The Way 2

The Way 2: The Gate 121106SUpm

Readings: Matthew 7: 13-14; John 10: 7-10; Luke 13: 22-30.

Two weeks ago we were thinking about the Way. We thought about how for so many of the world’s religions the way is a list of instructions for living. But for us, Jesus has said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” Jesus isn’t simply the way to live, even though Paul commends us to follow his example. He is the Way to the Father. He is the Way to life. And so the Way we follow isn’t a simple list of instructions on how to live, but a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God. And as we walk with him our lives become a sacred pilgrimage as we follow where he leads.

And then we asked ourselves a question – do we really want to be pilgrims? The life of a pilgrim is not always easy, though it is the only life that has any ultimate meaning and significance. The problem is that here in the west, as opposed to so many of the countries of the world, we have become addicted to comfort. The pilgrim life has lost its appeal to a nation in which humble citizens now live in a manner that kings of a few centuries ago would envy.

And yet God is calling us into this new relationship with Jesus and asking us to set out on a journey with him that will lead us into God’s will for our lives. We don’t happen to find ourselves automatically on this journey. It requires a choice, and that choice can be so hard to make that it is only through the Holy Spirit helping us that we can make the start at all.

So where do we begin?

In our reading from Matthew, Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate.” In our reading from Luke, he says, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.” Gate or door – its defining feature is that it is narrow.

I wonder how you picture this gate or door. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice falls down through the rabbit hole and eventually finds herself in a room with a tiny door. Beyond the door is a beautiful garden and she wants to get to it but there is no way she can pass through such a small door. On the other hand, in “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgeson Burnett, a girl finds the key that lets her through a gate into a mysterious overgrown garden that she tends and brings back to its former glory.

We often think of gates today as rickety wooden entrances to country gardens. But in Bible times a gate would be the gate of a city. The strength of its timbers would keep out an enemy, and so it represented safety. And a narrow gate would be that much more easy to defend. In mediaeval times this principle was developed to place the gate at the end of a narrow curved passage. The curve would prevent the use of battering rams, the narrow passage would limit the number of enemy soldiers able to approach the gate, and the walls of the passage provided an elevated position from which to hurl spears or shoot arrows or drop stones or pour boiling oil. The narrow gate led to a place of safety.

And Jesus uses this idea of the gate leading to a place of safety, but he uses a very different illustration.

Do you remember the TV programme “One man and his dog.”? The shepherd would instruct the dog to round up the sheep and guide them into a pen, and then when the last sheep had entered, the shepherd would triumphantly place a hurdle across the entrance to keep the sheep inside. But in Jesus day the pen or fold would be built of stones – a bit like the dry stone walls you see up in the north of this country. And the fold would have a narrow opening, just wide enough for a sheep to enter. But there was no gate as such. At night, after the shepherd had counted his flock into the fold, he would lie down across the entrance to sleep so that any wild animal that was partial to a bit of mutton would have to get past him first.

And so in John chapter 10, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd. And then He says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

Jesus is the gate to salvation, to safety. He has opened the way. We don’t need to do it. In fact we couldn’t do it. The only way to open the gate to God and to life was for Jesus to die for us, to take our punishment, to give his life in our place. And that is what he did. As he said, “I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.”

Jesus is the Gate. And as we saw last week, Jesus is also the Way. Do you see the centrality of Jesus in the whole of God’s pattern for setting us free and making us safe. And so we sing, “Jesus, be the centre.”

It is all very simple. And yet as we look around us, we see that very few people are taking advantage of the opportunity to reach safety. Why is that?

In Matthew 7, Jesus says, “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.”

You see, a wide road is obvious – it’s easy to follow. You can pass through a wide gate without even realizing that you have crossed over the line. But a narrow road is difficult to spot, and passing through a narrow gate can be difficult.

Occasionally I am a passenger as we drive down the A12. And then, not having to focus on the road ahead I can look to the side and see turnings and lanes and bits of countryside that I never notice at all when I am driving. And life can be like a dual carriageway – we know just where we want to get to, we choose the shortest route, and everyone else seems to be going just the same way we are – some far too slowly and holding us up and some tearing past on the fast lane forcing us to get out of their way. And while that might be OK if we want to get to London, it is not OK if we want to get to God. Because Jesus is calling us off the trunk road. The only thing at the end of it is a big pile up. Jesus is calling us to walk with him. And to do that we must get off the wide fast track and enter through the narrow gate into a relationship with him.

