Steven Wright, the deadpan comedian provided some unique insight to the fear of heights when he shared, I’m not really afraid of heights, I’m afraid of widths. Listen, if you’re not afraid of heights, you probably won’t get that, but it really is a way clearer perspective of the phobia. I’ve climbed almost 2 14’ers and drove to the top of 1, and I can tell you because of climbing Long’s Peak, I am way more fearful of widths, slants or edges than heights. (PICTURE OF THE NARROWS and other pictures of NARROW).
FOUR PICTURES OF SMALL (decision to enter) AND NARROW (actually walk)
What we’re trying to do today is create the right perspective, the right mindset, the right sense of direction from what Jesus shares toward the end of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7. Matthew 7 provides the spiritual perspective of rightness; of life’s choices, life’s fruit and life’s foundation. You’re going to pick something, Jesus is sharing, I’d pick the pieces I’m telling you about.
We’re all born into this world the same way and we’re pretty much leaving in the same way. We all have a choice to make in the journey from the cradle to the grave: what widths and edges do I want to live with, live by. Look around you every day. People get up daily all over the world and they are constantly journeying from the cradle to the grave. Some have less time, some have more. But every day, we live by perspective. Perspective produces some level of conviction and our convictions shape the way we make our choices, live our lives. Jesus has a perfect perspective, we don’t. That should tell us something.
He created the Way, so no wonder He is the Way. He defined the gates and narrowness. I’d say that’s pretty important. Kreisler, the famous violinist, testified to this point when he said, Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard.
Christianity has a small gate and a narrow way that’s pretty difficult
WIDE GATE, BROAD WAY, MATTHEW 7:13
The comparison of meaning presented by the narrow and wide gates is but one of four points mentioned in the conclusion of Jesus’Sermon on the Mount. Each of the four features is a contrast: broad or narrow gate and path (Matthew 7, verses 13-14); good or bad fruit (verses 15-20); lawlessness or righteousness (verses 21-23); houses built on rock or sand (verses 24-27).
Like Proverbs, Jesus creates pretty vivid contrasts; easy to see, easy to understand, difficult to live. VS 13, Two significant decisions, which gate, which way. Because these decisions determine outcome: one leads to destruction, the other to life
The Greek word Jesus uses to describe the width of the second gate is platus. This word has the idea of easy entry, spacious. The road or way is described as broad. This last word comes from the Greek word eurychoros which means to spread out widely. THIS WAY CALLS LOUDLY
DESCRIBE THE WIDE GATE: entrance through this gate is quick and it’s easy, doesn’t require a lot of contemplation, not much discipline required to go wide, broad. It’s a gate of inclusion/it’s popular and more accepted, characterized by those who function through compromise, complacency. Their spiritual growth is negligible, their personal growth is as well limited. Their goal is contentment, being comfortable. They are either ignorant of outcomes or apathetic towards what they think it will actually cost them. This road is deceptive on all kinds of levels.
Here’s how Paul describes the outcome of this choice, Romans 6:21, So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.
Decades, ions ago, before the country of Korea was divided into north and south, a theological professor from Yale visited a mission in what is now northern Korea. He wanted to preach in a country church, so the mission sent him with a missionary interpreter to a rural Korean village. The professor began his sermon, All thought is divided into two categories, the concrete and the abstract.
The Korean interpreter looked at the tiny congregation sitting with eager attention on the floor of the little church—toothless grandmothers, barefoot schoolboys—and made a quick decision. Dear friends, he translated, I have come all the way from America to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. From that point on, the sermon was firmly in the interpreter’s hands. Sometimes we dance around issues, passages and problems. Shouldn’t do that.
I like to sit around and discuss theological issues on many levels. I miss the late nights/early morning banterings with college roommates. That was probably one of the best aspects of Bible College, was delving into the deep about the things of God. What I discovered over time and is probably more true today is that while it’s fine to discuss theology, there is an inherent danger in doing so, namely, the danger of not applying the truth to one’s own heart.
THE CLEAR WARNING
I have discovered that the real issue for me is not believing scripture it’s the issue of living it out obediently and faithfully.
