The Narrow Road

I pointed out two weeks ago when we last looked at these verses in Matthew chapter 7, that
not only is it difficult, according to the words of Jesus, to get into the kingdom, it
is equally difficult to live in the kingdom.
The reason for that is he says that both the point of entry and the road within the kingdom
are narrow and hard.
Listen again to how he puts it in verse 14 of Matthew chapter 7, "Small is the gate
and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it."
Small is the gate, narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.
That whole notion that somehow or another, everybody and his uncle can just willingly
walk into the kingdom and expect to receive God's eternal inheritance is far removed
from the teaching of Jesus in this gospel and elsewhere in all of Scripture.
To get into the kingdom and to live in the kingdom, we have to leave behind us a lot
of things.
If we want the pearl of great price, we have to sell all other pearls.
The gate is small, the road is narrow, that leads to life.
So what I want us to do this morning as we prepare for the celebration of communion
is look with you at three things that according to Scripture, we have to leave behind if we're
not only going to get through that gate, but if we are to stay on the straight and narrow.
And if at first that'll sound negative to you, then please remember to put it in the
context of where this road ends up.
It is narrow, it is hard, but what does it lead to?
It leads to life.
And if we want to have life, we must embrace the reality of biblical truth.
So here's the first thing that we need to leave behind as we come through the gate.
And as we start walking on that narrow road, and it is what I've chosen to call love for
the world.
And the classic passage there, of course, is 1 John 2, 15, 16, and 17, where Scripture
says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world."
If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life is not of the Father, but is of the world and the world passes away and the lust
of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
And the world there, as you well know, doesn't just refer to this physical planet.
It refers to life on this planet as it is organized in rebellion over against God.
And what I find really fascinating about that poster, The Broad and the Narrow Way, is
how graphically she captures along the Broadway worldly activity.
In your bulletins is a full-page printout of that picture, just so that you can look
at it a little more closely.
Not everything is immediately evident, unless you study the Scripture references very carefully.
Well, let me walk you through some worldly activities here.
And this little tower is a lady of the night who is beckoning men to come and spend the
night with her.
It's a house of prostitution.
Over here is a drinking tavern.
This is a ballroom.
This is a royal theater.
This is a gambling casino.
Here, you're hard-pressed to see it, but is a poor donkey that has fallen down under the
load and his master is beating the snot out of him.
Then further along up here, you have people fighting and arguing.
Here you have people going to war.
And the one aspect of this drawing that has intrigued me the most is this thing up here.
Do you see that?
That's a train.
But not only is that a train, it is a Sunday train.
Now, as in that intriguing, Sunday train is closer to the fires of hell than the gambling
casino, the dance hall, and the house of prostitution.
I looked at that and I said, "There's got to be history to that."
I did a little research on Sunday trains and I haven't been able to find out much about
Sunday trains relative to Germany because the lady who originally did this was a German
lady, as you know.
I found out some very interesting things about Sunday trains in North America.
The first Sunday train in North America ran in 1843 in the region of New York City in
New York State.
And it has a fascinating history because a fellow by the name of Mr. Selik was the first
to introduce refrigerated milk depots in New York City.
And that became so popular that to bring in a fresh supply of milk was a constant challenge.
And so the railroad was developed in part to help supply the milk for his depots.
Now, as you can imagine, this became fairly controversial, particularly as it relates
to bringing milk in on Sunday.
So let me pick up this story as it is written up in the August 12, 1900 edition of the New
York Times.
When Mr. Selik began his agitation for a Sunday train, it met with great opposition, particularly
from the ministers in their congregations.
Special meetings were held and prayerful protest was made against such an ungodly innovation
as a railroad train on Sunday and at which church members who were milk shippers were threatened
with dismissal from church communion.
If they should acquiesce in the demands of the New York milk consumers in case the railroad
company should so far defy their religious sentiment as to place a train at their disposal
on Sunday and ship milk on that day.
Now the discussions went on in a variety of heated fashions until August of 1843 when the
milk producers and the railroad pushed through a deliberate attempt at sending the milk train
on Sunday evening.
That's where we pick up the story.
The clergyman and church people denounced this one as something too awful to contemplate.
