Proceed with Caution
John Stott has called The Sermon on the Mount “one of the most rich and interesting, yet misunderstood, sections of sacred Scripture. This sermon is one of the most studied, quoted, yet also ignored, chapters of God’s Word. The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed.”
We are in the home stretch of “Lessons from The Sermon on the Mount,” with only three more posts left. Jesus has laid out what He expects of us as believers, and now He is wrapping up. In Matthew 7:13 – 14, it appears as if He is asking us to choose whether or not we will follow Him. Hmm . . .
Matthew 7:13-14 – “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.”
Let’s begin by putting this scripture in the proper context. In keeping with the entire Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to believers (although there are unbelievers around listening). As scripture tells us, God is responsible for our salvation. When God chooses us, the Holy Spirit, at some point in our life, will regenerate our heart so that we will come to Jesus. 2Thesselonians 2:13-14 confirms this– “From the beginning, God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” Thus, Jesus is not asking the people to make the choice whether or not to follow Him. Instead, He is showing them the only two path alternatives for every human being. God is the one who chooses which path a person will be on. Jesus is telling His people what to expect on the path they have been put on. Jesus’ use of the narrow road and broad road are probably metaphors that the listeners would have understood. During this time, there were public roads that were roughly 24 feet wide and there were private roads that were roughly 6 feet wide. As their name suggests, the public roads gave access to anyone; the private were only for certain people.
Matthew 7:13-14 lays out each path. The narrow road is the tougher road less traveled. On it, believers are called to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. The broader, more traveled road is seemingly the easier way. These two paths are the only two options. On the narrow path, we are to say to God, “Thy will be done,” on the broad road, people say to God, “My will be done.” The first way is the road that leads to life. The latter way leads to destruction.
The Broad Path – People on this path are dead in their sins. Either they have not yet had their hearts regenerated or they never will. These people are lord of their own lives. This is why it is seemingly the easier path. What is easier than just calling your own shots about your life? It leads to destruction because people on this path are slaves to their sin nature. There is nothing in them that desires a relationship with Jesus. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t decent people on this path. There are, but any moral compass people on this path may have is of their own making and can therefore be erratic and inconsistent. Not only does their condition wreak havoc and cause problems in their lives on earth, but if their condition is not changed, it will ultimately lead to hell.
The Narrow Path – People on this path have had their hearts regenerated, and are saved, but they are at different points in their sanctification (spiritual maturity). This is the tougher path for sure because we have to give control of our life over to God. Jesus needs to be the Lord of our lives. For those of us on this road, there is no picking and choosing of some of Jesus’ teachings / commands while ignoring / rejecting others. All of Jesus’ teachings, and in fact all of the 613 laws in the Old Testament, including the 10 commandments, are summed up in the two commands Jesus gives in Luke 10:27 – “Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Only two commands? That doesn’t seem like a lot, but we need to look at everything we do, think, and believe in light of those two commands. There are Christians who will say that they believe and follow Jesus’ teaching of loving the people around them; but think Jesus went too far, or really didn’t mean it when He said to love people who hate you. This is nonsense. Jesus did not say here are my commands, you decide which ones you want to follow and how you want to interpret them. He says as we see in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” We need to give complete control of life over to Jesus. We will blow it many, many times, for sure; but consciously making the choice every day that Jesus is Lord of all of our life is part of our sanctification and matures our faith. And if all that wasn’t tough enough, being on this path can lead to persecution, and possibly death. Doesn’t get much tougher than that!
Jesus says that the narrow road, while the harder road, is the road that leads to life. It is the right, life-giving and fulfilling way. This stands in direct contrast to what liberal theology says. Liberalism (theology, not politics) sees the narrow road as described by Jesus as being narrow-minded, life-depriving, bigoted, and arrogant. They try to broaden the narrow road by downplaying the sovereignty of God and the authority and inerrancy of the Bible. This is not just a condition of today, though. Charles Spurgeon, in 1887, wrote an article entitled, “The Down Grade.” This turned into the famous “Down Grade Controversy.” In a series of articles, Spurgeon, and fellow Pastor, Robert Shindler, called out pastors and church leaders for straying from the inerrancy and authority of scripture, down grading the sovereignty of God and preaching liberalism. Instead of giving the truths of the Bible, they were preaching moral lessons. Sermons were less about spiritual matters, and more about worldly wisdom and behaving better. In summary, the churches were conforming to a changing liberal society that did not want to hear about being under the control of a Sovereign God. They were not interested in absolutes or Biblical doctrine. As a result, in order to stay “relevant,” Pastors and church leaders began to soften and then change their theological positions. (sound familiar?) Spurgeon received backlash from the liberals for these articles. The reaction against Spurgeon from the opposing side was merciless. At the annual Baptist Union meeting in 1888, representatives from the churches of the Union voted 2,000 to 7 to modify the organization’s statement of faith to reflect a moderate theological position between those on the evangelical side and those on the liberal side. His own brother, for the sake of keeping the denomination together, orchestrated setting up the new, theological guidelines. Shortly after this, Charles Spurgeon became ill and died. His wife said it was this situation that made him sick and he died trying to fight for the faith.
This section of scripture ends with “only a few find it.” This correlates with Matthew 22:14 – “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Jesus says these words after He tells the parable of the wedding feast. In short, He is saying that while a general call of the Gospel goes out to many (and it should go out to all!) only a few are chosen by God to be one of His people. However, remember, that it is not for us to decide, or even worry about, who are God’s chosen. Our job is to put that general call of the Gospel out to as many as we can. God will handle the rest.
Next time: Watch Out for the Bad Guys!
