8.21.22 Luke 13:22–29
22 He went on his way from one town and village to another, teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or 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 And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. 29 People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.
Are Only A Few Going to Be Saved? The Answer Isn’t Cheap
“Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” It seems like an odd question to our American ears. Heaven and Hell are almost extinct from our dialogue, and with no concept of sin there is nothing to be saved from. If anything, everyone is saved, because God is love. Yet this person in today’s text assumed the exact OPPOSITE, that only a few would be saved, and Jesus seems to CONFIRM it with His answer today.
It’s a pointed answer, a personal answer, and a scary answer. It’s first of all against those who like to ask a lot of “what if” and “what about” questions. What about the unbaptized child? What about the African tribes that never have a chance to hear about Jesus? What about Gandhi? Jesus doesn’t play that game. He goes from a statistic to a personal answer, “What about YOU? Should YOU have something to worry about?”
The answer is, “yes.” Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or 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 And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. Wow. That’s a violent and scary picture indeed. He almost seems angry about it.
What do we note about those being thrown outside? They almost have a sense of entitlement. They command the master, “Lord, open for us!” There’s also a false sense of security because of their familiarity with Jesus. It’s almost nostalgic. “We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.” You hear a lot of people today talk about how Jesus ate and drank with sinners who were the outcasts of society, so we should be welcoming to sinners too. That’s true, but this text makes it clear that eating and drinking with them didn’t save them. Having a nice moment or a fond memory from going to Lutheran grade school isn’t going to cut it, remembering how strict Pastor Kasischke was or how energetic Pastor Schulz was. We are sinners who deserve to be damned. God calls us to repent. It’s an awesome thing that God became human and dined with us. But that’s not what saved us. We had to have this God DIE for us. He came to be our bloody Savior and die our miserable death. It’s not His friendliness that saves us. It’s His gracious death and resurrection. Salvation comes with a call to repentance and faith. It’s not just a matter of eating and drinking with people.
Jesus starts out by saying, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” Before we go any further, let’s just stop a moment to marvel at the fact that there IS a door to go through. This is a miracle in and of itself. Jesus created this door when He died for our sins and rose from the dead. He found a way to break through the barrier of sinfulness and holiness that we have between ourselves and God. Think of the angel that God posted at the Garden of Eden with the flaming sword to keep Adam and Eve from going back into the Garden. Nobody could get back in. The way was shut. Yet Jesus opened the Garden back up by receiving God’s wrath on the cross and paying for the sins of the world. Our baptism identifies us with Jesus and covers us with Jesus, putting us on the pathway to salvation. Faith in Jesus makes us look holy in God’s sight. There is a doorway through which we can escape this world. His name is Jesus. We don’t have to build this door. We don’t have to create this door. The door is already miraculously made and opened through Jesus. It is free and open.
But Jesus makes it seem like this is not an easy door to enter through. Jesus calls it “narrow.” He says to “make every effort” to enter through the narrow door. He doesn’t say, “You should think about it. Work it into your schedule when you have time.” The word in the Greek is ??????es?e . . . if you listen carefully to it you hear the word “agonize” in it. Agonize to enter through the narrow door. It means “to engage in intense struggle, involving physical or nonphysical force against strong opposition—‘to struggle, to fight.’ That doesn’t sound like an easy thing. It sounds like a painful and difficult thing. One of the worst lies Satan spreads is that being a Christian should make life EASY for you and that God should PAMPER you. That’s not how it works in a sinful world with demons roaming about.
When you put your directions on Google Maps, you are asked if you want to see any side attractions. You have to keep track of how much gas you have in the car and where the gas stations are. Is there a turn coming up? An accident to avoid? When we go on our trips, we are usually on a mission. Don’t stop at too many places. Don’t get off track. Don’t miss your turn. Don’t drink too many liquids before you leave. How many miles left? How many hours to our destination? There’s one narrow door that God has opened up for you to enter heaven. That’s it. His name is Jesus. Stay focused on Him.
If the door is narrow, it means I can’t enter it side by side with someone else. It is meant to be entered one person at a time. I can’t enter because my mom entered or my dad entered. I have to enter with my own faith in the same Lord. God won’t let my children in just because I believe. They have to enter on their own faith through their own baptism. Sometimes members of the church threaten to leave the church or yell at the pastor if he wants to discipline their children. Sometimes it works. But that’s not going to change God’s mind on Judgment Day if they don’t repent. He won’t care if they were retained as members or not if they don’t live in their baptisms, repent and believe. Yet if I’m leading the pack, I do have some responsibility. I should look in my rear view mirror and try to make sure others are keeping up if they are following me. I have to make sure that I’m not leading them astray and getting lost in the process.