And one worthy Goshen preacher declared from his pulpit that the curse of God would surely
fall upon all concerned in it and who patronized it.
All manner of dire misfortune was prophesied to be followed a railroad company as a judgment
upon it for its most impious act.
And it looked very much from the very beginning that these prophecies would be fulfilled because
we believe I'm the very first trip of that original Sunday milk train.
The locomotive and the two railway cars got derailed, fell off the track into a pond from
which they had to be hauled out 24 hours later.
All the milk was lost.
The first shipment never got to New York City and you can well imagine how the clerics
and the churchgoers all looked upon that indeed as a sign of God's favor on them and judgment
on the milk train.
But wouldn't you know what time goes on and even as we've had that whole debate about Sunday
shopping here a few years ago and gradually it all gets caved in by the time the Christian
milk producers were told that if they didn't ship their milk on Sunday they could forget
about shipping it on Monday through Saturday.
It was only a question of time before that became a regular part of life.
And so every era has its own particular issues in terms of what is honoring the Lord
look like and how do we stay pure and clean from worldly influence.
And if a previous generation was perhaps unduly legalistic about theater going or participating
in the performing arts is probably safe to say that today we've swung way too far the
other way where almost everything goes.
And the challenge for God's people then is to live out in every generation what in Christ
we already are because here's how the Apostle Paul puts a attitude towards the world.
He says man, ever most except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the
world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
If you're in Christ this morning if you have made a profession of faith in him and have
repented then whether you understand it yes or no you have said no to the world with
its pride of life it's lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh you have said no to
the broad road which leads to destruction and you have said yes to the small gate and
the narrow pathway.
And the challenge for you as for me then is to live out in our daily lives what in Christ
we already are.
How do we get rid of the world even as it leaves in us and how can we be passionate about
our devotion to Jesus and seeking God and His kingdom.
And the best way to do that of course is not just by trying to address all the negatives
and by saying well I better not participate in this activity I better not participate
in that activity and before you know you're back to living under the law that can make
you look very righteous in the outside but the problem is the world is as much inside
as it is outside you can be so righteous in the outside and still be filled with the
pride of life and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh that you're just as
worldly as everybody else the antidote is to abide in Christ and to focus on Him and
on His kingdom as the dear pens for streams of water so my soul pens for you oh God said
the Psalmist and David he gives voice to the heart that lives inside the believer when
he says better is a one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere and I would rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of gone than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
What's the best way to keep down the lines out of your lawn?
It's to grow a healthy crop of grass.
What's the best way to keep the world at bay?
What's the best way to walk on the path of righteousness?
It's to make sure you hang around with God and you hang around with God's people because
it is in the context of God's amazing grace in Jesus.
It's in the context of seeing the beauty of a relationship with Him.
It's in the context of seeing the prize that awaits the believer that we can say no to
the devil the world in the flesh and we can actively pursue the Lord Jesus.
To walk the narrow road let there be no mistake about it is to say no again and again and
again to our love for the world.
That's one thing we need to leave behind but there's more and I think they get tougher.
The second thing that we need to leave behind is a thing that I've chosen to call idolatrous
relationships.
Another very interesting feature, if you look at her poster carefully, is that not only
are there fewer people on the narrow road than there are on the broadway but there are
almost always alone or at best in pairs of two.
In contrast to that the people on the broadway are constantly in a gathering of groups, multiple
groups of three or more.
Why?
Because I suspect in the world we draw a lot of life from our relationships rather than
drawing it from God and an idolatrous relationship is not a relationship whereby we lean on somebody
who helps us to know God better know it's a relationship whereby we lean on somebody
as a substitute for God and so who can take us away from the things of God.
Jesus put it this way in Luke 14, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and
his mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes even his own wife.
He cannot be my disciple.
Remember a disciple is a follower.
Jesus isn't just interested in people who give some kind of intellectual ascend to a certain
body of truth important as that is.
No he's looking for followers, he's looking for people who will deny themselves, take
up the cross and follow him daily and that means he says hating father and mother and
wife and children and brothers and sisters.
Now that's strong language and you don't hear a lot about that verse when you went to
a Sunday school in a bad imagine coming home and saying well my teacher told me I don't
have to listen to you and I can in fact hate you because I love God more.
