This is the third sermon in a series of messages on Jesus’ vision of the last days. We are highlighting the Importance of Jesus’ Return during this series. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and Christ’s return is mentioned no less than 318 times. Statistically, one verse in twenty-five mentions Christ’s return. So even a cursory reading of the New Testament highlights the importance of Jesus’ return.
Jesus employs all kinds of images to communicate both the inevitability of His return but also the urgency of His return. Here’s a few… He refers to His return as a thief entering a home in the night. Jesus likens His Second Coming to lazy slaves who think their master is delayed. In another occasion He refers to virgins who aren’t prepared for honeymoon.
Today Jesus uses two other images…
1) a door that is closing quickly and finally;
2) A banquet where a bouncer refuses to allow certain people to enter while other enjoy themselves.
Both are pictures of the gospel that evoke urgency for those who listen to His voice. This morning we will encounter one of the most challenging teachings from Jesus for our day. In fact, for many people, Jesus’ teaching isn’t simply challenging, it is down right revolting.
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not 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 say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:22-30)
Jesus uses two metaphors in our story today after He’s asked essentially, “How many people will be saved?” The first is a door and the second image is a table. Jesus response is totally against our culture’s thinking and Jesus offends many people. In fact, I have found that a lot of people inside the church question Jesus at this point as well. But before we deal with Jesus’ answer, let me set the scene for us.
The Bible is one big story. The Bible is a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Indeed, the Bible tells a story that makes sense of the smaller stories of each of our individual lives. The Bible is a single story. Even though there are two testaments, there is but one story. Here’s the Bible’s big story in four sentences…
1. God made the world.
2. The world itself was devastated because we turned away from Him.
3. God reentered the world to rescue us from sin and death.
4. And one day, God will remake the world – he’ll completely restore the world at the end.
Again, the Bible tells one story. It begins with an innocent garden and it ends in a glorious garden city. It’s important for you to know this to comprehend the Bible’s teaching – to make sense of it. We’re zooming into examine this one aspect of the end times and yet, I want you to keep in mind the 30,000 foot big picture. You’ll discover is that we are living between the first and second coming of Jesus. We are living between God’s reentry where He rescued us from sin and death and His complete restoration of the world in the coming days.
Personal Timeline vs. World’s Timeline: There are two timelines given inside the pages of Scripture. There’s your personal timeline and then the Bible offers you the world’s future timeline as well. The Bible gives details about your personal future – what happens both when you die as well as where you are after your death while the world awaits its end. In fact, the Bible teaches that everyone everywhere will spend eternity in one of two places: heaven or hell.
In a recently published book, Who Goes There?: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell, it notes that both Mother Theresa, the famous lady who lived a life of charity in Calcutta, India and Princess Diana, died in the same week in 1997. At the British Embassy in Washington, hordes of people made a makeshift memorial of floral tributes, stuffed animals, balloons, and written messages. In the midst of all this, stood a tall sign that stated: “The angels rejoice for heaven welcomes Princess Diana and Mother Theresa.” What makes our culture think just about everyone goes to heaven these days? What made them think Princess Diana went to heaven – her beauty, fame, or her tragic death? And what about Mother Theresa – her good works? I think most of us would agree that Americans believe that we believe just about everyone goes to heaven except for Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and child molesters. The people who asked Jesus the question in the first century felt they would go to heaven simply because they belong to a nation, a nation of God’s chosen people.
Again, there are two timelines given inside the pages of Scripture.
But the Bible also gives details about the world’s future. Specifically it tells us about the return of Christ,
… the millennium…
… the final judgment where God either send one group away to eternal punishment and another to eternal reward…
and lastly, life with God Himself in the new heavens and new earth. So you can trace both the timeline of your personal future as well as the timeline of the world future. Jesus is tracing the world’s timeline in the passage in front of us but He vividly connects the world’s timeline to our timeline.
