First Reading Isaiah 66:18-23
18“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord. 22For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.”
Psalm Psalm 50:1-15
1The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory. 3Our God will come and will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. 4He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgment of his people. 5“Gather before me my loyal followers, those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice.” 6Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge. 7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: “O Israel, I will bear witness against you; for I am God, your God. 8I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; your offerings are always before me. 9I will take no bull calf from your stalls, nor he-goats out of your pens; 10For all the beasts of the forest are mine, the herds in their thousands upon the hills. 11I know every bird in the sky, and the creatures of the fields are in my sight. 12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the whole world is mine and all that is in it. 13Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and make good your vows to the Most High. 15Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”
Second Reading Hebrews 12:4-29
4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken — that is, things that have been made — in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.
Gospel Luke 13:22-30
22{Jesus} went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
HIGHWAY vs STAIRWAY
Back in the 1970s there were two smash hits; Stairway to Heaven performed by the British band Led Zeppelin and Highway to Hell performed by the Australian rock band AC/DC. Now I know I’m going to get the question, pastor, what do you know about heavy metal bands, so let me explain. As you know I have a great love for driving I-85 between Gastonia and Charlotte (not!). Well in my final year of seminary I was forced to travel back and forth on I-95 between Goldsboro and Philadelphia.
For those who are familiar with this route, you know that traffic approaching, and through, Washington DC is treacherous at best. As far as I’m concerned, that stretch of I95 is like I-85 on steroids. I-95 through DC makes the trip from Gastonia to Charlotte seem like a drive in the country. That said, for me to get through that section of the trip with my sanity intact, I would put the AC/DC CD in, grab the steering wheel with both hands and pray. I say I start the drive from Gastonia to Charlotte with confession and end with confession. Well, the drive through Washington DC was one that kept me on the straight and narrow. You could say that that drive would scare any sane person straight; so I’d start with confession and end with a prayer of thanksgiving.
Angus young, the writer of the hit Highway to Hell must have been driving I-95 when he wrote the song. I brought this up because it seems strange to me that the folks who write and perform Hard Rock, seem to understand what Jesus was saying in our reading from Luke better than many who claim to be Christians. This reminded me of our gospel lesson; the Highway to Hell is wide open, it’s full of people going fast, it’s full of fun, attractive things, while the stairway to heaven, or the narrow door as Jesus calls it, to everlasting life is narrow.
In our reading from Luke chapter 13 we read, “Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ Now prior to this lesson, Jesus had taught many times about who will and who be left out of God’s coming kingdom.
Among those who will be left out of the coming Kingdom will be those who deny Him (12:9), those who lay up treasures for themselves here in this life rather than treasuring Christ (12:21), those who fell asleep waiting for the master to return (12:39), and those who fail to interpret the signs of the times (12:56), just to name a few. Jesus warned repeatedly that the way of eternal life is a narrow door. There will be many who want to enter but will not be able; once the Bridegroom comes, they will be left outside knocking. Entry through the narrow door isn’t gained by simply knocking. There’s actually a struggle that occurs. This is the cost of discipleship, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer would call it.
To follow Jesus requires something of us. It requires our lives, this why St. Paul wrote, “I die daily.” We, of course, teach that we cannot earn our salvation; salvation is a free gift of God received in faith. But in response to this free gift, we are required to struggle in our walk of faith. Someone asked the other day, what’s the difference between earning our salvation and struggling in our life of discipleship? The answer is simple: Who is the focus of our lives? Too often it’s too easy to forget who’s supposed to be the focus of our lives. And as we see in our Luke reading, part of that struggle is to wrestle with the fact that when it comes to who will be in heaven and who will not, some, even those we love dearly, will be left out. But for the faithful, for those willing to struggle to go through the narrow door, we’re not left to ourselves to do the striving. Jesus is always with us, by our side, guiding us, teaching us, and walking alongside us. And all the way, we continue to grow in grace, faith, and love. The writer of Hebrews acknowledges this struggle as he discusses our life of faith.
In our second lesson, the writer of Hebrews urges us to not grow weary as we serve. He’s also clear that we have a long way to go and that there may be difficult times ahead. This includes forgetting who is the focus of our life. To illustrate, he cites Proverbs 3:11-12 which says that the Lord disciplines His children because He loves them. The discipline he refers to could be something small like a minor correction, such as a verbal rebuke, or possibly something harsher, such as the infliction of physical pain. This is another thing we must accept as we travel toward the narrow door. We must accept that God can inflict physical punishment on those He loves. As faithful followers, we must accept that God does this out of love, and for our own best interest. For us, this can make us uncomfortable.
