It seems that life today is all about choice. It’s almost as though if we’re not given half a dozen options to choose from at any given moment we feel deprived. Because choice is our right.
Now choice is good because it produces competition which keeps prices down and it’s a spur to innovation and invention, not to mention greater efficiency and, therefore, productivity. Choice is good because everyone is different; everyone has different needs and of course, the individual rules, so we each need our own individual choice of whatever it is we’re thinking about.
On the other hand there are some people who think that we in the western world have too much choice in our lives. Some think that the degree of choice we’re being offered is counterproductive. We’re now at the point where the degree of choice being sought is leading to inefficiency; e.g. where shops just can’t maintain an inventory that meets everyone’s desires; or where we get confused by the choices being offered. You’ve probably seen the milk ad where the woman goes through the long list of choices of milk available and the guy says "all I want is milk that tastes like ordinary old milk."
Well, in the passage we’re looking at today Jesus offers us a series of choices. But they’re not the long list of choices I’ve just been talking about. In each case the choice is between two opposing possibilities. In fact in each case the choice is between two ways to live.
Narrow gate or wide gate
First he talks about the choice we need to make as far as our eternal destiny is concerned. He says: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." So the choice is between a narrow gate or a wide gate; between an easy road or a hard road.
Now it seems to me that most human beings live according to the law of least resistance. Most people would prefer to follow the crowd than to be different. Peer pressure is the most powerful force in the world today and not just among young people. But Jesus calls us to resist the temptation to follow others; to be willing to be different even if it means taking a road that’s hard to keep to.
Well, what does it mean to take the narrow gate, follow the hard road, the road less travelled? You may have noticed in Australian politics of late, a move to more conservative Christian values. The success of the Family First party at the last federal election indicates a growing awareness in public life that we need more than just good economic and political management. We need a renewal of our value systems. The Australian scene reflects a far stronger movement in the US where George Bush’s declared status as a "born-again Christian" has been a large part of his popular appeal. And you’d have to say our Prime Minister has been quick to jump on the bandwagon in claiming to be a Christian.
So is this what Jesus means when he says we need to take the narrow gate, the hard road? Is he just thinking about a return to Christian values in the world at large? Or is he thinking of something more than that?
I guess one way of answering that question is to ask whether Jesus would ever have been elected Prime Minister of Australia. My assessment is that he wouldn’t have had the faintest hope. Why? Well, because his stance would have been too tough for most people in the party system, let alone the electorate.
Just think about the things he told his disciples they’d have to do if they were to follow him: (Mat 10:34-39 NRSV) "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
(Mat 16:24-25 NRSV) Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
You see, following Jesus is a tough ask. It won’t ever be a popular occupation. Only those who are first committed to him in fact will be able to maintain it.
Well in any case, it’s interesting that this saying is grouped with a number of other situations where choice is necessary. And each choice fills out the others.
False prophets or true
First he mentions false Prophets (v15). These are people who purport to be Christians with a word to bring from God. They want to be known as teachers. These are apparently fellow Christians. They’re not opponents of the Church. No, the threat they pose comes from within. And the danger is a subtle one. They appear in the guise of harmless creatures. Who has ever been worried by a sheep. If it were a wolf we’d immediately put up our defences. But a sheep doesn’t appear to pose any sort of a threat.
This of course is one of the problems we face in the church today. Men and women come among us, claiming to be teachers, to be theologically trained, often with very charismatic personalities, but they don’t come to build the kingdom of God, they come to promote their own theology. Now most of them, I’m sure think they’re being good ministers, good theologians. But the result of their ministry is in fact a church that’s badly damaged. And they look harmless. But in fact often the reason their teaching appears harmless is that it’s so close to the popular view held by the society as a whole. Often they’ve chosen the broad and easy path, the path of least resistance. Often they or the people they’ve learnt their theology from have taken as their presuppositions the presuppositions of the world.
So, for example, in the early 20th century there was such a strong belief in the power of reason and science to determine the truth, that the idea that miracles might actually have happened in a literal sense was denied. And theologians sprang up all over the place, particularly in Europe, who set out to ’demythologise’ the New Testament, to explain away the idea of miracles as though such a belief was below us as modern thinking people. And the descendants of those theologians are with us today, explaining away, not just the miracles, but even the physical resurrection of Christ. And they go further in accommodating popular culture by reinterpreting the moral code, denying Jesus’ claim to be the only way to God, etc.
So how are we to tell whether a prophet is true or false? Jesus says: "You will know them by their fruits." You’ll know them by what they produce from their ministry. So what do they produce in the lives of the people they minister to? Do they produce lives that are built on faith in Christ alone? Are they directing people along the narrow path, through the narrow gate? Or are they simply allowing their people to go where they like, to wander along like sheep along the broad and easy way? I remember hearing a Jewish Rabbi criticising John Spong’s teaching on Christian morals, particularly his desire to water down God’s moral standards so they appear more acceptable to the world. He said, "You say you’re a shepherd of the sheep, but you don’t lead them, you let the sheep lead you." So, are they teaching faith in Christ alone?