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The Door
A Table
1. The Door
Jesus is convinced there’s a door to heaven: “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:24) On another occasion, in John’s gospel, Jesus tells us that He Himself is the door: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) When Jesus is asked essentially, “How many people do you see saved at then end?”… … it’s important to note both what Jesus says and what He doesn’t say. Jesus doesn’t say, “You have it all wrong. The entryway to heaven is wide and spacious. My Father didn’t lock heaven down like airport security. Instead, there’s doors everywhere.” Instead, Jesus says that heaven is place where there’s one entryway. The door to heaven only opens from the inside: “When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us…” (Luke 13:25) Only God opens the door and allows people in.
Notice two things about Jesus’ story about the door.
1.1 The Door is Narrow
Many of us have asked for directions and had someone tell us at the end of their explanation, “You can’t miss it.” Jesus says the door is narrow and it’s easy to miss it. In our culture today, we are used to choices. More than that, we are addicted to choices. We are no longer able to comprehend our ancestors who oftentimes had but once choice on where to purchase needed good and supplies to run their farms. Today, we have a choice of restaurants and movies places. Not only do we have lots of choices on which restaurants and theatre to go to but we have tons of choices to pick from in the various food we eat and the movie we see once we’re there. We’re addicted to choices. Our churches offer various worship times, many of our jobs offer flex hours, and our schools are choices in majors and various teachers who teach the courses we choose.
The very life of a fetus is in jeopardy in our day because many believe in the fundamental right of choice. In a landmark case argued before the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood v. Casey Justice Antony Kennedy wrote what others called “The Sweet Mystery of Life”… Justice Kennedy wrote, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” Note carefully how much choice is valued – we’re not free to discover truth but to define truth and create it.
And people want choices when it comes to their religion and their god as well. Today, there are more than 1,000 organized religions in America, each with its own system of belief and doctrine of God. Imagine for a moment that each different religion has its own door… …and imagine standing in a hallway that is lined with these doorways. Can you see it? Door and door and religion and religion. In 1993, the Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, addressed approximately 20,000 people in Grant Park in Chicago, IL. His speech was the keynote address on the closing day of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. His words express many people’s desire for choice…
All religions make the betterment of humanity their primary concern. When we view the different religions as essentially instruments to develop a good heart – love and respect for others, a true sense of community – we can appreciate what they have in common… Everyone feels that his or her form of religious practice is the best. I myself feel Buddhism is best for me. But this does not mean that Buddhism is best for everyone else.
In essence the Dalai Lama says Jesus is all wrong on this point. If the Dalai Lama were asked the question Jesus is asked, he would have never spoke of one door. In contrast, Jesus offers us only one door. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Peter speaks these words early on after Jesus had ascended into heaven: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Peter’s words are straight from the tap, if you will. These words represent an unvarnished look at the early church’s conviction that there wasn’t a backdoor to heaven – “there is salvation in no one else.” Nor, was there any other name other than the One was crucified and risen. Peter had many friends and loved ones who were Jews, people who had yet to receive Christ. He knew well the emotional implications of what he was preaching. For by saying that Christ alone represents the only door to heaven, Peter knew that this risked cutting off his dear friends and family who rejected the message of the gospel.
The Roman Empire and Religious Pluralism
If we’re going to come to grips with this, it’s critical right away to realize it was as repugnant and it was as revolting in that culture as it is in ours. The Roman Empire was every bit as religiously pluralistic as our society, if not more. And it was probably, as committed to the idea of religious relativism, that every religion is equally valid, if not more than we are today as a society. For example, in the Roman world, you would’ve believed several things. Everybody believed first that there were many gods. Everybody had his or her own gods. Secondly, every god had limited sovereignty. It meant you had a god of Ephesus, but the god of Ephesus wasn’t the god of Sparta. God’s had sovereignty over certain regions, and certain gods had sovereignty over certain spheres, you might say. You had the god of agriculture, or you had the god of war or love or something like that. One thing that was understood in that society was no one god was the god over all the rest. No one had the supreme god better and superior to all the other gods, nobody. People today just say, “Well, this is narrow,” and say, “Therefore, I don’t have to look at the claims of Christianity.” It was narrow to the original hearers, but they saw something in spite of the apparent narrowness that got them to believe it. So what changed their minds? If Jesus were just another teacher like the rest and He comes along and you obey His teaching in hopes that you get into heaven…