It's not quite how it goes.
Jesus is using very strong language to indicate that our loyalty to God must exceed every
other loyalty in life and where do our primary loyalty's lie?
They lie to the people closest to us and where our loyalty's lie where our treasure is,
there will our heart be also.
So here's what happens in the world.
My friends come along and they say hey let's go corousing.
Let's go get our sills into trouble, we'll get drunk or we'll do our drugs or we'll turn
somebody down house upside down, Lord knows whatever house.
So now the question is am I going to be loyal to my friends or am I going to be loyal
to the Lord my God or to make it even more difficult, my spouse will want to take me into
practices and behaviors that as a Christian I'm not comfortable with.
Be perverse sexual activity maybe stepping into places of life that are simply not healthy,
good or godly and now I've got to choose will I favor my spouse and avoid the battle that
I know I'm going to get into if I say no or am I going to be obedient to Jesus even
if that means alienating the love of my life or your kid comes home from school and
has a whole horror tale of what the teacher didn't all do and instead of trying to find
out what the truth is and trying to hold a kid accountable you just automatically step
in there and you defend your child because your child is always right.
Just loving father, mother, brother or sister or child more than you love Jesus and if
you think it's hard to give up the world that's nothing compared to having to live with
the reality that if I have to choose loyalty to Jesus over against loyalty to the dearest
relationship in my life I must always put Jesus first and you have no idea what a battle
that is until your most cherished friendship or your most cherished relationship or your
most cherished heart connection is challenged or broken by the cross of Jesus.
Some of you have heard me tell this story before this never came home to me as hard as
years ago when I was in college seeking to walk out before God what I thought God was
calling me to be had run into the group of reorganized letter day saints who had many
of the spiritual gifts and the presence of God that we of that time were seeking for
my friends and I except they also believed the Book of Mormon and had of course a whole
tradition that was very much at odds with anything that I had learned from Scripture and from
my tradition and I remember struggling struggling Lord if this were proven to be the truth because
you see I started on this journey because I had to find out for myself what the truth was
up until then I had just as a lot of us do taken for granted what I had been taught
and told by my parents and by my church and and I had a struggle Lord is this true or
is this true and it came to me so powerfully that if Mormonism were to be true then I would
have to in integrity and honesty embrace that and you know what was the big obstacle for
me in that what in the world would my father think if I came home and said oh by the way
dad guess what I become a Mormon now you know that would go over like a lit balloon now
thank God we have subsequently discovered that they were off track and but I can guarantee you
there will be a time in your life if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus where you're going
to have to choose you're going to have to choose am I going to be loyal to my my spouse to my
kid to my friends or will I be loyal to Jesus because you see you cannot be a disciple of Jesus
until that issue is settled because I'll guarantee you further there will be a time in your
life that Jesus will call you to something that those nearest and dearest to you are going to
disapprove of because that's one of the most powerful tools Satan has to hold us back Jesus
himself experienced that when his mother comes to him and tries to draw him away from his
mission and his words to his mother about woman what do you think you're doing don't make
a lot of sense until you understand that his primary object is to follow hard after the
Lord his God the psalmist put it this way whom have I in heaven but you and on earth there
is nothing that I desire beside you now understand this is not an excuse for dishonoring father
or mother it is not an excuse for some people make out of it to negate our filial responsibility
towards your spouse or towards your children every teaching can be twisted if you're going
to love God and obey him of course you're going to do everything you can to love those who
are your greatest responsibility but you'll never love them purely unless Jesus is your
number one priority so if you want to test your spirituality if you want to do some
honest searching which scripture it monitors to do periodically then ask yourself the question
not only how much in love am I with the world and where have I crossed lines there but who
owns my heart in a way that would compete with my heart's allegiance to Jesus and then
understand the narrow way says give me grace oh Lord gone to repent of that to turn away from
it and to follow hard after year so there's love for the world there are idolatrous relationships
and if that's not bad enough yet it gets still worse we also have to leave behind us what I have
chosen to call the centrality of self because in the same passage here in Luke chapter 14 Jesus not
only says if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father when his mother is wife and his
children his brothers and his sisters he goes on to add another phrase doesn't he yes even his
own life cannot be my disciple it's not good enough to give up the world and to give up your
