The Way to Heaven Runs Through the Narrow Gate!
Matthew
7:12-14
"When we all get to Heaven, what a day
of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory!" is a
refrain from the hymn "Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and
His grace" by E. E. Hewitt (1898).[1]
It sounds wonderful to think that we will all go to Heaven, one day see our
friends and loved ones, party, and live happily ever after.
But there is one problem with that: in
reality, do all people get to go to Heaven? Do all Christians have the same
view of Heaven and Hell? People differ about the afterlife. Shockingly, not all
Christians share the same view on life after death, Heaven, and Hell.
According to Pew
Research's 2014 Religious Landscape Study, 66 percent of American Christians
say many religions can lead to eternal life. That sentiment is
most popular among mainline Protestants (80 percent) and Catholics (79
percent).
Orthodox Christians
(68 percent), black Protestants (57 percent), and evangelicals (52 percent)
also agree.
Among non-Christian
groups, Hindus (96 percent), Buddhists (83 percent), and Jews (79 percent) are
most likely to agree that many religions can lead to eternal life.
A majority of Muslims (65 percent) agree,
while fewer Mormons (40 percent) do.
The least likely
religious group in America to believe there are many ways to eternal Life is
Jehovah's Witnesses (8 percent).[2]
The following graph from Life Way Research
explains American theological views on the afterlife (Slide). Among these
conflicting views, both among Christians and non-Christians, how can we be
certain of life after death, Heaven, and Hell? Who and what guarantees us
Heaven, as we all wish for ourselves and our loved ones? Just wishful thinking
won't get us there. Who can help us get there other than the one who came down
from Heaven? We have been following Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God for
several weeks. Today we will learn about: The Way To Heaven Runs Through
The Narrow Gate: Matthew 7:12-14
I. The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to
others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the
Prophets." This is commonly known as the Golden Rule. Many religions state
it negatively. Don't do to others what you don't want done to you. Jesus stated
this positively: Do to others what you would have them do to you. Refraining
from harming others may not be hard, but intentionally doing so is much more
difficult.
The Golden Rule, as Jesus stated, is the
foundation for the Kingdom Citizens. That is the kind of love and goodness God
showers on us daily. How would we want others to treat us? We want to be
respected, treated with dignity, included, valued, and not rejected. We want help
in our time of need, not harm. How about we take the first step and offer the
same treatment to others? Think of a good and merciful action you can do for
others today.
II. The Highway To Hell is Broad, and its
gate is wide.
Matthew 7:13b, "The highway to hell is
broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way." (NLT). Imagine
you are walking along the way and come to a fork in the road. Two ways lie
before you. One way has a wide gate leading to a broad road, and many travel it
with ease. The other way has a small gate leading to a narrow road, and only a
few people travel it. Which road will you take for the rest of your life?
Let's explore both the gates.
A Wide Gate with a Broad Road represents what
the Devil offers people in the world. Remember one of the temptations that the
Devil tempted Jesus with? "The Devil took him to the peak of a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I will
give it all to you, he said, if you will kneel down and worship me." Get
out of here, Satan, Jesus told him, "For the Scriptures say, 'You must
worship the LORD your God and serve only him." Matthew 3:8-10 NLT. The
Devil offers us a world full of riches but a life without God.
It may be a life full of pleasures, relative
ease, comfort, self-indulgence, and false security. In the end, as King Solomon
regrettably admitted, it is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:22-23: "What do
people get for all the toil and anxious striving, with which they labor under
the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds
do not rest. This too is meaningless." Consider the worldly life of the
people on the Broad Way.
For instance, the rich, the famous, the
celebrities, and successful people seem to put on an appearance of happiness,
as if everything is going great for them. But if you look a bit closer, how
many of them are struggling to make sense, depressed, unhappy, and miserable,
addicted to drugs, seeking the true meaning of life in illicit relationships,
contemplating suicide, and some have even succumbed to suicide? As a popular
proverb says, "All that glitters is not gold."
Jesus warns the travelers on the Broad Way: "What
good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"
Mark 8:36. Interestingly, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not exhort
people not to enter the broad way; he acknowledged that many enter it, then
warned them about where that broad way leads. To Hell! The eternal destruction!
Who are those many travelers on the Broad
Way? It is you and I and infact all the people by default of our sinful nature.
We don't have to choose to be on the Broad Way, because all of us have sinned,
began our life's journey on it, and continue on it. However, some people make a
deliberate choice to sell their souls to Satan in worship of Him and doing his
bidding.
Many people in the world are sincere and
strive to lead decent lives. Because of their sinful nature, if they continue
on the broad way, they cannot escape God's coming wrath. Is there a better way?
What are we to do to escape God's final judgment and His wrath? Because of His
great love for all people, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ. Whoever
believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life. That same Jesus
offers us a way to escape God's wrath.
III. The Way To Heaven Runs Through The
Narrow Gate.
Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter through the
narrow gate… But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and
only a few find it." Luke 13:24: "Make every effort to enter through
the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be
able to." The essence of these two passages on the Narrow Gates is as
follows:
The gate that leads to Heaven is narrow. It
doesn't mean it is difficult to get to Heaven, but that there is only one way
to Heaven, and it runs through the narrow gate. Because of the cost of letting
go of old sinful habits and friends, being excommunicated, and even being
killed, only a few decide to find it and walk through it. Which narrow gate is
Jesus referring to here?
John 10:7-11, "Very truly I tell you, I
am the gate for the sheep… I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be
saved. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep." In the Middle East, sheep were sheltered overnight in a
narrow enclosure surrounded by a stone wall without a gate. The shepherd sits
in the enclosure, checks the incoming sheep for parasites and wounds, and
treats them. Once they are all in, he remains in the middle for the night. Metaphorically,
Jesus, the good shepherd, became our narrow gate.
When the sheep go through the shepherd, they
are kept safe and sheltered from all dangers; similarly, we must go through
Jesus to live a peaceful, sheltered life in this world and, in the end, enter Heaven.
Jesus made this profound proclamation, "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6. Believing
in Jesus is not popular, but it is the only way to Heaven. There was a time when
I was wondering, like a lost sheep; Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in His Mercy
reached out to me and took me into His fold. He is the gate of my salvation; in
Him I breathe and have my being. At the end of my journey, I am assured of a
place in Heaven with Him forever. Which road are you traveling on today?