I could see that there’d really be only three choices based on this…
1.1.1 If you’re extraordinarily good at obeying Him, then you have extraordinary confidence you’d get into heaven.
1.1.2 If you’re ordinary at obeying Him, then you’re left with just ordinary confidence you’d get into heaven.
1.1.3 But if your life has been filled with failures, then you have almost no confidence. Right?
But Jesus wasn’t just another teacher sitting on the front row telling you how to live by His teachings. Instead, he reverses everything.
Look at your life for a moment. You want to be successful, you want to get into that great school, you want this on your résumé… You’re knocking yourself out, and you’re grinding yourself into the ground. You’re doing, doing, doing, doing. And you’re self-image is tied up in your accomplishment. Do you see what the gospel of building a good record does? You exclude the one who’s a failure in life. Your gospel is no more inclusive than Jesus’ gospel. Jesus was the One teacher who came and was good for you. The mark of the broad way is you feel superior and judgmental to other people on the other side, and the mark of the narrow way is you’re not judgmental at all.
1.2 The Door is Closing
Jesus says the door is open now but there’s a time coming when the door will no longer be open: “When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us…” (Luke 13:25)
Jesus believe the door is narrow… And Jesus is convinced there’s an end. Jesus isn’t a follower of Hinduism where the cycle of history just keeps turning. Instead, Jesus’ vision of world history is there’s a stopping point. There is a time limit on this offer: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” (Hebrews 9:27)
2. A Table
Notice that Jesus moves from his first metaphor, a door, to a second metaphor, a table. Jesus uses the imagery of a table and a door to speak of the realities of the afterlife and how to prepare for it. Jesus sees two groups of people and many will be surprised on the Day when God settles His accounts.
2.1 Exclusion
Earlier this month, our Vice-President Joe Biden issued a sharp warning to ISIS militants after they beheaded two American journalists. “They should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice,” he forcefully told an audience at an event on the New Hampshire-Maine border. “Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside.” Jesus also indicates that certain people will be cast out from the entryway of heaven to hell itself: “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.” (Luke 13:28) Jesus and our Vice-President both agree that some people will be cast out of heaven and into hell. They differ on the criteria that excludes someone from hell. Few of us in American culture are absolutely sure of hell’s citizens, hell’s hall of fame. From what I can tell, the people who we are sure are in hell are members of ISIS, child-molesters, and racists. Jesus significantly widens the circle who will one day be in hell. Notice His criteria and how it differs from American sentiments in our day:
Look again in our story: “When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not 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 say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ (Luke 13:25-27)
Americans place only the worst of the worst in hell. Jesus has different thoughts on this ultra-serious matter. Jesus says, “I don’t know you. I don’t know where you come from.” Those who expect VIP treatment on the inside of heaven will be on the outside. Two times Jesus denies every having a personal connection with these on the outside. There’s coming a great reversal one day: “And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:30) Some of you will be shocked as you go to hell.
2.2 Inclusion
“And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29)
But Jesus’ message isn’t just about judgment. Jesus’ vision of the end times is that He will take in outcasts and the poor and all those who were humble enough to admit they needed a Savior. At the beginning of our story, we are told Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. Seems like an insignificant part of our story. Who really cares where Jesus was when He told the story or where He was headed? Look at it again: “He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:22) Jesus was on His way to die for sinners. Jerusalem meant His death, it meant He was to be crucified. Will it Include You? Jesus was asked a question about His vision of the end times: “Will those who are saved be few?” Jesus turns the question around to: “Will those who are saved include you?”
