“Broad or Narrow … What Road Are You On?”
Scripture Reading
Matthew 7:13-29
Matthew 7:13-14 (text)
Congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Finish this sentence in your head. “Life is a … …?”
I wonder how many of you said something like, “Life is a journey”? It is a common way to think about life isn’t it. In fact I would say that many people, be they believers or not-yet-believers, would describe life as a journey. We all know we are heading somewhere. We all sense there is a destination beyond this life. Whether we are religious or not we are all on a journey. So the big issue for each one of us is not, “Will I take the journey?”. The big issue for each one of us is, “Where is our journey going to end?”. Where is your journey going to end? That is the issue which is being addressed by Jesus. And as Jesus addresses that issue He focuses on a series of contrasts.
The first contrast is a contrast between the two gates. We know enough about gates to know what is happening here. To go through a gate means you place yourself in a particular environment … or to allow yourself to be surrounded by certain boundaries. It is not very often that you see a gate set up in the middle of nowhere without a fence attached to each side … or without it going into a structure such as a sports field or train station. Gates have the specific purpose of being the entry point. The type of gate which is used often gives an indication of what is beyond. The gate for a prison is very different from the gate for a cattle yard.
We know about gates. So we take what we know and apply it to the contrasting gates. One of the gates is a wide gate. Why is it wide? Because it is willing to allow any one to pass through without making a sacrifice on their part. When you come through the wide gate you don’t need to offload any baggage … the wide gate can accommodate it all. Those who pass through the wide gate can be themselves. After all there are many nice and good people in this world … some of them are just as nice as Christians. They should be included and tolerated. Why can’t God give some credit to such people? The wide gate is for them. It is the gate of tolerance.
• “You shouldn’t always have to make sacrifices”.
• “Sin is not so bad as long as I don’t hurt other people”.
• “I can be a Christian and still enjoy the pleasures of the world”.
We shouldn’t judge. We shouldn’t condemn. All are welcome to come through the wide gate where the only thing we don’t tolerate is intolerance.
The wide gate is the way of least resistance. It is a place where there are no restrictions concerning belief and behaviour. And it is very, very attractive. Which is such a contrast with the narrow gate.
There is a story about two brothers, the oldest of whom was the King. The younger brother had a lot of ambition and attempted to take over the throne … but he didn’t succeed. As punishment for this rebellion the younger brother was put into prison where he stayed for many years. There were some people thought punishment excessive and when they questioned the older brother about this he would always say the same thing. “My younger brother is free to leave the prison any time he pleases; go and have a look at the prison he is in”. Those who went to see the prison discovered that didn’t have a door … and there was a 50cm opening in one side. The problem is that the younger brother was a very large man who couldn’t resist his food. When he was in prison he was well fed and decided to eat the food rather than make the sacrifice to become small enough to fit through the gap.
If you want to go through the narrow gate it is going to take denial. Jesus says in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”. Basically that is what the narrow gate is all about. It is only as the heart bows to the righteousness of God’s claims that we can go through the narrow gate. It is only as we submit to the demands of the Son of God that we know what it means to enter. The cleansing blood of Jesus is only available for those who are willing to throw down the weapons of their warfare against God, and surrender themselves to his holy rule. Entering through the narrow gate means entering into a life of commitment.
The wide and narrow gate … they are in contrast. You must enter one or you are still in the boundaries of the other. And this is where we need to be so careful. Because it is not as if one gate is marked “This way to heaven”, while the other gate is marked “This way to hell”. Satan is deceptive and it is his desire to make people think they are safe. Both gates are seen as gates to heaven. Jesus is not contrasting Christianity to openly immoral masses. Jesus is contrasting two kinds of religion. One is a religion that is based on trusting in Jesus alone for our righteousness. One is a religion that says Jesus only needs to be tacked on.
These are the contrasting gates. And they lead to a second contrast which is the two different roads. That makes sense doesn’t it? When you enter a gate it usually means you are planning to travel down a particular path. And, in many ways, the path you take is defined by the gate you enter. When you walk through the door of the casino … or the door of the church - it is a demonstration of the path you are going to take. If you enter the aisle with the adult magazines … or the aisle with car magazines – it is a demonstration of the path you are going to take. If you set aside your giving before everything else … or decide to give what is left over – it is a demonstration of the path you are going to take.