For the author of Hebrews, he reminds us that discipline is for our own good and leads us into a life of holiness. And this life of holiness guides us to the narrow door. The writer goes on to speak of two covenants and the warnings that accompanied them: one that was given through Moses in the time of Israel’s journey to freedom from slavery, and the other came through the new Adam. The new covenant is nothing less than Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection and who now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. It’s for these reasons and more that “Jesus said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not be able to.’” I personally hope this door Jesus is talking about is wider than some of the narrow stairways I’ve seen. But there is a truth here that we need to examine this morning.
First, the door to having a rich, fulfilling life is always a narrow one. Many come to life’s open doors but only a few make it through. To illustrate: thousands upon thousands of young boys and girls grow up bouncing basketballs and dreaming of life as a professional basketball player. But only a handful are chosen each year. Take NC for example.
How many young people dream of playing in the NBA someday? Now consider that North Carolina has three major universities that compete at the national level. Of all those thousands, maybe 50 get to play as starters on these teams. Of those 50, how many actually move on to the NBA? Maybe 5, probably fewer? The lesson is woe to those who neglect their education. It’s their education that will probably define their future. The door is narrow. And sports isn’t the only area of life that the path is narrow.
Each year thousands of new businesses are started, but only a small number of people in our society become super successful in material terms. And when you consider that the higher you go up the scale, the smaller the numbers become. And an even sadder statistic, thousands upon thousands of couples each year stand at the altars of churches like this one and pledge their love to one another, but half that number of marriages will end in divorce. Many will stay together for convenience of appearance or for the children. And the following statistic is one I found hard to believe; it’s estimated that only about 10% of those who get married will find true fulfillment in their marriages.
Secularly speaking, even the door to a rich and fulfilling life is a narrow one. Life is a continual challenge. So if this is true with life in general, then it shouldn’t be a surprise for us to accept that Jesus, when asked, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” answered, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
What this means for me is, I’m doing you no favors as your pastor, if I try to portray the Christian life as an easy path. The truth is, living a rich and fulfilling life requires dedication and sacrifice. This is true in our Christian walk as well as life in general. A rich and meaningful life of any kind requires dedication and sacrifice. How can Christian faith demand any less? People who are successful in any worthwhile endeavor pay a price. Some here may remember the name John Wooden.
Wooden was one of the most successful basketball coaches of all time. He led his U.C.L.A. basketball team to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years—a feat that will probably never be duplicated. Wooden disciplined his players on all the fundamentals of the sport. According to one source, he even showed his players how to put on their socks. “No basketball player is better than his feet,” he once wrote. “If they hurt, if his shoes don’t fit, or if he has blisters, he can’t play the game. It’s amazing how few players know how to put on a pair of socks properly. I don’t want blisters, so each year I give, in minute detail, a step-by-step demonstration as to precisely how I want them to put on their socks, every time.” Now that’s what I call attention to detail. But people who really want to do things right in life will want to do things the right way.
One of the most demanding challenges in sports is the Tour de France bicycle race. One committed cyclist Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle once wrote an article for the National Geographic magazine titled, “An Annual Madness,” in which he described this arduous experience. He writes, “The bicycle race is a strenuous test, including some of France’s most difficult, mountainous terrain. Physical needs, such as eating and drinking, are done on the run. Temperature extremes add to the cyclists’ challenges. Lassalle indicated he rode his bicycle 2,000 miles a year to train for the event. That’s nearly 60 miles a day, every day.
“What kind of trophy and cash prize motivates a cycler to train so rigorously and then endure such hardship and pain? The prize is a special winner’s jersey.” That’s it. That’s the grand prize. That and the thrill of sweeping through the Arc de Triomphe on the last day and therefore being able to say you finished the Tour de France. Obviously only a few people in the world are able to motivate themselves to endure such an ordeal. But we need to realize that anything truly worthwhile in life requires dedication and sacrifice. That’s true in athletics and that’s also true in business.
