new teachings, Jesus talked about a GATE and a WAY.
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
1. The Gate and the Way
This short statement is full of meaning. Jesus gave twin truths that describe the whole of the Christian experience in this world. Later Jesus would emphasize that HE is the GATE --- and HE is the WAY. Through Jesus, God has put both a GATE and a WAY before us.
The GATE represents a “one-time” type event. This is something we pass through … and once we do so, we are in a new place. Most of the cites of Jesus’ day were walled and gated. To be given entrance through the gate was a big deal.
What would be gate-type events in your life? Being BORN is the gate into life on this planet. Walking the first time, talking the first time … going to school the first time … these are gate events. Graduation, starting college, first job, marriage, becoming a parent or grandparent … all of these are gateways into a new identity and experience.
In the spiritual realm, being “born again” is the most significant gateway event for any person. When we are saved, “all things become new.”
• You go from being a child of Adam to becoming a child of God.
• You move from slavery to sin and become a servant of Christ.
• You are set free from being married to the law and become part of the church which is the bride of Christ.
• Your spirit which was dead in sin is brought to life by the Holy Spirit.
• Your mind which was stuck on the flesh is now set on things of the Spirit.
Entering the GATE of salvation is a glorious, amazing, and eternal change. But it is not the end. Sometimes churches give so much emphasis to trying to get people through that GATE that they don’t teach much of anything else.
So much attention is focused on “getting saved”, pray the sinner’s prayer, sign on the dotted line, become a member of the church, as if that is all there is to the Christian life. The end result is a bunch of frustrated (and frustrating) baby Christians wondering why their new life doesn’t seem much different from the old life. Sadly, the American church sometimes seems to be 8 miles wide and half an inch deep.
The GATE is not the end. It is the beginning point of walking the WAY.
Who would want to walk through a GATE and then just stand there? Last year Susan and I took 2 of our grandkids to Sea World. We went early, but it still took us a long time in line before we could walk through the GATE and get in. You can bet we didn’t just stand there. Our grandkids took off immediately (in two different directions, of course.) We did A LOT of walking that day.
In our spiritual life, after we enter the GATE, we must start WALKING the WAY! There is plenty to see and do … more than enough for a lifetime of Walking. And Walking is always done the same way – one step at a time.
(Talk about what you’ve learned about how important exercise-walking is lately --- and how there’s no short cut for it.)
2. FAITH: the key to the GATE and the power for the WAY
Hebrews 11:6 tells us “without faith it is impossible to please God.” When it comes to the GATE and the WAY, it’s important to understand both the ACT of placing faith and the ATTITUDE of walking in faith.
For many of us, the moment when we entered the GATE is distinct in our minds. Just like with a physical birth, the ACT of placing faith in Christ is often a crisis event – a one-time experience that changes everything from that point on.
If you’ve ever been in on a birth, you never forget that moment when the baby takes their first breath --- usually with a loud cry. You remember the events related to the birth … the washing, the wrapping, the little eyes blinking at the light they’d never seen before. It’s the same with being “born again.” We enter the gate with confession of Jesus as Lord and the washing of baptism. We remember that first light when our spiritual eyes are opened.
But this is certainly not the end of the matter. The baby needs food and loving care … and all of you parents know there’s no day off. As hard as the birth may be, those first months of caring for the baby are full of challenge. In fact, I always notice how tired our new young moms and dad’s look that first Sunday they make it to church with the new infant! And it seems like no time at all before that new little one is running around the church on their own power.
After we enter the GATE of spiritual birth, we have everything we need to start on the WAY. As Peter wrote in one of his letters, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3) Once you place faith in Christ, you already have everything you need for walking in the WAY of Christ.
But notice that after he says that, Peter goes on immediately to talk about adding 7 other qualities to our initial saving faith ... starting with verse 5, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
3. Obedience: at the GATE and on the WAY
If you have been here when people have confessed their belief in Jesus we hear them say, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and my Lord and Savior.” By making this statement we declare our trust in Him, but we also call him “Lord” … which declares our intention to obey Him as our master.
If we say this at the GATE and then never WALK the WAY of obedience, this becomes an empty and meaningless confession. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus warned, “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.”
The GATE of obedience involves the act of putting Christ on the throne of our lives and submitting to Him as Lord. The WAY of obedience means WALKING in close connection with Jesus … step by step … day by day.
Jesus said, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” John 14:23
Our WALK with Jesus is not a walk of cold obedience. It is a love walk. Ezekiel 11:19 explains how God has replaced our stony hard hearts with Spirit-controlled tender hearts.
In our Christian WALK, we will never be alone because we walk with Christ. But the walk is not an easy way. You will be tested along the way until you are able to prove in your own experience that Jesus is truly Lord of your Life.
When the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, the distance between Egypt and Canaan was not that long of a distance. They could have easily crossed the desert in just a few months, and in fact, did arrive at the border of Canaan in less than a year. But through stubborn disobedience, the way turned from a few months into 40 years. This was the price they paid for their disobedience. That that is also the kind of price we pay when we call Jesus Lord, but don’t do what he says. The way gets long and hard because we keep trying to bypass the matter of obedience.
CONCLUSION:
May God bless us today by opening our eyes to see that nothing is too hard to do for our Lord, no cost is too great, no consecration is too much. We believe Him, therefore we enter the GATE by faith. We love Him, therefore we WALK the WAY of obedience. In the coming weeks, we’re going to look more closely at our Spiritual WALK.
“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” (Prov.4:18)