Well the same applies in this passage. The gate is a strong indicator of the road which is beyond. Beyond the wide gate is the broad road. Once you’ve come through the wide gate you are faced with easy living. There is plenty of room to walk around. There are no rules which are particularly binding. There is room for diverse theology. There is tolerance of every conceivable sin, just as long as you "love" Jesus or are "religious". There are no boundaries. The attraction of the wide gate continues to be the attraction which is experienced on the broad road. It is the way of least resistance. It is a place where there are no restrictions concerning belief and behaviour. That is what the world thinks the road to heaven should look like.
But Jesus has other ideas. And so we end up with a contrast between the broad road and the narrow road. It is this road which describes what true religion is all about. And true religion is not a road that is easily walked upon. Walking along the narrow road means having a heart and life constantly regulated by the direction of Jesus. Walking along the narrow road means having a steady perseverance in faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus. Walking along the narrow road means rejecting temptation in order to shut out all self-pleasing and self-seeking diversions. Basically the narrow road is the road on which we deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Christ!
The broad and narrow road are in complete contrast to one another. On one road you walk with the majority, on the other road you walk very much alone. Many are willing to walk along the wide road … and they think they are all OK. It certainly was the case for the Jewish audience which Jesus was talking to. They thought they were all on the safe road because they could trace their heritage back to Abraham and because they were circumcised. “We are the people of God. We are the chosen race. Why wouldn’t God want us?”. That was some of the things they were saying. But they were wrong. Jesus had a different message … the same message which still goes out to the church. Being born into a church does not save you. Neither does having your name on the church roll. Neither does being baptized. Instead we are to walk the road of commitment.
Perhaps the best way is to think in terms of a turnstile. The passageway through a turnstile is very narrow; its metal arms don’t allow more than one person through at a time. Zoos, train stations, and airports have turnstiles. If a group of people are in a hurry to go in or out, they can’t go through together. They have to go through one at a time. It is the same on the narrow road. It is not about trying to find safety and numbers. It is about following a lifestyle which is radically different from any that the world would naturally choose.
The narrow way is not a luscious soft meadow which can be walked upon with bare feet. It’s not a soft option for the weak-hearted. When you are on the narrow way you declare war on hell and hell fights hard. So you might be asking yourself, “Why bother?”. Why would we want to follow a Saviour who said to one of His disciples, “Follow Me. And by the way that will cost you your life”? Why take the hard road? Well we do it because of the third contrast which is a contrast between the two destinations. As we said at the beginning, “Life is a journey which is heading somewhere”. The big issue is not, “Will I take the journey?”. The big issue is, “Where is our journey going to end?”. Those who enter the wide gate and walk on the broad road are destined for destruction. That destruction is very, very real.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Paul talks about the destiny of those who do not acknowledge Jesus. He says, “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the power of His majesty”. No grace. No mercy. Just ongoing punishment. It is very real. The reality of it is conformed by John in Revelation 21:8 who says, “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur”. No grace. No mercy. Just ongoing punishment.
It isn’t a pleasant end to the journey is it? We don’t want it to end there. So we must strive to enter the narrow gate. Those who enter the narrow gate and walk on the narrow road are destined for life. A life where we see God for all eternity and celebrate His goodness. A life where we acknowledge the wonderful grace that has been shown to us by Jesus who gave His life to secure our life. A life which recognizes that we can mess up as sinners and still be included in God’s family. It’s life eternal and it is being offered as a gift. That is the destination we are looking towards.
So as we think about these two destinations the challenge is simple. Don’t assume you are headed to the right destination. It might seem to be astonishing to us but there are many who go through the wide gate and walk on the broad road. And the sad fact is that many of them think they are on the road to heaven. Have a look a little further on in chapter 7 and you will find these words in verses 21-23. They refer to those who are standing before Jesus on judgement day and who are giving their reasons for why Jesus should save them.
Not everyone who says to Me “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons, and perform many miracles?”. Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from Me you evil-doers”. (Matthew 7:21-23)
What a shock! People who think they are OK with God when they are not. All because they were not ultimately willing to completely submit themselves to Jesus and His authority. There are going to be people in hell and they are going to be talking. One will say to the other, "This is a terrible place isn’t it? But I still feel I’m a great guy”. It all comes because they just went along with the crowd. They had their cosy life and then tried to add Jesus to it … to feel religious … to look right by going to church. But there was never a willingness to deny themselves and it ended up being an eternal disaster. Congregation will you be among the few, or the many? Look to Jesus, the cross, and His willingness to be your Saviour. Then put your life totally into the power of His death and resurrection.
Amen