So how do we enter the narrow gate? How can we come into this relationship with Jesus? It must be simple, because Jesus came for the ordinary people like us – not just for the highly intelligent Mensa members. I was reading a book a while ago by a very respected evangelical author. It was about the process of becoming a Christian. And I did understand a bit about where he was coming from, explaining that many new Christians do not have the basics of the Christian faith properly explained to them. But if it is really necessary to understand all that he said we need to know, then I would be disqualified for one, as parts of it went right over my head!

But I thank God that Jesus doesn’t receive us on the basis of what we know. We don’t need a PHD to pass through the narrow gate. Jesus receives us on the basis of what we desire. He says, “Seek and you will find, ask and it will be given to you, Knock and the door will be opened for you.” And he places that desire for himself into our hearts. And he tells us how to enter the narrow gate.

At the beginning of Mark, Jesus begins his ministry by declaring, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near.” Have you ever been driving along a road looking for a turning only to realise that you’ve missed it. You have to stop, turn round, and go back in the opposite direction till you come to the turning you missed. I remember when Mark and I were going to visit someone in Eight Ash Green and we realised we had passed the house. So we had to stop and make a three point turn. But because the church car’s electrics were playing up, it promptly stalled and wouldn’t restart. That was when I realised why Mark wanted me to come with him that day. Someone had to push the car backwards and forwards while the other road users became impatient.

And when Jesus says, “Repent,”, he simply means “Turn round and go the other way.” And that sounds simple. It is simple. But in practice it can be very difficult. There we are, careering along in our comfortable lives, and it is hard to slow down, let alone turn around. We have too much inertia. It can be hard to turn our backs on dreams that would only interfere with our walk with Jesus. It can be hard to turn our backs on those things in our lives that we know are keeping us from Jesus. But it is best done quickly. I understand that if a Supertanker is faced with a hazard ahead, they don’t try to stop the ship. The hundreds of thousands of tons of oil on board give it so much momentum and inertia that it would keep going for six miles before it stopped. What they do is to keep the power on and put the rudders into a sharp turn to steer it out of danger. And that is what we need to do in our lives. If we try to slow down gradually we will just keep going. But turning around can be a difficult experience. I believe that they frown on doing a three point turn on the A12 and going back against the traffic. And turning around can feel a bit like that, as everyone pushes us to live the way we did before. But you can do it – just remember that the Holy Spirit is there to help and encourage you and give you a push if you stall.

And then Jesus calls us to believe. In John Chapter 1 we read, “To all who received him, to those who believed on his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” And so when the jailer in Philippi asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” They replied, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Which brings us to that wonderful verse in John 3: 16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But the danger is that we will get all intellectual again and think that this is all about believing facts about Jesus. Understanding the facts about Jesus will help us, but believing in Jesus simply means trusting him, trusting him to be the open gate through which you can enter freely, because he has paid the price.

And the third thing we need to do is to be born again. Jesus says in John chapter 3 and verse 7, “You must be born again.” He says, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” The Kingdom of God? That’s where we find ourselves when we pass through the narrow gate. Now I know that being born again has had a bit of a bad press lately. It makes us think of militant right wing Americans who shoot first and don’t ask questions after. But being born again is isn’t something we do. You never had anything to do with arranging your birth. You didn’t decide when or where it would occur, or who your parents would be, or what race you would be. It is sad to hear people declaring their race to be superior, as if they had anything at all to do with being born into it. When you are born again you do have a small part to play. As I said, it is about desire, and the Holy Spirit places in you the desire for a new life. Of course you can fight it. But the process of new birth is something that God does in your life, making you a Citizen of his kingdom and bringing you through the narrow gate into the Way that leads to the Father, that leads to life.

But even as Jesus is showing us the way to life, he is giving us warnings. I John 3: 36 we are told, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life.” Don’t waste the opportunity you have now to pass through the narrow gate into life. Because that is what most people do. In our reading from Luke 13, Someone asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” Many people will keep going straight on down the broad road and find that the narrow gate is just too far back.

Where are you today? Is Jesus calling you to turn around and find him and enter through the narrow gate into life? Hebrews chapter 4 tells us, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” If that is you he is speaking to, make the most of tonight to repent and believe and receive a new birth. Don’t leave without seizing the opportunity he is giving you to enter through the narrow gate into his kingdom, his family. And remember that there are people here who will be very happy to help you to do just that,

As the old Chorus goes:

There’s a way back to God from the dark paths of sin,

There’s a door that is open and you may go in.

At Calvary’s cross is where you begin

When you come as a sinner to Jesus.

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