But secondly are they teaching the hard road of discipleship that Jesus taught? Are they teaching the sorts of things we’ve seen in this series on the Sermon on the mount? Or are they watering down God’s standards? Twisting Jesus words to say something quite different from what he actually taught? For example do they emphasise love over obedience. Do they say "grace is all" and obedience doesn’t matter? Do they deny the reality of a final judgement, preferring to teach a universal salvation because that ruffles fewer feathers? Are their followers convinced of the sovereignty of God, or of the salvation that Christ has won for us on the cross?
And what’s the result in people’s lives? Do you see people who are putting to death the deeds of the body, or people who are happy to live immoral lives? Do you see people whose language is foul, or people whose words are seasoned with salt?
The warning for such people is dire: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." That of course is a warning both for teachers and for those who sit under their teaching. If you put up with false prophets, if you accept their teaching, you too will begin to bear bad fruit, you too will face God’s judgement in the end.
Superficial or deep Religious practice
But it isn’t just those whose teaching is false that Jesus is concerned about. The next decision we need to make is the decision about the basis of our religious practice.
Here the warning is against those who come among us with Christ’s name on their lips, apparently prophesying in his name, healing in his name, even casting out demons in his name, yet their piety is a sham. This is perhaps the most dangerous threat to well meaning Christians.
So what’s wrong with this group of people? Well, they profess the name of Jesus, but they’ve never actually stopped to get to know him. Their piety is superficial. It may be that they’ve learnt a way of worshipping God that has all the right words, but have never encountered the risen Christ in any personal way. Now can I say that this is an issue for Anglicans in general but it’s a particular issue in many evangelical churches. There are churches around that call themselves evangelical but in reality they’re just low-church. Their practice is orthodox, they say the right words. Their preaching may even be Biblically centred, but in fact the gospel isn’t being preached. People aren’t being brought into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
So this is a challenge for us. Are we seeking to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ, or are we just going through the religious motions each week? Are we submitting our lives to Christ in every area? Are we seeking to walk the narrow road of faithfulness to Christ, not just by our external actions, but by our internal godliness? Are our lives characterised by an integrity of both belief and action? Is the thing that motivates us love for God and his son Jesus Christ? Those are the questions we need to answer if we’re to make the right choice.
Wise or foolish action
Which leads us to the final section of this passage and in fact of the sermon on the mount. The final choice we have to make is between wise and foolish living. Will we be like the foolish man who built his house on sand or like the wise man who built on rock.
Clearly Jesus is contrasting his teaching with that of the sorts of people we’ve been thinking about; people whose teaching sounds OK on the surface, but dig down a little and you discover that there’s nothing underneath.
But notice that there’s more to it than that. At the outset both men appear to be OK. Their houses are stable. They’re no doubt equally comfortable and presentable. Until the flood and wind come, you couldn’t tell them apart. Much liberal Christian teaching is like that. On the surface it appears presentable, reasonable. There doesn’t seem to be much that’s problematic. But when you dig a short way below the surface you discover there’s nothing there to support it. It isn’t built on a solid foundation. In fact often it’s discarded the solid foundation of Scripture, of Jesus’ teaching or that of the apostles and substituted a worldly philosophy that as often as not derives from popular culture or media bias. And of course when trouble hits, when the storms of life assail it, it can’t stand up. People are left floundering, wondering why their theology doesn’t seem to answer the questions thrown up by their circumstances. And the end result is lives that have lost confidence in God, that don’t know how to cope with the world we live in.
So how do we avoid that great fall? By building our lives on the rock of Jesus’ teaching; by going back time after time to God’s word; by studying what God’s revealed about himself and his will for his people; and by not just reading it, not just voicing it, but submitting ourselves to God’s will in every area of life.
And that brings us back to where we started. Which gate will you enter through? Which road will you take? The hard road or the easy? Will you follow Jesus Christ down the narrow road of commitment to him and his teaching? Will you take up your cross and follow him, even if it means standing against the crowd, resisting the temptation to take the line of least resistance?
Jesus doesn’t mince words. The sermon on the mount is a series of hard sayings. It begins with consolation, with the blessings for those who follow him, but it ends with a harsh warning: a warning against foolishness and its consequences. Having listened to the sermon on the mount we don’t have the luxury of being able to ignore it or treat is as a series of pleasant sayings. Rather we need to heed it. To take Jesus’ words and act on them.
But the rewards of heeding and acting are great. In this life, it means you’ll have the strength to stand before the storms of life, against the attacks of the evil one, against the opposition of those who would oppose Jesus Christ. It’ll mean you’ll be able to bear good fruit for God. In the next it’ll mean that Christ will welcome you as a brother or sister. And that will mean life: life with Christ, life with God the Father, for eternity.
For more sermons from this source as well as discussion questions, go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos
