CHRISTIANS CHOOSE THE LORD’S “STRAIT AND NARROW” OVER THE WORLD’S “WIDE AND BROAD”
As culture drifts further away from biblical truth, some Christians struggle with their conscience – having had the notion planted in their minds that “wide and broad” thinkers and doers might have it right and that they, “straight and narrow” thinkers and doers, might be misreading or misinterpreting the Bible.
As we sift through seven conscience-stirring cultural issues, we would do well to bear in mind several basic scriptural truths:
Jesus: “Enter through the narrow gate (needle’s eye), for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14). We must choose one way or the other.
Simeon: “This Child (Jesus) is a light for revelation to the Gentiles . . . is set for the fall and rising of many.” (Luke 2:34) Many Gentiles as well as Jews would receive Him as the Messiah and choose to follow Him. Many Gentiles as well as Jews would reject Him as their enemy and choose to deny His Messiahship and defy His Lordship.
Two Responses: “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, the wise men returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2:12) The wise rise to the challenge of choosing the way of the Lord (though strait and narrow), but the unwise “fall for” the lures of the wide world of passionate pleasure, position, power and worldly pursuits.
As this new year has gotten under way, with many voices still seeking to lure us away from our Christian principles to a “new world order” predicated on defiance of our Lord’s commands and denial of His Lordship, be aware that none of us is exempt from choosing whose we are, whom we serve and which path of life we will follow. “Lead me in paths of righteousness, for thy name’s sake.”
Shall we, like Joshua, declare, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” -or- Shall we, like “the fallen”, compromise our Christian Doctrines for the sake of going along to get along with deniers and defiers.
To say “yes” to Jesus and His way of life does not set well with many in our society who redefine biblical concepts to suit their own sinful desires, reinterpret Christian doctrines to excuse their legalizing of immoral patterns of behavior.
To hold onto Christian beliefs, to stand firm in our Christian convictions is to rub some folks the wrong way and sometimes find ourselves at odds with a friend or family member with whom we could wind up on a collision course. Most of us do not want to “collide” with a brother or sister in Christ. For me to “collide” with anyone would be accidental, as was the case when I was nineteen years old:
An unfortunate accident which involved me got my name published in the Atlanta Journal under this headline: “PEDESTRIANS COLLIDE; ONE GOES TO HOSPITAL”!
It was raining that morning in downtown Atlanta and, trying to get from where I got off the bus to my first class at the University on time, darted across a busy intersection, with head down to avoid getting my face wet, as a lady darted onto the sidewalk from a drug store on the corner; we collided, went sprawling into the street . . . sirens filled the air, and the first question to me by the first police officer to arrive on the scene was, “Where is the car you were driving?”
Long story short: Both of us victims of an unfortunate incident were shaken up, physically and psychologically, but not seriously injured; that evening my brother-in-law took me to visit the lady in the hospital where she had been taken for tests; we exchanged apologies and hugs; next day she was discharged from the hospital; no charges were filed. We both acted like the Christians we professed to be. “All’s well that ends well.”
On a scale much larger than accidental collisions that occur as people go to and fro, there have been, are now, and always will be differences among members of the human race – physical, intellectual, cultural, ideological, philosophical, theological, political – even though, as it must be pointed out, we all have a common ancestry (all blood types A, B, AB and O are found across any division - by race, skin color, or language - that anyone has ever, or ever will, come up with).
Differences have existed since the beginning of the one human race . . . the Flood . . . the defiance of God’s command to “scatter and populate the earth” . . . The “Tower of Babel calamity” when humanity lost its ability to converse freely with each other, precipitating the diversity of languages based on familial relationships, thereby forcing “families” and “tribes” to group themselves by language . . . which then led them to separate themselves from those who spoke different languages – thus, scattering themselves in all directions, forming nations. God divided the human race by family, language and nations. (Genesis 10:5).
In Christ, however, God planned for the divided human race to get back together (unite) as the Family of God! Remember: Without Christ at the center of our lives, differences divide us – Ephesians 2:11-12 . . .
In essence, Paul’s argument is: Whatever you once were, you are no longer. “Aliens” was the term used to describe non-full-blooded Jews -- no matter who, what or wherefrom - geographically, sociologically, biologically or theologically.
However: In Christ, your past serves as a prologue to your present and as a predictor of your future! Without Christ there was (is) no realization of the promise of God to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham, no hope of restoration.
Suffice it to say: In contrast to how you may have been treated in the past, it now behooves you to expect from fellow believers attitudes and actions that say that, in Christ, there is no spiritual difference in our relationship to God the Father and, therefore, believers are not to allow external differences become divisive or destroy the Fellowship of Believers. Christ-ians are one in the bond of love!
In Christ, all believers have equal “access” to God the Father in the Name of His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ – Ephesians 2:13-18 . . .
Our Father in Heaven is as accessible to you as He is to me or any other minister – due to our Lord’s removal of theological and sociological barriers (metaphorically represented by Paul’s reference to a “middle wall of hostility”) effected by the blood of Christ on the Cross – His atoning sacrifice on behalf of repentant sinners. Whereas, heretofore, only full-blooded Jews were permitted to enter the Holy Place - partitioned by a bannister-type guard rail, and, whereas only the High Priest could access the Holy of Holies, now all believers have direct access to God the Father through Jesus Christ.
The deeper meaning is that Christ by His atoning sacrifice set His people free from that one-sided, legalistic barrier that mandated impossible adherence to religious regulations and observance of man-concocted rituals such as circumcision as requirements for entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Our Savior’s shed blood satisfied God’s requirement of a perfect sacrifice - “Lamb without spot or blemish” – a sacrifice offered to God as a symbolic act of repentance . . . an earnest plea for forgiveness . . . a “way” via mediation to enter into God’s Holy Presence!
Jesus said: “I am the way” -“the gate in the Temple Wall” - by which repentant sinners, by faith, may enter into the Kingdom of God - whereby believers will be enslaved to sin no longer . . . saved from the wrath to come . . . born again unto everlasting life!
A great thing above all else that followers of “The Way” have in common is: Our love for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us! Within that common bond of love, Christ is “our peace”.
When two or more Christians are at odds, over whatever, the surest way to bring them together is their mutual love for Christ.
Paul says that Jesus brings together Jew and Gentile . . . molds them and makes them after His Will so that each of them becomes a new kind of person.
It’s not that Jesus makes Jews into Gentiles, or Gentiles into Jews, but that unity is achieved by blotting out racial or sociological differences in the process of making Christian Disciples of people of all nations. Wherefore, we look forward to our Lord’s Return, as we plead, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”!
Until then - no matter how different we may be externally - In Christ we are God’s Family of Faith, being put together by the making of disciples who then work with God in the building of Christ’s Church, with Christ Jesus himself the cornerstone – Ephesians 2:19-22 . . .
Rather than collide with brothers and sisters in Christ, reside together in unity, asking Jesus to abide with us so that we may confide in Him and He be our guide for the rest of our journey! Amen.