most intimate relations so that Jesus may be number one we also have to take up our cross deny
ourselves and die to the centrality of self now self was created to serve God find life in God
and honor him God's design for creation he's our God we're his people as our God it's his job
to look after us it's his job to protect us his job to guide us his job to bless us even as
parents with a child our job then is to receive that to be grateful to honor and obey that's how
it started in the original creation sin messed it up we no longer believe God is good in our natural
hearts we don't really believe that he is worthy of honor and worthy of obedience and so as a result
we take matters into our own hands and we not only look to the world to meet our needs and to
fulfill the emptiness in the inside we don't only look to friends we discover sooner or later
the world betrays us friends you can depend on and so the older you get and the more you experience
in life or the more wounded you are early in life the greater is the temptation now to put self
on the throne of your life nobody else will look after me so I will look after me nobody
else will protect me so I will protect myself nobody else can be trusted so I will trust only
myself and all of us by nature we leave that way with self on the throne of our lives
and it comes in a lot of disguises on the back of the poster you see there the traits of the
self life Valerie uses this a lot in her beta class we have issued it off and on over the years
in this congregation as a preparation for the celebration of communion I won't take the time
to read through it all in detail but I would certainly encourage you in the course of this week
when you're having devotions do some self examination because self is often far more subtle
than we give it credit for there is a spirit of pride and exalted feeling in view of your success
or position this is what John referred to earlier as the pride of life there is the love of human
praise a secret fondness to be noticed a love of supremacy drawing attention to yourself in
conversation the stirrings of anger or impatience a touchy sensitive spirit a disposition to
resent or retaliate when disapproved of or contradicted their self-wheel a stubborn un teachable
spirit an arguing talkative spirit harsh sarcastic expressions an unyielding headstrong disposition
there's carnal fear a man fearing spirit a shrinking from reproach and duty reasoning around your
cross a fearlessness that someone will offend and drive some prominent person away a compromising
spirit the fear of man a jealous disposition secret envy an unpleasant sensation in view of
the success or prosperity of another the lighting in their shortcomings a dishonest deceitful
disposition evading or covering the truth covering up your faults leaving a better impression
of yourself than is true false humility unbelief a spirit of discouragement a lack of quietness
a disposition to worry and complain formality and deadness a lack of concern for the lost a
dryness or an indifference of soul selfishness love of ease love of money let me ask you you still
want to follow Jesus he's ruthless he cannot let any of that into his eternal kingdom
because we'll screw it up just like we do in life today and so you and I when we come to faith in
Jesus when we enter through the narrow gate and we commit ourselves to the life of Christian
discipleship we make a commitment and we say yes I will take up my cross and I will follow Jesus
Paul puts it this way in Christ those who belong to him have crucified this sinful nature with
its passions and with its desires and again in Christ this is already our reality
positionally we're already seated over here with Christ in heavenly places doesn't mean we're
living there all the time as you've heard me say before the problem with the living sacrifices
it keeps crawling off the altar and so most of us will find ourselves in situations where even
in our most godly moments self creeps in I don't have to live in the world to experience the
pride of life I don't have to live in the world to experience the lust of the eye or the lust of
the flesh or to make the world revolve around myself we all do it to one degree or another
perfectly naturally but in Christ we said no to it and once we have said no to it in Christ
and Christ by his Holy Spirit comes to live inside me then he helps me to be transformed by the
renewal of my mind and he helps me to put off the old and to put on the dear this is what Jesus
means when he says the gate is small you got to leave a lot behind when you come into the kingdom
and this is what he means when he says you know that path is narrow because the requirements of
God are far beyond and above anything that you and I could ever manage on our own but that's
precisely the point he hasn't left us on our own that's why he's given us Jesus and I love
the way the writer to the Hebrews puts it let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author that is to say
the one who begins our faith also the perfector that is to say the one who completes our faith
who for the joy said before him and dored the cross squirting a shame and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God you and I we listen to all of this we look at our own lives
and we say I just I'm in the wrong place I can't do it and I'd say you're precisely in the right
place because the thing that we confess around here is that nobody can do it on his own and should
you be sufficiently conceded to think you could then give yourself some time or talk to your friends
or better yet talk to your kids or talk to your spouse and they will they will straighten you out