If the door is narrow, it means I have to be small. I can’t be full of myself. I can’t try to get to heaven with my baggage of works that I want to display before God. So God calls me to repent. He tells me that all my righteous acts are like filthy rags. He strips me of any pride I may have. He says I deserve nothing but His wrath. He knocks me down to size and puts me on my knees. This is a narrow door. I can’t be fat on myself.
He also then calls me to leave my own baggage of guilt behind on the cross as well. Stop acting as if I have to carry this burden in order to get into heaven. When we were traveling through Germany, the first portion was a real pain because we had to carry our luggage with us until we got to our main destination, carrying it on trains and buses. Next time we go, we are definitely packing lighter. It will be much easier. Think about the baggage of guilt that people carry around with them. If you try to carry your own guilt into heaven, you won’t make it. Jesus already chopped that off from you and buried it in the grave. You might also think of those who are bogged down with life’s possessions and cares. They want to take it with them and they get bogged down in life. The door is narrow. It isn’t easy for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
It is interesting to see how God cuts this stuff off from us. If you live to be old enough you’ll end up in a nursing home. You won’t have anything more than a 12x12 room if you’re lucky. A few different changes of clothes. A TV, a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. You won’t have your looks or your health any more. Your friends will all be dead. Your mind and your muscles will deteriorate. You’ll get shorter and skinnier. You won’t have anything to hold onto except your hope in Jesus for the resurrection of the dead. The door is narrow.
Even though we are saved by Jesus, through the door, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t any effort involved as we live in this world, trying to stay focused on the door and ready to enter through the narrow door. Make every effort. Agonize. Struggle. Focus. Don’t get lazy. There is hope for you! People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.
The Jews of Jesus’ day took their salvation for granted because they were Jews. But one of Jesus' main condemnations was that HE didn’t KNOW them or WHERE they came from. Without repentance and faith it was as if they had no lineage. Don’t forget where you came from! Born a sinner, on the pathway to hell. You were adopted into God’s family in your baptism. That was a huge deal. It’s more important than your physical birthday, it’s your spiritual birthday where God put His name on you. Don’t forget who you are in Christ. You are His baptized child. Find your identity in Jesus. Don’t forget who Jesus is for you. He is your Savior, still today. Stay connected to Him through the Word and Sacrament. You still need His salvation and forgiveness, just as much today as you did at your birth.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran German pastor who decided to go back to Germany during World War II and speak against Hitler and the Nazis. He went too far in an assassination plot of Hitler, was caught, and ended up dying in a concentration camp. Nobody could accuse the man of not making sacrifices. Not everything he said was up to snuff, but one of his greatest quotes is pretty accurate. He wrote about what he called “cheap grace.”
“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?...” (This is actually true! Grace is cheap for us, it’s free! But there’s a sinful way of thinking about grace too . . )
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
“Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.”
“Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” (We should regard this sacrifice as costly and important! Not cheap, it is more precious to us than gold! It is our only door to heaven!)
What is it to you? I think of how many have completely skipped worship over the summer, or how many haven’t opened their Bibles to read on their own in years. . . how many have said, “Yeah, I’ll think about coming back.” Has it become cheap to you? Have you taken it for granted? How many, as a result of their own sinful negligence, will end up banging on heaven’s door with no answer? Will you be one of them? Jesus seems to confirm that there will be few in heaven, at least in comparison with how many will be damned. This is a scary thing. How many people on our own roster will end up in hell, because they have lost sight of the door, treated it as cheap?
There is a door, a narrow door, a beautiful door. His name is Jesus. He has opened up heaven for me, for you, and for the world. He has opened it free of charge. We can enter it one by one, the same grace and free forgiveness for each and every one of us, given by grace. What a wonderful thing!
We started this sermon with the question, “Are only a few going to be saved?” Instead of thinking about that, Jesus wants you to forget about the few, and think about YOU. The precious door is open for you. Keep on the pathway with Him as you stay in the Word and sacrament, no matter how difficult it may be. Then, by the grace of God, you and I will be saved in Christ alone, through the Narrow Door. What a costly and precious door He is, someone worth focusing on so that by the grace of God, you will be one of the few and yet the many, from the north, south, east and west. Amen.
