Jesus was a wonderful teacher. He had the knack of making His teaching on the Kingdom of God interesting and easily understood by the use of graphic pictures. There’s a good example of this in two verses in our reading from Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way 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" (7;13,14). Artists have found inspiration in these words and certainly John Bunyan drew on its imagery in his classic, "Pilgrim’s Progress".
Some years ago Prince Charles caused quite a stir in Christian circles when he said that when he ascended the throne he would prefer to be "The Defender of Faiths" - the word "Faiths" being in the plural. The addition of the "s" makes all the difference because the historic title of the Sovereign is "The Defender of the Faith". Some Christians were upset but perhaps he did have a point. A fundamental human right is that everyone should be able to hold and practise their religion according to their conscience but it carries the responsibility of making the right choice.
The non-Christian religions may well have some insights to offer but this is quite different from saying that all religions lead to God, although by different paths. Those who accept that say: "It’s not what path you choose, but how you pursue it." Christians believe that the truth is to be found in what God has revealed by His intervention in human affairs as recorded for us in the Bible and supremely through His Son, Jesus Christ. We need to remind ourselves of the uniqueness of the revelation that Jesus offers. The apostle Jude urged the Christians to whom he wrote: "to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (3).
As Jesus came to the end of His great Sermon, He wanted to drive home the message of the Gospel. He did so by portraying it in a series of alternatives. He presented the Kingdom of God in terms of choices and he made perfectly clear the choice which would lead to eternal life and which would result in spiritual loss. We see that there are:
TWO CHOICES
When you sit an examination you often find on the exam paper a multiple-choice question. You can choose the part that suits you best. It’s up to you; the examiner doesn’t mind. But I have to tell you that this doesn’t apply in the question of entry into God’s Kingdom. What is immediately striking is how fixed and defined is the choice offered. Yes, Jesus presents two choices but only one of them leads to life eternal. Many people would prefer a greater spread of possibilities of entry in God’s Kingdom. Prime Minister Tony Blair had a clever strategy in making his party electable after many years in the political wilderness - he pointed to a "third way".
There’s a widely accepted school of thought that claims there are many ways to gain acceptance to God, thus eliminating the need of choice between Jesus and all others. But Jesus cuts across this easy way out. He rejects this comfortable solution. Instead he insists that, of the two possibilities, there’s only one real choice. Certainly, in our text there’s Two Choices, but they are poles apart in the end result.
Let’s see what’s on offer. Listen to the uncompromising words of 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 spells out these Two Choices in simple illustrations. There are:
TWO GATES
On the face of it the wide gate has a lot to offer. You can’t miss it! There’s a large notice board saying "No restrictions here! Come right in and do as you please!" I once saw a yacht in the marina named "Anything Goes!", and thought, how symbolic of the way of the world. There’s no limitation on the luggage of this world that can be brought in by those who choose this gate. Nothing needs be left behind - not even our sins, self-righteousness or pride. But what a contrast when we look at the narrow gate! One has to look for it to find it. It’s easy to miss. Why? Because it’s narrow! As Jesus said to some enquirers of the Kingdom, it’s as narrow as a needle’s eye (Matt 19:24).
In order to enter the Kingdom we must leave everything behind - sin, selfish ambition, covetousness, even, if necessary, family and friends. The width of the narrow gate is for one person at a time. I was travelling through London with a large suitcase and had to go on the Underground. I put my ticket in the slot machine - the barrier opened and I could get through but not the suitcase! I was pointed to a special side entrance and got through, but there’s no such facility to the Kingdom of God. We can only enter the Kingdom through the narrow gate, which is, via the Cross of the Lord Jesus, through repentance and faith in him. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Nothing could be clearer than that.