SMALL GATE, NARROW WAY, MATTHEW 7:14
In biblical times a narrow gate involved with an entrance to a city was way smaller, more exclusive, even harder to find. It was often controlled or guarded and led a person more quickly into the most private parts where the king would be. It was used less and represented an exclusive status and a personal, intimate relationship with the king.
Jesus’ narrow gate and road are similar but with a distinction. Jesus describes the narrow gate using two Greek words stevos and thlibo. Stevos means restricted, squeezed, pressed, confined, and narrow and thlibo means to press hard against, crush, rub, affliction and persecution. So what’s He saying? THIS GATE, THIS WAY TAKES SOME THOUGH, CONSIDERATION.
THE DISTINCTION: It’s not based on exclusive status. The gate, the way is available to
all who choose to take this approach. The path less traveled can lead to long-term fulfillment; heaven, despite short-term challenges (life on earth).
DESCRIBE THE SMALL GATE: it’s challenging and selective, you have to be careful and dilberate, it’s less traveled, more opposed, it takes contemplation, conviction, discipline and perseverance, it creates spiritual peace, joy, brings about biblical profoundness, significant observable growth and fruit is produced.
THE PERSPECTIVE OF NARROW. . .HOW NARROW IS NARROW? WHAT’S THE PUSH?
Board On the Ground: it seems safer, you probably catch yourself looking to the right, to the left, you’re not real worried about falling off the path, you lolly gag around at times, it might lead you into being complacent, comfortable, compromised
Board Up High off the Ground: characterized by focus, have to be more disciplined, pay attention, not get distracted, watch your step, look ahead, difference of attention, your vision is different, your concentration, your perspective
What’s God’s idea of Narrow here? Deut 5:32,33, So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. You shall walk in all the way the Lord your God has commanded you. . .
SO HOW NARROW IS NARROW? Peter may capture the essence of the higher version of the two in 2 Peter 1:3-11.
Piece One: Apply ALL diligence, it is the pearl of great price, it becomes life’s intent
Piece Two: Faith on the narrow will grow by the essence of what’s happening at that level
Piece Three: Certain characteristics are developed, fruit is produced, there is an increasing movement forward
Piece Four: Lack these qualities, your blind or short-sighted, say your narrow may not be narrow
Piece Five: Be diligent about this calling, won’t stumble if you practice
Piece Six: Entrance, gate/way lead to another entrance, the big one
KEY WORD IN THESE TWO VERSES IS THE FIRST ONE FOUND IN VS 13, ENTER.
-There is a deliberate seeking, understanding, taking hold, living out, it is purposed
LEADS TO LIFE AND THERE ARE FEW WHO FIND IT
-Word FEW bothers me. A lot. Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord is going to make it.
-THIS IS NOT WORKS, IT’S OBEDIENCE
CONCLUSION
SO WITH ALL THAT SAID, HERE’S WHERE MY MIND GOES
I wish all hiking trails were flat
I wish you could lose weight watching television
I wish broccoli tasted like twinkies and peas tasted like skittles
I wish running lines in the gym felt like being on a raft going down the lazy river
I will all relationships went together like peanut butter and jelly
I wish reading the bible came as easily as reading Sports Illustrated
I wish going to Church always felt like Christmas and Easter wrapped into one
I wish we didn’t have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
BUT WE KNOW THAT’S NOT HOW LIFE IS. AND FAITH BEING THE ELEVATED
PART OF LIFE ISN’T EITHER
-Do you think it bothered Jesus any to leave heaven and come to earth knowing what
He was going to face?
-Do you think listening to us, watching us, being with us, ever wore Him out?
-Do you think the walk to the cross and the cross overwhelmed His humanity?
-Do you ever wonder what He thought as He looked down at the 12 while
ascending back into heaven?
WELL, HERE’S WHAT WE DO KNOW
Matthew 24:13,
He who endures to the end will be saved
1 John 5:4,
For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
LET ME LEAVE YOU WITH THIS. . .
We talk of our preferences as though the world is shaped and dependent on them.
We discuss theology as if our two cents always makes the difference.
We debate doctrine more than we live it.
All the while we lose sight of the reality that the way we are going
has NOT so suddenly become wider
HELP US GOD, HELP US
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