real fast because folks this is the reality of the human condition but Jesus he pioneered a path
and he did it by the cross and he did it for the joy that was set before him and this
morning as we prepare for the celebration of communion here's what I want us to think about
take a look at your life and ask yourself the question where have I crossed lines
where have I compromised with the world and then look at your relationships and ask yourself the
question who has my heart in a way that exceeds the loyalty of my heart to Jesus whose opinion
matters more whose love will I compromise my values for simply to keep them in my life
and then look at your own heart as we've read through that little list of the traits of the
self-life and say where does the world revolve around me where do I yet need to learn to take up
my cross that I myself and follow Jesus because you know the tragedy of many Christians
is that you can take all the selfishness with you into the kingdom and many of God's blessings and
many of the things that God wants to do for us they still all revolve around our own sweet little
sounds and so the music is all about me or the preaching is all about me or the fellowship is
all about me you know what I like about that poster is that when it comes to outlining how you live
in the Christian life she really captures it because if living in the world here has all this
worldly kind of entertainment that ultimately focuses on feeling the need in my own life and
making me feel good if you look carefully at what she has along the narrow path here it's entirely
different because it starts with the church and if you know the story of Pilgrim's progress the
first thing that happens as he gets on his journey has come into enlightenment is he gathers with
God's people and they encourage him and they move him on you know why it's so important for
God's people to gather together a log left on its own won't long glow or burn we need to encourage
one another daily to be faithful to God and faithful to each other that's why the church gathers
together the next one and again you won't notice it unless you can read the small print that's
Sunday school over there this little tent is a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus particularly
to those who proclaim the gospel because here we have an evangelist preaching the gospel to people
that are on the Broadway the next building here if you look at it very carefully is an orphanage
and the third building here is some kind of deaconal institution a place for helping the poor in
fact the lady who drew this poster in the early 1800s was one of the co-founders of a deaconal
mission in Stuttgart Germany and she so captures the contrast between a world where you live for
yourself and words all about me and all my satisfaction and the kingdom of God where your life has
been so transformed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ you're so passionately in love with God
that his kingdom and his values are the most important thing and that comes to expression then
by faith working through life so ask yourself the question how much of my life is spent in sacrificial
service to others and how often am I prepared to grow up in Christ take up my cross and follow him
because we'll all sit and done the Lord wants to move us then from consumers to producers from
children to adults who can take seriously their responsibility in the kingdom of God knowing that
God is committed to meeting our deepest needs and now whatever you come up with in these few moments
that we have together over in the course of this public link recognize two things
Jesus died for all our failures of we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and the cleanse us from all unrighteousness but more than that he has risen from the dead he
has poured out his holy spirit and by his word and by his spirit he is transforming our hearts from
the inside out so that instead of loving the world we love the kingdom instead of having the
priority the dearest ones to us Jesus Christ is our priority and instead of it being all about me
we learn to put God first in other people's second and ourselves third because you know ultimately
that's the life of fruitfulness and that's the life that pays off and if you wonder if it's worthwhile
remember where each of the roads ends up the gate is wide the road is broad where does it lead to
eternal damnation the gate is small the road is narrow few there be that find it
but where does it end up in the holy city the inheritance that God has for his people and in that day
you and I will look back and we will know there is no sacrifice that we have been asked to make
that even begins to be compared for this surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord
God's own son
praise precious them of God the Messiah of the sinners too thank you all my Father for giving us your son and we
your spirit till the work of earth and God
when I stand in glory I will see his face and there I'll turn my name forever
in that holy day thank you all my Father for giving us your son
and we will know there is no sacrifice that we have been asked to make
that even begins to be compared for this surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ
when we bring our spirit till the work of earth in God
I will see your face and there is no sacrifice that we have been asked to make
that even begins to be compared for this surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ
and we will know there is no sacrifice that we have been asked to make
that even begins to be compared for this surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ
[BLANK_AUDIO]