The choice that Jesus lays before people consisted of Two Gates that lead into:
TWO WAYS
Here again we’re faced with vivid contrasts. There’s the broad way and the hard way. I’ve got a clear mental picture of them when I think of a picture that my parents had in their living room. I saw it every day for many years - the title was "The Broad and Narrow Way". Many of you will know the picture obviously inspired by our text. The imagery was plain to see. There was a broad highway filled with well-dressed families enjoying the good things of life as they passed through "Vanity Fair". The words used by Jesus for the broad way have the meaning of "spacious and easy". It’s the road of tolerance and permissiveness. It has no curbs, no boundaries of either thought or conduct. Travellers on this road follow their own inclinations - if it’s right for you, it’s all right! It’s where the only good is what I what I want; where the only rights are my own; and the only life with any meaning or value is the life I want for myself. It’s been given the term of "post modernism". You find this doctrine discussed in the correspondence column of the "Press", rubbishing those who dare to point to the objective standard of Scripture.
The hard way in the picture, on the other hand, is sparsely populated. It’s boundaries are clearly marked by something called "divine revelation" which restricts pilgrims to what God has revealed in Scripture to be true and good. C S Lewis describes in his autobiography how as a schoolboy of thirteen he began to "broaden his mind". He writes, "I was soon altering "I believe" to "one does feel". And oh, the relief of it! … From the tyrannous noon of revelation I passed into the cool twilight of Higher Thought, where there was nothing to be obeyed, and nothing to be believed except what was either comfortable or exiting." C S Lewis, of course, in later life, did come to faith in Christ and found that God hasn’t prescribed the hard way as a "kill-joy". He isn’t out to make us feel deprived or negative or miserable but rather has plans for our benefit and blessing. God knows that there are things that aren’t good for us - and that’s why Scripture imposes moral constraints.
What are the implications of becoming a Christian? Well, for one thing, a person is different to what he or she was before. Instead of being one in a crowd along the broad way, believers in Jesus have to think for themselves. Faith in Jesus is a personal experience, not something that is inherited`. The crowd has to be left behind. You can’t get a crowd through a turnstile all together; it only takes one person at a time. The baggage of the former life in the world is to be left behind and instead the life of faith begins. It involves a denial of the self-life, of pride and of position.
This is what should happen but becoming a Christian doesn’t automatically make us perfect - far from it! Ask your husband or wife! Thank God, when we come to the Cross of Christ in repentance and faith, trusting in his atonement for our sins, we are changed. John Newton, once the captain of a slave ship and after his conversion the author of "Amazing Grace, once said, "I am not yet what I ought to be and I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another world, but I am not what I used to be. And I am, by the grace of God, I am what I am."
The apostle Paul tells us: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). That’s one side of the coin, but the other is that much of his teaching to the churches of his day was urging the Christians to "put off your old self … to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:23). How otherwise can we live according to the Sermon on the Mount with its injunctions to bless those that curse us, to love our enemies and the unlovely?
We need God’s help on a daily basis. I came across a little prayer in a parish magazine, headed: "A Morning Prayer for Help" - note that I said it was a "morning" prayer! "Dear God, so far today I’ve done alright, I haven’t gossiped, lost my temper, been nasty, selfish or over indulgent. But in a few minutes God, I’m going to get out of bed and from then on, I’m going to need all the help I can get." How very true!
Jesus made it quite clear to his listeners that followers of the hard way would not find it easy. It’s "the road that leads to life," but he went on "only a few find it." The person who follows Jesus will be treated as Jesus was. He was rejected by the world and hated by many for what he was. "Yes," says Paul, "everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim 3:12). Persecution can come in various forms and intensity. It’s not pleasant to be misunderstood or ridiculed for speaking up against impurity when your fellows see it as "good fun". Standing up for what is pure and wholesome can sometimes be a lonely act. We can take a holiday from our normal work but there’s no such thing in the spiritual life. It’s always narrow. It’s a "fight of faith" always, right to the end.
