The Narrow Door

A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church
March 4, 2007

Have you ever thought of yourself as being ‘narrow’? If you have, have you ever thought that being narrow was a good thing? (and I’m not just talking weight loss here…). Most of the time when we hear this word applied to matters of faith, it is used with negative connotations, as in: You are narrow-minded, bigoted and homophobic… It’s not really a good thing to be known as being narrow.

Yet Jesus seems to think that Narrow is a good thing. “STRIVE to enter through the narrow door”, he says. “For many will try to enter and will not be able.

…What is Jesus talking about? Let’s first set the context and ask, “With whom is Jesus talking?” The answer is: his people, the Jews. He is telling them that many if not most of them will not enter the Kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Strangers from the four corners of the earth will come and take their place and they will be cast out into a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth!
Why? Because they are trying to enter through the broad way instead of the narrow door.

In addition to being inflammatory, Jesus’ words must have struck the people as nonsensical. He was proclaiming something that likely didn’t make sense to most of them. Why? - Because of their notion about the nature of Covenant.

You see, the Jewish people understood themselves to be children of Abraham. God had come to Abraham and made a Covenant with him, telling him that He would be Abraham’s God and that He would make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars. God had even ratified the Covenant by passing through sacrificial animals with his own Presence, represented by a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch. He spoke to Abraham in the words of Genesis 15:18: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates”. How then could it be that Jesus had the audacity to suggest that most of the children of Abraham would not inherit the kingdom of God? It was their birthright, for cryin’ out loud!

I think it’s because the Jewish people missed something. In a word, that something was Faith. Look at Genesis 15:6 again: “…And he, Abraham, believed the LORD, and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (By the way this is where we get our Appalachian use of the word “reckon”. It is a perfectly good and precise word that means to count, as in to “reckon” or justify accounts.) In this case, God counted or reckoned Abraham’s belief as Righteousness. He imputed or put onto Abraham Righteousness based on his belief, or faith.

The apostle Paul refers to this seminal moment in Romans chapter 4, vv 13-25, where he explains why those who believe in Jesus Christ will be saved while those who observe the Jewish law will not be saved: Abraham was not justified or reckoned righteous by the works of the law, but by his belief in God.

You see, the Jewish people should have understood this. They should have known that God has no grandchildren, only children. It’s not enough to look back to your grandpa and say “He was a great man of faith”. You yourself have to exercise faith, just as Abraham did, by believing God.

Paul goes on: …”the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith…it depends upon faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring – not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham… (Rom. 4:13, 16).

What then is the faith of Abraham for us? - To believe that Jesus Christ was sent by God to be the Savior of the World.

In Romans 3:21, Paul tells us that the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… for the righteousness of God [comes] through faith in Jesus Christ (v.22).

So we have a parallel between Abraham, who believed God when God said that He would make Abraham the father of many nations … and the individual Christian, who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All who believe in Jesus Christ are the real descendants of Abraham. We are the ones whom God reckons as righteous and who will inherit the Kingdom. We are the ones who go through the narrow door, Jesus, to enter heaven.

The terms of God’s Covenant with us are very specific. God says he will be our God if will believe Him and trust in Jesus Christ to be our righteousness before Him. There is no other way to be right with God. It is indeed, as the saying goes, ‘set in concrete’.

Now many people today want to concoct their own way to God. They want to say, “My way is as good as yours to get to God”, and “Don’t be exclusive by trying to keep me out of Heaven.” This is completely obtuse. It would be like asserting that someone born in Russia and still living there should be granted US citizenship, complete with voting rights, just because he had once read the Constitution and had warm feelings in his heart towards Democracy. It just doesn’t work that way.

If you want in to the Kingdom of God, you gotta go through the door, the Narrow Door, Jesus Christ. How does one enter the Narrow Door? Paul again from Romans 10:9-11: “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved… For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How much clearer can it be? Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. It’s easy enough for a child to understand and profound enough for the most sophisticated philosopher. (And incidentally, this is also why it is important to pray out loud. When we speak something out loud, it creates a reality that is heard by the listening principalities and powers on both sides. It is as if your verbal prayer is making an oral agreement with God, an agreement that has a certain legal quality to it. This agreement would stand up in God’s court. Silent prayer is good, but verbal prayer is also essential for our spiritual well-being.)


So God has established a very clear way to enter the Kingdom. And lest someone claim that God is a big meany and doesn’t want people to get in to the Kingdom, look at what Jesus says about Jerusalem: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” YOU were NOT willing!

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. He knows that in 70 AD the Romans will come and destroy the City and he is heartbroken for her. Friends, God has a seeking heart towards the world. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth (II Pet. 3:9). Had the Jewish people somehow been able, as a people, to understand and exercise the faith of Abraham, they would have continued to be God’s conduit for the salvation of the world. But they rejected the message. “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (Jn. 1:11). This is why the Gospel message went out to the Gentiles after the Jewish people had rejected it – so that all the world would have the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We Gentiles are most blessed to have received the Gospel and to be adopted into the family of God, to become the true descendants of Abraham. All the promises made to Abraham now apply to us – although they are fulfilled spiritually in Christ, not literally in terms of inheriting a specific plot of ground. Therefore we rejoice greatly that our names are written in the book of Life (Rev. 3:5;20:15) and we look forward to spending Eternity with God.

But there is a caution here. As we see in our reading from Philippians today (3:17-4:1), it is possible to name the Name of Christ and live licentiously, to call oneself a Christian, but to literally live like Hell. Tragically, I believe we are seeing just this in many corners of the Christian world today (let the reader understand). For such people, who set their minds on earthly things and the indulgence of every fleshly desire, there is no protection in the Gospel Covenant. Jesus warned that even though ‘we ate and drank with you’… cast out demons, and did miracles in your name…he will shut the door to them saying, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” (Lk. 13:26; Mt. 7:22).

I don’t know about you, but this sometimes sends a shiver up my spine. I would hate to think that I spent the last 30 years of my life working for Jesus only to someday fail to inherit eternal life! As the Psalmist cries out(Ps 27: 12,13):

Hide not your face from me, nor turn away your servant in displeasure.
You have been my helper; cast me not away; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Bless God, however, If we hearken to the LORD and seek His face (vv.10,11), He gives us the assurance “that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the Living” (v. 17).

If we put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of our lives (v. 5). If we call out to the LORD to have mercy on us, He will answer us (v.10) and set us high upon the Rock (v. 7). And if we seek Him in his temple, (v.6), he will be our Light and our Salvation (v. 1).

I invite you now to do just that. Let’s take a silent moment to search our hearts. If during that time, you discover that you have never believed in and put your faith in Jesus Christ, simply ask Him to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Then you may come to me later and we can talk about the condition of your soul. (Keep silence) AMEN.