A very successful businessman—the head of a large corporation—was speaking at a banquet given in his honor. He said to the gathering, “Success is easy, and most people can achieve it overnight.” Then he cleared his throat and said, “Of course that will be the longest night of your life.” He’s saying that success in business requires commitment, hard work and sacrifice. The philosopher Goethe once said, “Everyone wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.” He is right. We want gain without pain. Triumph without really trying. But life doesn’t work that way. The door is narrow. That’s true in sports, in business, and in family life. Having a rich, fulfilling life requires commitment.
This is to say that having what we might characterize as a successful life requires making hard choices. Let’s face it, if you want to stay in top physical condition you simply can’t abuse your body with tobacco or alcohol or illegal drugs or too much sugar or too little exercise. To stay on top, you must choose. You can’t be an effective salesperson and sit in Starbucks sipping coffee all morning unless, of course, you have customers who like to sit around and sip coffee too. You can’t build a lasting relationship with your spouse and compromise your wedding vows. Successful living requires our commitment and for us to make hard choices.
The news outlets carried a story about a woman who was divorcing her husband after discovering that he had two other wives and several children by each of them. His explanation: He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting any of them, so he married all three. He was a traveling salesman, so he was able to carry out this farce for years. This is of course an extreme example, but the truth is, many people don’t want to make the hard choices that life requires of us. Psychologists tell us that’s why so many procrastinate. We want to put off facing the pain of making choices. Procrastination is a sure formula for failure.
Successful people recognize that making hard choices is a key to a rich, fulfilling life. Even Jesus had to make a hard choice. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” As He prayed, sweat rolled off of his body like great drops of blood. Jesus could have gone back to Joseph’s shop and spent His life as a simple carpenter. That would have been the easy way out; but if He was going to save the world, He was going to have to give His life’s blood. Literally! No pain. No gain. Reality shows us that too many people try to live in two worlds. St. Paul called these two worlds the world of flesh and the world of the spirit. But as Jesus explains, the door isn’t wide enough for us to get through carting two worlds at once. We must choose. If we’re going to walk with Jesus, there are many things we must leave behind; we must make the hard choices.
I think there’s ample evidence to show that there’s a great temptation today to settle for a sentimental, sloppy religion that soothes us, caresses us, and requires nothing of us. We forget that the symbol of Christian faith isn’t a cushioned pew, but a cross. Living a rich and fulfilling life requires dedication and sacrifice. Living a rich and fulfilling life requires making hard choices. The good news is, there’s a paradox here.
This paradox is, that while the door may be narrow, it’s wide enough for all who truly want to enter. Nobody needs to be excluded. It matters not what our past has been. It makes no difference who you are or what you have or have not accomplished. The narrow door Jesus talks about is big enough for any of us who will place our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him. Placing our faith in Jesus and trusting that our sins are forgiven is of course, the meaning of grace.
It breaks God’s heart when we make a mess of our lives, when we fail to make good choices. But God never forces us, against our will, to change directions, but we do need to know that if we ever want to come home, the door is wide open. It was open for the prodigal son, it was open for the woman at the well, it was open for Peter after he denied Jesus 3 times, it was even open for Judas who betrayed his Lord, and it’s open for you and for me. Jesus told the parable of the solitary wandering sheep for a reason.
It was a single lost sheep out on the hillside and the Good Shepherd left the 99 sheep who were safely in His care and went to retrieve the one that was lost. However, there’s a difference between a sheep and a human being. God has given us the ability to decide our own eternal future. It’s up to us to choose to enter that narrow door, but if we choose to do so, by His grace, it is open wide.
Sometime back a cartoon appeared on the editorial pages of many newspapers around the country. The occasion was the celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The cartoon showed a humble log cabin. Above the log cabin was a ladder. At the top of that ladder was a drawing of the White House. Underneath the cartoon was this caption, “The ladder is still there.” The good news for us is that the ladder of grace is still there. The door is still open. It’s still wide enough to admit all who would enter. Successful living requires commitment. Successful living also requires hard choices. Everything in our daily lives tells us that.
I would be misleading you if I told you that Christian discipleship is any less demanding. But the rewards far exceed the price. Someone once said that Jesus didn’t come into the world to make bad people good, but to give dead people life. The door to eternal life and God’s kingdom is narrow, but thank goodness it’s wide enough for all who confess, believe and who are willing to make the hard choices to enter. Amen
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