What Does It Mean To "make Every Effort" To Enter The Kingdom? Series

WHAT DOES "MAKE EVERY EFFORT" MEAN? It doesn’t mean that it’s nearly impossible but that you should focus your attention.

- Luke 13:22-24a.

- Jesus is asked an important question: “[A]re only a few people going to be saved?” (v. 23).

- That's a great question. What is the nature of salvation? Is it like taking the ACT with hopes of getting into Harvard? That is, anything less than a perfect score puts you at risk. How defeating and depressing would that be? We would almost all just give up from despair. Or is it like you would believe if you read the obituary section of the local newspaper that almost everyone is getting in? We’re all God’s children and heaven is a giant reunion and no one is getting left out (except the really bad people, whatever that means). Or somewhere in between.

- It’s not just a great question - it’s an important question. The fate of our souls is one of the most important things to think about. After all, eternity is a lot longer than 70 years.

- Let’s start with the biggest misreading of “make every effort.”

- I think the tendency in reading it is to see it as an Ironman Triathlon or the spiritual equivalent. It must be nearly impossible!

- This would presumably lead us to answer “yes” to the posed question. It looks like almost no one is going to qualify!

- One helpful thing we have in answering this question is reading Scripture with Scripture. In the very next chapter we have a story from Jesus that gives us significant insight: Luke 14:15-24. This is the parable of the great banquet.

- A man is having a great feast and sends a servant to invite people. But the servant encounters excuse after excuse. When the servant reports this back to the master, he doesn’t say, “That’s good because I wanted this feast to be as small as possible.” No, he sends the servant back out with instructions to “bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” (v. 21). After the servant has completed that task, there is still room. He sends the servant out again, this time with the instruction “make them come in” (v. 23) because he wants his house “full” (v. 23).

- Does this sound like someone trying to make it nearly impossible to get in? Not at all.

- So this tells us that reading “make every effort” as an indication that God is trying to make it nearly impossible is a misreading of the text.

- What does it mean, then?

- It doesn’t mean that it’s nearly impossible but that you should focus your attention.

- God isn’t trying to make salvation incredibly difficult. In fact, He wants people to be saved. Jesus has come to open the door to us.

- We need to focus our attention on this important matter and seek what God has revealed.

- These are important questions:

a. What is God doing in the world?

b. How do I connect with God?

c. Is there a way to know God?

d. What happens after we die?

- All of these are “big deal” questions. They are all worth our attention and focus.

- Someone once said (and I think there is a lot of truth to it) that most people put more planning into their summer vacation than they do into their eternity. Ouch, but true.

- And this isn’t just about eternity - it’s also about living a God-filled and God-blessed life during our time on earth.

Many give such crucial matters little more than “I’ll hope for the best” or “Hopefully I’ll be ok” or wish projection. They don’t seek the Kingdom.

- What do I mean by “seek the Kingdom”?

- More broadly, I simply mean that we think about ultimate things and try to discover what’s true and what is worth living our lives pursuing.

- More specifically, I mean considering whether what Jesus said is true and worth following. Is He truly a messenger of God?

- At both levels, it’s a matter of pursuing ultimate things.

- This is what I think Jesus means when He says “make every effort.” This is important. This is worth your focus. This is worth considering. This is worth pursuing.

- In light of all that, it’s worth pausing for a moment here, before I move on to the next thing Jesus says here. We should pause and ask ourselves a simple question: am I making every effort?

- Allow me to address two groups.

- First, if you’re here tonight and you’re not a Christian, are you making every effort to find the truth about God? Is it a priority? Do you grasp the importance of having a good answer on that?