Jesus has illustrated aspects of the Kingdom of God by depicting Two Gates and Two Ways and he also highlights:
TWO DESTINATIONS
Right through Scripture the concept of the choice between Two Destinations is clearly seen. Moses acted as spokesman for Jehovah in telling the Israelite nation, "See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil … , blessing and curse; therefore choose life" (Deut 30:15,19). Psalm 1 also contrasts "the way of sinners" with "the way of the righteous" and their respective endings. As for the righteous: "He (or she) is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." What a lovely picture of eternity in heaven spent in the presence of God. But it’s altogether different for those not in a right relationship with God: "But," says the psalmist, "the way of the wicked will perish."
Well, someone might say, that’s pictorial language of the Old Testament! Surely Jesus doesn’t expect us to take that literally! Yes, he does! He’s equally emphatic in his teaching: "broad is the road that leads to destruction." Frankly, this is one of the "hard sayings" of Jesus. He doesn’t go into detail of what hell is like but the terrible word "destruction" implies the very opposite of the bliss of heaven. It’s a prospect too awful to contemplate without tears. For those who know the way of salvation in Christ but consciously reject him, the broad road is suicidal.
Two Gates, Two Ways, Two Destinations and now finally:
TWO CROWDS
The history of Israel and his own experience of ministry told Jesus that there were Two Crowds. They were quite unequal in number. There was the multitude streaming down the broad and easy road, apparently careless of spiritual realities, although Jesus was careful to say that they had chosen the entrance gate. The narrow and hard way leading to life was comparatively deserted: "Those who find it are few." All of them had the same opportunity, just as we have in our day. Being neutral is not an option.
Hitler imprisoned a German pastor, Martin Niemoeller, for eight years. He spent some time in prisons and concentration camps. Hitler realised that if Niemoeller, a First World War hero, could be persuaded to join his cause then much opposition from the churches would collapse, so he sent a former friend of Niemoeller to visit him, a friend who now supported the Nazis. Seeing Niemoeller in his cell, the one time friend is reported as saying, "Martin, Martin! Why are you here?" To which he received from Niemoeller the response, "My friend! Why are you not here?" We need to ask ourselves the question, "are we willing to stand up and be counted for what is right, whatever the consequences?"
Some people like to be uncommitted. Opinion polls allow for not only a "yes" or "no" answer, but for a convenient "don’t know". We can’t be neutral with regard to Jesus when we’re living in a world created by him where his rules apply. When it’s a battle between good and evil we either stand with Jesus or oppose him. We can’t be neutral. There’s no comfortable middle ground, leaving on either side the very good and the very bad. Christianity isn’t about being very good, or very bad, or very comfortable. It’s about being in God’s Kingdom or staying out. It’s about allegiance to God, or rebellion. It’s about being on the road that starts narrow but opens out into the life of heaven, or staying on the broad road of our self-centredness until it contracts to a dead halt in final destruction. An awesome choice!
According to Jesus there are only:
Two Gates - broad and narrow (there’s no other gate);
Two Ways - hard and easy (there’s no middle way);
Two Crowds - large and small (there’s no neutral group);
Two Destinations - destruction and life (there’s no third alternative).
The Gospel demands a clear response from those who hear it.
There is a tombstone in a churchyard in Bedale, Yorkshire, England, with the following inscription:
"Remember friend, when passing by / As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, soon you will be / Prepare for death and follow me!"
Underneath someone has written:
"To follow you I’m not content / Until I know which way you went!"
There are few people who were not deeply affected at the news of the tragedy of the stricken Concorde airliner that crashed on take off in Paris in Summer 2000. As the investigators sought to discover the reason for the accident, they listened to the tapes of the pilot’s conversations with the control tower. His last words, as he fought to save his stricken craft were, "Too late." We only have one life to live on Earth. If we fail to make our peace with God or man before life ends it will be "too late!"
Game shows on television are extremely popular just now. There’s a right answer to a question which leads to a prize and there’s a wrong answer. The question master says that the questions are only easy if you know the answer. But in the most important question of life Jesus has given us the answer - but will we give it? And if we’ve given it, we must live it. It’s The Choice for Life.
